Lockdown blues

Like everyone else in this planet, I am really getting impatient and restless; I am getting depressed for not being able to go out on the streets whenever and wherever I wish. One side of the brain is telling to be patient and hold while the other side is pushing from within. Of course, now we are going to work following the lockdown norms and going to market once in a week for collecting eatables but no one can survive by only working and eating.

You need to keep yourself happy. Your brain should be able to rest by doing what it likes. Your soul should not be kept unfed for long. I found a small way of getting the relief by doing what I like the most… Photography. Again, my mobile phone came very handy.

Afternoon Colours

I started to capture the cloudscapes. The monsoon is just awesome and gives opportunities to capture various arrangements and colours of clouds. This is also the season I like the best; winter comes next.  My mood swings with the rain. The sound of rain fall, the smell of earth during the first rain and everything else about is mesmerising. I cannot sit indoor. Rain pulls me out to my balcony.

A Bright Sunny Day

During earlier days in Kolkata when my daughter was a little kid, I used to take her to the terrace along with me to get drenched. During monsoon, I never used to carry an umbrella and never used to wait under shelter, during rain.  I always enjoyed walking in the rain. Many times, I reached office, fully drenched.

The last time I got drenched to my heart’s content was way back in 2013 when I was forced to walk down around 1Km in torrential rain to catch a train; I was carrying my luggage and the cameras in my backpack. The back pack was professional quality and had a nice raincoat; so, no worry. My suitcase stood its ground and didn’t let even a drop go inside.  But I was so wet that after an overnight journey, I woke up in a wet pair of jeans on next morning.

Rain Clouds

 I love every aspect related to rain. I like the wet and muddy street, there can’t be anything better than walking on the wet road in a pair of sleepers and splashing water all the way. I like walking in a water logged street, I like to sip hot tea in road side shack under rain. During my Engineering college days, I leant swimming in rain water accumulated in an excavated land. 

Just Before the Rain

Few years back I had experienced rain in a different avatar. It was Agumbe Rain Forest Research station, one of the highest rain fall location. We (me along with few close friends of Photographic Society of Madras) went in October just after Dussehra. It was non-stop rain all through the 2 days; sometimes torrential and sometimes just pitter patter. We did some photography with water dripping from our camera and hiked through the forest infested with leeches to have a glimpse of the illusive King Cobra. I fed around 200 leeches in those few days. We could not get a sight of the King Cobra as his position was detected inside a dense and unapproachable area. Every evening the cameras, lenses used to be laid near the wood fire in the dormitory for drying up. It was a different kind of experience and I loved it.

Dangerously Beautiful Cloud Formation

The best part of the Rain for me is the time when the cloud formation is almost complete, the temperature has dropped and you can almost smell the earth. It is like an expectant mother waiting for the child birth at any moment. Imagine you are driving to a rain cloud formation with glassed rolled down. I had this opportunity a few times and every time I relished.

After the Rain

Coming back to the present; the current lock down has definitely locked me in my house but the rain is still touching my heart with its magic wand from time to time. I am trying to make the best out of such opportunities by capturing the mood of monsoon, from my balcony. The super wide lens of mobile phone comes very useful in such compositions.

While I am waiting for those days when I will be able to go out with my cameras, I am trying my hand on mobile phone photography and making my heart a little happier and lighter. Let us take the lesson of slowing down positively; let us learn to hibernate and rise when things become brighter.