May 6, 2011

Vintage India - Bombay (Mumbai)

 During my travels in India in my student days I spent some time in Bombay (now known as Mumbai).  I had some rolls of black and white film, and a desire to try and take some "arty" photos with my Instamatic.  Considering the limitations of my equipment and experience, I didn't do too badly, and of course now they look charmingly vintage.  I captured some street scenes, above, and some tourist sites, below:
 But I was most successful with  shots of people on the streets, like these dabbawalas sorting lunch boxes (do follow the link and read about them if you are not familiar; it's amazing):
 A dabbawala making a delivery:
 An old man on a scooter:
 A  talented chalk artist, whose work would perpetually vanish in the daily monsoon rains:
 A street musician counting his tips:
 A woman who was exhorting me, in a language I couldn't understand, for reasons unclear:
 A man selling tea and snacks, with a great deal of dignity:
 And one of the best pictures I have ever taken, anywhere or anytime, of three children playing on a tricycle. Look at the glee in the little girl's eye.  I can still remember the moment.

2 comments:

Kim Hambric said...

Great photos -- thanks for sharing. I also enjoyed the info. on the dabbawalas -- fascinating -- I had never heard of them.

Sue Reno said...

There's a short videa about dabbawalas here: http://bit.ly/msljxV
Most coverage of them focuses on their amazing accuracy and delivery methods; I also find it interesting that the system depends on having a homemaker wife to prepare the meal to be delivered.