08 October 2009

Rabari man, north-western Gujarat

We met this man as he rode his camel along a dusty road in the midday heat. Parbat, our Rabari guide, stopped the car to chat with him. He leaned down from his camel and shook my hand, and I asked Parbat to check if I might photograph him. The response needed no translation, and although initially he posed (as always, it seems), I followed the formal photos with this, as he leaned to resume his chat with Parbat.
[8 February 2007].
All content © 2009 Pete McGregor
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5 comments:

  1. Lesley9 October 2009 at 11:30

    Another of your wonderful portraits, Pete. What character these people have in their faces. It was really worth waiting until he'd returned to his conversation with Parbat.

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  2. pohanginapete9 October 2009 at 18:06

    Thanks Lesley. As a further indication of his character, when he shook my hand it was the hardest hand I'd ever grasped — it felt like horn.

    The people here, and in Gujarat in general, I found wonderfully welcoming.

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  3. butuki14 October 2009 at 03:04

    I don't know what it is, but these people always look as if they are fully alive, in the same way that animals are. What is it we are missing? Maybe it's asking that very question that is the problem...

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  4. butuki14 October 2009 at 12:37

    ...and I just made the classic mistake of assuming we are not also animals! Bloop!

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  5. pohanginapete14 October 2009 at 16:40

    Miguel, I'd safely assume you used "animals" in this context as a shortened form of "other animals"! In response to your question, my guess would be that the "aliveness" or intensity arises from the need to focus, if not purely on the immediate present, then at least on the short term, meaning the next day or two. When life's focused on such pressing concerns as getting enough to eat and ensuring the livestock have water to drink, one has little or no time to waste on dreaming, or on fretting over unimportant things. But that's guesswork. I really don't know. I'd like to spend some time with people like these, although the language barrier would frustrate me intensely.

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