The above and below picture are not of the same person....but taken at the same time, at the same place, October, 2012
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| Bhutan, October 2012
I found her breaking rocks by roadside in Paro town. Her toddler was climbing on her back. I walked up with my camera. And tried to talk to them. They all spoke 'mild' hindi.
Her eyes captivated me. She noticed me smiling straight into her eyes and she looked away, giggling like a teenager. Please, may I take a picture of you? She giggled and hid her face in her right palm. Her clothes were old, the sweater seems old enough to unravel any minute, her hands were dry and coarse, tell-talling her hard life, but those eyes could not but reveal the untouched soul. It took me a while to get two photographs, because she just would not look at me. After a few minutes I settled for two shots, neither which of has her eyes towards the camera. She was simple and straight forward in herself-consioucsness and shyness. Neither did I ask her name, nor did I pay her for this photograph, nor try to establish any emotional contact. I was not sure how I felt around this soul, that oozed its essence in the simplicity that it embodied. Her friends giggled, and laughed at the attention she was getting. Somehow, I feel that they knew that they could not give her that royal treatment she deserved!! Looks, handwork, kindness, simplicity, all rolled into a short Bhutanese/Nepali frame!! As I walked away, I kept wondering, how long before that all fizzles after she works in sun and heat, cold and winter, breaking rocks day after day, as she feeds her child by the street. A stray thought brought me a smile, 'Only if Vogue knew about her' As the distance between these women and me got farther --I wondered if it was a blessing that Vogue did not know about her. In that obscurity the woman had maintained an allegiance to authenticity--not to be found in fashion magazines!! May be that is why my feet stopped and I knelt in front of her to request for a photograph! |
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