By Mayank Jain:
A photo blog, that soon turned into one of the most loved pages on the internet, and a best-selling book, is how far passion can take you, given that you do it long and well enough. What started with a vision of just photographing people from New York, and putting up portraits on the map, by Brandon Stanton, has now gone global in a matter of few years. People move around the city waiting for him to notice them, pictures are flooded with thousands of comments and millions if likes, which only goes on to prove the popularity of the connection that Humans Of New York (HONY) has managed to make between these divided worlds.
The adulation for the page is not just about the pictures, but also the stories that the hitherto unknown faces bring with them. From kids talking of ending war, to octogenarians speaking of struggles in their youth, Brandon has managed to squeeze life into every shot that he clicks.
His Indian fans were hooked to his page throughout his visit, in collaboration with the UN, to cover developing countries. Before one could blink, he was here clicking people in Jammu, and bringing out stories from the interiors of the country. The visit has been going great so far with some amazing portraits coming out from New Delhi, Jammu and even Dharamsala.
Here are some of the best photos (and stories) on the Humans of New York page from India till now:
He told me that he could look at anyone’s face, and tell them exactly what they need in life. I asked him to give me a try. He studied my face, looked up at the sky for a few seconds, then said: “You don’t need anything.”
“The second date is going much better than the first one.”
“Today there’s Whatsapp and Facebook, so keeping two people apart is almost impossible. ‘Love marriages’ are becoming much more popular than arranged marriages, and even arranged marriages involve much more interaction than they used to. Many families still choose to uphold the appearance of an arrangement. Their children will come to them and say: ‘I fell in love.’ And they’ll say: ‘OK, let us arrange it.'”
“Coolest part for me was when the police were looking for someone to blame for the crowd, and asked: “Who is he with?” And everyone screamed in unison: “All of us!””
“Life has taken me through many turns. I was studying to be an engineer, but I never felt like it was my calling in life. It seemed like I was just going through the motions. Since my family has always been into photography, I thought: ‘I’ll be a photographer!’ So I got a very nice camera and took it onto my roof one night, and began to photograph the stars. Then I accidentally kicked over the tripod and destroyed the camera. So I thought, ‘I’ll be a photo editor!'”
“Sure, I wish I could wear prettier clothes. I wish I could take a photograph without my face looking like a football. But I know that I’m not my weight. And it’s hard to come to that conclusion. You really have to battle to separate your self-image from your weight. Because weight is always the first thing that somebody sees. Somebody will see you after a few years, and their first comment is about the weight you’ve put on. Maybe I’ve become a better person these last few years. Maybe I’ve been a great friend to someone. Maybe I’ve read a lot of books and become smarter. Maybe the reason I’ve put on weight is that I’ve got a great job that can be stressful and doesn’t leave me time to go to the gym.”
“I used to drink a bottle a day. But then I met my guru.”
“I don’t have any dreams. What’s the point? I’m poor. I don’t have any skills. I wash the utensils in the kitchen– that’s what I do. But I like the girls I work with. We make fun together. I tell jokes. They tell jokes. I’m happy– it’s in my nature.”
“My mother-in-law is giving me problems.”
I walked into a classroom where some young Tibetan students were practicing their chants, and all the kids suddenly grew very focused and well-behaved on account of the visitor. Except for this guy, who started laughing at me. Then he started laughing at himself laughing. Then he started laughing that he couldn’t stop laughing at himself laughing.
“The right to protest is very limited in Tibet. But the Chinese laws allow for ethnic minorities to practice their traditions. So every Wednesday, to demonstrate solidarity, Tibetans all over the world express their culture. They speak Tibetan, eat at Tibetan restaurants, and wear traditional Tibetan clothing. It’s a form of silent protest.”
“I came to Dharamshala when I was nine years old. Back then, we weren’t allowed to learn the Tibetan language in school, so my parents sent me to India. For a whole month we walked over the mountains. It was very snowy, and we only walked at night. One night I almost fell off a cliff, but one of the adults grabbed onto my hand and pulled me back up. It’s been twenty years now since I last saw my parents. Just a few months ago, I had a really bad stomach problem and had to go to the hospital. Even though I’m an adult, I’ve never missed my mother more. Being that sick made me realize that I have nobody watching over me.”
“I think a wonderful symbol of the Tibetan culture is the behavior of the stray dogs around their monastery. Most everywhere else I’ve traveled, stray dogs have been very skittish around humans. Here, they seemed right at home.”
“When my children are settled, I am going to retire and devote more time to my meditation. Every time you meditate, you get a little further from the world. You become more and more like the lotus, which grows in the water, but never touches the water.”
“So what’s the benefit of withdrawing from the world?”
“Meditation is like a glass of juice. I can describe the glass of juice to you. But you’re not going to know the glass of juice until you taste it.”
“I’m going to be an astronaut. There’s another world out there. And I want to go there.”
To know more about this story and what I think, follow me on Twitter at @mayank1029
The post 18 Touching Stories Of India Like We’ve Never Seen Before, From The Lens Of ‘Humans Of New York’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.