RajatGhosh Editorial Photographer: Rishaans MukheBhaat( first Rice )

Mukhebhaat of SON with Runi and Riktam

7th April- my cousin’s grandson will be fed rice for the first time in his life, a major event in a childs life.

I am game to come witness the event n be part of the fun and frolic, it also gives me an opportunity to come, visit my village & meet with Ma Bhagwati & spend some days in the village, savour the village life

6 th-april night is the train, to depart at 2215 hours, Rain God open up at 1830hours, storm, thunder & torresntial rain follows for a few hours. No sigh of rain disappearing. My cousin his daughter and me at 2100 hrs with umbrella in hand head for the station, we reach there station still dry , Yipeee!

Platform 9C

We are off to sealdah, it's the terminus for trains bound to North Bengal mostly, The platform 9C which has been under repair for as long as I remember ooks all dazzling, it is all done up, shed all along the platform, and light too. wow, what a amazing sight!

we positioned ourselves where we presumed the train boggy would be at, train departs at 2215, the train was placed at 2200 hours, plenty of time to board, prepare the bed n jump into bed.

I had booked my tickets early & sure enough it was a side upper berth, (Railways algorthym you see) 0600 hours would see me get the seat by the window till then it is about lying cramped up on side upper berth, barely 6 feet long.

The night passed off, at 0700 as I woke up,

The train was an hour late as it approached Malda, no surprise there Indian railways is known for being late. My cousin had a few friends he wanted to catch up with , so he jumped off the train and his daughter and me continued for a few hours more, as the train chugged along, it was sad to see the Mango trees were mostly bare this, remembering my trip last year.

(Read at http://editorialohotographyindiarajat.blogspot.com/2018/06/this-month-saw-me-headed-outto-village.html )

last year was amazing n mango was in surplusThis year whole different story ,

Anyway by 0945 we reached buniadpur n make my way to the cousins house some breakfast later we were at the event of he kiddo getting his first taste of solid food, fed by his uncle

first taste of rice

All that food, yes

Content

The family event was fun as always just by sheer number of folks one meets,

kid with uncles and Great uncles

finally at 1600 hours was on the road again.

We took a toto to the village covered 15 km in 55 minutes, roads not too bumpy for most part, all the way state highway and a session oh chit chat happened again.

8^th APRIL

morning was nice & a eager me was off too create some interesting images

A good day was in the offering as I came Across 2 little lambs head butting the other against a blue wall, under a painted window

Playfull

Managed to get a few frames and moved on to a kitchen of a house which had a old lady peeping out of the kitchen window, a big grin on her face as she spied me.

My next victim

I walking on further, met a few kids who had been my subjects of photography earlier, a few joyous minutes together and I walked on to check out my fields which was running barren. Rains have played havoc with wheat production and there will be a complete loss once more, 2^nd time in 3 years one of the three quarter will be zero production.

A good crop looks like this

Have been growing my own rice, wheat & mustard (oil). Am happy to grow my own food for consumption, it gives me opportunity to come visit my village & breath in fresh air for the few days I am at the village my first Mustard oil season yet to happen.

Ma Bhagwati

Photography bug satisfied for the time being I head over meet Ma Bhagwati, the family deity & spend some quality time with her, before breakfast.

Rice + Daal + sojne Daata , on banana Leaf

Sun started to beat down as day went on & I stayed indoors, relaxed at home

I would step out again at 1600 to photograph a patch of flowers I had spied the previous day, the photographer in me always looking for opportunity to make images,

kochu flowers

AT 1630 hours, I came across a smiling lady as she worked on her house by the pond full of flowers and I proceeded to make some images and then, A bunch of kids showed up who had posed for me on the last trip, luckily I had a few prints of the kids from my last trip.

village life

upto monkey business

The next day I was sure I would have more amazing images but

9^th april

0430 hrs the sky opened up with lightning n thunder n huge water drops too

Early morning rain, darn, I stayed in bed, heard & watched the rain till I fell sleep again only to wake up 90 min later, still rains ,

Country roads

bravely I set off in rain without camera only Phone camera with me

Shiva delivers

Got a amazing shot of Shiva temple, a proper camera would have helped but Dslr was too unweldy in this wheather, once more got an opportunity to hang out with Ma Bhagwati n then lunched at 1330 hrs, 1400 it started to rain again, My thought ; getting to the train station might be tough, I was a good 15 km off the station and no transport so to speak that could handle the torrential rain, Time went on, rain kept on falling at a steady pace, I was curious what was gonna happen, how would I reach the station, and hearing my thought around 1700 hours, POmpa a friend appeared with his car( he is the local transport guy and I have from time to time used his service to travel locally) and gave me a ride to the station realizing how bad the whether was. Bless him, Yes I did pay him for his service, so glad he appeared when he did, I was at the station at 1530 hours and the sky turned crimson 10 minutes later.