From Amtala in Kolkata to Panchsher in Afghanistan, an ongoing photography exhibition tells the story of the man on the street from across the world. The Guide gets photo-journalist Dilip Banerjee to share the stories his pictures tell
From Amtala in Kolkata to Panchsher in Afghanistan, an ongoing photography exhibition tells the story of the man on the street from across the world. The Guide gets photo-journalist Dilip Banerjee to share the stories his pictures tell
The frame that captures a man on a bullock cart speaking on mobile phone reveals a multitude of subtexts.
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A sehra-wearing groom on a horse stuck in waterlogged streets might seem amusing to you but imagine the dire straits the man found himself in, minutes before being married. 
Like a good photojournalist, Dilip Banerjee has a knack of letting his pictures speak for himself. Song of the Road is an exhibition of his best works in recent times. "I like to think of myself as a street photographer.
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I don't know if its art but I try to show human life in its bare form," says Banerjee, a freelance photographer.
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From The Barrel of the Gun
This image was taken in 2001 just after the 9/11 attacks in New York. "What struck me was the innocence of the girl's smile, and the contrast of the Kalashnikov she carries.
To her it's almost like a toy," he says. Banerjee says children are another favourite subject. "Notice how they always find a comfortable corner to peek from." 
Comfort Zone, a set of two pictures shot in Khwaja Bahuddin and Midnapore, show two different children who peep from behind elders in the family to catch a gimpse of adult affairs.
Monsoon Wedding
One of Banerjee's favourite places to shoot pictures is his hometown Kolkata.
"It's a city of acceptance. It's a city where people come from far and wide to make a home and yet settle for a hard life," he says.
He finds the strange acceptance of hardships, from traffic jams to waterlogged streets, characteristic of the city. He claims to find shades of Kolkata in Mumbai as well. "Even the walls tell a story in Mumbai."
Head To Toe
This image too is a study of society through the picture-within-a-picture technique.
It shows women worshipping the life size poster of Mayawati shot in Delhi and Lucknow respectively.
The two pictures that inspire the Head to Toe title, also includes a picture where a woman climbs a ladder to put a tilak on Sonia Gandhi's forehead. Are they leaders or gods? 
Roaming
Besides being striking for riotous colours, this picture, which is part of the set Signals of a Change, portrays how even the remotest corners are now connected through mobile phones.
The man on the bullock cart and the Rajasthani village woman are now connected to the world with just a click of a button.
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