A corporate honcho indulges in his passion for photography and history and the outcome is a stunning photo exhibition of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

When Makarand Khatavkar (HR head at Deutsche Bank) took up a posting in Pakistan, it was not all business.

Having a keen interest in history, he decided to explore the much-talked about Indus Valley Civilisation the urban cites of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. From there his interest deepened and took him to the ancient civilisations in Gujarat Lothal and Dholavira. The result is a photo exhibition early next month.

Mohenjo-daro: The streets of this ancient city were well-planned, straight and narrow.

Khatavkar says, "It's not easy to get a personal visa to Pakistan. My visa was even rejected once." This did not deter his plans, it just delayed them by a year, "I worked on this project since the Christmas of 2005. The exhibition would have been up last year but due to visa problems, it was pushed back a year."

Once all the formalities were complete, Khatavkar was on his way. Harappa is a two-and-a-half hour drive from Lahore while Mohenjo-daro is 11 hours from Karachi, near Larkana, hometown of the Bhutto family. Khatavkar preferred to travel by the local bus that claimed to be air-conditioned, but was anything but that. "We passed through many villages. I can't recall all their names. But the only difference you feel is that you can't speak Urdu," he says, clearing any doubts of animosity. Dholavira is located 450 kms from Ahmedabad. "I even got a heat stroke while in Dholavira," he says.

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