Skip to content

PhotographsThe archive

As it was on the day

Phone pictures, not a shoot. Everything collected so far, in sets. Open a set, then tap any photograph to see it whole.

10 photographs The land Soil, hills, water, and what the monsoon does to all three.

Sun breaking through a cloud in rays over flooded paddy fields, low hills on the horizon, the water holding the reflection — Sun through the cloud, over flooded paddyDebendra

Green paddy stretching to low hills under a flat grey monsoon cloud, date palms and scrub in the foreground, a power line crossing the frame — The whole plain under one cloudDebendra

The sun setting behind a forested ridge, orange cloud above it, terraced fields and scattered trees on the slope below — The sun going down behind the ridgeDebendra

A tank covered edge to edge with lily pads, tall grass in the foreground, a wooded hill rising behind the far bank — Lily pads to the far bankDebendra

White and brown cattle grazing on rough ground below a forested hill, a strip of paddy turning yellow behind them, a metalled road curving away to the left — Cattle out below the hill, paddy turningDebendra

Motorcycles parked at the edge of a green paddy field — Bikes at the edge of the paddy

Mist sitting on forested hills of the Eastern Ghats — Mist on the Eastern Ghats

Green paddy after rain, hills in the distance — Paddy after the rain

Paddy terraced into a hillside in Kandhamal, banana and palm above the bunds — Paddy terraced into the hillside

The road climbing west into the Eastern Ghats — The road climbing west

11 photographs The village The ground, the road, the evenings. Where the day ends up.

Blue metal door set in a mud-plastered wall, chalk writing and dates on the laterite beside it, a low bench of packed earth to the left — A door in a mud wall, and the dates chalked beside it

A yard grown over with green after rain, tin and tiled roofs behind it, a moss-covered concrete wall on the right and a barbed wire fence in front — What the monsoon does to a yard in a fortnight

A motorcycle standing alone on a red earth track along a ridge, a grey plastered house with a metal roof behind it, hills and a yellow evening sky — The bike left on the ridge track at duskDebendra

A rectangular village tank with stepped concrete sides, the railings around it painted yellow and blue, green paddy and houses on the far bank with a hill behind — The tank, and the railings someone paintedDebendra

The sun dropping behind a coconut palm and a line of tin and tile roofs, electric wires crossing an orange sky — Sun going down behind the roofs

An orange and grey sunset behind trees and a corrugated roof, two power lines running across the sky — Orange over the wiresAnanta

The village water tower against an evening sky — The water tower at dusk

Sunset over the village road

The red earth football ground before a match, trees along the far edge — Red earth, before the match

Villagers watching a football match on the red earth ground — The whole village at the football ground

People standing around a fire after dark — The fire after dark

1 photograph Work Paddy, harvest, firewood. What the day is actually spent on.

Women sorting harvest on bare red earth outside a mud-walled house — Sorting the harvest on bare earth

13 photographs The school The blackboard, the mid-day meal, and the break in between.

Three boys crouched over marbles on packed earth, a girl in a blue uniform watching from concrete steps — Marbles, before the bell

Two boys in school uniform sitting on the floor eating rice from steel plates, one laughing — Mid-day meal, on the floor

A man pouring from a steel tumbler into a boy's mouth in a classroom, other children waiting — A dose, straight from the tumbler

Six girls in blue school uniforms standing barefoot on wet earth under a large tree — Blue uniforms under the tree

Children and two adults bent over a tilled plot beside a school building painted with Odia murals — The school plot, being planted

Two boys holding each other by the ears and laughing in a classroom, blackboard behind — Ear to ear

Nine boys in school uniform crowded into a pose on the paving outside a school building — Outside, in the winter light

Six older students standing behind a seated young man in a school library lined with numbered subject cupboards — In the library

Rows of boys in white shirts and navy shorts standing in formation on a red earth ground, one holding the national flag — Assembly, with the flag

A man taking a selfie with about fifteen children crowding and waving behind him in a school veranda — Everyone wants to be in it

Five teachers standing either side of a table of framed portraits beneath a flagpole on a school ground — Before the flag goes up

Three older students on red earth holding a dhol and a snare drum, one wearing a tricolour headband — The band, waiting to start

A man taking a selfie on a village road at dusk with schoolchildren in uniform walking behind him — Walking back with the school

1 photograph Festival The pandal, the flag, the days the village stops.

Crowd seated inside a decorated festival pandal — Inside the festival pandal

1 photograph Food Rice, dal, greens, and a chulha that is lit before you wake.

Rice, dal and greens served in steel bowls — Rice, dal and greens

3 photographs The market The road, the shopfronts, and the haat when it comes.

Power lines over the market road at dusk, hills behind — Power lines over the market road

A lit village shop open after dark — The shop stays open after dark

The market road with hills rising behind the shopfronts — Market road, hills behind

More as they are taken. No face is published here before the person in it has agreed to it — for the children, that means the school and the family, not the camera. Some photographs are held back for exactly that reason.