Sunday, February 24, 2013

Meghalaya Elections

                                            Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Photograph taken on our way to Shillong earlier in February. We were in Meghalaya for this report on the Assembly elections in the state. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Manipur morning


                                                        Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

Early morning at a village in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. December 2012. And then this in one corner (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

And this in another (below)

                                                          Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Survival moves

                                                           Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

After Jorhat we travelled to Imphal, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. The state has 42, 116 people who are HIV+. Manipur is quite close to Burma. The porous border with Burma and proximity to the infamous Golden Triangle drug route ensures drugs are easily available in Manipur. Add to that a life stifled under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Many intravenous drug users in Manipur struggle to survive in this state. Leading the battle for survival is the Manipur Network of Positive People. Formed in 1997, currently it has 2000 members who are countering fear, ignorance, social stigma and helping build a community based organisation. It is not an easy job to say the least. We had visited MNP+ in 2007. When we were there in December 2012, it was our second visit after five years.

A mad green soul

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

In December 2012 we also travelled to Jorhat in Assam to meet Jadab Mulai Payeng, a green hero. For the last thirty three years of his life he has been crossing this river and planting trees near an isolated sandbar of the Bramhaputra river and has single-handedly given rise to a forest.

                                                                         Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

A Burning Lake


                                             Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved

From 1984 development promises have engulfed Loktak lake in Manipur--one of the largest freshwater lakes in India. First came a hydel project and now the government wants to evict fisherfolk to save the lake. Photograph taken by Tomba on location during the filming in November 2012. A short Loktake Video Report 



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Madness and a road project


                                                               Photograph@Arijit Sen and Tomba--All Rights Reserved


I was travelling in the Tousem subdivision of Tamenglong district of Manipur. A young and probably mad IAS officer has decided to involve his community and build a road that connects people of the Zeliangrong community and gets them closer. That was our story. This photograph was clicked in the remote Phoklong village in Tousem. The village elders from the Zemi Naga tribe were eagerly waiting for us, the visitors.


                                                               Photograph@Arijit Sen -All Rights Reserved

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Fifty Years After A War


                                                                  Photograph@Arijit Sen--All Rights Reserved

This year we travelled extensively in Arunachal Pradesh for a news documentary on 50 years of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. This photograph was taken at the Sela Pass. A link to the report. 1962: Lest We Forget