TRAVEL
June 2016 | the muse | 14
PORTRAITS OF
It is sad to think that when we get the opportunity to travel, we often walk away with just a few keepsakes and occasionally a sun tan. My wife Kirsty, and I have made it our mission over the past few years to get out of our comfort zones and submerge ourselves into as many different cultures as our savings will allow. The Randrollercoaster doesn't make it easy, but we have made do, often putting off other responsible adult duties (such as having children) in the process. The most recent of these trips has been to India. Dirty, crowded and often uncomfortable. These were the adjectives that we had been given from others during our pre-holiday research and to be fair to those people I wouldn’t totally disagree. When travelling through a country with a population upwards of 1.2 billion it is inevitable that you are going to encounter those negative by-products of over population. What we encountered, however, was so much more. Our trip started in Mumbai (I still remember how the humidity hit me when stepping off the plane for the first time) and continued through Delhi, Agra, Varanasi and the southern, mountainous region of Munnar. We relaxed on a houseboat in Kerala - one if the most memorable 24 hours of my life as we made our way along the southern Indian backwaters, sipping on masala chai, enjoying the beautiful landscape; and we pushed our way through crowds of people
the next adventure, fully confident that we weren’t in any danger and, in fact, by Gavin van Haght having made a new friend. Local photographer Some useful planning tips: specialising in Pack light. This is not the weddings and new type of holiday where born photography you want to be dragging luggage around behind on the manic Indian railway network. Each you. Fit what you can into a backpack and location was unique and, to be honest, let the road take you where it will. required a lot more time than we had to Go with an open mind. Research to your fully come to terms with. It would take hearts content, read reviews and plan a number of trips to take in all that India itineraries but allow room to experience has to offer. Despite the stark differences the culture afresh, through your own eyes, between one city and the next, wherever and accept that things may not always go we went we were welcomed by the according to plan… and that this is good. mingled smells of spicy foods and incense, Don’t separate yourself from the culture. This is a tough one. It’s always great to stay rich colours and friendly smiles. This is a people group who have defined in fancy hotels and, if I’m honest, it was more themselves by their friendly nature and often than not a matter of cost that saw willingness to benefit the lives of those us avoiding the high-end accommodation around them. One such person that we rather than a desire to immerse ourselves encountered actually felt that we had in the Indian way of life, but don’t be the tipped too much for the impromptu tour people that hang out at the hotel pool at that he had taken us on the night before the cost of seeing a country from a local’s (we would have paid double had we gone perspective. the professional tour route). He met up What we encountered in India was a with us the next day to present us with culture rich in heritage, bright in colour the pillow slips that he had bought for us and welcoming in nature. We recommend with the excess. In a country with such it to anyone looking for a real adventure. extreme poverty, the act almost brought As a photographer I travel with a project me to tears. This was not a once-off act in mind and in India my focus was street of human decency as we found ourselves, photography and portraiture. Hopefully almost on a nightly basis, in the back of a my images clearly showcase the raw rickshaw with a ‘guide’ that we had met beauty and character of India. only minutes before and on our way to For more see www.crazylittlething.co.za.
INDIA