India 2007 (Catching You Up: 7 of 11)

I could write a book about my short month in India. Everything I experienced in India seemed new to me. You know those stories of blind kids who get eye surgeries that enable them to see for the first time? I always wondered what they felt like at the moment that the doctor removes their eye bandages for the first time. How does their brain make sense of the visual overload? Being in India is the closest thing I have had in my life that makes me feel like I can attempt to answer that question.

I went to India during my last year of grad school with a small group of crazy-smart students led by one of the most incredible professors I've ever had the privileged to learn from. We went to study urban sustainability in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore. As globalization continues to transform these cities in India, we saw how this effects the livelihoods of India's massive population.

If I could sum up the people I met in India using only one word, that word is resilient. Life in places like Bangalore are literally changing right before its citizens eyes. Superhighways are constantly under construction, and new IT centers are growing out of farmland. Though millions in India are falling between the cracks of this unsustainable growth, others are resiliently adapting. The gentleman above is a prime example. The building below him and to his right is his home and shop. He has acquired and installed five solar panels that he uses to charge the batteries of auto rickshaws, or taxis (pictured at the bottom left corner of this photograph). The auto rickshaw drivers pay him for this sustainable energy source... his business is booming and he's making a contribution to reduce the air pollution that chokes his city.

The genius business model of the previously mentioned entrepreneur does not stop at auto rickshaws. He has also employed his solar panels to charge solar lanterns for merchants at a local market in Bangalore. You can see the lanterns shining bright in the above photo underneath the tents of this night market.

This photograph is my personal favorite in my library of images. This young boy is of the Katkari tribe in Maharashtra. The Katkari is a small community of ultra-rural dwellers whose livelihood is facing near extinction. They are challenged by a number of factors including the lack of an accessible water supply, an uneducated population, and access to health care. However daunting these challenges, it was clear to me after speaking to these people that they want to maintain their specific Katkari identity.

The photograph of the boy pictured above embodies the will and resilience of his community. His clothes are tattered and he is dirty. Behind him are the basics of his reality: livestock, dirt floors stained with goat urine, and mud walls that bear the emblems of traditional Hinduism. He is literally leaning on his environment. Yet, his face and his posture demand respect from the viewer. He is looking clear-eyed to the horizon with sheer determination. It was as if he wanted to tell me that he has pride. In his right hand he is holding a slingshot.