No Photo Please

    

    The chiseled face of Richard Emblin floats in from somewhere in my mind as the annual circular from the External Publicity Division of the Ministry on inviting foreign journalists lands on my desk. Richard Emblin, a Canadian, is a professional photographer. For many years he has lived in Colombia and was the photo editor of Colombia’s leading national daily, “El Tiempo” (The Time). We got to know Richard and his wife Maria Claudia, (we all called her MC), rather well during our stay in Bogota from 2002 to 2005. These days he and MC run Colombia’s only English language newspaper, The City Paper.

    In those days, when militancy and terrorism were at their peak, there wasn't much one could do in their free time. Even clubs were not safe and I recollect with horror the bombing of club ‘El Nogal’, the shock waves of which we could feel at our home, miles away. So we just hung around with friends and we did hang around a lot with Richard and MC. Partly due to our friendship I was able to convince Richard to go to India on the familiarization programme for foreign journalists and report from the ground.

 

    Richard was in India for about two weeks and his paper published several stories and photographs with his byline. Once he was back in Bogota, Richard invited us for dinner home. For dinner we had Ajiaco, the unique  Colombian potato and chicken stew. It is  made of 3 types of potatoes, papas criollas, papas pastusas and papas sabaneras (these varieties of potatoes are found only in Colombia), corn and the Colombian herb guascas (Galinsoga parviflora) which  renders an indescribable aromatic flavour to the stew. It is served with slices of avocado, capers and cream. Many claim that Ajiaco is the national dish of Colombia. Once we went to Palacio de Nariño, the Presidential Palace, for lunch with President Andres Pastrana. Ajiaco was the main course.  

 

    After the hearty meal, Richard asked us to move into his study for a slideshow. He seemed uncharacteristically perked up and excited. I asked him what it was all about? He had arranged a special slideshow for us. Those days, in the early 2000s, before the dawn of digital photography, slides were the only way one could project photographs on a screen. Each roll of slides had 36 frames. Richard would show us pictures he had shot in Karnataka. 

 

    He dimmed the lights, and switched on the projector. All  four of us sat comfortably in couches in the book lined study with mugs of Juan Valdez coffee. Richard had the remote in his hand and the projector started rolling. Enchanting stone art of the glorious Hoysala temples of Belur and Halibed went up on the screen. Each frame  was striking. From the temples, Richard moved to the coast and there were slides of the mesmerizing Karwar coast among others. One by one we reached slide number 25. Then we moved to slide number 27. 27? What about slide number 26? There was no slide number 26. I turned to Richard and asked him why, what happened? Richard sought patience. He got up and turned on the lights and told us his story.

 

    While returning from Mangalore to Bangalore, Richard and his companion from the Foreign Office were crossing the temple town of Udupi, famous worldwide for its cuisine. Richard’s companion asked him if he would mind stopping at Udupi for a while. The town of Udupi was home to many mutts (monasteries) and he was a devotee of a particular monk who was much revered. Richard’s companion proposed that they go and seek the monk’s  blessings. Richard happily agreed. 

 

    Richard found the monk charismatic yet serene. He was rather enthralled in his presence. The monk blessed them and as Richard was leaving, it occurred to him to take a photograph of the monk. Richard requested permission to take a photo. Surprisingly for Richard, the monk declined. He responded on the lines that as he was a monk, a holy man in spiritual pursuits, holy men don’t like being photographed. He further added that he always avoided being photographed as somehow his photos never worked out. Richard was unrelenting and insistent.  He said he had come all the way from Colombia and was a professional photographer. He even claimed that he almost never got it wrong. Richard even promised to send the monk a copy. The monk said that if Richard was able to capture him on film, he would be happy to receive a copy of his photo. After taking the monk’s photo, Richard left for Bangalore. There were no other photo opportunities in Udupi.

 

    From Bangalore, they went to Shravanabelagola, 144 kms from Bangalore. There is the imposing 57 feet tall monolithic statue of Bahubali Gommateshwara on the top of the  3347 feet Vindhyagiri hill. The statue of Bahubali, sculpted in 983 AD during the Ganga dynasty, is the world's tallest monolithic stone statue carved out of a single granite block. One needs to climb about seven hundred steps to be able to see the statue from near. As Richard was climbing the steps, he found a group of disciples carrying a holy man on a stretcher up the hill. Richard found the image fascinating and couldn’t resist taking a picture. That was slide number 27. 

 

    As MC got us refills of the world’s richest coffee, Richard continued with his narration. The missing slide number 26 was the photo he had taken of the Udupi  monk. He couldn’t figure out what happened to the slide, after he developed the roll. Each and every slide of the roll was there except the slide which had captured the photo of the holy man. Such a thing had never happened in his professional career- as if someone had neatly incised a slide, leaving no trace at all. 

 

    Richard then dimmed the lights again and asked us to look carefully at slide number 27. It was the slide of the holy man on a stretcher being carried up the hill of Shravanabelagola by his disciples. The photograph was crystal clear, every detail was visible. One could see the holy man in saffron robes on the stretcher and the top of the shoulders of the disciples. Richard asked us to look at his face. There was just an outline and a white patch. There was no face.

 

P.S: Date 4 Nov. 2024

Dr. Bibek Debroy passed away on 1 Nov. 2024. Affected by his demise, I looked up the whatsapp messages that I had exchanged with him in the past. One pertained to 18 March 2022, when I shared this blog with him. I asked him: "Sir did you read this?" He replied: "I did. But thought best not to RT." Then he continued: "Something similar once happened to us. Will tell you when we meet. The reverse actually. A naked sadhu appeared in front of a picture of the Heliodrus column in Vidisha. Wasn't there when we took the picture."

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Reciprocity, the DNA of All Relationships

https://www.speakingtree.in/article/reciprocity-the-dna-of-all-relationships

 

Reciprocity is undertaking exchange for mutual benefit. It may seem the most natural thing to do, but few realise that the wheels of society and more so diplomacy are driven by it. Some say diplomacy is 99% reciprocity and 1% generosity. Even in matters of faith, while it is logical that the supreme consciousness is neutral and loves all beings equally, still the belief is that if there is more display of devotion to the Lord, the Lord will be more kind to us. 

 Working together or exchanging services, people by reciprocating are able to accomplish more than they would individually. Reciprocity is not always an even exchange, which opens up the potential for abuse yet people are often willing to perform a proportionately larger favour in return for something small. In 1974, sociologist Phillip Kunz mailed out Christmas cards with a note and photograph of him and his family to approximately 600 randomly selected strangers. Kunz received nearly 200 replies. Reciprocity operated - Kunz had done something for them and many felt obligated to respond. 

 Our upbringing plays an important role in the internalisation of reciprocity. In school we happily share our tiffin with friends but not with the bully, who just takes and does not share. Through experience, children learn to share with others, take turns, and engage in reciprocal actions.

 Several types of reciprocity are recognised. Balanced reciprocitywhich involves a calculation of the value of the exchange and an expectation that the favour will be returned within a specified time frame is most common. It is essentially quid pro quo or you scratch my back and I will scratch yours. Car pools are a pragmatic application whereas wedding gifts are an extreme example. If reciprocation is inadequate it may lead to breakdown of relations. Politicians seek votes invoking reciprocity. In diplomacy, election of candidates in multilateral organisations is conducted by tying up reciprocal support amongst countries.  

 Generalised reciprocity or exchange involves give and take within families, friends, within and outside the kinship groups and also in the metaphysical world. There is no expectation of a returned favour; instead, people simply do something for another person based on the assumption that the other person would do the same thing for them. Generalised reciprocity is based on the acceptance of delayed gratification. Returns may not materialise at all but if it does it provides the greatest of benefits. It builds trust, loyalty and stability in society.

 

Our belief in karma is  internalisation of reciprocity. People live righteous lives for escaping the cycle of rebirth. If we behave well with people, others will also behave well operate in our daily interactions. Giving and getting women in marriage outside kinship groups sustains the institution of marriage, giving rise to family, the building block of society. So is philanthropy and charity. Uncertainties galore in these exchanges but faith in delayed and indirect reciprocity drives them.  

 These days even marketers are using sophisticated methods of reciprocity. They start by an innocuous freebie and then there may not be any going back. E-commerce, OTT platforms, Youtube, Spotify, Amazon, software package solutions providers such as Zoom among others give free subscriptions for a time period and then termination without cost. But since they keep credit card details, only the most rapacious will not continue.  

 Negative reciprocity where one takes more than gives back leads to societal decay. The saddest example of negative reciprocity is pollution and organised crime. For a vibrant society and healthy environment we have to be eternally vigilant and always question ourselves whether we are taking more than we are giving back to society and Mother Nature. 

                            

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