This blog showcases images captured across India and the US when I did my Reuters Foundation Fellowship at the Missouri University in 1997. It portrays an India of million moods and mutinies. There are many who helped me to look beyond my lens. I thank Jayant Kodkani, Vinay Kamat, Sumit Chakraberti and Balasubramanium, four of my very close friends, who taught me the basics of journalism. Apart from them I also thank Bill Kuykendall, D Rees, Julie and Loop of the MU. All images are copyrighted.
The images taken by me of the Saras Plane during the Aero India show in February 2009, was short lived as it crashed within a month, along with three of the best pilots of the Indian Air Force. The plane which was still under experiment, plunged to its end on March 6th 2009. The images you see below of the accident site were taken by my team member Mohan Kumar B N and the video pictures were taken by an onlooker who happened to be at the right place at the right time.
SARAS AT THE AERO INDIA SHOW - FEB 11th to the 14th, 2009 at the Yelanka Airforce base in Bangalore.
These are the only few images I had taken during the India International Air Show. During the show I did not realize the importance of this plane and so I just took a few pictures as a matter of stock images. But after the Crash these images proved to be very lucky for our newspaper (DNA-Bangalore Edition), as we were able to compare the images pinpoint and tell our readers that it was the same plane which crashed.
D Srinivas captured these video images of the burning and mangled remains of the Saras plane which crashed on the outskirts Bidadi 30 kilometers away from Bangalore on Friday, 6th March 2009.
These moving images of the remains of the Saras Plane taken by my team mate Mohan Kumar B N showing the various moods of people as well the investigators trying to get some lead as to why the crash occurred. Some of the images show the charred remains of two of the three pilots and also of the inconsolable co-workers of the NAL who were handling the Saras Plane project.
After working for nearly 20 years in the newspaper industry, covering air crashes are the worst for any photojournalist. Though I have covered about 6 air crashes so far the one which I covered in Bangalore of the Air bus A 320 crash outside the Bangalore Airport wall in 1990 and later the Mid-air collision between the Saudi Arabian Airways and the Kazakhstan flight at Charki Dadri in Haryana in 1996 are the worst reminders of my crash coverage's which also keeps giving me nightmares to date.
What most people's perception of news photojournalist is that they are heartless and are emotionless people. If one as look it from the photojournalist's point of view at the end of the day he ensures that the whole world gets a first hand view of the accident.
I have been asked by hundreds of people whom I have come across these two decades of work asking me the same question, Are you heartless?
Well not so. Photojournalists are humans too and they do have a heart which does cry many a times behind a veiled curtain away from the preying eyes of society. Photojournalists become a subject of ridicule even by their fellow writing journalists who are named reporters, subeditors and many more such fancy designations of late, even after he gives them various leads in their scores of stories which they wistfully claim to be theirs.
Well lets us get back to crashes which gives me nightmares and why so, the first air crash of the A-320 in Bangalore made me cry as I noticed the charred remains of the passengers and more so of an two year old child who’s body was carried with bare hands by an firefighter. I covered the accident for three days, from the site to the mortuary and departure of the coffins to their respective destinations.
At the end of each day I looked at the published pictures which made me cry more and hit the booze bottle early in the day. This was one way of hiding my human side but ensuring that my paper had the best images on a daily basis. Which any good news photojournalists will agree too.
The Bangalore Air Bus A 320 Crash
The Site with the mangled remains along with charred beyond recognition of the victims in the Air Bus A 320 crash outside the HAL Bangalore airport on 14th February, 1990.
The plane, an Airbus 320 delivered to the national domestic carrier on Dec. 24, 1989, was carrying 135 passengers, 4 additional passengers who were infants not assigned seats and a crew of 7 at the time of the crash.
These are the only few images I had taken during the India International Air Show. During the show I did not realize the importance of this plane and so I just took a few pictures as a matter of stock images. But after the Crash these images proved to be very lucky for our newspaper (DNA-Bangalore Edition), as we were able to compare the images pinpoint and tell our readers that it was the same plane which crashed.
