Posts 1-68 of ‘A Passenger through India’ were all about the day to day events that unfolded as I and my companions voyaged through central India; a voyage that became one very much of the mind as the journey unfolded. These earlier text posts explore India’s rich history and cultural diversity, as well as the opulence of past and current splendour. And they sometimes side-stepped into darker issues such as caste and gender subjugation, and the all-present poverty; but then ‘A Passenger through India’ was never intended as a feel-good and rose-coloured skip through a tourist wonderland.
But in this photo essay, I wanted to do nothing more than portray the humblest of roadside scenes; of food. Not ‘street food’, of which Indian travel lore is replete with tall tales and true, but the kind you buy and take home to the kitchen, there to prepare recipes of delight, or of necessity. My subjects here are largely simple vegetables, and the spices which attend to their preparation. I knew the names of barely a handful, and probably tasted even fewer during my stay, but their colour, form and texture invited my camera equally as did that of India’s grand architecture. I’ve probably presented more photos than necessary to convey my intent, but it’s food…and my eyes proved as gluttonous as my gustatory desire. The photographs were taken in New Delhi, Kendulhargarh, Satpada, Sunderbans, Ujjian and Varanasi. I hope you enjoy.
Geoff Williams 