Sure Travel Journey Vol 4.4 Spring 2018 | Page 45

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STJ 4.4
VISIONS
SPECIAL PHOTO
ISSUE
CONJURING INDIA
A N U N E X P E C T E D L E S S O N I N TA K I N G I T A L L I N B Y R I C H A R D H O L M E S
across the river. I’ll always treasure a long
exposure shot of the Taj Mahal looming
out of swirling morning mists.
By the time we got on our train back to
New Delhi that memory card was jammed
full of images. Digital memories of a
memorable trip. So I sure hope the thief
who took it from us enjoyed them all.
A moment of inattention while boarding
the train – with a classic “bait-and-switch”
from the thieves – and the camera bag
was gone. So were our passports and
all our money, but on the slow ride back
to New Delhi it was the photographs I
mourned the most. A month of memorable
travel reduced to nothing but memories.
“
That old Nikon
of mine may be gone,
hawked on the streets
of Agra no doubt, but
the images of temples,
tigers and train
rides are burnt into
memory.
“
I’ll never forget my first trip to India.
Which is just as well, because I don’t have
a single photograph to show for it. And
that’s not because we didn’t find anything
worth a snap – quite the opposite.
India is impossibly photogenic. Even
on our well-worn trail across the “Golden
Triangle” of the North, the colours,
cultures and eye-catching craziness of
this country will prompt you to bring extra
memory cards. I hadn’t, so I whittled the
money-shots from the digital chaff as we
travelled.
From the stations of New Delhi, where
corpse-laden wagons lay covered in cloth
and flowers for their final train ride home,
to the painted elephants that caused
traffic jams in Jaipur, memorable photo
opportunities were on every corner.
Udaipur was unforgettable, and we shot
sunsets over Lake Pichola and wedding
processions that packed the streets.
Damn, the memory card was filling up.
Review, delete. Review, delete. Only the
best were worthy of my precious bytes.
From the lakes, we went in search of
leopards in Panna National Park. There
was time in Bandhavgarh National Park,
too, with unforgettable shots of wild
tigers stored safely on the card. But we
hadn’t come to this corner of Madhya
Pradesh for just the cats – there were
also the famously erotic statues of
Khajuraho. My close-ups of the, um,
enthusiastically contorted sculptures
would make for great stories back home.
A couple escaping Mumbai for a flirty
weekend asked us to take their photo and
email it to them. We happily agreed and
swopped details.
From there we headed north again, to
Agra and the Taj Mahal. Of course, we
bagged our postcard shot through the
arches, but we also escaped the crowds
with a wander through the Mehtab Bagh
Perhaps it’s for the best, though,
because I learned a valuable lesson for the
road. Put down the camera. Switch off
your smartphone. Stop. Look. With your
eyes. Admire. Forget about hashtags. Soak
it all in. You won’t regret it.
That old Nikon of mine may be gone,
hawked on the streets of Agra, no doubt,
but the images of temples, tigers and
train rides are burned into memory. My
only regret? That love-struck couple from
Mumbai, forever cursing the South African
who broke his promise. Let’s hope the
statues made up for it.
MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 45