It was Sunday, and I was out for some street photography in Jaipur after a long hiatus. I had chosen a bylane of the busy market in the walled city area of Jaipur. This street is lined with the old Havelis of Agarwal and Jain traders along with a few shops. It bore a desolate look with scorching sun and humid weather. I have traversed this street many times during the previous photo walks in Jaipur and found the shutters of this establishment latched every time. I love capturing the facades of the old buildings so here is a picture from one of my previous photo walks.
This shop was buzzing with activity and looked like a small printing press. Curiosity directed me to initiate a conversation with this person who was engrossed in his work. I sought his permission for clicking a picture to which he enthusiastically agreed.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“Jaipur”
I guess he must have assumed I was a tourist and now with this answer, he was a bit suspicious.
“Why do you click pictures?” My best guess is he must have assumed I was a reporter but I didn’t look like one.
“I love photography.”
Once his suspicion was settled, it was my turn.
“Do you stay in this lane?”
“No, I come from very far.”
“So where are you from?”
“I’m from Naila village”
“The one near Kanota dam?”
“Yes. Have you been there?”
“Yes. You have lots of old Havelis in your village and a nice fort (now owned by the Oberois) but the old palace is in a very bad condition.” I was referring to a beautiful palace which is now a regional medical training center in Naila.
“The people don’t know how to maintain.”
Read-Â Naila- A village tucked away in time.
“What’s your name?”
“Prabhu Narain”
Is this a very old establishment?
Yes. It is 70 years old. The house is even older. We are just the tenants.
Was this always a printing press?
No. we are into binding business. It was never a printing press.
Hasn’t business gone down over the years with computers?
“Not really, we are never deficient of work since we bind answer sheets of an ITI. We used to get lots of business from banks previously but that has dwindled over the years. Schools and training institute will continue giving business for a long time. There’s no substitute to these sheets.”
Happy to meet you. I’ll see you some other time.
Positively, he said with a smile.
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Your pictures are beautiful. I will check you out on Instagram.
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Thanks, Neha. See you on IG! 🙂
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I’ve enjoyed this post a lot. I live in Brasil and haven’t been to India yet. But I always wanted to know about live-style in India and your post was really nice to read.
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Happy to know you enjoyed reading this post. I’m sure you will love visiting India. There are some similarities with Brazil but a lot more new things to discover. 🙂
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I’ve been to Jaipur! Beautiful place! Specially the palaces😊
And I suddenly realized i’ve already followed your blog a year ago🙈
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Happy to hear that you like Jaipur. You have been following this blog? I guess we haven’t interacted all this while. Where are you based?
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Yes I have been since more than a year! I’m from Mumbai
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Super to hear, Natasha! 🙂
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😊😊
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A wonderful little slice of life depicted in your beautifully shot photos and your “chat” – enchanting Arv!
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I’m glad you enjoyed this post, Claire. How have you been? Better now?
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I’m getting there – the changeable weather we have been having in the UK has caused me problems and I keep fainting!! Just another thing my odd body can’t cope with I’m afraid!
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Sorry to hear that you have been having some real hard time, Claire. Is weather better now? I suppose cold weather is more problematic.
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I love the set of photos. This is going to be one of my inspirations for my new photography blog site
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I’m happy to know this post served as an inspiration. 🙂
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Great story with amazing pictures
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I’m glad you liked it.
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lovely pics. Gr Stef
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I’m glad you liked it, Stef 🙂
I see you have a lovely blog. 🙂
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Thank you so much:)
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You are welcome 🙂
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Nice story telling!
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Thanks, Kenn!
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i loved how you described the whole process. great work, keep shooting 🙂
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B&w photography is so rich in details even they can tell you more then photo in colors.
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These honest B&W pics themselves harken to a dwindling race – book binding. Sometimes I wonder if all of us stopped reading books and went for e-books instead, what will happen to all these professions? And to all these accessories to books – bookmarks, bookstands, magnifying glasses and suchlike. Thanks for sharing this. It’s got me thinking of something.
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I guess in this age of fast changes we have no clue where we all will end up. We have seen demise of so many things we grew up with…at a rate faster than our parents.
Despite all these changes, I do think that some things will survive but I’m not sure if there will be enough work for all these people to carry on what they ahve been doing. I’m hoping that books will survive but yes the readers will dwindle if the pace of change continues. But who know, if there will be a miracle.
By the way, these books have been an important way for us to understand life in old days especially the religious scriptures and saily notings in kings court. Isn’t it so?
Have you finished the book you were working on, Pradita?
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You’re right. Who knows how many of these old things will survive and how important their survival will be. Old books are still a source of huge knowledge and I fear, that unless documented in data, they’ll be lost to us when thebly crumble into dust.
No there’s still some way to go in completing my book, but I’m on it. Thanks for asking 😊
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Jaipur is also known as the pink city. I never visited Jaipur but heard about its beauty.
Nice and descriptive explanation.
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Amazing…
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Great stories with beautiful pictures…
I started following you since its an amazing blog to knew more about Jaipur..
Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks for following, Athira. Appreciate your comment and encouragement. Where are you based?
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From India Arv!
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Ah! Happy to know. Which city?
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