Welcome back ! Sorry I haven’t posted in ages but I have been really busy travelling and creating a new project which I will talk about in a new blog post. I have decided that I will post a blog each month.

In this blog post I am going to tell you about my travels to India. My friends and I explored 3 parts of India this included Chennai, Goa and Mumbai each city was very different from each other. I think by exploring different parts of India enabled me to understand different cultures . I was able to explore how people lived in India. I think people from a western culture don’t fully understand what a basic life can be in India,  it has opened my eyes on how people can live with so little income but still be happy and positive .

Starting in Chennai, I was able to see the religious culture of India.  Seeing magnificent temples and experiencing the atmosphere when walking around each one. When entering the silent pray room i was able to analysis how people came and prayed in silence, having stark contrast to the busy traffic outside. I found it was so peaceful and calming, even though I am not a religious person myself it enabled me to sit and think in silence.

The temple called Kapaleeshwarar Temple, this is a Hindu temple and it is dedicated to Shiva (who is one of the Hindu gods). It was established in the 7th century, the magnificat detail in this temple is exquisite. The vibrant colours and intricate carvings that made up this building was just phenomenal. We also visited the St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica this is a Roman catholic Church built in 1896. The last temple we visited was called Sri Ramakrishna Math this is a Monks temple which was completed in 1994. Going to these places has enabled me to experience how different religions can exist together.

In Chennai we wondered around local streets where we were able to meet local people and see generations of the same family living together in the same house. We visited the beach in Chennai it is called Marina Beach and is 8 miles long. Local people are allowed to pitch up their stalls selling their wares trying to make a daily living. We also went to visit the Krishna’s Butterball, this is a huge boulder that has not moved for over 1200 years. It is still in the same position today and weighs about 250 tons. It was amazing how it stayed in that same position. I was able to capture the sights of the religious architecture and the people. Travelling around India for example Mumbai and Goa, from looking at the photographs you can see the different tones and colours showing how India can be represented in different ways depending where you are in the country.

When visiting Goa I found this more tourist orientated. We stayed in rustic huts rather than a hotel giving us a different experience. Goa was beautiful and it was great to capture the amount of people on the beach, watching the sunset each night. I found this a very relaxing place to take a holiday but this was not my intention and I wanted to explore the real India and its culture.

We moved onto Mumbai which opened my eyes as you could imagine the significant poverty in the city. We visited the 3rd biggest slum in the world which is called Dharavi around 700,000 people live there. We were able to explore the slum it allowed us to see how the people lived and how they managed in their daily lives. The people living in the slum were very welcoming to us and allowed us into their homes.

The things that I noticed while walking around the slum was the amount of artwork on the sides of buildings, also the buildings are all brightly coloured. In contrast coming from the UK where most of our buildings are very uniform and grey. While being in Mumbai I was able to see the local fish market and also experience the train station, I was astonished how busy it can be during peak times. The people would jump on and off the train even though it was still moving. We experienced this at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station and was shocked by the danger. It was definitely an eye opener for me and I am thrilled that I actually did this journey.

When reflecting on the whole experience it’s made me realise I want to travel more and experience other cultures. From a photographic point of view I feel I was able to see different colours, comparing with photographs I have taken in Britain. The photographs I have taken in India have more vibrant colours and look so different . What this has allowed me to do is think about how basic their lives are in comparison to the western culture. I feel from just walking around India and documenting the peoples lives allows the viewer to experience India to a certain degree, however you need to go there to be able to fully understand the country. I’m hoping to go back to India in the future visiting different parts and gaining different experiences and memories.