A Deeper Lens

Images at the Exhibition (Amit Mehra)

Images at the exhibition (Photo- Amit Mehra)Rakesh Sahai would often get into his silver car and take anyone who shared his passion for photography, nature and wildlife on a drive into the wilderness. There would inevitably be a long queue of enthusiasts waiting to join him.

Many images shot by the late photographer and his students are on display at the Convention Foyer of the India Habitat Centre. There’s Amit Verma’s shot of a chameleon gazing into a GoPro camera, placed on a pile of camel dung at the Desert National Park in Rajasthan. It is placed alongside Rakesh’s photograph of a bustard on a sweltering day. A rarely seen image by Rakesh is of a peacock dipping its beak in a river to catch its prey. There are scenes of Leh by Sharmila Mathews. These are among the images in the exhibition, “Guru Dakshina — A Mentor’s Memorabilia”, with which Rakesh’s students pay tribute to him.

A photo of Rakesh Sahai (Photo-Amit Mehra)

Renowned for wildlife photographs and picturesque Himalayan ranges, Rakesh breathed his last at Pench National Park, Madhya Pradesh last year. The show features around 58 photographs shot by 11 students, including Rakesh’s portraits. There are also images of wildlife and landscapes clicked by Rakesh. “He would have been 60 this year.

There were a whole bunch of kids, youngsters and grown-ups who he would take with him to wildlife parks and treks,” says Delhi-based Kamal Sahai, who is also a photographer and Rakesh’s brother. Gagan Mehta, Rakesh’s student, says, “I remember, while we were at the Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra, he stood for a long time to click a kingfisher catch a fish and eat it on a branch, despite sensing a tiger 50 metres away.”

Among the photographs by Rakesh is one of a dog on the roof of a railway station and the view from a train after a downpour. Manoj Rangarh, 51, a friend from Rishikesh, would often accompany Sahai to Ladakh, Deoria Tal in Uttarakhand, and the Kumbh Mela. He says, “His photographs are meditative in nature and one simply learnt by being with him.” At India Habitat Centre till Dec 7