Head over Wheels By Mannan Gupta / August 2016
Head over Wheels By Mannan Gupta
4
The Janwaar kids taught me a lesson in time. I am not late. But I’d say I am running on Indian time. The tendency to be perpetually late seems to be genetic in India. But the Janwaar kids proved us something that even their elders don’t know. Without a word, they took ownership of a 5 day photoshoot project. They acted incredibly reliable, always on time and always as a team. The Madhya Pradesh Tourism is sponsoring the first Janwaar Castle Skateboarding Challenge and in return Janwaar Castle is enhancing wildlife tourism of Madhya Pradesh by promoting it as a sports tourism destination with the project #skateboarding_with_ the_tigers. For this the Janwaar kids went on a photoshoot with Vicky Roy from 28th July to 1st August to different tourist destinations in Madhya Pradesh. We went all the way up to Datiya, a small town next to Jhansi. At Orchha, we had a divine evening shoot. We also covered the world famous Khajuraho temples, Pandav Falls, Art Ichol and random other places. Every day, early in the morning, the car would start from Janwaar. It would pick 4-6 kids and then meet us (Vicky Roy, Ulrike and sometimes me, Mannan) at the location of the shoot, or mid way.
5
Everyday, different girls and boys would get ready and assemble at a meeting point in Janwaar to get picked up by t he car. Which kids had to go, was told to them by the kids who returned the previous day. So every morning, who ever woke up first (it was Ramkesh mostly) would go to everyone’s house and make sure all the kids are up. The car picked them up, and they would meet us exactly on time.
6
7
8
Departure time used to be 6 or 7 am and was once even 4:30 am. The kids didn’t keep us waiting even once. Always, they came on time. As a gift from nature, they were welcomed by a tiger, crossing the main route between the two ghats of Panna National Park on their way to Raneh Falls. As soon as they met us, they were all going crazy seeing a tiger that close. At Raneh Falls too, the massiveness of the falls, left them awed. The kids even trained the forest guides. By the end of the shoot, the guides were already skateboarding on their own!
Young forest guide skateboarding at Raneh Falls 9
Also the parents showed bright colors. They encouraged their daughters to engage and participate in the program with full vigor. Priyanka’s grandfather helped his grandchild to get ready and dropped her at the assembly point at 4:30am. Wondering why we had to leave that early? Shailendra, one of our rockstar skateboarders, had to reach his school at 10am for his examination. The kids offered to leave early so that they could return on time for Shailendra to reach school! So all 8 kids got up early, we completed the shoot, and dropped Shailendra to his school at 5 minutes to 10. Even the teachers had not reached by then! The maturity with which the kids followed Vicky Roy’s directions, helped us to get much more out of the photoshoot than expected. Not just tourist destinations, we also shot on roads, farms and in the fields where ever we saw a promising frame. In short, the real Madhya Pradesh. We could explore it during its wild and lush green monsoon season, just because we had time.
Tigers training the policemen of Janwaar
10
11
There were times when Vicky would suddenly shout to stop the car. The kids ready as they were always, would put on the gear, and follow his directions. We managed to capture many animals in the photo shoot. Some were happy to be a part of it, while others came angrily after us ...
Kids helping the Rajmata get on board. 12
Ramkesh being chased by a cow 13
A dog playing with him while he skateboarded
14
After the long day of “work�, when we thought the kids would definitely go to sleep, they would spring up in their car seats. With the rythym of old hindi bollywood music they would sing along with it at the top of their voice.. While returning back from the shoot, Vicky Roy said that this was the best and the most enjoyable photoshoot he ever did.
15
janwaar-castle.org