Dear World,

I felt more connected with myself the moment I stopped making my life a show for others.

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As a kid, I was always a new girl in my school as my dad had to move a lot for work. Every time we had to move to a new city and find a new school for me. It was very difficult for me as a kid to open up and to share what I feel. I find a new world within myself I used to create stories of my own and created a space just for myself. 

As I grew up, people around me made me realize that there is a term for people like me “Introverts.” I find it difficult to open up to people as most of the time not everyone is ready to listen with openness. Most of the time the conversations end up in judgments or criticisms.

With time, I realized that people around me are more willing to speak about themselves rather than listening. I remember when I suffered from the problem of inclusiveness especially in this time of social media where everyone's life is on Instagram stories and if you are not sharing your life then maybe you are not that cool.

I always believed that in life there are so many shades between black and white and this is something which gave me a perspective in life. I spend most of my time traveling, listening to other's stories, reading books, etc. This is a big reason why I am more connected to documentary photography and filmmaking as I feel even the most silent mouth has anecdotes to share. Since I was a child, there has always been an urge within me to capture the essence of the human spirit, especially of resilient people emerging from crises, not willing to give up a fight.

During all these years, I felt more connected with myself the moment I stopped making my life a show for others, the moment I stopped convincing people the reason behind my silence I feel content. I always try and spend more and more time with myself and with time I found my solace in traveling solo.

As we all are going through this horrific time where people are struggling and suffering from COVID 19, it is the time to find peace inside you and create a world of your own. I have been staying at home for the last 45 days and I can see how the world is becoming a new place to live. Even during this time of pandemic we have stopped to appreciate small things about life, nature, family, and we are finding ourselves in this darkness. The moment you find peace inside yourself you won't be scared of anything or affected by anything around you. This is the world that I created for me long back which is giving me the strength to fight against this crisis and becoming a better person. This is exactly my world where I like to spend time with myself, where I have time to call my parents and talk to them, where I have time to grow as an artist and where I can stop and see what's around me.

Sincerely,

This Is Exactly My World

About the photographer: I am an independent photojournalist and documentary filmmaker based out of Delhi.


I started my career with Times of India in 2012 and has subsequently been a part of weekly Die Zeit and working in child and women welfare sector from last few years with an Ngo.


Since I was a child, there has always been an urge within me to capture the essence of human spirit, especially of resilient people emerging from crises, not willing to give up a fight, that is the reason I feel more connected to Documentary photography. It is the sector of the society on which I want to use photography skills the most. I have been travelling to different part of the world for projects and in search of stories which makes me understand different communities, caste and sectors. Also helped me to work in a stressed and conflicted environment and makes me more connected to people of all sectors.