A Visit to Alwar

It is perhaps appropriate at this time to share with you some thoughts on the work of the Nirvanavan Foundation located in the Alwar District of Rajasthan, India. This past year was my first experience with the work of this small yet undeniably exuberant group of individuals.

We made initial contact the previous year whilst I was working with the International Humana People to People Movement in India. Even though we met on the very last evening of my time in India that previous year, we kept in touch through the Internet for an entire year and shared the confidence that we would work together the following year.

So when it was time for me to make my arrangements, a series of messages were sent to the Nirvanavan Foundation. We discussed such details as dates, locations, subjects, timing and so forth without ever having worked together previously. Even though that was the case, there was something about this foundation that put me at ease.

This became abundantly clear upon my arrival. While the leaders of other organizations justifiably find it extremely difficult to spend time with me in the field, the leader of the Nirvanavan Foundation, Nirvana Bodhisattva, managed to spend every waking hour in the field with me during the course of my photographic documentation. He was there in the morning to pick me up from my room and there in the evening as we had dinner discussing the potential of our collaboration. The energy present in his voice as we discussed the possibilities was potent and inspiring.

We moved from village to village, from school to school, and it was clear that the people had been spoken to prior to my arrival, allowing my camera a place in their lives that might have been nearly impossible otherwise. The teachers were always there, waiting eagerly for us. The pride on their faces as we came near to their school houses was palpable every single time.

As for the students, they were an example for children around the world. The gratitude that they showed for the strip of black paint on the wall acting as their blackboard was humbling. The joy that they expressed at our visit was proof of their hopes and aspirations. While their lives were beyond my capacity to imagine, they presented themselves like other children from my experiences in other places. Some of them smiled while others frowned, some of them reacted as expected while others showed us the meaning of spontaneity.

Before my visit, Nirvana shared with me his worry that perhaps the men in the villages might have an objection to the photography. This proved to be a false worry and the men were mostly absent during our time in their villages, from time to time spending a few minutes here and there checking in.

It was the older women that surprised me the most. They were certainly the most conscious of their reality and would have in my mind kept their distance during my visit. That proved also to be a false assumption on my part. They showed great interest in the work and most of them allowed themselves to be photographed as well.

With all this in mind, there was always a sense that much needed to be done in these villages. It was clear to me that my camera only saw what was meant for it to see. How could one expect to see much more as a stranger on their first visit?

However, the reality of their work in the field of sex knows little of vacations. In between subjects, my eyes noticed the cars pulling aside to negotiate the price for the woman sitting on the side of the road, for the woman whose sister was in front of me waiting for her portrait to be made.

 

The women sat under a thatched-roof hut without walls. They had a straw bench to lay upon and a mirror to adjust their features with as the only objects. At times, there was also be a small bench for the man to sit on as he waited with the woman for the next customer. This man was also usually from the village, perhaps her brother or perhaps a relative more distant.

Prior to my visit to these villages, a reading from the website of the Nirvanavan Foundation helped me form my approach to the photography in advance.

With the above in mind, the process of photography became more fluid and the children enjoyed their time in front of the camera.

In between schools, much information was transferred to me by Nirvana. We discussed the place of these children in the social system of India, the views of the surrounding villages and so on. We also talked at length with respect to his vision and the future of the Nirvanavan Foundation.

When he shared with me the facts regarding the operating expenses associated with the ten schools, it became apparently clear to me that this was a foundation that needed to succeed and that the negatives being exposed would be one avenue for that success.

For everyone to understand the operating expenses of this foundation, all that is needed is to translate that fact to the country in which they live. For instance, in my own country  (U.S.A.) the yearly operating expenses for the Nirvanavan Foundation are comparable to the poverty threshold of a household with two people under the age of retirement - around $16,000 per year (Census Bureau Statistics). This information is being presented without the desire to demean any person living in the United States but rather to make the comparison more relevant perhaps.

With this in mind, it is my hope that funding for the Nirvanavan Foundation could begin with this benefit, with the support of the good people at Lucky's Cafe and with the impetus for this show being a supporter of the Nirvanavan Foundation, Ms. Abigail Derethik, without whose dedication this show would have been impossible.