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Rana Siddiqui Zaman
EXPLORING the range for his photoshoot, Vijay Kranti asked the Dalai Lama, “Your honour, how much freedom do I have in this room?” The monk looked at a cat roaming inside the room freely, and said, “Like her”!
With this freedom and the relations he developed over the years, Kranti, a former journalist, author and photographer, who was allowed access to the private lounge of the spiritual leader, came forth with some of the most exclusive pictures of the Buddhist monk, besides those of the Tibetans in exile. So, while one of the pictures shows the Dalai Lama reading an old manuscript in his private lounge, another one shows him eating yak meat. And then, there are others that record him in meditation, playing with kids, posing for a picture, taking a walk, meeting people, addressing his followers at the Berlin Gate (the only aggressive picture), and so on.
Some works from his collection of more than three lakh photographs, clicked over 43 years, were on display recently at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, in Delhi. What could well be called world’s largest one-man show of the Buddhist leader and the life of Tibetans gave a peek into the life of Tibetans-in-exile.
The author of three books, including the first-ever graphic book on the life of Dalai Lama, 66-year-old Kranti is considered an authority on the leader and the lifestyle, food, culture, craft and music of the Tibetans. Mounted across four galleries, the show was a tell-tale of Kranti’s passion and knowledge of the Dalai Lama and the life around him.
Ask him about the spiritual leader and Kranti says, “He lives with the basics, eats heartily, jokes around, plays and has a tremendous sense of humour.” One image from the collection shows the Dalai Lama posing with Miss Tibet in the 1990s. Kranti recalls, “Referring to my role as a judge at one of the earliest Miss Tibet shows, he asked me jokingly, ‘So which one did you prefer’. I said, ‘Your honour, I have already selected one long back.” He laughed heartily.
The other shots capture the lives of the Tibetan people — weaving shawls and carpets, in the farmer’s market, crazy expressions while watching a football match, their favourite sport, rare Muslim refugees in Tibet and the Tibetan Parliament. Eyes following the Dalai Lama in reverence, some crying, some closed with a sense of peace, some full of ecstasy and surprise make interesting views. Some clicks such as the architecture of the 13th century Potala Palace, the erstwhile residence of the heads of states, capturing the dish antennae against the ancient monastery as a statement of time and age, monk kids watching pictures of gun in library book, and doing “shastrarth” in traditional style, are a tell-tale of an exciting social life in exile. It took fashion photographer Akshat Mahajan, the curator of the show, four months to choose nearly 300 pictures from more than three lakh available. Worth a view.
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