A Stunning Photo Story On Dying Indian Trades

“Man is imperfect. The reality he creates is always endangered by man.”

The above quote beautifully describes India and all the dualities it implies, more so when one takes its own age old rituals and professions into accounts. Recently, we came across a riveting photo documentation on the same that forced us to question how sufficiently we are straddling the balance between modernization and westernization in the country--poignantly portrayed in the monochromatic hues of a debate that is anything but black and white. More points for subtle contrasting, then.

Supranav Dash, a New York based fine-art, documentary and fashion photographer clicked a series of photos keeping these Marginal trades and its practitioners as its focus, seemingly in an attempt to observe such questions if not provide the answers.

It’s especially interesting to note that we pass by several of these fast depleting professions on a daily basis even major metropolitan hubs across the length and breadth of the country however, it takes a starkly honest portrayal like Dash’s for us to really sit up and notice.

Many might question why exactly a person earning little or nothing out of a job would still continue doing it too. In fact, we even touched upon it, though in a far more light-hearted fashion, in our piece on Mumbai’s most unique professions. An entrepreneurial spirit that despite all odds, continues to exist. For generations now, the idea of a professional destiny has been a hard bubble to burst out of because people were made to believe that their work is a family legacy. When I asked Mukesh Anwar, a bandra-based tailor what other job ideas he’d ever romanced his answer was rather telling. “I’ve never even considered such a thing,” he shrugged. “Both my father and mother were tailors in Rajasthan, it’s all I know. And it’s all i’ll ever know”

All that being said and done though, Anwar’s son might not feel quite as obligated to follow in his father’s footsteps. Indian society is evolving at breakneck speed and soon, change might be the only constant. Several of the professions documented in Dash’s work will quickly become entirely obsolete, some in less than a decade, making it all the more relevant to witness them in whatever format is made available to us while they still exist. For now, Dash’s stunning documentation will do. In fact, it will do rather nicely.

Here are 15 poignant pictures of such professions from the series. Scroll on to enjoy them:

I. Oil Can Reseller