Laurent Salesse is an ace photographer from Bordeaux France , we met by chance in Lucknow during Ashura Moharam 2007.. Laurent was shooting Moharam first time in Lucknow and I had just scourged my back and cut my head , he asked me if he could shoot my bleeding back, I understood his accent and replied in the affirmative in French and we became friends ,,
Laurent did not know that Ashura all the shops restaurants are closed in old Lucknow and he wanted to shoot a house Imambara too so I took him to my mother in law Wasim Qazilbashs house ,he shot the Imambara , we could not offer him anything as we have a forced fast called Fake Shikani..
Laurent and I shot the Ashura procession from Nakhas till Karbala Talkatora , than he got lost in the crowds ,, we lost touch till he met me at Cafe Leopold in 2009 I took him to my mothers house at Colaba he met my brother Firdaus and my nephew Shayan both in Birmingham now ,,
Than we lost touch again till I met him on the banks of the Sangam Maha Kumbh Shahi Snan Basant Panchami 2013 he got emotional hugged me my Naga Guru Shri Vijay Giri Maharaj Juna Akhara ..
A few weeks back he sent me a message he wanted to meet me before leaving for Nasikh Kumbh 2015 but we never met he ended up ar Ramkund on 29 August and I was Shooting Naga Sadhus at Trimbakeshwar on the same day,, than returned from the Kumbh last night and wanted to see me so dressed in saffron barefeet I went to meet him behind Taj Mahal Hotel,, Hotel Carlton.. we chatted about old times and he has not met my family and said would come to Bandra to see them in a day or two,, so we came to Cafe Mondegar , he sipped beer I had black coffee ,, Laurent wants me to come to France but I politely refused his offer I love India far too much..and though I love the French language culture literature and Balzac I wont leave India, I told him and we parted and I took a bus to King Circle to shoot the great iconic GSB Lord Ganesha 2015.,
I have just returned from a marathon shoot and shooting GSB Lord Ganesha is more about my attachment to the Lords followers .. my mentor Dr Bhujang Pai his father in law Mr Shenoy and my Facebook friends Sunil Shenoy Nayak , Amit Pai and others I was here close to two hours ,,
