My Lalbagh Chya Raja Darshan travelogue begins with my visit to Hemant Sawants shop, a very humble simple man , a low profile but excellent photographer and I dont think anyone shoots the Raja as he does on Visarjan day , he is highly innovative ,last be bought a 40 feet ladder guys holding it while he shot the Raja passing by his shop, sometimes he would sit on the old bridge from wee hours of morning to shoot Raja exiting from his royal gates ,,
He was the first guy to start 3D prints give it to boys to sell it for him on commission , he is always helping the boys make some extra money during Ganesh Chaturthi,,
We have been friends from the day 15 years back when I began shooting Lalbagh Chya Raja ,a visit to his shop is must , once he sent me on his terrace to shoot the Raja , his teenager daughter is a bird photographer and helps him at the studio with his endearing wife ,,they will offer me tea or batatwada and I love this Marathi Manoos ..he has done great documentary work ages back with the Andaman tribes , but he does not boast or show off , his technical knowledge of photography printing processing is remarkable ,,he is busy when Raja hits town that is Lalbagh.
We only meet once a year ,,couple of times , I could not go to the Raja Mukh Darshan and Press Shoot because of my leg injury I missed it , but this morning I had decided injury or no injury I will go to shoot the Raja ,,come what may and I did ,,I am incorrigibly unstoppable when I shoot Lalbagh Chya Raja ,, I shoot him through the myriad moods of his loved ones ,,I try to read his mind as a Mystic and now even his volunteers who were once brash arrogant have tamed down I was lucky I met someone who helped me last Visarjan too ,,he gave me coconuts offered to Raja and the moment the Committee members saw me they all waved out to me for they know that there is one crazy Muslim man who walks barefeet with the Raja from Lalbagh till Do Tanki.. dressed in saffron...
