Where Habits Have A Habitat Amit Pasricha

Hello Meets the Photographer Who Has Dedicated a New Book, Titled India at Home, to Photographs Shot Across the Diverse Homes of India – From Palaces to Apartments, He Warns About the Cultural Homogenisation Seeping Into the Country

- Sanghita Singh

How did you chance upon the concept of doing a book on homes?

“While I was on assignment for the Agha Khan Foundation in Gujarat we took shelter in a Sarpanch’s home in a remote village near Siddhpur in the hot part of the day. I found that home to be rather interesting. It had plates on the wall and reminded me of Subodh Gupta and his ‘Bartan Art,’ which would’ve perhaps stemmed from a similar encounter. And so I set about photographing this home with the Sarpanch and his wife. It’s only when I returned and worked upon that image that I realised that this was a project-in-the-making. In essence, the panoramic image of the interior brought out the relationship of the inhabitants with the home. This was 2007, a full nine years before the book actually came out. It’s quite another matter that when we set out to find these people again for the caption that I discovered my error in judgment – it was the woman who was the Sarpanch!”

What are the aspects of a house that interest you? Is it the spaces and their creative interpretations or the lifestyle of the people it represents?

“Homes are fascinating from the point of view that they literally represent the cosmos – the only difference is that this world is entirely inside the four walls. Homes are those places where habits have a habitat. Here in this private world, dressed in their regular clothes, sitting on their beds or favourite chair, surrounded by their families, pets and possessions – people represent who they are – it’s a consolidated picture of the great throbbing heart of India. Through these intimate portraits, it is possible to interpret their lives: their occupations, tastes, beliefs, status, education and all that they value and hold dear.”