The Daring Divers
by Goutam Maiti
River Transport has been a century old option for the city of Kolkata, one of the oldest cities and once the Capital India. Since few hundred years ferry services are in vogue on the waters of Ganga and this appears to be one of the cheapest and most popular of the transport options to the people of Kolkata till date.
In order to facilitate the river transport, the during the British period, before India was Independent, several Ferry service Jetties were built by the Britishers, which were further expanded by the Government of India over the past 74 years of Independence. To name a few of these Ferry Service Jetties like: Bagbazar Ghat, Kashi Mitra Ghat, Kumortuli Ghat, Nimtala Ghat, Shovabazar Ghat, Ahiritola Ghat, Fairly Place, Babu Ghat and so on which are placed on the side of Kolkata where as, on the other side there are several other Jetties on the side of Howrah, the twin city of Kolkata.
These Ferry Jetties, Commonly known as “Ghats” are the happening spots for the street photographers like us, where we get to experience diverse activities from morning to midnight. One of the several interesting activities of these places is the bathing of young boys at Ganga with full of daredevil diving into the river from atop the iron constructed Ferry Jetties as well as the Ghats mainly during the summer.
As a street photographer, this attracted me a lot in the last three-four years to watch the fearlessness, energy, exuberance and joy of these boys who sometime even cross the boundary of personal safety, but of no help courtesy to the stupendous skills and guts they inherit from their ancestors from whom they have acquired all these. Needless to say that these boys hail from the vicinity of the banks of the river Ganga where they spend maximum of their life on the river and its the river that plays a major role in their lives and livelihoods which created a stupendous bonding between the two.
Most of the photographs as portrayed here were taken during the years 2018 to 2019 and in most cases I used Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-200 mm lens. In many of the instances I has used continuous shutter option just not to miss a moment with manual mode which I prefer always to be in full control.
Goutam Maiti is a Kolkata based documentary and street photographer. His work includes street life and people from various socio-economic backgrounds, focusing on their life in a more intimate form. Photography has given him an opportunity to express how he perceives of the world; through it he tries to find himself.
Out of his professional life in corporate services, he finds photography as fresh Oxygen to rejuvenate himself and also to find himself among the people on the streets and tell their story to people. His works have been published in National geographic Daily Dozens, Chiiz Magazine, Street Core Photography group, several publications of Progressive Street, Street Photo Collective etc. His works have also been exhibited in several prestigious photography exhibitions in different cities of India.
