Creatures and colours of small town India: Sangli Snapshots- Apr 18, 2012
For big city people like me, forays into small town India are endlessly fascinating. This time, I swear I was on my way from Pune to Sangli without even really knowing how to locate the town on the map! Now I know that the Sangli-Kupwad-Miraj urban boundaries are home to about half a million people. That more familiar names like Kolhapur (chappals) and Pandharpur (reigning deity Vithoba!) are neighboring cities. That sugarcane and turmeric are the flavors of this area and its main industry. The feel of the city is semi-rural and people are simple, expressive and friendly.
Here are a few snapshots of the creatures (human and otherwise) and frames my lens encountered in Sangli!
Quaint, decorated carts selling bananas...in the mid-morning heat, this guy was nearly asleep though!
Volunteer workers from the slum explain the process of convincing communities to move to flats. Their eyes lit up!
Life as a construction worker...
Radiant "bhabhi" again; a volunteer with Shelter Associates, she really caught my fancy with her brisk mannerisms and quick smile!
Construction workers framed against the setting sun, almost as if they were posing!
Gujarati contractor and labor on site; we tried hard to bring a smile to this girl's face, but she wasn't obliging!
And life goes on....
I could not figure out if this one was threatening me or thinking of yummy grass....her horns were impressive though! We also learnt these buffaloes charge is you carry a black umbrella 🙂
A semi-rural existence...this one flitted away from my lens....
An old colonial structure- A Hindu dharamshala and sanatorium!
Posted on April 18, 2012, in Travel & Experiences and tagged animals, Maharashtra, people, Sangli, semi-urban, small town. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
ramblinginthecity 
Just figured out Nipesh’s query about that “garment in the same print”. As usual your camera eye is so very interesting.
We all see many things happening around us every day. But very few people have the ability to capture such defining moments!! Very well observed, captured and portrayed!!
Hi Mukta,
I am a researcher currently in Sangli. I would very much like to know where the sanatorium is in Sangli, and how you found it. My email is tara.suri@college.harvard.edu Thanks!
Tara
Hi Tara, we were returning from a site visit with people from Shelter Associates. This might have been in Miraj as well. I could look at the map and ask the shelter people perhaps to give you more specific info.