JOIN USIf you happen to pass by the India Habitat Centre any time soon, do visit Society for Agricultural Growth and Administrative Research’s photography exhibition ‘Incredible Uttarakhand’. Mountaineer Shekhar Jayal has taken some magnificent shots of the Himalayas on his numerous treks to the northern giants.
On view are the state’s pristine rivers, stoic mountains, snow-carpeted grounds and awe-inspiring sunrise and sunsets over them. You will come back full of the beauty that Uttarakhand has to offer without actually making a trip. Head straight to the lobbies of IHC.
Shekhar Jayal, a native of Uttarakhand, took to mountaineering after completing his Basic and Advance Mountaineering Courses. But he found a vacuum in his forays, unable to capture the splendour of the mountains and nature for eternity. So he took to photography.
Initially, a camera for him was a mere instrument to capture objects of interest. But after completing a diploma in photography, he realised that it could be used as a medium of artistic expression as well. Since then, photography has been his passion along with mountaineering.
The travel junkie has covered the full range of visual allurements that Uttarakhand presents. Mountains have been captured from different angles and at different times of the day. A shot of clouds scattered over them, probably at dusk, with a green and blue sky in the background, gives the effect of Northern Lights.
Another one has a jagged and rocky end of a cliff with a hiker standing on it making one realise that man can also win over nature, sometimes. Another one, taken early morning, has the top half of a mountain lit a bright yellow by the first sunrays while the bottom half is still shrouded in midnight blue.
Then there is the interesting shot of an underwater landscape. It is a river so pristine that you can clearly see the grass underneath, pumice rocks and lava from centuries ago that has cooled and crystallised in layers as its bed. A large Chinar leaf fallen on the forest floor waiting to be embraced by the soil and mould below it, is iconic.
This exhibition, at lobbies 4A, 4B, 5A and 6A of IHC, is on view till September 30.