Living outside the box

Expat zone

When Polina Schapova first arrived in India, she cried for three days straight — she didn’t understand how she could possibly fit into this microcosm of chaos. But slowly the Russian found herself getting intimate with the various puzzle pieces that fit in to make the country. “I didn’t like the spices. I still can’t take them,” she says.

It has been five and a half years since the photographer arrived in Bengaluru, and a lot has changed since then. “I came here married and not a photographer, and now I’m single and in love with photography.” Her rebound romance with the City (and country) led her to set up shop here; she now owns a company called ‘Confetti Foto’, which works on candid creative wedding photography. Alongside this, she travels across the country to weave a visual tale through ‘Polka  Photos’.

“I’m never bored here, it’s just not possible. Even crossing the road, buying broccoli or sitting on my rooftop is interesting,” she says. While most people visit Rajasthan for its gorgeous palaces, Polina goes there to see the rat temple and shoots them drinking milk from a bowl for three days! “I have the skill to capture what most people don’t notice. India is a fertile land and there’s something interesting happening around you, all the time.”    

Although Russian by birth, she has found herself in various parts of the world. “I have been to 25 to 26 countries and have lived in four — born in Russia and lived there for 12 years, grew up in England between the ages of 12 and 24, USA for three years and in Sweden for three more.” India is her fifth and she says she didn’t find it very difficult to integrate herself here.

Now she knows how to read and write Hindi, block print and work with mosaic. “It took me six months to learn Hindi, although I can’t speak it yet. Whenever I’m in Mumbai, I try to read the Hindi letterings on signboards first.” In addition to Bengaluru, she loves Mumbai for its art and art deco scene. “I love ‘Chor bazaar’ in Mumbai! In fact, India has changed my life... It was a massive growing up process, coming here. I learnt everything that most people learn in their 20s now (like cooking).” In honour of her new-found freedom that came with her move to the City, she got a tattoo of an autorickshaw (or ‘tuk tuk’ as she prefers to call it) with wings. “It’s a sign of the change in my life; of taking flight with the wings India gave me,” she says, smiling.

Since her family is scattered across the globe, her friends have become her adopted family.

“When you live in a place far from home (although the concept of home got lost along the way), your friends become your family. We have a close-knit group that acts as family in every sense of the word. It’s less of what you do than who you do it with.” They have camped in forests (to the bemusement of the locals) and play badminton in Cubbon Park on Sundays. “We do what normal people do!”

Settled here comfortably, she, at times, misses Europe. “The flea markets in Sweden that happen in spring, actually. I love vintage items and it’s expensive here. Also, everything is shiny and new. I grew up with antiques — my father used to collect items — so I’m used to having old things around me.” However, when she does go back to Europe, to visit her parents, she says, “I find everything so clean, organised, dull and plastic. Their values are in the wrong place; it’s a rat race. Being here felt like a rediscovery of what my life should have been and who I am. I mean, after a long day’s work in London, people use pre-cut vegetables...seriously!” 

Coming from a creative family, she has previously worked as a video producer, media strategist, in PR and advertising before making best use of her talent. “When I moved from Russia and communism, where there isn’t any advertisements, to England, to an explosion of mass-manipulation, it was fascinating. I couldn’t believe this stuff (mass manipulating people) was legal! My parents (mum who is an actor and dad, a painter) have always been creatively inclined but I lost touch during my corporate phase. Now, I see things more visually.”

It is this Bohemian side of her that has found home on the streets of Bengaluru — “There’s a very relaxed vibe to the City. People don’t care if you are in flip-flops or have money. Even though I look different and come from a different background, I don’t feel out of place. In places like London, people are judged on brand value. I used to be that girl but now I don’t judge a person for what brand they sport.” But she says that the City could do with a little more fashion in its veins. “It’s definitely different from five years ago but I’d like it if people played around with their looks, regardless of who
it’s by.”