photo gallery: Cityscape"...Looking at Urban change in Bangalore and Mumbai, I decided to photograph the oldest trades of both cities who were under threat from accelerated urban growth. The silk dyers and weavers of Chickpet, Bangalore and the fishing communities of Worli and Machimanagar in Mumbai.
The fishing community’s presence on these seven islands has been documented for more than 2000 years. Now they are barely able to make a living thanks to the prevalence of pollution and trawlers. It is their women who earn by collecting the fish in the early hours and selling it at the markets. Their homes are also under threat because of the prohibitive real estate prices. Their two floor structures are dwarfed by their predominantly multistory neighbors.
In the tightly packed streets of Chickpet the livelihood of the silk dyers and weavers who have lived and worked here for four and a half centuries is also under threat. The government wants to relocate them because of the alleged pollution they cause. The workshops are being demolished to make way for high rises in this commercial hub of the city.
It has been a wonderful opportunity to photograph these small islands of continuity and tradition in a fast homogenizing world where urban change destroys its heritage in the name of progress..."
