I recently took a solo trip to Ahmadabad, India to learn more about my family and where I came from. I was born there and came to the states when I was 2. I’ve since been back only once at the age of 13. So yes… long overdue.
The trip was incredible and I came back with so much more than I had hoped for. I had a chance to visit the schools my parents attended and the homes they grew up in. At one point, one of my dad’s childhood friends and I walked right into a home my dad lived in when he was a young boy (new tenants lived there now) and started looking around. It felt a bit strange and uncomfortable to just walk into a strangers home but we were greeted kindly by the new owners who offered us tea and snacks. I thought that was amazing. The absolute kindness of strangers was a reoccurring theme throughout the trip.
I met up with my dad’s old college buddies who told me stories of how popular my dad had been in his college years as well as stories of my parents as children and how they knew each other from a very young age. Meeting all the families and close friends that knew my parents growing up and hearing everything they had to share was priceless.
This is a trip I will never forget. I’ve come back completely transformed with an entirely fresh perspective. I can’t wait to go back again with the entire family.
So as I walked, rickshawed, and bused my way around Ahmadabad with my grandparents, I of course had to take some pictures. Below you’ll find a mixture of images shot on digital and film. Most of the square format were shot on my Fuji GF670 and the 35mm on a canon A35 rangefinder.
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Music by A.R. Rahman
thank you for sharing such an intimate homeland journey nirav…
) you’re one of a kind, and you inspire me.
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