Rare Pictures are Shown – Sh. P. Chidambaram

INVC,,

Inward Eye is an Exhibition of photographs by Novel and Ashok Lavasa from the STAND AND STARE collection, their repertoire of photographs that they have clicked together over their travels, displayed at the Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre.  The Exhibition inaugurated by the Honorable Home Minister of India Sh. P. Chidambaram and he said on the occassion this is the amazing collection of Novel and Ashok and it is really close to the nature. Internationally acclaimed photographer Raghu Rai also in this exhibition and he said I am very happy to come here and I hope that they will continue their journey.

The Exhibition brochure quotes from Ashok Lavasa’s book ‘An Uncivil Servant’:”Those were the days when there was time. We all had time- time to stand and stare, time to write and share, time to smell and tell, time to recognize birds and flowers, time to go to the river” and invites you to “stand and stare”.

There is a certain spirituality that the Lavasas claim is imbued in their photographs, a natural piety that is born out of excitement and faith. Through these pictures they seem to have created a certain bond with Nature that makes the heart “leap” when it “beholds a rainbow in the sky” or a little rock in a remote cave that people walk miles in forest and hills to worship. It is a journey that transcends purpose and pain. The relentless pursuit of religion and the unrelenting thrill of adventure merge to reinstate faith, which is the elixir of life and the “bliss of solitude”.  They believe in what Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live one is as though nothing is a miracle the other is as if everything is.” The Lavasas are not men on a mission. They are not technicians either. Their passion for photography is best illustrated by the Dependable Sun, an iconic picture that captures the Sun as the only glowing lamp among the trinity of fused lights.

They say “just as the Sun completes this Lamp and provides to it a Light beyond its source, so does Nature lend to Life an excitement beyond Technology, and Passion gives a human being energy and insight beyond skill.”

Novel and Ashok Lavasa are not trained photographers. They are two sensitive souls that are out to assimilate life. They do so by a passionate lifestyle that reflects in their work, social interaction and incessant travel when they interact with Nature. Mountains, waterfalls, the setting and rising Sun, flowers, trees, temples, and monuments form a part of their landscape.

Novel worked for State Bank of India for 27 years and Ashok is in the Indian Administrative Service. Both have a Masters degree from Delhi University in English Literature and a Masters in Business Administration. While Ashok Lavasa is currently posted as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs in Government of India, Novel Lavasa now organizes motivational adventure camps for women and has also started organizing the collection of over 30000 photographs that they have taken in the last 30 years.The Lavasas are compulsive travelers. Yamunotri, Gangotri, Gaumukh, Tapovan, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkund, Amarnath, Zanskar, Andamans, Lakshdweep, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Kerala. Wild life and Bird sanctuaries, they have done it all. The camera is part of their life support system and their keen interest in life around them seldom allows their eyes to rest. They are widely traveled and have visited Australia, Austria, Bhutan, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Peoples’ Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, UK, and USA.