Manila: Job market

Manila, July 2011.

City living Manila

Tondo, Manila, July 2011.

Cars don't die in Manila

Manila, July 2011.

Crowded Manila

Manila, July 2011.

Sexier, healthier through tuna?

Manila, July 2011.

Cycling Manila

Manila, July 2011.

Brush and Clean: Manila Street Vendor

Manila, July 2011.

Fashion Manila

Manila, July 2011.

Learn to text with art

WhyWhatWhenWhere?

OnlyThere?

Singapore, September 2011.

Cockroach life without head

Singapore, August 2011.

Wild youth

Singapore, September 2011.

Ships in Singapore

Singapore, September 2011.

The way ahead

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

Burger King

New Delhi, August 2011.

Will he fall?

Hope that's not on somebodies wish list.

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

Working the beauty

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

locked Tuk Tuk

Kolkata, India, August 2011.

Kolkata nights

Kolkata, India, August 2011.

Fixing New Delhi

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

Mogul Delhi

New Delhi, August 2011.

Resting in the middle of the road

New Delhi, India, September 2011.

Tricycle rickshaws

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

Early morning in New Delhi

New Delhi, India, August 2011.

Ice Cream vendor

New Delhi, August 2011.

The bright side of the monsoon season in Kolkata: a hilsa dinner

Kolkatans love to eat. Apart from a (very) sweet tooth, they enjoy fish dishes, especially seasonal delicacies such as hilsa in mustard sauce.

The hilsa is a salt water fish that enters the rivers and swims upstream for hundreds of kilometers to spawn. For this long round trip, the fish gorges on the plentiful food the Hooghly river carries into the sea during the rainy season.

Kolkata, India, August 2011.

Kolkata, the city of slow and natural death

Hand-pulled rickshaws are part of the Kolkata cityscape. Though banned in 2005, they continue to ply many districts of the city. Convenient for short distances, especially when streets are flooded, they are still in high demand. Since a radical ban would have made too many people jobless, it was decided to stop issuing new licenses. The approach is that of a slow and natural death.

The ubiquitous yellow taxis also seem to live this kind of slow and natural death. The Hindustan (British Leyland) Ambassador dates back from more than sixty years, and it is indeed automotive history you enter when boarding one. No frills, just two bench seats, no exterior mirrors, no locking system, no air con. A few gods for protection, and a meter that tests the mathematic skills of the passengers (the fare is currently two times the reading + 2 rupees).

Powering these vintage cars through the clogged streets of Kolkata is a horn that must have gone through several reincarnations for the outburst of life it delivers. Blowing the horn is ascertaining that fellow drivers see you. Or, rather, not blowing the horn is taking the chance to be unheard/overseen and made responsible for anything that could go wrong.

Unfortunately, the Kolkatan slow and natural death has most heritage buildings firmly in its grip, with few chances of survival. In North Kolkata, the native so-called black town of the Raj era, most palaces and mansions of the rich Bengali landlords are decaying. So the Marble Palace, a huge mansion still belonging to his original owner, the Mullick family and housing uncountable pieces of art, is slowly but surely decaying.

Kolkata, India, August 2011.

Ambargarh - A dream fulfilled

Ambargarh, Faridabad, India, August 2011.