Shubha Srikanth In a world that harps in hyperbole, delights in the high decibel, craves for all things tantalising is a space dedicated for the understated though elemental and profound. Amidst this relentless sensory avalanche is a space called samanyashastram a space that celebrates the simple, the ordinary and the quintessential. As I talk to Kandukuri Ramesh Babu, the auteur of this counter-philosophy, I come to see that it evolved organically during the course of his life as journalist, writer and photographer I. samanyashastram is as much a physical space as it is sensorial, experiential and ideological; a worldview that emerged through the temporal and spatial dimensions of his life and life experiences; a creative sensibility of recognising, valuing and celebrating ‘ordinariness’.
Huge time, money and public attention is spilled on all that is larger than life. Then, are we erasing from our own consciousness the ordinary lives that the majority of us are living? These lives in which nothing extraordinary ever occurs? Spare a moment to think of the most extraordinary thing that has happened to you? How do you fare?
And thus, the need to document and celebrate us, the ordinary folk. It is from this thought that Ramesh Babu’s series My City My People emerged. For him, it is not so much the physical structures that make a city; but, the flora and fauna. Especially the ordinary folk who toil on the streets. The street is their workplace. The implements a farmer carries, is so much a part of him. The cart puller, the fruit seller, and the millions who sell their ware on the streets, the work they do is integral to them. He has captured thousands of such moments from their lives over the past few years. “Usually, photographers represent their city with iconic land marks and architectural monuments. For me it is the people who represent a city. Animals and birds too. It’s their home, after all,” he claims emphatically.
I dont need celebreties or politicians to inaugarate my shows. My art is for the common man and by the common man