The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
Apr 2016 back issue
by Kanishka Mukherji
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Dreams. What are dreams? Are they only, the sweet luxury of the rich man's incorrigible son who does not have to
bother about earning his bread and butter? Or are poor men allowed to have dreams too? And if poor men do have
dreams, does society give them a chance to fulfill their dreams?
Located in the heart of busy Kolkata is a 75 square foot room. A room with pale green wall paint, falling in patches here
and there. The room comprises of a single bed, sacks of coal, a bicycle and a stove. The occupants of the room are an
elderly man from Varanasi and his three young sons: Arvind, Manoj and Binod. Now this story is neither about the room
nor about the old man. This story is about the three young boys and their big dreams. Dreams that are beyond the four
walls of the room. Dreams that involve reaching the topmost position in the world of boxing, a position so high, that on
reaching it, the mocking ruthless society around them would almost become inconspicuous.
During the day, the boys assist their father in his small scale coal business and other household chores. Arbind mainly
takes care of the timely delivery of coal to the customers. He also takes maximum responsibilities on his shoulders so
that his brothers do not have to concentrate on anything else other than boxing. Manoj and Binod look up to Arbind as
an example. Both of them were attracted to this sport by seeing their big brother boxing. Like any other penurious
family of this poverty stricken country, the family somehow manages to just scrape by. Come evening, they transform
into men of passion . Once their gloves are on, even brothers turn into competitors.
These three brothers have bagged numerous medals and certificates from many state and national level competitions.
Now they dream of making it big and taking it to international level. It’s their dream to earn a living from their passion,
to enable their father to rest his old bones. They were not born with the luxuries of a comfortable life but that doesn't
stop them from following their passion. Boxing is their passion, it is who they are. They fight for recognition. They fight
for respect. They fight for existence.
