Childhood Memories | 1987

One fine day in March 1987, a good 21 years ago, I started a new phase in my life.
Going to school. Now... I had never been to a school before. So, I had this whole excitement within me, about going to a school and all. And to
The sad (or the good) part was that I was going to a boarding school in the hills of Darjeeling.

We were a group of four guys who had started off together in this new school called the Sun Shine School.
Praveer, Piyush , who were brothers, Nazish and myself. And we remain the best of friends to this date.


It was this view from the hills of the plains below that I remember clearly. This is the city of Siliguri, the largest city in Northern part of West Bengal.

I remember not even looking back to see my parents going away, leaving me at that unknown place, as I was so mesmerized by this view from the dormitory window.
Little did we know at that time that this was going to be a view that we would see for the next 11 years.

We used took the GL Express train from our hometown to the Siliguri railway station. GL stood for Guwahati- Lucknow, and in those days for a meter gauge train to travel that distance was a feat. It took us 12 hours to reach Siliguri from our home town and an interesting fact was that the train left my place at 12 pm and reached the destination at 12 am!

Our home for the next 3-4 years was the town of Kurseong. Kurseong means the "Land of the White Orchids". I am sure as a photographer, I would love to go and explore all the rare species of orchids that are found there.

One thing i remember about Sun Shine School was the grill on the school gates and the way the SSS formed a nice logo. I had liked it a lot then and would often end up drawing it on the back of my copies.

Little did I know that some 20 years later I would be in a profession dealing with logos and capturing images that would inspire many others.

Recently I had a chance to capture this shot of the Himalayas.


The Himalayas was something that I saw for a major portion of my life at the Darjeeling hills.
I guess the foundation for becoming a photographer was laid way back then.