Walk in the fields, or swim in the lake, watch the light slant across the skies and the colours change, keep your ears to the ground….listen. And hear people speak of their lives and loves, of joy and deep loss. Hold these emotions in a photograph, transport the reader back to the body of that place and the face of its people.

These six photo essays take you into the heart of rural, urban and small town India. The images of a dying art form and unending hunger in West Bengal, queer joy and resistance in Himachal Pradesh , marginalised communities documenting their own experiences in Tamil Nadu and a folk dance with people somersaulting to drum beats in coastal Karnataka , tell a myriad stories in a hugely diverse India – across landscapes, communities and livelihoods.

The camera is a powerful tool, a source of self-reflection that is finally turned outwards, to capture injustice, and perhaps even be a path for its redressal.

The stories below will ignite a leap of the heart or punch you in the gut.

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Holding a camera for the first time are children of sanitation workers, fisherwomen and others in classes and workshops by PARI photographer M. Palani Kumar, teacher with a camera.

PHOTO • M. Palani Kumar

'I wanted my students to tell their own little-known stories. In these workshops they are photographing things in their daily lives,' says Palani

PHOTO • Suganthi Manickavel

Indira Gandhi (in focus) ready to pull the prawn nets

PHOTO • P. Indra

Pandi, P. Indra's father was forced to take up sanitation work at 13 years as his parents couldn't afford to educate him they were sanitation workers too. Workers like him suffer from skin diseases and other health issues due to the lack of proper gloves and boots

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A PARI photographer writes about growing up in a community of skilled lake fishermen, and their daily lives.

PHOTO • M. Palani Kumar

When I got my camera, I also began taking photographs of fishermen – Pichai anna, Mokka anna, Karthik, Marudhu, Senthil Kalai (in the photo) – who threw their nets in the lakes

PHOTO • M. Palani Kumar

Fishermen move around the big lake in Jawaharlalpuram in Madurai to increase the catch

PHOTO • M. Palani Kumar

Fishermen hauling nets out of water in the big lake in Jawaharlalpuram. Mokka (extreme left), says there are stones and thorns in the lake bed. 'If pricked by a thorn, we won't be able to even walk properly so we have to be very careful when throwing the nets'

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On August 9, International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a profile of the Sabar Adivasi community in West Bengal. Although denotified 70 years ago, they continue to face stigma, and struggle and starve, pushed to the margins. They are heavily dependent on shrinking forests for their food and livelihood.

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

With few earning opportunities, hunger is palpable among the Sabar community of West Medinipur and Jhargram districts

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

Kanak Kotal's hand has become permanently deformed as she could not get medical help when she broke it. Her village, Singdhui, has little access to doctors and healthcare

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

A child exhibiting symptoms of malnutrition

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Bonbibi pala gaan is among the many musical dramas performed by locals in the Sundarbans. Falling incomes have pushed many to migrate, leading to a dearth of artists to enact this folk theatre.

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

The green room, which is cordoned off from the street with curtains, is buzzing with audience and actors gearing up for the Bonbibi pala gaan , a musical drama

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

Artists begin the pala gaan with prayers dedicated to Ma Bonbibi, Ma Manasa and Shib Thakur

PHOTO • Ritayan Mukherjee

Actors play out a fight scene between young Bonbibi and Narayani

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In Dharmshala: marching with pride by Sweta Daga

Himachal Pradesh's first Pride march advocated for the rights of the queer community, drawing many from villages and small towns in the state.

PHOTO • Sweta Daga

On April 30, 2023, Dharmshala (also spelt Dharamshala) town in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas woke up to its first Pride march

PHOTO • Sweta Daga

Anant Dayal, one of the organisers, holds a flag symbolising trans rights

PHOTO • Sweta Daga

Manish Thapa (with the mike) makes a speech during the Pride march

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This vigorous folk dance is performed by young people in coastal Karnataka. Organised and funded locally, they are integral to festivities held around Dussehra and Janmashtami.

PHOTO • Nithesh Mattu

Pili vesha is a folk dance performed during the festivals of Dussehra and Janmashtami

PHOTO • Nithesh Mattu

(Left to right) Nikhil, Krishna, Bhuvan Amin and Sagar Poojari wait for their turns as Jayakar Poojari paints tiger stripes on their bodies

PHOTO • Nithesh Mattu

Prajwal Acharya painted as a black tiger shows his stunt skills. The traditional steps in this dance routine have become acrobatic with more emphasis on stunts

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If the work we do interests you and you would like to contribute to PARI, please write to us at [email protected] . We welcome freelance and independent writers, reporters, photographers, film makers, translators, editors, illustrators, teachers and researchers to work with us.

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Binaifer Bharucha

Binaifer Bharucha is a freelance photographer based in Mumbai, and Photo Editor at the People's Archive of Rural India.

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