During my photography tour to Myanmar last year, we were gallivanting in a small village in central Mynamar, in some very picturesque locations. At the hour of sunset, we found these guys engaged in a serious game of Kick Volleyball. The houses of the village in the background, and the colours of the evening sky added to the drama.
Kick Volleyball is like volleyball, played with feet instead of hands in several countries across South East Asia. The ball used is half the size of a regular volleyball, made with cane and responds very well to the kick. I guess it requires a considerable amount of skill-acquisition to play the game.
In the last five years or so, I have developed a growing fascination to everyday life of Buddhist Monks. I have spent considerable amount of time watching them when they pray, work, seek alms or go through their daily chores.
It is also a happy coincidence that the countries I have visited exploring as a travel photographer in the last few years–Bhutan, Myanmar and Cambodia–have a thriving population of Buddhist Monks.
This image was made in Mandalay, Myanmar, the erstwhile capital of the Burmese Kings. Thanks to the patronage of these kings and subsequently from the general population, Mandalay is home to many monasteries and a large number of practicing and learning monks. This photograph was made early in the morning, before the sun came up in the east. This was the penultimate day of the photography tour I was leading in Myanmar. We had a few successive days of very-early morning outings, but despite that, decided that we should go out to watch the monks seeking alms in the morning hours. A short walk later, I found this bunch of young monks being lovingly fed by these restaurateurs. It’s a moment that has stayed strongly in my memory and I wanted to capture this as an image to share what I saw.
Initially shy, these boys were a bit apprehensive about the camera and gave a predictably stiff look. But boys must be boys, and it took less than a minute to break the ice. Once you join their inner circle, there is no stopping them from being themselves!