[Reader-list] photo document on bhati mines

[Aanita Soni]

Dear Ravi,

           I have become quite used to your little discourtesies, so it 
hardly matters to me if you call my explanatory and interpretative note on 
your photographs “highly distasteful”, “vitriolic” and “cynical”. I stand by 
each and every word and sentence I have written.
Unlike you, I am very careful and conscientious in my use of words.
            I was rather dismayed to see what you presented to Sarai on 14 
August 03, and I spontaneously reacted to it there and then. Nobody among 
the audience knew that you had refused to discuss with me the contents and 
structure of your final photo-document. You had only handed me a bundle of 
photographs which were not intelligible without an
explanation, and  could not possibly be “supported from outside” by a 
separate research paper that would NOT refer to the how’s and why’s of 
particular visuals you chose (from among “a thousand”!) to present and 
render into the public domain for an “informed debate”. It was primarily 
your own photo-document that was meant to highlight the issue of the people 
of Bhatti Mines, and it failed to do so. You were obviously aware of it, 
that is why you included, at random and without any acknowledgement, a 
handful of black-and-white reproductions from the archival material which I 
made available to you on your specific request.
            By the way, you have not returned to me the photograph by Smitu 
Kothari, which you also presented without acknowledging its 
authorship.Please locate it and send it back.
             In my note I took pains to explain, point by point, the factual 
contents of your photo-documentation : what has been shown, and what has 
been missed, and why.
In the process, I also justified your constraints – in terms of time 
practically available for your field work on this subject  (you know as well 
as I do, that you managed to pay only twelve visits to Bhatti Mines – I have 
the dates – during the past one year, plus the extra outings to photograph, 
from above, the underground work of laying Internet cables, plus the visit 
to Holambi Kalan/Bawana  with Colin), and even more importantly, in terms of 
your involvement in the dominant institutional structures of urban 
environmentalism. It is not just about your membership of the Ridge 
Management Board and other high level policy groups. It is about your 
unflinching faith in the instrumentality of the State for saving the natural 
environment. In spite of all your sympathy for the people of Bhatti Mines, 
you cannot have a common cause with them as long as they remain 
‘encroachers” in the eyes of the same Supreme Court whose authority sustains 
your environmental activism. In pointing this out, I am not being 
“vitriolic” or “cynical”. I have duly acknowledged in my text (please read 
it again, with less rage and more attention to detail) that it was you who 
helped them to go to court through Colin. But only to plead for resettlement 
– as hapless encroachers -- at Jaunapur, as per the original Court order!
             I do not take your photo-document to be final. In its present 
form , or rather formlessness, it does not serve the cause of the 
much-wronged Od  tribe whose unique village is found at Bhati Mines. Still, 
I have given you the credit for taking interest in them. I think it would 
not affect your prospects of holding an exhibition on this subject if you 
render your whole collection of Bhatti Mines photographs to Sarai , so that 
they can be displayed online and seen by many people. You may attach your 
personal comments  from the “First City” interview – that at least shows 
your emotional engagement.
Best wishes,
Aanita

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