India: Memory Lane with FP4

Way back in 1999 I took a trip to India. I exposed much film while I was there but only 3 rolls of black and white – looking back I wish I’d made more b/w images, but that said, India is, if anything – colourful! I wasn’t due to go to there, it was all a bit last minute. I had always wanted to go the Egypt, I finally booked a trip there but then a couple months before my departure there was a terrorist shootout at Hatshepsut’s Temple, and the foreign office advised people not to travel. That advice invalidated parts of my insurance so, despite the fact that was probably the saftest time to go – I rearranged to go to India.

At the time I developed the films and filed them away – never got around to printing them, and back then did not have a film scanner, so they never saw the light of day. Just recently I’ve dug them out of my archive and was reasonably satisfied with my efforts. It was good to see them again, and brought back lots of happy memories!

By the time I got back home after the trip, I don’t think I’ve ever been so exhausted! I had the usual “Delhi Belly”, few weeks on the road under my belt, a long flight, it took me longer than usual to get back into the swing of things. What I came to realise is that despite the fact I’ve not been back – yet, India left it’s mark on me, I think it does on most people who go. Of all the places I’ve been, India is the top of the list of “Big ones” to re-visit.