Capital Scenes

The launch of Raghu Rai’s book Delhi — Contrast and Confluences (Om Books International,Rs 4,995),at Manre in Saket on Tuesday,was also an occasion for the lensman to remind everybody of the need to revive the art of photography. “The purpose of photography is very specific. It is supposed to document history. And history cannot be written or re-written. Nowadays,photography has lost the quirkiness and romance of old times,” said Rai.

Amid the fabulous spread of ruins and black-and-white photos of Humayun’s tomb,clicked 40 years ago with the “wheat fields in the backdrop and bullocks tethered to a tree”,the book also features colour shots of a crowded Chawri Bazaar and Rai’s guru Nirmal Guruji. Rai,66,who began to work on it in 2006,says there are better reproduction of old shots here.

The launch attracted several of Delhi’s well-known faces. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was effusive in her praise of Rai. “There couldn’t have been a better person to describe Delhi. With its coverage cutting across regions and climates,it stands for unity in diversity,” she said.

Writer William Dalrymple,who was accompanied by wife Olivia,recalled his introduction to Rai’s works: “When I moved to Delhi in 1984,everyday,on my way back from work,I stopped at a bookshop and saw a book Delhi by him that I couldn’t afford at that time.”