Rai, of light and shades of India

To look at India is to encounter a Raghu Rai photo. We all carry an internal gallery of his work: the quiet grace of Mother Teresa, the figure of a seated Indira Gandhi surrounded by a phalanx of loyalists/sycophants, the harrowing journey of 1971 East Pakistan/Bangladesh war refugees, or the searing image of a dead child looking out blankly after Bhopal's 1984 gas disaster. Yet, Rai's true vision is found in his online Magnum Photos archives. These frames may not be the first to surface when remembering Rai, but they encapsulate how the accidental photographer captured the shifting kaleidoscope that is India.

Rai's genius lay in a secret he often shared at workshops: discovering the 'sublime framing' before it shifts back into its ordinary dimension. He perfected a way of feeling with the heart and seeing with the eyes, his 'third eye'. In Rai's words, this eye judges neither by intrinsic value nor through aesthetic appeal. Instead, it measures a perceptible intensity - a conviction that if you are not close enough, your photo is simply not good enough. For him, closeness wasn't just about physical distance, but also an emotional proximity that allowed him to see details.

At a media interaction in Kochi some years ago, Rai became the subject instead of observer. Amid flashbulbs, he reminded the room that while technology makes a good photo easy, the unique moment remains an internal discovery. 'Live that moment with a heart open to the creative nature of reality,' he said, adding, 'My finger is always pointed here,' gesturing at his chest. No wonder Rai's greatest contribution was not just iconic snapshots of history, but his ability to find the drama, tension and beauty in the everydayness of an India we often pass without seeing.