No landmarks, no particular sites of historical interest, India: An Almost Ordinary Day reaches into the Indian culture and finds the particularities in the everyday life of many Indians. There are uniformed school boys riding home for lunch, a man enjoying his morning shave, light kissing an obscure street shrine, and a mixture of symbols: religious, commercial and political, all out in the open for a passing observer.
I’ve always admired the French photographer Atget who documented ordinary city life around him. There is no such thing as “an ordinary day” in India. Informed by cultural/religious practices, India hosts a wealth of colorful religious obligations and festivals. “A decorated life” falls upon all classes of the Indian population. This is not to deny poverty, corruption, or the strict class system, yet the experience of Indian color and light is a constant in the lives of all of its population.
