Indian streets exhibit different emotions- By Sonal Jain

Indian streets are every photographer’s attraction. Trying to randomly chase emotions is not only fun but also very fulfilling. Indian streets and their people have a lot of stories to tell that are kept hidden but what they cannot hide are their priceless emotions. Each photographer tries to read the raw emotions on people’s faces, so here are a few pictures from the precious Indian streets that have graced my camera and now my blog as well.

1. Emotion: Stress

Stress is an everyday emotion and today each person is under this emotion. Stress can be anything, it could be because of an event, or a relationship, or because of poor work balance. Nobody has ever been able to trick this emotion called stress in life. 

I clearly remember when I shot this picture. This man was looking for a bus to reach his home but sadly he was not able to find the correct bus that goes his way. He asked people around him, tried to call for help, and eventually found a vehicle way back to his home. I was at that place for the first time with my family. It was a little village, I was going in and around that place looking for picture inspiration and I found him but I did not know how to help him. I felt guilty for being in a situation where I couldn't help a person looking to go back to his home. 

That's it, it was just this small incident on an Indian street that made me understand the word stress. Some people cross your paths only to make you understand some important lessons of life and show you certain emotions that can someday cross your path too. 

2. Emotion: Carefree 

Carefree is an emotion we all crave in our lives. To be able to live carefree is only a visible emotion when you are in your younger stage of life. When there is no responsibility or stress or family liability or bread earning necessity. A very popular phrase 'I want to be a child again' often comes to our minds when we are going through a rough patch in life. Worrying about life will always be a part of our journey but there is always a child in us that should never die. This inner child helps us sail through life in a much easier way. 

One day I went to a park with my little cousins. There I saw this kid entering the park and the first thing he did was open his arms, felt the breeze, and start running all around the park. No, he wasn't worried that he might fall or his leg can get stuck in a hole or he might hurt himself while running. On the other hand, his parents were more worried than he was. They probably have had 100 hundreds of questions in their mind that what if my child falls down or gets hurt. 

On the other side, I was wondering when was the last time I got a chance to do anything like this child. This emotion is based on age. Once you start understanding life and your role in it, being carefree doesn't seem like an option. 

3. Emotion: Hardwork 

Hard work is sometimes a happy emotion but also a disappointing one too. How? Let me share my perspective. Hard work can change your life, help you transform a dream into reality, and can help you conquer your own obstacles in life. When your hard work is successfully seen in the outcome, it is seen as a happy, proud and joyous emotion but the same hard work if fails, it turns out to be a disappointment, discouragement, and unhappy emotion. 

Our life is so fragile, and our hard work is constantly under pressure test. Seeing this picture on the Indian streets of Chandni Chowk of a super hard-working man who was at it to earn his bread for that day. His facial expressions say he has worked hard today but yet his heart is under pressure to know whether his hard work is going to be fruitful or not. 

4. Emotion: Scared 

This emotion has different faces. There is nobody in this world who is fearless. Scared to lose something valuable in life like an opportunity, their loved ones, to make the first move, to lose motivation, self-respect, fame, money, hard-earned living, relationships, and ultimately life. Despite all these, there are some situations where being scared is also a good way to get to the end goal. 

Being scared can either make you or break you. This emotion to some extent can be controlled and worked upon depending on the situation. Using this emotion to your benefit is like climbing the ladder of success. One who overcomes this emotion is then able to face any challenge in life. 

5. Emotion: Inner joy 

Inner joy is an emotion that comes to you organically if you make an effort to bring that joy out in spite of various stressful conditions in your life. It is the ultimate form of motivation that no matter what, I am going to make it till the end. Life gives us many chances to experience this emotion, but at times we fail at recognizing them. 

Recently I came across this woman who works in a coffee plantation in Karnataka. I was on a vacation and as usual, was looking for things around to click and that is when I saw her and her colleagues coming from a full day of hard work at the field picking coffee seeds. 

When I clicked her picture, all I kept thinking was what is the reason for her smile. That big wide smile on her face even after carrying such a heavy bag of seeds on her head. I gave this picture the term, inner joy, merely because I thought of various reasons for her smile. 

It could be because today's fieldwork was amazing and she could fetch plenty of seeds and because their daily wage depends on how many kilograms they have collected, her today's collection must have been excellent. 

I also thought maybe she is excited to end today's work and go back to her family or maybe she enjoys her work so much that the physical exertion also doesn't seem an obstacle to her. So many thoughts ran in my mind and she taught me the importance of inner joy in every situation. 

This was my take on Indian streets and emotions. Clicking portraits is not an easy task, it takes a lot of effort to capture real and raw emotions. I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog and the description of various emotions from my perspective. 

Please let me know what you think of this blog in the comment below. 

Thank you for reading!