RUSTIC MAGIC

For photographer Deepti Asthana, life is not about belonging, but rather about seeking

- ANJULY MATHAI

A woman laughing uninhibitedly, her head thrown back, her hair fanning about her. Two women lolling by the river enjoying an unguarded moment. A girl clutching a laptop in a straw cottage. Kalbelia dancers from Rajasthan applying makeup on their faces. What Deepti Asthana wants to document through these photographs are not snapshots of rural India, but rather stories of its people. She wants to tell the stories of the girls in Uttarakhand who spend hours fetching water every day, which impact their education and their health. She wants to tell the stories of the elderly women who are fighting to save the rivers and mountains of their villages, even though they are now getting too old to take care of themselves or ever enjoy the fruits of their labour. She wants to tell the story of the two women forest guards struggling in a male-dominated field, one a widow and the other having suffered miscarriages.