00:00So all the media from all over the world, they were at one place and they were assigned different units to go with.
00:07So I was assigned a unit where they look for bombs.
00:10It's called the Route Clearance Platoon.
00:13Like first day we went out, we were supposed to go from point A to some point B.
00:18So there was an explosion.
00:20One of the vehicles went over a mine.
00:23And of course you were like, you're thinking it's your vehicle.
00:27But you're safe, because it wasn't my vehicle.
00:30But the explosion was very loud.
00:33So one of the vehicles got damaged, but no one got injured.
00:37I was always very cautious. I wanted to cover it, but never wanted to...
00:41I was always wishing that we don't come under fire.
00:47But I wasn't going out and looking where are people fighting.
00:53But that was my take on it.
00:57I did a small photo story on rehabilitation.
01:23There was this Red Cross center where people who had lost their limbs, their prosthetics were made.
01:32And then how would they fit.
01:34And then they had to go through some physiotherapy training on how to use it.
01:38Yeah, it gets overwhelming.
01:40But you have to detach yourself.
01:47I remember very vividly, we did a story on this one woman who used to live with her children.
02:01I do not recall it completely, but she didn't have limbs.
02:09Her six or seven year old children had to feed her.
02:15Or young children.
02:17So there was no source of income.
02:22So that was heartbreaking.
02:26It was very overwhelming.
02:29After I left AFP, I lost a couple of colleagues who I knew really well.
02:35In Afghanistan, they were Afghan photographers.
02:38In fact, one of the photographers we lost was the photographer I went to replace during his holidays.
02:44You just carry a lot of luck.
02:46And you also have to have this very high sense of preservation.
02:49You make sure that you try not to take any risk.
02:54During this embed, we were in a platoon.
02:58We got stuck.
03:00Because our vehicle again got blown off.
03:04Then we were stuck there for the same place for four or five days.
03:08Till they could send us apart.
03:10Airdrop the part.
03:12So one evening there was a firefight.
03:14It was kind of a bizarre experience.
03:16It's late in the evening and it's all guns blazing.
03:21It looked like fireworks were going off.
03:24After all, we couldn't clear the route.
03:28So there was a support team that was sent to clear the route.
03:32They were coming from the other side and we were clearing from our side.
03:35So I was with the team that was clearing the road.
03:39So we've been walking for a while.
03:41Then other team came and I said to our writer in AFP.
03:45I said, you know, they're just going another 20-25 meters.
03:49Why don't we stay here?
03:50So they had a smoke and we chatted with them.
03:53We were hanging out with them.
03:54As they moved forward, the other day,
03:58I had some loud conversation with the other team from the other side.
04:02Then these guys kept sweeping.
04:05I think one of them probably missed a sweep.
04:08Like the mine sweep.
04:10And stepped on the mine and it went off.
04:12Then the person stepped on the mine.
04:14It was a huge blast.
04:16I think, if I'm not wrong, there were like six people there.
04:21So in that picture, you only see one.
04:23There were other, I think, five or six people other than that guy.
04:27And two of them lost their lives.
04:28You know, you're hanging out with these people.
04:30You're eating with them.
04:31You're part of them.
04:32That team.
04:33And it really does affect you because suddenly you're talking to someone
04:37and that person is not there.
04:39Like actually three minutes later.
04:41So once we were on a patrol, we were shot at.
04:44And the bullets went, like they were really close to my head
04:48because you can hear them.
04:50Like when you can hear them, that means they're really close to you.
04:53And, you know, you see these, for the longest period of time,
04:57you think it's a joke that, you know, these Hindi films,
04:59you know, flashback, all your life passes by.
05:01And, you know, I jumped and I was lying on the ground.
05:04And then there was this constant firing.
05:06And we were directed to run towards cover.
05:10There were some buildings ahead of us through the fields.
05:13So while lying on the ground, like all my important life,
05:16like my family, my friends, like, you know,
05:19also like some very vivid experiences that,
05:22like some experiences that I also had, they become like a blur in your life.
05:26But they suddenly came up and they flashed by
05:30as if like there was a movie going on in front of my eyes.
05:33Also, I think it's a bizarre, if I might say it,
05:37but it's also like when you, it gives you this adrenaline rush.
05:42It's like, it gives you a rush.
05:44If given an opportunity, you keep going back.
05:46I had an idea what I was getting into.
05:49I was prepared for it.
05:51And I was also conscious of what can go wrong.
05:56Like I was really aware of it.
05:58So, but what, how does it affect you is that it's,
06:02those experiences stay with you.
06:05And sometimes you're in places where it's perfectly normal.
06:10And it happens to me very on and off.
06:13So you're in a market or your normal situation.
06:17And suddenly you'll see like something unidentified lying.
06:21But because you've gone through similar kinds of situations many times,
06:25you start, immediately you start, you get nervous.
06:28You get, so there is that thing that happens to you.
06:32That at least happens to me sometimes.
06:34Someone would have asked me that if I would do it again.
06:37Yes, I would do it again.
06:38Given an opportunity, I wanted to be there.
06:40And I, it wasn't that like it was forced on to me.
06:46I was asked and I really, I wanted to go.
06:48Like everyone knows that anything can happen anytime,
06:52even sitting in your bed or whatever.
06:56But you start to really appreciate.
07:01And you also start to understand actually the fickleness of life.
07:05That when you experience in like, in such a situation,
07:10really that someone was just there with you two minutes ago
07:15and then they're not there.
07:17So it's, it does make you feel and it stays with you
07:27that how fickle the life is.
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