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Lens and Atlas is a little digital garage to tuck away the flotsam of experiences and tinker with ideas and musings on the way.
It took a while to coalesce to the central theme of Lens and Atlas primarily because I was still searching for what stiches everything that I find intriguing and what has been central to my living.
Call me what you will - immigrant, global citizen, tourist, wanderlust chaser or the beautiful word in my native Bengali, 'Jajabor'.
I learnt that word from my Dadu (grandfather) when I was a child. But it took most of my adult life to get its meaning.
A simple Google search will tell you it means 'traveler' but that does not even start to capture its essence. And I definitely feel that my writing is not going to do it any justice either.
I just hope to provide a little inspiration for you to get on the journey.
Geography lends us a unique lens to look at things. Every time I see an awe-inspiring site, taste something mind-blowing, listen to a beautiful song in a hauntingly foreign language, read a mesmerizing tale, I wonder what makes that experience unique.
How did geography determine how the experience turned out to be? How did this place, food, song or story change over time?
Because a place is not just a spot on the map, it is the focal point of histories, memories, passions, songs, stories and heartbreak. And these abstracts make an experience what they are.
And we experience them in our own unique way colored by our own backgrounds, past, likes, joys and even fears and dogmas.
And that is why Lens. We are living in a rapidly accelerating world where every moment is an ephemeral blur of events. At the same time, we are rapidly losing the sense of wonder because every site has been photographed a million times
and every inch of the world is now mapped. So, what is there to see? A lot, I would say, only if you slow down and try to look at it through your own lens. Every sunrise is different and every cloud casts a different shadow.
Through my camera I am always trying to capture that little whimsy twist to the experience where light, time or motion can create something that eyes don't see.
Lens and Atlas is a place to share a world view as I learn and grow and wonder about things that are just 'happy' - food, travel, stories, songs, nature, space... and my dog Oslo (click for a little geography story here!).
We are guided by the atlas and are always planning the next big adventure. So where are we off to next?
I hope my Lens can do justice to the wonders that the Atlas brings to it. If you feel it is getting anywhere near go ahead and connect where you are most comfortable using the links below.
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