Loner discovers mother-son bond through lens

KOLKATA: Shankar Sarkar's beatnik look never gives the impression of a photographer. But beyond his stony eyes and frail appearance lies a heart-wrenching story of reconciliation with his mother, an unusual tale in which a boy - barely in his teens - used his lens to discover his complex relationship with his mother.
As a toddler, Sarkar lost his mother and years later he found her working in a city brothel.Initially, Sarkar was hesitant to accept his mother but later used his lens to open up a dialogue. Thus, his photographs became a chronicle, an exhibition of a journey of a mother and a son through the bizarre alleys of life.
A native of Odisha's Malkangiri, his mother Kavita, a teen widow, was trafficked to a brothel in the city by a relative who lured her with the promise of a job. Shankar was only two years old then. He was left at the care of his grandmother, who later accompanied him to Kolkata in search of his mother.
"She would regularly send us money, but she never wrote about her whereabouts or what she was doing. When I was five, my grandmother and I set out for Kolkata looking for her," said Shankar.
"My grandmother had a hunch that she might be somewhere in Kolkata and we frantically searched her in different places. Finally, grandma got hold of the man who had lured her and got to know that she has been trafficked. Then, we started looking for her in red-light areas. After three months, we finally found her at Seth Bagan in 1999.
"When I first met my mother, I hardly had any kind of impression about her. She was just like any other woman. I was more attached to my grandmother because I have stayed with her from my birth," Shankar said. "I never wanted to stay with my mother but my grandmother compelled me to stay with her. I never had any kind of emotional bonding with her."
"It happened many times that I was hungry but when I reached home I found my mother's room locked from inside. She was with some customer. I knocked many times but she didn't open. I felt hungry, dejected and helpless," an emotional Shankar said.
In 2000, Shankar's life changed after he received a small analogue camera through a Unicef-supported project for children of sex workers - Empowering Sex Workers' Children through Photography. From then onwards, he had photographed nothing but the complex relationship of a mother and a child.
Titled 'Facing One's Own', the pictures of the mother-son duo have been widely exhibited at various places, including the Chobi Mela in Dhaka, the Guardian Gallery in London, at Vermont USA and Delhi Photo Festival.
Shankar's facilitator Suvendu Chatterjee, director of the Dhaka- headquartered Drik India, is proud of his protégé's success. "His single-minded pursuit of photography has taken him to where he has reached now. When we started the Unicef-sponsored project, there were more than 100 kids. While others gradually drifted away, Shankar's perseverance has made him what he is today," Chatterjee said.
When asked whether he has any intention to carry on with his mission further, Sarkar said, "I have been brought up in a brothel and now I know the pains of the children in the red light areas. I want to teach them photography so that they can do something positive in life".