Text and Photos: Kaustubh Thapa

You are reading this, most likely, because the ten odd pictures accompanying the words are colourful, “contrasty”, exotic and are hopefully narrating their own stories. Some of you might even have made a mental note: “I need to travel, take a break from the routine, see places.” You look at the pictures and anticipate the Annapurna trail to be picturesque, the Aegean Sea to be gentle and the Julian alps to be fairytale-like. You are partially right.

You just don’t take a ferry from Thessaloniki to Lesvos to arrive on a paradise-like Greek Island. There is the cold, and then the heat and the sea urchins, the discomfort of being in a new place and having to think on your feet constantly. You don’t thumb down a car in Budapest and get dropped off in front of the Julian Alps. You get desperately stuck on the outskirts of Zagreb while hitchhiking. Not counting blisters, makeshift beds and the utter hopelessness at times.  Not all of experiences are discomforting—you find some blissful moments amid these discomforts through people, landscapes and uncertain spontaneity. These are the nitty-gritty details that slip between the photographs. This is why my photographs whisper, and sometimes scream, at me to get out of my routine, comfortable life and challenge myself. It reminds me, “Let’s go everywhere,” let’s find beauty in everything.

Beauty is the manifestations of our deepest ideals. And the process to beauty is often a rigorous process, characterised by uncertainty and joy— if you know where to look. My pictures are merely memory holders of my personal exploration towards my quest of beauty. They are Hansel and Gretel-like food crumbs as I walk through the mystical forest of life. They are constant reminders that the process behind the final print is equally important, if not more.

T

Thapa is a freelance photographer currently based out of Budapest