Interview about the book published on Condé Nast Traveller Magazine:

How did the idea of this book come about? And what do you seek to convey?

An eight-and-half hour flight connects me from my home in Mumbai to my two daughters’ home in Zurich. I have been commuting between India and Switzerland for the past several years. While both countries are part of my larger consciousness of home, I am as much of an outsider as I am an insider in both places. My book, Two Worlds, was conceptualised from these varied geographies and perspectives. Shot over a period of a year, it speaks of my journey living and working, both literally and metaphorically across time zones. It is a record of my constant state of flux, arriving and departing, between not only two countries across two continents but between two distinct worlds.

You describe Switzerland as ‘linear and structured’ while India is ‘cyclical and chaotic.’ How then are these two worlds intrinsically similar?

Time and space have a different meaning in each of these countries. In my India stories, it is the layers of complexity and culture amidst the chaos which captures my intrigue. While traces of tradition are present thematically in my India work, in my Swiss series, it is the elements of modernity and structure that present themselves—the seamless fluidity of commuters; the geometry of minimalistic architecture; and the sociology of street life after dark. And yet, despite the disparity, both worlds have an exotic quality and inherent beauty. From misty mornings to foggy nights, from lakefronts fringed with mountains to seasides flanked by skyscrapers, both worlds are facets of time and space where the rituals and rhythms of everyday life play out.

The stark contrasts in this collection suggest that the two worlds are at opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. Is that a fair representation of the two countries?

Earlier this year I photographed a couple teenagers on a mid-morning break at their high school in Zürich. The concrete architecture of the school is in stark contrast with the concrete flyover in Delhi under which I photographed a class of kids crowded together in a makeshift school. I also photographed a woman shopping at a mall in Zürich decorated with blue Christmas baubles, which is in stark contrast to the boy I photographed walking down Marine Drive in Mumbai selling blue balloons to earn his living. These juxtapositions, amongst others in the book, speak of the socio-economic disparity on one hand. But if you look beneath the surface, my lens is as much of a witness to abundance and scarcity as it is to tradition and modernity, faith and philosophy, intimacy and solitude, and lives and livelihoods.

Tell us more about the image you chose for the cover.

The cover image symbolises my journey as a photographer caught between two worlds. Taken from a window of a fort, it captures the essence of both worlds in a single frame. The urban side of Mumbai with its towering skyscrapers and apartments with glittering sea views rising above the sprawling village of Koliwada, comprising mainly of a traditional centuries old fishing community that earns their livelihood from the sea. Within Mumbai itself there are two worlds that co-exists. It is this concurrence of two parallel worlds, which contrast and connect, that represents the core idea of the book.