What do you see?
This is a photograph. In it, I see a person, a young woman sitting at the edge of a body of water. Her clothes are wet, and so is her hair, which is mid-length, and reaches down to the middle of her back. Her back and right thigh are streaked with water. Her right arm is lifted behind her head, revealing a glimpse of her breast. Her left palm has come up to meet her right. She is wearing three bangles.
The water ripples around her. Lily pads crowd the top right of the image, perhaps moved gently by the rippling water. I do not see the woman’s face. Has she turned her head and held her arms up to avoid the camera? I can see her toes gripping the edge of the rock. She is aware of the photographer, aware of me, watching her.
A small metal Lota rests on the ground near her. It appears prominently in the foreground of the image.
She is aware of the photographer, aware of me, watching her, as she sits at the edge of the monsoon pool. I approach her slowly, and then crouch low, but still above her, lifting the camera to my face, focusing. It is important to get both her and the Lota in the frame. The photograph serves many functions. I watch her through the viewfinder. She is tense. The water runs down her back. it is a warm day, but she is cold. I feel my thighs strain, this tension needs to be broken.
Do I ask her to dip her arms into the water or does she do it on her own? By the time I press the shutter, her arms are raised, about to meet behind her head. Drops shower down around her. It is possible that a few land on my feet. Am I wearing shoes? The bank is muddy.
I stand up.
What are we told?
The image is a scan of a silver-gelatin print. Behind it we find its full title – A Young Woman Taking Bath at a Village Pond (Monsoon Pool) 1972. Underneath it is also scrawled the phrase, Woman in the home (?)
The photographer is Jyoti Bhatt.
A Young Woman Taking Bath at a Village Pond