Kley | ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Gatika is a measure of time. It is said that Time in the old days in India was measured in 24 minute cycles. There were sixty 24 minute cycles in a day. And each cycle of 24 minutes is called a gatika.

In the Buddhist Nyingma-Gelug tradition, a gatika is said to be the perfect time to complete a task with perfect focus, and in cinema, we measure persistence of vision in 24 frames per second (fps).

In 2014, I unplugged from all city networks and started traveling by road or on foot through rural India full-time. I met masters of the handmade crafts, farmers and soothsayers on my path. It is a full moon tonight and I thought it the perfect time to talk about the cumulus of work at my studio GATIKA over these years. I will release 24 vignettes in the coming days, glimpses into the lives of women, myths, rivers and that wonderful Idea of India I grew up around.

This first vignette is from Arunachal Pradesh, the banks of the river Kley.