Amma
I’m transferring all of my old blog posts from various sources and consolidating them onto Medium until I make my own website. This one was published on 26th July 2015, recently after my mother’s death

Mother

I went to Bhilai to visit Amma, she recently got diagnosed with Crohn’s. She was at her sister’s house recovering/battling slowly from the ailment that she was diagnosed with, which never existed in the world we lived in. I also took my camera along with me for documenting Bhilai and Chhattisgarh in general, for which I could never muster up enough time. I learned upon reaching about Amma’s condition. My job was to basically help her start walking again. And we succeeded. She started moving her legs by herself by the time I was to leave back to Mumbai to tend to some unfinished projects.

Grandmother

Ammamma would always be in the room where Amma would be, with a rosary in her hand, she prayed throughout the day for her daughter’s good health. I don’t think she slept at any point for the week I stayed there, or maybe she never gave me the chance to catch her sleeping.

Amma never smiled during this week, also, couldn’t talk much because of her weakness. Before the day I was to leave for Mumbai, I asked her to smile for a picture. She smiled for one picture before returning back to her abnormally normal poker face. I left with these images I made that day, feeling proud of the progress we made. I left her with my aunt and grandmother to take care of her while I returned back to Mumbai.

The following week she was admitted to the ICU. I reached Raipur 15 minutes after she was pronounced dead. These become the last images I took of Amma.
['Leo Paapam']
['Death', 'Mothers', 'Photo Essay']