India: In Word and Image, Revised, Expanded and Updated
Celebrated photographer Meola is as intrepid a colorist as a master painter. The opening shots in this large, chromatic, and exciting volume include a close-up of a man’s many-hued, pigment-spattered shirt during Rang Gulal, the Hindu “festival of colors” and a photograph of a woman walking through a field of yellow flowers, cuing us to the deep pleasure Meola takes in this vast, varied land in which he has traveled for more than a decade. “As a photographer,” he writes, “I am drawn to India because of the psychedelic colors that seem to permeate every facet of life.” His roaming yet intimate lens captures the drama and radiance of people, flowers, fabric, temples, and animals. In her introduction, Bharati Mukherjee observes that Meola “uncovers the beauty (and ballet) of survival embedded in the daily lives of ordinary citizens.” Among the magnificent photographs are found gracefully selected and placed excerpts from the writings of  Rabindranath Tagore, R. K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie,  Anita Desai, Amit Chaudhuri, and Jhumpa Lahiri. This breathtaking, exquisitely curated volume is a feast for eye and mind. --Donna Seaman