Karnataka boy takes tribals places

Bangalore, July 29:Meet Dinesh Maneer, a man of the soil taking it places. From the revered

magazine to some of the most popular dailies, all carry his picture or some of the pictures captured by him.

But his are no ordinary pictures as they connect directly to the tribes he has grown up with. A mechanical engineer by the day, he is a die-hard photographer round-the-clock who can bring life to whatever he clicks. But, the most talked-about captures belong to the tribal series.

"I have seen the Suggi tribes since childhood and the colour and the splendor with which they celebrate holika has always captured my imagination. They would dance for five days till dashami doning colourful costumes. They would be taking rounds of the city and the nearby villages barefoot, performing the whole night on the last day of poornima till 4am in the morning. Symbolizing the harvesting activities, the tribe has kept the culture alive," says Maneer.

But, unfortunately this culture is fading fast as performers are not able to afford the cost of costumes. "Of the Rs 20-50 they earn by dancing in the courtyard, goes in their daily expenses," says Maneer.

Maneer is on a constant lookout for such tribal communities and whenever he finds one, he spends time with them, experiencing their lives and capturing them in his camera.

His present project? Would be in Dandeli in September in search of the Gauligas tribe. Accolades is not everything that he has earned from his previous projects, but his experiences of a particular community and the knowledge of how closely these tribes hold on to their culture.

OneIndia News