At an age when most of his fellow photographers have retired or are planning to walk into their golden sunset, Rai is raring to go and is attired appropriately---in jeans and baggy shirts with a camera bag slung on his shoulder. " My inspiration comes from anything and everything. Whether it's a moving train or a rock perched on top of hill anything can appeal to my inner eye," says India's distinguished photographer.

When he discussed his intention of doing the book with Khushwant, the octogenarian writer readily agreed. Only this time there were to be fewer words and more pictures and one of his advisers was to be his Sikh wife, Gurmeet Kaur.

"Khushwant and I are both extremely conscious of our quality. Secondly, we respect each others areas of work. Khushwant’s writing is independent of my photographs and vice-versa," explains Rai.

The colourful book has been criticized by some quarters for not giving a complete picture of the Sikh community. Raghu Rai brushes aside such charges and says bluntly, " " I’m not an information officer of the government or of some Sikh Forum. For me, creativity comes first."

The book is a pictorial tribute to the progressive spirit of the Sikhs. It is a kaleidoscope of their culture and tradition as also their economic prosperity brought about by the Green Revolution. The book focuses on the majestic countryside of Punjab with its lush green fields and mustard crops, the glorious past of Sikhs starting from the nine gurus to the present day torchbearers.

The pictures also depict the darker side of Sikh history, namely terrorism and the subsequent devastation that was caused to the Golden Temple when it was flushed of terrorists in Operation Bluestar. There are some rare pictures of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwala--the militant leader behind this dark period of Sikh history.

In fact Raghu Rai’s coverage of the destruction of Golden Temple is a fascinating story in itself. The Golden Temple was out of bounds for press people, but Rai sneaked past the security cordon along with two of his assistants, while hiding his camera under a bouquet of flowers.

Once inside, Rai asked his assistants to form a cordon around him, while he went about clicking pictures, thus bringing to the world for the first time glimpses of the Golden Temple during and after the military action. Such was Rai's daredevilry that he instantly became a hero of sorts in his community.

This was not the first instance of Rai's sense of history. At the height of the anti-Indira Gandhi movement in the mid seventies, socialist leader Jai Prakash Narain was hit on the head during a rally in Patna. While the opposition parties condemned the act, the government denied that JP had been struck by a cop's lathi.

It was then that Raghu Rai, flashed a rare photograph taken during the rally which clearly showed a policeman hitting JP on the head. The picture created a furore in Parliament with opposition parties baying for government's blood. Nobody had the slightest inclination how Rai managed to click the picture from such close quarters. Rai smiles and says, " A good photographer must be bold and fearless."

Winner of many national and international awards, Rai has displayed his works in New York, London, Paris, Hamburg, Prague and Tokyo. He received the Padma Shri in 1971, is member of the International Jury of the World Press Photo Foundation and also of Magnum, the premiere agency of the world's best photographers.

In 1997, the National Gallery of Modern Art honoured him with the first-ever retrospective of any contemporary Indian photographer. One of the most stunning part of the exhibition was Rai's portraiture of Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity Missions many of which were published in the book Mother Teresa.

But Rai laments that photography has degenerated with times. " Even with such sophisticated equipment, the pictures of the current crop of photographers remain abysmally poor. I think  the dearth of good teaching institutes is one of the prime reasons for this," he says.

Rai is currently editing a book on the maestros of Indian Music like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan, Amjad Ali Khan which will be a guide for the future generations of photographers. " When maestros like Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ravi Shankar and others of their stature pass away there will be a void in the world of creative Indian music. There is no second line to take over. We are in the process of losing our rich musical heritage. I hold them in the highest esteem. "

As one of India's most creative photographers, he too is held in high esteem and many of his pictures are like works of art. Now, after 40 years of photographing national and international personalities, who has been his favourite subject?

" It's very difficult to make a choice," says Rai. " But frankly, if you ask for specific choices I would say Mother Teresa and Indira Gandhi are two people I have enjoyed photographing the most. The Mother had a serene mystical quality about her and Indira Gandhi, on the other hand was a symbol of force and power. Two women at two extremes who left such an indelible mark on India and Indians."

_____________________