this photo cost me over $1000..........., a photo from Himachal Pradesh, North

Photographer's Note

This picture cost me my dignity, my ganesh necklace, my silk dress, my $1000 Olympus digital camera. This man is N.D. Sharma. I was given a pass card to photograph the festival from the VIP section. from the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. This man, came and demanded in a nasty voice, that I leave immediately. I showed him my pass card. He waved it around laughing, that I was crazy, I was no VIP! He got three equally rude policemen, and then at least twenty. He grabbed for my camera and tried to snatch it away from me. I snapped him as he tried to get it, this is the photo. The lens was fully extended. He smashed the lens into the camera. He had the police grab me and drag me out of the festival.The man in middle who grabbed my ganesh necklace and pulled it off me, poked me in the neck, and was preparing his arm to beat me, when I said the USA will not be happy. I was stuffed into a car, all this in front of thousands of people. I was forced, pulled, pushed thru a small space to get out of the car. I have black bruises on my legs, and my dress was ripped complety, across my waist. My lens was caught in the seat. They shoved me thru a tiny space, till my lens completely fell off the camera.
I was kept till past 12:30am in the morning. Today, a policeman found me, to give me part of my lens, the rest, the entire outer part, gone forever.
I am sorry for the good people I met in Chamba. To be fair, only a few policemen were bad, the rest spoke no English,and really only knew what they were told.

kikvel, Curioso, Kenny10pin, nwoehnl, Oldtree, mimi, robiuk, hispic, ChrisJ, Eagle, sengir, mnphoto, hojper, Deke, eugeneahn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

kikvel (4784) 2004-08-01 10:45

I am so sorry Gloria

What a bad moment you have passed through.
I am glad you did not suffer a more serious injury there.

Please take care,

Kikvel

Curioso (9271) 2004-08-01 10:49

I faced something similar in Angola five years ago, once with burglars and another time with a policeman I photographed by mistake. But I was never beaten, they only tried to keep my camera and I could run away from the burglar and had to give 50 USD to the policeman to get back my camera.

I hope you are ok now and not too shocked. We all wish you will safely recover from this bad experience.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-08-01 10:55

Wow, I hope you are better from this ordeal, it is a pain in the you know what when you know what happens. The photo says it all along with the note

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nwoehnl (122) 2004-08-01 11:01

Gloria, I'm so sorry to learn about the humiliation you experienced. I hope you will be recovering okay from this. I think the way you are posting this and writing your note clearly shows that your spirit has not been broken. All the best for you.

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mimi (2325) 2004-08-01 11:15

Gloria -- I'm so sorry. I hope that you are feeling better, both physically and mentally. You're doing a great job informing all of us every day. I hope you'll keep it up.

Mimi

sn00zie (2384) 2004-08-01 11:22 [Comment]

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Oldtree (2457) 2004-08-01 11:37

This sounds like a horrible experience to me. It must have been frightening hours until 12:30 in the morning.

oochappan (4880) 2004-08-01 13:14

Sorry to hear this rude mogging of Indian authority towards foreigners. Like you said before, there are no rules in India and a small man who gets some responsability he often abuses his position. Only simple people they still know to pay you fully respect.
I experienced once a simalar situation with my mother of 76 years then, but I reacted with an article in the Indian Express and some writings because that situations was incredibel worse. So don't worry, my mother did neither.

avigur_11 (22535) 2004-08-01 15:18

Sorry to read these bad news, Gloria. After all that, I see that you are able to continue posting and writing, so I guess that it means that your OK, after all.
I never thought that India is dangerous for tourists, but after the robbery of MAciek, and your story, I guess that I'll change my mind.

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nygus (8178) 2004-08-02 3:30

I suggest you make a story out of it and let them print it in local newspaper plus go back to deputy commissioner. Giving up means letting them harass next people. I see no worse solution then letting them go with no consequences

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ChrisJ (171220) 2004-08-02 8:18

Unlike your profile photo, the man in the top left has a cold, dead look in his eyes. You have something worth far more than $1000, that this pathetic man will never have.

RAP (1053) 2004-08-02 10:12 [Comment]

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avis2avis (4264) 2004-08-02 12:39 [Comment]

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Olga (927) 2004-08-02 14:15 [Comment]

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c_kyr (1810) 2004-08-03 10:28

I so sorry for your bad luck in India Gloria!
I hope that this incident will not keep you away from providing us with beautiful photos.
Best wishes!

hojper (2832) 2004-08-04 2:50

Police brutality - it never stops, does it? And it seems to be a very global thing indeed. I appreciate your fighting spirit. And posting this photo is a great demonstration of that. As to the shot, I wonder if you shouldn't have cut it in two and posted only the vicious wrongdoer on his own. It is true that the young cop smiling in the background at his superior's fury is a great touch and probably adds to the whole. But I have a feeling that the left hand side on its own would make a very powerful portrait of meanness and abuse of power.
Thanks for sharing - I feel you have just added another great dimension to TE.

philip_coggan (11) 2004-08-09 1:34

So this is the infamous Mr Sharma! Well at least you have his picture! Take care Glo, your safety comes first.

dsammi (0) 2004-08-13 13:27 [Comment]

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kaud (1840) 2004-08-20 4:40

Gloriadidi,
Sorry! Ashamed of Sharma.
But please keep faith on us, average Indians. Everyone is not a Sharma here.

Kausik

Deke (708) 2004-08-20 9:07

Hateful, horrible, and of course they want you to fight so they can charge you with something. No way did they take your dignity and the fact that you managed to get the shot in the midst of such pathetic abuse of power and denigration of women means you are stronger than they can ever hope to be. Who has the greater authority, ND Shamal or DC of Himachal Pradesh? You should, must demand a public apology from these peple, and publish the photo and story with names wherever you can. Send it to Amnesty International for instance (I know it's not a BIG deal but it's rare such a story gets told this way). Great work with the site, and sorry you have to suffer for your passion in such a ridiculous way.
Ian

archanabhimasen (270) 2005-04-12 21:08