Aravind R and Venkatesh Kannan respond to a question in sign language. Srivatsan Sankaran translates, a smile on his lips: “They are both thrilled to be part of something this big for the first time in their lives.” He adds after a pause: “Aravind says he is a little anxious about the whole thing.” The conversation, that happens over a Google Meet call, is about the South India T20 Cricket Championships for the Differently-abled set to take place from May 22 to 25 in Chennai. Photographers Srivatsan, Aravind, and Venkatesh, who are deaf and hard of hearing, are part of Madras Photo Bloggers (MPB), that has been roped in to cover the tournament by the Tamil Nadu Physically Challenged Cricket Association.
Srivatsan, who wears a serious expression throughout — the video call service has a sub-title feature that conveys my questions — appears happiest when he talks about his ambitions for photography. It took almost 10 years for the 33-year-old, who previously took up a software developer role in the IT sector after his Computer Science Engineering, to get here.
He sat through countless work meetings that were not sensitive to his needs; dealt with dozens of colleagues who did not take an effort to understand his disability; spent several years in a work environment that gave him anxiety and made him feel out of place. “I didn’t feel like I was home,” he recalls. He quit in 2014, and decided to pursue a career in travel photography.
“I travelled across India, met everyday people, interacted with them through my camera…” Eventually, Srivatsan realised this was what he wanted to do. With a camera in hand, he didn’t feel limited; his photos did all the talking. “I gradually became more confident, and learnt to communicate better. I grew comfortable with the way I was and for the first time, felt like I was home,” he says. Srivatsan found this empowering and decided to share this skill with more people from the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Started in 2017, Madras Photo Bloggers, initially focused on photo-walks in Triplicane, Royapettah, and Mylapore. “I led walks focusing on Indo-Saracenic architecture in the city,” says Srivatsan. Back then, he used hand gestures to communicate and was not connected to people such as himself.
A chance meeting with Ayyalu Kumaran, a photographer, changed the course of his life. “He took me to a school for deaf children in Kilpauk,” says Srivatsan. It was a meeting he will never forget. He was introduced to the immense potential of sign language. Over the next year, MPB included more people from the community, and Srivatsan brought in interpreters for his photo walks. “So far we have held 75 photo walks, more than half of which were for the deaf community,” he says.
He also put together a photography course for the deaf and hard of hearing. Srivatsan realised that while there were skilled photographers among them, many required help with communicating their needs when in mainstream society. “Which is why I not just focus on the nuts and bolts of photography in my course, but also bring in soft skills training as well.” For this, he consults trainers from his corporate days.
MPB gradually grew in scale and talent. Today, it is a dependable photography company, that has covered over 50 weddings across India, apart from events such as book fairs. “We have a pool of 15 freelance photographers from across Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, and Cuddalore,” explains Srivatsan. All of them are deaf and hard of hearing, and have been equipped by MPB to not just shoot, but edit as well.
Twenty-two-year-old Aravind, for instance, is part of the core team, and is into video editing, while 35-year-old Venkatesh, designs albums. Srivatsan is a stickler for perfection. “We cannot afford to compromise on quality because of our disability,” he says.
R Rajmahesh, the captain of the ODI team for differently-abled players in Tamil Nadu, says that if things go well, they hope to work with MPB for their upcoming tournaments as well. “We have matches with Kolkata, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the coming months,” he says.
MPB also runs the Deaf Artists Collective, through which they sell art works by their community from across the State as NFTs, apart from at physical exhibitions with support from the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Srivatsan and team see the upcoming T20 as a “new progress”. He says: “More people will be exposed to the work we do, and will hopefully, understand us a little more.”
