For those who are a fan of JK Rowling’s fantasy fiction series Harry Potter, Quidditch the fictional sport is something that stays with you long after you have watched the movie. Witches and wizards flying on their broomstick playing a complex game, catches everyones eye and attention.
Now what would Harry Potter/Quidditch have in common with the Garhwal Himalayas and its habitants? Many would wonder. Well, here is a story of how 27 year old Freelancer Photographer, Education Trainer Anshu Agarwal, recreated the game and its magic for children of Kalap, a village in Tons Valley some two years ago.
Anshu happened to chance upon the opportunity of volunteering for an NGO to teach English to the young children of the village. It was while his stay at the village that Anshu experimented with what he calls the ‘Quidditch Photo-shoot.’
Taking about the shoot Anshu tells us how, “It was while i was teaching English to my students that I showed them the movie Harry Potter. The children were so mesmerised by the movie that they asked me to recreate the magic for them, a request i could not turn down and thus, the shoot happened.”
Using Levitational Technique, with props put together by his young assistants, Anshu recreated the magic of Harry Potter much to the delight of his young models and the villagers.
Anshu remembers, “Their wish was my command! Simple. I set about recreating the magic for the young enthusiastic children, who worked on war-footing to arrange for a broomsticks, a one meter long wooden bench and a volleyball, and of course more than willing young children with colourful capes and caps to be my models and actors.”
It took the teacher and his students close to two months to finish the shoot. Experimenting with location,props and then with a little help from photo-shop, magic was created.
Nostalgically, Anshu recalls how when he first showed his pictures to the villagers and his students, they were taken aback. He cant forget how excited they were and at that very moment Anshu knew, he too in his own special way, strung together magical moments and memories for the inhabitants and its generations to come.
