The evening skies of March 19 were resplendent with blackened clouds enveloping the city into an aura of joy. It seemed as if the Himalayas themselves had sent their messengers to the city as a heavenly ode to the magician whose 30 years of passion for photography was cleansing the soul of Delhi as Pablo Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Amidst the drizzle of raindrops, the art gallery on the third floor of The Lalit, Connaught Place, lay witness to the uncharted and pristine natural panoramas, unscripted fleeting moments and the spiritual soul of India, captured through the lenses the magician named Photographer Vijender Prakash. The group art show curated and inaugurated by the stalwart of art Shri.Naresh Kapuria, was a pure trance for souls as the art lovers and the guests were awestruck by the canvas photo prints of the breathtaking landscapes of Ladakh, the mystic splendour of Ajanta paintings, the holy pilgrimage echoing the metaphysical heart of India, the lively lady in stone claiming her space and freedom under the open skies and the portrait of Maa Durga as she allowed the sculptors of Kolkata to create and adorn the Goddess herself. The evening also marked the inaugural launch of the coffee table book ‘Ladakh’, a collection of the breathtaking clicks of the majestic Himalayan landscapes by Vijender Prakash published by Raavi Sabharwal, founder of Timeless Art Book Studio.

Captured during the era when scrolls, social media and blind quest for likes and followers has not diluted the world of art and soul of art appreciation, the photo prints on large canvases and the large pages of the coffee table book created the symphony of heavenly trance as Rumi says, “Beforush ziraki o hayrani bekhar / Ziraki zann ast o hayrani nazar.” (Sell cleverness, buy wonder; intellect is assumption, wonder is true seeing.) “What? Is it not a painting?” “Really! Are these the photographs printed on canvas?” “No, you must be mistaken how can these not be the paintings?” These were just some of the multitude reactions of disbelief by the art lovers as their minds and souls still struggled to find equilibrium under the impact of such ethereal clicks which only either God himself could have visualised or here on earth Photographer and entrepreneur Vijender Prakash captured.

When William Blake wrote, “To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower,” he didn’t have a hint that the soul of his words will find the truest expressions through the lenses of Vijender Prakash.  From then sunrise peeping through clouds to capturing the ‘Perfect Peacock in Pangong’ which leaves everyone mesmerised with the contours of the blue and the sea green and the browns and the aqua, Vijender captured it all and more just out of the sheer, the pure, the unadulterated love for photography. His captures embody the pure power of passion and love for life, in Edgar Degas words, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”