'This is my period'

talks to photographer Raghu Rai about his home and office, architecture and the media at large and, of course, about pictures.

Raghu Rai is the picture of relaxation as he stretches out in his office and says: "Let's talk". It has taken some effort to find the man. After a turn into the thickets that surround the Qutub Minar, I go past the Dada Bari Jain Mandir and enter the warren of lanes that make Mehrauli the "last remaining village in Delhi".

Rai's studio, which is just a computer and an inkjet printer today, occupies a corner of his architect wife Gurmeet's office at the apartments named Qutub Greens. His "office" is a room where he keeps a selection of books, listens to music, and of course, stretches out to the view of the Qutub in the distance.

The corridors and halls of the National Gallery of Modern Art are playing host to his biggest ever retrospective which traces his work from the photograph of a baby donkey. When I begin a sentence with "Photographers of your generation...", he interrupts: "No, this is my period."

I am intrigued by the choice of the building to base his "office" in. It won't be wrong to say it rises grotesquely out of a lush greenscape and is in stark contrast to the historical architecture that is its neighbourhood. I ask Rai about his opinion on urban landscapes today.

"Today, they are direction-less, characterless and tasteless. It seems as if everything is growing out of each other. Khichdi is the word for it. Very little architecture has meaning. It is unfortunate that people don't hire architects when they know their aesthetics are so poor," he says.

But he is quick to justify his building with the argument that its location is "significantly" cheaper than the rest of Delhi and has its definite positives.

"I have stayed in a number of houses, even government accommodation that was complete with lawns. This flat, apart from giving me a view, offers me something that I haven't seen all my life "" sunrise. I have woken up early to photograph life in a softer light but never seen the sun rise daily from my home."

His home apartment is a few buildings away and there he says: "Sunrise and moonrise walk into my bedroom everyday. The full moon nights are especially beautiful. It gives you a bigger view and contact with the sky."

The Rai farmhouse is rather well-known in architectural circles. It is at Balia Was village, off the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway. Sprawling over six acres, it offers room for Rai's biggest passion apart from photography "" gardening. It is landscaped with plants he has brought from around the world.

The house itself is built from local stone held together by lime mortar. It is only the roof that is concrete and steel to better withstand tremors in a seismic zone. And with a rather mischievous touch, the bedrooms are on the western side, because it's a weekend home where no one wants to wake up early.

Rai credits his wife for the design of the farmhouse but still professes his love for the apartment: "It is chaotic architecture but does have a grand view. For me, space and nature are very important. I can see the pollution haze over Delhi far away from here."

Moving away from Delhi, Rai talks about his travels throughout the country. It is in south India, he says, that he sometimes found buildings full of colour but adds that he doesn't like to photograph architecture without any human element. "If humans don't invest their energy, even god won't be there," he says referring to religious architecture.

Rai's career peaked as the picture editor/ visualiser/ photographer of India Today. There is nostalgia in his voice when he looks back at his time there but it's overpowered by his disenchantment and bitterness with the media.

He regrets that photo essays do not find enough space any longer but tempers this by saying that photographers "are not searching for the unique". There's one last thing that I want to do before I leave "" I ask Rai to show me his camera.

He doesn't hesitate and pulls it out of the bag that's always close at hand. It is the D300, the latest offering from Nikon, one of the hottest pick-me-ups currently. But that's only to be expected.