Prince Thangkhiew

Prince Thangkhiew
Prince divides his time between his village, Umsawwar (which lies on the routes of the Syntung and the Mawlang bus) and Shillong. On a Saturday afternoon, he took photographs of all that goes on in the bus stand for about half an hour before catching the Mawlang bus for Umsawwar. One and a half rolls of film finished in quick succession.

Prince, who primarily works on micro-credit programs for women across rural Meghalaya, has been a regular traveller in all these buses for almost a decade now. He frequently visits these villages that lie beyond Smit. Through his journey over the years, Prince seems to know, feel and experience all that happens in these buses. In recounting his experiences of having travelled in the bus over the years, Prince literally embodies the spirit of the bus. Prince’s pictures highlight each and every little thing of the bus stand. How people from the village carry food from home and eat in the bus, how mothers feed their babies in the bus, how people end up wasting their money on cheap goods and things that are sold in the bus stand. How dirt, noise and smoke around the bus stand affects the health of children, women and men alike. How porters carry heavy loads on their heads, how the bus feels like home for people of the village who come to Shillong for inevitable reasons.

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