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Art Diary: Documenting India's wildlife through a surgeon’s lens at this Delhi exhibition
Heartbeats — Our Shared Future showcases 200+ stunning wildlife images captured over five years by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Ramakanta Panda.
Seeing the wild through a lens, frozen in time, yet alive with energy, is an experience that never fails to enthral. That is what visitors are discovering at Heartbeats — Our Shared Future, an ongoing exhibition featuring over 200 images captured by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr Ramakanta Panda over the last five years.
The showcase is as much a celebration of Nature’s beauty as it is a call for coexistence. “I am a surgeon, but photography is my passion,” says the Padma Bhushan awardee.
“Be it humans or animals, our heartbeat keeps us alive. Wildlife, in many ways, is the true heartbeat of our ecosystem. Each frame is a reminder of how closely human life is tied to the wild. Through this exhibition, I wanted to use photography to spread a vital message: preserve wildlife,” he adds.
From the forests of Jim Corbett in Uttarakhand to Ranthambore in Rajasthan, Gir in Gujarat and Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Dr Panda traversed the country’s national parks to capture its natural splendour. Among the highlights is a striking tiger series, portraying India’s national animal in moods that range from elusive glimpses in the tall grass to regal frames by the water’s edge.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, remarked, “Seventy-five per cent of the world’s tiger population is in India, and that makes us proud. What’s more special is that the numbers are only growing. This exhibition feels like a celebration of our magnificent tiger population, and to see one of the country’s top surgeons channel his passion into photography makes it even more meaningful.”
For Dr Panda, the wild has been both humbling and rewarding. “There were days when I spent hours in the forest without a single sighting. And then there were mornings when, within the first hour, I would capture the most magical moments,” he recalls.
