Posing as Charlie Chaplin to living as Gandhi: 16 HT photos that tell stories

A man who makes a living playing Charlie Chaplin; a boy who lived after being abducted and crushed by a train and a family who are ostracised for their fair skin. As 2016 ends, Hindustan Times photojournalists bring you photographs that tell stories.

A man who makes a living playing Charlie Chaplin; a boy who lived after being abducted and crushed by a train and a family who are ostracised for their fair skin. As 2016 ends, Hindustan Times photojournalists bring you photographs that tell stories.

Monu, 52, is a tourist attraction in the lawns of India Gate. He is less than three feet and makes a living by posing as Charlie Chaplin. He charges Rs 10-Rs 20 for every selfie shot with him by tourists but sometimes people mock him and call him names. (Raj K Raj/ HT Photo)

No school, No skateboarding: A village plays by the rules

Bundelkhand’s Janwaar village has a sight to behold: girls and boys whizzing around on skateboards, practicing ‘Flips’ and ‘Nosegrinds’. A not-for-profit project in the village teaches children skateboarding free of cost. There are two rules: girls first and no skateboarding if you bunk school. (Pratik Chorge/ HT Photo)

Demonetisation woes: Elderly man crying in a bank touches a raw nerve

Nand Lal, a 78-year old retired soldier, was photographed when he broke down after missing his spot at a Gurgaon bank. Lal became emblematic of the distress caused to people after the government withdrew Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. “Why aren’t they giving my money? Why didn’t they prepare?” he wanted to know. (Parveen Kumar/ HT Photo)

Hanging out with social media’s popular ‘Follow Me To’ guy

Mahesh Chaturvedi, 68, is a modern-day Gandhi: complete with round glasses, a crisp white dhoti and a message to transform the society. Chaturvedi says he travels across the country spreading his ideas about a social system that will wipe out poverty. (Saumya Khandelwal/ HT Photo)

The Gandhi who goes to the mall, takes the Metro

Mahesh Chaturvedi, 68, is a modern-day Gandhi: complete with round glasses, a crisp white dhoti and a message to transform the society. Chaturvedi says he travels across the country spreading his ideas about a reformed social system that will wipe out poverty. (Arun Sharma/ HT Photo)

A family singled out for their skin

The 10 members of the Pullan family live in north Delhi’s Wazirpur and suffer from a congenital absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. That makes their skin extremely fair and the target of people’s prejudices. (Arun Sharma/ HT Photo)

The boy who lived: A survival story

Ankit Rai is a gritty young man. In 2007, he was kidnapped and then abandoned on railway tracks. A speeding train severed his arm, but he survived and later helped the police in nabbing his abductors. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

Where snakes are child’s play

Children of Jogi Dera, a village near Kanpur, play with snakes. That’s natural, for the village belongs to a semi-nomadic tribe, ‘Baiga’ or ‘Sapera’, whose main occupation is snake charming. (Arun Sharma/ HT Photo)

Rescued from hell: Life after the high

Seventy-four children live in an Old Delhi drug rehabilitation centre. Many of them have spent life sniffing fluids and smoking heroin, but now they are fighting to clean up. This is their story. (Ravi Choudhary/ HT Photo)

Bhutan’s big idea of happiness

Gurinder Osan, Hindustan Times’ national photo editor, visited Bhutan for the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rimpoche, who is revered as the second Buddha. In his photographs, catch a glimpse of one on of the last few places in the world that is like Shangri La. (Gurinder Osan/ HT Photo)

Trigger-happy in Kaziranga

In their attempt to show results in the fight to save the one-horned rhinoceros, forest officials in the Kaziranga national park might be killing innocent villagers. (Arun Sharma/ HT Photo)

Finding dignity in discard

On a mountain of waste, children rummage for things that they can keep or sell. It could be a pair of sunglasses, a football or a teddy bear. Meet the children of Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill. (Ravi Choudhary/ HT Photo)

Shot in the eyes

Insha Mushtaq was blinded when she opened a window in her home in south Kashmir and a pellet cartridge hit her. She has become the global face of Kashmir’s pellet woes: hundreds of people who were blinded or maimed by pellet guns used by security forces to manage crowds. (Waseem Andrabi/ HT Photo)

An idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed in an artificial pond in Mumbai. The city’s biggest festival has gone environment-friendly , with more and people using eco friendly idols and immersing them in artificial water bodies. (Kunal Patil/ HT PhotoH)

A drain polluted with industrial effluents becomes a place to pray for this man. Delhi’s reputation as one of world’s most polluted cities sees no signs of improving. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT Photo)

Young men in Srinagar show their talent in Parkour, ‘the art of obstacle-defeating’ in athletes which aim to run while overcoming hurdles. (Waseem Andrabi/ HT Photo)