Sky’s the limit

Today, on United Nations’ International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, three photographers share their images of Mumbai’s skies during the pandemic, and the stories behind them

Sky’s the limit

Representation pic

The good blues

When the pandemic first hit, I could see a significant change in the air quality in Mumbai. The skies were bluer, and we could hear bird calls around us. During the lockdown, I used to spend a lot of time on my balcony, in my house near Bandstand.

This picture was taken in July 2020. What intrigued me was the reflection of the sky on the windows and ripples in the sea. I also love capturing birds because it adds fluidity and motion to the image.
Anushka Gupta, photographer

Noting emptiness

When the pandemic hit, all work came to a halt. I took my camera and went around checking the light in the city. This picture was taken at Dahisar railway station, last April. I was really shocked to see the clear clouds and a beautiful sky.

The roads were empty and there was no pollution. I wanted to see how the station looked with no people, because Mumbai is never like this. Even in the middle of the tough pandemic, the clouds seemed happy.
Kurman Bhaskar Rao, photographer

Differences matter

I wasn’t clicking many photographs during 2020, because there wasn’t much work but I used to click some from my window and this was one of them. September is usually a great time because the monsoon comes to an end. The air quality in the first two months of the lockdown was fantastic. In terms of the blue in the skies, there was a great deal of difference. You don’t get this kind of sky too often, maybe in villages or in places like Ladakh. When the light filters through less pollution and less particulate matter, it has a certain quality to it that is very visible.
Ritesh Uttamchandani, freelance photographer

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