Paulo Coelho once wrote, “Only two things can reveal life’s great secrets, suffering, and love”. Vicky Roy had more than a fair share of the former. When he was born, his parents had 7 mouths to feed. Naturally, he was sent to his grandmother’s house to make a new home. But, he was treated like a servant there and was often beaten up. His grandmother wouldn’t allow him to play with the other kids or even go out of the house. He always wanted to travel. Few birds cannot be caged. Their wings are just too big and bright to be contained behind bars. So, he picked 1100 Rupees from his uncle’s pocket, fled home and got into a train to New Delhi.
“When I reached New Delhi station, I sat there in trance, I sat there crying, and I sat there in the emptiness. Because I did not know what to do or where to go. Few children saw me crying and came to me. I told them my story. Later, I joined them and started to work as a rag picker. I would collect water bottles, refill them and sell them for 5 rupees in general boogies”
But even after 6 months, he did not have any money. Goons and snatchers would loiter the platforms and were the villains in the poor boy’s life. So he joined a restaurant as a dishwasher. The winters were harsh on him. The water would be painfully cold and he would have rashes that would bleed. During that time, he met a volunteer from ‘Salam Balak’ trust, who made him understand that it was time to go to school and study. He joined one of the centers called ‘Apna ghar’.
May be, studying was not his cup of tea. He scored 48% in 10th grade, so his teacher advised him to take up a different career track. He came across photography and realized that it would help him travel. At the same time a British photographer, Dixie, Benjamin, came to ‘Salam Balak’ trust. He knew only English and Vicky knew only Hindi. Vicky did not understand a single word that came out of Benjamin’s mouth. Yet he was focused and took the help of a friend for translation. His life slowly steered towards photography.
When he was 18, he had to leave ‘Salam Balak’ trust and earn his own bread and butter. Little did he know that it was a blessing in disguise. He convinced Anay Maan, a well-known portrait photographer to take him as an assistant. He started learning about photography in detail. He started earning money. He started traveling. After overcoming a lot of hurdles, he got his first professional camera, a ‘Nikon F80’ for 28 thousand Rupees. With the little he earned, he paid an EMI of Rupees 500 a month. In 2007, he did his first solo called ‘Street dreams’ and then his life began to change.
“When I was in the streets, I had dreams. This solo was a projection of my own self. I chose kids who were under 18 years. This kid for example,
his name is also Vicky, he used to come to my shelter home to study in the morning and sold balloons in the evening at Connaught Palace. I found such children and started taking their photos. I was 19 then. This exhibition was very successful. I traveled to London thrice and to South Africa and Vietnam”.
This initial success gave him confidence and made him more ambitious. In 2008, he participated in a global competition organized by Maybach foundation. They chose 4 photographers, 2 from the US, 1 from Hong Kong and he was the 4th. This gave him a chance to go the US for 6 months and study at the International center of photography. He got an opportunity to take pictures of the reconstruction of world trade center. He could take pictures for 2 hours, every week. After a lot of begging and convincing, he did a second solo shoot called ‘WTC now’, with the pictures taken of the construction sites. It won him the Duke of Edinburgh award and his work was exhibited at WTC 7. He was invited to London’s Buckingham Palace to have lunch with Prince Edward. A place and a person, he had heard for the first time in his life.
“I finally felt, I know the reason why I ran away from home all those years back. After tasting global success I wanted to come back to my roots. So, I started a project called ‘Apna Ghar’. I started clicking pictures in my sheltered home. Because my sheltered home had a different lifestyle. Few of these pictures were selected for London’s Whitechapel gallery and some were displayed in Switzerland photo museum”
He wanted to give back in the small ways he could. So he started a photo library called ‘Rang’. Photographer’s books are very expensive, so he and a friend wrote to established photographers to donate their books, explaining the cause. Donations poured in and they soon started a photo library. Anybody is welcome to access the Rang open library, with a repository of over 700 books and catalogs.
In 2013, Vicky participated in an NGC organized reality show. This was when he was spotted on TV by somebody in his native village, Purulia in West Bengal. He started getting calls from there and was finally able to get back with his mother and siblings. And they could not be more proud of him.
“I don’t encourage anybody to run away, not every child who runs away gets the same opportunity that I got, I credit my mentors for this. I want to help somebody like how I was helped when I was nothing. So I have taken a 20-year-old under my mentor-ship. I just want to be counted as a good photographer, and build a nice house for my family in Purulia.”
Here’s the link to the INK video where he narrates his own story, all photos taken from his website.
The Resonant Blog 
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