Present were Indian Ambassador Sanjay Bhattacharyya, actress Aida Abdel-Aziz, El-Sawy Culturewheel founder Mohamed El-Sawy and artist Ashraf Talaat, who has had several solo exhibitions on India at the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture. Part of the sixth India by the Nile Festival, the exhibition presents an Egyptian perspective on India's wonders including the Taj Mahal, the Lotus Temple and tea fields in Monae. In vivid colour, Gawdat showcases landscapes, costumes and faces. As a hobbyist for 40 years (since he obtained his first camera at 15), he was reluctant to exhibit and might never have if not for Bhattacharyya's insistence. Gawdat has been to India 16 times; the first time was in the 1990s when, having planned a 15-day trip, he ended up staying for three months. India's incredible women and landscape captured by Gawdat “Every time I visit India,” he explained, “I keep in mind the need to discover new places, new angles to capture with my lens and to connect with people, as I always say ‘India is the photographer's heaven' with its vast, colourful canvas of magnificent landscapes, cultural heritage, religions coexisting in harmony and many places of worship. For me, India is also the home of some of humanity's greatest architectural wonders. I always feel at home in India and that something in my genes is linked to India. Even when I go to the United States to attend medical conferences they think I am Indian. It is an incredible country, the Mother of Wonders as we call it in Egypt; only in India, for instance, will you find the Dalai Lama opening a medical conference. Any photographer needs to visit India for at least 15 years in order to become involved with its people and cover its many attractions. Each time they can focus on a specific subject.” India's incredible women and landscape captured by Gawdat India's incredible women and landscape captured by Gawdat India's incredible women and landscape captured by Gawdat
