Manpreet Romana is the Creative Head of Outlook India and a photographer. In 2009, while he was working with the AFP, he was embedded with the US Marines in Afghanistan. One of his photographs—capturing a US Marine fleeing for his life during an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion—is believed to be the first time an IED explosion has been caught on camera. In an interview with Rani Jana, he talks about the moment he clicked the photograph, about being in the midst of gunfights and mine clearance drives, losing friends and colleagues and his experiences of being a photographer in a war-torn region.
On Video: Manpreet Romana
Camera: Vikram Sharma and Suresh Kumar Pandey
Editor: Sudhanshu
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#NeverEndingWars #ContinuousWars #EndlessWars #PerpetualWars #Outlook #WarAndPeace #Afghanistan #Kabul
On Video: Manpreet Romana
Camera: Vikram Sharma and Suresh Kumar Pandey
Editor: Sudhanshu
Follow us:
Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/
X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia
Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine
Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia
#NeverEndingWars #ContinuousWars #EndlessWars #PerpetualWars #Outlook #WarAndPeace #Afghanistan #Kabul
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NewsTranscript
00:00So all the media from all over the world, they were at one place and they were assigned different units to go with.
00:07So I was assigned a unit where they look for bombs.
00:10It's called the Route Clearance Platoon.
00:13Like first day we went out, we were supposed to go from point A to some point B.
00:18So there was an explosion.
00:20One of the vehicles went over a mine.
00:23And of course you were like, you're thinking it's your vehicle.
00:27But you're safe, because it wasn't my vehicle.
00:30But the explosion was very loud.
00:33So one of the vehicles got damaged, but no one got injured.
00:37I was always very cautious. I wanted to cover it, but never wanted to...
00:41I was always wishing that we don't come under fire.
00:47But I wasn't going out and looking where are people fighting.
00:53But that was my take on it.
00:57I did a small photo story on rehabilitation.
01:23There was this Red Cross center where people who had lost their limbs, their prosthetics were made.
01:32And then how would they fit.
01:34And then they had to go through some physiotherapy training on how to use it.
01:38Yeah, it gets overwhelming.
01:40But you have to detach yourself.
01:47I remember very vividly, we did a story on this one woman who used to live with her children.
02:01I do not recall it completely, but she didn't have limbs.
02:09Her six or seven year old children had to feed her.
02:15Or young children.
02:17So there was no source of income.
02:22So that was heartbreaking.
02:26It was very overwhelming.
02:29After I left AFP, I lost a couple of colleagues who I knew really well.
02:35In Afghanistan, they were Afghan photographers.
02:38In fact, one of the photographers we lost was the photographer I went to replace during his holidays.
02:44You just carry a lot of luck.
02:46And you also have to have this very high sense of preservation.
02:49You make sure that you try not to take any risk.
02:54During this embed, we were in a platoon.
02:58We got stuck.
03:00Because our vehicle again got blown off.
03:04Then we were stuck there for the same place for four or five days.
03:08Till they could send us apart.
03:10Airdrop the part.
03:12So one evening there was a firefight.
03:14It was kind of a bizarre experience.
03:16It's late in the evening and it's all guns blazing.
03:21It looked like fireworks were going off.
03:24After all, we couldn't clear the route.
03:28So there was a support team that was sent to clear the route.
03:32They were coming from the other side and we were clearing from our side.
03:35So I was with the team that was clearing the road.
03:39So we've been walking for a while.
03:41Then other team came and I said to our writer in AFP.
03:45I said, you know, they're just going another 20-25 meters.
03:49Why don't we stay here?
03:50So they had a smoke and we chatted with them.
03:53We were hanging out with them.
03:54As they moved forward, the other day,
03:58I had some loud conversation with the other team from the other side.
04:02Then these guys kept sweeping.
04:05I think one of them probably missed a sweep.
04:08Like the mine sweep.
04:10And stepped on the mine and it went off.
04:12Then the person stepped on the mine.
04:14It was a huge blast.
04:16I think, if I'm not wrong, there were like six people there.
04:21So in that picture, you only see one.
04:23There were other, I think, five or six people other than that guy.
04:27And two of them lost their lives.
04:28You know, you're hanging out with these people.
04:30You're eating with them.
04:31You're part of them.
04:32That team.
04:33And it really does affect you because suddenly you're talking to someone
04:37and that person is not there.
04:39Like actually three minutes later.
04:41So once we were on a patrol, we were shot at.
04:44And the bullets went, like they were really close to my head
04:48because you can hear them.
04:50Like when you can hear them, that means they're really close to you.
04:53And, you know, you see these, for the longest period of time,
04:57you think it's a joke that, you know, these Hindi films,
04:59you know, flashback, all your life passes by.
05:01And, you know, I jumped and I was lying on the ground.
05:04And then there was this constant firing.
05:06And we were directed to run towards cover.
05:10There were some buildings ahead of us through the fields.
05:13So while lying on the ground, like all my important life,
05:16like my family, my friends, like, you know,
05:19also like some very vivid experiences that,
05:22like some experiences that I also had, they become like a blur in your life.
05:26But they suddenly came up and they flashed by
05:30as if like there was a movie going on in front of my eyes.
05:33Also, I think it's a bizarre, if I might say it,
05:37but it's also like when you, it gives you this adrenaline rush.
05:42It's like, it gives you a rush.
05:44If given an opportunity, you keep going back.
05:46I had an idea what I was getting into.
05:49I was prepared for it.
05:51And I was also conscious of what can go wrong.
05:56Like I was really aware of it.
05:58So, but what, how does it affect you is that it's,
06:02those experiences stay with you.
06:05And sometimes you're in places where it's perfectly normal.
06:10And it happens to me very on and off.
06:13So you're in a market or your normal situation.
06:17And suddenly you'll see like something unidentified lying.
06:21But because you've gone through similar kinds of situations many times,
06:25you start, immediately you start, you get nervous.
06:28You get, so there is that thing that happens to you.
06:32That at least happens to me sometimes.
06:34Someone would have asked me that if I would do it again.
06:37Yes, I would do it again.
06:38Given an opportunity, I wanted to be there.
06:40And I, it wasn't that like it was forced on to me.
06:46I was asked and I really, I wanted to go.
06:48Like everyone knows that anything can happen anytime,
06:52even sitting in your bed or whatever.
06:56But you start to really appreciate.
07:01And you also start to understand actually the fickleness of life.
07:05That when you experience in like, in such a situation,
07:10really that someone was just there with you two minutes ago
07:15and then they're not there.
07:17So it's, it does make you feel and it stays with you
07:27that how fickle the life is.