ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2011

Monika Bulaj: The hidden light of Afghanistan

मोनिका बुलाज:अफगाणिस्तानचा दडलेला प्रकाश

Filmed:
669,507 views

मोनिका बुलाज,छायाचित्रकार आपल्या अफगाणी सफरीच्या आठवणींना उजाळा देत आहेत--अफगाणी स्त्रिया व पुरुष--तिथल्या अंतर्गत बाता. आपल्याला या दहशतवादाच्या केंद्राबिंदुबाबत खरोखरच माहिती आहे का?
- Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
My travels to Afghanistan
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माझ्या अफगाणिस्तान कथेची सुरवात
00:18
began many, many years ago
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बर्‍याच वर्षांपूर्वी सुरु झाली
00:21
on the eastern border of my country,
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ही कथा आहे माझी
00:24
my homeland, Poland.
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मातृभूमी पोलंडच्या पूर्व सीमेची
00:27
I was walking through the forests
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जणू काही मी बालकथेतील
00:29
of my grandmother's tales.
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भयावह अरण्यातून वावरत होते
00:33
A land where every field hides a grave,
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एक अशी ओसाड
00:38
where millions of people
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धरती जिथे
00:40
have been deported or killed
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लाखो लोक
00:43
in the 20th century.
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विसाव्या शतकात देशोधडीला लागली
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Behind the destruction,
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या विध्वंसातही
00:48
I found a soul of places.
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मला त्या जागेचा आत्मा दिसत होता
00:51
I met humble people.
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मी बर्‍याच दीन दुबलाना भेटले
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I heard their prayer
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मी त्यांची गार्हाणी ऐकली
00:55
and ate their bread.
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मी त्यांच्या सोबत भाकरी खाल्ली
00:57
Then I have been walking East for 20 years --
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अशाप्रकारे मी गेले वीस वर्ष पूर्वभ्रमण करीत आहे --
01:02
from Eastern Europe to Central Asia --
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पूर्व युरोपे ते मध्य आशिया
01:05
through the Caucasus Mountains,
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कॅउचूस पर्वतरांगांमधून
01:07
Middle East,
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मध्य पूर्व
01:09
North Africa,
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उत्तर आफ्रिका
01:11
Russia.
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रशिया
01:13
And I ever met more humble people.
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मी बर्याच दिन दुबळ्यांना भेटले
01:17
And I shared their bread and their prayer.
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त्यांच्या सोबत भाजी भाकरी खाल्ली
01:20
This is why I went to Afghanistan.
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माझा अफगाणिस्तानला जाण्यामागे हाच उद्देश होता
01:23
One day, I crossed the bridge
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एके दिवशी मी ओक्षुस
01:27
over the Oxus River.
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नदीचा पूल पार करीत होते
01:29
I was alone on foot.
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या निर्मनुष्य परिसरात मी एकटीच हिंडत होते
01:31
And the Afghan soldier was so surprised to see me
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अशा निर्मनुष्य ठिकाणी मला एकटीला पाहून अफगाण सैनिक चकित झाला
01:33
that he forgot to stamp my passport.
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आणि माझ्या पासपोर्टवर शिक्का मारायला विसरला
01:36
But he gave me a cup of tea.
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त्याने मला चहा दिला
01:38
And I understood
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आणि मी समजले
01:40
that his surprise was my protection.
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की ही त्याची उदारता आहे
01:43
So I have been walking and traveling,
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की ही त्याची उदारता आहे
01:46
by horses, by yak, by truck, by hitchhiking,
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कधी घोडेस्वारी कधी हिमयाग
01:49
from Iran's border
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अगदी इराणच्या सीमेपासून
01:51
to the bottom, to the edge of the Wakhan Corridor.
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वाकण छानमार्गा पर्यंत
01:56
And in this way
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आणि अशाप्रकारे
01:58
I could find noor, the hidden light of Afghanistan.
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जणू काही मला अफगाणिस्तानचा हरवलेला प्रकाश गवसला
02:05
My only weapon
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माझी हत्यार होती --
02:07
was my notebook and my Leica.
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माझी नोंदवही आणि कॅमेरा (Leica)
02:12
I heard prayers of the Sufi --
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मी दिन दुबळ्या मुसलमानांची सुफी गार्हाणी एकली--
02:14
humble Muslims,
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असे दिन दुबळे मुसिल्म --
02:16
hated by the Taliban.
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ज्यांना तालिबानी लोकांनी नेहेमीच घृणास्पद नजरेने पाहिले
02:18
Hidden river,
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गीब्राल्तर ते भारतापर्यंत
02:20
interconnected with the mysticism
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वाहणारी ही
02:22
from Gibraltar to India.
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गूढ नदी
02:25
The mosque where the respectful foreigner
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अशी मस्जिद जिथे
02:30
is showered with blessings
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परदेशी माणसाचे स्वागत
02:32
and with tears,
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अश्रू आणि
02:35
and welcomed as a gift.
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आशीर्वादाने केले जाते
02:39
What do we know
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असा देश,
02:41
about the country and the people
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जिथे भूक आणि वेदना मिटवण्याचे एकमेव साधन
02:43
that we pretend to protect,
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अफिम आहे
02:46
about the villages
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आपल्याला अशा
02:49
where the only one medicine
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देशाच्या देशवासीयांबद्दल
02:51
to kill the pain and to stop the hunger
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खरोखरच
02:53
is opium?
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माहिती आहे का ?
02:55
These are opium-addicted people
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ही लोक व्यसनाधीन आहेत
02:58
on the roofs of Kabul
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--त्यांचे व्यसन आहे-- अफिम
03:01
10 years after the beginning of our war.
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आता वळूया युद्धा नंतर १० वर्ष पुढे
03:05
These are the nomad girls
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या भटक्या जमातीच्या मुली आहेत
03:08
who became prostitutes for Afghan businessmen.
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ज्यांनी वेश्या व्यवसाय पत्करलाय
03:12
What do we know about the women
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युद्धानंतर १० वर्षांनी
03:14
10 years after the war?
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अशा स्त्रियांचे काय झाले
03:16
Clothed in this nylon bag,
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त्यांचा वेश आहे
03:18
made in China,
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हे नायलॉन वस्त्र
03:20
with the name of burqa.
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-- जे चीन निर्मित आहे
03:24
I saw one day,
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एके दिवशी मी
03:26
the largest school in Afghanistan,
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अफगाणिस्तानातली सर्वात
03:29
a girls' school.
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मोठी कन्या शाळा पाहीली
03:31
13,000 girls
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१३००० विद्यार्थिनी
03:34
studying here
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येथे शिक्षण घेतात
03:38
in the rooms underground,
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शाळेच्या खोल्या जमिनीखाली आहेत--भूमिगत आहेत
03:41
full of scorpions.
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आणि सोबत आहेत अचाट विंचू
03:44
And their love [for studying]
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त्यांची शिक्षणाबद्दलची ओढ
03:47
was so big that I cried.
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पाहून मला गहिवरून आले
03:52
What do we know
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जी लोक आपल्या मुलीना कन्याशाळेत पाठवतात
03:54
about the death threats by the Taliban
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त्यांच्याविरुद्ध तालिबानी लोक
03:57
nailed on the doors
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फतवा जरी करतात --
03:59
of the people who dare to send their daughters to school as in Balkh?
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अशा लोकांबद्दल आपल्याला काय माहिती आहे ?
04:05
The region is not secure, but full of the Taliban,
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हा प्रदेश बिलकुल सुरक्षित नाही आहे
04:08
and they did it.
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आणि पूर्णपणे तालिबान ग्रस्त आहे
04:10
My aim is to give a voice
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माझे ध्येय नेहेमिच अशा गरिबांवर होणार्‍या या अन्यायाला
04:12
to the silent people,
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वाचा फोडणे
04:15
to show the hidden lights
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--हे आहे
04:19
behind the curtain of the great game,
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या गरीब माणसांच्या दुनियेवर प्रसार्माध्यामानी पाठ फिरवली ;
04:22
the small worlds ignored by the media
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महासत्तांच्या बड्या खेळामागे त्यांचा लढा उपेक्षित राहिला
04:25
and the prophets of a global conflict.
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--अशा लोकांना मी दडलेला प्रकाश दाखवू इच्छिते
04:27
Thanks.
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धन्यवाद
04:29
(Applause)
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टाळ्या !!
Translated by Vaibhav Gogate
Reviewed by Abhishek Suryawanshi

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Monika Bulaj - Photographer
Monika Bulaj’s stunning, painting-like photographs blur religious and cultural divisions, exploding stereotypes. She is a TED Fellow.

Why you should listen

Monika Bulaj is a photographer and writer who explores -- in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe -- the dim areas of monotheism, where the sacred can transcend borders: Bonfires, dances, cults of the dead, possession rites. She describes outskirts and deserts, frontiers and megalopolis. And the world of the last ones: nomads, farmers, immigrants, outcasts, untouchables and impure.

Her photos and reportaging have been published by GEO, National Geographic (Italy), La Repubblica, periodicals by Gruppo Espresso and Rcs, Courrier International, Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Internazionale, Freundin, Teatr (Poland) and other international magazines.
She has displayed more than 50 personal exibitions in Italy, Germany, Ungheria, Bulgaria, Egypt.

Her books include Libya felix, a travel into Sufism and the world of the Tuaregh; Figli di Noè, on minorities and faiths in Azerbaijian; Rebecca e la pioggia, on the nomadic tribe of the Dinka of South Sudan; Gerusalemme perduta with Paolo Rumiz, the special correspondent of La Repubblica, on the pellegrinage in the research of the Eastern Christians; Genti di Dio, viaggio nell'Altra Europa, a synthesis of 20 years of research in East Europe and Israel, and her latest book, Bozy ludzie. 

She has screenwritten documentaries, among which is the movie Romani Rat (2002) by M. Orlandi, on the Holocaust of the Roms, with the contribution of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. She's the director, photography director, and screenwriter of the documentary Figli di Noè, about the villages of Caucasus on the border between Dagestan and Azerbaigian.

Bulaj is a TED Fellow. Read TED's Q&A with Monika Bulaj >>

More profile about the speaker
Monika Bulaj | Speaker | TED.com