Raghu Rai was born in the small village of Jhhang, now part of Pakistan. He took up photography in 1965, and the following year joined The Statesman newspaper as its chief photographer. Impressed by an exhibition of his work in Paris in 1971, Henri Cartier-Bresson nominated Rai to join Magnum Photos in 1977. In the last 30 years, Rai has specialised in extensive coverage of India. He has produced more than 30 books, including Raghu Rai’s India: Reflections in Colour and Reflections in Black and White, The Sikhs, Calcutta, Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, Tibet in Exile, India: My Land and its People, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi: A Living Legacy, Delhi Constrasts and Confluences, and India’s Great Masters: A Photographic Journey into the Heart of Indian Classical Music. For Greenpeace, he has completed an indepth documentary project on the chemical disaster at Bhopal in 1984, and on its ongoing effects on the lives of gas victims. This work resulted in a book and three exhibitions that have toured around the world. Rai was awarded the Padmashree in 1971, one of India’s highest civilian awards. He was awarded Photographer of the Year Award, US, for his story on Indian wildlife published in National Geographic in 1992.