Over the years 2018 and 2019, I spent time walking across India on the Out of Eden Walk, with Paul Salopek. Away from my usual routine of river focussed conversations when walking along rivers, this time I had the space to observe things from a slightly wider lens. This is what my walk across India with Paul looked like (the green scribbles) - combined with two traces of my older walks along Rivers Ganga and Ken.

This new space was enough for me to make regular observations - instead of being in the periphery. Of course, my personal observation skills and political awareness had by now become more informed from years of walking across India.

I started sharing these observations on my social media, with a line saying - ‘This country keeps presenting commentary on itself’. 

This is when my friend, and the witty ad guy - Gopal MS, who also goes by the alt names of Mumbai Paused / Slogan Murugan - suggested this series be called ‘Bharat Ratnas’.

Here we are, with a set of 10 images in the Bharat Ratna series. A telling series of self commentary of our times.

Do share your thoughts about this series, and if you'd like to see more. Of course, I make no claims of being unbiased.

You can find me on twitter at @sidagarwal.