A LAND FULL OF SMILING PEOPLE

Beth A. Payne’s love for photography dates back to her years in school. The outgoing American consul-general of Calcutta was her school’s yearbook photographer, and loved nothing more than capturing people’s profiles with her treasured gift, a Minolta SLR. Her passion for photography grew, and she spent considerable time at university shooting the various localities in and around Washington DC, experimenting with the medium, learning about the nitty-gritty of technique, composition and light.

Then, inevitably, the camera was put by. Later, her work took her to war-torn Iraq. As she struggled to cope with the trauma, she discovered the therapeutic qualities of photography. She took to wandering the streets, capturing the myriad vignettes of life and people in cities. She brought her love for walking and for photography to Calcutta, where she took up her posting three years ago. The camera — now a Canon digital SLR — served as a useful tool as Payne explored the city— its alleys, boulevards and avenues — as well as the countryside to develop a familiarity with Bengal’s culture and aesthetics.

The exhibition, Face of Bengal , (The Harrington Street Arts Centre, June 10-24) brought together the fruits of Payne’s labour. Everything in Bengal and Calcutta that appeals to visitors from outside has found a place in this collection of photographs — idols of the goddess, ageing rickshawpullers, the bridge over the Hooghly and the grey, sullen river with its ghats littered with flowers after immersion, smiling roadside vendors, football players on the Maidan, and so on.

Cynical residents may secretly agree that Calcutta’s gloom is best symbolized by its greyness. But Payne, free from the burden of history and cynicism, would like to believe that the city is a riot of colours. The photograph of the smiling, podgy man, sitting in front of a row of colourful fabric in Chitpur, captures Payne’s fascination with Calcutta’s vibrant hues adequately.

It is imperative for a diplomat to forge close bonds with a people. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that a majority of Payne’s subjects smile as they pose, whether they are children with balloons during Durga Puja, or a woman in all her finery on the balcony of a house in North Calcutta.

Set your Smile Free | Simplifythis

Ever since reading Machiavelli we’ve been aware that effective communication has a lot more to do with tacit suggestion and barely audible gestures than direct communication. The smile is one of the more powerful communication “devices” that has evolved as one of the most immediate and striking signifiers and at the same time underrated or underacknowledged, as behavioral science studies are demonstrating. The smile is a cross-cultural signifier, though its meaning ranges drastically from region to region (i.e., in Russia it is often impolite to smile in public whereas it is impolite not to smile in public in the US). In a Ted Talk lecture ( http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html ) Ron Gutman shares his discoveries made while researching smiles for thirty years at UC Berkeley, it becoming apparent that those who sported big bright smiles in either  their yearbook profiles or on their baseball cards consistently had more fulfilling and long lasting marriages, scored higher on standardized tests of well-being and general happiness, were more prone to inspire others, and would live seven years older than those who preferred not exercise their facial muscles