Munna was a word Raghu Rai used for anyone he loved. Today, the man whose every pore breathed India has left us. All of us Munnas feel suddenly orphaned.
He was a close friend and colleague of my father, Kishor Parekh. Together, they changed the face of photojournalism in India.
For me, he was also the constant presence through my growing years—a guest in our home, and later, the guiding light who led me into photography after my father passed away.
Each one of us will have to step aside one day, so that new energies can come and flow… he once told me. Today, he steps aside. But it is hard to believe that any energy can replace his power—his ability to understand life, and to capture its essence in a way only he could.
Raghu Rai was, unarguably, our last living photography legend. This feels like the closing of an era.
