Meet Siddhartha Joshi, the dream catcher, photographer and travel blogger who has collected more than 365 dreams since 2015 under his unique project – ‘Tell Me Your Dream’.
Imagine meeting a complete stranger on the street, saying hi with a broad smile, talking to him or her for some time, and ending the conversation with an extremely personal question – ‘What is your dream?’
Sounds difficult, doesn’t it?
But for 34-year-old Siddhartha Joshi from Pune, this is something that comes very naturally. A product designer by profession, and a travel blogger and photographer by passion – Siddhartha started a project called ‘Tell Me Your Dream’ in 2015. Beginning December 31, 2014, Siddhartha approached 365 people, over the course of the following year, and asked them the very same question.
By December 31, 2015, he had a beautiful collection of pictures of people from across the world. He had also been sharing his work on Facebook and Instagram.
“I did not think of it as a big project in the beginning. I have always been interested in taking pictures of people. I have been doing it for a long time now. But last year I realised something was missing in the pictures. In most of them, I did not even know the name of the people I was clicking. There was a gap between what I was doing and what I was more interested in – and that was learning about people. So I thought of doing something that would help me look beyond the pictures I was taking,” he says.
Siddhartha also thought it would be a better idea to try and understand the different places he visits with the help of the people living in those areas.
“I travel a lot. So I felt it would be good to understand a place, city, town, or village through its people, rather than reading about those places. I was also new to Pune and wanted to make a personal connection with the city,” he says.
This was the beginning of his quest to know more about the world around him – through the people he approached with the questioning curiosity of a child.
In the beginning, it was the neighbourhood grocer, garbage collectors, shopkeepers, etc. But soon, listening to innocent ambitions and flights of fancy had him looking to widen his circle. As he became more passionate about the subject, the number of pictures increased and his following gained momentum on social media.
Every day in 2015, he would go out and approach strangers. He would first make them comfortable, not broaching the subject of dreams or taking pictures. Each interview would last 30-45 minutes; what he shared in the end was only a short snippet of the entire conversation. “Photography is the last part of it. I make people comfortable before introducing the subject of dreams or photography,” says Siddhartha. He believes dreaming is a very positive experience and most people are happy talking about their dreams. In the first few weeks he would also talk to the people he knew – his parents and friends. But slowly, he became more interested in speaking to people he did not know at all.
Siddhartha was born in Bihar but his family kept moving because of his father’s transferable job. From Bihar to UP, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and then Pune,“there was no permanent home for us. We have always moved around for work.” This is one of the reasons why travel comes so naturally to him. And photography entered his life because of a DSLR camera that his father owned.
“My dad had a DLSR when I was 7-8 years old, and he was quite comfortable giving me the camera and letting me click pictures. He used to take a lot of pictures and I used to imitate him and follow him around. I always had access to a good camera. That was how I got interested in taking pictures of people,” he remembers.
After completing mechanical engineering, Siddhartha studied design and is currently working as a product designer with a non-profit organisation. Other than that, he loves to write for his own blog and sometimes also writes for different magazines, newspapers, etc. The ‘Tell Me Your Dream’ project is a collection of pictures from about six countries. Though the project is over, he still makes it a point to talk to people whenever he visits new places, and shares their stories. He travels mostly over the weekends and also whenever he gets some time off from work.
Siddhartha says something he learned early on in his project was that people’s dreams are similar and connected.
“Talking to people across countries made me realise that we are so close to each other, even if our lives might be completely different. That was the reason behind sharing these pictures too. I felt that something like this brings people very close to each other.”
Siddhartha also opened up the project for others to contribute. He asked people to click pictures of strangers, ask about their dreams, and share what they learned with him. Many people responded and he shared their pictures too.
Of the 365 people he talked to, some left a mark on Siddhartha much more than others.
“Some people are so positive. There is a young guy outside my office who comes and collects the garbage every day. He comes every month and takes Rs. 100. One day I looked at him and wondered why I’m not talking to him. So, we sat down and had a very nice chat. It was so interesting to hear about his dreams and aspirations. All he wanted in life was to become a doctor, and the way he talked about it was so inspirational. Then I met many people who are change makers in different communities. In Pune, I met this woman who works with children of those working in red light areas, and takes care of their education. Her story was also very special.”
Along the way, he also met some people who refused to talk to him and it was difficult to convince them to share their dreams. “The trick was to start in a friendly way with a big smile,” he says.
But what is the dream of the person who goes around asking everybody about theirs?
“I dream of a borderless world. I think all these boundaries are man-made. I dream that someday in my life I will get a chance to go back to that time when we could live in such a world,” he smiles.
Siddhartha loves the work he is doing. He feels that it is not social work but a very powerful way of impacting society. Brandon Stanton, the face behind the ‘Humans of New York’ Facebook page, and other such photographers, have always been an inspiration to him although he has developed his own unique style.
Take a look at some of his brilliant work here:
You can contact Siddhartha by writing to him at connect@siddharthajoshi.com.
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