Bindeshwar Pathak Author

Xavier Zimbardo was born in France in 1955. He studied history, geography, literature and psychology at Paris University. He became a freelance photographer as an autodidact and travelled worldwide, working for many magazines. His love for India, where he learned pranayama yoga, goes back a long way. As an author he has undertaken personal researches into the metamorphosis of photographs through their degradation and erosion. He has published a dozen books in Europe and in the USA. His work is held in prestigious museums, such as the BNF (French National Library), the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (MEP), the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, and others. In 2006 he created PHOTSOC, an International Festival of Social Photography, in the poorest suburbs of Paris, to provide young authors with an opportunity to present their work. He teaches local associations to express their everyday life through the photographic medium. He joined Getty Images in 2011 and lives in Sarcelles near Paris. Bindeshwar Pathak is a great humanist and social reformer of contemporary India. To the weaker sections of society especially, his is the compassionate face of a paternal redeemer. He has the vision of a philosopher and the undying zeal of a missionary. Dr Pathak will be remembered for his innovative steps in the fields of sanitation and social reform. Thanks to his efforts, former untouchables have been allowed into society on an equal footing, dining together with other castes and being allowed to offer prayers in the temples. He has created a new culture which embraces the poor and extols the dignity of labour.