The first big Monsoon blast came as a huge break from the summer heat and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief. Thousands flocked to the promenade near the sea, where huge tidal waves joined the rains, washing the dirt, the memories, the dust and the summer away.

I was returning home from a shoot and saw this mass of people enjoying/romancing in the rains, I wrapped my camera in lots of plastic, after making all the necessary camera settings, and for additional protection, took my umbrella to protect myself as well as the camera. I took just a few shots before returning to the car; the strong wind from the sea blew the rain at a sharp angle and I was completely drenched. I loved the image when I downloaded it, and sent it the Picture Editor at The International Herald Tribune, based in Paris. It was used the following day on the front page. This picture has also been used as a double-page spread in Discovery Magazine.

Santosh Verma is based in Mumbai, the commercial capital of India. His work has been published widely, editorial clients include The New York Times, Bloomberg, The International Herald Tribune, Time, Markets Magazine, Monocle, and others.

His forte is photographing people; candid, street-life, documentary and corporate portraits. He has a keen interest in Indian social documentary and his work has covered issues from Aids and its affects on individual and social life to the life of Mumbai’s Red Light District, ‘Middle Class Dreams’ in which young girls from small towns and rural areas are groomed to train as air hostesses and child marriages in India.

Photographer since 2003, EPUK member since 2007.

See more work by Santosh Verma