Visual, April 26 -- A narrow winding cobbled way in Paris.

My voice: "It's far worse to be poor in a rich country than to be poor in India. To be poor in the spectacular beauty of Paris is like Assamese art cinema trapped in a Wes Anderson scene. Have you seen Assamese art films? I've seen one. Water boils."

Visual: Water boils in an impoverished Indian dwelling,

My voice: "Water keeps boiling. Because it's art cinema. A melancholy woman combs her long hair."

Visual: Camera zooms out to show a pensive village woman combing her hair, watching water boil.

I was trying to create this image in a poor tenement in Noida for a comic documentary. The actor was draped in a rustic sari, her hair oiled. She combed her hair, the evening light wa...