"It was 1986. I had arrived in California to pursue a degree in engineering. From then until 2013, when I finally moved back to India, I photographed as much as I could afford to. Now I have ten trunks full of negatives to show for it." The volume draws on the first years of that personal archive, and on the way a photo album — beyond its place as a family heirloom — can offer insight into communities, historical periods and ways of being together.