Tales from the dunes

KOCHI: The desert — endless heaps of sand, oppressive heat, occasional mirages, and the camels meandering across the dunes. But beyond these postcard clichés, lies a hidden world.

When he first moved to the UAE as an interior designer, Anish Karingattil always associated the desert with the beautiful imageries he had seen in Hollywood films. But instead of just rearranging furniture, he soon found himself rearranging his view of the desert — discovering its secret beauty through the lens of his camera, one tiny critter at a time.

Growing up in the small village of Valapad in Thrissur,…