Koraput: It was a pleasant surprise for Sambari Sisa when she was gifted with a photograph of her own at a photo exhibition in the weekly market of Onkadeli under Lamatapur block in the district on Thursday.

Budari Sisa, who had lost her mother three years ago, had never expected that one day she would get a photograph of her mother and herself standing in a single frame.

Like Sambari and Budari, more than two dozens tribal people of the primitive Bonda community had a wonderful experience when a Hyderabad-based photographer Satish Lal presented them with a copy of their photographs.

Lal, a profession photographer, had visited the Onkadeli weekly market, which comes up every Thursday and attract foreign tourists, on several occasions on the past few years to click pictures people of the Bonda community for his professional purpose.

With a desire to give back something to the tribal people for whom he had achieved a lot in his profession, Lal thought of presenting them with a copy of their photograph.

"For the past three years, I was thinking of setting up a photo exhibition at Onkadeli weekly market to present copies of the photographs to the people whom I had clicked," Lal said.

On Thursday, with help of some local residents, Lal set up a photo exhibition displaying more than100 photographs capturing various aspects of the Bonda community.

"It gives me immense pleasure while handing over the photographs to those people whom I had captured on my lens a few years ago. They were happy to get the photos as many of them don't have any photograph of their own," Lal said.

"In the exhibition, I could found at least 25 people belonging to the Bonda community, whom I had clicked during my earlier visits. I presented them a copy of their photo. The remaining photos have been handed over to a local journalist, who will hand them over to the people when they visit the market in weeks to come," Lal said.

Local residents and foreign tourists have shown their appreciation for the noble gesture of the photographer.