The Lady With Sharp Focus

While the official recognition gave her great satisfaction,she was happiest to revisit a professional work-space after 60 years. She was amused at the number of times we were stopped for security checks as we made our way to the venue. As she glided down the corridor on a wheelchair,she pointed to the ceiling and smiled. It was the dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which held a special place in her memory. Let me share the anecdote.

Once,when Vyarawalla was shooting a group session inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan,she requested BV Keskar,then Minister for Information and Broadcasting,to move his leg a little because it was getting in the way of the photograph. Keskar flew into a rage and shouted,“Are you trying to teach me how to sit?” Jawaharlal Nehru,who had witnessed the outburst,walked over to Vyarawalla when the photo session ended. She described,“He linked his arm into mine and took me for a walk down this corridor. ‘Why do you waste your energy taking these mug shots? Go for something more artistic like the dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.’ And he laughed!”

The camera-friendly Nehru was Vyarawalla’s favourite subject. She recalled,“When he was tired,Panditji would often take a nap during functions,especially when others were making speeches. If he awoke and caught us taking a picture,he would smile.” Not surprisingly,some of Nehru’s best photographs have been taken by Vyarawalla.

Vyarawalla’s passing marks the end of an era of photography that was tinged with hope and optimism because citizen-photographers like her shared a dream for the future. Photographers would exercise restraint even as the demand for candid photography was increasing. Vyarawalla’s photographs were unobtrusive and respectful of her subjects,never compromising on their dignity. Nehru trusted her enough to let her photograph him as an ebullient public persona as well as a more private and vulnerable person.

One of her photographs shows Nehru asleep on a chair while waiting for a dignitary to arrive at Red Fort. Another famous photograph shows him joyfully embracing his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit at the Palam airport in 1954. This was one of her personal favourites and was one of the only four framed photographs that adorned her austere living room in Vadodara,where she has lived for the past 30 years. These were the only photographs she decided to keep with her when she transferred her entire collection of thousands of negatives,original silver gelatin prints,cameras and associated papers to the Alkazi Foundation in March 2010. This extraordinary collection comprises an expansive visual archive of over three decades of Indian history. For over 40 years,after she retired from active photography in 1970,Vyarawalla had meticulously preserved this legacy in her house. The relief that she felt after handing over the collection to the Alkazi Foundation was palpable. She felt she had carried out her biggest responsibility.

Vyarawalla was born in 1913 in Navsari,Gujarat,to an actor in a Parsi-Urdu theatre company. Growing up in Bombay,she completed an undergraduate degree at St Xavier’s College and a diploma in art from the JJ School of Arts. It was also in Bombay that she met her life partner Manekshaw Vyarawalla who taught her photography. During the early years of their courtship,they walked the streets of Bombay documenting everyday urban life. In 1942,they moved to Delhi as employees of the British Information Services. It is here that Vyarawalla took many of the photographs that we know and recognise as iconic images of the nation in transition.

I started visiting Vyarawalla in her quiet and secluded home in Vadodara in 1997. Our relationship began with discussing her photography but I soon discovered that there was much to hear and learn from a woman who had lived through an entire century.

As our friendship grew over the years,I realised that she was an extraordinary woman who,till the end,lived an entirely self-reliant life. She built her own furniture,stitched her own clothes,did electrical and plumbing repairs,created nifty household gadgets and nurtured many pots of beautiful plants. Only towards the very end did she consent to keep a part-time domestic help. She lived alone but was loved and admired by a community of friends,neighbours,students,journalists and other acquaintances. Like me,all of them were profoundly affected by her incredible strength,dignity and zest for life. For this and more,we must celebrate the incredible life of Homai Vyarawalla.

(Gadihoke is associate professor at AJK MCRC,Jamia Millia Islamia,and author of Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla)