Page 7 - seniors today november 2020
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along with a faithful old servant, worked
feverishly through the night putting
things in cardboard cartons, randomly.
Overwhelmed by the situation she packed
whatever she could and finally managed
to pack whatever slides and negatives
she could find (22 cartons of them!!), and
his cameras. She packed some clothes,
too, though for herself she took just some
saris. Blouses and petticoats, she thought,
could be made in Jammu too. She left
early morning the next day in a specially At Sonamarg with Rajiv and Sanjay
organised Army truck - sitting next to the in the midst of the evolving, but explosive
driver, and with our pet dog Priya on her political situation in Kashmir from 1940 till
lap. I am sure my father was, as were the the Kargil crisis in 1999. Having covered all
rest of the family, will remain in gratitude major wars – the Pakistani invasion of 1947-
for this, though at the time it was very 48, the war with China in 1962, the Indo-
stressful. Pak war in 1965, the Bangladesh liberation
Some of the photographs that my mother in 1971 and some part of the Kargil conflict
retrieved from our house in Srinagar – he clearly was well-entrenched in the
taken by my father, Sati (as he was called establishment but never took any advantage
popularly), are now being published here. of that.
In fact he was still cataloguing and writing His association with Mr Nehru lasted
stories of each of the photos till his last, but around 18 years. He had access as well as
unfortunately this enormous project never permission to photograph at will. Over
got completed. the years he became part of the inner
My father was a rare journalist who was circle of the Nehru household when they
equally adept with the Rolleiflex camera visited Kashmir and witnessed many
as well as his old Baby Bell typewriter. interactions with dignitaries, politicians
With an astute ear to the ground he was and many a statesman. He took countless
photos with his reliable Rolleiflex. What
was most sacred to my father was the tacit
understanding he had with Mr Nehru and
his office that no photograph would be
published during the lifetime of Mr Nehru.
In his own words for his last book – Nehru’s
Kashmir, he wrote the following:
“Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime
Minister of India and a busy world
statesman with a large number of
international leaders as friends, should
have been a difficult person to deal with
At the official reception parade at the Dal lake and an even more difficult to photograph
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #17 | NOVEMBER 2020 7
