| This unique collection of black and white photographs of Calcutta
between 1940 and 1970, together with accompanying text, provides the
reader with evocative images of an extraordinary period and fascinating
new historical facts and anecdotes. The book owes its existence to the
vision and dedication of Lila Patel, the wife of the photographer, Jayant
Patel. Lila not only shared her husband's experiences for fifty years,
but also kept and documented all his photographs and ensured that a
lasting record of his work and achievements now exist in the pages of this book. She dedicates the book to his memory and says that his
'abiding love of Calcutta and unfailing passion for photography
encouraged me to put together this book'. She illustrates this very
clearly in her story of how excited Jayant became at the possibility of
capturing a photograph of a dramatic lightning storm over the Victoria
Memorial, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Nehru Children's Museum in
1969, setting up his camera to record the moment whilst they were
away at a party.
Jayant's love of Calcutta is clearly evident in his images of the city's
streets and waterways, both of its well-known elegant buildings and
skylines, and of its everyday bustle. He often seems to take
photographs from unusual angles, so one is either looking down at a
street scene from a window (or the top deck of a moving double decker
bus!), or up at a rickshaw or boat as it comes towards you. There is an
excellent foreword by Gopalkrishna Gandhi which explains how Jayant
saw his photographs not only as art, but as a way of recording history in
a critical time for India that included the end of World War II, the
Bengal Famine, the Partition of India and the birth of a new
independent India. As the owner of the renowned Bombay Photos
Stores on Park Street, and also the official photographer for
Government House (renamed Raj Bhavan after Independence) and the
British and American military, Jayant was in a unique position to
record many key moments and events.
The photographs are enhanced not only by their captions, but by the
excellent preceding text by Soumitra Das, who paints his own picture
of the background of each image, placing it in an historical and
emotional context. Das gives a fascinating and readable history of
Calcutta as a city, and of Jayant Patel as a gifted photographer and
family man. It seems Jayant's camera was almost a permanent
extension of his body. His son recalls that he took it everywhere with
him, taking photographs of everything and everyone he saw. Das goes
on to gives fascinating details of the politics behind many of Jayant's
photographs, especially those involving the important figures of
Partition and India's Independence, such as Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah.
He also shines a light on less well known political interventions of
prominent local families such as the Birla family - who hosted Gandhi
when he came to Calcutta with a charkha and a goat. The Birlas also
invited the Chinese military and political leader. General Chiang Kai-
Shek, and his beautiful, influential, wife, to try to mediate with Nehru
about the non-co-operation movement launched by the Indian freedom
fighters. Jayant's photographs of the rows of Birla ladies in their saris
and with their heads covered, surrounding the Chinese couple and
Gandhi in his traditional dhoti, fascinate me.
Das's anecdotes also include less serious tales of the popular Calcutta
venues such as the mansion of the Jewish tycoon David Ezra on Kyd
Street, which opened its doors for tea and cakes to all branches of the
Armed Forces. Das finishes with a first-hand account of the visit of
Queen Elizabeth II in 1961, when he stood as a boy with the crowds by
the statue of the Unknown Soldier on the Maidan, cheering as the
Queen drove past, standing in the back of an open car. Jayant's final
photographs feature the Queen's enduring love of horse-racing as she
beams whilst presenting the frophy to the winner of the coveted
Queen's Cup at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club races.
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