tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346538939409399890.post6355863493569220866..comments2024-01-26T09:33:16.924+01:00Comments on Arre Kya Baat Hai: The photographer of famous personsSunil Deepakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05781674474022699458noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346538939409399890.post-12081993597185654312018-05-24T09:46:10.218+02:002018-05-24T09:46:10.218+02:00Hello Sunil!
Thanks for allowing me to share my t...Hello Sunil!<br /><br />Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts on my Babu Ji!<br /><br />I have a very pressing request for you and that is to rectify my typing of the year of my winning the 2nd prize in the UNESCO B&W Rural Children of India contest, typed in here as 1982. Actually it took place in 1992.<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />CA Shyamal K Mitra<br /><br />ON THE PAGE OF ETERNITY TIMES HAND GOES WRITING BY<br />THAT THOSE THAT LOVE SHALL GET TO LIVE AND THOSE THAT HATE SHALL DIECA Shyamal K Mitrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16587312530691580309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346538939409399890.post-27981999594884948732018-05-22T01:18:59.231+02:002018-05-22T01:18:59.231+02:00Thanks Shyamal for reading my post and for sharing...Thanks Shyamal for reading my post and for sharing your own personal memories of Mr. Madan Mahatta, which give us another glimpse of his life. Hugely appreciated.Sunil Deepakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781674474022699458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346538939409399890.post-72130284502146703442018-05-21T20:19:52.196+02:002018-05-21T20:19:52.196+02:00Mr Madan Mehta was addressed by me as Babuji.
I h...Mr Madan Mehta was addressed by me as Babuji.<br /><br />I had qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1987 and was introduced by my colleague at a Merchant Banking firm at Connaught Place, New Delhi Mr Atul Bahadur Mathur who too had qualified in the 1987 batch as a Chartered Accountant in 1987 to his Chartered Accountant friend Mr. Pawan Mehta who had abandoned the idea of a practicing professional accountant and turned into a professional photographer instead.<br /><br />I had a penchant for photography from the the days of my CA studies and Articled Clerkship and had climbed the ladder stepping from the amateur to the serious amateur, and moving from the 6x6 inch 120 b&W film and the Voigtlander to the 35mm Canon A-1 SLR.<br /><br />So when Atul asked me for an introductory visit to Mahatta Photographers at M Block Connaught Place, I was very very interested.<br /><br />He did not take me from the shop entrance on the pavement, but from a back lane entry where a tea and a cold drinks small time shop had his benches drawn on the either side of the short narrow lane, and entered a narrow staircase winding up to the first floor foire that had a small waiting cabin and a counter for the cashier and a door that was usually shut next to his desk. There were two other doors two the left, one opening a small hall and the other the rooftop balcony, an uncovered space that had photographic instrument lying here and there and rooms that opened for staff photographers, dark rooms and a camera repair workshop.<br /><br />Coming back to the main door adjacent to the cashier's bureau, that usually remained shut for the privacy of the legendary doyne of Indian photography, Mr Madan Mehta, the father of my newly acquainted friend Mr Pawan Mehta ,a grand gentleman and an entertaining and charming elderly person with an ever smiling countenance and shining eyes that sparkled with intelligence.<br /><br />I do not know what made me do it, but instead of a formal handshake after the introduction by Atul, I knelt down and touched his feet, a practice that was to last for years of my visits and listening to his informative talks on photography, his life, spirituality (he was a very close associate and devotee of Guru Maharaj Charan Singh Ji of the Radhasoami Satsang) and history.<br /><br />He was an admirer of my Urdu and Persian Nastaleeq school of calligraphy and used to keep carefully my Waslis (calligraphy samples) with him as collections. He was also a great guide to lenses, photographic skills and handling of photo equipment. <br /><br />Those were the days of film (daylight negatives in colour and Kodak Tri-X Pan and color reversal slide films) photography and his guidance in both colour and black and white imagery had helped me not only to understand what perspective and depth of field meant, but also win UNESCO 1982 black and white 8 x 10 inches theme contest on Indian rural children second prize that included a Nikon FM-2 SLR body with Nikkor D series 50MM F/1.4, 85MM F/2.8, 70-210MM F/4-5.6MM zoom lenses set and the Speedlight SB-700 flashlight all combined in an aluminium box! I am sad that these things have no use today.<br /><br />Babuji always had a cup of excellent hot coffee served to me every time I came to see him.<br /><br />I saw him last in 2012 before leaving Delhi for Calcutta.<br /><br />I of heard his passing away in 2014 from friends visiting me and the sadness was immense.<br /><br />May my pranaams be delivered by holy spirits who govern our souls in the other world, to my respected and beloved Babu Ji. May he receive them with the same grand smile that I used to see in this life.<br /><br />CA. Shyamal K Mitra<br />Kolkata CA Shyamal K Mitrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16587312530691580309noreply@blogger.com