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Indian Memory Project asks you to open your sepia family albums
Photographer and avid time traveler Anusha Yadav is archiving exquisite vintage family portraits sent in by friends and colleagues in an open invitation to co-create the history of our people online
Imagine how the young Afghan bride felt. She nervously adjusts her white gown and tucks her veil into place. The men of her family are back from the train station, but the groom -- Mr Chowfin -- is not there! Her heart stops. Her husband to be -- whom she has yet to meet -- and his family are a no-show. How mortifying! "But there were only Chinese people at the train station," says one of her brothers. He missed something, clearly. Fast forward to the happy ending and it turns out Mr H E Chowfin was part Chinese. The wedding proceeded as planned and this photo was taken:
“Mr & Mrs H.E Chowfin on their wedding Dec 28, 1938 in Lahore. Mr Chowfin was part Chinese and part Indian.”
Now imagine how tragic it would be if our history, the history of the Indian subcontinent, was peopled only by rajahs and raanis and assorted invading villains. Wouldn't it be awful to lose the story of the Chowfins and all the extraordinary common folk (officers in the Bengal Excise department, chemistry professors in Surat, the first captain of the Indian cricket team to play England, Delhi girls in college rock bands in the 1960s) that have contributed to the fabulous chaotic culture that we live in today?
The more interesting question is what would our history be if we wrote it ourselves? You and me. Even -- or perhaps especially -- those of us who slept through anthro class in college while history was recounted from books which read in a manly, somewhat bumptious monotone. In contrast our family albums crackle with hundreds of shy, hilarious, formal, evocative snapshots. Like this one:
“One of the most interesting parts of my mother’s (Anupa Jacob) life was that Shalini, some other friends and she, formed the first ever Delhi University’s Girl Rock Band called “Mad Hatter” in their first year of college at Miranda House. My mother was the lead guitarist and singer. Because of that status, when The Beatles performed in Delhi in 1966, the Mad Hatters were given front seats.”
This idea to co-create and recreate is what Mumbai-based photographer Anusha Yadav realized when she founded the online Indian Memory Project this year.
"I have always been interested in old photographs," says Yadav. "Photographs are a way to time travel and imagine how it must have been; who they must have been." Originally, Yadav's plan was to combine her love of photography and history by putting together a coffee table book on Indian weddings. She began using Facebook to collect black-and-whites, and invited people to share the stories that went with the pictures. The response was overwhelming. "People began posting all kinds of old photos, with very interesting anecdotes. Almost everyone had an interesting story, an accomplishment that they wanted to share. And I guess that's when the bulb went off."
Churchgate Train Stop (station), Bombay (now Mumbai), circa 1940. The station is now one of the busiest for local trains in Mumbai.
At indianmemoryproject.wordpress.com, people can browse through fraying vintage studio portraits and faded homemade family photographs dating from any time before 1990. Each photo is accompanied by a story (some are brief, some more detailed) with names, dates and other relevant historical information. The copyright for each photo remains with the contributor and one retains control over where photos are published.
Yadav says the media response to the project has been excellent, both locally and internationally, but she wishes more people would take the time to scan and send in photos. Initially the original Facebook group did so well Yadav had to create a larger, dedicated blog platform online. But now "I have to keep reminding people; or I look for images and then get in touch with the owners." Her eventual goal is to secure enough funding through governments or corporations to be able to travel within India and meet people who would otherwise never be able to contribute their images digitally.
“Shanta Bhandarkar as a baby with her English Mother Louisa Bishop, and father Dr Vasudev Sukhtankar (with turban) and her uncle. Bombay, 1910. Shanta Bhandarkar, my Mother in Law, turned 100 on February 25, 2010.”
"I would love to take this around the world as an exhibition; as a series of books about specific communities, migration within the country, marriages, accomplishments big and small, women and men, through the history of India and through the truth of family archives."
"But most of all, I intend to make it the best online resource and library of An Indian Past there has ever been."
Send your pre-1990 photographs and stories in to: indianmemoryproject@gmail.com
