Darkness at dawn

As the nation revels in the spirit of Independence, Pramod Kapoor strikes a note of sobriety with his new book that exposes the dark side of Partition

A partition shot from Witness to Life and Freedom:
Margaret Bourke-White in India and Pakistan

‘Margaret, you can always be proud that you were invited into the world.' These were the words of Minnie Bourke, an Irish Orthodox Christian, to her daughter. The girl lived up to the invitation, carving out her own niche as a celebrated photojournalist who documented some of the most cataclysmic events history has seen. Margaret, though, was not your everyday, hard-nosed, dispassionate observer of events. She was moved by the plight of millions as India's tryst with freedom was marred by horrific riots, loss of life and limb, as millions moved across the Indo-Pak border.

Margaret clicked pictures of a woman breastfeeding her baby even as she crosses the border sitting on a donkey, of a torso being nibbled at by a stray dog next to the railway track, of an old man carrying a woman on his shoulders, of a body, nude waist downwards for obvious reasons, being lifted to a truck, and those of scores of swollen bodies, caught in the fury of the Beas floods. The immensely disturbing photographs would have remained just that, but for Pramod Kapoor, well known as the publisher of Roli Books, but now in serious danger of being identified as a collector of historical records and photographs. Kapoor though, is modest as ever. “Doing research and being a collector is what I really enjoy. I have been into vintage material study for close to a decade now. It all started with my book on maharajahs, something that has been very well received by the market. Then I did a book on New Delhi, and this one kind of naturally came through.” This “one” is called “Witness to Life and Freedom: Margaret Bourke-White in India and Pakistan”. A largely pictorial venture, the book calls upon the reader to display both wisdom and courage.

Full report here Hindu