Unseen Photographs: Indira, a life of courage

A bold leader, an affectionate mother, a loving wife, a lonely soul- how many shades of colours does a person carry within and how many of them are reflected outside?

The question lingers long after the spell cast by 300 exclusive photographs of India’s first woman prime minister is broken.

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust organised this exhibition of exclusive photographs to commemorate the birth centenary of the first woman prime minister of India.

Inaugurated by the former chief minister of Delhi and a senior Congress leader Sheila Dixit on November 17, the exhibition has two segments- the first segment showcases some personal artefacts of Indira Gandhi and the second, the larger one, has photographs which show her in different moods during different times.

The exhibition has been curated by Deepti Sasidharan and Pramod Kumar KG who have been working for four years on the documentation and digitisation of over 90,000 photographs.

The main objective of the exhibition succinctly titled Indira- A life of Courage, was as the curator Pramod Kumar puts it, is to share “life and legacy of Indira Gandhi especially with a very large world of youngsters who are not aware of her persona and life and times she lived in.”

The photos show her as a young woman with Mahatma Gandhi by whom she was greatly influenced, with Rabindra Nath Tagore in Santi Niketan where she went to study for a brief period. It was here that she developed a deep sense of appreciation for art and culture. In one of the photos she is seen sitting with her spiritual Guru Ma Anandmayi. The calm on her face and the happiness of Ma Anandmayi make a brilliant picture of the Guru and disciple. In some she can be seen as an affectionate granny and doting mother.

But the photos that leave a lasting impression are the ones in which she is alone, either addressing a gathering or inspecting flood-devastated areas, or in her office engrossed in work or just standing outside her ancestral house in Allahabad.

There are photos in which her vulnerability and troubles are quite apparent on her face. But as Pramod said, “the photos do project her vulnerable self in troubled times. But they also show that this lost and vulnerable soul finally emerged as a stronger person .”

A picture of India too emerges through the exhibition, first with blurring unclear lines and then in firm and strong strokes.