All Episodes

October 17, 2025 47 mins

Yves shares a snapshot of the life and works of Homai Vyarawalla, India's first woman photojournalist.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and SMITHA. I'm welcome to stuff.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I never told you production, but iHeart radio and just
time for another edition of Female First, which means we
are once again joined by You're gregarious, the grounded eaves,
Welcome Eves.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Thank you for that introduction, Thank you for the welcome Grounded.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
That's right, Oh, I bought I was big word grounded, gregarious, gregarious.
I think you're grounded. I appreciate that you are very grounded.
I will give you that.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I feel like it varies from moment to moment.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's true. I think that's a fair thing all of
us in general. You know, some some days you have
to day you're not so grounded, and that's just how
it is. We're all making it through the best we can.
H Well, we are always always happy to have you. E.
What have you been up to since the last time

(01:02):
we spoke a lot?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
I am just getting back to Georgia from I was
on the West coast for like a month, So I
went from northern California in Sonoma County, like chilling looking
at the nice view, staring at a vineyard across the street,
hanging out with two cats, like living a very living

(01:26):
a very peaceful. Oh there was a garden. I picked
like fresh stuff from their garden every day at the
house I was staying at.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
It was really really lovely.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
And then did a little hop skip to San Francisco
to a day to see a band, and then it
was a show that I was trying to catch and
it just like worked out perfectly to the one day
I had between cities. It just so happened that was
the day they were performing in the city that was
closest to me. So yeah, So I did that, and
then I went over to Seattle and spent two weeks

(01:57):
there at a couple of friends home house sitting for them,
and that was the last month for me. I got
back earlier this month and that was a nice time
in Seattle too, Like it was like my third time
there this year, so I was like coming back hanging
out with some folks.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I felt like I.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Was going on a bunch of go sees to friends,
like hanging out with friends while I was there. But
it was really nice.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I enjoyed it. See there's that gregariousness.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
And you are coming at us from a library, and
we were just talking about how amazing libraries are.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yes, if you start me on this subject, I will
never end. So I'm gonna, yes, we're all big fans.
I'm going to stay succinct. But I was just telling
them how there are so many different resources at different libraries.
And I was just telling them how I noticed in
certain parts of towns some are more well resourced than others.
But I mean, just I think the message here is

(02:59):
just to explore or all the libraries that you can
get to, because some might have things that you never
knew you want it, and you can go to them
and get them. The one that I'm at now has
craft classes and a craft room with sewing machines and
supplies already there. So if you don't have space at home,
or if you don't have objects, like you don't have

(03:20):
a sewing machine, you don't have a button press, you
don't have things you need to make it, maybe your
library does. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe there's another one in
an area close to you that does. But they just
I just love libraries so much. Shout out to all
the librarians, like shout out, shout out to them, like
I love libraries.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yes we do too.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
I feel like every time Samitha and I have traveled together,
we have stopped at a library, We've gone out of
our way just.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
They're so cool. They're so cool, aren't they?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Speaking of I love the person you bought today. I
really enjoyed looking at the photography. It was a wonderful
excuse to look at some just stunning photography. So I
can't wait to talk about it. Who did you bring
for us today?

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Eves?

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Today we are talking about homey Vera Wala, and I
am so excited to talk about her too. I was
really excited to find her work because I wasn't familiar
with her before I started looking up her story. She
was India's first female photo journalist and she was good

(04:26):
at her job. That you can find some photos of
hers online, Go look through them, enjoy them. It's like,
of course, photojournalism is always it captures a time so
beautifully and Home I really enjoyed her job while she
was doing it, and she had a long and illustrious career.
So I too, am so excited to talk about her.

(04:48):
I have so much to say, Like I don't even
know if we have enough time to get through her
entire story, but I do want to say that for
this I used a lot of India and Focused Camera
Chronicles of Homai Vera Wala. It's a book by Sabina
Gotti hook I hope I'm pronouncing that last name correctly,
But if you look up that name India and Focus

(05:08):
Camera Chronicles of Homai Vera Wala. A lot of the
info that I'm going to be saying today I got
from that book and it is. If you can get
your hands on a copy of that book, just look
through the pictures in there, because it's all compounded in
there in a in a comprehensive way. So if if
you can find that book, get it, read it, look

(05:31):
at the photos.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
It's really really lovely. Maybe request it at your local library. Yes, yes,
but should we get into the history.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
So Hamai was born on December ninth, nineteen thirteen. Her
parents were Dasabi and Sunami ha Tiram. Her father, Dasabi
was a painter, but he did turn to acting for
work since that was what was going to pay the bills.
He worked with the Traveling Parsi Theater Come Company. And
you'll hear Parsi come up again in this conversation because

(06:03):
her family was Parsi. The Parsis are people who descended
from Persian Zoroastrians who fled to India to avoid religious persecution.
So when Helmi was a baby, she went around with
her father's troop across India and Southeast Asia. And she
had two brothers, but they were sent to live with
their grandparents in Bombay, which is now Mumbai. You hear

(06:27):
me refer to some of these cities and their colonial names,
that's because that's what they were called at this time.
But I'll also refer to their modern names when they
first come up, just so y'all know. But when Hami
turned two years old, an astrologer predicted that she was
destined to walk among royalty and important people. I love

(06:48):
that part of her story. But Hemi knew or do.
Her parents were intent on her learning English though she
enrolled in the Grand Road High School and when she
enrolled there were only six or seven girls in her school,
but by the time she was about to graduate, she
was the only girl in a class of thirty five boys.

(07:12):
And while they were in Bombay, the family moved from
one house to the next depending on how their money
was doing. But as as far as home, iid like
people considered her well dressed, and she said that it
was her job every Sunday to wash the saris. Sometimes
she would make clothing. She would stitch matching blouse with

(07:35):
a bunch of cloth. But still at this time the
family didn't have a whole ton of money. When her
school fee was increased up to seven rupees, she told
the headmaster that she was going to drop out, but
he ended up making an exception for her and she
only had to pay a little bit over through three
rupees for the rest of the time she was in school.

(07:57):
So just for a little background or her school experience.
In the Parsi schools, it was encouraged for children often
not to become involved in politics, and Homi couldn't wear
a cotton sorry because of his associations with the nationalist movement,
and at the time Parsis were kind of thought of

(08:18):
as being friendly to the Indians and loyal to the British.
But in terms of her home life, in nineteen thirty one,
her father found out that his theater company was shutting
down and Helmi did pass her exams and he wrote
a letter to Homi. Her dad did and he said

(08:40):
he was proud of her, but he was sorry that
he couldn't send her any money to help with her tuition,
and in his last letter he mentioned that the owner
of the theater company hadn't responded about paying him. And
just so y'all know too. If y'all get your hands
on that book, you can there are some images of
some of those letters as well, so you can kind

(09:00):
of read through those. But her father was in Burma
which is now me and Mar and he was really
sick and he finally had gathered up enough money to
return home, but he died soon after he had surgery
at a hospital in Bombay. Unfortunately, Homi was pretty young

(09:21):
at the time, so her mother wore a black sorry
a lot. She didn't leave the house much after that happened.
But Homai was getting older and so she met someone
named Menekshaw in nineteen twenty six at a railway station
and he was playing with developing film and so Homai

(09:45):
ended up getting into that too, and they also got
into a relationship. So this is the beginnings of her
interest in photography. Anyway, Homi attended Saint Xavier's in Bombay
for economics for a couple of years, and at first
her college education was funded by a scholarship from a
Parsi charity. She also went to the school called the

(10:08):
JJS School of Arts to get a diploma in the
arts teacher's course, and while she was at that school,
she would take photos of the activities there and she
borrowed one of Manekshaw's cameras to take the photos. She
later said that the training that she got while she
was there in classical composition was really helpful for her photography.

(10:30):
And so at the time Homey and meneck Shaws, their
photos were getting them about one or two rupees per print,
so she was getting paid for her photos, even though
it was a little at the time, she was getting paid,
and she said that the first thing they would do
with their money is go to the movie theater. Some
of the movies that home I liked were been her

(10:52):
Going with the Wind, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Scarface,
and some other movies. So she clearly had a y range. Yeah,
I know, Samantha's like, huh, that's a that's an interesting variety.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Broad Scarface and gone with that eclectic.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Homi began her career in photography by assisting Manekshaw and
her photos and accompanying text. They were initially printed under
his name and they were credited with his initials. So
some of the photos you'll see if you look at
the clips, you'll see his initials under them. But she

(11:41):
took them. But Holmi was less interested in studio photography,
which she called armchair photography, and so she was she
was she already kind of knew her lane from early on,
it seemed like in her In the thirties and the forties,
she took photos of urban and suburb urban life and Bombay.
Some of her early photos were published in Parsi newspapers

(12:05):
and she and Manekshaw took photos of the streets, festivals,
and the work in day to day activities of the
people who lived in those places. When World War two began,
she put together photo stories on the war effort, and
a lot of these stories were first printed in the
Illustrated Weekly of India. And that weekly was edited by

(12:29):
an English guy and often uplifted British interests in India
and British supported media needed to encourage Indians to support
the British war effort, even though Indians at the time
were also organizing for their own independence from the British,
but Helmi ended up marrying Menekshaw on January nineteenth, nineteen

(12:51):
forty one, and she continued to take pictures. So in
some of her earlier spreads she would also show Parsi
women who were trained for rescue activities during the war.
She also showed women in domestic and public life in
other ways. Most of those women in there were Parsi
and British women, and eventually Menekshaw was offered a job

(13:14):
with the Far Eastern Bureau, so they moved from Bombay
to Delhi when Homai was seven months pregnant. She ended
up having her child. It was a son named for Rouke,
and so the family dynamic started to change. She had
a family, she was growing her family, and Menexshaw was
managing the family's money. He though, wasn't as adventurous and

(13:36):
social as Homi. He kind of went from the home
to the office and back, which meant that Homi kind
of had to be like that too. But she did
work as a press photographer for the British Information Services
and she did that all the way up until nineteen
fifty one, and afterwards she continued to work for them
as a freelancer, but we'll get to that a little later.

(13:58):
But yeah, she worked really hard to balance her photography
life in her home life, and she would do a
lot of dark room work as well. She would be
up at like four point thirty in the morning to
get milk, and then she would get back after midnight
after photographing some event, and then she's so here's a
quote from her. She said this, I would be rushing

(14:18):
between the kitchen where something was cooking in the dark
room where I was developing. And she also said this,
in the meantime, the phone would ring and I would
have to change and rush out to take pictures, and
then she would go on to say later I would
return to the half cooked food and change again. It
was a mad rush, but fun. So that feels like
a great like imagery, really like a tangible way of

(14:41):
feeling how between her foot, how much she was going
between her photography life and her home life, Like she
was literally putting down some of the domestic activities that
she was doing going out to photograph and coming back.
So I mean, man, I mean that sounds tiring to me,
but she was doing it, and she was doing it often.

(15:03):
But in terms of her own personal interest. She liked
crime and detective books. She also liked reading books on
alternative medicine and cooking, and she biked to work for
a long time, but in nineteen fifty five she and
her husband ended up buying a fiat. But of course
there was a lot going on in India at the time,

(15:23):
so during partition, violence came really close to the Vera
Wallas and Connot place, which is where they lived. Her
landlords were Muslim. They had to leave their home and
flee to the camps, and Hindu families were throwing burning
rags into the family owned shop that was below their place,

(15:43):
and she said, we would keep big vessels full of
water ready to put out the fire and would stand
on the balcony laughing and talking so that people would
think that a Parsi family stayed there. She said that
they stayed dressed all the time in case there was
an emergency. And eventually the Hindu family came and occupied
the shop and forced one of the landlord's sons to

(16:04):
sign away the property at knife point. So in the
nineteen thirties, the colonial state put restrictions on the publication
of images of nationalist leaders in newspapers, but there were
still freelance photographers who were documenting events that were happening
in the freedom struggle, and Homi was taking photos of politicians.

(16:29):
And one of the politicians that she took photos of
was Jawaharlal Nahru, and she took photos of him like
the most. He liked being photographed and he would often
put on a show for pictures, so he was a
good subject of her photographs as well. Homi said that
she had a lot of patients and she would wait

(16:51):
until the people she was photographing were relaxed in front
of the camera. So she described how oftentimes other people
had already they thought they had gotten a shot the
thing had happened, So she would stick around and so
she would get more dynamic images, images that other people
weren't getting because of the patients that she had. She

(17:13):
said she liked to use low angle shots. She used
daylight flash for the people who are interested in the
technicals of it, and backlighting to highlight her subjects amongst
their surroundings. And big night, the night India got its independence,
of course, Homi was going to want to catch some photos.
That was in August of nineteen forty seven, Homi went

(17:34):
to the Parliament House to cover it, but because she
was with the British Information Services, she wasn't let in,
but she was able to take photos of the celebratory
events that followed. So there are some interesting points about
what people liked and didn't like because she was photographing
all these dignitaries and important people. And one of the

(17:57):
other people that she photographed was Gandhi, so he didn't
like camera flashes, though so very different than Nru. He
reportedly said to her when she took one picture, this
girl will not rest until she makes me blind. The
day that Gandhi was assassinated, she was on her way

(18:18):
to record with him, actually, and she had her color
movie camera at a prayer meeting at beer La House
and her husband told her not to go because he
would join her with a still camera the next day.
But not long after he told her that Gandhi was murdered,

(18:41):
and she missed out on capturing that moment. That moment
with Gandhi, and during Gandhi's funeral procession, Homi and her
husband they did get photos. They even have permission from
some of the car owners to stand on their cars
and take pictures, and Homi said that Gandhi teachings like
really resonated with her. She said that she liked his

(19:05):
moral values and how he stood up to the British Empire,
and much more about him. But she said that she
also admired him for his sensible ideas in teachings, many
of which I have always kept in mind. So there
is a quote that I want to share about Homei
and kind of why she didn't like studio photography. She

(19:25):
said this, I have never asked anyone to pose for me.
I don't like it because the moment the subjects know
that they are being photographed, a change comes over their countenance.
The whole atmosphere changes. The body becomes stiff and the
eyes open up a bit, which is not natural. When
you take a picture. It's always in a split second.
You either take it or miss it, and that must

(19:48):
be the right moment. So Homi also preferred black and
white photography over color. She actually didn't have a wide
angle or a telephoto lens until later in her career,
but at first she could work well without having those
because their security at first wasn't a big deal when

(20:10):
she was photographed, so she was able to get a
little closer to some of her subjects, even though they
were these big names. She also said that her subjects
were comfortable with her because they knew that she would
never ridicule them. But she was this is this is funny.
Homi was accident prone, apparently, fortunately her cameras never took

(20:34):
a big hit, except for once when she broke her
wooden speak gap graphic camera. But she had a friend
whose name was Ajit Singh, who would repair her cameras
and would build makeshift accessories for her. So even though
she was accident prone, she knew she had someone on
her side who worked with her, who was cool with her,

(20:55):
who was good at what they did, even made accessories
for her. So she was gold. She was covered. Even
though she was accident prone. She carried around and I'm
just imagining this picture of home. I So, first of all,
she's one of the only women who's in a sea
full of other photojournalists who are men. She's carrying around

(21:18):
two big bags, so one of them had flash bulbs
in it, the other one had fuse bulbs in it.
She carried two or three cameras, a movie camera sometimes film,
the flashbox, and a wooden tripod. She used an electronic
flash that weighed like eighteen pounds. So she's carrying around

(21:39):
these huge, huge bags. It's so much equipment that she's
carrying around. So I also like, I also kind of
want to give her some grace on being accident prone
because it's a fast paced job. There are going to
be a lot of people around. The pressure is on
to get the shot. You have to put yourself in

(22:02):
weird positions, especially if you're working with your making do
with the equipment that you have. She didn't have specific lenses,
so I mean, I imagine a lot of times things
were super precarious anyway, So you can't fault her for
having accidents. But there was a time because she liked
wearing a sorry, there was a time when she was

(22:25):
taking a photo in nineteen fifty nine at her story tour,
and after this she switched up her outfits that she
was wearing that were a little bit more practical for
her work. She also talked about how developing film was
like cooking, so she did it measure chemicals a.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Lot of the time.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
She just knew how to put in different things. She
knew how much to put in. After she had been
working in a dark room so much home. I captured
photographs of lots of events that were happening, like the
first Republic Day celebrations and the ceremony where doctor Rajender
Pisah became the first President of independent India. And she

(23:05):
said that of all of the leaders that she took
photos of, she really liked ho Chi Minh the most
because of his simplicity and his humility. In nineteen sixty one,
when the British Royal couple visited India, Homai was the
only photographer who was allowed in when the entourage went

(23:29):
into Victoria Memorial in Calcutta which is now Kolkatta. But
one of the British High Commissions tried to block her
view when she was shooting a portrait of the Queen,
and Homai apparently said this, remember this is not the
British raj. You are allowed here only as our guests,
so behave like one. And then she said the Queen

(23:52):
must have hurt me as she was only five or
six feet away. I'm told that the Left Front government
has now removed the statues surrounding the Victoria Memorial. I
feel sorry about that. You can't erase history like this.
So yeah, I haven't seen whish I had seen video
of these some of these encounters that she was having,

(24:16):
But it's just really fascinating to me to think about
how she was in so many rooms in such a
fraught time over the course of such a pivotal moment
in history, and she was present but also in a

(24:37):
way kind of like a fly on the wall, but
also was able to form relationships with some of these people.
Some of these people which because she was photographing so often,
I imagine they were a little deeper. But also it wasn't
necessarily like they were always friendly relationships, So that kind
of space she was moving in where she was that

(24:59):
were farsenable. You know, they had friendly relationships, but it
wasn't friends. It's very interesting to me. So Homai also
documented to Dalai Lama's crossing into India in nineteen fifty
six for Time Life.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
But things were.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Changing for photography and photographers a lot in nineteen sixty
nine and dearra Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India.
But over the next few years, inflation was growing, so
was corruption. There was a lot of social upheaval and
Prime Minister. Gandhi's security kept photographers from getting too close

(25:41):
at this point, and Homai was becoming more disillusioned with
how democracy was evolving in India. She said this, there
was no doubt that I was very happy in the
British Raj because there was law and order in all
kinds of facilities. We didn't have shortages. We had never

(26:03):
heard the word pollution or adulteration or corruption. All these
words came later. Independence came on a platter. It is
only a few people who suffered and fought for it,
and the rest had nothing to do with it. It
came so easy to everybody that nobody appreciates it. Now
freedom became a license to do what they liked. So,

(26:26):
of course Homi was telling certain stories through the photo
she was taking, but she also had her own opinions.
She at this time ended up voting against the Congress
Party for the first time in her life, and these
were some of her feelings about the politics in the

(26:47):
way that society was changing. There was also, of course,
the gender issue. Women saw Homi as different because of
her job, because she was the first female press fertial
journalist and indie. Yeah, and also men were hesitant to
talk to her, according to Homi, but she said that

(27:08):
they made it clear that their wives and daughters shouldn't
do what she did. But at the same time, Homi
would collaborate with her male colleagues and sometimes they would
even like trade negatives, even though they worked for different agencies.
And Homia's assignments took her all over India. She had

(27:32):
no guys on all of her trips. She would often
benefit from the kindness of strangers, especially when she would
have no prior arrangements in a place. And there are
some stories about how how the how these interactions would happen,
So there there's there are are some some some spiritual

(27:53):
elements of the work that Homi was doing. I know
at first we talked about this this astral in the
beginning of her story who said that she would be
around all these dignitaries and these important people, and that
did end up happening in her life. But she also
talked about how people would show up at the right time,

(28:15):
and I'm kind of obsessed with this idea. In the book,
it's a few moments that stand out about somebody being
there for her when she was lost and couldn't find
her way, and all of a sudden, this person appeared
on her path, and because of that, she now had
a car and a driver that could take her around

(28:36):
to the place that she needed to go to. She
might not have gotten the greatest pictures on that trip,
but she was able to get some photos because of
that person who showed up. She knaxture or she went
somewhere and she hadn't planned accommodations and all of a
sudden somebody showed up and they had a place where
she could stay and then she could eat meals. And

(28:57):
it kind of stresses me out thinking about moving this way,
but it also makes a lot of sense for her
disposition and how she liked to be.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
She was a press.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
Photographer, she liked to do street photography. She liked more
spontaneous moments. She didn't like stage moments. So it also
really makes sense for her to be open to just
being like, I'm going I don't really know, I don't
have a very meticulous itinerary planned out for what I'm doing,
but you know it's going to work out, and it

(29:29):
did a lot of the time for her. So she
got that evidence, so it's heck, hey, I guess I'll
do it this way again. But she was also very
involved in the photographer's world, her community. She and her
friends formed the News Cameramen's Association, which was one of
the first unions of photographers in independent India. She was

(29:51):
one of the association's presidents and a lot of other
people liked her. They looked up to her. She was
an authoritative voice as well well. Her nickname was Mummy,
and she said this nickname helped put her on a pedestal,
which gave her an advantage, so people called her that,
But it's like it also gave her this aura of

(30:13):
having authority. There was this persona that she had that
kind of kept people at a distance. She said that
she was always in the crowd, but not a part
of the crowd. And she also said that she was
really stern and professional settings. She said, quote, there was
no hanky panky. Yeah, I know, like as in there

(30:33):
it was no funny business. There was no back and
forth when she was around, like she came to do
her job. So when next Shaw died in May of
nineteen sixty nine, it was pretty tragic. He had drunk

(30:58):
an anti termite solution that he thought was medicine he
was supposed to take and he died and that was
of course a really sad moment for Hamai. And at
the same time, Delhi was changing. Like we just talked about,

(31:19):
photography was changing. There was a new generation of photographers
and Homai was kind of feeling like these photographers weren't
the same as they used to be. There was also
more security around her photography subjects and a lot of
her photography colleagues were also dying. And her son was

(31:41):
working at the Beerla Institute of Technology and Science and Polani,
which is west of New Delhi, and he asked.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Homi to join him.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
So she sold her house in has Kas in Delhi
and she stopped taking pictures and she said, it was
just like that. One day, I decided that this is enough.
She told all her colleagues she was done with photography.
And she said this it was the same routing going

(32:12):
out taking pictures, and things were not that exciting any longer.
When something goes down, you do not want to go
down with it. You have reached a particular peak where
you have taken the best of things. I had shot
important people from all over the world. You do not
want to go for small things then for people who
are not gracious, dignified and sincere I missed that graciousness,

(32:36):
and when it was gone, my interest in photography was
gone as well. I think that that is very interesting.
I mean, I think anybody who's been working over so
many decades in a specific industry will feel some of that,
especially an artistic one and one that involves technology. I'm

(32:58):
sure y'all can relate. Y'all are in the podcast world
and seeing how things are changing in technology. At the
same time, the culture around photography was changing too, the
way that people were interacting with their photography subjects the
photographers were changing, and so I think that's interesting. But

(33:20):
I think that's also paired with Homi's feelings about politics.
So we kind of also talked about how she was
nostalgic about the old times under colonial rule and how
they were different, how they were more refined, how they
were polished. So there's definitely a personal political bent here
in her feelings about how things were changing, and that

(33:48):
is nuanced.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
So some of these things.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
That were actually the difficulties of the turbulence of so
much political change happening, and also a little bit of
nostalgia for the old times, old way. We're all joining
with the fact that she had been doing this for
so long and things in her family were changing and
she was losing people. I'm sure that was very difficult.
So she was in Polani now and she joined the

(34:14):
ladies club, She took on new hobbies like macromay, and
once Indira God dimentioned Homai in an interview, people in
Polani began to learn about her previous life as a
press photographer, and so there was all this chatter about
her news is spreading. She was starting to get all

(34:35):
these requests for work, but she just kept on doing
things like cooking, going to ladies club and gardening. She
wasn't worried about taking no photos no more. And she
said it was in Polani that she understood women could
be good friends too, and that she shouldn't be afraid
of them. Now.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
Look, I know.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
When I was reading this, I was thinking about this
in modern times, how often times people are like, I
don't have women friends. You know, women are this way,
they're caddy to each other if they're in groups. All
of these like very gendered feelings about women creating friendships
with women and bonding with other women. But I know
that we also have to consider that Homai was also

(35:22):
truly the only woman doing what she was doing. She
was a pioneer, and that she talked about some of
the actual experiences she had making difficulty and how this
was also her I mean, having difficulty with making friends
with other women, and how some of this was also
on her as well. So she did have these friendships.

(35:47):
And this seems like a hard turn now being in
a ladies club after saying that you had difficulty being
friends with women before.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
But yeah, so she was.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
Her son, for Ruke got married in nineteen seventy five
and after that she stayed with them, but she didn't
adjust will to this new arrangement, and so she checked
herself herself into an elderly home in Calcutta. But she
had a dream when these spiritual things going on. Now, Yeah,

(36:23):
interesting choice that for Ruke was sick three months after
that and she moved back to Polani. It turned out
that he did have typhoid at the time, but it
wasn't until years later that he was diagnosed with bow
cancer and he died on January fourth, nineteen eighty eight.

(36:46):
And after her son died, she thought that nobody would
be interested in some of her footage. She said that
a whole box full of what she considered her best
negatives got lost when she was moving from Polani to Baroda.
She said she looked everywhere for them, but they were gone.

(37:09):
And she said, after having kept many negatives in prints
for twenty three years without anyone ever knowing she had
been a photographer, she burnt some of them and Polani,
and she also threw away a whole box full of
movie films. After her son died in Baroda, she said quote,

(37:31):
I don't think I understood the value of my own pictures.
I really regret that now. That just makes me so sad.
But after he died, she spent the rest of her
life in Baroda. She had no pension, she was a freelancer,
but even so she gave away a lot of the

(37:51):
money that she did have to charity. And she had
a long standing friendship with Hugh McInnis, who was her
former Australian boss at the Far Eastern Bureau, and the
two of them kept in touch until he died in
two thousand and four, and he wrote lots of letters
to her over the fifty years that they were friends

(38:12):
from the fifties to the nineties, and they some of
those letters. You can see those images of those letters
also in the book that I mentioned of top, So
those are interesting to see kind of a correspondence between
the two of them and how she was thinking about

(38:32):
photography and about some of her personal relationships that she
had with people. So on her politics a little bit,
she said this, People often say to me, are you
supporting the British? Were you not glad about independence? Of
course I was happy about freedom, but everyone is not

(38:53):
the same. There were also good things about some Britishers
that I admired. Many say that they exploited us financially.
What about the India Maharajas had they not exploited ordinary
people for years? It's not as simple as being for
or against the British. Maybe the answer lies somewhere in between.

(39:16):
So I think it's interesting to think about her personal
politics in the context of her being a fertile journalist
and a pioneering woman photojournalist at the time. So Homi,
like a lot of the other people we've talked about
in Female First, kind of had this like rediscovery. So

(39:39):
after Homi stopped taking photographs. She said that she didn't
miss photography, but she did say that after this rediscovery
of her work happened, it felt like a weight because
she was having to think about how to preserve her
work and that had become a burden to her. So

(40:06):
her you can see a little bit more about her
life and how the author spoke with her in this
time after her photography, after her son died in the book,
and about how it seemed like it was a really
peaceful life. She was really integrated into the community, cared

(40:27):
about it, cared about the children who were around her,
cared about keeping the area clean. So she became a
member of that community. And when this book was written,
it was released before she died. She didn't die until
January fifteenth, twenty twelve, when she was ninety eight years old,
So she lived a long life. And this is not

(40:51):
like every story we talk about on female first Sometimes
we're missing a lot of that person's work. They weren't
recognized until many, many years after their death. Even in
this case, her biography was documented in a lot of
her words through direct relationship with her, through the author

(41:11):
of that book, and a lot of her photographs still exist,
a lot of her letters still exist, and we get
to know about her her story. So that's that's the
end of her eyes story.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
Man, she outlived everyone.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Yeah, I know, honestly, twenty twelve is not that long ago, right, seriously.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
Well that makes sense of like her liking these different
rains of movies. I was like, oh, okay, that makes
that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I love that so much was documented about her. She
seems like such a very interesting, multifaceted person and she
did have a lot of interests that kind of surprised me. Yeah, like, oh,
these movies are oh Macro may Era, Yeah, just.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Which I love.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
And I'm really glad to have this context of how
she liked to photograph people, because I think that will
help me appreciate the photographs more because they do look
like I love the lighting in them, and I like
it is natural light generally, But it does look like
she just was snatched something in the right moment and

(42:17):
she captured this thing and to hear that that was
so important to her and she really did it.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Like it. They're kind of arresting images.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
I don't know how to describe it, but listeners go
look it up, because she really did capture.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
So much, and just these images she was taking. I
really enjoyed looking at her photographs. I really felt like
I was put in the moments she was in. I
really felt like I felt the energy of whatever was
happening in the moment through looking at her pictures, Like
she really clearly did have a gift for taking these

(42:57):
photos and was very dedicated to it, clearly like she
spoke about her patients. And I think there was even
a moment that I didn't talk about in the episode
where she was photographing someone and I think she was
on top of some boxes and ended up falling off
of them because the room was small and she didn't
have like a wide angle lens and she had to
take the pictures, so she had to get on top
of some boxes and take it from like a top

(43:18):
down perspective, and she fell. So it was a lot
of stuff like that. I think there was another moment
where she got somebody pushed her, and she somebody pushed
somebody else and they got pushed into her, and she
got pushed into somebody, and I think she might have
even gotten shoved into whoever. The dignitary was that she

(43:42):
was photographing Anyway, Look, she did what she had to
do to get those moments on film, and I can
tell that by looking at her photos. I do really
love her story. I am also fascinated by her politics

(44:05):
and how she said that she felt about other women
and having a hard time getting into relationships like friendships
with women. So I yeah, I really highly encourage everyone
to look at Home Eyes photos.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
I was just thinking like she was around for all
the big changes when it comes to like photography, the
amount of changes that happened within a short amount of time,
and the discord among photographers, such as like going from
film to digital to photoshop to phones. Like she was
around for all of that. I wonder what her thoughts were.

(44:45):
She also seemed very satisfied, like her lifespan where she's
retired and not have to pick up the pack. Cameragan
speaks about how she felt fulfilled in her work, which
I think rarely anyone can say in their lifetime.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Yes, definitely, like she I mean, I think if you
can get to a point where you say I think
I've done enough photography, I'm good with what I've done.
I think that she clearly was satisfied with her work
and also like having to be in those rooms. I'm
sure it's also it's physically demanding. So there comes a

(45:21):
point where like I'm sure that you know gets old.
And because she seems like she was satisfied with her
creative work, that was just like, Okay, it's time for
all that to be over and enjoy this next new
phase of my life, which she clearly did since she
started crafting and joining joining groups made.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Some women friends also got to love the astrology part
in the beginning. Worked out, Yes, worked out well. Shout
out to that astrology Well, thank you so much as
always used for being with us. We always love having you.
This was such a great story. This is another one

(46:00):
that I'm like, why we need to see this docuseriies,
I would love it.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
I would love to watch it.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, but where can the good listeners find you?

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Y'all can go to my websites probably the easiest. My
website is Eves Jeffcoat dot com. That's spelled y V
S J E F F C A T dot com
and you can sign up for my lowsletter. You can
get to all the other things from there. But if
you want to go directly to Instagram, you can find

(46:31):
me at not Apologizing. You can also go to many
other episodes here of Stuff Mom Never Told You. There
are plenty, plenty of episodes to dig through of women
in history and their accomplishments and how they pioneered in
their fields. So listen to all those episodes of Female First.

(46:53):
If you haven't, you have a lot of catching up
to do.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yes, listeners and go catch up you haven't all well, Yes,
Thank you so much Eaves for being here. If you
would like to contact us, you can our emails hello
at Stuffannever Told You dot com. We're also on booce
Gut Mom Stuff podcast on Instagram and TikTok at stuff.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
We have some new merchandise at Cotton Bureau, and we
have a book you can get wherever you get your books.
Thanks it's always to our super producer Christine or executive
producer My and.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
Your contributor Joey.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Thank you and thanks to you for listening Stuff Never
Told You Instruction by Heart Radio. For more podcast from
my Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Stuff Mom Never Told You News

Advertise With Us

Follow Us On

Hosts And Creators

Anney Reese

Anney Reese

Samantha McVey

Samantha McVey

Show Links

AboutRSSStore

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.