Anand Kumar Bhowmick has a collection of photographs from different eras in his shop.
Chennai News – In which city can people from different communities live together? If we ask, we will only get the answer that it is only in Chennai. It is surprising and satisfying to see people living here without discrimination, from different communities, with different stories, with different histories.
You can see another such Namur story in this collection.
One of Chennai’s oldest localities, Choukarpettai’s narrow lane is known for its variety of sweet and chaat items, shopping items and shops considered the center of the North Indian community in the city. There, Anand Kumar Bhowmik (age 56) runs a business selling plastic products to customers on Kasi Chetty Street.
If asked what this man’s hobby is, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he has been collecting rare photographs for forty years.
Two rows of black and white photographs can be seen near the door of his shop. The photos are part of his collection of more than 30,000 photos. Anand displays these photographs in front of his shop to commemorate the birthdays, deaths and historical events of famous personalities.
One of those cover photos, a photo of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran, is very important to Anand. Because Anand says he sees him as his ‘god’. On December 24, 1987, Anand says he was unconscious for two days after learning of MGR’s demise.
“My father first introduced me to MGR when he took me to see MGR’s ‘Ulagam Dudtum Valipan’. Since then I have become a fan of his acting.
His charisma, the way he wore sunglasses, the way he carefully accepted garlands from fans and volunteers without disturbing his hat, all made him seem like a great guy to me.
From that time I started collecting his photographs. Every day, I offer my prayers to him first and then start my work,” he says.
Anand’s mind works like a computer. As he talks about his collections, he points to a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi disembarking from a ship and notes that Gandhi never traveled by plane to any country.
Anand remembers all events from World War I and II like the Dandi March, the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s meeting with Adolf Hitler, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and so on.
If one takes a closer look at his collection, one will find numerous photographs related to wars. When asked about them, Anand says he wants future generations to understand the impact of those wars and how people were affected by the decisions of their leaders.
“There should never be war in the future, nations should live with each other and seek an amicable solution to whatever differences exist between them. If you want to see the impact of the war, look at the photos I have inside my shop,” he says.
He also has a huge photo collection of early actors from Charlie Chaplin to Dilip Kumar.
Anand started collecting photographs from the age of 10 with the money he could afford. He says he had a large collection of photographs, negative prints, CDs, hard disks and books gifted by friends from other countries, but all were washed away in the 2015 Chennai floods.
“If I had died and the photographs had been saved, I would have been very happy because they were everything to me. All the things kept on the ground floor of my house were swept away. Rare books gifted by some foreigners were swept away. If I search for them online now, an item costs Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 and some of them are not even available for sale,” he says.
Anand does not need to use his phone or any other gadget, he even notes the names and numbers of the people he meets in the diary. He says that the satisfaction of reading notes cannot be obtained in any other way.
When asked how he collects his photographs, Anand says he depends on book fairs, magazines and newspapers.
“Book fairs have been my backbone. I have traveled all over the country to collect photographs. I have done this with my own money. A part of my income goes to the family, but the rest is spent only on collecting photographs,” he says.
Most of Anand’s collections are very old. He says that black and white photos are magical and have an artistic quality that color photos lack.
“In black-and-white photographs, our full focus is on imagining how it might have happened in that period, whereas in color photographs we don’t get this sense. Rather than the subject, our attention shifts towards the background, clothes and other things captured in the photograph,” he says.
Every year during the Madras Day celebrations, Anand displays some rare photographs of the city in front of his shop. He is frequently invited as a guest to many institutions to exhibit his photographs and talk about their significance.
“I have many photographs of old Madras from the 18th and 19th centuries. I have pictures of the Central Railway Station when it was under construction,” he notes.
He says he got the opportunity to show his works to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers MGR, Karinani Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa and was appreciated by them.
Vishakha Bhowmik, Anand’s wife, says that despite their family’s opposition, she always encouraged her husband to do what he wanted.
“He (Anand) had been collecting these photographs since childhood. After I got married, at first I didn’t understand what he was collecting photos for and asked him to stop as it was affecting us financially. But slowly I realized how passionate he is about this activity. He used to cut and laminate photographs from books and magazines. Even now, family members advise him to stop and do something better to earn more, but I tell them that my husband does what he wants and I have no qualms about it,” she says.
Anand’s next photo exhibition will be held at the 44th International Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram near Chennai from July 28 to August 10. He says that he is going to collect photos of the event and of the best chess players who will participate in it.
When asked about his future plans, Anand says, “Collecting pictures has become a part of my life and I will continue to do this till my last breath.”
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