Polka dots & bell bottoms
Amlanjyoti Bora
Polka dots & bell bottoms
Polka dots & bell bottoms
Amlanjyoti Bora
Dedicated to my parents and their friends.
Polka dots & bell bottoms A collection of photographs of my parents archive from their college and university days in Assam, which were dated back from the late 60s to early 80s.
Compiled and edited by: Amlanjyoti Bora Copyright Š 2018 Amlanjyoti Bora All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover
: Brajendra Prashad Kotoky, father’s hostel senior Darrang College (Early 70s) From my parents archive
Guided by
: Rishi Singhal Sathyanad Mohan
Special thanks to : Aakash Dewan Gyanendu Baruah Nalini Ranjan Nirad Shlagha Borah
This dissertation is an academic project for the Department of Photography Design, National Institute of Design
Preface
Ever since I was interested in photography, I started developing my skills towards capturing portraits of different people. What kept me engaged, were the expressions of people and their reaction to the environment. It could be someone at the studio, a candid portrait in a concert, or someone walking down the street. Before starting this archival project, the only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to work on a series of portraits that spoke about the lifestyle of people. I came across two sources, one of them was an internationally renowned award winning photographer and the other was one of the oldest studios in my hometown of Biswanath Chariali in Assam. However, after going through their photo archives, I could not frame them into a story. I then came across my parent’s collection of photographs from their college and university days, and I felt that these portraits expressed the warmth of the late 60s to the early 80s. The photographs spoke a thousand words in each frame, with their innocent demeanour contributing to the composition. What I really like about the collection is the particular language of the photographs. Although they were shot by many different photographers from different parts of Assam over a period of time, they have a similar aesthetic sensibility. The photographs throw light on how it was to be a student in a college or university back in the day and what they would wear then, that made a statement and is looked as a trend today. Another important aspect of this collection is that, people used to share photographs as a token of love or greetings. Personal messages were hand-written on the back of these photographs. The simplicity and warmth of the people shines through in these photographs especially today, as one attempts to understand the meaning, emotions and feel the impressions of pen which documented the life at the back of those those bromide paper.
Lithographic portraits of Hill Miris and Nyishis by Colesworthy Grant
History of photography in Assam
Photography went hand in hand with ethnography in colonial India. Soon after the new technology arrived in British India, photographers were enlisted in the project of classifying the tribes and castes of the subcontinent. From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the camera proved admirably suited to take over from the draughtsman and the painter in the ‘passion for documentation’ that energised the colonial enterprise. In 1855, photography was added to the curriculum at the East India Company’s military academy in Surrey. Cameras, as Samuel Bourne suggested in 1863, were part of the colonial arsenal, which ‘though as suspicious perhaps in appearance, attained their object with less noise and smoke.’ Photography arrived in Assam in the mid 19th century. Visual representations of this isolated corner of the empire followed soon after the conquest of Assam. Lithographic portraits of Hill Miris and Nyishis by Colesworthy Grant that appeared in his “Sketches of Oriental Heads” in the 1840s were important precursors to photographs. Grant’s portrait of a Miri couple entitled, “Tema, Huzara, and his Wife. Hill Mirees” is noted for the convincing detail of clothing, machetes and ornamentation. The earliest known photograph was taken at Dibrugarh by Rev. Edward H. Higgs of St. Paul’s church. Christopher Pinney points out that in the age of empire apart from accumulating ethnological information officially commissioned photography served other purposes as well. The colonial administrators used photography as a tool to record their political and military achievements. Prasanta Das, a keen collector of colonial photographs of North-Eastern India writes, Mallette’s (French doctor turned photographer Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallette who visited Assam in the 1870s) photographs preserved by the British Library are the most significant of the earliest photographs because ‘they are a visual approximation of the way the British saw Assam … a remote frontier that needed to be ‘improved’ and incorporated into the colonial and imperial system.’ They narrate some of the changes brought about by the colonial administration
that includes the introduction of law and order, tea gardens and steamers. This collection is a visual record of nineteenth-century Assam. Some notable European photographers came to Assam during the late nineteenth century and in the early decades of the twentieth century. In addition to clicking portraits of British officials and plantation owners, they took officially commissioned photographs of tea labourers and tribesmen. As the colonial administrative apparatus slowly made in roads into the tribal tracts, photography served as a reliable scientific way of documenting knowledge about the natives. British anthropologists and botanists like J.H. Hutton, J.P. Mills and Ursula Graham Bower who worked in the Naga Hills kept a photographic record of the tribal way of life. A close study of the memoirs of the Assamese gentry of those times reveals that the Assamese speaking middle class were first introduced to photography in erstwhile Calcutta during the late nineteenth century as attested by the portraits of Assamese students who undertook a ‘secular pilgrimage’ to the imperial capital. Like their counterparts in the rest of the country, portrait photography was utilised by the Assamese elite to “fashion ‘a self’ at variance with their status as subjects of the British Empire” (Sudhir Mahadevan; Archives and Origins: The Material and Vernacular Cultures of Photography in India). Portrait studios came up in urban areas like Guwahati, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Shillong & Kohima. Although, few in number they were catering to an increasing demand. For example, in the early twentieth century, almost all the photographs in Guwahati were taken either by Ghoshal Brothers or College Studio. Gradually, the scope of photography also widened. Joy L. K. Pachuau & Willem van Schendel emphasises how ‘Indigenous People’ in the Lushai Hills used cameras to produce distinct modern identities and represent themselves to themselves, consistently contesting outsiders’ imaginations of them as isolated, backward and in need of upliftment. The role of literary magazines like Abahon (which popularised photojournalism) is noteworthy especially in changing the approach of the people towards this technological innovation. The Zamindars of Gauripur and Rupashi imported camera equipment from erstwhile Calcutta. Renowned filmmaker Pramathesh Barua, son of the Zamindar of Gauripur was a very competent photographer himself. Amateur photographers like
Madhav Chandra Bezbaruah were very popular and their cameras became a stuff of legend. Norton, Bay Brownies & Rolleiflex cameras were popular among the elite. The scenario changed further after Independence when cameras became easily available. Several important events were saved for posterity through this medium and photography was taken up as a serious profession. Devi Das of Guwahati, for instance, became well-known for taking photographs of notable personalities and landmark events (he was a regular at the Bordoloi Trophy matches). Studios came up in several places and photographers like Amullya Manna and Nalini Barua international recognition. Almost all the photographs of Assam available to us from the period under our scrutiny are monochromatic or black and white photographs and it was not until the late 1980s that coloured photographs became widely
Sources: • ‘Through the eye of time’ by Michael Aram Tarr and Stuart Blackburn • pasighat.wordpress.com • avinibeshsharma.wordpress.com
Polka dots & bell bottoms
The collection has two sections. First, the beautifully photographed studio portraits and second, a collection of outdoor portraits, which comprise both staged and casual portraits. While going through the photographs, and after having a conversation with my parents I learned that the way they used to use photographs was quite different from my understanding of photography today. I will never forget the joy in their eyes, when we were looking at these photographs, and they started talking about their friends and their time as students. I have been going through these photographs repeatedly over the past few weeks. The whole process of scanning, editing and recovering the photographs helped me to connect better with the collection. The visual language of the photographs was very inspiring and will stay with me forever. The photographs date back to the late 60s up to early 80s. These are pictures of my parents and their friends.
Dhaneswar Bora (father) (Mid 70s)
Mira Mudoi Bora (mother) (Early 80s)
During the early to late 70s, Left-wing politics and organizations started spreading in Assam, particularly students from the university and colleges were attracted to this Left-wing ideology because of the increasing rate of unemployment, poverty and lesser development in transportation, communication, education etc compared to the other parts of India. Along with that, the Naxalite movement also came into being during that time. There was a serious food crisis in Assam in the early 1970s, which led to a big student strike in 1974. Different social and political organisations under the leadership of AASU (All Assam Student Union) urged the government to take action against the stockist and traders for the illegal hoarding of essential food items with movements like the Khadya Andolan in 1974. Another important movement in early 70s was the Movement for Medium of Instruction. It took place to change the medium of instruction to Assamese instead of English. Between 1974 to 1976 a state of Emergency was declared all over the country. Student Federation of India and many other student organisations came up during that time. In 1978 Foreigners Issue Movement started and it continued for six years, which was known as Assam Movement (From 1973 to 1985, AASU lead a movement against the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. About 855 people lost their lives and the students lost two academic years. On August 14th 1985, an agreement was made by the government of India to detect and deport the foreigners and to safeguard the indigenous people of Assam). My mother lost two years of her masters, instead of completing the masters in two years it took her four years to finish the course (1978 - 1982).
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
The newspaper was the most important and common source of information that they relied on, not only for the daily news but for their exam results as well. Along with the newspaper the radio was a relatively new communication technology. Telephonic communication was not so good back then and the postal service was not reliable. Photostat service was very rare, hence they had to duplicate the documents manually by rewriting or on a typewriter. My mother used to learn weaving and help her family in daily chores. My father used to help his family in farming along with his elder brother. While having a conversation with my parents, talking about the photographs, I noticed that they kept mentioning how they grew up without social media. My father told me that their life used to be so different. According to him, they were more social and not under the influence of ‘media’. There were a lot of social gatherings like casually hanging out during their free time, going for picnics or movies, etc.
‘Younger Sister - Friend’ Found image (Source/date: unknown)
Both Assamese and Hindi movies were popular then. The influence of these movies can be seen among students in how they would dress up. Due to the increase in the motion picture culture, cinema clubs started to form in different parts of Assam, mostly within colleges and universities, that would screen regional, national and international movies. Dr Bezbaruah, Xondhyaraag, Kollol, Sikmik Bijuli, Puoti Nixar Xopun, Chameli Memsaab, Aronyo etc. were some of the Assamese hits from back in the day. Hindi movies like Bobby, Mera Naam Joker, Anand, Hare Krishna Hare Raam, Ghar Sanskar, etc were popular too.
Deepak Borah (Late 70s)
Having a background in fashion, I have the tendency to notice what people wear and how they wear it. Girls would wear handspun and handwoven ‘Mekhela Chador’ (Mekhela Chador is a traditional Assamese dress worn by women) there are two main pieces of clothes that are draped around the body. Mekhela is the bottom and Chador is the top of the two piece dress. It was either woven at home or bought ready-made. The University did not have uniforms then, but girls were not allowed to wear anything apart from Saree and Mekhela Chador. The students from the other states (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) apart from Assam were allowed to wear their traditional dresses to schools, colleges and universities. My mother would buy most of her clothes from the local market. Subtle prints and monochromatic cloths used to be popular among students, the bright colours and big prints came much later. The girls wore their hair long which they would clip and braid into a plait or leave it open and some rebellious spirited girls would cut their hair short to stand out of the crowd. In these photographs, I noticed the growing influence from movies on the students, as some men grow out their hair, wore bell bottom trousers and shirts with big and wide collars. They would comb their hair neat, iron their shirts crisp and dress like a true gentleman. They used to prefer a more clean-shaven look. I could see the influence of western fashion in the way they use to dress. They hardly wore prints or checks, plain and solid coloured shirts and trousers were preferred among boys and men. The shirts were either tailored or bought ready-made from a local market.
Dr Siba Prashad Borah (left, father’s elder cousin brother) & father (right) (Early 80s)
Influence on western fashion in India
The 1960s were an age of fashion innovation for women. The early 1960s gave birth to drainpipe jeans (slim-fit pants or skinny jeans (when made of denim) have a snug fit through the legs and end in a small leg opening that can be anywhere from 9” to 20” in circumference, depending on size) and capri pants (capri pants are pants that are longer than shorts but are not as long as trousers. They typically come down to between the knee and calf or ankle length). In the late 1960s, The hippie movement also exerted a strong influence on women’s clothing styles, including bell-bottom jeans, tie dye and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints. From the early 1950s until the mid 60s, most Indian women maintained traditional dress such as the ghagra choli, saree, and churidar. At the same time as the hippies of the late 60s were imitating Indian fashions, however, some fashion conscious Indian women began to incorporate modernist Western trends. It was also the decade which saw the low cut, open backed or fashionable blouses to go with saris. The decade gave the traditional Indian attire a very alluring and a fashionable look, especially when worn with sleeveless blouses. In general, the urban Indian men imitated western fashion such as the business suit. This was adapted to India’s hot climate as the Nehru suit, a garment often made from khadi that typically had a mandarin collar and patch pockets. This was the decade that was influenced by the hippie culture and gave the fashion industry a great makeover. People who did not mind going out in the sun, were introduced to fashionable sunglasses (also called cooling glasses) in the 1970s. Most of the NRIs were seen roaming around with oversized sunglasses covering their eyes or placed on top of their head or hanging around their chest.
Mridusmita Devi, Student, Biswanath College (Early 80s)
Nirmali Hazarika, Student, Biswanath College (Early 80s)
Mother’s passport size photo for ID Card (Early 80s)
Anuma Saikia, Mother’s friend from Guwahati University (Between late 70s - Early 80s)
Late Arup Baruah, father’s classmate and hostel mate from Darrang College (Early 70s)
Jayanta Gohain, father’s classmate, Darrang College (Early 70s)
Father (Early 70s)
Late Guno Baruah, Relative (Late 60s)
Khagandranath Chetia, father’s roommate from Guwahati University Boy’s Hostel (Mid 70s)
Ajit Das, Father’s classmate and hostel mate from Darrang College Boy’s Hostel (Early 70s)
Nabin Saikia, father’s classmate (Early 70s)
Kamal Bora, father’s elder brother (Late 60s)
Dear Dhan da, Wish you a very happy Rongali Bihu. Love and respect, Basanta, Darrang Boy’s Hostel First of Bohag, 1973
Late Basanta Neog, father’s roommate, Darrang College Boy’s Hostel (Early 70s)
Dear Dhan, Sri Deba Da 05.03.73
Deba Baruah, father’s hostel roommate, Darrang College Boy’s Hostel (Early 70s)
Dearest Dhan, From Brajen dada 11.06.73 Brajen Kotokey Bishnuram Oath Amulapatti P.O. Shivsagar
Brajendra Prashad Kotoky, father’s hostel senior, Darrang College (Early 70s)
To Dhan da, With love and respect, Your roommate, Sri Damar Prashad Rijal Vill: Simaluguri
Damar Prashad Rijal, father’s hostel rommate, Darrang College (Early 70s)
To Dhan, with love and best wishes Suren Saikia Pasi Gaon, Jamugurihaat 29.04.72
Suchen Saikia, father’s classmate, Darrang College (Early 70s)
Dear Dhan, Keep this as a sign of my love for you. Remember me. Harunada Sipajhar, Babadalguri, Darrang 06.06.73
Harunar Rashid Hazarika, father’s college senior, Darrang College (Early 70s)
Harendra Nath Borah, father’s classmate, Darrang College and Guwahati University (Late 70s)
To Dhan, With memories and love, Radhika, 29.04.72
Late Radhika Gayan, father’s friend (Early 70s)
Dear Dhan Da, For you, With love, Sarat, your brother. 01.04.73
Sarat Kumar Dutta, father’s college junior, Darrang College (Early 70s)
Ananda Baruah, father’s university senior, Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Ananda Baruah, father’s university senior, Guwahati University (Early 70s)
Dear Dhan dada, Please accept this photograph as a token of love. Dulal and Tridib, 1974
Dulal Pujari (Left) & Tridip Dutta (Right) father’s hostel roommate from Darrang College Boy’s Hostel (Early 70s)
Dear ma’am Momee
Hiranya, mother’s student & hostel mate, Biswanath College (Early 80s)
Mother’s student from Biswanath Chariali (Early 80s)
I gift you this photograph as a proof/symbol of our love and affection. Regards, Your friend Junu 17.11.76
Junu Deka, mother’s school classmate, Nagaon Govt Girls HS School (Mid 70s)
Previous spread: Mother’s sister (on right) and her friend (Mid 70s) On right: Mother and her cousin (Early 80s)
Mother and her friend from Nagaon College (Late 70s)
Previous spread: Radhika Gayan (left, friend) & father (right) (Early 70s) Mother (left), her elder sister (right) and her daughter (Early 80s)
Mother’s elder brother (First one on right, standing) and his friends (Late 70s - Early 80s)
Mother’s school friends (Early 70s)
Previous spread (from left to right): Father, Late Radhika Gayan, Nabin Saikia Friends from Darrang College (Early 70s) On right: Mother (sitting, right) and her collegue and students Biswanat College (Early 80s)
Father and and his friends from Darrang College (Early 70s)
Father and and his friends from Darrang College (Early 70s)
Father and and his friends from Darrang College (Early 70s)
Mother’s friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends from Guwahati University (Late 70s)
Greeting Card (Source/date: Unknown)
Father’s friends from Darrang College at Agnigarh Park (Early 70s)
Father and his friends Bhalukpung, Arunachal pradesh (Early 70s)
Jagat Baruah, father’s friend Bhairab Kunda, Near Bhutan (Early 70s)
Bonical Escartion, Botany Hons students, Mother and her friends and teachers from Nagaon College (Mid 70s)
Father’s friends from Darrang College (Early 70s)
Father’s friend’s sister in front of Kareng Ghar, Shivsagar (Early 70s)
Mother and her friends at Shillong for Botanical Escartion (Late 70s)
Mother and her friends at Shillong for Botanical Escartion (Late 70s)
Bonical Escartion, Botany Hons students, mother and her friends and teachers from Nagaon College (Mid 70s)
Bonical Escartion, Botany Hons students, mother and her friends and teachers from Nagaon College (Mid 70s)
Bonical Escartion, Botany Hons students, mother and her friends and teachers from Nagaon College (Mid 70s)
Father (Early 70s)