We all generally consider Homai Vyarawalla as India’s first female photojournalist who earned a name for herself in the male-dominated profession.
But even before that, a woman from the erstwhile Baroda state (Gujarat’s Vadodara) was already operating cameras with finesse and clicking sportsmen from across the globe.
Laxmibai Mujumdar, fondly called Akkasaheb by her family, was probably the first lenswoman in the country to have pursued professional sports photography in the 20th century. Akkasaheb began clicking photographs in 1915 when she was just 20 years old, about two decades before Vyarawalla started off.
“She got into photography when only men used to operate cameras that were big in size and very difficult to handle. Akkasaheb used to love clicking photographs and she didn’t think twice before pursuing her passion,” said Sachin Mujumdar, great-grandson of Akkasaheb.
“It all began when Akkasaheb launched a magazine ‘Vyayam’ in 1915. The magazine, published in Marathi language, used to carry articles related to fitness and the photos of various exercises and sports clicked by Akkasaheb.
She developed an expertise in sports photography. Sachin’s mother Saroj spent around 12 years with Akkasaheb. In the 1930s, Akkasaheb’s husband, who was a fitness enthusiast, decided to write an encyclopedia on all the sports played in the world. And he needed a skilled photographer who could click the sportsmen in action. Akkasaheb stepped in,” Saroj, 78, said.
Armed with her camera, clad in a Navvari, she used to travel across the country with her husband and document every move and action of the sportspersons. From wrestling, kho-kho, langdi and kabaddi to sword-fighting, mallakhamb, hockey and even cricket, she captured over 15,000 pictures in India and abroad.
“Over 10,000 pictures clicked by her were used in the 10 editions of ‘Vyayamkosh’ written by my great-grandfather. We still have the copies of all the 10 editions published in Marathi,” Sachin revealed.
Akkasaheb was born on March 3, 1895, in the royal family of Miraj state (now in Maharashtra) and she arrived in the Baroda state after her marriage in the early years of the 19th century.
A fitness enthusiast, Akkasaheb was an expert horse rider and a skilled swimmer too. A private tutor imparted education to the gritty woman who was an avid learner too.
“She didn’t just click photographs but also developed the films in a dark room in our house in Mujumdar Wada in the old city. Akkasaheb also operated the printing machine proficiently,” Saroj, who still stays with her family in the same ancestral home, recalled.
Akkasaheb died on April 25, 1977, at the age of 82.
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