The Hindu Business Line : Unswerving focus

Playwright John Osborne had said that you cannot relax until you have fought like hell; a statement that sits well on Sangeeta Mahajan, 37, Nagpur city's only female press photographer. With her spare, upright bearing, smart and simple clothes, she is the picture of urbane, relaxed sophistication — a far cry from the bitter struggle that her life was and continues to be.

Today, she is one of the best-known media photographers in Nagpur and has a host of awards to show for her efforts. She also runs her own photography business, and is a fiery activist working to better the lot of slum women.

Sangeeta's activism is, in fact, a reaffirmation of her past. "My life would have been no different from that of other rural girls had it not been for my mother, a Gandhian and Marxist, who had a very different vision of life," she says. When she was about 10, her mother moved from the rural interiors of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region to a slum in Nagpur city, taking her children with her. Then began the daily battle for survival — against the elements, against hostile authorities, against an insecure, foreboding atmosphere, crime and violence.

"In my years in the slum, I saw much up close. Goons, alcohol, violence, the works. A goon once stubbed his cigarette on my arm. Another time, I reasoned with a goon who walked into our hut with a knife and sent him back. My mother's relentless courage against such intimidation also gave me a different vision of my own life," she says. Even in the midst of all this hardship, her mother began a women's group called Jagriti Mahila Mandal to work for the self-employment of the slum women.

Leader material

After completing her schooling, Sangeeta did a course in photography and then joined Lady Amritabai Daga (LAD) girls' college in Nagpur. In her shabby clothes and her `slummy' language, she was out of place among the affluent girls there. But not easily cowed down, she not only initiated reforms but also got elected as college president. "When I joined, there was no drinking water, there were no newspapers in the library and little equipment in the laboratories, and the principal was never around," she recalls. She adds — not without some pride, "They said only girls who owned cars could win elections at LAD, and I used to ride to college on a bicycle!"

Sangeeta thus came into contact with student politics, travelled extensively and even went to jail protesting a fee hike. In 1992, she married Jammu Anand, a student leader and political activist. Here, once again, she found herself taking a very unconventional decision. "Jammu had taken up a job but wanted to return to the movement. So we decided that I would be the one to keep the home fires burning," she says.

Sangeeta borrowed a camera and started working as a freelance photographer. After much struggle and a couple of small jobs, she finally landed a job with a national daily in 1994. Being the first woman press photographer in the city, she found herself the target of much resentment from her male colleagues. "If my work was not twice as good as anyone else's, I was useless. And if my work was good, the bosses used it to taunt my male colleagues, who became, if anything, more insecure and resentful." Due to her activist background, she was even labelled a Naxalite and a troublemaker. These labels nearly cost her the job.

But never one to give up, she went on to win the prestigious `Shot of the Day' award for the 1996 Cricket World Cup match held at Nagpur, and a string of local awards.

Elusive work

In 1999, the Nagpur edition of the newspaper she worked with closed down and Sangeeta was transferred to Pune. But she had a one-year-old daughter by then and could not relocate. Her attempts to find a job with other media houses in the city proved fruitless. "I almost landed a job with the largest media group in Nagpur, but the editor had to finally bow down to stiff opposition from senior photographers employed there," she says.

Sangeeta had by then launched her firm, Pratibimba Communications, and began to freelance full-time. But landing assignments was an uphill task. "People would hesitate, ever so slightly, before trusting a woman with important work." Seven years of hard struggle later, she has built up a reputation for reliability. The bulk of her assignments are medical conferences in Nagpur and elsewhere in Vidarbha. "I don't have a studio of my own and my family still lives in rented accommodation. But I have state-of-the-art equipment, and a very reliable team of photographers," she says.

Although she still keeps in touch with press photography through freelance work, disillusionment has set in. "Employers no longer want socially aware and active employees. They even dictate what angle to photograph from! And when it comes to photography, the gender bias continues to be as strong as ever." To this day, Sangeeta remains the only female press photographer in the city — a scenario she believes will not change unless the social mindset changes.

She now waits to return to full-time activism as soon as her finances stabilise. Meanwhile, she is the secretary of the Nagpur branch of the All-India Federation for Women, which is affiliated to the Communist Party of India, and works with women in the slums she grew up in. She is actively involved with awareness generation projects on the rights of women slum-dwellers.

"I have to spend most of my energies in my business now," says Mahajan, "I am aware that that cuts deeply into the time I wish to give to social work. It is a slow process, but I am working towards my goals. I have earned my vision from my days in the slums, and I will surely make something of it."

Women's Feature Service

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