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Alive and Clicking
‘There is still much of the boy in Satyan—at eighty-one, he retains the same robust curiosity about the world that he did when he was eight’—from the Foreword by Ramachandra Guha
‘When you spend eighty summers on one planet with a camera in hand, things happen, events occur, and you have a bunch of experiences and encounters because you were there at the right time at the right place,’ says T.S. Satyan, award-winning photojournalist and winner of the Padma Shri in 1977.
A vivid montage of people and places, Alive and Clicking is about chance meetings and brief encounters, beautifully portrayed in a style reminiscent of a long-lost era. Spanning eighty years of what is perhaps the most eventful century in history, the book recounts the days Satyan spent with luminaries like Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman and virtuoso film-maker Satyajit Ray; the significant moments he captured in the lives of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Pope Paul VI; and his enduring friendships with creative masterminds like R.K. Narayan and R.K. Laxman. It also portrays vividly his experiences as a photographer in places as varied as Sikkim, Afghanistan, Arunachal Pradesh and Malaysia, and describes phenomenal events like the massacre of the non-violent satyagrahis by the Portuguese rulers in Goa and the mayhem that followed the assassination of Mujibur Rahman in Bangladesh.
Like a slow, easy ride in a carriage, Alive and Clicking takes us through the dusty paths of Mysore of the 1930s and 40s to the farthest corners of India and countries beyond, recording for posterity an extraordinary life lived in interesting times.
‘When you spend eighty summers on one planet with a camera in hand, things happen, events occur, and you have a bunch of experiences and encounters because you were there at the right time at the right place,’ says T.S. Satyan, award-winning photojournalist and winner of the Padma Shri in 1977.
A vivid montage of people and places, Alive and Clicking is about chance meetings and brief encounters, beautifully portrayed in a style reminiscent of a long-lost era. Spanning eighty years of what is perhaps the most eventful century in history, the book recounts the days Satyan spent with luminaries like Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman and virtuoso film-maker Satyajit Ray; the significant moments he captured in the lives of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Pope Paul VI; and his enduring friendships with creative masterminds like R.K. Narayan and R.K. Laxman. It also portrays vividly his experiences as a photographer in places as varied as Sikkim, Afghanistan, Arunachal Pradesh and Malaysia, and describes phenomenal events like the massacre of the non-violent satyagrahis by the Portuguese rulers in Goa and the mayhem that followed the assassination of Mujibur Rahman in Bangladesh.
Like a slow, easy ride in a carriage, Alive and Clicking takes us through the dusty paths of Mysore of the 1930s and 40s to the farthest corners of India and countries beyond, recording for posterity an extraordinary life lived in interesting times.
322 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2005
8 people want to read
About the author
T.S. Satyan
4 booksTambrahalli Subramanya Satyanarayana Iyer, popularly known T. S. Satyan (18 December 1923 - 13 December 2009), was one of India's earliest[1] and most eminent photojournalists.
Satyan was born and educated in Mysore. He studied at the city's Banumaiah school and gained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Maharaja College. In 2004 he was honoured with a doctorate degree by Mysore University.
Satyan began his journalism career with a state English daily and worked for The Illustrated Weekly before quitting the profession to become a freelancer and take up the assignments of UNICEF. He began working for WHO as a freelance photojournalist in the early 1960s. From 1961 to 1963, he worked with the WHO Regional Office in South-East Asia to produce several photo reports on health work in India. He photographed WHO's smallpox eradication campaign as well as eye-care, nursing and school health programmes. His work was featured in several issues of the World Health magazine.
His images were regularly published in the Illustrated Weekly of India, Life, Time, India Today, Outlook, Deccan Herald and Newsweek
Satyan was born and educated in Mysore. He studied at the city's Banumaiah school and gained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Maharaja College. In 2004 he was honoured with a doctorate degree by Mysore University.
Satyan began his journalism career with a state English daily and worked for The Illustrated Weekly before quitting the profession to become a freelancer and take up the assignments of UNICEF. He began working for WHO as a freelance photojournalist in the early 1960s. From 1961 to 1963, he worked with the WHO Regional Office in South-East Asia to produce several photo reports on health work in India. He photographed WHO's smallpox eradication campaign as well as eye-care, nursing and school health programmes. His work was featured in several issues of the World Health magazine.
His images were regularly published in the Illustrated Weekly of India, Life, Time, India Today, Outlook, Deccan Herald and Newsweek
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 23, 2010
As a review, I am adding my email I sent to Mr T S Satyan, which was promptly replied to by him. This was in 2006.
Dear Mr Satyan,
I just finished reading your book Alive and Clicking and it has been nothing less than a journey for me.
A wonderous journey, your book which has in it not mere photographs but the people in them and the soul behind them all.
Every chapter has been as fascinating as the people it talks about. Your book has also opened up a window of imagination for me as you talk of a world that i have never seen and now i dont think i ever can. The one on Afghanistan was truly eye opening and your book has “activated my conscience”. What my eyes never could see, your words and my imagination has given form to them all.
I have done my BA in economics and was nevre inclined towards science, actually physics in particular. However after reading the chapter on C V Raman, for the first time i realised my foolishness in wanting to be ignorant about a subject.
The chapter on Dorayswamy Iyengar, the Dalai Lama, the time you spent in Bangladesh for sure piqued my curiosity. But the one i love the most is the chapter which has in it a man’s whose genius cannot be summed in words – R K Narayan.
Thank you for this gift to us all Mr Satyan.
Regards,
Charanya Chidambaram.
---
This is a beautiful book. A paradigm of simplicity, this book really brings history alive. A must read.
Dear Mr Satyan,
I just finished reading your book Alive and Clicking and it has been nothing less than a journey for me.
A wonderous journey, your book which has in it not mere photographs but the people in them and the soul behind them all.
Every chapter has been as fascinating as the people it talks about. Your book has also opened up a window of imagination for me as you talk of a world that i have never seen and now i dont think i ever can. The one on Afghanistan was truly eye opening and your book has “activated my conscience”. What my eyes never could see, your words and my imagination has given form to them all.
I have done my BA in economics and was nevre inclined towards science, actually physics in particular. However after reading the chapter on C V Raman, for the first time i realised my foolishness in wanting to be ignorant about a subject.
The chapter on Dorayswamy Iyengar, the Dalai Lama, the time you spent in Bangladesh for sure piqued my curiosity. But the one i love the most is the chapter which has in it a man’s whose genius cannot be summed in words – R K Narayan.
Thank you for this gift to us all Mr Satyan.
Regards,
Charanya Chidambaram.
---
This is a beautiful book. A paradigm of simplicity, this book really brings history alive. A must read.
September 6, 2014
What a delightful read this was! Like the photojournalist that he was, he brings the fly-on-the-wall perspective to most things. There are those characters he met and interacted with - Sir MV, C.V. Raman, Satyajit Ray, the RK brothers (Narayan and Laxman, the latter also his classmate), BKS Iyengar, the Wadiyars. There is the city of Mysore, so small-town despite its glory that he grew up saying hello to the King as he rode around the city on his horse, where you always knew someone who knew the king. There is his own life as a budding photojournalist and freelancing it with different foreign organisations. In some ways you can also trace the history of the country from the early 50s into the 80s.
As Guha says in the foreword, the city of Mysore in the first half of the 20th century produced a lot of luminaries who influenced history in different ways, and had significant parts to play in the country. Be it RKN, Laxman, Sharada Prasad, Satyan, Doreswamy Iyengar or BKS Iyengar.
I only wish he had written more about himself than all those he met, and different subjects of his. But that would be akin to saying he should have shot more selfies I guess.
As Guha says in the foreword, the city of Mysore in the first half of the 20th century produced a lot of luminaries who influenced history in different ways, and had significant parts to play in the country. Be it RKN, Laxman, Sharada Prasad, Satyan, Doreswamy Iyengar or BKS Iyengar.
I only wish he had written more about himself than all those he met, and different subjects of his. But that would be akin to saying he should have shot more selfies I guess.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews