A friend’s tribute to the legendary photographer on his first death anniversary.
By Sambhu N. Banik
Saturday, December 26th, was the first anniversary of the death of Padma Shri Rajan Devadas, the photojournalist, who died last December at the age of 93.
I had known this extraordinary human being, who touched the lives of thousands of people all over the world, since 1971, when my wife, Promila, and I moved to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area from Saskatoon, Canada.
Our first meeting was accidental. I happened to come across a photo studio owned by an Indian and decided to check it out, being new to Washington and not having met any Indians in the city. As soon as I met him inside his studio, Devadas offered me a cup of tea.
After a few minutes of chit chat, he invited me to visit him at his house in the evening to meet his wife and other members of his family. I instantly felt closer to him, and accepted the invitation.
The moment we entered his home in Rockville, he greeted me and introduced me to his wife, Kimiko. Then he went to the kitchen and steamed some idlis for me and heated up some sambar. Since leaving India, it was the first time I tasted such delicious idlis and mouth-watering sambar. He told me that he had made the sambar himself for me.
That was the beginning of our relationship, which lasted till the last day of his life. He loved to cook and share his food with friends and visitors, no matter what time of the day it was. His hospitality was legendary. No guest could leave his home without tasting his signature cuisine.
We became close friends in no time and soon after I started calling him Dada (elder brother). In return, he started calling me Dada as well. During the 43 years of our association, we never had an argument, fight, or misunderstanding. Not a single day passed without either he, or I calling each other. I became his younger brother, in whom he confided everything.
Dada was a great storyteller, who regaled his friends by narrating stories after stories.
Born in Trivandum, Kerala, he spent his formative years at Banaras Hindu University, where he first studied and then worked as a student advisor. He was well-liked as a student and even more popular as an advisor, as he helped numerous students including several that got into trouble for dating.
One foreign student and his girlfriend were threatened to be expelled from the university for seeing each other both on and off campus, which was prohibited by the university.
The young Devadas persuaded the couple to get married. He even arranged a priest for the wedding ceremony, and, along with his mother, hosted a reception for the couple. Years later, when the couple visited Devadas, with their son, they would tell him how Dada saved them from being expelled from the university.
There are any number of stories about the help he provided to students. Occasionally, he would even fight with the university administration on behalf of the students.
During his years at BHU, Devadas developed very close relationships with many prominent personalities there, among them Prof. Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar — father of the internationally renowned astrophysicist Dr. Jayant Narlikar — and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who established BHU. There he also came in close contact with national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — the second President of India, who served as a vice chancellor of the university — and a host of others.
A brilliant student, Devadas came to the United States to study at the famed Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation for a one-year degree program in 1954, with a full scholarship. After graduating from there, he attended University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and New School for Social Research in New York, where he met some brilliant minds, who helped sharpen his vision and wisdom.
Devadas’ professional accomplishments are too numerous to list here. He was the first Indian photographer accredited to the White House. Over four decades, he photographed nine US presidents — John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Gerard Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
He covered several Indian prime ministers, including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narashimahan, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh, and Indian presidents.
Other prominent world leaders the lenses of the photo journalist captured included presidents and prime ministers of dozens of countries, kings and queens, princes and princesses, and spiritual leaders such as Pope John Paul, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
Several decades ago, when he had an exhibition of his photographs, he asked me to be the chairman of the organizing committee, along with Dr. Vidyanand Singh, another friend. In Washington, the exhibition was inaugurated by Mayor Marion Barry at Capital Children’s Museum. Shows were also held in other cities and states, including New York City, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Missouri, California and West Virginia. It also generated a great deal of interests in India.
Dada was great family man. Growing up, his mother was his Goddess. Every day, he would touch her feet and ask her for guidance the first thing in the morning.
He loved his wife, Kimiko, dearly. He told me how Kimiko, who used to work at the Library of Congress, would spend sleepless nights in taking care of him and go to work in the morning — just as his mother used to do in his younger days.
He was very proud of the achievements of all his children and their spouses. When Prem, his older son, got an honorary doctorate degree from a university in South Carolina, he called me to share the happy news. He used to call Anand, another son who was his dad’s professional companion for a number of years, his guru in photography. When Prachee, his daughter-in-law, was honored by President Obama at a White House Rose Garden event, he wanted me to join her and Anand, representing him as he was unable to travel because of his poor health.
Over the years, I became his most trusted friend and brother. He would instruct Kimiko and his children to invite me for every social event held in their homes. Similarly, he never missed a single event in our home. Once, he even came straight from the hospital to attend one of our events.
Whenever we hosted Indian ambassadors for dinner, he would play the Indian national anthems on harmonica. The ambassadors he played for included S.S. Ray, Dr. Karan Singh, Lalit Mansingh, Ronen Sen and Nirupama Rao.
On occasions, he would play with Aziz Haniffa, a prominent India Abroad journalist and a close friend of both of us.
Dada’s powerful lenses captured me and my family thousands of times. Not surprisingly, almost every picture in my album bears his imprint.
Then there are so many acts of kindnesses that he showered on us. Once, during an official assignment to India, he and Kimiko made sure to visit my mother in Durgapur from Santiniketan. He captured my mother’s smiling picture during that visit, which turned out to be her last. Later, he told me that my mother reminded him of his own mother. My family members in Durgapur, who were so impressed with his kindness, always used to inquire about him whenever I called them.
When my mother passed away at age 100, it was Dada who was the first one to visit us to offer condolences.
On November 18, 2014, Promila and I visited him at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, in Rockville, MD, to seek his blessings ahead of our trip to India with our granddaughter Nina. He got up from his bed to bless me, when I touched his feet. Holding my hands, he told me that his time was coming and he wanted me to give his eulogy, as I knew him the best. He told me that he had already told his family members that Dada should be asked to reflect on his life.
When I burst into tears, he assured me that he had a great life, and was happy that all his children are doing well. He was especially happy that Kamal got married to Barry and the Cohen family has embraced her and loved her as their own daughter.
After my return from India, I was very sick for a while and could not visit him. But he would call me regularly to check how I was doing.
When Dada passed away on December 26th, the world lost not only an internationally acclaimed journalist, but also a great human being, an icon, a legend, a visionary, a man of peace and nonviolence, a bridge-builder and a humanitarian. His physical body may have left this world but his memory remains fresh in the minds and souls of his friends and well-wishers.
(Sambhu N. Banik, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and Counseling, Bowie State University, and President of Banik and Associates, Family Diagnostic and Therapeutic Center.)