ALIVE AND CLICKING: A Memoir

' when you spend eight 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 recipient 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 Satyajir 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 life-changing events like the massacre of 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 and extraordinary life living in interesting times.

About the Author:

T.S. Satyan was born and educated in Mysore. He took his first photographs as a high school student. He was among the earliest in India to take to photojournalism. He has traveled widely and has published numerous articles, essays and travelogues. His photographs have been published in newspapers and magazines like Life and Time. He has also done several photo assignments for UNICEF and other international agencies. To mark the International Year of the Child in 1979, UNICEF sponsored his exhibition of photographs on children titled Little People which was displayed at the UN headquarters in New York. His published books include Exploring Karnataka, German Vignettes, Hampi - The Fabled Capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, In Love with Life - A Journey through life in Photographs and Kalakke Kannadi, his memoirs in Kannada.

T.S. Satyan was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri by the government of India. The University of Mysore conferred an honorary Doctor of Literature degree on him.