Much before private television channels streamed in, we were treated only to visuals from good old Doordarshan. What’s hard to believe is that some visuals you saw on the public broadcaster were shot by a frail woman.
Jayashree Puri joined Doordarshan as a trainee camerawoman when few women wielded the camera for TV shoots, at least in India. Curiously, Jayashree was totally ignorant about operating a camera, however, the job of a cameraperson had always fascinated her.
It was a TV ad in 1984 which changed Jayashree's life and career forever. The ad called for trainee cameramen to join Doordarshan. Jayasree and her friends immediately sent in their applications, driven primarily by the urge to see in person those luminaries who used to appear on screen. The application was accepted and she was called for an interview. The young girl set out with high hopes of seeing her role models. She even thought they would be interviewing her.
Finally, the one vital question that popped up at the interview was: "Do you know anything about a camera?" Not an eyelid fluttered. “Nothing,” she replied, but hastily added that she was willing to learn and would put in her best if selected. Luckily, the young girl who knew nothing about a camera made it to the post of trainee camerawoman. The rest of her 32-year-old stint with Doordarshan was a love life with the camera. She was the channel’s official camerawoman.
Jayashree recalls her first assignment with amusement. As she had too frail a physique, her colleagues wondered how she would move around lugging her camera and all the other paraphernalia. So they assigned her not one, but two assistants. That was how she went for her first assignment, armed with a camera, escorted by two aides.
She is happy to share one of her most memorable experiences. It happened while going in for an interview with the founder of Sulabh International. While moving up the elevator, she was asked by the NGO’s PRO who the “cameraman” was. When she told him that he was talking to the very person he was seeking, the man said it was a disgrace to know that she was to be the one behind the camera. It was like a jolt to the youngster. This was the first discouragingly negative comment she had got. So far, she had been met with only either disbelief or a smile when folks learnt she was the camera-wielder. But later, her shock turned to relief when the Sulabh official advised her that a camera was to be held the way one would clasp one’s baby, close to the heart, or the way a musician would lovingly hug his instruments. Love your camera and be loyal to it and it will love you back and be loyal to you, he said. His advise has always stayed with her.
Jayashree is all praise for Doordarshan. The channel never had any sort of discrimination and gender bias was unheard of.
She also credits the success in her career to the unstinted support of her husband, D K Puri, whom she married almost as soon as she got her job. He would feel sad if she had to skip important assignments due to ill health or other reasons. She remembers with immense gratitude and pride how her husband made it easy for her to go on assignments to places far off. As he would step in as the home-maker and be more than a mom to their children, Jayashree could venture out for her duties without any worry.
It’s ironic that shutterbugs, obsessed with the beauty of the images they capture seldom think of their own looks. Personal grooming was neglected as they are obsessed about getting that perfect shot whether in sunshine or rain. They are always up and about, exposed to the harsh elements. Jayashree, who had never ever given a thought to her looks, recalls another incident which reminded her of her own looks. “It happened when we were on an outdoor shoot. A lot of families had turned up for a programme. All of a sudden, one woman came up to me and said I was beautiful. I was stunned for a moment. As I paused wondering how to thank her or tell her that I had never spared a thought for looks, the woman said: “It’s your commitment to your work that makes you beautiful".
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