In Memoriam

I met Kunjbhai, as we called him, rather late in his long and illustrious life. As they say, it was long enough. I spent wonderful two decades of association with him. He was a friendly, generous, and an open person. He introduced many of us to his family and friends.

In 1999, we went to Bhutan together, accompanied by his brothers, the older Jagdish and younger Nalin. Each had different interests but the same generosity. Our groups got on well and we travelled to some rare parts of Bhutan, covering it thoroughly. I learnt of his excellence and interest in mountain photography.

Three years later, we travelled across the Tibetan plateau. Starting from Lhasa we cut across the Plateau to the western end, covering is exhaustively. Indians usually travel to Manasarovar and Kailash, which we did, but went much beyond, to Guge and Tsaprang where Adi Shankracharyya had built a temple at Tholing Math. Finally we went to Shinquen (formerly Ali) for a fantastic view of the Indian mountain ranges of Ladakh and Spiti in the east. Kunjbhai was at his best, photographing these places with enthusiasm and techniques he had mastered. His pictures were the stuff of legends.

Two of his pictures I cherish the most. From Darchen, at foot of Kailash, he photographed the Himalaya which appeared right to left (reverse) as were north of the Himalaya. Due to the curvature of the earth and the distance, these high Himalayan peaks appeared as miniatures!

His panorama of Everest (from the North) from the Pang la ahead of Tingri, is the view that all pre-war Everest expeditions had. But now taken in colour, sharply focused in its entirety as photographed by Kunjbhai was another gem. The Alpine Club made this photo a part of their exhibition celebrating 100 Years of Everest exploration (1921-2021). In a rare honour it was displayed with pictures of the legendary Vittoria Sella collection and also featured in the exhibition book. He was lucky to be alive to enjoy the recognition.

His life story tells how hard he had worked to enjoy the later life as he did. And about his major interest—wildlife photography.

Kunjbihari Kantilal Trivedi was born on 20 May, 1931 in Mwanza, situated on the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanganyika (Tanzania). His parents were teachers who had migrated to Tanganyika in 1929.

He was educated in various places in Tanzania before he came to Baroda in 1946 and graduated from MS University in 1951. He then came to Mumbai and was articled to G P Kapadia, who was then the Founder President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He was enrolled as an Associate Member in the year 1954, at which time he migrated to Mombasa, Kenya, to practice his profession as a Chartered Accountant. In 1972 he moved to Hong Kong, invited by his older brother, to join the family business as a co-founder of a finance company. In 1986, the two brothers acquired a controlling interest in The Indian Card Clothing Co. Limited in Pune, India, of which he became the Chairman in 1988.

His interest in wildlife began during his school years in the forties. His first visit to a Game reserve was to the famous Serengeti National Park in Tanganyika in 1945, as a member of a group from his school in Mwanza. It was an overland trip in a refurbished surplus World War II military truck; a one night stay at Seronera, sleeping at the back of the truck listening to deafening Lion roars amidst many other wildlife sounds in the night. That thrilled him. He also remembered reading a book in the early fifties, Hunter by J A Hunter, about the excitement and adventure of nature and wildlife—this left a very deep impression on him. His father gave him a used Kodak folding camera with bellows which used 120 film. He brought this camera to India to continue with his experiments in photo techniques while at M S University.

Whilst back in Kenya, he would regularly visit Tsavo National Park on weekends and holidays. He also remembered visiting Ngorongoro Crater in Tanganyika way back in 1958. This interest in wildlife remained dormant during the time he was in Hong Kong and while he was actively engaged in business. However, his passion for wildlife photography revived in 1991 when he joined a tour to East Africa, organized by the Financial Times of London. This was the beginning of the second phase of his hobbies. Now, with more time and resources at hand, he developed an almost obsessive interest, merging the two hobbies into one; wildlife and photography.

After that trip in 1991, he visited many nature reserves within India, Eastern and Southern Africa, parts of Europe and America to photograph wildlife and natural landscapes. His favorites being India and East Africa, he considered himself fortunate to be able to have the resources, time and energy to travel extensively in search of the perfect photograph! Fascinated by the predators mainly the Big Cats—Tigers, Leopards, Cheetah and Lions, in that order, his many trips were to their favoured habitats. He particularly enjoyed photographing them in action. In addition, he also loved to capture animal behaviour amongst Elephants, African Wild Dogs, Polar Bears and Brown Bears. He also perfected Landscape photography travelling to the Canadian Rockies, New Zealand, Antarctica and Namibia.

He ventured into heritage photography inspired by Kakubhai Kothary whose companionship was a strong foundation for most of his photography trips in the last three decades, be it to a Tiger reserve or a temple complex.

His interest in conservation was deepened after meeting Dereck and Beverly Joubert in Mombo, in Okavango Delta in Botswana. He was enthralled by the impact their work was having on bringing awareness about the disappearing wildlife and the importance of regenerating natural habitat. His resolve to contribute towards this initiative through his own photography, particularly in India became even stronger.

The question that arises is what kept him going for such a long time, especially because these activities are not for profit, purely voluntary and not free from physical discomfort and effort. The onset of the Digital in the realm of photography gave him freedom to experiment and considerable control on the final outcome of his effort. It also encouraged him to keep learning especially since this fast-developing technology always presented a challenge, whether it was keeping abreast with new methods and ideas or editing software or printing technology. This all-consuming interest in technology and its impact on photography perhaps kept him going until he was 90 years old.

Harish Kapadia
(With Shveta Trivedi)

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