#train connecion

[snellblogs]

Bude Connect

BUDE CONNECT: THE MEETING: AGM Oct 24

Blog by Lynne Pearl

What is it about Bude that uplifts and takes you far away?  It has the most amazing two beaches, with surf rolling in for the last three thousand miles.  It roars day and night, in wind and rain, sun and rain, all kinds of weather.  It just roars and doesn’t stop.  The waves are white, pure white, rolling from far off shore and for as far as the eye can see up the coast and down into Cornwall, never was there such a coast.

The cliffs are high and craggy.  They certainly don’t seem soft and mushy prone to the sagging rock falls on the South coast of Devon, where when it rains so much the cliffs become porous and soft, finally fall into the sea taking houses and a few feet of garden each time.  Here the cliffs if they fall must come down in black jagged boulders. 

The wind is everywhere and the sky is over and above and the turf under your feet on the headland is springy.  From here, there is a flag pole, and monument that tells you how far it is to the nearest land, and where.  It is North America with thousands of miles of sea between.  There is the fullness and the emptiness.

Its’ beauty just goes on and on and the world and any cares no longer exist and there is just this beauty and then not even that, just infinity and peace.

So, to get to this beauty there is no longer a train, the last train ran in 1966

The last train, diesel railcarNº55012, left Bude for Exeter Central on 1st October, crammed full. It closed Oct 66 after 68 years of service.

The line ran from Okehampton, thrOugh Meldon Quarry, Maddaford Moor, Halwill Junction, Dunsland Cross and Holsworthy.

(More at remg.org.uk/location/bude.shtml0 with lovely old photographs.

n fact Bude is a train desert, it is farther from a mainline station than practically any other place in England.  So, you have to be pretty determined to get there.

Now as of the last couple of years there is now an organisation, grass roots, to connect Bude with the world.  It is ‘Connect Bude’ made of local people who know a thing or two about railways and engineering. 

Wehad a meeting in October in the Falcon Hotel next to the Canal in Bude which looks practically straight out to sea across the Atlantic Ocean where the surf rolls in day in and day out and is a favourite surfing beach with a major surfing culture.  And this day was no exception, rhe sun was shining it was mild and people were swimming in the sea in late October.  It was inspiring.  And it was beautiful.

The AGM of Connect Bude heard from some very worthy speakers, a gentleman who talked about the engineering aspect of the railway line, a speaker on the various sites that could be chosen for a new station in the town of Bude.  (The site of the old station is now built upon, sadly)  But much remains.

My favourite speaker was the gentleman from Devon who talked about how other railway lines had been reinstated, success stories of their kind.  It was a view of a new start a new way for all of us to move forward together.  Here is something concrete which we can put our hearts into.  A new vista on an old technology.  Really much of the infrastructure is still there in the landscape, the cuttings, the raised beds on which the rails had run, the little bridges and the staggeringly beautiful viaducts which dot our landscape.    I have written poems to their beauty…

‘LETTER FROM THE LOOE LINE

Valley gorge of yellow leaves,

Dark green holly, ferns and sheep grazing,

With a viaduct, slim, elegant like a suit,

Then trees, bare, silent, wait and sleep.

It’s a secret road to who knows where along the valley line…’

We concluded our meeting with the fire and energy and hope of that speaker who had already seen an old railway reinstated, as in Tavistock and in Okehampton.  Here in Devon there is change. We have what we need to effect major societal change that will massively affect the climate positively. 

Let’s support Bude Connect @www.connectbude.co.uk email connect.bude@gmail.com

Lynne Pearl, author, 'Road Trip River Voices' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Trip-River-Voices-Liminal-ebook/dp/B00HAG1Q2I

Thiel:One Foot In Front of Another.' https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Lynne+Pearl&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss

On Good Reads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7796332.Lynne_Pearl

Available from Amazon

Website: https://lynnepearl.com/

[comparatist]

Okay, so, here goes the original work regarding Homai Vyarawalla. Will be updating Prem Mathur soon.

Homai Vyarawalla: The First Indian Woman To Be A Photo Journalist

It was the time when India was undergoing structural changes finally preparing herself to draw a line to the 200 years of British Raj. It was only a few decades into the 20th century. Women were still shackled within the restrictions of the public and private and often discouraged available luxury of being educated. Though the participation of women picking down the barriers of discrimination, in the freedom struggle of India was extremely noteworthy, it was something, the male writers are narrators of Indian history have always somewhat omitted both knowingly or without intention, hence the amount of sacrifice and contribution to the freedom fight however did little in knocking down the walls of the existing social norms binding moment in the post independence era. The arena of photojournalism was then a male dominated sphere. Homai Vyarawalla was the first woman who dared to challenge the patriarchal nature of the domain, being the first woman behind the lens.

• Early Life:

Homai was born to a Parsi family staying in Navsari, Gujarat on 9th December 1913. Her initial years were spent in a Vyara near Surat. Then her family resolved to move to tardio, Mumbai and she completed her education with an Honors Degree from Bombay University. Homai valued the importance of education in her life and was always ready to dodge every bullet of social discrimination, often subjected towards woman, to continue her education. She was the only girl to complete her Matriculation among 36 students. Her parents, Dossabhai and Soonabhai Hathiram weren’t well educated, however left no stone unturned to encourage her to learn English thereby enrolling her in the grant Rd high school in Tardeo. Her attempts to receive proper education were often obstructed by social regulations imposed upon women. Due to her economy condition, she often had to move in and out of houses and travel long ways in order to reach the school. The stigma around the subject of menstruation used toasting her the most owing to her parsi roots. After completion of her Matriculation Homai pursued a degree in Economics from St. Xavier's College.

• Introduction To Her Profession: Homai met Maneckshaw Vyarawalla in 1926, the man who inaugurated the magical world of photography in her life at a railway station, who thereby continued to be an inspiration in our works of art. Homai primarily received mentorship from Maneckshaw to pick up the skills for photography. She also underwent a formal training and completed a diploma from the J.J School of Arts. They shared the Rolliflex of Maneckshaw, to develop their films in a dark bathroom. In 1941 Homai tied the knot with Maneckshaw, being fully aware of his mother’s displeasure regarding the current situation.

“In those days, Orthodox people did not want college educated girls for their sons. Especially those who had studied with boys,” she said.

• Career As A Photo Journalist:

All Homai started assisting Maneckshaw, who was working with The Illustrated Weekly of India and the Bombay Chronicle at that point. Some of her works even got recognition under the name of Maneckshaw Vyarawalla, as woman weren’t approved to be professional photographers then. The day to day activities of urban woman in Bombay where the foundations of our initial works. Her art captured there seems like no one.

In the wake of the Second World War and the events that followed by, Homai got to grab several opportunities to showcase her talent by capturing the political consequences of the war in India. The crisis had laid the participation of women in public domains, being the flag bearers of change, particularly in the era of post- independence. Both Parsi and British women in their public avatar were seen getting featured through her works.

The war also gave her a chance to permanently move out from Bombay. In 1942, the couple moved to Delhi. It was on outstanding move as it represented the initiation of her public life as a photo journalist. Homai and Maneckshaw began to work with the British High Commission which accelerated the success in Homai's career, for her familiarity the then Authoritiy, made her a regular at all events, irrespective of the nature. This was the start of the golden period in her career as a photo journalist.

• Golden Period:

Events that would later determine the history of the 20th century were on their way of happening when Homai had reached the zenith of her profession. The context on which she supported her artwork is therefore extremely significant for tracing her contribution to the Indian History. Always draped in a sari, accompanied by her Rolliflex camera, Homai was present at every significant event, archiving historical happenings and capturing renowned personalities like Jacqueline Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, Eisenhower etc. Her penchant, however was for capturing India’s first Prime Minister Jwaharlal Nehru, a man, she considered to be extremely photogenic. Her favourite area of work was chronicling some of the greatest moments of Nehru's career and personal life including his initiation to the position of power, parties at the Delhi Gymkhana Club, the period when the Non-Alignment movement had picked up the heat among the masses and the 1955 Bandung Conference. Homai never lay the backdrop over public engagements turn out to be her definition. She kept distance between the public and private affairs. She went outdoors outdoors and utilised her outgoing nature for the sake of her creation. Her effortless display of her works in a series of black and white an order she's particularly enthusiastic about chose to be her medium of expression.

Some of the most important moments of her career consist of snaps of the Reception hosted by Lord Mountbatten at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 15th 1947, the meeting of Congress leading to the Third Plan, the decision of Partition, the flag hoisting at the Red Fort for the first time, funeral of Mahatma Gandhi, Dalai Lama entering India for the first time through Sikkim in 1956.

However, the earth below the pillars upholding India's structure was still volatile, so was homai's struggle for consistency in the male dominated environment. Her work was often overlooked for her male contemporaries got more credits for the prevalent patriarchal views in the society. In 1930, when Bombay chronicles published her first shot in of picnic party of the members of Women’s Club in Bombay, it was done under the name of her husband.

• The End of an Era:

Maneckshaw Vyarawalla had been a great influence on Homai’s career choices and their bonding lasted for 40 years. It was probably because of the heartfelt connecion the duo shared, Homai left her job behind with Maneckshaw's demise in 1969 and went to lead a life of seclusion and anonymity in Pilani with son Farouq. Her life there, adored simplicity of doing things, she did not have the opportunity to go for earlier. She enjoyed her life accompanied by women, something she didn’t go through earlier, due to her lack of connection with them.

“I was afraid of being with women. I only heard them talk about maid-servants, jewellery and make-up that I could never relate to. My world was so different. It was in Pilani that I understood woman can be good friends too and I shouldn’t be afraid of them.”

Homai Vyarawalla made sure she documented history through her lens. She had been giving several recognitions and awards including the second high civilian honour in India, the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. She passed away on 15 Jan, 2012. Her prized possessions are now in the Alkazi Fouundation for Arts and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.