DiscoverBangalore is pleased to introduce the Kamala Vasudevan, a writer and photo journalist to the visitors of our site and to the world as we recognize her good work.

Last year she was crowned “Woman of the Year” by State Bank of India for her contribution towards Indian art, culture and photo journalism. Kamala Vasudevan, though not born or brought up as a Bangalorean, is one of those individuals who have made Bangalore their home. A writer by profession, Kamala has always translated her thoughts and dreams more through her medium of script than the spoken word. Hailing from an Orthodox Brahmin family of Tanjavur, Kamala was born in the lap of the Sub Himalayan ranges in Shimla and brought up entirely in the North. But traditions were strictly kept alive by the family in the matter of mother tongue, satvic food, a disciplined life style and a healthy respect for the ancient traditions of the Vaihnavite cult. Her broadminded parents always encouraged her in her Travel writings on traditions, temples, festivals, monuments, little known rituals or animistic practices and their relevance to the present society. Kamala enjoyed traveling to places of historical importance in our ancient country and recorded the culture and rituals of India for the World to learn. Being married to a civil servant has given her enormous opportunities for travel in India and abroad and absorbed the diversity of other races and countries.

Kamala is very passionate about the arts and crafts of India, which represents a solid recorded history of contemporary social norms and the aspirations of people. Following that interest, Kamala has a modest collection of some of the fine examples of traditional art. Art and artistic values surrounding her are as vital to her as food and water. Music, another integral part of her up bringing adds a dimension to her view of things.

Kamala feels that age is not an impediment for advancement and one can give one’s life a new dimension and a new impetus anytime one desires. In each one of us there is a talent waiting to explore, waiting for a fresh lease of life, waiting to be moulded into shape, which Kamala advises not to let it go unheeded. The State Bank of India, honoured Kamala last year with the title “Woman of the Year”, a great recognition for her contribution to art and society.

Kamals’s forays with serious travel journalism began a few years ago, when she discovered the hitherto unexplored Digital world, the exciting world of Photoshop and its immense possibilities, Corel Draw, Web art, the confusing HTML, the alien sounding Java etc. The Computer, till then an alien, incomprehensible, a box of tangled wires, became a part of Kamala’s everyday world, a guide and friend, having the power to transform her dreams and imaginations into reality. It is a strange fabric linking the rich colours of Indian traditions, the luminous times of ancient Indian Mythology, and culture with the modern Digital world. It enriches the cultural aspects of several dot.coms hopefully! As an unsolicited cultural ambassador, Kamala spent many hours delving into our past, dreaming, recreating, and enlivening history and adding her personal touch, to give our past, an extra spice, an added flair, before presenting it to the readers across the country.

Kamala often goes on a photo shooting trip to capture the kaleidoscopic colour of our heritage and the brilliant scenes, the architectural beauty of the temples, the pomp and show of the temple festival, a homage to the gods and their consorts who are adorned exquisitely for the occasion, the fervent folk dancers, and musicians and the adoring devotees, who can’t have enough of the Lord’s Darshan. Kamala has made many exhausting journeys to the remote corners of Karnataka, bursting at the seams, loaded with cameras, books, notes and already mentally writing the prose, physically tired but mentally alert, ready to transform her holistic experiences into verbal texts, where word meets word, where grammar and syntax meet inspiration and imagination.

Whenever Kamala writes her memoirs she tries to reach out to the unknown travelers, sharing with them what she saw and experienced, making them touch what she lived, letting them reach out to the horizons hitherto unknown and unraveling our rich past for them to experience. She expects her readers to feel the same emotions, which was evoked in her in every travel script of hers. Kamala wants her readers to experience the unending and fascinating journeys of discoveries, and glimpses into the past, explorations, and thirst for more of the same and unabated wonder.

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