Here is part 5 of life story of criminal lawyer Ramesh Gupta. His interest in photogtapy and how it helped him to stay afloat amidst jobs…


During my school, we had a photography club, and Mr Mishra, who was our art teacher, was in charge of the club.

We had a volley code camera. When I was in college, there was a picnic organized and I asked Mr Mishra to give me the camera. I purchased the reel for the camera from Chandni Chowk for just 3 rupees. During the picnic, I clicked photos and because I had the camera, everyone started asking for copies of their photo. I sold the photos for 5 rupees and in the entire process, an unknown admiration and enthusiasm developed for clicking photos. I wanted to have my own camera, so my brother and I went to the American Embassy. There was an auction of Rolleiflex cameras.

I had 1100 rupees saved from my earnings. Many professionals used to come there and the cameras were auctioned at around 1400-1500 rupees. We had only 1100, so we were not able to bid beyond 1000.

An auctioneer from Connaught Place was called for the bidding. There were only two cameras left. I called the bid for 1000 and someone else called it for 1015. The auctioneer then looked at me and hinted to me to go on. I called my final bid for 1050 and the auctioneer didn’t wait and closed the deal at 1050. The auctioneer didn’t let anyone else reach till 1100 for the bidding and I finally got the camera. I started clicking photos at weddings and exhibitions on commission and this is how I earned money from photography.

When I started with my story, I wrote about how I failed my 12th standard in two subjects. It also has an interesting narrative behind it. The period between 1957 and 1965 was very challenging for me, psychologically. I was a bright student, however, due to the stressful environment in my house, I wasn’t able to concentrate on my studies.

To be continued…..