"I bought this Mercedes second-hand from a foreigner who was moving away, so I got it really cheap. I used to drive it to work. The policeman at the corner would salute me and stop traffic to let me through. After I sold the car, he never even recognised me!" – Suman Desai, Bombay, 1960s

The importance of oral accounts, the 29-year-old emphasises, is the unique local perspective it brings — for instance, some interviewees from the Khirki Project talk about getting the electric bulb for the first time; information you can only get by talking to people. "Studying political history doesn't give you this perspective. You learn about who came to power and how but not about how people really lived. It doesn't tell you about the ordinary person," Bhatia adds.

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Having grown up in a joint family, the Prabhadevi resident Bhatia has always been attached to stories. But this process of interviews changed her world view. "It taught me to be aware that everyone has a different point of view. I may have disagreed with people but they've given such sound reasoning for their opinions — for issues as light-hearted as love versus arranged marriage or something as serious as religious tension," she shares.

Doongursee Shyamji Joshi with the Governor of Sind, as they inspect the Karachi Panjrapole. Karachi, undated

Bhatia narrates a meeting with a woman, who was married off as a teenager in a Rajasthani village that particularly impacted her. Initially nervous to give an interview, she shared a story that highlighted the social structure. "Her husband worked in the city and she would be living at home with her mother-in-law, aunt-in-law and sister-in-law. They didn't have toilets at home and had to head into the fields. Since everything happened according to the order of age, she could only use the toilet after the rest," Bhatia informs. From CIA's interviews, the archivist also states that a lot of people mentioned that they never considered religious differences. "There was no out-and-out hatred. People who grew up in Bombay especially, we find, tend to tell us about the mix of communities," she adds.

"This picture of my mother and I was taken at my thread ceremony. I was growing up. This ritual signifies the last time a son eats from his mother’s plate." – Col. Deodutta Rajwade, Nagpur, 1930s

The exhibition comprises audio, video and photographs. And although it is not segregated into chronology, there will be sections on each stage of life: early years, marriages, and careers. Looking back, Bhatia that like people belonging to the generation around the time of India's Independence were unafraid to voice their opinion. "We always think that our generation [millennials] have witnessed a drastic change with technology coming in. But their generation literally saw the nation being born; that's a huge change."

Malvika Bhatia

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