Search
+
    The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Finance secretary Ashok Lavasa’s hobby transports him from bureaucracy into a world of colour

    Synopsis

    During his Delhi University days when he was studying English literature, Lavasa used to carry a camera brought by his father from Czechoslovakia.

    ET Bureau
    At first glance, Union finance secretary Ashok Lavasa’s office room in North Block looks the same as that of any other senior bureaucrat in the government — spacious with a sofa, cupboards and a table with a heap of files. But as your gaze shifts to the walls, you are likely to notice something unusual — a line of well-framed photographs, from Jaisalmer’s landscape and a military exercise in the Arabian Sea to a herd of deer with unusual stripes shot in the South African forests.
    Image article boday

    Havelock Island

    "Photography is much like poetry or painting. The end product must strike a chord with the audience," says Lavasa, the top bureaucrat in the ministry of finance, about his passion that keeps him busy once he is out of North Block.

    Image article boday

    Binsar forest, Uttarakhand

    "It’s a lamp post with one of the lamps missing," says Lavasa, as he shows this writer a photo shot a decade ago that he keeps in his office. "My son captioned this photo the 'Dependable Sun'. Isn't there a message here for renewable energy?" he quips, as he points out how the missing lamp is substituted by the evening sun in the photo.

    The shutterbug
    Lavasa began his career 36 years ago when he was selected as an Indian Administrative Service officer in 1980. But his passion for photography is older than that. During his Delhi University days when he was studying English literature, he used to carry a camera brought by his father from Czechoslovakia.

    Image article boday

    Ranthambore

    "When I went to the Mussoorie academy (the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration) after getting into IAS, I took that camera with me. I still have many photos from my Mussoorie days in my album. All are black and white and shot with that Czechoslovakian camera," he says, as he recalls his days at Delhi University and the Mussoorie institute where IAS officers are trained during their probation.

    Image article boday

    Sunderbans

    Some of his batch mates in IAS like NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, secretary in the department of economic affairs Shaktikanta Das and petroleum secretary KD Tripathi, all of whom noticed Lavasa's zeal for photography in Mussoorie, do call him a photographer. Just recently, Kant tweeted one of Lavasa's photos with this caption: "Finance secretary of India as a photographer. Ashok Lavasa's shot of 1 of d Panchachuli peaks from Munshyari, Uttknd"(sic).

    Image article boday


    Lavasa's photo exhibitions in Delhi, the last one in 2014, were always well attended by his friends in bureaucracy and photo lovers in general. Former member secretary of Planning Commission Sudha Pillai calls Lavasa "a renowned landscape photographer", further appreciating not just his photos, but the way he shoots them. "The beauty is Lavasa ventures out with his wife for trekking and takes the photos," she says. Lavasa's wife Novel left her job in the State Bank of India to pursue her hobbies of trekking and photography.

    Image article boday

    Goreme National Park, Turkey

    You would be tempted to wonder, however, how passionate should a civil servant be in a pursuing hobby, particularly when more and more officers have turned accomplished writers, painters and photographers? Take the example of Upamanyu Chatterjee, Lavasa's junior in IAS, and secretary of petroleum and natural gas regulatory board. One of the high points of his career is still English, August, a novel he wrote in 1988 that was later adapted into a film.

    Image article boday

    Puffy clouds from an aircraft

    Among the diplomats, ministry of external affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup is best known for his novel Q&A, which became famous after it was adapted in Slumdog Millionaire, winner of multiple Academy Awards.

    "Your profession as a civil servant comes first. You can't compromise on that. But then you can decide how to spend your leisure time — whether by watching a TV serial or pursuing your hobby of writing, painting or photography," says Pillai, who is also an accomplished painter apart from being a successful bureaucrat. She was labour secretary and then member secretary of the Planning Commission, one of the rare posts the Central government used to have where a bureaucrat gets elevated to the rank of a minister of state. "I usually started on a new painting on a Friday night. If I could not finish it by the next day, I kept the rest for the next weekend," says Pillai, now retired.


    Image article boday

    Sudha Pillai

    Lavasa is candid when he says he is not technically sound like a professional photographer. Nor does he foresee a postretirement career behind the lens and filters. "Photography to me is how you frame a moment. Everyone sees an object at the same time, but a photographer's mind looks for a composition. And if that frame appeals to people, that's good photography," says Lavasa who now uses two cameras, Canon 7D and Canon EOS Kiss, but does not shy away from using his iPhone 5 camera if he spots a good composition even during his morning walk in New Moti Bagh area of Delhi where he resides.

    Pursuing colours
    Lavasa is at ease discussing photo technicalities with ET Magazine's photographer Amarendra Jha who accompanied this writer. But the bureaucrat reiterates his point. "Yes, if your camera is extraordinary and you know how to use its features for various situations, you have an added advantage. But I don't go into such technicalities," he says.

    Image article boday


    Lavasa reveals one more aspect of his photography when he says that he pursues colours rather than rediscovering black and white. "I know a lot of people have nostalgia about black and white. But life is not black and white. It's full of colour. I pursue only colours." Black and white perhaps is more apt for fiscal realities.
    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
    ...more
    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in