The Speakers

Mr B P Premakumar
Mr B P Premakumar originally hails from Malnad area. After graduating from Bhandarkars College,  Kundapura he had been living in Bangalore. Since the mid 1970s as a hobby photographer he was active in Youth Photographic Society and being its Director – Publicity had contributed many  articles to local news papers about the Salon and other activities of the Y P S.  Also as a labour union activist for nearly 17 years had served his colleagues.

Mr B P Premakumar’s special interest in Hoysala Temples made him visit various remotest villages of Karnataka and document many known and not so well known temples of this School of Architecture. His series of articles, both in Kannada and English, have been published in various newspapers and magazines. 

     Presently Mr B P Premakumar is writing about the history of the Freedom Struggle of India. His various books published in Kannada are:

1. “Bharatada Swatantra Sangrama 1857” (ಭಾರತದ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ ಸಂಗ್ರಾಮ 1857) (Originally By V. D.Savarkar) Kannada translation, 2007 (Sapna Book House, Bengaluru)
2. “Pranayada Kare” – (ಪ್ರಣಯದ ಕರೆ)  About the tragic love and marriage of King Edward VIII, Mohammadali Jinna, and Buta Singh (2010, I B H Prakashana, Bengaluru)
3. Jallianwalabagh – Mussanje Maranahoma” (ಜಲಿಯನ್ ವಾಲ ಬಾಗ್- ಮುಸ್ಸಂಜೆಯ ಮಾರಣಹೋಮ) (2011, Sapna Book House,  Bengaluru)
4. “Nauka Bandeya – 1946, Sagaradalli Agnishikhe” (ನೌಕಾ ಬಂಡಾಯ 1946 ಸಾಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಗ್ನಿಶಿಖೆ) (2012, Rashtrotthana Sahitya, Bengaluru)
5. “Komagata Maru – Naukaghata”  (ಕೋಮಗಾತ ಮರು-ನೌಕಾಘಾತ) (2014, Rashtrotthana Sahitya, Bengaluru)
6. “Sannyasi Andolana” (ಸಂನ್ಯಾಸಿ ಆಂದೋಲನ) (2017,Rashtrotthana Sahitya, Bengaluru)
7. “Panduranga Sadashiva Khankhoje – Jivana mattu Sadhane” (ಪಾಂಡುರಂಗ ಸದಾಶಿವ ಖಾಂಖೋಜೆ – ಜೀವನ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಧನೆ)(2019, Rashtrotthana Sahitya, Bengaluru)

Mr Ronald D’Sa
Back in the 1950s, when Ronald D’Sa was a teenager in Mangalore, His father bought a Brownie E 620 format box camera for a princely sum of Rs.29/-. That’s when the photography bug bit him, and its effects have not yet worn off! Thanks to a Middle East based uncle, he was soon able to upgrade to an Agfa Isolette III 120 format below camera.

Being in a high school where the headmaster was a Rolleicord owning photography enthusiast, who appointed a full time photographer and set up a dark room as well, the photography club members were encouraged to watch and assist in dark room work. His next significant step forward was when he started working as a junior lawyer in Bangalore and could afford to become a member of the British Council and the U.S.libraries with access to the U.K. and U.S. photo magazines there. Then quite by chance came his encounter with the Y.P.S., which opened his eyes to the wonders of the world of photography and as is commonly said, the rest is history!

The learning process, be it from interaction with stalwarts and experienced members, field trips, studio sessions, activities and programmes, improved his skills . But more, the fun, pleasure and good times he had in all the years of his active involvement with the Y.P.S. Whether as a member, director, editor of the newsletter or President, and through Dr. G. Thomas, as the go to legal adviser to the F.I.P., as also joining in the activities of other photo enthusiasts’ groups, are all truly memorable. He now, after decades, being able to reconnect with the vastly improved, successful and vibrant Y.P.S., is indeed a matter of even greater pleasure and satisfaction to him he says.

On the personal front, Mr.Ronald D’Sa is a reasonably successful and still active full time civil lawyer,  doing both trial and High Court work. In the 1980s for around 10 years he was a part time law lecturer at the Bhavan’s College of Business Administration and from the late 1990s for another 10 years as a faculty member at the Karnataka Judicial Academy.

He also has been active in the field of co-operative societies, as the president for over 10 years.

He has been an active long time member of the Bangalore Little Theatre, a group which was very regularly putting up quality productions in the 1960 to 1980 years.

Mr T Chelvaraj
Mr. Chelvaraj was born in 1943 at Bangalore. After his engineering from BMS Eng college he joined NGEF as Jr. Eng., Planning Divn.

He was interested in Sports, Athletics and Games (Basketball) during my School, College and NGEF days representing them in tournaments he was interested in Fine Arts, Drawing and Painting.

After 1970, He entered into ‘Photography’ with a Kodak Box Camera 120 film size. Photography was a costly hobby since Film Developing and printing b/w pictures were outsourced. Thanks to his father who gave him a ‘Yashica twin lens reflex camera’ with an attachment for 35mm film. This gave a boost to his hobby and he became addicted to seeing a lot of Movies from a camera angle. (B.V.Karanth, Girish Karnad, Puttanna Kanagal, Sathyajit Ray, Rishikesh Mukarji, etc) Slowly he was attracted towards Film Societies (Suchitra), Film Appreciation Meets, International Film Festivals,

He started his own Film Society named ‘MANORANJAN’ with a fixed number of members gathered from NGEF, interested in Art films, German, French Movies, Stage Plays. Used to book bulk tickets from Cinema Managements and Film Festival Organizers.

During this time, he learnt about Govt. of Karnataka’s initiation to introduce good hobbies to youth by providing needed space and guidance in Youth Philatelic, Youth Photography, Youth Adventures and Trekking etc. He decided to be involved in Youth Photographic with some of his friends S.S.Holla, M.Vishwanath, H.BHASKAR, NAGARAJ, Gopalachar, V.Rao,.

They met Mr.Joginder Singh, the Spl Officer from Govt. who sanctioned initial funds to start a Youth Photographic Society and some space in the State Youth Center at Kanteerava Stadium. With some more donations, they could build a ‘Dark Room’, buy an Enlarger, Printer, Material for developing, etc and also engage a tutor to teach Basics of Photography to beginners in the premises. The gifted leaders like RAJAGOPAL, Hanumantha Rao encouraged them by contributing their Awarded Pictures for our Exhibition, Lectures at frequent intervals, Annual Get together. Among us, very few had good cameras and knowledge. Govt. didn’t help with further funds. They used their personal money for meetings and exhibitions.
He was instrumental in designing the logo of YPS Initially.
He feels it is a Great Day for they have achieved something and never expected that YPS could celebrate a Golden Jubilee

He is happy to learn about the present status of YPS which he feels is in Safe hands. He wishes to meet all the members soon after the COVID19 lockdowns.