Shalini Saran
Date of Birth:
20 September 1951
Educational Qualifications :
~ BA Honours (English Literature),Miranda House, University of Delhi.
~ MA (English Literature), University of Allahabad
Work Experience
Asst. Editor, Vikas Publishing House, Delhi.
1976- Freelance writer since 1980, and photographer, as well, since 1984. Areas of work include architecture, crafts, traditional lifestyles and places of historical interest.
BOOKS
The Taj Mahal, Roli Books, New Delhi, 1982. New Edition, 1989.
Project Editor, The Nelles India Guides: Northern India and Southern India, published by Nelles Verlag, Munich, Germany, 1990.
Haridwar, Haridwar Development Authority, 1992.
“Ramrati, a Potter from Delhi”, article contributed to Talented Women, published by UNESCO for the Beijing Conference on Women, 1995.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Apart from photo-features and illustrations for articles, my photographs have been published by the Ministry of Tourism and used in the Festivals of India. Participated in Pratibimba, an exhibition sent to the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, for the Festival of India, and then to India House, London. Awarded second and third prizes in the National Fotofest competition sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism on the occasion. My photographs have also appeared in the following publications:
India, Brijbasi Printers, New Delhi (Festival of India in Russia)
India, Brijbasi Printers, New Delhi (Festival of India in Japan)
Indian Women, Government of India
Muslim Shrines of India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1989
Know India Series (Festival of India in America)
Muslims in India, Ministry of External Affairs, 1990
Insight Guides to Rajasthan; South Asia; Delhi, Agra and Jaipur; and Western Himalaya. APA Hong Kong.
Nelles India Guides, Nelles Verlag, Germany.
Master Craftsmen and Master Weavers.
Haridwar.
India, A Colourful Kaleidoscope, Brijbasi Printers.
Crafts of India, Roli Books.
Children of India.
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Dorling Kindersley, New Delhi, 2000.
Rajasthan, Brijbasi Art Press, New Delhi, 2004.
Bal Panchayat: Celebrating Children’s Participation. CASP/Plan, New Delhi.
Between 1988 and 1999, part of my photo collection remained with Fotomedia, a photo agency. The agency supplied visuals for exhibitions, audio-visuals, advertisements, calendars as well as books, magazines, catalogues etc. It was therefore not possible to keep track of where the photographs were published.
Among the eight Indian women photographers featured in a special issue of Photographers International, celebrating 50 years of India’s Independence. The journal is published from Taiwan.
Consultant to Vision & Images Advertising Agency on Tourism related projects.
Conceptualised and coordinated exhibition with Fotomedia on the Rights of the Child for CASP Plan India, 1997.
Between 1998 and 1999 I have conceptualised, compiled and photographed two leather-bound albums for the Mughal Sheraton Hotel in Agra.
The Mughals focuses on the personalities of the six great Mughal emperors. Photographs, mostly of miniature paintings, are complemented on the facing page by relevant extracts from travelogues, memoirs and contemporary histories.
Mughal Architecture and the Mughal Sheraton is a visual comparison between the architecture of the Mughal Sheraton Hotel and that of Mughal India that highlights the architect’s use of medieval elements in a modern idiom.
A solo exhibition of photographs is slated for November 2004 at Gallerie Alternatives.
FICTION
Started writing short stories in 1992. Mallika Farida published in a collection of new writing by Indian women, In Other Words, Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1992.
Currently working on my first novel.
PUBLISHED WORKS ARTICLES (1981-2003)
Nizamuddin India Magazine
Jaipur India Magazine
Begam Samru India Magazine
Sanganer (paper/printing) Orientations (Hong Kong)
Meenakaari Namaste
Varanasi Namaskaar
Bundi India Magazine
Kabootarbaazi Swagat
Mirabai India Magazine
Jama Masjid Taj Magazine
Old Delhi Regency (Hong Kong)
Qawwali Festival of India & India Magazine
Manucci, a Medieval Traveller Namaste
Rampur India Magazine
Spices Discovery (Hong Kong)
Khurja Pottery Swagat
Gwalior India Magazine
Tobacco Namaste
Melas Namaste
Japiur Today Taj Magazine
Benares Brocade Orientations
Akbar Reader’s Digest
Paan Soma
Marble Craft Namaste
Chandni Chowk Taj Magazine
Baraats Taj Magazine
Ajmer Urs India Magazine
Rabaris of Kutch Swagat
Kutch Diary Namaste
Trekking to Triund Swagat
Miniature Painter Namaste
Trivandrum Swagat
Ajmer/Pushkar/Makrana Rajasthan Insight Guide APA (Hong Kong)
A Tarwad in Kerala Namaste
Friday Mosque Sawasdee (Hong Kong)
Section on India South Asia Insight Guide APA (Hong Kong)
The Hookah Sawasdee (Hong Kong)
Forests in Myth Namaste
Backwaters of Kerala Namaste
Life on the Seafront Namaste
Pushkar Sawasdee (Hong Kong)
Garden Tombs Namaste
Living in Nizamuddin Namaste
Mehrauli Namaste
All is Fun at the Fair Discovery (Hong Kong)
Mango Motifs Namaste
Adding Spice to Life Namaste
Jaipur—City of Gems Namaste
Visiting Forgotten Cities Namaste
Archetypal Images India International Quarterly
Rhythms of the Desert Swagat
Forts of Rajasthan Namaste
Shah Jahan the Jeweller Namaste
The Bodhi Tree Namaste
Cooks Tales Namaste
Colour in Mughal Architecture Namaste
Knotted Yarns Namaste
Mathura Museum Namaste
Agra’s Musical Past Folio (The Hindu)
Elephanta Namaste
The Lotus Namaste
Calcutta Namaste
Some Thoughts on Heritage Namaste
World Heritage Sites Namaste
