The stories behind Shan Pillay’s pictures
DECEMBER 17, 2017, will for ever be etched in the mind of Pietermaritzburg’s press photographer Shan Pillay. On that day, the International Tamil University in America bestowed upon him a doctorate of letters (D Litt) in India, in recognition for his contributions to humanity.
As he sat robed, with the mortarboard on his head, Pillay – who turned 82 on January 19 – no doubt looked back with satisfaction and a sense of achievement, over the long course of his life which had led to this moment.
Pillay grew up in
“The Barracks” in Pietermaritzburg.
“Indians, blacks, coloureds all lived amicably together here. We had two communal toilets and one communal tap. We had to boil water on our stove then carry it in a bucket to the only communal bath,” he recalled.
At the age of 15, he started working at the shoe factory, Sandals Limited. “I was so small they made a platform for me to stand on so I could reach the table,” he said.
As a “clicker” he was given a knife to cut out pieces of leather for the shoes.
“On my very first day I dropped the knife, it went through my shoe and cut one of the veins in my big toe.”
Pillay worked at various other shoe factories. In 1965, he joined Jaguar Shoes, belonging to Fritz Eckstein and his sons, Roy and Edgar.
“After one month, they made me a supervisor in charge of the cutting department and three months later put me in charge of another one, and I ran both,” he said.
Eventually, Fritz Eckstein was forced to take a break, but now there was the problem of who would run the factory. Pillay was put in charge.
“I had to make my own decisions and became the star of the factory,” he recalled. with the Sunday Times Extra also gave me an opportunity to write for them.”
Pillay said he had visited India 31 times over the years. He remembered bringing home stories about a Durban man who had bought saris in India, but not paid for them, as well as a local woman who had done the same.
“I also wrote about Amitabh Bachchan and his affair with Rekha. When I met her, she claimed it was just gossip.”
He recalled a time in
1961 when Nelson Mandela was to address an indaba at Plessislaer, at a time when he was banned.
“In those days we used flash bulbs and when I got my pictures back, they were all blank.”
On another occasion Mandela was to address a function in Manawa Hall in Pietermaritzburg. Pillay accompanied a female reporter from the Daily News as photographer, but because of circumstances they could not get into the packed hall.
They went around the back, he pushed her through a window, then followed to applause.
“We found ourselves on the stage and everyone thought we were part of an act,” he grinned. They were given front-row seats.
In 1999, when Mandela was given the freedom of the city for Pietermaritzburg, the-then city manager remembered how at the 1961 function
Pillay had shot all blank photographs.
“He invited me to share my experiences of this historic night with the president himself. I found him very warm. When we were introduced I told him something was missing… a halo around his head because he was such a forgiving individual, who never bore grudges for all he had endured.”
At that event Pillay’s daughter took a photograph of Mandela shaking the hand of his 6-year-old grandson.