India's First Woman Photo-Journalist Dies

India's first woman photo-journalist Homai Vyarawala died in Vadodara on January15, 2012. She was 98years when she died. Her husband Maneekshaw Vyarawala had died in 1970.

Born on December 9, 1913 in a Parsi family Vyarawala grew up in Mumbai and moved to Delhi in 1942 where she photographed events leading to Independence, an employee of the British Information Service.
She took photographs of the key events that would have a decisive impact on Indian history, including a meeting where leaders voted for the June 3 plan for India's partition. She also photographed the first flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort on August 15,1947, the departure of Lord Mountbatten from India and the funerals of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

She was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2011. Vyarawala also covered the visits of Queen Elizabeth and former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower. She was in the profession  for nearly four decades before retiring in the early 1970's.