No image or text may be used or published elsewhere without prior permission. Any unauthorised use may lead to prompt legal action. Permission requests can be sent to hello@indianmemoryproject.com
• Image rights belong to the guardian(s) of the photograph.
• Text rights belong to Indian Memory Project unless stated otherwise.
• The project does not share any information about contributors without their explicit permission.
We hope you enjoy this archive as much as we enjoy building it.
A culture’s memory survives because a few understood that their stories were worth keeping.
Our Circle of Patrons are the people who carry that understanding forward — whose support allows us to seek out, document, and preserve personal histories that would otherwise disappear. Their generosity has helped build an archive that now reaches schools, institutions, researchers, and families across the Subcontinent and the world.
This is quiet, lasting work. And it has been made possible with people like them. If you’d like to become a patron of the project please write to us at hello@indianmemoryproject.com
No image or text may be used or published elsewhere without prior permission. Any unauthorised use may lead to prompt legal action. Permission requests can be sent here.
• Image rights belong to the guardian(s) of the photograph.
• Text rights belong to Indian Memory Project unless stated otherwise.
• The project does not share any information about contributors without their explicit permission.
We hope you enjoy this archive as much as we enjoy building it.
My father, Ai Lot Hailowng, was born in 1951 in Namphake Village in the Dibrugarh district of Assam to a Tai Phake family. Tai Phake is a small tribal community of about 2000 people scattered across Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. The Tai Phake first migrated to Myanmar
Maya’s childhood was spent in luxury. Initially she studied in Ahmednagar, and then moved to Pune to complete her matriculation exam from Ahilya Devi Holkar school and then BA in Marathi from S.P.College. Her friend circle was vibrant with friends and classmates such as the famous actor, Jairam Kulkarni. Life
Romila had a gifted voice and though untrained, she would sing at all gatherings, school functions and weddings with incredible skill. In the 1950s, she was introduced to The Voice of America and All India Radio (AIR) studios by an employee and neighbour Kuku Mathur, and my grandmother began singing
On one such general visit to Imphal (Princely state Manipur’s capital), during the 1930s, he was informed that the queen of Manipur was quite sick, and the King – Maharaja Churachand’s staff were looking for a healer. My grandfather was roped in, only to find himself cornered with a conundrum
Anusha Yadav is a multidisciplinary artist working in medium of photography, paper art, and graphic design. She is the founder of Indian Memory Project, one of the most influential online public memory projects globally. The project has subsequently reshaped how archives are engaged with, generating thousands of academic, editorial, and cultural enquiries worldwide.
Anusha’s practice bridges artistic conversation, and public viewership through investigative research, aesthetical advantage, emotional connection, and care. Rooted in personal curiosities and lived inquiry, her work demonstrates that cultural knowledge can be rigorous, generous and delightful, without relying on obscurity or institutional language as a measure of seriousness.
Anusha lives and works in India, and intermittently in the UK. She can by reached at hello@indianmemoryproject.com. You can see more of her work at anushayadav.com and at foldbyanushayadav.com
