Pepita Seth is the
British-born photographer and Theyyam researcher Pepita Seth is the only
foreigner who is allowed entry into the centuries-old Guruvayur temple in
Kerala. And this is entirely due to her complete devotion and what she
describes as a "totally personal and internal process. She acknowledges
this 'blessing' in the form of a book - "Heaven on Earth: The Universe of
Kerala's Guruvayur
Temple"
- which is the culmination of seven years of research and documentation.
Pepita Seth belongs to the
clan of that Indian fighter as his great-grandfather was the one who marched
the soldier walk in 1857 from Calcutta to Lucknow. And she retraced her roots
from a diary of her great Grandfather from the attic. That was the beginning of
a hard core relationship between a state and an angel, who fell in love with
the culture of Kerala who was born and brought up
in England. In honour of her contributions to the state of Kerala, she was
awarded with "Padma Shri".
She never had a proper educational backdrop, as she plants it "In my family
education was only for boys not for girls". A prey of gender inequality
she to a large extent is self-taught as she devoured books at young age and
penetrated her self into the world of books, of knowledge and into self earned
treats of enlightenment. Although born in London, she was brought up on a farm
in a very rural part of England. Her parents hardly had time for looking after
her attainment of formal schooling and, in a way, no interest in this femme
fatale being educated. As soon as she could read, she began devouring books as
a way of unconsciously educating herself. To
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