From Stamps to Shutters: The Journey of Guruswamy Perumal

 

From Stamps to Shutters: The Journey of Guruswamy Perumal

--V.R.Ajith kumar

  Eighty-seven-year-old Guruswamy Perumal and his eighty-one-year-old wife, Kokila, came for a short visit to their hometown of Tenkasi from Melbourne, Australia, after two years. After spending two months there, they stopped at our residence in Koyambedu, Chennai, on the morning of August 5, 2025, on their way back to Melbourne. While conversing with Guruswamy, I felt compelled to write his remarkable life story.

Guruswamy was born in February 1938, the eldest of five children of A. Perumal Naidu and Muthammal. His father worked in the postal department during British rule and, after serving in many places, finally settled in Tenkasi. There, Guruswamy completed his schooling up to the tenth grade.

It was his father who first introduced him to hobbies such as stamp and coin collection, encouraging him to correspond with pen friends abroad. This widened his horizon and later proved to be a gateway to another passion—photography.

A turning point came in 1956 when his classmate Gomathi Nayakam, son of a local judge, brought a Kodak Brownie camera to school. Guruswamy was fascinated. Watching his friend click photos, touching the camera, and looking through its viewfinder opened an entirely new world for him. Gomathi, impressed by Guruswamy’s eye for detail, often said, “Photography will be your calling.”

Other friends also entrusted him with their cameras—Jawahar Ali’s West German-made Isol 3 and Kalyana Sundaram’s Aries Flux—further widening his world of photography. His Italian pen friend, Vittoria Corradini, introduced him to the Ferrania camera and explained its use, which greatly deepened his technical knowledge.

In 1957, Guruswamy joined the postal service, starting as a stamp vendor and later becoming a postal assistant. At that time, he still could not afford a camera of his own. In 1962, he married Kokila of Tenkasi. His passion for photography truly blossomed after he joined the Army Postal Service on deputation in 1971, having cleared an exam in Tiruchirapalli. During training in Nagpur, he bought his first camera—a second-hand Russian-made Lubitel-2. Soon after, his posting took him to Akhnoor, on the Jammu border along the Chenab River, where his photographic journey truly began. Impressed by his talent, the postal director in Delhi not only appointed him as the official photographer of the Army Postal Service but also granted him permission to take civilian photographs.

From then on, Nikon cameras became his lifelong companions. Starting in 1972, he owned and used models ranging from the Nikon FM and F3 to the D700, D610, D750, and most recently the mirrorless Nikon Z7 II.

By 1974, Kokila and their daughters, Jayanti and Meera, joined him in Delhi. While Kokila shouldered the family responsibilities, Guruswamy focused entirely on photography. His postings later took him to Shillong, Shimla, Nagpur, and finally back to Delhi. After completing his deputation in 1990, he rejoined the civil postal department and settled in Noida.

In Noida, he thrived as an associate photographer with APJ School. He also worked with the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation of India and served as the official photographer for Tamil Nadu Bhavan and Kerala House in Delhi.

His passion for philately and numismatics was equally fruitful. His stamp collection grew to around 40,000 pieces, including rare mint issues of Queen Elizabeth II. Notably, ten card proofs of an 1857 George Washington stamp fetched him ₹1 lakh at a Robinson Law Auction in England in 1986—enough to purchase a house in Noida. His coin collection included rare pieces from Rajaraja Chola’s era and cardboard coins from Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Germany, many of which he later sold in Melbourne.

Unlike most who migrate abroad in youth, the Perumal couple’s journey to Australia began late. In 2006, at the age of 68, Guruswamy went to Melbourne to care for his ailing daughter Meera. After securing permanent residency in 2008, he and Kokila faced initial struggles in finding work. Refusing to depend on their children, Guruswamy turned to photography once again.

He began covering Indian community events in Melbourne, which soon led to private assignments. His work reached the Consulate General of India in Melbourne in 2009, marking a turning point. From then on, he became a sought-after photographer for community events, cultural programs, and magazines such as Indian Art and The Indian Sun. When Saravana Bhavan opened its Melbourne branch, it was Kokila who lit the inaugural stove. Their prominence in the Indian community grew, and in 2012 Guruswamy was honored among fifty Indians in Melbourne who had excelled in their fields.

Today, the couple holds Overseas Citizen of India  status, with lifetime visas and rights to own property in India. Yet, they prefer to remain in Australia, where senior citizens receive excellent healthcare, pensions, and concessions, along with dignity and respect. In contrast, visits to India often feel overwhelming, weighed down by systemic inefficiencies and the indifference toward elders.

Now, even as his fingers tremble with age, Guruswamy still lifts his Nikon Z7 II with joy, clicking portraits with the same youthful passion. When they left our home for the airport, they looked less like an elderly couple and more like two spirited companions ready for another journey together.

May their lives, enriched by photography, stamps, and coins, continue beyond a century—a testimony to passion, resilience, and love.

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