The Man Behind the Camera- Jammu's first Pulitzer Prize Winner Channi Anand

You don’t expect a Pulitzer Prize winner to walk you to the door and wait till you have left the sight on a day which is supposed to be HIS ‘big day’. But that is exactly what Channi Anand does and that is exactly what Jammu’s hospitality is all about. He welcomes all the love and appreciation that comes his way while ignoring the feeble attempts to overshadow this victory through means of regionalist hegemony.

“It’s a matter of prestige for all of Jammu and Kashmir. This award is for all the journalists working here,” he says as his family makes all attempts possible to make him look camera-worthy. Usually the one behind the camera, he was shy to speak up about his journey. He is used to letting his photographs do the talking and while receiving the most prestigious awards for journalism was a dream-come-true, he had little to say about how all the events unfolded.

 “The award ceremony began at 12 at night and I was awake till 3 am. As soon as my name was announced, I couldn’t stop the tears from coming into my eyes,” he said.

Channi Anand, along with two other photojournalists from Jammu and Kashmir Dar Yasin and Mukhtar Khan received the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Kashmir after Article 370 was diluted and there was a complete lockdown in Kashmir valley.

Channi Anand began his career as a photojournalist while working for State Times, later shifting to Amar Ujala and then he started working as a stringer for AP. He was made a staff photographer with AP only four years ago.

“The format, the demands in the international market is entirely different from what is wanted here. They analyse everything.”

Like many other photojournalists, he also faced the scorn of family and relatives who didn’t understand the work he was doing especially before the Digital era. “Nowadays, you can just search the exact edition of the magazine and show right away what picture has been published with what story but back then, I had to distance myself just to be able to avoid the umbrage of questions.”

Channi described how hard it was finding stories in a barren land but his passion for photography and nose for news made the entire journey worth it. Congratulations to Channi Anand, Dar Yasin and Mukhtar Khan for receiving the Pulitzer and inspiring an entire generation of photojournalists working in Jammu and Kashmir.