SHUTTER TIME: Jayant and Lila Patel pore over pictures of a Calcutta long gone. Picture by Pabitra Das

In 1939, a young Gujarati man fled Berlin and the War, trying to sail home to Mombasa. Bombs going off in the Kenyan city stopped him from disembarking. The ship could not dock and sailed on to (then) Bombay.

That young man was J.C. Patel, son of C.D. Patel, who had, in 1918, set up the first photography shop in Kenya. When J.C. landed in India for the first time, and made his way to Calcutta, he continued the legacy by creating a piece of history, to which the city now has to bid a bittersweet farewell. Bombay Photo Stores may have downed shutters for the last time on Saturday, but it leaves behind millions of memories — captured over 64 long years — in its wake.

But time was up for the Park Street establishment, set up in 1940. Its owners, Jayant C. Patel (younger brother of its founder Jashbhai) and wife Lila, took the painful decision to shut shop. The 76-year-old Jayant is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and for 68-year-old Lila, who has been running the show for the past few years, the task has become too taxing. Without a second generation to take over — the Patels’ two children live in the United States — there were few options besides closure.

After the shop opened, the Patel family shifted to India. When schools shut down in 1942 due to the Quit India movement, young Jayant, 15 at the time, started work there. When, in 1948, J.C. senior went away to England, Jayant found himself in charge.

World War II and the Quit India movement have shaped the history of one of the oldest photography shops in town. “We received all the film from the army in those days,” recalls Jayant, who recently underwent an operation in Mumbai.

With import restrictions, the business had to find innovative ways of functioning. “My father would tour the country in search of film,” reminisces Jayant. The film would be sold only after loading it into cameras, to prevent it from finding its way into the black market.

The business — which expanded to another store under the Grand Hotel arcade and a third at Gariahat, with a large lab on Free School Street — also included outside photography assignments, besides developing and sale of photographic equipment. But this was eventually stopped. “Now, photographers have mushroomed all over the place,” says Lila, who has handled the closure, “running from labour lawyer to landlord”, all alone.

To keep busy, Jayant will be helping a protégé out at Studio Camera Craft, in Park Centre. The US and UK consular offices would advise candidates to have their visa photos taken at Bombay Photo Stores. Now, the family hopes that business, as well as all the regulars, will shift to the 24 Park Street address.

A talented photographer, Jayant’s personal collection includes stunning snapshots of a Calcutta long lost. His plans include putting together an exhibition and, possibly, even a book. The closure of the store has left a void in the lives of the Patels. And of Calcuttans. “So many people have called to tell us how upset they are. That the end of Bombay Photo Stores is the end of an institution,” sighs the couple.

But this sigh is also one of exhaustion. The glimmer in their eyes is the hope of a vacation well earned.