Pepita Seth

Pepita Seth (née Ramsay-Fairfax; born 3 August 1942) is a British-born Indian writer and photographer. Her photography features the temple arts and rituals of Kerala and the captive elephant, Guruvayur Keshavan. The Government of India honoured her, in 2012, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.

Biography Pepita Seth was born as Pepita Christian Ramsay-Fairfax on August 3, 1942, as the daughter of Victor Ramsay-Fairfax, a British Navy officer, and Christian Geraldine Mary Irby, in Suffolk, East of England. Pepita's maternal great-grandfather, Leonard Howard Lloyd Irby was a soldier who served in the army in the British India.

She, choosing a career in films, studied film editing and got opportunities to work under film directors like Ted Kotcheff and Stanley Donen. She was married to British film editor Thom Noble in 1976 but got divorced later. She worked as assistant editor with Noble on many films.

Pepita Seth was married to the Indian born British actor Roshan Seth in 1986, but was estranged from her husband in the late 80s. The couple formally divorced in 2004.

Pepita Seth lives in Guruvayur in Kerala.

Career

Seth's life took a turn when she chanced upon the diary of her great-grandfather and decided to trace his trails with the British Army and document the movements and landed in Kolkata, in 1970.

The journey from Kolkata ended in Guruvayur where she became fascinated by the temple arts and rituals of Kerala. For the next nine years, she visited Kerala several times and, in 1979, she found a home and settled in Guruvayur. Though, at first, she was denied entry to the Guruvayur Temple, her persistence made the Guruvayur Devaswom Board to relent and she remains the only foreigner to be granted entry to the Temple.

Seth has written about Kerala, its rituals and its elephants. She is working on a book on Theyyam, a ritualistic dance form of Kerala.

Seth has written a novel The Edge of Another World (2015) Published by The Speaking Tiger in English and to be translated to Malayalam and published by Poorna Publications.

Awards and recognitions In recognition of her services to the fields of art and culture, the Government of India, in 2012, bestowed the civilian award of Padma Shri on her.