AND now its photography that interests this Diaghliev of Delhi. On the eve of his first exhibition of a valuable personal collection of 19th century photographs that opened in Delhi on December 4, theatre titan, ace art impressario, one-time painter, occasional filmmaker, Ebrahim Alkazi, 71, is upbeat. Period photographs have been a consuming passion for nine years now. "130 years of history perished with the glass plates that were destroyed in the Bourne and Shepherd fire at Calcutta," he says. "These post-Mutiny Raj pictures are important. The imperial mindset of the photographer is revealing. Look at the way he photographs troops in all their regalia, look how lovingly he documents the naked display of imperial white man supremacy. Indians in the post-colonial era must see this. Realise how a photograph reveals as much about the photographer as it does about the subject photographed." Among these pictures nostalgia surfaces. Appropriate. Sepia memories are best relived among sepia tints.