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Native Cafe in the Camp

Native Cafe in the Camp

Jankidas, a Karachi photographer and major postcard publisher, worked largely for British troops in the cantonment area, where he had his studio and was known as "Johnny." Nonetheless, he also turns out to have been a photographer of the Independence

Music

Music

[Verso, handwritten] "Oct. 24, 1915. My dear Annie, Do you think you could play this instrument? The music is very weird but I suppose they think it is nice. I don't!

Coolie with his Basket

Coolie with his Basket

A postcard by the great Indian painter M.V. Dhurandhar illustrating an Englishwoman looking over a coolie offering his services with an empty basket. Note the cleverly positioned Indian woman with a basket on her head in the background.

The message

A Jutka, Madras

A Jutka, Madras

Hobson Jobson defines the "jutka" in this finely coloured postcard with condescending tone "s. From Dak. -- Hind. jhaṭkā, 'quick.' The native cab of Madras, and of Mofussil towns in that Presidency; a conveyance only to be characterised by the

Down in the Mouth

Down in the Mouth

A faux pre-written postcard which gives some sense of the life at least as experienced by British soldiers in cantonments, even while holding ale in one hand and a pipe in the other: "Dear _____, I am feeling "down in the mouth." India does not agree

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