Darjeeling

Although the word "dandy" originally referred to boatmen on the Ganges (Hobson-Jobson, 1906, p. 296) it later also was defined as "A kind of vehicle used in the Himālaya, consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock to a bamboo staff, and…

Although posed in the photographer's studio, it shows how young girls carried suitcases and bedding on behalf of visitors to the hillstation.

Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, owes its name to the combination of two Tibetan words namely 'Kanchen' and 'Dzonga' that refers to 'Five Treasures of the Great Snow'. Five summits adorn Kanchenjunga (Kinchunjunga).

The photographer S. Singh seems to have specialized in real photographs carefully coloured by hand after printing.

Although taken in the firm's studio, with the woman posing upright, one can from this portrait and the wooden beam infer the literally backbreaking work hillstation workers endured.

S. Singh likely printed his own postcards from photographs given the hand-titling, often slightly different on each postcard.

This postcard is likely based on a portrait by Johnston & Hoffmann of 22 Chowringhee [also Chourangi] Road, Kolkata, one of the most storied photographic firms in British India.

Bhutias are a Sikkimese people of Tibetan ancestry, photographed here most likely in Johnston & Hoffman's Darjeeling studio – compare to A Group of 3 Nepaulese which seems to have the same backdrop.

This rare photograph of Nepalis was likely taken in the hillstation of Darjeeling in a studio.

A very early postcard of Darjeeling which nicely represents, visually, the colonial project: a sprawling European building dominating lush grounds while tiny workers pluck away at tea leaves under the watchful gaze of a man in a solar topee.