Chalking the Doorstep, Madras
The Kolam tradition of creating complex geometric patterns, often passed down from mother to daughter, out of rice flour or chalk in front of the home is an ancient tradition in South India and elsewhere.
The Kolam tradition of creating complex geometric patterns, often passed down from mother to daughter, out of rice flour or chalk in front of the home is an ancient tradition in South India and elsewhere.
[Verso, in pencil] "You think your job is bad?" [end]
The process begins with collecting sap from coconut or palm flowers as these men are doing. Fresh sap, known as 'Neera,' is initially sweet, lukewarm, and non-alcoholic and collected in small pots attached beneath sliced unopened palm flowers.
Postmarked January 30, 1909, mailed to E.G. Joeloor [sp?] Esq., Chapel House, Chapel St. , Camborn, Cornwall, England with this message: "How would you like to go around the promenade like these two kids. Eh? Did you get the money alright? I hope so.
Mowbray's Road in Madras (now Chennai) was named after George Mowbray, who arrived in Madras in 1771. Originally a bullock cart track, it was acquired by George Mowbray in the late 18th century and led to Mowbray's garden house, which became the
A very simply but effectively hand-tinted card: blue, yellow and a pink hue that connects the babies anklet and mother's right earrings.
A self-published postcard by Miss Barne of St. Ebbas, Madras [Chennai], apparently an amateur painter.
This particular card was mailed to France from Chennai on Dec. 25, 1900. Note the entire message is readable, but from what is seems to say:
[Unclear first word] "Happy new year, Mr. Francis. Really it is not cold here. Antoine."
[Original French,
A self-published postcard by "Miss L. Barne, St. Ebbas, Madras," from a total series of six. Although throughout the 19th and early 20 centuries, British colonists were avid amateur painters, few seem to have turned their works into postcards despite
Little children were one of the most popular subjects of early postcards from Chennai (Madras). Many of the little children in these postcards wore – or were dressed with – a lot of jewelry, which would have made them compelling subjects.