Pan & Aerated Water Shop, Calcutta
A postcard that reflects how easily Kolkata mixed past and present at the turn of the century. Paan is an ancient cornucopia of spices and nuts wrapped in a betel leaf. Next to it are cooling soda bottles.
Collotype
Coolie Women
A rather unusual portrait of "coolie" women. While popular postcard subjects, often shown with their baskets, this studio portrait features one woman with her back to the viewer, and another looking straight into her (invisible) eyes.
Post Office, Cherat
Illustrated postcards often celebrated the post offices that made their rapid spread possible.
Calcutta - Shibjee Fair
An unusually lively postcard with what seem to be wooden full circle swings or spinners common at amusement fairs. What exactly the Shibjee Fare [Fair] was is unclear.
Lady Gymkhana, Karachi
According to Hobson-Jobson, the word gymkhana "is quite modern, and was unknown 40 years ago. The first use that we can trace is (on the authority of Major John Trotter) at Rūrkī in 1861, when a gymkhana was instituted there.
Miss Benzir of Allahabad
The Urdu text and number suggests that this postcard was made from what was originally a carte-des-visite. Joachim Bautze in his essay Umrao Jan Ada: Her carte-de-visite describes how this form of identification on images was a common practice among
Tower of Victory, A.D. 1548, Chitorgarh.
[Original caption continues] Marks the Victory Over the Musalmans. [end]
The original Chittorgarh tower, or Vijay Stambh was constructed in the 16th century to commemorate a victory by the Rajput Maharana Kumbha over the Malwa ruler, Mohamed Khilji
Simla, looking towards Jakho
Raaja Bhasin, in his Simla The Summer Capital of British India (2011) has a nice quote about Shimla during the Raj and afterwards: "With this detached atmosphere from the rest of India, it is no wonder that the blame for the disasters of the Afghan
Baramullah, from near the Sacred Tank, Kashmir.
The city of Baramulla is about 55 km from Srinagar, and because it was a key transit point for travelers to Srinagar, one of the most popular postcard locations in Kashmir.
Madras from the Pier
The Madras Port (now called Chennai Port) is more than 125 years old. The construction of this pier was a major step as previously, bringing people and goods to land via boats from large ships was treacherous.
Postmarked 19 Feb [1907] and addressed
