Collotype

Founded in 1900, this club for European and Indian members still operates in its original premises, a fine example of South Bombay's Indo-Sarcenic architecture.

A unusual two-image postcard, almost the only one from that most prolific of publishers, Moorli Dhur & Sons. It shows two men on their sides, one of whom is smoking an opium pipe.

One wonders where this photograph was taken, possibly in the Murree hills but it could have been elsewhere too.

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.

Kashmiri women are often shown spinning on postcards because this was an important economic activity in the region.

For all the popularity of monkey performers, their depiction on postcards, especially with a crowd watching (example without a crowd) is unusual.

Leopoldo Dagradi (1871-1928) was an Italian operatic tenor who studied at the Regio Conservatorio of Milan, receiving his diploma in 1898.

A sanyasi, also spelled sannyasi, refers to a Hindu ascetic or religious renunciant who has given up worldly possessions and attachments to pursue spiritual goals. The word sanyasi has its roots in Sanskrit.

Postmarked in Bombay Nov. 19, 1910 and addressed to Miss Louella Shoemaker, Freeport, Illinois, USA: "Bombay, India 11/18-1910. Dear Daughter: Greeting. I thought you would like to see how little girls play 'hide and seek' in India.

Victoria Gardens, now known as Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan or Rani Bagh is Mumbai's oldest public garden and was established in 1862 and spans 50 acres in the Byculla area.