The Ayah

This postcard shows a nanny with a pram on the “Queen’s necklace” of Malabar beach in Bombay. The artist Dhurandhar and other fellow J.J. School of Art students spent much time here sketching the many urban types who were drawn to this new social space. It also shows Dhurandhar's careful eye for detail. Towards the right in the background a Parsee couple is seated (one can tell from his hat); they may well have been her employers. In the background are what appears to be a fishing or leisure boat, the covered babies head rises from the pram, the ayah looks like she may well be from Madras as many ayahs were in those days, and to the left, a hawker is busy.