Confectioner's Stall - Jaipur
Some of the most interesting postcards are bazaar and storefront scenes, which can be staged or candid, but always seem to contain a wealth of information about life a century or more ago.
People
Ceylon
A later "Greetings from" postcard where the divided back, allowing people to write messages on the back of cards in addition to the address, allowed the publisher to put many more photographs of the place on the front.
Ram and Tulsidas Meeting
This postcard is actually an exquisite work of art, signed by the Nathdwara artist A. Ghasiram. Nathdwara in Rajasthan was a center of "Pichwai" painting for centuries.
Native Cafe in the Camp
Jankidas, a Karachi photographer and major postcard publisher, worked largely for British troops in the cantonment area, where he had his studio and was known as "Johnny." Nonetheless, he also turns out to have been a photographer of the Independence
A View of Peshawar Fur market Showing Fur Bales Loaded on Carts for Export to Foreign Countries
One of those postcards that highlights the complex trade relationships between the Raj and Afghanistan, if not Central Asia.
Greetings from Jamaica, West Indies
A postcard showing Indian workers ("east Indian coolies") brought to work in Jamaica (the "West Indies") to work, part of an enormous migration of Indian labor to British colonies around the world, many of whose descendants are still living in places
Best Christmas Wishes 1908
A 101 years later, a look at a Christmas card from a major Calcutta retailer.
Sudder Bazaar, Karachi
This most interesting thing in this composite street scene is the way it brings the many forces of colonialism into view. In the distant background is Karachi's mammoth St. Patrick's Cathedral.
View of Ootacamund
Most big Madras studios and retailers had branches in Ooti, among them Wiele & Klein, publisher of this very early court-sized view, possibly the earliest of the hillstation.
"Cleveland" Tourists Viewing Kinchinjunga from Tiger Hill, Darjeeling
Hamburg-American Line was one of the largest shipping lines in the world, and brought a majority of German immigrants to the US, as and many tourists from the US to India.
