Aanchal Malhotra, Author at Museum of Material Memory

Dr. Ramesh Chandra De, my maternal great-grandfather, was an army doctor in the First World War. What I gather from family members is that he was first posted in the Khirgi-Waziristan division for traineeship, and then sent to France for the rest of the War in the capacity of a surgeon. Sudhir Chandra De, my maternal grandfather, chose to follow in his father footsteps and at the age of 21 in the year 1940, found himself appointed as the official physician at the notorious Andaman Cellular Jail.

October 6, 2024

A Pot Full of Memories: Chatur Bai’s Sipri

Household

This pot or Sipri, as it is known in Sindhi, belonged to my great-great-grandmother, Chaturbai. She was married somewhere in the 1890s and the metal pot was given to her on the occasion of her wedding.

August 11, 2024

Taarkashi – Drawing matrilineal threads

Heirlooms

Born in Saharanpur in 1901, amma was named Alice David at birth. It is difficult to say if she was an Anglo-Indian, but her mother, Angelica, had travelled from Germany to work for the East India Company.

June 6, 2024

The Avon Lady’s perfume brooch

Jewellery

Last year, my mother gave me a carnelian-coloured brooch from Avon, circa 1970, that belonged to her mother. I’d always known that my grandmother used to be an Avon Lady

May 18, 2024

The East Pakistan Motor Driving Licence

Documents

The Motor Driving Licence was issued in the former East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) in the city of Dhaka, where my mother tells me her father lived for some time.

May 7, 2023

The Ridges of a Thekua Mould

Household

In the year of Madhubala’s Tarana, my great-grandfather bought an ornate wooden item for my great-grandmother from Madhubani. It was a Thekua mould made out of mango wood in the colour tan, lightweight and palm-size, the first gift purchased after their marriage.

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