I could not contain myself as I ran my hands over the print. Imperial Bank of India – Srinagar, Kashmir. The last set of cheques were dated from October till November 1947. I hold on to the cheque book like a medal of honour. I continue to tell the story of how it came into my possession and the significance of its last cheque entry.
In 1894, my great-grandfather married my great-grandmother, Radhika Sinha, originally from Lahore, and in the early 1900s, they went on a trip to Kashmir. It was here that they bought several ornate items that have built this coveted heirloom collection, including the silver Kangri engraved with the Kashmiri chinar.
The silver mukut, like most of the accessories for my grandparents’ wedding in 1937, was crafted in Lahore. It consists of five panels bearing the images of the Hindu deities Brahma, Durga, Ganesh, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.
A farshi is a long voluminous garment that generously falls to the ground, and when standing or walking has a long train. The word farshi comes from ‘farsh’ or the ground/floor, which the garment trails on. This particular garment was carried from Panipat to Lahore and eventually to Sahiwal a few months after Partition.
As the first few months of WW1 drew to a close, the British King George V’s 17-year old daughter, Princess Mary expressed a wish that ‘every sailor afloat and every soldier at the front’ should receive a Christmas present, including the Indian troops. The demand for these five-inch brass Christmas boxes was so high that many were kept by the soldiers as souvenirs after.
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