A Pot Full of Memories: Chatur Bai’s Sipri
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.
The Kadhai: A crucible for food and family
This Kadhai dates back to sometime around 1951, when it was gifted to my grandmother at her wedding. There weren’t many gifts to begin with, but this kadhai – bought from Lucknow’s old Chowk market by my great-grandmother’s youngest sister – stood out from among the sarees and shirt fabric pieces.
Shyamal Majumdar’s light measuring Ikophot
An ikophot is a handheld meter made in the 1950’s by Zeiss Ikon in Stuttgart, Germany. My grandfather Shyamal Kumar Majumdar probably procured this in the 1960s from Fancy Market, Kidderpore, Kolkata. It has a bubble glass at the front that takes in the light, which then drives the meter needle. It is covered by a little black lid which can be removed while using the device.
The Ridges of a Thekua Mould
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.
The Foreman Sahib’s Whisky Glasses
My grandmother recalled how my grandfather had actually bought these glasses in the mid 1970s from a shop in Pragati Maidan, Delhi. At the time, there were two sets of six glasses each – of one set, now four remain and of the second set, there is only one left. Classically meant for brandy, my grandfather and great-grandfather used to drink whisky in them.