Photographs Archives - 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.

July 19, 2020

A Secret History of the Mallik family

Photographs

My great-great grandfather, Prasanna Mullick was a Dalit farmer, who had settled on the land his family had cleared a generation ago. To support their upward mobility, the family had adopted the upper-caste surname ‘Mullick’ in the mid-nineteenth century. But as the family lore goes, in 1902, the local zamindar, recognizing the growing value of the land, murdered Prasanna in an attempt to steal it.

March 28, 2019

Not just a photograph

Photographs

This photograph had come to my family to discuss our marriage. The next time I saw him to my heart’s content was when I had become Mrs. K.L Gupta. That day I felt that destiny had come to me in the form of this paper photograph to take me on the most beautiful journey of my life.

February 12, 2018

The 2 x 2s of memories

Photographs

My grandfather brought out an old briefcase filled with old black and white photographs and albums. That evening, while sifting through all the 2×2 inch black and white photographs, the entire family took a trip down memory lane over chai and namkeen.

Subscribe to the Museum