These buttons used to belong to my maternal grandfather, my nana, Sri Ram Puri, who must have likely bought them in the 1920s or 1930s. When he died, my mother received two sets of these buttons from my nani, his wife. One was given to Dolly, my sister and I got these ones.
I never knew my nana, my maternal grandfather. Everything I know about him is through conversations with my mother. His name was Sri Ram Puri and he worked as an engineer with the royal families in Punjab and Rajasthan. This gramophone belonged to him.
At first, when I found it in a drawer in the house, I thought it was an old receipt. But as I unfolded it, I was stunned by the beauty of the paper. This was no old receipt, and when I held it out to my mother, she recognized it straightaway! This is called ‘Sehra’ or a ‘Subhaag Sehra’ to be precise.
Traditional perfumers believe that an attar not stored in the kuppi was ‘essentially ruined’. The leather would absorb any extra moisture, allowing water to evaporate and only attar in its truest scent, to remain.
My paternal grandfather, Dadaji, Bhanu Pratap Singh, purchased this mantle clock from London back in 1959. It is a mantle alarm clock manufactured by Kienzle Uhren, one of Germany’s oldest watchmakers.
Receive a new story from somewhere in the Indian subcontinent in your inbox every week!