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.
This Saree was bought by my mother in 1969, for her graduation day from Kasturba Medical College. This called for a grand saree when marking her exit from college and her entry into the real world. Her father agreed and gave her the money for buying herself the saree she wanted, which as it turns out was Rs.70 ( as remembered by my mother) from one of the premier saree shops in Mangalore in 1969.
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.
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
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.
Receive a new story from somewhere in the Indian subcontinent in your inbox every week!