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.
Kailash Marwah Nayyar would have been a new bride in 1947, only two years having passed to her marriage, when the family had to flee to India. Over the next few months, she sold her luxurious wedding trousseau piece by piece to help the family survive. This necklace is the only item that remains from it.
In October 1947, bauji registered himself at the Paharganj desk of the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation in Delhi. This refugee registration certificate issued by the Ministry became their first formal proof of belonging to this new land of independent India.
The most important years of my great-grandfather, Malik Zaman Mehdi Khan’s life were the 1920s, for it was during this time – on 1st January 1920 – that the title of “Khan Sahib” was conferred upon him by the British-Indian Government.
In 1960, Shashi Kapur, a young woman in her early 20s placed an order with a leather worker in Mandalay for a handcrafted leather purse, along with a request to have her name engraved on the inner flap, complete with the title yet to be earned: Dr. Shashi Kapur.
Rajkumari Devi had embroidered this map for a school competition in the year 1948 when she was only 8 years old. Her school in Amhara, Bihar was visited by some British officials, who awarded her 10 annas for the extraordinary embroidery she had done, despite her young age.
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