{"id":1305,"date":"2018-11-06T17:21:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T11:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2018-11-06T17:22:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T11:52:12","slug":"glow-of-the-grime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/glow-of-the-grime\/","title":{"rendered":"Glow of the grime"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY AANCHAL MALHOTRA<\/strong><\/span>
\nNew Delhi, India<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As far as we know, the word kohl comes from the Arabic word\u00a0kahala<\/em>, \u201cto stain\u201d. But is also known by many different words around the world \u2013\u00a0kajal<\/em> and\u00a0surma<\/em>\u00a0in Persia,\u00a0kwalli<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0tozalli<\/em>\u00a0in West Africa, and\u00a0kollurion<\/em>\u00a0in Rome and Ancient Greece. In India, kohl has several other terms as well, depending on the region, state or language. It is called surma<\/em> in Punjabi and Urdu, kanmashi<\/em> in Malayalam, kaadige<\/em> in Kannada, kaatuka<\/em> in Telegu and kan mai<\/em> in Tamil.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a substance, kohl remains a testament of cultural value \u2013 when I was younger, my mother and grandmother would apply it to our eyes to strengthen them, or sometimes even to ward off evil; Ancient Emirati women were buried with at least three things as the essentials for the afterlife- jewellery and pottery containing kohl; It was used as by ancient Egyptians as a form of adornment for the eyes, and also as a protector from the heat and glare of the sun; In Indian texts on the festival of Diwali, ladies are noted to have applied “collyrium” to darken their eyes. Apart from these cultural significances, kohl has always been a predominant part of Indian dance forms and their attires – Bharatnatyam\u00a0and Kathakali dancers have used it to embellish their eyes and make them appear larger.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nWhen my paternal grandmother, Bhag Malhotra, and her sisters came to Delhi from the Frontier Province following the Partition in 1947, Chandni Chowk was \u2018the\u2019 place to buy absolutely anything. At the time they were living in the barracks at Kingsway Camp, where my grandmother\u2019s elder sister was the camp commandant, and when they could afford to, they\u2019d venture into the Chandni Chowk on the weekends. Nearly 86 years old now, she fondly recalls how Surmewalas<\/em>\u00a0would sit in a line outside the\u00a0Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in those early years of Independent India. This surmedani<\/em>\u00a0was one of the first purchases my grandmother made there.<\/span><\/p>\n

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