From Louise Morgan’s Flickr Collection [check out the complete collection] having photos of India taken by one Major E Brookman in 1943/4. Louise bought the collection in 1980s from an antique shop in Seven Dials, Brighton, UK for around a dollar. She now plans to visit some of these places.
‘The Greengrocer’
Third Bridge – Fateh Kadal, Srinagar July 1944
Gulmarg 1944
Gulmarg, Summer 2008
Shalamar
(I am really intrigued to see that the garden used to be referred as Shalamar, a name that Kashmiris still use even though now Shalimar is in more currency)
Department of tourism ad for Gulmarg Ad. 1970. from The Indian Express
Interesting figure from the ad:
“one out of every twenty persons in Kashmir earns a living directly through tourism, which indirectly supports almost 25% of the population.”
The Shiva temple at Gulmarg, also known as “Rani Temple” or “Maharani Temple”, built in 1915 by Mohini Bai Sisodhia, the third wife of Maharaja Hari Singh. Famous for having a Muslim priest.
‘I haven’t seen such forests. The air of creation moves inside them. Something religious and primordial comes to memory and blurs it melodiously.’
Petros Vlastos (1879-1941), India born Greek writer who spent most of his time in India and England, wrote this about the forests of Kashmir in his book Critical Journeys (1912). West came to Kashmir for all kind of reasons, this one was apparently seeking to understand through nature the history of race.*
-0-
*Greek diaspora and migration since 1700: society, politics and culture by Dimítris Tzióvas, Dēmētrēs Tziovas
