And interesting addition to the archive this year:
A postcard sent by one S. K. Tikkoo of Zaina Kadal to one Captain R. C. Graham of England in 1940. It wasn’t easy to read the handwriting but from the understandable bits it seems the two had met in Tangmarg. Sometime after that Captain who was placed in Peshawar moved to England due to World War 2. The two lost touch. But Tikkoo managed to find his England address. Along with new year greetings, Tikkoo wishes a sooner end to Nazism in Europe. That’s about it. After much searching I was able to find that one Sarvanand Tikkoo was postmaster of Gulmarg.
Panditani by Fred Bremner. Circa 1900. I first came across this iconic image in 2008, it turned out to one of the rarest postcards in Kashmir series. It took a lot of waiting and searching and now I finally have it.
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The photograph of the same woman that was captioned as that on a boatwoman by National Geographic Magazine in 1921.
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The same woman that went on to be on cover of cover of ‘Made in Austria’ safety matchbox.
Postcard and Stamp
for the 1980 “Brides from India series: Bride from Jammu and Kashmir”
Based on work by “Doll Designing Centre and Workshop, Nehru House, New Delhi”
“The river Jhelum was frozen over in the winters of 1658, 1764, 1759, 1780, 1816, 1835, 9th December, 1879 and 1st February, 1895. The winter of 1759 A.D. got so much prolonged that the Jhelum was frozen over on as late as 31st March…” ~ ‘Geography of The Jammu and Kashmir State’ (1925) by Pandit Anand Koul.
A lovely little girl, she became a thief quite soon:
Honored by the townsfolk during the changes of the moon,
She was invited to their homes where the little dear
Made all their sacred vessels completely disappear.
When she was only seven, her voice already bold,
Her mother started teaching her how she could be sold;
Out of greed mom tutored her to play the harlot’s game,
And at the market gate, Deathtrap soon became her name.
She wore a pair of falsies and shells upon a string;
Hugs and kisses pleased her lovers – she’d do most anything.
One day a merchant’s son, Master Fullofit Esquire,
Shopping for some saffron, just happened to pass by her;
He was young and handsome – he wore fourteen carat gold.
Later in a gambling joint, where drinks were also sold,
She winked her eye, raised her brow, did all that she could do
To rouse his eagerness for a nighttime rendezvous.
While clinging to his neck that night as he lay fast asleep,
(since he had had a lot t drink his snooze was very deep),
She stole his golden earrings – he still did not awaken –
And the rings from off his fingers quietly were taken.
“Help! Help!” the girl then shouted, “Oh! Oh! I have been robbed!”
As if to stop a thief, “Help! Help!” she loudly sobbed.
Robbed and awakened, to avoid a family disgrace,
The salesman ran away, using his clothes to hide his face.
All decked out in dazzling duds, looking young and pretty,
She changed her name and moved along to another city.
~ ‘Samayamatrika’ of Kshemendra written during the reign of King Ananta, around A.D. 1050. Starting with a hymn in praise of Goddess Kali, it narrates the comic exploits of a harlot named Kankali (Skeleton) as her narration travels around Kashmir, from childhood to old age, from one heroine to another, from one adventure to another. The (improvised) translation given above is from Lee Siegel in his book ‘Laughing Matters: Comic Tradition in India’ (1987 ). These particular lines are about a girl named Arghagharghatika (Gurgling Little Pot).
From my personal collection: A postcard from Germany. Probably 1920s. The image was from the studio of H.A. Mirza & Sons, based in Chandni Chowk, Shahjahanabad (Delhi).
