Snippets from the cosmopolitan world of the Second City of the British Empire.
The 1860s and 70s were a difficult time for the old and noble families of Delhi. The changes ushered in after the rising of 1857 had precipitated the decline of the city that had begun with the invasion of Nadir Shah over a century ago. The grandeur of the old Mughal capital was gone and … [Read more…]
Born as Angelina Yeoward in 1873 in Azamgarh, Gauhar Jaan, was one of the greatest stars of the British Raj. One of the best exponents of classical Hindustani music, Gauhar Jaan, like most other classical musicians before her, sang for kings and queens. Patronized by the grand princes and zamindars of the day she achieved … [Read more…]
The world of gaslights was made ever more mysterious by the swirling balls of cigarette smoke rising from the fashionable new objects that dangled from the lips of the rich and famous. They had rapidly replaced the more substantial cheroots and cigars of the earlier generation. One problem that emerged by the 1880s though was … [Read more…]
I bought this little poster a few years back at an old book store. The image caught my attention for two reasons. First, notwithstanding the central focus of the image upon the mazhars of two Muslim saints, i.e. Pir Shah Chand and Pir Gorachand, the image also prominently displays both the Hindu god, Shiva, and the … [Read more…]
It was an uncomfortably warm morning in central London. The thick black fog that had hung like a pall early in the morning had moved away and a muggy, hot morning followed. The newspapers wrote of an impending storm over Europe that was causing the unusually warm weather. Notwithstanding the heat, the capital of the … [Read more…]
On the 30th of May 1867, a worried father walked into the Entally police station. No name, leave alone an image, of the paternal figure has survived. But it is not impossible to imagine the deep disquiet that would have hung heavily, like the mid-summer sweat, upon his aged brow. The prospect of having to … [Read more…]
“I am extremely disappointed to have to report ill of this officer”, wrote the Magistrate of Saran in 1868 about his young Deputy Magistrate E.E. Fisher. Fisher had had a history of getting into trouble and his superior officers were tired of him. What was most vexing for them was that the lad was exceptionally … [Read more…]
Moksad Ali got off the SS St. Louis at New York City on the 18th of June 1897. He and eleven other Bengali Muslim men from Hughli and Calcutta had taken the ship first to Southampton and thence to the Big Apple. On board they had travelled, crammed into the cheapest quarters with a German butcher, … [Read more…]
William Martin Sarkies was seventeen years old and fond of flying kites. Urban kite flying had been popularized under the muslim monarchs of northern and eastern South Asia, including old Bengali cities such as Dhaka, Murshidabad, etc. Calcutta, though it was a colonial city lacking in the rich pedigree of cities like Dhaka and Murshidabad, … [Read more…]
The Victorian world was one of clear contrasts and sharp hierarchies. White and black, good and evil, saints and sinners were all clearly distinguished and neatly stacked up. Or so the Victorians told themselves. But gaslights are not conducive to such clear lines. Shadows lurked, confusion prevailed and clarity was much more an aspiration than … [Read more…]
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