In 1928, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala arrived at Cartier’s headquarters in Paris. He presented 2,930 diamonds, including one inherited from his father which was the world’s seventh-largest diamond at the time, with a pre-cut weight of 428 carat; the ’De Beers’. He asked the famed Parisian jewellers to make him a necklace. They obligedContinue reading “The Patiala Necklace; designed by Cartier”
Category Archives: Postcards
How the 1981 riots shaped my future
“This was my father’s lorry that he used for his business, he actually owned two of them and would deliver goods across Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka. He also owned two shops in Ratnapura. He was doing well in life. My father’s success in business allowed me to go to boarding school in the capital,Continue reading “How the 1981 riots shaped my future”
Postcards from the Past: Mom
I don’t really tell this story too much because I never felt I had the complete rights to tell it, but since, I’ve begun to see the parallels. This story feels like the start of my own story. It’s shaped my core.When my mom was 16, her father died, plunging her family into poverty. MyContinue reading “Postcards from the Past: Mom”
India & WW2
3rd September 1939, Lord Viceroy Lithlingow pledged Indians as cattle, without any consultation, in the war against Germany. While, as a colony, they could not contest – Indians used this as a vantage point to bargain for their independence.Young Sikh men volunteered and expanded the Indian army from 189,000 to 2.5 million, despite only accountingContinue reading “India & WW2”
The Swadeshi Movement
In the 1830s, the British East India Company educated select Indians, mainly from Calcutta, described by Thomas Babington Macaulay as ‘a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’.In 1858, Queen Victoria announced ‘equal opportunity’ for all races and the ambitious young Indians feltContinue reading “The Swadeshi Movement”
Reunited
Lahore, PAKISTAN (1948)A year after the Indo-Pak partition, a woman was reunited with her husband after being separated for 10 months at a Women’s Refugee Camp.Silent escapes in the night, storms of pellets and unexpected separations in an age with no technology – many did not know the fate of their loved ones.Photo taken byContinue reading “Reunited”