Who among us hasn’t dreamed of unearthing rare historical treasures in old cast-aside trunks? Ok, maybe you haven’t but I stay up all night dreaming such scenarios.
Jeremy Kahn, Kulwant Roy: Indian history in a yellow crate of negatives, NYT, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.
Also, some of the photos are on Outlook India. I especially loved this one, with the caption:
[Tons Of Joy: Wrestling champ ‘Daula’ pins down his English adversary ‘Clark’, to the patent dismay of the referee, at a fundraiser for the Lahore Warplanes Fund, the Police Spitfire Fund and the Minto Park Fund, in Lahore in the late 1930s]
[h/t qalandar and sundeep]
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
nice.
reminds me of lagaan for some reason
Love the joy on the face of the spectator who can be seen behind the triumphant wrestler’s left leg…
Many thanks Sepoy! Great stuff- perfect for a class on visual culture and nationalism. I am thinking of WJT Mitchell’s wonderful essay, “What do pictures want?” Perhaps, we should have a discussion on CM about what rare, recently discovered pictures such as these want from us as viewers/ readers / audiences?
Best
Rohit
Marvelous stuff, and I echo Rohit’s endorsement of Mitchell’s question.