Category Archives: Working Women
Sparsh (1980) deconstructed
Just 4 years separate Kadambari and Sparsh but the former is firmly rooted in 70s styles while Sparsh gives a glimpse of the styles of the early 80s with barely a hint of the 70s. So let’s look at what … Continue reading
Teachers’ Day, 2017
Today is Teachers’ Day in India. A piece on one of our first women educationists. The pics: Girls School at Jaipur :- The Primary Class (1950). An interesting mix of frocks, uniforms and sarees for the young students. Students of … Continue reading
Internet Sleuthing – Mary Bhor
Mary Bhor (1865?-1913) Daughter of Rao Saheb Ramji Gangaji Bhor and a second generation Christian, she took advantage of her English education and fairly liberal background provided by her parents. She had obtained a teacher’s training certificate from London and … Continue reading
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi, 19.11.1917-31.10.1984. When I was a schoolgirl in Delhi, our school was called upon to be part of the welcome for the visiting Soviet leader – we are probably part of some long lost Films Division footage of bright … Continue reading
The 1960s in Film: Mahanagar (1963)
Mahanagar is Satyajit Ray’s 1963 film on a housewife who becomes a working-woman due to circumstances and is a critique of traditional Bengali society as well as a changing middle class India. I meant this to be a 1960s fashions … Continue reading
The Ayah Post-3
A look at how past fashions influence modern fashions: Detail from Warren Hastings with his wife and Indian maid, painted sometime between 1784-87. Floor length “anarkalis” (no doubt known by a different name) can be spotted in 18th century/19th century … Continue reading
