MAP’s exhibition on postcards from the past are a revelation on India of yore

An exhibition of postcards from India’s colonial era is currently underway in the city at the Museum of Art and Photography

An exhibition of over 80 postcards titled Hello & Goodbye: Postcards from the Early 20th Century is currently underway at the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), showcasing missives from India’s colonial era.

It would seem that X (formerly Twitter), does not have dibs on character restriction. According to Khushi Bansal who curated Hello & Goodbye along with Meghana Kuppa and a team from MAP, “The messages on these postcards tell us a lot about life in those times. What is interesting is how abbreviations were used to convey news within a limited space; short forms are not a contemporary concept.”

Khushi says Hello & Goodbye was conceptualised “after we realised we have such an expansive post card collection at MAP”. A chunk of the collection comprises around 1,300 postcards that were donated by Kenneth X and Joyce Robbins to MAP.

However, quantity alone is not reason enough for an exhibition. The team realised these postcards provided a wealth of information on life in those times, especially in areas of cultural identity and lived history.

“While some carry messages to loved ones, others talk about their visit to a small town or monument. We get a sense of what people abroad were talking about India, because a lot of these postcards were exchanged either within the Indian elite circle or between foreigners,” says Meghana.

“We learn about the cost of living, societal norms and more by browsing through them. We find a micro history of sorts within these postcards, shaped by colonial activity in India during this period,” she adds.

For over six months, the team pored over thousands of postcards from their collection, sorting them by different categories such as architecture, landscape and more. During this time, they referenced books such as Omar Khan’s Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj and Picturesque India: A Journey in Early Picture Postcards by Sangeeta Mathur and Ratnesh Mathur.