Queen’s Statue At Esplanade Road Bombay, 2 Postcards 1900
Two 1900 postcards of Queen Victoria’s Statue at Esplanade Road (M G Road) in Bombay (Mumbai). The Esplanade Road was once Bombay’s most famous street. It is now known as Mahatma Gandhi Road. Queen Victoria’s marble statue can be spotted on the right side in the first postcard with its intricate marbled canopy.
The trend of installing Queen’s sculptures all over India began earnestly after 1857. When the Indian Empire came under the direct rule of the British Crown. Thus doing away with East India Company’s rule over India. Victoria never came to India even for the Delhi Durbar of 1877 when she became the Empress of India.
But interestingly she became absorbed in Indian life. Thirty years later after the mutiny of 1857, she was learning Hindustani, eating Indian curries. However, the British after colonization brought England to India with them. Bringing their language, railways, automobiles, cricket, statues, construction of fine buildings, cuisine, and so on. All these seem to have been absorbed into the Indian way of life as their own.
Also read The British Raj in India. See post Queen Victoria’s Canopied Statue Bombay-Old Photo 1898.
Did you know- many local words that influenced the English language eg teak from the Malayalam word thek, similarly mango from Malayalam manga, pyjamas from Urdu, while ‘shampoo’ is from the Hindi word champo.
From the collection- 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#1)., Old Photo – Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 1890., Arrival Of Lord Mountbatten At Delhi – Old Print 1947., Coonoor In Nilgiris – Old Postcard 1910.
