Aanchal Malhotra, Author at Museum of Material Memory

When an object has witnessed Partition, it ceases to be ordinary. In the case of my maternal grandparents, these objects were a framed portrait of my nana, his personal diary, and a silver drinking bowl. A photograph of my nani, Razia Ummul Baneen, holding her first born, my uncle, in her arms. The family also carried a folding wooden chair, a sewing machine, its table and motor, some clothes, and a tarazu. All these made the journey from Delhi to Karachi.

February 1, 2026

Between Stylus and Silence- The De Family Gramophone Records

Heirlooms

I imagine my great-grandfather, Dr. R. C. De, standing in some provincial town in France during the First World War, choosing this gramophone in a shop filled with the shimmer of brass horns and the solemn promise of music, at a time when Europe was learning the sound of death.

January 12, 2026

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s Burmese Crocodile

Art

I have seen the wooden crocodile crouched under my mother’s cousin’s shelf for several years now. This Burmese crocodile can be traced back to Sarat Chandra Chatterjee – the renowned literary figure whose contributions to Bengali literature have been immense, most notably Devdas – who spent years living in Burma, working as a clerk.

December 21, 2025

A Leaf of History: The political pamphlet from 1952

Documents

In 2022, we chanced upon a yellowing leaf of paper from the past, buried deep in a drawer among other documents. This was my great-grandfather, Bidhu Bhushan Sarkar’s election pamphlet from the first State Legislative Assembly Elections held in 1952 in West Bengal, independent India.

December 7, 2025

Stories Forgotten in Old Silver: My Par-nani’s Pazaib

Jewellery

My mother is the last remaining female descendant of my maternal family, but knows little about the pazaib. I often wonder, did Baebaejaan come to Karachi with the pair of these pazaib? Did she perhaps give one to another daughter? Or sell it to start a new life?

November 30, 2025

A Tin of One’s Own

Household

My grandfather, Divan Mohideen, bought a red and yellow tin coin bank in 1968, when he was 22 years old. It came from the Madras Central Co-operative Bank Ltd., one of the oldest banks in the city, its roots reaching back to the 1930s. The British had a curious habit – banks in London often gave small metal coin boxes to families, especially children, to teach them thrift and discipline.

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