These four weathered paper slips are quintessential relics of Indian pop culture from the late 1990s. Issued by the Northern Scales Co. in New Delhi, these tickets were dispensed by mechanical weighing machines commonly found at bustling railway stations and public squares. For a small coin, a commuter would receive not just their weight, but a collectible souvenir featuring a "red-ink" portrait of a reigning cinema icon. The cards showcase a diverse lineup of Bollywood royalty, including Akshaye Khanna, Shilpa Shetty, Saif Ali Khan, and Amitabh Bachchan. Interestingly, the tickets contain charming typographic errors typical of mass-produced street ephemera, such as "Akshay" for Akshaye and "Bachan" for Bachchan. The images use a distinct halftone dot-matrix style, a low-cost printing technique that has since become a visual hallmark of vintage Indian street kitsch. Beyond being simple receipts, these cards served as a primitive form of interactive ent...
Today, I am sharing a historical shop rent receipt paid by my great-grandfather, Khadga Narayan Pradhan. This rare document takes us back to 1949, when Sikkim was still under the rule of the Chogyal. According to the receipt, the payment was made to the estate of Rai Saheb Rhenock Kaji Sanam Dadul, a member of the powerful hereditary nobility of Rhenock, in the eastern part of Sikkim. Khadga Narayan Pradhan had been a cardamom merchant and the tenant based in Rongli, which was on the way to the legendary Old Silk Route. The receipt specifically mentions "Dukan Kiraya" (Shop Rent), where he managed his famous "Elaichi Khazana" (Cardamom Warehouse), with the date November 1, 1949. The amount my great-grandfather then paid was 7 Rupees and 8 Annas for the month of October.