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  • How to wear an Indian sari; many people in Antwerp or Brussels have seen Indian women walking around in long, flowing clothes and thought to themselves: how elegant these women are! The remarkable thing is that these ladies do not need a tailor or seamstress to dress elegantly. Their outer garment or “sari” is nothing more than a strip of fabric about six meters long, which they buy, along with colored ribbon, which they sew on as a hem. The photos show how to wear such a sari. What do you say, gentlemen? Shall we give our wives or mothers a sari as a gift for their next birthday?‘Kunnen de Indiërs al lezen?’ (‘Can the Indians read yet?’)
    A translation of a Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s, which exemplifies problems in the European reporting about India from this era. Written by a well-known journalist and novelist, it is part of a series where he tells the readers about his experiences on a journey through the Subcontinent.
  • The writer at an Indian market. The leaves he holds in his hand are filled with pieces of tobacco and spices, then folded and placed in the mouth. People chew and suck on them like they would chew tobacco. The juice from this mixture, called “pan,” is dark red. Anyone who opens their mouth while chewing gives the eerie impression of having a mouth full of blood. Women also chew pan and make sure their teeth turn red, which they consider beautiful. (Why not? Whether you make your lips red or your teeth...)‘Op bezoek bij een Indisch Zamindar’ (‘Visiting an Indian Zamindar’)
    A Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s reporting a visit to an Indian zamindar or landowner. It is part of an extensive series of articles, published in a colonial newspaper and written by the author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. Like the other articles, this piece reveals much about its author’s attitudes towards a society and culture foreign to him.
  • Half naked, bent over, up to their ankles in the water, that’s how one works in the Indian rice fields.‘Het drama van een landbouwer die zijn akker niet wilde verlaten (‘The drama of a farmer who refused to leave his field’)
    A Belgian newspaper article from the 1950s reporting the case of an Indian farmer and the situation in rural India at the time. It is part of an extensive series of articles, written by the author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. Like the other articles, this text showcases some of the typical problems in European reporting about India.
  • What will the future hold for the Indian children, millions of adorable, hungry little creatures?‘Verpletterende armoede in de Indische jungle’ (‘Crushing poverty in the Indian jungle’)
    An article from a Belgian colonial newspaper published in the 1950s and written by a well-known journalist and novelist. In a series of articles that contain some of the typical clichés on India popular in Europe at the time, he reports about his journey through the Subcontinent.
  • In fairytale-like Delhi, bitter poverty reigns. Swarms of starving beggars have become intertwined with the landscape.‘Schijn en werkelijkheid in Delhi’ (‘Appearances and reality in Delhi’)
    A newspaper article from the 1950s written by the Belgian author Aster Berkhof who would become well-known in the subsequent decades. The article describes his arrival in Delhi and the typical image of India he has and reports his own experiences and judgements. This is part of a series of articles published in a colonial newspaper, which exemplify some of the typical problems of European reporting about India.
  • Brief aus Chochinchina (Letter from Cochin in India)
    A letter sent from Cochin in India, dated 1580, written by an anonymous author and addressed to a mr. Adelgais, probably Hans Adelgais, the factor of the famous Fugger company in Antwerp, Cologne, and later in Augsburg and Frankfurt. The letter relates the journey from Lisbon to India and discusses practical issues and aspects of a European trader’s life in India, but also makes claims about the local religion and customs.