Budmash is a Hindi term for a notorious character – a bad dude. This wonderfully ferocious-looking watercolor painting was done by George E. Macleod (1851-1910) and signed “G.E.M.” Macleod was a civil service commissioner in Oudh and Assam from 1870-1890s. The painting is one of several by Macleod, who was clearly talented, and are part of an archive of correspondence, photographs and caricatures…

I love looking at old images – especially of India. This particular image comes from a large album from the 1930s that features scores of fascinating photographs of unnamed British colonials doing what British colonials did in those days – vale hunting, pig-sticking, show jumping, hunting astride elephants, and attending formal dinners and lawn parties. The album was lovingly kept and many…