Jean Voruz, an amateur philatelist actually flew down all the way from Geneva for the weekend to speak with us about the crash of the Malabar Princess. This is the same aircraft that was used by the airline on the maiden voyage from Bombay to London, via Cairo and Geneva on 8 June 1948. As a young man, he grew up near Chamonix and developed a passion for Alpine hiking. Here on the Bossons glacier, he first heard of the 1950 crash of the Air-India International flight from Bombay to London as it was descending to land at Geneva. Unfortunately, there were no survivors, but the cold weather, and gradual descent of the glacier ensured that the wreckage was remarkably well preserved, and new discoveries are made until this day, and new finds will continue to surface for many years. He had our complete attention during his entire talk which included a power-point presentation, and was followed by a lively discussion. Voruz also spoke about the 1966 Kanchenjunga accident that occurred almost at the same spot, and about books and theories that continue to circulate about the incident. A very large quantity of mail was recovered salvaged from the Malabar Princess wreckage, and has been well documented in Nierinck. Recent finds include a large lot of about 75 letters by a young Scottish student in July 2010, and the trouble this young lady took in finding out the descendants of the various addressees and sending the mail to them.
Voruz has been kind enough to permit me to share a copy of the presentation he used that day, and also a well illustrated 4 page article he has written on the subject. Both can be downloaded by clicking on the respective links.
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The story goes that whenever an accomplished, and even emerging artist or performer wanted to travel, the Taj stepped up to provide subsidised or free hotel accommodation and Air-India provided the air tickets. Out of gratitude, these artists would lavish the two corporations with gifts of their art, and both of these built extensive art collections running into thousands of paintings. these would adorn the walls of their various properties, and also be used in promotional material.
This photograph taken around mid-late 1955 shows the tastefully decorated Air-India International booking office in Geneva. Seated on the sofa in the sari is young Nargis who was on vacation in Europe at the time. Now look at the murals on the walls, and guess what: Hussain again! Yes, the murals on the walls were done by the master himself. The same wooden puppet cut-out treatment as in the poster. Notice the group on the right, two drummers and a dancer. Also, the second group from the left, partly obscured by the pillar has horses, and a chariot. now look at the poster again. Amazing. It is difficult to put in words how pleasing this hobby is for me, and how grateful I am to the kindness of well-wishers who come forward to bless me with stories of this airline, and endow the collection with irreplaceable artifacts. Air-India is the stuff legends are made of. Air-India International reservation office at 7, Rue de Chantepoulet in Geneva. (c.mid-late 1955)
The mural is by M. F. Hussain, one of the greatest contemporary artists in the world. Please pardon the fold in the center of the photograph.
The Air-India offices were then at the Bank of India building at Flora Fountain (Hutatma Chowk). She recalls the move to the iconic Air-India building at Nariman Point in 1971, and how deserted and lonely the walk was then to the office from Churchgate Station. The Art Studio occupied the pride of place in the skyscraper at one of the topmost floors, with plenty of natural light and a great view of the city. Charu regaled me with stories of the evolution of the Maharajah, and how he was at first a slim and tall character, and over time got shorter, and a little portlier. Also, how his persona evolved. Earlier his eyes were shown open but later were always seen closed or looking downwards, as though he is humbly welcoming the real maharajah, the passenger, on board his flying carpet. In the beginning, his palms were not joined together although he was in the bowing pose. The right hand was bent, placed midriff, and left hand was to his side. It was only in the early 2000's that the pose was changed to a 'namaste' one. Among numerous designs for Air-India, Charu recalls drawing and re-drawing several of the coasters that were issued in the late 1970s in a new design (Type 4.1). Charu retired as the AGM, Advertising and Special Promotions, Air-India. She has many more photographs of her stint in the Art Studio, and other colleagues she worked with there, and I am hoping that I will get an opportunity to add them to the web-site soon. Charu at work in the Air-India Art Studio c. late-1970s, with her artists material all around her. She is working on a brochure on How to tie a turban, and you can see the open books being used as reference material. Also on the drawing board, you can see sketches of the coaster designs she has been working on.
Klaus Vomhof lives in the U.K., and is the author of Leisure Airlines of Europe: The History of European Charter Airlines from 1945 to the present day. I got in contact with him when he was selling his collection of about 35 Air-India flight schedules from the 1950s thru 1970s. It is generally very difficult to get such a large bunch of timetables. You may wonder why these are collectible. A comprehensive Timetable collection actually helps chronicle the history of an airline and records the introduction and cessation of routes, aircraft used, flight timings etc. All very valuable to an airline historian and to an aerophilatelist. They also often contain route maps, fleet information, fares etc.
The Press Release had a most wonderful label affixed on it. This had the image of a Travel Poster issued in 1948, and the release also mentions that Air-India had issued a re-print of 1948 poster itself. Now, that would indeed be an interesting find.
Thank you Mr. Vomhof for your generous gift. I am sure many Air-India enthusiasts will enjoy viewing these. Gaurav Gupta from Delhi was kind enough to share images of this lovely cover intended to be flown on the 1948 flight.
The cover on the top is Registered CONNAUGHT PLACE, which is in New Delhi, and franked with 14 as postage. This comprises 4 as. registration fees, and 10 as. airmail rate to Egypt. The cancellation mark is CONNAUGHT PLACE, 3 JUN 48, which we have seen is not what the post office should have done. On the reverse, we have two circular postal marks applied in Egypt. The first is a faint 7 JU 48 arrival mark, and the other is a ZIFTA, 9 JU 48 delivery mark. This makes the cover special as it is an example of the 12 as. stamp used prior to the intended flight on 8 June 48. The cover below is a very fine example of the Air-India International souvenir cover, once again flown to Cairo by Registered Post. This time 16 as. postage has been applied which makes it overstamped by 2 as, which was not unusual for mail to Egypt on this flight. However, this one made the flight, and there is the interesting second Egyptian postmark on the reverse, which is what I wrote about as the un-confirmed indication of the cover making it back on the return flight. If this were true, then indeed the cover is very collectible.
“Agar firdous baroye zameen ast, hami asto, hami asto hami ast” – Amir-e-Khusru Dehluvi (If there is paradise on earth, It is here, it is here, it is here). The serene beauty of Kashmir has attracted visitors from far and wide. One of the oft-used symbols for India travel, just like the Taj Mahal, the Dal Lake and the Shikara (house-boat) epitomise all that is sublime about the valley. I recently came across these 1950s travel posters. Clearly, the India Tourism office had issued these posters first, and also supplied copies to the airlines, who overprinted their names. Wonder if I come will come across examples of these posters used by other airlines.
Meet an artist from Air-India International who designed their Travel Posters in the 1950s23/7/2016
She has also carefully preserved some examples of her work and has kindly permitted me to post images of these. These include hand painted work-in-progress examples, Printers Proofs etc. of scarves that were gifted as promotion items, menu cards, wine lists etc. Nargis spent 3-4 years at Air-India International before relocating to London to build her career in Advertising. Here are some examples of her work. On the top left, we have a hand painted design for a scarf. On the top center we have a printers proof of the menu card design which has the artists name signed just below the right hand of the woman. On the top right is another hand painted design of a Poster design. This poster was used to promote the new Slumberettes introduced in the Lockheed Super Constellations acquired by the airline in 1954. I have added here a link to my Dropbox account for you to enjoy all the lovely items she has preserved. Post Script: Very nice article appear in Conde Nast Traveler Magazine on May 11, 2018 about Nargis Wadia and her stint in Air-India. Click here to know more.
The Return flight left London on the morning of 12 June 1948, landing in Bombay on 13 June after halting at Geneva and Cairo. Return mail on this flight is not very common, and only a limited number are thought to exist. Each of the three points of origin have an interesting story, which I will recount in this page. Additionally, no mail originating from any other location has been seen.
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