Sometimes old postcards shock you with their relevancy. In this case, 100 year old images from the tribal areas of Pakistan bear a creepy similarity to today's imagery.

Two examples suffice.Read more

Some 130 years after his photographs of the Second Afghan War were made - among the earliest war photographs - John Burke's images inspired a modern photographer, Simon Norfolk, to visit Kabul and photograph today's signs of warfare.Read more

The recent events around an Arab spring prove that nothing is really dead. The impossible can happen. I noticed the postcard above of Algiers at a recent show in San Francisco, and thinking about the uprisings reminded me of the long tradition of Arabs working in India.Read more

It is hard to believe, but some 130 years after John Burke became the first known photographer of Kabul, his photographs were on public display in the city. Thanks to the efforts of Simon Norfolk and the Tate Modern in London (where the same exhibit will open in May), Burke's photographs were shown at the Views of Kabul exhibition at the Queen's Palace at the Baghe Babur.Read more

If a photograph can evoke a different era in Pakistan, then it might be this one of Ava Gardner in Lahore during the filming of Bhowani Junction (), based on the novel by John Masters.Read more

It was so nice to see a Pakistan issue of the literary magazine Granta 112: Pakistan (Granta: The Magazine of New Writing) , but the result disappoints. With a few exceptions, this collection seems put together hurriedly, with little search for those compelling pieces of fiction that might illuminate the slow-motion collapse of this sixty year old nation.Read more

As Myanmar, or Burma, goes to so-called elections, it is worth remembering that for a long time this country was part of the Raj, deeply connected to India in so many ways culturally and economically. Since 1947, the country has fallen into an abyss. It remains one of the most exploited and least visible of modern nations despite a population of nearly 50 million, the 12th largest nation in Asia.Read more

As various armies from near and far congregate in Waziristan and Khyber Agency, it is a good time to recall a postcard series made during the height of the British Empire. Then "campaigns" on the Frontier took place every few years. This 6 card series (#9310) by Raphael Tuck & Sons of London, was published around 1905, soon after the biggest uprising against the British had taken place in 1897-98.Read more

A few nights ago, I had the the chance to see a presentation by one of India's most important contemporary photographers, Dileep Prakash. He has a stunning series of color photographs of Anglo-Indians currently touring Europe's finest galleries. In a few months, a new exhibition opens at Photoink in Delhi. This time his subject is the boarding schools of India in black and white.Read more

An interesting recent article, Clicking Up the Pieces, in the Times of India picks up the fascinating thread of one of the most famous photographic studios in the world, Bourne & Shepherd in Kolkata.Read more