Home cine films - Calcutta 1957

My family took many cine films when we lived in India the earliest date from 1957 until the mid 1970s.  I have recently purchased a digital scanner and I am working my way through the collection and I am converting the cine from 8mm film to modern digital format. Along the way I am extracting a few short clips that might be of interest to viewers of my blog.  This is the first of the clips.  It shows the gardener or 'marli', the dhobi collecting our laundry, workmen working on the new drive and preparing the lawn for the grass seed.  Then a couple of clips of a muscle powered fun fare rides, not much health and safety rules in 1957.

 Preparing the lawn

The Dhobi

Roundabout

Small wheel - Muscle powered

Movie - Meeting an elephant on the way to Agra.

I am having a go at adding a small video file to my blog.  Last time I tried I failed, either it was too large a file size or of the wrong format.  It was taken around 1968 and is only of a very low quality.  That is me on the elephant. My family was driving to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and we came across a man riding his elephant on the way to a wedding.  You can see a lorry go thundering past me at one point.  Eventually we get to see the Taj Mahal. Hope you like it.

Riding on an Elephant on the Road to Agra 1967

Managed to grab a frame from a cine film from 1967 it shows me riding on an elephant on the road to Agra taken around 1967.  We were driving from Delhi (I think) to Agra and we passed a man taking his elephant to a wedding and we stopped and asked if I could have a ride.  On the cine you can see lorries driving past as I am sitting on the elephant.  Hope you like it.

Rickshaw - Calcutta 1967

I thought I would add a photo of my sister and I having a ride on a traditional rickshaw in Calcutta taken in 1967 I guess.  I would expect that this short of rickshaw no longer exists?  Anyone know?

A recent visitor has said the Rickshaws are still in use in Calcutta, see their photo taken in 2010. Thanks "Accidental Fame Junkie."  Some 43 years after my own photo.

I have also added a photo taken in Madras of people working in the paddy fields, it is of low quality as it is captured from 8mm cine film.  It does look a bit like a Paul Raj painting I added a few weeks ago.  I do hope you like them.

Finally a blurred photo taken from a moving car during the monsoon in Calcutta of a motor bike up to the axles in flood water.  I am not quite sure how it kept going, but the water is quite deep.