Kailash Chaurasia

 

 

 

   

Please click on the headings to see the stories

#City's oldest Church stands under her family Tree
#Antique photographs
#Corbett's Birthday Treat
#Whisky,Delhi's new Wine
#Gourmet Tea Sales
#More Circa 70's parties
#Sunday Lunch Circa 1970's
#Nigel Hankin
#Tour of Four Cities
#Posh Spice
#It's Hinglish Innit
#A Diehard fan gets under bruce's skin
#India's Rickshaws
#Ageing Brain protected by Curry
#DevDas Cameron
#Coffee brand replaces Sikh Image
#The Royce Rolls back
#John Kenneth Galbraith
#255 years on Clives pet dies in Kolkata Zoo
#Patten Daughter & Dad
#Assam renamed
#God's to decide Ski Resort fate
#Empire's last daughter in the Limelight
#Alfred Ford
#Oldest surviving locomotive
#Assam digs up Stillwell Tree
#Harrods Chinese Tea
#Interesting Delhi pictures
#Stories of Teeth and Tea
#Bengal Tea to Tourism
#Here's ringing in the old
#Low Costs lure foreigners to India
#Kimberley Outsources Daddy
#Tsunami
#Sunday Sentiments
#English
#Leh Berry

#
Outsource religion
#DEYA

# Ideal Place for people to retire to
#Major Balston
India to close London, New York tea offices 
Flood-hit Elephants
#Sir Edmund Hillary

# Britain's crisps
Ambassador no longer the King

Indian Railways Guages
White Mughals
Karma Kabs (Ambassador)
English Cricket Captain Hussain
Beatle George Harrison's bequest
Mark Tully
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November 9 2009


Again our Delhi Correspondent Kailash has kept us informed and we thank him

Below is a cutting from the Delhi newspaper giving an interesting insight into the past 
and the enthusiasm today's generation have for finding their relatives of many generations ago





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September 24 2009


We have to thank Kailash for once again keeps us up to date--this is from 
the New York Times of 17 September


Gourmet Tea Sales Stay Strong in Economic Storm

The global economic crisis may have dampened the 
appetite for high-end goods, but one small daily luxury, 
gourmet tea, has been posting surprisingly strong

Despite Their Prices, Gourmet Teas 
Thrive as Global Economy Sags

Published: September 17, 2009

SINGAPORE — The global economic crisis may have damped the appetite for high-end goods, 
but one small daily luxury — gourmet tea — has been posting surprisingly strong sales, prompting 
some tea brands to consider expanding around the world.

TWG Tea Company

A TWG Tea retail counter in Singapore.

Franck Beloncle/Le Palais des Thés

The tasting room at Le Palais des Thés in Paris.

With names like Silver Moon, Emperor’s White Garden, Goût Russe Douchka and Sakura, the teas reflect a 
wide range of exotic flavors, attracting an almost religious following among tea lovers. While the rarest teas, like 
yellow teas, can cost $2,120 for a kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, gourmet teas cost 30 percent more than standard
 teas on average, making them an affordable luxury for many.

“There is definitely no crisis when it comes down to gourmet tea; our sales have been increasing every year by 
15 to 25 percent ever since we started in 1987,” said François-Xavier Delmas, founder and chief executive of 
Le Palais des Thés in Paris.

He said the company, which is privately owned, posted annual revenue growth of 19 percent in 2007-8, with 
sales of 9.66 million euros ($14.2 million).

Le Palais des Thés’ experience has been similar to that of other luxury tea brands, as well as specialty retailers.

“Demand for quality products has remained strong,” said Mark Daley, chief executive of Dean & DeLuca, a gourmet 
retailer based in the United States. “People are enjoying more time together, more time sharing with friends, more 
time home entertaining.”

Mariage Frères, a French merchant of exclusive teas, will open a boutique in Hamburg in November and another in 
Munich in December. It plans to expand to London in 2010 and then to New York and China.

Its director, Philippe Cohen-Tanugi, said the company, which posted revenue of 50 million euros ($73.4 million) in 
2008, could grow much faster if it developed a franchise network, something it declined to do.

“Believe me, so many have called us for that, we could have opened a store a month and become a Tea Starbucks,” 
he said, “but our rules of management have remained unaltered since 1983: complete integration and central decision 
taking in order to keep full control on the Mariage Frères image and identity.”

Dammann Frères, another French gourmet tea company, which sells about 800 tons a year, used to offer its teas 
only through businesses like delicatessens and luxury hotels. But last year, it started to market itself to retail 
customers, opening its first tea boutique in Paris. Since then, it has opened three boutiques in Japan and is 
considering a second in the French capital and one in London, said Pierre Merlanchon, marketing manager 
at Dammann Frères.

One of the most aggressive players is a new entrant to the market. TWG Tea, based in Singapore, has managed 
in two years to expand its annual sales to 650 tons from nothing while also securing shelf space at Dean & DeLuca
 and getting served in Singapore Airlines’ first-class cabins.

TWG Tea’s chairman, Manoj Murjani, said he decided to invest $10 million to found TWG Tea with four partners 
after an investment he made in a small tea company gave him a sixfold return within 18 months.

“We’re really going for the high end of the market, and we’re thinking big and we’re starting big,” he said. “From 
Year One to Year Two, we’ve grown in terms of revenues tenfold, and going forward, I think we will be growing at 
fivefold a year.” He declined to give specific sales figures.

TWG Tea has one boutique in Singapore and plans to open a second one there in October, then its first in Japan 
and one in the Middle East in the first quarter of 2010. There are also plans for a shop in New York next year and 
a counter to open soon at a Dean & DeLuca store in New York.  The company clearly has a strong eye for marketing, 
positioning itself as an innovator with seasonal creations and developing beautiful, elaborate packaging. TWG teas 
start at $4.20 for 50 grams, or 1.76 ounces.

As with other specialist tea merchants, it aims to offer a large range of distinctive blends, including White House Tea,
 a pai mu tan white tea from Fujian, China, blended with red berries and rose petals, created to celebrate the 
presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.  Gourmet tea remains very much a niche segment of the overall tea market,
 which has grown steadily in recent years, largely because of tea’s perceived health benefits, market analysts said.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, world tea consumption increased to 3.75 million 
tons in 2007 from 2.95 million tons in 2003, the latest available data.  Data from IBISWorld, an industry research company, 
show that tea consumption in the United States is on the rise,
 but it is still only the sixth-most-popular drink (not including tap water), after soft drinks, bottled water, beer, milk and coffee.

Specialty and gourmet tea is a fast-growing segment within the tea industry. In the United States, it is estimated to 
account for 8.5 percent of the $2.1 billion in sales in 2009.  “The growth in the number of specialty tearooms in the U.S., 
which is estimated to total over 2,600, has further stimulated demand for gourmet and specialty tea products,” IBISWorld 
wrote in a research note. “Similar to cafes, these establishments are changing the landscape of tea consumption to 
become a more social occasion.”

Even though tea consumption has been more strongly identified with the British, French companies have had a strong hold
 on the gourmet market for the last 20 years.  “I think that’s because unlike the British that are very used to drinking tea,
 the French had no preconception about tea; they are willing to experiment,” said Mr. Delmas, of Le Palais des Thés.  
Mr. Cohen-Tanugi of Mariage Frères said, “The French drink the widest range of teas in the world, bringing the same 
attention and connoisseurship to the choice of the right tea as they would the proper wine.”

Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a market research company in New York, said he thought many tea 
suppliers had seen tea as a mass-market commodity and sold it that way, leaving space for entrants at the high end of 
the market.   “With the growing popularity of tea, there is an opportunity to differentiate at the top level, even in these 
challenging economic times,” Mr. Pedraza said. “There is consumer interest in the premium end of almost any category, 
and I believe a larger segment of tea connoisseurs can be developed globally. But it will take a great deal of education
 to help consumers to discern differences and be willing to pay a premium, so it will be a slow build.”

 


August 18 2009

We are grateful to Kailash our special correspondent from Delhi 
for this story about Jim Corbett--Thank you Kailash

Publication: Times Of India Delhi; Date: Aug 18, 2009; Section: Delhi Times; Page: 34


Corbett’s birthday treat

 

JAYA DRONA

IN CORBETT’S HOUSE: This was Jim Corbett’s birthday party. And Nilanjana Dalmia, who now owns Gurney House, 
Corbett’s house in Nainital hosted this celebration for the who’s who of Nainital. And to be away from Delhi, in Nainital was 
a pleasant change. The weather was happy – neither hot nor cold, and Corbett’s house was a delicious treat. Nilanjana said, 
“This house is important to me for more reasons than one. First, it is Corbett’s house and second, my family grew up here
.” And Nilanjana has kept Corbett’s memories alive in the house. The African drum that Jim played sits pretty in the living 
room (see pic). Nilanjana added, “I’m doing up a room according to my grandfather Sharda Prasad Varma’s tastes now, 
as he was the one who bought the house from Jim.”

AND THE EVENING BEGAN ... With Chitra reading out one of Corbett’s letters. Corbett had written this letter in 1950 to
 Jai Lal, his advocate from Nyeri, Kenya. “There are about 120,000 Indians in Kenya and I’m sure they are the richest and 
the happiest Indians in any part of the world. Their day and night prayer is that agitators will not come here to set the 
government against them, as was done with the Indians in South Africa. I was very glad to learn from your letter that the 
president was paying a visit to Nainital,” read the letter. There was also a reading by writer Namita Gokhale, who calls 
herself a daughter of Kumaon.

AND… Himani Dalmia, Nilanjana and VN Dalmia’s daughter, who put the celebration together, said that Gurney House 
had always had music. And that was followed by a piano recital by Delhi-based pianist Justin McCarthy. Pranav, Himani’s
 bro played the piano too. Himani said that though the house is open for tourists and Corbett fans throughout the year, 
Corbett’s birthday is a special occasion, as it brings out the passion the Kumaonis felt for Corbett. “I’ve known Corbett 
all my life but not like the Kumaonis. When we do an event like this, I see his personality coming alive. My fave thing 
here is the chair Maggie embroidered. This house has always had a strong female presence. Corbett’s mother Mary Jane 
Corbett bought the land in her name and left it with Maggie. Neither Jim nor Maggie got married and their relationship 
was so strong. They were lifelong companions. From Maggie, this house went to my great grandmother, then to my 
grandaunt and now it’s with my mom,” she said. The celebration led to dinner and loads of Corbett conversation. Tykee 
Malhotra, of the Jim Corbett trust showed the guests a documentary. We also spotted Ashok Kumar, IG, Kumaon Range, 
Joan Majithia, Neerja Pant and Arun Kapur among others.


Celebrating Corbett’s b’day



A view of Gurney House in Nainital



COLOUR ME BLACK: Himani



The African drum that Corbett used to play



ALL POISE: Tykee



THE WOMAN OF CORBETT’S HOUSE NOW: Nilanjana (L) with her sister



LET THERE BE MUSIC: (L-R) Justin and Pranav


*******************************************************
July12 2009

Kailash our special Delhi Correspondent has come up with this 
interesting story --thank you Kailash

Kailash saw this article on HindustanTimes ePaper, and thought it interesting enough to 
share with koi-hai readers--He also said "Pairing Scotch with Indian curry. I have been 
doing it for sometime, goes very well. The recipe, ----Whisky tumbler, fill 3/4 with ice, pour 
45 ml. scotch, fill with chilled water, goes extremely well with Indian curries.--- Should have 
patented the idea, now these guys will take the credit for this invention. 

If anyone wishes You can find it at: 'journey through delhi - Whisky, Delhi's new wine'


March 13 2009

 Antique Photographs
Thanks to Kailash we have a set of antique photographs to enjoy of what india was in 1835


The daughter of an Indian maharajah seated on a panther she shot, sometime during 1920s


A British man gets a pedicure from an Indian servant.


The Grand Trunk Road , built by Sher Shah Suri, was the main trade route from Calcutta to Kabul .


A group of Dancing or nautch girls began performing with their elaborate costumes and jewelry



A rare view of the President's palace and the Parliament building in New Delhi
..

Women gather at a party in Mumbai ( Bombay ) in 1910

A group from Vaishnava, a sect founded by a Hindu mystic. 
His followers are called Gosvami-maharajahs


An aerial view of Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi , 
built between 1650 and 1658
.


The Imperial Airways 'Hanno' Hadley Page passenger airplane carries the England to India air mail, stopping in Sharjah to refuel.

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February 15 2009
Thanks to Kailash we have another addition of 

 Bruno Banerjee's parties --
Circa 1970's

 



Left to Right 
Kailash Chaurasia, Christine Cousins, Bruno Banerjee, 
                 Steve Stevenson, and Peter Rex
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December 14 2008
We have to thank Kailash for this bit of memorabilia

 From an old pile this photo surfaced, Kailash tells us it is a Sunday Lunch gathering at Ophelia Tea Estate, Moran Assam--circa 1970's


Front Row: Kamal Banerjee, Sally Charlier, Eves Charlier, 
Back Row: Peter Rex, Steve Stevenson, Johnny Hay, 
Bruno Banerjee, Bill Charlier, Harry Singh, Kamal Chaurasia, Kailash Chaurasia
********************


January 31 2008

From

January 2, 2008

Nigel Hankin

Former soldier who spent most of his life in Delhi
and wrote a successful guide to the idiosyncracies of Indian English

A young man who whistles at a woman is an “eve-teaser”. A female educator is a “teachress”. World leaders “airdash” to meetings which are not brought forward but “preponed”. These are some of the glorious oddities of Indian English revealed by Nigel Hankin in his book Hanklyn-Janklin: A Stranger's Rumble-tumble Guide to Some Words, Customs and Quiddities Indian and Indo-British, first published in 1992 and soon to appear in a 5th edition.

The title is a nod to Colonel Henry Yule's Hobson-Jobson (1886), the classic glossary of Indian words, and to the Hindi habit of using rhymes such as party-warty or chai-wai (tea). Some of Hankin's entries are not so much archaic as evocative of the peculiaries of Indian life. We read, for example, of an “ear cleaner”: “An urban itinerant professional gentleman identified by his small red turban into which are tucked his instruments: tweezers, probes and buds of cotton wool.”

Revealed too are illuminating, if sometimes debatable, etymologies. “Doolally”, for instance, Hankin says, derives from Deolali, the dock near Bombay whence soldiers were invalided home. Khaki comes from Khaak, Urdu for dust or ashes and came into use at the uprising of 1857. The origin of rumble-tumble, slang for scrambled eggs, is more obscure.

Hankin said that the book was “intended as background information for the stranger residing in India, to give meaning to facets of life which otherwise might seem perplexing. I would like to think that it may also be useful to those outside the country concerned with Indian affairs.” It has won praise from Indians as well as visitors.

Nigel Bathurst Hankin was brought up by his grandmother in Bexhill, Sussex, after the early death of his father, and her Victorian attitude formed his outlook on life. He first arrived in India en route to Burma with the Army in 1945. The war ended before he got beyond Bombay, but he decided to stay, falling in love with the climate and the bustle.

After Independence he joined the New Indian Army as a captain to stay in the country. Later he had an eclectic career, including running a mobile cinema. He worked for about 20 years for the British High Commission, where among his duties was showing diplomats and their wives the sights of Delhi.

After he retired, this became his source of income. He was known as a guide to “working Delhi, not tourists' Delhi”. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was the wholesale market. Through narrow, dingy alleys, the gangly, white-haired six-footer would make his way dodging labourers carrying gunny bags on their heads, cycle rickshaws, carts, stray dogs and cows and often accompanied by the stench from open urinals. The shopkeepers knew him well and would greet him with “Ram Ram Tau” (uncle).

Hanklyn-Janklin was the result of two decades of collecting unusual Indian-English words, beginning in the 1960s. “A doctor at the British High Commission in Delhi gave me a list of 20 Indian words he'd read in his newspaper and asked me what they meant,” he recalled. “I suddenly thought if he wants to know, others might too.”

Hankin never considered returning to Britain. “I returned for three months in 1982 to visit my brother but it was so dull I went home after a few weeks,” he said. “I missed the chaos.”

Despite this, however, Hankin never assimilated into the Indian way of life, remaining a detached observer. Even after more than 60 years in India his breakfast consisted of cornflakes, eggs and bacon; dinner always began with soup. This was brought to him by the same servant for 40 years.

Nigel Hankin, author of Hanklyn-Janklin, was born on March 14, 1920. He died on November 30, 2007, aged 87 
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January 27 2008

We are indebted once again to Kailash for bringing the following stories of City tours of the following cities Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta and Bombay

· The Hidden City 
Ever had one of those moments when you wonder why on earth you live in this urban mess, when you could be breathing fresh air on a farm in New Zealand? It's time for some time travel. 

Delhi
These neighbourhood walks are guaranteed to make you fall in love with the forgotten secrets in your backyard. Rumours abound in Delhi about a relic from the Raj, who, if found, will give the best tours of the city. Not run-of-the-mill Red Fort runs, but tours from the perspective of a true insider of 50 years, who will take you anywhere and teach you everything. But he's simply a whispered rumour to most people in Delhi. And he insists he wants to keep it that way. "Please don't mention how to contact me. I already have enough business." (A quick Google search will, unfortunately for him, reveal his secret.) Finally, after a few weeks of waiting, my group meets the man-Nigel Hankin-in Chanakyapuri. The thin, 87-year-old Hankin takes one look at us and asks where the car is. We glance at each other. We need a car for a walking tour? "Are you joking? Delhi is 30 miles across! The city itself is seven miles round! No car…" he rages. Hankin, only slightly slouched, in pressed slacks and shirt, likes things done "the Nigel way", as Manjeet Nanner, a repeat client says. Unfortunately, we set up the tour through written notes, so he didn't have the chance to tell us what his way is. A taxi is hurriedly hired, Hankin's disappointment is soothed (until, that is, I ask to stop for water: "You didn't bring any water?"), and off we drive to our walking tour. Hankin will take you wherever you want to go and discuss-albeit reticently at times-what you want to discuss. Interested in pre-Mughal architecture? You'll stick to South Delhi for the day. Need to brush up on the flora and fauna? Hankin will quickly point out the only lane in Delhi where the Flying Fox roosts or the Canna lily in bloom near India Gate. If you don't have a specific place in mind, or period to study, Hankin will take you on the We-Do-What-Nigel-Thinks-Best tour. And since the man gives the distinct impression that he does know best, we willingly follow him. Hankin guides the taxi driver around his favourite points of interest in New Delhi, including the crematorium to see a corpse awash in sprays of river water, the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to pray and Kingsway Camp to visit "George". We dine at the Maiden hotel in Civil Lines, where he oversees the "pigs at the trough" (i.e. us). Finally, full on the buffet, we get to the walking part of the walking tour: a mad dash through Old Delhi. Of the 12-odd places we visited, only four had been seen by anyone in our group before. Shopkeepers shout "Ram, Ram!" to him and workers give him extra space as he winds through the dark alleys. On the second floor in the spice market, he laments the changing face of Delhi, for the fifth or sixth time that day: "It all used to be so peaceful and beautiful. Thirty years ago, this was a very upscale home and it had a beautiful garden here." Hankin came to Delhi in 1947 and has never left, luxuriating in his adopted city, first as an officer in the British army and then at the British High Commission, where he "moved paper from one table to another." He often took ministers' wives out for casual tours of the city, ordered to keep them out of the ministers' way until at least 5 o'clock. When he retired 20 years ago, Hankin continued the tradition for anyone interested, six days a week, year round. Though, now that he's nearing 88, he claims he's trying to cut back to four days. He takes us to familiar spots and places we've never seen, like the colourful by-lanes of Khari Baoli and Gadodia market, old Delhi's spice den. His tour finally brings me to the 14th century step well which I pass by every day to work, but never visit. Hankin's Delhi is glimpsed down secret corridors and peered at over locked fences. Plus, he's a wealth of knowledge, be it of King George's procession, where to buy nitric acid or how the salt residue on the crematorium's brick marks the last good monsoon in Delhi. And, best of all, I now know where to go if I ever need an axle for my tractor. (For groups of up to five, Nigel requests Rs2,200 and lunch, which costs around Rs1,000 per person.)
(Sadly Nigel Hankin died two months ago)

Bangalore
 Melissa A. Bell Arun's Bangalore Between 7am and 10am on Sundays, Arun Pai hits the climax of his marketing spiel. For a captive audience of CEOs, vice-presidents, anonymous tourists and sharp citizens, Pai sexes up beleaguered Bangalore. Brushing aside the IT stars and the traffic smokescreens, he shows them a city that lived a couple of hundred of years ago. "The Sunday morning Victorian Bangalore walk (at Rs495 per head, including brunch) isn't even profitable any more, but it's the best introduction to what we do," says Pai. "If anyone calls me up with questions or inquiries for a special-interest group, I simply invite them to our signature walk." 


Starting with a half-minute silence under the porch of the Holy Trinity Church, at one end of the super-busy M.G. Road, 37-year-old Pai urges the group to look through the archway into an avenue that, from that angle, fits every straight-and-narrow concept of colonial construction. Suddenly, it isn't so hard to imagine, circa 1791, a garrison marching down the street, intent on the Bangalore Fort, where Tipu Sultan reigns as the only threat to British supremacy in the south. Part extempore actor, part pop historian, part brilliant marketing tactician, Pai prides himself on customizing Bangalore-and, increasingly, non-urban Karnataka-to suit every taste. During the recent India International Coffee Festival, which drew Starbucks director Colman Cuff and Ernesto Illy of Illycaffe to the city, Pai drew up a By/2 Coffee Tour (by/2 being the local equivalent of Mumbai's cutting chai), which steered clear of Koshy's and Café Coffee Days and headed to the legendary MTR for an experience of coffee by the yard. If that sounds suspiciously like making India sound exotic, Pai is quick to defend himself: "This was a group that knew everything about coffee, from beans to baristas. But this method of cooling the coffee was something they had never seen before." If Pai can be pinned down to a single designation, it would probably be this: The Man Who Helps You See What You Look At. Over the past couple of years-Bangalore Walks, largely a one-man show, was launched on 1 August 2005-any number of Bangalore's own, and visitors, have perceived the significance of the missing name in the church plaque commemorating martyred Hussars (an elite British regiment) and appreciated why Bangalore is the only city outside Germany to celebrate Oktoberfest. Exhaustive research, including long chats with elderly residents, meticulous networking ("especially with the security staff," grins Pai) and umpteen dry runs ensure every new tour is a hit. "My walks are about a-ha moments," says Pai. His own epiphany came after an itinerant youth spread across IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore and Arthur Andersen in Delhi and London. "Watching the Beefeaters at the Tower of London, I realized we knew all about the Battle of Trafalgar, but nothing about the Battle of Bangalore." If it's an urban jungle out there, Pai is the GPRS. To culture, history and a lot of fun. (For details, log on to www.bangalorewalks.com

Kolkata (Calcutta)
Sumana Mukherjee Akhil's Kolkata At 8am, 67-year-old Akhil Sircar, a man of small frame, waits for me at the corner of Beadon Street, North Kolkata. We meet him for a tour of old mansions that has been North Kolkata's pride since the days of the Raj. Sircar's familiarity with the nooks and corners of these meandering by-lanes is unmistakable, as is his wry sense of humour and passion about their architecture and conservation. Most of these houses are about 150 years old, and my naive questions about their history are answered by reprimanding words-"Europeans and Americans were far more interested in architecture than us Indians, you know." A teacher of architecture and town planning by profession and an enlisted conservation architect of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, he is still fighting lawsuits for the preservation of structures that would otherwise be razed to build multi-storey buildings. 

Sircar began these tours 10 years ago, with the initiative of Conservation and Research of Urban Traditional Architecture, a Kolkata-based organization. Most of his tours, conducted largely during winter, cover two routes: in and around Dalhousie Square, and the other starting at the Beadon Street post office (earlier, the private theatre of Chatu Babu, son of Ram Dulal, the most famous businessman of North Kolkata) and ending at Raj Bati, the royal family mansion of Raja Nab Krishna. We proceed along the second route. Sircar is full of anecdotes from the Colonial era-traders, agents, zamindars and governor generals abound in his stories. Our first stop: Ram Dulal's family estate. The story goes that Dulal once earned a fortune by selling a sunken ship and built a house for his family, another for his mistress and a few Shiva temples scattered around this neighbourhood. The Mitra House at Dorji Para lane once had an open roof. All these mansions have an outer courtyard, an outhouse and an inner courtyard. Other emblematic features include a Thakurbari (holy shrine), always facing the north or the east, Venetian blinds, timber beams, cast iron work in balconies and classical motifs of cherubim and stained glass work on walls and pillars. A little ahead, Sircar identifies a house whose pillars were recently broken down for a car parking area in its inner courtyard. Many descendents of these families now sublet their premises to hosiery shops, printing presses and goldsmiths. Through a three-dome masjid and verandahs like open wharves, we emerged at the Blacker Square, once cursed with a series of plagues. Our walk ends at the decrepit Raj Bati. Around its side walls, Sircar leads us to a sprawling entertainment hall, where the Raja entertained the British because they were barred from entering the main house with the holy shrine. Adjacent to it is a wall with holes carved into them. "The women of the house were forbidden to attend parties that took place in this hall. So, they would peep through these holes and satisfy themselves," Sircar says. Imagine the stories these walls would have been privy to. (For details, log on to www.iisd.com


Mumbai (Bombay)
Aishwarya Iyer Abha's Mumbai "Thank you for calling the Bombay Heritage Walks, please note that we will resume our Sunday public walks from June 2007..." It's not the most promising introduction to the BHW, but then persistence has to be a part of the regime when you're trying to track down Abha Bahl, our young Mumbai expert. It doesn't help that her office is a nest at the back of her in-laws' legendary Punjabi Chandu Halwai Karachiwala store in South Mumbai. But then a sweet shop, with a 112-year-old history, is an appropriate address for one of the founding ladies of one of the city's oldest heritage tour guide associations. "We're heritage ambassadors, the public link between NGOs, architects, academia and government agencies," says Bahl. 


Once you trace this 32-year-old mother, you realize she's a professional architect who unwittingly happened on the politics of Mumbai's heritage conservation. Bahl and her partner, Brinda Gaitonde, first set up the tour in 1999 when they were fresh architecture school graduates. Now there are 1,500 people on their mailing list for information on the walks. So, what's a straight-laced southsider doing running around the city for permissions from babus so tourists can look at the finer points of properties like the Victoria Terminus? "I love this city, and it's about more than just tourist maps, it's about spreading awareness for the place we live in," she says softly. Despite her political correctness, Bahl has a pet project-Khotachiwadi. The hamlet of 19th century Portuguese-style homes right in the heart of South Mumbai's trading district Girgaum, is BHW's trademark route. And Bahl's favourite crusade. "The Portuguese rule of Bombay wasn't worth much, except for the neighbourhood architecture they inspired, and Khotachiwadi is the best example of that. We can't afford to lose it,"says Bahl. Today, the area is under threat from builders who want cost-effective and profitable high rises in place of quaint brightly-coloured homes with wooden eaves and wrought-iron staircases. And as one family after another has given way, the 40 houses that used to dot this tiny by-lane five years ago have been reduced to just 32 today. The Khotachiwadi story, which began when the British handed a plot of agricultural land to a farming lord, Dadoba Waman Khota, first came to Bahl's attention in 1998, when she worked on a project commissioned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region-Heritage Conservation Society. Today, Bahl, an urban design graduate from Berkeley, and her team of five, leads tours through the city, from walks around Mumbai's Fort and banking areas to the offbeat Khotachiwadi route. "Our most special private tour was for Chelsea Clinton, while she accompanied her father, President Clinton, to India in 2000. The hotel called us," she says, obviously proud that BHW has never touted its services. But it's the last thing on her mind as she weaves in and out of Khotachiwadi's tiny side streets that aren't large enough for even two shoulder-to-shoulder. In a crisp white salwar-kameez, her feet in sequin-studded mojris, she's breathless as she checkpoints the sporadic features of the community: the local wafer company that sits between a cross embedded in its backyard and a Ganapati on the front lawn, the polychromatic facades of the houses, the Goan-Portuguese style interiors, and sudden sprouts of open spaces in the middle of the cloistered neighbourhood. Bahl's last stop on the tour is house number 29B, which has just fallen to a builder's cranes. "I have to see this for myself," she says. The construction workers have dug out a massive ditch where a house with a pretty porch once stood. "They're building a basement car park," she says. There's bound to be a mailer going out about this soon. (Bombay Heritage Walks charges Rs100 per head for adults and Rs50 for students, while special groups of five are charged Rs2,500. For more details, email info@bombayheritagewalks.com.) Manju Sara Rajan Copyright © 2007 HT Media All Rights Reserved
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March 6 2007
Kailash again has come up trumps with this description, 
and we thank him.

Enjoy your next Currie please

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February 16 2007
We are again indebted to Kailash for spotting this realistic look at language today, and to amuse us Thank you Kailash

It's Hinglish, innit?

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News Magazine

English and Hindi mesh in Mumbai

Hinglish - a hybrid of English and south Asian languages, used both in Asia and the UK - now has its own dictionary. Is it really a pukka way to speak?

Are you a "badmash"? And if you had to get somewhere in a hurry, would you make an "airdash"? Maybe you should be at your desk working, instead you're reading this as a "timepass".

These are examples of Hinglish, in which English and the languages of south Asia overlap, with phrases and words borrowed and re-invented.

It's used on the Indian sub-continent, with English words blending with Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi, and also within British Asian families to enliven standard English.

A dictionary of the hybrid language has been gathered by Baljinder Mahal, a Derby-based teacher and published this week as The Queen's Hinglish.

Goodness Gracious Me used Hinglish

"Much of it comes from banter - the exchanges between the British white population and the Asians," she says.

"It's also sometimes a secret language, which is being used by lots of British Asians, but it's never been picked up on."

And in multi-cultural playgrounds, she now hears white pupils using Asian words, such as "kati", meaning "I'm not your friend any more". For the young are linguistic magpies, borrowing from any language, accent or dialect that seems fashionable.

And the dictionary identifies how the ubiquitous "innit" was absorbed into British Asian speech via "haina" - a Hindi tag phrase, stuck on the sentences and meaning "is no?".

Birmingham balti

It's also the language of globalisation. There are more English-speakers in India than anywhere else in the world - and satellite television, movies and the internet mean that more and more people in the sub-continent are exposed to both standard English and Hinglish.

Balti - bucket or curry?

This collision of languages has generated some flavoursome phrases. If you're feeling "glassy" it means you need a drink. And a "timepass" is a way of distracting yourself.

A hooligan is a "badmash" and if you need to bring a meeting forward, you do the opposite of postponing - in Hinglish you can "prepone".

There are also some evocatively archaic phrases - such as "stepney", which in south Asia is used to mean a spare, as in spare wheel, spare mobile or even, "insultingly, it must be said, a mistress," says Ms Mahal.

Its origins aren't in Stepney, east London, but Stepney Street in Llanelli, Wales, where a popular brand of spare tyre was once manufactured

But don't assume that familiar Asian words used in the UK will necessarily translate back. "Balti" will probably be taken to mean bucket in India rather than a type of cooking, as this cuisine owes more to the west Midlands than south Asia.

Ad land

In south Asia, Hinglish has been given a modern, fashionable spin by its use on music channels and in advertising. And it's appeared in the UK on programmes such as Goodness Gracious Me and the Kumars at Number 42, with a catchphrase about "chuddies" (underpants).

IMPORTED FROM INDIA

Pyjamas, caravan, bungalow

Doolally, cushy, dinghy

Pundit, thug

The exporting of words into English has also caught the attention of the south Asian media, with the Times of India reporting: "Brand India has shaken, stirred and otherwise Bangalored the world's consciousness." Yes, "to Bangalore" is another Hinglishism, meaning to send overseas, as in call centres.

The arrival of Hinglish and the influence of Indian words on English are also a reflection of the rise of the Indian sub-continent as an economic power-house.

Language expert David Crystal has described India as having a "unique position in the English-speaking world".

"[It's a] linguistic bridge between the major first-language dialects of the world, such as British and American English, and the major foreign-language varieties, such as those emerging in China and Japan."

But there are much older crossovers between English and the languages of the Indian sub-continent, with many words imported from the soldiers and administrators of the British Raj.

These borrowed words include "pundit", originally meaning a learned man; "shampoo", derived from a word for massage; "pyjamas", meaning a leg garment and "dungarees", originating from the Dungri district of Mumbai.

Even the suburban-sounding "caravan" and "bungalow" - and the funky "bandana" and "bangles" - were all taken from Hindi words.

Pick and mix

It's not only the south Asian languages that have fused with English to take on a new identity.

Turning out the vote in Spanish and English

There is Spanglish, used in parts of the United States where people shift seamlessly between Spanish and English, and where hybrid words are created - such as a sign "No hangear" meaning "No hanging around."

Advertisers in the Far East use a form of fractured English too, as much for its visual impact as its meaning.

But this pick and mix approach should be embraced not resisted, says Ms Mahal. It's natural and inevitable that languages will adapt and change to whatever is around.

"There might be puritans in any culture who say you can only be the master of one language, and that you shouldn't try to cross two languages. But do we only have one fixed identity? I don't think so, I think we can step in and out of different identities - and we can do the same with languages.

"People might say this is my language, this is way it has always been. Well, it hasn't. Shakespeare's English was different from Chaucer's. The evolution of language is never going to stop."


Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

As George Orwell wrote in 1984, the fewer words we have, the more restricted our thinking becomes. With this in mind, I embrace the evolution and expansion of any language (especially the one I use). Adding words to your language, allows for more freedom of thought and expression. However, it does also mean you need a better spellchecker.
DS,
Bromley, England

We have always used a mix of English, Gujarati and Swahili in our everyday language. It is so embedded that we do not realise it. So all this is natural and continues to evolve as more mixtures of languages occur. It's great listening to people in Kenya and those here as well those from India. We just mix more as we expand use of the internet as well.
Kiran Chauhan, Leicester

I love the integration of foreign languages into the English language. It's one of the reasons I studied it, and one of the reasons etymology was my favourite subject. Let's face it, English is a mish-mash of foreign languages with added dodgy pronunciation and spelling!
Martje Ross,
Lancaster, UK

This is gruntling news - a most appointing story for anyone who enjoys flirting with language. And let's not overlook the claims of Honklish and Singlish too, lah! All those dynamic Chuppies (Chinese-speaking upwardly-mobile people) can't be wrong . . . !
Tom, Lewes

The latest fashionable version of Thai also contains a lot of English words. To the with-it crowd, "chill chill" now means relaxing and "hiso" (from high society) posh. For example, a commonly said phrase "pai nang chill chill kan" translates to "let's go and lounge around."
Nophol T.,
Bangkok, Thailand

I would query the origin of "innit" as from "haina". My father told me off for saying innit in the sixties, it is from "isn't it", especially around Bristol. Check Dirk Robson's books, Krek waiters peak brissle, and Eurekal.
Dave Gibbs, Weston super Mare, England

As a British Asian, I grew up in West London in the late Sixties/early Seventies, whilst my cousins grew up in the West Midlands. The origin of the word, "init" is pure Brummie - and we (in the South) adopted it after listening to our cousins.
Gurmit Flora,
London

I agree with Dave Gibbs about the origin of "innit". In rural Gloucestershire I was being corrected by my parents well before 1950 for using innit istead of isn't it.
Les Giles, Great Missenden, Bucks

The previous comments about "innit" being from "isn't it" are indeed correct, but your respondents have missed the point being made. English has many forms of these so-called "tag questions" depending on the sentence: "isn't it", "aren't we", "weren't they", "don't you". Hindi has just one ("na" or "hai na"), just as French ("n'est-ce pas") and German ("nicht wahr") do. The usage being described is that these English speakers now use "isn't it" (reduced to "innit") in ALL cases, and not just where you would expect it grammatically. The suggestion is that it's the way it's being used that has been influenced by other languages, not the etymology of the word itself.
David E Newton,
London

To Dave Gibbs and Les Giles: The article doesn't claim "innit" comes from "haina". It only states "innit" was introduced into Hinglish as an invariant tag (in the same way "haina" is used in Hindi), i.e. a tag that can substitute any other kind of English tag (English: "We've seen this movie before, haven't we", Hinglish: "We've seen this movie before, innit").
Wim Vandenberghe, Hässelby,
Stockholm

Very good article. You can also add other Indian words like cash (From kasu - Tamil), catamaran (Kattu maram - Tamil), mango (mangai - Tamil), juggernaut (jegannath -Sanskrit).
Arun,
Stratford, London

Another example of the erosion of Britishness. Why isn't there an article on how Asians that come to Britain are becoming more British, instead of the locals becoming more foreign? Why is the BBC so terrified of Britishness?
John Alexander,
Portsmouth

I had always wonderd why there is a pub in Southall called "Glassy Junction". Now I know. Thank you for enlightening me!
Steve Burns,
Reading

Hinglish? Sounds good to me. Language should be alive. And to Mr Alexander of Portsmouth - I might live in Quebec but I still consider myself a Brit. Its just that my concept of "Britishness" includes using local French argot terms in my everyday speech. Learn to live with it.
Chris,
Verdun, Quebec

It is the greatest strength of the English language that it adopts anything it can use to enrich itself. This is one of the reasons why English is such dominant language internationally and why it is supremely well suited to the production of poetry and literature of so many varieties. Hinglish is a wonderful example of a living language in action, evolving to meet the needs of its speakers. I can't wait to call somebody at work and "prepone" a future meeting!
Amanda,
Bradford, UK

A very good article indeed. Indians have no doubt got their language embedded into English but in doing so they have also made their language(at least spoken one) 'corrupt'. You would see more and more of younger generation speaking English rather than their mother tongue (which could be one of the hundreds of languages India has). Let us take the case of Kashmir (where I am from). Kids are actually discouraged to speak Kashmiri (their native language) by their parents/elders which I feel is disgusting. No doubt English is a must in today's world but not at the expense of one's mother tongue. This has reached to the point in Kashmir where over 95% of people cannot write Kashmiri and a slighlty smaller percentage cannot read their language. By the way, I can read Kashmiri to some extent but cannot write it, which I really feel sad about.
Saqib, England

Well, I am originally from Wales, and can certainly vouch for the strong existence for a 'Wenglish' (mixture of Welsh and English). Great fun to use and just another way of expressing oneself.
Ruth,
London

It is all well and good enriching languages, but I think the Indians have gone one step too far to try and destroy thier own language. If you listen to an Indian news broadcast one in Hindi and the other one in English you will find that the news in Hindi uses a lot of English words and the news in English is pure English.This applies to all programmes whether it is in Engand or India.
Ram Maharaj,
London

English is so rich because it has never been crystallised like German or French. As long as it keeps growing and developing it will remain predominant as the most democratic language of all. However, people in Britain must accept that it is no longer our language and that we will one day be simply speaking a dialect of a much wider common tongue.
Andy Crick,
Oxfordshire, UK

Fascinating! I was checking out the BBC take on our election and found a new source of interesting news stories. We do not say "Innit" here in the US, but the use of the word "like" cannot be, like, described, like, you know?
Whitney Wetherill,
Clinton Town, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA

On the derivation of 'caravan'. Does this have Indian roots or Arabic. There is a city in Tunisia named 'Kairouan/Qairouan'. Arabs may have borrowed it from he Indians like the numerals though...
Khan,
London

This is a truly delightful piece. English, whilst basically a Germanic language, is already a glorious concoction of French, Nordic, Latin, Greek with trace elements of Celtic and much else besides. I see no reason to be other than grateful that we have such a wonderful language and additional Hindi elements will only add to its richness. English is a prime example of Saussure's principle of diachronic change. Long may it be so.
Dr Ian Sedwell,
Weymouth

Don't forget Franglais, Chinglish, Konglish, Janglish, Singlish and Texmex. These dialects will always appear where main languages meet.
Glenn ,
St Helens

 

February 16 2007

A DIE HARD FAN GETS UNDER BRUCE'S SKIN
Veenu Sandhu
New Delhi, January 27


ARMED WITH a photograph of Bruce Willis and a couple
of thousand dollars, John Joseph Conway, a 43-year-old
firefighter from Chicago, checked into Sir Ganga Ram
Hospital on Tuesday.  He had a bizarre request to make
to hospital's plastic surgeons: he
wanted to look like
his hero Bruce Willis.

Now, recuperating from his three-hour-long surgery,
which cost him $1,600, Conway says, "I am a

firefighter... I need to look the part.  I wanted to
improve my jawline.  Bruce Willis has a nice, strong
jaw."


Dr. Vivek Kumar, one of the three plastic surgeons who
operated upon Conway on Thursday, says: "After he
contacted us on e-mail, he said that as a man who
jumps into burning buildings, people in the community
look up to him and he needed to maintain his macho
image." The doctors studied his face for three days to
give him the look he wanted.

A couple of hours after the procedure, the fireman
says he is "very satisfied".  He plans to bring his
63-year-old mother here for a $1,500 face lift.  "My
40-year-old sister, who is studying to be a teacher,
will follow."  Between the three of them, the Conways
will pay $4,600 for the medical procedures,
post-operative care and hospital stay here.  Back
home, it would have cost them $40,000.

The Conways are part of the burgeoning influx of
medical tourists flocking to India's hospitals,
because treatment is not only cheap but also at par
with the best in the world.  This is Conway's second
trip for surgery to India.  He was last here in April
2005 for an eyelid surgery that cost him one-fifth of
what he would have had to pay in the US. "With the
money I saved, I got to see a new country - incredible
India," he smiles.
vsandhu@hindustantimes.com

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India's rickshaws

Colonial yokes are not bad for all

Feb 1st 2007 | KOLKATA
From The Economist print edition

The world's last rickshaw-pullers are battling against
extinction

SOME very poor men, perhaps 18,000 of them, went on
strike in Kolkata on January 24th to protest against a
ban on their livelihood, ostensibly imposed for their
own good. Much good may it do them. The Communist
government of West Bengal has long wanted to outlaw
rickshaws, of the original man-pulled variety, that
now exist only in Kolkata. Last December it did so, on
the grounds that man-powered transport was inhuman.
But what else are the thousands of rickshaw-wallahs,
in one of the world's poorest cities, to do?

Beg, is the best guess of a group of rickshaw-pullers
on Debendra Ghosh Road, a typically crowded alley in
central Kolkata. Like most of their fellows across the
city, they are migrants from Bihar, India's poorest
and third-most populous state. Earning around 150
rupees ($3.50) a day, with an average fare of 20
cents, they are not flush. But with an annual income
of a little over $1,000, after paying rent on their
rickshaws, they make roughly double West Bengal's
average. “I may not like it, you may not like it, but
I have children to feed,” said Mahendra Paswan, a
rickshaw-wallah for 26 years, with bare feet, a
blue-check lungi, and six offspring in school.

West Bengal's government sees the rickshaw trade as an
outworn symbol of the colonial yoke. “A disgraceful
practice that flourished when the British lorded over
the people,” is how Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief
minister, has described it.

The rickshaws are used by Kolkatans of all classes,
especially in streets too narrow for taxis. But the
chief minister, despite his Marxist mantra, has been
furiously opening the state to business over the past
six years. His vision, which includes making West
Bengal one of India's top three producers of
information technology by 2010, is apparently
incompatible with the herd of “human horses” on
Kolkata's streets.

The rickshaw-pullers are going down battling. When the
government started destroying unlicensed rickshaws a
few years ago, they formed themselves into a union to
fight the ban. “We are all faced with ruin,” lamented
Mr Paswan, who fears that cycle-rickshaws, which the
government says it wants instead, are even more
arduous to operate. In the meantime, Mr Paswan can
offer a pleasant trot across Kolkata, an excellent way
to view to view the city's fine colonial buildings.
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November 1 2006
Our thanks to Kailash for the following twos stories, and letting us see how others see us !

CURRY PROTECTS AGEING BRAIN’

New York: A diet containing curry may help protect the ageing brain, according a study of elderly Asians in which increased curry consumption was associated with better cognitive performance on standard tests.

Curcumin, found in the curry spice turmeric, possesses potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

It’s known that long-term users of anti-inflammatory drugs have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, although these agents can have harmful effects in the stomach, liver and kidney, limiting their use in the elderly.

Antioxidants, such as vitamin E, have been shown in protect neurons in lab experiments but have had limited success in alleviating cognitive decline in patients with mild-to-moderate dementia.

Dr. Tze-Pin Ng from National University of Singapore and colleagues compared scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) for three categories of regular curry consumption in 1,010 non-demented Asians who were between 60 and 93 years old in 2003.  Most of the study subjects consumed curry at least occasionally (once every 6 months), 43% ate curry often or very often while 16% said they never or rarely ate curry.

They found that people who consumed curry “occasionally” and “often or very often” had significantly better MMSE scores than did those who “never or rarely” consumed curry.  “Even with the low and moderate levels of curry consumption reported by the respondents, better cognitive performance was observed,” Ng and colleagues report.

Curry is used widely in India and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease among India’s elderly ranks is four times less than in US.
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 November 1 2006

ASH’S NEW FAN IS ‘DEVDAS’CAMERON

Vijay Dutt  --London, October 18 

AS ANY Indian fed on Bollywood lore will tell you, think Devdas and you cannot but think Paro.  Now, even the British stiff upper lip is quivering in agreement.

Which is why, when Indophile David Cameron, known as the Tory answer to Tony Blair, was “re-christened” Shriman Devdas Cameron at a pre-Diwali reception at Bhaktivedanta Temple in Watford by Gauri Das, president of ISKCON in Britain, pat came the reply,” I am told the name Devdas is very popular in Bollywood.  I hope the next time I go to Mumbai I will be able to meet Aishwarya Rai.

That Aishwarya was Paro to Shah Rukh Khans’ Devdas in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie might have been lost on many Britons but Cameron is a well-known Indophile – he has even started a blog on his travels to India this September.  And going by this remark, he seems to know his Bollywood. 

The Tory leader was delighted at the array of rituals that welcomed him at the Temple and went around showing his “Kaleva” – a red thread – on his right wrist.  To the over 200 members of the Hindu community, he said, “I hope this would be my lucky charm for the Prime Minister’s question Hour.” He also promised to take special care of the small statue of Lord Balaji which was presented to him.

In his keynote address, Cameron praised India and the role of the Indian community in Britain.  “The festival of lights sends a message of hope and optimism that all of us, of whatever faith, can embrace enthusiastically.  Much of what I have to say to you… is about the kind of Britain I want to see for everyone.  But first, I’d like to say something about the Hindu community.  It’s no surprise that you have become such a successful part of British society.”

He pointed out, “Many of the values that Hindus brought with them when they arrived here are those traditionally associated with Britain: tolerance, honesty, enterprise, and respect for the law.”
“Hindus make up 1 per cent of the population of England and Wales but only 0.025 per cent of the prison population.  You live independently of the government but never shirk from contributing to society.” The BJP would love Cameron.  There were more paeans to the unemployment of any minority community.  And you help to strengthen (aspects) that have been in decline here, such as commitment to the family.  Hindus are more likely to stay married than people from any other community in Britain.”

Heralding a change in the Tory approach so far on selection of parliamentary nominees, Cameron said, “I also want to see more Hindu MPs….In the past ten months I’ve moved my party back to the center ground of British politics.  People deserve a real choice of government.  I will make sure that there is always a sensible and moderate alternative to vote for.”

He warned of the challenges ahead. “I have no doubt that Hindus will play a full part in meeting those challenges.  Not just in the fields of business and enterprise, where this community have made an amazing contribution out of all proportion to its size.  But also n the public sector where so many Hindus serve as doctors, as chemists, as civil servants”.

Cameron was full of praise for “the dynamism of the Indian economy and the vibrancy of Indian democracy.  There is a “clear sense that here is an emerging super power” and reiterated that” I want to see a new special relationship in the 21st century between Britain and India.  Not simply because of our shared heritage, values and the English language.  But also because of the challenges we face together.  Key issues such as the impact of globalisation and the threat of terrorism.  And, of course, the need to create and maintain successful, pluralist, multifaith democracies.”
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September 20 2006

COFFEE BRAND REPLACES SIKH IMAGE

Yudhvir Rana / TNN

  Amritsar:  Sikhs here are pleased after a Scottish coffee brand changed the label on its jars that showed a Sikh servant serving coffee to a Scottish soldier.  Reports said the new label on ‘Camp’ now shows a Sikh drinking coffee along with a Scottish soldier.

After the incident, Sikhs are hoping that their incessant campaign to acquaint the world with their distinct identity would not only restore the turban’s pride but would also help in lowering incidents of hate crime against their community.

Welcoming the move, Ajaybirpal Singh Randhawa, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) municipal councilor and secretary general of the party, said, “With the Scottish company changing the label of their product, incidents of racism against Sikhs are likely come down.”  “Filmmakers here should take lessons from the incident and stop portraying Sikhs in comic roles.  A sub-committee has been constituted to search the internet for denigrative images of Sikhs and take appropriate measures to change them,” Randhawa said.

Shiromani Youth Akali Dal (Badal) president Gurpartap Singh Tikka said the party had issued messages to its units across the world to intensify the movement to restore their pride and motivate Sikh youths not to cut their hair.

“We have asked them to identify similar denigrative images of Sikhs and take up the issues with concerned authorities,”  Tikka said.  Similar instructions have been issued to SYAD leaders in India.  “It is a matter of pride for us and we will hold a rally in support of turban pride,” he said.

DIGNITY RESTORED:  As opposed to the old label, new label on Camp shows a Sikh drinking coffee along with a Scottish soldier. 
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September 20 2005

THE ROYCE ROLLS BACK

The good times are back again?  Once upon a time in India, a Rolls-Royce was the ultimate in luxury and maharajas thought nothing of buying half a dozen at a time.  But with independence, this emblem of British rule stopped being sold in India.  The maharajas lost much of their power, status and money and the market for 1 m pound cars dried up.  The Rollers were left to rust, or sold to Europe and America.

Now, with the Indian economy expanding at a dramatic rate and the ranks of wealthy entrepreneurs swelling, the Rolls (now owned by BMW) is ready to make a comeback, says Jeremy Hart of The Sunday Times, London.  In May, Rolls-Royce joined luxury brands including Ferrari, Porsche, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel and Bulgari and opened its first Indian showroom.  Mumbai’s Navnit Motors hopes ultimately to sell 30 Rolls-Royces a year, especially if the luxury tax, which adds 107% to the Rs.3.5 crore cost of a Roller, is cut.  Last year Yohan Poonawalla, 34, owner of a biotech company, bought the first modern Rolls-Royce Phantom sold in India.

In its glory days of the 1920s and 1930s, Rolls-Royce executives coined the phrase “doing a Mysore”, referring to the Maharaja of Mysore who bought his Rollers in batches of seven.  India was one of Rolls-Royce’s biggest markets, making up 20% of global sales.  Indian princes demanded custom-built models for tiger hunting, “purdah” models with thick curtains on the windows, and jewel-encrusted ones that had to be guarded during trips to the garage to prevent pilfering.
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May5 2006

Once again we have to thank Kailash for keeping us 
informed, the use of the word Scotch has been left as is, 
but should say Scottish when referring to people with 
roots going back to Scotland and Scotch when referring 
to the greatest drink

Kailash writes: Following appeared in the Hindustan Times 
recently,enjoyed reading the one on John Kenneth Galbraith 
who was US Ambassador during 60-62, highly respected and
trusted American here even in cold war years.  

SCOTCH WIT

AN INTELLECTUAL giant who stood six feet eight inches
tall, taught Economics at Harvard University, served
as ambassador and was a member of think-tanks under US
presidents, would be expected to be a serious person.
But not so John Kenneth Galbraith, Former US envoy to
India, who died on Sunday at the age of 97.  In his
book Ambassador'ss Journal he wondered why most women
in underdeveloped nations had overdeveloped bosoms.

Galbraith was a Scotch-Canadian and proud of it.  He
recounted his early days in The Scotch, a book meant
to please the author and not the people.  But it had
the typical Galbraith touch, brilliant wit and humour
and full of whimsical nostalgia.  He recounts that
first names like John, Jim, Malcolm and Dan abound
among his fellow men.  But there was no confusion.
Because there were Big Johns and Little Johns, some
Black Johns and regrettably there was a Lame John, a
Dirty John and a Bald John.


While some Scotch Canadians believed in large
families, others pondered over the question whether a
wife was really economically essential.  The moral
code was strict in the community, and to father an
illegitimate child was to be an outcast.  An
adventurous Macllum boy who was courting one of two
sisters would sneak into the girls’ badrbedroomnce, to
avoid a suspicious father, the young man hid himself
between the two sisters under the sheets and by
mistake got the wrong sister pregnant.  Of course, he
did marry her but his standing in the clan went down,
explains Galbraith.

Courtships and illicit affairs were difficult in the

community because of the lack of suitable meeting
places.  Even normal endearments sounded out of place
when most men referred to their wives as ‘my auld
woman’ or ‘my auld lady’ A swain could not take his
girl to the barn because that would make his
intentions clear.  The region was bitterly cold for
most of the year and undressing fully was difficult.
With passion sidelined, the main Focus was on earning 
money.  The Scotch worshipped money for its own sake.  
They earned it and did not spend it wastefully.  As Galbraith explains, the Scotch agreed with Dr Johnson’s views, 
“A man, who keeps his money, has in reality, more use for 
it, than he can have by spending it.”


The community was heavily dependent on farming.
Tapping maple trees for syrup was a major event.  A
team of two Scotch found that commercially produced
syrup lacked the flavour and switched back to the
traditional method.  The syrup was kept in open tubs
which attracted falling leaves, moths, a couple of
field mice and their droppings.  When this concoction
was boiled, the original flavour was restored.

This humour was the essence of Galbraith’s life.  The
Scotch is an unalloyed delight.  It has the flavour of
the traditional maple syrup.
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March 29 2006

255 YEARS ON, CLIVE’S GIANT PET DIES 
IN KOLKATA ZOO



Kolkata: When he was born, the Americans were still
plotting their independence, the French fiddling with
the concepts of justice, equality, liberty and
fraternity.  The British were sailing for far-off
lands on wooden ships powered by sails.

When he died, Voyager had already set off on its
10-year journey to Pluto.  Two hundred and fifty five
years – that’s how long Addwaita lived, spending his
early years in Robbert Clive’s garden and his last 130
years or so in the Kolkata zoo.

The giant Aldabra tortoise was possibly the oldest
animal on earth.  He died in the zoo on Wednesday

morning, of liver failure.  He’s survived by no one.
He had been a bachelor all his life.

The story goes that British seafarers brought Addwaita
along with three other mates from the Seychelles
Islands and presented them to Clive.  The four lived
in Clive’s sprawling Latbagan estate at Barrackpore.
Three of the tortoises died in the foreign environs.
But Addwaita survived.  A tortoise of simple habits, a
vegetarian quite happy eating wheat bran, carrot,
lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt Addwaita
didn’t need much more.  Not even a partner.

For the past few days he hadn’t been keeping well.
“We were keeping a close watch on him.  A special
attendant had been engaged.  He had developed a wound
on his chest.  A crack also developed around the
wound,” said forest minister Jogesh Burman.  But

finally, it was liver failure.  “This morning, zoo
keepers found him immobile.  Immediately, the zoo
director was informed.  Officials rushed there with
the vet who was treating him.  He was declared dead,”
said a senior zoo official.

“He was cremated, but his shell will be processed and
preserved in the zoo,” said the forest minister.  It
was Burman who had given him the name – Addwaita.
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March 18 2006

This is part of the story below about Chris Patten;s daughter which was missed on the first 
communication
of February 6 

An academician-politician, and father of an actor who has invoked feelings of intense patriotism among thecountry’s youth in Rang 
De Basanti – Chris Patten ishere on a mission

Last time, the world saw him, Hong Kong’s last governor-general Chris Patten was bidding a teary goodbye to then British colony, Hong Kong.  The year was 1997.  Nine years down the line, the
academician-cum-politician is in news for a completely
different reason.  He is the father of Alice Patten –whose character Sue started a revolution not just in Rang De Basanti but in the hearts of the Indians too.

“I have been coming here for two decades now and I amhappy that Alice has continued the tradition,” says the proud papa. “A little before her audition, she was asked if she’d be comfortable with Hindi.  After all, she had to speak that language in the film.  Without
telling them, she took a quick lesson that same afternoon and gave the audition in Hindi itself.  That must have impressed the film-makers and, of course,her being a linguist helped,”  Chris recounts.

Needless to say, Alice got the role.  “I was happy that not only was she acting in an Indian film, she was also acting with finest actors of this country like Aamir Khan and Om Puri,” adds Patten.

Talking about the intense feelings of patriotism that the film evokes, he says, “This is something that people anywhere can identify with.  The feeling of patriotism is so strong that it can get to anyone in
any part of the world whether you’re Indian or British.”  And Rang De Basanti has today taken over his other favourite Hindi film, Lagaan.  “Both the films have been terrific.  They represent the fact
that Indian films are not for just mass entertainment, they’re serious stuff.  And films like these are
making people across sit up and take notice.”

Now that the daughter has done her bit for India. It’s dad’s turn.  “India is the largest liberal democracy which will, one day, change the world. Consequently, we want to strengthen relations between
the two countries in different spheres and attract more students from India to our universities,” he says.  It was during his days at Oxford that Patten’s political innings began.  The most memorable moment, however, remains his stint in Hong Kong.  “I was there
as the governor for almost five years and must say it was most exciting to be part of an important moment in the history,” he says.
PURNIMA SHARMA 

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February 6 2006

EMPIRE’S LAST DAUGHTER BACK IN LIMELIGHT

THE ROUTE to fame in Britain for most actors, it seems, is via Bollywood. The latest example is Alice Patten, daughter of the Chancellor of Oxford University and the last British Governor in Hong Kong. She had never been written about or interviewed as much for her acting talents as after her stint in Rang De Basanti.

Ironically, she is the girl who had cried as Hong Kong blipped out of the Empire. “I became a symbol that day.” She reminisces. “The human face of a little bit of history.”

On her stint in Bollywood, she says, “Bombay is extraordinary, but there is hierarchy you will never find in London.
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February 28 2006

Kailash kindly sent this from the Khaleej Times of today

India renames Assam state to Asom
(Reuters)

28 February 2006

GUWAHATI, India - The government in India’s restive Assam has renamed the state Asom, saying Assam was the corrupt version of its original name used by British colonial rulers.

“We have decided to revert back to Asom which was used by the indigenous people instead of Assam, a corrupt version left by the Britishers,” state government spokesman Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.

Assam is in India’s remote northeast and was ruled by the indigenous Ahoms for six centuries from 1228. Ahom means ”uneven” as the region has many hills.

The original name came from the Ahom dynasty which ruled before the British occupied the state more than 150 years ago and set up tea gardens and oil refineries.

In the past 26 years, thousands of people have died in separatist violence in the state, linked to the rest of India only by a tiny strip of land.

The powerful rebel group, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) -- fighting for independence for the the state of 26 million people -- has been writing the spelling of “Assam” as “Asom” since the outfit was formed in 1979.

In the past decade, several Indian cities have been renamed to reflect local cultures, such as Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai and Calcutta to Kolkata.  
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February 18 2006
It is interesting world we are living in, what will happen in the next ten years? 

The two items below are in continuation of the the grandson of Henry Ford's venture in the Himalayas.

 Thank you Kailash for keeping us informed of items of interest which are not usually reported in the international press


GODS TO DECIDE SKI RESORT FATE
RAVEENA Aulakh
Manali, February 15

FORD VERSUS Kullu gods has reached its finaround.Snow and rain battered Manali is preparing for the clincher in style. The bone of contention is a $150 million Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) project, slated to come up on the outskirts of Shuru and Prini, two villages in Manali.

A brainchild of Alfred Ford, grandson Henry Ford, the resort has pitted the local oracles against the maverick Iskcon devotee, who goes by the Indian name
of Ambarish Das.

Representatives of nearly 300 Kullu deities will congregate on Thursday for a “Badi Jagati Puch (grand convention)” to decide the fate of the $300 million venture.

The ski blizzard has been raging through the slopes for almost two months now.Ever since the deal was inked. HSV demanded water rights from the streams and grazing land, which the villagers resisted. Other issues include environmental degradation, felling and apprehension over the use of chemicals to preserve snow on the slopes for a longer period. The resort, which Ford has promised will give the Swiss destinations are run for their money, will be spread across 100 acres.

HSV proposed, but the Gods disposed. In an unusual request, the Jamlu Devta, through his oracle, demanded a “Jagati Puch” for a final say. “That’s just what I am doing,” clarifies former BJP MP Maheshwar Singh, the erstwhile “king” of Kullu, the caretaker of the chief deity of Raghunathji  Busy preparing for the “Puch” at Naggar Castle, he brushes off allegations that the proposed village has become a veritable political yo-yo.
“There is a ski-lift near Jagatsukh. No one opposes it,” he says. But this “Jagati Puch”, he says, is “not because the Gods re against development but because they don’t want their sacred land, in the upper reaches, to be desecrated”.

KULLU ‘GODS’ VETO FORD’S $500-MILLION SKI VILLAGE PLAN 
By Jagdish Bhatt / TNN

Kullu: The “gods” have spoken. Alfred Ford cannot make his $500-million Himalayan Ski Village here.
Devis and devtas of Kullu valley gathered on Thursday to pass a judgment on Ford and his ambitious plans for a ski resort in this scenic region. And they were clearly not impressed with either the Ford scion’s grand venture or his frantic claims of being a Hindu.

Ever since Ford announced his project for the area, propelled adequately by local politicians, the region has been ravaged by a fierce debate that has pitted profit against piety.

Descendant of the erstwhile Kullu state, Maheshwar Singh, who also doubles up as the vice regent (first servant) of Lord Raghunath and a BJP leader, had earlier said that all the gods and goddess would congregate on this day to decide – through their human mediums – if Ford could go ahead with the resort.

“In the jagati (congregation of gods), we had invited the various devtas and devis of the valley. Over 90%of the about 175 deities who had come here were against the proposed ski village,” Singh, a former BJP MP, said triumphantly.  Singh further remarked, “The gods of the region have given their view. There is no platform above the jagati and at least at the religious level the verdict is final.”

Going a step further, Singh said that “each of the deities” had been spoken to and the view on the project being inimical to the interest of the people was unanimous.  The deities apparently also said they would leave the place and the people will have to live without their blessings if the go-ahead was given for the ski plan. The jagati on Thursday was called after a gap of 36 years, the last being held in 1970 when the valley was hit by a famine. Jagatis are held only to decide in case of exceptional situations.

There are others, though, who say the whole thing is a BJP-engineered hogwash.“We will get better livelihood, more facilities and enhanced infrastructure if the resort comes up,” said Teja Thakur in Solang Valley. “Villagers here do realize the good things that will come with this,” Thakur said.
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CONFRONTED BY KULLU ‘GODS’, 
FORD INVOKES HIS AMBARISH DAS ID

While Harry Ford’s company is battling over an overhaul plan that involves laying off 15,000 workers and shutting down plants across the United States, thousand of miles away, his great-grandson is embroiled in a curious controversy that has pitted him against local gods.

A $500 million project proposed by Alfred Ford and approved by the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government, to turn some of the hills into a ski resort, is confronted by the local deities of the area.

First it was Jamlu devta, the most important deity of Kullu, who “advised” the locals against the project through an oracle. He also asked king of the erstwhile Kullu state, Maheshwar Singh, to hold a congregation of all devtas on the issue. Singh is the ex-chief of BJP’s state unit and a former party MP.

The latest salvo that the company has to defend itself against is that the promoter isn’t a Hindu. Jamlu devta too had ‘warned’ that the project would bring in people whose beliefs were not in tune with Hinduism and they would ‘pollute’ the area.

These charges have led the promoters of the project to

highlight the ‘Hindu’ credentials of Henry Ford’s great grandson. Incidentally, Alfred Ford, chairman of the Himalayan Ski Village company, is a devotee of Lord Krishna, a teetotaler and a vegetarian. Married to a Hindu woman from West Bengal for over 20 years, he is known as Ambarish Das in Iskcon circles.

“When Alfrred Ford visited Kullu valley two months ago, he went to all temples that he could, to pay obeisance to deities as they were his priority over business,” the company’s senior director Ajay Dabra said.
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February 4 2006
Kailash has once again provided us with a piece of history and we thank him

The Railway serving Darjeeling has been operating for well over a century and here is the reports of what has happened since

Smitten by the magic of a ride on the DHR (now a Unesco world heritage property) 10 years ago, British railway baron and chairman of Chiltern Railways Adrian Shooter bought the world’s oldest-surviving DHR locomotive – model number 778 built in 1889 by Sharp
Stewart and Company, Manchester – to restore it to perfect condition and run it in his personal garden.

The Indian government had sold off the locomotive to Hesston Steam Museum in 1960, not realizing what it’s worth would be 40 years later, after being declared a world heritage by Unesco.

Shooter shipped the locomotive in a container from the US to a steam rail workshop in Tyseley. Birmingham, where he got it restored to perfect running condition. He now runs the train in his private garden. He has laid tracks over 1.5 km, making the loop
in the shape of the number eight. He has also built a station that looks exactly like the original Sukna station in Darjeeling besides laying a pathway that criss-crosses over the rail tracks, exactly the way it is in Darjeeling.

He has also purchased an Ambassador car to run along the train, a common sight in Darjeeling.

Here are a few photographs taken from the website

http://irfca.org/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=20463




world’s oldest-surviving DHR locomotive – mo del number 778 built in 1889 by Sharp Stew art and Company, Manchester

 

 

DHR loco 19B at Tyseley, Birmingham, on 19 Jan. 2003, following its move from the US to the UK. Photo by David Churchill.
Date: 2003-03-28

  Another shot of the DHR loco 19B. On the right is Adrian Shooter, who purchased the locomotive. Photo by David Churchill.
Date: 2003-03-28

 

 

One more look at DHR loco 19B. Photo by David Churchill.
Date: 2003-03-28

 and a report from Wales

The Ffestiniog Railway's FR50 Gala (30 April - 2 May 2005) had a distinctly Indian flavour.
Star of the three-day event was Adrian Shooter's restored Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST No 19. Built in 1889, the splendidly restored locomotive, complete with its two newly built carriages, was in action on all three days and later also worked a special charter train up to Tan-y-Bwlch.
Adding further colour to the event, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society (DHRS) transformed the Ffestiniog's Minffordd Station into 'Sukna' - a station on the DHR - complete with such authentic local touches as prayer flags, and Indian station signs. For hungry or thirsty passengers there were stalls selling such Indian travel necessities as chai and samosas, mango juice and Cobra beer.
Said DHRS Chairman David Barrie "We were delighted to support our Ffestiniog Railway friends with such a major event. The DHR deserves all the publicity it can get and by seeing No 19 and visiting 'Sukna' we hope that many other people will be encouraged to plan a trip to the line'
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We are yet again indebted to Kailash our Delhi Correspondent 
for passing on to us these two  interesting items--thank you Sir

January 12 2005
 Assam digs up Stillwell tree
RAHUL Karmakar  Guwahati, January 5

ASSAM IS digging its roots with gusto.  After ferreting out the descendants of Lady Curzon and Robert Bruce – the tea pioneers – last year; it has
tracked down the “offshoots” of two American soldiers who helped pave the historic Stillwell Road linking India and China during World War II.

Officials said Ron Bleeker and Otto G. Metheke III would figure in the line-up of 50 foreign invitees to the Dehing-Patkai festival, a three-day ethnic carnival, slated from January 7 at Lekhapani in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district.  Forefathers of most of these 50, mostly Britons, were part of
American General Joseph Stillwell’s band of builders, who laid the 1,738 km road connecting Ledo in Assam and Kunming in China’s Yunnan province.

“A bit of research and networking helped us locate the descendants of those involved in building the road,” said Assam forest minister Pradyut Bordoloi.  The minister said he would have ideally liked to invite Gen Stillwell’s descendants, but they could not be traced.  Part of the Stillwell Road, now dilapidated, runs through Bordoloi’s turf Margherita.

“While Bleeker’s father was a foot-soldier, Metheke’s father was an army doctor posted at a hospital in Namduang Gate near Zero Point, the road’s origin,” Bordoloi said.  Tinsukia district authorities said the decision of invite the pioneers’ descendants was to draw global attention to the plight of the road in view of New Delhi’s “Look East” policy.  Both India and China have been trying to reopen the link to give border trade between India, Myanmar and China a leg-up.  A recent report said using the road would slash the distance between India and China from 6,000 km to 1,300 km.
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January 12 2005

 Harrods brings exotic tea from China, at 8.5 pounds a cup
By Chris Brooke   Daily Mail, London.

It is almost as expensive as a glass of champagne.But at 8.50 pounds, Harrods is promising to present connoisseurs with the perfect cup of tea.  The store is to start stocking Tieguanyin tea, a rare Chinese variety which sells for 1,700 pounds per kilogram – or around 8.50 pound per cup.  Believed to be the most expensive in Britain, the tea is said to have an
exceptional aroma and taste.

Those who stock up their caddies with Tieguanyin will comfort themselves with the fact that the same tea leaves can be used seven times without any significant  deterioration in quality.

It is said to have a ‘sweet and smooth’ taste with ‘notes of autumn fruit’.  The tea produces a 'fragrant, orchid like aroma’ when poured.

To brew a perfect cup of Tieguanyin, fresh mineral water should be boiled to exactly 100C, or 212F, then poured rapidly on to the leaves in a teapot.  About five grams of the tea should be used per brew and the third of the seven servings will give the best flavour.

Hafizur Rahman, senior tea buyer for Harrods, said the Chinese tea had a magnificent taste.

High in antioxidants, which remove harmful chemicals from the body, it was a very healthy drink, he said. “Of the thousands of teas I have tried this is one of the best,” he added.  Tieguanyin is almost three times the price of Harrods’s previous most expensive tea but the store expects a strong demand.  “The tea connoisseur will be interested,” said a spokesman.

“There are people who consider really good tea like a fine wine.  At the end of the day, wine is just fermented grape juice but people pay a lot of money
for it because if gives them pleasures.”  Tieguanyin is a premium variety of oolong tea which comes from Anxiin the Fujian province of China.

Daily Mail, London.

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January 2006

Kailash has very kindly forwarded some interesting Delhi photos--Thank you for taking the time and trouble to show us today's pictures


Soldiers marching by India Gate rehearsing for 
the 50th anniversary of Independence


Safdarjang Tomb, one of the last examples of 
Mughal architecture built


A Shop Keeper with trays of nuts, legumes,pulses 
for sale in Old Delhi



Birds eye view of fruit and vegetable market 


A typical crowd scene in busy Chandni Chowk


A statue commerorating Gandhi and the salt march of 1930

A fountain in a broad pool of water outside the Lok 
Sabha, the Delhi Parliament

Slightly crowded auto-rickshaw on road outside Delhi

A monument marks the spot of the assasination of 
Mahatma Gandhi in Birla House

Protected sacred texts at a shrine of Nizam-ud-din Chisti. 
Chisti was a Muslim saint who died in 1325

Sunday cricket on the flat grounds of Coronation Durbar

New Delhi Traffic

A view of New Delhi from Jama Masjid 
minaret

Pottery figures at Sanskrit Museum of Indian terracotta

Magnificent Rajasthani moustache and the proud owner

The fairy Queen of Delhi reputed to be the oldest (1855) 
working steam engine in the world

The elephants of Delhi are used mainly at festivals and 
wedding parades

A 16th century eight-tiered bridge called ATHPULA in the 
Lodi Gardens

Stores selling Rajasthani fabrics at Janpath market

Bangles for sale. The bangles are usually worn by married 
women and smashed on the death of their husband

The Lion emblem on the gate leading to 
Rashtrapati house in Delhi, the President of 
India's official residence

India (New Delhi) Nehru Place

The Grand Hyatt Hotel in New Delhi

The Lotus Temple New Delhi

Red Fort structure # 2
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October 26 2005
Kailash has diligently kept us abreast of what's happening in the Tooth business and Tea Marketing
Thank you Kailash

Stories of Teeth and Tea

1.  INDIA RETURNS BRIT WOMAN'S SMILE
By Vividha Kaul / TNN

New Delhi:  Her might not be a million dollar smile,
but it comes close.  After mortgaging her house again,
spending 50,000 pounds and 400 hours on getting her
teeth fixed by dentists in UK, US and Denmark,
45-year-old Julie Pharro has finally been able to say
cheese in Delhi.

Pharro's dental troubles began three years ago when
she went to a private practitioner in the UK to get
six of her teeth recrowned.

"The doctor led me to believe that 10 of my teeth
needed treatment and immediately offered me a
discount.  I paid his 3,500 pound, but he just
destroyed my teeth.  They became bulky and
uncomfortable,: she says.

Then, the long journey to get her smile back began.
"I went to five dentists in the UK, and with each
sitting, my teeth became progressively worse.  I've
friends in the US so I saw a couple of dentists there
too, but its very expensive," she says.

Next stop was Copanhagen, where she fell sick after
the first day of her treatment.  As cosmetic dentistry
is not covered under health insurance, all costs have
to be borne by the patient, "I am in a debt of over
50,000 pounds.  I am just living off credit cards at
present.  That's what led me to look for an Indian
doctor on the Internet," she says.

Her search ended with Dr. Bela Jain, senior
consultant, Ganga Ram Hospital.  And the damage done
to her teeth by previous dentists - at the cost of
50,000 pounds (roughly Rs.40 lakh) - has finally been
rectified through a 12-day treatment, all of which
cost her Rs.1.5 lakh.

The treatment which she had in the UK for recrowning
her teeth would cost her about Rs.40,000 at any
highend private hospital here.

"Cosmetic dentistry sells a lot in the UK so dentists
there are too busy minting money.  They see you for
not more than an hour and at intervals of three to
four months.  So you go back with half treatment and
by the time you return, they don't even remember you,"
she says.

In Delhi, however Pharro was made to sit eight hours
before the dentists on Day 1 itself.  "After about 11
days of treatment, I think she has got what she was
looking for.  Here, the treatment is start-to-finish
as opposed to the six-eight months it would take
there," said Dr. Jain.

Pharro is hoping to recover the cost of treatment from
the first dentist who allegedly spoilt her teeth.

"I met a solicitor and medical expert before coming
here and they think the doctor has been negligent, so
I may go to court or may reach an out-of-court
settlement," she says.

Unlike other medical tourists, Pharro has no plans to
visit the Taj Mahal.  "I came here just for my teeth,"
she says.

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2.  SUPERPOWER IN A TEA CUP

All the tea in China is proving to be a lot of tea
these days.  China has began selling the surplus
overseas.  The trends point to it soon becoming the
world's leading tea exporter.

China still has millions of tea lovers who lavish the
same attention on their beverage that oenophiles
devote to wine.  The finest grades of green tea, made
from the most delicate baby leaves and roasted in a
pan by hand, sell for hundreds of dollars a pound in
Shanghai and Beijing.

But Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, KFC and other
Western businesses have come up with many other ways
to slake thirsts in China, especially that of young
Chinese, Shifting tides in tastes are creating waves
over winners and losers both at home and abroad.
Teahouses in China already are being replaced by
coffeehouses.  Starbucks, with more than 140 stores,
has spawned a cottage industry of copycats.

With tea in abundance in China, more and more is being
shipped abroad, by third-generation tea farmers like
Pan Jitu, who wants to supply green tea to Starbucks
stores in the US.  "Many people love tea now, so I
foresee our business will grow," he said, standing
amid his rows of tea bushes, as women in broad hats
plucked tea leaves in the surrounding hillsides.

EXPANDING SALES by Chinese tea growers are causing
alarm in other developing countries that depend on
growing tea, like India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

While the growth of China's textile industry with the
end of global textile quotas has attracted more
attention as a threat to poor countries, China's tea
industry also poses as challenge to some of the
world's poorest nations.  China is now poised to
become the world's poorest nations.  China is now
poised to become the world's largest tea exporter by
tonnage, overtaking Sri Lanka this year and Kenya next
year.

Wide swathes of people across Asia depend on the tea
industry for survival.

YET, CHINA'S re-emergence as the world's leading tea
exporter invokes a centuries old pattern: the British
East India Company, which bought its tea from China,
held a monopoly on supplying Britain until 1834.  Only
when that monopoly was broken did other countries
become big exporters.

The saying "I wouldn't do that for all the tea in
China" came to mean a refusal to do something even for
a large and valuable payment.

The history of tea itself reaches back to ancient
times in China.  The earliest known literary
references date back nearly 5,000 years, when Emperor
Shen Nung is said to have discovered the infusion when
leaves dropped into his hot water by chance.

Green tea is widely believed to have some medical
benefits.  Black tea, which may have similar benefits,
is used in everything from Darjeeling to Earl Grey and
is made from the leaves of the same tea plants as
green tea, though processed differently.

FOR THE last three years, Beijing has set as its top
goal the alleviation of rural poverty and high income
inequality between coastal cities and rural areas, to
the benefit of the tea industry.

Municipal and provincial governments now vie to offer
subsidies to an industry seen as an answer to
lingering poverty and unemployment in the countryside.
They pay up to half the cost for the planting of new
tea farms and the building of tea-processing
factories.

Beijing has also eliminated an 8 percent tax on tea
production as a way to increase rural incomes.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT helped produce an 18.9 percent jump
in Chinese tea exports last year, to $437 million, in
a global market that is nearly stagnant.

For the global industry, the worry is how much Chinese
tea will be arriving in world markets.

That flood of tea will grow only if people in China
keep switching to other beverages.  Starbucks sells
tea, as well as coffee, in its stores in China, but it
has found that Chinese customers prefer the coffee,
said Christine Day, the company's president for Asia
and the Pacific.

NUMBER GAME

8.7% increase in Chinese tea production last year.
Tea consumption in China only grew 2%.  Which is why
china has huge surpluses to export.
18.9% increase in Chinese tea exports last year.
Since overall global demand remained the same, this
meant Chinese tea exports were done at some other
country's cost.
437mn of dollars worth of tea exported by China last
year.

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New York Times

3.  APEEJAY'S BUYOUT BREW: PREMIER FOR $140 MN

TO ACQUIRE TEA BUSINESS OF UK-BASED PREMIER FOODS PLC


HT Corporate Bureau
New Delhi, October 13

THE LOW-PROFILE Appejay Tea Ltd. on  Thursday said
Apeejay Surrendra Group, a leading tea producer, would
acquire the entire tea business of UK-based Premier
Foods plc for 80 mn pounds ($140 mn).

Apeejay Group is the third largest exporter with a
total tea crop of 21 million kg spread over 17 gardens
in Assam through two companies Apeejay Tea and Empire
& Singlo, and has an employee base of approximately
40,000.  It has now become the second Indian tea
company after Tata Tea to make a global acquisition.
The company has 30,000 acres under tea plantations.

Karan Paul, chairman of Apeejay Surrendra Group who
took over the reins in July 2004 told the Hindustan
Times from London, "The acquisition has been done
through an SPV, Apeejay International Tea, and the
entire deal is a leveraged buy-out with ICICI acting
as the advisor.  It has taken us three months to crack
this deal."

Almost overnight, the Rs.600 crore Apeejay Surrendra
group has thus doubles its turnover.  Karan Paul heads
a group with diverse interests in tea, shipping,
hotels and financial services.  "We have been pushing
for growth since 1999-2000 and while I agree that we
were low key, last year we put together internally a
business plan.  This is in many ways a culmination of
that plan.  Overnight we will add Rs.650 crore to our
group turnover and more importantly, Premier's tea
business is extremely profitable.  It has an annual
cash flow of close to 15 million pounds sterling."

Apeejay will be buying Premier's entire tea business,
including the 100-year-old Typhoo brand, London Fruit
and Herb, Lift, QT and other associated brands for
which the entire consideration will be paid in cash
and the transaction is expected to complete shortly.

The company will also acquire its extensive own label
contracts, and the Moreton tea manufacturing facility
in Merseyside, which employs 249 people, it said.  On
December 31, 2004, Premier's tea business had net
sales totalling 70.2 million pounds sterling.

Apeejay believes the Premier tea business would
benefit from increased investment and focus combined
with the company's extensive experience in the global
tea market and vertically integrated approach.  It
does not expect any redundancies at the Moreton plant
as part of the transaction and anticipates recruiting.

In many ways, this acquisition signals the coming of
age of Karan Paul.  After all, the family has gone
through much trauma.  During the height of the
militancy in Assam, his father and then chairman
Surrendra Paul was slain by ULFA insurgents.  Paul
reckons that the deal provides the prefect platform
for Apeejay to leverage its own brands as well.  He
said, "The UK will now allow us to expand our
international operations and focus on the continent
and US with Premier's iconic brands as well as our own
brands.  All this while, we have been exporting bulk
tea from India, now we can focus on branded tea as
well."  He said,  "The Premier tea business has strong
growth potential, a well-run factory and a committed
and experienced workforce.  We are confident that our
commitment to increasing the investment both behind
the brands and own label business combined with our
extensive tea experience will enable us to ramp up
market share.


4.  GOOD EARTH TEABAG DROPS IN TETLEY CUP

HT Corporate Bureau
New Delhi, October 13

TATA TEA Ltd's subsidiary Tetley US Holdings signed a
definitive agreement on Thursday to acquire FMALI Herb
Inc and Good Earth Corporation.

Tata Tea, the first Indian company to make an overseas
foray in 2000 when in a leveraged buyout it purchased
Tetley for $432 million, has now pouched U.S.
specialty tea brand Good Earth reportedly for $32
million, sending its shares higher.

The world's second-largest branded tea company will
buy Santa Cruz, California-based FMALI Herb Inc. and
Good Earth Corp., which sells herbal, fruit-flavoured,
medicinal and traditional teas, through its
subsidiary, Tetley US Holdings Ltd.

Good Earth has a strong presence on the western coast
of the United States, and a 3.7 percent share of the
specialty tea market, with a turnover of more than $16
million, Tata Tea said.  "This acquisition is an
important contribution to our plans for growing the
Tata group's tea business around the world," Ken
Pringle, executive vice-chairman and chief executive
officer of the Tetley group, said in a statement.

"We believe there is real potential for growth in the
specialty tea sector of the US market and elsewhere in
the world," Pringle said.  Good Earth will continue to
blend and pack teas in Santa Cruz and retain the brand
name, which is licensed to FMALI Herb Inc., according
to the statement.  Tata Tea has been divesting its tea
plantations to focus on brands.

"We were only a marginal player in the US tea market
(with Tetley) with a presence in black tea and a small
presence in specialty," Tata Tea MD Percy Siganporia
said.  "What this acquisition does is give us critical
mass in specialty, which is very fast-growing.  It
gives us not just the brand, but also knowledge of the
US market," he said.













August 26 2005

HERE'S RINGING IN THE OLD, FOR MUMBAI

RAJENDRA Aklekar

Mumbai, August 7

  WHEN 56-year-old American insurance agent Ron Morton paid $375 for a large brass bell at an antique shop in Florida last month, he had no idea he was buying  a piece of India's - and Mumbai's - history.

It is only later that he found out that the bell that now hangs in his Charleston home was once the property of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR), the company that ran India's first train from Bombay's Bori Bunder to Thane on April 16, 1853.

"Over the week of July 11, I was visiting my parents in West Palm Beach, Florida," Morton said in an email to the Hindustan Times.  "There, I visited Culpepper & Co., a business that specialises in nautical and tropical decor.  I was looking for a brass bell that was large enough to have a good tone.  I saw the GIPR bell, and felt it was something unique, a conversation piece."  Morton also felt that "if the bell had a name, it most likely had a history".

According to Morton, Culpepper & Co. had no idea what they were selling.  They did tell him though, that they had acquired the bell from a breaking yard north of Mumbai while on a visit to India a few years ago.

"When I bought it," Morton said, "I thought it was from a ship or a boat.  It was only after doing some simple research that I discovered that it was a railway bell."

Rajesh Agrawal, the Indian Railways' Delhi-based executive director (heritage), said bells were once an essential item at railway stations.  "Hung bells were used to signal arrivals and departures, and sometimes a bell would be rung along the length of the train to communicate a message.  After temple bells, railway bells were probably the closest to the common man's life."

Sources in the Central Railway (CR) - successor to the GIPR - said that stationmasters have the custody of several old bells at CR stations in Mumbai.  But no one could guess how one of those bells found its way to a scrapyard, from where Culpepper & Co. picked it up.  

Agrawal said: "The bells are no longer required, and very few have been preserved.  It appears they have been scattered very far and wide."

Clearly, far and wide enough to reach halfway across the world.  
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  BENGAL TEA GARDENS TO BECOME TOURIST SPOTS

The lush green world famous tea estates at West Bengal's Siliguri district are all set to become a hot tourist spot.  The West Bengal's State Government has inducted a novel concept of "Tea Tourism".  The state's tourism department has been sanctioned Rs. 8 crore by the Centre for expanding and developing the required infrastructure requisite for this plan.

RRP Singh, General Manager, West Bengal Forest Department Corporation, said that work had already started on developing the infrastructure in and around the tea gardens in North Bengal.  Singh said that they also had plans to develop Golf courses around the scenic tea gardens.

"The project is related to tea and keeping this in mind, we have brought in the concept of tea tourism.  There are a lot of beautiful bungalows in the tea gardens.  The scenery is also very picturesque.  The villagers have developed the area and now we are all set to launch the concept of tea tourism," said Singh.

Efforts are also on to rope in the Asian Development Bank and UNESCO for the project.  West Bengal has 183 tea gardens belonging to British era, besides over 500 tea gardens planted in recent years.  The tea industry forms the backbone of the state's economy.

- ANI
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April 13 2005
Once again Kailash keeps us well informed--thank you Sir!

Low Costs Lure Foreigners to India 
for Medical Care

By SARITHA RAI

Published: April 7, 2005

BANGALORE, India, April 6 - Until recently, Robert Beeney, a 64-year-old real estate consultant from San Francisco, lived in pain. But when he finally decided to do something about the discomfort, he spurned all the usual choices.

His doctors advised that he get his hip joint replaced, which his insurer would pay for, but after doing some research on the Internet, he decided to get a different procedure - joint resurfacing - not covered by his insurance. And instead of going to a nearby hospital, he chose to go to India and paid $6,600, a fraction of the $25,000 he would have paid at home for the surgery.

This winter, Mr. Beeney flew to Hyderabad, in southern India, and had the surgery at Apollo Hospital by a specialist trained in London, Dr. Vijay Bose. Two weeks later, Mr. Beeney said that he was walking around the Taj Mahal "just like any other tourist."

Mr. Beeney's story is becoming increasingly common, as Europeans and Americans, looking for world-class treatments at prices a fourth or fifth of what they would be at home, are traveling to India. Modern hospitals, skilled doctors and advanced treatments are helping foreigners overcome some of their qualms about getting medical treatments in India. Even as politicians and workers' groups are opposing the corporate practice of outsourcing, Mr. Beeney and patients like him are literally outsourcing themselves - not only to India but also to Thailand, Singapore and other places - for all kinds of medical services from cosmetic to critical surgeries.

About 150,000 foreigners visited India for medical treatments in the year ending in March 2004, the Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading industry group, said. That number was projected to rise by 15 percent each year for the next several years. The consulting firm McKinsey & Company, a management consultant based in New York, said foreign visitors would help Indian hospitals earn 100 billion rupees (about $2.3 billion) by 2012.

"Health is an emotional issue; it's not like buying a toy or a shirt made abroad," said a health care analyst for McKinsey, Gautam Kumra, who is based in New Delhi. "Nevertheless, you cannot deny the power of economics."

For some foreigners, like George Marshall, a 73-year-old violin restorer from Yorkshire, England, India's hospitals also offer speedier treatments. Last year, Mr. Marshall said that he started having trouble finishing a round of golf. An angiogram showed two blocked arteries in his heart. With the British National Health Service, Mr. Marshall would have had to wait three weeks to see a specialist, and six more months for coronary bypass surgery. "At 73, I don't have the time to wait," Mr. Marshall said. "Six months could be the rest of my life." Nor could he afford the £20,000 ($38,000) for surgery at a private hospital.

After an Internet search and a chance meeting with a businessman who had gone to India for surgery, Mr. Marshall traveled to the Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore in southern India last winter. His surgeon, Vivek Jawali, had trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. The men chatted about British politics and Dr. Jawali gave Mr. Marshall his cellphone number and said that he was available 24 hours. A surprised Mr. Marshall said that in the British health system, "you are just a number, but here you are a person." Travel expenses included, the surgery cost him £4,500 ($8,400).

While the number of patients from the West is still small in India, the trend is expected to grow as populations age and health costs balloon. In India, cardiac surgeries cost about one-fifth of what they would in the United States; orthopedic treatments cost about one-fourth as much and cataract surgeries are as low as one-tenth of their cost at American hospitals.

Mr. Kumra, the McKinsey health consultant who also advises the auto industry, noted that a corporation like General Motors spends $5 billion on health care annually. "When you buy a G.M. car, you are helping G.M. fund $2,000 or $3,000 towards health care costs of retired workers," Mr. Kumra said.

To curb spending, corporations are being forced to look at creative low-cost solutions. For instance, radiologists working for Wipro, a software and information technology company based in Bangalore, analyze X-rays and scans from United States hospitals for a fraction of the cost. A diagnostics firm, SRL Ranbaxy, based in New Delhi, tests blood serum and tissue samples from British hospitals. Health specialists say that sending patients to India for treatment is not as unthinkable as it was 20 years ago.

"India is well-positioned to expand into this area of outsourcing," said John Lovelock, an analyst in Ontario on global industries for Gartner. "India is equipped to provide long-term in-patient rehabilitation services, which are very labor intensive, require large facilities and are under serviced in North America," he said.

In the last four years, the Apollo Hospital chain, which has 18 hospitals throughout Asia, has treated 43,000 foreigners, mainly from nations in southern Asia and the Persian Gulf. Last year, 7 percent of its 5 billion rupees ($114.9 million) in revenue came from medical services provided to foreigners.

Apollo's founder, Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, 73, a surgeon trained at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said that health care in India had drastically changed from the time he returned to open his first hospital in 1983. "Then, all rich Indians rushed overseas for medical help," Dr. Reddy said. Now, he has 200 doctors on his staff who are qualified to work in the United States, and has many wealthy Indian expatriates as clients.

Still, some hospitals in India are discovering that affordable costs and foreign-trained doctors may not be enough to make India a global health care destination. The country's dilapidated airports, garbage-strewn streets and overcrowded slums can put off even the hardiest foreigners.

"Some foreign patients arrived at the airport and took the next flight back," said Dr. Reddy, who has been trying to persuade the local government in Chennai, formerly known as Madras, to clear a slum next to his hospital there. "I can change the insides of my hospitals, but I cannot change the airports and roads," Dr. Reddy said,

The challenge, said Harpal Singh, chairman of Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals based in New Delhi, is to get the world to understand that India is a complex country. Acknowledging that foreigners might feel more at home having surgery in sleek hospitals in Singapore or Thailand, which are competing to woo them, Mr. Singh said, "We have to project that India is capable of delivering first-rate as well as shoddy work." Fortis, part owned by the country's biggest drug firm, Ranbaxy Laboratories, has a chain of four hospitals in India and another six on the way.

Indian hospitals are also working to ensure that they meet international standards. The Indian Healthcare Federation, a group of 50 hospitals led by Dr. Reddy, is developing accreditation standards for hospitals.

One doctor in India held up as first rate is Dr. Naresh Trehan, a cardiac surgeon based in New Delhi and the executive director of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center. Dr. Trehan, 58, who studied cardiac surgery at the New York University School of Medicine and worked there for a decade, returned to India in 1988 to open his own cardiac hospital in New Delhi. The hospital now conducts 4,000 heart surgeries a year with 0.8 percent mortality rates and 0.3 percent infection rates, on par with the best of the world's hospitals.

Last October, Dr. Trehan performed surgery on Howard Staab, 53, an uninsured self-employed carpenter from Durham, N.C., to repair a leaking mitral heart valve. Mr. Staab paid $10,000 for his surgery, his round-trip fare to India and for a visit to the Taj Mahal. In the United States, his options included surgery costing $60,000 at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

To take advantage of patients like Mr. Staab, Indian hospitals are expanding. In the Gurgaon suburbs of New Delhi, Dr. Trehan is building a $250 million multispecialty hospital modeled after the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. In the same neighborhood will be Fortis Healthcare's Medicity, a 43-acre hospital complex for foreign patients, which will have special immigration and travel counters and interpreters, with the idea of branding itself the Johns Hopkins Hospital of the East.

"We're gearing up, and the doors of Indian hospitals are wide open to the Western world," Dr. Trehan said.
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************************************************

Kailash passes on to us the tale of outsourcing with a difference
Thank you Kailash

March 12 2005
Kimberly, publisher of conservative Spectator outsources Daddy

BRITISH DAILIES GET LEGAL NOTICES

Outraged over what he termed as "malicious" reports in
two British papers, M J Akbar has slapped legal
notices on them seeking substantial damages, apology
and retraction. "Legal notices have been issued to all
these papers.  We are taking substantive action
against anyone who has named me and who had indulged
in the malicious, defamatory and false accusation,"
Akbar said.  His lawyer said notices had been sent to
The mail on Sunday, The Sunday Mail, The Sunday
Telegraph and The Sunday Times asking them to refrain
from publishing or printing Akbar's name.

Unnamed 'friends' of Quinn are quoted to agree it was
'impossible Akbar and she had been lovers.
Interestingly, late on Sunday, it emerged that clues
to Akbar's identity had been leaked to the media by
sections of the Labour Party, supportive of Blunkett
and keen to out Quinn as a vampish throwback to a
1920s culture of 'hedonism'.

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KIMBERLY OUTSOURCES DADDY
Vijay Dutt
London, March 5

HERE'S ANOTHER shocker from the British Isles: the Sun
has speculated in a two-page spread with the headline,
'Did Kimberly have an Asian baby? that former Home
Secretary David Blunkett's ex-lover Kimberly Quinn's
second son may have an Asian for a dad.

The British tabloid has kicked off a great guessing
game: it is asking readers, on the condition of
anonymity, whether Lorcan's dad is an Asian media
figure, a  TV host, a household name, a current
affairs presenter or a married MP.

The Spectator staffer who handed out the scoop
suggested the possibility of the father being an
Indian media figure.  He is quoted as saying, "Quite a
few names are being bandied about (who the dad may
be).  There is a suggestion the baby may appear to be
of mixedrace parentage... There is talk of Kimberly
having had a fling with a media figure... in India.
There is also talk of another media figure in
Britain."

The report follows a DNA test, which has proved
Blunkett (father of Kimberly's first son, two-year-old
William) who had a three-year long affair with
Kimberly, publisher of the Spectator, is not Lorcan's
dad.  Neither is Stephen Quinn, Kimberly's husband
(publisher of Vogue).

Kimberly's second son Lorcan was born a month ago.
Her first son, two-year-old William, is Blunkett's.

According to the Sun, Lorcan's father had a fling with
Kimberly while she was still seeing Blunkett.  DNA
tests ordered by a court have revealed that Lorcan was
conceived between 21-24 May last year.


INDIAN NAME ADDED TO BLUNKETT SCANDAL
By Rashmee Roshan Lall/TNN

London:  The waves of scandal over an adulterous love
affair, that involved one of the most senior figures
in Britain's ruling Labour Party and the publisher of
a Conservative-leaning magazine, appear to be finally
lapping Indian shores with sections of the British
media naming a leading Indian journalist as the
possible father of the woman's new baby.

British tabloids and The Sunday Times, London, have
gone to town with news of the 'Indian media tycoon'
who has been 'dragged' into the paternity battle
between former British cabinet minister David Blunkett
and Spectator magazine publisher Kimberley Quinn.

Amid mounting public fascination with Quinn's apparent
facility for multiple overlapping relationships and
liasions, the Indian media figure named is said to
have been the fourth man engaged in an affair with the
twice-married Quinn at the same time as Blunkett.  But
Asian Age editor M J Akbar was quoted as firmly saying
that his relationship with Quinn was anything other
than that of 'good friends'.

Describing the speculation that he is the father of
month-old Lorcan as 'absurd', Akbar admitted he had
known Quinn 'for many years'.  He insisted they were
'just good friends and soberly added: "These are
serious issues and in all honesty, I feel very bad for
her.  She must be going through hell." He said he was
not even in London last May, the time Lorcan was
conceived.

Unnamed 'friends' of Quinn are quoted to agree it was
'impossible Akbar and she had been lovers.
Interestingly, late on Sunday, it emerged that clues
to Akbar's identity had been leaked to the media by
sections of the Labour Party, supportive of Blunkett
and keen to out Quinn as a vampish throwback to a
1920s culture of 'hedonism'.

Meanwhile, Quinn's husband, Stephen said it was
'totally absurd' to suggest the boy looked Asian when
in fact, "he looks like an Irish rugby player".
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February 17 2005
Kailash
tells us of the follow up to the previous story and we thank him 

Tsunami --the following about Tom Hunter & the CBI in
India is interesting, also the response to Karan
Thapar's article, poor Karan he is misunderstood/gets
carried away?

THE SUNDAY TIMES.
UK FIRMS PRAISED OVER AID TO TSUNAMI VICTIMS
By David Smith

BUSINESS can be "enormously proud" of its response to
the tsunami disaster and is generating huge amounts of goodwill in the countries affected, according to Sir Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI.
Jones, speaking from Chennai in India which was hit by
the giant wave, said the CBI had been overwhelmed by calls from business offering help.  He was especially struck by the response of UK firms in India.
"The companies operating here, and I'm sure it has
been the same in Thailand and elsewhere, are working closely with local communities," he said.

He gave the example of HSBC, which is intending to buy
hundreds of fishing boats to replace those destroyed by the tsunami, and P&O, which worked to get the port re-opened quickly.
Isoft, which has 1,000 "offshored" workers in Chennai,
matched the day's pay donated by its workers.
"I wanted to see for myself how business was coping
and how it could help, and it's good news," said Jones, "Chennai is open for business and people here feel very proud of the fact that the Indian government has said it doesn't want aid from other governments.
They are proud that they are developing so fast that
they can stand on their own two feet.  They feel very much at the top of the developing world.
"They lost a few containers at the port, but they were
back in business within 24 hours.
All power to P&O's elbow, because P&O has made a huge
success of Chennai.  You can always judge an
organisation by how it deals with a crisis and it deals with a crisis and it dealt with that very well."
Normally the CBI does not make donations, but this
time it has given several thousand pounds to an appeal launched by the Confederation of Indian Industry. "The goodwill is enormous," said Jones.  "British companies have been quick off the blocks and I am proud of that." UK firms would play their full part in
the reconstruction of the infrastructure destroyed by
the tsunami, he said.
"The real problem is 300 kilometres to 600 kilometres
south of here.  All the way along the coast you have literally thousands of people who eat what they fish. Nobody knows how many of these people there were and how many were lost.  The Indian economy won't be affected by the loss of these subsistence fishermen
but it is a huge human tragedy."
His comments came as businessmen and companies were
boosting their contributions to the disaster.
BP has pledged pounds 3m, while Vodafone and the FA Premier League are each giving pounds 1m.  Diageo, the drinks giant, has budgeted more than pounds 500,000 for disaster relief.
Scottish Water has flown out thousand of bottles,
while BT Group has provided expertise as well as cash. Other donors include Wolseley, the plumbing group, Royal Dutch/Shell and Cable & Wireless, the telecommunications company.

Tom Hunter, one of Britain's best-known
philanthropists, is to give pounds 1m to the tsunami
appeal.  It will be spent on rebuilding ruined schools in south Asia and helping to provide an early-warning system against any future giant waves.
Hunter said he wanted to be sure that aid to Africa
and to other Third World regions did not dry up while everyone focused on the tsunami.
He was skiing in the French resort of Meribel with his
family when the earthquake struck on Boxing Day.  He said this weekend:  "We heard about it, but we did not realise its enormity until we saw the pictures on television.
Ewan Hunter, chief executive of the Hunter Foundation
but no relation to Tom Hunter, has been in talks with the Treasury on how best to spend the money.
He said: "We wanted to assess the position thoroughly
and ensure that any funds we applied went to a long-term solution.  It seemed to us the short-tem funding needs had been largely addressed."

Tom Hunter is among Britain's 100 richest people, with
a fortune of pounds 500m.
He sold the Ayr-based Sports Division chain for pounds 290m in 1998.  Since then he has invested in property and in retail ventures with Green, helping him to buy
BHS.
The son of a grocer from New Cumnock, a former mining
village in Ayrshire, Hunter graduated from Strathclyde University in business and marketing but had trouble finding a job.   His father had started a sideline selling trainers and Hunter realised that was where the future lay. He started selling sports shoes from the back of a van, then obtained franchises within stores before
building the Sports Division retail chain.

FROM HINDUSTAN TIMES  ( 'Sunday Letters')

INDIANS & THEIR 'MISPLACED NATIONALISM'

"DESPITE OUR Security Council ambitions and our
preening as a regional power we are and remain a poor country."  This is what Karan Thapar stated in his article on January 9 (Them and Us, Sunday Sentiments). According to his article, it was due to the fact that India is a poor country, that India should accept
America's overflowing aids and several other
international aids.  Mr. Thapar has classified the unity and bondage of Indians and their urge to help the tsumani victims, as a "false pride" and "misplaced nationalism".
I am a great fan of his and would ask Mr. Thapar not
to consider this just as a 15-year-old's intense nationalism, but as "Indian pride", not "false pride". If he is incapable of accepting this fact, I would suggest him to write in London Times rather than
Hindustan Times.
Shohini Sengupta, Dehradun.

II
WHY WALK away from the "uncivilised" country only for
the New Year's Eve?  Do it forever.  And yes, the millions contributed by that "civilised country" may not be even & trickle when seen against the backdrop of trillions looted by them during their "civilised" occupation of "uncivilised" countries.
R N Dogra, Noida.

III
WILL SOMEONE please tell Karan Thapar on behalf of us
less civilised Indians that we would love it if he moved to civilised Britain on a permanent basis, and take his column with him?
Amit Kaushik, on email.
****************************************
January 2005
Kailash sent in the following item of interest He said 
“Last night I saw Tony Blair on CNN making statement in the British Parliament on Tsunami, and the following appeared in the
Hindustan Times one of the two predominant newspapers published in Delhi . The author Karan Thapar works for BBC world in Delhi , though  not a noted author, he writes a small column for the Sunday Edition of  HT.”

Thank you Kailash for keeping us informed of the
Delhi
thinking

 Sunday Sentiments

Asked why I always spend new year's eve in
London my stock reply is "Because I want to start the year in a civilised country!". The riposte usually provokes anger although, occasionally, it also invites derision. Inevitably I end up quarreling and I'm not
sure I always win the argument. But this year thetrumps are entirely in my hands. In facts, to be honest, I'm a little amazed at the strength off my case.

Let's start with the incredible generosity of the British people. Their country is almost 7000 miles away from
Sumatra , the epicenter of the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami waves. But since the 28th, when public appeals for money first started, the British have raised over 100 million Pounds. That's more than the American public, more than France and Germany combined, more than all the Scandinavian countries put together. And yet the population of the United Kingdom is only 59 million, two thirds of Germany and only a fifth of the United States !

In fact, on the 30th, by when British public donations had reached 35 million Pounds, the sum offered by the British government was only 15 million. As soon as this became clear the Blair cabinet raised its contribution to 50 million. Everyone knew what had happened: the British had shamed their government into trebling its pledge. Since then, of course,
continuing donations from the public have more than doubled their figure and on Thursday it crossed 100 million Pounds. Consequently twenty four hours later the British government, already once humiliated by its own public, promised to match their donation pound for pound. Paradoxically that might only further fuel the giving.

So who's giving the money? Both ordinary folk as well as well-established British companies. Soccer stars like Dwight York have contributed in hundreds of thousands, Harrods, the famous department store, has pledged 10 pr cent of its December sales, the football league has give millions.

Now I know comparisons are odious but they can also be instructive. According to The Hindu, by last Wednesday the Indian Prime Minister's National Relief Fund has received 308 crore rupees. By then the British public had contributed over 622 crore! And
remember, unlike us, very few British are personally affected.

But it's not simply money. So voluminous is the donation of old clothes, pots and pas that on the 3rd Oxfam had to appeal for 10,000 volunteers to assist with the contributions. Meanwhile, the generosity carries on. And I wouldn't be surprised if the appeal launched by George Bush wasn't provoked by British taunts. "
America is the world's richest country" I heard commentators repeatedly say on British TV "but it also seems to be the stingiest!"

But if the British have surpassed themselves by giving we, in
India , have turned up our noses ad claimed we don't need help. I find this inexplicable if not also unforgivable. It's false pride and misplaced nationalism. Despite our Security Council ambitions and our preening as a regional power we are and remain a poor country........

October 2004

    ENGLISH, FROM its inception in the hoary 5th century,has been a borrowed tongue.  This unique
characteristic of enriching its vocabulary mainly by
adopting words from other languages - especially Latin
and French - has stemmed the reputation of English as
one of the most vibrant spoken languages. 

For Indians, there is reason to gloat.  In independent
India, the use of English as an official language was
often derided as a colonial hangover.  Yet, It now
seems that we desis (natives, locals) can boast of
having had the biggest influence on the growth of
contemporary English.

According to a British linguist, Hinglish - the
bastardised version of English spoken in India - is
soon set to become the most common spoken form of the
language in the world.  India has long valued an
education in the English language, as a result of
which some 350 million Indians now speak it as their
second language.  This itself exceeds the number of
native English speakers in Britain and America.  Since
English is the common string connecting India to the
West, the latter may have found it easy to pick up
shreds of Indian languages commonly used by English
speaking Indians.

If an official stamp was missing, the Oxford English
Dictionary filled this gap when it included Hinglish
in its repertoire.  The very fact that English - the
second largest spoken language in the world - has
shown itself to be inclusive of the environment in
which it's spoken should seal its reputation as the
language of a globalised world.

__________________________

THINK IT OVER....

He has decided to live forever or die in the attempt

JOSEPH HELLER

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 May 2004
  LEH BERRY

Defence lab squeezes crores out of Leh berry

 Times News network Friday Sept 10 2004

by Sanjay Dutta

 
LEH: Tucked away from public gaze in the high altitudes of Ladakh, a defence laboratory is quietly proving that all government research isn't aimed at increasing the size of files.

 
The Defence Research and Development Organisation's Field Research Laboratory here has squeezed a Rs 5-6 crore business out of seabuckthorn, a berry that grows wild in the high valleys of the Ladakh region.

Sold under the 'Leh Berry' brand, the juice has notched up annual sales of over Rs 5-6 crore. At present it is marketed by Ladakh Foods Ltd in joint venture with agriculture ministry's Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium and Nafed.

"China has a Rs 17,000-crore seabuckthorn market. Russia, Finland and Canada are the other major markets. We are now utilising 10 per cent of our potetial," says Sanjai K Dwivedi, who along with O P Chaurasia developed the technology to extract and preserve the juice.

Dwivedi said that Dabur, Kohinoor and Arctic Deserts were among the major food processing firms seeking the technology patented in 2001.

Locally known as 'Tsermang', the FRL started research on the berry in 1992 in search for a tasty health drink that doesn't freeze in the sub-zero temperatures of Siachen or Drass-Kargil areas.

Locals have been aware of the medicinal properties of seabuckthorn and using its berries, leaves and roots for food, fodder and firewood.

Genghis Khan used it to improve the memory, stamina, strength, fitness and disease-fighting abilities of his army. Soviet Cosmonauts on board the Mir space station used seabuckthorn cream to counter radiation. It is also known as the king of vitamin C.

But the juice could not be stored more than a day, limiting commercial viability. The FRL technology has enabled the juice to be transported from Leh to the Godrej Foods Division plant in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh, for packaging.

It also doesn't freeze in minus 20 degrees centigrade, making it a favourite with the troops.

Dwivedi said that the berry grew in about 11,000 hectares in the Nubra, Indus, Suru and Zanskar valleys of Ladakh. It is also found in parts of Uttaranchal and Sikkim.

Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council officials see the FRL technology as a financial boon for the local population. The council now wants to run the cultivation and harvesting operations in the co-operative sector.
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Want Christian priests? Outsource to India

Prasun Sonwalkar, Indo-Asian News Service

London (IANS) Outsourcing has crossed one more frontier - religion. Now Christian priests in India are conducting ceremonies for the West!

A shortage of priests out here has fuelled a global market in prayers-for-cash.

When Michael Schumacher won the Australian Grand Prix last month, a German fan paid for a thanksgiving mass apparently in honour of his hero. The fan, however, was unable to attend: the service was held thousands of miles away in Kerala.

As British and American companies outsource their high-tech and service work to India to take advantage of cheap skilled labour, the Roman Catholic Church is also doing the same.

Faced with a shortage of priests in the West, European and American clergy are outsourcing "mass intentions" - requests for services, such as thanksgiving and memorial masses for the dead - to priests and congregations with time on their hands.

Each mass is said in front of a public congregation in Malayalam, the local language. Rates vary from country to country: a request from North America or Europe can net a priest three pounds or four pounds; poorer countries pay less.

The Times reported that Kerala Christians trace their heritage back to the 1st century AD. Many believe that St Thomas visited the region in AD 52 and established seven Christian churches. Roman Catholicism was introduced by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century and today about a third of the population is Christian.

Reports from Kerala say bishops have had to limit priests to just one mass a day to prevent them from denying others a slice of the pie. Most of the requests are posted or e-mailed to Kerala bishops, who then share them out among the clergy. Priests who have worked in the West receive direct requests from friends and contacts there.

Father Benson Kundulam, who lived in Paris for several years, recently held a requiem mass in Cochin for a man in France mourning the death of his father.

"It doesn’t matter where the person is from, we treat the request the same," he is quoted as saying.

The money, he says, is the last thing on the priest’s mind.

"It is a religious duty to say the mass. We do it the same, whether it is an Indian paying a few rupees or an American paying dollars."

His colleague, Father Tony Paul, who has not travelled abroad, gets far fewer foreign requests and more Indian ones, which earn only a third of the money. "If you don’t get personal requests, it is up to the bishops to hand them out," he said.

Church officials say that prayers for the dead have been outsourced for decades and that the tradition has been thrust into the spotlight only because of the controversy over corporate outsourcing in the West.

"Priests and bishops abroad have no choice but to send them here or else the mass intentions would never be said," Paul Thelakat, the spokesman for the Cochin archdiocese, told The Times
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Indo-Asian News Service

April 2004--The following appeared in the Times of India.  

  DEYA - Michael Caine's Indian Curry Restaurant in London.
 
The Indian curry's love story seems to have no end.  Its latest convert is Michael Caine, an actor known for his fastidious tastes when it comes to choosing films at least.  Opening shortly, on April 29, in London's Curry Street is the Hollywood legend's light 'n' tangy Indian restaurant 'Deya', glorified by The Guardian for serving gravy delights without ghee and hot masalas.  Truely it's a re-definition of Indian cuisine.

Burping along with Caine on this project are two Indians, Raj Sharma and chef Sanjay Dwivedi of Zaika, London's only Indian restaurant with a Michelin star.  Deya's launch, will be attended by Hollywood's who's who, dipping fingers in the gravy of Murgabi Mussalam and Kokum nariyal rattan.  Says Raj Sharma, "We're re-inventing Indian cuisine to provide an alternative to the usual curry house menu.  This is Michael's dream project.  He's tuned-in to the minutest details of the restaurant.  He wants everything to be Indian.

London's going crazy already, we've had queries from Cincinatti, New York and Sydney.  We're feeling very hot, hot, hot..."

Right now, Caine's busy finishing his shooting, to hurry 'n' curry some last minute changes.  Says Michael Caine, "This project was the first venture that really exited me.  I'm a great fan of the Indian curry and I'll enjoy overseeing it.  At the porch end of my life, I don't want to regret I didn't want to regret I didn't do this," adds Caine, who won an Oscar in 2000 for Cider House Rules and was nominated for his role in The Quiet American in 2003.

Says chef Sanjay Dwivedi, "We've evolved a very modern and healthy Indian cuisine.  The main course is light but traditional.  We're serving dishes like Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken and Goan Fish Curry minus the overbearing spicy gravies.  I'm  using my French influence to create a menu that does away with ghee, heavy oils and cream.  We're going to make Londoners taste Indian food that's more than spicy butter chicken."
 
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  March 2004- Kailash reports: Making a pitch for another item for outsourcing, the following blatantly self serving article appeared in the Times of India a few weeks ago, thought it might interest/amuse Koi Hais

 IDEAL PLACE FOR THE AGED TO RETIRE

Packing off Britain's elderly to India is an idea worth considering.  It makes sound economic sense for all concerned.  The prohibitive cost of living and health care makes England an unattractive place to live in for those who are no longer part of the workforce.  India, on the other hand, is easy on the pocket and more so given the attractive pound-rupee conversion rate.  The abundance of paid help, the availability of modern conveniences and world class healthcare system, all combine to make India an unbeatable destination for anyone who has the money to pay for it, particularly the elderly from other countries.  As a sweetener to
this deal, throw in the fact that English is spoken and understood
widely in India.  India is also a country of many climates.  As opposed to England which is mostly dull, grey and cold, India's widely varying climatic conditions offer a spectacular range of choices for the immigrant elderly.

While on the subject, let's also demolish the notion that India's
gen-next is self-centered and uncaring.  For all that the Indian young seem in a hurry to achieve their economic goals, they are also raised in an environment that values and respects the elderly.  No matter how modern their exterior and how aloof their manner, their core is essentially Indian.  Treating the elderly with respect is almost a subconscious response in India and manifests itself in everyday life.  A few stray incidents of elderly people being badly treated doesn't mean that is the way things happen on a large scale.  The traditional Indian respect for the elderly, more value for their money and the availability of world-class facilities, all make a compelling cases for the aged to
move from Britain to India.

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BRITISH COUPLE RETURNS TO RENEW MARRIAGE VOWS

as reported in the Hindustan Times

Man Aman Singh Chhina
Roorkee, November 7

IT WAS nostalgia time at the St John's Church in IIT-Roorkee on Friday when a British veteran of the Bengal Sappers, Major H.R. Balston, and wife Janet renewed their marriage vows.  They chose to relive their romance and wedlock amidst comrades and memories of yore.
The couple had tied the knot at this very church on July 31, 1943. Their dream to celebrate the diamond jubilee of their wedding at the same place and during the bicentenary of the Bengal Sappers had come true.

Maj Balston (83) and his wife (78) were treated to a special churchceremony by the British delegation attending the Sappers' bicentenary. It was a special moment for 19 British officers and their wives who sang
psalms along with children of the Sunday church.  Among those present were General Sir George Cooper, former Adjutant General of the British Army and Maj Gen Lyall Grant, both veteran Bengal Sappers.

An emotional Janet recalled how she fell for her Captain 60 years ago."My father was a professor at theThomason College (now IIT Roorkee) when I attended a New Year Eve party at the Bengal Sappers Centre.  It was love at first sight," she said.

Their courtship continued even after she left Roorkee to work as a nurse in Mussoorie during World Was II.  She said the Bengal Sappers hold a special place in their hearts and they were lucky to celebrate their
diamond jubilee at Roorkee.

The couple had also celebrated their silver jubilee here in 1968 and took part in the 175th anniversary celebrations of the Bengal Sappers in 1978.

Speaking to HT, Gen. Cooper and Gen. Grant said the cantonment retains its old charm.  "We drove around and could identify some old buildings,including the one in which I stayed," said Cooper.

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     India to close London, New York tea offices ----August 2003
This was probably a sign of the times and inevitable but looks like the accountants are winning !!!!!!!!-----Editor

Kolkata (IANS) The Indian Tea Board will shut down its offices in London and New York to reduce costs, but its Dubai and Moscow establishments will stay, according to board officials.

The state-run agency that promotes export of Indian tea will try to clinch deals through foreign embassies, having done so successfully earlier, a source said.

The decision to downsize the Tea Board’s overseas establishments has, however, not gone down well with some people who argue that exports to Europe and the U.S. cannot pick up if the agency does not promote its own teas.

Indian teas hold only 19 percent, 20 million kg annually, of the British market, losing badly over the years to Kenya, which claims 43 percent. The U.S. market imports seven percent of Indian teas, but is seemingly growing fonder of these.

The two overseas offices are being scrapped by the Indian commerce ministry, apparently to reduce New Delhi’s financial burden. However, industry experts are already beginning to count the losses from the decision.

"The London office promoted exports to Europe, particularly Britain, Germany, France and Italy. Can we now hope to increase exports after doing away with the office?" wondered a Tea Board official.

In 2002, India’s tea output was 850 million kg, of which 193 million kg was exported.

The Indian tea industry, which is reinventing its export markets because of stiff competition from countries like Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia and Malawi, is turning its focus away from traditional markets like Russia, Central Asian states and Britain to look towards the Middle East.

The decision to retain the Dubai office seems to have been taken because the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the growing importers of Indian tea.

Tea prices have fallen by about 30 percent in the past four years.

The Tea Board has hired two market research firms to survey consumption patterns in countries like Chile, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Germany.

Indo-Asian News Service

Flood-hit elephants block traffic, 
drink beer



Guwahati (IANS) Elephants fleeing a flooded wildlife park in India’s northeastern state of Assam are making merry -- blocking road traffic and guzzling homemade rice beer. With hundreds of wild animals migrating to the adjoining Karbi Anglong hills, some Asiatic elephants have strayed into a tea garden colony close to Kaziranga National Park, 220 km from here. And soon the elephant herd discovered rice brew tipple and started feasting on it before furious villagers chased away the animals with flaming torches, firecrackers, drums and cymbals. "We now fear that the Kaziranga elephants will make it a habit to enter our colony after getting a taste of rice beer," said Madhu Ram, a tea garden worker. "The elephants sipped to the last drop before smashing the earthen cask in which the beer is brewed." A group of about 64 elephants also blocked a highway that crisscross the park while taking leisurely took a stroll on the main road before disappearing to the thick jungles on the other side of the sanctuary. Elephants apart, witnesses said, a tiger also blocked highway traffic for about 15 minutes. "The tiger was relaxing on the highway, and people stopped their vehicles to watch the scene before the cat vanished into the thick undergrowth," a roadside hotelier said. "Animals like wild boars and deer are straying into human settlements in the fringe areas of the park with the floodwaters increasing by the day inside the sanctuary." Indo-Asian News Service

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Sir Edmund Hillary, 84, was in Delhi last week
Week of May 22nd 2003

Sir Edmund Hillary was in Delhi last week to mark the 50th year of
Everest ascent. Carrying all of his 84 years gracefully, albeit with
the help of walking stick, Sir Edmund enthusiastically went through
what would have been a busiest week for him in sweltering 42 C/ 108 F.

Perspiring profusely, he nonetheless gave mementoes to each and every
'Everester' present at the Indian Mountaineering Federation auditorium
on 21 May. His eyes shone with warmth and he had a word of encouragement
for all the mountaineers. That he was happy to be there was clear when
he also gave a speech - a thing he had not done the previous day at the
well appointed fully air conditioned prestigeous "Vigyan Bhavan", where
the Prime Minister was present for the celebration of the momentous
occasion. He spoke with his heart, though he slurred a bit, for 20
long minutes.

His charity organisation, Himalayan Trust, is working in the Everest
area, providing school and hospital for sherpa children.

Age has failed to dim his memory. He recounted the historic ascent with
Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953 at 11.30 am, as if it had happened
yesterday. "I wriggled to the top and Tenzing joined me there." he
recalled, " I put out my hand, in sort of stuffy old Anlo-Saxon fashion,
to shake his hand, but that was not enough for him. He threw his arms
around my shoulders, and I threw my arms around his."
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Britain’s crisps ads inspired by Indian weddings

London (IANS) Southall, the British capital’s mini India, was taken aback to see former England striker Gary Linekar dressed as an Indian bridegroom, with his hair dyed black, and sitting on a white horse.

There were women in saris dressed for the wedding, and a proper ’baraat’, or marriage party, in tow. So was he marrying a girl from Southall?

Not quite, he was modelling as an Indian bridegroom for an advertisement for crisps. He goes to the bride’s house and discovers her to be instead an elderly woman. But she has dowry for him - the keys to a corner shop with crisps inside.

Some of the biggest selling crisps in Britain now need a helping hand from Bollywood.

But not everyone in Southall, located in west London, was pleased.

"It is bizarre and terribly stereotyped to suggest that the bridegroom would never have seen the bride before because it is an arranged marriage," said Piara Singh, who works in a boutique in Southall. "And it gives the idea that Indians marry only for dowry, whatever the woman may be like."

The ad will particularly push a new brand of crisps with, what else, chicken tikka masala flavour. Gary Linekar has been dubbed the new Curry Linekar.

One of the most popular ads in recent weeks has been an ad for Peugeot cars. It features a man in Mumbai who sees an ad for a Peugeot, and bangs and hammers his old Ambassador car into shape to look something like a Peugeot.

The ad features an elephant and the usual Indian shots. The hero ends triumphantly in a cool drive down Mumbai in his new Peugeot, basking in the female adoration that his new vehicle is attracting.

The Indian summer of 2002 is gone, but the Indian flavour lingers. But many Indians wish it was something other than elephants, curries and arranged marriages.

Kailash added:

"Old Ambassador banged and hammered into a new Peugeot in an advert in U.K. Audacity of these French, banging and hammering a car of impeccable British lineage!"

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AMBASSADOR NO LONGER THE KING

Bhopal: The tried and tested Ambassador cars are losing out to snazzier makes as taxis here, and 500-odd cab drivers in the city are fuming at the change.

The drivers took out a rally in this Madhya Pradesh capital Thursday to highlight their plight.

Around 500 taxi drivers of Bhopal, all of who own Ambassador cars, have been on a strike for two days, saying the new cars are driving them out of business.

The Ambassador taxis, registered with the Railway Station Taxi Owners and Drivers Association, have been plying from here to other districts and cities of the state for three decades.

Today, the ageing taxis face a threat from new entrants in the car market. "The condition of taxi drivers who own Ambassador cars is pathetic," Balmukund Dubey, vice president of the organisation, said. "We are on the verge of starvation."

Added Kamal Singh, a driver: "Earlier there was no dearth of passengers. But because of the new cars, Ambassador drivers hardly find passengers. Sometimes we do not find a single passenger for three or four days.

"A passenger generally prefers a new car, say Toyota Qualis, because he is told by its driver it is more comfortable and takes less time to travel," said Singh.

The Ambassador taxi drivers want the transport department to cancel the permits of the new taxis.

"We have also demanded that taxes on Ambassador cars be lowered," said Singh. The taxi drivers insist that Ambassador is still the best. The Ambassador is still used as the official car of the Prime Minister, they point out.

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December 2002

In November Kailash posed the question 

"How is it that the Brits decided on 5'6" & 1 meter (I ask you) gauge for Indian Railways?"

He has since come back with the following

Gauges for Indian Railways must have been decided at Glasgow, being home of North British Locomotives, Yorkshire and other Railway centres in Britain some 150 years ago. This gauge must have also something to with horses' behinds I am sure, although it is the broadest gauge, speeds up to 100 m.p.h. can be attained, and a centre of gravity of the locomotives of 5'9" or so above rail level is permissible.

Admirable foresight! Nearly all 1 meter gauge railway lines in India have been changed to "Broad Gauge" i.e., 5'6". Siliguri-Darjeeling, now classified "heritage" and to be preserved will remain "Narrow Gauge" could be 60 cm. 1'11.5".

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November 2002

Message from Kailash

There have been hardly any high profile visitors or people with Indiaconnection  from U.K. this winter.  However Dalryman is here to launchhis book White Mughals.  He has some interesting stories to tell:

The protagonist of Dalrymple's latest book White Mughals, James AchillesKirkpatrick, lies buried in the Park Street cemetery  "Unfortunately, Kirkpatrick's grave seems to have disappeared," the author said.  But he did go and pay his respects to the plaque remembering Kirkpatrick in St
John's Church.  But Kirkpatrick is not the only Kolkata connection for Dalrymple.  By a strange quirk of fate, the plaque remembering one of Dalrymple's ancestors, J Pattle, is placed right next to Kirkpatrick's plaque in St John's Church.
.
 Dalrymple has a bizarre tale about Pattle,  apparently Pattle wished that in case he died in Kolkata, his body be sent to London for burial. So his body was placed in a coffin filled with rum and put on the ship. But the sailors got wind of the fact, bore a hole in the coffin and started consuming the rum.  Eventually, the ship ran aground on a sandbank and burst into flames.

Dalrymple has more surprises in store when he says that one of his great great great grandmothers was a Bengali from Chandannagore.  Such cross-cultural connections is one of the underlying themes of White Mughals.  The book chronicles the life of Kirkpatrick, the British resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, who married a Muslim
woman Khair-un-Nissa.

How is it that the Brits decided on 5'6" & 1 meter (I ask you) gauge for Indian Railways

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March 8 2002

Kailash returns to the Ambassador car for his nostalgic story --

 thank you sincerely for keeping us up to date 

Story of Karma Kabs, London cab-owner Tobias Moss's 

three beloved Ambassador cars, progenies of the 50s 

British Morris Oxfords.  
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The idea to run Ambassadors cars as cabs was given to Moss by a friend when he was in India.

  He bought his first Ambassador for Pound 3,000 in London in '95 from a dealer friend, Joe Berg,who a decade ago bought and distributed some 70 Ambassadors throughout the UK. Two more were added in due course. Four months ago, he returned to India to buy spare parts and book two more cars. "But no more after this," he says.

Moss's natural stomping ground is London's fashionable Notting Hill and his 'office' is a bench outside Tom's Deli on Westbourne Grove.

We are like prostitutes," he declares, "we sell ourselves by the hour." He also says "My cabs are like my house. I invite only those who fit the aura of my house." Contradictory statements One might  think.  

But we drive the people we want to drive, not the people I don't want to drive," says Moss. "I can tell on the phone if we're not for them. Those that ask about the price, instead of the cars, usually they are not for us."

Celebs pay any thing between Pound 50 to 100 per hour to ride in one of the cars. Thereby making Moss not just richer but also much sought after during fashion weeks and premieres. He is now booked by Selfridges for their Bollywood week in May.   

He clearly likes only pop singers, fashion icons, sports idols and move stars (his regular clients).
His Ambassadors are the preferred mode of transport for London's 'F' people - as in Film, Fashion, Food and Funky - and include such current icons as Kate Moss, Ralph Fineness, Boy George, Robert Carry Williams, Jade Jagger, John Malkovich, John McEnroe, and Bjorn Borg .

Recently the cars were taken to Paris where the emotional French went crazy about them. The convoy was parked near the Opera and then near the Eiffel Tower, and passerby were invited to experience the "ecstasy of being in them." It's your karma that you have this chance, Moss told them.

Of the three chauffeurs - called 'karmanautss' - one is a therapist, another a poet and the third a doctor and yoga teacher. They are known to offer clients advice on among other things, mediation and how to soothe taut nerves.

The advice must be worthwhile because Moss doesn't like driving his karma cars on motorways. "Motorways are just too fast for us," he says. That's why one can go to Heathrow in one of his cabs, but Moss refuses to drive to Gatwick. If someone is in a hurry, he is politely told to hire a normal taxi.

Never mind that one of the cars in the fleet might have a balding tire, or that all of them are decorated with plastic flowers on their bumpers. It is all part of the experience, as is the purple carpeting, mirrored ceiling, embroidered cushions, orange curtains and beaded chandelier used for the interior of the flagship of the fleet.

"All my cars are styled inside like the clothes I wore, the people I hung about with the music," Moss explains. "When you're in Karma cabs all your senses come into play: the smell of the agarbati, the touching of the velvet, the hearing of the sounds. This is India, this is a fusion of my life, this is my life in karma."

Moss is hardly typical of the average London black cabdriver. A middle-aged Jewish man, he was born in Oxford, raised in London and studied estate management at college.

Moss has visited India more times than "most Indians here". On his first trip, in '68, he and his girlfriend hitched rides on trucks and lived with sadhus.

Travelling overland through Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the idea was to go for six weeks but he got 'hung up' on India and didn't return to England for six and a half years. During this time he travelled on $1 per day from Punjab to Delhi, then Rajasthan, Mumbai and the Ellora caves, then Goa - where he split up with his German girlfriend - then Kerala - where he got hepatitis - and Sri Lanka

On his way back from Sri Lanka he travelled up the east coast of India to Puri, Konarak and Kolkata, arriving penniless in Kathmandu. He only survived, he says, because he travelled with sadhus and stayed in Ramakrishna ashrams, wherever he could.

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Kailash sends us this interesting story with some nostalgia attached --we thank you sincerely for keeping us up to date 

Friday January 25, 2002

Hussain makes nostalgic return to birthplace Madras

By Suresh Seshadri

MADRAS (Reuters) - England captain Nasser Hussain made a nostalgic return on Thursday to the ground where he first watched cricket as a toddler.

The 33-year-old Hussain, who left this southern city as a young boy, said it would be a very special feeling to lead out his side against India in the third one-dayer on Friday.

"Tomorrow is going to be special for me and especially for my dad," an emotional Hussain told members of the Madras Cricket Club.

"This is the club and ground where 30 years ago I used to come along with him 

as a kid and hang around the outfield and pick up balls when he played," he said.

Hussain, who was conferred an honorary membership by the 155-year-old club, said he considered it to be as significant as receiving the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in Britain's New Year honours list this year

"To be placed alongside such great names as Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev is a great honour for me and one that surely ranks just as highly personally as the OBE," he said.

Hussain, who initially fancied his chances as a leg-spinner while at school in England, came to India as a teenager and played cricket for the Madras club in 1986 and 1987.

"It was the experiences that I had here when I came back here in 1986 and played for those three months in India for the club that really completed me, both as a player and a person." Hussain, who led his inexperienced side to a 16-run win at Cuttack to level the six-match series1-1 on Tuesday, said he would be concentrating fully on the game despite all the memories.

"I look forward to playing before the Madras crowd here tomorrow," he said. "I know many of you will be rooting for Tendulkar, I also know you like a good game of cricket and that is what we will try to play."

DELIGHTED

Hussain's father Jawad, who played first-class cricket for the local state side as an off-spinner in the early seventies, was delighted that Nasser would be leading England at his home ground. "It is the happiest moment of my life," he said.

"I had hoped and dreamt that someday he would play here, probably a test as a player, but never that he would be here as England's captain and against India at that."

Jawad said he was thrilled because many of Nasser's relatives and old friends would be present to cheer his son.

"I'm a proud Indian and always cheer for India but tomorrow, with my son leading, I'll obviously be rooting for him and hoping that he scores a hundred and that England wins." But he said he would be anxious. "I'll be nervous when he comes out to bat, I'll probably be somewhere outside the stadium, puffing away at a cigarette." Jawad said he'd always be grateful to the local obstetrician who delivered Nasser in 1968. "I can never forget her, she saved his life, because he was born a premature baby," he said.  

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January 19  2002

Thankyou Kailash,as our Delhi Correspondent, you do a 

great job keeping us informed

HARRISON'S $1M PLEDGE TO VARANASI
Vijay Dutt
London, January 13

THE LATE "Beatle" George Harrison pledged $1 million to help build a Krishna temple in Varanasi when he, weak and ailing, visited the city last summer. This has now been revealed by supporters of the worldwide Krishna movement. Prasann Atama, president of the ISKCON temple here, told the Telegraph, "If the Lord has given George Harrison the strength to help us, all well and good."

The new temple is to be constructed on high ground near the banks of the Ganges. Sources said the building would be close to the spot where his ashes will be immersed by his wife and son. This resolves the mystery over whether the family flew to the holy city for the immersion soon after Harrison's death. A source said the ashes were to be immersed on makar sankranti, which falls on January 14. The blueprint of the temple shows that it will be an ornate structure with 6,000 square feet of built up area. There will be a big prayer hall with a 30-foot high statue of Lord Krishna at its eastern side. The plan includes dormitory-style accommodation for 100 sadhus and sanyasins and a modern guest house for 150 pilgrims. This would be very much like the guest house at the "New Vrindavan" near Pittsburgh. The one and a half acres of land for the temple has been reportedly donated by "a company that manufactures traditional Indian medicines".

HARRISON HIT RIGHT ON TOP

LONDON: Former Beatle George Harrison, who died in November, is set to secure a posthumous number one in the single charts this week, sales figures have showed.

The re-issued 1971 Harrison hit   My Sweet Lord  has sold 3,500 more copies than its nearest rival Get the Party Started by singer Pink, according to music store HMV's midweek sales chart.  

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January 9  2002

Kailash our Delhi Correspondent tells us 

 On TV last Sunday  Mark Tully was being interviewed after becoming a knight. He speaks fluent if not entirely grammatically correct Hindi,and he does not look uncomfortable or ill at ease, a rare feat for an
Englishman!

He said:   Thirty years ago, when I came to India, if someone would have predictedthat one day I would become Sir Mark, I would have laughed at him.   Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine getting a knighthood."

Indira Gandhi helped his fame grow by throwing him out of the country during the Emergency in 1976. 9 years ago the Indian Government honoured him with the coveted civilian honour "Padma Shri." He decidedto stay back in India after leaving B.B.C.

Kailash thought the following may be of interest to the koi hai readers !!!.and we thank him form all his hard work on our behalf

________________________________________________________________________________

SIR MARK

The newly knighted Tully sahib continues to be powered by the spirit of India.

TULLY SAHIB HAS become the only knight in town - if you exclude Her Majesty's High Commissioner. Welcome Sir Mark. But don't give all the credit to the British Crown. It is Mother India's moment as well. For, Tully Sahib's knighthood is, in many ways, the Empire Salutes Back.
This Englishman turned native long ago, though you don't hear his familiar voice any longer on the crackling short waves of the BBC World Service.

Rather, he has become an endearing monument of the Raj in Delhi, writing and talking like an Indian, powered by disillusion, excitement andenquiry. So when a subdued Tully - he is still mourning the death of
his pet Labrador - receives your congratulations at his house in Nizamuddin East, Delhi, he, with his partner Gillian Wright, a writer, is in the middle of finishing the introduction to his new book, the
working title of which is India in Slow Motion. It is about "this amazing ramshackle administration, this babu raj" in India.

"I was amazed., I thought I was yesterday's man. I had no ambition to be a knight. I didn't think it was possible." He was thrilled by the Indian reaction. "It is an honour for India too." His adopted country
had, after all, honoured him with a Padma Shri nine years ago.

Mark Tully reporting from India for BBC radio for 22 years was the definitive voice on the subcontinent, its politics and culture, its ruptures and rancour, its disasters and despair, ranging from the fire
on the border to the poverty in Calcutta. He was a true hero in the romance of the radio. Seven years ago, he said no, he, the traditionalist, saw tyranny in the new market-driven Bush House of Sir John Birt. He detected "the supreme irony that the World Service, praised by democrats and those who struggle for freedom, while attacked by dictators and torturers, is now to be dismantled by those charged
with protecting it".

The Beeb lost a stalwart. India did not. Tully is still the correspondent of India, and India is more than a dateline, it is home, it is knowledge, it is karmic destination. "Thanks to India, I started looking at life differently. One of the things which I am most aware of is the element of fate - destiny. I was destined to be here." Son of a box wallah who lived in India as a wealthy chartered accountant from 1922 to 1947, Tully was born 66 years ago in Calcutta, and stayed there till he was 10. "I'm a son of the Raj." Back in England, it was Marlborough Public School and Cambridge, reportedly an unhapy place where his best friends were women and alcohol.

Post-Cambridge, the sinner thought priesthood in the Church of England would be salvation, but he failed to come out of the Lincoln Theological College as a servant of God, for demons were still active within. What then? "My father thought I would not be good in business, and he was right." Then, in 1964, destiny intervened, Mark Tully reached Delhi as BBC's India correspondent. There were no full stops in his radio
dispatches - only a semicolon when he was thrown out during the Emergency - from the country that would become home.

India also helped reclaim a spiritual experience. One of the BBC television series he recently presented was The Lives of Jesus. His Sunday Radio 4 programme is called "Something Understood". He takes religion seriously and for what it actually is - an expression of faith, even a spectacle. For this he was lampooned by Indian modernists as "Ram's Englishman" during the Ayodhya years.

Not that he has shed all his Englishness. He may boast with a touch of  inverse snobbery that he gets his suits tailored in Delhi's Khan Market but he still maintains his membership of the Oriental Club in London.
In Nizamuddin or Swiss Cottage, he personifies the enduring romance of the Indo-British encounter.

Ah, the amazing spirit of the new knight, and the happiest is his companion Gillian Wright: "When I was a teenager, the story of King Arthur was my fascination. Today I live with the knight." The new Camelot is far, far away from Exeter, all because of Tully sahib, sorry, Sir Mark.

S.Prasannarajan

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This item from CNN News was sent in by Kailash Chaurasia today Jan 4 2002 for your interest and we thank him --How many of those who worked in N.E. India owned one of the grand old cars?

The Ambassador: India's car of authority and aggression

January 4, 2002 Posted: 10:31 AM HKT (0231 GMT)

The bullet proof Ambassador is capable of withstanding rounds from a 9mm handgun up to an AK-47, along with blasts from hand grenades 

NEW DELHI, India -- Witnesses to the Indian parliament attack on December 13 said the attackers simply exploited a deference to authority in driving into the building's compound in a vehicle similar to that used by officials.

The car chosen for the murderous attack was no ordinary automobile but a 1950s-vintage style, white Ambassador.

The grand old man of Indian roads suddenly went from being a vehicle of authority to one of terror.

The unsuspecting metallic symbol of power will now be forever questioned in the world's most populous democracy, its uniqueness and style sullied by an act of terrorism.

"It's a car identified with the masses and the ruling class. It gained access into parliament because of its symbolic value and the power it connotes," Soni Shrivastav, a spokeswoman for the group that makes the Ambassador, told Reuters news agency.

The white Ambassador that carried the assailants and their armaments on that day also bore the trappings of authority: a flashing red roof light and the appropriate security sticker.

It looked identical in color and form to the thousands of bulbous sedans used by Indian officials, and therein lied its effectiveness.

The Ambassador was and still is the vehicle of choice for politicians, judges taxi drivers and the military.

Government fleet of 5,000

In some ways the Ambassador is to India what the Rolls Royse is to the British or the Chevrolet to the United States.

The government seems to think so; according to Reuters their fleet of the oddly shaped cars numbers 5,000.

On any day during a parliamentary session the road outside of the parliament down from Rasahtrapathi Bhavab, in the heart of New Delhi, is a sea of white Ambassadors.

Some are equipped with bulletproof glass and armor plating, yet the original design, based on the British-built Morris Oxford of 1948, still stands out.

For those who mix in questionable company, a new fully armoured Ambassador 1800 ISZ has been released that is capable of withstanding rounds from a 9mm handgun up to an AK-47, along with blasts from hand grenades.

It is the prime minister's official car -- as it has been for virtually every prime minister since independence over fifty years ago.

Threatened

The white ambassador used by five gunmen in the attack on parliament Nobody knows why this oddly shaped car is the vehicle of choice for the current administration.

Apart from the region's taxi fleet, few customers are willing to buy it, a reality that threatens the existence of its makers Hindustan Motors (HM).

The New Delhi company was one of the country's three original car manufactures and saw it lead the trade up until the mid 1980s when it was selling the Ambassador in a largely protected market.

However, disappearing trade tariffs brought fresh competition from foreign companies making smaller, cheaper, more contemporary cars.

Even today HM's main product is still the 1950's vintage Ambassador albeit with a Japanese Isuzu motor, with sales of only 11,000 cars expected in the second half of the year ending March 2002 according to Reuters.

Although it has only a few percent of the automobile market this relic from another era is an Indian legacy.

With few fans amongst the general populace, a die-hard administration, even after the December 13 attacks, is still keen to keep the Ambassadors rolling.

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November 21st 2001

With things moving in the right direction,Bamiyan in Afaghanistan was
in news again being captured by the Northern Alliance, it was gratifying
to find this article in the TIMES of INDIA  a few day ago:

BAMIYAN REBUILDING

A Swiss duo has decided to rebuild the 1,800-year-old Bamiyan statutes
destroyed by the Taliban in April on the grounds they were idolatrous.
The two will raise over $1.5 million for the project.

& this is not without an element of humour:

There is a  delightful story about  John Foster Dulles explaining to
well-known American journalist Walter Lippmann why Pakistan had to be on
America's side because "we could never get along without the Gurkhas".
"But Foster", Lippmann intervened, "the Gurkhas aren't Pakistanis,
they're Indians".  "Well" said Dulles, "they may not be Pakistanis but
they're Muslims".  "No", said Lippmann,  "they're not Muslims either,
they're Hindus." "No matter" the secretary of state replied while
outlining his plan.

Explaining this aspect of American life, Lippmann wrote:  "When I
attempt to compare America in which I was reared with the America of
today, I am struck by how unconcerned I was as a young man with the hard
questions which are the subject matter of history."  Even today.....

**********************************************************************

November 2001

Kailash has kindly sent a copy of an article which appeared in 

the Times of India and adds content to the previous article below:

*************************************

It (the Nobel) is a great tribute to both England, my home, 

and to India, home of my ancestor

V S NAIPAUL

Sir VIDIA, Pandit NAIPAUL

The Swedish Academy is bound to come under fire from several quarters for choosing V S Naipaul as the laureate of this year's Nobel prize for literature.  For close to five decades, Naipaul has written harsh things about the ideas, beliefs and life-styles of many individuals, communities and nations.  In Trinidad, where he was born, his name evokes a great deal of unease and, especially among black Trinidadians, even anger ever since Naipaul loudly advertised his fear and loathing of his country of birth in his first work of non-fiction, The Middle Passage.  The Africa novels - In a free State and A bend in the River - have been bitterly criticised by writers like Chinua Achebe for depicting the continent as a "place of darkness" where nothing works, where everything is destined to disintegrate.

Until recently, he hasn't had a good press in India either.  His first two books on the home of his ancestors revealed his deep antipathy for the immensity and chaos of the country,  the sloth and naiveté of its citizens, the grip of tradition, the display of religiosity, the corruption of the rulers.  All this and more drove him to denounce India as 'an area of darkness' and as 'a wounded civilisation' and, in turn, provoked Indians to dismiss the darkness in his sad soul.  He appeared to take a more benign view of India in A Million Mutinies but soon angered liberal and left Indians with the empathy he seemed to feel for the Hindutva movement.

Clearly, however, it is his two accounts of travels in non-Arab Muslim countries that have generated relentless hostility.  Naipaul's central contentions - that the converted people had to deny and negate their  pre-Islamic past and that Islam has been used as a smokescreen for political oppression and exploitation - have provoked commentators, particularly in Pakistan, to rubbish him as a Muslim baiter.

The fact that the Nobel prize has been conferred on him at a time when the Muslim world is in a state of turmoil following the terrorist attacks in the United States and the retaliatory action taken against Afghanistan will only lend currency to the suspicion that the Swedish Academy's choice is flagrantly political in nature.

While there is merit in much of what Naipaul's critics have to say, his achievements, on balance, outstrip by far his inadequacies.  Few writers match his literary skills.  The simplicity, grace and dignity of his prose, the eye for the concrete detail, the humour and charm of the earlier works, the fine sense of irony, the neatness and clarity of his exposition and, above all, his ruthless honesty all taken together have made him perhaps the most lucid witness of a world in the throes of moral and spiritual uncertainties.

 In all of his writings, Naipaul has focused on individuals attempting to escape Fate for Fate belongs to a world of magic, myth and ritual where the past exists, but not history, a world which provides a sense of wholeness and belonging but proscribes ambition and curbs freedom.  His heroes strive for the latter, for self-awareness and for change.  This could also be a metaphor for peoples and nations.  Naipaul's insights are not to be trifled with for, despite his stern vision, they are rooted in empathy and understanding.  To Pandit Naipaul we offer our pranams.
 


 

Kailash Chaurasia our Delhi Correspondent writes;

Getting away from the ever present topic these days, I thought the following article might be of interest to Planters as the author's grandfather went to Trinidad from Varanasi as an indentured labourer to work on sugar plantations.

Does Agreement (Girmitia) Labour Challan ring a bell?

Hope you will  find it of interest.  

Nobel Prize For Literature Award---October 2001

V.S.Naipaul

Trinidad-born British writer V.S. Naipaul has won the Nobel Prize in literature He won the $1 million prize on Thursday for combining existing genres into a style of his own in works that compel readers "to see the presence of suppressed histories," the academy said in its citation. "In a vigilant style," the Swedish Academy said, Naipaul "transforms rage into precision and allows events to speak with their own inherent irony." Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born in 1932, near Port of Spain in Trinidad, in a family descended from Hindu immigrants from northern India. His grandfather worked in a sugar cane plantation and his father was a journalist and writer. He went to England at the age of 18 to study at Oxford University, and has lived in England since then, devoting himself to writing. The fodder for his novels, short stories, travel books and documentary works cover many themes and places. He has written about people and places in England, Trinidad, India, Africa, America, and the Islamic countries of Asia."Naipaul is (Joseph) Conrad's heir as the annalist of the destinies of empires in the moral sense: what they do to human beings. His authority as a narrator is grounded in his memory of what others have forgotten, the history of the vanquished," the academy said on Thursday. The Swedish Academy singled out the 1987 work The Enigma of Arrival.      

           

"In his masterpiece," the academy said, Naipaul visits the reality of England like an anthropologist studying some hitherto unexplored native tribe deep in the jungle."With apparently short-sighted and random observations, he creates an unrelenting image of the placid collapse of the old colonial ruling culture and the demise of European neighbourhoods. Other works include The Mystic Masseur (1957), his first work, a novel; Miguel Street (1959), short stories establishing Naipaul as a humourist; A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), a novel in which the protagonist is modelled on the author's father; The Loss of El Dorado (1969), a colonial history of Trinidad; and Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples (1998), a description of the eastern regions of the Islamic world."He is to a very high degree a cosmopolitan writer, a fact that he himself considers to stem from his lack of roots: he is unhappy about the cultural and spiritual poverty of Trinidad, he feels alienated from India, and in England he is incapable of relating to and identifying with the traditional values of what was once a colonial power," the academy said. Naipaul's views on religion have raised some eyebrows. "If you follow the whole oeuvre of Naipaul, he is very critical of all religions," Academy board member Per Wastberg told Reuters. "He considers religion as the scourge of humanity, which dampens down our fantasies and our lust to think and experiment."  

A Million Mutinies Now,  is also authored by him 

and his his latest book is Half a Life

 

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New Articles of Interest

INDOPHILE RALLIES TO RAISE FUNDS FOR A CAUSE
MEENAKSHI KUMAR

As the 13 cars, mostly Bentleys, slowly made their way up the mountain
road to the five-star resort snuggling in the Himalayas, one could
easily have been led to believe it was a scene straight out of a film
based on the Raj.  Except that most of the cars were over half a century
old and the drivers were not blue-blooded English gentlemen and ladies
in Sunday outfits but doughty Britishers and Europeans in their casual
best.  The cars were part of the 2nd Jewel of India Classic Car Rally
which began in Udaipur a month back, travelled to Kathmandu and stopped at the Mandarin Oriental Ananda in Tehri-Garhwal en route to Udaipur where the rally concludes on April 8.


Covering a distance of 6,000 kilometres, the rally is the brainchild of
Conrad W.Birch who organised the first one in '99 from Mumbai to
Chennai.  Says an enthusiastic Birch, 41, who has been visiting India
for the last 20 years:  "We wanted to go to the Himalayas this time and
rediscover the Kipling country."  The participants, (Except for four),
are first-timers to the rally and have shelled out 16,000 pounds for the
event.  Although not a speed event, the rally will have a winner
selected on the basis of his ability to ride through the challenge
successfully.  The rally will also raise money for two ambulances for a
hospital in Dharamsala.

Though Conrad, his wife, Karyn and 11-year-old son Alexander (their
nine-year-old daughter India had travelled with them the last time) have
seen most of the places in the country, travelling by road is, according
to them, an eye-opener.  "You actually get to see the real India," says
the 44-year-old Australian Karyn.  Says Conrad:  "Driving on Indian
roads is a challenge.  I've driven in Europe, Australia and the US but
it's not as exciting as it is in India.  Where else will you come across
monkeys springing on you in the middle of a road?

Driving the hand-crafted elegant vintage cars - Bentleys, Jaguars, MGB,
Mercedes, Rover, Volvo - one of which is a 1924 model, on the unruly,
crowded and pot-holed Indian roads has been a scary experience for most participants.  "Initially some participants wanted to give up.  The
roads leading to Benaras were terrible.  But from previous experience I
can tell that when they get back to their homes, most of them don't find
it as exciting," laughs Conrad.  For Alexander, however, shaking hands
with curious children on the roadside has been the high point in the
trip.  While for his parents, who own a property firm in London, being able to pull up at the roadside for a cup of chai and chat with the locals are things that will be memorable.


Conrad plans to return again in 2003 and take the cars down south and
into Lhasa.  Wait for the Return of the Raj: Part II.

This is part two of Kailash Chaurasias story which started when he made comment on John Gill's Photo of the Jorhat Club in
TRAVELLERS TALES  February 2001


Part 2. Sight of two undersized bullocks and an oversized lawn roller.

Arriving as God's gift to tea, or so as I thought then, the sights that dampened my spirits on the drive from Mohanbarrie (the airport near Dibrugarh in upper Assam) to the garden I was posted on - Sepon - some 35 miles down the Brahmputra valley in October, 1959 were - flat land, I had imagined tea gardens in all areas to be picture postcard hill stations, appearance of tea garden labour, not quite pinup calendar beauties, and herds and yet more herds of undersized and not so well fed cattle on the road.

John Gill's photograph of the two undersized bullocks and an oversized lawn roller in the field in front of Jorhat club took me back to cattle in Assam, the "goroos" (cows) and the "bagals" (cowherds). First it was indifference, looking at them as nuisance and pests being controlled by fencing, chowkidar and cattle trap. Cattle traps were sometimes overcome by quite a few enterprising stouthearted cattle with steeplechase instinct in them, a clean long jump got them though. Also it was not unusual to see some kind soul leave the "draw bar", bamboo mat used for bullocks of the authorised "panigarhi" to cross over. Other measure for control was impounding of cattle trespassing into the fenced area and the consequent imposition of fine. I used to wonder about utility of cattle to the labour. Although the bullocks formed the main source of draft power for various agricultural operations in those days, hardly any of them had the carts. A few of them who had "pathar", small patches of low lying paddy fields for cultivation did put them under plough for may be a few days in a year. As for the cows, an article in 1968 had this to say: It has been further estimated that, in India, 94.3 percent of the present-day milch cows yield less than one kilogram of milk and only 0.4 percent yield over two kilograms 
per day. The average milk yield per milking cow is 3,710 kilograms in Denmark, 3,250 kilograms in Switzerland and 3,280 in the United States of America. As the years went by indifference gradually gave way to interest, starting with selfish motive of ensuring an uninterrupted supply of milk for own consumption. Our bungalow herd started with my wife investing Rs.100/- in our "Baburchee's" 1 kilogram milk per day cow just after arriving in Assam in 1965. Fair deal, as the going rate was indeed milk @ Re.1/- per kilogram. And a 1 kilogram per day yield cow @ Rs.100/- each. Nepalese some of them born dairymen appeared on the scene, with their advent things began to improve from one or two kilograms per cow and the size and yield of cattle in Assam. Gradually the "bungalow" herd grew with wife interacting with the local Govt. vets who were helpful and willing to help with artificial insemination, treatment of sick animals etc. The yield of bungalow cows of local breed by artificial insemination reached 5 kilograms per day over a period of time.

Hybrid Vigor did the trick to a large extent. Jersey approaches the true dairy type. It is the smallest of the dairy breeds and is an economical producer of milk. It crossed very successfully with diminutive Assamese cows and in Assam the breed had very well acclimatised. The milk yield of first generation progeny obtained by use of Jersey bulls on indigenous cows did increase in individual cases by about two- and-a-half times than that of their dams. The age of maturity and inter-calving period in the progeny also 
considerably got reduced. Pitfalls in disposal of excess milk had to be avoided. Having heard the story that a very attractive, a la twiggy, girl's parents, father a senior 
retired planter, blamed incorrect density of milk obtained from Burra Bungalow the girl was fed on in her in fancy, commercial supply to chota bungalows, and hospital was forbidden. Not a particularly edifying way to be remembered. Thereafter taking the cue I inducted a Jersey - Assamese cross bull for the garden cattle pound, an enclosure within the factory compound, provided a well designed ramp to service the cows owned by labour & staff, a self sustaining scheme financed by the fine imposed on the impounded cattle. Worked very well, softened the blow of fine. Not only the service ramp was something not seen before by most of labour and staff, but also when in use it became a source of entertainment to some of them in addition to the mandatory monthly The bull was not particularly finicky and provided the service without demur, except on one occasion when, for some reason one look and one sniff at this particular cow and it took off, leapt over the cattle trap at the factory gate and was on the highway before it could be caught by five/six men in hot pursuit. It had gained in popularity and fame; it would have left an irreparable loss had a speeding truck knocked it down. When I left the Company in 86, the Jersey-Assamese was still going strong, then 7/8 years old, as vigorous as ever, Viagra was not even thought of in those days.

As an epilogue: After Green Revolution, the White Revolution & Operation Flood. At about the same time at the other end of the country in a village in Gujrat Dr. Verghese Kurien, who eventually became known as India's most famous 'milkman' was starting as the General Manager of the Kheda District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Limited (AMUL). In the late sixties, the Board drew up a project called Operation Flood (OF) - meant to create a flood of milk in India's villages - with funds mobilised from foreign food donations. Producers' co-operatives were the central plank of the project, which sought to link dairy development with milk marketing. The mighty Ganges when it sets out on its long and winding journey is but a tiny stream in the Gangotri ranges of the Himalayas. So too is the story of AMUL which inspired the 'Operation Flood' and heralded the White Revolution in this land. It began with two village co-operatives and 250 liters of milk per day - anything but a trickle compared to the flood it has become today. Today AMUL collects, processes and distributes over a million liters of milk per day during the peak on behalf of 962 village co-operatives owned by 542 thousand farmer members. Further, as Ganga-ma carries the aspirations of generations

for moksha, so too AMUL has become the sign and symbol of the aspiration of millions of farmers, and the pattern of liberation and self-reliance for every farmer. An evaluation report of World Bank on Operation Flood says that there is no developmental project in the world like it and points out that by spending just Rs.one billion annually over a period of two decade the milk production in India today has in value increased by Rs.520 billion per annum.

N E W D E L H I

November 2000

Delhi in winter attracts lots of visitors, it is lovely with annual flowers, warm sunny days, pleasantly cold nights. Delhi in winter merits a song in its praise, such as New York in June, April in Portugal, Summer Time in Isle of Capri, I belong to Glasgow.....but here is none, an undeserving city?

Yesterday's Times of India (3/12/00) carried this on a 92 year old father, 84 year old mother and 55 year old son, and daughter-in-law (age not specified) from UK :


"AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY FOR 60 YEARS AND EVER AFTER...

By A Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: In a cynical world of short-lived relationship, some love stories never end. One such story was retold by Brigadier Bill Magan and Maxine Magan on Thursday, when they came from the UK to the

Cathedral Church of the Redemption in Delhi.

This exemplary love story began in 1928, when the young Bill Magan came to India as an officer in the Indian Army. He fell in love with a colleague Maxine Mitchell and married her in 1940 in the New Delhi church.

On Thursday, the Magans celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the company of priests, prayers and blessings. Also celebrating their long-standing relationship were the Magans son George and daughter-in-law Wendy.

Old war-horse Magan (92) and an elegant Maxine (84) enjoyed every moment in the church.

They were blessed by priests, mobbed by photographers and cheered by former colleagues of the Hodson's Horse regiment. Vicar of the cathedral church Collin Theodore told the couple, "I was not even in this world when you got married."

Retired and serving officers of the regiment, priests and well wishers prayed at the church.

Everyone sang hymns and the priests prayed. Son George said, "It was true love... India was a wonderful joy for my parents and they had a marvellous life here..."

The couple then stood in front of the vicar, who blessed them and prayed for them.

Recollecting her days in Delhi, Mitchell said, "I lived here for 17 years. We left Delhi in 1946 when George was a baby. He is now a 55-year-old banker. It feels wonderful to be here again. Delhi is ovely lots of trees and greenery. But it also has a lot of pollution and traffic."

Even George seemed proud of his Indian links. He said, "I was born at the Willingdon Nursing Home, which is close by.

Now it goes by some other name. Today we visited 9 Race Course Road, which was my maternal grandfather's home. Now it is part of the Prime Minister's residence, but at that time, it belonged to Kenneth Mitchell, a senior officer in the Indian government."

One of the priests brings out a marriage register. The couple look a their signature and feel pleased as they recognise them.

Again, there is a flurry of activity as photographers sound a series of clicks. They are still not satisfied. There is one more request which is pending. The Magans oblige. He plants a kiss on his wife's cheek.

The media wants more. Bill finally ends kissing Maxine six times, amidst hearty congratulations and peals of laughter!"

 

from our DELHI CORRESPONDENT

  Kailash Chaurasia

Travelers Tales: Sight of a broken down Ambassador, two undersized
bullocks and an oversized lawn roller.
(in 2 parts)

October 2000


Part 1. The Ambassador.

Why does the most venerable Ambassador, (born circa middle of last century , pedigree English, domiciled in India), still holding its own may be in minuscule number, in a sea of Japanese Suzuki, Honda, Toyota,
Mitsubishi, Korean Hyundai, Daewoo, European Mercedes, Opel, Fiat, Ford
& wholly indigenous Tata Indica, Sierra, Safari and many others, has this embarrassing proclivity to break down when carrying retired British planters? Resentment at being abandoned in an alien land? Although a
couple of years ago there was a photo in the newspapers of a batch of Ambassadors being loaded on to a ship destined for the home country.

In the land of its domicile it is highly venerated, arouses strong passion and fierce loyalty, still remains the Government vehicle - white Ambassador with red light atop, sometimes may be blue, depending upon rank etc., siren, antennae, emanating power and authority. Even today95% of cars parked outside Central Secretariat, seat of power of Sovereign Democratic Republic of India , as well as State Secretariats are .... you have guessed right... Ambassadors!

Look at this report from highly respected Times of India 9.10.2000.

"Prime Minister Vajpaee arrived in a white Ambassador accompanied by Governor P C Alexander amidst heavy security. More than 200security personnel........vehicles...bristling with antennae ...

And the outrage in Letters to the Editor column

........... The Delhi governments decision to opt for Maruti-Suzuki Balenos to replace the existing fleet of Ambassador cars reeks of duplicity............. The Ambassador is known to be a very cost-efficient car. Its spares are cheap and the car can be repaired by
any mechanic anywhere. This is not entirely true of Balenos....."

A holy war is being waged in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on behalf of Ambassador as I write this. Some may be of the opinion that Government
Ministers deserve nothing more than bicycles or at best cycle rickshaws, but that is a different matter.

Even the flamboyant English billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, rode a pink Ambassador while in Delhi a few months ago to inaugurate Virgin Atlantic flights to London,in deference to Indian sensibilities as an astute businessman.

The Ambassador I had, proved to be a very reliable car, not a single break down on road in Assam, driving on deserted gravel roads sometimes turned into mud tracks after torrential rains, crossing rivers by rope
and pulley operated ferries, reached us safely back to bungalow not infrequently well past mid-night and occasionally just before dawn still in time for kamjari. I got so attached to my 75 Ambassador that it was
air lifted when I left Assam in 1986. I blame myself for falling to charms of Suzuki in 1988, alas Delhization took its toll on my sense of values , I still get overcome with remorse and a deep sense of
loss.....

Slurs galore, one was that only part that does not make noise in an Ambassador is the horn.
And the ignominies suffered, being only too human, no two Ambassadors were alike, quality controls and inspections not withstanding. One tip on how to pick up a good" piece" was - insert your fore finger in the
exhaust pipe and examine the stain for soot, smell of unburnt petrol, smudge of viscous lubricating oil etc.,. to determine the health of the engine.

Regardless, the indomitable Ambassador drives on into the new millennium. It will be indeed a sad day when this work horse, beast of burden, serving the entire country for five decades disappears from Indian roads.

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