There’s a certain section of society that loves belonging to clubs. That section would perhaps be thrilled to find little known information about the Delhi Gymkhana, or looking at old photographs of the Ooty Club. That section will also love businessman Pavan Malhotra’s book. ‘‘No one has ever thought of doing a book like this before,’’ says Malhotra, a pointing to the massive tome that lies on the table. His Elite Clubs of India, is a book he put together, with co-author Purshottam Bhageria. The duo have published the book under a trust called the Bhageria Foundation.

The clubs range from the old Chelmsford club in Delhi, to the Wellington Gymkhana to the Umed Club in Jodhpur. Where the authors couldn’t get information directly from the clubs, they contacted people connected to the concerned clubs, to give them write-ups. Dr. Karan Singh submitted something on the India International Centre, where he is a trustee. ‘‘We wrote a lot of the articles ourselves,’’ adds Malhotra.

  The duo also wanted to foray into publishing, which is why they did not give their book to a publishing house, says Malhotra. ‘‘Besides the publishing houses wouldn’t have the focus we wanted. We want to sell more than 10,000 copies.’’

That’s fairly ambitious for a book of that volume and cost (over Rs 3,000). But Elite Clubs of India is precisely a directory of the one hundred top clubs in India, and Malhotra is confident that his book will be the ‘‘bible’’ for club people. ‘‘It’s not a niche book,’’ says Malhotra staunchly, ‘‘We have already gotten a phenomenal response.’’

This lady Pradnya Girme, has a wonderful talent in all she does and I hope in future that we will see some more of her works of art--thank you Pradnya for sharing your wonderful creations with us 

December 5 2004

BIRTHDAY BOY

Dick Barton's trip to the place of his birth to celebrate his 80th Birthday with his wife Clare 
Dick sent us this story of his visit to Assam

       From the time that we arrived at Dibrugah airport until we took off a week later, we were wonderfully looked after by Purvi Discovery.  
            (Details of travel organisers at bottom of article)

The accomodation and food in their Heritage Mancotta bungalow was superb and the services of a Guide/Escort and driver were included in a very reasonable price per day.
      The first night we were at the bungalow, there were four lads staying other wise we had the bungalow to ourselves.  One of them introduced himself as Mark SLIM.  I asked if he was related to General (Now Field Marshall & Lord) SLIM of the 14th Army & Burma campaign.  He was his grandson !
      They had been 4 days fishing on the North Bank and were off to Kohima (Imphal was on their itinerary but there was some labour problems there.)

      Visits were made to the Tai Phake Village where we were honoured to see 600 year old manuscripts written in the Thai language, to the Digboi Oil Museum, to a 'Bells' Temple and we had a picnic cruise on the Dibru River.
      
The highlights of the trip (for me) were visits to Panitola T.E. (where we lived just before my sister and I were sent back to the UK in 1931) and to Kutchujan T.E. where I was born in 1924.   That visit was made exactly on my 80th birthday so was quite an emotional experience.  Unfortunately that Estate is in dire financial problems and appears quite run down.  

In contrast Panitola and Dum Duma - which we also visited - were immaculate.  Our reception at both Estates was so welcoming and warm that we were overwhelmed.  
Both clubs were visited too for a life supporting "Burra peg".  9 golf courses flourish within easy reach of Dibrugah.

      Dibrugah & District Planters Club laid on a special club night for us and  we had a great time with lots of friendly folk.  We were showered with gifts and such a welcome !
      On our last evening after that visit to Kutchujan, Manoj & Vineeta Jalan (owners of Purvi Discovery)  laid on a birthday dinner complete with presents and a birthday cake.

      I took about 200 digital photos in Assam but there is only space for a few:-



   Mancotta bungalow

    Panitola bungalow

     Manoj & Vineeta Jalan




       Unkept Tea at Kutchujan


      At Dibrugah & District Planters Club  who had laid on a special club night for us. We had a great time with lots of very  friendly folk.  We were showered with gifts and such a welcome !

with left to right  Mrs Pradyna Girme,   Mrs Shalini Mehra,  Clare & Dick Barton,  Rajan Mehra

In view of the wonderful service that Dick and Clare had, we felt we should publicise the good folks who organised it 

Organiser Mary Stephens in Uk  MStephensTvl@aol.com
Purvi website is www.purviweb.com
e-mail is purvi@sancharnet.in

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A MEMSAHIB'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA
By Cathie Campbell    May 2004

The "Fasten Seat Belt" sign lit up, indicating we were about to arrive at Calcutta , our final destination after 30 odd hours flying from London by Pan American Clipper. My husband was to be employed as an Engineer/Tea Planter in North Bengal , and this our first trip out East had so far been both interesting and enjoyable. After landing, we travelled by Airport bus to our hotel in the city centre. Our journey took us first of all through slum like areas of shacks and shelters, made mostly of what appeared to be flattened tins, sewer pipes, bits of wood, and mud.

It was strange, at first, of course, to realise that every 
one on the streets had brown skin, and lots were bare footed, and clothed in rather grubby loose cotton garments We saw buffalo carts trundling rather erratically along the sides of the road. Occasionally, however, one took it upon itself to wander on to the road, whereupon the bus brakes were hurriedly applied, and the raucous din of our bulb horn, together with similar horns on other vehicles tried unsuccessfully to hasten its crossing. Masses of men, women and children carried giant loads on their heads and backs, or pushed and pulled handcarts piled high with assorted loads. Bicycle rickshaws wove their way in and out of the traffic, with their bells also adding to the general din. Cows with clapper bells around their necks wandered aimlessly across the streets, which resulted in all traffic stopping to allow them to cross. Obviously, this holy animal of India had "Right of Way"!!     Over this cacophony of traffic and horns, we were still able to overhear the pedestrians shouting to one another, but of course, in a language we couldn't understand.     All those unfamiliar sights and sounds kept us keenly interested in our surroundings, but apart from that, we wondered about the acrid sweetly smells that sometimes wafted into the bus - all very alien to a western nose !

Eventually we left the hovels behind, and passed by substantial buildings, the streets were wider and cleaner, and shops began to appear. Cars outnumbered the buffalo carts, as we drew slowly to a halt outside the Grand Hotel. December is one of the cooler months in India, but to us then, Calcutta felt very hot indeed, having just left a U.K. winter. During the bus trip, we were aware of the perspiration running down our backs and legs, so a cool bath and change of clothes were most welcome.

After lunch, we decided to have a walk, but not too far, as we were feeling the heat, somewhat. As we walked, beggars approached us with outstretched hands shouting "Buksheesh". Some of them were pitiful sights with twisted limbs, sightless eyes and some even propelling themselves along with their hands, on low wheeled trolleys, as they had no legs, and sadly lot of them were children.

Traffic travelled fast along the main thoroughfare, Chowringhee, buses with more people hanging on outside then were inside, taxis mostly driven by burly Sikhs in colourful turbans, passing slower moving traffic on either side, shouting to brother drivers, and banging the outside of their car doors to warn unwary pedestrians to get out of the way.

We noticed the pavements were stained with red blotches, which we later discovered were caused by many Indians chewing betal nut, resulting in them spitting out a red juice, which in the heat dried where it landed. Small stalls situated, often at street corners, had a smouldering length of "rope" hanging from their low roofs, where passers-by could light their small brown leaf cigarettes. Hand carts pulled at front and pushed from behind transported gigantic blocks of ice, covered in sawdust. On the insides of the pavements were what looked like corpses lying wrapped in cocoons of dirty white cotton. They were in fact people lying sleeping, apparently oblivious to the noise of living going on around them. Like any city there was the usual bustle of people waiting to cross the busy streets, but unlike western cities, there were no prams! All small children were carried by their mothers, either on their back, or clutched in front, and all bound firmly by a length of cloth tied around their mothers, body.

The heat was beginning to weary us, so we slowly made our way back to the Hotel, where cold drinks with ice cubes tinkling in the glass awaited us, and also a comfortable seat under a whirling fan. Was this what living in India would be like, perhaps not, but it was pleasant to be able to return to the cool and comfortable surrounding of the Hotel, after gaining our first noisy but fascinating glimpse of the day to day life of an Oriental city
Stage 2.
We stayed five days in Calcutta , by which time we had amassed a vast amount of luggage, including such things as mattresses, pillows, mosquito net, Indian cooking pots called dekchies, and a motly collection of household necessities. Two taxis were necessary to transport everything to Sealdah Station, where we boarded our train to take us up country to the tea garden area called the Dooars.. A Company representative saw us to our coupe, supplied us with a box of pastries and sandwiches, and drinks to see us through the night till about lunch time next day, when we would arrive at a station called Siliguri It was a large compartment fitted out for four passengers, but all our luggage ensured that we would have it to ourselves. There was a long seat in front of the windows on either side, which would be our beds at night. I found the window structure rather interesting. On the outside, were iron bars, then wooden louvred slats, a glass window, a wire window and a blind.       Just as the train was pulling out of the station, hoards of faces appeared at all the windows on the platform side. This gave us quite a start for a moment, until we realised that, of course, they would be the non paying passengers. To have a little privacy we closed the glass windows and the blinds on that side, leaving just the wire mesh ones on the other. The further we travelled from Calcutta , the numbers decreased, so that was obviously the city workers going home.

We eventually had a meal, and settled down for the night. I don't sleep too well when travelling, so decided to make the most of my time by studying a book on Hindustani.                                                      I was keen to learn the language as soon as possible, so before dawn I had memorised the numbers from one to ten, and a few words that I thought I should know. It began to get daylight about 3.30 am , and I found many sights from the train window most interesting. We passed over many wide rivers, where I could see the truly biblical sight of fishermen casting their nets upon the water. There were cotton enshrouded figures herding goats, presumably to better pastures. There were also people wading in water, cutting down tall straight sticks. In later months, I discovered this was actually jute. At stations, there were always food vendors shouting their wares, tea sellers offered their brew from five gallon drums suspended on a wooden yoke across their shoulders, and boys selling brightly coloured sweetmeats, and of course, men with trays selling the ever popular betal nut.

1 I am our E.T.A. at Siliguri came and went, but we did arrive eventually two hours late. As we left the train a little chap in khaki trousers and white shirt presented himself, and told us he was the tea garden driver. Once more, our mountain of luggage was placed on many porters heads, who jogged along to waiting transport, which was a rather ancient green Ford lorry All the boxes were loaded in the back, and my husband and I clambered up front with the driver, who in broken English told us we had about 50 miles to go. Not the most comfortable of journeys, the lorry we felt needed new springs, and although there was a tar macadam road, it was only one vehicle wide. Consequently, whenever, we had to pass other vehicles_, clouds of dust covered everything, so we were very happy to eventually arrive at our final destination. We presented ourselves to the Manager at the Office, who took us to his bungalow for a bath and a meal.  The Manager was a bachelor of about forty and came from Edinburgh. After our meal, and a chat, he took us to see our bungalow, which comprised of a sitting room, dining room and one bedroom, two dressing rooms and two bathrooms. It appears that two bachelors had shared the bungalow previously, and what was now to become our sitting room had been the second bedroom Apart from the bungalow, there was a cookhouse with a sink, a table and a coal fired cast iron stove. We were then taken for a drive around the tea garden where there were, of course, row upon row of tea bushes, and trees here and there called shade trees. We were also shown around the factory, where the tea was transformed from green leaf to black te
Stage 3.
We stayed the night at the Manager's bungalow, and had breakfast next morning which was very different. We started with something like grapefruit, but was told it was called pumelo. We had scrambled eggs, tomatoes and sausages. The sausages we were told were tinned and came from Australia. We had toast in small slices, which was home made. The butter, however, wasn't so good. It was also tinned and from Australia, but as this was before the days of fridges, the butter soon became an oily liquid

After breakfast we went back to our bungalow where the Manager was kind enough to engage the necessary servants for us.   When I remarked that five seemed excessive, he informed me about the Caste system, where certain people would only do certain jobs. He employed a Bearer, who would be the head servant. We also had a cook, who would only cook, being assisted by a paniwallah, who prepared food, and washed dishes etc. As there was no hot water in the bungalow, five gallon drums of water were heated on an outside fire all day long, and was used for baths and washing dishes. There was also a sweeper who kept the concrete floors well swept with a clutch of strong soft grasses, called a jharu. The fifth servant didn't need to be chosen as he was the night watchman, and had been looking after the bungalow during the time it had stood empty The interviews were all conducted in Hindustani, and the Manager suggested that I learn to speak the language as soon as possible, as none of the servants could speak much English..

The Manager then told us about procuring food. The cook would go once a week to the local Bazaar, which was held on Sundays, and bring home such things as eggs, potatoes, onions and some Indian vegetables. As Hindus will not kill cattle, there was no beef, but mutton was available (which was goat rather than sheep) as were chickens and ducks, and also local fish. Such things as sugar,flour, rice and lentils etc. could be had at a small store on the garden, but all other tinned goods and household items would require to be ordered from Calcutta , and would come up country by train. The Manager then took my husband off to start his training to be a tea planter.            So here was I left with my four Indians, and wondering what I would do or say. I needn't have worried, however, as the Bearer soon had all the other servants opening all our boxes and packages. Dishes were all washed and stored on shelves, beds were made up and the mosquito net fixed.     The Bearer then handed me a piece of paper and a pencil and asked me to write a chit for rice, potatoes, onion, ghee, matches, lentils, sugar and "foretin" Foretin puzzled me, so the bearer said "ek, do, tin, char", then I remembered I had learned this on the train. One,two,three, four, so I wrote 4 tin. I felt I would find out eventually why 4-tin, so the Bearer asked me to sign it, and off went the paniwallah to collect.            The cook then appeared and said "Tiffen" I remembered also that in the hotel lunch had been called tiffen. The cook suggested he make tomato soup, chicken, potato and vegetable, followed by rice pudding. As I was unable to tell him otherwise, that would have to be our lunch menu.            Minutes later, the paniwallah returned with his bundle. As the flour rice, sugar etc. were opened up, there appeared four aluminium tins with lids, into which the cook put the sugar and rice etc, I was told "no tin - chimti come" Chimti baffled me, and they were unable to tell me more, so I made a note to ask the Manager what it was. The ghee turned out to be Cocogem which was cooking fat.            I was then taken by the Bearer outside where I met the Mali, who showed me a tree bearing pumelo (which I had had for breakfast) also there were pumpkins, green beans and aubergines, and rows of pineapples. There were one or two cabbages and a few cauliflowers, which were all very nice, although once again I could not tell him so.

I returned to the bungalow to hear "Good morning, Madam" from the verandah Before me stood an elderly gentleman dressed in spotless white shirt and dhoti. He told me he was the Doctor Babu, and he had brought men to spray the walls and monsoon ditch around the bungalow, as a malaria deterrent. He also handed over Paluderine tablets which he said my husband and I must take every day. We chatted while the men finished the spraying, so I asked him what chimti was, and when told "ants", of course everything became clear about the foodstuffs being put in tins.

When my husband came home for lunch we exchanged our stories as to how we had spent the morning, and he was quite impressed at how much had been achieved in the bungalow

Stage 4.

Probably because my husband and I had come to India together, and I could not go to him for help with the language, I learned to speak quite reasonable Hindustani very quickly

As this was an old bungalow I gradually got used to all the scorpions, centipedes and spiders that periodically appeared, and even learned to ignore the presence of the non dangerous species, such as tic-tics which were small lizards, and rail gharries which were a type of centipede. Having entered the bathroom one day to find a krait snake curled up in the bath taught me to fear snakes of all kinds.

The social side of life centred around our local club. This was about five miles away, and comprised of a large hall with a billiard table, and bar, and many cane chairs. In a small room off„ there was a very good Library, ladies and gents cloakrooms, and a store room made up the rest of the building. There was a nine hole golf course and tennis courts. We had a film show on Sunday nights, which was enjoyable as the films were not too old. In the Cold Weather, we had sports competitions, amateur dramatic plays put on by a local drama club, and a dance or two was held during the festive period. At home we had the radio and books to entertain us, when we were not either playing host to friends or visiting others. We soon settled in to our new surroundings and life in Tea, and for the first year at least continued to have new experiences thrown at us. The lovely climate during the Cold Weather, gradually changed to ever increasing heat, until the Monsoon broke, and brought different beetles and insects with every change in the weather           Once I had mastered the language I could take more of an interest in all things around me, and also the different customs and interests of the people, and grew to enjoy my life in India ..

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February 2004

The Fairlawn Hotel Story --Junction of Madge and Sudder Street Calcutta

To get the full story please click on the link below
http://www.fairlawnhotel.com/main/about.htm

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February 2004

M.M. KAYE

Have you ever read any of M.M.Kaye's books about India, including her autobiographies  Sadly we have to report that Mollie Kaye  passed away on the 29th January 2004 at the grand old age of 95 years.

Molly wrote the book "The Far Pavilions", which was made into such a successful film. She was not of "tea" but was born in Simla and brought up partially in India where her father was in the ICS/Military Intelligence and her husband was in the British Military in India.
Mollie's books were nearly all about the days of the Raj, pre and post the Indian Mutiny of 1857. She also wrote other fictional books, and some for children too.

Alan Lane tells me that he had  the honour of attending a literary lunch  in Great Yarmouth a few years ago in which Mollie was the guest of honour. and I quote 
"I greeted her with "kaisa hai, memsahib, teek chulta hai?" to which she replied that it was many years since she had heard this greeting! We chatted for ages of the days that had gone, ayahs, dersis, dhobis and the like. Days that live on in our memories, but will never come again."

If you are interested, to learn more about M M Kaye (Molly) there is a website run by a friend of Alan,  Michael Kourtoulou   www.kourtoulou.freeserve.co.uk --it is well worth a look 

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February 13 2006
We are indebted to Larry Brown for forwarding this picture of the Marshall's of Gainsborough total site with 3000 employees--please read on the item below

Sept 2002

This is the follow up of the interesting story of Marshall’s of Gainsborough and covers the period from 1925 until the company was taken over by British Leyland in 1975 and tea machinery manufacture ceased—it defines the dedication of the company and it’s people to succeed and give a service against , on occasions, considerable odds—It was kindly supplied by Sandy Pearson—thankyou Sandy

Indian Affairs (1925-1965)

Following the removal of Sir Edgar  Holberton and the formation of Marshall (Direction) Ltd in 1925,    thereby restoring the control of Indian affairs to  Gainsborough trade in the sub-continent flourished and in 1927 represented 28 per cent of the Marshall  Group sales world-wide. The potential for tea machinery was also seen to be good in other parts of the world, especially in Russia and East Africa in spite of growing competition  from Krupps of^, Essen, Sirocco ol^, Belfast and the Indian company Bevor Dorling & McLeod of Calcutta. That year James Marshall made an extended tour of India, Ceylon and the Far Fast and secured valuable orders for tea machinery in tile Dutch Fast Indies. Shortly after this visit  Henry Burkinshaw, the managing director of Marshall (Direction) Ltd resigned and he was replaced John  Harper, the popular market expert and managing director of Marshall (India) Ltd    Two years later, following the death of H.J. Marshall, Herman Marshall was appointed joint managing director of Marshall (Direction Ltd with .John Harger, thereby giving Indian affairs a strong voice in the Gainsborough boardroom.

Untortunately the boom was short-lived and by 1929 Indian orders slumped from over £250,000 to £60,000 her annum This was due mainly to civil unrest in the tea growing areas, floods in Assam and cheap tea being dumped in London by the Dutch planters in Java coupled with the generally depressed state of the world   economy The situation was somewhat mitigated by the introduction of the C.T.C. - crushing, tearing and curling machine - in 1930. Designed by Sir William McKercher manager of the Amgoorie Tea Gardens, it proved for be highly successful and orders for over 40 machines were received almost immediately By  January 1932 the number of machines ordered had risen too 300, many of which went for tile new East African tea gardens.   Marshalls exclusively manufactured the CTC machine until the patents expired in 1954. The introduction of the "Briton" teapacker  also proved a valuable addition for the company's range, although overall sales remained well below 1928 levels. In a further desperate attempt to fill the Agarpara factory the company introduced a new rice holler in 1932, but there were few buyers. In 1933 the ever ,optimistic Arthur Colegate visited India, confident that he could develop new business in the sub-continent.  He believed that there was a substantial market for stationary steam engines in the tea gardens and sugar factories, only for find the market already dominated by Tangyes of Birmingham and Robev of Lincoln.    Prices and margins were very low and the totally enclosed high-speed engine, not manufactured by Mars^hall's was preferred

Two months before the receiver was called in at Gainsborough, a new company, Marshall Tea Machinery Co. Ltd was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 21 February 1934. The company was appointed sole concessionaire for the sale and supply to all parts of the world of tea machinerv manufactured at Gainsborough.

A commission of 3 3/4 per cent was paid to Marshall (India) on all orders placed with the company. Herman Marshall was appointed chairman and Arthur Colegate and R. A.Hamilton were appointed directors of  the new company. "Their first task was to meet a delegation from the Russian Arcos buying agency who were seeking large quantities of tea machinery, but as on previous occasions it proved impossible to arrange the necessary finance. Later in the year, the receiver appointed F. W. Charles and W.F.A. Ridler, a tea machinery expert, as directors of the company. Arthur Colegate was replaced by Ashley Ward, the newly-appointed Thos. W. Ward managing director at Gainsborough and in due course F. W. Charles resigned and was replaced by Pat Burton.

Tea machinery sales increased year by year until the outbreak of war in 1939  when they fell back to the £60,000 her annum level. The application of'steam heating to tea driers had proved an outstanding success in the early part of the war and in 1943 the Board of-Trade granted the company material licences enabling them to resume the manufacture of a limited range of tea machinery. By 1944 sufficient orders had been received to keep the tea machinery department busy for two years, but the shortage of skilled labour rather than materials proved the greatest stumbling block for increasing production. The `Quality' drier and new double action tea rollers were introduced in 1945 and by the end of' 1949 sales again exceeded £200,000 with the order book standing at £381,0110.