Stories
Assam
I was born in Assam and your grandfather spent most of his working life in Assam - he was in the Tea Industry where he was secretary of the Indian Tea Association and worked as Personnel Manager for the Jokai and McLeod Russell groups of tea companies. He also did short stints as an officer of the Indian Territorial Army serving with the Assam Regiment - and was called up in 1962 when the Chinese attacked India and then in 1965 when India and Pakistan went to war.
The picture to the right is that of our bungalow on Bokel Tea Estate taken from the swimming pool where I used to shoot the grapefruit with my air rifle so I wouldn’t be made to eat them at breakfast….!!
Darjeeling
Darjeeling is more my story as I went to school there - first to a tiny prep school called St Andrews (which later became the prep school for the bigger school above us on the hill - St Paul’s School which is where I did my senior school. I also went for two years in 1970 and 1971 to another well known school in Simla called Bishop Cotton School - but came back to Darjeeling where I finished my schooling. It doesn’t surprise me that the subjects you did well in were the ones that were my favourites at school - the legacy of genes perhaps? This was the view of the Kanchenjunga range that I could see from both my schools: St Andrews and St Paul’s School.
Lucknow
This is where your great grandfather was based when India was partitioned and where your grandfather and his brothers went to school. It is also where your grandfather returned to on retirement - so it plays an important part in the story of who we are
