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Mr Pat Williamson, Chairman of Williamson Magor, and a personal friend, was also part of the racing

scene.As

Steward and Senior Steward of the Royal CalcuttaTurf Club respectively, MrWilliamson and

the Maharaja of Burdwan took over maintenance of the polo ground when it shifted to the middle of

the race course. They were also President and Vice President of the Polo Club respectively, while

Mr Khaitan was Honorary Secretary and Mr Ivan Surita was Home Secretary, and the foursome worked

very well together, bringing their own areas of expertise to the table; Mr Khaitan’s being Finance.They

spent many happy hours throughout the year, meeting over lunch at Firpo’s (the ‘in’ restaurant of that

era) brainstorming, planning and organizing events for the polo season, which was from October to

December. In the process, Mr Williamson developed a respect for Mr Khaitan’s business acumen and

started asking his advice on company matters too, although the latter was not a part of Williamson

Magor at that time.

As Mr Khaitan says,

“Polo kept us occupied all year round, meeting

over lunches at Firpo’s and talking about what to do, what not to

do, how to bring foreign players, what teams to bring to Calcutta.

1962 was the centenary year of the Polo Club, so we had to start work

three-four years ahead to organize it properly.

We put our heart into making the Calcutta Polo Club one of the top

polo clubs in

India. There

was a lot of glamour attached to polo because of the dashing

personalities involved, such as the Maharaja of Jaipur and

Rao Raja Hanut Singh of Jodhpur.The Jaipur, Jodhpur and

Delhi teams were regular visitors since 1957. Other teams

from Pakistan, UK, Santa Barbara (USA) and Argentina

also added lustre to the Season. From 1955 to 1962, polo was

the most popular sport in Calcutta and became a very

important part of one’s life. Its glamorous social side

attracted many investors as well. During that time, Calcutta

was in its prime socially, as THE venue of polo.”

Maharaj Prem Singh’s son-in-law, Mr Vijai Singh, is an excellent polo player who played for the Club

and also captained the Kolkata team. He was heartfelt in his praise for all the work Mr Khaitan had put

in during his tenure as Secretary – inviting polo teams from all over the world, organizing the logistics

of their stay, the stabling of their horses and looking after them generally. Mr Khaitan would put his

whole office (where he worked before joining Williamson Magor) at the disposal of the Club during

the polo season so that all the work was done efficiently.

Mr Singh believes that Mr Khaitan was largely responsible for making polo the centre around which

most of the social activities revolved in the month of December. “Polo at Christmas” was a catchphrase

coined by Mr Khaitan, as the most important tournament of the season – the final match of the Indian

Polo Association (IPA) Cup – was played at the Calcutta Polo Club on Christmas Day.

olo was introduced to Calcutta by two British soldiers, Capt. Robert Stewart and Lt Joe Sherer

(later Major General) who had seen the original form of the sport – Sagol Kangjei – while posted

in Manipur. Joe Sherer is universally

acknowledged as the ‘Father of English

Polo’. He organized and promoted the

sport at the Silchar Polo Club in Cachar,

Assam, and at the army station at

Barrackpore just outside Calcutta.When

he established the Calcutta Polo Club in

1862 one of the first matches played

there was between a Manipuri team

called ‘The Band of Brothers’ and the

Club team.The guest team, brought over

in a country boat by Lt Sherer, thrashed

the home team!

The oldest polo club in the world still in existence, the Calcutta Polo Club, still

runs the first ever polo tournament, the Ezra Cup, named after Sir David Ezra, a

leading business tycoon in Calcutta who patronized the sport in the city. The first

Ezra Cup was held in 1880. The other old tournaments still held at the Club are

the Carmichael Cup (1910) and the Stewart Cup (1932).

Mr B.M. Khaitan became a member soon after WW II and was Honorary Secretary of the club in the

1960s when Mr Pat Williamson was the President. It was Col Maharaj Prem Singh of Jodhpur who

encouraged Mr Khaitan to ride horses by gifting him a very nice filly – a polo pony – which he used to

ride in the middle of the race course. It brought him a lot of confidence and also got him interested in

horse racing and polo. As JohnWayne famously said, “Planes, automobiles, trains – they are great, but

when it comes to getting the heart going, they can’t touch a horse.”

Polo

The Band of Brothers

Firpo’s in the Fifties

Fine Dining at Firpo’s