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After MrWilliamson passed away in 1965, Mr Khaitan carried on racing for a while with the Maharaja

of Burdwan. Then he became a Steward of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club and moved on to the Senior

Stewardship after the Maharaja of Burdwan retired. An outstanding administrator, Mr Khaitan

continued to maintain the Club's standards and reputation at the highest possible level as Senior

Steward until 1981.

Once the Maharaja retired, Mr Khaitan says,

“I never had a partnership with anyone else, so then Deepak

took over the string of six-seven horses. He went into racing in a very big way and won a lot of Derbys and

Invitation Cups.The house is full of his Cups.”

Incidentally, most of Mr Deepak Khaitan’s champion horses

were trained by well known gentleman-jockey turned trainer, the late Haskell David.

“In our days, to win a race and a Cup used to be very rare.Whenever a horse won we celebrated with weeks of

cocktail parties,”

adds Mr Khaitan, saying that he enjoyed the social aspect of racing – celebrating wins

with friends.

“In fact, we enjoyed ourselves throughout the year. From 30 October to 31 March, there would not be a single

evening free. The entire mercantile community got together at various social events. Fancy dress parties were

very popular. Golf on Sundays was followed by a Beer & Curry Lunch; and there were parties hosted by various

teams and individuals during the polo season. The highlights of the social calendar, however, were the parties

thrown by theVingt et un Club, the Golightly Ball, the Merchants’ Cup Evening and the Polo Ball.

TheVingt et un ( ‘twenty-one’) Club was made up of twenty-one British bachelors who used to invite five people

each for dinner at their own house and then carry on to Tollygunge Club for dancing.When a bachelor got

married, he and his wife joined the Golightly Club and there would be a glamorous ‘black tie’ Ball at Camac

Street.The Merchants’ Cup at the RCGC in July would be the next big event. Upcountry planters also came for

this. Two players came per week, over three weeks. The matches were played on Tuesdays and Fridays and the

gala ‘black tie’ function would be held on the Friday of the 3rd week, in a large shamiana with fans.The Polo

Ball was held in December during the polo season,”

explains Mr Khaitan.

Interestingly, Mr Khaitan himself, along with Mr Ivan Surita (who played Ranji Trophy cricket for the

Bengal team, was awarded the Military Cross in WWII and joined the IAS), his elder brother

Mr Pearson Surita (renowned cricket commentator and judge at horse races) and eleven others formed

a club called The Apostles. They each invited ten friends for their ‘fancy dress’ parties in December-

January. The themes for these get-togethers were ‘The Sailor’, or ‘The French Paratrooper’ or some

other imaginative subject and the outfits would be especially ordered for the occasion. The Apostles

were more cosmopolitan than the other clubs in that their guests included American and French

nationals as well as British and Indian.

“There was never a dull moment,”

concludes the Gentleman Extraordinaire, of those halcyon days.

Mr Khaitan continues to take an interest in racing and was Patron of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club.The

Company has sponsored many events such as the GeorgeWilliamson Indian Products Stakes in 1989

and theWilliamson Magor Indian Gold Vase in1994 at RCTC.

Sarita Dasgupta

r B.M. Khaitan’s father, a keen golfer himself and a member of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club,

had tried to get his son interested in taking up the sport, saying it would do him a lot of

good. The young man, however, being a rider and fond of horses, was very involved in polo

and horse racing at that time.

One day in 1947, as he and his friends were driving home after Sunday lunch at MrWilliamson’s place

at Regent’s Park, Mr Khaitan noticed the Jodhpur Club on Gariahat Road. He told his friends,

Mac Chaytor and Pearson Surita,

“Let’s get down and see what this place is.”

Looking at the beautiful

greens and the players, he added,

“Why don’t we take up this game?”

As the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (known fondly as ‘The Royal’ or simply ‘RCGC’) did not accept

beginners as members, Mr Khaitan joined the Jodhpur Club. It had an 18-hole compact course which

he enjoyed playing on during the cold weather and on holidays. Playing golf became something he

looked forward to and he began keeping his weekends free for the sport, going less frequently to the

races. When the Jodhpur Club closed down in 1952-53, the members were given Rs 5000/- each.

Mr Khaitan used the money to buy himself a golf set and became a ‘B’ member of RCGC.

“As a ‘B’

member I had to play on the new course and was stuck there for two years. Then I became an ‘A’ member and

was allowed to use the proper course,”

explains Mr Khaitan.

“Golf became a disease, an addiction. I wouldn’t

miss a game so I wouldn’t go out of Kolkata over weekends. I became sincerely mad!”

he laughs.

“Even today,

if I see a golf course, I have to play 3-4 holes at least, but there is no course to beat RCGC. In my most depressed

state of mind, in the most difficult of times, I went to the golf course and for four-five hours just got lost in the

game and forgot everything.There were no buildings to be seen, only forests and greenery. Golf was my lifeline.

So, what I am today, I can sincerely say is because of golf and the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.”

Golf