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JANUARY 2015
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JANUARY 2015
The Bard at Bogapani
In the 1950s and 60s when the London Director made
a visit during the Cold Weather some gardens put up a
concert in his honour. One such concert was held at
Bogapani T.E. to welcome Mr J.H. Kilburn. I did not
personally witness this but am assured by Simon
Penney, who was Senior Assistant at Bogapani then,
that The Merchant of Venice, as a one act play, was the
presentation! It went thus:
The hessian curtain opens revealing a rudimentary stage
and a man sitting at a table.There is a loud knocking on
the door at the side of the stage.
Seated man:
“Kaun Hai?”
Muffled voice (from behind the door):
“Hamara nam
Shylock hai.”
Seated man:
“Kya mangta?”
Muffled voice:
“Hum adha seer gosht mangta.”
Seated man stands up kicking over the chair, shakes
his fist and shouts at the door:
“JAO SALA, KABHI
NAHIN MILEGA!”
The curtain closes!
dogs) they dropped off their perches and tried to make
contact with us – which they did on many occasions.
Fortunately, we all had a puff or two at Simla, Charminar
– but definitely not Bidis! The glowing end of a cigarette
soon made the leeches let go.
Soon after my arrival at Namdang in 1960 the Manager, John
Marshall Phillips, and his wife, Marion, went on leave and I
was to look after their bungalow while they were away. It was
a huge bungalow with beautiful surrounding lawns and
flower beds and I was really in awe of the whole situation.
It was there that I had my first encounter with a snake – a
spitting Cobra – but another incident turned out to be one
of the Company’s best kept secrets. Everyone in the
Makum, Namdang Companies knew; the only exceptions
who were kept in the dark were John and Marion!
Below the Bara Bungalow was a little
stream where, every morning, a large
number of Jungli Murghis gathered
and I often stopped to watch them
while riding my bicycle to the office.
My brother in Belfast, a keen
fisherman, had given me his 12 bore
rifle when I left home and mentioned
that the male Jungle Fowl had a
beautiful plumage, ideal for incorporating in fly tying. He
said if I ever had the opportunity, I should shoot one or two
for their feathers.
Well, one Sunday morning I decided to do this. I took the
gun, went to the stream and, being reluctant to shoot
‘sitting birds’, shouted and kicked up a racket but to no
avail; they paid no attention to me. In desperation, I threw
a stone and they took to the air. Bang! Bang! I got four!
I took these to Chris Gathorne, the Acting Manager, who
was delighted. He said they were good eating and that he
would ask his wife, Pam, to make a curry. He asked where
I had shot them and I told him, “Below the Bara
Bungalow.” There was a long pause after which he said,
“We’ll eat them but we have to make no mention of this.”
He then told me that Marion Phillips had been hand
feeding these birds for a long time and as such they were
practically tame. The birds were cooked, enjoyed at the
table, and the secret kept!
As the very new Assistant in charge of ‘East Side’Division,
I rode my bike alongside Chris Gathorne on my way to the
work area in the early stages as he was showing me the
ropes. Some women were coming late to take up their
positions in the tea and I asked Chris to teach me how to
say, “If you come as late as this tomorrow, you will not get
work,” so as we rode our bicycles I repeated what Chris had
taught me – “Kal itne deri annesey kam nahin milega” –
over and over again.When some stragglers reached the tea,
Chris said, “Go ahead,” so I put on a stern face and started,
“Kal...” but had forgotten the rest!! Chris laughed and said,
“We'll try again tomorrow.”
I am now fairly fluent and can even manage a few songs like
‘Mere samne wale khirke mai, ek chand ka tokera rahta hai’,
‘Dil deke dekho’ and ‘Mera sapano ki Rani kab ayegi tu’.
My three best Hindi films are ‘Sholay’, ‘Lagaan’, and one I
saw just last month, ‘Rang de Basanti’.
At the age of seventy-seven, I’ve recently bought an electric
keyboard and have already mastered "Hallelujah", "The way
you look tonight", "Silhouettes" and a few other numbers.
Incidentally, a copy of my guitar shape was made by the
head carpenter at Namdang and he carefully shaped the
body and neck from solid pieces of Nahor timber. Radha,
the head fitter, who kept Namdang factory always
operational, made the stainless steel plate for the neck/body
attachment and the string anchor too. Bob (Powell Jones)
and I arranged to get a double pick up from Hong Kong,
and a fretboard, machine heads and strings from Calcutta.
The Namdang carpenter fitted and glued the fretboard after
painting. The guitar was completed and thanks to this
crafstman, we had a perfect bass guitar!
Editors’ note:
Mr Larry Brown and Mr Robert Powell-Jones
had formed a planters’ band in 1963, calledThe Mudguards.They
were later joined by Mr Ron Aston and Mr Douglas Russell.They
played ‘Shadows’ and ‘Ventures’ instrumental numbers, and were
invited to play at various events in almost all the South Bank
clubs, from Margherita to Mariani, in the 1960s
.
O
ne concert that I did personally
witness at Bogapani, along with Jim
Maltby, Peter Furst, Jimmy Beven,
Polly Rajpal and Raj Bhasin, was in the 60s,
where Jack Kilburn was fêted. One of the
acts featured a garden worker, one Aksing,
who was to present a folk song from his
native place. The harmonium player was a
Staff member and after the introductory bars
Aksing opened his mouth wide but no
sound came. Another introductory bar was
given, and another, and another, till finally
Aksing found his voice…after which he
went on, and on, and on … while the
listeners started squirming in their seats.
The Factory ‘Bara Babu’ rescued
the day when, from the side of
the stage, his umbrella shot out,
hooked Aksing round the neck
and hauled him offstage. This
action brought the loudest
applause from the audience!
Personal ‘Training’!
In the 'old days' when Peewee (Peter Bursnell,
Manager, Margherita T.E.) and his friends had a
cricket match down the line, he would phone the
Margherita Stationmaster who said he would have
the train ready for the required time. Peewee and
friends then drove the train!! Between stations, the
train stopped at the cricket venue and as the cricketers
got down, the engine driver would enquire, “What
time shall I bring the train, Mr Bursnell?”
A bygone era indeed!!
Namdang Notes
When I was at Namdang T.E. many, many years ago,
Namtok was almost impassable jungle, with no tea, and,
as we went through this area we could see the leeches
on branches and at the top of the long grass stems.
When anything warm blooded passed by (us and the
~ Larry Brown
Southport, Queensland,
Australia
Yarns from
Yesteryears
“
Every man's memory is his private
literature.
”
~ Aldous Huxley
Waiting for the Train
At the Factory
Assistant’s Bungalow -
Namdang T.E.
Larry (2nd from right) with friends
The Mudguards (Lto R): Bob Powell-Jones, Larry Brown & Ron Aston