Admirer of Paul Raj Paintings

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Paul was born in Kodaikanal on 22 September 1914 and died on 2 October 1979. G D Arulraj was born in 1925 and died in June 1972 while visiting India. Arul worked at Laguna Beach in the 60's and 1970's. G D Thyagaraj might have been born in 1922 and I am told that he probably died sometime before 1981. He moved to northern India as a young man. I lived in India as a child and spent a lot of time in Calcutta. My mother purchased several paintings directly from Paul Raj while living in Madras and this got me interested in his works. I then discovered he had two brothers Arul Raj and Thyaga Raj who were both fantastic artists. I could not find much information on the internet so decided to set up my own blog. Subsequently a Facebook tribute site has also been created to the memory of the three brothers. Contact me at: rajbrothers@hotmail.co.uk

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

The Company Driver 'Das' and myself in 1967

Today I am adding a photograph taken in 1967 in Calcutta I am aged 10 years.  I am stood next to the company driver who was called Das.  Not sure if that is how you spell his name?
Das had a great influence on me as a young boy as I would often spend time with him while my mother went in a shop or the market.  We would talk and he would try and teach me a little Hindi some of which I can still remember.  In the background is one of the company cars which was called an Ambassador. I remember that it had a large bench seat in the front instead of two single seats as you tend to have today.

3 comments:

  1. Yes, this is the way you spell the name. Ambassadors can still be seen on Indian roads with interiors pretty much the same :) Kolkata (previously Calcutta) has lots of 'Ambis' as taxis.
    Nice to know you still remember some Hindi :)

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  2. Nice pic..
    Das is one of the correct spellings for sure. And th Ambassador looks great. Not long back there were many of them around. Now a days they are hardly seen.

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  3. You were a lucky boy to be in such good care there. The Ambassador looks like a very good one. I love the whitewall tyres. A few years ago we hired one to for 2 weeks to drive from Kodaikanal to Kerala and it was a most reliable thing and very comfortable. They are disappearing fast now - taxis these days are usually Indicar diesel hatchback Tata or similar - not nearly so strong. Great pic and great memory.

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