G D Thyagaraj - Cooking on the boat

I just purchased this nice water scene by Thyagaraj two weeks ago, it was selling on Ebay. Got it for a very reasonable price.

I will take some better photos when I remove it from the frame as the frame needs to be glued a little.  It has a sticker on the back saying it was framed in Park Street in Calcutta, where I lived between 1957 and 1974 (off and on). Hope you like it.

Home cine films - Calcutta 1957

My family took many cine films when we lived in India the earliest date from 1957 until the mid 1970s.  I have recently purchased a digital scanner and I am working my way through the collection and I am converting the cine from 8mm film to modern digital format. Along the way I am extracting a few short clips that might be of interest to viewers of my blog.  This is the first of the clips.  It shows the gardener or 'marli', the dhobi collecting our laundry, workmen working on the new drive and preparing the lawn for the grass seed.  Then a couple of clips of a muscle powered fun fare rides, not much health and safety rules in 1957.

 Preparing the lawn

The Dhobi

Roundabout

Small wheel - Muscle powered

Tree House Calcutta 1966

Just came across another photo of my tree house in Calcutta this is taken a lot nearer than the one posted in August 2014.

G D Thyagaraj - Collecting water from the tank

I was recently contacted by a lady called Margaret who lived in India between 1947 and 1965 her parents were working there.  She owns two paintings by Thyagaraj which were acquired by her parents.  She spent some time in Calcutta and recently came across my blog and contacted me by email.  I am adding the first of her two paintings today showing several women collecting water from a tank and climbing a steep flight of stairs.  It is signed in the lower right hand corner.

This is a nice colourful painting having preserved its colours after so many years.  Thanks to Margaret for letting me add it to the blog.

Bishop's College Calcutta around 1959

When my parents were first in Calcutta after they moved from Madras the family lived in a rented apartment connected to Bishop's College at Ballygunge in Calcutta.  Today I came across some photos of the college at this time, I could be a few years out with the date.  The first photo below is of the student accommodation that looked out onto a grassy square where the students used to play volleyball for recreation.

The second photo is of the Chapel in the college grounds which was just over the fence from where the family ended up living at 67 Ballygunge.  You can see a student ringing the chapel bell calling the congregation to attend a service.  Now I think back I can remember the bell being rung.

 

The final photo shows a group of students having a meal.

Elephant Kerosene Delivery cart

This is a great photo of my sister in Calcutta around 1962 standing next to a delivery cart being pulled by a buffalo which is pulling a tank of kerosene which appears to be banded 'Elephant Kerosene'.  Across the road in the background is the building site of 'Tivoli Court' complete with bamboo scaffolding.

Tree House in Calcutta

As a surprise one year when I went to visit my father during the holidays in Calcutta when I arrived I could see a huge tree house he had arranged to be built by the company carpenter.  It was on the first large branch of a big mango tree with a tall stepladder for access.

It was probably built around 1966 and in the foreground you can see one of the company cars which was an Ambassador car which were built in Calcutta.  I read an article on The BBC website during July which said after falling sales the factory has now closed.

Tollygunge Golf Club

My sister and I used to play golf at Tollygunge Golf Club in Calcutta in the early 1970s, while looking through an old box of photos I came across this photo I took while playing gold there.  Unfortunately I am not in the photo but my caddy is standing on probably the 18th tee with the club house in the back ground I think this was taken in 1973.

You can see my club and ball on the tee waiting for me to take my shot.

Panoramic view of Calcutta from the 1960s - B.O.A.C. VC10 advertising photo

My wife found this rolled up panoramic photograph in the original cardboard tube addressed to my father in Calcutta.  It is from the local B.O.A.C. office on on the back are details of the regular flights of what was a new aircraft the VC10.  Fortunately with the iPhone you have the facility to take panoramic photos otherwise this would have been difficult to capture.

In the centre of the photo is the Victoria Memorial and behind that is the Race Course, you can also see the Planetarium and I think it is St Paul's Cathedral it brings back a lot of memories.

Hooghly Ink Company

While tidying up my desk I unearthed an old address book given to me by my father when he worked at the Hooghly Ink Company Ltd in Calcutta.  They also had factories in Madras, Bombay and Delhi. This address book dates from the late 1960's and the cover says "Manufacturers of fine printing inks for over 50 years."

Like all firms they had a selection of gifts to give to business contacts and clients, I also had a thread counter, a calendar and pen holder for a desk, an ink blotter, a keyring and of course they produced a calendar every year.  That would be interesting to track down a calendar.  I do remember that my sister featured on the calendar one year as a young child.  I think the business was first set up in India in the 1920's or early based on the statement on the address book it could be earlier but I am not certain?  It originally was a subsidy company of the UK ink manufacturer called Richardson's Printing Inks.

Jamini Roy - In his studio

I thought I would start to add some information on Jamini Roy who was born in the district of Bankura in West Bengal in 1887.  At the age of 16 years he went to Calcutta and joined the Government School of Art.

He started as a portrait painter in olis and by the age of 30 years he was India's most sought after portrait painter.

 

This shows him in his studio with some of his paintings on the wall behind him.

Bankura Terracotta Horse from West Bengal

I have wandered round the house today taking a few photos of some Indian items I inherited when my mother died.  I noticed that on our staircase which has a small half landing is stood a 'Bankura Terracotta Horse'.  This was shipped home to the UK from Calcutta in around 1975 by sea in a wooden crate packed with wood shavings.  The horse is black I think there is a red variety as well.  I understand that they are made in West Bengal, this one was purchased in Calcutta around 1970 it could have even been during the 1960s.

As you can see my mother maybe has decorated him with some beads around his neck and he is also decorated with a scarf around his neck.  From the ground to the tips of his ears he measures some 3 feet and 9 inches so it is a fairly large ornament but they do come in bigger sizes as well.

His ears have been damaged over the years and have been glued back together, he is doing quite well as he is over 40 years old.  Hope you like him.

Calcutta 1967 - Basket Sellers

I have just been looking through and old family photograph album and have scanned a few photos to add to the blog.  The first shows my mother in 1967 talking to two women in a Calcutta street, maybe a mother and daughter who are carrying some large baskets on their heads.  Thought it was a great photo.

Ballygunge Calcutta

Scanned a couple of photos of the house where I lived as a child in Calcutta between 1957 to 1975.  Probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s a 20 storey block of apartments was built across the road from our house and it was called Tivoli Court.  One of the photos taken from our upstairs verandah shows the corner of the flats and our front gate.  The little house near the gate is where the guards or 'Derwans' lived.

The second photo is taken from the gate looking back at the house, I lived in the upper right corner and the offices for the Hooghly Ink Company were the entire ground floor.

The two colour photos were probably taken in the 1970s and the next photo in black and white was probably taken in the 1960s.

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.

Rickshaw - Calcutta 1967

I thought I would add a photo of my sister and I having a ride on a traditional rickshaw in Calcutta taken in 1967 I guess.  I would expect that this short of rickshaw no longer exists?  Anyone know?

A recent visitor has said the Rickshaws are still in use in Calcutta, see their photo taken in 2010. Thanks "Accidental Fame Junkie."  Some 43 years after my own photo.

I have also added a photo taken in Madras of people working in the paddy fields, it is of low quality as it is captured from 8mm cine film.  It does look a bit like a Paul Raj painting I added a few weeks ago.  I do hope you like them.

Finally a blurred photo taken from a moving car during the monsoon in Calcutta of a motor bike up to the axles in flood water.  I am not quite sure how it kept going, but the water is quite deep.

Ballygunge Circular Road - Calcutta, India

I thought I would go off in a different direction today as I came across a photograph of the house where I lived in Calcutta.  The photo is taken from a block of flats across the road which was known as Tivoli Court in the 1970s.  The upstairs of the house was divided into two apartments and my family lived in the top right had section.  The downstairs was the offices of the company where my father worked which was known as the 'Hooghly Ink Co Ltd.'

The building was next door to what was known as 'Bishops College' which was a training college for priests.  I will add more photos covering the time I spent in India along with more paintings.