📜 Ancestor anecdotes and more

 From Sudeshna De:

An anecdote…Dr Ishaan Tosh Mittra was my maternal great grandfather. The guest house in New Delhi Kali Bari called Ishaan Tosh Hall is named after him and his wife! 

(Edit: This Kali Bari came up around 1930)

The story goes: they were thinking of buying land and building a house in Hailey Road, Delhi. Mrs Mittra was speaking about it to her dear friend Mrs Lala Shriram (unsure on names) who must have mentioned it to her husband. Then, she called up Mrs Mittra and told her that Lalaji has suggested that they invest in Curzon Rd ( KG Marg) as something called Connaught place was going to come up and therefore the land would appreciate more on Curzon Rd. So the land was bought and the house built in 26 Curzon Road.

(Edit: Connaught Place (now called Rajiv Chowk but still CP to most) was built between 1929-1933. Curzon Road, now Kasturba Gandhi Road, is one of its radial roads. 90 years hence, these are prime locations of Delhi. Lalaji was absolutely right!)

(Edit 2: Here is an interesting article written about Curzon Road by someone who saw its growth from the initial residential bungalows to the towering commercial area it is now)

Another famous ancestor was Shri Nandalal Ghose (d. 1904). 

Shri Nandalal Ghose was my paternal grandfather's grandfather. He was a lawyer and was good friends with Vidyasagar who officiated at his wedding. They used to meet often and have discussions over drinks though Vidyasagar didn't drink. 

(Edit: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a famous Indian educator and social reformer in the nineteenth century. More about Vidyasagar here.)

📰 Gazette of India, 1951

The Gazette of India is a public journal and legal document published by the Government of India. It’s the government’s newspaper. During a random rabbit hole rambling of internet browsing, I came across a version of it that mentions Major MK Basu! (My maternal grandfather, who I knew had retired as Lt. Col. MK Basu) It was an announcement confirming his military position in 1951 (two years before my mom was born). Excited at uncovering this past ancestral treasure nugget, I immediately sent it to my Uncle, Biswajit Basu, hoping for another gem of a story about his father, my grandfather. As always, he brought the picture alive for us. 

From Biswajit Basu:

Its a bit of a story but here it is.

Daddy was conscripted into the British Indian Army for the War in 1939.  He fought in N. Africa, Italy and in the evacuation of Singapore when the Japanese overran the Malaysian peninsula.  The WW2 ended in 1945 and Daddy continued in the BI Army.  He was in Peshawar (I think) when India was partitioned in 1947.  All the Army officers were given a choice to join the Indian or Pakistan army.  He naturally joined the Indian Army.  Meanwhile in the chaos of partition everything was a mess.  Finally by this Gazette Notification of 1951, he was appointed officially into the Indian Army with his substantive rank as Major.

There were strange results from the partition.  I remember when we went by MV Batory to England in 1955, the ship stopped at Karachi and Daddy took me there to his dear friend's house who had fought shoulder to shoulder with him in N Africa and Italy!

Another little gem in our treasure box of stories.

🛳️ How to get off a ship mid-ocean!

July 24,2022: In conversation with Biswajit Basu on mid ocean embarking and disembarking on ships.

Biswajit Basu: https://youtu.be/C8ER9Ladqg4

BB: 👆Sometimes we would have to embark/disembark from ships in weather like this.  In my last trip as Chief Engineer, I left my ship with my suitcases in this kind of weather.  I jumped and landed "SPLAT" on the roof of the launch bridge.

Me (Tina): Splat?!! 😳

BB: Yep!  It was a splat.  I landed on the roof of the crazily careering launch on my back and scrambled to get something to hold on to lest I be dumped into the roiling sea.

Me: Goodness!! 

Shifting from ship to boat mid sea is not easy even in the calmest waters!! I’ve done it a couple of times on cruises. Bumpiest was during our Lakshadweep trip in the late 80s. While I remember the rocky sea and the land boat bumping into and away from our ship Tipu Sultan, at 10years old you think it’s great fun! Not so for Ma! She remembered that for ages and even in our 2019 cruise in the Adriatic, the only port she didn’t want to disembark was the one where the harbour was too shallow for the cruise liner! It wasn’t anything like a splat though … we just walked the plank! 😂

🌊 More Tales from the Sea

 From Biswajit Basu:

(Narrated on August 9, 2022)

This is a post to Ajoy Chatterjee who was a Private Apprentice in Garden Reach reminiscing our Scindia days:

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Oh Ajoy....you and I joined Scindias together and indeed those "were the days"!

We had so many hilarious stories over the years and I wish to recount one of them.

We were having a lot of trouble with our SKL Gensets on Jalamatsya and our 4th Engineer had signed off, sick.  So I had told Mr Joseph (our wonderful Engineer Super) that he must post a 4th engineer experienced on SKLs.  Every day I would talk to Mr Rakshit who looked after the officers for a suitable 4th.  One day Mr Joseph announced that he was posting a new 4th. and I was overjoyed.  On discussions with Mr Rakshit, he said they were posting one Mr Swain.  Now Swain was my DMET junior and I knew him well and I was furious because Swain had never worked on SKLs.  I flatly refused to accept him.  Then one evening Rakshit came to me and begged me to accept Swain.  Finally after a lot of discussions he admitted the truth.  Swain has been earmarked for another ship and had been housed in the Marine Club awaiting her arrival.  But Joseph had ordered that Swain be signed on the Jalamatsya.  Why I asked vehmently that despite my insistence of a 4th with SKL experience that a chap who had never even seen an SKL was being posted to our ship.  After much heeing and hawing Rakshit admitted the truth.

"He's eating Scindia's into extinction", he wailed.  My eyes opened wide!

Swain's bills that were coming in from the Marine Club were huge.  Enquiries showed that it was his food bills that were so high.  Rakshit said he was convinced that Swain must be feeding a friend which is why the food bills were so high.  So one day Rakshit decided to spy on him and found he was eating the meals all by himself.  Only that he could eat a lot!

To cut a long story short, to save Scindias from extinction I agreed to sign  him on.

But Swain turned out to be a genius engineer.  He had the amazing ability to keep all the generators purring beautifully as he nursed them like his own children.

Once I asked our Chief Steward during the voyage how he found Swain's appetite and he told me that he invariably ate every dish and everything in- between the words,"Menu" title on the menu page top till "Scindia Steam Navigation", at the bottom of the menu!

Another incident on that trip.  We were carrying back milk powder to India and some bags burst.  So my wife and Poonam, wife of our Chief Officer Pramod Narula, decided to try to make gulab jamuns from the powder.  They turned out to be harder than balls of granite and totally inedible.  Swain had no problem with them. Instead of throwing the whole lot overboard he took them to his cabin and ate them at leisure and never had the hint of a stomach upset.

Such was the prodigious appetite of Swain.

Discussion on WhatsApp between Piya and me (Tina) after this narration:

Biswajit Basu: 👆Tina. ..here is an addition to your compilation of sea anecdotes.

Piya: Oh prithvi would be inspired by Swains eating capability 😂

Tina: Yay!! I love your stories! Will add! And did Mimi⁩ really try to make gulab jamuns from the milk powder? I didn’t know she also went on ship trips! Tell us more!

Piya: Did my parents ever tell you that how my name was so controversial ?

Tina: No. tell tell

Piya: Well as my name is piya so the sailors everytime they would see me the chief engineers Daughert on the deck every evening they used to say - piya o piya . Din ko soti hai raat ko peeti hai !!! Dad would not like that at all 😂😂😂

🛗 The Missing Fourth Floor

 From Biswajit Basu:

(First narrated on Aug 14, 2022 and added to on Feb 10, 2025)

In case you thought Ministries are dry, humourless places, savour this true incident:

The DCI building was to be constructed in Vizag.  Our CMD tasked me with the job of ensuring that our building gets the 5th floor because then we would be entitled to an elevator (lift) as per government rules.  I put my heart and soul into it to get the 5th Floor sanctioned.  After a lot of discussions and arguments with the Public Enterprises Board, I knew I had done my best.  Months passed and I more or less forgot about the whole thing.

Suddenly, I got a call from Mr Motwane, our Ministry's Civil Engineer, to meet him.  On entering his office he seemed elated and congratulated me on my success.  He said the 5th Floor had been approved.  I took him out for dinner that evening.

Next day he called me to his office and I presumed it would be to collect the approval letter.  Indeed it was and I accepted it gleefully.  But he seemed very serious.  Finally he told me that DCI was about to create history!

Mr Motwane said he would be very interested to see our building because it would be the only building in the world with the 5th Floor but without the 4th!

Apparently the original sanction was only for 3 floors.  In our eagerness to get the facility of a lift we had completely forgotten that we needed a sanction for the 4th floor.

Now you know how the government often comes up with ridiculous solutions to simple issues

Retold by Biswajit Basu on Feb 10, 2025 with  additional details:

My stint in the Shipping Ministry was not without its moments of irony and hilarity.

Those who have visited the DCI building in Vizag will probably remember it has 5 floors.  It was originally planned for 4 floors but our Chairman was told that unless you have 5 floors you cannot have a lift (as per CPWD rules).  So our CMD sent me the revised building plan with 5 floors and 2 lifts and I was tasked with getting the 5th floor cleared.  I set upon my task with great gusto.  It was to be cleared by the Joint Secretary in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and I religiously visited him every week to check on the progress.  Many months passed and I was really struggling with this case.

Suddenly, Mr Motwane, the civil engineer of our Ministry asked me to come over to his office.  I loitered through the labyrinthine corridors and nervously presented myself.  Mr Motwane was effusive and shook my hand and congratulated me as he announced, “approval for your 5th floor has just come in”.  I was overjoyed and immediately invited him for a lunch.  He nodded and indicated that I take a seat.

“I will issue the approval for the 5th floor immediately.  But I there is an issue I must inform you.  I notice that you do not have an approval for the 4th Floor.  I am not sure how you can build the 5th floor without the 4th floor!”

Needless to say, I started the process for the approval of the 4th floor the next day.

🙃 Bonkers over Conkers

 From Biswajit Basu:

(Narrated on August 30, 2022)

*GOING BONKERS OVER CONKERS*

September reminds me of my schoolboy days in London in 1955-56.

In our school, Bevington High in Ladbroke Grove, we had a few trees where green and fruits grew that were spiky on the surface called "conkers".  We would pick them up, make a diametrical hole and thread it with a cord or shoelaces. Then two opposing boys each with his own conker would tangle their conkers and try to break it.  There were a number of variations to this game.

I wonder if any of you guys ever seen schoolboys playing this game.

😢😂 Tears and Laughs

 From Biswajit Basu:

(Narrated on October 1, 2022)

Reminds me of the day we were in Howrah Station just after we got married.  As was prevalent in those days whole busloads of relatives came to see Swati and me off, homebound to Delhi.

There was this old relative who was trying desperately to say farewell and wish us luck but wasn't able to because his false teeth were popping out every time he opened his mouth. After 5-6 attempts of pushing back his teeth and trying again and again he failed miserably and allowed himself to melt into the background.  Swati who was howling miserably till then as she was leaving her family (no, Shibesh wasnt there.  He was too  busy on some ship on the high seas), now began to laugh hysterically that would put any self-respecting hyena to shame.  She laughed and laughed and changed the mood of the whole congregation.

This broke the ice and all of a sudden everybody was laughing holding their sides and seemed happy to see yours truly leave Calcutta.

Swati never stopped laughing till we left Howrah far behind in the distance.