Child of the Raj

By Rohan

Ronen Ghose was born in Patna Bihar, India during the turbulent closing years of British India. As a child, he witnessed the unpleasant consequences of Partition in East Bengal, now Bangladesh then East Pakistan, as well the wonderful friendship and assistance given to his family by Muslims in East Pakistan.

Child of the Raj covers a unique and fascinating period of British and Indian history, as seen through the eyes of someone who lived through it. From the twilight years of the British Raj and the blossoming freedom under Prime Minster Nehrv, the first Prime Minister of India, Child of the Raj is the ideal read for anyone interested in this exciting and often turbulent time in history. From Bengal, Calcutta in 1929 all the way up to present day India, this is not a book to miss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781803130248

Rohan

Rohan was born in Eastern India and enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His schooling in Darjeeling Himalayas allowed him to go to university in Calcutta and then to embark on a tea planting career in Assam, India, and finally to achieve a reputation as an Airline Executive with Pan Am and subsequently as a travel executive in Eastern India. He now leads a retired life of leisure in Northamptonshire, England.

Book preview

9781803130248.jpg

Child of the Raj– a journey!

Rohan

Copyright © 2021 Rohan

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Matador®

9 Priory Business Park,

Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp,

Leicestershire. LE8 0RX

Tel: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador

Twitter: @matadorbooks

ISBN 9781803130248

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

I dedicate this book to – my wife Rita, my son Ronobir, my grandaughter Cameren who has edited this book, my twin grandsons Donovan and Cole, and their mother Sarah the pillar of our household. She represents proper English broth – the Birch family of Deanshanger. I also dedicate this book to Baboo and Yakub, Bill Pooler, and Paul Reynolds and lastly, Moira and Peter Cooper for having also assisted in the preparation of this book. I bow my head in total humility to all my staff members involved in my life who brought me up from a little child till I left home and subsequently in later life. Such loyalty and devotion to duty was amazing. I pray for their souls daily in deep respect.

Contents

About the Author

Foreword

Chapter 1: Bengal- Calcutta 1929

Chapter 2 : The Bhawal Sanyasi Case.

Chapter 3:Bihar – the Heart of in India

Chapter 4: East Bengal – East Pakistan

Chapter 5: India-Calcutta/Bokaro

Chapter 6: University Life With the Jesuits

Chapter 7: University Life at the elite St. Xavier’s Jesuit College

Chapter 8: Calcutta

Chapter 9: Bill Pooler

Chapter 10: My marriage to Rita

Chapter 11 – Politics:

Chapter 12: My Twilight Years

About the Author

The author, a direct descendent of the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth was born in Eastern India and enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His schooling in Darjeeling Himalayas allowed him to go to university in Calcutta and then to embark on a tea planting career in Assam, India, and finally to achieve a reputation as an Airline Executive with Pan Am and subsequently as a travel executive in Eastern India. He now leads a retired life of leisure, in a green and pleasant land, Northamptonshire, England.

Foreword

It was some twenty years ago one afternoon, through an incident that happened to me, as a result of which you are dear reader, now reading this book. I went into Sainsbury’s supermarket in Milton Keynes to get myself a sandwich. While nosing around, a lady next to me was doing likewise. She then casually struck up a conversation and in the process asked Your accent is rather intriguing, Where is it from? My reply - India, Calcutta – ex airline executive, Assam – ex tea planter, Darjeeling, my school days I went on to say. She then retorted You must have led a fascinating life? I replied - My life was indeed a fascinating one and I would love to write my life story. She gave me a long hard stare and said: Write it, get on to your laptop and it will all flow through your fingers, she explained. I then asked her How do you know? She replied I am a novelist. and before I could ask her name she walked off.

Chapter 1: Bengal- Calcutta 1929

In mid October 1929 - the place, Diamond Harbour, Bengal, – then part of British India,- a young English woman, an Ainsworth, – my mother, a direct descendent of the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, strode down the gangplank of the steamship - The Empress of India, having completed a solitary lone voyage from her beloved England to marry her future husband, a Bengali, my father. Waiting at the pier was my father, his father an eminent surgeon of Bengal, together with a host of curious friends and relatives to witness this spectacle of an English woman disembarking from a famous ship, to begin an uncertain future into the unknown, and above all; beginning a life in an alien culture in British India and marrying into a Bengali family in Calcutta, the former home of the East India Company.

Thus began the life of my mother in India, a life fraught with trials and tribulations, uncertainties and challenges, which she resolutely overcame having given birth to three sons and tragically losing her second son, whose death left an indelible scar on her, her husband, and us two remaining brothers.

My mother was met by a host of Bengali relatives who had arrived at Calcutta Port- Diamond Harbour in numerous cars, eagerly and inquisitively looking forward to meeting this young English lady from far away England, a member of the ruling class, soon to be the daughter-in-law of Bengal’s most famous surgeon.

When my mother was duly transported to her new Bengali home in Gomes Lane, North Calcutta my father then quietly informed her a few days prior to their wedding, that the job he had with his English employer as an electrical engineer, a famous colonial firm was no more. My father sadly informed my mother that six weeks prior to her arrival by boat to India from England, the Directors of the company came to know that one of their Native England Returned Engineer was due to marry an English girl. The Managing Director then took it upon himself to write to my grandfather – the eminent surgeon, asking him if this was true. My grandfather replied in the affirmative. My father was then summoned to Head Office in Calcutta to explain in person to the Directors whether this was all true, from his far away posting in Central India. The Managing Director and the Board when hearing from my father that he was marrying an English girl from Didsbury, Manchester, and that his future wife had set sail from England, they immediately terminated his services with the proviso that if he cancelled his marriage he would