Mukesh – A Singer With a Timeless Voice

A Soulful Singer

Today is the great singer’s 101^st birth anniversary, he was born on 22^nd July 1923. He passed away in 1976, just 53 years old.

Without a doubt, he (or for that matter, his voice) has been a fellow traveler for the longest time in my life. In an era where Yesudas and Mohammed Rafi ruled the roost, i.e. in Kerala, I rooted for Mukesh. In the attic of our ancestral house at Pallavur, there used to be a few 78 rpm records, belonging to my uncle. Pehli Nazar, Anurag, and a few others, with Mukesh’s voice featured in them, lying around, collecting dust. It was only after I joined up for engineering that the music fever gripped me, and I started listening to Radio Ceylon and Vividbharati on my little Keltron transistor radio, during spare hours. I would painstakingly pen song lyrics in a notebook, after listening to the song (Hindi songbooks from up North had not yet reached Calicut), with many mistakes. The impetus boosting him to my favorite came after I read the book Mera Naam Joker and heard its songs. After that I listened to so many of Mukesh’s songs, committing them to memory, and belted them out in the bathroom, much to the annoyance of the others in the college hostel!

I have sung a couple of his songs just once, with my wife an accomplished singer, that was in Istanbul, at a program hosted by the Indian Consulate, where we sang a couple of Mukesh songs in tandem, the ones well-known to the people of Turkey – Awara Hoon and Mera Jootha hai Japani. Baris Manco, the late Turkish singer, and a friend of India was, if I recall right, present, and he used to sing Awara Hoon often during his shows.

It is not my intention to list here his great songs or go over their nuances. Nor will I attempt to detail his career chronologically, to figure out why he became one of the top three and remained there till his death.  Like many people before me have stated, he sang for the common man, he mirrored their sadness, ethos, pathos, heartbreaks, and depressive moods, during a period when India was in the dumps, especially in the 60’s and 70’s.

While many know the songs, the films, and the actors, very few know enough about the singer. Most will recall that Mukesh was Mukesh Chand Mathur, born in 1923, 6^th in the line of 10 children in a large Delhi household, a boy who was disinterested in studies – 10th class failed as his son Nitin puts it – and came to Bombay to make it big in films. It is said that he could only read and write in Urdu and penned his lyrics in Urdu all his life. As fate intervened, the great actor Motilal heard him sing Saigal songs at his sister’s wedding ceremony and gave him a stepping stone into the film industry. Eventually, the 17-year-old boy came to Bombay in 1940, tried to become a singer-actor in the film Nirdosh, failed miserably, and then settled down to establish himself as a singer. As he said in a BBC interview - it is better to become a first-class singer than a second-class actor. He struggled for quite a while in Bombay, working odd jobs - as a share broker, dry fruit seller, etc. before making it big. Though he continued to scout acting roles and acted sporadically until 1956, his first hit (mind you - not his first song, which was Dil hi Bhuja – Nirdosh 1941) as a singer was for Pehli Nazar in 1945, singing for Motilal.

Around 1945, he met, fell in love, and eloped with a wealthy Gujarati girl - Sarla Trivedi, when he was just 23, as her parents were against the union, Mukesh being quite penniless then. It was actor Motilal who helped him, and Neil, his son adds - Mukesh was a strict nonvegetarian who enjoyed his Johnnie walker, while Sarla would not touch nonveg, or for that matter anything grown underground!

Becoming popular, he was initially actor Dileep Kumar’s voice, delivering many hits in Andaz, Madhumati, etc., and as Dileep drifted towards Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh was discovered by Raj Kapoor. Even more great hits followed and then came the connections with Manoj Kumar continuing the hit parade.

Let us now check his collaboration with the many heroes, producers, and music directors and catch some trivia as we travel alongside Mukesh’s 53-year life. Unlike some of the other singers or actors of that time, he was meticulously dressed, and suave, almost always photographed wearing a well-tailored suit.

Mukesh imitated Saigal to start with, and he agreed it was his forte. Dil Jalta Hai was not going to be included in the film but was retained only after people flocked to the theatres because of the song. Saigal it is said (I don’t feel this is true) wondered when he had sung the song, after hearing it at first! Teri duniya mein dil lagta nahin (Bawre Nein) was another song sung in the Saigal style. Lata Mangeshkar mentions that Saigal gifted him his harmonium, a gift that Mukesh treasured all his life.  I am not sure if that was the instrument, which a fan stole and installed in his home, as an object of worship! Lore has it that Mukesh tracked him down and got it back!

Music directors

Anil Biswas was the music director who groomed the young singer who reached his brother-in-law’s doorsteps in Bombay. As the story goes, the producer Mazhar Khan would not allow a newcomer to sing. But after Anil pleaded, Mazhar acceded, only for Biswas to see that Mukesh developed cold feet at the last minute and slunk away to a bar, to drink and play cards. As the story goes, he was pulled into the studios and sobered up. Mukesh ended up singing the glorious DIl Jalta hain, to Jalne de (Pehli Nazar). Biswas later had to work hard to wean him away from the Saigal style and had him deliver many more hits, under his baton.

SD Burman – Strange is the fact that even though they collaborated sporadically, many of those songs became great hits. Songs like Chal ree sajni, O Janewale ho sake to (Bandini) are examples, but SD did not have much of an opinion about Mukesh and used him mainly for background songs. In an interview with Raju Bharatan, SDB said - ‘Talat’s no good as a singer, Mukesh is worse!’. When called to sing for Bombay Ka Babu, in 1960, SD seemingly said - “Look, Mukesh, I can’t promise that I would retain your voice in Chal ree sajnee. If after the rehearsal, in the final take, I find your rendition to be unsatisfactory, I retain the right to scrap the song!” Mukesh’s response: “But you always have that right, Dada. All I know is that you have called me to sing again for you after some 12 years, so trust me to put in my best. After that, as the song’s composer, it’s your privilege to retain or reject me.” It turned out to be a wonderful song. See a soulful live version.

Ravi Shankar characterized Mukesh’s singing style as - so straight and linear that the sporadic use of alankaars (subtle variations) magnified the beauty of his singing manifold. The song Hiya Jarat Rahet Din Rain (Godaan – Raaj Kumar 1963), which he sang for Ravi Shankar is quite interesting.

RD Burman also used him rarely, like his father, but came up with even more hits. Two songs spring to the fore, Ek din bik jayega (Dharam Karam) and Suhani Chandini raten (Mukti), not to forget Jis gali mein (Kati Patang). Nateeja Hamari (Puraskar) is unique, Asha’s voice sounds so different, while the dance looks kind of silly! Kahin Karti Hogi Woh Mera Intezaar (Phir Kabhi milogi) is soulful, and there is the ever-popular Lalla lalla lori (Mukti)…See Ek din bik jayega being rendered live.

Salil Chaudhri created fantastic songs for Mukesh, he was Salil’s favorite singer, boosting the latter’s career often, be it the glorious Kahi door jab (Anand), Suhana Safar (Madhumati), Zindagi Khwab he (Jagte Raho), Nain Hamare (Annadata), Ye din kya aya (Choti si Baat) or Kayi Baar yuhi (Rajni Gandha).  Salilda said once - Each word from his lips was a pearl. No one could sing the way Mukesh did, with the right diction, inflection, and intonation. His vocal timbre was out of this world. Almost every song I composed to capitalize on this timbre was an instant draw.

Initially, I thought of Hemant Kumar as Dilip Kumar’s playback for “Suhana Safar” in ‘Madhumati’. But Shailendra persuaded me that Mukesh suited Dilip Kumar no less than he did Raj Kapoor. The moment I recorded Suhana Safar, I knew Mukesh’s vocals had captured the spirit of that verdant setting in ‘Madhumati’. In later years, Mukesh brought a rare depth of expression to my “Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye” I still feel, ranks as my best for Mukesh.

He added - I like all the others. Manna Dey is a classical singer with a vast range. Listen to his song Aye Mere Pyare Watan from Kabuliwala (1960). Mukesh was my favorite and though his octave range was limited, he could sing with a mood and pathos that was unique. See a clip with Salilda directing Mukesh on stage.

Kai baar yuhi, was the song that got Mukesh a national award, interestingly it was offered to him since he wanted only a token amount of Rs 1,000/- for it while Lata would have cost Basu Chatterji 3,000/-! The gem Yeh din kya aya was done for Salilda, free of charge!

Roshan too had a great number of hits from Mukesh. Teri Duniya mein & Khayalon mein kisi (Bawre Nein) were notable numbers, Bahut diya Denewale (Soorat aur Seerat), Aya hai mujhe pyar (Devar), Apni Nazar se (Hum Log), Bade arman se (Malhar). The duo came up with so many great songs.

Shankar Jaikishan was the duo that teamed up on so many films with Mukesh and created many a wonderful hit. Virtually every film they did, had Mukesh singing and delivering hits. There are too many to name, but the songs from Mera Naam Joker, Sangam, Shree 420, Anari, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti hai, Yehudi, etc. are examples. Shankar told Raju Bharatan that at times Mukesh could be so besura (out of tune) forcing him to leave the recording studio. He would ask his assistant Dattaram to coach Mukesh and would get back to the studio only after Mukesh got it right. He added that after a few rehearsals, the final recording would be fabulous!

Kalyanji Anandji was the other team that often used Mukesh in their films, and Kalyanji had no hesitation to admit that Mukesh had been their ladder to success and recognition in the '60s. The list of hits is long, and songs like Dewaano se yeh mat poocho (Upkar), Chandi ki Deewar (Viswas), Dum Dum diga (Chalia), Hum Chod Chale (jee chahta hai), Jo Tum ko (Safar), Koi jab tumhara (Purab aur Paschim), Chandan sa badan (Saraswati Chandra) stand out as great creations.

Khayyam remembers him as a perfectionist who would rehearse a song for long hours. "We will record only when you are satisfied, he told me during the recordings of Raj Kapoor’s Phir subah hogi”. Woh Subah Kabhi to Aayegi sung by Mukesh and Asha Bhosle, is an interesting number and of course, the songs from Kabi Kabhi, which most would easily recall, are marvelous. See it performed, live on stage

Lakshmikant Pyarelal also worked on many a film with Mukesh, delivering super hits such as Ram kare aisa (Milan), Ek pyar ka nagma hai (Shor), Maina bhooloonga, Jot se jot (Sant Gyaneshwar), Tum bin Jeevan (Anita), Sawan ka mahina (Milan), Chanchal sheetal (Satyam Sivam Sundaram), Tan man dhan (manchali). Interestingly you can even hear a Tamil bit in his Kuncham Kuncham song (Immaan Dharam) for Shashi Kapoor.

He did get miffed a few times, to lash out, a rarity in his career. He was upset with Naushad and S. D. Burman after they stopped giving him songs.  ‘I just don’t want to talk about the recording promises these and other music directors made and never kept, opting for a fellow performer when each and every song I had sung for them, till then, had been a top hit’. He then drifted away to make his film Anuraag, which did not work out too well, though it had a couple of great songs tuned by him, Kise yaad rakhun standing out!

Actors

Raj Kapoor started to work with Mukesh in 1948, in Aah, and you can see Mukesh even acting as the tonga driver singing the song  Choti si yeh zindagani. Barsat cemented their relationship and so many hit films and songs followed. Soon, they became soul mates, Mukesh being Raj Kapoor’s inseparable voice, even though a few others like Manna Dey intruded at times, to create lovely hits. Rak Kapoor would never call him Mukesh, but preferred to call him as he was named, Mukesh Chand, and mentioned that Mukesh was forever bright, chirpy, and jovial, coming up with spontaneous wisecracks, and always brightening up any room. There are odd bits of Raj Kapoor singing in his voice on YouTube (he plays the piano as well), and you will upon hearing them understand how uncannily it resembles Mukesh’s voice! In Moscow, he introduces Mukesh to those who always believed Raj Kapoor sang his songs.

Whenever he became moody or upset, Raj says he would call Mukesh and they talked for hours and sometimes, he would hop over to chat and help him sort things out. He according to Raj Kapoor, stayed out of politics or other people’s business and never wished ill of anyone, forever the good Samaritan of the industry. Mukesh, nevertheless, kept his worries to himself, simply saying everything was first class or top of the world! Just before he left for his final tour to Canada and the USA in 1976, he insisted on finishing the song Chanchal Sheetal, even though it had not been scheduled. Perhaps he knew what was fated, and Raj says he left behind the unopened bottle of King of Kings whiskey, for the team, to be finished later.

Raj Kapoor said - When Shailendra left us, I felt I’d lost one arm; when Jaikishen passed away I lost another. But when Mukesh passed away, meri jaan hi chali gayi (I lost my life). I am the body; my soul was Mukesh.” He added - There was Mukesh-my soul, my voice, I was a mere body. It was he who sang to the hearts of the people all over the world, not me. Raj Kapoor was an image, just a carcass of flesh and bones. When he died, it was destroyed. I felt, there goes my breath, there goes my soul. I know what went away from me. There was a void, a vacuum and then I had to get over it and go on. This is the price an artist pays. Were it not for the voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh, what would my cinema be?'

Manoj Kumar who had a long association with Mukesh, adds, “Most of my sad songs were sung by Mukesh. No one could match him in the tragic songs. My own favorite is ‘Koi Jab Tumhara Hriday Tod De’ from Purab Aur Paschim. ‘Ek Pyar Ka Nagma Hai’ from my film Shor is Mukesh’s signature tune. One thing about Mukesh: his songs were his only. The songs sung by Mukesh could not be sung by any other singer. The songs that were composed for Mukesh were meant only for him.”

Manoj Kumar agrees that Mukesh was unfairly ‘mike-cast’ to sing heartbreak songs. “He sang some mischievous songs for me in Sanyasi and Dus Numbri. Those were big hits too. But somehow, he is remembered more by the sad songs,”.

Feroze Khan used Mukesh often. The songs from Dharmatma and Upasana are all classics today.

Rajesh Khanna too had Mukesh hits - Kahin door jab and Mein ne tere liye (Anand) as well the songs in Maryada are examples.

Jitendra on the other hand, can boast of the popular Yeh kaun chitrkar, Chandi ki deevar, Do kadam tum na chale, Hum to tere, and many more.

Dilip Kumar of course had many songs sung by Mukesh – Suhana Safar, Tu Kahe Agar, Yeh mere diwanapan hai, Gaye ja geet milan, Dil tadap tadap, Jhoom Jhoom ke nacho….are just a few!

Stray gems include Ansoo Bharai hain (Dattaram), Chal Akela (OP Nayyar), Zinda hun is tarah, Aa laut ki aja, Bhuli hui, Saranga, Haa diwana hu main, which are all numbers which add up to the long list of hits which made him one of the three greats Kishore, Rafi and Mukesh! The list goes on, but I must stop somewhere…

Pakistan’s late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto found Mukesh's voice quite appealing.  It is said that for months on end, she listened to Mukesh in her car, presumably to ease her work pressures.

The Mystique of Awara Hoon - When China’s Zhou En Lai came to India, he wanted to hear Awara Hoon live, but Talat and Geeta Dutt who graced the occasion did not know the words, so sang the first two or three lines over and over for a while. It is even rumored that Mao Tse Tung used to love the film Awara and the song Awara Hoon. In Turkey, one can listen to the Turkish Awara Nuu, as well as remixed versions of the original song. I will write about this separately.

Mukesh passed away in Detroit while on tour with Lata Mangeshkar, on 22^nd Aug 1976. I was in college then and I recall being quite upset, and later picking up the double LP album at Balu’s. See a video from the concert.

Strangely, people talked about purity of voice then, as the Bollywood industry had already made a switch, from heavy and deep female voices like Noorjahan to sharp and shriller tones of Lata and team, which set the standard for decades. Only recently has the Punjabi voice started its trip back and during the interim, there was only Usha Uthup with a booming voice amidst the sharper voices.

Mukesh was considered to be technically inferior with many slips and besur’s in his songs, compared to the Mannadey, Kishore, and Rafi, but he held his fort, while his nasal tone, and the feeling he conveyed, simply found its way directly into your hearts. His song ended up as an Aam Admi’s song, something one could relate to, warts and all. Singers like Manhar, Salma Agha, and Kumar Sanu continued the nasal trend and comments about such inferior tones eventually disappeared.

Listening to him, you hear chaste Urdu diction, not the usual movie star Bombay Hindi. A lovely interview at BBC and another more detailed one.

Lata Mangeshkar was perhaps closest to him – She says that even though senior, Mukesh called her Didi. She first met him in 1947 and almost immediately struck a chord. Mukesh was much senior to her - both in age as well as profession, he insisted on calling her 'didi' (elder sister). Nitin Mukesh mentions that his father called her Didi so that the coming generations understand that you can't call a legend by her name! But Lata says - "There was no particular reason for this. Everyone one in my family used to call me didi. So, he also took it up. But it's amazing that he never addressed me as 'Lata' till the end," she said. They had this special bond and both revered Saigal, both wanted to be actors and went on to do several stage shows.  Lata felt that Mukesh was never given complex songs. In a Hindustan Times interview, she said - "The problem is that Mukesh bhaiyya was never tried for complex and classically oriented songs because of stereotyping. It is not that he did not have the capability," Lata observed. But very few recognized Mukesh bhaiyya for his classical background," she said. "I cannot say with full authority. But I feel he (Mukesh) could have sung complex songs too if given a chance because I know he used to do regular riyaz (practice) along with his son Nitin, under a teacher,"

References

A Journey Down Melody Lane Hay House -Bharatan, Raju. Kindle Edition.

(Awara Hoon – Turkish version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwL29HYiCBk

Awara Hoon – Five versions

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Chanson Indoe from Sadko – The Song of India

The Hindu Merchant at Novgorod and Khrushchev’s visit to India

I was drawn to this tale while referring to Khrushchev’s memoirs, which interestingly took me to the story of Sadko, and made me listen to a glorious tune titled “Song of India’ by Rimsky Korsakov. The haunting tune led me to the Indian favorite ‘Awaz De Kahan he’ (Naushad was certainly inspired by the overture and verse sections of the Russian Operatic piece – Song of India), by yesteryear’s Noorjehan (See a previous article). The story around the Russian song and its impact is fascinating, which goes on to connect India, Khrushchev, and Nehru, later influencing Khrushchev’s visit to India (and wrongly, Kerala) in 1955. Without further ado, let us now see what this is all about.

Ages ago, during a time when there were neither planes nor ships as means for quick transport, or communication, the only means for long-distance trade was the camel, an account of which I had provided some years ago. Traders traversing vast distances, perched atop the ship of the desert, after arriving at Caravanserai’s, conveyed stories from exotic places and events, later regaled their audience with stories of their travels. Imagine the scene, the weary trader relaxing with a tall drink, in the middle of a marketplace or town square, centering an audience with wide open eyes and bated breath eagerly waiting for morsels of words to fall out of the mouth of the enthusiastic speaker, speaking in hyperbole. We have heard and read about so many of these storytellers, such as Sindbad, then the teller of the Arabian Nights, and so on and so forth. The story of Sadko is one such.

First an introduction to Nikita Khrushchev and why I am telling this story. I came across this tidbit while researching the Sino-Soviet split of the 60’s, and the 1962 Indo-China conflict. Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party at that time, and Nehru the Prime Minister of India. I will not get into the complex political aspects, the geopolitics, etc., in this article, but will just mention that the USSR had hardly any knowledge of India at that time. Once KPS Menon was appointed as India’s third ambassador to the USSR, things changed a bit and the hugely popular ambassador made quite an impression on the politburo. The relationship strengthened in 1955 and Nehru visited the USSR in June, a much talked about visit, especially the amusing incident on how he had Khrushchev remove entrance fees to public places, among others. A return visit was hastily planned, and the Russian Premier Bulganin was to visit India in 1956. The visit was advanced, and it was announced that First Secretary Khrushchev would accompany Bulganin. It was to become in the history of the Indo-Soviet relations, a laudatory trip, one which looking at the itinerary, was incredibly exhausting to the Russian team of 100 or so, flying into India.

We start this story therefore in 1955. Khrushchev is planning his hastily announced visit to India. Nehru had already come and gone and impressed one and all in Russia. As a magnetic and popular leader of the third world, his stature and stock were high and his visit was a great success. Unlike the erudite Nehru, Khrushchev was not that well-read, and he would always mention that he was of peasant stock. Visiting a largely unknown India was a tall task, and he ruminated quite a bit over it. Let me now take you to Khruschev’s own words.

Khrushchev said - Our knowledge of India, to tell the truth, was not only superficial but downright primitive. Don’t laugh, but I personally drew some of my knowledge of India from an aria sung by an Indian merchant in the opera by Rimsky Korsakov entitled Sadko. He sang: “Countless the diamonds deep in caverns of stone.” I knew that the weather there was warm, that the sea did not freeze, that the country possessed countless riches and that the animal world there was something fantastic. There were jungles. The very word made a very big impression on me, much bigger than now when we ourselves have seen what the jungles of India are really like. They’re not at all as exotic as they sound!

And that was how I read for the first time, that there was a Song of India. Curious, I got to the operatic piece and listened to it. The tune was very familiar and before it got over, I knew that was the inspiration behind the Indian favorite Awaz De Kahan He. All this made me even more curious. I decided to do a little research on the story of Sadko and the trader.

The opera is about the story of Sadko, a gusli/zither player, who leaves his wife, Lyubava, his home in Novgorod, to return a wealthy man, after many adventures. During his years of travel, he amasses a fortune, meets and weds the daughter of the King of the Seas, a mermaid named Volkhova, and travels to many destinations. While he celebrates his wedding with Volkhova under the seas, the Sea King is cursed and Sadko has to return to Novgorod. Volkhova accompanies him but transforms herself into a river so that she is always with him, as Sadko rejoins Lyubava.

It is somewhere in the middle of the story that Sadko meets many merchants by the pier of Lake Ilmen, and as it turns out, one of them is a merchant from India. While other merchants sing about their lands, the Indian ‘Hindu’ merchant sings a lovely song about his distant home.  That is the Song of India (Song of the Indian Guest) one that is also known as the Hindu Song or Chanson Indoue. Interestingly both the Russians and Chinese called Indians – ‘The Hindus’, people from Hindustan – Hindustan, just like the Turks call Indians- Hintli, ‘those from Hindistan’.

Like Arabian Nights and Sindbad, these opera pieces trace their origins to various sources such as fairy tales. Rimsky-Korsakov mentions that Sadko’s story is likely from the 11^th-12^th centuries when Christianity was slowly taking over from a locale where pagan beliefs prevailed. Novgorod was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in Northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the West to the Northern Ural Mountains in the East. The end came in 1478 when Ivan III once again invaded, seized, and annexed it to form part of the other Russian states. It was during the 13^th century when Mongols arrived in Russia that Indian and Islamic trade intensified, via the Silk Road, even though Novgorod escaped occupation.

Anyway, Russian music was over time,  infused with oriental motives and secondly, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov who was once a sailor himself, often wrote music inspired by the sea. The Sadko opera was completed around 1898. The middle piece in the opera was the Indian song, and it went on to became very famous in the Western world later, and get immortalized in India, thanks to Naushad getting inspired by it, when tasked to make music for Anmol Ghadi. But it is unlikely that many know about the original Song of India, in India.

Russians of course, the affluent ones, and the party bigwigs got to see all the great operas in Moscow and that is how the splendor of India reached their ears and influenced their thought, as it did in the case of Khrushchev. The Song of India was popular among many musicians in the 1930s and 1940s and oft-repeated in many versions.

So, how did the song go? There are a few versions in vogue, the original versions with translations, and an extended Mercer translation. Listen to the Russian Leo Kuznetsov version here, with accompanying visuals. The Ukrainian Ivan Semyonovich Kozlovsky (1900-1993) was a leading opera singer in the Soviet Union; a favorite of Stalin, and in another section, Khrushchev mentions his familiarity with this version and the line about diamonds. A good instrumental version can be heard here.

Khrushchev did not find much favor after the 60s and was eventually ousted, perhaps because he was never a Stalinist, because he was moderate, because of drought and related difficulties in Russia in 1963, as he antagonized China, and finally, because he negotiated peace with the West, following the Bay of Pigs furor, to reduce cold war tensions. In 1964, the Kremlin circle stripped him of power, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

Beginning in 1966, Khrushchev began his memoirs. He initially tried to dictate them into a 10 lbs. German tape recorder slung over his shoulder while walking outdoors, to avoid eavesdropping by the KGB. Sergei Khrushchev, his son, later handed over the tapes to the KGB, but copies had been made, some of which had been transmitted to a Western publisher. Sergei instructed that the smuggled memoirs should be published, which they were in 1970 under the title ‘Khrushchev Remembers’. In this voluminous collection, Khrushchev has a section on India, which makes very interesting reading, as you must have realized seeing how he talks about his knowledge of India having been gleaned from Korsakov’s opera piece.

Now we get to the second part of this article, Khrushchev’s impressions of India.

The state visit 1955

After a trade treaty had been signed between the two countries in 1954, Nehru made a state visit in June 1955. The return visit planned for early 1956 was advanced to the winter months of 1955 and a large contingent of some 100 Russians started their tour of India in Nov 1955. 

Age had caught up with Khrushchev and he frequently confuses names with places, in his memoirs. For example, he believed he spent a couple of days touring Kerala, while in reality, he was traveling around Coimbatore, Coonoor, and Ooty. Perhaps Kerala was stuck in his mind as it had voted a communist government into power, later in 1957. Nevertheless, it was all the State of Madras that he toured around, not transgressing into Cochin and Travancore kingdoms, and Kerala had been formed only in 1956. Let’s now check out some highlights from Khrushchev’s memoirs relating to India, noting that he makes it clear that he is visiting a capitalist country.

The dignitaries were put up at the Presidential palace, much to President Rajendra Prasad’s annoyance. Khruschev mentions Prasad’s comments were relayed to them: “They have put the Russians there, and they are going to make a foul mess of my palace. They are going to eat meat there, not to mention drinking alcohol”.

They did all the usual stuff while on the road, wearing Gandhi caps, climbing on an elephant, receiving garlands from maidens, having Kumkum applied on their foreheads, and visiting farms and factories, dams, and educational establishments, including the NDA at Pune. Ah yes, and a tiger cub was gifted, at Rudrapur.

At Madars, it appears Rajaji was quite an imposition, irritating the otherwise joyous dignitary.  “This ascetic man kept talking to me during the performance, giving me no chance to follow the course of the concert and enjoy it.”  In his opinion, if large factories were brought into this heavily populated country, the high level of mechanization and automation would result in a mass of working people being driven into the army of the unemployed, and poverty would only increase. He stuck to the Gandhian ideal: the spinning wheel was the only industry needed.

Morarji Desai - In Bombay, Desai, the prime minister of this state, had a hostile attitude toward us; he had been opposed altogether to our being invited to Bombay. He and I understood each other quite well, but our views stood in absolute opposition. He firmly supported a pro-American policy and held that India should develop in the classical capitalist pattern.

But when it came to the travels down South and into the cooler environs of the Nilgiris, he assumed he was in Kerala - Before we went to Kashmir we went to the state of Kerala and added - One thing about Kerala that has remained in my memory was the endless rows of palm trees being grown commercially. Coconuts were harvested from them. We were shown how that was done. People scrabbled skillfully up the trunks of the trees. Their feet were bound with rope and seemed to stick to the tree trunks. Then from the treetops, they would throw down the coconuts.

At Coonoor (Khrushchev thought that was also in Kerala, it was the Singara plantations owned by the Madhwani’s) - We were also shown tea plantations in Kerala. What we saw in Kerala made a sorry impression. Everything was done by hand; then the leaves were thrown in a heap on the ground. I joked: “If Soviet citizens who drink Indian tea could see how it’s processed, they’d probably lose their appetite for it.” In our country, the sanitary standards are stricter at tea plantations. There was nothing like that in Kerala. But the owner gave us a very polite reception and treated us to tea and fruit.

In all, they spent 27 days, visiting India Burma, and Afghanistan. Ms Rahimbabaiveva, Deputy Minister of Culture in Uzbekistan was included since it was believed that Kashmiris and Afghans supposedly had ethnic connections to Uzbek. The entourage was about 100 people, of which 50 traveled with the leaders, including a lady cook and cargo planes to ferry baggage. Three Ilyushin 14s and other planes were deployed, and they even did trial flights to each locale. They touched at Delhi, Agra, Bhakra Nangal, Bareilly, Rudrapur, Terai, Bombay, Pune, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Coonoor, Ooty, Calcutta, Burma, Chittaranjan, Sindri, Jaipur, Srinagar, Delhi, Kabul and back.

NY Times - At one point Nehru told Bulganin that it was rumored he wore a bullet-proof vest; "I do not," said Bulganin. "Feel me." Nehru good-naturedly poked an inquiring finger at the Russian’s chest. Then Bulganin turned to the crowd and raised his hands high in a happy prizefighter’s salute.

Bangalore (again, Khrushchev thought that was in Kerala) - In Kerala, we visited a respected fellow countryman, of ours, the great artist Svyatoslav Roerich. His father [Nikolai Roerich] had also been a famous artist, and his paintings were on display at an exhibit in Moscow.

Taj Mahal - It is enough to mention that great pearl of artistry, the Taj Mahal, every tourist visits this place, taking delight in the white stone structure, which doesn’t even seem to be of stone because the material is of such exceptional whiteness. This was built in a century-long past, yet to this day it bears witness to the high level of culture of the Indian people. On the other hand, when I looked at the poverty all around, the thought occurred to me that the rulers didn’t consider working people to be human, but forced them to erect palaces and mausoleums, leaving them to die from the heavy burden of their labors. The rulers didn’t take the people into account and had no regard for them. They only needed hands to do the work, and they squeezed the living juices out of their subjects. Today these buildings are the pride of India, monuments to its art.

KPS Menon accompanied them on the trip and mentions that the documentaries made later - revived a thousand memories of the three most hectic weeks of my life, when I accompanied Bulganin and Khrushchev on their hurricane tour of India from Kashmir to Coimbatore, from Bombay to Calcutta. It was also a comprehensive tour. From Delhi, dry and cool, and the Punjab, even drier and cooler, they flew into the sweltering heat of Bombay. Thence we took them higher and higher, to Poona, 2,000 feet above sea level, to Bangalore, 4,000 feet high, and to Ootacamund, 8,000 feet high, where the crisp air refreshed and reinvigorated them. From Ootacamund they made the precipitous descent to Coimbatore and were charmed by the coconut, areca-nut, and banana groves they saw on the way. There followed the hottest and most tiresome part of their journey: Madras, Calcutta, and Rangoon. Finally, they went to Kashmir. There they saw the snow, discarded their bush-shirts, donned their fur coats, and felt at once at home and nostalgic for their own Central Asia, as Babar once did when he saw a caravan arriving in Lahore from Kabul.

Local reports mention that they stopped at the village of Vadamadurai where a thirsty Bulganin is believed to have drunk some coconut water in a farm, which these days is known as the ‘Bulganin Thottam’. They stayed at the Ooty Raj Bhavan and had their hair cut by a local barber. It is also mentioned that they planted trees in Bangalore, and one of them I believe is possibly around, though leaning heavily.

According to the New Yorker - Bulganin has been stately, Khrushchev animated. Bulganin has not seemed to be enjoying himself much, and at times has looked like a product of taxidermy. His blue eyes have been expressionless, as if made of glass. He has, however, been consistently polite and thoughtful. Khrushchev, on the other hand, has been full of life and spirit; indeed, he has expressed himself with an exuberance that some educated Indians at least, consider boorish.

As time went by, Bulganin was starting to tire, and Khrushchev (his junior in the political hierarchy - Khrushchev's position as head of the Communist Party imparted greater authority and control than Bulganin's position as head of the government) took over. At Bangalore, Khrushchev confirmed that Russia had recently exploded a hydrogen 'bomb. As Khrushchev put it, the scientists had done this - to "see whether their calculations were right, adding the Soviet Union would never be the first to use this power."

The next few years became a period of turmoil all over the world. The U2 plane was downed, the Nandadevi incident occurred, America invested heavily in Pakistan, the specter of a nuclear holocaust loomed on the horizon, the Bay of Pigs happened, Mao went ballistic, and China invaded the Indian borders in 1962, following a Sino Soviet split. Khrushchev steered the USSR in those days and fortunately proved to be more moderate, for which he eventually paid a price and got ousted.

I thought this might be interesting to readers, many of whom would not have heard about the song of the Indian trader and how it impacted the minds of the high and mighty in distant Russia, just like Raj Kapoor and the songs of Mukesh did, during that period. Even in Turkey, where I lived during the late 90’s, the average Turk could hum a couple of lines of the song Awara Hoon, a song from Hindistan. Similarly, ‘The Song from India’ had in 1946, inspired Naushad in creating his masterpiece Awaz De Kahan He in Anmol Ghadi, a tune which he claimed entered his thoughts through a dream, and which remains in many Indian minds, even today.

The state visits of Nehru and the return visit by the Russians are barely known to the youth of today, and they may not care, anyway, but then again, history was never taught rightfully in our schools, it was simply imposed, and everybody dreaded those lessons. I hope it is a little bit more interesting to students these days, for any event can be an interesting story replete with anecdotes and asides if some effort is taken. These are all incidents that created a nation, and her worldly relations. Nevertheless, history is also being manipulated these days and is even being re-written sometimes, to suit political views.

I deliberately did not get into the political sides and impacts of the visit, for it would be dreadfully boring for a casual reader. Not everybody looked forward to the arrival of these guests and its potential implications, fearing an Indian tilt left, which never happened. Khrushchev stated – Nehru was not a Communist, but is a bourgeois political figure and a democrat, who had his own political views. We understood that although he was not a Marxist, or a supporter of the Soviet type of governmental system, he did want to do good for his people, and he wanted life in India to be organized on a democratic basis. He still talked about socialism then, although rather vaguely, and it was hard for us to understand what kind of socialism he had in mind in general. After all, the term "socialism" has been dragged around a lot and is somewhat the worse for wear.

Getting back to where we started, ‘The Song from India’ became immensely popular in the Western world after Sarah Brightman sang it in the album Dream Chaser, Tom Dorsey made an instrumental version, and Mario Lanza did a tenor. Eventually, it ended up as one of the melodies used for the number ‘Beautiful Ohio’, which went on to become the official song of the U.S. State of Ohio. Beautiful Ohio was written by Ballard MacDonald in 1918. In 1969, the Ohio General Assembly made the song the state’s official song. In 1989, a bill was passed to adopt a new set of words written by Wilbert McBride. McBride’s version provides a more accurate portrayal of Ohio by including things such as the state’s cities and factories.

So much for the song and its popularity, needless to mention it made quite an impression on Khrushchev.

Finally, most of you may not know, that this plant, Dracaena Reflexa Variegata, (we had one at home for years and did not know!), one that many of you would be familiar with, is also called ‘The Song of India’! I have no idea why it is so…

References
Rimsky-Korsakov and His World - edited by Marina Frolova-Walker
Khrushchev remembers - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev
Propaganda aspects of the Bulganin -Khrushchev visit to India in late 1955 - Harry B . Irvine
The flying Troika – K P S Menon

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George & Lachlan

Cochin to Calicut – Australia and Britain, their journey

There are so many people of Indian origin living in Australia, these days. Many of them as well as tourists view Sydney with wonder, but few would know the connections between the Australian ‘Father of the Nation’ Lachlan Macquarie, Sydney, and Malabar. Nor would they know that his lifelong servant and man Friday, George Jarvis was a slave boy purchased from a Cochin slave market. In 12 years, Lachlan changed the face of a penal convict nation and laid the foundations for Sydney to become a great metropolis. I had introduced Lachlan and George a few years earlier, and outlined their times at Calicut, but as promised, here is a follow-up version with some more details.

Let us first speed through the bio of Lachlan Macquarie – he was primarily a career soldier, a British Army officer, and finally, a colonial administrator hailing from Scotland. After service in India and Egypt, Macquarie served as the fifth Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821 and is considered by historians to have a major role in the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement and shaping Australia’s social history.

His early years were spent in Scotland and America, and it was in 1788 that he obtained a commission in the 77th foot. We read about Lachlan’s days in the previous article, and we saw that he was itching to get some action and trying to skip out of a boring Bombay. When Tipu Sultan decided to attack Travancore, the 77th regiment of foot, where he served as a Lieutenant was deputed to fight the Mysore sultan. Later, teaming up with the Madras troops of Cornwallis, they reached Mysore in Feb 1792, where after a quick battle, Tipu surrendered and the British became the masters of Malabar had to be ceded to the EIC, by Tipu.

 

Back in Bombay, a sick Lachlan was nursed back to health, and in Nov 1792, met a 20-year-old heiress Jane Jarvis, whose father, the Chief Justice at Antigua had made his fortunes in the West Indies. Lachlan got hitched to Jane after signing a prenuptial agreement forfeiting any of Jane’s wealth and committing £1000 of his savings to Jane’s trust fund. The days that followed were not profitable financially, and to avoid bankruptcy, he had to retire and move south. Lachlan sailed to Calicut with Jane, in Dec 1794 (I had covered his life in Calicut in that previous article, so a perusal through this link will take you to the details) as a lieutenant in Colonel James Marsh’s unit, and we note that to ease life at the Staffa Lodge, he planned to acquire a couple of slave boys for his wife, Jane.

But before we get into that, let’s check out the bustling slave markets in Cochin. Tenured slaves from the lowest of castes were part of Indian society for ages, however, they were not sold (they were passed along with property or inherited) or moved across borders. The export of slaves as a commodity started with the Portuguese settlers and became a lucrative trade during the Dutch presence in South India. While slaves of all ages were supplied to the buyers by locals, several slave markets existed in different parts of Kerala. In these markets, slaves were sold off to meet the demands of Arab, French, and Dutch buyers. They were then moved to distant locales and plantations, all over the world. Kappiri (Black – African Siddi) slaves were also brought and sold in this market (we can see examples of purchases by Sakthan Thamburan) while local slaves were often acquired by English, Dutch, and Portuguese patrons for their households and estates.

Thus, it was in 1795, that Lachlan Macquarie asked his colleague Lt Gray, then pursuing some deserters at Cochin to head to the slave market and buy a couple of boys for Jane. On Jan 24^th, 1795, he records - Lieut. Gray returned from Cochin, and brought me two very fine, well looking healthy black boys; both seemingly of the same age, and I should suppose from their size and appearance that they must be between six and seven years old.  The stoutest of them Mrs. Macquarie has called Hector after my brother, and the smallest I have called George after her brother. Lieut. Gray has executed his commission much to our satisfaction, for which I conceive myself much obliged to him.  The two slave boys cost One Hundred and Seventy Rupees. We had the boys immediately well washed, their hair cut and combed, and well clothed.

Because slaves usually took the surnames of their owners, the boys were called Hector Jarvis and George Jarvis, respectively. It is mentioned here and there that George was a Topass (Portuguese Indian or Mestico offspring- their habit of wearing hats earned them the name Topass, others say Dubhash (translator) was corrupted to Topass), though he may not have been one. More details of George’s parents are not known. However, Lachlan’s biographer Ritchie terms him as a black Hindu servant– incidentally Lachlan also had other servants at various stages - Abdullah at Bombay, the other long-serving English servant named William Stewart, and Francis Bender.

Lachlan was later deputed to Cochin with the 77^th to fight the Dutch and take Cochin, after which he and his wife bid goodbye to Malabar and moved to Bombay. The next year, Lachlan was sent to Ceylon for a re-engagement with the Dutch, but Jane suffering from TB passed away soon after and Lachlan slipped into a dark period, beset with depression. The Staffa lodge was sold, all of Jane’s stuff was disposed of and Lachlan found himself left with a legacy of £6,000. Hector and George were put into a Parish school in Bombay. It was in 1796, after Jane’s death that Lachlan decided to emancipate the slave boys, well before the British Empire’s official abolition of slavery in 1833 (although he did help his late wife’s cousin in buying a couple of twelve-year-old slave girls from Cochin in 1802!).

Lachlan again found his way back to Malabar joining in the British fight against the Pazhassi Raja of Kottayam. That done, he moved on to fight Tipu in the final battle at Srirangapatanam and obtained a share of the loot as prize money. Hector the older slave boy, was kidnapped during this war, in 1799 and was never to be heard from, again. George however, remained with the family and accompanied Macquarie as an officer's servant during his military campaigns, and continued life.

By 1800, we see the soldier working as the secretary to Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay. Arthur Wellesley who passes by, does not take a liking to Lachlan and sends him off to go to Egypt to fight Napolean’s forces, as Dy Adjutant General. In the meantime, Lachlan stakes all his savings, some £15,000 to hold on to his uncle’s land. The Egyptian campaign was, however, quite profitable, and raising such a sum presented no difficulty.

After the Egyptian campaign in 1801, Macquarie sent George with his brother Charles, to be taken to Lochbuie House and placed in school in Scotland. Macquarie wrote -I have sent home in charge of my brother, my favorite slave boy named George Jarvis with the intention that he should put him to school and get him otherwise qualified for making him a good servant when I return home myself, this poor boy expressed at first great sorrow at parting with me, at length cheerfully undertook to accompany my brother to Europe.

Back in England, he meets and gets to know his cousin Elizabeth, and in Elizabeth Campbell’s diary, we see a mention that the usually quiet George, became very excited seeing Lachlan Macquarie after the Egyptian adventures, demonstrating their closeness. George continued in Macquarie's service as his valet. Lachlan spent a few years in high society in London, seemingly got into trouble (he did participate in or even organize many a swindle during his life) with the Duke of York, and is ordered back to India.

In 1805, he is seen back in India with George, fighting the Holkar’s with the 83^rd, and two years later, in 1807, he happily bids goodbye to India for the last time, which he considered a land of death (due to Jane’s demise there). From India, Lachlan journeys through Persia and Russia, and 'George' follows him, with the valet’s role of guarding Macquarie's possessions and attending to his personal needs. Later, during the voyage across the Caspian Sea, he would also become the unofficial cook for the travelers. At the time of the 1807 overland journey 'George' was approximately eighteen (18) years of age. Upon getting back to England, Lachlan gets married to Elizabeth Campbell.

After another two years, in1809, he was appointed as governor (curiously recommended by two people who posed trouble for him earlier – the Duke of York and Arthur Wellesley!! Maybe they were acting in unison to exile him?) of New South Wales where trouble was brewing. Interestingly, Macquarie was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, but when Brigadier-General Miles Nightingall deferred from taking the position of Governor, the British Government decided to appoint Lachlan Macquarie, instead. This was where he made his name, finally, and today many consider him the founder of modern Australia.

Thus, we move on to Australia where the story continues. Lt Cook discovered Australia in 1770 and Joseph Banks, a botanist who accompanied him suggested Botany Bay as the ideal place to land convicts. The British wanted to beat the French in colonizing Australia because it was rich in timber and flax, amongst other strategic objectives, such as colonial trade or the establishment of a naval base. NSW became the port of choice in 1788 when several thousand British prisoners (and possibly some from Calicut and Wynad) were sent there, an outcome of Britain’s experimentations with penal settlements, transporting prisoners far away from their natural homes. The first penal settlement, comprising about 850 convicts and their guards and officers, led by Governor Arthur Phillip, destined for Botany Bay, settled down at Sydney instead. As many as 80,000 convicts were moved to NSW between 1788 and 1840.

After many difficult years, William Bligh became the fourth governor of New South Wales in 1806. NSW, a European colony with less than 7,000 people, struggled to survive, with food shortages, very little infrastructure, and limited trade. As London did not provide the colony with enough currency, barter was resorted to, in addition to promissory notes (IOUs) and coins from around the world. It was at this stage that a new commodity took over as the currency of the penal colony, that being alcohol – colloquially titled rum, comprising all types of strong spirits, belonging to the cheap end. Rum imported from India thus became the de facto currency – a commodity whose importation and distribution had been monopolized by the New South Wales Corps since the departure of Governor Phillip in 1792. We get to understand that while Philips ensured that food was available for two years, the corps stockpiled rum for four. After his departure, the NSW Corps later dubbed as the Rum Corps, took over the day-to-day running of the colony. Succeeding governors could not wrest away the control of Rum from the corps.

Soon, it was clear that there were mainly two classes of people in the colony, the rum sellers and the drinkers. Newspaper headlines started flashing in British newspapers, such as ‘Bengal Rum for Coal’, ‘Four gallons would buy a wife’, and so on. While there are plenty of books dealing with the subject, they all mention the spirit with a family name – Bengal Rum.  Let’s take a look at how this potent beverage changed the course of Australia’s future, and went on to start what is known as the Rum Rebellion, which hastened the arrival of Lachlan Macquarie and his 73^rd regiment, to the island.

Due to the shorter transportation distance and cheaper cost of production, as well as a not-so-discerning consumer, the powerful EIC traders in Calcutta supplied the colony with spirits either produced in Bengal or rebottled in Bengal from bulk imports (typically from Jamaica). Rum produced at the Mirzapur and Shahjahanpur distilleries as well as rebottled varieties, coupled with several other spirits were loosely termed ‘Bengal Rum’. Neither were all of them rum, nor were they of great quality, and some were over potent (though terrible tasting), and thus even more popular with the addicts.

The powerful Rum Corps officers garnered land holdings and monopolized much of the trade, especially those concerning alcohol imports. They doled out just enough liquor in the market to ensure that the price was high, but enough to keep them addicted. It was in this Australia that William Bligh arrived in 1806. Though talented, he was a disciplinarian and one responsible for the mutiny on his ship the HMS Bounty in 1789. There are two sides to the story, the more accepted side tells us that he attempted to break the Rum Corps monopoly and their discrimination of the poorer farming community. Tensions grew between the administration and the military and finally, on Jan 26^th, 1808, the troops led by one Gen Johnston staged a coup, arrested Bligh, and took over the administration of the colony. This therefore was Australia's only military coup, the “Rum Rebellion’. The NSW Corps remained in control until the British government sent a new Governor with his regiment, to disband the NSW Corps.

In January 1810, Britain’s Colonial Office recalled the NSW Rum Corps back to London and replaced it with Lachlan’s 73^rd regiment. Major-General Lachlan Macquarie became the new Governor, and he rapidly ensured that the old regime and monopoly were dismantled and started the process of bringing things back to an even keel. But the addiction had taken hold and rum continued to flow to the colony, and over the next two decades, the amount of rum drank per person more than doubled. Nevertheless, things started to change when the 1840’s depression set in and convict transportation slowed to a trickle.

Macquarie was instrumental in the development of modern Sydney, he professionally structured the city and promoted the construction of public buildings and other infrastructure. Still, the hold of rum in those early years was tight, so much so that when Lachlan wanted to build a large public hospital, he had to allow the three promoting entrepreneurs a monopoly on the trade of rum for three years. It was a very badly built hospital, missing even toilets and whatnot - an entire story to itself. Macquarie is also credited with producing an official currency for circulation in Australia and being instrumental in reforming many of the convicts who had professional backgrounds, so also the farming community. That said, there are also some black marks to his name, such as his treatment of the Aborigines of Australia.

Lachlan and Elizabeth settled down to a new Aussie routine, and in 1814, Lachlan Jr was born to them, after 7 miscarriages. George, his servant remained a member of Governor’s staff and accompanied Lachlan on his tours of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. We can see examples from Lachlan’s diary.

Macquarie wrote -Monday 16 Oct. 1820 -- I set out this morning at half past six o'clock from Parramatta in my carriage with my old faithful valet George Jarvis. Thursday 26 Oct: -- We all rode into camp together and arrived there at 1 pm, George having wine, biscuit and oranges prepared for the travelers - But when he went to Newcastle and Port Macquarie he wrote – Thursday 1 Nov 1821 -- my old faithful valet George was too unwell to accompany me on this voyage.

George Jarvis met and fell in love with Mary Jelly, the chambermaid in the mansion. She had been transported there like many others, convicted in Leicester for stealing her master's wine. Her responsibilities included getting the fires going, heating the bath water, emptying chamber pots, making the beds, and so on. On 22 March 1820, Mary and George, aged 32 got married.

Lachlan wrote - 22.3.1820. This morning my old faithful Domestic (now in my service 25 years) George Jarvis was married by the Reverend Mr. Cowper in St. Phillips Church to Mary Jelly (sic) recently arrived in the Colony, prisoner, and now Chambermaid at Government House. In December, George and Mary became parents to little Jane, but she passed away a few days later.

Lachlan’s actions in converting Australia to a normal settlement as against the penal colony it was, was not quite appreciated by the bigwigs back in the Blighty or the ‘exclusives’ group in NSW. Lachlan was charged with misconduct by Judge Biggie and eventually, his resignation was accepted in 1820. The Macquarie family decided to sail back to England, 12 years after changing the character of Sydney. Though the British decried his actions then, he is now regarded as an enlightened and progressive governor who created Australia the country, from what it was, just a prison camp.

The Macquaires left Australia in Feb 1822, and Mary Jarvis delivered Elizabeth on the return voyage, in May.  On their return, the Macquarie household was re-established on the Isle of Mull, and named Jarvisfield. In 1822-23, worried about Elizabeth's fragile health, Lachlan went on a European tour with his wife and son, as well as two servants, George Jarvis and Francis Bender, and a tutor, Robert Meiklejohn, covering France, Italy, and Switzerland.

Lachlan Macquarie continued to suffer from health issues and fell grievously ill in the summer of 1824 when he and George went to London on business, to try to obtain his pension issues sorted out. As his illness turned out to be serious, Elizabeth hurried from Mull to London to be with him, but Lachlan Macquarie died on July 1, 1824. It is stated that the ever-faithful George accompanied the coffin back to The Isle of Mull by ship. Macquarie willed George with an annuity of 25 pounds "during his natural life", allowed him to live on one of his farms, and made provision for George to be fed, clothed, and lodged at the expense of Macquarie's heirs and successors.

George had thus remained Macquarie's devoted servant for three decades and accompanied him not only throughout India (1794-1806), but also to Egypt (1801), Iraq, Persia, Russia, Denmark (1807), Australia (1809-1822), Britain and Europe (1822-1824). It seems the master and servant were inseparable, for George died 6 months later in January 1825 aged about 35. Mary Jarvis continued to live on Mull for the rest of her life, serving as Elizabeth Macquarie's maidservant.  Elizabeth Macquarie passed on March 11, 1835, leaving a trust for George’s daughter, Elizabeth. The interest from the trust would pay an annuity of 24 pounds for Elizabeth Jarvis. Elizabeth Jarvis married John Dewar in 1845 and after begetting two children, George, and William, passed away in 1892.

Gretta’s fictional novel based on actual history titled Jarvisfield provides us a view of high society life of those days and we get to see George Jarvis in flesh and blood (it dates him past 1826, though he passed away in 1825). He comes across as well-dressed (Muslim at heart in the novel), articulate, and courteous, we see him get discriminated by the pompous gentry, we see his genuine affection for young Lachlan Jr, and we get to hear of his death on a cold and icy night when he and his horse Brodie slip off the face of a cliff and fall to their death. We also get to hear (I am not sure if it is true, perhaps not) that George’s mother was a young girl in Morocco who had been imported as a slave to the Cochin markets and sold to an Indian Prince. Their child is kidnapped and sold off (rescued from a cruel Dutch slave owner, who was whipping him) to Lachlan and is our George Jarvis. These aspects do not substantially alter the core of the tale, the 30-year relationship between a master and his servant, or slave as others prefer to call him, and the association through the many thousands of miles they traveled, and the many seas they sailed through, in tandem.

Sadly, we still know little of George’s early days and parentage. Sometimes I wonder, did George ever remember the country of his birth and his native language, Malayalam? George Jarvis though forgotten for centuries is now a subject of Aussie radio shows as well as books. However, nothing more than what you read is as yet available, I am not surprised, for, after all, he was just a servant. I am sure the descendants of the Jarvis Dewar family are still around in England somewhere. Perhaps we will hear and read more about ‘George Jarvis the slave from Malabar’, someday!

References

The Lachlan & Elizabeth Macquarie Archive - Journals
An Englishman at Calicut – Maddy’s Ramblings
Lachlan Macquarie: A Biography – John Ritchie
George Jarvis, Macquarie’s faithful valet - Beverley Earnshaw
Finding ‘George Jarvis’ at the Parramatta Lecture Series -Robin Walsh and Roanna Gonsalves
Jarvisfield - Gretta Curran Browne

Robin Walsh’s talk on SBS Hindi

 

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The Liberation of Goa

Menon, Nehru, Portugal, and the USA

This is a hotly debated topic and as always, there are many sides to it, with the pro-Portuguese lobby, mainly the descendants of the Portuguese, against the liberation and the pro-Indian lobby which strongly supporting its accession. Then there is the argument on why it took so many years to throw out the Portuguese. On top of all that, many have used the topic to take potshots at somebody they don’t like, and this would either be VK Krishna Menon or Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a subject covered in a few books and many newspaper articles. But as none of them are quite complete or fully accurate, I thought it best to open the room and bring in some fresh air, especially around the geopolitical developments and the final decision-making, plus the precipitation with action.

Historically Goa was a fishing port that was forcefully taken by the Portuguese admiral Albuquerque, over 400 years ago, who dreamed of establishing an empire in India, but governed from Lisbon. In Nov 1510, Albuquerque captured Goa, after which the fierce soldier settled down to don the robes of a statesman. Thus, Goa became a Portuguese stronghold and later, a colony, with a sizable Luso-Indian mestiço population. Most of the local populace was pushed out and spoken Konkani was banned.

As the British EIC and later the crown took over the reins of the country, isolated pockets of major foreign domination remained at Pondicherry, Mahe (French), Goa, Daman & Diu (Portuguese). After India gained independence in 1947, the de facto transfer of the French Indian territories to India took place in 1954 with Pondicherry becoming a union territory (transfer treaty signed in 1956 and finally ratified by France in 1962). Portugal on the other hand, refused to negotiate on the sovereignty of its Indian enclaves. Let’s now take up the story of Goa, from this point.

The Western world was by now in the grip of the ‘Cold War’. In Portugal, the strongman dictator António de Oliveira Salazar dug in his heels and redefined the colony of Goa in 1951 as a Portuguese overseas province so that it could come under the NATO umbrella and be legally construed as part of Portugal. As Portugal had become a NATO member, they assumed that they would have NATO support in the case of Goa. Nehru was aware of this complication and did not want the situation to become a global hot point. On 11 June 1953, the Indian delegation in Lisbon was closed, and diplomatic ties were formally severed. Mass rallies addressed by Nehru put a spotlight on the Goa issue. Nehru however, reiterated that no coercion would be used to join India.

From then onwards, the discussions meandered on, and the Portuguese refused to move out of Goa and vacillated. Various nonviolent means were launched, led by the Goa Vimochan Sahayak Samiti during 1954-55. Nehru’s government, fearing a backlash on innocent and unarmed satyagrahis, banned Indians from entering Goa. The resulting deportations to Portugal and several violent incidents did not provoke Nehru since he believed that non-violence would solve this issue. The Portuguese then sealed the borders and cut off the rail links. In response, the Nehru government imposed an economic blockade. Nehru argued that the Goans were Indians by every standard and that Goa was a colony ruthlessly administered by a racist and fascist colonial regime, "just a pimple on the face of India".

In October 1961, the seminar of the Portuguese Colonial Possessions in New Delhi resulted in the African leaders requesting Nehru “to show the way”, so that their freedom could follow. At the Chowpatty rally in Bombay in the same month, Nehru spoke for the first time about the need to use “other methods” to solve the problem.

Patel and Goa

Let us check how Sardar Patel viewed the situation. Though many feel that Patel may have acted forcefully if he were in charge, he was not quite bothered but had aired some strong views on the matter. In a meeting involving the approval of the Navy’s 10-year plan, Patel had asked Vice Admiral Krishnan (then the Captain of INS Shivaji) if the Indian Navy could push out the Portuguese. Krishnan replied in the affirmative and stated so in his reminiscences. 

KPS Menon recounts a cabinet meeting in an Akashvani article, involving Patel – Britain has left India, and France is on the point of leaving its Indian settlements. Portugal, however, is determined to hang on to its settlements, Goa, Daman, and Diu. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Cabinet meets in order to discuss what measures should be taken to compel Portugal to relinquish its hold on Goa etc. Apart from myself as Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Commerce Secretary are also present. We make certain proposals for bringing pressure to bear on the Portuguese administration in Goa, such as a curb on remittances from Goa to India, restriction on the employment of Goans in India, etc. Nehru is inclined to approve these proposals. Rajaji takes an astonishing line. He asserts that the Goans after all are our brothers, that nothing should be done to harass them and they should be won over by love. The discussion goes on and on. Sardar Patel seems hardly interested; he seems almost asleep. Suddenly he wakes up and says: “Shall we go in? It is two hours work”. Nehru is shocked at the suggestion. How can we use force in Goa, he asks - we who have been condemning the use of force and insisting that all international issues should be settled through peaceful means? Sardar Patel does not press his point, and Goa remains a Portuguese settlement for another two decades. Eventually, repression in Goa passes all endurable limits, India's patience is exhausted, and by the merest show of force, Goa is integrated into India. Sardar Patel gives way over Nepal and Goa because they pertain to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of which Nehru is in charge. In matters connected with his own portfolio, he is adamant.

I feel that Patel would have abstained since the Portuguese were founding members of NATO in 1950. India-USSR rapprochement had started only after 1955 with Krushchev’s accession.  Indian positioning between Russia and America was a careful balancing act and as a Non-aligned country, much care had to be taken to not tilt it either way. How complicated the game was will become clear in the following paragraphs, though when viewed today, it tends to get oversimplified.

NATO, USA, Portugal, and Goa

While India was concerned about Goa, America was carefully nurturing its relations with Portugal due to its need for military bases in the Azores, a Portuguese-administered archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, much needed to track and hunt German U Boats. The earlier pact between them which had been renewed in 1951 would now expire in 1956. The Azores was now needed as the location to install an early warning system in the event an atomic war erupted, and it was of even bigger strategic importance.

America had refused to make any public statement condemning the action of the Indians in preventing passage during the episode Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1954. US-Portugal relations cooled due to this US reluctance to take Portugal’s side on Goa.

The Portuguese government suspended negotiations for the renewal of the Azores base until the Eisenhower administration approved the so-called Dulles - Cunha memorandum, prepared in 1955 after the visit by Paulo Cunha to the United States. A joint statement referring explicitly to the existence of ‘Portuguese provinces’ - instead of colonies was released. The subtle distinction was crucial for the Portuguese, who claimed they did not have an empire or any colonies in Africa or Asia, but instead possessed ‘overseas provinces’ with the same constitutional status as ‘continental provinces’. Dulles stated that Goa was always considered a ‘Portuguese Province’ and belonged to Portugal for more than four hundred years. Later, when Dulles was asked if his declarations were a sign of ‘support of the United States to the position of Portugal in the controversy about Goa, he declared only that the United States was interested in seeing the problem solved by ‘peaceful means’.

I must add also that there were rumors (ominous whispers) of a NATO base being planned at Goa, and Nehru addressed this in a Rajya Sabha speech in 1957.  According to the Economic Weekly report, Sept 21, 1957 - Pandit Nehru issued a clear warning that any attempt to form a base in Goa "would be an unfriendly act to India, and every country that helps or supports that move will thereby be committing this unfriendly act against India, and India will not tolerate it, whatever be the consequences". He added that Portugal and her NATO allies can no longer be in any doubt about India's firm policy to Goa. India has tried all possible means, short of war, to settle the problem of Goa.

When JFK became the US president in 1960, the equations changed, for he supported an anticolonial policy. Portugal then led by the 71-year-old dictator; Oliveira Salazar was worried. During the 1961 Angola matter, America formally took a position that it would not support Portugal’s colonial policies. This was one of the reasons why a decision was taken by Nehru in 1961 to act, and why nothing had been done until then. As is obvious, these Cold War equations and behind-the-scenes parleys are not obvious to the lay reader. Now there is also the aspect of non-alignment and Nehru’s image getting slighted, left to be discussed, and I will get to it shortly.

India finally decided to force the issue, in 1961, just as the window opened slightly. But the situation changed again in 1962, as the Azores became even more important due to the nuclear crisis, and the US delegation started to abstain from such UN resolutions. An excellent article by Luís Nuno Rodrigues explains all these succinctly.

Pakistani and NATO Intrigues

Nevertheless, other events troubled the Indian decision-makers. As matters were heating up and Nehru was discussing the situation with Kennedy, Salazar started discussions with Pakistan. While NATO powers did not get involved, and Britain who had a direct pact with Portugal vacillated, there were some intriguing incidents mentioned in the accounts of the military officers – namely those at the helm of affairs, BM Kaul, and DK Palit.

Kaul mentions how a Canberra flying to Cochin from Bombay was buzzed by a supersonic fighter, though he does not mention whose plane it could be. He writes - Air Marshal Engineer, the Air Chief, reported that when one of our Canberra’s, flying at a speed at about 600 miles per hour, was carrying out a certain mission, on our side of the border, its pilot saw on his radar screen, that he was being chased by a supersonic jet, flying at about twice the speed of our Canberra, from which he broke contact at once and returned to base. This account baffled us all. Whose plane could it be, with a mach-2 speed (about 1,500 miles per hour)? Did the Portuguese keep such planes in Dabolim/Goa? Or were they being assisted in the air by one of their allies? If so, who was this ally? These questions, however, remained unanswered.

We also received reliable information that Pakistan proposed exploiting this situation. They concentrated their forces threateningly along our Punjab borders. They were holding a big exercise which was significantly prolonged to coincide with this period. Families of their officers and other ranks were evacuated from certain areas. Leave to their service personnel was canceled. These reports convinced us of a collusion between Portugal and Pakistan against us. Menon informed Nehru of all these developments. It was the desire of both Nehru and Menon to solve the problem of Goa peacefully. But the Portuguese were forcing their hands.

DK Palit adds - Late that afternoon (29^th Nov 1961), while the CGS and I were discussing the results of the visit to Nehru, Air Chief Aspy Engineer telephoned to say that he had some startling information he would like to discuss with the CGS. That morning one of our Canberra bombers on a photo-reconnaissance mission over Goa had been tailed by two unknown fighters even before it had crossed the Goa border. Warning of the presence of the fighters was received, that evasive action had failed to shake them off, and as the Canberra began its photo run, the fighters began to close in. When they had approached to within 1,500 metres the Canberra broke away and escaped, but not before its radar had indicated a burst of fire from one of the fighters. Engineer said that in his opinion, based on the rate of close-in, the fighters were probably F-86 Sabre jets, and so could have been from either the Portuguese or the Pakistani air force. The results of the photo-recce mission indicated that Dabolim, Goa's only airfield, had recently built two hangars that could possibly have sheltered fighter aircraft; it was, however, later ascertained that the Portuguese had at no time stationed fighter aircraft at Dabolim. The mystery was never solved, but in all likelihood, fighters from Pakistan had temporarily operated from Dabolim. The plan to go back and try to lure the fighters out was nixed by Menon and deferred to a later date.

Then there was the case of the mystery submarine and Palit explains - An interesting item of information given us was that on 7^th December our anti-submarine frigate had reported positive identification of a submarine off Goa and had fired a depth charge at the target. Years later I learned that when some of our naval ships made a courtesy call at Singapore sometime in 1963-4, they picked up dock gossip that a damaged British submarine had limped into port at Christmastime for repairs, to what appeared to be bomb damage.

Operation Vijay

Menon, the defense minister, authorized the movement of troops (with air and naval support) to the Goa border and soon the world was aware that India was going to force the issue. By Dec 13^th the troops were in position and plans were finalized. Before long, each of these plans was leaked (either through Goan officers serving in the army or staff at Delhi HQ) and the US asked Nehru not to attack. Hostilities at Goa began at 09:45 on 17 December 1961, and on the morning of 18 December, the 50th Para Brigade of the Indian Army moved into Goa with three columns.

On 18 December, a Portuguese request was made to the UN Security Council for a debate on the conflict in Goa. The request was approved when seven members supported the request (the US, UK, France, Turkey, Chile, Ecuador, and Taiwan), two opposed (the Soviet Union and Ceylon), and two abstained (the United Arab Republic and Liberia). In the ensuing debate, the US delegate, Adlai Stevenson, strongly criticized India's use of force to resolve her dispute with Portugal, stressing that such a resort to violent means was against the charter of the UN.

Interestingly, Salazar had asked Vassallo Silva to hold on for 8 days, as he wanted to send Portuguese naval support to Goa. But as it turned out, Egyptian President Nasser refused passage for the Portuguese ship carrying men and ammunition to Goa, because the war in Goa was a liberation from foreign rule.

By the evening of 18 December, most of Goa had been overrun by advancing Indian forces. Orders delivered by the Portuguese President demanded a scorched earth policy—that Goa was to be destroyed before it was given up to the Indians. Despite his orders from Lisbon, Governor General Manuel António Vassallo e Silva took stock of the numerical superiority of the Indian troops, as well as the food and ammunition supply available to his forces, and decided to surrender.

The official Portuguese surrender was conducted in a formal ceremony held at 20:30 hours on 19 December when Governor General Manuel António Vassallo e Silva signed the instrument of surrender formally ending 451 years of Portuguese Rule in Goa. As expected, the Portuguese government severed all diplomatic links with India and refused to recognize the incorporation of the seized territories into the Indian Republic.

Relations between India and Portugal thawed only in 1974, when, following an anti-colonial military coup d'état and the fall of the authoritarian rule in Lisbon, Goa was finally recognized as part of India, and steps were taken to re-establish diplomatic relations with India. On 31 December 1974, a treaty was signed between India and Portugal with the Portuguese recognizing full sovereignty of India over Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli.

The decision-making process.

Now let us focus on the actual decision to attack. Who was involved and when/how was it taken?

On 24 November 1961, Sabarmati, a passenger boat passing between the Indian port of Kochi and the Portuguese-held island of Anjidiv, was fired upon by Portuguese ground troops, resulting in the death of a passenger and injuries to the chief engineer. Menon explains to Brecher in an interview - When the ship passed through these waters and was attacked, the Prime Minister told me once, ‘I am sure that the time has come; we have to stop this’. He said, ‘We should push them off these islands; the Navy and others should do this.’ …. We knew Pakistan was negotiating with them. Panditji was quite clear that the Portuguese must go. He would not put up with them shooting at our ships. But he was undecided about what steps to take. We fixed a date [to march into Goa], and the Americans got hold of the news; I believe they passed it on to the Portuguese, their NATO ally....Then the Americans put pressure on us to cancel or postpone our plans. My Prime Minister said, ‘Yes, we will postpone it.’ He did so to give the Americans an opportunity to advise the Portuguese. We postponed it for a few days. We fixed another date: I am afraid I did not tell even the P.M. this time because I feared he would think it his duty to tell others...

An interesting aspect to keep in mind is that on the night before the attack, BM Kaul had invited American Ambassador Galbraith and the British HC Gore-Booth, for a dinner. He did not cancel it but left Delhi, raising much suspicion and a mad dash by Galbraith, who sensed something was afoot, to confront Nehru.

On D-Day, Galbraith tried to put pressure on Nehru, to accept the US proposal that India do nothing for six months and the U.S.A. would see what they could do about it. Nehru told him something to the effect that India might perhaps consider it. Menon adds - When he told me this, I said, ‘I am very sorry: the troops have moved.’ When Brecher asked Menon if it was Nehru’s consent or acquiescence, Menon replied in the negative and added - Nehru wanted something to be done.. Somebody has got to try and draw the other people’s fire. Nehru was most anxious that it should not be interpreted in the world that India was going in like conquering heroes.

Many in the Indian press and America mentioned that Nehru and Menon had decided on the timing to help Menon win the elections in Bombay. Menon retorted to Brecher - That is a canard put out by the United States press, probably inspired. Some of the critics said that Krishna Menon did it to gain votes in Bombay. There is only a handful of Goans in my constituency. There was nothing new in it because it was Government policy, and people around here are sensible enough to know that all this was propaganda against the Government and the country designed by interested parties to shake our firmness in remaining independent.

While it is admirable that Menon admitted to taking a unilateral decision in the 1964/65 Brecher interview, was it entirely, correct? As it turns out he did not know that behind his back, BM Kaul and Nehru had a meeting on the very subject. Kaul and Palit, both mention it in their memoirs and point out other aspects.

Palit mentions - Nehru sent for Kaul on the morning of 5 December to tell him that he wanted D-Day to be put forward to 7 or 8 December in order to forestall any move by the United Nations to prevent the occupation. Kaul firmly resisted this, saying that the date of invasion could be advanced by perhaps one or two days, but not by a week; furthermore, he would have to consult the GOC-in-C Southern Command and the task force commander before he could agree to an earlier date. Nehru withdrew his request and we heard no more about it. The CGS (Kaul) summoned me to his office at 5 p.m. and directed me to bring with me a letter addressed to GOC-in-C Southern Command ready for the Chief's signature, but with the date of D-Day left blank. Thapar was waiting with Biji (Kaul) in the latter's office. With uncharacteristic melodrama, he took the message from me without saying a word and in his own hand inscribed the date: '18^th December'.

On the 15th Nehru sent for Kaul to discuss a possible deferment of the operation. The cabinet had not been consulted; in this instance, even Krishna Menon seems to have been short-circuited by the extraordinary procedure of a PM-CGS consultation on a matter of high diplomatic policy. Kaul told me after returning from the Prime Minister's office that it had taken him a good half-hour to convince Nehru that with troops poised for action 'no other course was open to us now' - unless, of course, Portugal was to undertake to evacuate Goa within an acceptable time limit.

Kaul writes - I, therefore, suggested that we should ignore foreign advice in a matter which we had fully considered and in which we had taken a firm decision. Nehru paced up and down in his room, took a few puffs at his cigarette, and appeared to be undecided. Whilst his people expected him to take stern action in this matter, he was worried that many important countries in the world disapproved of this step. Moreover, he personally disliked using force to solve any problem. He was in a difficult position, as heads of Government usually are, on whom rests the weight of heavy responsibility. After thinking for a while, Nehru reluctantly agreed that we should go ahead with our present orders. He was perhaps finally swayed to take this decision because he realized his people expected him to liberate Goa. He thought that if he failed to act on this occasion, both the people and the armed forces might lose faith in him.

Aftermath

General Vassallo e Silva who surrendered to avert the massacre of the men under his command, and who bravely disobeyed his president's order to burn the palace, went back to Portugal together with many others, via Pakistan. He was stripped of his rank and expelled from the army. However, after Portugal's dictatorship fell in a military coup in 1974, he was reinstated as a General amid tributes to his moral courage in defying Salazar. He passed away in 1985.

The many letters exchanged between Kennedy and Nehru explain the mental agony that Nehru was going through. He must have felt (I don’t know if he heard) terrible when Kennedy remarked to BK Nehru that the Goan affair, after all the preaching of nonviolence and non-alignment, was akin to a pastor/town preacher getting caught in a brothel! And JFK’s question - why India did not act decisively 15 years earlier like any normal country would have done, instead of preaching nonviolence, must have jarred him.

Nehru explained in his letter to JFK - Any action we took, even though otherwise justified, was likely to have consequences in other fields that would be undesirable. It was mainly this consideration which kept us from taking any action during the last many years because we felt even the right action should be avoided if it had any such consequences.

It is all water under the bridge, I suppose, but I thought it a good idea to go over the related events & facts, for those interested in the background.

References

India and world politics: Krishna Menon's view of the world – Michael Brecher

The Untold Story – BM Kaul
War in the High Himalayas, The Indian Army in Crisis 1962 – DK Palit
Ambassador’s journal – DK Palit
Correspondence – JF Kennedy & Jawaharlal Nehru
Goa’s Struggle for Freedom – PP Shirodkar
Salazar: A Political Biography - de Meneses, Filipe
And many more…

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