Capt. Krishnarao N. Panemanglor – An Enigmatic Gentleman in Baroda.

Chapter III - Vidi

 

 

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad had troubled relationships with all his sons.. accounts from various sources indicate that this was owing to (what SRG termed as) extravagant habits due to undue Western influence.

Sayajirao, from his personal rigorous training & study regime, when he was selected as the Gaekwad at a very young age, was certain that discipline and responsibility were the highest ideals which one could aspire. Unfortunately, his sons did not share his zeal and practically all of them fell to wayward weaknesses, especially to drink.  Except for the youngest – Dhairyashilrao – sadly, the others would all die in the prime of their youth.
The eldest – the Crown Prince Yuvrajkumar Fatehsinghrao (issue of Chimnabai I) died at only 25 years of age – just 4 months after his son – Pratapsinghrao was born in 1908. Owing to the Laws of Succession, the infant Pratapsinghrao was appointed the next Yuvrajkumar. Because of this, the 3 sons of Chimnabai II – Jaisinghrao, Shivajirao and Dhairyashilrao had no interest in serving the State – since none of them would inherit the Gaddi. Chimnabai and Sayajirao continued to struggle with the errant and rebellious behaviour of their sons.  They had many disagreements over how best to deal with them;  this was a major factor in their arguments.
Maharajkumar Shivajirao was Chimnabai's favourite and the most athletic of the three boys, but he was a born rebel and was reckless and did pretty much what he pleased. He also had a weakness for drink.

Shivajirao was sent down from Christ Church College and was back in Baroda end 1912; the royal father was not at all pleased. His poor relations with Sayajirao dated back many years.  Shivajirao considered beneath him the State duties he was given, which also disappointed Sayajirao. In Dec 1913, Shivajirao married Kamladevi Bai Gaekwad.
 

 Shivajirao Gaekwar in 1915

 

In early 1915, the story goes that one day, in a fit of fury over some matter,  Shivajirao locked himself in his apartments in the palace, and went on a drinking spree, threatening to kill himself or anyone who tried to break into the rooms, with some firearms that he had in his possession. For 2 or 3 whole days, he stayed locked up, and despite entreaties from the family and palace attendants, refused to open the door – and allegedly the situation got worse over time – till it practically became touch and go.
Then apparently KNP requested HRH SRG to be allowed to speak with the youngster since he had created a close rapport when he was his tutor and later on. It is not known how KNP accomplished it, but after a trying endeavour, KNP succeeded in calming down and convincing the young Prince to open the door and come out. The crisis was averted!
 

For handling the dire situation, Their Highnesses were extremely grateful and indebted to KNP, and thence developed that special bond between SRG and KNP. Later SRG presented KNP with a gorgeous 18K Gold Favre-Leuba Full Hunter Pocket Watch with his heartfelt gratitude, which had an inscription something like follows:

Presented to
Krishnarao N. Panemanglor
For Extraordinary Services Rendered
By H.R.H. SayajiRao Gaekwar
of Baroda
1915

Representative photo of the Gold Hunter presented to KNP
 

This beautiful 18K Gold Hunter was given to my Papa by KNP. Whilst my parents were in Baroda, Papa took me a couple of times to this watch repair shop in Raopura (don't recollect the name), which he said, had existed since his younger days in Baroda, and possibly where KNP used to get his timepieces serviced... During the last visit there, in the 1990s, the watchmaker did something silly and he damaged the bezel glass which cracked. Later, I recall that I even took the watch to the Fevre Leuba Service Center in Fort Bombay, but we just couldn't find a replacement glass. In Pune, this pocket watch was kept in the Godrej Steel Cupboard in our house.

But sadly and unfortunately, we had a burglary in our house in 2009 – when this piece along with a fair amount of gold jewellery & silverware was stolen. Also taken were some really (100-150 years) old coins that my uncle, Dada, had given for my coin collection. We never got to find any of the stolen items and lost these precious heirlooms for good.

I do believe that besides the Gold Hunter, SRG either bestowed or financed KNP in buying his property (cn), where the KNP family would live for the next 35 years. This was a large property – around 4 acres – located close to the iconic Khanderao Market (located around 750m away), but I have no idea whether the fairly large ground + one storey bungalow existed at the time of purchase, or if it was built by KNP. In any case KNP acquired this property in around 1915.

 

 

Khanderao Market.

 

 

 

 

Google Earth picture of the approximate location of KNP's property. Middle of Baroda in the Sultanpura area.

Papa told me that the house was a large ground floor + one storey bungalow, with 4+ bedrooms, with a separate toilet block & cookhouse, as well as servants quarters. There was a tabela where a few cows were kept, as well as stables for horses. And he also told me that a part of the property had been leased to a company running the tram-cars in Baroda.
 

Not many people are aware that there used to be a Tram-car service in Baroda. Initially, horse-drawn Tram-cars started service in 1908. The route of operations was between the Baroda (B.B. & C.I.) Station at the one end, and passing through some parts of the walled city - Panigate, through Raopura and ending at the Goyagate (now Pratapnagar) Station on the (narrow gauge) Baroda Dabhoi Railway line.
 

 

The Baroda Tramway Co., Ltd., was registered on 30th March 1908, by a Khoja family of businessmen from Bombay: Karmally Joosab and his sons, with a paid-up capital of Rs 500,000. The Joosab brothers were essentially Insurance agents for several European Mercantile Insurance companies and also involved in establishing a couple of other companies: All-India United Insurance Co., and The Credit Bank of India, Ltd. More of them later..
They took a loan from the state in 1909-10 for Rs 50,000 @ 4% interest for 5 years, which was later renewed for a further 5 years.
Initially, equipped with horse-drawn tramcars, then in 1914, the company changed over to the Simplex petrol tramcars manufactured by Motor Rail and Tram Car Co., Ltd., London.




The horse-drawn tram-cars near Chimnabai Tower at Raopura circa 1910



 The Baroda Horse-drawn Tramway circa 1912-1913 – Baroda Railway Station to Panigate. Photograph was taken just outside the Laxmi Vilas Palace grounds, where the distinct design of the wrought iron grills & balustrade is clearly visible.
Not to miss the NESTLE'S MILK advertisement board! Nestle first introduced their product [Nestle Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk] in India in 1912, so obviously, the above photograph dates after then. Shortly afterwards, in 1914, The Baroda Tramway Company changed over to gasoline-powered tram cars.


A petrol engine powered tram-car – similar to what operated in Baroda after 1914. However, no photographs seem to exist or are available.


This was a very popular and economical mode of transport for the labourers and working class, but the route was very short & limited, and the company was not professionally managed.  I would go so far to suggest that if the Directors of this company had involved & included the Baroda Local Government in this urban transport enterprise, the Baroda Tramway would not have seen such an ignoble end.
Between the years 1913 and 1917, there was a massive Banking crisis in India where 87 large and small banks failed & liquidated. These included banks such as – Bengal National Bank, Indian Specie Bank, The Credit Bank of India, Bombay Merchant's bank, Standard Bank of Bombay – and others. These were banks that had mushroomed during the business boom in the first decade of the 20th century and had conducted their businesses in violation of even the basic principles of banking. In those days, there was no Central Bank (like RBI), whilst the Presidency Banks (with Govt participation) for Bombay, Madras and Calcutta did not have any control in these Stake-Holder Banks.
 

With the Karmally Joosab (Jusab) family controlling the board of The Credit Bank of India, they got into serious trouble as they had borrowed heavily from the bank, and at time of liquidation, they had to offload quite a number of their assets, as many creditors had filed cases against the bank. Cutting a long story short, The Baroda Tramway Co., Ltd., was sold to another Mohammedan gentleman in 1915.
 

Some time in 1917 or so,  the Tram Company appears to rented a portion of KNP's property for use as the depot and servicing yard for the tram-cars to be parked during the off working hours. The tramway rail tracks lead into the property from a side entrance. They continued to use this space till around 1925-27, when the company finally closed down, mainly owing to the advent of the small motor buses which became a far more popular means of urban transportation.
 

At the start of the Great War, SRG – mainly from his own personal wealth, as well as from the State coffers, contributed very generously towards the British war effort.  Will not go into the breakdown, but this amounted to nearly 4 million Rupees during 1914-19, plus men, horses & materials from the Baroda Forces.
 

During the war years, KNP very often accompanied SRG during his travels in India: Both in the state, or else in summers when SRG would go to some pleasant hill stations: places like Ooty, or in the Nilgiris, or in the north to Kashmir, Simla etc. But these (as well as his foreign tours) were always working holidays for SRG, where he would be corresponding with his Dewan in Baroda about a whole gamut of policies, developments etc, and demand reports from the various officers of the state.
 

A family anecdote that was widely quoted amongst the descendants said that apparently on at least two occasions, KNP – being part of the immediate advance party of the Royal personage – was mistaken for SRG himself and garlanded/feted, much to KNP's embarrassment! I understand that (besides being larger in size than SRG) KNP in his smart achkan, dhoti & safa looked very regal and was often confused for his master! One thing I noted is that whilst SRG maintained a moustache, our hero did the same, and later in the mid 1920s, when SRG shaved off his hirsute lip, so did KNP!

Found an interesting photograph of KNP with SRG and – essentially a Tennis Party! This was on the internet from one of the Royal Baroda Archives. Would be around 1917-18
KNP is standing to the right – with the white arrow pointing out our hero (next to the standing lady wearing the sari)
Interesting to note that even standing lady in the sari is wearing boots, so obviously they were playing mixed doubles (I would think) more than a hundred years ago! SRG is seated next to Chimnabai on the left side.
 The winds for change were already blowing in the Indian sub-continent - mainly in the British ruled states (in the "Native Princely States", this movement was somewhat muted), with many nationalists groups sowing the seeds for demands of independence. The British considered this sedition and addressed the instances with very repressive measures. The Anarchial & Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919 - or the Rowlatt Act, was passed in March 1919 - followed a month later, by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, would cause a drastic change in mindset of the people involved in the freedom struggle - events that would lead Mohan Karamchand Gandhi to popularize the Non-Cooperation Movement. Again, this topic is beyond the scope of this tale..Except for the end of the Great War and a Viceregal visit in 1918, the end of this decade ie 1918-19 did not bode too well for the State; in 1917 there was deficient rainfall, causing a famine with some food shortages, then there had been an outbreak of plague and this was followed by the Great Spanish Influenza epidemic. Some archival reports say over 1.25 lakhs died due to influenza in Baroda State – a figure to be questioned since it was estimated that between 13-17 million Indians may have died in that Epidemic!
 SRG, Maharani & entourage travelled to Europe in Sept 1919, for the first time since the outbreak of the Great War. Their elder surviving son Jaisinghrao was sent ahead: he was seriously ill as his health had badly deteriorated from intemperance. The Royals followed and they too were going for cures of their own health issues. When in England, they heard of the heartbreaking news about their son Shivajirao's death from Influenza (Spanish Flu?) and pneumonia in November 1919.
 Radhabai was expecting their third child and Chandrakant (Bal as he was called by all – and most importantly, my Papa) was born on 10th Oct 1919 – in the midst of the influenza epidemic!
 For KNP, the joy of having a 3rd child was offset with the tragic news of Shivajirao's demise..

And so came to the end of the second decade of the Twentieth Century.

To be continued into the next decade..

The Blogger's note:
I have been persistently poring over numerous internet sites again & repeatedly again (changing key words here & there), to find some nuggets of information or historical facts for this blog, as well as the little cameos that I have interspersed my tale with – such as regarding the tramway system that ran in Baroda for around 17-18 years. And I will readily admit that I have been well rewarded with success in finding quite a few little known facts!
There is so little information regarding the Baroda Tramways – just a couple of mentions, without any photographs, except for the Chimnabai Tower photograph – even there, they have the years wrong. Finding the photos of the horse tram-car, the Share Certificate and other archival materials has been really a gratifying experience!
This, of course, means that other chores or jobs of mine get sidetracked a bit, as does my hobby & passion for cooking and baking of breads; but I do feel that this new experience of fleshing out my grandfather's life story, compensates for other things I might have forfeited!   And so I shall soldier on..