Chapter V - Vixi
Chapter V - Vixi
KNP Circa 1928-29
The Panemanglor family had moved to and settled down in Navsari in 1929 – a completely new environ after living so many years in the big house in Baroda.
KNP had purchased a Chrysler Convertible since he had to leave his horse carriage behind in Baroda. Anand (then 18), would have stayed back in Baroda to attend higher secondary at Baroda High School. Kamala (15 years) and Bal (10 years) were enrolled at the Anglo-Vernac School (cn) at Navsari.
Papa (ie Bal) told me that whilst he was studying in Navsari, one of his subjects was Persian. I am not certain if he meant Farsi (using the Perso-Arabic script) or Pahalvi-Avestan – the original language of Zoroastrians. Since Navsari was a very important Parsi stronghold, it’s possible that it was Pahalvi-Avestan that he was being taught there.
Kamala was reaching marriageable age, and suitable matches would have been made through matchmaking cousins, aunts & relations, after consulting of gotras, horoscopes, checking family suitability etc. Once shortlisted, the settlement terms regarding dowry, jewellery, clothing etc would also be negotiated. The marriageable age for girls had been steadily moving upwards – from around 10 years of age in the 1890s to around 16-18 years in 1930s. At the same time, a suitable girl was also being sought for Anand, who would be 20 in 1931.
Meanwhile on the national front (a brief recap):
These were turbulent times in India; the demand for Home Rule had escalated during the 1920s and there were widespread incidents of violence, not just against the Raj, but also communal clashes had erupted between Hindus and Muslims. The Simon Commission set-up to review the impact of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (for provisional autonomy) was essentially a failure. Although initially supported by the Indian Nationalists, it was later rejected as no Indian members were included in the Commission.
The Great Depression also had an important impact on India’s freedom struggle. During the global crisis where world trade had reduced considerably and prices of products had plummeted, the resultant drastic fall in agricultural cash-crop prices (the mainstay of India’s economy), caused a severe credit contraction. This was aggravated by British financial policy in India – which resulted in farmers having to sell their family gold & silver ornaments in order to pay the land rent and other taxes to survive. This huge cumulative stock of gold & silver was siphoned off to the United Kingdom to compensate for the low bullion prices in that country and thereby revitalize the British economy - at the Indian economy’s expense [ the Pound Sterling was linked to the Gold Standard]. Besides this, the “Home Charges” were also lumped together, along with high taxes, and these events went a long way in further alienating the Indians and so the national struggle intensified.
In the 3rd week of 1929 at New Delhi, a meeting
between the Viceroy – Lord Irwin and Gandhi, Nehru, V. Patel and others, could
not arrive at an agreement for framing a constitution under Dominion Status. 
At the ensuing annual meeting held at Lahore on 31st
Dec 1929, the Congress Party passed the Purna Swaraj Resolution and Jawaharlal
Nehru unfurled the tri-colour and INC declared itself for independence rather
than Dominion Status. Thus the campaign of civil disobedience started.
The India Salt Act of 1882 included regulations enforcing a government monopoly on the collection and manufacture of salt. The stiff salt tax had always been a heavy burden to the poor peasant, and the widespread poverty during the Great Depression made it even more difficult for the commoner to procure salt.
In response to this tax, Gandhiji organised one of his most symbolic acts of peaceful civil disobedience: between March 12, 1930, and April 5, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi marched from his Sabarmati Ashram with 79 trusted followers. Along the way, thousands of people joined the march till he arrived with over 30,000 satyagrahis at the coastal town of Dandi in Navsari District of Baroda State.
As this historic “Salt March or Dandi March”
was unfolding, KNP was the Collector of Navsari District under the Subha/District
Commissioner of Navsari – Mr M.K. Nadkarni. As per the biography of SRG written
by his great-grandson Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad – the British authorities did not
dare to arrest Gandhi, since, till that time, he had broken no laws. So subtle
pressure was applied on Baroda to have him and his followers stopped in Baroda
territory and to even arrest Gandhi. But SRG had secretly passed orders that
Gandhi was not to be touched on Baroda territory.
My Papa’s story is that as Gandhi and
thousands of his followers were crossing over from Surat District (in Bombay
Presidency) into the Baroda State lands of Navsari on 5th April, Mr
Nadkarni, KNP and other officials of the district administration met the
multitude and allowed them to pass. And apparently, KNP is supposed to have told
the Surat officials: We cannot stop them as thousands of our people are in the
march. Even my sons have joined the satyagrahis.. Evidently, 19-year-old Anand
and 11-year-old Bal had joined the march, along with some of Bal’s school friends..
And the rest, of course, is history.
In all this restlessness, things were afoot in the family. Less than four weeks after the satyagrahis arrived at Dandi, Kamala’s marriage had been arranged with Kela Bhaskar Rao, the brilliant son of Dr Kela Gopal Rao who was a doctor with the Madras Presidency and posted mainly in Madras, Chingalpet and Madanpally.
In that era, marriages could be elaborate affairs with the social and religious ceremonies spread over many days. In those days, travel meant a long and slow two+ days train ride, and a wedding always turned out to be an important social event, where relations & friends got to meet after ages. For invitees from out-station, the host would be courteous and extend his hospitality to the guests so that the usual duration would stretch to around 7-8 days.
For KNP, the benevolent spendthrift, this meant putting up a grand show in keeping with his status. The guests started arriving around 26th-27th April for the wedding ceremony on 2nd May 1930.
A tented camp had been put up and there were scores of relations from Bombay, Madras, Karkal and elsewhere, as well as friends who were put up, feted and generous banquets laid out by the famous amchi chefs (or Maharaj) of the day..
The Vaidiks or Bhatjis would have been imported from Bombay or even from the Kanaras. They would perform the various ceremonial rituals preceding the marriage, as well as the main marriage ceremony. During the same week, the thread ceremony or Munji of Bal was also performed.
(I am told) the highlight of this particular wedding was that the bridegroom arrived at the Marriage Mandap on an elephant! He was accompanied on the ceremonial howdah by his younger sister Vatsala, my papa – Bal – then 11 years old, and a couple of other kids.
Was the elephant from the Royal Gaekwad stables? I would love to think so..
This extravaganza must have cost KNP a pretty penny.
Unfortunately, during those early times, Hindu marriage ceremonies were normally never photographed – possibly a taboo? Generally, in the first half of the 20th century, there would be only formal group photographs of the families, as well as decorous photographs of the bride and groom. Sadly, till the time of writing this blog, no photos have surfaced. It was different in the case of royalty where many of the ceremonies were diligently recorded by the professional studios of the day.
By this time, cameras had become quite portable, and not as bulky and cumbersome as the (plate type) studio cameras of the earlier times. George Eastman had already introduced the first of a series of portable Kodak “reload and shoot cameras” in the 1890s, followed by the pin-hole box-camera “Brownie” in 1900, all using 120 size film. From then on, there was an explosion of photographic equipment making companies that introduced a large variety of (reasonably) compact cameras and “safety films”, using completely new technologies.
In India, Kodak started setting up their shops from 1913 onwards, but possibly the camera was still a “new-fangled contraption” and professional photographic studios were still the mainstay for getting snapshots taken. The concept of people opting to buy portable compact cameras likely took hold in the 1920s-30s, once film processing shops become common features in Indian cities.
Meanwhile, in 1931, the eldest son Anand's marriage was fixed with 16-year-old Nalini Kallianpur, daughter of Rao Sahib Gopala Rao Kallianpur, who was Asst. Secretary to the Madras Presidency PWD. The marriage ceremony took place in Madras on 26th March 1931 – nothing as elaborate as the one for Kamala. There was a music programme the following day. The extended Panemanglor and Hosangadi families must have come to Madras for 3-4 days at most. Again, no photographs can be located.
As early as 1926, the Kanara Saraswat Conference passed very forward-looking Resolutions regarding marriages:
1. This Conference respectfully pays its homage to His Holiness Srimad Anandashram Swami and invokes His Holiness' blessings on this Conference.
2. This Conference does hereby request the Working Committee to be appointed by the Conference to suggest ways and means to ensure full co-operation between the Math and its followers.
3. That, in the opinion of this Conference, the prevailing sentiment in favour of the marriage of girls before puberty requires removal in the best interests of the community, and the marriage of a boy before he is in a position to maintain his wife must be discouraged. This Conference further urges the members of the community not to marry the boys and girls before they are at least 21 and 16 years of age respectively.
5. This Conference views with concern the extravagance noticeable in the community in the performance of marriage and other ceremonies and is of opinion that every attempt should be made to check such extravagance and that the duration of marriage ceremonies may not exceed two days.
These were subsequently passed in the Mahasabha after HH Srimad Anandashram Swamiji’s approval. Further during the 1932 Mahasabha, the vilayati prakarana or the issue of the ban on foreign travel was resolved. No longer were Bhanaps to be excommunicated, and all were brought back into the fold.
KNP completed his tenure as Collector in Navsari in 1932-3 and returned to Baroda, where he reverted to his duties with SRG’s offices.
The offsprings – Anandrao was then studying in the Baroda College of Science, his wife Nalini was in Madras completing her Intermediate year. She later enrolled in Baroda College of Arts for her undergraduate studies. Bal then 13, joined Baroda High School. Kamala lived for a year with her in-laws in Madras.
KNP with Radhabai, Bal,
Nalini, and unknown man (K. Gopala Rao?), circa 1931-32. The only photograph of
part of the big house in Baroda.
In 1933, as the foreign travel ban had been rescinded during the previous year's Mahasabha, and all foreign travellers brought back into the fold, KNP, with his family, went on a long-overdue visit to Shirali. Papa told me that they went by train to Goa – this would be a long journey: by BB&CI from Baroda to Bombay, then by GIP from Bombay to Poona and finally by meter gauge on the Madras and Southern Mahratta (M&SM) Railway route from Poona to Goa. The month-long sojourn included a week or so in Mangalore as well.
In 1933, Kamala's husband – Bhaskar had proceeded to England for his degree course in Engineering at the University College, London. According to Papa, this fact created heated rows with long arguments at KNP’s home. Radhabai vociferously insisted that KNP also send their son Anand to England to complete his Engineering. However, with KNP’s financial state of affairs already stretched due to his free-spending (purchasing a car, extravagant expenditure during Kamala’s marriage, maintaining a fairly posh lifestyle, etc.), he was then in no state to afford that. He, however, conceded to Radhabai’s demands, partly because she was not keeping good health, and these arguments were affecting her mentally.
Researching on College education in England in the 1930s – I found that the average expenditure was around £60 p.a. for Engineering tuitions (college fees), around £75-90 p.a. for residential hostel accommodation and probably £30 for pocket money, laundry, books etc. Asides from travel to & from India, this would total around £170 p.a. (In that era, the exchange rate was 13.3 Rupees to the Pound Sterling… or translating to around Rs 2260 expected expenditure per annum for studying in England. Doesn’t seem a lot right?).
However in the 1930s, (according to the superb Chitrapur Saraswat Series), Bhanaps in the cities earned average salaries in the range of Rs 50 ~ 100 for the lower white-collared workers, Rs 100~200 for the middle-income group, Rs 200~500 for the upper managerial persons, and barely 2.5% earned above Rs 500. The median household expenditures for middle-class families were very reasonable –around Rs 175 per month.
KNP was essentially an employee of Baroda State, and I would guess his income (in the 1930s) to be in the Rs 500-1000 range (cn). Whatever the reasons, KNP had to arrange for loans from the Government Foreign Student Loan Fund, Bank of Baroda and elsewhere, for Anand’s foreign education. Applications were made and Anand was admitted for the 1934 Electrical Engineering degree course at Loughborough College in Leicestershire, England. And just four months before Anand went to England, Nalini delivered their first child – Yeshwant – on 10th Feb 1934.
An old frayed photograph seems to indicate that KNP along with Anand, Bhaskar and KNP’s sister Devi Heble’s son Manohar, flew to London by Imperial Airways in June of 1934.
From Left: Bhaskar, Anand, KNP and Manohar Heble. Standing by the 18 passenger Handley-Page HP-42
Who would have believed that Imperial Airways service between London and India in the early part of the 1930s included overnight stops at various points along the route; also a 1600 mile overland train journey from Paris to Brindisi, Italy (and vice versa) owing to geopolitical restrictions and only in April 1935 were overflights above Italian territory allowed.
The fare from Karachi to London was £95 one way (or £106 from Delhi), which included overnight accommodations, meals, surface transport and tips, and the journey took around 6 days. So our heroes would have had to travel to Karachi or Delhi, to take the flight.
On the other hand, sailing by passenger ships from Bombay to Tilbury (London) used to take anything from 19-25 days..
It appears that after KNP saw his son, son-in-law and nephew settled in, he joined SRG’s suite who were then staying at Aldworth House in Surry, which had been purchased by SRG. This was Lord Tennyson’s country manor.
The photograph above, taken at Aldworth House on 23rd July 1934. KNP Standing behind SRG. Yuvraj Pratapsinh Rao is seated to SRG’s left. This group portrait by Bassano & Co, London, I found in the National Portrait Gallery website – and this one along with the one of the family standing with Imperial Airways HP-42 – were the two snapshots that had originally piqued my interest, and owing to which I embarked on the memoirs.
And with this Chapter becoming too lengthy, the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations and the subsequent years of the 1930s willbe told in the next chapter..
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