Suparna Datta (Sue Bose)

As I put pen to paper to write this article it seemed as though I’d opened the flood gates. Memories came gushing out. I’ll begin by describing what the Dunlop Estate was like in the mid 1950’s, which was barely ten years after India’s independence, and the British presence and influence was very much there.

As one entered the Dunlop Estate from the GT Road, it was a different world altogether. ‘Darwan-ji’s’ manned the gate and dubious characters were barred entry. Beyond the gate were open spaces, on the left side of the Link Road the first building was the Tennis Club, no houses had been built behind it, there were only woods. There was no swimming pool, ‘the Bower’ was yet to come up. In this open space there were some swings and a see-saw for the children.

I remember my mother saying that I was a toddler of two years when we came to stay at No. 114. On the ground floor on the right-hand side was Chitta-Kaka and on the left, was Ishwar Singh Uncle. On the upper floor we were on the right, while across the landing was Arjo-Kaka. The lawns and the hedges bordering them were regularly mowed and trimmed. I can still remember the smell of the freshly mown grass heaped on one side that we children used to love jumping into. Pesticide was sprayed at regular intervals, both inside and outside the houses. I did not know what a mosquito-net was till much later. My mother together with Shyamali-kakima, Bibi-ji, and Usha-kakima would sit out there on winter afternoons, knitting in hand, till nearly sunset, having tea brought out by one of the servants before going back in.

Across the road were some garages which housed the few cars that were around. My father had a beautiful Dover Grey Fiat 1100, the first brand new car in the Estate. Behind the houses were the kitchen gardens, beyond which ran the service pathway. The ‘Scouts Den’ was clearly visible from our rear verandah, and was the hub of great activity in those days. The campfires were a major attraction. I still remember many of the Scouts songs and skits that were enacted. I used to sit enthralled, more so because my brothers were participating, especially Bijon who used to take the lead. My father being one of the founders was always enthusiastic, and Scout Master Mr. Frank Jordan referred to as Bor-da by everyone was very popular.

Beyond the Scouts’ Den grounds were the woods which were later chopped down to make room for residential quarters. In these woods Mr. Castellari, staying in the house next to ours, would shoot the stray dogs that were caught on the Estate. We would hear the gunshots from afar and knew what was happening.

The Sun-verandahs’ being south-facing were equally popular on summer evenings and winter mornings. We would stand there and on the landings to wave enthusiastically as dignitaries drove by in open cars on their way to visit the Factory. I recall His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Soviet Premier Kruschevand many others including Prince Charles of England.

The Dunlop Bengali-medium School was then being built diagonally behind the Hospital.  The Hindi School was near the Club House. The Tennis Club doubled as the Kindergarten School run by Mrs. Florence D’cruz which prepared us for admission to St. Joseph’s Convent, Chandennagore. In my batch there were two others, Dolly Satsangi and my dear friend Tuntun, Dr. S.N. Chatterjee’s daughter.

It would be remiss of me if I did not mention Mrs. Jackson, a very enterprising lady and an institution by herself. She started the Ladies Club which held its annual ‘Sale of work’ in December and was given the name ‘Biki-kiniMela’ by Mrs. Uma Dutta. Mrs. Jackson got some of the ladies, my mother included, to come out in the early mornings to play tennis coached by her. She also conducted baking and flower-arrangement classes for them, my mother excelled at both, having learnt from her. If I’m not mistaken, she also started the Baby Clinic at the Dunlop Hospital.

Dr. U.P. Dasgupta was the CMO at that time and under his ever-watchful eyes the hospital was spotlessly clean, everyone was alert and on their toes. The green lawns and flower beds were beautiful. Vaccination drives were a regular feature, however much we disliked it, we had no choice but to line up for the shots against TABC and measles. The state of the art OT was at par with the best hospitals in Calcutta.

There was nothing on the right-hand side of the Link Road till one reached the Fire Brigade. The red brick boundary wall running alongside had narrow ditches along them which became full-fledged ponds during the rainy season. I remember fishing there with my brothers.

Besides dowsing the fires within the Factory another job the fire-engine did every year was ferry Santa Claus to the Children’s Christmas Parties held at both the Tennis Club and within the Compound. The rotund and jovial Mr. Ezekiel did the honours for a few years at the Tennis Club party. Mr. Das who was in charge of the Fire Brigade was universally referred to as ‘Fire-Das’; and ‘Club-Babu’ was in charge of the Club House which doubled as the Cinema Hall. Besides the Bengali and Hindi films that were shown through the week, English films were screened on Friday nights and Sunday mornings.

The Dramatic Club and the Technical Department staged plays at regular intervals at the Club House auditorium, and the Dance School put up its annual dance drama. I remember the play ‘Kabuliwallah’ by Tagore being staged,Arjo-kaka played the role of Kabuliwallah while my friend Tuntun was Mini. The ladies once staged a play called ‘Uddhar’ in which my mother,Gouri, played a strict mother-in-law and Jeeta, the daughter-in-law who had to be ‘rescued’by her friends.

There was only one Durga Puja in the whole Estate and the pandal was erected in the open space next to the Club House. A stage was also erected for the ‘jatras’ and plays. Small stalls, lined the road leading to the pandal, and sold simple fire-crackers, toys and balloons. The Scouts put up a food stall every year, where they sold snacks made by our mothers. One-year Samir-da had a photography booth where my father took my younger brother and me to have our photographs taken. During the puja days we stayed up late into the night to see the ‘jatras’ and the plays, the whole family would be there. Once P.C. Sorcar (Sr) came to perform.

Vishwakarma Puja was celebrated inside the factory. The main puja had a big idol and there were amazing displays. One year there was a model of a circular railway track, complete with trains, signal and a level crossing, there were passengers and a guard waving a flag. For the ‘prasad’ special ‘misti’ was ordered from Calcutta, to be given with all the fruits. This was one day when all the machines were at a stand-still and the factory gates were thrown open for all to enter.

Independence Day was observed with great solemnity at the Scouts Den and also next to the Club House. The Indian tri-colour was hoisted with great pride, as it was in the rest of the newly independent nation. There was a march past of the watch-a-ward, the Fire Brigade and the Ambulance crew. At the Den it was the Scouts and Guides.

By the late 1950’s our family moved out of the Estate to live in our beautiful, newly constructed house “Rangabari” at Latbagan. Having stayed there for about four years we moved back again but this time to the Compound. This was a different world altogether; the British Raj was no more but the colonial atmosphere was still very much there. At the time the Indian families staying there were outnumbered by the British families. So, it was predominantly their culture and lifestyle that prevailed within the Compound.

Across the River Hooghly were jute mills and paper mills. Further downstream was Barrackpore, and during the 1965 war with Pakistan we could hear the fighter-planes taking off from the Air Force base there. Some folks from there would visit in sailing-yachts that anchored at the Dunlop Factory jetty. Dunlop maintained a motor-launch, Sirius II, which I had the good fortune of riding in, one day when coming back from school.

There were regular parties, especially when there were visitors from the U.K. Those at Christmas and New Years were lavish affairs. There were Mince Pies and Punch on Christmas Eve and Beer-n-Bowls on Christmas morning. Gifts were exchanged by the children. The Fancy Dress Party on New Year’s Evewas a gala affair. The swimming pool was an extremely popular haunt, for us children and adults alike. The fair-skinned ladies would sun-bathe the whole day in the deck chairs. Tennis and billiards were played in the evenings. Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings were devoted to golf which the men went to play at the Angus Jute Mill’s golf club at Bhadreswar. There were many friends who came over from Tribeni Tissues and the Ganges Jute Mills for our social events.

The ladies barely had any work to do at home except to supervise the servants - the cook, bearerand sweeper who did all the work. They would play Mah-jong or Bridge on some mornings, some afternoons were reserved for duty at the Baby Clinic, Shubha-kakima took time out on some evenings for Girl-Guides at the Scouts Den. Visits to Calcutta were frequent, at least twice a month if not every week, to do some shopping and visits to the beauty parlour were a must for a few of them.

The kitchens were out of bounds, they were large with huge coal ovens that burned the whole day since they heated the supply of running hot water to the taps in the bathrooms and pantry. My mother always cooked the main dish for lunch on an electric heater in the pantry. Dinners were often typically English, the huge ovens turned out wonderful roasts, cakes and puddings, and were served by 8pm. The cook and bearer had to clean up and leave early to be back by six the next morning, to stoke the coal ovens and serve bed-tea.

Our fathers left for work by 8 o’clock in the mornings, coming home for lunch and then back again till 5pm or much beyond that for some. Mid-morning and afternoon tea and snacks were carried to their offices by the bearers, the trays and tea-pots covered in pretty tea-cosies and tray-cloths.

Though we were away from Calcutta we did not lack anything. An order supplier would present himself every morning at the back door taking down orders for eatables, to be delivered the next morning. All the goodies available on Park Street and at the New Market were there for the asking. Tulsi-babu would come a few times a week with ordered supplies of toiletry and stationary goods. Mr. Julka would be in attendance at the main gate every evening taking orders for sports goods. Tailors from Calcutta would come at regular intervals, one ‘Gobins’ for the men and another for the ladies, with his catalogue of fashionable clothes. “Bookie” came on Sunday mornings with his supply of books, magazines and comics. Coca-Cola and Kwality Ice-cream would also bring their supplies.

Dunlop Rubber Factory, Sahaganj, was the largest in Asia and the third largest in the world. It became a target for the Japanese bombers during WW II because it was the only rubber factory where aircraft tyres were manufactured. One bomb did fall but only somewhere in the periphery, missing the factory, giving rise to horrifying rumours that many people had been killed, which included my father.

The 1960s were the glory-days of Dunlop Sahaganj, in ’61 it celebrated its Silver Jubilee with great pomp. A magnificent fire-works display was put up on the grounds opposite the Fire Brigade. All who had been working there since its inception in 1936 were given a list of gifts to choose from. My father had chosen a silver tea-set, and we are glad that he did. It is a beautiful set in Sterling Silver crafted by the world famous ‘Hamiltons.’ It is still there with my brother Bijon.

It was at this time that my father Mr. P.K. Bose (Sr.) became the first Indian Technical Manager at Dunlop Sahaganj. These two events combined to become the focus of quite a bit of publicity. There were huge advertisements featuring him splashed on the front page of The Statesman. The famous Dunlop logo and the equally famous tag-line “Dunlop is Dunlop, Always Ahead” was born. “Dunlopillo” became very popular and owning such a mattress was a matter of prestige. By the way, not many may be aware of the fact that the whale in the film “Moby Dick”, based on the famous book by the same name written by Herman Melville, was made of Dunlop foam rubber!

At this time the Dunlop Boy Scouts were also shining bright. My brother Bijon Bose was one of the four selected from the Hoogly District Scouts and Guides Association to receive the President’s Scout Award from the hands of the then President of India Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and their leader was Mr. Frank Jordan of Dunlop.

Soon after Dunlop Sahaganj reached the zenith of its glory my father retired not accepting an extension of two more years of service. He had other plans which meant my parents would be away from home for long periods and so I was sent off to hostel, first to SJC, Chandernagore and then to Loreto College, Calcutta.

Thus, my ties with Dunlop Sahaganj began to loosen but were never completely broken. I visited the Estate off-and-on during vacations; and later my first child was born at the Dunlop Hospital. After marriage my family’s close friendship with Subir-da and his family was another link. Now, I’m in touch again with so many Dunlop family members on Facebook. So, the ties will continue, indelible memories will linger till my last days.