Down Memory Lane - My Coimbatore.
When I think about my childhood days in Coimbatore, many incidents come to my mind, which may be insignificant at that time. I remember the day when I was going with my maternal Uncle near YMCA on the Head Post Office Road. He showed me a small shed like structure in dilapidated condition opposite YMCA grounds occupied by a Tailoring Shop. He told me in olden days this place used to be busy with lot of English men and women visiting from far off places including estates in Anamalais and Nilgiris. The reason was Coimbatore's only "Hand Stitching Tailor" had his shop there. A Muslim Tailor who used to Stitch Garments from Gents Suits to Ladies Dress especially for the English population all by "hand stitching". Some thing unbelievable today. Such was the demand the Tailor used to set the schedule for delivery of the finished garments. This must have been before or around 1900, since the first Sewing Machine was brought to India by a Lady in Bombay only in 1879. I wish to add few sentences about this uncle of mine. He was my mother's younger brother. A soft spoken simple person. Though born in a rich family, had to face poverty by the time he reached his High School. He told me that he had to sell his bicycle to pay fees to write his high school examination. But this does not stop him from acquiring knowledge from reading in Libraries and free reading rooms. Only magazine that he used to purchase was "The Illustrated Weekly of India" regularly to keep himself updated about Politics and complete the famous "Crossword puzzle" published in it. He was an enthusiastic reader who used to share interesting information with others. In those days "The Illustrated Weekly" used to carry very good war time pictures apart from pictures relating to independence movement. He used to tell about the famous cities in Europe. When I visited Europe later after nearly 40 years on a holiday Tour, I made it a point to post him picture post cards from all the places he mentioned when I was young. Later he joined Imperial Bank of India as a temporary hand, but retired as Head Cashier after a long service with State Bank of India. Memories of some people will remain with us ever due to their goodness.
In north Coimbatore there is a place called "Tatabad" just behind the Pykara Power House. Many in the present generation may not know why it is called by that name. It is because "Tata and Sons Co. Ltd"., purchased a huge chunk of land in this place to open their Oil Mills to manufacture Cooking Oil, Soaps and detergents etc. They even brought some structural machinery for construction of the Oil Mills. But, due to some strategic reasons they abandoned the idea and shifted the project to Kochi. Then this place was divided in to building sites and sold. Tata Oil Mills at Kochi is now owned by HLL.
At the corner of Madras Bank Road (present Railway Station Road) and Trichy Road, there used to be a permanent exhibition building in those days. It was called "Electric Exhibition" ! This was about the uses of electrical energy for household purposes. Since I was too young I could remember a few only like Electric Lights, Fans etc. The idea was to introduce the uses of Electric Power to the people produced by the new Pykara Hydro Electric system. Unimaginable in the present condition of scarcity of Power. I am told that the Government offered very favorable terms to industries to use Electric Power including free transformers etc. Later this place was occupied by the famous "India Coffee House" a meeting place for many youngsters in those days. Here we used to get very good Coffee, bread toast and a few simple snacks served by uniformed servers.
to be continued. . .
posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:20 A
When I think about my childhood days in Coimbatore, many incidents come to my mind, which may be insignificant at that time. I remember the day when I was going with my maternal Uncle near YMCA on the Head Post Office Road. He showed me a small shed like structure in dilapidated condition opposite YMCA grounds occupied by a Tailoring Shop. He told me in olden days this place used to be busy with lot of English men and women visiting from far off places including estates in Anamalais and Nilgiris. The reason was Coimbatore's only "Hand Stitching Tailor" had his shop there. A Muslim Tailor who used to Stitch Garments from Gents Suits to Ladies Dress especially for the English population all by "hand stitching". Some thing unbelievable today. Such was the demand the Tailor used to set the schedule for delivery of the finished garments. This must have been before or around 1900, since the first Sewing Machine was brought to India by a Lady in Bombay only in 1879. I wish to add few sentences about this uncle of mine. He was my mother's younger brother. A soft spoken simple person. Though born in a rich family, had to face poverty by the time he reached his High School. He told me that he had to sell his bicycle to pay fees to write his high school examination. But this does not stop him from acquiring knowledge from reading in Libraries and free reading rooms. Only magazine that he used to purchase was "The Illustrated Weekly of India" regularly to keep himself updated about Politics and complete the famous "Crossword puzzle" published in it. He was an enthusiastic reader who used to share interesting information with others. In those days "The Illustrated Weekly" used to carry very good war time pictures apart from pictures relating to independence movement. He used to tell about the famous cities in Europe. When I visited Europe later after nearly 40 years on a holiday Tour, I made it a point to post him picture post cards from all the places he mentioned when I was young. Later he joined Imperial Bank of India as a temporary hand, but retired as Head Cashier after a long service with State Bank of India. Memories of some people will remain with us ever due to their goodness.
In north Coimbatore there is a place called "Tatabad" just behind the Pykara Power House. Many in the present generation may not know why it is called by that name. It is because "Tata and Sons Co. Ltd"., purchased a huge chunk of land in this place to open their Oil Mills to manufacture Cooking Oil, Soaps and detergents etc. They even brought some structural machinery for construction of the Oil Mills. But, due to some strategic reasons they abandoned the idea and shifted the project to Kochi. Then this place was divided in to building sites and sold. Tata Oil Mills at Kochi is now owned by HLL.
At the corner of Madras Bank Road (present Railway Station Road) and Trichy Road, there used to be a permanent exhibition building in those days. It was called "Electric Exhibition" ! This was about the uses of electrical energy for household purposes. Since I was too young I could remember a few only like Electric Lights, Fans etc. The idea was to introduce the uses of Electric Power to the people produced by the new Pykara Hydro Electric system. Unimaginable in the present condition of scarcity of Power. I am told that the Government offered very favorable terms to industries to use Electric Power including free transformers etc. Later this place was occupied by the famous "India Coffee House" a meeting place for many youngsters in those days. Here we used to get very good Coffee, bread toast and a few simple snacks served by uniformed servers.
to be continued. . .
posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:20 A
1 comment:
I would like to get some more info about these things. Could you please mail me on rakeshkonni@gmail.com so that we could discuss it.
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