42 YEARS AGO-PART ONE

CHELTENHAM 1973.

Let me take you back on a journey, which happened about forty two years ago.

The year was 1973, the month was March. Triloki was working as a Chief Supervisor with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). He was posted at the Lucknow Division which then did not have its own premises. They operated out of rented accommodation at Aishbagh. Although the designation "Chief Supervisor", does not sound funky now, in those days it was quite an impressive and important position. Triloki had joined as a Management Trainee which can safely be  presumed, was a class apart from the rest.

The Management Trainees had a lot of fun together, they were all young Engineers starting out on the threshold of their careers, with dreams galore and little money at their disposal. Salaries were modest, but the prestige attached to the job was rather high. HAL used to regularly post their Officers to various places in England for getting trained in various skills and practices which were needed in an Aircraft factory. Triloki was sent to United Kingdom for three months, of which for two months he was posted  at the beautiful Cheltenham  to train with Dowty Rotol and Smith Industries, and for one month with Lucas Aerospace in Birmingham. Although we had no savings and no money, Triloki took me along after managing to raise a loan against his motorbike. The ticket was all of Rs. 3,500 return fare. In those days the Lufthansa Airline was offering Youth fare for which I was eligible. Triloki and his group were travelling Air India, as it was the rule that all Government employees had to travel only by the Government airline.  He left with his group of eight people. They were going to stop at two different places en route. Their first halt was at Cairo and the next one was at Frankfurt. In those days Airlines would allow a stopover and pay for the hotel accommodation too. This way the passengers could see the place where they halted for the night, at no extra cost. I, travelling on a Youth Excursion fare was not entitled to a halt. I was to land at Frankfurt at the same time as Triloki and we were to meet each other there.

That was my first travel by air and I was quite awed by the massive plane that I was boarding.  It was  a Jumbo Jet 747, which had just then been introduced by the airline. At Frankfurt I was as nervous as can be and waited for Triloki to come and meet me. We walked about a bit and looked at the shops.  I bought a beautiful Green little shot glass with a stem with a few Swarovski stuck on it in a pattern. I still have it.

It was a lovely purchase and a luxurious one also, because I just had three pounds with me, which was all the foreign exchange that a tourist was allowed by the Government of India then.

After this brief meeting and shopping, I boarded my flight to London and Triloki took his flight, also  to London. 

I landed at Heathrow airport and was to wait for Triloki, as I was the one who would land first. Heathrow was a big airport and had three terminals then. While I landed at the terminal where flights from Europe landed, Triloki was to land at the terminal where other international flights landed. I was one innocent little character who had led a very sheltered and protected life, so far. I looked around nervously and found a lady who looked like an Indian and worked as a janitor with a mop. I went up to her and asked her how I could go to the terminal where Air India flights landed. She helped me get on the inter terminal bus and that is how I didn't end up in the Lost and Found department!

Once in London, Triloki and I boarded a bus to Streatham where my Uncle and Aunty lived with their children. My father who was quite familiar with London had given me precise directions with bus numbers and the exact location where we were to get off the bus and walk up to door number 42. We were thrifty people not because we were virtuous, but because money was in short supply.  

CHELTENHAM SPA STATION

After a couple of days in London we took the train to Cheltenham from Paddington station. I wish I could remember the exact time of the train, then it would have sounded so very British to say, "We took the 4.52 from Paddington". 

The train was lovely, the seats were very comfortable and we sat facing each other. The journey was not too long and we soon chugged into Cheltenham Spa station. When we came out we were greeted by a couple of our friends and escorted to a taxi which would take us to our Hotel. I cannot forget my consternation when I could not find any handle to lower the glass of the window! In India we were used to the Fiat and Ambassador which had rotary handles with which we could lower or raise the window.

Cheltenham was a very beautiful place in an area which is called The Cotswold. It is no surprise that "The Cotswold" were designated as an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.The area has rolling hills and farm fields and beautiful meadows all around. 

THE MEADOWS

When we took our first journey out of Cheltenham to go to Gloucester, the view took my breath away and I felt as if I was actually looking at a picture postcard. There were farms along the road which were all fenced. There were gates and stiles over which one could climb into the farm, therefore the animals had no access to it. The place was extremely neat and clean. The sky was very very blue and the vehicles on the road were fast and orderly There were no slow moving vehicles as we were used to seeing on the highways in India. No bullock carts, no cycles, no tractors laden with produce. No stray animals, no jay walkers, no stopping or slowing down at villages that we crossed. Gloucester was the place where there were Indian shops and one could buy Indian grocery.

After a couple of days at the Hotel, we moved to a place in Suffolk Square, where we paid twenty one pounds a week for a room, breakfast and dinner. At this place dinner was served at 5.30 pm and after dinner all the guests rushed down to the living room to watch "Tom and Jerry" which came on the lone Black and White TV set at 6 pm. By eight thirty in the evening, our Indian stomachs would start growling for food and we would walk down the High Street which would have shut down promptly at 5.30. Even Restaurants would shut at 5.30 pm. We would often find a hamburger or hot dog stall somewhere in some street corner and eat that very happily.

We therefore decided that we had to look for our own accommodation, so that we could eat our food at the time that we wanted to eat. Triloki and I  found one room with a shared kitchen and toilet at Hungerford Street.  The owners of the house were a young Gujarati couple who had migrated from Kenya. Some of you would remember that in 1971 there was an exodus of Indians from Kenya and Uganda. Most of them had shifted to UK or USA, some even went back to India. Those were the days of Idi Amin of Uganda who wanted all foreigners to exit from his country.Therefore when we landed in England, we found a lot of Indians trying to settle down in new surroundings. Cheltenham being a small town did not have many Indians and so there were no shops selling Indian foodstuff. In our group there was one Mr. Francis who had also brought his wife along, her name was Sushma. We got along famously and spent a lot of time together, all the others in our group were bachelors.

Cheltenham was known for its spa, as well as Cheltenham Ladies College founded in 1853, it also has a very old school founded in 1574 called Pate's Grammar school. Cheltenham is also the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing. In a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include fences, water jump or jump over a ditch. These races are held in March in Cheltenham and are very popular.  Alice Lidell and Lewis Carroll were visitors to a house here which belonged to the grand parents of Alice Lidell. It is said that the looking glass which was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's book, "Through the Looking Glass" is still kept in this house. Alice Lidell was the ten year old girl who had asked Charles Dodgson to tell her and her sisters a story on their boat journey from Oxford to Godstow for a picnic outing. He later wrote it down as "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" in November 1864. He wrote under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, and we know the book today as "Alice in Wonderland."

Cheltenham was a very beautiful, peaceful small town. There was a High Street which had a Woolworth, a Coop, a Marks & Spencer and some more beautiful shops. Woolworth was a very reasonably priced departmental store. Coop was a grocery store and one would collect Green Shields  on every purchase. An album was given along with the first lot of Green Shields where one would collect the stamps and get a discount on shopping after collecting the stipulated number of points.

THE PROMENADE

On the Promenade also there were some beautiful designer shops of which The Cavendish was very well known.  The Cavendish later on merged with House of Fraser. The walk on the  Promenade  to the famous Pump house of the Spa was delightful as there were beautiful flowers planted along this path. On the lamp posts too beautiful hanging planters full of colourful flowers were hung. Cheltenham spa had become very popular after King George III visited this spa.

Since we were to be in England only for three months, we decided to explore the country. That was when we found out about the car rentals or self drive cars that were available. One could hire a car at  any place and return it at any other place. The known car hire companies then were Hertz, Avis and Budget. If one hired a car from Budget then the vehicle had to be returned to the same place from where it was hired. I am sure there must have been some more companies, but I don't remember their names now.

A HIRED CAR

Our adventures with car hiring will be my next story and you will have to wait patiently for a bit after which I will tell you about it. Suffice to say right now, that we wanted to hire a car and the only person who knew how to drive a car did not have a Driving License which the car hire Company would accept, and the one who had an International Driving License did not know how to drive.

Adios amigos, Ciao, see you later, milte hain break ke baad!