July 20 2014
We have a new contributor Ken Miln not from Tea but a Jute Wallah
and we look forward to his contributions
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October 10, 2014
October 2 2014
A Distinctive Vacancy
"On entering Calcutta on the afternoon horse drawn carriage" writes Ken Miln, "there is something indefinably esoteric to the scene which me feel as though 'time' in India was quite different from our 'mathematical time' of the Occident.
"As the afternoon sun dipped slowly beyond Howrah on the Hooghly's west bank, a strange luninosity gave the entire region a surreal aspect.
"The city's streets were teeming with people - men in white dhotis, elegant women wearing brightly-coloured saris and scores of noisy children all adding to the most distinctive vibrancy.
"However all was not as it seemed. Beggars were in evidence, some of whom crawled on their elbows and knees to which pieces of rubber cut from old tyres had been attached.
"A prostrate leper waived a skeletal towards a small brass bowl, into which passers-by dropped coins. Informed local sources advised that many of these unfortunate people had their limbs broken when very young and that begging activities were controlled through profit-orientated syndicates.
"However much of this sort of thing has, long since, passed into history."
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