DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 14 February, 1999
A hundred years ago
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
OFF I went to another memorial meeting yesterday, February 13, with no moans involved, to commemorate a patriarch of the family who died one hundred years ago to the day. We, his descendants, now spread all over the world, opened up our jeroboams and drank to his memory.
Hormusjee Jamsetjee Rustomjee, my maternal great-grandfather, died in Karachi whilst Victoria Regina Imperatrix was Empress of India, and "My name is George Nathanial Curzon, I am a most superior person, My cheek is pink, My hair is sleek, I dine at Blenheim once a week" was that most viceregal of Viceroys lording it over the land from Delhi.
The editor of "British-Indian Commerce" (published in London) in his issue of March 15, 1899, wrote: "Only six months ago, British-Indian Commerce contained the illustrious story of the life of one of the most interesting personalities among the merchant princes of India, Mr H.J.Rustomjee, of Kurrachee. Mr Rustomjee was then in the full flush of healthy vigorous manhood, eager in the enjoyment of all the good things of life, and was looking forward to a pleasant journey through Europe on his way homewards to India. On the 15th ultimo, a telegram from India announced his sudden death and when the sad intelligence was circulated amongst his many friends in the City and the West End, the feeling of grief and sense of personal loss found keen expression.
"On behalf of those friends and of ourselves, we offer the sincerest condolences to the members of the Rustomjee family. They have lost an affectionate father and relative, and the firm which he founded mourns the departure of one whose strongly developed mercantile instinct, wide business experience, sound judgment, and almost daring enterprise have made the house of Rustomjee and Company uniquely famous throughout India and in most of the manufacturing centres of the world. The story of his career is as he was wont to say, only typical of that of a large number of other great Indian merchants and millionaires. His beginnings were humble enough; he was a young merchant, however, at 15 years of age. He was only 53 at the time of his death. For forty years his life had been a long series of business successes. He steadily ascended the ladder of prosperity, till he had placed his foot firmly on the topmost rung. In social life, he was a racy conversationalist, full of anecdote and shrewd observation of men and nations. His command of the English language was perfect, and his social gifts made him popular in all the commercial capitals of Europe."
In 1891, he built for himself at Karachi a fine building to house his business empire, described thus in the Sind Gazette of November 10 of that year: "Mr Rustomjee has taken the utmost pains to set off his huge building to the greatest advantage .... the building itself is certainly one of the handsomest and imposing structures of its kind, not in Karachi or in the province only, but in India. The architecture is purely Italian and the facade closely resembles that of the New Dresdner Bank at Berlin .... The site is admirable, occupying a large space of over 8,000 square yards near the point where the two principal roads of the town, the Bunder and the McLeod roads converge, being thus in the very heart of the business parts of the city. Mr H. J. Rustomjee's mansion has a frontage of 100 feet and is constructed wholly of stone, having three stories, the total height being over 60 feet."
HJR was a firm believer that it was the bounden duty of the rich to look after their less fortunate brethren, the old Parsi maxim being that a man should give to his country and to humankind more than he takes from them. He knew that education was the key to progress and prosperity. He also realized, way back in those day, the importance of learning English, the universal language. He ensured that all the girls of the family were sent to convent schools where English was the medium. He was also a firm adherent to the belief that a man of means must participate in the affairs of his city. He was a member of the Municipal Council and represented the people as a trustee on the Board of the "Port of Karachi (Kurrachee), Sindh, West Coast of India."
His charities were vast. He was the first in Karachi to build a low-cost housing colony. Schools, hospitals, parks and playgrounds always had his support. He, along with Dayaram Gidumal, Prem Kewalram Shahani's paternal grandfather, contributed towards the establishment of the renowned Dayaram Jethmal Sind College. The norms of civilized society, one may say.
Also in the issue of "British-Indian Commerce" of March 1899 was an interesting item on Curzon's gunboat diplomacy and another amusing one on his wife.
Lord Curzon had "acted with commendable promptitude in dealing with the Seyid of Oman, or as he is sometimes called, the Imam of Muscat. This potentate recently consented to cede a coaling station at Bunder Jisseh to France. It was claimed by the French that such a station was necessary in the interests of French commerce which is in that part of the world of very small dimensions. Considering that we pay the Sultan a very handsome subsidy of Rs.7, 200 a month, that we have had treaties with his predecessors for more than a hundred years, and that since 1800 we have the right of maintaining a Resident in Muscat, it could hardly be expected that we should suffer the intrusion of a foreign power. Curzon protested, and backed up his protest with a threat of bombardment by the British Admiral who had three war vessels in the port of Muscat at the time. Under this pressure, the Sultan gave in and there the matter now stands at present."
Lady Curzon "appears to have made a complete conquest of the native papers. An 'appreciation' in the 'Bangabasi,' the leading Hindu vernacular daily of Bengal, is magnificent: 'Her colour is like that of molten gold, its whiteness having already assumed a tinge of red in the warm climate of this country. Her teeth are like a set of pearls, her waist is beautifully slender. Her raven tresses, setting off the whiteness of her white complexion, make her look like the very image of Saraswati. Her well-shaped head, with its black hair, is beautifully placed upon her swan-like neck. Her eyes are not dark, neither are they tinged with red. Their colour is rather handsomely purple. Ever restless as they are, they are beaming with intelligence. Lady Curzon bears in her handsome person all the auspicious marks of prosperity. Her forehead is small and narrow and her voice resembles that of the cuckoo."
Now, we cannot possibly blame Macaulay for this outpouring of English prose, can we?
Curzon landed in India on December 30, 1898. According to Hugh Tinker in his book 'Viceroy,' "An immediate impression was made by the radiant beauty of Mary, his young wife. As an American with an immensely rich father, she was criticized by the Burra Memsahibs of Calcutta. As she said herself, she stood for hours 'wearing my India-rubber smile.' In her letters she admitted that she hated India, or rather the British facade of India. She especially disliked Simla: she burst into laughter at her first glimpse of the Viceroy's Lodge, 'Quite the most amazing and fantastic erection' she had ever seen."
Curzon was followed by Minto, Hardinge, Chelmsford, Reading, Irwin, Willingdon, Linlithgow, Wavell and finally Mountbatten. Whatever they may have been, whatever their shortcomings or aims, they were not crooks. They administered the country with a cadre of some thousand civil servants, the majority of whom were not thieves. They were sent out to do a job, and they did their job. They did not work towards the manifest detriment of the people.
However, as far as the natives were concerned the proverbial mother-in-law had to be got out of the kitchen. Fifty years down the line and we have lost the larder. Each cook who manages to grab the knives robs the household dry. They all feed us on a starvation diet of lawlessness and lies, and that cannot sustain us for long.
Can we get those who lunch at Raiwind and Larkana to read Philip Woodruff's two volumes on 'The Men Who Ruled India,' - 'The Founders' and 'The Guardians'? Can one hope that their acolytes can prevail upon them to so do?