Smiths Hotel

Thank you for your very informative email. I suppose based on a true story Paul Scott kept to the truth. Poor Dears, life didn’t deal them with a good hand. My connection with India is that my grandfather worked for the British Petroleum Company in Digboy, Nepal. My grandmother went out there to marry him 1908 and my father was born in Calcutta, 1909. He made a terrible mistake and instead of investing in the Shell Oil Company, he put his money in the hands of a Chinese and never saw his him or his money again. They stayed until post WW1 and on return to England GF could not get a job. Life was probably very dismal after the war and he and GM managed to eke out a living by house-sitting. I only met them once when I was six but my older brothers spent more time with both sets of grandparents. Have you read, The Fishing Fleet? Also I have seen the Marigold movie and I hope to see Part 2. Wonderful acting. I have other connections with India but never been there. These are all distant relatives who lived there under the Raj in one form or another. It would be great to see some of the places spoke so much about. I also had a Great Uncle who ran a tea plantation in Ceylon, he died aged around 30 without issue and in the 50’s the government took over the plantation. We did visit there and were taken to Uncle’s bungalow and Mum said it was just like walking back in time as all his furniture and paintings etc were still there untouched. I wish I could find it now but have had no success.

SkiesAreBlue