from The Best of Khushwant Singh, 1993

source: http://10yearitch.com/

Savi

About 18kms northeast of Narkanda is the little village of Thanedar. Situated just off the old Hindustan-Tibet road, it is where the apple-farming revolution, if you can call it that, originated. The British had introduced cooking apples in India in the late 19^th century but these were not sweet and therefore not coveted by the locals or viable for the market. Samuel Stokes, an American, who came to India in 1904 in search of spirituality stayed on to marry a local girl and made it his life’s mission to help the impoverished people of Himachal. After experimenting with other crops and failing, he decided to give apple-farming a try. He brought a sapling of the red, deliciously sweet variety of apples from Philadelphia and planted them in Thanedar. And the rest, as they say, is history ! Today, the economy of Himachal is on the up completely because of the flourishing apple industry.

Today morning we checked out of the lovely Tethys Resort and asked for a cab to take us to Thanedar.

As usual we made this request just about an hour before checking out . So we got Mahindra’s SUV-truck, Bolero Camper (similar to the one we rode on to get to Narkanda), as no cars were available; but it suited us just fine! On the way, we requested the driver to stop at the Tani Jubbar Lake, which is about 6kms before Thanedar. The guidebooks had written quite flatteringly about the lake and it was recommended by the staff at Tethys as well, so our expectations were high. Unfortunately, the lake was a little disappointing! It is an oval-shaped, shallow mass of water that is more of a pond than a lake. It is encircled by a paved pathway, beyond which are gentle slopes covered with Blue Pine and Spruce trees. It is a picturesque setting, no doubt, but Himachal has far prettier places and Tani Jubbar does not deserve a special mention. It would have been a great place to stay, though, and we did notice a resort tucked away in the woods. A temple dedicated to Naag Devta (Snake God) stands at one end but it was closed at the time we were there. So we simply walked the lake’s perimeter and then hopped back on the truck.

We got to Thanedar’s beautiful Banjara Orchard Retreat around 1pm. After checking in and gorging on simple but yummy vegetarian fare with the host, Mr. Prakash Thakur, for company, we retired to our room for a brief siesta. However, at about 3pm, the skies darkened and a terrifying thunderstorm hit the area followed by a hailstorm and lightning. It looked like it would never end. But thankfully, an hour later everything was as quiet as though nothing had ever happened! We stepped out at around 4:30pm and decided to walk to Kotgarh’s St. Mary’s Church, which was recommended both by Mr. Thakur and our guidebooks.

We walked about a kilometer north and downhill to Thanedar’s tiny bazaar – just a few utility stores and a couple of tea stalls.

Since we were running short on supplies and since we weren’t sure what time the stores would close, we stocked up on some stuff before continuing on. At the end of the bazaar, we took a sharp left onto a road, which went further downhill and past a school, a bank and a few more stores. At the end of this street, we took a right only to find that the road had disappeared and in its place was a narrow, stone-ridden, dirt path that ran into the wooded area beyond. Since it had rained quite a bit just a few minutes ago, the path was slushy and slippery, making for a very slow progress. It took us past fruit orchards and homes. At one point it narrowed to almost a ditch-like width where we could barely put both feet down together. Here I even managed to slip and fall but, thankfully, didn’t hurt myself in any way except for some muddy palms.

About a kilometer later, the path left the orchards and homes behind, leading us into a forest trail that ran even

further downhill through Blue Pine and Deodar woods. This was the prettiest part of the trek and we spent quite a bit of time taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. Mr. Thakur had said that the walk to the church should take us about 45 minutes but it was almost 6pm when we got to Kotgarh. As soon as we entered the village, we noticed steep, stone steps that led up a slope towards the cross-topped spire that could be seen from the road. We took the steps and finally got to the pretty church that seemed to be under renovation.

The church was consecrated in 1872 and since then has brought the Christian families of Kotgarh together every Sunday. The village and church are the setting for one of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories, called ‘Lispeth’ . It was padlocked when we got there. So as

suggested by Mr. Thakur and the guidebooks, we walked to the neighboring

missionary school and asked one of the kids playing in the yard if someone could let us into the church. He ran into the adjoining building and after a couple of seconds, two men emerged. One of them had the keys to the church and he motioned for us to follow him. He turned out to be the priest, although we would have never guessed as he wasn’t dressed like one; didn’t have the collar either. Inside, the church’s walls are white-washed with a large, stain-glass window on the far wall. The wooden pews, ceiling and pulpit looked ancient and gorgeous!

The priest said that the church has been under renovation for the past 3 yrs. Since it’s a heritage property, work is painfully slow. They have had to bring in experts on restoration work to ensure that the property is not damaged in any way. Moreover laborers get pulled into apple-harvesting during the months of August and September. And then, of course, the winter months don’t allow for much progress either. In spite of this, he hopes to have all the work completed by Christmas this year. When we stepped back out of the church, we noticed that its walls were made of mud. The priest confirmed this saying that it was a mud-mixed-with-straw structure atop which a layer of cow-dung is applied. Once this layer dries out, the exteriors will be white-washed and the work will be complete.

We thanked the priest for his time and help, and at around 6:30pm, started our uphill walk. I was really worried that it would get dark soon while we were still in the woods. This was a scary thought and it propelled us to forget our aching legs and walk as quickly uphill as possible. And we surprised ourselves by making it back to Banjara Retreat in just over an hour; I guess fear is a great motivator .

We spent the evening with Mr. Thakur over a glass of excellent, locally produced, Apricot wine and yummy food. We met two other couples who were also staying at the Retreat for the night. They were all very warm, friendly and intelligent people who shared our passion for travel. We had a great conversation with them and Mr. Thakur, who had amazing stories to share; it was an evening very well-spent!

Vijay Stokes, a retired Mechanical Engineer Professor of IIT Kanpur, at his orchard in Kotgarh, Shimla.

Nearly a century after it brought in an unprecedented boom in apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh, Kotgarh in Shimla district is set to usher in yet another era of sweeping horticulture reforms. A first-of-its-kind “scientifically-managed”orchard is being nurtured at the Harmony Hall (HH) Orchard after replacing ageing apple trees with imported varieties.

A first-of-its-kind “scientifically-managed”orchard is being nurtured at the Harmony Hall (HH) Orchard after replacing ageing apple trees with imported varieties. The HH Orchard is associated with the legendary Samuel Evans Stokes who planted the state’s first commercial orchard at Kotgarh in 1914. Since then, Himachal Pradesh has been synonymous with apples, producing fruits worth Rs 1,500 crore each year.

Each of the 10,000 fresh plants being planted across the 250 bighas here would speak of its own history, pedigree, health, treatments and experiments done on it as an elaborate database of individual fruit tree is also being maintained.

That is being made possible with practices that were never heard of or felt necessary in the apple orchard business. A dedicated weather station automatically logs data, every half-an-hour, of mundane orchard operation, calculates spacing between the trees and measures exact north-south directions of rows using GPS.

“This has been planned to come up as a living laboratory and its failure or success can only be concluded after 50 years. Many of us behind its inception may not be around at that time, so the database of the experiment would certainly give insights and form basis for apple research in India in future, says Vijay Stokes, grandson of Samuel Evans Stokes, and a former Professor of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur.

The experiment started in 2007. Stokes invited sneers from people in Kotgarh when he chopped off hundreds of 40-year-old trees to make way for new apple plant varieties and root stocks that he had imported from Adams County Nursery in Aspers, PA United States of America .

“As the earth moving machine uprooted trees, bewildered crowds would gather from the nearby villages to watch the process. We were doing the experiments at the cost of income generating trees,” remembers Vijay Stokes, who decided to do so after fruit traders in Shimla wholesale market told him that that his iconic brand, Harmony Hall orchard, had become poorest in terms of fruit quality. The reason, Stokes said, was neglect.

The next problem was to decide on the varieties to plant. After consultations with a local orchardist, Hari Roach, who had imported plants from America in 2002, Stokes decided to go in for a large- scale import of apple trees of which 75 per cent were spur variety of Super Chiefs and Fuji variety grafted on tallest of the available Dwarf Rootstocks EMLA 111 in 2007.

In 2008, his imports focused on Gala and Fuji. The orchard now also has a scion bank of over 20 modern apple varieties, which would be experimented with in the coming years.

“After futuristic calculations about height and width of each full grown tree, I enforced strict pattern of plantation in north-south rows. The rows have been spaced from each other in such a way that when the trees grow full length, they get sunlight throughout the day, from different directions. And this spacing pattern also took care that as the sun moves from east to west, the shadow of one tree does not restrict the sunlight for the other,” explains Stokes.

Similarly, the pruning pattern for the trees would be such that the trees do not look like a round canopy but conical, for better penetration of sunlight which increases productivity.

To meet the water needs of plants on shorter rootstocks, which require large quantity of water as they have shallow roots, the orchard has invested a huge deal on rain water harvesting and utilisation of the waste household water from labour huts in soak pits.

The initial lot of 2,000 new apple plantations planted in first year would start bearing fruits exactly after five years. By 2013, all 10,000 new plants would be in place. Each year after that, at least 500 to 1,000 plants would come in production.

When asked if there’s a potential for another revolution in his experiments, Vijay Stokes says, “It is certain that once people, local scientists and government see for themselves the success or failure of what I am doing, a chain reaction would follow”.

Vijay Stokes and his siblings are planning to turn the HH Orchard Estate into an apple research institution under a trust dedicated to S E Stokes. The estate has already employed local school passouts and college dropout youths who are being trained to make presentations and write annual plans and reports on computers.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/at-apple-pad-another-revolution/621739/0

KOTGARH

Saurav Bhaik says – It was a decent crowd at tanajubal this year… felt good to see people with the very same enthusiasm as it was few years back… hope to see u all at thanedhar ka mela!!

Uma Singha

How Uma Singha became Kotgarh’s queen, is indeed a filmi story. Her daughter-in-law Shabnam who lived in Kotgarh, had invited her film-maker friend Pradeep Sarkar there. He was looking for a suitable locale for his new music video Pia Basanti. He was enthralled with Kotgarh’s picturesque green valleys, floating clouds, mist and drizzle. And ruins of nearby Khaneti inspired him to change the story to suit the locale.

Pradeep was destined to find his queen in Kotgarh too. He was sitting at breakfast table when Uma walked in with her silvery tresses cascading all over her fair face. Hold your breath! Pradeep just couldn’t help staring and exclaiming, ’Gazab ho gaya!’ Uma was the very queen he visualized for his video. Pradeep offered her the role. Uma accepted it. But who’s Uma, often seen on Shimla’s Mall, clad in traditional reshta and daatu? She comes from Himachal’s premier Stokes family, being eldest grandchild of late Samuel Evans (Satyanand) Stokes and married to apple orchardist Mahavir Singha. As a student, Uma enacted Macbeth in Auckland House and later in Benares University. She is a qualified doctor from Delhi’s Lady Hardinge and is a social worker too. Music video Piya Basanti was shot mostly in Uma’s apple orchards namely River View Orchards, where Shabnam’s rabbits in their angora farm, are also featured. Pradeep wanted to create artificial rain by using apple spray guns but luckily it rained. A crew of 80 worked day and night dragging their equipment up and down hill slopes, in pouring rains.

India Today Screen n Surf
September 11 Issue

-S. Sahaya Ranjit

Pairing-up in Piya Basanti

Classical types, it seems, are all scurrying to hitch a ride on some pop-wagon or the other. In the just-released video for the album Piya Basanti (Sony), sarangi maestro Ustad Sultan Khan pairs up with Chitra to foray into the world of music-videos.
And mind you, here his vocals take precedence over his many-hued instrument. Shot around Kotgarh in Shimla district, it features a girl’s search for her lover. When she does find him, trouble strikes. He is wanted by the police. The story continues in two subsequent videos. Melody combines with melodrama as music video director Pradeep Sarkar crafts his product as superbly as ever.

“Beth” in the Simla Hills

Introduction

Unfree labour was central to agricultural production in pre-colonial India. Under colonial impact, these forms of unfree labour, while retaining their outward form, were radically changed in content. In medieval times, the subjects of the king were never `free’ as in the modern sense and all social classes and groups were linked to each other vertically and horizontally in ties of bondage, dependence and patronage. Under colonialism these ties got removed from their socio – economic context of origin and existence, and functioned differently in the new environment. It would be an attempt of this paper to see how and what changes were brought about in the institution of `Beth‘ – forced labour of unfree lower castes – in the Simla Hills under the impact of British rule.

Beth and its cousin category of Begar were forms of unfree labour of the agricultural castes. While the latter was given by practically every State subject for community and administrative works, the former was only given by the lowest castes to the higher castes and it usually took the form of semi-serf agricultural labour. When the British gained physical control of the Cis-Sutlej hills in 1815, they gave Sanads to the petty States of the region confirming their formal independence under British Paramountcy. These States, eighteen in all, were given almost complete independence in their internal matters. Begar was the only exaction of the colonial state from most of them in the absence of any proper tribute

There has been almost no attempt to study the agrarian economies, social structures and political institutions of the Western Himalayas except in the few ecology centered works on the region. Beth ( or other forms of the labour of the lowest castes ) has never been considered worthy of even the most preliminary study, though there have been one or two exceptions. Before we begin any discussion of unfree labour in the specificities of the Simla Hill States, it would be useful to place it in the wider context of unfree labour in colonial situations.

Read the complete work of Aniket Alam by clicking here.

Samuel Evans Stokes of India was active in the Indian National Movement and an associate of Mahatma Gandhi. For details see “Samuel Evans Stokes, Mahatma Gandhi, and Indian Nationalism” by Kenton J. Clymer, Pacific Historical Review, Volume LIX, February, 1990, #1.

For some reason the Genealogy of the Stokes Family lacks information on Samuel Evans Stokes, Sr. He was the son of John H. Stokes and Tabitha Jenkins (see page 103 of the Stokes Genealogy). Their son Samuel, married FLorence Spenser of Moorestown. Samuel Sr. lived in Philadelphia and was president of the Stokes and Parish Elevator Company. Below is the information from the 1900 census.
Samuel Evans Stokes Sr., b. Oct. 1846,
Florence Stokes b. June 1847.
Children were-
Samuel Evans. Jr., b. August, 1882,
Ann Spencer, b. Sept. 1883
John Spencer, b. November 1884
Florence Spencer, b. August, 1889

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger, Monday, Nov. 14, 1910. Samuel E. Stokes Sr. died November 12, 1910 at his residence at 5419 Wayne Ave., Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.
Samuel Evans Stokes Jr. moved to India in January 1904 to act as a Christian missionary. Soon after his arrival an earthquake shook Kangra and he volunteered to go there and help. He later helped with a smallpox epidemic that struck in Punjab. He was administrator of the Gorton Mission School in Kotgarh where he lived in a cave.
About 1912 he returned to Kotgarh where he later married Agnes Benjamin and started his family.
Children were-
Prem Chand Stokes, b. Dec. 7, 1913
Pritam Chand Stokes, b. Jan. 13th, 1915
Tara Chand Stokes, b. July 23, 1916
Champavati Stokes, b. July 22, 1917
Savitri Stokes, b. March 30th, 1919
Satyavati Stokes, b. April 10th, 1920
Lal Chand Stokes, b. March 17th, 1925
{This information from the collection of Milton Rubincam)

He introduced apple production to this section of India and also started a school. At the outbreak of World War I he volunteered for service in the British and served as a Captain in India. After the war he began to become disillusioned with British treatment of the Indian people He was involved with the India National Congress. In 1919/1920 he began active opposition to begar (forced labor), where Indian men were forced to carry the baggage for British government officials. This posed a severe problem for those men who were pulled from their work to accommodate these officials. Stokes began a letter writing campaign in Indian newspapers and organized protest strikes and public meetings to oppose the practice. Mahatma Gandhi, in “Young India” wrote “No Indian is giving such battle to the Government as Mr. Stokes” By 1921 Mr. Stokes was successful, he managed to bring an end to the practice, prisoners would be released and those responsible would be removed.

Stokes’ position began to become more radical as he supported the move towards non-involvement in government affairs. In Oct. 1921 Samuel Evans Stokes was invited to a meeting of the Directorate of the Indian National Congress, he signed a manifasto that advocated non-Indian involvement in government affairs, including the military. Stokes was the only foreigner invited to that meeting. The British response was to outlaw the All India Congress and Stokes was arrested. He served 6 months in jail, refusing to offer a defense. He wrote to his mother about how proud he was to serve in prison as had his ancestor, Thomas Stokes. (Thomas Stokes was in prison for violating what came to be known as the Clarendon Code, a series of laws intented to restrict the rights of religious dissenters.)
In 1932, at the time of his conversion to Hinduism he wrote a book on religion called Satykama which was banned by the British.

During World War II Stokes urged the Indian Nationalists to support the British, not because he thought them admirable but because he thought the Germans worse. Because of British government reluctance to accommodate the views of the Indian National movement his position shifted to a more anti-British point of view.

Samuel Evans Stokes died May 14, 1946 at Harmony Hall (named after a family residence in New Jersey) Barobagh Village, Kotgarth District of Simla, Punjab, India.
Samuel Evans Stokes showed himself to be a truly compassionate and unique individual. He was able to place himself in India without the arrogance and racism usually associated with Westerners.

Himalayan circuits

Luck has been quite the lady with me as far as finding winter is concerned. Often, over the last few years, I’ve had the pleasure of throwing open the curtains of a cozy inn to find a land whitewashed by overnight snowfall.

The thrill of feeling a chill in the air and the excitement of travelling in a snow-topped car on a white road through an icy forest, make the Himalayan circuits enchanting places to visit in winter.

All of these circuits (except Harsil) have cozy digs. And I’m talking about log huts, windows with snow capped views, warm quilts, roaring fireplaces and hot chocolate — get the idea?
Kharapathar — Tani Jubbar Lake — Thanedar

This circuit is my favourite, and I discovered its charms quite by accident last year. A friend and I had driven from Mumbai to the Himalayas in Uttarakhand. Fed up with the city’s hot winter, we’d decided to migrate northward to the cold.

On the road

We’d turned off the Grand Trunk road from Delhi to Chandigarh at Pipli, driven past Yamunanagar and started the climb into the mountains at Paonta Sahib. We then spent the night at Chakrata and entered Himachal Pradesh, driving past the village of Hatkoti.

That night, due to heavy fog, we ended up taking the wrong road (the one to Theog) and reached Kharapathar. We’d wanted to go to Rohru on the road to Narkanda.

It was bitterly cold and gloomy and at that moment, the impulsive drive across 1,800 km seemed rather senseless. But it all changed the next morning when I threw open the curtains of my room at the Giriganga Resort in Kharapathar. The landscape was white and the view was veiled by the heaviest snowfall I have ever seen.

We gingerly drove on to Theog, since the road to Rohru was now iced out. Luckily we had snow chains for the real tricky iced out sections.

Snowed out

From Theog we headed to Narkanda on NH22 — the main Shimla-Rampur road — because Kufri and Chandigarh were snowed out. Luckily, a friend runs an idyllic retreat in Thanedar, so we weren’t stranded.

The next morning we all walked six kilometres to the Tani Jubbar Lake. The snowfall had stopped and the sky was a cloudless blue. The lake and the adjoining Nag devta temple looked like an artist’s freshly painted canvas.

Though I’ve been here during the summer, the snow lent to this place an altogether different charm. Standing there on the ice-covered grounds, I thanked my stars for that wrong turn and snow-logged roads that forced me to come here. And the beauty that surrounded me made the long drive worth it too.