To Orwell Today,
re: ORWELL MOTIHARI MUSEUM PROGRESS

Hi Jackie,

So it is done in time to come out in the latest edition of the travel directory. I would like to help with the museum as I have some experience of fund raising. Later I shall write to Dr Gupta and discuss the matter.

In the meantime take a break from Orwell and tell me a little about yourself. All I know is that your great-grandparents are buried in Pune. That is how Poona is pronounced now.

Warm regards,
Nasir Abid

Greetings Nasir,

Orwell and I have some similarities in our backgrounds in that we both had great-grandfathers who were Vicars.

My great-grandfather was the Anglican Bishop of Mauritius from 1898 until 1903 when he became the Bishop of Bombay. While there, in nearby Poona, my great-grandmother died of cholera in 1904. She was 43 years old. My great-grandfather carried on in Bombay alone (their eight children were all in school in England) until his death in Bombay in 1908 from complications caused by diabetes. He was 52.

So at the same time that Orwell was living his first year of life in India (1903 to 1904), my great-grandparents were in India too.

My grandfather, when he was 86, (he died at age 93), wrote a story about his remembrances of living in Mauritius (he was born in 1893 and travelled there with his parents) and I have beautiful photographs of that time. One day I'll probably post his stories and the photos on the website as they are fascinating.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - As promised I've added the photos above and my Grandfather's stories, below. Click on the pages to enlarge for reading:

ORWELL THE HAPPY VICAR & ORWELL'S WHITE HORSE

ORWELL's TYPEWRITER MY GRANDFATHER'S