LONDON BANKER BEHIND BIHAR
To Orwell Today,
re: SHRINE TO ORWELL and VISITING ORWELL'S BIRTHPLACE
Dear Jackie,
I was going through the Orwell Today website... and Clive's report of his visit to Motihari in Bihar, birthplace of Eric Blair.
I am a banker in London but I have spent 25 years in India. I was born in Jamshedpur, Bihar and have good understanding of the place.
I am keen to help you and the team in any way I can in your aim to refurbish and develop Eric's birthplace as a tourist destination. One of my good friend is an IPS officer (Senior cadre civil servant)... I can rope in his contacts and help too.
Great job with your research and website.
Regards,
Manish Singh
Investment Director
Greetings Manish,
You're literally a dream come true - or maybe a messenger from Orwell - coming to the rescue of a project that obviously the great man must approve of.
I'll post your email so everyone with ideas - on top of Nasir and Clive - can write in and get in touch with you.
All the best,
Jackie Jura
Reader Zoe asks for help obtaining photographs of Orwell's birthplace in India
INDIA PROTECTS ORWELL BIRTHPLACE (Jackie reports news about progress on the restoration of Orwell's birthplace in Motihari, Bihar)
Clive is planning another trip to India and wonders about progress on the renovation of Orwell's bungalow in Motihari, Bihar
Chandreshwar visited Orwell's birthplace in Motihari on Orwell's 106th birthday
Reader Amit is from Motihari - Orwell's birthplace - and wants to be a part of efforts to develop it as a shrine and tourist attraction
British couple wants to renovate Orwell’s Bihar house. Thai-Indian News, Apr 25th, 2008
Patna - ...London-based retired English professor Clive Collins and his wife Monica Collins have written to the district magistrate in Motihari as well as the local Rotary Club, offering help...."Moved by reports of Orwell's dilapidated house, the British couple has decided to renovate it and develop it as a tourist spot," Debapriya Mukherjee, district chairman of the Rotary Club, told IANS on phone. The couple has also assured the Rotary Club that they will launch a campaign to spread awareness about Orwell and his works in Britain, Mukherjee added. About four years ago the Heritage Foundation of India announced that it would renovate Orwell's house. However, no progress was made.)
VISITING ORWELL'S BIRTHPLACE (Clive sends report and photos of visit)
Reader Clive is going to India in March 2008 and plans to visit Motihari and the house where Orwell was born
Nasir suggests readers send in suggestions for the Motihari Orwell project
ORWELL'S MOTIHARI NEIGHBOUR (sends news about Orwell's birth place)
Bihar pays cash to stop kidnappings (30,000 abductions since 1992). BBC, Mar 27, 2006
MOTIHARI MUSEUM MUSINGS ("...We have initiated a movement to restore Orwell's Motihari home," Rotarian Debapriya Mookherjee said, adding that they were planning "a plaque outside the house with the writer's life history, a museum and a library with Orwell's works and the restoration of his house to its original grandeur" from article in London Times of India and Makeover of Orwell's Home in BBC, Aug 23, 2005)
Shashi from Motihari wants to make a documentary film on Orwell
ORWELL MUSEUM A HAPPENING (Nasir sends news that Orwell Museum in Motihari is being funded 5-million rupees by the Heritage Foundation of India from article Homage to Orwell: India's opium state plans park at author's 'home'. The Independent, Jun 29, 2005
Nasir sends information from Mr Mookerjee on how to get to Motihari and where people can stay when they get there
Nasir is receiving no response for fund-raising plans to restore Orwell's house in India
Nasir suggests fund-raising toward restoration of Orwell's house in commemoration of his birthday on June 25th
Nasir wonders about my great-grandparents being buried in India
ORWELL MOTIHARI MUSEUM PROGRESS (Nasir sends updates on progress of the Orwell museum & accommodations in Patna and the article All's Not Well With Orwell's House. Telegraph, Nov 14 2004)
Caroline is updating the Bihar chapter of Rough Guide to India & needs info on Orwell Museum & accommodation in Motihari
Nasir sends Merry and Happy wishes to Orwell devotees
ORWELL MUSEUM IN INDIA (Nasir says Motihari is restoring Orwell's birth house into a museum from article Orwell was here – India seeks to write new chapter in author's life. London Telegraph, Oct 28, 2004)
INDIA, ORWELL, JFK & CHINA (Nasir and Jackie discuss Orwell's job offer at Lucknow Pioneer and pick bones about India & China)
SHRINE TO ORWELL (Nasir says the house that Eric Arthur Blair was born in still exists and should be made into a shrine)
BOOKLOVERS' CORNER (...After getting off the underground we strolled leisurely down the High Street of Hampstead which is a very trendy area full of unique shops and cafes and interesting-looking flats and houses. Zoe noticed in the A to Z that a nearby park had a statue of Karl Marx "if we wanted to go and see". I almost choked on my ice-cream cone and told her I'd much prefer going to see a statue of George Orwell - one of England's greatest writers - than of an author no one's read but everyone talks about, and who was the figurehead of a political system Orwell spent the last fifteen years of his life actively opposing. But to this date there are no statues of Orwell...)
PILGRIMAGE TO ORWELL and HOMAGE TO ORWELL
Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~
email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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