To Orwell Today,
re: BIRTH SHRINE TO ORWELL

Hi,

I am putting together a piece for the PM programme on BBC Radio 4 re plans to open up a George Orwell museum in his birthplace. I am planning to travel to Motihari and wondered if you had a contact for Mr Debapriya Mookherjee.

Sorry to trouble you!

Tx,
Rahul

Greetings Rahul,

Don't worry -- it's no trouble at all -- I love connecting people interested in the Orwell museum in Motihari -- a project that's been in the works this past ten years or so.

I'll forward your request to Debapriya Mookherjee and hopefully he'll contact you ASAP.

Please be in touch when your radio program airs on BBC so ORWELL TODAY readers, worldwide, can listen on-line.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

MOTIHARI MOOKHERJEE DEFENDS ORWELL

ORWELL STATUE IN MOTIHARI

To Orwell Today,

Greetings Jackie Jura,

Yes, I received your email and gave my mobile number to Rahul.

You know that I am working in this project for last 12 years and now very soon the birth place of Orwell will be in a presentable shape -- try to visit.

Regards,
Debapriya

Greetings Debapriya,

So glad you and the BBC are connecting -- afterall, Orwell worked for the BBC during WWII broadcasting literary programs specifically to listeners in India.

Above is the book GEORGE ORWELL: THE LOST WRITINGS which is a compilation of radio programs Orwell produced for the BBC as Talks Assistant, Indian Section.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - Here's an Orwell museum update in today's news:

Coming up for Motihari, by Shreevatsa Nevatia, Hindu Business Line, Aug 1, 2014
With the restoration of his birthplace, residents of a small town in Bihar hope that George Orwell will give them a place on the world map.... If it weren't for the recent presence of masons and labourers, there would have been little cause for optimism. After many promises, district authorities finally began renovating Orwell's birthplace in the last week of June, and handed current occupants notices to evict the property.... Mookherjee, a member of the Rotary Motihari Lake Town, also doubles as the chairman of the club's George Orwell Commemorative Committee. Looking out at patches of coarse grass near the erstwhile Blair residence, he speaks of landscaping plans, the possibility of a fountain and a statue. For the proposed Orwell museum -- the first of its kind in the world -- Mookherjee talks of convincing Richard Blair, the writer's son, to send replicas of his father's manuscripts from the George Orwell Archive at University College London. "Rather than travelling to Britain, we want Orwell scholars in India to be able to come to Motihari for their research"....

The Indian Animal Farm where Orwell was born, by Suhail Haleem, BBC, Aug 11, 2014

listen Searching for George Orwell in Bihar, BBC Radio World Service, Aug 1, 2014 (A bungalow in Motihari in the Indian state of Bihar where George Orwell was born is set to become the world's first museum dedicated to the writer. BBC Urdu's Suhail Haleem travels to Motihari to find out whether people there have ever heard of this famous former resident.

ORWELL MOTIHARI BIRTHPLACE MILLIONAIRE (...In 2011 Sushil Kumar, who won the equivalent of one million $US dollars in the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", said that listening to BBC Hindi contributed to his success...)

BIRTH SHRINE TO ORWELL