In her article "The knights of Nagpur” (Parsiana, August 7, 2016) Dilnavaz Bhagwagar has written that the location where King George knighted Bezonji Mehta was the railway station. To the best of my knowledge, the monarch went to the Sitabuldi Fort (about one km away) where the ceremony took place. That is why the road through which he traversed was known as Kingsway for years, till it was renamed some time back.
The maximum employment that the Empress Mills provided in its heyday was anywhere between 22,000 to 25,000 and not 7,000, as mentioned in the article. It was believed to be almost 30% of the total population of Nagpur at that time. As an aside, a little over 6,000 were employed in 1970, when I joined the Mills.
On her final return to Nagpur, Dhun Ghose made Tamarinds Annexe her abode. The main Tamarinds bungalow, though owned by her, had a tenant at that time and she never stayed there till it was disposed of. AARMIN BANAJI
Nagpur
dog2on@gmail.com
Dilnavaz Bhagwagar replies:
The story about the knighting of Bezonji Mehta on Nagpur Railway Station was taken from notes given to me by his great-granddaughter Dhun Mehta Ghose and I believe I could not have got a more authentic source.
I had no direct connection with the Empress Mills but had always heard it said that "the Empress Mills employed about 7,000 people which fed 35,000 mouths” (assuming a family of five for every worker in the mills).
Banaji is right in saying that Ghose and her husband stayed at the Tamarinds Annexe and not the main Tamarinds after they returned to Nagpur.
Tarnished