Calcutta’s first mill opened in 1855; seventy-five years later, the city was producing 70% of the world’s jute products. With a never-ending supply of raw materials right on its doorstep, it made far more economical sense to concentrate the industry in Bengal, rather than half-way around the world in Scotland.Today there are Scottish veterans forming the Calcutta and Mofussil Society: veterans of the Indian jute industry who like to congregate in places like the Monifieth Golf Club, to partake of Indian food, speak Hindi, and reminisce about their days in the East. The majority of Calcutta’s mills were owned by expatriate British businessmen, but they were run by Dundonians. Ambitious jute workers moved from Dundee to Calcutta in the 1850s, and they ran the industry there for the best part of a century. The last ones returned to Scotland in the late sixties, having been made to feel rather uncomfortable and unwelcome in independent India. They joke about it now, of course, but they heard the labourers keeping the rhythm while loading and unloading jute, singing what sounded like ‘hey-ho, the sahib’s a saala’ (meaning, pretty much, that the boss is a bloody bastard). Video: 30 May: Herald. GOA @36: Young are grateful for Goa’s Statehood… Goa was finally liberated from Portuguese rule on December 19, 1961. It became a Union Territory of India… A pivotal referendum took place in 1967, resulting in their choice to remain a Union Territory. Eventually, on May 30, 1987, Goa attained Statehood… Youngster like Sheefa Tonse reveal what they think about Statehood… “Statehood is important,” she says “as it helps establish Goa as a state with a distinctive entity…” 6m.40s The highlight of the day for Cox? Having freshly fried pakoras made with the jute plant! “They were delicious and I gobbled up quite a few of them,” he laughed.

Brian Cox Visits McGregor Balfour Textiles. Sandra Thomson discusses her selection of innovative jute products from handbags to coffins, produced by this Dundee company.of Natalya, Sienna and Fabrizio. Loving brother to late Edwiges, late Joseph/late Anna, late Valente/late Rita, late Martin/Gisha and late Cursino/Millie. Caring uncle to Dennis/Imma, Doris/Ludo, Late David, Derek/Mabel, Brian, Leslie and Thomas/Emma and Michelle and all their children. It is about the disparate nature of Scotland, it’s two faces: the romantic and the realistic,” he said. “I was very interested in the ‘spin’ that Sir Walter Scott gave Scotland in the 1800s. I’m interested in how this is something we’re caught up in, the false history, the romantic extreme. And then there is the other part, the grim, gritty reality, like in Trainspotting and the drug life of Edinburgh.” He also gives the voice to one of the farmers in the much-anticipated reimagining of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox with Meryl Streep and George Clooney.

With India’s partition in 1947, the best quality jute-growing areas fell into East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), tantalisingly out of reach for Calcutta’s jute mills. In the orgy of violence that befell the countries in the wake of that great sundering, the Dundonian Jutewallahs found themselves protected behind their compound walls, defended by stalwart Gurkhas. Shortly thereafter, the Indian government issued directives that more and more locals should be employed in positions that were held by Europeans. Many Jutewallahs thought that the mills would collapse once they left and the Indians took over; the know-how, after all, was with them and not the natives. There was a mass exodus of expatriates out of Bengal, and by the early 1950s, most of Calcutta’s mills had passed into Indian ownership. This will not be Cox’s first encounter with Kolkata and West Bengal. In fact, the area has a very personal pull for the Dundee-born actor. His parents worked in the jute mills by the River Tay, processing tonnes of the yarn shipped from the subcontinent. Cox recently made a BBC documentary, Brian Cox’s Jute Journey, about Dundee’s and his own links with West Bengal. A Dundonian himself, Cox was visibly moved. “To uncover the history of my fellow Dundonians who travelled all the way to India to work under extreme conditions and died in an alien land is extremely emotional.” The shooting went off smoothly, with the crew having little to complain about. Except the sweltering heat. “The sun is a scorcher and the heat is killing. I have been through three shirts already,” laughed Cox. May: Navhind Times. Starting small. Integrative, holistic nutrition and lifestyle medicine expert Luke Coutinho, recently launched his book, “Small Wins Everyday” … I began working on this book in January 2022… Some of our most complicated cases from cancer to diabetes to Alzheimer’s to other diseases have been successful as we teach our patients to make small life style changes on day at a time… Because this has worked for us, we thought we should put it into a book and share it with the world…The Marwaris, business-oriented clans from Rajasthan, became the new kings of jute. They had been involved in India’s jute industry from the very beginning, but they continued to employ Dundonians as managers. Interaction between the Scots and the Indians increased substantially. The Jutewallahs trained up Indian colleagues; in some conservative mills, however, there were still lines that could not be crossed. Several of them who fell in love with Indian women found themselves fired from their jobs. The evening was far more pleasant with the entire crew heading to the Tollygunge Club. “The idea of filming at the club was to capture what the social life of the Scots living in the city must have been like,” ventured Archer.

The Scottish Government has highlighted India as one of its key international partners. While educational, financial, heritage and political links are being built between the two nations, Cox said they would be for nothing if culture, like this film festival, was not at the centre of it. I think it translates well,” says Cox, sitting in a tiny room upstairs in the cavernous, winding Wyndham’s. “I think there is a universal quality to this. It is what the Mass used to do for Catholics, the celebration of the Eucharist. The Mass had a kind of mystery about it, and the theatre has a mystery about it. DVD Region 0 PAL. Produced by Hopscotch Films for BBC Scotland. Hollywood actor Brian Cox is a son of Dundee. It's the big constant in his life. Top) Brian Cox on the Scottish Cemetery premises. Picture by Aranya Sen. (below) The crew shoot at the Tollygunge Club Dundee (1939, b/w), The city of Dundee, its people and industries: jute, jam, and journalism. Premiered at a meeting of the British Association in Dundee, September 1939, the screening was abandoned midway owing to the declaration of war. Director: Donald Alexander.Brian Cox's Jute Journey Monday, BBC2, 9pm Ever tasted jute pakora? Ever heard about Dundonians who left Scotland to seek fortunes through their knowledge of jute in India? Us neither. Most of the immigrants were from Ireland, poor and Catholic. The churches that stand there to this day owe much to the indigent Irish jute workers. Yet it wasn’t their religion or nationality that made them stand out. Three quarters of those who worked in the mills were women. And so Dundee became known as ‘She Town.’ Women and children could weave, and an entire matriarchal society was setup. Women became powerful in many ways. To this day, women’s church groups continue the tradition of autonomy and social power.