Sunday, February 28, 2010

The American in Simla

Winter is here; the hedgehog/groundhog had come out, saw its shadow in the clear day and went back into its burrow proclaiming that winter will last another 6 weeks. It may not be so cold in India but then, one of these days, you would go to the fruit vendor and decide to buy apples. The shopkeeper is definite to ask you ‘imported (China) of Simla’? And you ponder. These days many are bound to say ‘imported’, but in earlier times we would not hear that option and end up with the sweet Simla apples. Returning home, a quick bite into the crunchy fruit transports you to the Himachal valleys where it is all grown. Not many would think, how on earth did this fruit end up in India? But one or two may.

History is like traversing one of those twisting roads during your childhood. You turn a corner, to affront an elephant perhaps, or a queer person, or one you fear, a vicious man with a hideous face maybe, sometimes it is a ferocious giant, sometimes it a gentle benevolent person, sometimes it is a wonderful personality, you take one of those sights to heart and remember it for a long time. Some of these many people have shaped our lives, some have sacrificed theirs for us, some have wasted theirs on fruitless dreams or whims, some have lived through selfish periods wasting immense amounts of money and lives…but sometimes you come across a delightful person, one who chose to lead a life so alien to every cell of his body, and this person I have decided to introduce you to is one such.

And that takes me back to the apple. As you bite into an apple, be it in Kerala, Bengal or Bombay, there is a good chance that you may choose the Shimla ‘delicious red’ variety. So what if I were to tell you that it was all the handiwork of that delightful person I am going to introduce and that it originated from America?

But would that be the reason for his greatness and place in history? Not at all, as he gave us much more than that. So without further ado, let me introduce you to the American Christian missionary who came to India over a century ago, liked what he saw and decided that he not only wanted to live here, but become an Indian to the core. He started off as a regular missionary working with lepers and the downtrodden, and then decided that he wanted to become a different type of Christian Yogi living in caves, leading a frugal ascetic life and dressed like one. Later he came out of the caves, married a local Pahadi girl and after becoming a father, somewhere along the way decided that Hinduism fitted his ideals even more, resulting in his and his family’s conversion, a rare occurrence at that time.

But was that all? He also became an ardent freedom fighter in the fight against the British, became a confidante of Gandhiji, and went to jail fighting the cause. Do we know him? Did we ever read about him or study his life? He was lost in those annals of history, actually. In our days of delirious joy after attaining freedom, the gentle American was lost in the dust, as he silently continued his good work in the hills, among the apple trees in his hand-planted orchards of Simla.

Sometimes you come across the most interesting stories purely by chance. This one occurred so, for I was reading a collection of Kushwant Singh’s stories (more on why I was reading his book, was covered in a previous blog about Menon, Singh and Dev Anand) and I saw an article on Simla. In it there was a cryptic remark which said – The eccentric American missionary who converted the whole of the apple-growing valley of Kotgarh to Christianity and then re-converted them back to Hinduism….This was too good to miss, so I got on to the research mode. Want to know what happened? Read on.

For that is the story of Samuel Evans Stokes who went to Kotgarh in 1904 to show the lord’s way to the lost people, or so he believed he was destined to do. And this is the person I will talk about, Satyanand Stokes, a.k.a Samuel Evans stokes (Stokes is the man in the picture, not Lal Bahadur Sastri). Hopefully I have by now caught your attention and hopefully I will keep this interesting. I for one, found his story very engaging.

My desire to get more data on the person lead me to read many newspaper articles and what I read stoked a desire to buy the lone book written about him. I ordered it and it arrived after a longish wait. There was a pleasant surprise in store for me, for it was personally autographed by the author, Asha Sharma, the great granddaughter of Stokes himself.

And thus on a cold and rainy day in Raliegh, I sat to read about our friend Stokes whose life, every minute of it, from the moment after landing on Indian shores was dedicated to India and her people. A rich American, who could have lived his life in luxury, forsook all that. We can now trace his life through the many hundred letters he wrote his mother living back in USA. After all, religion is a choice, social service is a duty, but dedicating your life for a community is yet another thing and that was Stokes. Little did I know until then of his connection to Apple cultivation, the famous Simla apples of today, or his connection to the Messaih of the hills – Satyanand. His destiny was not to sell his family’s elevators (amalgamated into today’s famous Otis Company), this 21 year olds calling was in India where he wanted to work with lepers. He was also the only non-Indian to sign the Congress manifesto in 1921 calling upon Indians to quit government service

Hopefully I have caught your attention.

As the 20th century dawned, the British were well in control in India. The sahibs were holding fort while the freedom fighters led by Gandhiji and many other leaders were turning on the screws. As the dusty hot and humid days took their toll on the not so ruddy composition of the Burra sahib, he retired with his family to the summer capital of the British Raj, in hills of Himachal, to the hills station called Simla (now called Shimla – was it someone slightly inebriated who decided the new pronunciation?). The Queen of the hills had beckoned and the Raj had followed to spend a while in the little town located on the north-west Himalayas at an altitude of 2,128 meters (6,982 ft), draped in forests of pine, rhododendron, and oak, a place that experiences pleasant summers and cold, snowy winters. I have been there and I can tell you, it is one beautiful place.

Well it was a fun place (probably like Las Vegas is viewed today), as they said in those days – The presence of many bachelors and unattached men, as well as the many women passing the hot weather there, gave Simla a reputation for adultery, and at least gossip about adultery: as Rudyard Kipling said in a letter cited by Allen, it had a reputation for “frivolity, gossip and intrigue”.

But how did Gandhiji ever come to say – As long as we have an Andrews a Stokes, a Pearson in our midst, so long it will be ungentlemanly on our part to wish every Englishman out of India?

Into this town, marched a young man from America, with a burning desire, to tend to the lepers of Simla. The wealthy elevator making family was indeed worried, would he also catch the disease? Stokes was adamant and took the steamer Haverford in January 1904, bound eastwards. His mind was open and without any set plans. That was to help him, for he lived a very long time indeed at his destination. He chose this path due to a meeting with a Dr Carleton (back home on a furlough) who headed the Newton mission in India. It was an unfortunate point of time, a time when the British Raj had actually decreed that Lepers should be treated equal to criminals.

After spending a sick period on the voyage to Britain, a short stay in Edinburough and finally leaving for Bombay, the cheerful young man landed on Indian shores in Feb of the same year. He reached Sabathu and quickly went about learning the local language. As he worked, he wrote back, and sketched many scenes of the life in Simla. His diet unlike those of the other foreigners who lived there was always rice and dhal. Dr Carelton soon moved him to Kotgarh, 50 miles north of Simla. Just imagine, there were no roads and Sam had to walk that distance demonstrating true ‘missionary zeal’. Finally he reached the place Kotgarh called ‘mistress of the Northern hills’ and later traveled around, trying to master Hindi, which he eventually did. His father sent him $42 every month, but Sam forced himself to use only $10 per month for his lifestyle and he wrote his mother every week (This was to continue for 21 years and the letters are called the harmony hall letters). Sam was also getting irritated with the life of all the other missionaries, for they lived expansive life styles, living in large bungalows with numerous servants, had frequent parties etc which Sam despised. The conversions which they carried out were the poorest of the poor and this was in no way symbolic. Sam’s arguments carried no weight and he was dismissed as young and inexperienced.

And that was when he decided to give up everything, all the luxuries and the very foreignness that excluded him from the masses. Sam’s father gave an ultimatum; he would stop sending money if Sam did not join a formal church organization. Sam had already decided to live a life of poverty and his only distress was that his family did not support his views. Thus he moved to Kotgarh again and started living in a cave like a Sadhu.

But events and calamities were soon to overtake his sojourn, in 1905, an earthquake struck the hills. He offered his services to the Punjab government and was selected. The arduous work took its toll and by the end of the year he became terribly sick, suffering from fevers for close to two months. He was soon back in Sabathu. The illness nearly made him go back to USA, but he did not, even though tickets were booked and money spent.

In Kotgarh, Stokes met elderly and rich Mrs Bates, who supported his idea of a children’s asylum, by offering him a part of her estate. However, Sam had to continue his path of renunciation and went back to the cave to live as he was building the asylum. In Aug 1906, he distributed all his belongings and donned the clothes of a friar. He lived among bears and leopards, using the stream for his ablutions and thus finally the sahib became a sadhu. All he possessed were two pet snakes in his cave.

The Kotgarh mission was doing well on the conversions front, but the results were not good as the converts were severely persecuted by the mainstream. In the meantime, Sam was befriended by a local Brahmin nobleman who explained to him that he was closer to Hindu thought. Stokes was finally getting closer to the upper caste Hindus. One of them was a prominent young Rajput Dhan singh, who impressed by Stokes’s views & explanations wanted to convert. The people of Kotgarh were appalled. They threatened to kill him, so finally Stokes and the boy ran away to Ludhiana where he was converted, the first success of Stokes.

Now you may wonder, the Sahib who became was Sadhu was a Christian Sadhu, right? Yes, In fact he was leading a life very very close to the type led by the Roman Brahmin De Nobili whom I had written about some years ago. Nobili also wanted to lead the rich and upper Hindu class to Christianity, not the lowest classes as others did. Together with Sundar Singh, a devoted companion, they went, village to village, working for the sick and the poor, looking every bit of Indian Sadhus except for the rosary and the cross around their necks, sitting under banyan tress and preaching not the Gita but the New Testament. He would offer medicines to the sick and soon gained respect of the poor. Instead of stale old food, fresh food and buttermilk came to be offered. He had become their Bhagat.

Many years were spent thus, with Stokes working as a social reformer and uplifting the downtrodden. But one fine day in Sept 1912, he decided to renounce his Sadhu life and get married. He married Agnes, a ‘pahari’ Christian girl.

Why did he marry locally? Another reason was his unease with the Indian attitude towards the code of living. They believed that a normal householder cannot live up to the exacting standards set for a sadhu, even when such standards of conduct are deemed as most desirable. He wanted to cut through the double standards practiced by the locals by setting a personal example. Thus he declared: “I shall as far as in me lies become an Indian, marry an Indian girl and, if God gives me sons and daughters, bring them up absolutely as Indians in the matter of life, language, dress and education. I shall try to make my home life, in all aspects, a gospel of what Indian home life should be…” Thus he ended up married a first generation Rajput Christian girl named Agnes.

His work with CF Andrews in getting the involuntary labor system called ‘begar’ abolished was exemplary. In 1920 he clashed with the government over the despicable begar beth practiced by it. Gandhi gave unstinted support to the Stokes struggle. In a message to the people of Simla hill states he said, “You should continue under the guidance of Stokes and suspend all kar and begar to the government and to the state… In your efforts I am with you with all my heart and soul.”

Soon Stokes got involved in India’s freedom struggle – After the Congress special session in 1920 at Calcutta, Stokes wrote a series of articles entitled “A Study in Non cooperation”. He declared, “(our) Ultimate goal must be absolute swaraj…” Stokes became a full-fledged delegate from Kotgarh to the All India Congress Committee which met at Nagpur in 1920. On July 31, 1921, when foreigners were warned to keep away from the public burning of imported clothes, Stokes along with an English nurse attended a bonfire. But one must admire their courage of conviction for standing up against the unjust regime that was culturally supposed to be their own, and for the whites. Stokes started wearing khadi after that event.

Stokes opposed the attempts of the moderate Indian leaders — who had split from the Congress — to accord a welcome to the Prince of Wales on his visit in November, 1921. He considered it foolish and unmanly for Indians to treat the Prince as their own. The British government was particularly wary of the Punjab city of Lahore where the Congress committee, the Khilafat committee and various Sikh organisations had united in holding anti-government demonstrations to protest against the Prince’s visit there in February. Stokes was the first PPCC member to be detained on December 3 under Section 108. He was eventually sentenced to six months in jail.

This is what Gandhi had to say in an article in Young India on Stokes’ arrest, “This is a unique move on the part of the government. Mr Stokes is an American who has naturalized himself as a British subject, who has made India his home in a manner in which perhaps no other American or Englishman has… But that he should feel with and like an Indian, share his sorrows and throw himself into the struggle, has proved too much for the government. To leave him free to criticise the government was intolerable, so his white skin has proved no protection for him…”

And then, one fine day, in 1932, he converted to Hinduism, in part because he detested the Christian notion of eternal punishment. Samuel Stokes was always interested in theology. He believed that Christ’s message was infinitely more than what the church preached. He could not accept the orthodox view of Christ’s message. To find out the true meaning and purpose of life, he started to read the Hindu scriptures. According to Stokes the Vedanta and Christian concept of salvation if taken together profoundly influenced and modify each other, the Christian experience will preserve individuality and Vedanta will demonstrate the essential unity of the spirit. On 4th September 1932 he and his family embraced Hinduism and changed his name to Satyanand. The writings of Maharishi Swami Dayanand, the founder of Arya Samaj had a lasting impression on Stokes. He became an Arya Samaji and built an Arya Samaj temple on his estate, known as the Paramjyotir Temple.

After that he and his family lead their lives as chaste Hindu’s, following its rules to the word, and this I never understood, even in the segregated policies of the caste system.

So that was Stokes, but what about the apples? Let us get back to Emma Matilda Bates, a widow of an English forest officer, who owned a large tea estate at Thanedhar. Mrs. Bates wanted to sell her estate and go back to England. Stokes bought the estate with the intention of farming. He conducted various experiments in hill farming, but ultimately he was convinced that only fruit growing could transform the economy of this region. In 1914 he went to America with soil samples of his estate and came back with five apple samplings of Red Delicious bought from the famous nursery growers- Stark Brothers of Louisiana. Over the years he propagated and distributed these apple plants amongst the local farmers.

From a small orchard in the Thanedar – Kotgarh belt, Stokes demonstrated how high-quality apples could be produced at altitudes of 4,000-6,000 feet. Since then, Himachal Pradesh has been synonymous with apples, producing Rs 1,500 crore worth of apples each year. Stokes’s daughter-in-law, Vidya Stokes, a former minister of the state, now manages most of the family’s orchards.

So was Kushwant Singh right? Stokes had converted some of the valley to Christianity but did not convert them back to Hinduism as grandly stated; he only converted himself to an Indian and a Hindu. But it is also interesting to note that Singh was one of the persons who encouraged and helped Asha Sharma in her attempts to complete the book on Stokes.

References
An American in Gandhi’s India – Asha Sharma
Not a nice man to know – Kushwant singh

Pic – Simla red delicious (Joiebharat), others from the www & courtesy Asha Sharma

Related posts:

1. “Beth” in the Simla Hills Work of Aniket Alam http://aniketalam.wordpress.com/ “Beth” in the Simla Hills...
2. Samuel Evans Stokes (Satyanand Stokes) Kotgarh valley is famous for its world class quality apples....
3. THANEDAR (HILLS OF APPLES) THANEDAR (HILL OF APPLES) By ravinderjeet singh Submitted 2008-08-21 02:59:41...

27th Sep 2009 – 30th Sep 2009

Thanedhar – the land of Satyanand (a.k.a. Samuel) Stokes – the apple county of Himachal Pradesh … the name held a huge promise and so, Thanedhar found place on our itinerary. Considering the hype, Thanedhar was initially disappointing, more because of the property we were staying in than anything else.

The House (marketed to us as the “Apple Country Inn”) was a brand new property, leased and managed by Pratap Chauhan of Agyaatvaas (Ref. my diary entry on Agyaatvaas, Narkanda), the hospitality and food were excellent (some of the staff from Agyaatvaas had been brought here for the duration of our stay, and they really went out of their way to please!!) – so no complaints on that front. But the property was right on the main road, with no lands/orchards in immediate view. The internal layout plan of the house also left a lot to be desired. Initially, we also found the continuous presence of old Ratanji (the owner of the house, who had leased it to Pratap Chauhan) very intrusive, but he and his wife turned out  to be very nice and helpful people, who were actually trying to make us feel comfortable.

On the second day of our stay in Thanedhar, we decided to visit Kotgarh, the place where Samuel Stokes initially came as a missionary, to preach and stay, and where the Stokes family still has a formidable presence.

The story of Stokes, in brief, for those who don’t know it, is that Samuel Stokes was an American Missionary who came to India and while working in the Kotgarh area, fell in love with an Indian Rajput christian girl and married her and later on, became so influenced by the Bhagvat Gita and Hindu philosophy, that he along with his entire family converted to Hinduism (he took on the name of Satyanand Stokes and gave his wife the name Priya Devi) and stayed on in Himachal Pradesh.  Stokes also started orchard farming of apples in Himachal, with some saplings that his mother sent him from America.  The Stokes family still owns apple orchards and has retained the original Stokes home in Thanedhar.

So, as I was saying, we decided to visit Kotgarh, the place where Samuel Stokes initially came as a missionary.  At Kotgarh, we visited the old St. Mary’s Church, where Samuel Stokes married Priya Devi and started a school called the ________.  Regular service is still held every Sunday.  Next to the Church is a burial ground, which is not at all well maintained and not in a state to be visited, unless, like K, you wish to  just  walk down the paths trying to sight birds hidden in a tree and photograph them.

While in Kotgarh, we found out that the original Stokes home is not in Kotgarh, but in Thanedhar, and in fact, just behind our house.  What a stroke of luck! When we got back to the house that afternoon, S engaged old Ratanji in a long conversation, from which it emerged that Ratanji knew the Stokes family and history very well – Ratanji had gone to school with one of the Stokes’ boys and was well versed with the Stokes family’s whereabouts till date.

Later that evening, we took a walk up the hill behind the House, leading up to the Stokes estate. On the way up, we saw a nice, well cared-for bungalow, with a little garden full of flowers. Ratanji had earlier told us that this bungalow, which could be seen from the House, belonged to a christian family, who lived there.  After admiring the beauty of the house for a few minutes, we continued trudging uphill.

We first arrived at the Stokes’ temple.  A wonderful building, in concept and execution – simple structure, with nothing more than four walls and a dome and an open verandah on all four sides. The outer and inner walls are covered with plaques bearing shlokas from the Bhagvad Gita in sanskrit along with their translation in English and the room encased within the four walls is devoid of any idol, picture or painting of a diety ….  there is just a havan kund inside.  The peace and tranquility made us want to spend hours there.

A little ahead of the Stokes’ temple was the Stokes’ family house. The temple is at one end of the grounds, but is not enclosed or fenced in. We found the gates to the Stokes’ house closed.  There is a new  manor within the grounds, where the Stokes family now resides, but the old house has also been retained and preserved.  The Stokes are fiercely protective of their family property and privacy and tourists are not allowed to enter the grounds and we later heard that tour operators have been strictly instructed NOT to bring visitors to see the Stokes family house and temple.

We were a little saddened, as Thanedhar has nothing to offer its visitors other than the story of Satyanand Stokes.  If tourists are disallowed from visiting this pilgrimage spot, then Thanedhar will find itself struck off most itineraries in future.

On the way downhill, we were lucky to be invited in for a cup of tea by Mrs. M, the owner of the beautiful bungalow with a well maintained garden.  Mrs. M, a retired school headmistress, also has a connection with the East, and so, was very happy to find people with whom she could converse in Bangla.  Her husband, an apple orchardist, was also a very pleasant person. Overall, a happy evening was spent with Mr. & Mrs. M.

Our last day in Thanedhar was spent lazing around and packing up. In the evening, K took a short drive with Prashant to Narkanda, where some friends with their families were just beginning their vacation as we were ending ours.

Finally, we drove down to Kalka on the 30th, to catch our train back to Howrah. Stopped for a few hours at Shimla on the way down, for lunch, shopping and a visit to the Kali Bari.

Related posts:

1. PLACE OF INTEREST in KOTGARH Tani – Jubbar Lake – Jarol: 5 Kms From Kotgarh....
2. A full day drive to Thanedar FROM WILDERNESS IN HIMALAYAS.BLOGSPOT - by barunroy on December 28,...

www.tribuneindia.com | HimachalPlus Wednesday, August 11, 2010, Chandigarh, India

by Shriniwas Joshi

Himachal is known as ‘the apple state’. The apple came here in 1870 when Captain Lee raised an orchard at Bandrol village in the Kullu valley. It was followed by Col Roreich, Captain Bannon and Johnson, who brought up orchards at Naggar, Raison and Manali, respectively. Alexander Coots, in 1887, nurtured ‘Hillock Head’, an apple orchard on the exotic varieties, at Mashobra in Shimla district. Samuel Nicholas Stokes, later Satyanand Stokes, a resident of Philadelphia (USA), raised a delicious variety of apples at Kotgarh in 1918. Maharishi Charak has mentioned it as sinchitphalaka in his treatise in the 2nd Century and in about 1100 AD. Dalhana describes ‘a ber as big as a fist and very sweet’ grown in the northern region of Kashmir, which suggests of an apple.

Amir Khusrau speaks of apple in about 1300 AD, which was given attention to by the Mughals.

Apple to India, therefore, is not a gift of the West as is generally believed. I also want to break another myth that apple was the fruit of Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden. It may or may not, because the Bible says, “(she took) the fruit of the tree which was in the midst of the garden”. Even the Adam’s apple in every man’s throat signifies the piece of forbidden fruit (not apple surely) stuck in Adam’s throat.

The names of Himachali apples have a foreign touch. The first and the costliest are the delicious varieties – red, royal and richard. Red was earlier called Hawkeye but when Stark nurseries of the USA bought it from the farmer Jesse Hiatt of Iowa state, it was named red delicious. Baldwin with reddish skin grows in Kullu and is slightly sour. It is very popular in New England, New York. There is a monument to this apple in Massachusetts that reads: “This monument marks the site of the first Baldwin apple tree found growing wild near here. It fell in the gale of 1815.

The apple, first known as the butters, woodpecker or pecker apple, was named after Col. Loammi Baldwin of Woburn.” Ben Davis in Kullu is known as Kali Devi and it is not known whether it has any relation with the original Ben Davis, which was popular during the 19th century in the USA.

A similar variety known as Black Ben Davis was grown in Arkansas and Virginia and, I believe, our Kali Devi is that variety. Golden delicious is a variety that I like but does not fetch much price in the market – probably because its flesh is yellow and not red. Granny Smith or Granny Ramsey Smith green apple originated in Australia in 1868. These are green, crisp, juicy and tart apples. It is grown both in Shimla and Kullu.

Jonathan is a medium-sized sweet apple with a touch of acid and has a tough but smooth skin. It is used as pollinator for the delicious varieties of apples. A popular 19th century apple, very widely grown in Europe at the time, and versatile for culinary and dessert uses is King of the Pippins, which is grown in Himachal too. McIntosh red is ready by late July or early August in Himachal. It is the superior eating apple and, in America, it finds place in children’s lunch boxes for it carries a reputation of being a healthy snack. It is native to Canada. Red gold apple is shiny red, medium in size, juicy and has light yellow flesh. Its drawback is that its size reduces as the age of the plant advances.

Red June is the first to come in the market and so fetches a good price. Yellow Newton or Ras -Pippin is a late variety. It earned its name from the story of the apple, Newton’s head, and their chance encounter that yielded the theory of gravity. As the name suggests, it is very juicy but its popularity among the apple growers is waning. There are many more varieties but I have discusses the important ones of, as Thoreau described it, the noblest of fruits called apple.

Tailpiece

An apple a day keeps the doctor away but an onion a day keeps everybody away.

Related posts:

1. Early varieties of apple arrive in market – 7/5/2010 With the advent of Summer-green, Red Gold, Tydeman and Applejune...
2. Himachal apple prices crash due to oversupply – 7/5/2010 Himachal apple prices crash due to oversupply The prices of...
3. Himachal predicts all-time high cherry production Express News Service Tags : season, less rain, no hailstorm...

The Last Word
Vidya Stokes
Our Lady Vidya
The dowager of Himachal proves to be a wily combatant and is still queen of women’s hockey
Pratibha Chauhan in Shimla

Tuesday, August 10, 2010, Chandigarh, India

She is imperial in her bearing, regal in behaviour and political in her actions. An accidental politician, the 83-year-old Vidya Stokes still scores, be it dribbling past her much younger opponent to win the election as president of Hockey India or hitting a penalty stroke “for the dignity of hill women” against Y S Parmar, the legendary first Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, for practically endorsing polyandry in his PhD thesis.

Here is a rare politician whose personal values often triumphed over the realpolitik. The diminutive politician with a conspicuous white streak in her hair is a dynamo of energy even at this age. Her gritty fight against former Indian hockey captain Pargat Singh for taking over the reins of the controversy-infested Hockey India is proof enough of that. She came perilously close to winning the prize, only to find it evading her just as she thought she had won it.

This, however, is nothing new. She came painfully close to becoming the first woman Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh after the Congress victory in the 2003 Assembly polls. She failed to keep the flock of loyalist MLAs together and her wily intra-party rival, Virbhadra Singh, outmanoeuvred her. She had led her party to victory, but the ultimate prize was grabbed by someone else. No wonder, some of her own loyalists say she “lacks enough political acumen” to make it big in today’s “rajneeti”.

Politics does not define Stokes, there is much more to her. She is a painter, social worker and horticulturist. It was her father-in-law, Satyanand Stokes, an American settled in the hills of Kotgarh who introduced apple in Himachal, virtually revolutionising the hill economy.

Her passion for hockey kept her at the helm of Women’s Hockey Federation for 25 years as its secretary and president. By her own admission, it was her elder brother’s love for hockey which got her hooked to the game. While the brother played the sport at the national level, mostly in Delhi, she came to be known as “didi”, who was later pushed into becoming the Secretary of the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation before taking over the reins of the Federation.

In her close circles she is heard saying that it is not necessary to be a player to promote the game, a proof of which is the progression of women’s hockey in India which under her has come a long way and won many laurels despite the poor attention it receives in a cricket-crazy nation. She has been the President of the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation in 1984, 1988, 1994 and 2003. She has also held the post of Vice-President of the Asian Hockey Federation from 1986 to 1994.

It was in 1974 that she made her electoral debut in a byelection following the death of her husband, Lal Chand Stokes. She won the election from the Theog Assembly constituency and represented it in the Assembly again in 1982, 1985, 1990, and 1998. Later, she shifted to the adjoining segment of Kumarsain from where she won in 2003 and 2007.

Having headed the HP Congress Committee, she has been in the reckoning for the Chief Minister’s post, considering her close proximity to 10 Janpath. Notwithstanding the backing of the high command and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Stokes has not been able to garner enough support from the legislators, who were won over by her archrival, Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, to become the Chief Minister.

She is often accused of being soft in taking on the BJP regime in the state and focusing more on criticising Virbhadra Singh. Nonetheless, her colleagues rate her as an excellent human being who is completely grounded and a steadfast friend. “I have always referred to her as ‘didi’ as she has always stood by friends through thick and thin even as she slogs alone with none in her family being around,” says Sat Mahajan, former minister and HPCC chief.

Stokes may not be known to be politically very astute or a great orator, but she has always stood for the welfare of women and children and uplift of the weaker section. She has remained closely associated with institutes being run in the state for destitute women, children and visually and hearing impaired. She remained General Secretary of the Indian Council for Child Welfare and Vice-Chairperson of the National Institute for Cooperation and Child Development.

Some old timers recall how she took on the powerful Congress Chief Minister Parmar on his controversial remarks about hill women. Along with other Congress MLAs, she staged a walkout, saying that the book was as an insult to hill women.

In his thesis, “Polyandry in The Himalayas,” which was later published as a book, recalls Stokes: “Parmar had said that the more times a woman got married, the more her value increased, which denigrated women. The book suggested that polyandry raised the status of women, which was wrong.” She wanted Dr Parmar to write a postscript in which he clarified that polyandry was practised in the past.

The lady, who most feel would prove to be a very gracious and dignified Governor, shuns the idea of being a nominal head, a post which her loyalists believe she can get any time she wishes to. She has been a grand old guide for several young Congress legislators as she groomed them in politics, fought to get ticket for them and backed them to the hilt by ensuring their electoral victory.

In these times of political nepotism, Stokes stands out as an oddity as no one in her family is even remotely connected to politics. Her three children — two sons and a daughter — are settled in the US as she manages her affairs, including huge apple orchards, all by herself. She not only happens to be one of the biggest apple producers in Shimla but also has an excellent collection of flowers and exotic plants collected from her extensive travels world over at her farm house.

As yet she is not hanging her boots. In fact, it is expected that she will throw her hat in the ring since there is uncertainty about who would head the Congress in the next Assembly elections. She lost out in 2003, but never gave up. She is nurturing her band of loyalists who are rallying behind her, especially in view of the fact that she is close to Sonia Gandhi. Who knows, this hockey lover may yet dribble her way past obstacles to score in the summer of 2012 and win the goal that has long eluded her — the Chief Minister’s chair.

No related posts.

Kotgarh is a pleasant 5 Km walk from the Thanedar Bazaar.

Rose bushes along the way to Kotgarh

The route goes through beautiful Deodar woods.

Deodar Woods

Wild Flowers

Deodar Woods

Kotgarh

The Gorton Mission School was setup in 1843.

Gorton Mission School

The St. Mary’s Church is located right next to the Mission School. Samuel Evans Stokes got married to Agnes Benjamin at this Church, which was built with the help of donations from both Christians and Hindus.

St. Mary’s Church

It is currently being renovated under the guidance of the priest. All the materials are being procurred locally.

Inside the Church

The keys to the Church can be obtained from the Mission School.

Stained Glass Windiws behind the Altar

Services are held every Sunday Morning for the 20 odd Christian families in the Kotgarh region.

Related posts:

1. In the heart of apple country! source: http://10yearitch.com/ Savi About 18kms northeast of Narkanda is the...
2. Beautiful Kotgarh Kinnar Kailash (a view from Kotgarh) Kinnar Kailash (a view...
3. PLACE OF INTEREST in KOTGARH Tani – Jubbar Lake – Jarol: 5 Kms From Kotgarh....

Meher-Fatma Posted: Fri Dec 11 2009, 02:26 hrs ~ www.indianexpress.com

Away from the daily humdrum, an impromptu trip high up on the hills is a time-tested formula to recharge your spirits. Take a quick weekend fix of adrenaline rush and mix it with some lazy napping at Narkanda—a hilly getaway in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. About 65 km from the tourist hotspot of Shimla, this quiet town is popular for its proximity to Hatu Peak and is 16 km from Kotgarh, where Satyananda Stokes — an American visitor who went on fight in India’s freedom movement — began apple farming.

Most resorts in Narkanda are fitted with facilities for outdoor adventures. At Tethys, a cosy hilltop resort lined with pine trees, you can go trekking or hire bicycles and motorbikes to cruise down the hairpin bends of the hill. At Kotgarh, however, the pretty landscape dotted with apple orchards invites you to put on your walking shoes. The hilly curves near Hatu Peak are dotted with age-old churches and you may even catch a glimpse of a temple inspired by Tibetan architecture. Evenings in Narkanda are best spent inside a resort, especially at Tethys, where there are bonfires and fire-spitting tandoors offering smoke-flavoured tikkas.

Narkanda is nine hours by road from Delhi. Or take a train to Kalka and hire a car or a bike for the remaining stretch. From Shimla, you can even hop on to a bus for Narkanda.

Related posts:

1. A full day drive to Thanedar FROM WILDERNESS IN HIMALAYAS.BLOGSPOT - by barunroy on December 28,...

With the advent of Summer-green, Red Gold, Tydeman and Applejune (early ripping strain of apple) aroma at Shimla and Chandigarh fruit markets, the new apple season is set to put half of Himachal Pradesh to hard work.

According to state horticulture director Gurdev Singh, early ripening varieties of apples have started reaching the markets, fetching the attention of agents across the country. He said that apple season is on and its demand is gradually rising as the new crop has arrived in the fruit markets. Usually apple season commences at the end of June and lasts till end of October in the state.

Ashok Sharma and Sanjay, agents of fruits in Dhalli wholesale fruit market here, told HimVani that about 2,000 boxes of apple are being traded daily as apple has started coming from upper parts of Shimla district. They said that apple growers are mostly sending their crop to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Delhi fruit markets. In the wholesale market at Dhalli, a box of Tydeman’s Early Worcester variety is selling between Rs. 400 and Rs. 450, whereas Red June is fetching Rs.200 – Rs.250, they added.

The horticulture department estimates that there would be a record production of Apple this time, which is likely to cross 2008-09 mark of 5.10 lakh tones. Its production had declined to 2.80 Lakh tonnes last year due to lean a season owing to dry monsoon and less snowfall in the winter.
After the early varieties, the harvesting of superior varieties like Red Chief, Super Chief and Royal Delicious would begin. Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts are known for growing high-quality apples. However, the world famous delicious apples from Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti districts would start arriving by October when the harvesting from other areas is almost over.

Apple is considered the backbone of this hill economy as 2 lakh households depend on it in the nine districts. About one lakh hectare area is under apple orchards and contributes about 2000 crores to the state GDP. Chail, Rampur Bushair, Kotgarh, Kumarsain, Rohru, Jubbal and Kotkhai area of Himachal prominently produce early varieties of apples in the sate. The middle and low belt of apple producing zone is considered good for early varieties of apple in the state.

People are diversifying their apple rootstock as they are switching over to new spur varieties of apples, which have dwarf trees beside its production is higher as compared to the huge trees of old apple strain. State like J&K and Uttarakhand are also known for apple production in the country.

Source: himvani.com
Publication date: 7/5/2010

Related posts:

1. Himachal apple prices crash due to oversupply – 7/5/2010 Himachal apple prices crash due to oversupply The prices of...
2. At apple pad, another revolution www.indianexpress.com Hem Lata Verma Posted: Fri May 21 2010, 02:13...
3. Himachal predicts all-time high cherry production Express News Service Tags : season, less rain, no hailstorm...

Himachal apple prices crash due to oversupply

The prices of apples from Himachal Pradesh have crashed within weeks of their arrival in the markets due to oversupply and poor quality of the fruit, traders said here Sunday.

‘When the apple crop reached the wholesale market in the third week of June, the growers got a handsome price of Rs.800-900 for a 20-kg box of Tydeman’s Early Worcester. But within a week, the markets are flooded, leading to massive fall in the prices,’ Pratap Singh Chauhan, president of the marketing yard at the fruit and vegetable market in Bhattakuffar here, told IANS.

‘The prices came down to Rs.400 to Rs.450 a box. These days it is around Rs.350,’ he said.

Chauhan said premature harvesting was the reason for the poor quality of varieties like Red Gold, Red June and Tydeman’s Early Worcester which were undersize and lacked true colour.

‘The farmers have started harvesting the undersize crop in a bid to earn better prices at the beginning of the apple season,’ he said.

Currently, 2,000 to 5,000 boxes of early varieties, including Red Gold and Red June, are reaching the markets in Shimla district daily.

Last year Tydeman’s Early Worcester fetched between Rs.1,100 and Rs.1,400 a box.

Ashok Sharma, a trader at the Dhalli wholesale fruit market near here, said: ‘The main reason for less demand for the apples these days is the surplus arrival of good quality mangos in the market at much cheaper rates. People are still preferring to buy sweet mangos than less juicy, pulpy apples (early varieties are generally less juicy).’

‘We are facing tough competition from China and Australia too. Those who want to relish good quality these days, he/she will go for the imported varieties,’ he added.

Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, however, said: ‘There are no reasons to panic as the early harvest cannot determine the future trend. With the arrival of the superior varieties, the prices would bounce back.’

The horticulture department estimates that there would be a record production this time. They say the apple yield would cross the 2008-09 mark of 510,000 tonnes.

Last year, the production had declined to 280,000 tonnes due to a dry monsoon and a snowless winter.

The economy of the Himalayan state is highly dependent on horticulture – besides hydroelectric power and tourism. The apple industry is worth around Rs.1,500 crore a year.

Besides apple, other fruits like pears, peaches, cherries, apricots, kiwi, strawberry, olive, almonds and plums are the major commercial crops of the state.

Source: sify.com
Publication date: 7/5/2010

Related posts:

1. Himachal predicts all-time high cherry production Express News Service Tags : season, less rain, no hailstorm...
2. At apple pad, another revolution www.indianexpress.com Hem Lata Verma Posted: Fri May 21 2010, 02:13...
3. The Worm Has Turned Up & Away (Source :Outlook Magazine | Jun 08, 2009)...

THANEDAR (HILL OF APPLES)

By ravinderjeet singh Submitted 2008-08-21 02:59:41 ~ articledirectory.com

Yes it is in Himachal state of India. The smell of blue pine and conifer trees that carpet the hills lingers in the air long after you have taken the last turn into Thanedar. Also lingering in this fruit bowl of India is reverence for an American missionary who headed to these hills in 1904, married a Himachali girl and transformed the village. The apple trees he planted in Kotgarh next door continue to reap a rich harvest even 100 years later. In fact, Samuel aka Satyanand Stokes is a family name in the entire Shimla region. The belt is replete with apple boughs.  The orchards are bare and grey in winter and you have to strain hard to catch a glimpse of colour. But head here mid-April onwards and watch the trees come alive with white-green flowers that burst forth into blood-red fruit by mid-may.

THINGS TO SEE AND DO
In apple country, there’s nothing more exhilarating than picking your apple and eating it too. The apple blooms play hide and seek with the less exotic plums, the white almond trees and other stone fruit that are sure to rouse your passions, if fruit is your aphrodisiac.

Dabbling in Appling
Sling a basket on your shoulders and head down the apple orchards. The apples are used to prepare jam, pickles or wine. Himcu (a state government-owned company) bottles some of the best wine-apple, peach, plum of rhododendron.

Best from February to June. Thanedar is also very pleasant post-monsoon from September to November.  As you push through branches and bramble, the road clears and the ground beneath your feet becomes flat.  Like a pearl in an oyster waiting to be discovered in the midst of nowhere,  with the snow-peaked mountains in the background and a weeping willow sighing in its periphery, lies the placid lake. There is a local temple on the one side of the lake that is not open to outsiders. In June, a fair is held at the lake, where local artisans and craftsmen display their wares.

GETTING THERE
Air Nearest airport: Jubbarhatti, Shimla (105 km/ 2 ½ hrs).
Rail Nearest railhead: Kalka (174km /5 ½ hrs).
Road Thanedar is just 2km off the Hindustan – Tibet Road (NH22), a beautiful 80-km drive from Shimla, which itself is a comfortable drive from Delhi.

Related posts:

1. A full day drive to Thanedar FROM WILDERNESS IN HIMALAYAS.BLOGSPOT - by barunroy on December 28,...
2. In the heart of apple country! source: http://10yearitch.com/ Savi About 18kms northeast of Narkanda is the...
3. “Beth” in the Simla Hills Work of Aniket Alam http://aniketalam.wordpress.com/ “Beth” in the Simla Hills...