Sky War

As dusk sets in, all the birds fly to their homes. Sometimes there's a great fight for territory. Christopher D'Costa snapped theses shots with his phone camera at 3 pm a few days ago. 

The sky here keeps changing colour and at times its so very beautiful and at times really scary. 

Catch of the Day

I think I should give Bobby the contract for my blog photos. This was his first catch of the day.

McCluskie's Mangoes

This year we have quite a good crop of mangoes but still it is nothing compared to the olden days. This year it is estimated that McCluskiegunj will grab around fifty lakhs from the market, if not more.

Mangoes are being sold by nearly all the villagers. They buy the fruit from groves locally and venture out selling the same at railway stations like Khalari and Tori. Some sell in trains.

This year the size of the fruit has shrunk compared to other times. The reason is another subject for later...

Old Bungalows of McCluskiegunj

Here are pictures of  some bungalows built during the time British ruled India.

All pictures taken by Nelson (Bobby) Gordon.

This is Bobby's place. It has the best of flowers and various other plants making the place outstanding in McCluskiegunj.

The Hindi Spelling of McCluskiegunj

Mike Loose Key Ganj

Well, I recon I have translated the Hindi version of McCluskiegunj to English. It's Mikeloosekeyganj!

Its' shameful to see the results of written work done by the government when it comes to important records and documentation. The government gives the responsibilities of filling up of vital information of citizens in to computers or registers to such persons who can not write a sentence in Hindi without making a mistake, leave alone English.

Recently, the Unique ID Cards were being processed here. Many people's names have been misspelt causing them botheration for rectifications. Then same was the case with the voter ID cards. Names like Malcolm was spelt Mailakam and Hourigan was spelt Horagen. This is the case almost all over the country but Jharkhand and Bihar are the worst at it. I have a newspaper cutting with some news and a picture of our M.L.A., Mr. Glen Galstaun inaugurating the computer section of the Hindi medium high school here. The news is in Hindi and Galstaun is spelt Glasstin therein. (Glass + Tin)

Electricity bills issued by the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (J.S.E.B.) have spelling mistakes in names. Ramsbottom is spelt Rambollan… Its' strange that words that can be written in Hindi exact to the pronunciation in English are written quite different to the actual word.

Now, in the case of McCluskiegunj! McCluskey or McCluskie are foreign surnames. Mc is certainly not Mike. It is 'Mac' meaning son. If it was 'Mike' then surnames such as McDonalds or McDowells would be Mike Donalds or Mike Dowells respectively.

The bottom line of the story is that the government should not hand over responsibilities of entering data into computers or registers to persons without checking their ability to carry out important government written work.

I hope one day the Hindi spelling of McCluskiegunj at the railway  station will be rewritten correctly. McCluskiegunj was spelt like this in the earlier years. Now it ends with ganj. That can be considered but not the name of the person who set up mini London

***

The boards on the platforms at Khalari railway station (7 km from here) display Khalari but in police records you will find Khelari.

Sad News 2

Chintu Mukherjee, a member of one of the old non Anglo Indian settlers of McCluskiegunj passed away after a long ailment. He suffered from malaria and jaundice  . He was the brother of Mona Mukherjee (better known as Mona Bangali).

Chintu was the owner of the Mukherjee Hostel at Konka. 

May his soul to rest in peace.

Sad News

McCluskiegunj has just a handful of Anglo Indian families left to call residents of the place.

Mrs. Jenny Flemming, a senior citizen expired after a long ailment at Asansol on 30^th May 2013. She was a humble lady and was well known to everybody. She was the daughter of Ronnie and Queenie Miller. She was better known as “Jenny Aunty”.

Jenny ran a school and a hostel for Don Bosco Academy a few years ago.

The sad news of her demise arrived here yesterday.

May her soul to rest in peace.