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Chapter 9: Economics of Grain Transport to Shimla
Chapter 10: Suds/Soods Settle Down to do Business with the British
Chapter
9
Economics of the Grain Transport to Shimla
With all the four partners in town, they sat down to work
on the economics of the whole enterprise.
Each mule carried 90 "Sears" (about 2 Maunds) of
supplies during each run. Forty mules had brought 120 - 130 Maunds of supplies each
time. Half of it was wheat and wheat flour, a quarter was rice and rest was
sugar, corn, barley, oats and spices. That was the first shipment that arrived.
Price for the wheat[1]
they paid in Hoshiapur was Rupees 3 and 8 Annas per Maund. They picked up the
best grade of wheat hence paid a bit more. Rice at the mandis cost them
Rupees 6 per maund. For the other items they paid the prevailing prices. Hence
about Rupees 400 to 450 worth of merchandise had arrived the first time and a
similar amount was carried thru the subsequent runs.
The mule herder was paid Rupees 150 for his services,
which included 40 mules and three helpers per run. This was high but the
necessary expense. The wayside travel expenses, octroi cost Rupees 35, half of
which was paid to safely cross the River Sutlej near Bilaspur. The partners
paid themselves Rupees 20 for each run as their wages. Pilferage and losses
during the river crossing cost them Rupees 15.
Hence the full caravan load cost them delivered at Shimla,
Rupees 700 for the first run. They presented a Rupees 850 invoice to Major
Kennedy for the first run. Hence they had a net profit of Rupees 150
approximately. If they were able to hold these prices for the year, they had
done very well. In nine runs till November they may make a total profit of
about Rupees 1,350. On top of this profit, each of the partners had Rupees 180
in their pocket as wages for the nine runs. In short they had tripled their
initial investment of Rupees 500, with which they had started in March. Their
one time cost of building at Shimla was Rupees 300, which was taken out of the
Year's profits. The forgoing was a permanent structure, hence would be used for
years. The overall balance sheet for the year looked very good.
They swore between themselves that they would not discuss
the economics of the whole operation with anybody outside the partnership. They
wished to keep their monopoly and supply route a secret.
The name "Upper Bazaar"[2]
had not been coined yet for shops and establishments on the uneven crest of the
north and the south slopes, which later became to be known as the Ridge. Not
much existed on it in 1832 except the two or three British establishments like
the famous M/S Barrett & Co. - the merchant who catered to the British
taste of finest clothing, direct from England; beef and other products which
the British subjects wanted but unable to produce locally. A drug store existed
which supplied drugs which natives had no idea what these were. A hairdresser
and a barber and a wine shop also had operation there. All in all, you could
count all the British owned and managed shops on your fingers. These were all
located on the crest of the ridge. There were similar number of native owned
shops, of which the Suds/Soods were the first grain traders. Others included, a
shoemaker & clothier (either Hussain Baksh or Ahsannoollah or Alif Khan) to
satisfy the local Shimla population's clothing needs, a retail merchandiser
etc. As per typical Indian tendencies, the natives were building shops facing
the sun, hence gravitating towards to the southern slopes and the British
establishments were closer to where the City Hall is today. The so-called The
Mall Road was a country road, which was wide enough for two horses to pass and
nothing more than that. The Governor General Lord Bentinck on his pony,
resident of Bentinck Castle (Grand Hotel later) would travel on this
rudimentary road and visit cottages & houses built in and around it.
Most British visitors who were not on official duty either
came to rest and recover and stayed at either at the Kennedy House or at the
other rooming facilities scattered all round the budding township. They would
undoubtedly visit the Ridge to have the panoramic view of the snow clad
Himalayas and also to pick up a souvenir or two from the local shop owners at
the crest.
From 1832 to 1864, the Upper Bazaar at the Ridge grew into
a haphazard area at times gravitating towards southern slopes and other times
toward what is now called Lakkar Bazaar. The latter had acquired importance
because Timber arriving from Sanjauli hill.
The 1854 "Upper Bazaar" was catering to the need of 200
British households with close to 800 British subjects. This number increased to
300 houses by 1866 with corresponding increase in residents at Shimla. At about
that time, the directive of Rajah of Keonthal on kine' slaughter had taken a
back seat hence a butcher shop had opened together with a shop or two of
shoemakers. In addition to the British owned shops described above, farther
away towards the present day City Hall, two banks, a library (reading Room) a
jewellery shop, two wine shops, a number of boarding houses and had started to
function by 1864. Government offices occupied a portion of one of the
establishment's quarters. Other government offices were located in the east
along the Combermere Road, close to where Rani Jhansi Park is today.
The Suds/Soods had also expanded too. A number of other
families had arrived in Shimla. Everybody in Garlie/Pragpur/Dehra/Rakkar/Pirsaluhi/Ambota/Jawalamukhi
in Kangra was planning to visit Shimla and see for them the place and business
opportunities there. They in their home villages were grain, clothing and in
merchandising business. This line of work they understood well. Hence setting
up another operation in a far of place like Shimla was not a difficult
exercise. First they had to see it and evaluate it in person. Hence together
with other Suds/Soods who were already established in Shimla, they visited the
place. The restrictions, which Deputy Commissioner William Edwards had put on
wholesale grain business and commission agency in 1848, discouraged them (see
later). Still they got a fair idea of all business opportunities in Shimla and
its surrounding areas. When William Hays replaced William Edwards, in 1852 and
the Hindustan-Tibet road neared completion, they saw their opportunity. They came in droves. They were pre-emptying
the Aggarwala community, who had the same line of business in Punjab plains and
were planning similar moves to Shimla. Suds/Soods wished to reach and establish
themselves first. By 1863, there were twelve Sud/Sood establishments on the
Ridge and Edward Gunj. New establishments were opening every spring. They were
less and less concentrating on selling to the British but more and more
servicing the 8-10,000 natives. The original route of carting via Nadaun &
Bilaspur was abandoned after two to three years after the completion of the
Hindustan-Tibet road. It needed that long to get compacted so that Ekkas and horse
drawn carriages could operate with ease. The new road followed the contours of
the mountains with gentle gradient of never more than 15-degress to facilitate
movement of horse drawn carriages. The
steep and difficult gradient of previous pathway was abandoned. It added as
many as 14 extra miles to the distance but left steep climb of Kasauli,
Kakkarhatti & Sirri on the side. With its completion, more people arrived
and the Upper Bazaar expanded more, but haphazardly.
One care Major Kennedy had exercised during his tenure at
Shimla (1822-35) was to direct all the mule traffic arriving with merchandise
to another but smaller clearing on the south side of the slopes, later to be
known as Edward Gunj. It was his successor Colonel Tapp, who formalised this arrangement.
It was Colonel Tapp's successor, William Edwards, who built it into a wholesale
market as it bears his name.
Colonel Tapp[3],
who succeeded Major Kennedy in 1835, had also a dual job like his predecessor.
He was commander of the Nasiri Battalion at Sabathu and Political Agent of the
Shimla Hill states. Unlike Major Kennedy, who was a businessman also (opened up
a boarding house like Kennedy House), he was a British military officer on
garrison duty and disciplinarian to the little hill states. It was him who made
sure that flea-ridden operation of mules and carriage servicing was relocated
next to the wholesale operation at the Edward Gunj. Hence Upper Bazaar may be
growing haphazardly but unsightly and unhygienic operation at Upper Bazaar no
longer remained there. As a matter of fact he became the originator of the
Lower Bazaar.
British gents & ladies now freely shopped at Upper
Bazaar, but preferred to remain within the bounds of the British owned
businesses. In addition they hated to rub shoulders with the natives, which was
beneath their dignity. If possible they would not go to the areas where their
servants and coolies shopped. Hence more and more British owned shops began to
gravitate towards where the City Hall is located today.
As Buck describes (but does not give time-line):
This bazaar contained, besides a crowd of native
shops of the ordinary kind, the
Kotwali, the business premises of De Russet, a photographer, Messrs.
Hamilton & West, drapers, Messrs. O'Connor & Peliti, confectioners, and
the native firms of Hussain Bakhsh, Ahsanoollah and Alif Khan. A portion
of De Russet's house was occupied by the office of the Revenue and Agricul-
tural Department of the Government of India.
Hamilton & West, drapers, Messrs. O'Connor & Peliti, confectioners, and
the native firms of Hussain Bakhsh, Ahsanoollah and Alif Khan. A portion
of De Russet's house was occupied by the office of the Revenue and Agricul-
tural Department of the Government of India.
W Martin Towlle’s Hand Book and Guide to Simla, listed two
banks, a club and a library, two
jewellers, ten businesses grouped under the title of drapers-milliners, haberdashers and tailors, eight hotels
and boarding houses, three wine
and general merchants and two druggists and chemist.
Here is another description of Shimla's Upper Bazaar:
"THERE is perhaps no surer sign of the
increasing prosperity of Simla than the excellence
of many of its shops, for nothing now-a-days strikes the casual visitor from the plains more than the number of well-appointed
business houses which are contained in its straggling bazaar."
Important British owned shops by 1860s were:
Hamilton & Co. and Charles Nephew & Co. as
jewellers;
M. Kleyser as watchmaker; Goldstein, Cockburn, Williams
& Mack as music teachers and
pianoforte tuners;
B. Francis & Francis, Ramsay & Co. as clothiers;
Symes & Co. and E. Plommer & Co. as druggists and
chemists;
Cotton & Morris and S.T. Wallace as printers and
publishers;
Watson & Summers as hair-cutters and perfumers;
H.T. Ball, Davidge Brothers and C.J. Hardinge & Co. as
wines and spirits sellers;
Bourne & Shepherd and De Russet as photographers
Barrett & Co as merchandisers and Agents (First to
establish in 1838)
Two Banks (Simla Bank started functioning in 1845)
Hosiers and milliners. — Messrs. Campbell, Francis, and
Phelps
A post office & telegraph office
Government of India offices (as stated above)
Three Hotels and multiple rooming houses
An interesting fact is that the "The Mall Road" until 1870 was an ordinary country road. It had not been built for the wheeled traffic. Although several efforts had been made to improve that 6 miles run from the Observatory Hill to Barnes Court, but it did not include any major face-lift. Horses, foot traffic and Carriages with ease used it but movement from opposite direction was limited as it was never wider than 10-12 feet. Its condition grew worst when the rainy season arrived. Natives did not mind any of inconveniences, as existence of any road like this was a great improvement for them. It was the British gentry, which took a strong note of its wretched condition. The improvement project including widening, erecting stonewalls as high as 20 feet to prevent frequent landslides etc. were postponed till 1878, for Lord Lytton to undertake them.
Trouble with Rajah of Bilaspur - 1832
Nidha, Surdha, Jalla & Nihala in November got together after the ninth and the last mule run. Things had gone textbook fashion after initial hiccups. They also got the right price for their products they transported. Thanks to Major Kennedy, who bought the first shipment and established the floor price for all the merchandise. Since then all the British residents of the area picked up their needs from them, paying them cash all the time. It was win-win situation for them. Now they were ending the operation for the year and did their accounting. They kept about Rupees 600 to start the next year's operation a fresh as reserve. They wished not to run short of cash as they did early this year. They paid in full the mule herder, the carpenter/mason for building their establishment on the ridge. Remaining cash other than Rupees 180, their wages, they divided between themselves. The Rupees 600 as start-up cash for next year, they would hand over to the elders on return for retention.
For the disposition of their own money, they decided differently. Nidha & Surdha wished to take back home Gold and Silver. Nihala & Jalla had other plans. They wished to carry cash home and begin improving their housing. Nidha and Surdha who wished to carry Gold and Silver, scoured the area for that. There were no jewellery shops at Shimla yet. Their enquiries lead them to a British household, which for cash would part with a few Gold and Silver wares that they had with them, if the price is right.
At a Gold price of Rupees 17-18 a Tola[4]. Two pieces of ornament wares would cost Rupees 200 because their combined weight exceeded 8-10 Tolas. Nidha opted to buy and he paid them the right amount from his own savings. Surdha toiled for ten days without making a deal until a British lady offered to sell him her gold-diamond jewellery set. Nobody locally could put price on this exquisite set but Surdha was desperate and paid the lady Rupees 250 plus Rupees 10 commission to the Barrett & Co., agents. Now both Surdha & Nidha had matching gold wares to take home.
All the four partners carefully shutdown their operations in Shimla and properly locked up the place. They wished to find everything intact when they returned four months later. They hired two mules and two horses for their return journey. On their return trip they were also carrying clothing materials for the whole family and some other local souvenirs. With them was going one of their hired help, a sixteen years old boy from Bhajji, who had come to work for them and cooked meals for them and kept the place clean. This boy did not wish to return to his home village, hence Nidha and Surdha offered to take him with them. He would be very useful in educating them about ways and customs of the locals in the Shimla Hills, as their next target was to supply merchandise to the little states in the Shimla interior.
They set a very auspicious day of the first day of the month of "Magha" as their departure day, only two days away. Most of the Britishers cottagers were gone. Major Kennedy had said goodbye to them and had gone a week earlier. Before they left, they visited each and every cottage where they had made grain delivery and thanked them for their business. This gesture was highly appreciated
On the appointed day, they said goodbye to their place of business and set the pace to reach Arki by the evening. On their way, they marvelled on the innovative approach they had adopted to bring grain to Shimla. Next day they set a rapid pace to reach Bilaspur as quickly as possible, but it was not to be.
On the outskirts of the town the Bilaspur Rajah's custom officer stopped their two mules and the ponies. They had passed thru this custom post so many times before in the year that the Rajah's custom officer had become their friend. But that was not true this time. He had orders to search their baggage thoroughly. This was new to them but they had no choice but to submit to his dictate. They allowed him to examine their baggage.
As soon as the search began, the custom officer zeroed on the gold wares in Nidha's baggage and gold jewellery in Surdha's baggage. He immediately confiscated it as unpaid transit fees on their previous trips. The Rajah and his custom officer had not bothered to ask for the transit fees when they were passing thru Bilaspur previously then why has he zeroed on them this time. The reasons for that were not complex. The Rajah did not wish to annoy the British when supplies were being ferried for them but picked on the partners when he knew that they had shutdown their operations for the winter and were returning home. He assumed that they must have been carrying valuables with them to their village. Finding gold & silver in the baggage was a great find for the Rajahs men.
The partners argued and argued all evening and into the night. They deposited the valuables in the Rajah's Treasury, when the Treasury Officer also scolded them for non-payment of transit fees for the whole year. Now they knew that this was a conspiracy hatched by the Rajah himself to deprive them of fruits of their labour. There was only one thing left to do, that was to go as quickly as possible to Sabathu and find Major Kennedy and tell him whatever had happened to there.
Very early next morning, Nidha and Surdha on their ponies left for Sabathu. They were hoping that Major Kennedy was still around; hence they covered 30 miles in one day. Next day by evening they were in Sabathu and found major Kennedy in the Officer's mess. He gave them a patient hearing and told them to come see him in his regimental headquarters in the morning. It is the longest night the two had spent. As directed, they waited for Major Kennedy at his office next day morning. He told his ADC to draft a note quickly asking the Rajah to release their wares immediately. The Treaty of the British Suzerainty over all hill states, which he had signed, a few years back included a clause for the free movement of goods and services for British uses. A provision in the Treaty also forbade him to interfere in the free movement of goods and services with the neighbouring states also. Major Kennedy signed the document and then sealed it. He asked a Gorkha Subedar to go to Bilaspur and deliver it personally and get a reply back. Major Kennedy wished to hear from the Rajah as soon as possible.
The three returned to Bilaspur in two days and the Subedar in full military uniform delivered the document in Raja's hand in his palace. This whole development surprised the Rajah and he was in a fix. He went into a huddle with his advisors. An hour later he returned with a reply to Major Kennedy issued an order to the Treasury Officer to release goods confiscated by the Custom Officer, five days earlier.
Happy, Suds/Soods picked up their gold wares and got ready to go. By now the whole town knew that the Sud/Soods were carrying valuable items. The Custom Officer reassured them, that they until Nadaun were under Rajah's protection; hence nobody would dare touch them, let alone harm them in any way. Reassured they proceeded on their journey, but as a precaution they hired two additional security guards, which the Custom Officer recommended.
In the mean time in his reply, the Rajah profusely apologized to Major Kennedy about the incident. He regretted Custom Officer's oversight in dealing with the issues of the state. He also asked for some clarifications on right of passage of the commerce. These issues require long process of arguments and counter arguments. These they can deal between themselves. For now, the Suds/Soods were on their way home as happy men. Four days later they were in the arms of the rejoicing families.
Chapter 10
Suds/Soods Settle Down to Do
Business with the British
Nihala, Jalla, Nidha & Surdha all returned to Shimla trade as per schedule in the March of 1833. As done before, Nidha and Surdha headed to Shimla to reclaim their prized place of business and get it cleaned, fixed and ready for the year. British had not arrived yet, but the Kennedy House was open. It was open all thru the winter. The British servicemen had come and stayed there thru out the winter. Two other boarding houses were also open. To their utter surprise the Barrett & Co., had stayed open till Christmas and then closed for two months. Later in March they re-opened.
Nihala and Jalla had found the mule herder they had hired last year. He was all ready for the new season. This season he would start with 50 mules. He would add more if required. They together with mules headed to Hoshiarpur to pick up supplies. The Nadaun depot had stayed in operation thru out the winter months servicing other caravans. The Sud/Sood family, which manned this operation, was quite happy with the business. Now they were missing the local Rajput mule herders, who were making the shorter run from Hoshiarpur to Nadaun with 10-12 mules. Enquiries were sent to their villages. They took a fortnight to get organized. When the main caravan turned around after first delivery at Shimla, the other shorter mule train from Hoshiarpur to Nadaun had started operation. Two days of rest at Nadaun, the main mule train had a 50 mules load ready for transportation to Shimla. From now onwards Nihala would stay at Nadaun and Jalla would stay at Hoshiarpur. One person would travel with the caravan all the time to avoid supply pilferage on the way. Same the Shimla partners would do, one of them meet the full caravan at Bilaspur and take it safely to Shimla.
First load of 1833 of wheat flour, barley, corn, rice and spices was sold as usual to Major Kennedy. He was not pleased with the Sud/Sood boy(s) trouble at Bilaspur last year. He promised that there would no recurrence of that event. He also informed them that starting next year he would be leaving his job and another very capable officer would take over. The forgoing was a bad news as they had come to depend upon him as master and helper. But the business had to go on. They informed Major Kennedy that they would bring some more help from their villages, as they are short on labour. They also asked for his blessings to diversify into other lines of business including grain trade in the neighbouring princely states, clothing business for the natives and timber and hardware business. Major Kennedy did not say much on their proposal but in his mind he knew that he had found the right kind of people to keep Shimla supplied with whatever it needed.
The year 1833 turned out to be more profitable than 1832. They could make only10 mule train runs as opposed to 11 or 12 runs they had thought they would make with a depot at Nadaun. Insurmountable obstacles on the way reduced their travel efficiency. Their major obstacle was to cross the River Sutlej. They overcame this hurdle with the help of the boatmen at the crossing. They were happy with their supply monopoly but also worried about others getting the wind of it, hence were planning their own new moves.
Back in the villages, the elders had recommended clothing business to one family. This business was not British specific, although very finely made "Pashmina shawls" of Kullu could find market in British homes in Shimla. But their target was the native population of Shimla. Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Lahore had made Amritsar as textile city. These textiles could be sourced for local consumption in Shimla. This business would find ready acceptance at Shimla, as the place was short on textiles. To the others, they recommended Timber/Hardware business. There was a huge building activity in progress in making large Government buildings and smaller cottages and bungalows. The latter were all wood construction and former a mix of stone and limestone construction with wood as finishing material. Wood was being sourced in 1830s from the surrounding areas and Suds/Soods wished to play a role in that too. They considered this as a very profitable business provided the local Rajahs permitted wood harvesting in areas under their control. Another idea which was finding favour with the Suds/Soods was to duplicate this operation in British held cantonments at Jutogh and Sabathu, with four original partners acting as distributors. This they would take up in earnest as more help from their villages arrived.
At Shimla as the Suds/Soods were getting wiser everyday, they searched for new customers and new ideas for expansion. Major Kennedy when in 1834 relocated mule enclosure and mule servicing businesses to the southern slopes, he in fact told the partners to load and unload mules there and leave the ridge for retail operations only. This new area in next few years would become centre of wholesale operation. The partners did what they were told but the new clearing was not as big as the Ridge area was hence it would require some civil work before wholesale operation and additional commission agency business could be started there. Major Kennedy had told them that he would charge lease fees for the area occupied by them and the same would apply to others. As a starter he would clear the area of trees and bushes. He asked for annual charge of Rupees 40. The partners agreed together with two Muslim entrepreneurs who were in mule servicing business. By the end of the year, it was expected that this clearing and levelling would be complete and Kennedy would begin allocating space. This allocation never happened as his successor Captain McCausland had already arrived and he wished that this decision be deferred to him. The new Captain laid down his office within next six months without finishing allocations and hence this space allocation decision was further postponed to the next year when Colonel Tapp the new commandant would arrive.
One of the produce, which the local farmer had begun to plant and bring for consumption to the local market, was potato. They initially bartered it away with other farmers for products, they needed and remainder they carried it door to door for sale. Major Kennedy after starting his Kennedy House operation had run into a serious shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables. There was nothing, which the local farmer could sell to them other than cabbage and a few other vegetables. Frustrated, he hit upon an idea to get them plant potato on the hill slopes. Portuguese or the British had brought the potatoes to India. He began distributing potato seeds to the local farmers and showed them how to plant them on the slopes. To his utter delight, the first crop thrived in the hill soil and moisture. There was a good surplus by the second or third crop, which they sold to the British. Now the farmers were planting potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, in sufficient quantities to be sold in the open market. If the wholesale and commission agency area as earmarked were built for the purpose, it would go a long way to serve the local farmers. Col Tapp thought the new clearing, which would be named later as Edward Gunj would be an ideal place to conduct this trade. In this endeavour of his, the Suds/Soods wanted to be first at this location and they were. They had the first lease when the space was allocated. That happened at the end of year 1836 with the intent of starting operation next year.
When the above discussions and future planning was taking place, the partners began taking stock of their second year of operation. At the end of second year (1833), the Suds/Soods returned home a bit more successful. They wished to keep all the extra money intact and in the partnership to expand business in the coming years. There own wages of Rupees 20 per run were sufficient for them and their families to sustain happily.
Subsequent years 1834 to 1841 were as profitable as the previous years under Major Kennedy/Colonel Tapp's stewardship. They both rarely interfered in the retail operation at the Ridge. As the year 1836 ended the partners were busy like a bee to organize caravans of supply. Also at their choicest new location they were planning a new construction.
More Sud families arrive (1836-41)
Back in the home villages there was a mad rush to get to Shimla. But none dared to go without consulting the four original partners. The latter welcomed them but not as partners but as trainees with a condition that as and when they become independent businessmen, they would source their merchandise from them. The partners would introduce the new trainees to the British, help set them up in businesses and keep them supplied. If there were need of capital then they would borrow it from them only. These were minor conditions initially but their full impact was not understood until later. These would have a major impact on the well being of the four partners. It was a process, to make the first four partners wealthy.
With six new entrants, all cousins of Nihala, Jalla, Nidha and Surdha reaching Shimla in the spring of 1836 for work, they got them busy in their goods transportation runs from Hoshiarpur. The partners stationed themselves at Hoshiarpur, Nadaun and Shimla and let the new comers to travel with the convoys. This gave new comers experience and knowledge. They rotated all of them on different segments of the run and introduced them to Colonel Tapp. They paid them wages of Rupees 6 per run, which delighted them very much. At times they would send them on assignment to different locations like Jutogh and Sabathu and let them explore the surrounding areas in their spare time. As promised to their families they were getting trained to be independent businessmen.
As the supply business progressed there were 50 mules per run and three runs in two months. All merchandise was sold on cash, hence money supply stayed decent throughout the year. Now the additional task of building something at the new site had to be undertaken in earnest. For that the capital requirement could be as high as Rupees 2,000. They did not have that kind of money hence they needed help. Colonel Tapp out of goodness of his heart allowed them to construct in stages. A temporary shelter as Major Kennedy had allowed them to build when they started in 1832 was built first. They hired carpenters and cut a few trees, which had been missed last year by the other crew. With timber at their disposal, they began fashioning a Godown first. The new comers who till then were making the transportation runs were asked to supervise the construction. The job had to be finished before the rainy season only four weeks away. With stone and lime, the masons finished laying foundation of the back end of this establishment where storage godown would be located. The stone construction was essential as this space they had got themselves allocated was backing into a slope, hence a real strong building up to the plinth level was essential. By then carpenters had fashioned a wooden structure to act as shelter for unloaded merchandise. With this work completed, their first phase was over. They would start the second phase next year and give it a better look in the final stage of construction.
After the rains, they asked Colonel Tapp for an announcement to let the locals know that a new wholesale market & Commission Agency has begun operation. He obliged and sent the crier thru the native villages and places where temporary seasonal labour was staying. Now everybody knew that they could buy stuff both at the Ridge as well as at the new location. In addition the new location would auction local produce everyday in the morning at Sunrise. The locals had known about the new location but did not get the full grasp of it. They had never seen an auction before; hence they stayed away from it for a while until one villager, Marchu from Mashobra area who had been selling his produce door to door decided to drop in at the new location. A lot of people collected to watch the operation. Nidha explained them the process and gave the fist call, his assistant the new comer gave the second call. Like this, 40 pounds of produce in Marchu's Kilta[5] sold to the highest bidder after 15 minutes of calls and counter calls between the other buyers who were interested in the purchase. Marchu in one hour got his money what he would have got after toiling the whole day. All watching the operation took note of it. The auctioneer collected one Anna as commission for every one rupee of sale. That was the first auction of Shimla, conducted successfully.
Future business at this location would depend upon how people who witnessed it respond.
The first year of their new location in 1837 was uneventful. The number of British houses steadily increased at Shimla to about 100 in 1841. That added more customers to their operation. The urgent need at Shimla at that time was for carpenters, mason and house builders. Some of them began arriving from Kangra district instead of plains of Punjab. There were a thousand people including visitors, homeowners, government officials and some on sight seeing in the summer of 1841. Hence need for supplies had steadily increased. Instead of 9 to 10, 50-mule runs they were making a year, they had to add additional bullock carts and camels to their caravans. The Jats of Hoshiarpur better handled this job. They came in large numbers during the summer of 1838 and carried bullock cart full of supplies. Hence a 12-bullock cart run took a bit longer but brought a lot more supplies, especially wheat flour than the mule trains. The difficulty was that the wheeled traffic could not run immediately after winter run off. It needed about a month or two for the pathways to compact before heavy wheeled traffic could ply.
All the cottagers, homeowners and hotel/boarding house owners loved the new availability of superior flour instead of the grain. The Suds/Soods popularity was at the peak as suppliers.
In two years after their arrival, the new Sud/Sood boys who were under training till then were told to look for independent opportunities. Two of them opened up a retail operation on the Ridge, selling merchandise to the locals instead of British cottagers. Two of them opened weighing operation and wholesale business at the village Sanjauli, a few miles on road to the Shimla hill states. Their target was potato trade. It was weighed, farmer paid and then transported to Shimla for sale. It helped the farmers; he did not have to make the arduous task of transporting to Shimla.
The four partners looked into the possibility of entering into money lending business. In last six years, they had some cash collected in their partnership, which they had not spent. They were prepared to lend it to the needy. The British officers, behaving like aristocrats always overspent in expensive Shimla, hence borrowed to retain their lifestyle. The Sud/Sood partners were prepared to lend them at the going rate. There were many borrowers. On the other hand, there were a number of British officers with careful spending habits, had extra cash at their disposal. They were also in the lending business. Their customers were the local shopkeepers who wished more cash to expand.
In last three years, three new British stores, with one each as hairdresser, clothier and general merchant had opened. These were branch operations of their Agra/Calcutta stores in and around the Ridge operation. In comparison six native stores had opened to sell everything from general merchant, cloth merchant, a tailor, two timbers cum hardware stores. Two of these were affiliated with the Suds/Soods.
The 1841 Shimla had a very unique layout. All the aristocrats who had built houses/bungalows/cottages had built them in and around that six miles country road from Observatory Hill to Barnes Court. There was no unique pattern to layout of these houses. They were scattered all over the place. All who had come first found the best place to pitch their tent and later applied to the Political Officer for permission to build a cottage or a house at that spot. These could be hilltop, a small clearing on 45-degree hills or on the hills itself. Hence this scattered pattern of construction was a contrast to what natives and locals had built. Their construction although haphazard yet gave the village a shape. Because the British cottagers were scattered, delivery of supplies was difficult, hence they hired a mule to deliver the ordered supplies. Many other times the supplies had to be carried on people's back, hence there was a large influx of porters into the town.
How the Shimla Area Economy Impacted by the British (1822-41)
That sleepy little village on the south side of the north-south Himalayan transverse range did not know in 1822 that its fortunes were about to change for the better. It was due to British fascination to the Alpine like climate in the middle of hot and muggy weather of plains of India. It was an accidental discovery by the Gerard Brothers. Once this place became known then the Governor Generals, although head quartered in Calcutta yet mostly in previous years operated from Agra began arriving every summer. Shimla's importance grew. Lords Amherst/Bentinck/Auckland made it a point to operate from Shimla in the summer. They brought with them their staff. Not to be left behind, commander-in-chiefs also began to come. They all left their mark. Lord Bentinck built a large house now called Grand Hotel and Lord Auckland built the area now called Auckland School and Commander-in-chief Combermere built the road and the famous bridge named after him.
Every visit of the British high command brought hundreds of their staff with them. Other aristocratic visitors began building cottages and homes for themselves. All this activity pumped in money into the local economy. There were hundreds of coolies hired locally for menial jobs at their homes. Others were resettled to provide goods and services for the British. Still more were used as porters and carriers, although in a most shameful way, but still employed that the economy began to shift positively. The local people had cash in their hands[6] hence they crowded into the local markets for goods and services.
Wool trade, which had bypassed Shimla as inaccessible was waiting for road construction activities to begin. That would create additional opportunities for the local economy. In 1822, there were only one or two access pathways to Shimla, but within next twenty years, Shimla saw a lot of little roads from nearby villages connecting it. As the plans to build Hindustan-Tibet road was in the formulative stage, these plans alone created a huge amount of interest in the little princely states in its path. They were overjoyed to know that finally they would have 12 feet wide road passing thru their states. With British being resident in Shimla, the Rajahs came to pay homage as and when Governor General was in town. The latter would also take a tour of these states to get the feel for economic and social status of these people.
With the Sud/Soods present in Shimla, next few decades would see dramatic change in the fortunes of the princely states. These merchants would carry grain & textiles to them and bring from them the local produce, wool and other surplus items for sale either in Shimla or in the plains of Punjab. This two-way trade put some additional cash in the local pockets. The forgoing was instrumental in converting those pathways into passable roads for grain and textiles trade. These pathways for generations previously had not changed one bit. Now these were being redone to accommodate wheeled traffic to move commerce. Hence the Shimla, the British favoured hill station, was changing their lives dramatically.
What
was happening Elsewhere in India (1822-41)?
By 1818, the Anglo-Maratha wars were over and the British had control of over 80% of India's landmass and its culture and economy. They needed a respite for a few years as these wars had drained them out. Just before their victory over Marathas, in 1817, all the Rajputana Princely States accepted British suzerainty. Other than Sikh Kingdom in Punjab, which stretched from River Sutlej to Khyber Pass, the British East India Company was master of all India.
They now turned their attention to the east. They in 1823-26 they annexed Assam, Manipur and Aarakan. There was not much fight when the British went there. They again exploited the ethnicity of the British Indian troops to conquer those lands. No Bengali troops were used for this campaign. Soldiers recruited from Budhelkhund and Eastern Awad state were used. They secured easy victories for the company. Much of the guests at Kennedy House in Shimla from 1822 till 1841 were war veterans of these actions.
Then there was a ten years respite before two major bloodier battles broke out. The First Anglo-Afghan war of 1839-42 broke out at British instance. To them the spectre of Russian-Afghan co-operation was unthinkable. Whether it was real or perceived, one does not know. They may have invented military diplomacy under the pretext of "The Great Game" to intimidate the Russians. After the Afghan King Dost Mohamed lost Peshawar to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he was prepared to align with anybody who would help him recover it. When the British thought that Dost Mohamed would align with the Russians, they unleashed a war and captured Ghazni fort by reaching there via Kandhar. All Afghan wars and its occupation had never been conclusive for any military power starting from Alexander the great in 324 BC. This war of 1839-42 was inconclusive also. It was the first time that the policy of British duplicity of divide and rule did not yield good results. There were too many princes to bribe. The British retreated with heavy causalities with the natives of Afghanistan suffered the most.
Again, for rest and recovery British officers of Anglo-Afghan war of 1839-42, who could afford, came to Shimla.
Planning to Annex Punjab beyond Sutlej was at an advance stage during 1840s. They were waiting for old man Maharaja Ranjit Singh's demise. He died in 1839 and left a divided family to rule. They were murderous and quarrelsome lot. The British at that time were ruling 200 million souls compared to 30 million ruled by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, hence the first Anglo-Sikh war of 1845 was victory for the British. So was the subsequent Second War. With these victories British had conquered all of India except the Afghans, who never fought head on but had mastered the art guerrilla warfare. They kept inflicting severe causalities on the British time and again. That continued for 40 more years.
With all of India under its thumb, the overconfident British had begun to mess with Indian religion, both Hinduism and Muslim. This trouble spilled over into mostly Hindu, Muslim, Gorkha and Sikh army units. Overconfident British rejoiced in their capability to control the docile Indians. It was not to be. Those greased bullets for their rifles almost brought an end to British presence in India. God willed it otherwise. A small number of Indians stayed loyal to them. That together with the British troops in India and troops arriving from Burma and elsewhere got them the final and complete victory over India in 1857.
Now the Crown instead of East India Company would rule over India for the next 90 years.
Sud/Sood Partnership Achievements (1832-42)
The Sud/Sood men from Jaswan (Kangra) had arrived in 1832 to achieve what the British had found difficult and expensive to achieve. They transported supplies from the plains of Punjab to Shimla using an alternative route and its gentle gradient. Their success and British help heralded Shimla into becoming a civil society and the summer capital of India in 1864. The helping hand of the British Political Officers who themselves were military men until 1842 played a major role in their success. These native men from Jaswan/Kangra came with true grit. They did not mind the mountains, rivers, streams and wild animals and got to their destination, always on time. Not only that, their business acumen always impressed the British customer base. They got products at the best possible price and precluded any British effort to make their own alternative arrangements.
In ten years after their arrival, they had built their enterprise as well as their service brand. After a lapse of ten years, their financial books showed significant money in their pocket. Theirs as well as all the people they employed had their brush with success.
On top of these achievements, they had slowly introduced other Sud/Sood young men to the area. The latter would, in two to three decades, become merchant, wholesalers and distributors of everything from food supplies, building & construction supplies, textiles, money lenders and exporters of locally produced items, which previously had not seen the light of the day.
These were significant achievements. Fifty years after their arrivals, Sud/Soods about 400 of them were not only in Shimla but also everywhere along the new Hindustan-Tibet road and were a significant factor in bringing the docile people of the hills into the twentieth century.
[1]
India and the Great Divergence: Assessing the Efficiency of Grain
Markets in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century India by ROMAN
STUDER
[2] Upper
Bazaar was the name coined when later British officials decided in 1841 to move
wholesale goods operation to the southern slopes. Since it was on lower slopes, it was given name of Lower Bazaar
[3] Captain
McCausland succeeded Major Kennedy in November of 1835 for about six months
before Colonel Tapp took over for next 5 years
[4] One Tola is
roughly 12 grams.
[5] Bamboo
basket, which farmers use carry produce to the market
[6] Some authors
have disagreed. Their contention is that the British whenever wanted would grab
labour from surrounding villages. That may be true partially. As per their
"Sanads", the Rajahs were to provide labour to the British for road
building and similar activities. That was free. For everything else they paid.
