In the beginning of the month, I had received a book about a famous Horticulturist during the days of Wadiyar rulers of Mysore, Rao Bahadur H.C. Javaraya titled ‘a gardener and a gentleman.’
The format of the book was similar to a miniature coffee-table book with innumerable beautifully produced photographs and pictures enriching each and every page of the book. It was written by Meera Iyer, who is the Convenor of the Bengaluru Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
She is also an author of books on special subjects and has written several hundred articles on history, heritage and culture of our country. A review of the book on Rao Bahadur H.C. Javaraya has already appeared in Star of Mysore dated 21.6.2023.
However, an article titled ‘Archives that Live,’ written by Meera Iyer about another interesting person, a foreigner, Dr. Leslie Charles Coleman, published in Deccan Herald of 22.6.2023 prompted me to do some cud chewing on the article. It made me think about people amongst us who are, to use a biblical phrase, the salt of the earth. When they are gone, society will remember them for what they have left behind for posterity to make their life better. The article is about one such person. My admiration for these remarkable people who are passionate about the subject they are qualified in and use their knowledge for public good. I guess I must include among such persons this lady Meera Iyer too.
Be that as it may, the article was about an ‘unusual community’ event held by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, on 16.6.2023. A retired Dean of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru, Bharath Mallik, was the oracle who narrated the story of Dr. Leslie Charles Coleman, a Canadian. He came to India in 1908 and joined the service of the Mysore Kingdom of Wadiyars, heading the Department of Agriculture as its first Director. Recognising his administrative abilities, the Mysore Government gave him the additional responsibility of Sericulture and Veterinary Departments also.
He served in the Kingdom of Mysore for a period of 26 years and returned to Canada in 1954 because of ill health. Bharath Mallik’s narration of Dr. Coleman’s genius and lasting contribution seemed detailed and exhaustive so much so I wished I was there to listen to him, considering what is mentioned in the brief space of the article:
Dr. Coleman was convinced that in agriculture, different types of soils required different ploughs. And he did not approach any Research Centre or a Consultant. Well, those days, there couldn’t be any Research Centres nor Consultants we find these days. Therefore, it was not surprising, the man, Dr. Coleman, who found the need for different kinds of ploughs for different types of soils, himself went about designing the Kolar Mission Plough and finally created the popular ‘Mysore Plough.’
It was Dr. Coleman who had helped in setting up the UAS in Hebbal, Bengaluru in 1913 and thus enabled many youngsters to make a career of their life. He also revolutionised the unorganised Sericulture sector by helping the Sericulturists of Chennapatna by providing guidance.
It was he who established the Coffee Experiment Station, now called the Central Coffee Research Institute in Balehonnur, in 1925. Our neighbouring district Mandya, which was starved of required rainfall and irrigation facilities, had no other option but go for dryland farming. Dr. Coleman found an opportunity to convert the dryland farming into wetland farming following the newly-built Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam. Dr. Coleman was responsible for convincing the Government to set up the iconic Mysore Sugar Company (MySugar) in Mandya in 1933.
It was said that the sugar factory brought the highest prosperity to Mandya compared to other districts that remained backward. Agriculture those days was a gamble and industry a venture with great risk. The establishment of the sugar factory encouraged the farmers to cultivate sugarcane, required for the sugar factory, with the help of the canal water from KRS. Today, Mandya is a prosperous district and credit must indeed go to Dr. Coleman and his vision. Wonder if there is a statue of Dr. Coleman in front of the factory!
This reminds me of an anecdote or a real-life episode (I do not know which of the two is true). In the beginning when Mandya was provided with the flowing Cauvery water from KRS Dam, the farmers were very happy. However, soon after, mosquito menace began to harm them and brought in the epidemic of Malaria. As a result, many farmers migrated to other places cursing those who built the KRS Dam. Fearing farmers’ unrest, the Government took prompt and proper action to control the mosquito menace and through counselling boosted their morale to return. This worked and it was happy harvesting and happy days for the agriculturists thereafter.
I am reminded of the saying that the palest ink is better than the best memory. After all, human memory fails with age but what is written or physically built will not fail the future generation. That is why we have books and documents. These days there are electronic devices to store and preserve the memory of those great men and women and their contribution in the field of art, music, literature, architecture and industry.
I guess, the National Centre for Biological Sciences is an institution that would indeed serve the present and future generations enabling them to remember the service and contribution of people like Dr. Leslie Charles Coleman. But for the event organised by the NCBS and the article by Meera Iyer I would not have known about the great contribution of Dr. Coleman for my State.
I think INTACH too has similar goals and objectives. But I do not see it active in Mysuru where it had a chapter with senior journalist of Deccan Herald Krishna Vattam (late) as its Convenor. There is much work to be done in Mysuru relating to art, culture and a number of magnificent heritage buildings on the verge of collapse. Let us pray.
Tailpiece: I am reminded of the Abracadabra I wrote on 23rd October, 2021 under the title “Musings on MySugar: May the sugar be sweeter.” It was about the imminent closure of this iconic Mandya Sugar Factory and the need for an immediate intervention by the government to save it from closure.
I had written then, “MySugar is neither a sugar factory nor an industry. It is an institution whose DNA is made up of the labour and sweat of sugarcane growing farmers.” I had further written, as if by intuition, that the “Mysore Sugar Factory (as it was known then) opened in 1933-34 (probably by some Englishman like the Consolidated Coffee Limited in Kodagu) during the days of the Raj.”
Thanks to Meera Iyer, now I know that there indeed was an Englishman (Canadian though) in establishing the iconic Mandya Sugar Factory (MySugar).
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Hello Mr Ganapathy
About the author of Javarayya book, Meera Iyer, who did herv reserach in forestry ecology in the US, and returned to Bangalore to drive besides writing books, arranging heritage walks in Bangalore.
You could give her a column here in the SOM, displacing the column by Javeed Nayeem, which serves no purpose theswe days, as he stryas into topics, to just fill in the column inches.
If you hire Meera Iyer as a columnist, she would focus on the heritage edifices in Mysore and bring INTACH into it.
While I appreciate her work on Javarayya and earlier on Coleman, she like you and all other Indians, gfails to appreciate that without the British rulers support-that means the Viceroy of the day and the British Resident in Bangalore, who alone had the authority and command of the resources, nothing that Meera Iyer attributed to Coleman or Javarayya would have haapened.
Her writings, reflect a nostalgia, shared by me. But, I am afaid, the destruction in the name of development of Karantaka, focusing on Mysore, means, very few of ant thing of heritage value, including the very iconic Chamundi Hill will be left for the next generation. Perhaps, being IT Techies, they do not care for esoterics like the heritage.
If Leslie Charles Coleman was ssuch a genius as hailed and his contributions are so massive, why did he not receive his Knighthood, and was called Sir Leslie Charles Coleman? Canadians in those days, were treated at par with the British as it was Britain’s colony.
It apperas that this lady’s purpose is creating a career for herself, too late now, 1960s/70s would have been ideal fot this attempt, as there were warnings then about heriage destruction. But after spending research years in a US university focusing on esoteric forestry ecology, which is worthless in Bangalore, she realiseds. But, at least she can put the title Dr in front of her name. Talking and writing about the past becomes easier.
What is the point of this lady indulging in wasteful attempts talking about the heritage past, horticulture, and those pionerred it etc.., and trying to lead people on walks to show what is left of Heritage landmarks in Bangalore, which are disappearing fast, and new residents have no time for them?
Bangalore is fast divesting of its heritage edifices through sheer neglect, as develpments are the priority , and Mysore is not far behind.
The only 2 iconic heritage sites are Mysore Palace, whose fort is crumbling and soon its AmbaVilas building will start crumbling, and the Chamundi Hill is facing its existential danger with its geo structure rattled as a result of massive traffic on its road, rock sliding becomes more frequent.