Rishad Saam Mehta
Jet Wings; February 2003

East of Shimla is Thanedar, home to some of the finest apple orchards in India. Here, a dedicated American planted the first saplings, and the fruits of his labour have brought prosperity to local farmers and treat to our tables.

Shimla is fading. There is no denying the fact. The seduced the empire builders and rose to become the summer capital of the Raj has lost the attractiveness of her youth. The multitude of chaotic construction that now scar her once pretty slopes have left her wrinkled and sagging, and her days of glory are now faded memory.

However, the district of Shimla is still an enchanting place. Most of it stretches along the banks of the Sutlej- in fact, Shimla itself is the entrance to the Sutlej valley. Travelling east of Shimla is beautiful. You leave the crowded mountainside, congested traffic and noisy tourist behind and make your way along the Hindustan-Tibet road that follows the Sutlej meandering far below. Two hours out of Shimla lies Narkanda, another hustle-bustle Himalayan town. Here, the road takes a sharp U and carries on towards Rampur. However, there is an old pilgrimage trail that has been made motorable, and it is this road that leads to Thanedar.

Most people wouldn't stumble upon Thanedar, because wouldn't take the road-which is a pity. There's hardly a prettier place in the district. Rudyard Kipling once called this tiny hamlet the mistress of the Northern Hills, and her days of seduction are far from over. She sits pretty, high on a ridge surrounded by apple orchards, charming all who visit her. Most are blissful unaware of her history. If she could talk, what a story she'd have to tell. She'd tell of a young man from Philadephia, USA, who lost his heart to her. She'd tell of his fondness for the locals, and how he brought them prosperity. And, finally, as you bite into juicy red or golden apple, she'd tell you that it was here that it all started: for, the apple arrived in India at Thanedar.

It was my good fortune that I had a good storyteller in Prakash Thakur, who runs the Banjara Retreat. Surrounded by apple orchards, which come into full bloom in April, this two-storied cottage provides cozy and comfortable accommodation. I was my way back from Rohru and Hatkoti, and was breaking my journey at Thanedar. This was my second visit within a period of two months, and, this time, I was the only guest, making me the ideal audience for Mr. Prakash Thakur, as we sat warming ourselves around the stove in the kitchen.

It began in 1904, when Samuel Evans Stroke landed in Bombay on February 26. He had come to India with two doctors, Mr. and Mrs. Carleton, who were working with the Leprosy Mission in India. During a visit to Philadelphia, they had been asking for donations at the local church for their work in India, and young Stokes was very moved by their cause and dedication and wanted to help in a way that was more than just monetary. He faced much opposition from his family, because he was an heir to the family's prosperous business of elevators, Stokes and Parish Elevator Company, which was later merged with Otis Elevators. But, young Stokes was determined, and his family relented and allowed him come to India to work for the mission.

Stokes was based at Sabathu, near Shimla, and he liked his work and the simple way of life he led. He fell in love with the Himalayas and, every day, went for walks into the hills, with each day bringing new discoveries. He would write back to his mother telling her about the flowers, the foliage, the tree, the birds, the sunrise, the sunset, the fragrance in the air and the changing seasons. The beauty around him sowed the seed that would flower as a decision to make this his permanent home.

Kotgarh is village six kilometers from Thanedar, where the British built a church in 1843. Samuel came here to recuperate from the heat of the Indian Plains and fell completely in love with the surrounding the area that is Thanedar today.

Story goes that he even lived in a cave in Kotgarh for a while, leading a life of renunciation. He followed a harsh regime of self denial- bathing in stream of cold water nearby and cooking simple meals in a small earthen pot. The villagers were astounded by his courage. The cave was a good mile from human habitation, in heart of the jungle, the home of panthers and bears.

The story of the Sahib, who became a sadhu soon spread, and the villagers came to pay homage to him, and accepted him as one of their own. Realizing that her son was determined to spend his life in India, Mrs. Florence Stokes came visiting India during the winter of 1911. At the time, the area that is Thanedar today was a large tea plantation owned by a widow called Mrs. Bates. Stokes bought the plantation on February 6, 1912, for the princely sum of Rs. 30,000. A few months later, he married Agnes Benjamin, a Rajput "“ Christian Pahari (Mountain) girl, and settled down to family life.

The day after my arrival, Prakash Thakur and I went up to harmony Hall, which stands on a hillock surrounded by snow-capped mountains on three sides. This was the home Stokes built in Thanedar. Surrounding it were the apple orchards of Barobagh.

In 1914, Samuel, Agnes and their year old son set off for London on February 23. They spent a few days there and then crossed the Atlantic just a week before the titanic sank. It was during this trip to his homeland that Stokes visited some of prosperous apple orchards in Philadelphia. He was convinced that apple cultivation could end the ills of the Kotgarh and Thanedar farmers. If every cultivator in Philadelphia could have bumper harvest year after year, why not the Kotgarh farmers?

Now, English apples had already been introduced in India. Captain R S Scot of the British Army had brought them to the Kullu Valley in 1870. The apples, the Newton Pippin, King of Pippin and Cox's Orange pippin, were strains of the English sour apples. Unfortunately, they were not popular because of their taste and, to meet the demand of the Indian Market, sweet apples were still being imported from Japan. Stokes makes a careful study of apple cultivation in the US, read books on the subject and visited farmers to learn their methods.

After 18 months Stokes and his family sailed for India. The voyage from London to Bombay was arduous, because World War 1, and their ship, the city of Marsilles was attacked by German Submarine. Fortunately for the fate of apples in India, the ship did not sink and made its way to Bombay. In 1916, Stokes planted the stark Brothers apple saplings he had brought with him at the very place where Mr. Thakur and I stood 86 years later.

Five years later, in 1921, Stokes' mother sent him a consignment of sapling of the Stark Brother Golden Delicious apple as a Christmas gift. The first apple bore fruit a few years later and were sold in 1926. They were an instant hit. The intense sweet taste and the inviting colour hooked the Indian Market. Their popularity even spurred the locals into planting apples rather than their usual crop of potato. And, because they considered Samuel Evans Stokes one of them, they sought his advice and he helped them achieve rich dividends with their harvest.

Soon the demand foe the Kotgarh apples skyrocketed. Orchards cropped up all over the valley of what is today of Himachal Pradesh to meet the demand, and imports from Japan ceased. It is from these first few saplings of the sweet Delicious apples of Shimla and the Golden Delicious of Kinnaur that Himachal Pradesh has grown to become one of the largest producers of the fruit today.

Next to Harmony Hall stands the Paramjyoti Mandir that stokes built in 1937. During his early days in India, while he was exploring the Hindustan-Tibet road, Stokes interacted with many Sadhus, who were on their way to the Kailash Mansarovar. Their simplicity intrigued him and set him to thinking about Hindu Religion. Later on in life, he studied the Bhagwat Gita and the Upanishads in English and, then, in an endeavour to understand them better, he taught himself Sanskrit, in order to study them in their original form. Stokes joined Arya Samaj in 1930s; and changed his name to Satyanand Stokes. The temple is his legacy to the sect, and is said to be a story book in wood and stone. On its walls are carved passages from the Upanishads and the Gita that are meant to give seekers the courage to bear their sorrows and help reach their goal.

Samuel Evans Stokes was the only American to take part in the Indian Freedom Struggle. He was completely disgusted by the way the British treated Indians and behaved on the sub-continent. His writings strongly point out how the rulers were doing a gross injustice to India, especially by their practice of beggar, or impressed labour. He was sent to jail for his views. In fact, when the consignment of Golden Delicious apple sapling arrived in Thanedar from Washington in 1921, they were planted by Agnes, because Stokes was doing time in Lahore Central Jail.

That was the story of Thanedar that I was told. It was a tale of adventure and romance in a very different vein, and it added charm to an already enticing place. Kipling was right. Thanedar is a perfect spot for private pleasure.