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The Bafut Beagles

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141-574: The Bafut Beagles by British naturalist Gerald Durrell tells the story of Durrell's 1949 expedition to the Cameroons collecting animals for zoos, made with Kenneth Smith. Published in 1954, it was Durrell's third book for popular audiences. Particularly notable was his depiction of a native ruler, the Fon of Bafut , who proved so popular that Durrell visited him again in A Zoo in My Luggage . The book portray

282-528: A galley proof of The Overloaded Ark and asked Durrell to come to London to meet with them, and again he had to phone them to explain that he could not afford the fare. They immediately offered to pay his expenses, and sent £120 (equivalent to £4,400 in 2023). Jacquie later commented that "[this] was the first time that anyone had given us concrete evidence of their faith in Gerry's abilities". Gerald and Jacquie both visited Curtis Brown, who offered to try to sell

423-413: A British Viceroy and landscaped by a German Botanist. The central region of Jamshedpur includes Sakchi, Bistupur, Baridih and Golmuri. It is the location of important marketplaces and financial districts. Jubilee Park and Tata Steel complex dominates much of central Jamshedpur. Some of the prominent landmarks includes Keenan Stadium, Central Jama Masjid and JRD Tata Sports Complex. The Western portion of

564-669: A Million Plus Urban Agglomeration as per Government terminology. Males constitute 52.1% of the population and females 47.9%. Jamshedpur has an average literacy rate of 89.41% – higher than the national average of 74%. In Jamshedpur, 11.5% of the population is under six years of age. Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration includes: Jamshedpur (Industrial Town), Jamshedpur (NAC), Tata Nagar Railway Colony (OG), Mango (NAC), Jugsalai (M), Bagbera (CT), Chhota Gobindpur (CT), Haludbani (CT), Sarjamda (CT), Gadhra (CT), Ghorabandha (CT), Purihasa (CT), Adityapur (M Corp.), Chota Gamahria (CT) and Kapali (CT). Jamshedpur's transformation from

705-515: A blood disease. By May they had hundreds of animals collected, including sunbirds , cobras, eagles, Gaboon vipers , a chevrotain , and a baby chimpanzee. They left Bafut in June 1957. The animals were established in the garden and garage of Margaret's house in Bournemouth, with some housed at Paignton Zoo , where Ken Smith was the superintendent. Bournemouth town council was initially interested in

846-613: A final chapter for it, prompting Durrell to return to the book and complete it. The Bafut Beagles was released on 15 October 1954, and it was made Book of the Month by World Books , a book club; this guaranteed substantial sales, and Hart-Davis celebrated with a dinner in Durrell's honour at the Savoy hotel . In November Durrell gave an sold-out lecture at the Royal Festival Hall, illustrating

987-480: A friend of Lawrence's whom he had given them an introduction to; they came to rely on Ferreyra's assistance with the innumerable miscellaneous problems they had to resolve in Buenos Aires. They soon discovered it would be impossible to visit Tierra del Fuego , as they had planned, and instead visited the pampas , beginning their collecting with burrowing owls , Guira cuckoos , and a baby southern screamer . From

1128-470: A gorilla, a hippo, or an elephant, and Durrell planned a second trip which would target these larger animals. Herbert Whitley , the owner of a private zoo, promised to buy at least half of whatever animals Durrell brought back. Yealland was not available for another expedition, but Ken Smith agreed to join Durrell, and the two made plans to return to the Cameroons, this time intending to go further north, into

1269-684: A great cinema culture and producing many film and television artists. Ritwik Ghatak 's Subarnarekha , a 1962 Bengali film and Satyakam , a 1969 Hindi film starring Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore were shot in Ghatsila area. Years after, film Udaan was shot and based in the city which also got screened in Cannes Film Festival . Bubble Gum film was based in the city and portions of M.S.Dhoni: The Untold Story were also shot in Jamshedpur. Buddhadeb Dasgupta 's Bengali film, Urojohaj

1410-573: A hilly region and is surrounded by the Dalma Hills running from west to east and covered with dense forests. The other smaller hill ranges near the city are Ukam Hill and the Jadugoda-musabani hill range. The city is also a part of the larger Chota Nagpur Plateau region. The region is formed of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks belonging to the Dharwarian period. Jamshedpur is located at

1551-612: A letter to British zoos criticising Durrell's animal care and competence. After multiple unsuccessful job applications, Durrell finally took a short-term post at Belle Vue Zoo in late 1950, staying at Jacquie's parents' hotel. When Jacquie reached 21, in 1950, she was free to marry without her parents' permission. After months of indecision, she agreed to the marriage, and the two eloped in February 1951, marrying on 26 February in Bournemouth. Her family never forgave her, and she never saw any of them again. The Durrells began their marriage in

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1692-508: A loan (again arranged via Leslie), though they hoped that selling the collection in England on their return would at least recoup their expenditures. They knew that obtaining one of the high-value animals would resolve their financial problems, so Durrell canoed downriver to Asagem, where there was a hippo herd. It was considered impossible to capture a hippo calf without killing the parents, as hippos are very dangerous animals, so Durrell shot both

1833-747: A loan; Leslie's girlfriend, Doris Hall, sent £250 (equivalent to £11,500 in 2023) immediately. Durrell came down with malaria just before the return home. He was told by a doctor that he would die if he insisted on traveling to the coast and boarding the ship, rather than resting. Durrell ignored the advice, and sailed from Tiko with the animals on 25 July, recovering on the voyage. They arrived in Liverpool on 10 August, with nearly two hundred animals, which were dispersed to various English zoos. The expedition had been successful but not profitable; it had absorbed half of Durrell's inheritance of £3,000. British zoos would pay £1000 (equivalent to £46,000 in 2023) for

1974-447: A local public school was not a success, so another tutor was hired: Harold Binns, a veteran of World War I. Binns taught Gerald to appreciate poetry and gave him a love of words, and also showed him how to make use of his local public library. Gerald spent the next two years exploring the countryside around Bournemouth and reading books from the library, supplementing these with purchases when he could afford to do so. His call-up for

2115-594: A magic place. Having been there once, nothing could keep me away." The Durrells also briefly owned a pair of Himalayan bear cubs, given to them by Louisa's brother John, a hunter. Louisa soon decided they were too dangerous, and gave them to the zoo. Durrell's father fell ill in early 1928, and died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 16 April. Louisa was devastated by his death, but Gerald was scarcely affected, having been much closer to his mother and his ayah than his father, who had often been absent as his work had taken him all over British India. Louisa considered keeping

2256-512: A marvellous storyteller, and tried to persuade him to write down some of his stories to make money, but he resisted. Lawrence visited from Belgrade in May 1951, and agreed with Jacquie, offering to introduce Gerald to his own publisher, Faber & Faber . Gerald still demurred, and then came down with a recurrence of malaria: Jacquie later recalled that when the doctor advised a light, high-fluid diet, she had to ask if bread and tea would suffice as that

2397-476: A quick-growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens; reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks; earmark areas for Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and Christian churches." Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin from Pittsburgh prepared the first layout of the town of Jamshedpur. What the city looks like today is a testament to his visionary plans. In 1919, the industrial neighborhood

2538-456: A rural area to a bustling urban center owes much to the establishment of Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited in 1907. Initially, its population remained modest until the 1921 census recorded a remarkable growth rate of 911.3%, attributed largely to immigration. People from various parts of India, notably Bihar, migrated to Jamshedpur in search of employment opportunities in industries and eventually settled in nearby areas. This influx diversified

2679-560: A small profit. Reporters from most of the British papers came on board the ship to interview them when they docked at Liverpool, and Durrell told them that he and Smith had already begun planning another trip, this time to South America. In January 1950 Smith and Durrell arrived in British Guiana . Smith stayed in Georgetown , the capital, while Durrell made collecting trips—to Adventure ,

2820-594: A suitable site on the island of Jersey , and leased the property in late 1959. He envisaged the Jersey Zoo as an institution for the study of animals and for captive breeding, rather than a showcase for the public. In 1963 control of the zoo was turned over to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. The zoo repeatedly came close to bankruptcy over the next few years, and Durrell raised money for it by his writing and by fundraising appeals. The site for

2961-638: A third book, The Bafut Beagles , about his second trip to the Cameroons. The Overloaded Ark was published on 31 July 1953, to favourable reviews in both Britain and the US. The only exceptions were a couple of reviewers from the animal business in the UK, who considered the book lightweight, and no competition for Cecil Webb's autobiography. The book's dialogue used pidgin and one or two reviews suggested that this could be seen as offensive. Some reviews questioned whether zoos, and animal collecting, were ethical. Durrell himself

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3102-473: A tiny flat in the house owned by Durrell's sister Margaret, in Bournemouth. They had almost no money; Durrell applied for jobs but found nothing in the UK, except a short-term position at a seaside menagerie in Margate . Jacquie joined him there and began "learning about animal keeping the hard way", as she later described it in her reminiscences, helping to feed and care for the animals. Jacquie considered Gerald

3243-554: A town near the mouth of the Essequibo river; along the seashore to catch freshwater wildlife in the creeks; and to a ranch on the Rupununi savannah . The collection grew to include paradoxical frogs , margays , fer-de-lance , armadillos , macaws , tree porcupines , and anacondas . Again money ran short, and Durrell returned to Britain in April to sell some of the animals so he could wire

3384-486: A villa near Lawrence and Nancy, and became a close family friend. Gerald fell in love with Corfu as soon as they moved out of the town, and spent his days exploring, with a butterfly net and empty matchboxes in which to bring home his finds. Louisa soon decided he needed to continue his education, and hired George to tutor him in the mornings, but Gerald was a poor student. If I had the power of magic, I would confer two gifts on every child—the enchanted childhood I had on

3525-487: A well-established animal collector, arrived in the Cameroons intending to catch angwantibos shortly afterwards; he considered Durrell and Yealland to be inexperienced and amateurish, and Durrell was delighted to be able to tell him when they met that the angwantibo was prospering. Durrell gave Webb a chimpanzee, named Cholmondely, to take back to London Zoo. In July, as they began making arrangements to return, Durrell realised they did not have enough money. He wired home for

3666-535: A year, and during that time Durrell met and fell in love with a woman in London that he refers to in his writings only as "Juliet". Durrell considered marrying her, but she ended the affair after a couple of years. Durrell and Yealland left from Liverpool on 14 December 1947. The ship broke down three times, but eventually reached the coast of the Cameroons at about the turn of the year. The two men stayed in Victoria , on

3807-823: A zoo there, which he would manage, but received little encouragement. In late December 1956 the Durrells boarded the SS Tortugeiro in Southampton, accompanied by Sophie Cook and Robert Golding, a young naturalist. The British government officials in the Cameroons were hostile and uncooperative: they considered Durrell had portrayed the Fon in The Bafut Beagles as "a carousing black clown who spoke comic pidgin English", in Jacquie's words, and

3948-546: Is a cement plant located in Jojobera , Jamshedpur. It is Asia's largest Cement Grinding Unit. There is a varied and powerful industrial base in the Adityapur Industrial Area . Jamshedpur is regarded as the industrial capital of Jharkhand. Jamshedpur has influence on Santali , Hindi , Odia and Bengali films. Many films have been shot and based in the city and it is also sometimes called "Mini Mumbai" because of

4089-584: Is a professional football club based in Jamshedpur which competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian Football. The club is owned by Tata Steel . Sporting facilities and academies include: Jamshedpur has two golf courses—the Beldih Golf Course and the Golmuri Golf Course. Both of these courses are at the heart of the city. The biggest is the Beldih Golf Course which

4230-538: Is absorbed wholly in particulars ... [he has] no recipes for the future of the dark continent". In 1955 Gerald and Jacquie visited Lawrence in Cyprus for two months, planning to make two films for television; Gerald had considered Cyprus as a possible location for the zoo he wanted to establish one day. While they were in Nicosia a terrorist campaign against the British by Greek separatists began, with bombs exploding all over

4371-403: Is all true, when it isn't." Lawrence disagreed, saying that it was a "rather truthful book—the best argument I know for keeping thirteen-year-olds at boarding-schools and not letting them hang about the house listening in to conversations of their elders and betters". There were, however, some obvious changes that Gerald had made: for example, he had portrayed Lawrence as staying with the rest of

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4512-701: Is around 6,000 yards. The Golmuri Golf Course although smaller is also challenging. They together hold the annual Tata Open Golf Tournament which is an event held under the support of the Professional Golf Tour of India . The tournament was started in 2002. Jamshedpur also has the Jamshedpur Gliding Club and the Jamshedpur Co-operative Flying club. Jamshedpur has various local news broadcast and cable media channels including: English, Santali, and Bengali newspapers are published from

4653-433: Is believed that the actual death toll was in the thousands. After the riots, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -affliated groups were finally able to take root in Jamshedpur. Many Muslims living in company quarters were killed, which gave birth to new Muslim neighborhoods in north Jamshedpur . In April 1979, Jamshedpur experienced a deadly Hindu-Muslim violence influenced by the presence of Hindu and Muslim communal forces. It

4794-415: Is celebrated on 3 March as Founder's Day. J.N. Tata had written to his son Dorabji Tata about his vision of a great city in the area. On Founders Day, the 225-acre (0.91 km ) Jubilee Park is decorated with brilliant lightwork for about a week. The city has several nicknames including "Steel City" (which was referenced during TATA Steel's "Green City—Clean City—Steel City" campaign); "Tatanagar" after

4935-486: Is demographically diverse city. It has been ranked consistently as one of the cleanest cities in India by Swach Survekshan . The city is also ranked as 2nd in India in terms of quality of life. It is one of the fastest-growing global cities in the world. It is a local popular tourist destination known for its forests, ancient temples and royal palaces. Jamshedpur is one of the first Smart Cities in India along with Naya Raipur . It

5076-465: Is the commercial area which is known for the wholesale market. while Birsanagar, Kadma and Bagbera consists of residential and commercial hubs. Burmamines, TELCO Colony , Bagbera Colony and Jojobera are the other main and major industrial areas of the city. Apart from north, whole areas of Jamshedpur has at least one industrial area. Other tall towers are TCE Building and Voltas House. In Jamshedpur, many hi-rise buildings are under construction now. Now

5217-463: Is the headquarters of the East Singhbhum district and is the 36th – largest urban agglomeration and 72nd largest city in India by population . Jamshedpur is the only million plus city in India without a municipal corporation. In 1919 Lord Chelmsford named the city, which was early a village called Sakchi , to Jamshedpur in honour of its founder, Jamshedji Nausserwanji Tata , whose birthday

5358-424: Is the oldest management institute of India; Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College , established in 1961; and the engineering college National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur , an Institute of National Importance , established as a Regional Institute of Technology on 15 August 1960. The National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), one of the 38 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories,

5499-421: Is the only city in the country whose basic facilities are taken care of by a private company. Jamshedpur is situated at the southern end of the state of Jharkhand and is bordered by the states of Odisha and West Bengal. The average elevation of the city is 135 metres while the range is from 129 m to 151 m. Total geographical area of Jamshedpur is 224  km square. Jamshedpur is primarily located in

5640-503: The 1984 anti-Sikh riots . A refugee colony with dozens of Sikh households is in Golmuri . There are 33 gurudwaras in Jamshedpur. Tribals constitute around 28% of the population, and live in Birsanagar , a very large area covering a major part of Jamshedpur. The largest industry in Jamshedpur is that of Tata Steel . It is situated in the centre of the city and occupies approximately 1/5 of

5781-598: The Chota Nagpur plateau , near the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers. It seemed to be the ideal choice and the place was selected. In 1908 the construction of the plant as well as the city officially began. The first steel ingot was rolled on 16 February 1912. It was a momentous day in the history of industrial India. The first world war began in August 1914. It rapidly escalated to West Asia centring around

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5922-512: The Durrell Conservation Academy , to train conservationists in captive breeding. The institution has been very influential: its thousands of graduates included a director of London Zoo, an organisation which was once opposed to Durrell's work. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and cirrhosis in 1994, and received a liver transplant, but died the following January. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried at Jersey Zoo. Durrell

6063-470: The Scilly Isles for two weeks to relax and recover. His family read the manuscript, and were "more bemused than amused", in the words of Durrell's biographer. Durrell had taken liberties with chronology, but claimed that every incident in the book was completely true, though Margaret and Louisa thought otherwise. Louisa commented that "The awful thing about Gerald's book is that I'm beginning to believe it

6204-503: The Seismic Zone II region . Jamshedpur has many parks around it. Jubilee Park at Sakchi is the largest park in Jamshedpur. It was built by Jamshedji Tata, who was inspired by Vrindavanan Gardens of Mysore. Jamshedpur has been ranked 13th best "National Clean Air City" (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India. India's first planned industrial city, Jamshedpur was envisioned by an Indian, planned by an American, named by

6345-583: The Suez Canal of Egypt and from there to the region of Mesopotamia , now called Iraq . It extended to East Africa , Palestine and rest of the Middle East . Nearly 1,500 miles of rail and 3,00,000 tonnes of steel produced in Jamshedpur were used in military campaigns across Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonica and East Africa. After the end of the war in 1919, the company received warm acclaim from Britain. The city's construction continued. Jamshedji's plan for

6486-417: The district officer (the local British colonial administrator) Durrell had brought a bottle of Irish whiskey , and the two men drank it over the course of the evening. Durrell and the Fon became firm friends, and often drank together in the evenings. The Fon's influence meant that there was a constant stream of hunters coming to the house with animals for Durrell, augmenting what Durrell was obtaining from

6627-612: The partition of India , residing in designated colonies. The 1974 Indian smallpox epidemic was partially traced to economic migrants returning from Jamshedpur. With funding from J.R.D. Tata , the World Health Organization quarantined the city's unvaccinated population, successfully limiting further spread. Languages spoken in Jamshedpur city (2011) In Jamshedpur NAC town and outgrowth , six prominent spoken languages, namely Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Odia, Urdu, and Punjabi, collectively cover approximately 85 percent of

6768-548: The 1980s, including Durrell in Russia and Ark on the Move . They co-authored The Amateur Naturalist , which was intended for amateurs who wanted to know more about the natural history of the world around them, though it also had sections about each of the world's major ecosystems. A television series was made from the book, which became his most successful, selling well over a million copies. He became an OBE in 1982. In 1984 he founded

6909-466: The American rights. Shortly after the Durrells returned to Bournemouth they received a telegram saying the rights had been sold for £500 (equivalent to £18,000 in 2023). Durrell soon began work on a book about the expedition to British Guiana, titled Three Singles to Adventure . It was completed in only six weeks, and sold to Rupert Hart-Davis , a London publisher. After a short break Durrell began on

7050-477: The BBC commissioned another six talks, titled Animal Attitudes , which were broadcast in 1958. Durrell had not yet written a book about the most recent Cameroons trip, but was under contract to deliver a book by the end of the year. Jacquie suggested compiling the talks into a book, a much easier task than writing a new book, and the result, also titled Encounters with Animals , was turned in to Rupert Hart-Davis where it

7191-603: The Cameroons. The result, titled The Overloaded Ark , sold well, and he began writing accounts of his other trips. An expedition to Argentina and Paraguay followed in 1953, and three years later he published My Family and Other Animals , an account of his years in Corfu. It became a bestseller. In the late 1950s he decided to found his own zoo. He visited the Cameroons for the third time, and on his return attempted to persuade Bournemouth and Poole town councils to start local zoos. These plans came to nothing but he finally found

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7332-577: The Durrells had trouble getting their equipment through customs. Eventually they reached Mamfe, and discovered that it would be impossible to collect any gorillas—aside from the difficulty of getting a licence, there were so few gorillas left in the area that Durrell decided it would be wrong to capture one. They did obtain permission to film them, but Durrell became ill, both physically and mentally. He had to be hospitalised because of injuries to his feet, and he became depressed and started drinking heavily. Jacquie suggested to Gerald that instead of selling

7473-472: The Fon mostly in a humorous fashion, discussing his polygamy , anglophile perspective, and high tolerance for alcohol , but also in more flattering ways. The Fon awarded Durrell the ceremonial dress and staff during his second expedition. The Fon, although not named, was Achirimbi II . Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist , and television presenter. He

7614-451: The Insects , which Gerald found entrancing; naturalists such as Fabre, Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Gilbert White became his heroes. Equally influential was a copy of Wide World , an adventure magazine, which Leslie lent him: it contained an account of an animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons , in west Africa, led by Percy Sladen, and gave Gerald the ambition of someday doing

7755-652: The Paraguayan capital. They were advised to leave immediately, and had to arrange a light plane to take them back to Buenos Aires, which meant most of the animals had to be left behind. The Durrells arrived in London in July, and the few animals they had been able to bring with them were quickly placed with zoos, but the money from The Overloaded Ark had been spent on the expedition with little return. Three Singles to Adventure had been published while they were in South America:

7896-493: The animals collected there back to Buenos Aires by train. These included a Geoffroy's cat , coatis , peccaries , a puma , seriemas , and yellow-necked macaws . After another short excursion to Mendoza , in search of fairy armadillos , Durrell returned to Buenos Aires, where he met David Attenborough , who at that time was a producer for the BBC, and had been filming and collecting in Paraguay. Durrell described his plans for

8037-490: The animals they were collecting, they should keep the collection and "use it to blackmail the Bournemouth Council into giving us a suitable zoo site in the town", and Durrell agreed. He remained depressed at the changes in the Cameroons since he had first visited, even when they finally reached Bafut and met the Fon again. Durrell continued to drink heavily. He came down with malaria; and then he and Jacquie both caught

8178-453: The animals. The whole thing fascinated me." Once the animals had all been sold, Durrell went back to Bournemouth, but wrote frequent letters and telegrams to her. Jacquie's father objected to the relationship, since Durrell appeared to have no money and no prospects. In addition, Durrell was fond of whisky: alcohol had killed Jacquie's paternal grandfather. Durrell visited Manchester again to talk to Jacquie's father, and to her surprise

8319-424: The book. He let them know that he could not afford the train fare, and they wrote again offering £25 (equivalent to £910.00 in 2023), and another £25 on publication. Durrell accepted. Lawrence had advised Gerald not to bother with an agent, but Gerald felt an agent would have obtained a higher payment from Faber & Faber, and contacted Spencer Curtis Brown, Lawrence's own agent, in late 1952. Curtis Brown read

8460-472: The bull and cow. A crocodile killed the hippo calf almost immediately, before it could be captured. Durrell did not have a permit to kill any further hippos, and was deeply distressed by having had to kill two animals at all, let alone in a failed attempt to obtain their calf. A promise of a young gorilla persuaded Durrell and Smith to stay in Mamfe past their intended departure date, but it never appeared. Durrell

8601-569: The city and established Tata Group . The city played active role in the World War I. It was a high value target during the Second World War. Following the independence of India, the city became part of Bihar. Jamshedpur was impacted severely by the communal riots in 1964 and 1979. It was also a centre of the statehood movement. In 2000, the city became part of newly-formed Jharkhand state. A major commercial and industrial center in India, Jamshedpur

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8742-577: The city center to Mango . Marine Drive is a popular road and picturesque promenade in Jamshedpur. It starts from Sonari and connects Adityapur. Adityapur has the NIT Jamshedpur .The Burma mines colony has the National Metallurgical Laboratory , a government-owned alloy and metals R&D lab. The southern part of Jamshedpur contains Jugsalai , Birsanagar , Kadma , Burmamines, TELCO Colony , Bagbera Colony and Jojobera . Jugsalai

8883-424: The city has the areas of Adityapur , Gamharia, and Sonari . Sonari is a residential and commercial neighborhood, while Adityapur and Gamharia are the major industrial neighborhoods. Adityapur is also a city and a part of Jamshedpur. Gamharia has an industrial area namely Industrial Area, Gamharia. Adityapur has the Adityapur Industrial Area . There are five national highways crossing the city. Mango Bridge connects

9024-473: The city was clear. He envisioned far more than a mere row of workers hutments. He insisted upon building all the comforts and conveniences a city could provide. As a result, many areas in the city are well planned and there are public leisure places such as the Jubilee Park and Dimna Lake. While building the city, Jamshedji Tata had said, "Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of

9165-461: The city's demographics, with significant communities from regions like Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, and Patna contributing to its multicultural character. Moreover, migrants from neighboring cities within Jharkhand, such as Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Bokaro, also flocked to Jamshedpur for job prospects. Alongside local residents, including Muslims and Sikhs, the city also became home to refugees who arrived during

9306-635: The city's fringes. The major of them being the Dimna Lake located in between the Dalma range and the Sitarampur reservoir situated beside the Kharkai River. It is also a major tourist spot in the region. Both of them also act as reservoirs for drinking water in the city. The city falls under a deciduous type of forest region and the green cover is estimated to be around 33% of the total land area. The city falls under

9447-458: The city. Muslims forms 6.95% of the city's population. However, large number of them are concentrated in northern sububrs — Maango and Kopali , where they form around 50% of the population. There are around 134 mosques in the city. Central Jama Masjid in Sakchi is the largest mosque. Sikhs forms 4.1% of the city's population. Many Sikhs migrated to Jamshedpur after partition of India and then

9588-501: The city. The plans for a zoo and the films were abandoned, though the Durrells did make a film about a Cypriot village while they were there. In June, Gerald and Jacquie returned to the UK and rented a flat in Woodside Park , in north London. Durrell developed jaundice , and while ill he decided to write a book about his childhood in Corfu. Durrell had given a talk in 1952 called "My Island Tutors", in which he had described four of

9729-465: The coast, buying supplies, planning trips to the interior, and learning Cameroonian pidgin . In early January they stopped in Bakebe for three days, acquiring a hairy frog and a baby drill , among other creatures, and then went on to Mamfe , where they spent a week. In mid-January Yealland returned to Bakebe to establish a base, and Durrell went on to Eshobi, with people carrying his equipment as there

9870-501: The communist-led union of the Tata Steel. The state government declared the illegal. Within a week, the violence escalated into firing, looting, arson, curfew and movement of federal troops. According to the company, 4 people were killed and 114 people were injured. About 400 people were discharged and 335,000 man-days off work and 45,000 tons of steel production lost before mid-July when the steel plant returned to normal production. In

10011-605: The confluence of the Kharkai and Subarnarekha Rivers. Subarnarekha is the principal river of Jamshedpur, which flows from the west to the south-eastern part of the territory. Many small rivers, especially the tributaries, join the Subarnarekha river in this area. The Kharkai flows from the south and joins the Subarnarekha River at a place called Domuhani . The two rivers are the city's major sources of drinking water and groundwater. Several lakes of varying sizes are also located near

10152-557: The end of 19th century Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata met steel makers in Pittsburgh to get the most advanced technology for his plant. It is said that he got the idea of building a steel plant when he heard Thomas Carlyle declaring that "the nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold" in a lecture in Manchester . At the turn of the twentieth century, Jamshetji Tata asked geologist Charles Page Perin to help him find

10293-469: The entire city area. It acts as a pivotal center for the industries of the city of Jamshedpur with a large number of them having direct or indirect linkages with it. Tata Motors is the second major industry. It is spread over an area of 822 acres (333 ha) in the eastern side of the city. It manufactures Medium and Heavy commercial vehicles and the main components. The company also has its own township commonly known as Telco. Nuvoco Vistas Corp. Ltd

10434-508: The events of the trip chronologically; he wanted to make the animals central characters, and to make the book entertaining and humorous rather than simply factual. The completed typescript, titled The Overloaded Ark , was posted to Faber & Faber with a covering letter mentioning that Gerald was Lawrence's brother. Durrell continued to apply for jobs while waiting for a response, but without success. Faber & Faber responded after six weeks, asking Durrell to visit them in London to discuss

10575-405: The expeditions could never be profitable in themselves, but he knew they would provide material for the books which were his source of income. He also hoped to make a film of the expedition. He settled on returning to the Cameroons, and to Bafut in particular, since he could be sure of cooperation from the Fon and the local hunters. Durrell also began lobbying Bournemouth town council to establish

10716-583: The experience he needed to be hired by the established collectors. He left Whipsnade in May and returned to Bournemouth to plan his first expedition. Durrell planned to visit the British Cameroons in West Africa. He teamed up with John Yealland , an ornithologist with some collecting experience, and several British zoos expressed interest in seeing whatever they were able to bring back. The planning took over

10857-579: The family in India, but finally decided to move back to the UK, and they sailed back from Bombay . The house in Dulwich that Lawrence had bought in 1926 was large and expensive to run, and in 1930 Louisa moved the family to a flat attached to the Queen's Hotel in Upper Norwood , in south London. Early the following year they moved to Parkstone , near Bournemouth . Louisa was lonely with just Gerald for company;

10998-412: The family moved to a villa near Kontokali , not far north of Corfu town. Gerald's education continued to be haphazard, with tutors who were unable to interest him. Lawrence encouraged Gerald to read widely, giving him an eclectic selection of books, from the unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley's Lover to Darwin . Among the books were Jean-Henri Fabre 's Insect Life and The Life and Love of

11139-544: The family, instead of living elsewhere with Nancy, who was not even mentioned in the book. My Family and Other Animals was published in October 1956—the title had been suggested by Curtis Brown's son-in-law—and drew enthusiastic reviews describing it as "bewitching", "joyous", and "uproarious". It immediately became a bestseller, going into a third printing before it had even been published. Late in 1955 Durrell began planning another collecting expedition. He had accepted that

11280-678: The female keepers, and some romances, including one woman whom he took to Bournemouth to meet his family a couple of times. On Durrell's twenty-first birthday, in January 1946, he inherited £3,000 (equivalent to £157,000 in 2023) that had been set aside for him in his father's will. His long-term goal was to collect animals and start a zoo, and he wrote letters to animal collectors of the day, offering to pay his own expenses if he could join their expeditions. All turned him down because of his lack of experience. Eventually he decided to use his inheritance to fund an expedition of his own, which would give him

11421-557: The government's proposal. In 2005, a similar proposal was once again put up by lobbying politicians. The target audience was the working class. A large majority sided with the government and set up protest meetings outside the East-Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner's office. However, the objective was never achieved and Jamshedpur remains without a municipality. On 15 November 2000, Jamshedpur became part of new state called Jharkhand. There are wide roads, shady trees on

11562-467: The grasslands of the central Cameroons. They left from Liverpool in early January 1949, arriving in mid-February, and reached Mamfe on 20 February. There they set up a base camp, and Durrell went to Eshobi again, where he was greeted warmly by the villagers, who had profited handsomely by selling him the animals they captured during his first expedition. The villagers quickly acquired first one and eventually dozens of flying squirrels for Durrell, one of

11703-519: The horses, giving riding lessons, and occasionally having brief affairs with women he was teaching to ride. After the war in Europe ended in May 1945, Durrell decided that if he were ever to achieve his dream of owning a zoo, he had to gain more experience working with animals. He applied to the Zoological Society of London, and was invited to the zoo to meet the superintendent, Geoffrey Vevers . At

11844-524: The household included an ayah (an Indian nursemaid) who helped raise the children, and a Catholic governess. When Durrell was fourteen months old, the family left Jamshedpur and sailed to Britain, where his father bought a house in Dulwich , in south London, near where both the older boys were at school. They returned to India in late 1926 or early 1927, settling in Lahore , where Lawrence had contract work. It

11985-417: The hunts he himself went on. Acquisitions included a great cane rat , pygmy dormice , hyraxes , pouched rats , an Allen's galago , skinks , a Nile monitor , sunbirds , and a golden cat . Hunters frequently brought snakes, and Durrell was bitten by a burrowing viper , requiring an emergency trip to Bemenda , forty miles away, for antiserum . They again ran out of money, and had to wire home for

12126-497: The idea of a zoo, but eventually decided against it. The town council of Poole , near Bournemouth, offered Upton House , near Poole Harbour , as a possible site. That Christmas some of the animals were housed in a local department store, J. J. Allen , as "Durrell's Menagerie". Eventually Poole council provided a draft contract, which proved unacceptable: it would have required Durrell to commit £10,000 (equivalent to £300,000 in 2023), most of which would have been spent on repairs to

12267-683: The intention of having Smith open the zoo while the Durrells were still in South America. It took a month to get the expedition's equipment through customs, but eventually they were able to drive down to Patagonia, where they filmed fur seals , elephant seals , and penguins . Jacquie had been injured in a traffic accident, and had apparently recovered, but it seemed possible she had fractured her skull, and when they returned to Buenos Aires in February 1959 she took ship for England. After she had gone Durrell went to Calilegua , in Jujuy province , and brought

12408-519: The interview, Durrell "prattled on interminably about animals, animal collecting and my own zoo", as Durrell later put it, and Vevers wrote to him a few weeks later offering him a position as a student keeper at Whipsnade Zoo . He began work there on 30 July. He was transferred periodically between areas of the zoo, and spent much of his time cleaning the animals' cages, but occasionally had more interesting tasks, such as helping to hand-rear four newborn Père David's deer . The work could be dangerous: he

12549-455: The island authorities, who proved far more cooperative than Bournemouth and Poole town councils had been. Arrangements had to be made quickly as there was less than a month to go before they left for Argentina. The lease for Les Augrès was signed on 17 October 1958, and the following day the expedition sailed from Plymouth on the English Star . Durrell hired Ken Smith as superintendent, with

12690-556: The island for a job in Cyprus in early 1938, though his wife and daughter stayed in Corfu, and Margaret returned to England the following year. In mid-1939, with war looking increasingly likely, Louisa was warned by her London bank that if she did not return to England she would have no access to her funds if hostilities broke out. Louisa, Leslie, Gerald, and Maria Condos, the family's maid, left Corfu for England in June. Margaret briefly returned; Lawrence and Nancy waited to leave until after war

12831-479: The island of Corfu, and to be guided and befriended by Theodore Stephanides. —Gerald Durrell George was friends with Theodore Stephanides , a polymathic Greek–British doctor and scientist, whom he introduced to Gerald. Stephanides spent a half-day every week with Gerald, walking in the countryside and talking to him about natural history, among many other topics. He was enormously influential on Gerald, and helped to encourage and systematise Gerald's love of

12972-490: The meeting was amicable, with Durrell receiving permission to see more of Jacquie. Jacquie continued to spend time with Durrell, partly, she later said, to annoy her father, but she soon found herself deeply emotionally involved with Durrell. The expedition to British Guiana had left Durrell with only about £200 (equivalent to £9,000 in 2023). He had to get a job, but the only jobs he was suited for were in zoos, and his chances of obtaining one were damaged by George Cansdale ,

13113-401: The merger of Kharsawan. The Orrisa Military Police opened fire on the crowd, resulting in a massacre. Aftermath of the incident, the bodies were disposed of in a well and the jungle, and many injured were left untreated. Official records state 35 deaths, but other sources, like P.K. Deo ’s “Memoir of a Bygone Era,” suggest numbers as high as 2,000. A violent strike occurred in May 1958 by

13254-652: The mid 1960s, thousands of Hindus escaped anti-Hindu violence in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ) and sought refuge in India, which caused communal tensions in East India. The theft of a religious relic, believed to be a hair of Prophet Mohammed in Srinagar caused brutal riots in Jamshedpur. This led to a chain of protests, resulting deadly riots where 134 people were killed in Calcutta, Rourkela , and Jamshedpur. Still, it

13395-415: The name of its railway station Tatanagar Railway Station or simply "Tata" in deference to the presence of Tata companies. At one time it was also known as "Kalimati" (meaning "Land of Goddess Kali") after the village near the Sakchi area. Sakchi was merged Jamshedpur as a neighborhod in 1919. The only trace of the name is the main road through Sakchi area of Jamshedpur which is named Kalimati Road. At

13536-423: The natural world. Gerald collected animals of all kinds, keeping them in the villa in whatever containers he could find, sometimes causing an uproar in the family when they discovered water snakes in the bath or scorpions in matchboxes. Stephanides's daughter, Alexia, who was a little younger than Gerald, became his closest friend, and the families of each hoped that the two would one day marry. In late 1935

13677-410: The order in which every character (human and animal) would be introduced. When he began to recover from the jaundice, he returned to Bournemouth, and began to write, producing 120,000 words in just six weeks. Curtis Brown and Rupert Hart-Davis were delighted with the manuscript, and assured him it would be a bestseller. Durrell was exhausted by the time the book was completed, and went with Jacquie to

13818-436: The other three children were at school or studying elsewhere. Durrell later recalled that she began "resorting to the bottle more and more frequently" and eventually had "what in those days was called a 'nervous breakdown ' ". He was left alone in the house except for a governess, brought in until Louisa returned, at which point he was sent to a kindergarten nearby instead. He enjoyed his time there, particularly because one of

13959-556: The pampas they headed to Puerto Casado in Paraguay, on the Paraguay River , and from there went on to the Chaco . They acquired a baby giant anteater , a dourocouli , a crab-eating raccoon , and a grey pampas fox , among many other animals, but in May, as they were making plans for the thousand-mile journey back to Buenos Aires, they discovered there had been a coup d'état in Asunción ,

14100-483: The previous year. A visit to the animal collection changed her mind, as she recalled in her 1967 book, Beasts in My Bed : "Suddenly this seemingly shallow young man became a different person ... He really cared about them, and they, in a funny way, returned this love and interest with obvious trust ... I just sat on a box and watched him ... He had certainly forgotten that I was there, and concentrated his entire attention on

14241-524: The problems of endangered species. He was also disappointed by the weak scientific knowledge of Whipsnade's staff. Some of the keepers knew less than they claimed about their animals, and were often unwilling to pass on what they did know. An exception was another newly hired keeper, Ken Smith, who was responsible for the Père David's deer. Smith and Durrell established a friendship that lasted long after Durrell left Whipsnade. Durrell had good friends among

14382-474: The profits to Smith. In 1949 Durrell had met Jacquie Wolfenden , the nineteen-year-old daughter of the proprietors of a hotel in Manchester where he stayed while doing business with Belle Vue Zoo . He returned to the hotel in May 1950, since the animals from the trip to British Guiana were housed nearby. Jacquie was initially unenthusiastic about his presence, despite an enjoyable dinner date they had shared

14523-472: The property, rather than on building the zoo enclosures and services. The film they had shot in the Cameroons was used as the basis for a three-part television series, To Bafut for Beef , in early 1958. Durrell was visibly nervous in the studio sequences, and the reviews were mixed. While Durrell had been in the Cameroons in early 1957, the BBC had broadcast a six-part series of talks by Durrell, called Encounters with Animals . It had been very popular, and

14664-647: The rest of the family took up the idea of moving there. Lawrence and Nancy left England on 2 March 1935, and the rest of the family followed five days later, reaching Corfu later that month. Lawrence and Nancy moved in to a house in Pérama  [ sv ] , near the Wilkinsons, and the rest of the family stayed in the Pension Suisse in Corfu town for a few days, house-hunting. They met Spiro Chalikiopoulos, who found them

14805-630: The reviews were mostly positive, but Cansdale, who had been annoyed by criticism of London Zoo in The Overloaded Ark , wrote a scornful review in The Daily Telegraph , describing the book as superficial, hastily written, and uninformative, and Durrell as an incompetent who was lucky to have survived the expedition. To bring in more money, Durrell wrote an account of the South American trip, titled The Drunken Forest , and as soon as that

14946-467: The roadside, Dimna Dam for drinking water supply near the city, 24-hour uninterrupted electricity supply. Apart from this, many national level institutes like Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute, National Institute of Technology, National Metallurgy Laboratory, MGM Medical College, Al Kabir Polytechnic College are operating here. At present, Tata Steel is the country's largest private steel production company producing 11 million tons of steel. Jamshedpur

15087-611: The same. Leslie and Lawrence each owned boats, and Gerald was given a small rowing boat as a birthday present. It was christened the Bootle-Bumtrinket , and Gerald added trips along the coast to his excursions through the countryside. Late in 1937 the family moved again, this time to a villa overlooking Halikiopoulou Lagoon that had been built as a residence for the British Governor of the Ionian Islands . Stephanides left

15228-569: The school. She bought him a dog, which he named Roger, as compensation for his traumatic time there. He never received any further formal education, though he intermittently had tutors. Lawrence and his partner, Nancy, were living with friends of theirs, George and Pam Wilkinson, in 1934. At the end of the year, the Wilkinsons emigrated to the Greek island of Corfu , and Lawrence and Nancy moved in with Louisa and Gerald. George wrote to Lawrence about Corfu in glowing terms, and first Lawrence and then

15369-431: The site to build India's first steel plant. The search for a site rich in iron, coal, limestone and water began in April 1904 in today's Madhya Pradesh . The prospectors C. M. Weld, Dorabji Tata and Shapurji Saklatvala , took nearly three years in a painstaking search across vast stretches of inhospitable terrain to find a location. One day they came across a village called Sakchi , on the densely forested stretches of

15510-450: The species he was keenest to obtain. These proved to be difficult to keep in captivity as they were fussy eaters, and only four remained alive by the time Durrell returned to the coast in August. In mid-March they went north to Bafut , where the Fon (the local ruler) had agreed to rent them a house in his compound. On arrival Durrell met with the Fon, explaining what animals he was seeking, and drawing sketches of them. On advice from

15651-438: The suggestion up. A few weeks later Rupert Hart-Davis gave them an introduction to Hugh Fraser, who owned a manor, Les Augrès , on Jersey , and the Durrells flew out to meet him. Durrell happened to mention to Fraser that Les Augrès would be a wonderful site for the zoo; he had not realised that Fraser was considering selling. By the time the Durrells left Jersey an agreement had been reached, and Durrell began negotiating with

15792-405: The superintendent of London Zoo. Cansdale deeply disliked Durrell: Jacquie later said it was because Cansdale regarded himself as the main expert on West African animals and was offended at Gerald intruding on what he regarded as his territory. Durrell had also criticised London Zoo for its policy of showcasing as many animals as possible, rather than prioritising scientific research. Cansdale sent

15933-513: The talk live on the Home Service . The fee was fifteen guineas (equivalent to £625 in 2023), and Durrell produced more fifteen-minute talks but had also now decided that it might be worth writing a book. Louisa gave him an allowance of £3 per week (equivalent to £120 in 2023) to sustain him and Jacquie while he worked. Durrell decided to write an account of his first trip to the Cameroons, and quickly realised that he did not want to simply relate

16074-761: The talk with ex tempore cartoon drawings, and showing film of the capture of an anaconda from the Guiana trip. Reviews for The Bafut Beagles were ecstatic, and it became a best-seller and the first printing rapidly sold out. It was widely considered Durrell's best book to date. Some reviewers commented that the book was not suitable for all audiences; there were plenty of references to the animal's lavatory and sexual habits, and to drinking alcohol. The review in The Spectator commented that there were no moral judgements about animal collecting, or about colonialism : "He attempts no explanations ...he passes no moral judgements; he

16215-532: The tallest building will be Ashiana Garden Sunflower Block, which will be built at Adityapur. These tall buildings are mostly on the Central and Western side of the city. Jamshedpur has 10 – 14 floors of buildings. According to the 2011 census of India, the city of Jamshedpur had a population of 629,659, but the Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration had a population of 1,337,131. The city is designated as

16356-460: The teachers encouraged his interest in natural history, bringing in an aquarium with goldfish and pond snails . In 1932 Louisa moved them again, to a smaller house in Bournemouth, and the following year she enrolled him at Wychwood School. Gerald loathed the school; the only lessons he enjoyed were in natural history. He would scream and struggle to avoid going. When he was nine he was spanked by his headmaster, and his mother took him away from

16497-459: The third largest metropolitan area in the region. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits, the wider metropolitan area is home to around 1.3 million people. Located on the confluence of Swarnarekha and Kharkai rivers, Jamshedpur is surrounded by picturesque promenade Dalma Hills . The modern city of Jamshedpur was established in 1912. It was named after industrialist Jamshedji Tata , who laid foundation of Asia's first steel plant in

16638-608: The tiny flat in Margaret's house in Bournemouth. The Durrell's left Tilbury by ship in November 1953: they had been promised a pleasant trip out by their travel agents, which they were looking forward to as a substitute for the honeymoon they had not had, but in the event the accommodations were cramped and unpleasant, the boat filthy, and the food appalled them. They arrived in Buenos Aires on 19 December 1953, and met with Bebita Ferreyra,

16779-424: The total population. Other notable languages spoken in the town are Maithili , Ho , Chhattisgarhi , Santali , Mundari , Gujarati , Tamil , Telugu , Kurukh/Oraon , Nepali , Malayalam , Marathi , Rajasthani , Sadan/Sadri , Awadhi , and Bhumij . Hindus form the majority religion in Jamshedpur. While Muslims , Sikhs , and Christians form a significant minority. Jains and Buddhists also live in

16920-407: The tutors he had had on Corfu, but had made no other use of his pre-war memories. He planned the book meticulously: there would be three parts, one for each of the villas, and he decided to constantly switch between the three main themes of the book—the landscape, the inhabitants and animals, and his family's eccentricities—prevent a reader from becoming bored with any one of the topics. He planned

17061-422: The war came in late 1942, but he was exempted from military duty on medical grounds. His exemption letter told him that his options were to work in a munitions factory or find work on a farm; he chose the latter, but instead worked at a riding school at Longham, near Bournemouth, having persuaded the owner to tell the authorities he was doing farmwork if asked. He spent the rest of the war mucking out and grooming

17202-545: The war effort, were manufactured in Jamshedpur. Between 1940 and 1944, a total of 4,655 Tatanagar units were produced at the Railway workshop in Jamshedpur. In 1945, Tata Motors was established as "Tata Engineering & Locomotive", by purchasing the railway workshop. A reminiscent of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place near Jamshedpur on 1 January 1948. Over 50,000 people assembled in Kharsawan and protested against

17343-422: The war. The British government sought to protect the city from attacks. Several bomb shelters were set up across the city, while anti-aircraft guns were placed on the outskirts. British and American troops were brought into Jamshedpur. Additional airfields were built at Chakulia and Kalaikunda, surrounded by several underground bunkers. A series of wheeled armoured carriers, known as 'Tatanagars', contributing to

17484-418: The zoo to Attenborough, who thought it could not succeed; Durrell assured him that he would be able to support it with the royalties from his books. Jamshedpur Jamshedpur ( / ˈ dʒ æ m ʃ ɛ d p ʊər / , Hindi: [dʒəmˈʃeːdpʊr] ), also known as Tatanagar , is a major industrial city in eastern India . It is the largest city in the state of Jharkhand and stands as

17625-540: The zoo was leased, and to guarantee the zoo's future, Durrell launched an successful appeal in 1970 for funds to purchase the property. He wrote about his further expeditions, and the zoo, and his own experiences in Corfu and after the war. Durrell was an alcoholic and had repeated problems caused by his drinking; he also suffered from depression . In 1976 he separated from his wife; they were divorced in 1979, and Durrell remarried, to Lee McGeorge , an American zoologist. He and Lee made several television documentaries in

17766-453: Was all they could afford. Jacquie continued to pressure him after he recovered. Finally, after complaining about a radio talk on West Africa, she pointed out that he could do better and should try. Within a few days Gerald borrowed a typewriter and produced a script for a short talk about his hunt for the hairy frog in the Cameroons. Late that year they heard from the BBC that the script had been accepted, and on 9 December 1951 Durrell read

17907-575: Was also shot in outskirts of city. The movie Dil Bechara , starring Sushant Singh Rajput and John Abraham 's directorial Banana were also shot in the city. Many entertainers are also from this city such as Priyanka Chopra , R. Madhavan and Imtiaz Ali . Jamshedpur is a million-plus city with four municipal corporations, Jamshedpur Notified area committee , Jugsalai Municipal corporation , Chakulia and Mango Notified area committee. The major urban local bodies are: Important educational institutions in Jamshedpur are: XLRI , founded in 1949,

18048-570: Was asked at one point to separate a African buffalo calf from its mother, and on another occasion to cage an aggressive brindled gnu , and broke some bones in his hand during one of these tasks. Durrell continued his reading while at Whipsnade, now concentrating on learning more about zoos. The extinctions of animals such as the dodo , the passenger pigeon and the quagga appalled him, and he realised that most zoos considered their role to be as exhibitors of animals, and did not think of themselves as scientific institutions which might help address

18189-623: Was born in Jamshedpur in British India . He moved to England when his father died in 1928. In 1935 the family moved to Corfu , and stayed there for four years, before the outbreak of World War II forced them to return to the UK. In 1946 he received an inheritance from his father's will that he used to fund animal-collecting trips to the British Cameroons and British Guiana . He married Jacquie Rasen in 1949; they had very little money, and she persuaded him to write an account of his first trip to

18330-467: Was born in Jamshedpur , British India , on 7 January 1925. His father, Lawrence Samuel Durrell , was a civil engineer; his mother was Louisa Florence Dixie . He had two older brothers, Lawrence and Leslie , and an older sister, Margaret . Another sister, Margery, had died in infancy. His parents were both born in India: his mother's family were Irish Protestants from Cork , and his father's father, who

18471-465: Was copyedited by David Hughes , who became a family friend. Durrell began planning a trip to Argentina once the negotiations with Poole council collapsed. As with the Cameroons trip he planned to film the expedition. While planning it, Jacquie suggested that they try the Channel Islands as a possible location for the zoo; Durrell liked the idea, but they had no contacts there and did not follow

18612-444: Was declared, and Margaret finally left after Christmas. Louisa established the family in a Kensington flat, and began looking for a house for them. While they were in London, Gerald took his first job, as an assistant at a pet shop near the flat, and impressed the owner with his knowledge of animals. Louisa moved the family back to Bournemouth by early 1940, and there she made one more attempt to get Gerald an education. A visit to

18753-469: Was forced to sell equipment, including guns, to raise money, and eventually they left Tiko in early August. Most of the animals survived the journey, but the last flying squirrel died just one day from docking at Liverpool on 25 August. Despite the failure to obtain the more valuable animals, the expedition had brought back several species never previously seen in Britain, including a hairy frog, and had turned

18894-488: Was from Suffolk , had come to India and married an Anglo-Irish woman. Durrell's father insisted that Louisa leave household chores and parenting duties to the Indian servants, as was expected of Anglo-Indian women of the day, but she was more independent than he wished. She spent much time with her cook, learning to make curries, and had trained as a nurse. It was usual for Anglo-Indian parents to see little of their children, and

19035-449: Was in Lahore that Gerald's fascination with animals began, first when he saw two large slugs entwined in a ditch, and later when he visited the zoo in Lahore . He was entranced by the zoo, later recalling "The zoo was in fact very tiny and the cages minuscule and probably never cleaned out, and certainly if I saw the zoo today I would be the first to have it closed down, but as a child it was

19176-622: Was inaugurated on 26 November 1950 by Jawaharlal Nehru . Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute (SNTI), established in 1921 as the technical training department of Tata Steel, now develops skilled employees for other companies as well. Its 400,000 volume library is one of the most popular in the city. Many high-level institutions are located in Jamshedpur. Now there is further development to set up more universities and several other educational institutions. Jamshedpur's private clubs provide opportunities for activities, such as golf, tennis, squash, billiards, horseriding and water scootering. Jamshedpur FC

19317-537: Was merged to form Jamshedpur according to Jamsetji Tata , the founder of the industrial establishment. As a tribute to the company's contribution in the war, on the day of city's official opening, Lord Chelmsford visited and named Jamshedpur, in honor of Jamshedji Tata. World War II started in 1939 in the European countries and extended to the Middle East and rest of Asia. The city was a high-value target for Japan during

19458-453: Was nothing resembling a road. He spent months there, collecting hundreds of animals, and the return to Mamfe required him to hire sixty people to carry them all, with Durrell suffering from sandfly fever during the trip. He rested at Bakebe for a few days to recover, and while he was there a hunter brought in an angwantibo , one of the animals Durrell was keenest to obtain, as he knew London Zoo were looking to acquire them. Cecil Webb ,

19599-428: Was strongly critical of how zoos were run at the time, but kept his views out of his early books. The money Durrell was earning from writing enabled him to plan another expedition. Jacquie chose the destination as she had never left Europe: she picked Argentina , and in subsequent planning this was expanded to included a visit to Paraguay . A secretary, Sophie Cook, was hired to help with preparations, all made from

19740-487: Was the first major riot on the occasion of Ram Navami . 108 peole were killed in the riot, among whom 79 Muslims and 25 Hindus were identified. A notable figure among the victims was Zaki Anwar, a popular secularist. Legend has it that in the late 1980s when the state government proposed a law to end the Tatas' administration of Jamshedpur and bring the city under a municipality, the local populace rose in protest and defeated

19881-403: Was turned in to the publisher he began a children's book, The New Noah . This was a compilation of anecdotes from the various expeditions of the previous ten years. Durrell disliked writing: Jacquie and Sophie "cajoled and bullied" him, in the words of his biographer, during the writing of The Drunken Forest , and when it looked as though he would never finish The New Noah they began writing

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