Chapter 8: Bridgette and Leonard.
Tales of Treselda Cottage (Part 8)
Bridgette and Leonard.
It was said that Bridgette D'Souza's holdings of coconut plantations in Anjengo were so vast that harvesting happened non-stop. A team of seasoned coconut pickers would begin harvesting from one end of the plantation and by the time they had reached the other end, the first set would be ready for harvest again and the cycle would continue.
The coconut plantations thrived by the waterways, their lifeline. Once the coconuts were husked, they would be sorted into lots for sale and for drying into copra, from which oil would be extracted. Husk would be gathered in bales along the water's edge and would be taken by plantation boats to the main jetty, from where they would be carried by larger goods boats to the factories of Allepey to be turned into coir. The copra and husked coconuts would be sent to mills to extract oil, and to the city markets for sale.
Bridgette, it was said, had taken a keen interest in the plantation, having spent most of her growing years outdoors with her father and uncles, observing the activities. The reputation of being capable enough to run a plantation profitably and of being clever, and a voracious reader, had preceded her and intrigued her city-bred in-laws in Trivandrum. To add to the list of accomplishments, her English was impeccable, as Mama (Margaret) often said.
She did not have very long in Trivandrum, as she had to set off for East Africa with her husband, Leonard. She was comfortable in western wear, unlike Margaret, who stuck to saris and never took to the Anglo trend of dresses and hats in the latest fashions, that was followed scruplously by the more fashion-forward in the community. Bridgette had a whole trousseau of narrow-waisted long dresses, that were fashionable at the time, specially handmade in Quilon. High heeled, buckled shoes were made to order, and her hats came by boat from a hattery in Allepey, which belonged to a family that also ran the coir factory to which they supplied husk from the plantation. Bridgette joked about how she had seen off the boats with bales of husk from the plantation jetty, and then watched them come back with coils of coir for the plantation with her hat boxes perched atop, covered in sack cloth and tied down firmly, lest they decide to topple off and float away to reach Trivandrum before she did.
This was the time before Mama had moved to Treselda Cottage. The family was still in Margaret Cottage, under the watchful eye of the Matriarch Sophia, Mama's mother, known to the children as Ammachi. The old house was set amidst vast grounds. Yvette, Ava's mother, was small then and recollected how Bridgette had been most interested in the outdoors, and in the variety of garden plants and fruit trees that Ammachi had tended to over the years.
Leonard wanted to build an extension to the house while he was there, and a coconut tree had to be removed to make way for it. Bridgette had supervised the felling of the tree. There was a bounty of tender coconuts for the family from the felled tree. Brigette had got the edible core of the tree and its heart, from which the palm leaves sprung, called the "Thengin Manda" specially harvested. She gave Yvette and other children the heart, which they broke up and ate in the outdoors, savouring it slowly, a slightly spongy delicacy, the taste of which remained with Yvette as a lasting memory of her beautiful aunt. Bridgette had made a lightly spiced curry with coconut milk out of the tender core of the tree, which the whole family had found most delectable.
The couple was on their way to Africa soon enough, Leonard getting restless for having spent too much time away from the estates. They were seen off at the train station, by the whole family and other relatives, from where they would take the train to Bombay, and proceed onwards by ship to Africa.
Bridgette was accompanied on her journey by her young cousin, Harold, Ava's father. He was an intelligent and restless teenager, eager to leave Anjengo and find his fortune across the oceans, like Leonard. While in Margaret Cottage with Bridgette, waiting to leave for Africa, Harold had spent time with the other children and with Yvette, who was then a small girl, Leonard's sister Margaret's daughter. Much later, once Harold had established himself in Africa, and Yvette had turned eighteen, Ammachi arranged for them to get married, and Yvette had gone on to make a life in Africa with Harold. In due course, Ava was born there, one of their eight children.
Bridgette was a hit in social circles in East Africa. She was free-spirited, not the sort to be tied down to home and hearth. She moved with equal felicity with all nationalities, and often held parties, entertaining her guests with her knowledge, wit and charm. Leonard, much older than her, and workaholic that he was, watched rather detached and allowed her to have her fun and her own life. He had dived right back into his work on his return to Africa after the wedding. There was much to be taken care of as he had been away too long, and he was subsumed in the running of the estate. He had married an intelligent woman. She would take care of herself and of their marriage, so he thought. Where he was a proud man, she was a prouder woman. She did not invest her time in trying to win her husband over. Not one given to feminine wiles and the outward expression of unbridled admiration that softened men's hearts, she turned her energy to living for the day, and living it up with her full social calendar.
She watched her husband, intrigued, wondering why that which kept everyone else wanting to be near her, did not seem to work when it came to him. All the books that she read did not prepare her for this puzzlement. In them, heroes had chased heroines, and heroines reigned on pedestals. She waited for him to come around and find her, but felt him getting more distant, slipping further away from her as the months slipped by.
Where Leonard had once been adventurous and explored Africa in the lastest cars, he was now working harder than ever, long hours running from day into night. He had taken on more estates and travelled between them. Where others had found him to be an indispensible employee who held his own, Bridgette found him to be subservient to his increasingly demanding British bosses.
The more she found she was losing out on the home front, the more frivolous she became. Rumors flew far and fast about the company she kept, and the young men that surrounded her. The rumours reached Trivandrum too. While Ammachi's heart had gone out to her son, who had made hard, demanding work his creed, it had gone out equally to the young woman, saddled with a romantic and adventurous heart, who had set sail for distant shores with the bright hope of youth. The couple had had a false start, and had grown apart, living their own individual lives under the same roof.
Eventually, Leonard sent Bridgette back home to Anjengo. Rumour had it that she had been caught in a compromising situation, with a distant relative whom Leonard had brought to the estate. This young man had gone on to curry favour with the British bosses and had pointed to discrepancies in the books, trying to put Leonard in a bad light. Perceived as a traitor and an opportunist, the fact that this fellow had the audacity to flirt with his wife, and that his wife had in turn responded to his sly advances, came to be the final nail in the coffin of their marriage. Bridgette had no idea about how this man who pursued her had deceived her husband on the estate, and on learning of it, was very repentful for her indiscretions. But the damage was done.
She returned to her hometown, a deeply saddened shadow of her former herself. Her father was elderly and house-bound and her holdings in the coconut plantations were being managed by her Uncles. Citing increasing cost of labour, they had allowed the plantation to slip. It would take a gargantuan effort and a huge investment on her part to revive it. Bridgette could not think of life without the plantation. Laced as it was with the sunlit memories of childhood days, it had become an indelible part of who she was. She sold some of her holdings, after a long drawn out legal battle with her Uncles to get her property documents in hand, and went on to invest that money into reviving the plantation. It was an uphill battle in changing times. The industry in the old days had thrived on networks - of waterways, and of people. Both had been gradually eroded over time. Waterways were losing their prominence as road and rail took over. Old contacts that had been established along the water's edge, all the way to Allepey and Quilon, had been lost, with land given over to other uses over the years, and people moving away from traditional businesses. Until she passed away at a ripe old age, Bridgette fought fiercely to revive and protect a life she had once known and loved.
(To be continued...)
Bridgette and Leonard.
It was said that Bridgette D'Souza's holdings of coconut plantations in Anjengo were so vast that harvesting happened non-stop. A team of seasoned coconut pickers would begin harvesting from one end of the plantation and by the time they had reached the other end, the first set would be ready for harvest again and the cycle would continue.
The coconut plantations thrived by the waterways, their lifeline. Once the coconuts were husked, they would be sorted into lots for sale and for drying into copra, from which oil would be extracted. Husk would be gathered in bales along the water's edge and would be taken by plantation boats to the main jetty, from where they would be carried by larger goods boats to the factories of Allepey to be turned into coir. The copra and husked coconuts would be sent to mills to extract oil, and to the city markets for sale.
Bridgette, it was said, had taken a keen interest in the plantation, having spent most of her growing years outdoors with her father and uncles, observing the activities. The reputation of being capable enough to run a plantation profitably and of being clever, and a voracious reader, had preceded her and intrigued her city-bred in-laws in Trivandrum. To add to the list of accomplishments, her English was impeccable, as Mama (Margaret) often said.
She did not have very long in Trivandrum, as she had to set off for East Africa with her husband, Leonard. She was comfortable in western wear, unlike Margaret, who stuck to saris and never took to the Anglo trend of dresses and hats in the latest fashions, that was followed scruplously by the more fashion-forward in the community. Bridgette had a whole trousseau of narrow-waisted long dresses, that were fashionable at the time, specially handmade in Quilon. High heeled, buckled shoes were made to order, and her hats came by boat from a hattery in Allepey, which belonged to a family that also ran the coir factory to which they supplied husk from the plantation. Bridgette joked about how she had seen off the boats with bales of husk from the plantation jetty, and then watched them come back with coils of coir for the plantation with her hat boxes perched atop, covered in sack cloth and tied down firmly, lest they decide to topple off and float away to reach Trivandrum before she did.
This was the time before Mama had moved to Treselda Cottage. The family was still in Margaret Cottage, under the watchful eye of the Matriarch Sophia, Mama's mother, known to the children as Ammachi. The old house was set amidst vast grounds. Yvette, Ava's mother, was small then and recollected how Bridgette had been most interested in the outdoors, and in the variety of garden plants and fruit trees that Ammachi had tended to over the years.
Leonard wanted to build an extension to the house while he was there, and a coconut tree had to be removed to make way for it. Bridgette had supervised the felling of the tree. There was a bounty of tender coconuts for the family from the felled tree. Brigette had got the edible core of the tree and its heart, from which the palm leaves sprung, called the "Thengin Manda" specially harvested. She gave Yvette and other children the heart, which they broke up and ate in the outdoors, savouring it slowly, a slightly spongy delicacy, the taste of which remained with Yvette as a lasting memory of her beautiful aunt. Bridgette had made a lightly spiced curry with coconut milk out of the tender core of the tree, which the whole family had found most delectable.
The couple was on their way to Africa soon enough, Leonard getting restless for having spent too much time away from the estates. They were seen off at the train station, by the whole family and other relatives, from where they would take the train to Bombay, and proceed onwards by ship to Africa.
Bridgette was accompanied on her journey by her young cousin, Harold, Ava's father. He was an intelligent and restless teenager, eager to leave Anjengo and find his fortune across the oceans, like Leonard. While in Margaret Cottage with Bridgette, waiting to leave for Africa, Harold had spent time with the other children and with Yvette, who was then a small girl, Leonard's sister Margaret's daughter. Much later, once Harold had established himself in Africa, and Yvette had turned eighteen, Ammachi arranged for them to get married, and Yvette had gone on to make a life in Africa with Harold. In due course, Ava was born there, one of their eight children.
Bridgette was a hit in social circles in East Africa. She was free-spirited, not the sort to be tied down to home and hearth. She moved with equal felicity with all nationalities, and often held parties, entertaining her guests with her knowledge, wit and charm. Leonard, much older than her, and workaholic that he was, watched rather detached and allowed her to have her fun and her own life. He had dived right back into his work on his return to Africa after the wedding. There was much to be taken care of as he had been away too long, and he was subsumed in the running of the estate. He had married an intelligent woman. She would take care of herself and of their marriage, so he thought. Where he was a proud man, she was a prouder woman. She did not invest her time in trying to win her husband over. Not one given to feminine wiles and the outward expression of unbridled admiration that softened men's hearts, she turned her energy to living for the day, and living it up with her full social calendar.
She watched her husband, intrigued, wondering why that which kept everyone else wanting to be near her, did not seem to work when it came to him. All the books that she read did not prepare her for this puzzlement. In them, heroes had chased heroines, and heroines reigned on pedestals. She waited for him to come around and find her, but felt him getting more distant, slipping further away from her as the months slipped by.
Where Leonard had once been adventurous and explored Africa in the lastest cars, he was now working harder than ever, long hours running from day into night. He had taken on more estates and travelled between them. Where others had found him to be an indispensible employee who held his own, Bridgette found him to be subservient to his increasingly demanding British bosses.
The more she found she was losing out on the home front, the more frivolous she became. Rumors flew far and fast about the company she kept, and the young men that surrounded her. The rumours reached Trivandrum too. While Ammachi's heart had gone out to her son, who had made hard, demanding work his creed, it had gone out equally to the young woman, saddled with a romantic and adventurous heart, who had set sail for distant shores with the bright hope of youth. The couple had had a false start, and had grown apart, living their own individual lives under the same roof.
Eventually, Leonard sent Bridgette back home to Anjengo. Rumour had it that she had been caught in a compromising situation, with a distant relative whom Leonard had brought to the estate. This young man had gone on to curry favour with the British bosses and had pointed to discrepancies in the books, trying to put Leonard in a bad light. Perceived as a traitor and an opportunist, the fact that this fellow had the audacity to flirt with his wife, and that his wife had in turn responded to his sly advances, came to be the final nail in the coffin of their marriage. Bridgette had no idea about how this man who pursued her had deceived her husband on the estate, and on learning of it, was very repentful for her indiscretions. But the damage was done.
She returned to her hometown, a deeply saddened shadow of her former herself. Her father was elderly and house-bound and her holdings in the coconut plantations were being managed by her Uncles. Citing increasing cost of labour, they had allowed the plantation to slip. It would take a gargantuan effort and a huge investment on her part to revive it. Bridgette could not think of life without the plantation. Laced as it was with the sunlit memories of childhood days, it had become an indelible part of who she was. She sold some of her holdings, after a long drawn out legal battle with her Uncles to get her property documents in hand, and went on to invest that money into reviving the plantation. It was an uphill battle in changing times. The industry in the old days had thrived on networks - of waterways, and of people. Both had been gradually eroded over time. Waterways were losing their prominence as road and rail took over. Old contacts that had been established along the water's edge, all the way to Allepey and Quilon, had been lost, with land given over to other uses over the years, and people moving away from traditional businesses. Until she passed away at a ripe old age, Bridgette fought fiercely to revive and protect a life she had once known and loved.
(To be continued...)
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