Kolar Gold Fields - Down Memory Lane

Book excerpt: Kolar Gold Fields is a small mining town in the erstwhile Mysore State (now known as Karnataka) in India. It was owned by the John Taylor and Sons Company, a British Mining Firm for more than a century. It was well known for its Colonial ambience and was called Little England due to its British and Anglo-Indian population. It was one of Indias earliest industrialized towns and was unique for its secular and egalitarian society. Aptly named Kolar Gold Fields Down Memory Lane the book undertakes a nostalgic journey right from the days of the origins of the Kolar Gold Mines, its historical and mythological connections, its golden progress through the years under the John Taylor and Sons Company, its gradual decline, and the final closure of the once prosperous Kolar Gold Mining Company in 2003. Thus ending a golden chapter in History, which now lies buried in the annals of time. It then moves on to the Anglo-Indian Community (a living legacy of the British Raj) in the early days of KGF. It brings out vividly the glorious and cosmopolitan life led by that tiny vibrant community in KGF who lived in sprawling bungalows with beautiful gardens and domestic helpers at their beck and call. It recalls the grand Christmas Balls and Dances held at the Skating Rink and the Jam Sessions and Pound Parties in Buffalo Lodge. It finally focuses on the author's childhood memories of growing up in KGF in the 1950s and 60s. It reminds one of lifes many simple pleasures home, family, school, playmates, entertainments, games, etc. It recalls memories of old familiar haunts and landmarks of KGF and the people who were an indispensable part of life in those days. It succeeds in preserving the nuances of a bygone era.