Bharucha Mansion, Jamshedpur

K.M. Bharucha, 1908 – 1952

A strikingly tall, twenty four year old, dressed in a conservative suit, was sitting at the Taj Mahal Hotel looking at the Gateway of India. He had returned after spending 6 years in Yokohama and Shanghai. The major trading centres of the East. It was strikingly adventurous for a young Parsee to have set out to seek his fortune when he was 18 years old. He had returned experienced in the ways of the world and thought that he would work in India’s best hotel which had already introduced lifts and electricity.

Just a chance meeting with Dorab Tata, J.N. Tata’s elder son, and he accepted a new challenge and adventure to help build a steel plant in Sakchi, Kalimati. Along with a hardy group of about 6 Indians, they formed the local backbone of the Tata Iron and Steel Company and were rewarded by seeing it thrive through several situations including two World Wars.

Khorshed Maneckji Bharucha dug his heels in the environment then known as Sakchi. He was responsible for the handling of the cash and therefore the labour payments. This was an important responsibility since at any point of time during the entire construction period, weekly labourers could go up to 4000 ‘rejas’ (female workers) and ‘coolies’ (the males).

Weekly payments began on Saturday morning and went on till late evening.

Khurshed Maneckji Bharucha ceremonially made himself comfortable in front of a table, impeccably dressed in a suit as if he was still at the Taj Mahal Hotel. He had a loaded double-barreled rifle resting on his chair. To add to his reputation as a dog lover and as a tough and sometimes erratic man, there would be two large dogs lying on either side.

Cash payments were complicated since calculations involved 4 pies equalled to 1 pice, 4 pice equalled 1 anna and 16 annas equalled 1 Rupee.

In the early days, very few weekly wages of labourers reached even one Rupee payment and were mostly in the annas and pice. KM Bharucha was unable to give the last bit of pies due to lack of change and this remained in a kitty.

When he walked back home, he distributed these to the beggars on the road as recalled by Adil Gazder, his grandson. Another not so favourable legend suggested by a very senior retired TISCO manager suggested that the takings from the kitty subsidized the Rs 4 lakhs required to build the Bharucha Mansion.

Khorshed, the first Indian Chief Cashier at Tata Steel, had a vision to provide accommodation for young Parsees who came for jobs in the company. In the early 1930s he got permission to build an 11 storey structure. It was of a unique polygonal architecture and design. TISCO had left over girders and beams from the Howrah Bridge which were offered to the employees. Under the leadership of architects A. Dinshaw, a Parsi, and C.C. Bayigle, a British, the building was constructed. It took three years to complete.

The structure was made of steel and clad with bricks and the partition walls were created with “Surki” – limestone and brick mix, quite similar to the design of the General Office.

It needed courage to build such a huge structure in 1933 which was then a lonely area where only the Bank of India, Burmah Shell petrol pump and Tiwary Bechar stood. The general manager of TISCO inquired whether he would like to change his mind and build instead in the “occupied” part which was probably what is now the Circuit House area (old). The determined Khorshed stuck to his decision and left behind an inspiring landmark for our city.

Today, Bharucha Mansion stands like a colossus welcoming those entering Bistupur from Northern Town. This brave, adventurous man took a gamble, and won. He left an edifice to inspire the citizens of our city to dream and create, boldly risk and be rewarded.

A few years later, along with Minoo Patel a prominent businessman, he opened the first cinema hall in the city. REGAL TALKIES, with its large welcoming lobby, heralded the latest entertainment that captured the imagination of the world. 

Although K.M. passed away in 1950 at 66, his wife actively took up the reins of running the mansion and the cinema hall. She inherited some of KMs adventurous spirit. She was the first lady to have a driving license and owned a Plymouth. They had only one son, Fido, a bachelor, who retired from TISCO and was also the secretary of Beldih Club. 

KM again showed his concern for the Parsee community by actively searching and creating the ‘aramgarh’ at the edge of the riverside.

He rose to be a ‘Worshipful Master’ in lodge Darius and like most distinguished citizens of the town, was a member of the Indian Auxilliary Force in existence from World War I with Sir J.J. Ghandy being the Commander.

He is a part of the spirit of our city, a disciplined, erratic but kind soul. He struggled and lived the first few years in a tent around the CNR Club but, in his time, strove to make our city a better place by dreaming to gift an edifice that has become the best known a landmark of Jamshedpur called Bharucha Mansion or Regal Mansion.

We salute this pioneer today.

Credits :

Adil Gazder (grandson of KM Bharucha) for very relevant information on Mr. Bharucha, Dr. B. Master for sharing the book ‘Parsees in Jamshedpur’, Dr. J.J. Irani & Dicky Mody for their illuminating insights.

Illustrations by Shania Silver, Std. VII, Sacred Heart Convent School

#Bharucha#Regal#Parsee#Khorshed#Kalimati#Mansion#Jamshedpur#heritage##1950#jamshedpur_heritage#Bharucha_Mansion