THE GHOST OF MARAR EMERGES FROM THE SEA

Babu Paul saw the ghost in the Bath room!

Dr D Babu Paul has seen a ghost,only once,after he took charge as Cochin Port Trust Chairman on March 25,1984.It was not an ordinary ghost,but a VIP ghost,riding a black horse,in a three piece suit.

The first Chairman,the legendary Robert Bristow had left in 1941; the predecessors of Babu Paul were,Milne,Marar,Sreenivasan,Venkateswaran,Venkitaraman,Subramanya Iyer,KPK Menon,P S Padmanabhan,AKK Nambiar,U Mahabala Rao and T N Jayachandran.

Old Harbor House

The Port became operational on May 26,1928,when the ship,Padma entered the Port.Then the discussions on building  the wharfs  and other activities, were led in Shimla, by Joseph William Bhore,who was the Dewan in Cochin during 1914-1919.A Sub Committee,consisting of Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer,Thej Bhadur Sapru,Cochin Dewan C G Herbert,Central Finance Secretary Allen Parsons and Finance Member Sir James Grig was formed,and they took all the decisions,in four sittings.According to an article A V Menon wrote in Malabar Herald,the King,Rama Varma XVI,the King who died in Madras(1914-1932),as he was known later,prayed publicly, before he gave the final sanction.A lamp with four wicks was lighted.Since the King was 70(born on 6 October 1858),he placed 71 silver coins on a bronze plate before the lamp.He closed his eyes and prayed for 10 minutes.He ended the prayer thus:"My God,Poornathrayeesa,every thing has been examined.Even then I beg you,nothing negative should happen to the State with this.If my signing this now,as an obedient servant of you, is wrong,please do pardon me!".70 silver coins were gifted to the people present.The King laid foundation to the fourth phase on 12 August 1936.

KWP Marar

Sir J W Bhore(1878-15 August 1960) joined the ICS in 1902,and is remembered as the Chairman of Central Health Survey and Standing Committee that chartered a course for public health investments and infrastructure in India.He was Under Secretary,Madras,when he was appointed Dewan of Cochin,succeeding A R Banerji.He was acting High Commissioner of India,during 1922-'23 and Secretary to the Simon Commission,in 1928.He married Margaret Wilkie/Stott in 1911.She died in Bhopal in May,1945,and Bhore died in Guernseu,Channel Islands,15 years later.

Babu Paul admits in his service story,Katha Ithu Vare(The Story So Far),that several ghosts haunted the Chairman,from the past.Then,shockingly,he records seeing the ghost of the former Chairman,KWP Marar!

Ever since I read about Marar in the book in 2008,I had been searching for information on Marar,and an image of him.I had mentioned him,in my post,Three English Mad Men. I spoke to Babu Paul,who said Marar's cricketer son,M P Govind,was his batch mate,in the Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram-but they were not in touch.

The little information now I have on Marar,is from London and Assam.The London Gazette of 6 November 1928,records that,Kottil Walappil Parameswara Marar was selected to the Indian Civil Service,after open competition,on 4 October,1928.There were only 11 Indians in the list,three South Indians among them,only one Malayali.The other South Indians were,Nellicheri Swaminathan Arunachalam and Hundi Srinivasa Kamath.The Other Indians in Marar's 1928 batch:Santosh Kumar Chatterjee,Prasanta Chandra Chaudhuri,Manilal Jagdishbhai Desai,Ranjit Gupta,Karuna Kumar Hajara,Mohammad Karamatullah,Purushottam Mangesh Lad and Mulkraj Sachdev.

Babu Paul

Marar was the fourth Malayali to get into the ICS,after KPS Menon(1922),N R Pillai(1923), and M C B Koman.Pillai was the first Cabinet Secretary of Independent India.

Babu Paul told me that Govind belonged to Thrissur;there is a Kottil Valappil,in Kottapuram,Poothole,Thrissur.

The Edinburgh Gazette of 4 January 1935 records that Marar was given the New Year award of Kaisar-i-Hind Medal of the first class for public service,as Deputy Commissioner,Nowgong,Assam.

Marar was the second Chairman after Bristow,post 1947;till 1945,it was taken over by the Navy,during the Second World War.Marar belonged to Assam cadre of the ICS ,and was,,Superintendent of Census Operations,Secretary,Supply in Assam and Joint Secretary,Agriculture,Delhi,in 1944-'47 ,before he was appointed Chairman,Cochin Port Trust.Malayala Manorama of 31 July 1948,reports,Marar's appointment as,Administrative Officer,Cochin Port,and the three line report says,he belongs to Thrissur. 

Census and partition of Assam

Marar had a very controversial career in Assam,as Superintendent of Census Operations in 1941.The controversy finds a place in the book,India Divided (page 321)by the first President of India,Rajendra Prasad.The earlier census in Assam was in 1931,and compared to it,there was a fall in proportion in the 1941 census,in the whole of Christians,and to a less extend,in the case of Hindus and Buddhists.The explanation of Marar was that the previous census was on the basis of Religion,where as the 1941 census was on the basis of community.A Khasi will be a Khasi,not a Hindu or a Christian.

This is what we have in the book of Rajendra Prasad.When I read it,I was shocked:it meant,Marar,in the case of tribes,ignored conversion.So what would have happened in Assam?

An adjournment motion was moved by Provincial Congress Chief,Siddhinath Sarma,in the Assam Assembly,on 4 December,1941.

Port Trust Building,1948

Marar's census refrained from providing religious classification in Assam.The compilation for communities was done with reference to,"race,tribe and caste",not religion,as it was in the case of 1931 census.It evoked strong criticism;it led to debates in news papers and Assembly.Congress criticized the Government for manipulating the census.It was alleged that,it was under the Assam Provincial Government's insistence that Marar,as Superintendent,issued a special circular to the Deputy Commissioners and census officers in Assam,to compile a data on the basis of community.Marar wrote:

The basis for community is the answer to question S3,but generally the communities are,unavoidably mixed up and where community cannot be ascertained in answer to question 3,to question 4 will be the basis;eg,if a Kachari has not in answer to question 3 mentioned that he is a Kachari,and is returned under 4 as Hindu,Muslim or Christian,he will be shown as Hindu,Muslim or Christian as the case may be,but if he is returned as Kachari against question 3,he will be entered such,irrespective of his religion.

Saadulla

The Lahore Session of Muslim League,on March 24,1940,for the first time had adopted a resolution for Pakistan and partition.Though the term Pakistan,was not there,it termed,Muslim majority areas in the North Western and Eastern zones of India,as 'sovereign' and 'independent' states,and demanded a Muslim home land.

In the back drop of this,the census assumed added importance,since Assam had a Muslim League Chief Minister during 1939-1946,Moulavi Saiyid Sir Muhammad Saadulla(1885-1955).In Bengal too,it was alleged that the League Ministry had doctored the 1941 census to inflate the Muslim demographic strength.

Bhore with wife Margaret

Marar's Assam Tables is there,in Census of India,Vol IX,unscathed.

On a Black horse,in a three piece Suit

Marar's home in Cochin was,the present Port Trust Office,in Willingdon Island.He was poisoned to death after a few months of becoming the Chairman. After death,according to Babu Paul,Marar used to emerge from the sea, riding a black horse,travel by the side of the present Harbor House,to the old building.He was certain to rise from the sea,if it was a friday and new moon.If  the security guard was found,sleeping,he would beat him up with a Cain.The ghost Marar would go up to Malabar Hotel,then return  by the same route,to the Chairman's Jetty,to disppear into the perennial waters.

One day,Marar appeared in Babu Paul's bath room,wearing a three piece suit.It was a weekend,when Nirmala,his wife and children had gone to their native home.Babu Paul had returned from a dinner and was,alone.

Cochin Port Trust

Next day,Babu Paul searched for the pictures of former Chairmen,found a picture of Marar-Yes,the same person!He kept those pictures in his room,with admiration.Today Marar,maybe tomorrow,Vankataraman!Babu Paul,was not afraid of ghosts;but he felt,discretion is the better part of valour.

Babu Paul located Mrs Marar,and invited her to be present the next Republic Day.It was when she arrived with family,Babu Paul realized that the handsome cricketer Govind,who was called Thadiyan Govindan(plump Govindan) in the College,was Marar's son.Babu Paul shuddered when Leela Marar told him that,Marar's favorite hobby was riding horses.And he had a liking for black horses!Friday,new moon,black horse,the attack on the security guard,the apparition in the bath room-Babu Paul refrained from being alone at the Harbor House.He was haunted by the fear,till the death of his own father;there after,he found solace in the fact that he has a savior in the nether world.

There is a Marar Road in the Island,now.

"Was it a hallucination,after all"?,I asked Babu Paul."Maybe,maybe not",he said and went on to reminisce the discussions he had with the enlightened people at the time,hinting at the possible existence of ghosts.

It is past midnight, 1.08 AM now-I am.....a bit scared.Babu is distant, but,old Harbor House,for me,is just 20 minutes away!

Reference:

1.Katha Ithu Vare/Babu Paul
2.India Divided/Rajendra Prasad

3.Tribal Politics in  Assam 1933-1947/Suryasikha Pathak(teaches History at Assam University,Silchar).
4.Partition of Bengal and Assam,1932-1947:Contours of Freedom/Bidyut Chakrabarty 

Note:The image of Marar,was cropped by me from a Photo Division picture of the meeting of Indian Oil Seeds Committee,on 16 October 1947,presided by Minister for Commerce,C H Bhabha.

See my Post,THREE ENGLISH MADMENTHR