Surangi, The Child Bride

Part 61

  "Like a number of  Parsi families who migrated to Bombay from Surat during the 18th century, my ancestors rose to prominence in business. Unfortunately most of the money was made in the trade of opium, which was grown in India and taken to China, laden on merchant ships." Nergis paused to take a sip of water. One could tell that she had been conflicted over the fact that her family made its money by trading in a addictive drug. 

 "We were one of the first Parsis to go to Canton in China, along with the Readymoney brothers. We set ourselves up in premises rented from the Dutch East India Company. The Ching dynasty had allowed a strip of riverside land in Canton for foreigners who were forbidden entry elsewhere in China. Merchants from various European countries and America set up large buildings referred to as factories, where they lived and conducted business. Surangi, I hope you are not bored, because this is beginning to sound like a history lesson." Nergis asked.

"Not at all, please continue. The more one gets to learn about the world the better!" Surangi assured her. 

"By the end of the 18th century, my family lived and traded from Canton's British factory and during the time they acquired a taste for European lifestyle-  from spirits like whisky, gin and brandy, from silk carpets and chandeliers to intricately crafted wooden furniture. Our people, benefited tremendously from associating with the British, who in turn rewarded us with baronetcy. Parsis were known Anglophiles, living in luxurious opulence like the Europeans. Children grew up speaking English and imbibed the European lifestyle like their parents!" Nergis continued.

"That explains why you were also taught French, because you had to be sent to finishing school in Switzerland!" Surangi guessed.

"You are right, but I was unhappy about it. I was very fond of my mother and the thought of living away from her was frightening. Instinct told me that something would be amiss, and right enough, I never saw my mother alive afterwards."

"Anyway, you must be curious about how the opium trade began. The British first picked up a taste for Chinese tea when Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess, was married to Charles II of England in 1662. Tea was already popular with the Portuguese nobility."

"Soon tea became a rage in England and merchants began buying tea from the Chinese and selling it across the Empire. As the Chinese had zero interest in European goods the British had to pay for Chinese tea in silver. This created a balance of payments issue, prompting the British to sell to the Chinese Indian grown opium instead. And my ancestors were at the head of the queue among the merchants who profiteered from this opium trade."

"Ulike Europeans who used opium in water as an analgesic to relieve pain, the Chinese smoked it for recreational narcotic purpose. A whole generation of the Chinese became addicted as opium dens sprang up in China. Later the Chinese government banned the import of opium, but traders continued to smuggle it in. When the Chinese government finally confiscated their opium cargo in 1840, the British declared war on behalf of its merchants and won, forcing China to allow imports again. Such was the tragedy of the humiliation of the Chinese, who lost even when that had just cause, and my ancestors were among the nefarious lot who continued to reap a rich harvest by selling the drug."

"Foreseeing that the opium trade would not continue to sustain them in future, our people switched to textile manufacturing in the 1830s. Ironically, this was done more to compensate for the difficulty in repatriating profits from the Chinese opium trade and not owing to any guilt harboured over the moral transgression."

"The American Civil War of the 1860s created a huge demand for cotton goods and our people timed their transition from opium to cotton textile mills in Bombay around the same time, thus continuing to make huge profits." Nergis sighed.