RIP @ Librarian at UK Indian high commission, who worked with 25 envoys, dies
Maureen
Travis, one of the first employees of the Indian high commission in London
after 1947 and who witnessed history in her years working with 25 high
commissioners, died on Thursday
Travis
was one of several British citizens employed in the high commission after
India’s independence but over the years, until Thursday, Travis was the
only Briton left. She was highly respected by the India House staff, who
admired her quiet dedication to looking after the library, which has more than
20,000 books.
"We
are saddened by this loss. She will be greatly missed by members of the high
commission,” Srinivas Gotru, director of the Nehru Centre, told Hindustan
Times.
Travis,
who was in her 90s, joined the high commission on September 6,1948. She hailed
from Hampshire and had never visited India but always enjoyed the company of
her Indian colleagues. For over 68 years, she worked from 11 am to 6 pm, five
days a week.
“The
officers have been good to me. I remember VK Krishna Menon (India’s first high
commissioner). He was charismatic, you either liked or disliked him very much.
I admired him. During his time, he got us British employees to swear our
loyalty to India,” she told Hindustan Times in 2014.
Wistful
about her long years in India House, Travis recalled how she continued in her
job after reaching retirement age: "lt is through Salman Haidar (former
envoy) that I am here now because when the time came in the late 1980s that I
should be retired, he called me upstairs and said, 'Well now what are you going
to do?' I said, 'I haven’t made any plans.’ ‘Well, why don’t you stay?' So I
said, 'Okay, I will stay.’”
"And
I have been ever since. I have spent a good part of my life here and I have
been very happy. I love my job, it is wonderful. I like the research. I like
helping people.”
Travis
could not “bear the idea of computers” and insisted on retaining the charm of
an old-style card-based catalogue of books. She read every book in the library,
most of them related to India, typed their details on a card, including a
synopsis, and knew exactly where each book is shelved.
“I
am too old to go (to India) now. India has come to me (over the decades). I’ve
read so much about India,” Travis, who attended cultural events in the
Nehru Centre until recently, had said.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan
& Co
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