Brio's in a Heated Shed

Even though Brio will be launched in just a few weeks, her captain is experiencing wanderlust. This evening, he joins a friend to travel half way around the world. Instead of using Brio, we board United 82 in Newark and fly to Delhi, India.

Wow! Where did that come in, you might ask?

Well, the captain's friend is Nari who grew up in Madras. Nari has wanted to take your captain, Chris, to India for many years. They have known each other since their years at Columbia Business School in Manhattan. Finally, post retirement, post surgeries, post other commitments, finally the calendar cleared for a 12-day trip.

We will fly to Delhi tonight. It's a 15-hour flight. Yikes! I will need to get up and walk around often to keep blood clots at bay.

Then we will spend most of our time visiting Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal), Jaipur and Udaipur. We also hope to see tigers and ride elephants.

Then we will fly east and drive a couple of hours to Jamshedpur. Chris's maternal grandfather was a mining geologist in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He died in 1936. While working in his employer's office in Manhattan, an elegant Indian fellow came in and introduced himself. He was a leading figure in the Tata family. The Tata family was then involved with silk farming, but he knew India had to become industrialized. He wanted that Tata family to establish a modern steep mill in India.

He hired Christopher Minot Weld to find high-quality iron ore that would be the key raw material for making steel. Mr. Weld was hired. He spent an initial time exploring the existing, low-quality iron ore deposits in southern India. None would meet the quality standards he sought.

So he moved up to the west of Calcutta and finally found a significant iron ore deposit with high grade ore in the area of today's Jamshedpur. But the deposit was landlocked. He continued his field work and finally found a deposit located near a river. This was critical, for the ore would have to be mined and transported by water to a new steel mill.

He also located sources of limestone and coal which, together with the iron, would supply the raw material to make the steel.

The Tata family was pleased, but they then wanted him to establish a town where a steel mill could be built. He did this. The town was then named Jamshedpur.

Your captain and Nari hope to visit Jamshedpur before then flying back to Delhi and then to return to America.

So, this evening, Nari and Chris will take the first leg to Delhi.

More to follow, with photos!

Cheers,

Brio