A trip down memory lane to McLeodganj’s Nowrojee & Son

Nowrojee & Son General Merchants, once a staple of Dharamsala’s McLeodganj, stand demolished today. Its nostalgic existence, however, remains fresh in the memories of all those who have visited it, and in pictures and a few preserved documents. Among these is an advertisement in The Tribune dating back to May 19, 1917. The firm, in the advertisement, was looking to sell a leopard cub!

Now a popular tourist destination, McLeodganj, for a considerable amount of time, was known by the name of this shop

Parvez Nowrojee and his elder brother Kurush took the call to sell it after winning a litigation battle that lasted over 16 long years. Parvez, who now lives in Mashobra, told The Tribune, “It was a hard decision, but a compulsion, owing to the fast deteriorating surrounding. With all the serenity and tranquillity lost and concrete structures coming up, it was no longer the town we had grown up and fallen in love with.” The present owner is already coming up with a multi-storey building — most likely a hotel.

Parvez’s father Nauzer Nowrojee was closely associated with the Dalai Lama till his death in 2000.

He had served as a civil warden of a nearby camp of Italian prisoners of war during World War II. Nauzer’s wife volunteered with the Red Cross.

“We lived in the midst of nature and are privileged to have grown up in the Dhauladhar ranges,” Parvez added.

Felizitas Fischer, who has been living in the town since 1982, reminisced, “I thought Jimmy Nowrojee’s (Nauzer’s younger brother) death in 2008 was the end of the era, but the real end has come now that the family has sold the property and the two sons have emptied the shop and the residence below, where they grew up many decades ago.”

According to Philippa Russell, a resident of Dharamsala, Nowrojee and Son was integral to the history of the hill station of McLeodganj.

The shop was, many opine, a symbol of the friendship between the Dalai Lama and the late Nauzer Nowrojee, who was entrusted with the keys of the bungalows dotted around the hillside as the British families left in haste in 1947.

The 160-year-old store, conspicuously located at the main square of Mcleodganj, remained in the family for six generations and, at its peak, had five branches all over the Punjab.

It is considered to be the oldest business house of Northern India.

The family manufactured aerated drinks and mineral water, and sold wine, grocery, bakery products, toiletries, and even arms and ammunition. Besides selling newspapers, magazines and confectionery, relics from an era bygone such as a Petromax, cigarette cases and toffees were displayed in unique jars.