Goodbye Calcutta!

Goodbye Calcutta! is the story of Pat Gelder, an Anglo-Indian born in Calcutta in 1922. He lost his father before the age of two and is sent to St Andrew’s Colonial Homes, Kalimpong in the foothills of the Himalayas. His mother dies in 1939 while he is still at school. He returns to Calcutta to live with relatives and work at the Dunlop Rubber Company. In 1942 he joins the merchant navy. Pat later joins the Bengal Armed Police during the volatile lead-up to India’s independence. The political upheaval left him unemployed. He returns to the merchant navy in 1948 and travels the world. On a voyage to London he meets Dorothy Wheatley at the Festival of Britain Ball. They date briefly and corresponded for nearly three years. These letters provide an insight into Pat’s life as a Purser and show the love, loss and longing of a couple separated by the seas. Pat eventually returns to the UK, promises to find a job and leave his ship. He fails to find work and must sail back to India. To save their relationship he must buy a passenger fare back to London. In November 1953, Pat leaves Calcutta for the last time, heading to Bombay where he boards the SS Strathaird for London.