We must dwell on the Cochin Club and the party scene a little longer. 

If you have seen a Snake Boat race in Kerala, you would see the incredible synchronization by the 100 rowers who provide the propulsion to these streamlined boats. However, it’s the guy perched high up at the Stern who ensures the direction of travel and the eventual success of his team. 

At the Cochin Club that man was Manoo, the head bartender! He wore a Red Sash around his midriff indicative of his rank, while his assistants Sammy, and Raphael wore Blue Sashes.  

One had to have Manoo’s favor if you wanted a drink and did not have a permit!

It was not unusual to ask for one of these bartenders to handle the bar at private parties at home. The Cochin Club allowed them (on their off nights), to make some additional money. 

Manoo would go himself if the party was at the home of the boss of a company or important person. Otherwise, either Sammy or Raphael would go. 

Apart from being excellent at their work they knew everyone’s drinking habits, how much they drank, preference of labels etc.  Let me quote my friend Ashok Mittal who was the manager at Liptons in the mid 80’s. 

“Manoo was of course an integral part of Cochin Club and it was inconceivable to visit the club bar and not see him. He knew exactly who drinks how much. Whenever we had to a arrange a party for a foreign visitor or senior head office Boss, we would prepare the guest list and handover to Manoo to tell us how many bottles of which liquor we should buy. Biggest challenge was to arrange Red Label scotch from the bootlegger, but it was really fun.”

The party scene changed dramatically with the arrival of J. Thomas & Co. Till then the Cochin Club was where everyone met. It was set up like a high end London pub, with Billiards, Darts, Newspapers and Magazines, and a lively Bar. Most of the entertaining happened at the Club which members buying each other drinks. Private entertaining was restricted to small dinner parties at home. 

But with the arrival of J. Thomas & Co there was a paradigm shift. T.C. Satyanath fresh from the Calcutta scene started having large parties at home, as a kind of establishing his / JT’s presence in Cochin. The Satyanaths always ensured that there was a mixed selection of guests. Seniors in Tea plantation companies, heads of tea buying companies, interspersed with heads of Tyre companies, Oil Refinery, Navy and so on. To this list Sat would add eminent lawyers, leading doctors, and such. 

He would organise parties to meet his celebrity friends such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, the world renowned French photographer, Pandit Ravi Shankar – the legendary Sitar maestro and people of his ilk! 

Invitation Cards would be printed like this:

Mr. & Mrs. T. C. Satyanath
requests the pleasure of your company

To Dinner to meet
Mr. & Mrs. Guy Routledge,
Thomas, Cumberlege, and Inskipp, UK

at 7:30 pm at Pallurathy Bungalow
on xyz date.

Dress: Black Tie

RSVP: Mrs. Pappali, JT & Co. 

(Black Tie, in Cochin meant the whole ensemble – Black trousers with  horizontal silk piping, white Dress Shirt, black silk Bow Tie (not a clip on), silk Cumerband, but MINUS the Dinner Jacket, because of the warm weather.) 

We needed to have all these in our wardrobes as there were many such parties those days! 

Soon he had the other Brokers following suit but they could never match Sat’s gift in entertaining people nor produce a guest list dotted with luminaries. 

Yes Manoo was frequently at the Satyanaths!  Sat also had us juniors attending, not only to keep an eye on the guests and contribute to the sparkling conversation, but also to learn the art of entertaining! 

I lapped it all up. Not many years later these lessons would come in useful when I opened the JT office in Coonoor.

But I am getting a bit ahead of myself. We will take that up on a later day!