British Colonial Stores
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Jehangir Dhunjeeshaw Patel was born in Surat, India in February 1910 and attained the grand old age of 94 before he passed away in Bombay in March 2004.
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"My father's family were in Aden for four generations. I was born in Aden and grew up there, although I was sent off to school in Bombay when I was 6 yrs old, I did spend a year or so at the Franciscan Convent at Steamer Point before then. I have many happy memories of Christmas holidays in Aden." ~ Noshir Patel, UK
Jehangir did not own any property himself in Aden, perhaps partly related to his father's financial circumstances; he had lost a lot of money from property he owned in Asmara and a salt works in Masawa.
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Jehangir lived with his parents, siblings, wife and his own children in a railway bungalow owned by his father. Jehangir's son, Noshir, always regarded the bungalow as home, although the family later moved to a small flat just across the road from the Customs House, opposite the P&O office.
Jehangir loved Studebaker cars - he had two in succession, but for some reason they became unavailable in Aden and in the 1950's he bought a dark blue Opel Kapitan; one with a round roof, rather like a much larger version of the Volkswagen Beetle. In the 60's he had a smaller Opel Kadett (the German version of the Vauxhall Viva) in which his son, Noshir, learnt to drive when he was 16.
Jehangir's rented railway bungalow
Jehangir Dhunjeeshaw Patel rented ground level space at the Grand Hotel building in the Crescent where he opened the British Colonial Stores. This was in the early 1940's in partnership with his uncle, though by 1950 he bought out his uncle and became the sole proprietor. Jehangir's father occasionally came into the store in the evenings and sat at the till - an old manual cash register. The purchases were not just rung up on the till, but also entered into a huge ledger. The staff comprised 4 or 5 Indian salesmen, a couple of clerks (accountants), several (4-5) Arabs and Somalis plus a couple of Arab "coolies".
A Greek family who lived above the store kept a couple of turkeys in the run behind the shop!
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The store sold "provisions"; everything from biscuits, chocolates, tinned vegetables and fruit to Italian and Swiss cheeses, salami, mortadella, ham, bacon, kippers, French and Italian wines, also frozen food. The store also sold crockery, cutlery and kitchen utensils although these were later (in the early 60's) sold from a separate store across the road. All the store stock was imported from Europe. It was not a shop for tourists, mostly for service families.
"I remember as a young child the Sunday afternoon outing was a trip to Khormaksar to collect the food from the Aerodrome and drop it off at a cold store in Maalla. He later had a small cold room created within the store. The trip was in the old Opel Kapitan which had a copious boot. Later my father acquired a couple of Volkswagen vans which were used for transporting goods for the shop. As the Aden agent for Amstel beer, he supplied all the other outlets that sold Amstel." ~ Noshir Patel
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There was the bar at the front of the British Colonial Stores that ran the whole width of the shop and sold Amstel Beer. A sign over the door read "In bounds to all ranks". There were regulars who came to the bar in the evening - Indians, Greeks, Italians some Arabs and the occasional group of servicemen. When things threatened to get a bit rowdy, Jehangir had only to threaten to call the redcaps and things quieted down immediately. He was "loathe to call the redcaps because they would simply and brutally beat all the soldiers and take them away."
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Right down the other end of The Crescent, opposite the Prince of Wales Pier was Express Photo Service which was owned and run by Jehangir's maternal uncle, Dara H.B.A. Patell.
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Whilst visiting his son, Noshir, and his brother in London in 1967 Jehangir was advised by those still in Aden not to return, for reasons of safety. Many shopkeepers had already been arrested and interned. The extended family gradually made their way to Bombay, allowed only a very limited amount of baggage. The British Colonial Stores had to be locked up and left.
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Q. Why do we see Patel sometimes spelt with one L and sometimes two?
A. Most Parsees spell it with 2 Ls to distinguish themselves from the other Indian Patels. Jehangir Patel thought it was rather pretentious and unnecessary and preferred the single L.