Visiting 'Apple Town' Rohru

Hey Friends, I forgot to mention one more thing.

Do you know, earlier tons of apples plucked from the orchards of Rohru were decomposed as they failed to reach the markets or find buyers who would pay the farmers the appropriate price. The farmers even considered it a loss making deal to carry boxes of apples to the nearby town or city and then find half of the apples rotten during transportation all the way from Rohru.

However, in the last few years the scenario has changed. Now the farmers of the 'Apple Town' Rohru find buyers that include big industrial houses lined up right to their orchards and offering a price for the apples. Some have even constructed their own cold storage plants for apples in Rohru. Now. isn't that a great news?

Share your thoughts on this new development.

Hi Deepika

I recently read "An American in Gandhi's India", the biography of Mr. Stokes, an American who came as a missionary to India in the early 1900's. He fell in love with Simla and the surrounding areas and settled down there. He researched and found out the right apple trees that will grow in that area and imported them from the US with his mother's help. He is responsible for all the apple orchards, the upliftment of the pahadis' lives through the sales of the apples.
Until then, there were no apples in that region.
Thought of sharing this bit of information.

Hi Sundarusha, Thanks a lot for sharing this interesting fact with us. I haven't read this book "An American in Gandhi's India", but I'm sure it has several interesting facts like the one you shared. Thanks to Mr. Stokes (if he really brought apple trees around Shimla). I'm sure there must be several theories to contradict that. Anyone listening??

Please share with us more interesting facts from Mr. Stokes biography on India.

Thanks
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Deepika

Deepika

here are some links on the subject

Himachal remembers satyanand

Who introduced apples to Himachal

How the apple came to India

Thanks Sundarusha for leading us to such interesting facts on Himachal apples and how it came to India. I do see the label 'Red delicious ' stuck to apples; but never really knew or thought about the history behind it. Now that I know it....the Apples are surely going to taste even better.

Oh! Many of my friends may not know the history of 'Red delicious' apples. Here's an except from an article for all of you there....

Red delicious apples were undoubtedly, introduced into Kotgarh, Shimla Hills, India by Satyanand (Samuel) Stokes. But it would be wrong to say that he was the first to introduce the fruit ‘apple’ to India. It would also be interesting to note that there were pre-British missionaries operating in the western Himalaya up to Shimla hills, Kullu-Manali, Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Laddakh. These were mainly German missionaries. Therefore, besides the early British, there is a possibility that these Germans could also have brought apples of other varieties with them, well before the British arrived in Shimla hills.

Now coming back to Mr.Stokes, the word of mouth goes that:
It was sometime in 1930’s that he experimented with various varieties from the West and failed initially to get a suitable one for that region. Finally, he got the “red delicious” variety -perhaps from Australia though, the origins of this variety are said to be in England- which was successful. Later, a more colourful mutation of this variety called Royal delicious became a major hit among the growers, the traders and the consumers.

It is said that this red delicious was strictly ‘not meant to be distributed’ outside the family. But Mr. Stokes could not live much longer to keep it confined and the plants of this commercially viable variety got proliferated on a large scale throughout the area, soon. Over the next 50 years this variety got spread far and wide through the Himalaya and even up to Nepal and Bhutan.

Isn't that interesting? Share your thoughts.

Happy posting!

Sonia

You are most welcome Sonia. If you get a chance, do read the biography of Samuel (Satyanand) Stokes. I found it a source of inspiration to read his self sacrifices to uplift the pahadi community.

Great information Sundarusha! Thanks a lot. Its really inspiring to read about Samuel Stokes who came to India on a casual visit and stayed back till his death. He was supposedly the only American to have taken part in India's independence movement.

But everything was not smooth going for him initially. The locals suspected him to be a missionary who has come to convert Hindus. But he proved them wrong and himself got converted to Hinduism. He was so impressed by the simple lives of the sadhus whom he met on their way enroute to Kailash that he thought, it was a tougher to practice religion in Hinduism other than Chistianity, where the Church Bishop had good food to eat and silk robes to wear. He even embraced Arya Samaj and changed his name to Satyanand.

But still locals would treat him as outcaste....because he as a Westerner used to eat in porcelein crockeries unlike the locals who used Brass utensils. But...he never ceased to work for the upliftment of the locals and particularly the Thanedar area. And love finally won them over.....

Hope I got the gist right....very inspiring story....

Poonam

you got the gist of his life story. Let me add that he went ahead and married a young Pahadi girl of Christian faith. He raised his children as hindus after his conversion. The biography is written by his granddaughter Asha Sharma.

Hello Everybody,

I'm amazed to read such wonderful information on Rohru. I've been there so many times but me and my family get so busy with the apples and the beauty of the place that never really got to hear these lovely tales about Rohru.

I'm sure my next visit to the 'Apple Town' will be a inspiring one. I love visiting the Hatkoti temple enroute to Rohru. Have you visited Hatkoti?

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Sanjana