Gary Monro’s blog

Typhoo has been bought by Indian company, Apeejay Surrendra Group.

One of the brands that come with the deal is the London Fruit and Herb company. Ironic indeed that something with our nation’s capital in the title should be foreign-owned.

It reminds me of an Irish grocer shop that was, for many years, Irish owned and run. It specialised in all those home-grown Irish products and brands that the average ex-pat Irishman misses when he’s abroad. I imagine it was a little piece of heaven for its customers. One day my then house-mate went there for his weekly dose of home and found himself being served by an Indian. It turned out the owners had sold up and an Indian family had bought the place. When I last knew about it the shop hadn’t changed one bit and the new owners had remained loyal to the needs and requirements of their Irish customers.

Typhoo is Britain’s third largest tea brand behind Tetley and PG Tips. Tetley is also Indian owned - by the Tata group. I wonder if they’ll ever try to market Indian-class spiced tea - chai - in this country? It’s an amazing drink - definitely an acquired taste - and I’ve never tasted it in its proper form outside of India. I actually doubt it can be mass-produced but maybe I’ll be proved wrong.

I’m just blogging about this so I can post the picture. We need a bit of colour what with all the bad news so I’m going to blather about something trivial while you all gawp at the khubsurat lardki (that’s Hindi for ‘bit of alright’)…

Anyway, it seems India has quite strict rules regarding the use of its national flag - rules that are about to be changed.

Only senior government leaders and state institutions were allowed to fly it on their premises; ordinary people were allowed to fly their flags or wear tricolour badges only on Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.

Now, the flag can be used in articles of clothing so long as it is used respectfully. So, nothing below the belt (the Indian Codpiece Association are bitterly disappointed), no strappy dresses and no underwear. And the flag may not be used in household items like napkins or cushions.

Malini Ramani, [see picture] a popular fashion designer, had an inadvertent run-in with the law when she appeared at a fashion show dressed in a tight, strappy, knee-length dress bearing the stripes and the wheel of the tricolour. Her appearance sparked a national debate and led to police action.

She’s hoping that, in light of the new ruling, the case currently being pursued against her will be dropped. She says her wearing of the flag was a sign of patriotism rather than disrespect. I think she looks rather nice in her Indian dress; I think it’s the half a Cobra in her hand that irritated the Indian authorities more…