Norah Richards

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Norah Richards
An older white woman with white hair, eyes cast downward
Norah Richards, from a 1940 issue of The Indian Listener
Born
Norah Mary Hutman

29 October 1876
Ireland
Died3 March 1971
India
Occupation(s)Playwright, radio presenter, writer, actress

Norah Richards (29 October 1876 – 3 March 1971) was an Irish actress and theatre practitioner, who was later called the

Punjab. She devoted 60 years (1911–1971) of her life towards enriching the culture of the area.[1] She came to the Punjab in 1911 and produced the first Punjabi play, Dulhan ("The Bride"), written by her pupil I. C. Nanda in 1914.[2]

In 1970,

DLitt degree on her, for her contribution to Punjabi culture, especially Punjabi drama.[1]

Early life and education

Norah Mary Hutman was born in

Oxford University
and Sydney.

Career

At a young age she took to the stage and became a successful actress.

She married Philip Ernest Richards, an English teacher and a

Dyal Singh College in Lahore. (Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, founder of the college, was an ardent follower of Brahmo Samaj
, which had a synergic relationship with the Unitarian Christian movement.)

Richards got involved in cultural activities in the college and her enthusiasm helped stimulate much serious theatrical activity.

theosophy and was actively involved in the theosophical movement and home-rule agitation by Dr Annie Besant
.

On her husband's death in 1920, she returned to England. She came back to India in 1924. Events worked out well for her to settle in the beautiful Kangra Valley, and she made her home in Andretta, Himachal Pradesh. In those days of British Raj, many Britons had acquired lands in the hill states of British India. One such settler who left for England gave away his property to Richards, which came to be known as the Woodlands Estate.

Living amidst villagers, she chose the same lifestyle and made a mud house with a thatched roof for herself. She named it Chameli Niwas.

Ishwar Chand Nanda, Dr. Harcharan Singh, Balwant Gargi
and Gurcharan Singh.

Every year, in the month of March, Richards organised a week-long festival in which students and villagers enacted her plays in an open-air theatre constructed on her estate. Among the guests, Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Balraj Sahni were the most regular. Amongst her other friends who later settled near Woodland Estate were Prof

Bhabesh Chandra Sanyal, who had already won recognition as a sculptor and painter and later on became the doyen of Indian art. He discusses Norah Richards at some length in his autobiography.[4]

Usually, she would greet me with a khurpa in her hand in home-spun khadi kurta and churidar, her white curls covered with a veil on top of which she donned a straw hat. This was the pattern of her work-a-day dress, grey, or ochre brown in colour. A cotton string around her waist carried a whistle and a suspended pouch carried her spectacles, bunches of keys, pen and pencil and a writing pad and a watch. She would dig the soil of her vegetable garden, tend and water the plants herself.

"I used to feel amused at her idea of discipline and the method of its application to her servants. The work-time was divided between hukka-break, tea-break, rest-break and meals break. With the aid of an alarm clock in her pouch, she would blow her whistle and command: “Hukka pio, hukka pio", and then whistle again at the determined interval for their coming back to work. At the end of the day all her servants would retire to their homes leaving her completely alone to pursue her literary work, letter writing and reading. The little kerosene lamp would burn till after midnight and the tick-tack of her typewriter would begin before dawn." Sanyal continues, “‘Mem’ she was at the core of her heart and remained critical of the villagers fouling the fields and not following her example of digging pits for leafclosets and do her own scavenging and sanitation work. "Sooner than immediate" was the mould of her temperament and she could not tolerate untidiness.[This quote needs a citation]

Richards' contribution to Punjabi drama was duly recognised by Punjabi University, Patiala which awarded her an honorary doctorate. The museum of the university houses some of her rare belongings. During the later years of her life, Richards was deeply worried about the future of Woodlands and her large collection of literature and manuscripts. "She toyed with the idea of making a will. Confused in her mind, she made and unmade several."[This quote needs a citation]

Though sceptic about governmental control and administration, she offered the estate to the government of Himachal Pradesh, but received no response. Eventually, she left most of her estate and valuable collections to the care of Punjabi University, Patiala.

In the waning days of her life, she was dependent on her attendants for a meagre meal and glass of water. She was placed to rest on 3 March 1971. Her gravestone in Woodlands Retreat has these last words inscribed: “Rest Weary Heart – Thy work is Done."[5]

References

  1. ^
    The Tribune
    , 1 March 2003.
  2. Britannica.com
    .
  3. ^ Singh, Akanksha. "Why an Indian village celebrates the life of a little-known Irish actress each year". Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Govts did nothing to bring Andretta on tourists map of art, say residents". The Indian Express. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  5. ^ Prashar, RK (29 October 2022). "Remembering Norah Richards". The Tribune. Retrieved 17 August 2023.

Sources

External links

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