Mr Chatterjee picked me up in his new Nano car from my hotel on Sunday morning. We drove out of Kolkatta across the Howrah Bridge (built by the British in 1943 and still possibly the busiest bridge in the world) just one of the 300,000 who cross here every day. Rudyard Kipling said; " This is Imperial. This is worth coming across India to see!"

Actually the water flowing under it was worth seeing, high up the banks, scraping the temples. This normally placid river, dark brown rushing and angry. So much water moving so fast.

We drove, along the river bank through little towns busy and shambolic, catching glimpses of the river between buildings until we reached the town of Serampore. So from Saharenpur in the far north to Serampore in the far east, connected by the water. In the hot wet monsoon, this is real India.

Mr Chatterjee has a small company making gift products from Jute. Seampore was once rich, in the days when the jute industry here supplied the world with jute backing for carpets. There are magnificent wonderfully ornate streets of villas, now magnificent only in their decay. You can imagine a British Raj living in some style here. The British have long left and this town always feels to me like it was frozen in time since then.

Mr Chatterjee's oldest friend was a professional tennis player of some fame, now a tennis coach of renown in Hong Kong where he helps the rich and famous win a few aces.
He also helps his home town, not least investing in Mr Chatterjee's jute business, and he also supports the local tennis club. He was in town for the annual general meeting of the club and invited me to see. In this tumbledown river town of temples, holy cows and creeping vines it seemed incongruous to find such a thing as a tennis club. They told me with some pride that four members of the club were at Wimbledon this year. Alas not playing, all four are umpires. The Bengal Indians are famous for fair minded debating, so I'm not surprised they make world class umpires.

So there you have it, my tenuous link to Andy Murry all the way from banks of the Ganges in India to centre court Wimbledon in two handshakes.
I'm here working on the next batch of jute and cotton related products, one of which is door stops, here are some preproduction ideas. The coming new trend of 2014 (I hope).
Later Mr Chatterjee and his partner showed me the new factory they are building on the outskirts of the town. Four floors with better working conditions and nice views of open countryside.

Some stock just arrived from there you can see below. This is Mr Chatterjee with his staff proudly showing their work.
You can support the town of Serampore, Mr Chatterjee and his team, the new factory, the tennis club and AW by stocking jute products.
Did I mention that Jute is ultra green, JUTE Bags are very eco-friendly.

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