Ludhiana: The Anglo-Irish family, which is linked to famous Guinness ales and the Guinness Book of Records, has a close link with Ludhiana.
The grandson of the late Rupert Guinness, Rory Guinness, is married to half-Indian Mira Maini, who has roots in Ludhiana. The Guinness family also owns the Elveden Hall — a 22,000-acre estate in Suffolk, England that once was home of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of Punjab. After Duleep Singh's death in 1893, the Elveden Hall was sold to the Guinness family.
Mira Maini, accompanied by her father, Dr Yoginder Nath Tidu Maini, and mother Meta, who is from Sweden, Mira visited Ludhiana on Tuesday with her husband Rory Guinness and children Aoife, Beatrice and Aidan to show them her Indian roots.
Dr Maini, the 74-year-old whose grandfather was from Ludhiana, explained his family deep connection with Ludhiana. "My family lived in Africa House in Ludhiana, and my grandfather Amarnath left Ludhiana for higher education at Roorkee University. Some students there told him that the streets in Africa were paved with gold, so he left India for East Africa in 1896. He disembarked at Mombasa to settle there. He later became the first mayor of Kampala, first minister in the British government in Uganda, and was speaker in the East African Federation after the independence of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania."
Dr Maini was born in Africa. "I completed BSc in engineering and PhD in rock mechanics from London's Imperial College. Apart from that, I have a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley," the 74-year-old revealed. He married Meta, who was from Sweden, in 1969 and they had three children — daughters Mira and Maaya, and son Zubin. In 2005, Mira married Rory Guinness.
"It was a wonderful feeling to show my ancestral home to my son-in-law and grandchildren. My daughter has been to India earlier, before she got married," Dr Maini said.
The family spent a day in Ludhiana. "We showed them our ancestral home (Africa House) near Shiwala Temple in the old city. We also wanted to go to Bharti Foundation School, but couldn't do so, as it was quite foggy," said Dr Maini, who lives in London.
His daughter said Ludhiana had a special place in her heart. "I'm really keen to ensure Ludhiana has a special place in the hearts of our children too," said Mira, who has a bachelor's degree in French literature from UK's Bristol University.
Rory, meanwhile, was all praise for Ludhiana and Punjab. "We have received a welcome that would be worthy of the Guinness Book," he said, adding: "This is a fantastic day for us, to see where the Maini dynasty started. I am going to ask the Mainis if the Guinness clan can establish its Indian spiritual home here in Ludhiana."
Rory said he loved the taste of Amritsari kulcha, and admired the liveliness of Punjabis. He added it was a great feeling to live in a house that was the last resting place of Maharaja Duleep Singh, even as he admired the bravery of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.
The Guinness family has been helping out the poorer sections of society in Dublin (Ireland) for many generations, and now Dr Maini wants to help the underprivileged in Ludhiana. "I will be working with the Bharti Mittal family to bring education to thousands of needy children in Ludhiana and Punjab, in order to give back something to my original motherland," said Dr Maini.
