Volkart Brothers (of Voltas fame) used to do pepper and coffee business with Cochin, and Tellicherry.

Business in Cochin temporarily came to an end after the Markar affair. In 1875 Georg G. Volkart, the son of Salomon Volkart, visited Cochin and decided ‘on doing what should have been done long before’, namely, as Ammann reported, on visiting ‘the Coast-ports and on seeing himself what the conditions and business possibilities were in what had been up to then terra incognita for the firm’s’ representatives at Cochin’. This trip, on which Georg G. Volkart was accompanied by Ammann, was a revelation. Ammann recalled their arrival in Tellicherry, a coastal town in the north of Cochin: ‘The w:hole place was full of coffee and pepper, with crowds of Natives of both sexes sorting, garbling and packing the goods and a gang of coolies carrying the bags across the beach to the cargo-boats’ (Figure 4.5). As a consequence, Volkart decided to open up an additional branch in Tellicherry, with Ammann as its first manager, and to begin to purchase both upcountry and on the coast in the north of Cochin.58 Yet even at the new branch in Tellicherry the purchase of goods did not work without the help of indigenous middlemen. In 1886, Volkart established the Coffee Curing Works in Tellicherry to prepare coffee beans for transport to Europe, but it proved difficult to guarantee a sufficient supply of coffee and Volkart considered closing it again. Its long-term

future was only assured when members of the Cooty family of Moplah merchants were employed as brokers. The sons of the family worked as buying agents upcountry during the season and became successful in supplying Volkart with enough coffee and other merchandise. This cooperation was so satisfactory that it continued up until the 1960s.

Seen ?_? on the interwebz? What’s the funda?

The unicode character “?” comes from the letter “?ha” in Kannada, one of the major Dravidian languages of India that is influenced by Sanskrit. Despite its origin, the character has been used as an emoticon primarily outside of India. According to Lurkmore Wiki, the earliest use of ?_? began on the Japanese imageboard site 2channel and eventually spread across other languages, most notably on 4chan.

Karnataka Govt.had once founded a razor blade company along with the RPG group!

In the late 1970s, Karnataka Govt began negotiations with Wilkinson Swords of Englad to set up a razor blade company in India. The company was formed with the RPG Group, and was called the Karnataka Blades Pvt. Ltd.

The Company also established a feeder college—Haileybury—so that it could recruit bright schoolboys and train them to flourish in, and run, India. These high-minded civil servants both prolonged the Company’s life when Victorian opinion was turning ever more strongly against it and also provided a model for the Indian and domestic civil service.

Returning to America, he advanced to the forefront of the Patriot cause as a member of the Continental Congress (1775-76). He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. (It has been said that he was not chosen to draft the document for fear that he might conceal a joke in it.)