How weird is this? Last Tuesday, June 27, 2011, I opened my blog, intending to review blogs by family members, and just by chance noticed a new comment to one of my old blogs.
"Dear Tony, May I have your e-mail address? I need to communicate with you for a story for my magazine, India Today. My e-mail is: pariharrohit@gmail.com
Rohit Parihar/India Today/Jaipur.
June 27, 2011 3:54 AM
What is strange is that the blog was only posted last Tuesday...and I found it, quite accidentally, the same day. I immediately thought Rohit must have been one of Jeff's Indian friends from Pittsburgh, but not so; he was an assistant editor of an Indian magazine writing an article about the accidental death of Maharaja Hanwant Singh on January 26, 1952, in Jodhpur...and he was desperately searching for a book titled "History of the Jodhpur Flying Club".
While Andy and I were in Jodhpur last year, we purchased "History of the Johdpur Flying Club". Because Andy was a pilot I thought he might find it interesting reading. It turned out to be a gold mine of information...and I wrote a blog about the book upon our return. It essentially explained how my father, Allan R. Wegener, came to be private pilot to the Jodhpur Royal Family. The accidental death of 28 year old Maharaja Hanwant Singh, broke the heart of Geoff Godwin, who had been the private pilot/instructor to the Jodhpur Royal Family, for 20 years. He taught the young Maharaja to fly. Geoff retuned to England in November 1952. The death of the Maharaja also led to Hanwant's younger brother Himmat Singhji being installed as the Regent, or interim Maharaja of Johpur. And it was His Highness Himmat Singhji, who hired my father as private pilot to the Royal Family, replacing Geoff Godwin, in April 1953.
So the book was special to Andy and me. It was authored by Peter Vacher and Robert Godwin, grandson of Geoff Godwin. In my blog about the book I noted that Andy and I wanted to make contact with Robert Godwin. Our efforts to find Robert failed.
But to add to the weirdness, it occurred to me tonight that I ought to check my blog to see if there might be other comments which I had missed. I found the following...dated June 25 2011...which was just last Saturday:
"Hi Tony, Nice to see that you picked up on the Jodhpur book. My grandfather was Geoff Godwin. Sounds like our families had a lot in common! Cheers, Robert Godwin."
I was stunned...I don't believe in coincidences, but this is really weird. And I was disappointed. Robert did not leave an email address. So if you are out there Robert...and I know that you are...send me an email mate at tonyw@designwestarchitects.com
2 comments:
The Robert Godwin you're referring to is actually my uncle, and I just stumbled onto this page by accident. Not sure if you are still interested but I will let him know that you were looking for him. ~Geoff Godwin IV
I am not sure how weird would this be , but I grew up around the airfield much later than any of them. I certainly recall being pointed out to an old building often referred to as the the pilots house. It is restored govt building now but I wonder which of the two stayed there Geoff Godwin or Allan R. Wegener. Any clues kindly mail on mahsmi@yahoo.com - Maheshwar
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