Bhagwan opens new building after 70 years of trading [1]
Monday, May 31, 1999 - 12:00. Updated on Wednesday, December 30, 2015 - 21:52.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 2, May 1999.
The 70 year-old wooden store of Bhagwan and Sons Ltd. traders on Hala Taufa‘ahau in central Nuku‘alofa has been demolished, and in its place a $500,000 a two storey building is being constructed.
Nayankumar Parekh, the sales manager for Bhagwan, said that the new store should be completed by August. It will still be a general store, selling a variety of goods.
Bhagwan and Sons Ltd. goes back to the first world war era, 1914–18, when Bhagwan Naran, a tailor from Gujarat, India, came to Tonga. After a few years he went back to India, then returned in 1924 with his only son Branjiwan.
Branjiwan died in 1972, leaving behind his wife Nany and four daughters and two sons. The two sons Brijbhukhan (Pi) and Chandrakand (Takana), and their wives now manage the Nuku‘alofa store, assisted by Nayan who was brought in from India several years ago.