tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78584697365116623152024-03-13T21:33:57.610-07:00Umi Sinha AuthorUShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-83891046481507281132018-08-21T16:24:00.000-07:002018-08-23T03:52:56.289-07:00INDIA RESEARCH TRIP - Part 5 - AMRITSAR & THE PARTITION MUSEUM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our first stop in Amritsar was the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.partitionmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Partition Museum</a></span>. Recently opened, it is the first museum dedicated to bringing together materials that record the tragic history of Partition and the stories of survivors. We spent two days there. The stories, on video and audio, and almost all from the Indian side, were horrific but also moving, demonstrating as they did both the savagery, and the heroism and compassion, that humans are capable of. My daughter, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://indiastoughton.com/" target="_blank">India Stoughton</a></span>, also set up interviews with Mallika Ahluwalia, one of the founders of the museum, and Guneeta Bhalla, who began the <a href="http://www.1947partitionarchive.org/" target="_blank">Partition Archive</a> as a young student after hearing her grandmother's story of Partition, with no funding, but by enrolling other volunteers to record their grandparents' stories. She also spoke to two young men from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/boltikhidki/" target="_blank">Bolti Kidki </a>- one Indian, the other Pakistani - who between them have collected audio recordings which they share on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/boltikhidki/" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>. Most of these initiatives seem to have been started by young people who have realised the importance of capturing their grandparents' stories while they can. You can read her article about all these projects on her website, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://indiastoughton.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a></span>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sikh warriors, past and present</td></tr>
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During the days we spent in Delhi and Amritsar, people we met in hotels, or through our host organisations, mentioned friends who had lived through Partition as children or teenagers and I was lucky enough to meet four of them and record their stories. Not all of them were dramatic, but the details of how people escaped, what was happening, transport available, etc, were very useful to provide the sort of everyday detail one needs for fiction that it's hard to get from books. </div>
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Two days into our stay we had to change hotels because the first one we were in was so damp that I developed a chest infection. We moved to another one where our host, Harjot, took care of us like a mother, making me Ayurvedic soups and desserts, guaranteed to cure me overnight (they didn't but they were delicious). She insisted that we accompany her to the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://sgpc.net/sri-harmandir-sahib/" target="_blank">Golden Temple</a></span> because it was <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Gobind_Singh" target="_blank">Guru Gobind Singh</a></span>'s birthday, the most auspicious day to visit. I really wanted to go to bed but I'm glad we went because it was magical. Of all the religious centres I have visited, the Golden Temple was the most welcoming. Harjot explained that it has four entrances - north, south, east and west - symbolising that everyone is welcome, whatever their religion and wherever they come from, and this was evident in the smiles and greetings from everyone we saw, including the fearsome looking guards with their spears. Food is also served to everyone who visits, regardless of caste or religion.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Golden Temple at dusk</td></tr>
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I drew the line at going for dip in the freezing water - like everywhere we went in North India, it was cold and foggy - but Harjot did. And as night fell the view became even more magical. </div>
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We also took a tour of the city. A new grand 'Heritage Street' has been built with a fake sandstone facade lined with shops and restaurants and hotels to attract tourists. Meanwhile, in the backstreets and narrow alleys, genuine heritage buildings are being left to decay. Harjot recommended a guide, Gurinder Singh Johal, who specialises in <a href="http://amritsarheritagewalk.com/" target="_blank">Heritage tours</a>, and we spent a day with him wandering through the alleys, narrowly avoiding being mown down by motorbikes and rickshaws. </div>
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It was a fascinating day, learning the history of each building, going into little temples that are hidden away, and disused decorated with exquisite murals that are crumbling into ruin.</div>
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The hand pointing downwards on the left hand corner of the carved eaves under the green section, is common to most of these old buildings and symbolises the humility that seems to characterise Sikhism - a reminder that none of us is superior to another, no matter how tall our houses are.</div>
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For anyone wanting to know more about old Amritsar, there's a more comprehensive blog about it: <a href="http://memoirsofanaveragejoe.com/2018/02/21/heritage-walk-amritsar/" target="_blank">Memoirs of an Average Joe</a>, with pictures. </div>
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While in Delhi, I had mentioned to Sqn. Ldr. Rana Chhina, of the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research, that I wanted to visit a farm and see something of Punjabi rural life. As if he had not already been hospitable and helpful enough, he mentioned that he would be visiting his family farm near Amritsar while we were there and invited us out there for a day. This was an opportunity too good to pass up. We arrived to a warm welcome, and a delicious lunch, and were shown around the farm and taken on a tour of the village.</div>
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No visit to Punjab would be complete without a visit to the Wagah Border to see the changing of the guard on the border between India and Pakistan. Thousands of Indians turn out and the ceremony has turned into a mock-aggressive theatrical performance with an MC whipping up the crowd, patriotic chanting, deafening Bollywood music, and strutting guards shaking their fists at each other in a choreographed performance. The turnout on the Pakistani side was smaller and quite subdued compared to the tamasha (spectacle) on the Indian side. The seating, originally built to seat an equal number of people on both sides, is now being extended on the Indian side to greater heights.</div>
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I originally passed through this border in 1978, at the end of an overland trip from Crete, where I had been teaching English for two years, to Bombay (as was) to visit my father after an absence of eleven years. At that time there were two long sheds in no man's land, one Indian and one Pakistani. In the Indian hut customs officials searched our bags for marijuana, while outside the windows we could see that the area behind the hut was a forest of six foot marijuana plants (possibly seeded by grass thrown away by panicking hippies). A handsome Sikh soldier checked my passport, smiled at me and said, 'Welcome home, Urmilla,' and I can still remember that first experience of belonging and feeling welcome. A few years later I would feel it again when I visited my father's village for the first time in many years and people seeing me walk down the street came out of their houses to welcome me, guessing that I was Iqbal Bahadur's granddaughter.<br />
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Belonging is such a powerful human need, and I wish everyone could be extended a welcome like that when they arrive in another country.</div>
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-58541072804618548172018-05-23T11:03:00.000-07:002018-08-21T12:00:09.452-07:00INDIA RESEARCH TRIP - Part 4 - Lucknow, the British Residency, and talking to generals and brigadiers in Delhi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 16px;">I had been to Lucknow before several times, but taking my daughter to see her Indian ancestral home was very special and made me see everything with new eyes. Even though she and my son had visited India many times, North India is very different from Mumbai, and the very westernised circle of friends that I have there. It brought home to me even more strongly how remarkable it was that my father, a village boy from a very insular community, had ended up travelling the world and opening his eyes and mind to cultures and ideas. In my childhood he was an Anglophile, who also loved France and spoke fluent French, but in his older years he turned back to his Indian roots - to yoga, Buddhist philosophy and the Gita. He remained open-minded and never tried to interfere with our lives, or even give advice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">During my father's childhood, unlike now, Uttar Pradesh (or United Provinces as it was then, under British Rule) was a place where Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony, and, although worshiping and marrying within their own communities, they </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">shared a common culture, attending and participating in each other's music and poetry recitals. As a child I remember the village square being full of people of all faiths watching a performance of Ramayana or an all night ghazal concert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The impressive Mughal architecture of Lucknow, capital of Awadh (now Uttar Pradesh), centre of Muslim culture, and at one point the richest state in India, is mostly crumbling now. But it is still worth seeing. The view from the Bara or Great Imambara (a sacred hall) built by the Nawab of Awadh, Asaf-ud-Daula, (above) is stunning.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Imambara</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Near the Bara Imambara is the Chotta or Small Imambara, a modest building elegantly decorated in black and white, but the inside is a surprising contrast. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the 1980s, when I last visited with my father, there were glass chandeliers from Venice and other European centres of glass blowing, part of the collections of the Nawabs from their pre-independence heydays, standing abandoned in the corridors of almost every museum and heritage building we visited. Many of them seem to have found a home here. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And w</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">alking around the city there are still many impressive sights. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Imambara gate, Lucknow</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rumi Darwaza (Gate), Lucknow</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">For those interested in colonial history the ruins of the <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.lucknow.org.uk/tourist-attractions/british-residency.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">British Residency</span></a> </span>-</span> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">one of the sites of the uprising of 1857 - is well worth a visit. Beautifully preserved, the ruins themselves are full of atmosphere and tell the tragic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lucknow" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">story of the siege</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. I visited in the 1980s, when it was more atmospheric in some ways because nothing had been done to the site, so it looked just as it had been left after the siege, scarred by shot and shell. It was impossible to imagine how anyone could have survived, let alone retained their sanity for five whole months. Perhaps this is where the seeds of my novel, "Belonging", came from, because, although my sense of justice has always lain on the side of the colonised, rather than the colonisers, it is hard not to imagine, and therefore empathise, with any human being in such desperate straits.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Residency Tower where the British flag flew</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The site is now being managed to prevent the buildings from deteriorating further and some excavation and restoration work is being done. There is also a museum that tells the history of the siege in the context of the larger uprising. The information boards acknowledge the courage and sacrifice both of the attacking forces, and of the British defenders and the sepoys who fought alongside them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susanna Palmer, 18, struck by a cannon ball on the first day of the siege.<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Sir Henry Lawrence, the Resident, </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">was killed by a bullet on the same day.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">As India and I walked up the path towards the Residency, I remembered Sqn Ldr Rana Chinna at CAFHR in Delhi telling us that he had been a consultant on the </span><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kjs41" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?”</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">where Billy Connolly explored the history of his great-grandfather, who was one of British garrison during the Siege. The two men were asked to walk up the path towards the Residency with the camera tracking them, but Billy Connolly was so funny that the director had to keep calling them back for another take and beg Connolly to stop telling jokes, </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“… because we can see Rana’s shoulders shaking, and this isn’t supposed to be funny.”</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The common grave where over a hundred of those who died <br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The cemetery is poignant. Apart from the common grave, in which over a hundred of the defenders killed in the Siege are buried, there are also the memorials to individuals of high rank, like Lt-Colonel Neill, responsible for some of the most savage reprisals after the uprising, who left a trail of death and devastation behind him on his way to relieve Cawnpore (this also </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">features in "Belonging")</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">. There are memorials, too, to those who died attacking the Residency. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;">And in the civil section, one get a vivid picture of the routine attrition of colonial life even in peacetime: children dying in infancy, and young women whose graves give the cause of death as 'heat prostration". One couple, the Irelands, lost five children, two of them within a month of each other in 1910, before dying themselves in 1914.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ruins of the burnt out Residency Church and cemetery</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">For anyone who wants to learn more about the Siege and the colonial attitudes that provoked it, J G Farrell’s satirical novel, </span><a href="https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/JG-Farrell/The-Siege-of-Krishnapur/7176848" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">“</a><a href="https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/JG-Farrell/The-Siege-of-Krishnapur/7176848" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Siege of Krishnapur</span></a><a href="https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/JG-Farrell/The-Siege-of-Krishnapur/7176848" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">”</a>, which won the</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"> Booker Prize in 1973 and was shortlisted for the Best of Booker Prize in 2008, is a wonderful mixture of farce and tragedy. </span><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">For an Indian take on the revolt, or War of Independence, the Bollywood film "</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangal_Pandey:_The_Rising" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mangal Pandey - The Rising</span></a><span style="color: #1d2129;">" about the sepoy whose attack on an officer sparked the uprising, gives a romantic version of events, though the four men on an elephant, who keep popping up to sing an anthem in praise of him, add an unintentionally Pythonesque touch to the proceedings. </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">For those who prefer non-fiction, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">this fascinating <a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bartrum/lucknow/lucknow.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">diary of Katherine Mary Bartram</span></a>, a widow who survived the siege,</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;"> provides a poignant personal account. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">After Lucknow, we </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">returned to Delhi where I gave a talk about using historical research in fiction to the </span><a href="http://usiofindia.org/cafhr/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research</span></a><span style="color: #1d2129;"> (CAFHR), run by Sqn.Ldr. Rana Chhina, who had generously allowed me to use their facilities for research. </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #1d2129;">I was a bit nervous to discover that the audience consisted mainly of retired brigadiers and generals, who did not seem to have a natural interest in fiction (several made a point of telling me that they had written memoirs, war histories and, in one case, a comic book). But they all listened politely, but looked so serious (grim, even) that I tried to lighten the mood by giving them a flavour of Brighton as I first encountered it, including an account of witnessing my first </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/229153044" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">naked bike ride</span></a></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">, at which they just looked bemused.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">General Cardozo, the head of the United Services Institute (USI) where CAFHR is based, chaired the event and I was fortunate to be seated next to him at lunch afterwards, where he told me some astonishing stories of his war service. An extraordinary man, he was the first disabled officer to command a battalion and brigade after losing a leg in combat and subsequently won a medal for bravery in action. </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">According to his very brief </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cardozo" style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Wikipedia entry</span></a><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">, he cut off his own leg with a kukri after he was wounded by a land mine. Despite his clear air of authority and command, he was charming and easy to talk to, and in many ways reminded me of my father. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Major General Ian Cardozo. By Devopam [CC BY-SA 4.0 <br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">This has been such an interesting trip. Becoming an author has opened me up to encounters and experiences that I would never otherwise have had, and I am enjoying every single minute of it. I feel so lucky to have received this funding - it has been such an amazing experience, and it isn't over yet. </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">This trip just goes on and on...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">Still to come: A visit to </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 14px;">the Partition Museum in Amritsar, a visit to the Wagah border and the Jaipur Festival. </span></div>
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-71704867084856958012018-04-27T12:29:00.003-07:002018-04-27T13:26:26.071-07:00INDIA RESEARCH TRIP - Part 3 - revisiting Nanpara, the home of my Indian forebears<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--rKT6GsuE28/WuNmck_oM0I/AAAAAAAAFoE/Cri3msVrGAwNa3UW8E4aNFSfolk_iqwfACLcBGAs/s1600/UP%2Bvillage%2Bin%2Bfog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--rKT6GsuE28/WuNmck_oM0I/AAAAAAAAFoE/Cri3msVrGAwNa3UW8E4aNFSfolk_iqwfACLcBGAs/s400/UP%2Bvillage%2Bin%2Bfog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A UP village in the fog</td></tr>
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Shishir, a merchant navy officer, and the son
of Shobha, the farmer’s son who looked after my grandparents in their old age and whom they left the house to, had kindly met us at Lucknow with a car and
driver to take us to Nanpara.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
reassuring to have a local driver because the one thing I had forgotten, when I
wrote those lyrical descriptions of northern Indian winters in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Belonging</i>, was the thick fogs. In the
mornings, before the sun gets hot enough to thin it out, it is so dense that
sometimes you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you. Driving is
terrifying, as truck drivers overtake blindly even on roads that have trees or
ditches lining either side, so there is nowhere to go. But it was afternoon when we left Lucknow, so
visibility was slightly better and our driver was remarkably calm and unfazed by
lorries suddenly materialising on our side of the road out of the fog. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seeing my grandparents’ house again produced mixed feelings.
The last time I had visited Nanpara, when I was twenty-nine, it was May -
harvest time, and the hottest month of the year. Many government offices close and people go home to their
villages to visit family or help with bringing the crops in. The Courts close for
the whole month too, and by then Dad was practicing law (a more traditional
occupation for a kayashta) in Bombay High Court after he retired from the Navy,
having done his bar exams at Lincoln's Inn while naval attache at the Indian
High Commission in London in the 1950s.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrL97uLoZmQ/WuNX_InFD-I/AAAAAAAAFmQ/4JTSdXnMOVgLeSUeONrvCtUX6lxR1OnuQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Shiva%2Btemple%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrL97uLoZmQ/WuNX_InFD-I/AAAAAAAAFmQ/4JTSdXnMOVgLeSUeONrvCtUX6lxR1OnuQCEwYBhgL/s320/Shiva%2Btemple%2Bclose%2Bup.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;">The house was then almost at the end of the village. The
narrow road between it and Shiva temple opposite ran on through open fields and past a
small village with</span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt;"> a few traditional huts with thatched roofs and whitewashed mud walls dotted with
cowpats that had been stuck there to dry out in the sun. On that particular day,
the men were threshing, their arms swinging in rhythm as they flailed at the
wheat on the ground, and flecks of grain and husk filled the air around them
and stuck to the sweat on their bare chests, arms and faces, so they looked as
if they’d been gilded. Nearby, women in bright saris shook the threshed grains
back and forth in large flat baskets on their heads; the winnowed husks showered
down, forming a shimmering veil around them. I wished I’d brought a camera but - perhaps because I hadn’t - the picture has stayed in my mind as a living memory
rather than a static image.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Walking on through the fields, we came to a low thatched
shelter, about waist high, and open at the front, in which sat a hermit – a
Brahmin called Lallu Maharaj- a simple soul who was supplied with food by
people from the nearby villages. My father walked out to meet him for a philosophical
chat every time he visited. A couple of miles further on stood a small white
Hindu temple by a large pond, shaded by trees and full of water hyacinth. It
was picturesque and peaceful, and it has often appeared in my dreams. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But Lallu is long gone, as is the traditional village. The
area is now built up with single storey rough brick houses, and when we finally
found the temple I barely recognised it. It has been painted pink, which seems to be a new fashion for temples, as the one opposite the house has been too. The pond is now almost dried up, the remaining water stagnant and full of rubbish. The priest, a striking looking man, outfitted in magenta, presumably to
match his temple, looked pleased to be asked to pose for a picture. </span></div>
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Inside the courtyard of my grandparents’ house, the changes
were even greater. The internal walls dividing the different family properties
have gone, and the entire courtyard is now one property instead of the four it
used to be. Two of the other family properties, which used to be in separate plots within the same walled courtyard, and most of my grandparents’ house, have
been demolished, all except the front wall with its red pillars, which opened
into the verandah where my grandfather used to sit on his charpoi (rope-strung bed), resting from his labours in the vegetable garden and talking philosophy with my father. Behind the wall now stands the
shell of an impressive two storey house, every detail designed by Shobha
himself, with pillars and a roof terrace, still awaiting doors, windows, floors,
plumbing and electrics. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The old verandah area </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gntUtbRbAg4/WuNaHZ43vtI/AAAAAAAAFmo/sBSXGwQy2ks381lgHvXyo9zwuKJasukCgCLcBGAs/s1600/Nanpara%2B-%2Bold%2Band%2Bnew%2Bhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gntUtbRbAg4/WuNaHZ43vtI/AAAAAAAAFmo/sBSXGwQy2ks381lgHvXyo9zwuKJasukCgCLcBGAs/s400/Nanpara%2B-%2Bold%2Band%2Bnew%2Bhouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new house looms over the front wall of the old house</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Shobha was still the same, even forty years later: funny, smart and confident. He and his wife, Renu, made us very welcome and generously gave up their bedroom to us. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While the house has been being built, as time and money
becomes available, Shobha and his family have been camping in the last
inhabitable rooms of the one property that still stands in one corner of the courtyard. When the big house is finished they too will be demolished. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Shishir and his sister Saumya </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">showed us around the village to the places connected with our family history (covered in the last blog). In the evenings we sat, reminisced, ate delicious local delicacies produced by Renu and her sister-in-law, and told stories around a bowl of burning logs in the ground floor of the unfinished new house. </span></div>
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The family<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> showed us round and
helped me to identify the places I remembered – the site of the old well that used to stand under a mango tree on a raised stone platform behind the house which now lies under the new building; the old open
air toilets, where three people could squat side by side; my grandfather’s beloved
vegetable garden, which is still in use; and the corner of the courtyard which used
to bound our family unit, where my grandmother used to squat to cook at her
open-air hearth. The open air kitchen with the tiled roof, is still there beside it, though that too
will go when the house is finished.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Outside our courtyard, the village and
its people are still in essence the same, and the lifestyle is still much as I
remember it – apart from mobile phones, technology is still largely missing from home life. There is still curiosity about foreign visitors, the obligatory visits to old family friends, the welcome
and hospitality, the ceremonial offer of tea or lassi and delicious snacks, and sitting around the
fire in people’s gardens, talking of the old days. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c-KVp_n8HDw/WuNtcWzM8bI/AAAAAAAAFoo/PdZ4EDe1Hhc6JGS1lju4uihhBzGIP25rgCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_20171225_160741584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c-KVp_n8HDw/WuNtcWzM8bI/AAAAAAAAFoo/PdZ4EDe1Hhc6JGS1lju4uihhBzGIP25rgCKgBGAs/s400/IMG_20171225_160741584.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the roof terrace of the new house</td></tr>
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<o:p>After Nanpara, we returned to Lucknow for a couple of days. </o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If we still have family in the city, I have lost touch with
them. My father’s closest relative, his first cousin - Doctor Sahb as he was
always known - died some years before my father, estranged from his wife and children. He had disowned both his sons for marrying out of their caste</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. My father tried to persuade him to be less inflexible, but in vain. His autocratic behaviour and refusal to adapt to
changing society eventually alienated even his dutiful and long-suffering wife, who went to live in
America with her daughter. He ended up alone, a sad,
embittered old man. I liked Sushil, the older son, very much but sadly lost
touch with him and his lovely Punjabi wife. The younger son, Lalloo, who had married an Air Force pilot's widow, died young. I never met his wife.</span></div>
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There is another branch of the family in Lucknow but, unlike
my grandfather and father, they were very conservative. I never liked them
much and never felt accepted by them. On the couple of occasions that Dad and I
stayed with them overnight on the way to Nanpara, I felt as though, as a
“half-caste”, I was seen as a source of contamination. I don’t think any of
them ever accepted my father’s marriage, and he never brought
my mother to U.P. to meet the family. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So in Lucknow now I am just a tourist, but it is a city full of fascinating history and well worth visiting. More about that in the next blog. </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Next blog: A visit to Lucknow, Amritsar
and the Partition Museum and a visit to the Wagah border. Still to come: Our return to Delhi and my talk at the United
Services Institute to an audience of generals and brigadiers. And a hair-raising adventure on the way to the Jaipur Festival. </i><br />
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-32034354577581269652018-03-13T16:47:00.000-07:002018-04-27T12:27:00.294-07:00INDIA RESEARCH TRIP – Part 2 - Family History<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ix1KngDR3kM/WqgJpoW3jAI/AAAAAAAAFTk/wQP5YAebd94eQTpUuIOAM3PhqXcVgAYIQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Lt%2BBob%2BSinha%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ix1KngDR3kM/WqgJpoW3jAI/AAAAAAAAFTk/wQP5YAebd94eQTpUuIOAM3PhqXcVgAYIQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Lt%2BBob%2BSinha%255B1%255D.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lt. Bhagwati Prasad (Bob) Sinha</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After Delhi, we flew to Lucknow before travelling on to
Nanpara, the village where my father was born and grew up, near the border with Nepal. Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and was the centre of Muslim
culture in India – a city full of exquisite Mughal architecture, where Urdu
poetry, music and dance flourished, a place where the communities were so
integrated that Hindus often bore Muslim names, my grandfather being a case in
point. A Hindu of the Kayastha caste, from which ministers, administrators,
civil servants and court clerks traditionally were recruited, he was given the
name Iqbal, a Muslim name meaning “fortunate”, while his brother was called
Kanaiyalal, after Lord Krishna. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--I7s5rsW4wk/Ws6DtKF0JfI/AAAAAAAAFhE/62Cw1HPHGIAfEZ0pUzHcD7qpKFTLjadEwCLcBGAs/s1600/Lucknow%2Bphoto%2B-%2BNitin%2BDani.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="795" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--I7s5rsW4wk/Ws6DtKF0JfI/AAAAAAAAFhE/62Cw1HPHGIAfEZ0pUzHcD7qpKFTLjadEwCLcBGAs/s400/Lucknow%2Bphoto%2B-%2BNitin%2BDani.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Nitin Dani - http://www.nitindani.com/ - Used with permission<br />
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Kayashthas worship pen and ink and perform an annual pooja (worship ceremony) to them. My grandfather joined the postal service and rose to become Postmaster of Nanpara, and was given the honorific title “Bahadur”, often given to officers in British service. He became a prominent man in his village.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Dad’s mother was Nepalese and died of puerperal fever, along
with his baby sister, shortly after giving birth. Dad was still a baby himself.
When I interviewed him about his life in his ‘80s I asked him what her name
was. He said he didn’t know. Apparently he never thought to ask. His father
remarried a couple of years later. </div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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Dad was an only child, but he had a cousin-sister Priya, two years older than him, of whom he was very fond. One night, when he was seven and she was nine, they were sleeping outside under the chajja – an overhanging cement canopy – when it collapsed killing her outright. Dad was saved by two beams that crossed over his bed. He still became emotional talking about it more than seventy years later and this was unusual because he was a man who rarely showed his feelings. He had suffered a lot of loss in his young life and was always a loner, spending more time with his maths master than with friends, though he once showed me a scar in his head which had been caused by a friend who had accidentally struck him with an axe while they were foraging for firewood in the forest. Dad was bending over holding a log for his friend to chop. The friend was frightened and ran home without telling anyone and it was hours before Dad was found. There was no hospital in the village and he said they had plastered his head with a poultice of “some local remedy, like hay and cow dung”. I’m still not sure if he was joking.</div>
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After school Dad went to the University of Lucknow, where he
joined the University Training Corps. The Scottish NCO who ran it took a shine
to him and encouraged him to sit the exams to join the armed forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Indians had started been accepted as officers in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Indian_Navy_(1612%E2%80%931950)" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Royal Indian Navy</span></a> in 1934, and they took just one a year, and only as engineer officers, probably because it meant they would never command a ship. </span>Dad took second place in the national exam
and had a choice of all three services. He took the navy place because he liked the
uniform and he wanted to travel, and naval officers were trained in Britain,
while army officers went to Dehradun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ms5APriONM/WqhQ5ZQQ82I/AAAAAAAAFV8/nx4MG7yWoI8rsRicCm4k43r-Mt-egKALgCLcBGAs/s1600/Wedding%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1349" data-original-width="1025" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ms5APriONM/WqhQ5ZQQ82I/AAAAAAAAFV8/nx4MG7yWoI8rsRicCm4k43r-Mt-egKALgCLcBGAs/s320/Wedding%255B1%255D.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mum and Dad's wedding</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Joining the military was not something people of Dad’s caste
did then. Crossing the ocean – the <i>kala pani</i>, or black water, as it’s known in
India – meant losing his caste, and when he returned to India after the war he
had to perform a pooja with the village elders as a kind of penance to restore it.
His father had chosen a bride for him, but he married my mother, an Englishwoman
whom he had met in Britain at the end of the war, so we, his children, became outcastes.</div>
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Dad arrived in Britain in 1938, and trained at Portsmouth
Dockyard and Royal Naval Engineering College, at Keyham, Plymouth. He remained in
Britain throughout the war, and after getting five firsts at Keyham was the
first Indian to attend Greenwich Naval College. He also served on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_convoys_of_World_War_II" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Arctic Convoys</span></a>, which carried food and supplies to Russia, then our allies. He was in
one of the ships, The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jamaica_(44)" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">HMS Jamaica</span></a>, which was involved in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_North_Cape" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Battle of the North Cape</span></a>, when the pride of the German navy, the battleship <span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Scharnhorst" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Scharnhorst</span></a></span></span>, was sunk. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the Cold War years that followed, the British government
decided not to award medals to those who had helped Russia, or to allow them to
accept medals offered by the Russian government. After years of campaigns by
veterans and their families, they relented and issued the Arctic Star medal. By
then my father was in the Asvini Hospital, the military hospital in Mumbai
where my brother Indra and I were born. Delivering the medal to Dad, seventy
years after the event, to the astonishment of doctors who happened to be doing
their rounds, bought him some much-needed attention. And in May 2015, three
years after his death, we were finally invited by the Russian Embassy to a
ceremony in Hastings where he was posthumously awarded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Ushakov" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ushakov Medal</span></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span>for his
service to Russia. And although the Russian
award list states that the medals were awarded to “Citizens of Britain”, Dad
was never a British citizen. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr-E3djdUts/WqgPtcr84mI/AAAAAAAAFT8/5QzUqhUgXzcB_PJWGV6c2b4Rywc2aXVGQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Ushakov%2Bmedal%2Band%2Bbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wr-E3djdUts/WqgPtcr84mI/AAAAAAAAFT8/5QzUqhUgXzcB_PJWGV6c2b4Rywc2aXVGQCEwYBhgL/s320/Ushakov%2Bmedal%2Band%2Bbox.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ushakov Medal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Nanpara is just 25 miles from the Nepalese border, and my
father’s ancestral home, originally on the edge of the village opposite a
Shiva Temple, was a traditional house enclosed in a large walled courtyard with
an open air kitchen, a well, and a large vegetable garden in which my
grandfather spent many hours wearing his dhoti and my father’s naval issue solar topee. The
compound was divided into different units as it was joint family property
shared by both the brothers’ families, but grandfather had the largest part. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s a story about the way the land was acquired. My
great-grandfather was Chief of Police to the Rajah of Nanpara, and it was
rumoured that the land was given to him as reward for helping to conceal from
his British superiors that the Rajah had walled up alive his favourite dancing
girl for running off with one of his stewards. My father said the rumour was
rife when he was a child and he once asked his grandfather if it were true, but
his grandfather denied it. But then, as Mandy Rice Davies put it, “Well, he
would, wouldn’t he?”<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwZ1w3kcgps/WqgVDJZ__RI/AAAAAAAAFUY/fEivtzRdGIY25Dd9mDlgdhG7dHt15QsFQCLcBGAs/s1600/Rajah%2Bof%2BNanpara%2527s%2Bpalace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwZ1w3kcgps/WqgVDJZ__RI/AAAAAAAAFUY/fEivtzRdGIY25Dd9mDlgdhG7dHt15QsFQCLcBGAs/s400/Rajah%2Bof%2BNanpara%2527s%2Bpalace.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shishir, India and I in front of the Rajah of Nanpara's palace - now derelict</td></tr>
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When I visited my grandparents’ house as a child, there was
no electricity or running water and the toilets were open air cement channels
in which three people could squat companionably side by side. A bucket of ash
stood nearby to be sprinkled over the ‘kaka’, which was scooped out with
shovels through holes in the courtyard wall by the Dalits, or “Untouchables”,
as they were known then. Showers were taken by the well, under the mango tree,
and I enjoyed pulling up the buckets and washing our clothes there too, much to
my grandmother’s astonishment.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BGQNLZvuCI/WqheJZ63OcI/AAAAAAAAFWg/vZvprKVeY00cIH5oUUg88rytn3bMAykZACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Grandparentsjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BGQNLZvuCI/WqheJZ63OcI/AAAAAAAAFWg/vZvprKVeY00cIH5oUUg88rytn3bMAykZACK4BGAYYCw/s320/Grandparentsjpg.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My grandparents in old age</td></tr>
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By the time I returned there in my late twenties, there was
flickering <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>electricity and some noisy
ceiling fans, and running water but no drains, which resulted in the town
becoming ankle deep in sewage in the monsoon. The cow was gone, but there was
still my grandmother's strong ginger-infused morning tea, which was the best thing to wake up to,
followed by supple chapattis tasting of butter and ash, and crisp lightly
cooked vegetables from the garden. She would send me off to fetch a chilli or
lemon or onion, which entailed a hunt through the house as for some reason she placed them randomly on windowsills in different rooms. My grandfather had
a hookah, which he and my father would smoke together. When they had finished, my
grandmother would go off into a corner and squat there with her sari pulled
right over her head and puffs of smoke emerging from under it, as though she
was on fire. She was a countrywoman, uneducated and illiterate, and spoke a rough
local dialect, whereas my grandfather spoke Hindi, Urdu and Persian, and read
Sanskrit, but they seemed to live in harmony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She had no children of her own and seemed genuinely fond of Dad, but he
never felt close to her. When we talked about his life when he was in his
eighties and I asked him how he felt about her he said, “Well... neutral really.”</div>
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</div>
After Independence, his career took off. He was promoted
rapidly and could only visit his parents once a year. As they got older, my grandfather, who was governor of a school, began to take in the sons of farmers and to pay for their education in return for their help around the house and garden. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last of these boys, Shobha, was with them
for years, living with them into adulthood. He became like a son to them and
when my grandmother was too old to cope his mother came to live with them and
look after them. With my father’s agreement my grandfather left Shobha the
house. It was his family that India, my daughter, and I were going
to visit. It would be the first time she would see the house where her
grandfather was born.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H78yxCsz7S4/WqhPbPw19dI/AAAAAAAAFVo/NHyP0adEGMUrFI0XpZ5TpF-_F-V0iYdNACLcBGAs/s1600/Dad%2Band%2BGrandad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="1600" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H78yxCsz7S4/WqhPbPw19dI/AAAAAAAAFVo/NHyP0adEGMUrFI0XpZ5TpF-_F-V0iYdNACLcBGAs/s400/Dad%2Band%2BGrandad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad and Grandad in later life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before we arrived, Shobha’s son, Shishir, reminded me of the
time that my father and I took ten year old Shobha to the <a href="http://www.dudhwanationalpark.in/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Dudhwa Tiger Reserve</span></a>.
We’d arrived by train at the station after a long journey, and used the wind up
telephone to ring the reserve to send a jeep to collect us. We rang and rang
but there was no reply. Eventually the stationmaster suggested we ride in the steam
engine through the forest and the train driver could drop us off near the Reserve.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As we walked through the forest, I said to my father, “What
if a tiger comes along?” He laughed. “Don’t be stupid. It’s rare to see a tiger
and, anyway, it would be more afraid of us than we are of it.” When we arrived at
the Reserve, it was apparent from the general <i>gadbad </i>(disarray) that something had happened. A guard came rushing out to meet us and demanded: “What are you doing walking
through the forest? Don’t you know there’s a man-eater out there?”<br />
<br />
It turned out that the night before one of the guards had
gone to do his business in the forest (apparently there were no toilets in their
quarters) and while crouching had been mistaken for an animal by the tiger,
which carried him off. The guards had been looking for him all morning and had
eventually found his <i>lota </i>(washing pot) on the other side of the ditch that separated the quarters from the forest. That morning the postman, cycling to the Reserve, had been charged by a tiger and knocked off his bicycle. Fortunately the tiger attacked the bicycle and the postman was able to climb a tree. The guards seemed angrier with their unfortunate colleague than with
the tiger. “God knows why he crossed the ditch,” the guard said. “Stupid bastard!
Now we’ll have to kill that tiger, because once they’ve tasted human blood they get a taste for it.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The next morning we went out on elephant back, sticking to
the path, and were lucky enough to see, not one, but two tigers. One was walking
through the long grass, almost perfectly camouflaged. The other was lying by
the side of the track. He allowed us to approach within ten feet of him
before lazily getting to his feet and ambling away. Clearly not so afraid of
humans then.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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To be continued…</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9QG-ELYPGU0/WqhRKxBj_mI/AAAAAAAAFWA/Y5GmatmLrtUNoV5q4gr27SuNwJn_kTaXACLcBGAs/s1600/WOL%2BLOGO.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9QG-ELYPGU0/WqhRKxBj_mI/AAAAAAAAFWA/Y5GmatmLrtUNoV5q4gr27SuNwJn_kTaXACLcBGAs/s1600/WOL%2BLOGO.tiff" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<!--EndFragment--><br /></div>
</div>
UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-51408440542330733232018-03-06T05:02:00.000-08:002018-04-27T12:26:31.711-07:00INDIA RESEARCH TRIP - Part 1 - Delhi and a visit to the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n8pJuIvltn0/Wp2roHgq14I/AAAAAAAAFO4/hqhvkkC2qtwkOaRRpxdsWUVK-m7hfek3gCLcBGAs/s1600/Smog%2Bmasks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n8pJuIvltn0/Wp2roHgq14I/AAAAAAAAFO4/hqhvkkC2qtwkOaRRpxdsWUVK-m7hfek3gCLcBGAs/s320/Smog%2Bmasks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing smog masks in Delhi</td></tr>
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This year I was fortunate enough to be given two grants, the first by the <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.societyofauthors.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Society of Authors</span></a></span> for trips to Italy to research my next novel, working title
“The Fallen”. The second was an <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/artists-international-development-fund" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Artists' International Development Grant</span></a>,</span> from Arts Council England. I was very fortunate to receive advice about the latter application from Amy Solis from the <a href="http://writingourlegacy.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Writing Our Legacy</span></a> project, with whom I have been working for many years. The grant covered researching the Indian part of the novel, a memoir I’m working on about my family, and exploring traditional and modern forms of storytelling, as I am also a storyteller and co-founder of an oral
storytelling club, <a href="https://guesthousestorytellers.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The GuestHouse Storytellers</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">,</span> based in Newhaven, which celebrated its 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary last year.<br />
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I’ve written about my Italian trips in the previous blogs, and t<span style="font-size: 12pt;">his next series of blogs is about my trip to India, which involved a hectic
month of travelling around north India, working with different organisations and people. I must admit I was rather
dreading this month of exploration and travel on my own, and was thrilled when
my daughter, </span><a href="https://indiastoughton.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">India Stoughton</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, an arts and culture journalist in Lebanon, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">volunteered to come with me to research her own <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/the-partition-museum-opening-up-about-the-pain-1.694671" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">article about the projects to capture the stories of Partition</span></a>.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: Erna, Firdaus, Ernesta, me, Shireen, & Maria<br />
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I had originally intended to fly straight to Delhi, but
changed my mind when I learnt that Ernesta Boccaletti, who had put my friend Jo
and me up at her extraordinary mansion in Italy in the summer, was going to be
in Mumbai. She and her sister Maria were visiting Shireen, a mutual friend, whose father, "Jimmy" Vakil, was an
officer in an Indian POW camp in Italy in 1943 and Ernesta’s father, who was a
doctor at the camp, helped him to escape and hid him from the Germans. We had a
very enjoyable reunion at the Willingdon Club in Mumbai, along with Shireen's cousins Firdaus and Erna.<br />
<br />
Firdaus is also the friend I stay with in Mumbai. He is the most book-loving person I've ever met and without his encouragement and feedback I'm not sure I'd ever have finished "<a href="http://myriadeditions.com/books/belonging/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Belonging</span></a>". It was through him that I met Shireen and learnt about her father's story.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-prEstHHMmEU/Wp3G9FTI_QI/AAAAAAAAFPw/baXB3bLml0w6AY4RjEB1wwdIEsB15elIgCLcBGAs/s1600/IGNCA%2BRamLila%2Bcollage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="375" height="317" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-prEstHHMmEU/Wp3G9FTI_QI/AAAAAAAAFPw/baXB3bLml0w6AY4RjEB1wwdIEsB15elIgCLcBGAs/s320/IGNCA%2BRamLila%2Bcollage.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next to Delhi, to brave the pollution, and visit the </span><a href="http://ignca.gov.in/" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (IGNCA) to see the impressive RamLila exhibition, with artefacts from different Indian forms of storytelling. It was an absolute feast for the senses, followed by a literal feast at a nearby canteen. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then on to </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">do some military research at the </span><a href="http://usiofindia.org/CAFHR/" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> (CAFHR) where retired <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Chhina" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Squadron Leader Rana Chhina</span></a>, the resident historian, had offered to help and to provide a letter of
invitation if required. He was recommended to me by Raghu Karnad who wrote the very moving and impressive "<a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008115739/farthest-field/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Farthest Field</span></a>", a blend of fact and imagination, about three of his uncles who died in the Second World War. His description of the battle of Kohima is one of the best depictions of the horror of combat that I have ever read.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m glad I didn’t realise when I approached him just how eminent Rana is. An MBE, with an impressive collection of medals, as you can see from the picture below, he </span>was also the consultant on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06fv8wf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">“Who Do YouThink You Are” with Anita Rani</span></a>, telling the harrowing story of her family during Partition, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kjs41" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">the episode with Billy Connolly</span></a>, whose great-grandfather was in the garrison at the Lucknow Residency, during “The Indian Mutiny” as it’s known in Britain, or “The War of Independence” as it’s known in India. The terrible events at Cawnpore (Kanpur), just 50 miles away, are related in “<span style="color: blue;">Belonging</span>”. (There will be more about the Lucknow Residency, which we visited, in my next blog.) <span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Retired Squadron-Leader Rana Chhina MBE<br />
photograph courtesy Times of India</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I subsequently discovered that Rana has been to Brighton several times, the last time to attend the <a href="http://www.nutkhut.co.uk/projects/dance-and-performance/dr-blighty" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Dr Blighty events, put on by Nutkhut</span></a><a href="http://www.nutkhut.co.uk/projects/dance-and-performance/dr-blighty" target="_blank"> </a>in the Brighton Festival in 2016, for the unveiling of the blue plaque to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Dast" style="font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Jemadar Mir Dast</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, which was placed on the India Gate at the entrance to the Pavilion Gardens. </span> </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Propaganda leaflet aimed at colonial soldiers</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Finding CAFHR was a challenge as our Uber cab got lost, and access to the unit involves passing through a very thorough army checkpoint,
so by the time we arrived we were very late, but Rana could not have been more
charming. It was heartening that as I
broached all my ideas, which in the absence of detailed research were stabs
in the dark, he kept saying, “Yes, that’s possible. Yes, that could happen”. And no matter how small a
detail I required, he could immediately identify a book that covered it, pick it out of CAFHR's impressive
library of thousands of leather-bound military books and records in glass-fronted bookcases, and open it to the right page.</span></div>
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The following Saturday he invited us to his house for lunch and
to meet his charming and hospitable extended family, and in the afternoon we repeated the
exercise with books and artefacts from his private collection, which was as impressive as CAFHR's. His son Adil, who works for the <a href="https://www.cwgc.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Commonwealth Graves Commission</span></a>, and is almost as knowledgeable as his father, joined us. We
got down to work, and within a few hours I had hundreds of photographs of the
relevant pages on my phone, including some of original German propaganda leaflets.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Propaganda leaflet aimed at Indian soldiers<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I happened to mention that we were going to Amritsar to the
newly opened Partition Museum and that I was hoping to see a bit of
Punjabi rural life, as my Sikh soldier protagonist grew up on a farm there. Rana said that his family was also from a farm near Amritsar and he was going to be there at the
same time. He invited us to visit for a day so that he could show us around the farm and the village. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This was just one example of the kindness and
hospitality we met with everywhere we went. People were extraordinarily helpful; the moment they learnt that we were researching Indian soldiers or Partition,
they introduced us to people they knew with experiences in those areas, so every moment of each
day began to be filled in with things to do and people to meet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’ll be talking
about all that in more detail in the next couple of blogs, and covering our visits to Lucknow, including a visit to the atmospheric ruins of the British Residency; the Partition Museum and Golden Temple in Amritsar; the very theatrical changing of the guard ceremony at the Wagah border post between India and Pakistan; my talk to an intimidating collection of generals and brigadiers at the United Services Institute about using historical research in fiction; an unexpected stay at the perfectly preserved and very swish colonial Royal Bombay Yacht Club in Mumbai, ending with four days at the Jaipur Literary Festival with my publisher.</span></div>
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-37091693984736470262018-01-12T11:15:00.000-08:002018-03-05T11:09:51.107-08:00VISITING MONTE CASSINO WITH THE SCOTTISH & NORTH IRISH YEOMANRY... CONTINUED<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Contd...<br />
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When the Allies approaching from the south had their first view of Monte Cassino and the terrain they were meant to capture - an exposed valley crisscrossed by rivers and surrounded by mountains in which all the high ground was held by the Germans - their verbal reaction led to the vantage point being nicknamed "Shit Corner". It would take four assaults over five months in 1944 to drive the Germans back, at a cost of 55,000 Allied casualties. </div>
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The 8th Indian Infantry Division created this war song:</div>
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Oh bury me at Cassino</div>
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My duty to England is done</div>
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And when you get back to Blighty</div>
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And you are drinking your whisky and rum</div>
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Remember the old Indian soldier</div>
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When the war that he fought has been won!</div>
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Ironic, since for many decades the Indian part in the campaign was completely forgotten and, although this is now changing in Britain, it still seemed to be the case in Italy. The point was brought home to me by the fact that the first guide we had there seemed completely unaware of the part the Indians had played, despite the fact that over 50,000 Indian soldiers took part in the Italian campaign. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The British cemetery at Monte Cassino. The Indian section is in the top right hand corner.</td></tr>
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We visited the British cemetery at Monte Cassino so the soldiers could pay their respects to their fallen comrades. The north-east corner of the British cemetery, closest to the monastery, is for Indians, but as Hindu and Sikh remains are cremated rather than buried, most of the Indian names are on the twelve standing stones in the centre of the cemetery. Of the twenty-four sides, seven are filled with Indian and Nepalese names.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lacchu's stone</td></tr>
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In the cemetery I saw the deep respect and solemnity with which the soldiers approached the graves. They had each been issued with a cross and a name and asked to find the relevant grave to place their cross on. I was given one too and wandered off to the Indian part of the cemetery, but before I got there I found a separate line of stones of mixed nationalities. One of them caught my eye - </div>
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"808099 - Sweeper </div>
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LACCHU </div>
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Royal Indian Army Service Corps </div>
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13th February 1944 - Age 18". </div>
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Lacchu would have been an 'Untouchable', as they were known in those days. He would have been responsible for digging latrines, cleaning and other tasks that were considered below the dignity of other castes. He would almost certainly have been illiterate and would probably never have received a letter as his family would have been unable to write, or to afford a scribe. It is unlikely that anyone has ever visited his grave. Lacchu's stone reminded me of the thousands of labourers and camp followers of all nationalities who were killed alongside the soldiers, but whose service remains unacknowledged and whose names appear on no war memorials.</div>
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Over the next three days we visited the sites of all the major engagements, while Frank de Planta talked us through the planning and execution of the battles. Again and again we heard about the horrific conditions in which these men lived and fought, and how faulty planning, egos and political manoeuvring had cost the lives of thousands of men. Frank's contempt and indignation were particularly directed at Mark Clark, the commander of American forces in Italy. He gave a balanced view of the whole campaign, highlighting the parts played by all nationalities, including the Indians, especially the 4th Indian Division, who lost over 3000 men, and on the second evening he kindly took me down to the river so he could show me where the 3/8 Punjabis crossed the River Rapido. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">'E' Squadron</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">On the last morning we arrived in Rome and were given the day to explore the city before catching our flights out in the evening. I had spent most of my time with 'E' squadron during the tour, but felt uncomfortable about cramping their style on their day off, so I offered, having been in Rome earlier that month, to go and sit in a cafe and write and to meet them in time to take the coach to the airport. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"Oh no," the young sergeant said firmly. "No one gets left behind. Even if the others go on, I'm staying with you." </span></div>
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As someone who has never been a joiner, or particularly team-minded, I got a momentary glimpse into what it must feel like to be included, to feel you belong, and to know that that someone always has your back. This turned out to be literally true, as I noticed that one of them was hanging back, and when I glanced behind me I saw that he was scanning the street, turning his head slowly from side to side. When I mentioned it he smiled and said it was called "swivelhead", and he was watching for pickpockets. </div>
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"One chap came up really close behind you," he said. "You didn't notice and I was waiting for him to have a go at your backpack, but he moved away." He sounded almost disappointed. </div>
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I had sat with 'E' Squadron at dinner most nights, including on our final night when Frank held a quiz to check how much we remembered. Over lunch that day I noticed again what one of them had told me over dinner - that in every company there are certain roles. There is always "the clown" or "joker", "the one who takes care of everyone", "the quiet one", and so on. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">When it was time to make our way back to our coach (the sergeant had issued a stern warning about not being late and the consequences of missing the coach and flight) we got to the Metro station just in time to see the gates close and four police cars pull up outside. There had been some sort of incident on the Metro. Immediately the soldiers went into a hu</span><span style="text-align: left;">ddle, assessed the risks, debated the options, and decided on a strategy to deal with the situation. We were back at the coach on time. Observing them over the day, I realised that they never switched off, never relaxed; even in a civilian environment, they were always watchful, always on the alert. </span></div>
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I have never felt safer than I did with them that day. It was a good feeling, and I imagine one that few civilians experience. I could see how ex-soldiers might miss it, but I also wondered how much wear and tear it produces on the nerves never to be able to relax. I realise now how lucky I was to have stumbled upon <a href="http://www.italystarassociation.org.uk/history/38-punjabis-trail-by-sue-hughes/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Sue Hughes' blog</span></a> and, through her, found Frank and his tour. I learnt more about soldiers from being with that group than I could possibly have done from any amount of reading or online research.</div>
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So a big thank you to Frank de Planta of <a href="http://www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">cassinobattlefields. co.uk</span></a> and the soldiers of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry for allowing me to join them on this tour. I am hoping to join Frank again in April for a tour of the Gothic Line, this time focussed on the 4th Indian Division.</div>
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Here's a <span style="text-align: center;">video clip giving a view of the battle terrain with Frank addressing the group:</span></div>
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Finally, I am deeply grateful to funding from <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.societyofauthors.org/" target="_blank">The Society of Authors</a> </span>which has allowed me to undertake both these trips. Apart from representing and fighting for authors' rights, they will also read and advise on publishing contracts you may be offered, all included in the <a href="http://www.societyofauthors.org/Join/Subscription-rates" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">annual membership fee</span></a>. It's good to know that someone has writers' backs too.</div>
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-9211021387776438102017-12-28T21:18:00.001-08:002018-01-14T11:06:22.728-08:00VISITING MONTE CASSINO WITH THE SCOTTISH & NORTH IRISH YEOMANRY - AUGUST 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sikhs in battle in Second World War</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">One of the first things I have to do before I can create believable characters is to familiarise myself with the world of my story - </span><span style="text-align: left;">what the landscape looks like; how things look, smell, feel, sound taste; how people dress and behave, and what their beliefs and attitudes are.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> Because we are all shaped by the world we inhabit, by our cultures, our families, and by social attitudes.</span></div>
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So after my first trip to Italy in early July, which familiarised me with the geography and landscape and allowed me to meet Italians and get a sense of the culture, I needed to understand more about the military side of things in order to understand what shapes a soldier. In searching the internet for leads to particular regiments and where they fought, I stumbled across a <a href="http://www.italystarassociation.org.uk/history/38-punjabis-trail-by-sue-hughes/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">posting by Sue Hughes</span></a> about her father who was a British officer with the 3/8 Punjabis. She in turn recommended <a href="http://www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">cassinobattlefields. co.uk</span></a>, run by retired Lt-Col. Frank de Planta. Frank told me he was taking a group of thirty-five soldiers from a Scottish armoured regiment to Monte Cassino and asked if I would like to join them. Somewhat apprehensively, I agreed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-__DKGnK32D4/WkU4ZqEtSMI/AAAAAAAADbs/dNpzvEvP5JoqxDeoiv2yAW5bfY_yXo6TgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Frank%2Bde%2BPlanta%2Bin%2BJune%2B2016%2Bexplaining%2Bthe%2BII%2B%2528PO%2529%2BCorps%2Battack%2Bon%2BPoint%2B593.%2B%2BGuy%2BStone..png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="477" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-__DKGnK32D4/WkU4ZqEtSMI/AAAAAAAADbs/dNpzvEvP5JoqxDeoiv2yAW5bfY_yXo6TgCEwYBhgL/s320/Frank%2Bde%2BPlanta%2Bin%2BJune%2B2016%2Bexplaining%2Bthe%2BII%2B%2528PO%2529%2BCorps%2Battack%2Bon%2BPoint%2B593.%2B%2BGuy%2BStone..png" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank de Planta in June 2016 explaining the II (PO)<br />
Corps attack on Point 593. Photograph: Guy Stone</td></tr>
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I arrived at Rome airport and met Frank and a group of fit young men and women, accompanied by a few older officers. My apprehensions evaporated as the older officers immediately welcomed me. It took a little longer to break the ice with the soldiers, who, understandably, came from different places in Scotland and Northern Ireland and were more comfortable in their own tightly knit groups. One of the things that became apparent to me quite quickly is the loyalty that is built up within a group of soldiers who have been in combat together. Nevertheless, many of them went out of their way to talk to me and make me feel included.<br />
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The tour was arranged like a military operation. Breakfast was at 7.30 every morning and by eight we were out in the coach, being taken to different places and talked through the military planning, its implementation and then how it played out in reality, aided by an impressive pack handed out to each of us, containing maps, battle plans, photographs taken at the time, lists of equipment, and other useful information.<br />
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One of the things that became clear early in the tour is how much battles are influenced, not just by the practicalities, but by the political manoeuvring of the various nations involved, by the personal egos of the higher ranks, by miscalculation and outright stupidity (Frank's language became very colourful at these points) and how the price for all these things is paid for with the lives and suffering of the soldiers on the ground. Hearing about this in the presence of soldiers who have been in Afghanistan and Iraq, seeing them nod in recognition, and realising that they have few illusions about war, made me wonder more than ever what motivates people to join the army, but this was a question I didn't feel able to ask. What I did see clearly, and the reason why I think I write about war, is the remarkable ability of people to subsume themselves in the cause of something greater than themselves, and the extraordinary intimacy fostered by facing danger together.<br />
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But there is also the human cost of it. At dinner one evening I was sitting next to a soldier who seemed one of the most relaxed and friendly around me, and the conversation led to him telling me about a time in Afghanistan when a friend of his was shot in the neck. "I was trying to find the exit wound, but I just couldn't find it. I was covered in blood and so was he, and I was panicking. In the end I said to him that if he wasn't in a huge amount of pain it must just be a flesh wound. But when I got back to the base I did this." He pulled up the leg of his shorts and pointed to his knee and showed me a smiley face that he had made with a cigarette, "... because sometimes you just have to have a laugh, don't you?"<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdpKD7RPPeA/WkUrjOxWqMI/AAAAAAAADa4/1fvmXCPI57UK3MQxWilDUr2VKD2mHPg3QCEwYBhgL/s1600/MC%2B-%2BView%2Bof%2BMonastery%2Bfrom%2BPolish%2BCemetery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AdpKD7RPPeA/WkUrjOxWqMI/AAAAAAAADa4/1fvmXCPI57UK3MQxWilDUr2VKD2mHPg3QCEwYBhgL/s640/MC%2B-%2BView%2Bof%2BMonastery%2Bfrom%2BPolish%2BCemetery.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: small;">View of rebuilt Benedictine Monastery at Monte Cassino from the Polish Cemetery</span></td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">To be continued...</span></span></div>
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UShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00133790197244026521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7858469736511662315.post-23032459385812733942017-12-11T13:03:00.002-08:002017-12-11T13:03:43.130-08:00NOVEL II - RESEARCH TRIP TO ITALY <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0vqaq7Y3Psk/Wirm0ZebVZI/AAAAAAAACmM/YTXblkRpB6EkH1fVb2nI-qfR66FNwgrxgCLcBGAs/s1600/Italy%2Bphoto%2Bfor%2BBlog%2B8-12-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0vqaq7Y3Psk/Wirm0ZebVZI/AAAAAAAACmM/YTXblkRpB6EkH1fVb2nI-qfR66FNwgrxgCLcBGAs/s400/Italy%2Bphoto%2Bfor%2BBlog%2B8-12-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Liri valley at Monte Cassino</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">When I finished "</span><a href="http://myriadeditions.com/books/belonging/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Belonging</span></a><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">" I thought I was done with that history and those characters, but two years on I find myself working on a novel set during the British Raj, this time about an Indian soldier on the run in Italy during the Second World War, and then back in India as the country begins to prepare for Independence. As part of my research I have just completed two trips to Italy, thanks to a generous grant from </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.societyofauthors.org/" href="http://www.societyofauthors.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Society of Authors</span></a><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444;">My first visit, in late July, was to Monte Cassino, the site of four major battles that took place over a period of four months between January and May 1944. Troops from Canada, India, Nepal, New Zealand and Poland fought alongside British soldiers in the 8th Army, in a campaign that cost some 55,000 Allied casualties. Just a look at the terrain - a series of mountains and rivers fiercely defended by the German army, which held all the high ground - explains the almost impossible task that confronted these soldiers. Historians have described the Italian campaign as one of the most hard fought and challenging of the entire war, with conditions in many cases worse than those of the First World War, but after D-Day media attention shifted to France and Germany and the Italian campaign was forgotten. In the House of Commons Nancy Astor contemptuously referred to the soldiers in Italy as 'The D-Day Dodgers'. Their response was a song, ironically embracing the sobriquet, which can be heard </span><span style="background-color: white;"><strong><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcFC57nT0xY" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcFC57nT0xY" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">HERE</span></a></strong><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kYWbchZY-5Q/WiroP2bP4cI/AAAAAAAACmQ/QXVjGsgEs7Msvesn3cKAAKwLdj-WhhxQQCLcBGAs/s1600/Monastery%2Babove%2BMC%2Bcemetery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kYWbchZY-5Q/WiroP2bP4cI/AAAAAAAACmQ/QXVjGsgEs7Msvesn3cKAAKwLdj-WhhxQQCLcBGAs/s400/Monastery%2Babove%2BMC%2Bcemetery.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rebuilt Benedictine monastery above Indian<br />
graves <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">in the British cemetery at Monte Cassino </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The Allied advance and associated bombing devastated great swathes of Italy, destroying whole towns, turning farmland into battlefields and creating hundreds of thousands of refugees. After the surrender of Italy in September 1943, with their men away fighting as Partisans or with the Allies, or working as slave labour in German POW camps, thousands of women had to turn to prostitution to feed their families. Despite the terrible suffering experienced by the civilian population, many escaped Allied POWs and Jews were sheltered by Italian families who risked their lives and shared their meagre food and supplies at a time when most of the population was starving. Italian guides helped Allied POW escapees through the mountains, risking instant execution and reprisals against their families. Just as the soldiers in Italy were effectively branded cowards by the epithet attached to them, the extraordinary courage and compassion shown by ordinary Italian people went unacknowledged after the war. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">Our guide, Danila Bracaglia of </span><a href="http://montecassinotours.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Monte Cassino Tours</span></a><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">, showed us round the Monastery and the area, gave us the cultural and historical background and introduced us to Italians who had childhood memories of the German occupation. Everywhere we went we were welcomed warmly, as though we were long lost family. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8j8UyUpV3I/WivoFk1IB2I/AAAAAAAACnA/NT59chrcltYyMXhFqbcasIyK0QXAF7R6QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170706_114259281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8j8UyUpV3I/WivoFk1IB2I/AAAAAAAACnA/NT59chrcltYyMXhFqbcasIyK0QXAF7R6QCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_20170706_114259281.jpg" width="112" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">At San Angelo, the site of a ferocious battle in which the Indians were involved, Angelo Evangelista told me how, as a boy, when German soldiers occupied the village, he had swapped eggs for bread with them. One soldier cheated him and was disciplined by his senior officer when the boy complained, and the soldier later threw a rock at him. Deserters from the Italian army were hidden in basements although the penalty was death, but when the villagers were lined up one man said he would rather be shot than betray his friends and the Germans let them all go. "They weren't bad people," Angelo said. "They weren't SS or Gestapo. Just ordinary soldiers."</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqJCrsIMHEg/Wivpz0N8OvI/AAAAAAAACnM/jfvf4BX2mygSUkPl-B3XHyALFzHi4JBfQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_20170707_155737378.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqJCrsIMHEg/Wivpz0N8OvI/AAAAAAAACnM/jfvf4BX2mygSUkPl-B3XHyALFzHi4JBfQCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_20170707_155737378.jpg" width="112" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">At Sinagoga, an ancient Jewish settlement which was cleared of Jews in the 14th century, Franco Sinagoga showed us the barns that were occupied by German troops and described the tunnels dug under them in which they hid their anti-aircraft guns, so they could roll them out to fire and then withdraw. He and his wife, whom we woke from their siesta, made us welcome and plied us with food, beer and strong spirits. In mid-afternoon temperatures of 38 degrees, we refused politely and opted for iced water, but I started to get a sense of the welcome that escapees and refugees have described receiving.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The warmth and hospitality reminded me of India and I saw many similarities between the Indian and Italian ways of life. Most Indian soldiers, like Italian ones, came from agricultural families. They understood the poverty and harshness of rural life, but also the deep connection between the people and the land they had lived on for centuries, and were able to empathise with their suffering in a way that many other soldiers could not. Even the divisions in Italian society between the fascists and anti-fascists would soon be reflected in India in the inter-communal conflict at Partition.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">By the end of that tour, I had a sense of the Italian landscape, the people and the culture, essential if I am to believe in the world of my novel. But I still needed an understanding of the Indian Army's involvement, what a soldier would have experienced on the ground, the conditions, and of course some specifics about battles, weaponry, and so on. Thanks to the synchronicity that helped to shape "Belonging", and seems to be continuing with this book, I came across a mention of the Indian regiment I am researching online, which led me to retired Lt-Col. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">Frank de Planta, who runs </span><a href="http://www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cassino Battlefield Tours</span></a></span>. <span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">When I contacted Frank he told me he was taking a contingent of 35 soldiers from an armoured Scottish regiment to Monte Cassino at the end of that month and asked if I would like to join them. Somewhat apprehensively I agreed, wondering how I would keep up with 35 fit young soldiers at my age. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">More about that in the next blog. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">And then I'm off to India on another research trip, funded by the </span><a href="http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Arts Council</span></a><span style="color: #3f3f3f;">'s Artists' International Development Fund, to continue the Indian part of my research, develop my oral storytelling work, and also to do some family history research for a memoir. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: "lato" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I plan to write a series of blogs about those as I travel around, so watch this space.</span><br />
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