Chugalug (your #8002), and the wonderful link:
(
http://www.ex-cbi-roundup.com/documents/1966_july.pdf)
This is right up
GlobalNav's street ! Marvellous reading !
(Your second link would keep us going for ever - but meat and drink to
GlobalNav.
Now I venture to add a few words of my own by way of comment on the first link:
The ex-CBI "Roundup" takes you back. As we guessed, Ranikhet was a R & R facility - rather like my Gulmarg or Chakrata.
Commenting on the pictures, I would note:
(1) The US seems to have been able to do better than our humble
charpoy !(but try carrying the whole lot around on your head down the street). Our
nayee in Chakrata was supposed to have such a delicate touch that he could shave you without waking you up (never tried it !).
(2) Looks a ghastly place (and the "wild man" in [3] has only a few scraggy trees in the background). Hill stations were always well wooded, pleasant places. Naini Tal (not far to the south) was supposed to be lovely.
(3) Myitkina is pronounced "Mitchinar" (never mind what Wiki says !) Or at least, that was what we called it.
(4) A sad (but all too common) sight at the burning ghats down by the riverside. I suppose the Hoogly river at Calcutta counted as the Ganges for religious purposes - at least they ended up in the same estuary. A poor family would not be able to afford enough wood to do the job properly, but never mind - they chucked what was left into the river regardless. Anywhere along the thousand-mile length of the sacred Ganges, if you fell in, you did well to keep your mouth shut (but the locals splash about in it with impunity).
...He was bitten while trying to force feed the lethal eight-foot snake...
A king cobra, no less. Now that
is asking for trouble ! (Rikki-tiki-tavi, we need you). Gila monster ? (must look it up).
Tibetan (possibly, but a long way south for them) salesmen - all you need to know is "
Kitna Pice ?" Start by offering a third. Settle on a half.
(5) "Merrill's Marauders" - much the same as our Chindits.
... "79 day rooms down through Burma and Assam" ?...
"Day Rooms" - not sure what is meant. "Gung-Ho" (Press on regardless !), very well known this side of the pond. "Bath House" - who ever heard of such luxury ! You've got a four-gallon can of water and a bit of soap - be happy !
(6) "From the Statesman". Calcutta newspaper (think "Daily Telegraph"). Fatehpur Sikri, near Delhi, is 800 miles West of Calcutta. The rest is a sad story all over the world.
(7) "latrine rumors" (aka "latrinograms"), "before they "
bas" at night" ("
Bus", "
Bas"= "Enough !")
(8) Remember Harold Wilson: "
This will not affect the pound in your pocket !"
(9)
..."Capt. Robert Root, 26, of Chicago turned the controls over to Lt Clifford Anderson of New Rochelle, N.Y"...
The USAAF could afford two pilots on their "heavies". We couldn't. He took a whale of a chance, coming in wheels-down when you don't know what you're landing on (I don't believe it).
..."The Zero came in first, straffed the whole left side of the ship, swooped up in a screaming climb. And then the Oscar dove in"...
They would be two "Oscars" (almost identical to the Zero in appearance, and very near it in performance). But the Zero was carrier-based, would not be employed so far inland.
Note:
"By HARRY ZINDER Life and Time Correspondent" (So, a journalist. Might have pepped it up a bit ? ) Good show, anyway.
(13) Poor Calcutta - but all this is after Independence, so after my time. Famine was endemic in W.Bengal ("
bustee" = "slum").
..."NEW DELHI-Imported cargo, worth about Rs 17 lakhs, was stolen from Indian ports within the last two years, UNI has learned from official quarters. The extent of loss involved in foreign exchange due to reissue of import licenses could not be determined"...
That should not surprise anybody with experience of the sub-continent ! (Lakh = 100,000)
(13)
...MADRAS [not "CHENNAI" yet ?] - Nearly Rs 10 lakhs worth of imported equipment meant for the Sabarigiri hydro-electric project in Kerala have been rendered useless because of the authorities' failure to store them properly. Steel punchings imported from the USA were kept out in the open at the project site for more than a year, and now are rejected by the American engineers associated with the project because they are covered with rust. The Kerala State Electricity board, responsible for the project, have contended that its officials were not aware of the need to store the equipment indoors...
Par for the Course !
(14)
...Railway System Helped Air Travel Third Class Carriage LifeBy S.Sgt. Karl Peterson (eBl ROlil/dup-jlllle 29, 1944)...
Wonderful ! Couldn't have said it better myself ! (indeed, I've said much the same myself). But in my day all officers travelled 1st Class. Other Ranks, 2nd Class (which was nearly as good). No European would dream of travelling in anything less.
(15) Book Reviews - no comment.
(16) - (19)
...Where the Old and New Co - Exist...
Very interesting. (No knowledge of Bhutan).
(19)
...HYDERABAD- Trains passing through drought-hit areas of Rayalaseema are having reserve police escorts to ensure that thirsty villagers do not hold up the trains to get water from the engines. The latest "holdup" was at Bainhal village in Kurnool district where the the train was mobbed and the driver forced to empty the tank...
Only in India ! (But, at halts, he would bleed enough from the boiler to fill a kettle, if asked nicely).
(21) Leprosy.
(22) No Comment.
(23)
...WOMEN carrying tiles for repairing roofs at the Ramgarh enlisted men's barracks. Photo by Andrew Janko...
Women do much of the heavy work out there.
(23)
...the little kids went to bed without getting the usual chapter from Kipling's "Jungle Book" read to them; I was still reading around midnight...
Better for them than "Harry Potter !"
A bit long, but never mind.
Cheers, both. Danny.