'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎9r] (17/118)

nard tsanis co'u.x’ts arid oas dsi’pl i r , '(" cnn^'-v-,
l-™; weiu^r: another tennis c ° urt * ^ ^ c : atl3r
a^ter^aras we built a new squash court near it. *°
unfortunately "at night? Z?IZZeiTur^T ^ ^ “ 19 ° 5 ’
Officers had been killed in r-armsa’- ^ k h f 3 nu,:,ber of British
bungalows all had to and officers'
buildings in my time were'brick’or Idbrick * OU ? h * lrora . J apan. All the
and plaster above that, ^
^ d : i0 ej - ectllc light or running water. In our bachelor quarters ’a 9 or-
low bungalow, there were fire sets of rooms, each consisting of a’bed-
sitting room, dressing room and bathroom the latter f 13rr) -i c:vL,q • ■ u
bath, basin and thunderbox (commode) "acb d Wlth 3 tln
(bearer) and we shared a maii (^ar^^er) bh?fu ?L^r c Ser " 3nt
Tlz%r it? 9 ? by the bhisti hea h"g W ate? ?rk;-™^n:r-
were taken in the y 631 ^’ sxoe P , ' for 9srl l morning tea and afternoon tea,
lines 0 ? ™= ?h hess ’, wnich was abou t a 100 ft. climb up the hill. The
) ° a hh- other hana ' were 500 ft. lower down, so in the course of a
normal day's work one would climb up and down a thousand fett or so Lite
LTLlLV L S eXer0iSe in the fora of orsanise* games ir cSmbLg^L
the hul’* for pleasure or shooting.. ° p
so ah 0 „* n * I \- l° ined ’ the Battalion had just completed its Frontier tour and
so abou. half the men went away on furlough to Nepal, and a number of
British cnxicers were also on leave or extra regimental duty. However
v/xoh only nalx-a-dozen others present the whole show seemed to run like
o tKrdL "“h Uttle fUSS - 1 f ° Und “ a S aeat contrast
to in. Border regiment where the Adjutant would complain bitterly if the
officer strength ever fell below forty. The atmosohere too was totally
il-erent anb everyone was most friendly. Apart from the C.C. who was
-exerred to as Colonel”, off parade everyone was on Christian name terms.
. • x* i Dharmsala was one of the wettest stations in India, the average
ramiall being 120” a year, but in 1933 we had 150”, mostly in Julv and
ugust, and one day 12 ” fell in a few hours, but the hillsides were so
sreep that it all ran away very quickly, and there was usually a let-uo
oome isime during the day. 1
As we!! as the Regiment there were, in Lower Dharmsala, four miles
. . 0W ^ the Deputy Commissioner, the Forest Officer and the Public
-^orks Department Officer and their families, and also higher un in
Dharmskot, a retired couple named Donald.
Apart from the weekly club-day, when most people put in an
appearance to play or watch tennis, there was a good deal of mild social
entertainment and also the bachelors in particular spent a lot of time
P-aying games with the men on climbing and shooting ”up the hill”.
Panthers were a problem and those of us with dogs had to be especially