'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' [‎30r] (59/118)

were large swinging cloth fans, suspended from the ceiling on a frame and
worked by Pulling a cord. These were fine as long as the punkah wallah
stayed awake, but not infrequently, being safely out of sight on the
verandah outside, he would dose off in the heat and let go of the rope.
In our tents we had no such refinements and in the daytime even
under a double fly the temperature was 105 ° inside and about 112 ° outside
in rhe shade, if any. Luckily the nights were fairly cool and the "cold
weather" was due to start in late September.
When I left Gangora Jane went to stay with the Stephens. He was a
7th Gurkha and Brigade Major in Denra Dun and quite separate from the
Nepalese Contingent but we had become very friendly with them since our
arrival in the Cantonment in March and both Steve and Elizabeth were very
good to Jane after I had gone to Dargat. The baby was expected towards the
end of September and during the last few weeks Jane’s blood pressure, which
had been erratic throughout her pregnancy, became much worse and it was clear
she was going to have a very difficult time. So much so that about the
second week in September Steve sent a personal telegram to Michael Roberts,
my brigadier, saying that I should be given compassionate leave immediately.
Unfortunately, Michael had just gone off on leave to Kashmir and the telegram,
being addressed by name, was sent on unopened to him. Meanwhile Jane got
worse and her mother who had by then arrived in Dehra Dun, sent a frantic
telegram to know when I was coming. When this arrived, I was given leave at
once and left by car for Rawalpindi that same afternoon. It was a hundred
and fifty miles to Pindi, over not very good roads, and I burst a tyre half
way there. When I eventually arrived late that night, I decided to complete
the remaining four hundred miles by train, and arranged for the car to be
driven down later. When I got to Dehra Dun, on I think the 17th September
evening, the Doctor, singularly lacking in tact or discretion had already
told Jane that there was no chance at all of saving the baby. He then
informed me that Jane too was unlikely to survive. However, despite this
grisly forecast Jane put up a tremendous fight and Christopher was born on
the 19th September 19^+0, and they both lived to tell the tale. The Coronation
Hospital matron, Mrs. Button, was magnificent and utterly determined that the
baby should not die, and took personal charge of him. She was the only
European nurse in that small civil hospital.
On the 5th October Jane was allowed out of hospital but within ten
days she had a severe haemorrhage and had to return there and eventually have
a blood transfusion. She was still in hospital when I had to return to
Dargai on October 15th and remained there until November 4th 1940, finally
rejoining me in Nowshera en route for the Malakand in mid-November. There
had been an amusing minor crisis on her leaving Dehra Dun. Steve, the
Brigade Major, had taken Jame's mother and the luggage to the station in
good time, leaving Jane to feed the baby, pack up the last minute things
and say goodbye to all her friends, including her 2nd Gurkha blood (donor)
"brother". She was so busy doing this that she got to the Station late
and Steve and Mrs. Hamilton had some difficulty in persuading the Station
Master to hold up the train. After the train had gone, they returned to