大象传媒

The Gateway to India was very impressive and we were allowed to land. All our tropical kit was still in trunks in the hold of the ship, so we were very warm. A small group of nurses decided to land and kept together. It wasn鈥檛 long before we were picked up by some RAF officers who asked us to lunch at the Cricket Club. It was an eye-opener! All the ladies there had the most beautiful saris. All colours, with coloured borders. We didn鈥檛 see the cricket. Then they showed us a little of Bombay. My impression of this whirlwind tour was pavements covered with red spit. There was a wonderful waterfront and the Gateway itself was magnificent. I remember being told about the Towers of Silence, which was where they put the bodies of dead people so that the birds (vultures) can remove all flesh. Then the family bury the bones for the limited length of time in the fields near home, after which the field is ploughed over as land is very precious. I also discovered Bombay Duck was fish.
The next day, most of the regiments were gone and it was our turn to leave on the train.
Our trunks had been taken to the station and we had to claim them and then go to our allotted carriage. The compartments had 4 or 6 bunks, a washroom and a loo. There were windows that had netting outside the glass. The upper bunks folded up during the day. Our trunks were hoisted onto the heads of porters and placed in separate compartments so we were still in grey suits we had been wearing on the voyage. Outside we had a strange escort of children on either side who were all holding out hands and stroking stomachs saying 鈥淣o Mama, no Papa, no flipping breakfast!鈥�. In the middle of the crowd of children was a white haired very thin old man who was saying just the same!! We threw a few annas and they fought. There was a dining car on the train, but no corridor, so we were told to divide into 2 groups and one group to stay behind till the next stop and then change over. Apparently the compartment would be cleaned out by thieves if left empty.
Stations, when we stopped, were always crowded. Many had men with trays on their heads with hot food 鈥� not for us 鈥� the food was carried at one end of the tray and a fuel container and spare fuel at the other end. The fuel looked suspiciously like dung, but I don鈥檛 know its origin.
I think we were on the train 2 or 3 days. Always when the train started from a station, people climbed on top and stood on the steps and hung onto the door handles. Both were equally dangerous, but the only way for local people who couldn鈥檛 afford travelling. Luckily there were few bridges, but it was rather scary.
The scenery was mostly a repetition of small groups of dwellings and their fields, with raised banks on top of which were dirt roads suitable for bullock carts. Bullock carts were the main means of travel and usually travelled several together in a long line.

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