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At last everyone was allowed to go to Bombay, so off Daddy went one morning in a train from a place called Mahalakshmi, and this train took him to Churchgate Station in Bombay. The trains in India have wooden seats and no upholstery, and there are fans buzzing round all the time in the roof to cool the air, although the trains are not very comfortable, they are more comfortable than they would be it they were upholstered like English trains. This does'nt sound right, but it is so, because if there were upholstery there would also be a very convenient place for all sorts of bugs and other nasty things to live, and there are plenty of these things in hot places like India. Daddy was able to see many different types of Indians, some of them dressed just like us at home except that they were wearing very thin clothes because of the heat. Many others wore just a linen dhoti which they wrapped themselves in, and some had turbans on their heads. This is just a piece of cloth wrapped round and round like Mummy sometimes wears. Most of them did'nt wear any shoes at all and walked about everywhere in bare feet. They are all a brownish black colour with black hair and very dark eyes; their colour is of course due to the fact that the sun is very strong in India and in the course of many ages has burnt them so that they are no longer white like you. I expect you noticed this summer that you got quite brown, just by going on the beach in the sun. You can see that if there was a stronger sun all the time, you would get very brown indeed, and after a few years almost black like the Indians. In the same way, and after many ages, certain other people like the Chinese have become yellow in colour.

Daddy left the train at Ohurchgate Station and walked a little way, and was then right in the centre of Bombay. Here the buildings were just the same as in London and most of them were English. In other parts of the town where the natives live there are also some big buildings, but mostly they are small, and smell very badly. This is because the poorer Indians and even some of the better class types do not worry about having everything clean and nice like Mummy; and also in many cases there is a great scarcity of water; apart from that many Indians, in fact most of them, can't afford to buy soap, even though it only costs four annas for a bar! You see they are a very poor people indeed, and many millions of them live on as little as two annas a day. This they spend on rice and other things which are eaten more than in England. At the same time there are also the richest men in the world in India, called Maharajahs, and they have great palaces and everything, whilst their people live in mud huts and other places not so nice as the average English pig-sty. One day when all the poor people have had an opportunity of going to school, and learning things, they will want better places to live in and they will not tolerate some few men having everything. One of these Maharajahs has diamonds and other precious stones — like Mummy has in her ring — worth £300,000,000 and this is only a part of his possessions. When you learn your history you will find that England was once something like this, but never quite so bad.

Daddy wandered all over the place in Bombay, looking in the shops and seeing what there was worth buying. There were a great number of things but Daddy thought it best not to get anything very expensive just then, but only to buy some food which he knew was rather scarce in England. He went into a shop and bought some raisins and almonds, butter and tea, and these were sent off and should be home pretty soon now. This was in early August, and as there are'nt many ships, parcels sometimes take three months or even longer to get to England. After seeing to this, and also some other parcels of tea for Nana and Pop, Daddy went along and had lunch at another Chinese Restaurant. Your Daddy — like all the other white men in England and other places who come to the East, must be very careful indeed what he eats and drinks. This is because there is much disease which flourishes and spreads easily in hot countries, and is not helped by the dirty habits of the Indians, and others. Thus, in all the big cities of India, like Bombay, the restaurants which are clean are all marked "In Bounds" and it was to one of these that Daddy went. Of course it was quite simple to go anywhere — but who wants to be ill? In just the same way many streets and whole districts in India are "Out of Bounds" because many very dirty women live there who are always on the look out for silly white men with more money than sense. After having a nice meal and a glass of lime juice, Daddy found the time was getting on, so back he went, but this time he was lucky to hitch-hike in a motor car belonging to a Naval officer. All over Bombay are sign posts which have the names of different places marked on them, and one has only to stand by these signs, that is, under the right one, to get a lift. Of course many people pass by these signs in their cars — even when nearly empty — but quite a number stop, and one does'nt usually have to wait very long. In this way I have met many interesting people and not a few Indians, some of whom were Christians, and have learnt many interesting things about India which you would'nt understand just yet.

Daddy called at Bombay quite a few times like this and saw most of the things there were to see, but usually he went along to a very nice swimming pool not far from the camp where only white men were allowed to swim. This was a very lovely place indeed with pleasant lawns, and trees and also a cafe in which to buy a cup of tea and cakes. This pool was thrown open to service men by the kindness of some English residents in Bombay, and was called Breach Candy. The sea rolled in just outside it and there was salt water in the pool which was always kept clean, and also some diving boards and a raft to rest on in the middle. Quite a few Englishwomen brought their children here because there was also a very shallow pool especially for children, and I have often seen little boys and girls like you and Gillian, playing there in the water. Sometimes these children and babies were brought by a nurse who was an Indian, and she is called an ayah.

Well the days passed quite quickly like this, and then one day Daddy learned he was posted to 142 R.and S.U. (F.R.D.) Singarbil. After looking at the map he found this was a very long way away — about sixteen hundred miles from Bombay — and to get there he would have to travel by train right across India to Calcutta, which is the port on the Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the great river called the Brahmaputra. From there, another journey would have to be taken away to the north East towards the foothills of the Himalayas, which are the highest mountains in the world.

Having packed all his kit Daddy had a coolie carry it over to a lorry. These coolies do all the carrying work in India and they carry everything on their heads like the porters in Billingsgate Market, London, and anything coolies don't do is done by their wives and relations. In fact, quite a lot of heavy work such as breaking stones, is done by women. After arriving at the station, which was the terminus of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway or G.I.P. for short, more coolies flocked around until there were so many it was a nuisance. Daddy selected one who put all his kit on his head, leaving Daddy to walk quite comfortably to a carriage where he found a corner seat. After packing his kit away and getting comfortable, he leaned out of the carriage and bought a bunch of bananas. These are very nice things to eat which you have'nt had yet. One day you will be able to get these again in England, but meanwhile Mummy can find a picture of one in her picture book. Of course there are plenty of these in India where they grow well in the hot sun. Sometimes they grow in England too, but usually in greenhouses which keep them nice and warm.

Off we went at last on our long journey and for the first part we were in an electric train. We passed through Bombay and soon came out into the open country and saw many palm trees growing with cocoanuts on them. These are the things you knock down at Fairs in England with wooden balls, and they have a sweet liquid inside which is called cocoa-nut milk. I expect you have had cocoa-nut cakes which Mummy has made, and they are very nice, and are the inside of the cocoanut which is in a very hard shell, ground up into small pieces. There were also lemons, pineapple, mango and many other trees which only grow in the tropics. Apart from things like these the country was very much like the country of England, and there were herds of cattle and oxen and also a few sheep — all browsing quietly in meadows and pasture. The cows are smaller here than Mr Paul's cows and the oxen are used for pulling heavy carts about. They have a hump on their back too. This country continued for many miles and every now and again we stopped at stations. As usual at stations lots of people were scurrying about and char wallahs and fruit wallahs and sometimes newspaper wallahs came to the carriage windows and tried to sell us their various wares. I am giving a list at the end of this and it will tell you the names of some of the stations at which we stopped. I expect Mummy will be able to follow our train right across India if she gets Daddy's big map from the bookcase by the window. At every station too there were crowds of little boys and girls with no clothes on at all, and they were all asking for pennies. They called out "backsheesh" in their shrill voices, and sometimes if we liked the look of them we threw out an anna or two, or perhaps a biscuit. They would all scramble for these. At one station a little boy gave quite an acrobatic display and was able to turn cartwheels in the air without touching the ground at all! He earned quite a number of annas. At the same station another boy played a thing like a banjo which only had one string, and also sang some Indian songs. These sound very mournful and something like the cats at night times, so we did'nt appreciate them very much.
By now it was nearly dark so we prepared to lay down on our hard wooden seats, and soon it was dark enough to see lots of fireflies which look like little stars flitting about the sky, and they seemed very pretty. Also all night long crickets were chirping, these are like grasshoppers only bigger, and frogs were croaking, so apart from the train rattling along there was plenty of noise. In the morning we came to the end of the electric line and then a big steam train was put on the coaches, and we puffed away again after having a nice cup of tea — or I should say char. We sped along all day long in much the same sort of country I have described already, and saw many interesting things. Sometimes we passed Indian women having a bath in muddy pools, and these had all their clothes on, and were washing them at the same time. Killing two jobs with one lot of dirty water! At other places dhobi men were bashing away at the washing, leaving it out afterwards to dry on the grass. As the monsoon was still on everything looked very green, just like it does in England, and of course later on when the rains stop every-thing would be all burnt and browned by the hot sun. We also saw many strange birds and big butterflies — sometimes three or four inches across when their wings were spread, and of many lovely colours. There were of course many birds just like the English ones, such as teal, widgeon, duck, snipe and very occasionally — when we were near a river — the beautiful kingfisher in his lovely blue coat. There were also ravens, hawks and great vultures — these are all black or blackish looking birds. By this time we were getting along quite as quickly as an express train such as you have travelled in, and there was one very interesting thing which would be a good idea to have in England. All the way along I had noticed numbers marked on the telephone poles, and these numbers were getting bigger all the time. After estimating the distance between each pole, at a station we stopped at I found that the poles gave the distance in miles from Bombay, and between every mile of poles each pole gave the fraction of a mile. This went on until we were half way to Calcutta, and then the numbers started going back-wards and naturally were then measuring the miles to Calcutta. This was a very useful thing for travellers to know as they could tell how far they bad gone, and how far they still had to go. By now it was clear we had'nt got more than a few hundred miles to go — according to the telegraph poles just six hundred. We had started from Bombay on the 9th of August and now it was the tenth and we had been in the train for thirty-six hours or so. The time passed very quickly because there were so many things to see, and we were really a good deal more comfortable than on the "Boissevain" — although, of course, we were getting a little sore from sitting on hard seats.

About six o'clock on the tenth, we stopped, at a station called Jharsugnda and here I met a small boy about twelve years old who could speak English quite well, and who I was surprised to see carried a novel by Louis Golding. I was still more surprised when he told me this was his book for English, and after asking him lots of questions I found he was quite a clever boy indeed who had learnt his lessons well, and knew about geometry, algebra and all sorts of other subjects. As he was very keen to learn lots more things and could'nt get any pencils at his school to write with, I went along the train, and when I had finished, was able to give him about twelve, and also a few books to read. Perhaps when he grows up he will be able to teach lots of other Indian boys and girls who are'nt as fortunate as him in being able to go to school. The train stopped quite a while here as somewhere ahead another train had broken down and as it was a single track line we had to wait till a train had come out and hauled the broken train back to Calcutta. By the time we left, it was quite dark and we were a few hours late, but this does'nt seem very important on Indian Railways.

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