Eternal India Encyclopedia

LIFESTYLES

Eternal India

encyclopedia

THE SAHIBS

The British first entered India as traders under the umbrella of

the East India Company which was established on December 31,

1600, when Queen Elizabeth I granted her royal charter to a com-

pany of twenty-five commoners, led by Thomas Smythe, permitting

them to monopolise England's eastern trade for fifteen years. Till

1858 India was under the rule of the Company. On November 1,

1858 following the mutiny the British Crown (Queen Victoria was

the Queen) assumed full responsibility for India's administration.

The term Raj is used to denote British rule in India from 1858 to

1947.

Even as late as the 1920s an Indian could be ejected if an

Englishman entered the railway compartment and wanted to oc-

cupy the other berth. The Indian Gentleman's Guide to Etiquette by

Hardless published in 1919 put it more

tleman, with all self-respect to himself,

should not enter into a compartment re-

served for Europeans, any more than he

should enter a carriage reserved for la-

dies. Although you may have acquired

the habits and manners of the Europe-

ans, have the courage to show that you

are not ashamed of being an Indian, and

in all such cases, indentify yourself with

the race to which you belong.’

An Indian riding his mule or his pony

on a track in the mountains or hills was

supposed to dismount if an European

came riding that way. Similarly, Indians

carrying an open umbrella had to close

it.

The Maharajas and Princes, whose

domains were for the most part outside

British India, who were often great

sportsmen

and

great

hosts,

were

treated differently and as more than

equals.

The Mutiny of 1857 can be ascribed

to many causes but one of the most im-

portant was the divide between the of-

ficers, both in the Army and the civil

side, and Indians of all classes. This

lack of liaison did not disappear even

after 1858.

The club was the social centre of the

civil and military station. A club was to

be found in all but the smallest stations.

Senior officials — the Collector, the

Sessions Judge, the District Superin-

tendent of Police etc., were all members of the club. Indians were

excluded from admission to most clubs. A few admitted a restricted

number, many of them descendants of Indians who had been loyal

in the Mutiny days. But the Indianisation of both the civil and mili-

tary services made it difficult for all but the largest station clubs to

preserve their exclusiveness and gradually the racial barriers came

down.

The normal routine that was followed was to go down to the

club in the afternoon, play three or four chukkas of polo, change and

then settle down for a good, long drink. There was the gimlet, a gin

and lime, that was very much liked by both men and women but the

favourite drink was Scotch, which was measured in chota pegs

(single tot of whisky) or burra pegs (double tot).

The British in India made a fetish of physical fitness probably

from the belief that unless one was in top physical condition there

was the chance of catching some dreadful disease or other.

Both

sahibs

and

mem sahibs

strenuously played tennis and

squash till they had worked up a good sweat. Polo was played all

the year round. Before breakfast there was the early morning ride

on horse back.

Pig-sticking was a popular sport which was hazardous as well.

But nothing matched the

shikar.

Up to the early twenties the Indian

countryside was teeming with game — deer, peafowl, partridge and

shot by the British armed with rifles

and shotguns.

Shikar

was not a sport

from which women were excluded.

The tiger, the very symbol of India,

was slaughtered by

shikaris.

In the

princely states,

shikars

were organ-

ised for visiting Viceroys, Governors

and other VIPs in which tigers were

shot from the safety of elephant backs

of shooting platforms built in trees.

The climate in India is divided into

three seasons — cold, hot and the

rains. In South India it never gets as

cold as it does in Central and North

India where during the summer tem-

peratures of 45° C and above are com-

monplace. For the British the hot

weather was an ordeal that had to be

faced every year. The Central and Pro-

vincial secretariats, with their staff,

went to the hill stations, the cool re-

treats high up in the hills, with the ap-

proach of summer in April. Those who

could not go to the hills coped with the

heat as best they could.

The hot weather saw the employ-

ment of the

punkah-wallah

who oper-

ated the hand-pulled fans before the

coming of electricity. It had to be pulled

all through the day and night, if need

be. He lay on his back in the verandah

with the string attached to his big toe,

pulling this string and going to sleep at

intervals. When the nights became in-

tolerable the best way of keeping cool

was to wrap oneself in a wet sheet and lie down in it. The coming of

the rains provided some relief but it was usually short-lived with

the hot and dry weather being replaced by a hot and humid one.

Every

burra sahib's

household had an army of Indian servants.

There was the

ayah,

who looked after the children, the

chota sahib

and the

missy baba;

the bearer or valet; the

Khansama

or cook; the

mali

or gardener; the

punkah-wallah;

the sweeper; the syce who

looked after the horses; and the

chowkidar,

the night watchman

who moved around at night clearing his throat and spitting.

( Y V )

politely: ‘The Indian gen- duck — but everything