A Child's Indian Odyssey.

By Nicholas Gill

This is a novel, but it is based on a true story. Jim, a small English boy, age 7 years, sets off from his home in Calcutta, desperate to find his beloved "Ayah," who has been dismissed from the family's service because of his misdeeds. Racked with guilt he desperately wants to say he is sorry. He knows that her village is north and east of Calcutta and climbs aboard a train going north from Calcutta rail yard. He knows that the sun rises in the east, so when the train stops he jumps off and start's walking towards the rising sun. His journey takes him 1,500 miles across north east India; he has many adventures on the way, and eventually is obliged to join a tribe of Naga headhunters. There his search stalls, and he is absorbed into the tribe, learns the skills of a jungle hunter, witnesses the taking of Japanese heads,and falls in love with a beautiful young Naga girl. Because of a pre-arranged marriage contract his love is forbidden, and Jim, now a young man, is forced to leave his tribe.he decides to return home to his English family, and sets off again, this time retracing his route, This return journey is set against the upheavals and agonies of "Partition," and Jim's family are forced to leave India.Jim is given a haircut, forced into a Sahib's suit and is sent to an English Boarding school. Imagine the culture shock.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicholas Gill
• Release date: Dec 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463859704

Nicholas Gill

Author Profile – Nicholas Gill.As a young man the author served in the Royal Marines Commandos seeing active service in Malaya, Borneo, Brunei, Sarawak and Aden. In between active service postings, specialist courses and training included arctic warfare training three hundred miles inside the Arctic Circle in northern Norway, and desert warfare exercises in Libya and Western Australia. On leaving the Royal Marines he went back to his roots in engineering and worked in the power industries on refinery and power station construction projects. This led to involvement in the onshore construction of jacket and modular units for the emerging North Sea oil industry. A natural follow on from this was to work offshore on the hook-up and commissioning of major production platform installations.Planning for retirement involved the purchase and renovation of a derelict farm in Wales and ultimately the purchase of twenty-seven thousand acres of the Black Mountain. This proved expensive and returning to the offshore oil industry the author spent a further twelve years on the development of a major North Sea Field for a large American Oil company.On the termination of his contract the author found that he had passed his sell by date and no one wanted or needed his years of experience. Having spent many years writing engineering procedures and specifications it occurred to him that he was perfectly suited to becoming a best selling author! "Retribution" is the first fruit of that idea, and is the first part of a planned trilogy; it is available FREE from Smashwords. The second part, "Sedition", is now published with Smashwords, and the third part, "Attrition", is complete and was published with Smashwords in the last quarter of 2013. Six more novels are planned in detail and will use many of the same characters in further adventures.Read and enjoy,Nicholas Gill.

Book preview

A CHILD’S INDIAN ODYSSY.

Jim’s Story, a Novel by Nicholas Gill.

FORWARD.

This is a work of fiction, albeit based around real events. Names, other than those of Jim and his family name, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to other events, locales, or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. Due to Jim’s untimely death, and in order to turn a fascinating story into a novel, it has been necessary to construct scenes and events that happened along his journey, events he hinted at but had no time to relate in detail. Of necessity I have dramatized incidents that were described to me in more truncated form, so this is a novel of biographical and historical fiction that sticks as closely as possible to real events.

Dedication.

I dedicate this book to the memory of Jim Emery, who made the original journey.

Nicholas Gill.

Quotes.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao Tzu

(604BC-501BC),

Table of Contents.

PROLOGUE.

CHAPTER ONE.

CHAPTER TWO.

CHAPTER THREE.

CHAPTER FOUR.

CHAPTER FIVE.

CHAPTER SIX.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

CHAPTER NINE.

CHAPTER TEN.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

EPILOGUE.

AFTERWORD.

PROLOGUE.

Bengal, India, May 1939.

With clanking and banging, from buffers and connections, the goods train ground to a halt in the siding in order to allow the passage of a faster passenger train going north. The shuddering and noise woke up a small boy huddled on the top of some cotton bales. His even smaller little dog was already awake. Peering through a gap in the slats the boy saw that the train had stopped.

Across the flat, dusty, farmland the sun was rising through the mist lying over the landscape.

The sun rose in the East; the boy knew that. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he scrambled down the cotton bales to the open doorway and lowered himself down to the side of the tracks.

The little dog, a miniature Schnauzer, whined. It was too far for her to jump. The train began to move. The boy reached up and whistled; after a moment’s hesitation the little dog jumped. She was small but no lightweight and knocked the boy head over heels. With her little stubby tail wagging furiously she began sniffing at the new smells at the track margins; she needed to find the right place to pee. The boy needed to do the same and hitched up the leg of his shorts to follow suit.

An old man pedaled an even older bicycle, rattling and squeaking along the cinders of the track edge; the boy wished him ‘Good morning’ in perfect Bengali, but the old man didn’t reply. With no idea which was the best way to take, the little boy started walking in the direction the old man had taken.

Well Star, he must be going somewhere, the boy said to the dog, we’ll follow him. Her business done, the dog scampered after him. They passed over an irrigation canal and came to an earthen ramp running diagonally down from the railway tracks. The boy followed bicycle tire tracks down to a pathway running eastwards through the fields alongside the canal.

Come on Star, this path must lead to Deepa’s village, the boy said excitedly to the little dog, and the pair set off eastwards towards the fuzzy golden disk rising through the morning mists.

Long shadows spread across the landscape behind them; these shadows would shrink to nothing as the sun rose towards noon, then spread out before them as it descended to evening. And as the sun rose so did the heat, and the boy soon realized that he was very thirsty. He needed to find a village and a well.

In the golden light of the morning these two small figures walked into the vastness of India; soon their forms dwindled to nothing and were lost to sight; in a short time, all trace of them would vanish as they were absorbed into the teeming masses of the sub-continent.

CHAPTER ONE.

Seven years earlier; Southampton, May 1931.

The RMS Viceroy of India blew her siren and a tremor ran through her decks as steam was released to her turbines. She seemed as if she was hungry to go to sea. Dockside cranes swung the last nets piled with luggage from the quay into the holds. On a timber pallet a gleaming maroon and black Austin ‘Heavy Twelve Four’ motor car was swayed down into the forward hold as her first class passenger owner looked anxiously on.

On the decks passengers thronged the rails waving their last goodbyes to relatives seeing them off. On the quayside groups of relatives, some waving, some in tears’ mouthed their goodbyes to the departing passengers. The last relatives of the first class passengers scurried down the last gangway minutes before it was swayed away by a dockyard crane. On the port side promenade deck a young girl strained to see these last departing well-wishers as they stepped off the gangway. They turned and waved frantically; she waved back and blew kisses, as tears escaped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Impatiently she dabbed them away with a lace edged handkerchief.

At the bow and at the stern seamen released the thick mooring cables to splash into the murky harbor waters, and dock workers hauled them back coiling them down onto the quayside. The great ship was sailing at the top of the tide, to take advantage of the ebb out through the Solent.

Black smoke streamed from the funnels as the sweating stokers below shoveled more coal into the furnaces to get up more steam. Harbor tugs pulled on tow-lines to ease her massive bulk away from the quay, away from land, away from the only land the young girl knew.

Excited, but nervous at the same time, she was off to a new land, a very different land, a land she had heard much about and was desperate to see at first hand. She was on her way to India, unaccompanied, travelling all by herself. This was her first great adventure.

More tugs nosed in between the great liner and her berth; swirls of muddy water boiled up from their churning propellers as they strained to overcome the inertia of the liners huge bulk; slowly, slowly she was urged into deeper water. Then her own props were engaged; foaming water surged from her stern as she got underway; the tow-lines to the tugs were cast off; she headed for the open sea for the first leg of her long journey to India; the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the British Empire.

To port, the squat, sinister bulk of the Nab Tower raised out of the sea, silently guarding the approaches to the Solent, the great naval base of Portsmouth, and the seaport of Southampton. To starboard, Bembridge, the easternmost town of the Isle of Wight, still showed a few lights. The wind was from the south west and blowing against the run of the tide. As the ebb flowed over Bembridge ledge the opposing wind created a nasty chop, churning the sea surface, and producing whitecaps that sparkled in the early morning light. As the light strengthened, the color of the sea changed from black to slate grey, then to a dark green. The young girl breathed deeply of the salt air; her adventure was beginning, and the excitement she felt was unlike anything she had previously experienced.

Alice Cavendish, for that was the young girl’s name, turned away from the rail at the last sight of land; as she did so she caught the eye of a handsome young man, also standing at the rail. Demurely she lowered her eyes, but something intangible passed between them in that first glance. The young man was dressed in the uniform of an officer of the Bengal Lancers, one of the most distinguished and glamorous cavalry regiments in all India.

The young officer bowed gallantly.

The young girl smiled.

A shipboard romance had begun.

Day one, at sea.

Alice Cavendish stepped out onto the promenade deck to a crisp sunny morning; the sea sparkled in a light chop from waves pushed up by a south westerly breeze. As she turned to walk forrard a young man turned from the rail; the same young man she had seen the previous day as she had turned to go to her cabin. He bowed again and spoke. Good morning miss, it promises to be a beautiful day.

Alice hesitated, then replied. Yes, I suppose the weather must improve as we go further south.

Once we are past the Bay of Biscay certainly, until then we should keep our fingers crossed.

Ah, am I right in assuming you have made this voyage before? Alice asked.

Oh indeed, I am a veteran of the India trip; allow me to introduce myself? Lieutenant Emery of the Bengal Lancers at your service Ma’am.

I’m not sure that this is quite proper... Alice demurred.

Ah, hem, well, do you have anyone who could introduce us properly?

Well, no... I am travelling alone.

So am I... Therefore, I suppose we must fend for ourselves...?

Alice laughed involuntarily. Well, the only other option would be to remain strangers...

That would be unsociable in the extreme... Perhaps we could walk together, no one could object to that, we are after all in a public space... Lt. Emery suggested.

Oh, but I don’t know the geography of the ship...

Then allow me to be your guide; I have sailed on this ship before and know her well. I can show you where all the important places are, the Purser’s office, the telegraph and radio room, the dining room, the ballroom, everything!

Oh, well... To know where such places are would be most useful...

Well then, shall we make a start? Lt. Emery made a sweeping, inviting, gesture with his arm.

Alice felt compelled to join him, and, together but sufficiently apart, they began to stroll along the promenade deck.

The first class dining room.

The tables, covered with snow white cloths, were already laid for dinner. Silverware and crystal sparkled and shone in the light from brilliantly lit chandeliers.

Can you do me a big favor? Lt. Emery asked quietly.

What kind of favor might that be sir? the head waiter asked, equally quietly.

Lt. Emery surreptitiously passed across a large, white, five-pound note, tightly folded, and it disappeared swiftly into the head waiter’s pocket.

Just swap two of the place names on the table setting.

Hmm, well that might be managed without too much difficulty.

Right-ho, put me next to Miss Alice Cavendish.

Would this be for the duration of the voyage sir?

Indeed, if that can be managed!

The head waiter gave Lt. Emery a conspiratorial wink. Just leave it to me sir!

Grinning broadly Lt. Emery walked off to his cabin to change for dinner; things were going exactly according to plan.

*

Oh, we’re seated next to each other! Alice exclaimed as she approached the dining table.

Lt. Emery stood politely and held out her chair. He bent and whispered in her ear as he eased her chair forward for her to sit. The head waiter is an old acquaintance.

Alice turned her head in surprise. You mean you arranged this...?

Lt. Emery nodded. You wouldn’t condemn me to sitting next to some boring old trout surely? he whispered back.

Alice giggled, she was in fact quite flattered. Sir, you are quite impossible!

Say incorrigible, it is kinder, and more accurate,

Incorrigible then! What am I to do with you Lt. Emery?

Smile your beautiful smile and tell me more about yourself over dinner; that is not too much to ask surely?

Alice smiled, she could not help herself; she was becoming increasingly flattered. Well, as I told you before, I am going out to join my parents. My father is in the administration; he holds a very important position...

He is in the civil service? Lt. Emery asked.

The Indian Civil Service, yes of course.

I say! Top drawer! What position does he hold?

He is a Department Secretary.

Oh! My word! Very top drawer; he won’t be too impressed with a mere lieutenant of cavalry, even if it is Skinners Horse!

Skinners Horse? What is that?

1st. Bengal Lancers my dear, Skinner’s Horse is the original name; a very famous cavalry regiment, to which I have the honor to belong.

Oh, well, don’t worry, we are a long way from introductions to family...

Yes, but I feel that we could become serious, do you see?

Really? Oh my goodness! Alice blushed and turned away; she was pleased none the less. More to cover her confusion than out of any real interest she asked, And your family, Lt. Emery, what do they do?

Oh, they are in business.

Ah, and you chose not to join the family firm?

Exactly, I wanted adventure, and to see something of the world.

Well, India is a good start!

Yes, a very large part, and so very diverse.

So I am told; the plains and the hill stations... I am dying to see Simla. I have heard so very much about it; such a marvelous social life I’m told.

Oh yes, marvelous!

There was an edge of bitterness in Lt. Emery’s tone that Alice didn’t understand. She did not yet realize that officers of Lt. Emery’s rank do not get to go to the hill stations to escape the burning summer heat; that privilege is reserved for civil servants and very senior officers. Junior officers are required to stay with their regiments and endure the baking summer heat on the plains.

On board ship - the Bay of Biscay.

As is so often the case, the crossing of the Bay of Biscay was rough. The weather had turned bleak, the sea surface was now dark green, and rows of whitecaps advanced at an angle to the ship’s course causing her to pitch and roll.

Alice Cavendish, a first time sailor, had not had time to develop sea legs, and found her first bout of sea-sickness debilitating in the extreme; at times she felt so ill she wanted to die. Staying in her cabin, she refused all meals and drank only water, retching even that up, almost as soon as she had swallowed it, together with bitter bile. The stewards cleaned up her mess, brought her clean bedding, and made helpful suggestions in her presence. When not in the presence of passengers they made fun of their misery with jokes and ribald remarks. This behavior was not always hidden from the more perceptive of the passengers, of whom Alice Cavendish was one. This heartless behavior contrasted with, and gave accent to, the solicitous attention of Lt. Emery, who called at her cabin several times each day to enquire as to her wellbeing. Alice was too sick to allow him into her presence, but the very fact that someone cared enough to enquire, gave her comfort and, as she began to recover, endeared him to her. After what seemed to Alice to be an eternity of misery, the rough weather of the bay was left behind; the ship passed Vigo and steamed down the coast of Portugal into better weather.

Finally, able to leave her cabin, Alice was famished, and began to attend meals again. It was on a sparkling morning as the ship passed Cape St. Vincent, headed south east and began to turn in to the Straits of Gibraltar that she felt presentable enough to resume contact with Lt. Emery. She sent a note via a steward inviting him to join her in the dining room for breakfast.

Good morning Miss Cavendish, so nice to see you up and about again; I trust you are feeling better?

Oh yes, much better thank you; I had no idea that seasickness could make one feel so wretched.

Yes, indeed, it is the most awful feeling; however, the worst is behind you and you will find it less debilitating next time.

Oh, heaven forbid that there should be a next time!

My dear, I’m afraid that is not in our remit; we must take it as it comes. One does become inured to it in time.

Alice became somber and apprehensive at this idea and Lt. Emery quickly changed the subject. We shall put in to Gibraltar later today; would you care to climb ‘the Rock’ and see the apes?

Oh yes, it would be wonderful to feel solid land under my feet again!

Then it is settled, I will call at your cabin after lunch and escort you; you will find it a memorable experience.

Gibraltar, August 1931.

With the ship tied up alongside the Gibraltar wharf and taking on coal, Lt. Emery and Alice Cavendish went ashore sightseeing. Alice was delighted to be on dry land, and spent time and money in the small boutiques of the town. Then at Lt. Emery’s insistence they began the ascent of the rock. Almost immediately the apes made their appearance; tourists meant food.

Oh, I have nothing to give them, Alice said mournfully.

Don’t worry, I begged some provisions from the head chéf,

Oh, James, that was so thoughtful... Alice stopped, blushing prettily, and said, Oh, I hope you don’t mind my using your first name...?

Not at all, I shall consider it an honor; may I be so bold as to ask that I may call you Alice?

Oh please do; Alice and James it shall be from now on!

My dear Alice that makes me the happiest of men.

Blushing again, Alice turned away. Then let us feed these hungry creatures, she said, in order to cover her confusion.

Very well, but do as I say. These hungry creatures have no manners; you must not hold out the food to them; they may scratch or even bite you, and they are not the cleanest of animals.

What then should I do?

Throw it under arm to them; let them scratch and bite amongst themselves. Like this. Lt. Emery lobbed a banana towards the largest male who grabbed it and ran off hissing and chattering.

Oh let me! Alice took a banana and hesitated, trying to decide which one to give it to. Before she could decide, a large bold female darted in and snatched it from her hand.

Oh, the cheeky devil!

Lt. Emery laughed. I did warn you Alice, try again. Quicker this time.

Alice lobbed a second banana towards a group, who immediately begin to squabble over it.

Quick, throw a handful of these before they hurt one another. Lt. Emery passed her a bag of whole peanuts in their shells. Alice threw a big handful in the general direction and the fight broke up as the apes scrabbled for them.

Come on, let’s make our escape and get to the top; there will be plenty more to feed when we get there. Lt. Emery took Alice’s hand and they continued on up the steps.

Heavens, what a view! Alice gazed out over Gibraltar town and across the straights. What’s that over there?

That my dear is North Africa.

Really? Well, now I am seeing the world!

Yes, indeed. Actually that mountain on the other side is Ceuta, and belongs to Spain. It is the other pillar; the other pillar of Hercules, so named in antiquity.

Oh, it is so exciting, all these places that one has read so much about, places so famous from ancient times. It quite takes my breath away.

My dear Alice, look to the west, the sun is setting.

Oh, breathtaking! Just look, look at the colors... the setting sun illuminating dust high in the atmosphere, blown from the Sahara, was creating bands of gold, rose pink and crimson.

Alice turned her face up to Lt. Emery. He enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Momentarily she resisted, then flinging her arms around his neck she kissed him passionately back. Their relationship had just jumped to a whole new level.

The garden of the Departmental Secretary’s Mansion, Calcutta, 1931.

Sitting under large parasols, held by Indian servants, at a cast iron garden table in beautifully manicured grounds, Alice Cavendish’s mother, Anabel, and several Memsahibs were taking tiffin.

Alice will be here next week, I can hardly wait, Anabel Cavendish remarked.

My dear, how long has it been since you saw each other? Clarissa Hogg-Wilson asked.

Oh, forever; well far too long... and I have so many eligible young men lined up to meet her... Anabel sighed, The waiting is so frustrating.

Young men of substance I hope Anabel? Clarissa smiled archly.

Of course! All with money, some with titles, a few with both...

Both is better my dear, you should discourage the others, Patsy Blyth-Titterington commented.

Unless they are Civil Service of course! Clarissa interposed.

Oh, of course, Anabel agreed.

But Civil Service with prospects, Patsy added, they must have assured prospects.

Oh, absolutely my dear, what use is a man without prospects?

The women smiled superior smiles at each other.

The servants stood by with impassive faces; it would have been impossible to gauge their thoughts, but none of the women taking tiffin would even consider such an idea. Servants were on a par with furniture.

CHAPTER TWO.

The Mediterranean, the autumn of 1931.

As the great liner passed through the hot days and balmy nights of the Mediterranean Sea, the bond between Alice and James passed from attraction, through friendship, to suppressed passion. One fateful evening before reaching Malta, they attended a masked ball. Leaving the ballroom, where they had danced closer than was considered proper, they took a break to get some air. In the deep shadow of one of the lifeboats James took an eager Alice in his arms and kissed her passionately. Alice could feel the pressure of his arousal through the thin fabric of her ball gown.

Oh James, I can’t stand this wanting, it’s too much to bear!

For me too, it is becoming unbearable.

What are we to do?

We have to be discrete...

Yes...Oh yes…

We should dance a couple more dances... for the sake of appearances, then I’ll escort you to your cabin...

Alice thought for a few moments. If we go now there will be fewer people about...

Yes, even fewer people if we go by way of the outside decks and companionways...

Come on! Alice pulled urgently on his arm and led the way. They were lucky and saw no one; the cabin stewards had already turned down the beds and gone off duty.

Quick, come inside! Alice took the ‘Do not disturb’ sign and hung it on the outside door handle. There, at last we are completely alone! Moments later they were in each other’s arms, unrestrained by conventions, and frantically tearing at each other’s clothing.

*

They made a study of the comings and goings of the staff and of the other first class passengers, and were able to conduct their passionate love affair over the next several days. But by the time they had reached Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal, Alice had discovered that she was pregnant. Their transit of this engineering marvel went unremarked, as to James’s dismay, Alice became withdrawn and irritable; his concern and solicitation seemed to irritate her more, rather than