Sunday, December 21, 2003
Churchill in Bangalore
Ram Guha has written an interesting article on one of the lesser known of Winston Churchill's life -- the time he spent in Bangalore. Back in 1896, Bangalore was a sleepy little cantonment (not that it was very different in 1990. 2003 is a VERY different story) and Churchill was pretty bored most of the time he spent in Bangalore.
Life in Bangalore was pleasant, but also very boring. A young army officer yearned for "action"; but the only wars in India were then being fought at the other end of the subcontinent, on the Afghan border. So Churchill began, a butterfly collection; this got to as many as 65 varieties, before it was attacked by rats.
After eight months in Bangalore, the young Subaltern wrote to his mother summing up his life there. "Poked away in a garrison town which resembles a 3rd rate watering place, out of season and without the sea, with lots of routine work and... without society or good sport — half my friends on leave and the other half ill — my life here would be intolerable were it not for the consolations of literature ... ."
Interestingly, Guha points out that Chruchill first fell in love while in Hyderabad.
In My Early Life there is a vivid description of a polo tournament in Hyderabad won by Churchill's regiment. Discreetly omitted from the memoir is what happened on that visit, outside the playing field. For it was in Hyderabad that Churchill fell in love for the first time. The lady's name was Pamela Flowden, and her father was a high official of the Indian Civil Service. "She was," Winston wrote to his mother, "The most beautiful girl I have ever seen — Bar none," and also "very clever". He hoped to take a tour of the city with her on elephant back.
Of course, no mention of Churchill's time in Bangalore can escape a reference to the Bangalore Club.
In Bangalore, Churchill was bored, he was bookish, and he was butterfly-obsessed. And he was also (not that he reveals it in his memoirs) broke. Evidence of his financial penury is contained in the lounge of the Bangalore Club. There, under a display window, is a minute book open at a page where we can read, under the list of members who have outstanding dues, the name of "Lieutenant W.S. Churchill." The sum he owed (indeed still owes) the Bangalore Club was 13 rupees.
Life in Bangalore was pleasant, but also very boring. A young army officer yearned for "action"; but the only wars in India were then being fought at the other end of the subcontinent, on the Afghan border. So Churchill began, a butterfly collection; this got to as many as 65 varieties, before it was attacked by rats.
After eight months in Bangalore, the young Subaltern wrote to his mother summing up his life there. "Poked away in a garrison town which resembles a 3rd rate watering place, out of season and without the sea, with lots of routine work and... without society or good sport — half my friends on leave and the other half ill — my life here would be intolerable were it not for the consolations of literature ... ."
Interestingly, Guha points out that Chruchill first fell in love while in Hyderabad.
In My Early Life there is a vivid description of a polo tournament in Hyderabad won by Churchill's regiment. Discreetly omitted from the memoir is what happened on that visit, outside the playing field. For it was in Hyderabad that Churchill fell in love for the first time. The lady's name was Pamela Flowden, and her father was a high official of the Indian Civil Service. "She was," Winston wrote to his mother, "The most beautiful girl I have ever seen — Bar none," and also "very clever". He hoped to take a tour of the city with her on elephant back.
Of course, no mention of Churchill's time in Bangalore can escape a reference to the Bangalore Club.
In Bangalore, Churchill was bored, he was bookish, and he was butterfly-obsessed. And he was also (not that he reveals it in his memoirs) broke. Evidence of his financial penury is contained in the lounge of the Bangalore Club. There, under a display window, is a minute book open at a page where we can read, under the list of members who have outstanding dues, the name of "Lieutenant W.S. Churchill." The sum he owed (indeed still owes) the Bangalore Club was 13 rupees.
