E-mail from Alan Lane - January 2021

Good day all

I have just completed reading an excellent book titled “Tiger Country” by Norah Burke, which is a novel but based very much on her life as a child of a Forestry Officer in India during the 1930s.

So, I thought that you may all would like to read just a snippet from the book, which I have attached herewith.

In this story, the author describes her character staying at a forestry rest house, which we would all recall as a ‘dak-bungalow'.

I don't know if any of you had stayed in a ‘dak-bungalow' during your times in India, but I have done so, on a few occasions, on the road from Jowai to Garampani in the North Cachar & Mikir Hills. This road eventually passes through Haflong on the way to Silchar.

We, as the Forestry Man article says, also travelled with our own bed rolls – charpoys were provided, although prodigious use of a ‘flit gun' was deployed to spray around the charpoy frame prior to spreading out your bed roll. I don't think many would be surprised at the detritus that fell out of the frames.

[goats] were not ‘meat on the hoof' as we normally only stayed overnight. The usual fare, as you might expect, was a scrawny bazaar moorgi hurriedly slaughtered, plucked, and put into a curry – of sorts -  by the bungalow chowkidar. Naturally, you carried your own crockery, water, gin, whisky, rum, soda water in bottles with the marble in the neck! The chowkidar would provide ‘haat bhattis' for use in the evenings.

I hope you will like the short article, and perhaps cheer us all up and remind us of our days in NE India that we all miss I am sure.

Bohut salaams to you all – keep safe.  

Excerpt from Tiger Country by Norah Burke