A Popular Account of the Manners and Customs of IndiaAcland, Charles
History
A Popular Account of the Manners and Customs of India
Acland, Charles
India -- Description and travel; India -- Social life and customs
When I came here I was going to stay with the judge: I told the
palanquin-bearers to take me to his house, mentioning his name, and
we were carried to almost every house in the station; until at last
we met a European, who told the men it was the judge sahib we wanted,
and then they soon found the place. I am called Padre Sahib; Mrs.
Acland is Padre Sahib ke Mem, or Padre Sahib's lady; a married woman,
mem sahib; an old maid is mem; and a young lady is bibi sahib, or
white lady baby.
[Sidenote: EMPLOYMENT OF TIME.]
The weather is now, comparatively speaking, delightful; the
thermometer is 76° in the middle of the day, and about 66° at sunrise
and early in the morning. I assure you we find it quite chilly, and
are obliged to walk very fast to get warm. Our hours are now--up at
six, feed the fowls, and walk till eight; bathe and dress till nine,
then breakfast; write, read, and work till four, then dinner; feed
the fowls and walk till half-past six; tea at seven. My wife works
and I read aloud till half-past eight; backgammon or cribbage till
half-past nine; then prayers, and to bed. Sometimes, however, I have
to go out and see my parishioners between breakfast and dinner, and
then I go in my palanquin. One great disagreeable is, the constant
change of people.
The regiment that was here, of which the Major and his wife were our
chief friends, has just been ordered away, and a new one is come in
its place. The Captain of Engineers has just offered to take us a
trip to the mountains, fifty miles off, on elephants. I do not know
yet whether we shall go or not. The historical name of my parish
would be, the Ooriah district, or the Oresta. Our time is six hours
earlier than in England.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] It is the most common sort of carriage in India.
Midnapore, December 13, 1842.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FOR CUTTACK.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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