First Publication
This, the last of these stories, was published in London in the Morning Post of 24th and 29th May, 1917; in New York in the Saturday Evening Post on 9th June, and in Paris on 15th June, 1917, in La Revue des Deux Mondes.
Notes on the Text
[Page 219, line 1] Sister This was ‘sister-in-law’ in the Morning Post version. During 1916 the Indian Infantry had left France for Mesopotamia, but the Indian Cavalry remained in France.
Tehsil More correctly tahsil, an administrative sub-division of a district, occasionally further subdivided into taluks.
Sialkot a town, now in Pakistan, 70 miles north of Lahore.
[Page 219, line 61] Pakpattan 120 miles east of Multan.
[Page 219, line 13] Lyallpar 75 miles west of Lahore.
[Page 220, line 7] ghi Clarified butter for cooking.
[Page 220, line 21] cardamomis A spice used as a condiment in India, China, etc.
[Page 220, line 22] halwa a rich sweet dish of semolina, cooked in clarified butter, with sugar, blanched almonds and raisins, eaten with puris, deep fried leaven wheat bread.
[Page 226, line 4] In the Morning Post the letter was broken here into two parts, and there are a few extra words at the beginning of the heading: ‘Make haste to deliver to’; and at the end of the heading: ‘Let all government postmen make haste with this letter’.
Some further notes
Mama uncle, mother’s brother, therefore of less important to Chacha, also uncle but father’s brother.
Lumra very likely a mispronunciation, and possibly langra, meaning ‘lame’, or either luj or loolah meaning ‘crippled’ or ‘maimed’; therefore, Mama lumra, the nickname for the enemy, is ‘limping uncle’, with feminine connotations.
Kaffirs infidels, nonbelievers, not followers of Islam.
[S.K.]
©Sharad Keskar 2008 All rights reserved