ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAME: Kate Garrod, Margery Hall, Michael Underhill

COLLECTION: 4700.0576

IDENTIFICATION: Britons in pre-Independence India

INTERVIEWER: Frank De Caro, Rosan Jordan

PROJECT: British Voices in South Asia

DATES: 2/1/78, 2/5/78, 2/7/78 FOCUS DATES: 1930s

Tape 842, Side A

tape is very difficult to understand

degree of male domination in British India; Indian men with multiple wives; getting sent to a terrible post with no preparations for hardships awaiting; mosquitos; monsoons; books written by British servicemen show lack of humanity; last five years of husband=s service were spent in Bombay; gave up nursing after married; kept cows, sheep and chickens, ducks, turkeys in their compound; she=s not interested in politics; did Red Cross work in India; easy to run a house in England or other modern countries, labor-saving devices; fascinated by primitive nature of India; consequences of dismissing a servant, other servants refused to work; chauffeur who was a drunkard in Barbados; spent time in Australia, preparing for king=s visit; followed civil engineering opportunity to Barbados; stayed for ten years in Barbados; one house servant would do all the work in Barbados; her interest in people, no use trying to change people; people she doesn=t like on instinct; her husband=s boss in India; tries to recall other Britons she met in India; British men in India were terrible gossips; ladies= gloves; men=s scurrilous gossip linked to their ambition; ICS was recruited from UK, cream of the civil servants; PWD recruited at home; reads poem she wrote about a knight aspiring to power; slang of the British in India; self-contained world; people were well-groomed; military life was self-contained; someone named Nan in Poona; had to keep whiskey in the house, required of living there; protocol of visiting, drinking together; hoped no one would call on them because they could only afford one bottle of whiskey per month; Nan interrogating Margery to make sure she followed visiting protocol; Nan had fat butt; Margery=s feelings were hurt by Nan=s treatment; their family=s country seats; snobbery in US, especially Washington, DC; younger generation in Britain have lower moral standards but are more tolerant; stigma of dark-skinned Britons, Achi chi@ accents; her children had funny accents; had to keep servants no matter how poor you were; rules and expectations of rank; Margery wanted to go home to visit relatives; perception of station at Poona as Aoutpost of empire@ versus Ajewel of the East@; Poona was a nice place, had race course, club; Kate got engaged at club in Poona; other amenities of Poona; other parts of India Kate visited, territory under her husband Bill=s jurisdiction; this part of interview takes place on February 5, 1978; visited home of Michael and Rosalee Underhill; Didn=t record interview, so DeCaro relates two anecdotes from memory; writer John Masters published his first novel by walking into publisher=s office and convinced him to publish it, plus six previous novels.

joined Indian Army as volunteer during war; joined 2^nd Gherkas at Bangalore; facilities of British officers C hunting, squash, fishing, holidays; preconceptions Underhill had regarding India; plunked down into an essentially British culture in India; little contact with Indians; attitude toward Raj; differences between regiments; Indianization of railways; work on East Indian Railway; Indian boss; British contributions to India; socialization between Britons and Indians; many Indians in ranks of civil service; railway routes; operation of railways; history of East Indian Railroad; operating costs; railroad built on strategic lines for defense; Bengal and Northwest Railroad ran through old indigo country of India; huge earthquake circa 1937, lost many stations and railroad houses; reason for multiple railroads, gauge of railroads; engineering problems of smaller lines; British Royal engineer=s alliance with regular Army engineers, training for engineers; Railway Board in Delhi; worked in Peru after war; father worked on railroads in India; railway mergers; his wife talks about being only white woman in their part of India; grandson who is crazy about railroads; more about grandson; opera; music in India, Peru; cooking meat techniques, crock pots; family connections in India; early education in England; describes father=s bungalow.