Daren
Really, quite a unique book, albeit a little hard to get the hang of reading! An autobiographical memoir by Ghulam Rassul Galwan, who was approximately 45 years old in 1923 when it was written. Thus born around 1878, in Leh, Ladakh he grew up in a poor family, but according to his own story, always tried very hard to achieve, to learn and to earn an income. It was his rudimentary English that allowed him his start in working for the foreign sahibs.
The book is subtitled 'a book to be read aloud' and the reason is it is written in (I guess best described as) broken English, or as would be spoken by the author - it takes a bit to get used to, and requires a certain amount of re-reading to pick up the thread sometimes. To give a taste of how it goes: Here he describes one of his first jobs as an assistant to a British Doctor, travelling the state taking anatomical measurements of Indian people:
That sahib's business was to measure the people's face, feet, and hands: everybody's. The Ladakis thought this would be for them unluck, not would let him measure them. Sahib measured me, all my body and my face, and said: " I will give presents to those men which will let me measure." I said to the villages men: "This measuring business not is bad. If it be bad, I never let sahib measure me." And some them said : "Yes, we believe to you. We will let sahib measure us." Then I said sahib: "Measure me every camp, and let the villages people see. Then will find other men for sahib, without trouble." Sahib did this always after, and got plenty people to measure.
And so starting with his early life, moving on to each employment with British and American travellers, he describes pretty much everything. There are a number of employers, the most well known of which was Francis Younghusband, and travelling to places such as the Tibetan plateau, the Pamir mountains and the deserts of Central Asia.
Initially as a coolie, an assistant, a muleteer - any work he would take, and eventually proving his worth he became responsible for more. In latter times he acted as caravan leader, determining quantities and purchasing all provisions for the expedition, obtaining horses, donkeys, mules or camels as needed. Much of the time he was disliked by the other workers, as the was scrupulously honest and refused to take advantage of the sahib's provisions or money, and was often left to take the blame when work was not carried out as needed. He was generally efficient and clever and inevitably became seen as indispensable to the sahibs.
Throughout the journeys the reader gains glimpses of culture and descriptions of the hardships of travel, the encounters with other people (especially the Tibetan's who are committed to keeping the foreigners out of Tibet).
While a little laborious to read, the content is quite rewarding, and even taking into account the authors positive presentation of himself, he was clearly a well thought of caravan leader, sought out by the sahib's to make their travels run smoothly. Younghusband writes a shot introduction.
I read a digitized version of first edition by W Heffner & Son, Cambridge in 1923.
4 stars
Really, quite a unique book, albeit a little hard to get the hang of reading! An autobiographical memoir by Ghulam Rassul Galwan, who was approximately 45 years old in 1923 when it was written. Thus born around 1878, in Leh, Ladakh he grew up in a poor family, but according to his own story, always tried very hard to achieve, to learn and to earn an income. It was his rudimentary English that allowed him his start in working for the foreign sahibs.
The book is subtitled 'a book to be read aloud' and the reason is it is written in (I guess best described as) broken English, or as would be spoken by the author - it takes a bit to get used to, and requires a certain amount of re-reading to pick up the thread sometimes. To give a taste of how it goes: Here he describes one of his first jobs as an assistant to a British Doctor, travelling the state taking anatomical measurements of Indian people:
That sahib's business was to measure the people's face, feet, and hands: everybody's. The Ladakis thought this would be for them unluck, not would let him measure them. Sahib measured me, all my body and my face, and said: " I will give presents to those men which will let me measure." I said to the villages men: "This measuring business not is bad. If it be bad, I never let sahib measure me." And some them said : "Yes, we believe to you. We will let sahib measure us." Then I said sahib: "Measure me every camp, and let the villages people see. Then will find other men for sahib, without trouble." Sahib did this always after, and got plenty people to measure.
And so starting with his early life, moving on to each employment with British and American travellers, he describes pretty much everything. There are a number of employers, the most well known of which was Francis Younghusband, and travelling to places such as the Tibetan plateau, the Pamir mountains and the deserts of Central Asia.
Initially as a coolie, an assistant, a muleteer - any work he would take, and eventually proving his worth he became responsible for more. In latter times he acted as caravan leader, determining quantities and purchasing all provisions for the expedition, obtaining horses, donkeys, mules or camels as needed. Much of the time he was disliked by the other workers, as the was scrupulously honest and refused to take advantage of the sahib's provisions or money, and was often left to take the blame when work was not carried out as needed. He was generally efficient and clever and inevitably became seen as indispensable to the sahibs.
Throughout the journeys the reader gains glimpses of culture and descriptions of the hardships of travel, the encounters with other people (especially the Tibetan's who are committed to keeping the foreigners out of Tibet).
While a little laborious to read, the content is quite rewarding, and even taking into account the authors positive presentation of himself, he was clearly a well thought of caravan leader, sought out by the sahib's to make their travels run smoothly. Younghusband writes a shot introduction.
I read a digitized version of first edition by W Heffner & Son, Cambridge in 1923.
4 stars