Good news, my book has arrived and I am glad I can now refresh my memories of the story.
As Gumtree has said, in the two and a half centuries of the British Empire it became a custom that the children of, first the traders of the East India Company, and later the military and administrative personnel, were sent to England to be educated to shield them from the tropical
climate and protect them from tropical diseases. There is no doubt that in many cases the long separations between children and their parents inflicted irreparable harm. But in many instances the children were placed with family members in England, and experiences as bleak as Kipling's surely were in the minority. The British wives steadfastly stayed in India with their husbands through thick and thin. There are several books out that describe the memsahibs, as they were called, and their courage.
Readers of this story need to understand that there was no fraternization, no contact, between the rulers and the ruled in India. The British established and lived in what were called cantonments , with a club and often a church, and only servants had permission to be there. The effects of the extreme weather were most pronounced in the plains, and that is why hill stations, locations near mountainous areas, were sought after. It is well known that, in the "worst" months of the year, the British Viceroys transferred the staff from Calcutta and conducted all activities in a place called SIMLA .
This is a part of history with which we are not familiar in this country. But it is something we ought to know about, even though it is only one aspect in the novel we are reading, and background information. The British Empire ended in 1947 when the subcontinent was divided into two two nations, India and Pakistan -- and there has been no lasting peace since.
now we may be a little better prepared for readig this book.
