The Bengal Bazaar

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

THE BENGAL BAZAAR Charles Johnston. November 1889. India is a ruin, beautiful only by moonlight; and, like a ruined temple, old India’s beauties dwell no longer in perfect design and harmonious unity, but linger in fragments and details—a shattered architrave, a broken capital, “cornice or frieze with bossy sculpture graven.” The dying genius of India soars no more to broad and lofty conceptions; her failing inspiration is dwarfed and stunted to curious and minute beauties, intricate ivories, quaint... Read more

An Indian School

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

AN INDIAN SCHOOL Charles Johnston. Early November 1889. We came back to our tents after a gallop in the cool of the morning, and found the little world of the mango grove wide awake and stirring. The scarlet-capped woodpeckers were already at work among the leafy boughs; now and then a grey squirrel would dart across the sunlit patch of sand before our tent, and a pair of pert minas, or many-hued Indian starlings, hurried hither and thither in... Read more

On The Field Of Plassey

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

ON THE FIELDS OF PLASSEY Charles Johnston. November 1889. In one of the camping expeditions of the cold season we visited Plassey, on the Ganges bank, in a region of tropical woods. It happened that we were at no great distance from the field on which the foundations of India’s military despotism were laid.[1] On the field of Plassey, among the sweet-scented babul-bushes, there is a little village of herdsmen, and in the village are two monuments to the... Read more

Belgaon

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

BELGAON Charles Johnston. Early November 1889. It was a heartening sight in the approaching twilight, to see the servants and orderlies, aided by impressed village watchmen, clearing a fair space for the camp, under shady mango trees at the village of Belgaon. They scraped the sandy soil clean, laid on it a thick layer of sweet-smelling rice straw, and spread on this blue-and-white cotton carpets. In the center, they laid the butt of the big tent-pole, shook out the... Read more

Out-Of-Door Life

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

OUT-OF-DOOR-LIFE During the colder months (November-March) many Government officials were required to travel about their districts on inspection tours in the execution of their ordinary responsibilities. In Herbert Compton’s Indian Life In Town And Country, he states: Out-of-door life in India may be divided into three categories. First of all there is the life known as “going into camp,” or “on tour” which many Government officials are obliged to follow during the cold weather in the execution of... Read more

Okhoy Babu

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

OKHOY BABU Charles Johnston. Late October 1889. “Your Honor!” Okhoy Babu interrupted, with that oily smile of his, “I request an adjournment of the court, if your Honor pleases! I have just heard of important new evidence in this case!” Indranath Babu, my chief clerk, began to frown and cluck with his tongue. He was long-nosed and very dark, with a face like a wise bird; a fine fellow for all his ugliness, and to be trusted. He had... Read more

London Missionary Society

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY Evidence would suggest that “Kali Prasanna Chatterji” was the Theosophist, Kali Prasanna Mukherji (also a Kulin Brahmin.) First, we have a letter which Verochka wrote to her family on September 23, 1889, stating: “Isn’t it funny, mom, that the English missionaries chose me—a Russian, and the niece of the hated H.P. B.—to be a chairwoman at their school celebration?” The letter-head of the note bears the inscription of the London Missionary Society.[1] When considering that Kali... Read more

The Sequel Of Rubbed Mosquito Bites

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

THE SEQUEL OF RUBBED MOSQUITO BITES Charles Johnston Late September 1889 The water, soaking through the sandy soil from the high-embanked Bhagirathi, threatened to well up through the floor. We had laid our troubles before Ritchie, and he had arranged for our transfer to the dry upper story of a huge empty barrack at the corner of the square, which once housed a regiment, before Mutiny, and we were waiting for a comparatively dry day to transport our possessions.... Read more

Muharram

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

MUHARRAM Charles Johnston September 4, 1889. There was something peculiarly Indian about the circumstances which occasioned the flood. There was a young tiller of the soil of a thoughtful disposition, who owned three acres of land close by the embankment. In his ill-judged enthusiasm, it occurred to him how nice it would be to let a few inches of rich brown Ganges mud in upon his fields, so he cut a track across the embankment to get water for... Read more

When The Levee Breaks

February 14, 2024 By Shawn F. Higgins

0 Comments

WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS During the second week of August, Johnston was feeling ill. On August 9, 1889, he wrote a letter to his father admitting the possibility of “a permanent breakdown in health,” and asking him to look out for a post in England or Ireland “during the next year.”[1] August 28, 1889, marked the first day of the Muslim month of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic year. Hijrī calendar: 1 Muharram 1307.) For Shia’s, the... Read more