G'day folks, As an old 'India hand' I am well aware that an army marches on its stomach. In a similar manner, an Email List survives on the quality and quantity of the emails received from its members.. I have been exhorted by a member to:- ========================== exhort |igˈzôrt| verb [ trans. ] strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something : the media have been exhorting people to turn out for the demonstration | [with direct speech ] “Come on, you guys,” exhorted Linda. ========================== And to ''strain the old cranium'' and deliver a sermon from the pulpit to our comatose, somnambulist members in order to "maintain perfect harmony". Now come on chaps and chapesses. We need more contributions and contributors. Our List Administrator, Harshawardhan Nimkhedkar cannot be permitted to run himself down to the bone for our gratification. Can he? Are you feeling as if someone is pointing a finger at you? You should be. If you are, you're lucky that you are not living in Australia. if someone was pointing a bone at you here, you would be dead by the end of the coming week. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdaitcha We must live in harmony - it is achieved by all List members rallying around the flag. http://tinyurl.com/3a4b7da Tomorrow is India's 73rd Anniversary of Independence. I know, I was there, six days short of my tenth birthday. Let us celebrate this List. http://tinyurl.com/3yf6g5 Jai Hind. John Feltham The Raj List Owner

A question then John! While doing transcriptions for FIBIS I came across the abbreviation C.I. always after a Ladies name or title (I am talking about Victorian times) and this appears to be "Order of the Crown of India" and I wondered if anyone knew more about it? Peter D Rogers of Suffolk UK ------------------------------------------- > G'day folks, > > As an old 'India hand' I am well aware that an army marches on its > stomach. > > In a similar manner, an Email List survives on the quality and quantity of > the emails received from its members.. > > I have been exhorted by a member to:- > > ========================== > exhort |igˈzôrt| > verb [ trans. ] > strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something : the media have been > exhorting people to turn out for the demonstration | [with direct speech ] > “Come on, you guys,” exhorted Linda. > ==========================

Well, here is one more doubt: As I read the British records on India of early 19th century, I come across references to Fusly year, ooten with reference to revenue collection. They used this Fusly year in addition to the normal Gregarian calendar. Any idea what is this Fusly? Something like the financial year we have today? N P Chekkutty/Malabar, India.

Hello I have just been watching on Cable TV, the 'true' story of the railway and bridge on the Kwai. Numbers of Personnel who perished British, American, Australian and Dutch were given but no mention was made of Indian troops of whom my uncle Lt. Keith Corbet was an officer. I have a vague memory of Keith telling of the atrocities committed on Indian troops many sent to Rabaul (?) where the inhuman treatment continued. Can anyone comment - please ? Good wishes Sally Stewart

OK here goes - I have discovered that my late grandfather, James Jesse Stroud, was stationed in Aden in the British India army while still in his teenage years. I had always assumed that he left NZ around the age of 20/21 in order to try and find his birth father. His birth father had sent money to the Migration Officer in Invercargill, NZ while JJS was still a toddler and adopted by the Stroud family that 'no expense be spared in the boy's education, to set him up for a good start in life'. Now I find, from a letter I've recently acquired which was written by Stroud to his son in law (my father) in Tasmania in the late 1940s quote" while I was in Aden in my teenage I helped a laddie build a flattie and a whaler and the whole battalion turned out to watch us launch them...." This find has opened up a whole new search for me - I had assumed Stroud joined the British Army and had a posting to the Viceroy's band because of his musical abilities already obtained in NZ but if he left NZ at the age of 13 this means I need to do a whole not more research .. I am now hoping that someone on the list might know of photographs that exist of the launch of the two boats these two lads built and launched in Aden around the period from 1892 - 1896 James Stroud was born in February 1879 - I have school records stating he left school in Sparbush, Invercargill at the age of 13 (school leaving age in that era) and that he moved to Dunedin (NZ) - It could have been that he left for Dunedin in order to sail out of Port Chalmers bound for England - maybe his natural father had written inviting him over to England. I'm guessing the father may also have been a military man and therefore was able to get his son into the British Army as a boy soldier but this is pure speculation. We have been told that Stroud's real father was a Barrysford (or Beresford) Hutchison - or Hutchinson - but I cannot confirm this at this point in time. Any suggestions much appreciated, Regards Ainslie Pyne Adelaide Sth Australia.