OUR INDIAN VISITORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19376, 10 July 1926, Page 14

OUR INDIAN VISITORS.

THE ARMY HOCKEY TEAM. OLD MEMORIES REVIVED. THE LURE OF A GREAT COUNTRY. BY WAKEPA. The advent of the Indian Army hockey team to these shores brings back memories of that larger invasion of a quarter of a century ago when some 200 picked Indian troops visited the Dominion. Those soldiers from Bangalore—from Poona—from Secunderabad—from Rawal Pindi and from many other cantonments in India won golden opinions in our country by their dignified comportment and exemplary behaviour throughout the tour. The smaller band i>f soldier-sportsmen now among us are building up a similar reputation, both on the field and off. I wish to skip lightly over the thorny question of an Indian immigratory influx into New Zealand, although it may be said in passing that there are profound reasons why we should not welcome to our midst the riff-raff of the bazaars Fortunately, however, even among the Indian immigrants who own the bazaar as their nursery and alma mater there is a leaven of potential good citizens. But between these "bazaarites" and the second contingent | of Indian soldiers who are visiting the Dominion there is a great gulf fixed. I care not whether the soldier originated in the bazaar or not. The majority probably didn't. But by virtue of the training in the Indian Army with its high tradition of service £tnd discipline, the Indian is encouraged to become a good soldier, a good citizen, and a good sportsman. That is a statement of fact which I maintain would be unhesitatingly endorsed by all New Zealanders who have been directly associated with the Indian Army. Reputation for Sportsmanship. What brought a record crowd (for a hockey match) of 15,000 to the Basin Reserve, Wellington, on the King!s Birthday, not to mention an almost similar attendance at Christchurch for the first test match, and the recent record attendance at Auckland'! Solely the fact that it was a beautifully fine holiday and perhaps the awakening of a keener interest in hockey and the desire to see such clever exponents of the game ? I presume to doubt it. These English officers and Indians came with a deservedly high reputation for true sportsmanship, as well as for prowess in the field and thousands of spectators at these matches were present to pay tribute to that sportsmanship whatever the result of the games might be. We learn from Captain Cowan in reply to & civic welcome that many thousand Indian soldiers desired a place in his team and that the chosen ones were held to be highly envied. It may be imagined that by behaviour and by play no Indian member of the team will slacken for one moment during the tour for are they not the chosen among many to defend the honour of the Indian army on the hockey field ? And what a tale they will have to unfold about this farflung. outpost of the King-Emperor's dominions when they" return frOm across the " black water." Hockey is tin-" doubtedly one of the most popular games in the Indian Army and the intelligent Indian soldier very quickly profits by the grounding and coaching which is available from so many ex-pert English soldier players. While attached to the Indian Army I was surprised at the big hold that hockey has. Of rugby—certainly in the cantonments visited by me —I saw little. It appeared' that hockey, crieket and tennis are the Indian soliders' favourite games not forgetting polo for those commissioned officers who can afford it... ; , , Army Memories. It may be said that the heart of many an ex-Anglo-Indian in New Zealand has. quickened when the gaily-be-turbaned Indian hockey plavers have marched on to the field witli military precision and invariably sharp on time. No rendolence of the bazaar about Dian Chand and his mates. Good fellows these, without a doubt like unto the thousands of other good fellows and good soldiers that the ex-Anglo-Indian has met and fraternised with in the days gonn by. It 'brings back to him memories of many a hot, dusty cantonment and the consequent palliative of a trek to Murree or some other favoured hill station. Of reveille with its haunting, sleep disturbing call. Of the char-wallah at the bungalow door. Of stew and buffalo milk and Indian women paddling cooked eggs from breakfast. Of dry and wet canteen with a suave babu pesiding at»the seat of custom. Of the cake-wallah shrilly broadcasting the excellence of " especial cake " white deftly warding off the never slackening onslaught of the rapacious kitehawk with his foetid breath. Yes Jie comes near enough to smell that. Of the incessant caw-caw of the myriads 6i crows who scavenge round the barracks for what the kite-feawks have left. Of the Dhobi. and the Dhurzi, and the Nappi who will shave you while you are hardJy yet awake for four annas a weak. Of the almost innumerable tribe of wallahs covering every conceivable calling even to a "bed-picking wallah" who will tease the fibre in your charpoy palliase for two annas, Of the afternoon siesta when in the torpid heat of the Indian sun almost the whole white population of the cantonment is invisible. Of "char-up" at 4 p.m., which represents the last army meal of the day. Of supper in the canteen where, in the favoured cantonments, a whole chicken may be bought for eight annas and a pint of Muree ale for three annas. Of | "Buckshee* Friday, so called because that •lay is practically a holiday for soldiers. Of "lights out" and a great quietness following, except for the stragglers, and then in the far distance the haunting hungry cry of the prowling jackal and the predatory hyena. And of the wonderful Indian dawn that ushers in another oJoadless, peerless day. "The Call of the East," Yet, while" with the perversity of human nature the soldier curses the monotony and drudgery of army life, he iias not, in many cases, been long absent therefrom before he hankers for another dose of it. Kipling knew. It may, or may not- be the "call of the East," In fact a call is too definite and precise a term to describe the average AngloIndian'? feelings unci inarticulate yearning." It is an indescribable, indefinable, groping latent, impelling urge to return if but for a brief season, to the old cantonment life without too much of the j irking army duties and discipline. To have plenty of leave and privileges and to revisit with a well-lined money belt the favourite haunts of years ago. To drive clown, midst the tinkling of many tonga and gharri bells, a typically busy bazaar—the Chandhi CliOwk at Delhi would do—getting a good "noseful" of real bazaar and associated smells, and to have an old-time barney with a vendor of silk, or ivory, or biassware in an endeavour to beat him down. To travel on furlough to Bombay or Calcutta in, a first-class compartment on a third-class pass, or, if the city lights and occidental-eum-orienta! distractions possess no lure, to steep oneself again in the mystic, shadowy past- of the old dead,- gliostly Delhis, and Akbar's Agra, and to pay homage at the incomparable and beloved-through-tbe-ages shrine of my Lady of the Taj and her consort Shah Jeh-an, and at places hallowed by mute, glorious memories of the Mutiny,

To visit Amritsar and Benares and Lucknow and Kipling's own Lahore in the barracks and canteens of which that master weaver of army tales collected so much inimitable local colour and to skim again the columns of the Civil and Military Gazette. And then on to Rawal Pindi, the Aldershot of India and the headquarters of thp wireless signal units, and to Peshwar and the Ivbyber Pass through which on certain days soldiers on leave may travel in approved parties. Those long, long, dusty hot railway journeys by the G.I.P. and the Northwestern, with the kaleidoscopic, motley, beturbaned throngs at every station and the incessant chattering all day and througnout the night that steals upon you oft-times drowsy senses at eacit stop. And the well-appointed railway refreshment buffets with punkahs oscillating; the clink of cracked ice, and the real Indian curry and rice without which tiffin and wdinner and even burra-hazri is incomplete. There are thousands of buffets and hotels in India where genuine savoury curries are compounded, but the chain of buffets controlled by Spencers of Madras are, in particular, noted for their curries, while at the Hotel D'Angelis in the latter city there used to be a chef whose curries were a by-word for excellence. It is said that the French introduced the art of making curries into the Madras Presidency in the sixteenth century and that the Indians proved apt pupils in their preparation, with the result that recipes nave been handed down from generation to generation. Some Conclusions. While New Zealand's total population does not greatly exceed that of Calcutta or of Bombay, the war effort of the Dominion is well and favourably known in civil and military circles in India. Furthermore some 200 soldiers comprising the New Zealand Wireless Signal Corps, en route for Mesopotamia, were temporarily attached to the Indian Expeditionary Force and • were in India for varying periods, while drafts were being assembled for the "Gulf." Many of these wireless men were invalided to India from Mesopotamia and snent furlough there which was made highly enjoyable by the granting of travelling privileges by the army authorities and the hospitality extended by Europeans and Indians. Good work as avant couriers was done by many New Zealand soldiers in India and the Dominion was extolled as an excellent place in which to spend furlough or retire. Although the Indian Armv hockey team has perforce visited New Zealand in the winter season it is certainly no coider here at present than in parts of the Punjab and Bengal during the cold season and not on that account may it ba expected that the team will take back with them unpleasant recollections of the tour. On the contrary, assuming that their oral expressions of appreciation . are sincere—and as worthy representatives of the honourable Indian Army I cannot believe them to be guilty of insincerity—we may be assured of two tangible results of the tour. Firstly, that this will not be the last visit of an Indian Army hockey team ; and, secondly, that the "boost" that the Dominion will get may lead in due course to an increase in the colony of ex-Anglo-Indians who have taken up their permanent residence with us