VISITING IN INDIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5739, 5 December 1896, Page 3

VISITING IN INDIA.

" Missy Sahib, chota hazri tayar hai " J (breakfast is ready), and the daughter, ■who has just come home to join her father or mother in the far East realises that ab. last the long sea voyage and land journey are over and her first day in India has really begun. A dusky, white-robed ayah has brought a tray, with tea, toast and fruit to the bedside, and pulled up the Avhite net curtains that protect the sleeper from the bloodthirsty mosquito, and now waits to assist at her mistress' toilet. Ifc is six o'clock and time to begin the day. Unused to the services of a maid at home, the girl experiences a sense of luxury in having her stockings put on her — even though one is sura to be inside out. She also, begins to realise a sense of her" own importance, for in India she is distinctly a personage, and women are probably at a higher premium there than in any other civilised country. The arrival of a new " spin " (as the unmarried girl is colloquially termed) is the cause of much excitement in an Indian station, and everybody is on the alert to see the latest addition to feminine society. The day usually begins with a visit to the Badminton Courts, and there the girl will run the gauntlet of criticism from a large portion of her neighbours, for ifc is a favourite meeting place. The ladies eagerly scan every detail of her dress ; being fresh from home she must, of course, have the newest; fashions, and later on they will ask her for blouses, &c, as patterns. There are •also plenty of candidates of the opposite sex eager to teach her badminton, and every one's racket is at her disposal. At nine o'clock ifc is too hot for further play, and they drive home for bath and breakfast. The bath, with its water cooled in large earthenware jars, is delightfully refreshing, and tho thin mug wherewith to bale it over one's person is a distinct novelty. Breakfast is a meal of many courses, commencing with porridge and ending with fruit. After breakfast the housekeeping has to be seen to, and this seems an easy matter to the girl accustomed to that duty at home, for it simply consistsof givingorderstothe numerous servants and dealing out the tinned " Europe " stores. Then there are flowers to be arranged, and at twelve o'clock callers began to arrive. The servant in the verandah inquires if the lnein sahib be "at home" and brings up a, pile of cards on a salver. Carriage follows carriage in quick succession, for everybody in the station is anxious to make the new arrival's acquaintance. Only the Governor's wife and the Generals do not come, for it will be the girl's duty to leave cards upon these important pei'sonages. The bachelors of the station arrive in groups of twos and threes, thereby lending each other their moral support should they feel nervous, but they are all eager to meet and converse on current topics with the "spin." They inquire whether she dances or is fond of riding, and if the answer be affirmative beg for a placo on her card at the first ball and put their ponies at her disposal. By two o'clock tiffin, a repetition of breakfast, is ready, and after this meal people retire to their rooms to read and a siesta is generally indulged in. After tea everybody goes out. They drive to the band stand, where the regimental band plays ; there is lawn tennis for the energetic or garden parties at the clnb or mess house, and the new arrival will be struck by the all-pervading air of luxury. Servants are in constant attendance, the carriages are filled with comfortable cushions, and every tennis player has a small dai-k boy at his elbow ready to hand him balls. At eight o'clock dinner takes place, and when there are, no dances or evening entertainments every one goes to bed early. Certainly the daughter of India has a really good time. Invitations to dances, dinners, and entertainments come rapidly for acceptance, and if she can sing or act she will be in great demand. Everywhere the preponderance of men strikes her and they vie with each other in providing her with amusements. At the races and shooting matches they ask her to " nominate " ttem, when, if her nominee wins, she will receive the prize. The constant balls and dances are rendered gay by innumerable uniforms, and the large proportion of men makes that hardy perennial, the -wallflower, an impossibility, and every girl with the faintest idea of dancing has her card filled to tho twentieth extra. Before the hot season with its scoi'cbing winds makes an exodus to the hills she will have had.se veral proposals to exchange her position of daughter for that of wife, for though "spins" on their first season are plentiful, those in their second are

to be met with. Marriage is thriving in India in spite of the vanishing- rupee. Although the life of a girl in India is frequently a round of pleasure and little else, it need not be so, and though there be not much in housekeeping to occupy her energies, then© is a vast amount of other work to be done.- She will win the heartfelt gratitude of the chaplains- wife by interesting herself in-the Sunday school for soldiers' children and visiting their mothers in the regimental lines. Then, again, if she takes the trouble to study the language and learn more than the few sentences required for ordering servants, it opens a world of interest too little known to Europeans. Hidden away behind the purdah in houses of well-to-do natives are women whose, lives are .spent enclosed between four walls, and they gladly welcome anyone who will devote alittle of her time, to visiting them and taking >an interest in their affairs, and the daughtjar will find the gratitude of. her Indian sister; well worth the ' sacrifice of an .occasional tiffin party or picnic. ". ' . ■'