Days of the Raj: Life and Leisure in British India [Dec 01, 2009] Nayar, Pramod K.

Language: EnglishPages: 324Back of the bookBritish India generated the largest imperial archive in the world. From the stacks of administrative reports, minutes, instruction ,manuals, memoirs, letters, reports, cookbooks and travelogues the British left behind, this engaging volume uncovers the minutiae of the social life, leisure and relaxation- the obverse side of the usual picture of the English steadfastly battling the heat and fatigue as they riled India. Days of the Raj reproduces first- hand accounts of homesickness, club culture, mountaineering, Christmas and station parties, and also records British responses to notch girls and the Zenana, mountains and the Ganga, fairs and festivals, elephants and mosquitoes and the monsoon. The celebrated stock characters of the Raj – from the surly Khansamah to the errant syce, from the griffin to the district magistrate’s shopaholic wife- are all here. About the Publish