RETURN OF THE GURKHA

RETURN OF THE GURKHA

 

Post treaty of Sagauli, the Gurkhas left Shimla hills for good. Or so it seemed. However, in a curious twist of fate, the Gurkha returned post independence – not as conquerers but as migrant labourers. The rapid economic development of new state of Himachal was what led to it. Extreme poverty in Nepal compounded it. Almost every farmer in upper Shimla used to have a Gurkha farmhand who was integrated into the family. Most came as boys and left for home once in 2 years or so, sending money orders home otherwise; their visits to home diminishing gradually. Most died of old age in their masters house, cared for like family. Ramlal was our Gurkha. He was my fathers age, had not gone to Nepal for decades; had stopped taking any wages. He dined with the family. Infact, he had the privilege of smoking his regal looking brass hookah in the pahadi kitchen of non-smokers where all of us sat on the wooden  floor in the evening for dinner whenever we visited the village (Once in 2 years). When he felt like it, he fished and cooked for him on a makeshift fireplace away from home (Thakurs had turned veg a generation ago and that’s another story). He was the toughest man in family who carried the goat skin bag (Khalta) of grain to and from the watermill or gharat on the khud (Hamalti khud as it originated in region called Hamal) that looked like a thread at the bottom of hill from the kitchen verandah. He was never idle. Before sleeping he spun wool on his wheel, after lunch he churned the milk for butter in traditional khatana assembly comprising of Dole, Thamb, Chari and Fashni (Replaced now by electric Mixer). We gave him all respect due to elders and infact my mother even encouraged us to touch his feet to seek his blessings just like from uncles. When it was time to return to place of my fathers posting, Ramlal gave us kids money just like our uncles and aunts!

With advent of apple orchards, in the area, thanks to the American missionary Samuel Evans Stokes Jr ( who landed in himachal in 1904, full 70 years before another “Apple” enthusiast in search of “Nirvana” our very own Steve Jobs) who paradoxically like the proverbial hunter who got hunted, found himself converted to Hinduism, the demand for Gurkha labour exploded and instead of solitary man we now have whole families staying on the farms and looking after all the operations from plantation, nurturing, spraying, manuring, pruning, tending, plucking, packing and carrying fruits. The apple economy is intricately linked to gurkha labour who are many a times more knowledgeable than the orchardist. Although they get fair wages now, still they are part of the extended family and the master looks after all their needs of shelter and essentials including education of the children. The society somehow looks like the pre civil war confederate America! If anything, the Gurkha  liberated the himachali women from a life of hard labour. A generation ago it was common for a landed gentleman to have more than 1 wife to ensure enough labour to look after the farm ( Uncle of my father got 18 wives; who came and went as they couldn’t produce a child – It never occurred to the Thakur that there could be fault with him!!) . With apple came prosperity and pride. I remember a Maruti Gypsy (favourite transport of orchardists then – Now its place taken by Jimny and Thar ) I used to see in kullu with “Proud to be an Orchardist” written across the rear windshield in bold letters. Apple brought Swiss type villas with Blue label whiskey, automatic doors and fancy washrooms in the Shimla hills in 80s. Now the hill women are prone to stay in Shimla city to educate their wards in convent schools whereas all HP Government schools in interiors cater to the Nepali children (with mid day meals, free books and uniforms). I, for a while was dumbfounded when one of my cousins who had taken over as principal of a rural school announced that she had only foreign students on her roll !! I know of few emancipated adventurous hill lasses who proceed on all women vacations (Husbands are a pain) to Singapore, Thailand and Europe (A couple of them from our village got stuck in Thailand during COVID and weren”t recipients of “Guaranteed” Modi assistance to return from foreign land. With much trouble they reached Bombay where they were quarantined for a week or so to their further chagrin. It took some serious effort and ingenuity to finally haul themselves back to the village. Under fire from old aunts, they swore to the village devta to not venture out of country again. I have to check if they stayed the course!

Stokes – Gandhian freedom fighter and social reformer who got Begar abolished from Shimla hills

                                                                                

Gurkhas are fun loving. They like music and wine. Gurkha male is particularly enamoured by Bacchus (Raksi). And they do not stop after a drink or two like the refined gentlemen you find sipping their poison brooding over the tottering government in Simla Club! No sir that would be sissy by their standards. “First bowl for health, another for pleasure, and a third for sleep”. “When this bowl is drunk up, wise guests go home,” the comic Greek poet Eubulus warned in the fourth century B.C. “The fourth bowl is ours no longer, but belongs to violence; the fifth to uproar; the sixth to drunken revel; the seventh to black eyes. The eighth is the policeman’s; the ninth belongs to biliousness; and the 10th to madness and the hurling of furniture”. I suspect Eubulus must be on a world tour in Nepal when he wrote the above.

 

They go on a spending spree on pay day. Lala in my hometown, Chopal market, when felt my scalding stare, as he over quoted the cost of a music system to a Gurkha lad, threw his arms in the air once the customer had left. “What to do? These Gurkhas if offered at low price will think my product is substandard and will go to the other shop! You won’t understand them! I hate overcharging them; but I have to do it” lamented the hereditary usurer. Nepali women, like all hill women are hard workers. They are prettier than their men. Poorest of Gurkha women labourer is adorned with gold ornaments. Kids are lively, tough and naughty but well mannered and very cute.

 Like all communities, the Gurkhas too have fair share of black sheep.   Many are the stories of theft and petty crimes by the labourers. Favourite trick is to collect all dues and then some advance from the employer who next day finds himself looking at the vacant dera in disbelief. The guy with his wife and kids has disappeared like the proverbial horns of an Indian ass. More often than not, the master finds that he has taken flight with utensils and farm implements provided in the dwelling. Still the Gurkha remains indispensable in upper Shimla. Arrival of a Gurkha family is never looked at with hostility or trepidation (unlike other migrants) and before long, they have more than one invitation to free board and lodge and offer of employment. The family decides on terms offered like cash remuneration or mix of cash and land to cultivate in return for labour.

As soon as I had laid hands on a coveted Apple orchard away from my ancestral land, paying through my nose, I was confronted with the inevitable need of an experienced farmhand to maintain it.I was told of a Gurkha looking for employment in nearby market on the highway where I immediately drove to. Nand Lal aka Nandu  seemed to be in his late sixties, he was slight and wrinkled, walking with a limp in his left leg. I was told he had looked after an orchard nearby for 12 years when he went to Nepal for 3 months. He returned after 3 years, and found that another compatriot of his was now comfortably ensconced in his dera. The market grocer had offered him a bed to sleep in and guard the shop at night. He got meals and 50 Rs per night for his pains. He looked or rather smelled like there was no bathing facility in the shop. I genuinely felt pity for the poor guy till I noticed with renewed focus the peak cap he was wearing. There was something written in large letters but obscured by grime. With some effort, I could make it out – “Meri Tension Mat Lo Yaar” ran the script! Mollified, I took a deep breath and offered him my terms and conditions.

 I told him about Chandu, the gurkha who had previous week fled from my Brother in Law’s farm. “Chandu took away the utensils” I told Nand lal who non chalantly kept chewing his tobacco. “He even took the bedding, the farm tools” I went on. Nand lal was looking intently at the train of ants on the floor carrying rice from the grocery store to a crack in the wall. “The scoundrel even unscrewed the electric holder and escaped with it along with the bulb, the wire and the switch!” I persevered in my effort to elicit condemnation from my prospective employee. At this last piece of information, Nandu lifted his right eyebrow and said “Baaki sab toh theek hai par holder nahi lena chahiye thha. Ye bahut galat kiya Chandu ne”!

Nand lal accompanied me with his worldly possessions in his school bag and parked himself at the orchard. In the last 3 months, he has nurtured it to a real Garden of Eden by his slow but steady work. Meanwhile there’s another Gurkha that’s rapidly making inroads in Upper Shimla – the 4x4 Force Gurkha SUV.