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An Interesting Letter From Far-Off India November
1945
Bill Brookens who used to work
for his uncle, Lester Brookens, in the garage, but
who has been in the army about four years, has
written the Brookens family an interesting letter
from Agra, India and tells quite a little about the
country and about the way of living by the
natives. He writes:
Just received your nice long
letter and I am going over it for the second time.
It was crammed full of news and just the kind of
letter a guy overseas wants, but seldom gets.
I don't know where to start first
with you folks since I don't know where I left off.
I am, as you can see, at Agra, India, which is an
open city 120 miles south of Delhi, the capital of
India. I have gone through a slight bit of misery to
get here, but it was well worth it. We have a large
field of mostly brick-constructed buildings with no
floors.
The climate is mostly tropical
and the past week has been good considering the
terrific heat two weeks ago. The monsoon season is
now on although it rains for 15 minutes and quits
for a day or two. This part of India is very dry,
having the least rainfall of any in the states.
All companies have their own mess
hall and we have very good food including fresh
milk, fresh beef and pork, fruits and ice cream
twice each week. Our mess hall is open until
midnight for boys wanting a snack before going to
bed. Most of them come in after a show and drink
coffee.
As you might know, the army hires
hundreds of civilian native Indians to do our work.
We have mechanics, clerks, cooks, laborers,
carpenters, etc. They wear rags draped over them in
accordance with their custom. The Hindus wear
a pigtail in their hair and a health locket on their
necks, etc. Most of them go barefoot the year 'round
and they can step on a burning cigarette without
hurting themselves.
There are over 100 different
languages, but Hindustani and Uada are spoken here.
Everyone is in a caste system. That is, the son
follows the father as the water carrier (Pawnee
Walla) for life. The sweeper class is one of the
lowest and just try to make a carpenter sweep a
floor. At least everyone speaks some English
acquired from British schools or from sons and
daughters.
I work at night from 6:00 to 2
A.M. with a bunch of natives, Some are skillful,
others are (Karab) bad.
As for our field, we have two
large Red Cross buildings where they have dances,
eat hamburgers and ice cream. We have the largest
swimming pool in India. We have no malaria due to
the army's strict control over it. Other diseases
such as cholera, typhus, etc., are almost unknown to
the GIs here although there is plenty of it around.
I live in a barracks made of
brick. We have an Indian boy called a "bearer",
working for us. We pay him at the end of each month
out of our own pockets. He shines our shoes, makes
our beds, keeps ice in our beer cooler and does
anything else we like.
Agra is the home of many famous
buildings, especially the Taj Mahal, a famous
mausoleum made of solid marble at a cost of
$3,000,000, years ago by hand labor. It used to have
jewels and gold, but are now gone. I have seen it
inside and can see the dome by looking out of my
window.
I hear from Jack right along. Max
is over 1,000 miles from me by long and treacherous
roads so I doubt if I will see him here unless he
flies in. I will write him again.
Enough for now as it is dinner
time. Be sure to write again as it is mighty
lonesome here with all we have. It is just something
we all have to "sweat out", as they say in the army.
When you write, tell me about prices and the
availability of houses. |
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