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www.celtic-connection.com
DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012
India and Lord Kitchener: A brutal and tortured colonial history
OTHING could ever prepare a person for the intensity of India, nor is one's experience there easy to describe. The complexities of this society and the overwhelming 'in your face' situation from almost everyone is at times extremely stressful.
You are never left alone, constantly bombarded by people for tips or begging or sales people who follow you around like a shadow, or just hotel personnel trying to be helpful which immediately brought to my mind the old adage, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Garbage is everywhere - India is like one big garbage dump. Driving is insane. The roads are horrendous. Cows, camels, donkeys, dogs, monkeys, pigs and people are everywhere on the roads.
The horror of those filthy, heartbreaking little urchins knocking on the van door windows, swarming you in the streets, sometimes carrying even younger children - the poverty - these were the most difficult challenges to negotiate.
On my recent trip to India, I read the local English language newspapers almost daily and shockingly on nearly every page was an article on a woman murdered, raped or abused.
The front pages were inevitably dominated by the corruption of the politicians, police and government. These were topics I was already familiar with in connection with India but actually being there makes you feel it at a completely different level.
Probably the biggest surprise of the trip though came at the end when we left Raj asthan and spent three nights in the Himalayas. We took a train from Delhi to Kalka, then a narrow gauge train (toy train) from Kalka to Shimla that brought us through some of the most beautiful territory in India.
We had already experienced the desert and lush areas of Rajasthan but Shimla was a completely different experience. Shimla had been a hill station and summer retreat for the British Raj back in the 1800s and you can still feel the vestiges of this era very strongly.
We were fortunate enough to stay at a hotel called Wildflower Hall and it was magnificent. Rebuilt in 1996 due to the previous building having burned down, it is actually situated in Mashobra about a half hour drive from Shimla. The views of the Himalayas are simply breathtaking.
What struck me the most as I entered Wildflower Hall was the painting of Lord Herbert Kitchener featured prominently in the lounge as you enter the hotel.
As I soon discovered Kitchener was actually born in 1850 in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland - his family from a notable Anglo-Irish background.
Kitchener was assigned the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian
By
SHARON GREER BROWN
LORD Herbert Kitchener was born in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry
Army and stationed in Shimla from 1902 to 1909.
His official residence was Snowdon but he did take a lease on Wildflower Hall as a retreat and it is on record that he spent extravagantly to maintain and develop the grounds around Wildflower Hall at the expense of his entire domestic staff whom he insisted weed, hoe and plant in the noon day sun. Soon after, there was a revolt by the staff and many resigned.
Kitchener was the ruthless and formidable military man who in 1896 led a huge army force deep into the Sudan and at Omdurman slaughtered some
10,000 Sudanese for the loss of 28 Britons (including General Gordon) while complaining at the same time about the waste of ammunition required to terminate the wounded on the ground.
A young subaltern serving with these forces was Winston Churchill who later commented he thought Kitchener "too brutal in his killing of the wounded."
Not long after, Kitchener was in South Africa as the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces during the Boer War. It was Kitchener who first introduced concentration camps to hold the families (mostly women and children) of the Boers.
This British concentration camp had poor hygiene, little food and many of the children in these camps died of starvation. He received £30,000 for the Sudan victory and £50,000 for the one in South Africa.
It was the Viceroy of India, Lord George Curzon, who had the idea that his own image would be enhanced by the presence of a military 'hero' who assigned Lord Kitchener Commander-in-Chief of the Indian army despite warnings against Kitchener who was being described as "an uncouth and ruthless man."
Disagreements arose between the two men over the extent of control that the civil government could exercise over the Indian army which led to the resignation of Curzon. Kitchener stayed on in India in the hopes of becoming the next Viceroy but was bitterly disappointed when someone else got the job.
As a final tidbit of information, it was Kitchener's image on the famous recruitment poster during the First World War which read: 'Britons: Your Country Wants You'.
He died in 1916 as Field Marshall when his ship, which was on a mission to Russia, was struck by a German mine. His body or body parts were never found which led to many conspiracy theories including one that the ship was sunk by explosives secreted in the vessel by Irish Republicans.
Back to Kitchener's painting in the lounge of the hotel. It seems completely incongruous that a man who was so disliked and vilified by so many could have such a place of honour in this majestic hotel.
DRIVING in India is a nightmare with cows, camels, donkeys, dogs, monkeys, pigs and people all sharing the roads.
The St Vincent de Paul Society needs volunteers Can you help out?
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
VANCOUVER - The St. Vincent de Paul Society held their annual volunteer Christmas party on December 3 at Bert's, the popular restaurant on Main Street.
The volunteers give freely of their time, talent and energy so, when they are able to finally all come together in a social gathering like the annual Christmas dinner, there is always a lot of catching up to do with much laughter and good cheer.
Have you have ever thought that you would like to help the homeless and less fortunate in some way but don't know where to start? Then, the St. Vincent de Paul Society needs your help, even if you can only volunteer a few hours or a day a week, it is all a help.
Volunteers are needed to help make sandwiches, coffee and juice that is distributed to the homeless and needy on the Vancouver downtown east side from the St. Vincent de Paul truck twice a week.
Other volunteers work in either the St. Vincent de Paul Value Shop on Main Street or the shop on East Hastings and the outreach program.
For weeks prior to the Christmas dinner, Director Sheila Coutu and her husband Ray, are both kept busy wrapping gifts and organizing door prizes for the volunteers.
Then they both work at the door welcoming everyone, so the volunteers have volunteers to help them enjoy their Christmas dinner.
Ivan Douglas, St. Vincent de Paul Central Council President, spoke to the volunteers at the dinner and said, "Without volunteers, there would not be a St. Vincent de Paul Society, but more volunteers are needed to help."
To volunteer at either of the St. Vincent de Paul stores or the outreach program, call (604) 873-1303 or(604) 873-1065.
WILDFLOWER HALL was a retreat used by Lord Kitchener while he was Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
GUESTS at the St. Vincent de Paul Volunteer Christmas party: (L-R) Nora Criss, president B.C. and Yukon Regional Council; Bill Yule, past-President Central Council; Ann Marie McGrath, co-ordinator Outreach Program with St. Patrick's Regional Secondary School (the kids volunteer to make sandwiches for the needy); Sheila Coutu, director Store Operations with husband Ray and Ivan Douglas, president Central Council.