Page 26 - To Dragma October 1929

24 T o D R A G M A

clothes i n his master's dressing room calls t o say the bath is ready. The
hamal has dumped the d r u m of hot water i n t o the tub and since the
cold water is there on tap, all is ready. A t nine-thirty breakfast is served,
and at ten a car calls t o take the Sahib to his office. T h a t sounds very
luxurious, but some transportation is necessary, for white people never
ride on the trams, and the distances are much too great for walking, so
most of the big offices have automobiles to call for their European staff.

A f t e r breakfast I always go out into the cook house and see the meat,
fish and vegetables the cook has brought f o r the day. I also see the
water boiling i n a large pan, for that is to be our drinking water and
must be boiled, not just heated. The cook house is a room separate from
the house with a rough stone floor and a queer native concrete stove where
instead of gas as we have here, charcoal is used.

T h e n the cook comes i n and gives an account of his morning's pur-
chases, at market. I give orders for the next day and then give out the
day's supply of stores—coffee, tea, sugar and canned goods—which are
kept locked in the store-room. That's my day's housekeeping with per-
haps a few orders about having the floors washed or some windows
cleaned. Then I ' m free to go down town shopping, out to a morning's
bridge, perhaps, or out to luncheon. I n the afternoon everybody—that
is everyone except the men who have to stay i n their offices—lies down
and rests until tea time. A t five o'clock the men come home f r o m work,
and everyone goes out for exercise. There is golf, tennis or swimming
every night and dancing at the club two or three evenings a week. Be-
cause the sun is so hot during the day, games are always played i n the
evenings or by a few early risers before breakfast in the morning. Dinner
is at nine o'clock, and after that except for dinner parties, there is nothing
to do, save on Saturday night when the movies are very well patronized.
When we go to the movies, we don't pay cash for our seats, but simply
sign a note or chit on one of the several clubs in town and the movie
house collects f r o m the club, which in turn collects from us.

Karachi is said to have the best year round climate i n India. I n the
hot weather our average temperature is 80 or 85, but I have known i t to
reach 112. However, there is always a cool breeze f r o m the Arabian
Sea which makes the nights bearable. T h e nice weather is our cold
season between November and M a r c h when the Gold M o h u r trees bloom,
leaves come out on all the trees, flowers blossom, and 'there is a tang i n the
air. The thermometer never drops below 50, but we wear our warmest
cloths i n our big airy houses, sleep under several blankets and wish we
had a furnace.

I t would be impossible to mention I n d i a without a word about the beg-
gars. T h e y pursue us as we move along the street, crying for "buks heesh,
Memsahib," and holding out their maimed limbs or wailing babies.
Thursdays and Saturdays are beggar days i n Karachi. O n these days
all the beggars in the Cantonment, hundreds of them, line up along one
of the main streets w i t h their begging bowls and are fed by some rich
native. The Indian merchant usually has on his shelf a box of copper
coins, called pies, which are worth about 2/10 of a cent each and gives