Where do I find a good punkawalla? Quiz

Answer: The cabin was not exposed to the stifling afternoon sun.

It was the heat of the sun, that had to be avoided at all costs. These must- have cabins faced north, so were not bothered by the merciless afternoon heat. They were quite pricey, and therefore could only be afforded by the wealthy. These few privileged passengers were fed lavish meals, and paid nothing at all for wines and spirits. The boredom of the journey was forgotten amid the many organized concerts, entertainments and games that were provided to prevent elitist ennui. It was truly a posh affair.

The voyage, going around Cape of Good Hope, had originally taken four months, and often the weather around the Cape was unpredictable, presenting dreadful storms and high seas. When the Suez Canal opened in 1869, it greatly reduced the travel time to under three weeks, thus expediting trade between India and Good Old Blighty. The increased trade proved to be immensely lucrative and added additional vast sums to the British Imperial coffers.

Answer: Delhi

The move to Delhi was necessitated by the need to have a more centrally located Capital. During the Raj, the British population of Calcutta generally were able to afford a lifestyle that would never have been possible in Britain. They strolled in the cool air of the evening in the Eden Gardens. They listened to the music of a regimental band, while taking in the particulars of their fellow strollers - undoubtedly gossip was rife. Those attending race meetings at the Calcutta Turf Club, would watch the racing at dawn, to avoid the heat, and then be presented with a sumptuous breakfast. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club, founded in 1829, was the first in India, and was a very exclusive meeting place for many at the 19th hole.

In the autumn and winter months, when the Viceroy was in residence, Calcutta had its social season with dinners and balls every night - a smaller image of the London season, stamped upon the unsuspecting Indian landscape.

Calcutta is located in the Ganges Delta, in the state of Bengal, in eastern India. It has a hot and humid climate, which was almost unbearably hot for Europeans in the summer months. The unfortunate administrators of the Post Office, railway system and the court system were forced to stay and face the heat during the summer months, rather than going to the hills. The unending dust and heat then led on, without relief, to the non-stop rains of the monsoon, which was enough to drive men crazy, and did. Work in the summer started at dawn, the middle of the day giving way to a prolonged siesta. For most it was even too hot to have an affair, despite the absence of wife and children.

Answer: The person who sits and pulls the chord for the fans to wave back and forth - endlessly.

The whole question of servants was an endless conversation amongst the various British matrons, young and old. Trying to establish references proved to be generally fruitless. One of the 'how to' books of the day described Indian servants as having the inherent vices of "laziness, dishonesty and falsehood". If the house was not cleaned well enough, particularly the kitchen, the home was immediately open to one of the many unpleasant diseases that plagued Calcutta.

One of the writers of the "Complete Indian Home Cook", declared that she never went into their kitchen for fear that her appetite be marred by the sight of a servant using his toes as an efficient toast rack or the soup being strained through a greasy turban.

Answer: A weal appeared together with a nasty case of eczema.

The jute-moth was just one of many nasty creepy crawlies that appeared in huge numbers during the rainy season. The gentility of a ladies' afternoon tea party could easily be frighteningly interrupted by the sudden appearance of a myriad of snakes, each more deadly than the one before. The rains also delivered multitudes of cockroaches and mosquitoes, happily spreading malaria as they went.

In Bengal for one month of the year, one would be inundated by large repulsive greenflies that covered everything and everybody, and then disappeared as suddenly as they came. Another apparently innocuous pest were the thousands of so-called stink beetles. It is only if one would inadvertently tread on one, that one became painfully aware of why they got their name. All of these pests, having terrorized the socially correct ladies of Sussex, Berkshire or Kensington, would then just disappear as suddenly as they came.

Answer: The Fishing Fleet

'The Fishing Fleet' became a long and well-established tradition in Calcutta. It enabled the beautiful and talented daughters of many of the noble and wealthy families to join their families in India with full propriety. They would attend the Calcutta 'Season', 'coming out' into society as they would normally have done in England.

Many found husbands and lived uncomfortably ever after in a strange and daunting land. Those who were unsuccessful in hooking a husband, would return to England in the spring. They were rather unkindly known as the 'Returned Empties'.

Answer: Cholera

Cholera is a water-borne disease. In the 19th century it became the first truly global affliction (at least since the Black Death). Even the slightest contamination from the feces of a cholera victim could easily spread the disease. The festivals held in the Ganges River had been a major cause of the disease reaching epidemic proportions. Many thousands would attend a festival in the contaminated waters, and then traveled home, carrying the infection with them.

The most ghastly thing about cholera was the speed at which it caused death, from the time one one became first infected - usually within a 12-48 hour period. The dreadful consequences of this disease upon the British population became only too evident at the Park Street cemetery. Within 60 years of its opening in 1809, it covered many, many acres of tightly packed monuments, columns, urns and obelisks. Maria Graham, one of the most discerning observers of Indian life described the cemetery. "It is like a city of the dead; it extends on both sides of the road, and you see nothing beyond it".

Answer: The Royal Calcutta Turf Club

The Royal Calcutta Turf Club, only acquired its Royal appellation in 1912, when they were honored by a second visit to the races by King George V.

The location of the original race course was rather rough and small, only allowing space for four horses at a time to race. The course was moved in 1812 to a larger site, which is now virtually in the center of the city, very close to the Victoria Memorial, commemorating Queen Victoria becoming Empress of India.

The Bengal Jockey Club was established and in 1847 the Calcutta Turf Club was officially born. Both the Jockey and Turf Clubs became the leaders in horse-racing events throughout India. They attracted the social elite as well as large purses for special races. They were the first in the sub-continent to stage a Derby, eventually replaced by the Viceroy's Cup. Queen Elizabeth II attended races in 1961, on a visit to Calcutta and presented her own trophy, The Queen Elizabeth Cup. Despite a century of political and social unrest in India, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club is still well attended.

Answer: Establishing sanatoria where the British could recover from the heat and disease of the cities.

Although the hill stations were originally believed to be far enough removed from the teeming cities of summer heat and disease, the Madras Medical Board reached another conclusion. In a report of 1861 they declared that the hill stations were "... not well adapted for the cure of those chronic diseases attributable to a tropical climate."

However, even if not ideal for curing disease, Simla was "restorative to those suffering from overwork, or exhausted by the heat of the plains". Here in Simla, within view of the Himalayas, the British realized that they could create a little haven of British society, almost free of the usual swarms of natives. They felt that it provided a better way of life, especially for women and children.

Many cottages were built on the hillsides, for the British only. (The Viceroy banned any natives from purchasing hill property). An imposing Anglican church was constructed, as well as elite boarding schools. Simla was gradually turned into a home away from home, with all the favorite pastimes and social events, beyond the intrusion of natives. This folly of colonial separatism did not last long. Their desire for an elitist British Shangri-La was gradually impinged upon not by disease and the lower castes of Indians, but by the wealthier and professional Indians, also wanting a cottage in the hills.

The British attitude was summed up by one military officer: "Nothing is more likely to maintain British prestige than the occupation of commanding ground by the British race." What the British imperialists did not take into account was the fact that it took 7 natives to maintain the lifestyle of each Brit, 35 for a family. They did not factor in the ever expanding native army of servants and civil service clerks, that made Simla uncomfortably overcrowded, and the hoped-for British exclusivity became untenable.

Answer: The British Parliament were careful to establish suzerainty, not dominion over these states.

The Native States or Indian states were not placed under direct British rule. They established suzerains, whereby each state remained autonomous with their own laws and customs, but the British took responsibility for overseeing Indian needs as a whole, including foreign policy.

That having been settled, thoughts turned to matters of prestige and precedence. The East India Company had created the gun salute system, which entitled princes to be saluted by any odd number of guns between 3 and 21. Many of the rulers of smaller states were not entitled to such recognition. Of the 120 or so of major states, it was hard to know at any one time the exact hierarchy of these states. Many defunct states were not eligible for salutes but were permitted to keep their princely titles. They became known as "Political Pensioners". The whole system sounds rather like something from Monty Python.

With the declaration of independence, all the princely rulers were universally called Highness, and each was entitled to a 9-gun salute. Although the Indian government promised continued privileges from the Privy Purse, in 1972 the Privy Purse was abolished, so that the whole princely order ceased to exist under Indian law.

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

The critic Douglas Kerr said of Kipling "He is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled, but as the age of the European empire recedes, he is recognized as an incomparable, if controversial interpreter of how empire was experienced. That and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."

Apart from his early childhood in Bombay, Kipling spent his growing and adolescent years in England. He returned to Bombay in September 1882, to take up the post of assistant editor of the Lahore 'Civil and Military Gazette. He explains his feelings about returning to India...'there were yet three or four days train to Lahore, where my people lived. After these, my English years fell away, nor ever I think came back in full strength."

Although Kipling's vast body of work covers a myriad of characters and settings, for me Mowgli, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, Kim and Gunga Din, tie him forever to British and native life under the Raj.