GURKHAS REVISITED
We have all found the Gurkhas to be common in literature concerning East Indian affairs. I have always associated them with being members of the British army in India in Colonel times., as depicted in so many of Rudyard Kipling's fine stores of that era.
Actually, they have been, and are, much more than that, I have learned.
A neighbor of mine, Bob Kugler, who served in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II , gets a little magazine at regular intervals titled: “Ex-SCI Review” which he passes along to me to read.
I find, in reading that publication, that the Gurkhas are indeed soldiers but they are all that I thought they were, and more. The British first recruited them, that's true, to serve in the Indian Army, but they are now the armed forces of their native Nepal..
Generally small in stature, Gurkhas have always been good at using their small size to deceive enemies. It is backed by a good fighting spirit. They prove to be good soldiers and make up for any small stature with special qualities of stamina and cleverness.
They are a proud group, too – these Ghurkas. Depending on what Quartermaster supply has available, they like to wear neat uniforms, leggings and the seem to present an old-fashioned look about them which can also be deceiving. Much
that they used to wear, however, often resembled cowboy headgear for foraging and turbans for dress wear. That, of course, is all gone but the modern armed forces of which they are a part, .probably gloss over the romantic uniqueness of the group. I know less than nothing of today's armed force in Nepal. I would imagine, however, that the old men-of- war image remains pretty much intact.
The Ghurkas, we are told, was “all business” as a soldier and he was especially adept at guerrilla fighting. He was a master of techniques used in such fighting and could e sent out with a bag of rice and his traditional,curved-bladed knife to do whatever had to be done.
Japanese troops feared the Ghurkas. Their preferred way of killing was by total decapitation of the human head from the body, which they did silently and quickly with their deadly “knives”'.
Extant photographs of the Ghurkas seem to be rare. We see soldiers in mixed uniforms of yesteryear. The women of the Ghurka group are larger in stature and they tend to dress in bright colors ,red especially and have a “sportive one” as they tended to wear too much jewelry on their fingers, as nose rings as bracelets for both arms and legs as well as elaborate necklaces.. Beside them, the males look drab.
At this moment, when the armies of Pakistan and India are facing each other along the borders in the north, I have a feeling more than one Pakistani soldier is wondering if all of the Ghurkas went back to Nepal or stayed with the army of India
They served well as British mercenaries in Colonial days and are remembered as turbaned terrors by those who met them.
A.L.M. October 4, 2002 [c 525wds] .
