Training the Gurkhas - Part 3 of 3

The Jemadar, he spoke reasonable English, he'd served in the British Army for a long time, in the Indian British Army. They all came from Nepal, which is a kingdom north of India. The Brits were not allowed to go into the Nepal to recruit, but they set up a recruiting base on the border of Nepal, with India, and all the villages would send their young men to the British state recruiting bases and they would serve, their initial term was five years and they could extend this in five year increments.

The Subadar, whom I befriended, had served fifteen years, and he told me all about life in the villages in Nepal, and the Himalayan Mountains, of course, the high mountains, and they were, of course, all Buddhists. The tremendous respect they had for their women, for old people, the community of helping each other constantly for survival, and we had some very, very fine chats, and I was really touched, because when I left, before we were leaving, he came out to the airstrip and gave me his personal khukuri which I still have in the den, and which I cherish.