The India Office also advised them to ‘Never use tap water under any circumstances to wash your teeth. Instead use soda water or boiled and chlorinated water, which is available at all station refreshment rooms and dining cars. The purchase of a thermos flask is suggested but never buy soda water from hawkers on station platforms.’
At least the train had corridors so the girls could get some exercise by pacing up and down, but of far more importance was the fact that they had access to the toilets and washrooms. They weren’t exactly five-star but at least they could have a strip wash and freshen up for breakfast and dinner.
Unlike many other girls, Madge never really tired of what the British army called ‘bully beef’ so she was happy enough when it was served on the train. Bully beef was actually corned beef, which her mother used to mix with mashed potato and onions into a corned-beef hash. Madge thought back to the happy days before rationing was brought in when there would be a lightly fried egg on top for each of the Graves sisters as an extra treat.
Madge was more worried about the increasing heat which was becoming quite unbearable and causing real health problems aboard the train. Already there had been a mini-outbreak of miliaria rubra, more commonly known as prickly heat, which caused discomfort, particularly in the afternoons when the humidity seemed to be at its worst in India. Phyl had come out with the most awful rash, and with the sun blazing down from dawn to dusk, she was miserable with the discomfort.
Vera sent a plea down the length of the train and thankfully a bottle of calamine lotion appeared which helped to ease Phyl’s blotches and raised spots. Prickly heat was a minor problem, but an early warning that life was about to change in the most drastic of fashions.
Madge and her group had been told in lectures at their stay in Kirkee that they would find many people in India who either spoke or understood English. At best that was wishful thinking. At worst it was untrue because in a country with twenty languages and more than a hundred dialects English didn’t even come second. Much emphasis was placed on the need to respect and understand the beliefs, traditions and dietary demands of a number of religions. Hinduism, Madge learned, was the dominant faith, followed by Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsee, Urdu (taught to the British) and numerous regional creeds. Plus, of course, Christianity.
The Indian caste system and its infinite number of modes and traditions was simply too complex for newcomers to even begin to comprehend. But a delightful Indian nursing sister, who accompanied the group as a liaison officer, informed the girls that there was always one solution to the problem.
‘That solution is patience, dears,’ she told them. ‘The ways of the people out here will seem strange to you, but you must remember that it is their country and you must integrate as best you can. They have what might seem to you very odd beliefs regarding food. For example, you must never ever allow your shadow to fall on food, and be aware that many Hindus do not eat beef as they believe the cow to be a sacred animal and treat it with the utmost respect. Cows are incredibly gentle creatures, and as they produce milk, which can in turn be made into butter, ghee and cheese, you can appreciate why they are so revered. Cow dung is also used as a fertiliser. But, ladies, that is just one of the many ways in which Indians have ideas that are quite different. The best way is to observe and learn and soon you will feel right at home.’
Gertrude Corsar’s VADs were urged to practise and preach extreme levels of hygiene and were repeatedly informed before the journey to wash their hands after even the simplest of meals. So when one of the nurses popped her head into Madge’s carriage and said that a very large and bold rat had been seen scuttling along the corridor everybody simply burst out laughing, after an initial chorus of ‘ooh’s and one or two music hall squeals of mock horror. Madge was particularly amused to see that the tea they had been enjoying so much was boiled in a giant urn into which the stewards slopped a grubby old jug to fill the teapots. She couldn’t imagine what Miss Corsar would have thought about the way things were washed up.
Throughout the journey nobody was allowed to step off the train even though they stopped at least once a day to refuel the steam-driven engine. The train belched so much smoke and grit over the carriages that to leave a window even slightly ajar meant a cabin full of choking fumes.
Three days into their journey, they thought things couldn’t get worse but they were ordered to keep the window blinds drawn for the next thirty-six hours until the train arrived at Howrah Junction railway station in Calcutta. Initially the girls all thought the blackout was simply a way of keeping the heat down in the cabin by stopping the sun blazing in through the windows. When Vera pointed out there wasn’t exactly a lot of sunshine when it went dark, the penny dropped. It was a security measure, and a somewhat alarming one at that. Madge knew that since 1942 Calcutta had lived in fear of a full-scale
