Word: bengalis
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...settled down in a small, tin-roofed cottage in a dense tropical forest surrounded by ponds, coconut and betel palm groves and paddy fields. He dismissed his retinue of ipo people except for a stenographer and a teacher, who thought Gandhi at 77 not too old to learn Bengali. Often at Shrirampore Gandhi sang Rabindranath Tagore's Ekla Chalo (Walk Alone). Out one day for his afternoon walk, Gandhi tried to cross a bamboo-stick bridge, slipped and was saved from a splash by his teacher. Murmured Gandhi (who rarely misses a chance at homely symbolism): "Crossing bamboo bridges...
...attempt to put the finger of blame on any one or any thing for this predicament is either impossible or difficult. You might find fault with Hindustan climatology, and carefully show the effects of the monsoon rain on the caloric intake of the Bengali peasant; there is some relation. Or you might find the Hindu religion, totalling 65 percent of the population, a hindrance to progress in its rigid caste definitions. Then, there are always the British, for it was through their policy of laissez-faire that little or no social advancement was achieved in India...
...less valuable, were huge rubber relief maps of enemy territory which could be rolled up like a rug. For castaways on life rafts: charts on rubberized cloth. For flyers over "the Hump": a cloth map with a request for aid printed on it in Chinese, Burmese, Lisu, Kachin, Hindustani, Bengali-and English...
...little shack which was so dirty and wet and crowded that we hardly slept at all. The sandflies were absolutely appalling. The next night we came rather unexpectedly to a clean, well-ordered Chinese camp. Here was a Chinese colonel, an interpreter who spoke Chinese, English, Urdu, Hindu, Bengali, Nepali and Assamese! and four Chinese medical officers. They had nearly 50 patients. They seemed delighted to see us and for vague promises of assistance in the future they were embarrassingly grateful. They showered the most lavish hospitality on us and produced something very like a slap-up Chinese feast...