Day 46-The Himalayan Home of Gaiety

Much gaiety, alcohol and merry making in the Chateau de Kapurthala

THE HIMALAYAN HOME OF GAIETY

The Maharajah of Kapurthala and the Maharajas of other States like Patiala, Rajpipla, Panna , Nabha and Jind, gave sumptuous dinner parties at Mussoorie to which they invited the cream of the society of Mussoorie as well as British officers and civilians, both English and Indian, along with their consorts.

I well remember the several dinner parties and receptions held at Chateau de Kapurthala during the period of my stay there. Balls were very popular, particular fancy dress balls where men and women disguised themselves in various types of dresses, a lot of alcoholic drinks and sumptuous food were served and merrymaking went on throughout the night. Men and women- both English and Indian-quickly got intoxicated. Printed Dance Cards were issued to the participants before the ball to make reservations for dancing and it was very seldom that British women refused the invitation of an Indian man to dance and to reserve dance for him in their dance cards.

While dancing was going on, dozens of couples would disappear into the park and miss their dancing reservations. What happened in the park is left to readers to guess, but my Indian friends told me that they had tremendous success with the women. There were benches in the dark, secluded places in the park where the couples enjoyed each others company to their hearts' content...

This is an extract from Chapter 3 of Maharani by Diwan Jarmani Dass. Therefore, ALL the words were HIS and none of them mine. I only deleted one word from the passage in case someone finds it offensive.

Maya, Tara, Jai and Raj Singh's are completely exhausted from the 6 day journey home and the wild party that they had to attend.. so Subha Ratri, everyone and Goodnight!