Thursday 26 March 2009

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!

7 comments:

Sumaiya Mehreen said...

Now I really want to read the Maharani ... I'll have to check my library!

It's overwhelming to see the dolls in your setting...enjoying the performance by the dancing girls. I can't believe I made them! Thanks for including them in your project :)

Love and hugs,
Sumaiya.

Sans! said...

Aren't they a sight? The "Chateau de K" scene took a while to set up. As usual, I took the pics and then find the story to fit them :).

I very much doubt you can find the book Sumaiya. I had to buy it in India. It's not even available online. Better luck with Maharajah..but even then..

Mercedes Spencer @ Liberty Biberty said...

You are having fun aren't you...but c'mon I want a story about love, a love that will last forever and an evil Maharajah..tee hee!
Vive la vie bohème!
Mercedes

rosanna said...

Thus Susan you giving us extracts of a most rare book. pay attention and do not stop ...I want to know more about this society. The dollsseem to hae lots of fun!!

rosanna said...

How many mistakes!! I was really tired!! no excuses anyway, I'll pay more attention to my tiping:o((

Tallulah Belle said...

Wonderful Sans...your blog is so much fun.

Sans! said...

Merce: I almost posted a tragic love story of Tara Devi!!

Rosanna : I don't care about your mistakes just keep typing :)

Jayne: I am blogging too much !!

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