9.
The Polish Children's Camp in Balachadi-Jamnagar
The law of love could be
best understood
And learned through little children.
Mahatma Ghandi
The Polish children's camp at
Balachadi-Jamnagar was In the Indian state of Gujarat.
The camp's hilly situation provided a panoramic view of
the surrounding landscape. Golden sand on the beach
glistened In the tropical sun and the clear blue sea
beyond it reflected hot sunrays. The sunsets were a
magnificent sight to behold. The crystal clear moonlit
sky was Illuminated by numerous twinkling stars. It was
full moon when we arrived. The tranquillity of the night
was Invariably interrupted by the eerie howling of wild
hyenas and jackals which roamed the wide arid expanse
around the camp.
During the day the Maharajah's summer residence, situated
on a rocky outcrop near the sea, was clearly visible. It
stood there like an ancient castle, forbidding, yet a
constant object of our curiosity and a starting point of
many conversations.
In late December we experienced the very hot dry season
of the tropics. Its extreme heat caused the surrounding
landscape to become parched and cracked, giving the land
a jigsawlike surface. Black antelopes, hyenas and jackals
roamed these plains and there were numerous snakes and
brightly coloured birds such as parrots and doves. The
male parrots were equipped with the most attractive
plumage of emerald green and turquoise blue basic colours
with a rainbow-coloured neck band outlined In black. Red
beaks and legs complemented this magnificent attire. The
females had a plain green plumage, with yellow feathers
under their wings.
On Kathlawar Peninsula beyond, the Maharajah of Jamnagar
owned the large Gir Forest Reserve, the only reserve for
the Asiatic lion In India. It was estimated to contain
approximately 300 of this species, one of the rarest and
most important wild animals of the Indian subcontinent,
yet the least well known. These beasts once roamed freely
over North-west India and as far 'south as the Narbada
River. By 1885 they had been hunted almost to extinction,
except In the Gir Forest Reserve. British Viceroys and
Indian Princes considered It a special privilege to be
invited on rare occasions to hunt In the Gir Forest.
These expeditions were Infrequent to ensure survival of
this endangered species.
Our camp consisted of long barracks with clay-brick walls
painted white and orange-coloured curved tile roofs.
There were no ceilings. Small, curtainless windows freely
admitted the sun and the moonlight, which illuminated the
Interior of our long dormitories at night. Each barrack
was equipped with two cold shower enclosures, two toilets
and a washroom with six hand-basins to cater for about 60
children. The matron's room was next door. About 30
wooden beds with a sturdy jute net base lined each
dormitory In neat rows lengthwise on both sides of the
narrow passage.
Beside each bed was a wooden locker. Kapok pillows and
mattresses were provided, also cotton sheets, pillow
slips and woolen army blankets. Nets over our beds spread
on four-post wooden stands protected us from
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Large white termites were
also our frequent visitors. It was not uncommon for a bed
or a locker to collapse suddenly. The wooden Interiors of
our furniture were Invariably devoured by these large
tropical ants. The smooth earth floors were regularly
plastered over with cow dung and mud, apparently a
mixture with antiseptic qualities.
Our barracks were constructed In parallel, straight rows
In a quadrangle. Staff quarters, classrooms, kitchen,
dining rooms and a laundry occupied a separate section of
the camp, as did a small camp hospital with an adjacent
dispensary. The camp chapel was located centrally. This
was the Important spiritual centre of our camp as most of
our large group were devout Roman Catholics. The focal
point In the large quadrangle facing the chapel was a
tall mast with the white and red Polish national flag
fluttering In the breeze. Each morning and evening all
the children assembled in this courtyard for prayers and
hymns of thanksgiving, glorifying the Almighty God who
had saved us from slavery In the USSR.
It was customary to choose a girl and a boy to raise the
Polish flag each morning, to lower It every evening and
tie It around the flag mast. It was an honour to be
selected for this daily ritual. Only those who were
considered worthy of this privilege were chosen and we
all waited anxiously for our names to be announced. Our
meals were simple, but wholesome. No one was permitted to
leave anything on their plates. Porridge for breakfast
was typical, and lunch consisted of two or three slices
of bread with soup and a banana, a mango or a slice of
papaya. Most of us had never tasted this exotic fruit
before, but we soon became accustomed to these unusual
foods. We especially liked the smooth texture of bananas,
so soothing to our tender gums. Having been deprived of
vitamin C In the USSR, many of us still had bleeding
gums, which could be pulled away from our teeth. Dinner,
prepared by Indian staff, usually consisted of an Indian
curry and rice, with a small side salad. Gradually we
began to appreciate this heavily spiced food. Although
our general health was now sound, there were still
children suffering from rickets caused by the shortage of
calcium phosphate in their bones. One boy persistently
examined rubbish bins for egg shells, which he devoured
eagerly, In spite of being punished If caught.
During week days the children attended kindergarten and
primary school. There were no secondary school age
orphans at our camp. All instruction was In Polish. Older
children were Introduced to English as a second language,
taught by two English-speaking Czechoslovak monks. They
had been missionaries in India for many years and had the
advantage of being able to understand Polish, a language
akin to their own native tongue.
In the weekends the boys played soccer and hockey, and
the girls, netball and hockey. We also enjoyed our swims
In the warm, tropical sea, only an hour's walk from the
camp. The great abundance of unusual, brightly coloured,
speckled shells of varying shapes and sizes was a
constant source of fascination. We loved collecting
seashells and crabs.
Our group at Jamnagar was now much larger than the
original smaller group at Kermene, as more Polish
children and staff had joined us at Ashkhabad and later
at Meshed. Having been together in Kermene and Ashkhabad
in the USSR, later In Meshed In Iran, and now at
Balachadi-Jamnagar in India, the children and staff of
our orphanage had become a very large, but close-knit
'family' of over 1,000 *) people.
Occasionally we visited one of the nearby Indian
villages. I can recall clearly the primitive clay huts,
devoid of any furniture, with small openings for windows
and a door. Their only interior decorations consisted of
images of their favourite Gods placed in one corner of
the room on a simple wooden or clay stand. Food offerings
were placed In front of the statue. Usually there was at
least one mat on the earth floor and a small primitive
stove In another part of the room, where pancakes
(chapatees) were cooked. The main meal consisted of curry
and rice with dahl, a paste made from chick peas or
lentils. Chilies were used liberally and chewed
frequently. The Hindu temple and the village well were
the focal point of village life. Here women drew water
for drinking, did their washing, hitting their garments
on large stones, and In the evenings men gossiped while
they smoked. Water buffalo drank water from a nearby,
muddy pond. Both men and their cattle bathed In the pond
in the hot, dry summers.
The social structure in the villages was based on the
caste system which, In those days, was very rigid. Each
caste occupied a separate hamlet of dwellings grouped
together. The Untouchables or Harijans were the lowest
social stratum, confined to the village outskirts. The
Brahmans or priests lived In more comfortable, spacious
compounds in the best village location. Each caste
carried out Its traditional Inherited occupation. The
Indians also married within their particular caste. Holy
men with their strings of coloured wooden prayer beads,
their white beards and painted bodies, aroused our
curiosity, as did the snake charmers who carried
poisonous cobra snakes In covered cane baskets. We were
fascinated to see how they mesmerised the snakes with
their monotonous flute music.
In India, nearly all rural people went to the weekly
markets, although they had little surplus to sell. It was
a social occasion. They carried their wares on their
heads for many kllometres. On market day, stalls would
sprout around small villages and towns. It was a day for
gossip, sounding out the marriage market for one's
children and a time to seek traditional herbal medicines.
Wealthier women visited local jewelers to spend hundreds
of rupees on gold and silver bangles, earrings and nose
studs. Even near destitute families bought jewelry of
brass, tin, glass and coloured beads. Jewelry was
regarded as an Investment to be given as a dowry or sold
in the face of starvation.
Small traders and artisans lived over their shops in one
part of the village or town, metal workers In another,
grain traders and truck operators elsewhere. Low
buildings, narrow streets and open sewers were a common
sight In rural and urban areas. Poverty was worst In the
countryside, but much more visible In the towns, as rural
dwellers streamed In, seeking an opportunity to make a
little money. Overcrowding in the towns and villages was
compounded by large numbers of animals In the streets,
monkeys, goats, chickens and sacred white cows. We
enjoyed many new experiences in this unfamiliar culture.
After our visits to a village or the nearby Jamnagar
urban area we were generally the more appreciative of our
somewhat more sophisticated facilities in the camp.
Each afternoon, during the most oppressive heat of the
day, we had an enforced rest period In our barracks.
During the evenings, after dinner, Alek and I were
permitted to visit Mother's quarters. Her small room with
toilet facilities was part of a long barrack occupied by
staff members. Her unit was at the extreme end of the
building. She had a small garden where we grew peanuts
and a few flowers. Alek also kept a pair of brightly
coloured parrots In a cage. These brief visits enabled us
to have closer contact with Mother, but otherwise we were
fully Integrated into the structure and the spirit of our
large orphanage family. Our relationships with the staff
were cordial, but the presence of our own mother meant we
were different from most of the orphans, who had now lost
that precious bond.
With the approaching monsoon season In May, the
previously cloudless sky began to darken, heralding the
coming rains. The temperatures still remained high, and
by now several children were suffering from malaria. They
spent much time In the camp hospital, while the worst
cases were admitted Into the Jamnagar Hospital. At the
camp, Mother was the sister-in-charge of the hospital.
She was assisted by an Anglo-Indian lady, Doctor Bloxam
and an Indian chemist, Pardesi.
Around mid-May the monsoon rain, upon which Indian
agriculture relied, arrived. It literally burst from the
sky and it then rained continuously day and night for
over three months. The monsoon then began its retreat,
with intermittent dry spells. Our primitive barracks
started leaking. At first this seemed an exciting novelty
and we were happy to Improvise to stay dry by placing two
beds upon one another, with both mattresses on top.
However, within a week or two the accumulated moisture
soaked through to the bed below, on which two children
slept in a top and tall position. More children succumbed
to malaria. Mosquitoes readily bred in this tropical
humidity. A group of children developed tuberculosis, my
brother among them. They were sent to Panchgani, to the
sanatorium there.
I was one of the badly affected malaria victims. This
debilitating Illness is characterized by a dramatic
decrease of body temperature in the morning accompanied
by intense shivering and goose pimples on the skin's
surface. After some hours one's temperature gradually
rises until It becomes extremely high in the evening and
through the night. The Ill person sweats profusely and
can be delirious. I had the unpleasant sensation of
suffocation as the whole room seemed to cave in upon me.
This was accompanied by extreme thirst. There was no
respite from this condition till the early hours of the
morning, when my temperature began to drop, leaving me
weak and generally exhausted. Doses of quinine were
administered to us to combat malaria, but it Invariably
recurred. Many of us spent intermittent periods In
hospital. We lost weight and our studies suffered because
of Ill health and absence from school.
In September 1943 a visiting medical team selected the
six girls most affected by malaria and two teachers who
were also ravaged by the disease and arranged for the
group to be sent to a health resort of Naini Tal near
Nepal, In north-west India. I was among this group of
convalescents. Our train journey from Jamnagar across
north-west India was an unforgettable experience,
revealing to us another dimension of the Indian
subcontinent.
We were allotted a special carriage consisting of two
separate sleeping compartments, with no internal
connection between the two parts. This carriage was
joined to various trains on our way. Fresh food was
regularly brought to us. This included a daily dinner of
Indian curry and rice with dahl and a small side salad.
We admired the changing landscape as our journey
progressed, first through lowlands and later across hilly
terrain. The Indian trains were very overcrowded, with
passengers spilling into doorways and a few even managing
to occupy the connections between carriages. Beggars
accosted us regularly, assuming that we were wealthy
Europeans. I remember a heavily pregnant Indian woman
eating banana skins, begging for food. We were moved by
the plight of these poor and shared our food with some,
but It was impossible to satisfy their needs with our
very meagre resources.
Half-way through our train journey, an Indian man
conscripted into the army was allocated to our
compartment. He was very upset and in an intoxicated
state. He tried to communicate with us in English, but
our knowledge of that language was insufficient. A few
hours later he attempted to rape one of our girls as the
train sped along through a rural area. Our chaperone,
shocked and terrified, pulled the train emergency lever.
The train came to an abrupt halt. Everyone cried, except
me. I was too stunned to respond and just sat frozen,
unable to comprehend the traumatic events. Railway
personnel investigating our compartment realised that our
distress had something to do with the Indian's behaviour
so he was removed forthwith. Our journey then continued
uneventfully to our destination.
Naini Tal was a health resort situated among wooded hills
and a large lake In the lower Himalayas near Nepal. Here
many British families holidayed during the hot, dry
season. They lived In comfort, surrounded by native
servants. We were housed in a well-appointed bungalow. We
enjoyed the clean, crisp mountain air, the magnificent
scenery, beautiful gardens and good English food, while
dining in an adjacent restaurant. Our wonderful holiday
was funded by the generous Maharajah of Jamnagar.
Our carefree life in this dreamland was shattered with
the sudden news of the untimely death of General
Sikorski, whose plane had been shot down over Gibraltar.
Tragically, this great Polish statesman, the Prime
Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile, died before
his vision of the United States of Europe could be
realised. He had envisaged a free Poland, occupying a
place of pride among the United Nations of the European
continent. While at Naini Tal we became acutely aware of
the war In Asia, where the British and Indian forces
fought the Japanese in the jungles of Burma, beyond
India's eastern frontier. After the Pearl Harbour
massacre, French Indochina, British Singapore and Malaya,
and the Dutch East Indies (now called Indonesia), were
quickly occupied by Japan before the war spread Into
Burma. The horror of war was again too apparent, close to
India's eastern borders.
Meanwhile, Nazi Germans were being expelled from North
Africa by allied forces and Western Europe was being
liberated by the joint efforts of British, Canadian and
American forces. In Southern Europe, the British forces,
with the Polish army evacuated from the USSR and helped
by New Zealanders and Australians, were making great
headway in Italy. The Soviet army was simultaneously
penetrating deep Into Eastern Europe and installing
communist governments In reconquered Eastern European
nations. As the allied armies closed In on Nazi Germany,
the final defeat of Nazism seemed Imminent.
Our three month sojourn In Naini Tal renewed our strength
after the ravages of malaria. We had been enriched by
this experience of life In India, among the British
colonists. Although we were reluctant to leave these
beautiful surroundings, we were glad to return to the
Polish Children's Camp in Balachadi-Jamnagar to be
reunited with our compatriots. I looked forward to seeing
Mother again and my school friends there.
We soon settled into the monotonous daily routine of the
camp. I was now completing the last class of primary
school. There was no secondary school at the Jamnagar
Polish camp, so older students looked forward to their
transfer to the much larger Polish Refugees' Camp at
Valivade-Kolhapur on the Deccan Peninsula. There we could
continue our high school education In Polish. The
anticipated transfer was to occur towards the end of
March 1944.
*) corrected from 3,000 to 1,000 (5.11.2003)
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