04-23-2004, 05:05 AM
A vignette from 1876 written by a Memsahib. It is ot very complementary to Indians, but then few of the English bothered to say anything nice about Indians in those days (perhaps true even today). I am assuming it is a autobiographical account.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bur...er-II-XXII.html
Book II, Chapter XXII." by Isabel Lady Burton (1831-1896)
From: The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton Volume II, by Isabel Lady Burton, edited by W. H. Wilkins.
New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1897. pp. 574-603
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bombay servants are dull and stupid. They always do the wrong thing for preference. They break everything they touch, and then burst into a "Yah, yah, yah!" like a monkey. If you leave half a bottle of sherry, they will fill it up with hock, and say, "Are they not both white wines, Sá'b?" If you call for your tea, the servant will bring you a saucer, and stare at you. If you ask why your tea is not ready, he will run downstairs and bring you a spoon, and so on. As he walks about barefoot you never hear him approach. You think you are alone in the room, when suddenly you are made to jump by seeing a black face close to you, star-gazing. If you have a visitor, you will see the door slowly open, and a black face protruded at least six times in a quarter of an hour. They are intensely curious, but otherwise as stolid as owls.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bur...er-II-XXII.html
Book II, Chapter XXII." by Isabel Lady Burton (1831-1896)
From: The Romance of Isabel Lady Burton Volume II, by Isabel Lady Burton, edited by W. H. Wilkins.
New York: Dodd Mead & Co., 1897. pp. 574-603
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bombay servants are dull and stupid. They always do the wrong thing for preference. They break everything they touch, and then burst into a "Yah, yah, yah!" like a monkey. If you leave half a bottle of sherry, they will fill it up with hock, and say, "Are they not both white wines, Sá'b?" If you call for your tea, the servant will bring you a saucer, and stare at you. If you ask why your tea is not ready, he will run downstairs and bring you a spoon, and so on. As he walks about barefoot you never hear him approach. You think you are alone in the room, when suddenly you are made to jump by seeing a black face close to you, star-gazing. If you have a visitor, you will see the door slowly open, and a black face protruded at least six times in a quarter of an hour. They are intensely curious, but otherwise as stolid as owls.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->