Enlightening article by Kanak Mani Dixit ('The Lahure of Kot Kangra', #278) Even as a member of the British Army I was unaware of some of the facts presented. During our extensive recruiting phase in the brigade where our culture, tradition, religious faith (Hinduism) and brigade history are taught, our history starts from 1814-1816 when a young British Officer, 2Lt Fredrick Young was taken POW by the Gurkhas (Gorkhas of that time). He was so impressed by our fighting spirit and professionalism that he offered to take some of the native Gorkhas to recruit into the then East Indian Army and that was how our history begins. I believe the sole reason why we are not taught the 1809 incident and Maharajah Ranjit Singh has something to do with our proud tradition of Gurkhas joining directly into the British (then East Indian) Army rather than Gurkhas first joining Maharajah Ranjit Singh paving the way for very watchful Gora-shaibs, which would mean Gurkhas didn't join British Army first hand and which also would mean that 2Lt Fredrick Young's impression of the Gurkhas recruitment was influenced by the Gurkhas joining Maharajah Ranjit Singh. So the history taught to us will continue to say that there was mutual respect amongst the two great adversaries that led to the start of this proud tradition. It sounds better this way. Yet, I have learnt the correct history from Dixit's article and will cite it wherever I have an opportunity.

Ram Kumar Rai,
email