“The bearer, white-turbaned and bare-footed, pulls back the curtains to let in a blaze of sun. Outside the fountains are playing, the birds are shrieking. Cascades of stocks, carnations and petunias hang over the edges of ornamental pools.
Someone is practising on a bugle, and sentries clear their throats with resounding rasps to spit, then stamp their bulbous boots on the gravel. A bearer, in scarlet tunic, comes in, salaams and gives me a parcel tied with ribbon. Another servant, in an enormous cheese-cloth puggaree, brings in a necktie wrapped in coloured paper. It is Christmas Day in Viceroy’s house …
Servants of different categories in scarlet, white and gold liveries stand like poppies behind chairs and tables, or appear in the distance of vast halls and marble enfilades looking as small as figures in a landscape.
Viceroy’s house possesses its own doctor, dispensary, barber and tailor. One hundred and fifty gardeners maintain the borders and the preserves. Altogether 300 servants are employed within these regal confines, but when considering this number you must realise that, due to the caste system, at least six servants are needed to do the work undertaken in England today by one hard-working and aged peeress. Any Englishman, living however quietly and simply in India, will have at least six servants: a cook, a butler, a laundryman, a sweeper, a groom, a gardener, and perhaps one other, Even so, he will be poorly attended, his bungalow dirty, food badly cooked. The Viceroy (Lord Wavell) and his family insist on leading as simple a life as is possible in these awe-inspiring surroundings.”
Delhi, 25th December 1943, from The Selected Diaries of Cecil Beaton.
Wishing you a happy Christmas wherever you may be.
And a Merry Christmas to you too Christopher! Splendidly informative and entertaining as usual, even on Christmas morning……