Evening star., 1943-03-17
u. 5. Flyers in India
Go on Tiger Hunt as
kaharaja S Guests
lIveried Servitors
Are Provided for
Fonoy Pants Affair
BY PRESTON GROVER.

COCtH BEHAR, llGl2 tDclaNeG
In this quaint land where no white
man ever has taken prolonged root
group Of American avlatorS has
found 4 spot as remote from the
feel Of war as towering Mount
Everest.
They play around as II they owned
the place and the Maharala Of
CooCh Behar. his hiohncsS Jagad-
dipendra Narayan Bhup Behadur
one Of the youngest mahara Jas ll-
India, has accepted them as casually
as in a college club. Cooch Behal
is one Of the smaller princely states
In India and the present Maharaja
now q and educated at Harrow and
Cambridge, can trace his ancestry
back to 700 AID
The state, southeast Of Mount Ev-
crest. is about the size Of Connecti-
cut, but the maharaia is by all ODDS
the most popular Indian in India
with the American Air Forces. The
pilots who know him best simply
call him chief" and he calls them
by their first names. The lads know
every Granny Of the palace and are
frequently there nights on end for
lunch. to play billiards or, perhaps
equally often, to play poker.
Mother Loves Poker.
And that's where lots Of the fun
comes in because the maharaia S
mother, the Maharani Indlra Dew
loves good game Of poker and is
not doing 50 badly against Yankee
opponents. She is a lively person
who, like her son, has Travelled 10
every corner Of Europe. speaks Eng
llsh as ffuently as BengaL and knows
enough palace lore about the
maharajas Of India to fill 10 volumes.
And just to ADD that extra dash,
the place is alive with princesses,
each so pretty you wonder why
Hollywood hasn't grabbed her. In
dian girls marry young and all but
one are married. She, Begun
Kamalunissa. daughter of the War
Minister of Hyderabad. biggest and
Uealthiest state in India, is called
baby and is cute as twinkle.
But the invitations which bring
American officers to the palace as
guests are only the frosting on the
cake. The real sport comes from
the hunting.
There are not many tigers In
Cooch Behar; it's the method of
hunting them that makes such an
invitation big prize 1t is one of
the remaining two or three places in
India where the hunts stills are in
the stvle Of the old moguls. The
hunters are mounted on elephants,
while another string of elephants
beats the tigers out of the jungle.
In most spots in India, guest
hunters are simply led out to where
a tiger has eaten so much meat
from a freshly killed OK that he
feels stupid. and 1t is slow pot
shot to bring him down. Not so in
Cooch Behar, The tiger comes
roaring out OF the thick grass and
brush, scattering panicked elephants
In every direction.
Reporter Hunts. Too.
The Maharaja invited three
American officers and myself to one
of these tiger hunts. The officers
were Capt. Lloyd Hubbard of No.
komls, Ill; 1t. Herbert Ross of New
York and 1t. Herbert T. Pickering
of Rupert, Idaho.
A dozen enlisted men. on leave,
also were mounted on elephants In
the line of beaters.
On one beat" three tigers were
herded into one small patch OF
jungle. For half hour stretch,
tigers were roaring and elephants
were hooting and sQuawling in their
excitement and nervousness. The
soldiers, who had come out armed to
man with box cameras to film the
fun. soon were clutching like death
to the pads on the backs OF the ele-
phants as the tigers charged so close
the boys could have hit them with
sticks, Scared elephants spun
around like tops and tootled of into
the high grass, soldiers hanging on
tighter than leeches
But 1t was a wonder hunt such as
could be found only in India. Guests
we're housed in individual two-room
tents, and warm water was brought
In each evening for baths. The
Americans who thought hunt was
a hunt and no fancy pants affair,
sent frantically back to town for
dress uniforms Meals were served
by liverled servants.
Often enough lunch was served In
the field, hauled 10 some sharv spot
on the backs Of elephants. Every
thing had been worked out on a
pattern handed down for genera
tons. The only departure was the
master Of the hunt, a bearded old
Indian who must have seen an
American newsreel, because he stood
up on the back Of his elephant. rid
Ing him like surfboard, hanging
In Our