The Omaha guide., 1945-06-23
'S-Sgt L.P.Lewis
Writes From...
the PACIFIC
Cby S Sgt. Lawrence P. Le,s1..
INTO THE INTERIOR

AAN1O liz 14N A1AsAON
Mr.. c. C. Galloway, Editor
The Omaha Guide
2420 Grant Street
Omaha, 10, Nebraska
AS the train slowly pulled out,
| became anxious and very ex-
cited about the trip to come. |
thought Of all the grand sights |
should be able to see. | might be
able to see n of those Indian
rajahs, or some of those beauti-
full Indian women | had heard so
much about. l could picture my
self stretching my neck, looking at
the elephants, camels, and all the
wonders of India l had read so
much about. l did not dread the
train ride at that moment. 1t
was just an adventure | had been
looking forward to.
The first morning on that train
found me up and looking for some
of the wonders l had so expected
to see. The first sight that came
into a clear view was the Indian
villages that looked like the pic
lures I saw Of Africa, instead of
what | thought | would see in In
dia. l waved and smiled my best
smile at the Indians from the train
window, but they only stared at
me. 1t seemed to me that l wasn't
getting off to such a good start,
but there was so much I had to
learn about these Indians and their
ways.
The huts were mostly grass COW
cred, and to my knowledge are
mostly built by the Indians who
live in them. They are small, and
many are grouped together; hav-
ing a foot trail leading to the vii
lage. Very seldom you are able
to see many of the inhabitants.
Most of them stay inside when
they see you passing. In the
larger communities this is not so,
as far as men are concerned. l
have visited a city, which to my
estimation, must have had a pop
ulation of at least ten thousand,
but I did not see one woman dur
ing my afternoon there. Some
times you may see a few in the
market place selling vegetables,
fruit, or fish, but 1 had no business
there, and I was not going to buy
any of their goods. Often you may
see a large group of Indian women
working on the roads, in tea fields,
or doing some type of construction
work, but big Baboo," as they
very frequently call him, will keep
you a safe distance away.
I felt a little ' as the
train moved through, what | would
term, the wilderness. l cannot say
for sure if it was jungles, but l
am not experienced as far as jun
giles are concerned. Somehow |
was afraid of the darkness of these
long and lonely nights. | had lit
tie to be frightened Of, but how
was I to know. l didn't know
where I vas going, and that train
was putting many a mile behind
US. 1t could have been the silence
Of this strange country with these
Indians who did not wave at you.
or the continued rain that left me
damp and with a cold. If all he'll
had broken loose, l would not have
been surprised, but l have never
seen a day Of hell, such as thou
sands Of Americans have been
through.
Every town we entered, | thought
and prayed would be the last. The
train continued on and on just
the same. Fields of rice were evil
dent most of the way, and cattle,
I have no right to mention cattle.
They were all along the side of
the tracks, on the roads, every
where you looked you could see
cattle Of all descriptions. Many
Of the huts in which the Indians
lived housed the cattle in a shed
that was built connecting to the
hut. Water Buffaloes, enormous
in size, and greyish-black in color,
pulled the plows that cultivated the
fields. Little cows, big cows, black
cows, white cows, skinny cows, all
kinds of cows, roaming here and
there. | don't see how they keep
track Of them. Goats, no use talk
ing about goats, I'll just skip them.
Sometimes we laughed and joked,
trying to keep the ride from get
ting on or nerves We played cards
until you couldn't tell an ace from
a king Gone wa ny eT. eta
ton of seeing the beautiful and
! romantic spots that | thought |