Jackie, Bruce and me with a Leopard cub brought in by local people who had killed the mother

My father Christopher, my mother Jackie, my brother Bruce and me on a boat trip at a swimming hole we called the Chumpah Bari

    Above: An illustration from the days of the British Raj: Nothing seems to have changed - the local chickens were scrawny and poor eating in our  time too, probably still are.

    At one time in the early 1950s, my father, at vast expense and effort, imported half a dozen Rhode Island Red chickens to improve the local breed.  The very large chicken run at the back of the bungalow was re-fenced and properly netted for the VIP arrivals  - all in vain as the climate, rats, snakes and other problems rapidly reduced the Rhode Islander population to zero.

Assam Boys

Alick and a deer at the Tilbhoom Bungalow circa early 1949