ceasefire. For Xmas we were all allowed to meet each other for the first time. The two Christian officers got a priest and we all shared two lovely cakes. New Yearâs was also brought in with plenty of singsong, some streamers for decorations and extra good food. Since Xmas we spend all the daylight hours together out in the sun. It is wonderful in this cold Pindi winter. At dusk we return to my room, get a lovely fire going and chat away until dinner. As expectations of a POW camp go, the life is much better than we thought it would be â¦
Tolerable as life is one is very anxious to go home. The twin curses of this place are boredom and lack of news. The first we combat with chess, carrom, and occasionally a rubber of bridge. The latter has no solution, and we really have no idea of the postwar situation in either country.
We even get paid for this confinement at the very handsome rate of Rs 57 per month. This money goes a long way towards tea and supplementing the meals ⦠Our Pakistani captors are very reasonable. We seem to have established a very decent relationship based on humane qualities.
Once again I do wish very hard that you have emerged thru this entire skirmish unscathed â¦
Y. affly
Dilip
It was a carefully written letter that managed to avoid any blackouts from the Pakistani censors. And though there was a great deal left out, what Dilip chose to say, and worded so judiciously, was substantially true. In late December he had been moved from his single cell to a larger room next to the interrogation room. It had been Jafaâs cell originally but after Jafa was moved to the hospital the POWs began to call it Dilipâs cell or âthe Indian tea clubâ. It was the fifth in a line of cells that began at the guardhouse by the gate, but its construction was much older than the first four cells and it was separated from them and the toilet by a narrow alley.
Every day at five oâclock, the eight POWs left the courtyard and assembled in Cell 5 for tea. The room had a fireplace that was lit occasionally for a few hours, and it was furnished with a table and chairs as well as the two charpoys. Soon it became the room where the prisoners ate all their meals. They even acquired a petâa half-grown calico cat, very skinny. It was happy with any scrap of food they threw on the floor for it. They paid little attention to the cat but still it stuck around. âYou could say she adopted us,â remembers Dilip, âand we were grateful.â
Cell 5 was by far the most desirable cell in the complex. It had not only a fireplace and a ceiling fan, but also a window, high up in one wall. At some point Dilip began to share the cell with Chati who was one of the walking wounded. He might have had to share it with Pethia too, but Pethia was suspected of having TB. For several weeks he was put on a course of antibiotics and quarantined in his cell.
Dilip was still determined to escape, but for the moment his plans were not settled. He had had second thoughts about the hostage-taking idea. He realized that a scheme that had worked in the western world, where there seemed to be greater respect for human life, might not work for him in the present situation. He could run into someone along the way who was willing to shoot the hostage, and make short work of him as well. It didnât seem to be a plan destined for success.
In the meantime he had noticed that the wooden frame of the window in his cell was rotting and the mortar that held the frame was deteriorating as well. From what he could tell, the bars were set into the frame alone and didnât extend into the bricks above or below. He figured with a little work he might be able to dislodge the whole frame.
However, even if the window frame gave way and he made it over the wall and onto Mall Road, he would have to be miles away before his escape was discovered. All this would take time to prepare. And he would need a plan not
Tolerable as life is one is very anxious to go home. The twin curses of this place are boredom and lack of news. The first we combat with chess, carrom, and occasionally a rubber of bridge. The latter has no solution, and we really have no idea of the postwar situation in either country.
We even get paid for this confinement at the very handsome rate of Rs 57 per month. This money goes a long way towards tea and supplementing the meals ⦠Our Pakistani captors are very reasonable. We seem to have established a very decent relationship based on humane qualities.
Once again I do wish very hard that you have emerged thru this entire skirmish unscathed â¦
Y. affly
Dilip
It was a carefully written letter that managed to avoid any blackouts from the Pakistani censors. And though there was a great deal left out, what Dilip chose to say, and worded so judiciously, was substantially true. In late December he had been moved from his single cell to a larger room next to the interrogation room. It had been Jafaâs cell originally but after Jafa was moved to the hospital the POWs began to call it Dilipâs cell or âthe Indian tea clubâ. It was the fifth in a line of cells that began at the guardhouse by the gate, but its construction was much older than the first four cells and it was separated from them and the toilet by a narrow alley.
Every day at five oâclock, the eight POWs left the courtyard and assembled in Cell 5 for tea. The room had a fireplace that was lit occasionally for a few hours, and it was furnished with a table and chairs as well as the two charpoys. Soon it became the room where the prisoners ate all their meals. They even acquired a petâa half-grown calico cat, very skinny. It was happy with any scrap of food they threw on the floor for it. They paid little attention to the cat but still it stuck around. âYou could say she adopted us,â remembers Dilip, âand we were grateful.â
Cell 5 was by far the most desirable cell in the complex. It had not only a fireplace and a ceiling fan, but also a window, high up in one wall. At some point Dilip began to share the cell with Chati who was one of the walking wounded. He might have had to share it with Pethia too, but Pethia was suspected of having TB. For several weeks he was put on a course of antibiotics and quarantined in his cell.
Dilip was still determined to escape, but for the moment his plans were not settled. He had had second thoughts about the hostage-taking idea. He realized that a scheme that had worked in the western world, where there seemed to be greater respect for human life, might not work for him in the present situation. He could run into someone along the way who was willing to shoot the hostage, and make short work of him as well. It didnât seem to be a plan destined for success.
In the meantime he had noticed that the wooden frame of the window in his cell was rotting and the mortar that held the frame was deteriorating as well. From what he could tell, the bars were set into the frame alone and didnât extend into the bricks above or below. He figured with a little work he might be able to dislodge the whole frame.
However, even if the window frame gave way and he made it over the wall and onto Mall Road, he would have to be miles away before his escape was discovered. All this would take time to prepare. And he would need a plan not
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