Now, If Only We Could Locate Hurree Babu
From Maud Newton, a link to an account of David Morphet's journey to a graveyard in Mumbai where he discovers the original of Kim's Lurgan Sahib:
"We examined the flat white marble slab. It recorded the death in Bombay in 1921 of Mr AM Jacob of Simla, who had been born (no date given) 'at Diarbekir - Turkey'. That was all. At one point, Jacob had become rich through his trade in precious stones, but a court case involving sale of a diamond to the Nizam of Hyderabad had ruined him and he died in poverty. In the book, Kim tries without success to discover who Lurgan really was. Jacob's precise services to the Raj are still unknown. Nor has the curio shop in Simla been identified. Mysteries remain."
"We examined the flat white marble slab. It recorded the death in Bombay in 1921 of Mr AM Jacob of Simla, who had been born (no date given) 'at Diarbekir - Turkey'. That was all. At one point, Jacob had become rich through his trade in precious stones, but a court case involving sale of a diamond to the Nizam of Hyderabad had ruined him and he died in poverty. In the book, Kim tries without success to discover who Lurgan really was. Jacob's precise services to the Raj are still unknown. Nor has the curio shop in Simla been identified. Mysteries remain."
posted by PrufrockTwo at
3.1.06
2 Comments:
Comrade, I recommend Charles Allen's "A Mountain in Tibet" for informed hypotheses about the originals of Lurgan Sahib and the Babu. Fascinating.
J.A.P.
By
J. Alfred Prufrock, at 2:01 PM
Thank you. Will get hold of a copy forthwith.
By
PrufrockTwo, at 2:02 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home