The Story of CYRIL ASKEW

...However, there were tribes and sub-tribes with deadly rivalry; there were Mohmands, Afridis, Mahsuds, Wazirs and Orakzais. Since there was no agreed and defined border, battles raged from disputed territorial ownership and rights of passage. They were all united in Islam, totally lawless and unhappily fine marksmen.

As we became more accustomed to our new surroundings and way of life, just as the locals learned many English words so they could ply their trade with us, we learned to speak Urdu and of course many of these words and expressions became quite commonplace. We quickly found the most important person to know was the "Char-Wallah"; happily these little fellows were everywhere and of course very popular; every time the train stopped each Char-Wallah would choose his carriage and walk up and down the aisles chanting: "Char-Wallah Sahib, Char-Wallah". After that we learned to eat; the favourite was usually supplied by the Char-Wallah or his assistant, so his call would be: "Char-Wallah Sahib... Egg banjo Sahib". We quickly discovered "Egg-Banjo" was a sort of fried egg roll, the quality of which was highly dependant upon the skill of the Char-Wallah. Happily there was no need to haggle as the price was nationally set at 4 annas.

Another useful chap to know was the "Nappi-Wallah" - the barber who would give you a haircut and shave for a tiny sum of money. Sometimes he would be standing there when you wake up, with cut-throat razor at the ready! I remember also one odd sight of a "Fruit Wallah" – this was a chap sitting under a tree selling fresh fruit, but he had a trained monkey which had a habit of recovering the fruit back after it had been purchased! 

The climate was deadly, stinking hot in the lowlands yet much cooler in the mountains. We would go out on patrol or tour for at least a month, looking for the forts along the Kyber Pass border country.

More than anything the Pathan tribesmen were after weapons, so we had to take great care of our rifles. When sleeping, the rifle was tied or chained to my chest... the tribesmen would creep up in the dark and swipe whatever they could. Even at Church Parade, we would go inside and leave rifles in the porch, swapping rifle for a bible, but there had to be armed guards at the door with bayonets fixed. We called these thieves "Swipe Wallahs" or "Loose Wallahs". Although it’s a daft name now, it suited them well enough but of course the punishments were severe when we caught them...