THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

clothing from abroad was much in evidence amongst relatives of Gurkha
soldiers and appeared to be an important mark of status end (indirect)
contact with the outside world. A popu!ar T-shirt while we were
conducting our fieldwork showed a Chinese man painting over the Union
Jack with a Chinese red flag, the words 'Hong Kong 1997' printed below.
The normal length of service in the British Gurkhas was fifteen
years: a minimum of ten years had to be served to receive a pension, and
fifteen were required for a full pension. This pension was often higher
than the regular wage of a soldier in the Indian army (the other main
source of military service). People were generally impressed with the
welfare support offered by the Gurkhas. The Gurkha Welfare Officer (a
retired lahure 'ex-serviceman' 1 came round once a year to see how ex-
servicemen and their families were getting on, and could arrange ex
~ r tia a payments to those in need. Some did seem to slip through the
net, however, One ex-servicemen, a Gurung, had served in the Second
World War and had obviously been somewhat shell-shocked. He lived a
most impecunious life selling chestnuts in season because his wife was
said to have run off with his pension book. An event from the past
still remembered around the community was when the gravely il! wife of a
Gurkha soldier had been flown back to Tamaphok by he1 icopter to die at
home. This trip was said to be the reason for the profound deafness of
her youngest son, then a baby, because nobody had remembered to put
cotton wool in his ears to protect them from the noise,
Allied to the salaries and amenities offered by the Gurkhas were the
travel opportunities, The destinations reached depended on the
campaigns being fought (or peace-time deployment) at the time. Many of
the ex-servicemen had been in Malaya - indeed, some older people st i l!