Gurkha Highlander 2008

Gurkha Highlander 2008 officially launched at Prestonpans at the War Memorial on Saturday afternoon. We had a great turn out with lots of Girl Guides rattling cans for us and several Royal British Legion members who had come from as far afield as Hawick for the event. The local papers covered it, and then we all went to the Church Hall for an excellent tea. Personally I was delighted to see the serious amount of filling that had been put in the sandwiches - I’m not so keen on the bread, but I do like a good thick filling.
The Gurkhas ran into a drunk slumped near the War Memorial, who pulled himself to his feet and threw a pretty smart salute.
“ Did ye get yer eeayrh…” He was lost for words.
“ Pension?” I offered.
“ Aye PENSION,” he emphasised.
“Not in full”
“ Bastards!” and he staggered off into the pub.
The lads themselves are from six different Nepalese tribes, from a Lal who is short and stocky from living at over 10,000 ft, to a Chitri, who is more like an Indian and comes from the lowlands. They are wonderfully cheery, some recently back from Afghanistan.
“ How was it” asked their compatriots eagerly
“ It was wonderful - we could have as much ammunition as we wanted and we could kill anyone who fired at us. It was so funny - one day, a ricochet bullet hit Rajen on his helmet. We all fell about laughing!”
Saturday night they cooked a curry for us which was excellent - and mountainous. They are not that big but they can certainly eat.You may have heard about Nepal now being run by Maoists. Of course, being Nepalese, they have huge respect for everyone unlike their Chinese namesakes. As one of the boys said “ We have had blood pain and tears for years but now we have clever uncorrupt people in power who may be good for us.”
And of course, they particularly respect the Gurkhas. As Capt. Gurung said, “ Yes yes, they consult us before doing very much. We are the most respected grouping in Nepal. We don’t make policy, or get involved, but if we don’t like it we tell them, and they listen.”
So this morning we drove to Mallaig and took Bruce Watt’s ferry over to Inverie . There are no roads there. You have to take a boat or walk in. In our case, we took the boat in the and lads will walk out. We passed a basking shark and some puffins, both of which excited the boys enormously.
As I recrossed back to Mallaig I saw them disappear into the drizzle. I have to pick them up in seven hours or so from where they walk out of the peninsula. As one of them said.” Oh, this is such fun - we get to walk in the mountains again!”
I love the Gurkhas. Donate online at www.gwt.org.uk