This is my third year
working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each
week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails
Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and
exciting ways.
I have previously written about my father’s
sister, Lorene E. Hork, who worked for the U.S. Army in Tokyo before she and
three other girl friends left for a trip around the world in the fall of 1953. Check
out Part I, Part II, and Part
III.
New
Delhi
We last left Lorene and her three friends in India,
where they were about to travel by train to New Delhi. Their ride was
twenty-four hours and they had their own compartments with four bunks. To be
careful about what they ate, they brought their own food (“C” rations that her
friend Dick Ebert gave her). They were filthy from all the smoke. They arrived
after nine p.m. and had trouble finding a place to sleep. The YWCA didn’t take
guests after 8 pm. The hotels were too expensive. Finally they went into an
United Press newspaper office and related their troubles. An Indian family
began making up beds on the floor and they stayed there that night.
They toured Delhi by bicycle, and saw the Red
Fort, the Gate of India, and many more beautiful temples and mosques. They
watched a snake charmer charming two large cobras until he stopped and held out
his cup to collect a tip. They hopped on their bikes but the man chased them
with the snake wrapped around his neck and “scared the wits out of us.
Naturally all we could do was give him a rupee—the snake was sort of an
incentive!”[1]
Taj
Mahal
They stopped in Agra to see the Taj Mahal. She
wrote, “Its all made of white marble and precious stones and inside where the
king and his wife are buried is an intricately carved wall of marble
surrounding the tombs. We sat in front of the monument for a long time watching
the sunset and indulging in this magnificent work of art.”[2]
They decided to stay overnight and had a hotel
with two bedrooms, two living rooms and four bathrooms for $4 each with meals
included. She wrote in her letter to her mother, “We can’t believe it because
everything in India so far is quite expensive.”[3]
Bombay
They next traveled to Bombay by plane. They met up
with someone with a plane who was headed to Bombay. Lorene writes it up as:
“We got a lead from the American Express which lead to Peter Baldwin, a part owner of Indamer Co, Ltd, the only non scheduled air outfit in India. Mitzi and Donna did the dirty work, dressed in peddle-pushers & riding bicycles, and gave him a sad tale about our financial difficulties. Luckily he and a few other big shots had planned to fly to Bombay today & they would be only too glad to have us! This lead to our meeting more people and our social life began to boom. The climax was the party given for all the bigwigs connected with air activities for the purpose of selling helicopters to the Indian airways. Forty pounds of caviar plus scotch galore was enjoyed by all including an exiled Polish Count named Zeegi who had a mustache and beard that he called his personality and sex appeal. When he kissed our hands he’d say “Did that tickle?’ We were impressed until we found out he was a number one wolf. We also met the Maharaja’s pilot and many other influential people that paid us to know we got this free hop to Bombay, staying at another ‘Y’ and are waiting to see if there is a possibility to fly to Cairo. If so, it will save us $280 each.”
One
of the highlights of Bombay was two pilots taking them on a flyover the Taj
Mahal. It was for the benefit of two rich Americans but the girls got to go along,
too. They got sick, flying so low and not having breakfast, but she wrote that
it was worth it.[4]
While
in Bombay, they were interviewed and photographed for a woman’s magazine. A copy is shown here.[5]
They
didn’t get much touring in Bombay because of the heat. They met some time at
parties, swimming on a gorgeous beach, and having cocktails with handsome men.
They did tour the Karla Caves.
They
finally left Bombay by ship on October 24.
To be continued…
[1]
Letter to Mother [Anne Hork] from Lorene Hork, 8 Oct 1953, Lorene Hork Letters,
Hork Family Collection; privately held by Lisa S. Gorrell, [address
for private use], Martinez, California.
[2] Letter
to Mother [Anne Hork] from Lorene Hork, 14 Oct 1953, Lorene Hork Letters, Hork
Family Collection.
[3] Letter
to Mother [Anne Hork] from Lorene Hork, 8 Oct 1953, Lorene Hork Letters, Hork
Family Collection.
[4] Letter
to Mother [Anne Hork] from Lorene Hork, 14 Oct 1953, Lorene Hork Letters, Hork
Family Collection.
[5] “Taking
the Long Way Home,” Trend’s Staff Reporter, The
Indian Woman’s Trend, 24 Oct 1953, p. 9.
Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.
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