As part of the memoir I am writing, and from which I am publishing work in progress on this blog, I now begin an occasional series on things I own. My life (and other lives in the 20th and 21st century) has been lived in a culture in which ownership is pursued and valued. I own a lot of objects and continue to acquire more, and to separate from some, whether by decay, or loss, or, increasingly sale - I have a 100% rating on ebay. I don't uncritically accept this behavior, or reject it. I am not in control of it and am somewhat ashamed of it of it but also defiantly indulge it. I hope to understand it better by writing about it.
The image below is of a Kukri, a Nepalese knife particularly associated with the Gurkha people but also used by other Nepalese and North Indian peoples. The Wikipedia Article is useful. My father bought this particular Kukri from a night watchman at the army camp in Northern India at which he was stationed during the Second World War. My father was born in Ceylon and returned there after schooling in Scotland to work as a tea planter, which was also his father's profession. My parents and most other British planters had left Ceylon by the time I was of an age to start work, but I sometimes wish I could have been a tea planter. When WW2 was declared my father joined the army, probably the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps, and served in India. I remember playing with some of his military kit, belts and pouches, when I was growing up in plantation bungalows. Here is a link to a photograph of one of those bungalows, where I first encountered the Kukri and played with my father's kit. I took the photograph on a visit to Sri Lanka (as it was then called) in 1996. My relationship with my father was sometimes troubled. I am not sure what year he died - or of the dates of many other important events in my life. Late in the 20th century or early in the 21st.
The Kukri is a working knife without the ornamentation of some of the samples in the Wikipedia article, but it is well made and serviceable. I have used it to slash blackberries on a fishing trip and clear weeds in a garden. I have never used it to decapitate an ox with one blow, which I have heard was the Gurkha standard of proficiency with the knife. The scabbard is not original - it was made with great artistry by a cobbler in Moruya, New South Wales, when I was living at Tuross Head.
So much for the Kukri.
The image below is of a Kukri, a Nepalese knife particularly associated with the Gurkha people but also used by other Nepalese and North Indian peoples. The Wikipedia Article is useful. My father bought this particular Kukri from a night watchman at the army camp in Northern India at which he was stationed during the Second World War. My father was born in Ceylon and returned there after schooling in Scotland to work as a tea planter, which was also his father's profession. My parents and most other British planters had left Ceylon by the time I was of an age to start work, but I sometimes wish I could have been a tea planter. When WW2 was declared my father joined the army, probably the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps, and served in India. I remember playing with some of his military kit, belts and pouches, when I was growing up in plantation bungalows. Here is a link to a photograph of one of those bungalows, where I first encountered the Kukri and played with my father's kit. I took the photograph on a visit to Sri Lanka (as it was then called) in 1996. My relationship with my father was sometimes troubled. I am not sure what year he died - or of the dates of many other important events in my life. Late in the 20th century or early in the 21st.
The Kukri is a working knife without the ornamentation of some of the samples in the Wikipedia article, but it is well made and serviceable. I have used it to slash blackberries on a fishing trip and clear weeds in a garden. I have never used it to decapitate an ox with one blow, which I have heard was the Gurkha standard of proficiency with the knife. The scabbard is not original - it was made with great artistry by a cobbler in Moruya, New South Wales, when I was living at Tuross Head.
So much for the Kukri.
The kukri machete is an incredible tool. The thin base of the blade is used for whittling, the weighted upper section is used for chopping, the tip for piercing or stabbing, and the unsharpened back edge near the point for skinning. The small notches are allegedly for disrupting the blood flow from the blade to the grip, or alternatively for disarming an attacker's weapon.
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