| caption: |
Chapter five. Change of Course |
| caption: |
making plans to return to the Nagas, thwarted by the outbreak of war |
| text: |
(40) Arrived home in 1939 I at once laid plans to return in order to continue work among the Nagas. At first everything went swimmingly. My photographs were the best I had ever taken, and as a programme for the winter took shape it looked as though I might really be able to achieve something even if it did mean a big outlay in film stock, fares and camp equipment. But the moment my passage was booked and it all seemed settled, luck turned. From then on, the more the kit and the films piled up, the less and less chance there was that I should ever use them. On one hand, things at home had gone as wrong as they could; and on the other, if there wasn't war in the autumn it would be a miracle. Between the two it was a grim summer. By the end of August they were cancelling sailings. My booking was twice switched. At last, at dawn on the day I was due to sail we were called to ambulance-stations, and I cancelled my berth and sat down to wait for the blitz, quite certain that I had seen the last of Assam and the Naga hills. |
