Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bombay

Sam Jaffe [1891-1984] in 1939 as Gunga Din
Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
Of all them blackfaced crew
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.

Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the living Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
The entire 1890 'Gunga Din' poem and other Rudyard Kipling [1865-1936] work here. In 1907, Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and he remains its youngest-ever recipient.