Land of the Gurkhas

Our guide is from the Gurkha tribe. The word Gurkha is a misnomer, the actual name of the tribe is Gurung.

Our guide was quite keen to tell us about his tribe. According to him, the Gurkhas are descendents of Mongol, characterised by their small eyes, rounded face and short built. They live in the mountains, are generally hill farmers and hunters and so are very fit. They are quite different from the Brahma or brown people of Nepal who lives in the lowlands. The Brahma has more Indian looks. They normally work as teachers as they are more educated.

The Gurkhas have been traditionally working as soldiers for the Indian and British army. Apparently the other big recruitment is for the Singapore Police. Nowadays the recruitments are much less in numbers. About 500 are recruited every year and the selection process is among the toughest where tens of thousands would apply for the job. In the end these Gurkhas are sent to some of hot spots of the world such as Afghanistan for the British army and Kashmir and Sri Lanka for the Indian army. According to our guide, for the British army the Gurkha’s salary starts at US$1200 per month and about US$ 2500 if they go to war. They would retire after 16 years in service where they will get pension. So in general they retire at 40. Some would come back to their villages and set up a small business or build a small hotel to cater for the trekkers.