[BITList] The wind ''hissed'' while welcoming him ...!

[John Feltham]

No old British India hand will require any explanation about
the etymology of the curious-sounding place name Abbottabad,
which is very much in the news since the last three days.
Half-English, half-Urdu, the proper noun compound is one
of the many of its ilk adorning the towns-localities that
were established/founded in India during the 18th-19th-20th
centuries in honour of some famous Briton or another. So
we have Dalhousie (without any prefix or suffix), and
McLeodganj, and McCluskieganj, and George Town (in
Chennai) and Cradock Town (in Nagpur), etc. etc. - including,
of course, Abbottabad, which now is in the present-day
Pakistan - and they all still retain these quaint old nomenclatures.

Well, here is a quick look back at ''Abbottabad'''s history :

James Harbeck, a noted linguist describes it thus:
<<< Oh, yes, it's a pretty word, isn't it? With its double
letters, all of its consonants ascending (like the peaks
around Abbottabad), its three a's, three b's, two t's,
one o, one d forming an interesting pattern... It's vaguely
reminiscent of a popular tongue-twister or any of a few
different vocal warm-ups for actors. And, in case you're
wondering about the stress, it's on the first syllable, so
you could sing it to the opening notes of Beethoven's
Fifth. I figured that the town was named after a British
guy named Abbott. You see, abad means "dwelling place"
or "town" or, I suppose, "abode", or such like (as opposed
to bad in place names like Marienbad, which is German
for "bath"). And well, I guessed right. >>>

Major James Abbott, a British Army major founded the town
in 1853. Here is how he looked like =

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:General_Sir_James_Abbott_dressed_as_an_Indian_noble_by_B._Baldwin_1841.jpg

His potted biography is here =

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_%28Indian_Army_officer%29

Check out his siblings who became Army Generals!


And here is a doggerel, er, poem, Major James Abbott wrote
commemorating his stay in the town of Abbottabad =

I remember the day when I first came here
And smelt the sweet Abbottabad air

The trees and ground covered with snow
Gave us indeed a brilliant show

To me the place seemed like a dream
And far ran a lonesome stream

The wind hissed as if welcoming us
The pine swayed creating a lot of fuss

And the tiny cuckoo sang it away
A song very melodious and gay

I adored the place from the first sight
And was happy that my coming here was right

And eight good years here passed very soon
And we leave you perhaps on a sunny noon

Oh Abbottabad we are leaving you now
To your natural beauty do I bow

Perhaps your winds sound will never reach my ear
My gift for you is a few sad tears

I bid you farewell with a heavy heart
Never from my mind will your memories thwart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbottabad_%28poem%29

How do you like it? It's ''one of the worst poems ever
written", says the Guardian newspaper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/02/abbottabad-town-poem

THE Master, William McGonagall, would have been proud
of our Major Ah-b'butt.   :-)

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