'Under the Deodars' is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling
and printed in 1889. These stories illustrating British life in Shimla
and similar regions around India during the British rule. This book has
consist of eight short stories: The Education of Otis Yeere, At the
Pit's Mouth, A Wayside Comedy, The Hill of Illusion, A Second-Rate
Woman, Only a Subaltern, In the Matter of a Private, The Enlightenments
of Pagett. M.P. In the first story, The Education of Otis Yeere, a brief
look into how the smart, bored wives of government officials in India
dealt with their boredom by fertilizing fortunes of hapless men from the
rank and life. 'At the Pit's Mouth' is a tragic warning against
conducting infidelities in a graveyard. 'A Wayside Comedy' is similar
example against conducting adulteries in a hidden little circle, and
'The Hill of Illusion' rounds off a loose tripartition, with a deficient
dialogue between nervous womanizer. The next two stories are based in
the camps, both ending in death. 'Only a Subaltern' features a
motivating young officer who goes beyond the call of duty for his men,
then 'In the Matter of a Private' is a case of threatening where the
worm turns. The final story 'The Enlightenments of Pagett, M.P.', is the
one to look at the India question as a whole and is primarily an
exercise in informing the good people back home that they don't
understand a thing about the country.
