Iliff-King phrasebook
definition
Suss-ar-ekal! exclamation
Pa’s take on his father’s take on a Sikh battle cry
Origin
From Pa’s father WHK’s tales of scooting along a single track railway on a handcart when a train was due, and such like, during construction of the telegraph connection to Nepal
Collector
Pa –
Noel King – father of Naomi
Notes
Suss-ar-ekal! was also the cry Pa was yelling as he told a spell-bound Clare, in 1955 in Devon, a story of Sikh heroism whilst driving across a junction without stopping to check the traffic. The van, Bluebird, emerged undriveable and the family had to be retrieved by Mr Butler of Radcliffe-on-Trent Motors in a small charabanc.
The meaning of the phrase has not been traced. An online translation service reckons it’s a Bangali proper name
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