Funny, I am almost done with it too. Very enjoyable book. I just loved the part where he meets the vicar in the church--laughed out loud.
I never heard that term before either.
Kathy

phaedosia, I may have recommended Old Filth to you.
re Raj orphans: as you know these children were sent back to England from whatever hot, unhealthy climated part of the British Empire their families were living in.
Although their fathers were mostly senior people in the Army, Civil Service, the Church or higher levels of Trade (Box Wallahs) the children rarely survived childhood and were sent back to England to attend boarding school and live with relations during the holidays.
Probably the best known eg is Rudyard Kipling. Others who have written about these two contrasting lives are sisters Jon and Rumer Godden in Two Under an Indian Sun and M M (Mollie) Kaye in Sun in the Morning.
I suppose George Orwell would have been another but I don't know if he wrote about his childhood. His father worked in Burma and he came back to Eton College (THE top school).

JG Ballard, who has just died, comes to mind, but at the time when he should have been back in England the Japanese invaded Shanghai and he was held prisoner. If you have never read Empire of the Sun please do. JGB is reckoned to be one of the foremost writers of his generation.
Perhaps other eg's will come to mind; give the grey cells time. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: J G Ballard Obit.

I found it an interesting coincidence that all the titles you listed have the word 'sun' in them. Clearly the brilliance of the sun in a hot climate is the key characteristic in people's memories.

Thanks, Veer, for both the original recommendation and further information on the Raj orphan phenomenon. I am sorry to hear about Ballard's passing--I will definitely read Empire of the Sun next in his honor.

Rosefolly--what an interesting observation about "sun." There must be a journal article about that somewhere.

I think the children of the Empire, used to the heat and the warmth of their adopted countries, found the terrible gloom, fog and murk of England very difficult to deal with; they all complained of the drabness of everyday life. Death and disease may no longer have been lurking at every corner but Life had lost its thrill . . .plus most of them were cold and underfed in forbidding boarding schools. In fact there were a number of boys' schools built in Victorian times just for the training of future Colonial administrators.
The books by Wm Somerset Maugham come to mind. Chaps still dressing for dinner in the Malayan jungles while slowly going mad from lack of company.
Arthur Grimble, sent from Hong Kong back to England wrote a wonderful book A Pattern of Islands about his time as District Officer in the Gilbert and Ellis Islands.
Kath I think his papers are held by the Uni. of Adelaide. He helped coach the 'natives' in the gentlemanly game of cricket.