'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎44r] (87/156)

CHAPTER 9: KATHIAWAR, BARODA 1944 - 1946
With my wife and my two small sons, we spent two happy months on leave in Ooctacamund
in the Nilgiris, where I had enjoyed earlier spells of leave in 1930, 31 and A3. In
preparation for my posting to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , I had consigned all my heavy luggage
and my car to my Bankers in Bombay, Messrs. Grindlay & Co., for storage in their
godowns, pending my departure overseas. During April 1944 there occurred in the port
of Bombay a series of explosions of munitions which devastated the docks and parts of
the city, and sank a number of ships moored to the quay where they were unloading
military stores and equipment destined for the forces on the north/eastern frontiers of
India, who were about to advance into Burma. What had happened was that a cargo ship,
loaded with ammunition, explosives and incendiary bombs had arrived in the port with a
part cargo of raw cotton already on fire. She was brought into the dock area so that
the Bombay fire brigade could deal with the fire, but it was already too late: there
were two explosions, the first which killed practically the whole of the fire brigade
working on the ship, and on the quayside: minutes later there came a larger and more
devastating explosion which set fire to large areas of the docks and the adjoining
streets of the city. The godowns of the shipping companies and of the agencies in
which the properties of unnumerable army officers who were serving overseas were stored,
caught fire and were burnt out. I assumed that my own belongings had shared in the
catastrophe, but by some astounding chance, Grindlay's godowns had not been involved.
During my leave in Ootacamund, I began to suffer considerable pain and discomfort
from the blockage of the sinuses in my head and from the formation of 'polypi’ in the
nasal passages. The doctor whom I consulted advised an immediate operation before I
left for Persia, where hospital and surgical facilities were rudimentary. Accordingly,
leaving Mary the the children in Ooty, I went down to Bangalore - a night's journey by
train - where I was admitted to the excellent British Military Hospital in the Can-
tonements. There I was operated upon with great success by Lt. Colonel Aspinall, IMS,
the Mysore Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Surgeon. While I was in hospital, I received a telegram from the
Political Department in New Delhi saying that my posting to Bushire had been cancelled;
I was to be posted instead, at the end of my leave, to Rajkot in Kathiawar as Secretary
to the Resident for the Western India States.
To say that I was delighted would be an understatement. We had not been looking forward
to a second spell in Bushire, and it was even doubtful whether my wife and young family
could have accompanied me. Conditions in Bushire had certainly not improved since I
had served there six years previously when they had been pestilential. Moreover, the
work of Consul would have been largely confined to supervising the supply route which
the Allies had set up to bring military supplies up from the Gulf through Persia to
the Soviet Armies, who were battling for their very existence on the southern Russian