'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎61r] (121/156)

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be noted that, apart from Nehru himself, there were no more than five or six Indians
occupying any of the remaining senior appointments I have mentioned.
My job as the second Deputy Secretary (Political) was a war-time creation, and the
work was mainly concerned with the support and advice given in the industrial and economic
spheres to the Indian States. Additionally I was responsible for the handling of the
requests for arms and military equipment for the military forces of the Indian States.
But, apart from this, there were always minor problems which cropped up in other
directions which also came my way. I was delighted to find myself at headquarters in
New Delhi, as such opportunities usually presaged better things to come. The only
fly-in-the-ointment however was the chronic shortage of accommodation for officials
serving in the capital. Every department of the Government of India had been vastly
increased as a result of the war, and Army Headquarters itself was of Pentagon-like
dimensions. Temporary office hutments had sprung up everywhere, and had spread out over
the park like open spaces of Imperial Delhi. The rather splendid houses originally
built for and allotted to the select band of pre-war senior officials were now crammed
not only with their incumbants but with numerous, and I suspect, sometimes unwelcome
P.G.’s and their families.
The less fortunate of the war-time overflow were housed mainly in the various palaces
belonging to Indian Princes, which had either been lent for the duration of the war,
or if not lent, requisitioned. In the grounds of these palatial buildings, temporary
hutments had been built to house the families of officials. When I first arrived, I was
allotted a rather grim two bedroomed apartment in the grounds of Kotah House. In the
main building there were communal feeding facilities run rather on the lines of an
officers mess. Bicycles were the main means of locomotion to and from the Secretariat.
Each Government Department had its own commissary where the chief necessities of life
could be procured at a price. For recreation, there was still the Delhi Hunt, but few of
us had horses, and the Cavalry Regiments were now all mechanised. Polo was still
intermittently played. I myself enjoyed the occasional game of golf on the excellent
Lodi Golf Course where oiled sand surfaces substituted for closely cropped greens.
I knew that my wife, who was due to come out to join me in December 1946 with our three
boys, would not relish the spartan conditions of Kotah House. So, in common with most
of my colleagues in similar predicaments, I began to search around for P.G. accommoda
tion in the house of some congenial senior official of Government. Just in time I was
fortunate to find exactly what I wanted at No. 5 York Place, the residence of Mr. and
Mrs. Benjamin. He was a legally qualified member of the I.C.S., and occupied the impor
tant post of Legal Draftsman to the Government of India. He was accordingly entitled to
a spacious bungalow in the centre of a large garden in one of the most sought-after
residential parts of Imperial Delhi. The Benjamins, who had no children of their own,
very kindly made over for our own use, two handsome bedrooms and bathrooms, and an
extra dressing room. For the rest we lived and fed with them, and they were kindness