'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎22v] (44/118)

During my brief time in Rajkot I had been lucky enough to see
something of the States of Cutch, Nawanagar and Morvi, as well as Rajkot
itself> but unfortunately I never had the chance of going to Junagadh.
This was the only Muslim state in Kathiawar, just as Cambay was the only
Muslim State in Gujerat, and when Partition came in 19^7 it was forcibly
annexed by India. It had, however, one other distinction in that it was
the only place in India where lions were still to be found in their
natural state. About one hundred still remained in the State Forest and
I hope their descendants are still there. They had long been extinct in
the rest of India where the tiger reigned supreme in the jungle.
Although Gandhi had departed, this time we hoped for good, my
Resident's plans for going to Mount Abu remained uncertain and so he
gave me ten days' leave to go across India to Nainital, in the United
Provinces where Jane and her mother were now staying. Her prospective
visit to the Phillips in Abu was therefore cancelled and I left Rajkot on
the 9th May, reaching Kathgodam, the rail head for Nainital after many
changes of train, on the 11th May. I had meanwhile written again to Delhi,
saying that since my appointment in Rajkot now seemed unlikely to be
extended beyond June 11th 1939, which would be the end of the 3 months
originally envisaged, could I now have permission to get married before
joining my new post, wherever that might be. While I was on leave in
Naini I received confirmation that I should be leaving Rajkot on June 11 th,
that I was being posted as Under Secretary to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and as Vice-Consul Bushire, South Persia, and that we
could get married in my joining time before leaving India for the Persian
Gulf.
Jane and I were delighted at this news but her mother was somewhat
shattered at the thought of arranging the wedding at such short notice.
I was due to leave Rajkot for good on the 11th June 1939 or thereabouts,
so it was finally settled that the wedding should take place on the 1 ?th
June in Nainital. Jane's parents had separated when she was only four
years old and her father was then in England, having retired from the
Imperial Forestry Service in the early twenties, so there was no question
of his coming to the wedding. Her uncle, however, Major General Ian
Macrae I.M.S. was at Eastern Command Headquarters in Nainital as Director
of Medical Services and made himself responsible with Mrs. Douglas-Hamilton
for all the arrangements, excepting that I had to get the special licence
as there was not enough time for our banns to be called. As well as
housing the Eastern Command, Nainital was the summer headquarters of the
Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, where as many
civilians as possible escaped from the heat of Lucknow, and Jane's mother
had known Sir Harry Haig the Governor since he was a junior officer in
the I.C.S. so the whole affair looked like developing into a tremendous
party for the civil and military friends of the mother and uncle of the
bride, whereas Jane and I knew hardly any of them.. We had vague thoughts
of leaving our elders to get on on their own and eloping to Karachi to
get married quietly there en route for Persia, but after a week of this