"حكاية جد: مذكرات معنية في أغلبها بالخدمة في الجيش الهندي والخدمة السياسية الهندية في الهند والخليج الفارسي في الفترة ١٩٣٢-١٩٤٧" [و‎‎٥‎٣] (١١٨/١٠٥)

idea of prolonged service in the Gulf did not seem a good one. Like
everyone else from India at that time I wanted to go to Kenya, but by the
time my application went in there were no vacancies left and I was eventually
appointed to Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. We had had vague thoughts of
settling in Africa on eventual retirement and service in Central Africa seemed
to have the added advantage of making it possible for us to see something of
East Africa, Southern Rhodesia and of South Africa where I had relations in
the Eastern Cape Province. As far as the actual work went I knew that a
District Commissioner's job anywhere in the world would be worth doing and
full of interest, but after nearly three years in Mekran and the Persian Gulf
I hoped we should end up somewhere with a reasonably decent climate all the
year round.
I was in England for just under a month and apart from my various
interviews and boards, I managed to see most of my family and close friends,
and, for the first time in my life, was taken to Henley Regatta. It was a
great occasion but I could not help seeing the comic side of it. All the old
gentlemen of yesteryear dressed up in blazers, funny coloured socks and caps
'reminded me of a Preo. School. But I enjoyed the racing and the strawberries
and the ladies’ dresses. While home I met Dickie Bird and he introduced me
to his mother as ’’Major” Ranee. When I said, ”No, only Captain” he told me
that I had been gazetted as Major in January 19^6, when he had been an Under
Secretary in the Foreign Department in Delhi. I had been en route for the
Persian Gulf at that time and so had never seen the relevant Gazette, and no
one else in Bahrain had picked up the information. It had, of course, no
relevance to my Political Appointment or pay, so no harm was done. In fact
when I arrived back in Bahrain in mid-July to act once more as Political Agent,
and with ray Army promotion belatedly made public, the Sheikh was suitably
impressed.
On August 15th 19^7, India and Pakistan received their independence,
and various celebrations were held by the Indian and Pakistaiii£ommunities
on the Island. All these were very good tempered and Arnold Galloway, back
once more as Acting Resident, and I were invited to them all as honoured
guests. I have always been thankful that I was spared experiencing the horrors
of Partition in India and the appalling slaughter that accompanied it.
Our time in Bahrain was now coming to an end and I arranged for all
our heavy kit to be sent to South Africa, en route for Lusaka, Northern
Rhodesia, direct from Bahrain by oil tanker. Our remaining possessions were
to go by sea to England on the S.S. Arabistan, in which we had booked passages
for Jane’s mother and the children. Jane and I saw them oil a few days before
we left ourselves for England by flying boat on the 27th August, 19^+7« Thus
I was the last Political Agent under the old Government of India and the first
for just twelve days under the British Foreign Office before going on twenty-
eight months leave pending retirement from the Indian Political Service.
Just before our departure, however, a curious episode occurred. I
heard quite by chance that two friends of ours in the Oil Company, who were
Roman Catholics had recently been married in Bahrain by an R.C. Priest
visiting the Island from Aden. What they had not realised was that under
British law no such marriage was valid unless it had taken place in the