My Oxford College was tied to Gonville and Caius College, where I easily got admission. There was, however, more than a hurdle to cross. I had already spent two years in England and did not expect to be able to stay there for more than a year further, so I sought exemption from Part I of the Law Tripos and permission to proceed straight to Part II, which would give me an Honours degree.
The tutor concerned said that he would have to consider the matter and after a few days, granted my request probably because I had covered part of the syllabus for Part I of the Tripos in my Bar examinations (in sum of which I had secured Firsts) and also because I had two Honours degrees from Madras and Oxford. He, however, put a rider –while I could take the Part II examination and be classed, I would not be eligible for a Degree for want of the minimum residence of two years at Cambridge. I reconciled myself to this, thinking that a high class in the examination would be sufficient for the Civil Service, whether a formal degree was received or not.
A short time later, I mentioned all this to my father’s friend, who had initially recommended me for Brasenose College and had since retired and returned to England. He was very interested and said that there was an agreement between the universities of Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge to grant equal status to their members, transferring from one university to the other and that he had himself obtained its benefit when he moved from Dublin to Oxford. He advised me to take the matter up again with my College. So I spoke about it to my Moral Tutor, Dr. Bennett, who was surprised but agreed to look into the matter. A charming man, immaculately dressed, always affable and pleasant, I cherish his memory (as I do of my other tutor in Indian History, Dr. Roberts of Worcester College, Oxford). He sent for me a few weeks later and said that the matter had been referred to the highest authority concerned, who had examined the relevant statute and found that, though it was not intended to cover a case like mine, its wording entitled me to the benefit I claimed. They thus reluctantly granted my request and the two years that I spent at Oxford were counted for Cambridge, qualifying me to get my degree if I passed in the examinations.
The year was 1942 and the times were turbulent, with the ferocity of war unabated. There was intense aerial bombing and Cambridge was hit one night. A small café, very close to my residence (where in those frugal days we used to have sardines on toast for dinner!) and my own house trembled with plaster from the roof falling all over me at night.
We survived, I took my final examinations and, fortunately, passed in the First Class and then obtained my Degree.
The dampening news came, however, that the British government was planning to stop recruitment to the ICS from England. This was a shock to those who had come to British universities to qualify to take the examination for this service. So a number of us signed a petition to the Secretary of State for India, who finally decided to recruit a few from England. The written examination had been replaced a year or two before by a system of interviews, which I went through, always anxious and uncertain, as competition was tough. Shortly thereafter, I was informed that I was selected, subject to my passing medical examinations, which was satisfactorily completed. I was then given a government passage to report for duty in India and within a few weeks or so, embarked on a large liner, the Dominion Monarch from Liverpool.
While passing through passport control, to board the ship, the man behind me happened to be the only other candidate to be appointed to the ICS from London that year. He apparently noticed my date of birth in my passport and quickly showed me his – low and behold, he was also born on the same day as myself, the 8th October 1919.
The liner had been converted to a troop ship and, for security reasons, once embarked you could not disembark. There was reported to be a very large number of troops while officers of all the three services filled the cabins and the decks above. The ship’s company was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel, the ship was completely blacked out at night and everyone had to carry life belts throughout. The ship’s route was not known.
Every night, there were air raid sirens as the Germans flew on bombing raids to or over Liverpool, but fortunately we were not hit. After a couple of days or so, the ships set sail with a cruiser in front to escort it and anchored in Grennock. An assembly of eighty ships or so was there, a magnificent sight, and the whole convoy set out with four Destroyers on one side and four on the other, and a Cruiser in front. The ships sailed zig-zag and in the wake of the ship in front to foil torpedoes and mines. Off the coast of Spain and later of West Africa, enemy submarines were on the prowl and we could see our Destroyers running hither and thither dropping Depth Charges. Eventually, we reached South Africa and anchored at Cape Town. We left for Bombay (now Mumbai) within a few days, reaching there after about a month or so.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
