In 1954, I was posted as Deputy High Commissioner to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Mr. A.N Chakravarty, the High Commissioner, was a perfect gentleman and it was a pleasure to work with him. After general elections in the country, Mr. Bandarnaike became Prime Minister. He was very friendly towards India despite the on-going problems of Indians in the teagardens and the Tamils in the north. On Mr. Chakravarty’s transfer to New Delhi, there was a hiatus for some considerable time and I functioned as Acting High Commissioner. There were no problems at that time and life was smooth and pleasant.

The Temple of the Tooth in Candy is one of the most sacred sites of Buddhism and the tooth of the Buddha that is kept there is exposed to the public only once in seven years. Whilst there, the King of Nepal visited Ceylon. On this occasion, his programme included a visit to the temple and for reasons that I do not now fully recall, I also went with the party. There the tooth was taken out of its golden casket and shown to the King and to me.

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