I was due to sail for England on the 2nd of September 1939, but momentous events were taking place in Europe. Hitler was at the height of his power, had been threatening and bullying his neighbours and had now entered a sinister alliance with the Soviet Union to invade and occupy Poland. Britain then declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September, which meant that India and all British territories around the world were also at war with Germany. So my plans to sail were cancelled.
A professional degree in Law has always been a stand-by against failure to secure another profession. So a number of graduates joined the Law College, regardless of their views on the legal profession. Law is also a subject for the Civil Service examinations. So I joined the Law College in Madras, where I spent a term until December 1939.
Meanwhile, the war in Europe was at a standstill. The Allied and German armies faced each other at the Maginot and Seigfried lines with no fighting. The war at sea was on, but there was little fighting on land or aerial bombing. Life in India was going on as usual, which gave a (false) sense of security, so it was decided that I could after all go to Oxford.
The seas were unsafe, except for ships of neutral countries and so I set sail on the Italian liner Conte Bianca Mano, as Italy was not at war. There were lots of Europeans on board the ship and also handful of Indians. Among other ports, the ship stopped at Djibouti, as the Italians had seized Ethiopia a few years earlier. The voyage in the Mediterranean was tempestuous. One morning, we found that the ship was speeding to help another liner that was on fire. Eventually, we landed in Genoa from where I took a train to Calais. The train passed through Turin, where for the first time I saw a mount of snow, which was thrilling. The journey was uneventful until the French frontier Dijon, where lights were all switched off and the train blacked out, as it was entering war territory.
The next day a couple of other Indians and I reached London. It was bitterly cold, with heavy snowfall. That, however, posed no problem, as a cousin of mine had reserved a room for me in his lodgings.
The first term of the academic year was over and the second had already commenced. So the next day itself, I set off to my college at Oxford to report my arrival and was taken straight to the principal, Dr. Stallybrass . He was a man of great eminence, had a very high reputation in the academic world and an authority on the Law of Torts – Stallybrass on Torts was a standard book on the subject at that time . The reception I received surprised me. He rose from his seat, shook my hand, helped take off my overcoat and bade me sit down before he took his chair (I mention this because in my five years at the Presidency College in Madras, I had not once been offered a chair by a professor). He spoke very kindly and welcomed me to the College and had me escorted to my tutor in History, Dr. Cohn, who was of a different mettle. He was direct and matter-of-fact, took a tome from his library and gave me some Anglo-Saxon subject for my essay to be presented to him the next week. So I returned to London that evening, carrying the weight of this book as large as an encyclopaedia. It was late in the evening, dark and cold and snowing and very depressing.
I took off a couple of days to complete some essentials, such as opening a bank account, buying some warm clothes, etc. and also to join the Inner Temple to qualify for the Bar whilst simultaneously working for a degree at Oxford.
Back to Oxford to commence my studies and I found that Brasenose had been taken over by the Army and its students given accommodation in Christ Church. As the college rooms were all occupied by then, I was assigned rooms in a building belonging to the College across the road. This was fortunate as the rooms were well-heated and very comfortable.
Academic life at Oxford was very different from Madras. The emphasis was on the weekly tutorials. Lectures in History were not in a chronological order, nor always on one’s own subjects and attendance was optional. The afternoons were free for sport and my forte was tennis, which I played for the College and once for the University and secured the ‘Oxford Penguin’ — a rank far inferior to the Oxford Blue.
Life moved smoothly, except that British male students could not complete a full course being called up for war service. It was sad to see so many bright young men having to fight a war which was not of their making.
Then came the bombshell on a bright and sunny morning: the news that the Germans had attacked, had broken the Maginot line and were moving fast into France. The German advance could not be stopped, the French collapsed and British forces were withdrawn home with great difficulty from Dunkirk. They lost a great deal of their equipment and one could see a large number of soldiers in uniform without arms, roaming the streets.
I do not know how all this was reported in India, but no doubt it caused consternation at my home for I received a telegram from my father asking me to return to India. Alas, no more Oxford! So to London to secure a passage home, but the travel agents said there was none as all shipping and passages were taken over by the government. Furthermore, no one could leave the country thenceforward without an exit permit.
That settled the issue. I had to remain in England and so continued my studies at Oxford. But the times were very disturbing. The enemy was just across the Channel and could invade England at any time. German planes began to fly overhead every night and bomb cities. I also realized – I am afraid a little late – that I had a long way to go to complete the reading required to take the final examination. I was doing the three-year course in less than two years and also taking the Bar examinations and, in the end, I only passed without any distinction.
What next? I could not go home. I also needed to secure a better academic qualification. Since I was already engaged in the Law, I decided to take a Law degree from Cambridge.
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