In this narrative, I have confined myself mainly to my career in the Foreign Service. Many changes have taken place in India during this period, but those who lived through them in India are best qualified to write on them. One event, however, was an upheaval which reverberated through India and Indian missions abroad and that was the Emergency declared in the country. It was a surprise to all those who had considered India as the world’s largest democracy. The control of the press, draconian laws, the threat of use of force, summary arrests and whatnot went against the image of India that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his eminent colleagues had given to the world. The subservience of some bureaucrats, and their exploitation of the situation to advance their own interests regardless of the interests of the country, was very disappointing.
As regards a diplomatic career, those who get the highest ranks in the competitive examinations for the Civil Service have the choice between the Foreign Service and the Administrative Service. Judging from my experience, I would any day prefer the Foreign Service, though it does not have the power that senior administrative officers have in India. It is a peaceful service where one does not have to deal with difficult members of the public or of political parties, or with problems of law and order or with religious strife. Work is interesting, sometimes absorbing, as it covers a variety of subjects, political, economic, cultural and commercial. As most Missions are small, it is also easy to get on well with one’s colleagues and as one rises in his career and reaches the top, his contacts are with the highest dignitaries of state.
Finally, dear reader, if you have gone through the whole of this website, I hope you may have found at least a few passages of interest and, if you have not read it fully, I would not be surprised, as it is a brief and casual account of an ordinary, not a spectacular, career.
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