In the Districts of the Raj

In the Districts of the Raj offers a fascination account of the life of a  young Indian ICS officers during the last decades of theBritish Raj. Based on personal experiences, these memoirs  portray a way of life that has gone for ever. The British in India, even in the late 1930s adhered somewhat punctiliously to the outdated etiquette of the Victorian era. In a society where official hierarchy and protocol played an important part in the administrative process there was a necessity to maintain certain 'standards'. Yezdi Gundevia has recapitulated in an often light-hearted yet vivid manner the social and political milieu in which he worked.


Among the topics that have been written about in this book are accounts of Club life (exclusively British in every way), the author's timely intervention that prevented a widow from committing sati and an official enquiry into the unfortunate murder of a police officer. The empathy with which Gundevia viewed the villagers and his tenacity of purpose in tackling their problems is brilliantly depicted in the rescue operations carried out by him in the flood-ravaged villages of North India. Furthermore, a chapter on the author's experience of working with the Congress offers an insight into the political scenario of the time.