Reversing the Gaze: Amar Singh's Diary: A Colonial Subject's Narrative of Imperial India

1. MASHAHDI
24 C
AJAZ 42
LANCERS
BABAR
21 HORSE
RAO ZAFAR
11 C (FF)
ALI AMMAR
30 C (SON
OF COL IQTIDAR
SHAH AND
NEPHEW
OF MAJ GEN
ROSHAN EJAZ)
NAQVI
55
CAVALRY
TAIMUR
51 LANCERS
SON OF
BRIG MUSARRAT
NAWAZ A FRIEND
OF MY FATHER
NAZIR
27
CAVALRY
ZIA
54 CAVALRY
SON OF
COL
SABAH UD DIN
(LOHARU)
SHAHZAD
2 FF
CAPTAIN
A.H AMIN
15
LANCERS
CAPTAIN
ABBAS
GUIDES
CAPTAIN
ASIF
ZAIDI
29 FF
MUMTAZ
32 C
Amar left the army disgusted by
biases in 1921.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
My grandfather serving as assistant secretary in the ministry of defence at delhi wrote to his elder brother serving as
a superintendent of police in 1941, that dont send manzur , (his son) to the army . as per projections we have
received 80 % britishers would get war commissions in Indian Army , and the projections state that british will stay in
india till 1985 or so . However the situation radically changed by 1945. (Interestingly Philip Mason author of the book
A Matter of honour was my grandfathers boss for some time).
Reversing the Gaze: Amar Singh's
Diary: A Colonial Subject's
Narrative of Imperial India
Short Book Review by Major A.H Amin (Retired)
A very interesting book.
Amar Singh kept a 89 volume diary.
Son of a Jaipur state minister Amar Singh started from Imperial Military Corps.
Amar Singh feels that tremendous British arrogance and snobbery was one major reason of Indian
alienation .
He described his own experience in army as a major of being treated like a Coolie by his British
seniors.
Note that it was deliberate British policies introduced in 1830s and 1840s onwards like restricting
British Indian marriages by making mixed breeds ineligible for officer rank that enouraged this
behaviour.
There were mixed breeds like General Hyder Hearsay and Warburton and Skinners.But British
government and the English East India Companys management was major culprit in making laws that
discouraged Britishers mixing with Indians.
This book covers Amar Singhs diaries between 1898 and 1905.
Amar left the army disgusted by British biases in 1921.
Biases were such that my father narrated that no local Pakistani could become member of Punjab
Club till martial law was imposed in 1958 , 11 years after so called independence.
The book describes British failure to integrate Indian aristocracy in the officer corps .
It is interesting that Britishers encouraged Indian rankers as officers when Indians were allowed in
officer corps and kept a 50 % quota in Indian Army for rankers.
The book gives a visible message that Curzons scheme to integrate Indian aristocracy was a good
scheme and far better than inducting educated middle class Indian social climbers who were ready to
ditch the Britishers in a Jiffy after WW Two.
An interesting continuation is Pakistan Army where I personally people from humble ground doing
very well as they would accept all sorts of nonsense.
Pakistani ISI efforts in selecting most third rate Afghans as so called Mujahid leaders also show same
British approach of being anti aristocratic and anti independent minded.
Granted that there were EXCEPTIONALLY GREAT BRITISH OFFICERS like Auchinleck who respected
Indians with independent outlook as proven in Auchinlecks dealing with Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan.
Major General Jahanzeb (Guides) narrated in an article that biases were such that as a young officer
in the army Indian officers were made to sit on a separate dinner table in the mess in his regiment.
Ironically British Army in India was also degraded and deteriorated as Britishers were forced to grant
kings commissions to many thousand british rankers , clerks , bar tenders and all sorts of characters
in second world war.
But as a British Field MARSHAL summed up the loss that Britain had already left the flower of its
officer corps in First World War in France . Hail German Kaiser for breaking the British back !
Hopeless Indians could never have done it without Kaiser or Hitler !!!!
The Americans who worked on this book and made it possible deserve high credit.
ALL BOOKS PROMOTED AND REVIEWED-JOURNAL OF BOOK REVIEWS
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23051.39201