june-2010

“ Driving throughout India at the wheel of such a
mythical car was the ultimate dream ”
46 Holland Herald
“To which country do you intend to take this motor car?”
He must have picked up a foreign intonation behind my truly British accent.
“India!”
The salesman’s eyes rounded like billiard balls. If I had said “the moon” he could not have
been more surprised.
“India?” he repeated, paralysed with astonishment. Clearly he was deeply disturbed.
“Did you really say India?”
I nodded in confi rmation. He shook his head several times.
“In that case, sir, I shall have to consult our export manager. He is the only one who can
take responsibility for complying with your wishes.”
A few minutes later, I saw a plump little man with a thin Charlie Chaplin moustache arrive,
also dressed in black. A gold chain twinkled from his waistcoat pocket. He greeted me with a
touch of disdain.
“I understand you have expressed the desire to purchase one of our motor cars and take it
to…” He stumbled over the word ‘India’ just as the salesman had done, as if the connection
of Rolls-Royce with that country was about as incongruous as anything could be. “The
trouble is, sir, that we no longer have any agent in India,” he continued. “Were you to be the
victim of some mechanical problem, trivial as it might be, you would have to send your car
to… Kuwait.”
“I thought a Rolls-Royce never broke down,” I objected, surprised.
“True, but mishaps can always occur,” answered the little man. “I shall have to consult the
person in charge of our after-sales servicing. Please take a seat.”
Half an hour later, he and his colleague emerged from their deliberations.
“We are sorry, sir,” declared the export manager with the untroubled conscience of a
magistrate sentencing a prisoner to penal servitude. “We cannot sell you this motor car.”
I ac ackn acknowledged k kn know ow o l le ledg d dg dged ed d the th the t he h blow blo bblo
b lo l with all the dignity I could muster, then, with rage in my heart,
ran ra r n to t Victoria V VVic
ic i to tori ri r a St SStation at atio io i n to t to ccatch
the train to the south of England where I was to interview Lord
Mountbatten, M
the man who had been the last Viceroy of India.
The purpose of the journey was to ask Lord Mountbatten
about a his fi rst encounter with India when, in 1921, as a young
ADC A to his cousin the Prince of Wales, he had travelled
around a the country playing polo with the maharajas, hunting
tigers t and panthers in their jungles, and dining in ceremonial
uniform u on the terraces of their illuminated palaces. In his private
diary, d Mountbatten had recorded the outstanding moments of his
fantastic fa fan
discovery of the British Empire in India. He had gathered
his hi his s notes no n te tes s and thoughts in a red leather-bound volume, which he agreed to
entrust en entr tr trus us ust t to t me so I could copy out the most remarkable episodes. Back in
Paris Pa Pari ri ris s later la at that night, I immersed myself in engrossing reading. Much to
my sur ssurprise,
ur urpr ur u pr p pr
r I discovered an account of a tiger hunt with the Maharaja of