Premi, 20-year-old daughter of Jairamdas Doulatram, governor of Assam province, was lazily floating in a boat on Ward lake at Shillong, hill-station capital of Assam, feeding fish from her slight, delicate hand. As she dabbled her fingers in the water, a diamond ring, a family heirloom, slipped from her finger, went twinkling down through the clear blue water.
Governor Doulatram, 59-year-old former journalist and orator, was a notable bungler as India's food minister in 1948-49, but in Assam he is, after all, the governor. Divers were sent down to recover Premi's ring, and when they failed, the governor ordered the L-shaped, quarter-mile-long...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
