Hindoo Holiday
by
[Viking Press, $2.50]
IN the clamor of recent Indian literature, Hindoo Holiday speaks with an agreeable small voice. Never lacking in humor, Mr. Ackerley presents a delightful and essentially accurate picture of India. It is drawn without prejudice or comment and nothing is allowed to disturb the author’s good humor.
It is the record of six months spent at the court of the small independent state of ’Chokkrapur,’ where the author held a position which defies definition. He did not go there as a tutor to the Maharajah Kumar, for the lad was but two. Nor as private secretary, for the Maharajah had one. He was there to satisfy the whim of the Maharajah, who ‘ wanted someone to love him.’
Because his position was indefinable, he was distrusted by those rare Anglo-Indians (to use a wrong but generally understood term for the British resident in India) who came as guests to the state, and likewise he stirred the disapproval of the Political Agent. With enviable speed, however, Mr. Ackerley gained the confidence successively of the Maharajah himself, the Diwan, and’the army of petty hangers-on. The secret lay in his ready acceptance of existing conditions. Most Westerners are reformers at heart, and the Indian dislikes reform as much as anyone. Mr. Ackerley did not try to reform anything.
The fictitious name of the state might cover any one of the smaller Hindoo principalities. Actually one suspects that it is to be found somewhere in the Central Provinces. The name, if it means anything, signifies ‘The City of Small Boys,’ and herein lies the indication of the Maharajah’s pet hobby. It is not, one may say, an unusual one in India, and while in some hands this amiable foible might be made the opportunity for some cheap fun, it is not allowed to affect the author’s admirable detachment.
The high artistry of the book lies in its characterization. It is, moreover, convincingly illuminating, particularly to be recommended to those to whom the universal spirituality of India is axiomatic.
A. W. SMITH