ABSTRACT
The autobiography of the nationalist Bipinchandra Pal (1858-1932)—memories of ‘my own infancy, boyhood and youth’ (Pal 1973:iii)—is a fascinating historical document, replete with the observations of an eminent figure of Bengali public life on important events and processes of his times; his intimate association with the latter adds, of course, to the value of the document. It can also be read as the intellectual history of what could be called the metropolitan and the provincial secure classes-intelligentsia in the broadest possible sense of the term. Of particular interest for the discussion of this chapter are glimpses of the attitudes held by sections of the metropolitan intelligentsia, in this case the Bengali, towards the Punjabi ‘educated classes’. 1 These attitudes constitute an important part of the historical context in which the Doon School may be situated. The role of the School as one of the sites of nurturance of a ‘provincial-metropolitan’ intelligentsia 2 can be seen in sharper relief against the background of the judgements embodied in these attitudes.
