ABSTRACT

Armistice Day became known in Calcutta as Black Friday. People had on the whole enjoyed the war; the Volunteers' parades, the excitement, the large fortunes made in jute. In Calcutta as in Bombay ladies hung about clubs badgering members to contribute to the Dyer Fund, but people in Bombay, who had passed through some very alarming weeks, had perhaps some justification for their subscriptions. Post-war changes in Bombay were inevitable and natural. Indians there had always been more Westernised than anywhere in India, and even at the beginning of the nineteenth century Mrs. Graham had noted that relations between English and Indians in Bombay were unusually friendly. Sometimes a distinguished visitor to Bombay would be present as guest of honour. The cordiality between English and Indian in Bombay survived the recurring political tumults when tempers were frayed and old animosities half-revived.