ABSTRACT
The charismatic first prime minister stands for an era of a fascination never reached again in the history of modern India. Against the cliché that colonies cannot have a foreign policy of their own, however, independent India’s built heavily on earlier fundamentals, both in terms of concepts and institutions as well as personnel. Selection, training and work experience made them fit for many tasks: As the focus of Indian foreign policy had changed by then, commonwealth relations were considered as humdrum work compared to the big issues around the early Cold War and the conflict with Pakistan. On a smaller stage, foreign policy, the same is true for distinguished officers: The DEHL was not intended the role it indeed played owing to Girja Shankar Bajpai, K. P. S. Menon, Subimal Bajpai or M. S. A. Hydari. Indian foreign policy was shaped much by the interaction of very few individuals, next to the three protagonists of this study mostly the prime minister and Krishna Menon.
