• A Hindi dignitary of Tanjore has decided to present Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with a golden sceptre. Stock exchange authorities may as well think of the golden calf as their token of esteem.

• The Maharajadhiraja of Dharbangha once presented a jewelled mace to the President of the Council of State which Sir Maneckji Dadabhai used to prize above rubies. Mr Hossain Imam, present incumbent, needs watching as he may walk away with it to Pakistan.

• An astrologer gives the prediction that in twelve months, the two new Dominions will re-unite. All the trains that carried documents and personnel from Delhi to Karachi will be running back in time for the budget session. The civilians “released” will be chased down and recaptured, while the political discharged will be re-charged.

• The titles and honours and badges discarded will be restored on that day of the re-union, pre-fixes like Pandit and Qaed e Azam being exchanged by way of courtesy. School children in Madras will get one anna’s worth of sweets at black-market price as usual...

• A genial influence is going to be lost in the Indian Legislature by the migration of Mr Sri Prakasa to Karachi as India’s first High Commissioner in Pakistan. He has a gift for casual interruption. Once he completely discomfited Sir James Grigg by a simple remark.

• Among the members of the Grigg Circus was an expert named Chambers. In the course of a finance debate, Grigg bitterly criticised Bombay opinion and attacked the Chambers of Commerce. “What does he care?” cried Sri Prakasa. “He has his own Chambers.”

... contd.