Author Description

This is the edited journal of Nora Scott, wife of Mr Justice Scott, a judge of the Indian High Court in Bombay. She was a gifted painter and she writes as she paints - small delicate detail making up a convincing whole. The journal is much more than just a personal diary; it gives a vivid, sharply observed and often moving picture of the British Raj in the nineteenth century when it seemed to be at its most secure and confident. Nora Scott paints a beautiful and graphic picture of India - the grand views over Bombay city and harbour from Malabar Hill and the islands. She skillfully evokes the atmosphere of Indian weddings, religious processions and festivals. An Indian Journal is also an important piece of social history and shows middle class life in British India, the harmony between the rising Indian middle and professional classes and the elite British Indian Civil Service. Among Nora Scott's circle there was respect for, and genuine interest in, Indian religion and culture, and easy social relations. There is no sign of the ugly and intense racism which lurked somewhere under this civilised surface, nor of the triumphalism which grew later in the century. The journals are a sharp-edged vignette of an aspect of Indian history and an important document for scholars as well as for all readers interested in India.