Hi Vivian,
A few years ago I made enquiries directed to the author of "
Bwana Karani " himself .. I was quite chuffed to actually get a
personal reply by e-mail. He explained at that time t he few
copies printed had sold out and since he had volunteered a share of
the income to a Charity in nothern Kenya I could send him a small
cheque to cover the cost of the book & postage and he would mail it
to me from a small number of books he had kept for his own
purposes .I never got around to doing that and from the various
discussions surrounding the book on GoaNet.......... i concluded that
his experinces as a Clerk in the colonial government service were
very similar to folk who had served the Brits. My dad was a
government servant too but never distinguished himself as the author
has done. If you go thru` the archives of GoaNet correspondence or
contact someone in London who knows of the gent........... you
might be able to contact him like I did.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vivian A. DSouza" <socorro...@yahoo.com>
To: <goanet@lists.goanet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 8:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Bwana Karani/Sir Richard Turnbull
As a former, albeit short term member of the Colonial Civil Service in what
was then called
Tanganyika, I enjoyed Roland's account of the book titled "Bwana Karani"
translated as
"Mister Clerk" in English. Now I am trying to get a copy of the book, so I
can read it in its entirety. One thing I remember about the Colonial Civil
Service is that instead of
"Yours faithfully" or "Yours Truly", all correspondence including from the
Governor himself
ended with the words "I am sir, your obedient servant" followed by the
signature. Quaint and reinforces the notion that Civil servants are servants
of the public, unlike these days in Goa.
As to Tony Barros's question, yes, this was the same Sir Richard Turnbull
who rose through the ranks of the Colonial Civil Service in East Africa from
District Commissioner to
Provincial Commisioner to Governor and eventually Governor General of newly
independent
Tanganyika. It wa he who in his capacity as Governor, cut the ribbon and
inaugurated the
new Goan Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika in December 1959. It was
through the petition of his former Goan secretary, that Sir Richard Turnbull
approved the issuance of
a work permit for me to re-enter Tanganyika in 1959, a gesture that I can
never forget.
Having worked with Goans for a long time he had a very high regard for
Goans, who were
the backbone of the Civil Service and Banking throughout East Africa in the
colonial era.
Now let me search for the book "Bwana Karani".............
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