All those mails on this subject are highly interesting and valuable, as they present different points of view. I wish to add just this: William Dalrymple has covered this aspect quite nicely in his book on Bahadur Shah Zafar, while writing about British Residents in Delhi in the pre-Victorian era. Take a dekko. Jolly good word portraits of Sir David Ochterloney, et al. Some more items can be added to Mr Kolhatkar's list, but this is enough. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arvind Kolhatkar" I often wonder why the British in India adopted certain practices, foods etc. from Indians but kept away from others. [snip]