fe, so that when he
had got rid of everything which appertained to him as a policeman he
was still fit to go into Indian society. The ordinary garments of an
Indian are scanty, but the double set of clothing might be thought
rather oppressive in the tropics. But the Indian likes to be warmly
clad at any time of the year. Boys of the Mission will wear comforters
and warm coats well into the hot season if allowed to do so.

The effect of the removal of the policeman's uniform was startling. He
was evidently going off duty, because he handed all his discarded
belongings to a friend on the platform, and he was only using my
carriage as a dressing-room. The whole process of transformation only
took about two minutes, and he then walked off in the opposite
direction. But no one could have supposed that there was any identity
between the shabby Hindu, with shaved head and little pigtail and
fluttering _dhota_, and that fine-looking fellow who first entered the
carriage.

CHAPTER VII

INDIAN UNPUNCTUALITY

On the railway. The unpunctual neighbour. Indians' opinions
concerning punctuality. Christianity only a partial cure.
Servants and punctuality. Indians' unpunctuality at meals.
Parable of the Marriage Feast. Patient waiting.

The inveterate unpunctuality of almost all Indians is a serious
obstacle to the progress of the country. Hours and days are wasted
through their failure to keep appointments, or to do work at the
proper time. The Indian takes long to understand, and never
appreciates, the Englishman's craze for punctuality. Because the
Englishman grumbles when the Indian is two hours late in keeping his
appointment, the latter thinks that it is only part of the former's
natural unreasonableness.

This Indian habit of unpunctuality would soon produce confusion and
disaster on the railway. For this reason English station-masters at
the principal stations, and English drivers and guards on most
passenger trains are, at present, a necessity. Subordinates, working
under English supervision, are obliged to hurry up. Parsees, who in
many ways display great business capacity, make reliable
engine-drivers. But they are themselves only settlers in India.

[Illustration: THE "KINDLY HINDU" NEIGHBOUR, HIS SONS AND
GRANDCHILDREN.]

It is difficult to get subordinate Indian railway officials to realise
that minutes are of importance. Express trains, especially on some of
the lines where the numb