I GO WEST BY D. F. KARAKA By the same Author: Just Flesh Thacker Out of Dust Thacker The Pulse of Oxford Dent Oh You English Midler CONTENTS BACKGROUND VARNISH SOCIETY TABOO LITTLE WHITE GODS LAMENT MEN OF DESTINY REVOLT COLOUR LOVE, SEX AND MORALS FAITH POVERTY AND PREJUDICE NOT YET THE END BACKGROUND I AM STILL FRIGHTFULLY RESPECTABLE IN SPITE OF three lamentable failures in my Bar Finals and one at the Indian Civil Service, My father had already told me on the second memorable occasion that my name was mud in India where I was once looked upon as a steady and promising boy. Respectability has dogged my footsteps ever since I can remember, for I belong to one of those families to which honour, tradition and glory matter. My father, a respectable Government servant, retired after a spotlessly clean tenure of Government service. His father before him did the same. And his grandfather too. All perfect gentlemen, full of tact, common sense and discretion. I was naturally cut out for the same jobsteady, hardworking, respectable. I remember hearing as a little boy my grandmother say that when they returned the Star of India on the death of one of my ancestors to whom it had been awarded, she had marked a small cross on the back of it and returned it with a prayer that some day I should have that same star bestowed on me. .......