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An old India hand
S. MUTHIAH
Big, burly, jovial Mikhail Mgeladze says au revoir to Madras some time during this month and will be missed by all who knew him, for he was one of the most popular diplomats around town. When the Consul General of the Russian Federation in South India returns to a home posting, it will be after 22 years — more than half his career — spent in India. There's one more Indian posting he can still get — as Russian Ambassador in India — which is why I say `au revoir' instead of `farewell'.
Mgeladze, who started his foreign service career in Madras, considers it, after two subsequent postings here, his second home, having spent more than half his Indian years in the city. He also served two terms in Calcutta and one in Delhi. All of which has only improved his fluency in Tamil and Hindi, not to mention English. But more than language, we both share a common interest — the history of India, particularly South India.
The one bit of history I didn't get around to discussing with him in all our chats was how the Consulate General and its staff felt, in the Soviet Union days about the irony of occupying palatial campus that had once belonged to a Maharajah and was bought from a diehard capitalist. The Consulate General's premises, including the Consul General's home — 14 San Thome High Road — was once called the `Mysore Palace'. During the War, the property, with its several houses, had been requisitioned by the Government to serve as British Officer's quarters and was returned to the Maharajah of Mysore in such a shabby state that he decided to sell it. His Dewan, Sir Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar was a friend of Dewan Bahadur A. M. Murugappa Chettiar from the Justice Party days and knew the family was looking for larger premises than The Laurels (now New Woodlands) where they were staying. At the very first meeting that Ramaswamy Mudaliar arranged between the Maharajah and Murugappa Chettiar in 1947, a deal was struck for something a little less than Rs. 5 lakh. Much renovation was done over the years and when land ceiling in the 1970s compelled the Murugappa family to sell the property to the Soviet Government it left the latter's representatives not a palace but several comfortable well-equipped houses.
Speaking to Mgeladze recently, I discovered that the Russian Foreign Service — continuing what was started in the USSR days — runs its own degree-granting college and that those interested in the foreign service join it immediately after secondary school. That's a thought our administrative reformers might consider; there's already talk of administration colleges for prospective IAS candidates to enter immediately after secondary school.
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