The noise outside the car window came at times, but Alan Wilson had developed a knack for turning a deaf ear to the curry-smelling English of the outside world, and his young face looked as if it had been ironed, his eyes not shifting from the newspaper in his hands, the front page headline stating, "The British Empire has the assurance of recovering all of Burma in a matter of months with certainty."
"Alas!" With an imperceptible sigh, too small even for the man concerned to hear, Alan Wilson put the paper away and looked out of the window plaintively, the heavily accented hawking of English long gone from his ears.
The bus had now crossed the Delhi Gate and entered the area of New Delhi, later the capital of India. It was now 1945 and the big difference between New Delhi and Delhi was that New Delhi was entirely a newly built urban area built by Britain because Calcutta was too remote and the capital of British India had been moved to Delhi, which had long been inhabited only by the British.
In 1945, this was the biggest problem facing Alan Wilson. The British Empire, which had ruled the world for three centuries, was on its last legs, and although it still had 30 million square kilometres of colonies and five million troops fighting on the battlefields of the world, the end of the World War was the beginning of its decline.
Compared to the United States and the Soviet Union, two countries with more than ten million troops, one dominating the land and the other the sea, it seems that the post-war world has no place for the British Empire, the former hegemon, which leaves Alan Wilson, a civil servant ready to replicate the journey of countless classic protagonists, feeling at a loss.
And with the memory of his past life, Alan Wilson certainly understood that the trumpet of the break-up of the British Empire was first sounded in the land beneath his feet, the British Empire's most important colony in the world, British India, with an area of over four million square kilometres.
And there was no stopping it. Alan Wilson was not a senior civil servant, even if he was now the Viceroy of India, but he could not ignore the voice of independence that had become the consensus in British India, and all he could think about was what he could get out of it one day sooner or later.
After getting off the bus and passing through the guards again, Alan Wilson stood directly in front of the Viceroy of India's House, which looked very much like the White House, his eyes sweeping past the British Indian flag on the Viceroy's dome, knowing that the way ahead lay ahead.
"Sir, what is wrong with you?" The guard who had just finished his inspection looked at Alan Wilson and said with some amusement, "But it's rare to see a man as young as you in the Governor's Palace."
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you." Alan Wilson replied with a smile as he bowed his head slightly, hiding his embarrassment in the process, and took a step towards the building which was somewhat similar to the White House.
The Governor General's house was full of office workers in a hurry, and in a well-lit room, the current Governor General of India, Archibald Percival Wavell, was reaching out in front of the fireplace to draw heat, and without looking back asked, "Barron, have the PML-N and Congress Party people left?"
"Yes, Governor, they have left." The man named Barron, who looked to be in his late forties, with a polished face obviously well groomed, replied in a serious voice, "Each time the two sides meet, the differences seem to be more, not less, than the last, not just for the two sides but for us as well."
"Damn, the Prime Minister must not want to learn of this." Governor Wavell barked a curse in a modest voice, but it was more of a helpless sigh than a curse. The internal strife that occasionally gave him a headache always managed to dilute his good mood as Viceroy of India than the public news that the Anglo-Indian corps on the front line had stormed into Burmese territory and was about to take on the Japanese with a vengeance.
"They, and the Arijana and Nehru they represent, are indeed giving us a great headache. Mr Governor General!" Barron, though still looking breezy, had to admit that the biggest question was whether the jewel of the British Empire was still shining as brightly as it was now, compared to a world war that had seen the light of victory.
There was a stifling awkwardness in the room, and apart from the burning coals in the fireplace, there was no sound.
There were some liberal imperialists in the Conservative Party, though, who claimed that India, and indeed the whole colony, had outstripped its output and wanted the British Empire to give up the whole colony and stop the current money-losing business.
For the same reason that Adams, the author of the Wealth of Nations, called for the independence of the 13 North American states 150 years ago, arguing that British India, like the 13 North American states at the time, had become a black hole that consumed the wealth of the British Empire.
But while such voices are not mainstream among the Conservative Party, and Churchill, now Prime Minister of the British Empire, has always claimed to defend the glory of the British Empire, several of the leading figures in British India now know in their hearts that things are far from simple.
"Inform London, Barron, of the British Indian Corps' penetration into Burma." Governor Wavell drew back his hands in front of the fireplace and sighed, "London still wants more good news, putting the Congress and PML-N on the back burner."
"Yes, Governor!" Agreeing with a programmed smile, Barron took a few steps back in place and walked out of the room.
The whole of the Viceroy's residence in India looked busy with the usual war-time look of everyone in a hurry, processing information from British India and the battlefields throughout Southeast Asia.
Barron, who had left Viceroy Wavell and was waiting with a gentle face for his guest of the day, was not idle at this time, but was playing chess with himself in two minds.
Shortly afterwards, his assistant pushed the door open and in walked Alan Wilson, who had followed him. Without looking up, Barron took his last move and finished the game of chess before looking up at the young man in front of him.
Rising in passing, he reached out and pointed a place for Alan Wilson to sit, then returned to his place and pulled out a stack of file folders, reading them to himself, the rest of his eyes glancing at the visitor as if to verify his identity.
"You are Groot Wilson's son and I am very saddened by the loss of your father. He and I were on good terms!" Barron said as he looked at the papers, "Born in London in 1924, then followed his father's work to live in the Perfume River and received information of great importance to the Allies prior to Pearl Harbour and the subsequent fall of the colony in the Perfume River to Calcutta. Before the war you had been admitted to Oxford University's Oriental College."
At this point Barron closed the folder and spoke, "Your father could have had a bigger job, but alas, there is still more disease here in South Asia. Alan, you are a little younger than I thought you would be."
"Perhaps that's not much of an advantage! Getting into the Eastern Department stems largely from my father's work experience." Alan Wilson replied softly, with a mental sigh; he had used the special circumstances of the colony to convince his father in this life to change his age by three years, as the primary and secondary school curriculum was really not that difficult for him. That was what made the upbringing seem a little more normal.
As for providing information on Pearl Harbor, the intention was that he wanted to be the rich kid who took the plunge and make his father, who was a civil servant, soar while he gilded the lily, but as fate would have it, the responsibility of starting a business fell back on his shoulders.
"Very well, but don't be overly modest, your studies are very beautiful and if the World War hadn't broken out you could have been the youngest graduate from Oxford in recent years." Barron nodded with satisfaction as he sat in his chair, then the conversation turned and asked, "Although you have not completed your studies, some notions about Orientalism have been accumulated, what do you think of this part of India?"
Barron knew the purpose of this age man coming, likewise Alan Wilson knew what the purpose of the question asked by this civil service chief was, both sides knew each other's thoughts and their hearts were unspoken.
"Hmm?" Alan Wilson pondered for a moment and quickly gave his answer, "There is no doubt that during the time period of the agricultural era, the Eastern countries could accumulate far greater wealth than Europe because of their size and geographical factors. South Asia was the best of these, and British India has always been the cornerstone of the British Empire's prosperity, the brightest jewel in the crown, both past and present."
With a nod of approval, Barron heard Alan Wilson continue, "It was thanks to the wealth created by the extensive colonies that the British Empire was able to face one challenger after another, whether it was Napoleon or William II. India was a land of riches, and Oxford opened up the systematic study of Orientalism, producing a large body of talent that had a broad vision and a greater awareness of the nature of the world than the narrow minds of other European countries."
At the end of his speech Alan Wilson also complimented Oxford University, from which he knew Barron also came from, and drew the two sides closer together in this respect.
Obviously Barron was very pleased with the young man who had come here, and thinking that the other man's father was on good terms with him, he had a little promotion in mind, and in this part of British India, Barron's authority was no less than that of a few leading figures.
As the head of the civil service Barron soon asked about his views on British India, the Congress and the PMLN, which were now and then up in arms, and his knowledge of local Indian political figures like Gandhi, Nehru and Ari Jinnah.
To all this Alan Wilson gave his answers and gave some ideas for the future.