How my BWANA
KARANI nearly never happened
By Mervyn Maciel
An acknowledgement of Sir Richard Turnbull’s
patience
and critical guidance during this literary
journey-by Mervyn Maciel
I first wrote to Sir Richard about my “dream” of publishing my memoirs
on 4th December 1978 – a day after I’d met him and Lady
Turnbull at Westminster Cathedral in London where they were Guests of Honour of
the Goan community at our annual celebration of the feast of our patron Saint
Francis Xavier. In my letter, I had also asked if he would agree to contribute to
the Foreword.
While expressing his willingness to do so in a hand-written letter from
his Henley-on-Thames home on 6th December, a comment (reproduced
below) he included rather discouraged me, and led to the whole idea being
shelved for some five years. Here is the comment: “don’t forget that writing is
demandingly hard work and that it takes up a lot of time. As the great Doctor
Johnson said, “you have to set yourself doggedly to it”
Despite this initial setback, the urge to write would not go away, and
five years later, in October 1983, having typed some 75 pages in draft form, I
again wrote and asked if he would be prepared to look through the rough draft.
Once again, his hand-written reply on 22nd October, this
time from Jedburgh, said: “I shall be happy to look at your draft, and have no
doubt that you have made a great success of it. It is a fascinating story that
you have to tell, and it will bring back to me any number of half-forgotten
faces and scenes.”
The draft was accordingly despatched on 24th November
1983, and in his type-written reply of 2nd January 1984, this
is what he had to say: “I hope that you will not find what I am about to say in
this letter is too ferocious. If you do, please remember that I have read the
typescript as the preliminary sketch of a book that you hope to have published.
Had it been just a draft of a diary-with-comments that you proposed to have
cyclostyled with the idea of sending copies to your friends, I should have been
very much more gentle in my approach”
Here are some of his comments from that letter:
“Presentation to you of “fatted sheep” by various headmen, p.47,55,57
&72.
You may have to tone these incidents down a bit if you are aiming at
a wide publication for, as I expect you know, any stick is good enough
to beat the
The colonialist regime with; and there is a danger of your being accused
of using your
official position to “extort” these gifts”
On my proposal to donate part of my Royalties to help Marsabit
tribesmen, this is what he said in his letter of 12th January
1984:
My advice is first to get your royalties, then reimburse yourself from
them for
what you have spent; then find out how much Income Tax the Inland
Revenue people will be taking off you; after that, you will be able to consider
what can realistically be done with any cash that remains.”
In a further letter dated 27th October 1984, he says:
“I have finished working through the typescript of the draft you sent me
of “Bwana Karani”, and I am sorry to have to tell you that I have formed the
opinion that a great deal of revision will be needed before it can be regarded
as suitable for submission to a publisher.”
This 3-page type-written letter lists various points, among these, the
following:
“Americanisms: p.16. I know that this is a personal idiosyncrasy of
mine, but I regard Americanisms, such as the expression “there sure is” as barbarism.
A more graceful way of putting it would be, “there is surely”
p.17. You should replace “I guess” with “I imagine”
p.27 & 28. “You should beware of being too critical of your
colleagues, lest you hurt
their feelings unnecessarily”. (this is regarding some comments I
made on some of my
Goan colleagues, which personally, I didn’t think offensive!).
Concludes the same letter with these words: “With apologies for what I
know must be a disappointing letter. I fear the outcome of all this is going to
be a good deal of more work for you, but the author’s lot has never been
anything but an arduous one.”
In a further letter of 11th November 1984, he writes:
Thank you for your letter of 3rd November, and my
congratulations on your generous acceptance of what must have seemed to you
somewhat pernickety criticisms. We now seem to be entering the last lap of this
interesting but arduous course.”
In a further hand-written letter dated 23rd March 1985,
following Lady Turnbull’s illness,
He wrote: “For our part, we have had one of the most worrying couple of
months I can remember. My wife has been quite seriously ill and in and out of the
hospital with some obscure complaint that required fairly prolonged
treatment……etc. I have been devoting
myself to household management and to invalid cookery”
Several letters followed, and in a hand-written letter dated 25th June
1985, he commented, inter alia, on my use of the words “gunned down”. Here is what
he had to say: I don’t much care for the expression “gunned down, in relation
to David Dabasso. It is not in accordance with your usual dignified style.
Would not “assassinated” be more suitable?”
More letters followed, and as we were nearing the end of this work, he
had this to say in his hand-written letter of 2nd July 1985,
after he’d sent me the draft Foreword. “ p.5. I note that the passage on
this page is a repetition of the last para on page 4, so, remembering how
sternly I criticised you for repeating yourself, I have cut out the page 5 bit”
then adds: “I shall feel quite lost without “Bwana Karani” and speculation
about the Foreword to occupy my spare time.”
And in his hand-written letter of 25.10.85, this is what he wrote:
“Congratulations on the finished product. I had the pleasure of seeing
in the fine print the pages over which you have been working with such patience
and determination for the past three or four years. Merlin Books have made a
really workmanlike job of the book – good clear print, well set out with all
the skill of the experienced craftsman; the photographs neatly reproduced, and
the whole, a volume which you and the publishers can be justifiably proud of. And
how happy and relieved you must be to realize that the long task is over. All
the same, its completion will leave a gap in your life which will need a great
deal of filling. My apologies at not being able to get to the launching party.
I so much hope that the Kenya High Commissioner will rise to the occasion. The
Goan Association will, I am sure, come to your aid and do you proud with the
music and oratory which so happily distinguishes the Goan community. Best
wishes for a splendid launching.”
Note: Some 20+ letters were exchanged during this time, not to mention several
telephone calls.
When I mentioned this to Peter Fullerton, Secretary of Kenya
Administration Club (UK)-Peter is a former District Commissioner
and diplomat) – this is what he had to say:
“Dear Mervyn,
I’m so glad you weren’t deterred by Dick Turnbull; but the story
Of how you nearly were would be worth telling – Peter.”
Bwana Karani was the first of its kind, documenting life in the colonial civil
service but more specifically in the harsh weather of the desert like the Northern
Frontier District.
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