1888 Bombay Boot and Shoe Etiquette

“When the governor of Bombay held a levee at Ahmedabad, a number of Hindoo officials clubbed together to buy a pair of English boots, so as to avoid the indignity of appearing before his excellency with bare feet…”

The boot and shoe etiquette sorely perplexes native officials on ceremonial occasions. In the mofussil it is customary for all native government officials to take off their native shoes before entering the presence of their superior, but if they wear English boots no such change is required. When the governor of Bombay held a levee at Ahmedabad, a number of Hindoo officials clubbed together to buy a pair of English boots, so as to avoid the indignity of appearing before his excellency with bare feet. Each took it in turn so wear the boots as he was presented to the governor, and no small amusement was created outside the levee room by the officials rushing backward and forward to exchange the solitary pair of boots with the next comer.-London Globe, 1888

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Indian Dining at the First Table

A view of one of the side tables in the banquet hall with finger bowls and cups and saucers laid out ready to give to the guests as the banquet progresses… – the book, “Around India's First Table : Dining and Entertaining at the Rashtrapati Bhavan”

During the 1950s and 60s, while India was finding her place in the world, the Rashtrapati Bhavan was visited by numerous foreign heads of state. The Soviet Union's premier and the first secretary of the Communist party, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, made the first official Russian visit to India in 1955 and Zhou En-lai the Chinese premier paid a visit in 1960. Queen Elizabeth II and the heads of newly independent African countries Zaire, Zambia and Tanzania came to celebrate India's Independence on different Republic Days. President Prasad was reportedly gloomy about the prospect of atheist communists eating meat and drinking alcohol in the guest suite where a special room, supplied with alcoholic beverages, had been set up for the Russians." The staff, however, enjoyed these visits. 

"Those days were fun, reminisced Abdul Majeed, a retired butler who worked at the house in the early years of the presidency. 'All heads of states used to stay here in [the] Dwarka suite and were served all the meals by us. 12 The Russian delegation did their best not to offend Indian sensibilities by avoiding the drinks room but they were apparently hearty eaters and in between formal meals would send up for extras such as omelettes and sandwiches. While the tips were marvelous, the butlers derived most of their satisfaction from the pride they took in working for the representative of their newly independent nation.

The Indian state gradually grew into and made its own the traditions and protocol that it had inherited from the Raj. In the early days the portraits of past viceroys still hung on the walls of the banquet hall. Gradually these were moved out of the room and replaced by paintings of India's former presidents. At first, the food served at the Rashtrapati Bhavan continued to be Anglicised-French in style, as it had been during the tenure of the viceroy. French food was vegetables mashed and then shaped to look like chops and fried. The main course was caneton à la diable, peas with cauliflower and roast potatoes. The duck in a piquant mustard and cayenne sauce was a touch of French sophistication. 

The alternative vegetarian main course was the only part of the meal which gave away the fact that the dinner was taking place in India. Indrani was served aloo dum, cauliflower curry, raita, papad and chutney. The red rose indicating her vegetarian preferences was an Indian innovation. During the British period, the vegetarian and other food preferences of the guests were indicated to the butlers by ribbons tied to the backs of the chairs. Just as both the vegetarian and non- vegetarian meal began with a very British soup, they both ended with the same very British dessert, pommes Chantilly or stewed apples decorated with swirls of cream. — Contributed by Elizabeth Soos of Auersmont Etiquette, from the book, “Around India's First Table : Dining and Entertaining at the Rashtrapati Bhavan”

For many years, Etiquipedia contributor, Elizabeth Soos, has had a keen interest in cultural customs. With her European background and extensive travel, Soos developed an interest in the many forms of respect and cultural expectations in the countries she has visited. With her 20 years’ experience in customer service within private international companies based in Australia, and her lifetime interest in manners and research, she decided to branch out into the field of etiquette and deportment. Through her self-directed studies and by completing the Train-The-Trainer’s course offered by Emma Dupont’s School of Etiquette in London and by Guillaume Rue de Bernadac at Academie de Bernadac based in Paris and Shanghai, she founded Auersmont School of Etiquette. Elizabeth is currently traveling throughout India and brushing up on her Hindi.

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Breaking with Victoria’s Royal Etiquette

The Coronation Durbar — The “Delhi Durbar” or the “Imperial Durbar,” was an Indian, Imperial-style, grand mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, in Delhi, India. It was to mark the succession of each Emperor and Empress of India. It was only held three times—  in 1877, in 1903, and in 1911. These were at the height of the British Empire. The 1911 Durbar was the only one that a Sovereign, George V and his Empress, attended.

May Crown King George in India

LONDON. Dec. 2.—The King and Queen hope to be crowned at Delhi as Emperor and Empress of India on Jan. 1, 1912. The announcement of this epoch making event has come as a great surprise, as there is no precedent for such a function. Queen Victoria, who was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877, never at any time contemplated holding a Coronation Durbar. King Edward visited India when he was Prince of Wales, but adhered strictly to the rules of Royal etiquette laid down by his mother, and never saw any of his colonial dominions after he came to the throne.— Humboldt Times, 1910

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Colonized Indian Etiquette History

A salaam is a gesture of greeting or respect. It can be done with, or without, a spoken salutation, typically consisting of a low bow of the head and body, with the hand or fingers touching the forehead. – “We mostly copy European etiquette while with Europeans. Even a Bengali shakes hands with a Bengali, speaks in English for a few minutes, and then breaks forth into the vernacular. We shake hands with a European on parting, but by mistake again touch the hand to the brow in a salaam; so we both shake hands, salaam and do the like; and no sober-minded European ever cared for the anomaly.”

Of Honors, Umbrellas and Shoes...

Their Importance In the Eyes of the Indian Native

India is so vast that different etiquettes prevail in different districts. We have no standard etiquette, no standard dress. We mostly copy European etiquette while with Europeans. Even a Bengali shakes hands with a Bengali, speaks in English for a few minutes, and then breaks forth into the vernacular. We shake hands with a European on parting, but by mistake again touch the hand to the brow in a salaam; so we both shake hands, salaam and do the like; and no sober-minded European ever cared for the anomaly.

The umbrella is the emblem of royalty, the sign of a Rajah. So natives generally fold their umbrellas before a Rajah, and not before anybody else, however great, it is not a part of the dress, but a protection from the rain or sun, a necessary appendage, just like the watch and chain. You might as well ask a European to take off his water-proof coat. A coolie is not bound to fold his umbrella when a brigadier general rides past. But a menial generally closes down the umbrella on seeing his master, whom he considers his “King.” But no Indian, however humble, ought to fold up the umbrella, even before a magistrate, because he is neither the master of the humble passer-by, nor his superior officer, nor is he bound to salaam him. But if he does, no harm. In a word, natives generally fold the umbrella before a master or a superior officer, and not any other citizen, however great and this is no insult.

While going to see a native chief in his palace, the native visitor or official takes off his shoes, if the reception room has a farash and the Rajah is sitting on his musnud. But if he is received in the drawing-room, furnished after the European style, the shoes are allowed. In some states, no natives can go to a Rajah without a pugree. In others, the pugree is taken off and tossed at the feet of a Rajah.—Civil and Military Gazette, 1907

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Anglo-Indian "At Home" Etiquette

The strictly fashionable calling time is between 12:00 and 2:00 every day except Sunday—a relic, it is said, of the past when our grandmothers and grandfathers considered four o’clock the State dinner hour.

Society in Muree is like Indian society in general, in all save the three principal cities. The military element very largely predominates, and in custom much of the etiquette of the first Anglo-Indian communities is retained. Still, English people in India have not yet introduced weekly "at home" days, as in the plains, the strictly fashionable calling time is between 12:00 and 2:00 every day except Sunday—a relic, it is said, of the past when our grandmothers and grandfathers considered four o’clock the State dinner hour. 

At 12:00 punctually therefore, each day the firing of the gun which sets the true time for the station reminds people that they must either be to pay calls or preparing to receive them. Duly at that time, ladies sally forth on their formal duties, regardless of the power of a full tropical sun and the probable chances, even in the hills, of an attack of sunstroke. Those who are of homely dispositions will ask their friends to come and see them in the afternoon, but that has its drawbacks, as tennis parties and other gayeties cause almost the whole station to be “not at home" after 4:30 or 6 o’clock.

The calling hours are, however, not the only alteration in home customs which a new-comer has to observe if she would escape social ostracism, for English etiquette is in some respects, entirely reversed. The last arrival, for instance, has to call upon all the other visitors in the station, unless she happens to be a bride, and in that case she calls nowhere until others have honored her. Other customs, again, of very recent introduction, such as the practice of every lady coming to a hotel making a formal call upon every other lady in the same hotel, are noteworthy, not only for their local peculiarity, but as typifying the extreme of Anglo-Indian society. —London Queen, 1888

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Etiquette and Formal Dress

Traditional Parsi attire, including a black Astrakhan fez.

Big Plans Upset by Point of Etiquette 

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Insistence on British Formal Dress of Parsi Deprives Governor of Funds for School

LONDON, Jan. 23.—A ridiculous insistence on etiquette has just caused the upsetting of the plans of a certain Anglo-Indian Governor. His excellency had long been desirous of immortalizing his name in India by the erection in his capital of a splendid series of collegiate buildings, and in response to his public appeals a well-known Parsi gentleman had privately offered His Excellency the necessary donation of ten lacs of rupees (nearly $350,000) for the purpose. 

The generosity of the rich Parsi community in this way is unexampled. The donor, in the ordinary course, received an invitation to His Excellency's levee and went dressed in the regulation frock coat and trousers, but wearing the black Astrakhan fez, now often affected by well-to-do Parsis.

At the entrance to the scene of the levee, he was informed by the official who represents what, at the Court of St. James, is called the "Court Tailor," that he could not be admitted unless he appeared in an English silk hat, as he was otherwise attired in European costume.

An orthodox Zoroastrian never appears in public, indoors or out, without his hat, and so the generous Parsi had to quit the scene of the levee. He promptly wrote to the Governor, cancelling his offer of the ten lacs, and for the time being, the collegiate buildings exist only on paper. The Governor's hopes of immortalization are also not likely to be realized. — Los Angeles Herald, 1910

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia