Rightly, as mentioned by Megasthenes in his column, Mr. Hatch Barnwell was conspicuous for cycling to the secretariat from his Minto Road residence. More to it, on alighting from cycle, he would throw his brown felt hat flying to his orderly standing by to catch it. It was a playful sight which I chanced to see on a number of occasions. In the cycling league, I remember, the other two Britishers were Miss AG Stock and Mr. J.S .Turner, both of whom were professors in the University of Dhaka. Life was then tranquil in Dhaka and roads were not cluttered with traffic at all as now. Neatly landscaped, Ramna area with its tree-lined roads and sparse population lent a quiet charm in its exclusiveness. Into the fifties, -- those were another days, another times, lost in memories. Its skyline has now changed beyond recognition, so also the pace of life. But the changes are obviously the price we pay to suit our ambition in urban renewal.

In his capacity as Transport Commissioner, Mr. Treanor made a noteworthy comment in a file that was put up before him after a year. (This was told to me by Mr. Saifuddin Khan PSP who was then a senior official in the same department of Mr. Treanor). He wrote, "This file celebrated its first anniversary unnoticed". This bureaucratese in its brevity indeed meant much more than what meets the eye. It sparkled in wry humor and sarcasm, and was, in a way, censorious of those who were responsible for the sorrier fate of the file. It was all a touch of Britishness.

Surprisingly, much to our consternation, we, even after decades of independence, find our bureaucrats still smarting from the same old colonial mindset in dealing with the files. The cavalier attitude to the citizens surely undermines the moral dictates of a good government and even diminishes us all.

Mr. Bivar's tenure as Secretary, Judicial and Legislative Depar-tment had a touch of bureaucratic maturity par excellence. In those days when the country had to be run with laws made by the British rulers it, at times, were at odds and even inadequate to meet the changed requirements of an independent country. Ment-ionably, Sher-e-Bangla A.K.Fazlul Huq who was then Advocate General to the Gove-rnment of East Bengal was of much help in this regard to Mr. Bivar whenever he sought his advice. As old acquaintance of Calcutta days, their personal equation too was excellent.

Mr. D.K. Power held many top posts in the then government. As Secretary, Finance he was considered to be the kingpin in the administration in those days. In personal term, Mr. Power, however, had a brush with history when he married Jaharat Ara, the heroine of the first-ever Bengali feature film, Mukh-o-Mukhosh produced in Dhaka. This film was premiered at Mukul cinema hall on Nawabpur Road in Dhaka city.

Beyond normal call of duty, the British ICS officers had to do pieces about the stations they served during their service career. To mention, it is the District Gazetteer of the British days that informed me that the cheese made in Austogram in Mymensingh district used to grace as a delicacy the tables of the Governor's House at Calcutta during Christmas festivities.

We may, however, denounce the British ICS officers as the legatee of the British raj, but it would be less than fair to ignore their contribution to building our nascent administrative structure in the post-independence period.

Syed Badrul Haque is a former Public Relations Officer to the President, People's Republic of Bangladesh.