In the winter of 1956, David Holden, a reporter for The Times, arrived on the island of Bahrain; a land that at the time was still under British protectorate status.

Having moved to his assignment in the Arab world after a short period teaching geography, Holden was eager for the posting, but he did not expect to attend a ceremonial event—an rite that was held to commemorate the appointment of Queen Victoria as Empress of India.

Wherever he went across the Persian Gulf—from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Oman—Holden saw familiar signs of the influence and presence of British India’s rule.

Holden wrote: “The Raj, that is, Britain’s rule over India, still casts a shadow here in a ghostly way; a situation full of contradictions and the remnants of another era.”

Servants, laundresses, and guards are still known by common names from the colonial era in India, and on Sundays, guests also encounter one of the agreeable English-Indian traditions: a lavish lunch with curry.

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