In 1982 I interviewed with Citibank for a job with their new joint venture subsidiary, Saudi American Bank. I had studied Islamic History and Arabic at Oxford and was working on an MBA in International Management with an accounting minor, so I was a prime candidate.

I was taken out to lunch by the Deputy Director of Personnel, a woman in her early to mid 30s.

In her earnest American style, she asked me, "So, gee, what did they teach you at Oxford anyway"?

I said, and I stand by this answer to this day, "They taught me how to administer the Raj".

She didn't know what the Raj was, and I had to explain it to her. I didn't get the job.

In any case the Oriental Institute at Oxford in the 1970s was still turning out graduates who were best suited to go into the Indian Civil Service, but no one had bothered to inform the Dons that the Raj didn't exist anymore.