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The People:
Born in Fiji to Hindu parents from India, Reji is a convert to Christianity. He has been a primary school teacher for the last twenty years, and currently teaches history and religion at a Church of England school in Paddington, London.
His pupils are multiracial - for many, English is their second language. A number of them are refugees, and have sometimes been deeply traumatized by events in their young lives. Helping these children to settle in their new environment, and to catch up with their learning, is challenging and demanding work.
Reji is currently studying for an MA in theology, and is very interested in India's cultural heritage. He is particularly curious to know why the Nehrus and other distinguished and highly educated Indian families had tried to emulate the British Raj during the Edwardian period, as Reji says: "What was it that India found so attractive about British upper classes? Now I have the chance to find out."
Mr Raj-Singh's role as tutor is not simply to impart facts and school Master Guy in mathematics, grammar, the sciences, Greek and Latin; it is also to inculcate into Master Guy the manners and attitudes of a gentleman.
Tutors in country houses generally came from upper class backgrounds. This created problems as they were neither wholly servant nor master - they were in between, and resentment of their special position could often build both above and below stairs.
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