Letter : Pink gin forever

From Mrs C. M. Coulthard

Sir: Having been resident in India from 1946 to 1960, I was astonished to read in John Walsh's diary (2 March) that "The British fled from India taking their imperialism paraphernalia of pink gins ... with them". I can assure readers that, 10 years after the dramatic days of Independence in 1947, the sahibs and memsahibs were still drinking their pink gins in spite of prohibition, which only necessitated the signing of a form confessing that one was "addicted to foreign liqueur".

Yours sincerely,

CYNTHIA COULTHARD

Tewksbury, Gloucestershire