Foxy,
No, one does not ask people their ages but one can take a guess and people that you knew as students would have been either a gleam in their father’s eye in 1947 or too young to have political awareness.

How did they learn the English that enabled them to study in Australia?
Must have been a carry over from the Brits.
That’s one important thing that the Raj did, gave India a unifying language, Hindi, the other most widely spoken language, is not as useful as English as it is not as widely spoken.
I know as I’ve had to switch to “Indglish” in villages where Hindi was not understood.

Is Mise,

I have explained things to you.
I can't help you any further.
It's been made quite clear to me that -
Britain's policy was not to unite but divide and rule.

Under the British - the Hindu caste system became more
rigid and communal lines particularly between Hindus and
Muslims deepened.

I am not interested in arguing with you. And I don't have
the time or the inclination to continue to explain things
to you. You think the Brits were great for India.
Hooray for you.
My friends think they weren't Hooray for them!
As I said earlier - there's both sides to everything.

Have a nice evening.

Foxy,
Just how old were your student friends and how old was your doctor?
No need to ask them, just make an educated guess, or perhaps they and you can remember what it was like?
By the way does the telegram from the Queen arrive just like an ordinary message or is there a special delivery?

Hi Foxy and Issy,

Foxy, Issy's not into book learn'n he said so himself with that 'Dark Emu' and 'Farmers etc' nonsense. Although he be an author of little renown in the literary world, his own mighty tomb 'Road Kill Recipes for the Unsuccessful Hunter' which about 10 years back he was promoting on the Forum, can now be found in the 5 cent bin at Vinnies. I must say despite the bout of ptomaine poisoning, for 3 days they didn't think I would pull through, I found Issy's recipe for 'Splattered Koala with a Dead Possum Sauce' rather tasty!

'Inglorious Empire' tells the real story of the British in India - from the arrival of the East India Company to the end of the Raj - revealing how Britain's rise was built upon its plunder of India. In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. British imperialism justified itself as enlightened despotism for the benefit of the governed, but Shashi Tharoor takes on and demolishes this position, demonstrating how every supposed imperial 'gift' - from the railways to the rule of law - was designed in Britain's interests alone. He goes on to show how Britain's Industrial Revolution was founded on India's deindustrialisation, and the destruction of its textile industry.
General Note: Inglorious empire : what the British did to India

Foxy, can't help myself I put it on hold, BCL has 27 copies 18 available.

Paul,
Everything that you say is true, Britain didn’t set out to improve India, improvements were by accident, just mainly unexpected spin offs, but remember there was no Indian nation before the Brits unified the place and, as I said, they brought in the unifying language, none of India’s 22 semi-official languages are spoken by all, far from it.
English is the most widely understood language and can be used and understood throughout India, that alone was a priceless benefit from the Brits.

Foxy unfortunately allowed herself to be painted into a corner, as usual.

Dear Paul,

I'm so glad that I could help and that you've
put the book "Inglorious Britain" on hold.
I've ordered my copy as well.

We're told that "In the entire 200 year rule
they made \up no more than 0.5% of the population.
And yet for most of that period no Indian was
allowed to join the Indian Civil Service, in part,
because the British could not bear to take orders
from a brown man."

There's also the DVD set - "The Jewel in The Crown,"
a British made TV mini series that's available at
JB Hi Fi. which is excellent and a real revelation
on the behaviour of the British in India. I gave
a set to a close friend - she found it very moving.
Well known actors star in the series