IT would not be an exaggeration, I think, to designate the early years of Canada- India relations as a period of 'Two Solitudes', that is, non-awareness of the two societies. There were, to be sure, diplomatic relations, along with Canada's participation in a collective Commonwealth aid programme for south Asia, the Colombo Plan. During the mid-1950s, there was an intense and creative diplomatic interaction, inspired largely by the enthusiasm, energy and vision of Canada's high commissioner at the time, Escott Reid, who forged a 'special relationship' with Indian officials and with prime minister Nehru himself.1 It is also true that, even earlier, in the difficult
