I am grateful, and much impressed (as always). I do not know what I can say in return which would be of any interest, but here is an attempt:

Re the chorus, which is the nub of the song, I assume US and some UK singers would automatically rhyme Hindustan with caravan-fan-san(d)-began, but it works quite as well with the more "authentic" (by some token) "Hindustaan" at the beginning of each line, which is how I sing it.

There were a whole heap of C20 "orientalist songs" like this, quite apart from Mme Woodforde-Finden, about India, including one about Bombay (which had it in the title), but there seems to be no list of them, which is a pity.

Fo those who like the kind, try the song "When Sunbeams rise", from L Mockton, "The Cingalee": I have only ever seen it on paper, never heard it on a record.

Sanjay Sircar