The scars run too deep for levity, Michael - and the legacy endures, wherever you personally feel the humour of the thing lies. Fact is, stereotyping is stereotyping; it is reducing and ridiculing humanity in terms of xenophobic cliche in the God Allmighty Tradition of British Imperial Superiority.

Taking of which, I also love Kipling, but I happen to think Gunda Din is racist crap as well, no matter how well intentioned its mawkish over-weening sentiment.