Sardar K.M.Pannikar (1895-1963) was educated in Madras and Oxford. He was a scholar of Christ Church and was later called to the Bar (MiddleTemple). He represented India at the 1947 sessions of the U.N. General Assembly. In 1948 he was appointed India's Ambassador to China. He went as envoy to Egypt in 1952. Then he was appointed a member of the (Indian) States Reorganisation Commission in 1953. In 1956 he was the Indian Ambassador in France. At the time of his death he was Vice Chancellor, Mysore University.
from the back cover and ...some quotations
The first essay in the book, 'The Nature of Diplomacy', tells the reader what diplomacy really is, shorn of the popular conception of sinister figures plotting dangerous things. The second essay discusses the 'Objectives of Diplomacy' and the third, 'Means and Methods', deals with the actual practice of this most difficult of arts, showing how, inspite of the current belief, in diplomacy, as in other fields of human activity, 'Honesty is the best policy''. The second half of the book contains some extremely shrewd and pithy 'Aphorisms on Diplomacy' and a brilliant discussion of their significance.
"This handbook demands attention,... its intrinsic merits place it in that short list which is headed by Sir Harold Nicolson's Diplomacy... he approaches his subject from an Indian angle which is extremely interesting... he has historian's erudition, a diplomat's experience, and author's style, and a natural wit.' (International Affairs, London)