"yusuf ali belonged to the group of indian muslims from professional families who were concerned with rank and status. in pursuit of his aspiration for influence, deference, if not outright obsequiousness, became a central feature of his relationship with the british. during the formative phase of his life he mingled mainly in upper-class circles, assiduously cultivating relations with members of the english élite. he was particularly impressed by the apparently genteel behaviour and cordiality of those with whom he associated, and, as a result, became an incorrigible anglophile. his marriage to teresa shalders according to the rites of the church of england, his hosting of receptions for the good and the great, his taste for hellenic artefacts and culture and fascination for its heroes, his admiration for freemasonry in india as a way of bridging the racial and social divide, and his advocacy of the dissemination of rationalist and modernist thought through secular education were all genuine attempts to assimilate into british society."