River survey service and the barriers Katari had to cross

Katari's autobiography describes a river survey service whose senior positions remained British when he joined, with most other officers drawn from domiciled European communities. The port commissioners also operated harbour-master and dredger-and-dispatch services, entry to which required master mariner qualifications. Katari recalled that many survey officers assumed an Indian recruit could not meet their standard. He considered some domiciled Europeans more socially exclusive than the British officers, while acknowledging exceptions. His advancement challenged those assumptions and placed his later naval leadership within a longer struggle over access to colonial maritime careers.