My earliest memories of my grandfather, a freedom fighter and a Gandhi.an, are his narration of first hand accounts of the. extreme tyranny of the British and the bravery of his fellow freedom fighters. Though the stories were fascinating, they contradicted our school history textbooks, which tended to almost glorify the British Raj, alluding that it was the Englishmen who gave us a robust administration, the railways, a modern education system and the English language - leaving us rather confused. In fact, this has been the popular narrative that post independent generation of Indians have grown up with - fuelled by many books and movies about this era. Which is why Tharoor's scholarly and path-breaking book is so important. I only wish is had been  written within a few years of independence and it was made compulsory reading in schools to set the record straight. Written in fluid and eclectic prose backed  with deep research so characteristic of the  author - it would have

also made boring school history more inicresiing. Bettwe late than never, however.

The book emerged as a successor to the 'Oxford speech, by Tharoor which went absolutely viral and made him realise the moral  urgency' of educating Indians on the horrors of colonialism, As he points out 'This book is not about British colonialism as a whole but simply about India's experience of it' and also that it presents arguments against the alleged benefits of the Raj. It is a lucid and fact based argument, which he clearly wins. The horrors the East India Company and British officialdom in India perpetrated on Indians left me outraged and hurting.

Each chapter carefully de-constructs the myths perpetuated by the English while highlighting their brutal policies designed only for profit - starting with the economic looting of India, the systematic destruction of our political structures and education system, divide and rule as policy leading finally to partition, man made famines and their sheer indifference to colossal human suffering - to name a few.. Though, each of these aspects have been individually explored in various works, their presentation as a whole written in a very readable narrative makes it a valuable addition to Indian history.

A few examples will illustrate the above point. The enduring lie that the construction of Railways was for benefiting the subcontinent has been methodically rubbished with facts and figures about- the financial scam in the construction of the Railways which lined British pockets through back breaking taxes paid by Indians, importing of all material from Britain to boost their steel industry, and the fact that it was only built to 'assist British enterprise in the exploitation of the natural resources of India.' To add insult to injury Indians were only given low-level jobs in the railways and white officials believed that it would take three Indians to do the job of a single European.

The systematic dismantling of flourishing Indian industries like textile, steel and shipbuilding to make way for British goods, and he strangling of maritime  trade by Indian merchants by imposing duties, is highlighted with research and facts. It is recounted  that as Indian built ships at tile time were cheaper, more durable and even more aesthetic some British trader started building ships in  Calcutta itself with Indian workers. This led to unemployment in the English shipbuilding industry, which petitioned Parliament and got legislation passed to disallow Indian built ships to trade between  India and Britain, thus breaking the back of Indian shipbuilding. A noted shipbuilder V o Chidambram Pillai was even jailed for his so called 'nationalist views', only because legislation alone could not curb his business,

Close to 75,000 Indian soldiers died fighting and a similar number were injured fighting in faraway lands under the British flag during World War I. The ungrateful Brits denied India the promised self-rute in return for this extraordinary sacrifice by its soldiers and
enforced the repressive Rowlatt act. This is narrated in great detail
aptly called the 'Great Betrayal'. The chilling account of the massacre of  Jallianwala Bagh, and the subsequent acquitting and rewarding of the monster Gen Dyer by the British will make every self respecting Indian bristle with rage.

Recently, the acclaimed Yale University has decided to change the name of its 86 year old Calhoun College named after the former US Vice President John C Calhoun, who, in the words of Yale Peter Salovey was 'a white supremacist leader who passionately promoted slavery, which conflicts with Yale's mission and values:,

and this at a time of the Trump wave. Perhaps, UK can take a cue and as and as suggested by Tharoor, the British Premier could start to make amends by apologising to Indians for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre on the eve of its 100'h anniversary in 2019,

The numbers quoted also speak for themselves - when the East India Company took control of the country India's share of world GDP was 23 per cent, and when the British left it was only 3 per cent,

At one time 8000 British officers in India earned 13,930,554 pounds annually, while over the same time, 130,000 Indians in Government service earned 3,284,163 Pounds the British Colonial Holocaust’ as Tharoor aptly calls it, led to 30-35 million deaths in famines and epidemics as a direct result of British  policies and criminal callousness.. In 1930, American historian William Durant wrote  "I was filled with astonishment and indignation at the apparently conscious arid deliberate bleeding of India by England throughout a hundred And fifty years. I  began to feel that I had come upon the greatest crime in all history,"
       Interestingly, the book reasons that on finally getting a hard fought independence, Indian leaders chose the path of a protectionist self
reliant economy as the slaving of India by the East India Company made them justifiably wary of capitalism- This policy had to be changed many decades later for a more globalised liberal economy, but then as Tharoor eloquently saw ,that one of the lessons you learn from history is that sometimes history teaches the wrong lessons.' The author also argues that the current Indian Army's professionalism and apolitical nature being cited as 'a valuable British legacy is rubbish, as the Pakistan Army, which came from the same staple, has conducted three coups and still remains mired in politics:_ He credits the officers and men of the Indian Army and the "inclusive and pluralist nature of Indian democracy' for this and not romanticised  British legacy_

In the final chapter Tharoor makes a compelling, case for the return of the Kohinoor diamond which 'Maharaja Dalip singh was forced to gift to the British in 1919 and now adorns the Queen's crown; though by his own admission this would be a complex process.  In the same chapter.. he also argues that 'Gandhi could embarrass the British but not overthrow them as they were too morally bankrupt to be shamed by his principled non-violent struggle and it was only when Indian soldiers and sailors rebelled in        1945 that they realised their 'game was up" - this seems a little harsh as it can also be argued that the sheer moral force that the Mahatma projected did play a major role in India’s independence. In the end,. Tharoor lucidly reiterates with examples from Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans that European colonialists left erstwhile colonies after drawing fickle boundaries, in economic bankruptcy and social turmoil- the results of which have led to innumerable conflicts some of which are still continuing. Colonialism therefor is important to be understood as sometimes the best crystal ball is a rear view mirror.

It is the poetic revenge of history that just as the first Brexit left the sub continent in a mess the second one will probably leave both the EU and the UK itself in even a bigger mess!

This is an important book. Buy it borrow it or download it- but do read it.