09-09-2003, 09:03 AM
My own interest in colonial history is limited to the actual life of the people, rather than the politics and events. I have always been fascinated by the fact that a handful of goras managed to rule such a vast country for so long. I want to know what my ancestral Hindoo was like, what he thought, how he lived, why he allowed to happen what did happen. What was the englishman like? Having lived in UK for many years, I know them as they are today, but what about the typical gora sahab of 1760? Was it really like Lagaan or not?
I am always looking for books on the life of the common man and his master during those times. So far I have come across only one - "British Life In India", an anthology of sorts, published by Oxford India Paperbacks, edited by R.V. Vernede.
Does anyone else share this feeling that if the British came to India today they would be thrown back into the Arabian sea? Was colonization and empire a phenomenon of the middle ages only? Don't want to start on the Iraq angle, as that seems to be no different from the Muslim invasion of India, but on the insidious insinuation of a few opportunists into a society that led to total domination later. Anyone seen the serial "V" from the 70s? If you exchange the aliens for the British, it would fit the colonial scenario very well.
Anybody know of any other sources/books on the everyday life under colonial rule?
I am always looking for books on the life of the common man and his master during those times. So far I have come across only one - "British Life In India", an anthology of sorts, published by Oxford India Paperbacks, edited by R.V. Vernede.
Does anyone else share this feeling that if the British came to India today they would be thrown back into the Arabian sea? Was colonization and empire a phenomenon of the middle ages only? Don't want to start on the Iraq angle, as that seems to be no different from the Muslim invasion of India, but on the insidious insinuation of a few opportunists into a society that led to total domination later. Anyone seen the serial "V" from the 70s? If you exchange the aliens for the British, it would fit the colonial scenario very well.
Anybody know of any other sources/books on the everyday life under colonial rule?