Hello readers !
Today I'm going to talk about Dr. Shashi Tharoor and his speech at Oxford about the dark era of inglorious empire. This discussion is part of my classroom activity. Apart from that this talk is also interesting which explores the truth of our past. This task is given by our professor Dr. Dilip Barad sir. If you want to know more about activity visit teacher's blog click here .
In this task we have to watch a video in which Dr. Tharoor gave a speech about his book "An Era of Darkness The British Empire in India" at Oxford. He participated in the debate, so he pointed out some of the arguments about what Britishers did in India and how India became a poor country. While watching I have made some interesting points which seem in postcolonial elements. I watched the video two times, then I came to know what Dr. Tharoor wants to prove by his book and his speech.
(Dr. Shashi Tharoor)
Before discussing the speech let's know something interesting about Shashi Tharoor. Dr. Shashi Tharoor born in London, UK and raised in India. He is Indian politician, writer and former international diplomat who has been surving as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Tiruvananthaouram, Kerala, since 2009. He was formerly Under - Secretary General of the United Nations and contested for the post of Secretary General in 2006. His well known novel, "The Great Indian Novel" was first published in 1989. His other works are,
Riot (2001)
India : From Midnight to the millennium (1997)
Show Business (1992)
Bookless in Baghdad (2005)
Indian Sastra : Reflection on the Nation in our Time (2015)
Why I am A Hindu ( 2018)
The Paradoxical Prime Minister (2018)
The Hindu Way : An Introduction to Hinduism (2019)
So now let's discuss our main topic, his speech about his book An Era of Darkness The British Empire in India.
Here is the video of that discussion of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. First watch the video so we can understand it in better way :-
He said in his speech that the economic situation of the colonies was worsened by the experience of British colonialism. He said that India's share of world economy was 23% before Britishers arrived, but it was down to below 4% when they left !!! And this happened because India had been governed for the benefit of Britain. Because Britain's rise for 200 years was financed by its demolition in India. And this is the truth, the hard reality.
Tharoor states that British started taking raw material from India and started manufacturing cloth. They buy raw material at a lower price and sell manufactured clothes at high prices. And that is why India became beggar !
He said that by the end of the century India became the biggest cash cow for Britain. Do you know what is the meaning of cash caw ? Here cow is not taken as meaning of animal but it is taken as an allusion to the dairy cow, which once acquired may be milked on an ongoing basis. When someone or something which is a dependable source of appreciable amount of money; a moneymaker it's called cash cow. India became enterprise for Britain that generate high net free cash flows.
In the speech he talked about slavery. He said that in 1833 when slavery was abolished a compensation of 20 million pounds was paid not as reparations to those who had lost their lives or who had suffered, but to those who had lost their property. It means the reparations were not given to the very poor people but to those who are quite known and familiar with the government. For this argument he given an example of Mr. Gladstone was one of those who benefited from the compensation.
Also he gives an example of the Bengal famine. In this case also British did not think about the poor people and many people died because of famine.
There is statement known in the world that
The sun never set on the British empire !
For the answer of this statement he states that,
"Sun never set on the British empire because even God couldn't trust the English in the dark"
This statement is quite satirical about British empire. Britishers who exploit Indian very much in the daylight (sunlight), what they will do at night ! So God could not trust them, that is why God doesn't give them night mode.
Then Dr. Tharoor talked about World War | and World War || He also talked about the contribution of Indians in both wars. Many Indian are died, many are wounded and many remained missing or in prison also. And they didn't do it for their country, they did it for Britishers.
Since our childhood we used to hear that British government built roads and railways. We can consider it as a good change of India's past. Some people claim that it is good to see that the Britishers made these railways and roads and when they left it's useful for Indian people also. But here we are making a mistake. Because they made up this roads and railways for their benefits for serving their government not for local people of India. And some English people and others also said that the discovery of roads and railways that British made is for their personal usage not for Indians.
When we done such mistakes what people want from us is to acceptance, that people can accept that they did mistake. So here at the end of all this talk Dr. Tharoor only want that the people of Britain accept that harsh reality that what their ancestors did. Because there is lot of people who don't know from where their wealth has came. Maybe it's because they don't teach their children that what their grandparents grandparent did. So this point Dr. Tharoor made here. And if Britain want to pay for what they have did then they have to pay at least one pound for the day and they have to pay for 200 years of ruling India.
So above all discuss dicribes about the dark era in Indian past. This book reveals the reality of British people that I think they didn't think about. Dr. Shashi Tharoor received the Sahitya Academy Award for this book An Era of Darkness non fictional work. To wind up we can say that they written about the truth which all have to accept specially Britain. And this is what he wants to convey all people.
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