Narrated by Sid Sagar
Audiobook
Running length around 16 hours but if you increase the speed to 1.2 it becomes to around 13 hours without any loss of clarity of diction.
Rating- 4/5 for the research 4/5 for the diction 3/5 for neutrality
Genre- Non fiction historical account as a review from various sources
The research is extensive and fairly comprehensive but like most Englishmen who write about history of india, it is based on their own history and on works of many Persian and Mughal historians which the author has quoted extensively in the book.
So the author gets it spot on when narrating or describing events of the company and of the Mughals and of the French and even of the Persian but when it comes to any other description like say of the Marathas the view point is skewed and predictable.
Having said that I am sure that no account of history can ever be neutral or accurate. You can never be sure of what happened in a particular time especially since it happened so long ago and since the accounts are vague and biased.
The book is a narrative of the East India Company based in England and not of the British Colonisation of India which was incomplete for me since I expected the time from 1800 and the final independence of India.
The way a small trading company with constant losses and defeats all over especially to the Dutch and French East India Company initially to finally become one of the biggest corporations in the world is the whole book about. But in narrating that, the book becomes about the Mughals and the Afghans and the Marathas and the Nizams and also of Tipu Sultan.
How the first East Indian company officer who presented himself to the court of Jahangir was not even given any attention to finally decades later the same Mughal clan became a puppet under the hold of the company.
Credit must be given for giving a vivid portrayal of Robert Clive the Governor General who in his two postings in India made himself wealthy beyond means! Even when the whole country is struggling under poverty and even when the Company stocks were under loss, he had become rich beyond means though the ghosts of his deed never left him. He never liked India and in the end he did not like life also!
The next Governor General Warren Hasting and Cornwallis and finally Marquess Wellesley have been described in details and if you read the East India company details you would realise that there were more but the book describes in detail only them.
With a sympathy towards Hastings where he has been shown to be a better Governor than Clive and the complains against him were actually due to Robert Clive.
Slowly and steadily starting from a small post in Madrassipattinum or Madras to the office in Calcutta to finally establishing rule all over the country is being described like a story which is engrossing to say the least.
When the author talks about the money being squeezed out of India and when he coverts it into the current value you are reminded of Shashi Tharoor’s book in similar lines which is a better book on how the company looted india and made it from one of the richest companies in the world to the state it is now. Every time the author converts the money you feel a cringe and then some…
In spite of this when the author states how the company is always in debt is when you actually realise that it just does not make sense!
He talks about Jahangir, about Shah Allam, Mir Quasim, and many other Mughals. About how they feel that ruling india is probably the best thing that happened and how many would have continued to be under them if not for the EIC.
He talks about so many battles and credit must be given in that they have been described so well including famous battle like the Plassey. The way he describes each siege, each army, each attack makes you feel that you are witnessing the battle first hand!
The way he narrates about the atrocities of the victors and how they torture people whom they have vanquished is simply blood curdling. Especially cruel was the way Shah Alaam enemy’s son treats him and his people even though he had taken care of the kid as his own son! It was too cruel to listen.
He then proceeds to narrate about Tipu and Hyder Ali and this account is the one which makes me feel that his narration was only one sided since he tends to skip his atrocities in a fine mention while trying to portray him as a freedom fighter and not as a crude king as even his own historians opined.
There appears to be a bias when it comes to Tipu though its open to debate.
The author though must be commended for having a firm opinion about Britishers and his company officers and he has not put them in a pedestal but on the ground and lower where they belong. He consistently makes note of their high handedness, the way the generals manipulate two kings against each other, how they in guise of giving protection make the kings their virtual puppet or slave!
But the chief reason why this small company took over the company is that many kings or leaders were not united; they thought only about themselves, they were not attached to the country and that’s why when you do not own something, you would not protect it.
All in all an enriching experience like the Freedom at Midnight which was also a very extensive narration! Read it to know about how a company became a corporate to how it made England one of the most powerful nations. All because of Anarchy!
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