India and the wily British Empire

Time: 1800Ad
Place: Some remote village in North India. Anyway almost everything was a village in those days.
Location: Fields.

Gangubhai: Where’s Raju kaka? I have’nt seen him all day today?
Munshiram: Must be off in the fields again! That addict!
Gangubhai: You mean addicted to tending to the fields?
Munshiram: If you intend the pun, yes.
Gangubhai: Huh?
Munshiram: That rascal fellow always likes to go sniffing after the poppies. The plants put him to sleep for obvious reasons.
Gangubhai: Really? Lets discuss this over some fine opium.

..and so it went on.

In all those agonizingly long history lessons did any teacher tell us that the British kept India as a large opium production factory?

All this talk of how India’s wealth attracted the British. Her glory blah blah.

Well, the British East India Company wanted to have a monopoly on opium production in India and that's what made the Empire stinking rich.

In fact the opium that was exported surreptiously by the Empire from India to China triggered the Opium Wars.

Time: 1800Ad
Place: England
Location: A fancy manor.

Her ladyship: Martha, where’s that luverly Chinese tea?
Martha: Coming your ladyship.
Her ladyship: Hurry up wont you? I was to look at some fine China after this. The lord has been rather clumsy lately. My fine porcelain collection is now but a few colourful pieces.

Sniffles.

So there you go. The British loved their tea and porcelain from China. The Chinese however were’nt interested in buying anything that the British produced.

There was a growing trade deficit with China that the British had to tackle. Hence the wily idea to export opium to the Chinese. Get them hooked and crying for more. The deficit narrowed and then became a surplus. Very clever!

Will try to get more of these interesting educational stories.