Comments on Les M&M's: Our first trip on an Indian train

Hi The British were very selfish in building insti...

2010-02-20T15:38:29.956-05:00

Hi
The British were very selfish in building institutions in India. They only built the railways and the telegraph system which facilitated their rule. They only introduced enough modern education to fill their ranks of native administrators.
A telling statistic is what they did to Indian industry. During the peak of the Mughal empire, India accounted for roughly 30% of world GDP, according to some estimates.
At independence, in 1947, it accounted for barely 1/10th of 1%.
Question for you. What were the British doing in India then?
The majority of Indian industry, educational institutes and infrastructure has been built after independence. The British just exploited the peasants and caused massive famines in Bengal and other parts of the country.

ah, in effetti mi chiedevo che cosa volessi dire.....

2010-01-09T08:20:32.453-05:00

ah, in effetti mi chiedevo che cosa volessi dire...

don't know why google has translated (in very ...

2010-01-09T03:32:48.284-05:00

don't know why google has translated (in very bad english) my post...
anyway,
sure that Eclipse will be the next one for Mathilde!.. ;)
sm

Assicurarsi Che Eclipse Sarà il prossimo Mathilde ...

2010-01-09T03:30:39.898-05:00

Assicurarsi Che Eclipse Sarà il prossimo Mathilde .. ;)
sm

we take note of all your suggestions, and (little ...

2010-01-08T12:11:48.560-05:00

we take note of all your suggestions, and (little by little) we promise to read/watch them all...

Recently I asked Matt if he knows the novel "...

2010-01-08T10:06:32.840-05:00

Recently I asked Matt if he knows the novel "A passage to India" written by Edward Morgan Foster (the same who wrote "A room with view").
I could listen (and appreciate) this novel read at radio a couple of months ago, and in it is described a trip on an indian train (about a century ago).
I think that this novel is a good way, for us living in Europe, to be introduced into indian mind and world. I like to add that there is also a nice movie directed by David Lean taken from the above novel, I could see some years ago.

chiara gave me "in asia" by tiziano terz...

2010-01-08T04:44:19.984-05:00

chiara gave me "in asia" by tiziano terzani to read while i was coming back to italy. terzani is a journalist who spent the most of his life in asia as correspondent for a german newspaper.. well i've discovered that this book is totally inconmprehensible for me because i don't know a single event of the asian history (what a shame!!!). For sure this trip has incouraged me to open my mind also to another part of the world (after Eclipse, of course!!!)
sm

happy to have inspired you... :) and thanks for ...

2010-01-07T13:53:31.128-05:00

happy to have inspired you... :)

and thanks for following our blog, you keep us company! ;)

well, you don't know half of it - large number...

2010-01-07T12:51:40.256-05:00

well, you don't know half of it - large numbers of Indian historians have spent their lives (and theses) discussing the very question and not concluding!!!

Incidentally, did you know why the British launched the railway system in India? It was to prevent another 1857 like revolt. They needed a way to move armies and materials around the country quickly in case of another such case.

Anyway, inspired by your posts, I am reading up a little more of the history of my own country, especially the politics after independence, which is a time usually forgotten, and since this period has great significance in terms of economic policies (Keynesian, planned economy vs. market/export oriented) is also very interesting.