Book Review: The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

The Dutch. The Portuguese. Napolean in Egypt. The Boston Tea Party. The English East India Company. The British Crown. Madras. Pondicherry. Murshidabad. Calcutta. Buxar. Allahabad. Pollilur. Srirangapatnam. Assaye. Shahjahanabad. A kaleidoscope of tales interwined. Determination giving into fear. Integrity giving into greed. Dreams giving into hallucinations. Neglect begetting conspiracy. Yet a few individuals who preferred to die in the battlefield than live for a delusional tomorrow.

Wonderful lessons to learn from ‘The Anarchy’. By William Dalrymple.

As a high school boy I often wondered how the Battle of Plassey fought in Bengal established the English rule in the whole of India. This book answers them in tremendous details yet I won’t recommend it as a school text book. To many the British ruled India from 1757. However, the fact is a British corporate owned by shareholders ‘ruled’, if looted would be too harsh to use, the Indian subcontinent starting from 1757, or even a little before that. The British Crown took over only after 1857.

The Scottish masterpiece is inundated with references all over the book giving an idea of the research that has gone into it. While reading it seems as if you are a watching a movie. A disturbing one though but based on true events. On one occasion, after a hectic day at work as I hit the bed with the book to lull myself to sleep I realized that it had acted on the contrary. If I hadn’t forced myself to close the book after dog-earing the page it would have been morning in a couple of hours.

The India that today we live in, had a very slow and a difficult metamorphosis. I feel thankful that I am living at this time in this part of the world. And more thankful that I don’t remember where exactly I was during ‘The Anarchy’.