What is the coolest obscure historical fact you know?
Though it wasn’t written law but rather a norm that British officers serving in India were not given public office/responsibility upon their return to England. The logic was that they ruled a slave nation, which must have made a difference in their attitude and behavior. If they are given such a responsibility here, he will treat free British citizens in the same way. To understand this, read the sentence given below:
A British woman whose husband was a civil service officer in Pakistan and India during British rule. The woman spent many years of her life in different parts of India. On his return she wrote a beautiful book based on her memoirs.
The woman wrote that when my husband was the deputy commissioner of a district, my son was about four years old and my daughter was one year old. We lived in a mansion built on several acres, which was owned by the Deputy Collector. Hundreds of people were engaged in the service of DC’s home and family. There were parties every day, the district’s big landlords took pride in inviting us to their hunting events, and everyone we went to considered it an honor. Such was our pride and glory that even the Queen and the Royal Family would hardly be able to meet in Britain.
During the train journey, a luxurious compartment equipped with royal amenities was reserved for the family of the Deputy Commissioner. When we boarded the train, a white clothed driver would stand in front of us with both hands tied. And ask permission to start the journey. The train would start running only after getting permission.
Once we boarded a train for the , as per tradition, the driver came and asked for permission. Before I could say anything, my son was in a bad mood for some reason. He asked the driver not to drive. The driver while carrying out the order said for him the kid was a mini government. After some time the entire staff including the station master gathered and started begging my four-year-old son, but he refused to let start the journey. Eventually, with great difficulty, I persuaded my son to let the train start it’s journey on the promise of several chocolates, and the journey finally began.
A few months later, the woman returned to the UK to visit her friends and relatives. She arrived in London by ship, her stay at Methi, a county in Wales to which she had to travel by train. The woman sat her daughter and son on a bench at the station and went to collect the ticket. Due to the long queue, it was too late, due to which the woman’s son was very upset. When he boarded the train, the child got angry again after seeing the first class seats instead of the luxurious compound. When the train started traveling on time, the child started screaming and screaming. “He was saying out loud, what kind of owl is this driver. He has started running the train without our permission. I will tell father and get him treatment of shoes.” The woman was finding it difficult to explain to the child that “this is not her father’s district, it is an independent country. Here, a mid ranking government official like a deputy commissioner or the prime minister or even the king does not have the authorities to treat people the way Britishers do in India.
Today it is clear that we have driven out the British from India. But we have not came out of slavery till now. Even today many deputy commissioners, SPs, ministers, advisors and politicians harass common people on the streets for hours to satisfy their arrogance.