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I don’t know if this is true so maybe I shouldn’t be mentioning it, but: I had a driver for a week in India who I talked with a lot because my wife and our two
by mark_l_watson 3y ago
I don’t know if this is true so maybe I shouldn’t be mentioning it, but: I had a driver for a week in India who I talked with a lot because my wife and our two friends rode in the back seat while I sat up front. One of our longer conversations was about British rule. Our driver claimed that England very purposefully dismantled India’s education system and had the harsh punishment of “hand maiming” that was frequently meted out for even small infractions.
Empires, especially when in decline, can be brutal so maybe what our driver told me is true.
- concordDance 3y agoThere are plenty of rumors and myths floating around amongst taxi drivers in most countries, particularly third world ones in my experience (~15 years living in such countries). I wouldn't put too much stock in it.
- mark_l_watson 3y agoI understand your point about taxi drivers, but our driver was someone very different. He was well educated and a sophisticated gentleman who owned his own nice car. He was also a ‘tour guide’ superstar as far as knowing locals to introduce us to, local activities. We only covered about a 400 mile radius area around Agra. Anyway, I found him believable, but he was just one data point.
- actuator 3y agoWell, it is not just the English that dismantled it, it had already gotten weak if you look at India's output to science and research by the time they came. They did very well manipulate the system to be advantageous to them and make it easier for them to rule, which was what most colonisers were doing.