15
Dumraon, District Buxar, Bihar
I wanted to surprise my mother, so I told her I was arriving a day
later than the actual date. I reached the Dumraon railway station after a
fourteen-hour train journey from Delhi.
As I walked out of the station, the familiar smells of my childhood
hit me straightaway.
There is nothing spectacular about my hometown. It is a small
place, less than three kilometres across on any side. Its only claim to
fame is being one of the oldest princely states of India. My family had
something to do with that achievement. However, I don’t know if I can
feel proud for what my ancestors did ten generations ago, Dumraon is
in Buxar district, around sixteen kilometres from Buxar town on the
banks of the Ganges. If you were not sleeping in history class you
would have heard of the Great Battle of Buxar in 1764. Frankly, it
should be renamed the Embarrassing Battle of Buxar. The battle was
fought between the British East India Company and the combined
armies of three Indian rulers—Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal;
Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh; and the Mughal king, Shah
Alam II. The Indian side had forty thousand troops. The British had
less than ten thousand. Guess what happened? The British clobbered
us. How? Well, the three Indian kings ended up fighting with each
other. Each Indian king had cut a side deal with the British and worked
against the other. In a day, the British had won the battle and taken
control of most of India. I don’t think Indians have learnt much since
that day. We remain as divided as ever. Everyone still tries to cut a deal
for themselves while the nation goes to hell.
Anyway, there is a reason I am telling you this. You may think
things are not connected, but think about this. If there was no Batde of
Buxar, or if it had had a different outcome, the British may not have
ruled India like they did. There would be none of the ‘English high