I always say that one is, and must always remain, a student and keep learning new things every day. One should be eager to learn and benefit from it. Apart from that going back to real school - any kind, for any subject or course - is the best thing and I have tried to take advantage of the opportunities that came my way.

Whenever possible, I have gone to school to learn something I did not know before or did not have the higher level of proficiency. With that view, while in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, I enrolled in one course after another and collected quite a few certificates. It's another matter that several courses did not help me to get a reasonably decent paying job but I did acquire additional knowledge about things I did not know.

That was a decade back.

But now it has happened again and I am heading to another school in the greater Houston Area. The prestigious Rice University's Susanne M Glasscock School of Continuing Studies offered a short course and I jumped at it. It is real short, only eight Thursdays. The time is convenient, from 2 to 3:30 pm, and it's not expensive.

The short course is about The British Empire and its Legacy taught by an eminent historian Prof Newell Boyd, PhD. The subject is of interest to me as an Indian and I think I will have a good time listening to the expert. I will also get an opportunity to interact with him about the nearly two hundred year British rule in India leading to the country's independence in 1947. There are so many questions on my mind and this course might be an excellent opportunity to interact with a noted professor of history whose primary teaching field is Victorian Britain and the British Empire.

There was a period when the Sun never set on the British Empire, so vast was its possessions all over the world. Apart from the very few ‘white' ones such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada the vast majority of others were in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Central America. India was the pride of the British possessions with a rich, long history and culture, vast natural resources and huge population though divided by language, traditions, and way of life, history, religious differences and loyalties.

It was a shrewd English brain that cleverly exploited and ruled such a vast land and huge population with a proud and bold history. The Englishman went to India (and other areas), as a Christian missionary and trader and ended up with being a ruler for two centuries. In that period the small country of England, interestingly named Great Britain, became fabulously rich and exceedingly powerful earning the well deserved claim that Britannia Rules the Waves.

The history of British rule in India is full of acts that a typical colonial power indulges in. Subjugation of the people, exploiting local resources, downplaying its history, culture, accomplishments and imposing its own language and traditions on the ruled were at the core of their policies. Besides, whenever thought fit to act ruthlessly to keep its hold over the subjects, the English ruler did not hesitate to use batons, bullets and barbarity as their weapons.

In that period the British created a distinct subservient class of locals to sustain the foreign rule loyally following the policies of the Masters. That class became its pillar of strength and was thoroughly brainwashed to follow all that it was told, directly or even indirectly. That so-called elite Indian class became mentally English and took pride in becoming so.

This was one of the cleverest policies of the foremost colonial power that ruled several parts of the world. The British were superior to all the colonial powers such as the French, the Germans, the Dutch, the Portuguese and others. That's why they had larger possessions and lasted longer than others.

[I don't propose to comment about the Romans, or the Islamic Caliphates or the Ottoman Empire. They are of a different class that needs separate articles. This is only about the British Empire of which I have a little more knowledge.]

Apart from India, the British had their numerous possessions in other parts of the world to exploit the locals and enrich their own nation. They did that meticulously; along the way did something to develop the infrastructure also. However, it was primarily, to facilitate their own administration and movement of their troops and trade through the vast hinterland.

Of course when they left whatever infrastructure was created could not be taken away to England and it can be claimed that the colonial power developed India and other colonies with the vast railroad system, roads, and also spread of education.

The legacy of the British Empire is, therefore, complex, some good some not-so-good. But let me postpone more comments on all that till after the learned professor has completed the short course with his expertise and rich background.

Till then I will try to be a good student and follow the lectures, presentation and the visuals that I am sure would add to my information and knowledge about the greatest colonial power in the world in the last three hundred years.

2/15/10