A blogger friend of mine has blogged several times, about a couple of issues that bother her. One is, the strange emotionally charged attitude we have to the English language and the other is the discrimination, dark skinned people in India face. After some thought, I have come to believe, it is possible, that these two seemingly disconnected issues, could indeed be linked.
White Mughals by Dalrymple explores an interesting period in British Indian history, when the daily lives of the British officials and Indian people were often tightly entwined. This period has been, later, suppressed by both cultures as a result of hostilities, that developed soon after. Dalrymple's account is well researched, referring to, and quoting from, official documents as well as personal correspondences, to obtain a complete picture on both microscopic and macroscopic scales.