How India changed the World – Tales of Trade and Influence - four online talks by Raaja Bhasin

Long before ‘chicken tikka masala’ started doing the rounds, numerous spices, dishes and flavours arrived in Britain from the Indian sub-continent and spread to other parts of the world. Hundreds of words wandered quite aimlessly into the English language and have stayed on. Worcestershire sauce has its supposed-origins in Bengal; the cummerbund, a word and the item, part of a gentleman’s formal evening wear, both originated in India. This first talk takes a cheerful look at some of the flavours in both food and language, and at textiles that came to stay.

When railways were introduced in India in the mid-19th century, they not only were a means of travel, but also moved raw materials to the ports. From the shore, the ‘black beauties’, as the steam locomotives were often called, would take finished goods back inland. From the coast, ships initially sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and later, passed through the Suez Canal. This to and fro movement ferried men, women and skills not only to Europe, but from India, carried labour to places as distant as the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Without trivialising the devastating impact that the opium trade had on China, parts of India and on other places, it was closely linked to the rapid rise of tea as a preferred beverage in Britain. While the narcotic was a means of destruction, even as the creative person’s muse, tea was all about rejuvenation and in its early years, also about social snobbery. This talk examines the strange and profound influence that both opium and tea have had in shaping our world.

Beginning with the spread of mathematical knowledge in the early centuries of the Common Era, India’s impact has been manifold and deep. Genetic strands appear in unusual places and the search for marriage partners has created unusual legacies. Produce from the region has passed almost unseen from under our eyes. This talk touches on a miscellany of themes that show ways in which India continues to affect our planet and our lives.