Anyone who has not visited India can have only an incomplete world view, says author Ferdinand Mount

'The Tears of the Rajas' by Ferdinand Mount is a historical narrative. In 600 pages, the journalist-author chronicles 19th-century British imperial rule through his own ancestors, the quintessential Lowland Scots who endured ill-health and harm as they served in a land far away from home. Through the Lows and the Metcalfes described in the book, Mount manages to draw a canvas of the British rule, resurrecting memories of half-forgotten incidents and bringing to light some unreported ones. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he has also served as head of Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit and editor of the Times Literary Supplement. In an e-mail interview with Lopamudra Ghatak, he talks about the digital age boosting historical research, social media and the perils of modern-day journalism.

Q. 'The Tears of the Rajas' chronicles the collapse of British law and order that followed the uprising of 1857. It also talks about the vengeance taken by the British army in the form of mass floggings, shootings and violence. How difficult was it to lay bare the brutality on which the British empire stood?

One thing to be said for the British in India is that they were frank about their disasters. The most horrific accounts come from Government Blue Books and from published memoirs of old India hands.

Q. What were your chief reference points?

The old India Office Library, now housed in the British Library at St. Pancras, is the greatest research resource imaginable, and it's only a mile down the road from my home. The story was just sitting there waiting to be told. Then of course I had the miraculous tin box of family letters which my cousin Mary Cameron so kindly lent me.

Q. How long did it take you to research?
About four years altogether, but I'm still finding out more fascinating things, although the book has been out for a year now.

Q. It is one of the few fine examples where a family history has been beautifully and almost-factually woven into a period plot. What were your first thoughts when you sat down to write?

I did not know at all what to expect, and my conviction that the story of the Lows and the Shakespeares and the Metcalfes had something to tell us about the history of the British in India, and about Empire more generally, only grew upon me as I went along.



(Image: Amazon.com)


Q. Did you, at any point, feel the personal - the family - coming into the way of the story that you were trying to say?

Not at all. For one thing, it all happened a long time ago, and the facts were so overwhelming that I never felt the slightest urge to blur or suppress them.

Q. You have been a seasoned journalist. What do you feel about today's journalism in the time of social media? Do you think veracity is becoming a premium?

The digital age is a wonderful time for historical research. You can often lay your hands in five seconds on a fact which would once have taken a whole day in a library to hunt down. But for journalism it is not always so good. News reporting tends to be skimpy or truncated or to migrate to parts of the Web not often visited. In Britain, for example, the newspapers have virtually given up reporting the proceedings of Parliament.

Q. Your take on the Jaipur Literary Festival. Do you think such fests can truly boost writers and publishers? Or is it just one big party for five days?

The Festival seemed to me wholly delightful, offering as it does writers from overseas to catch a glimpse of India and India the opportunity to listen to such a diverse cast of writers. I loved the whole thing.


Ferdinand Mount (Image: YouTube)

Q. How do you see India through your eyes?

I came here for the first time so late in life, but I am now convinced that anyone who has not been to India can have only an incomplete view of the world.

Q. What are you reading at the moment?

Tom Bower's Broken Vows, a 600-page denunciation of Tony Blair and all his works. It's a huge and horrible book, but it does make you think about the craft of governance - and shudder.

Q. Any other author that you would recommend?

I have recently been gripped by the novels of Meg Wolitzer, the latest addition to my ever-growing shelf of North American women, along with Jane Smiley, Alice Munro and Annie Proulx.