What did the Britishers Give Us?

From the word go, any one who was asked to tell about the British rule in India would start with the battle of Plassey and end with the partition of India. Everyone of us talk about the Imperialism, the looting of our precious wealth and the lakhs of lives lost in the struggle for Independence. Everyone yells about the Kohinoor diamond, the Peacock throne and various other valuable things that the Britishers had taken away from our Motherland and I do agree with all of them. Was it the only way we should see them? How many of you ever thought of the things they had given and bestowed upon us, without which India would have been bits and pieces of the age old princely states ruled by the Kings? If not, let me give you some ideas.

Haven't you ever ridiculed one who was unable to speak english as he/she was from a non-english medium background, perhaps one's mother tongue? Have you ever seen atleast a person who hadn't travelled on a train? Have you thought of reading the blogs in a language other than english? The answer to the first question might depend on the individual as he/she is, but for the next two questions, it would be definitely be a unanimous NO. I think all of you know that English came to India through the Britishers who had ruled a majority of the peninsula for over two centuries. What would have been the fate of the IT industry if English wasn't the medium of our learning, think of China, Japan and some the far east countries? We boast off saying that Aryabattha invented or coined "Zero," without which computer would have been just an idiotic box. But, what would you do with a zero if you dont know how to use it? Also,what would be the state of our economy if IT industry hadn't given its huge share?

The Indian Railways, the largest employee organisation in the world was started by the Britishers, no doubt that they had started it for transporting our resources to the ports so that they can ship them to their Queen's land. The first platform that was built over 155 years ago was still as solid as the rock, at Mumbai's Victoria Terminus.But, its a fact that railways had become the backbone of our country. Not to forget the communications, no not only the telephone, but also the good old Postal Mail that had reached a proportion where it can deliver a mail with in 2 days ever to far off places. We Indians were successful in Adopting, Adapting and Improving the network.

Have you ever seen the map of India before the Britishers started ruling our country? I guess, not even few. If you find one, just have a look, but let me tell you that it looked like a continent with small countries with their own guiding priciples, ruled by the Mughals, the Rajputs, the Cholas etc. And how do we get it after Independence?, forget about vivisection, its all a different issue. We got a United India, which had grown in its proportion and population. Ofcourse, ruling such a large country, maintaining law and order had been dificult for our elected leaders, do remember that the idea of Democracy and a major chunk of our Constitution was also inspired by the England's.

So, never only accuse the Britishers for what they had done to us, but also thank them for what they had done to us unknowingly. I follow that, "Believing that some good can be derived from every event is a better preposition than believing that something happens for the best, which is assuredly does not."