India House - Chapter 15

The Storming And Capture Of Delhi

Winter had closed in like a big gray bird for all of January and February, and much of March, but then the snow melted, the morning once again began with birdsong, and cherry blossom trees bloomed and buzzed with bumblebees.

By now, Tatya had read enough at the library to have a picture of 1857 start forming in his mind.

It had all been highly organized. It was a war, no two ways about it. But the Indians lost. It probably assuaged the pride of those who had lost, as well as those who had sided with the British, to say it had just been a Mutiny. And, of course, the British knew it had been a fully-fledged war, but they couldn’t say so publicly. They needed their own people to think the Indians wanted British rule and were enriched by it. Not because they feared losing support at home, but because they wanted their own people to think the life they were afforded was the best anyone could hope for.

He was now engrossed in an account of Nanasaheb’s trusted deputy, Azimullah’s trip to Europ…