The British held India by an army predominantly comprising Indian soldiers, and relied on their fidelity. This loyalty stood the test of time but was eventually breached during the Second World War, leading to India’s independence. At our Online Talk #TrueToTheirSalt, author and former journalist Ravindra Rathee looks at the world of the Indian soldiers who enlisted in the armies of India under British rule and tells us, from their perspective, how India came to be colonised by a handful of Europeans in the eighteenth century, how the British held sway over the country for almost two centuries, and how they suddenly departed from India in 1947.

About the speaker

Ravindra Rathee started his career as a journalist with the Times of India in Delhi. After graduating from St Stephen’s College in Delhi, he did an MA in politics at the University of Hull as a British Chevening Scholar. For the past two decades, he has worked in the city of London. Stemming from extensive research on the military life of his grandfather is his first book, True To Their Salt, published by HarperCollins and Amberley in 2022.