Shashi Tharoor & his imagined Old Pride. Some Stray thoughts

Just leave Old Prides & Prejudices for Once

 For me it is black & white answer  of a complex situation.  British pride is twisted in many ways but it is more harmful for British people. It is time for the world nation states to de-link themselves from old Empires rather than praising them. Interestingly, like colonial apologists, Shashi too fix in Old Pride and that is the core problematic issue.  

Video Clip of Shashi Argument

There are many questions about the thesis and it needs some deconstruction too. I heard his famous lecture too. Interestingly no one ever ask him about the data he used in it. Like 27% global GDP in 1700 or 23% in 1800. He told us that in 1947 it had reduced to 3%.
He did not tell us what was the literacy rate before annexation yet he may be right that in 1947 it was below 17%.
What was life expectancy rate before annexation? he did not mention yet he said that it was 27 in 1947.
Similarly he did not enrich about growth rate of pre British India yet he gave a figure from 1900 to 1947 and that was 0.001%.
He smartly quoted Will Durand regarding education spending but it was a general comment comparing New York and British India in 1930.
It is problematic to explain pre British Indian glory with some isolated examples of Roman Senators.
There are many issues in that narrative and in the absence of old data, it may sound nationalistic yet hard to attract a researcher.
RETHINKING
Colonization did many bad things and it had destroyed many things too but you cannot analysis ancient or past history with modern tools. Fundamentalists often analysis modern history with ancient tools and similarly if we analysis 1000 years back history with modern tools like life expectancy rates, human rights, gender, education cum literacy, GDP etc it often suited some times but it is often become problematic for researchers.
What Shahshi is saying may be understandable but why students and participants in shows and institutions did not question old data? How he got data of 500 years back? Do we have any data of life expectancy rate of ancient Greeks? Talking in terms of percentage about even 300 years back situation is problematic in many ways.
There are many more questions. Was there any thing exists like One Nation (India) before annexation? Just check history of areas like Tibat, Nepal, Burma, areas beyond Peshawar, Hamachal, Costal lands on Baluchistan etc during Mughal period?
What was British India? We have to understand factual position. Till 1846-9, areas like Kashmir, KPK, whole Punjab were not part of British India.
Till 1935, even Aden (port of Yemen) was included in British India while Sheri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan were out of it by colonial rulers. What we means by using notions like Indian Wealth? is it a post Nation State imagination largely depends on dreams rather than facts? Till 17th century even Britain nation was not imagined like in 20th century or modern Germany was Prussia , US was not created and these are simple facts. Can we draw modern Nation States from old King-ships? In mid 19th Century, a German traveler Baron Charles Hugel wrote a book  who came to our lands but its dedication was for a imagined European Christian Empire. Today we are living in Nation States and it is largely a 20th century phenomenon  yet Shashi ji is trying to expand it till ancient times . It is over nationalistic in many ways. 
There are many bad rather twisting things we had in our colonial past including misleading prides too but nationalism is no answer of them at all. What we did in last 70 years in Bharat, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Sheri Lanka, Nepal etc is too part of the history. I donot want to buy twisted theory of European supremacy but it does not mean that i have to fix my self with twisted nationalists.  For me it is black & white answer  of a complex situation.  British pride is twisted in many ways but it is more harmful for British people. It is time for the world nation states to delink themselves from old Empires rather than praising them. Interestingly, like colonial apologists, Shashi too fix in Old Pride and that is the core problematic issue.