British (mostly) Catalysts for Indian Greats.

"All that was good & living within us was made, shaped, & quickened by the British" - So goes the famous & controversial dedication to "The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian" by Nirad Chaudhuri.

Let us examine the facts which tend to support the above quote.

Alan Hume, the British ICS officer was known as the "Father of Indian National Congress" which later had luminaries like Gandhi & Nehru fighting for India's political independence.

Rev.William Hastie, ironically a clergyman told the future Swami Vivekananda about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa & advised him to meet him, which later led to the resurgence of Hinduism on the global stage for the first time.

Later spreading of Hinduism globally was done in a spectacular fashion by Sri Satya Sai Baba, whose power was documented & presented to the world by writers led by Howard Murphet (Australia), John Hislop & Dr.Samuel Sandweiss (USA).

Even though Tagore won the Nobel Prize, it was the enthusiastic support of W.B.Yeats, which made him known world-wide.

Similarly Graham Greene's sponsorship made R. K. Narayan a known voice all over the world.

Though Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" was very popular in Bengal, it's success in New York & Cannes, made Ray one of the all time greats of cinema.

The first LP record of Indian Classical Music by Ali Akbar

Khan had a spoken introduction by Yehudi Menuhin. His subsequent friendship of & collaboration with Ravi Shankar (not to mention Ravi Shankar's mentoring George Harrison) catapulted the Sitarist to dizzy heights of mega stardom.

In the very popular  Hindi film "Rang de Basanti", it is the Colonial British Jailor's grand-daughter, who while making a documentary about the freedom fighters, ignites the latent patriotism among Indian youth.