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Article: Gardens of the Raj.(history of British rule in India)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- July 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Oh to be playing on the Grass Courts -- at home!', declared an advertisement for Lipton's Yellow Label Tea which ran in English newspapers in India between the world wars. It harped on two very English themes: a good cup of tea, which according to the popular song of the time was `at half past eleven -- my idea of heaven', as well as the importance of the English garden.
More than any other people the English have identified patriotism in terms of their `green and pleasant land'. As Rudyard Kipling, the poet of the Raj, had observed, `Our England is a Garden'. The advertisement reminded home-sick expatriates of `Immemorial lawns -- changeless, traditional, ever green ...