Born Eric Arthur Blair to an Anglo-Indian parent in the year 1903,
George Orwell had a deep connection with India. It was in a barn in some
sleepy village of Motihari district of the then Bihar that George Orwell
had first tryst with the human world. His father, a famous Indigo
planter of Champaran, wanted him to sail for England to study. His
mother took him to England where he completed his primary education at
Eton. He couldn't afford further studies therefore he joined the Indian
Imperial Police and served in Burma. This was a phase of his turn
around.
He
returned from Burma disillusioned from Imperialism and wrote some of his
splendid works such as Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), Burmese
Days (1934), A Clergyman's Daughter (1935), A Hanging (1931) and
Shooting an Elephant (1936) among others. This was the time when George
Orwell felt early moorings for Communism. He even went on to fight
alongside his comrades in Spanish Civil War but it was during this war
that he got disillusioned from the Stalinist brand of communism. The
stage was set for some of his best works. It started with 'Homage to
Catalonia' in the year 1938 and then came the very famous 'Animal Farm'.
Animal Farm got published in the year 1945 and took the literary world
by storm. In this work, George Orwell criticized the Stalinist brand of
Communism and proved its vulnerability towards corruption and despotism.
With quotes such as "…all men are equal but some are more
equal than others…" Orwell had arrived. In the year 1949
Orwell wrote his magnum opus 1984. The novel feared the American
dominion in coming centuries and its ultimate transition in to a
totalitarian regime flourishing behind the veil of democracy. It is
unbelievable that many of his predictions stand true as of today.
George Orwell spent last years of his life fighting against Zionism and
the sinister designs of Britain and US in the formation of Israel. He
championed the cause of Arabs and Palestinians and severely criticized
the moves of west in strangulating human rights of Palestinians. He
resigned from 'The Tribune' that was controlled by Zionist lobby and
championed the cause of Israel. All his life, George Orwell stood
against traits like Fascism, Totalitarianism, Zionism, and most of his
works reflected his ethos. This great literary figure finally closed his
eyes in 1949 in London where he was later buried according to Anglican
rites.
