THE BIRTHPLACE of British author George Orwell in India’s eastern Bihar state is finally set to be restored after decades of neglect.
The simple white colonial bungalow in which Orwell was born in June 1903 in Motihari, a tiny town close to the Nepalese border, has been in ruins, providing occasional shelter to stray animals and more recently a teacher.
The provincial administration has now decided to renovate the building, which had been damaged by an earthquake, in an attempt to lure Orwell enthusiasts to one of India’s most underdeveloped regions.
“We will not allow George Orwell’s ancestral house, where he was born, to be lost to history. The government’s priority is to protect it, followed by renovation,” said Bihar state’s art and culture secretary Vivek Singh.
Dr Singh said repairs were likely to begin in the new year after assessments were invited from experts over how to preserve the structure where Orwell’s father lived in the early 20th century – he was an agent in the opium department of the colonial administration.
There had been several false starts to restore Orwell’s birthplace. The most recent was when a non-governmental Indian heritage foundation announced in 2003 – the 100th anniversary of Orwell’s birth – that it would not only renovate the house but also erect a museum alongside it, and a statue to the British novelist and journalist.
Even the local district Rotary Club in Motihari offered to restore the house for the public good, but all proposals remained fruitless, caught in bureaucratic wrangles and indifference.
Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, lived in Motihari before leaving for England in 1904, aged one, with his mother and sister.
He never returned to his Indian birthplace, dying in 1950 after a life that saw him live rough on the streets in London and Paris, fight in the Spanish civil war and serve as a broadcaster for the BBC during the second World War.
Orwell was also a member of the imperial police from 1922-1927 in Burma, which was then part of British India.
This employment provided him with the inspiration for Burmese Days, a dramatic, albeit morbid, tale of intrigue set against the backdrop of the declining British empire.
Orwell enthusiasts claim he was always attached to India.
News of the restoration comes at a time of debate among conservationists on how India looks after tens of thousands of historic buildings and sites across the country.