Of Surat's Neglected Colonial Cemeteries and the Grandiose Dreams of the Nabobs For the early Europeans who came to India to trade, the Moghuls were an inspiration in the most unusual way. Credit: The Wire Staff Sidharth Bhatia 142 interactions History Travel 28/Apr/2018 They were not royalty, but they did have grandiose ambitions. Perhaps they were inspired by the Moghuls. Many of the officers of the East India Company who came to Hindustan to trade, became fabulously rich, often by doing business on the side. They lived in style. Back home, in Britain, they were sneeringly called ‘nabobs’, pretend aristocracy who were actually quite common. Some of them tried to break into the British upper classes and even influence the political process. A few, buccaneers like Robert Clive, who after looting a huge fortune in India, came to grief in Britain. But many others lived and died in India and were buried
