The Grand Trunk Road is the oldest, longest, & most famous highway in southern Asia. This book uses oral testimonies, photographs & texts to explore its history, & shows why it was so crucial to the process of migration to Britain & how the close links between Britain & places along it continue to this day. For millennia the Grand Trunk Road has been used by invaders to conquer the subcontinent. After the British arrived in 17th century they used it as the main artery of their conquest & rule of northern areas of British India. Known locally as the `GT Road` it was also used by its residents to begin journeys that ended all over the world, & since the days of the British Raj large numbers of them have settled in Britain. Between Delhi & the Khyber Pass, the GT Road travels through the homelands of over 90% of British Pakistanis & the vast majority of British Sikhs & Hindus from the Indian Punjab. Using stories gathered by Irna Qureshi & photographs taken by Tim Smith this book tells
- for the first time here
- the story of the profound impact of the British on the GT Road & its people, & how they in turn have irrevocably altered the fabric of modern day Britain.