Colonial India has always been a source of great fascination to me. My paternal grandfather lived there before partition, when it was still under British rule. For nonwhites, like him, there was nothing romantic about the British Raj and I had no intention of romanticizing it in my novel. When writing A Modest Independence, I attempted to portray Victorian-era India as it truly was, in all its good and bad. In doing so, I may have inadvertently used period words or descriptions that some might find offensive by modern standards. For this, I humbly apologize.

To that end, a word on nomenclature: In my novel, the residents of various countries are often referred to as “native Indians,” “native Egyptians,” or just plain “natives.” This is a reference to their status as native-born citizens of a particular country—as opposed to colonial occupants of said country. It is not meant as a pejorative.