George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903 in Motihari, a tiny town in Bihar, near the border with Nepal. His father, Richard W. Blair, worked at the time as an agent in the opium department of the Indian Civil Service during the height of British rule over the sub continent.

Orwell lived in Motihari for a year as a child before leaving for England in 1904 with his mother and sister. He never returned to his birthplace and died in 1950. Orwell had India in his blood. His mother was raised in Burma but his father spent many, many years in India. Orwell cared about India all his life. He wrote admiringly of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in his 1949 essay 'Reflections on Gandhi. '