India, Oct. 4 -- The concept of 'narco-terrorism' - denoting the exploitation of illicit drug funds to instill fear in governments and societies - has become prevalent in contemporary discourse. Yet, one may be astonished to discover that British colonisers had engineered a similar modus operandi for drug trade as a crucial source of revenue in the late 18th century, all the while upholding the ideals of Victorian morality and the welfare of their subjects. It all began with a trade deficit, due to a significant demand for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain in Britain, there being negligible demand in China for British manufactured goods. Consequently, Britain had to pay for these imports primarily with silver, resulting in the depletion of its reserves. Britain (and other western nations to a lesser extent) found a way to address this problem by covertly passing on refined opium extract from poppy (Papaver somniferum) to 'country traders' who were licensed by the East India Company to take goods from India to China. These middlemen sold the opium to smugglers along the Chinese coast. The gold and silver that the traders received from those sales were then turned over to the EIC in Calcutta. In China, the company then used the gold and silver it received to purchase goods that could be sold profitably in England. During this period, China had been grappling with a significant opium addiction crisis, which prompted the Imperial Chinese government to prohibit this narcotic. Consequently, the smuggling of opium became highly profitable, and a distribution network for opium emerged across China, aided by corrupt officials. The enforcement measures taken by China, along with the response from Western nations, ultimately led to two military confrontations known as the Opium Wars, both of which resulted in defeat for China. As Britain undertook these clandestine operations that caused significant social, political and economic turmoil, along with severe health problems in China, its actions also had profound consequences in British India. The EIC had discovered that poppy could be abundantly cultivated on Indian soil and soon a coercive system was developed, in which small and marginal farmers, as well as landless peasants in the Indo-Gangetic plains (present day UP, Bihar and Bengal) were forced to grow poppy, against unrealistic production targets. Those refusing could be arrested and threatened with destruction of crops and face criminal prosecution. The price that peasants received for their opium did not even cover the cost of growing it. And they were soon trapped in a 'web of contractual obligations from which it was difficult to escape' in these state-controlled poppy cultivation hubs. The poppy was processed into opium, in two factories, at Ghazipur and Patna, both along the Ganga river, to aid in easy transportation. The British thus laid the foundation of government-controlled narcotics trade, which was unique in the world. By 1915, the opium trade with China, the biggest market, had ended. However, the British Indian monopoly on opium continued until India won independence in 1947. The reason for this that it made no attempt to shield the Indian population from the ill-effects of this narcotic substance, and it was freely available for Indian addicts during British rule. The infamous 'Chandu Khana' now comes in the picture. Opium dens called 'Chandu' (concentrated form of opium) 'Khana' (den) rapidly proliferated in British India, with the dens having some unique features. The 'chandu' was a smokable extract made by boiling raw opium in water until it reached the thick consistency of coal tar. The impurities were skimmed off, creating a concentrated, high-morphine product. It was used by recreational addicts, who preferred to gather in these specialised opium dens and smoke the intoxicant from hubble-bubbles (hookahs), rather than directly ingest the drug. The residue (dross) scraped out of the pipes after smoking was often mixed back into fresh 'chandu' to increase the overall potency. These smokers were often working class people, but the presence of gentry was not unknown. The 'Chandu Khana' offered facilities, which suited different categories of its clientele. For example, while an impoverished addict would lie on the floor and enjoy his smoke, the more affluent could avail a cot, or even a partitioned chamber, which offered complete privacy. Falling asleep was not a taboo, but an accepted part of opium consumption. Thus, night stay either on the floor or in a lavish private, curtained chamber was the norm, not exception. The servers were known as 'saki' (male) and 'sakina' (female). The customers were called 'chandubaz' and the practice was known as 'chandubazi'. There was an air of dissipation and languor in these dens, with the customers often engaged in idle gossip in loud tones. These tales could be totally fake but kept the gathering entertained. Thus with time, the term 'chandu khana' came to be used for any place associated with indiscipline, unruliness and untidiness. 'Chandu Khanas' were quite popular in Awadh, including Lucknow. Although an area called 'Tadi Khana' (associated with another intoxicant called 'tadi', an extract from date palm) is extant, there are no remains of any 'Chandu Khana' building or locality in Lucknow. PC Sarkar, a former scientist, has authored several books on the forgotten heritage of Lucknow...