Actually, There Was Nothing Indian About The British Museum's India-Themed Pink Ball

<div><img src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/68f8d877180000eb39fe3dcd.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" alt="" data-caption="" data-credit-link-back="" data-credit="Getty Images" /></div><div class="content-list-component text"><p><span style="font-weight:400">Let’s get the obvious irony out of the way. I like to think of myself as something of a museum buff, and London really panders to this curiosity with a spectrum of exhibitions that span from obvious to obscure. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Yet the one–plenty famous–cultural space that many immigrants, including me, struggle to walk up to is the British Museum. Or as some historians would call it, the grand British repository of stolen artefacts that were forcibly taken from people of colour during the colonial rule. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Now that you have the context in place, imagine the absolute shock that swept over when the British Museum announced that the theme for its first ever fundraising ball, an across-the-Atlantic parallel to the revered Met Gala, is inspired by ancient India. Call it internalised colonialism, but the idea of this massive, momentous occasion being anchored to desi textiles and crafts felt exhilarating, as if it was validating some long held desire for approval. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">Immediately taken in, I did all the research I could. Held on October 18 for 800 exclusive guests who pay £2000 each to enter, the event marks the end of the museum’s Ancient India: Living Traditions exhibition. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight:400">It also serves a dual purpose: first, to solidify London’s position as the global centre of culture and second, to raise money for the museum’s many