“Britain didn't conquer India…East India Company did. The company, which was only answerable to shareholders, unleashed a beast on the world. Ten years after the Battle of Plassey, the company was being run by 35 people in London,” British historian and writer William Dalrymple told The Daily Star yesterday. The noted historian is in town to attend the Hay Festival Dhaka 2014.

Hay Festival is back in town for its fourth year in a row, featuring yet another line-up of some of the greatest minds the world of literature has to offer.