Did This Indian Woman Really Carry a Colonial Officer?

You’ve probably seen a photo like this floating around the internet. A colorized version — later proven to be AI-generated — shows a hunched, barefoot woman carrying what looks like a British colonial officer who’s riding her like a horse. However, that image was based on reality. Indeed, there exists a real photo, dated around 1903, captioned ‘A British merchant being carried by a Sikkimese lady on her back, West Bengal.’ Discussions on the seemingly cruel photo have erupted across social media. 

“It seems incomprehensible to actually do something like that,” one comment read on Quora. “Who the hell would be proud to say they commuted to work on an old lady’s back?” one Redditor wrote. “British colonialists! That’s who,” said another. 

But what if we told you almost everyone has gotten the story wrong? We discovered a false backstory, tracked down the original photos, and found the journalist behind a geo-blocked podcast to determine what happened. And yes, it’s as wild as you might expect.