In a graphic account of the siege of Lucknow in 1857, William Forbes-Mitchell of the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders writes about a single sniper who cost the regiment four hours to neutralise. When they found the body, the sniper was an African woman. It turned out that the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah had an entire regiment of African women, called Gulabi Platoon, in his army. Africans probably came to India in the 14th century, mostly from Sudan and Ethiopia (then Abyssinia). The