From Wales to India: A journey that inspired Welsh Histories

My name’s Niklas George, and somehow I’ve ended up as a Welshman living in India, writing about Welsh history for a living. It’s a bit of an unexpected journey, so how did it happen?

Although born in Rugby, Warwickshire, I consider myself 100% Welsh. My father is a working-class Welshman from Denbigh and, as many readers will surely relate, having a Welsh parent of this background usually translates into a sense of pride for one’s own Welshness, whether through birth or heritage. 

My family moved from Rugby to north Wales when I was still an infant, and I have no childhood memories of England outside of the occasional visit to family in Chester and my maternal grandfather in Rugby (he, himself, was a Welshman from St Asaph). Both my parents have a strong mix of Welsh, Irish (both sides of my family have strong roots in Connacht), and English blood, and I carry it with me wherever I go, while most proudly championing the Welsh cause, which defines my worldview.

My sense of Welshness was only strengthened by growing up in Rhyl, Denbighshire. Rhyl gets a bad reputation and has suffered greatly over the past few decades - a shared misfortune with many seaside towns throughout Britain, which once swelled with holidaymakers during the summer before being decimated by the reduced cost of holidays abroad. Yet, in spite of that, I love Rhyl, and it will always be my home. 

I completed my history BA in Liverpool and my PGCE in religious education at the University of Chester and taught in high schools across England and Wales between 2020 and 2023, whilst simultaneously pursuing a secondary career in writing online. I covered sports, mostly, but also ended up managing a lifestyle website. The pay was virtually non-existent and the ownership subpar but yet it was at this website where I would fall in love and begin the most important step of my life: moving to India. 

I met my wife, Sally, while working at a lifestyle website. I’d hired her, in fact (she was the first to apply after I posted a job listing), and we enjoyed a cordial, professional relationship. I left the website after two months, unaware that almost a year later, Sally would reach out to tell me how she felt. We were separated by thousands of miles of land and sea (with my being in Wales and Sally being from Pune, Maharashtra), and though separated by culture, we were connected by soul. I knew immediately that my life was to change, and I would have no qualms in giving up my then-current life for pastures anew. I promised Sally that, within a year, I would be with her in India.

We kept in touch no matter what - despite the time zone difference, we would call, text, and comfort each other through all manner of challenges that a long-distance couple goes through. And yet, we never struggled or felt that we were letting each other down. On the contrary, those same challenges strengthened our relationship to the point that, when I arrived at Mumbai airport on October 3, 2023, with nothing but my suitcase and the clothes on my back, despite it being our first physical meeting, nothing felt alien.

I tell this story for one simple reason: it is the reason Welsh Histories exists. It was founded and built through our love. You see, per the conditions of my original tourist visa obtained in order to live in India (converted to a spouse visa, following our marriage in November of 2023), I was unable to work. Work is forbidden without a work visa, and frankly, we didn’t want a work visa. So, at the encouragement of my wife, I founded Welsh Histories within a week of my arrival in India. Sally wasn’t even aware of what Wales was when we began our relationship – Wales seems to lack the level of PR which benefits our neighbouring countries (something Welsh Histories aims to change). Yet, over time, she has fallen in love with Wales, and we acknowledge regularly that our children will be as Welsh as they are Indian.

What began as a Facebook page with zero followers and little more than the intent of combating hiraeth rapidly turned into a social media business and, later, a monthly magazine. Welsh Histories today has well over 70,000 followers on Facebook; more than 22,000 on Instagram, and a website that reaches hundreds of thousands of people a month (a drop in the ocean compared to the 30,000,000 people reached per month across social media). 

Welsh Histories Magazine also sells hundreds of copies every month. Nowadays, I regularly meet with people across both India and Wales to discuss new ways to promote Welsh history, culture and language while simultaneously promoting our connections with India. I took Sally to visit Wales for her first time between December and February of 2025. It was her first international trip, and she will forever cherish that it was to the country of her husband. Moving to India for the sole purpose of marrying my wife was already the greatest decision I have ever made. Welsh Histories being born out of that love is simply the icing on a very sweet Welsh cake.