Small Indian town honors George Orwell

MOTIHARI, India, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The town of Motihari, India, where George Orwell was born to a British official, plans to restore the home of its famous native.

The birthplace where Eric Arthur Blair, better known as George Orwell, was born in 1904 will be renovated and, if funds exist, made into a museum in tribute to the "Animal Farm" author, Britain's Telegraph reported Thursday.

Orwell spent his first year in Motihari, a town of 150,000 in a corner of eastern India, where his father was an opium agent in the British Colonial Service.

During the past century, the home has become dilapidated, with a 1934 earthquake cracking the solid stone floor.

"We shall rebuild the place, restoring it the way it was when Mr. Orwell was born here, and placing signboards outside to tell visitors his story," said Debapriya Mookherjee, a Rotarian heading up the project.

A Jan. 21 ceremony is planned to install a placard at the house marking the 55th anniversary of Orwell's death.