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Showing posts with the label Religion

The curious case of Intolerance

Once upon a time, in a tiny village by a river, lived a rich man. He made money by all means that was there to make and was keen on exploring other opportunities to make more of it. One such opportunity came knocking at his door. T he recent spate of floods in the country had driven all the fish from the dam down the river to the village and the rich man learnt about it. And he wanted to make the most of that fishy situation. He knew he could not do it alone. So, he went to the baron for help. The baron was one of the most respected people in the village. He was a businessman with a heart. He owned vast tracts of land and made good money with it by overworking the villagers who sought employment at his farms. Yet at the same time, he was willing to spend money, even if it was only a small percent of his earnings, on the welfare of his community. And that earned him some respect.  "This is our chance," the rich man told the baron. " Together, we can change the fate of ...

First war of Independence - Vellore mutiny

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India knows a lot about the so-called first war of independence and Mangal Pandey. Least does it know that it was not the first uprising of its kind. In fact, the first large-scale revolt against the British took place a thousand and eight hundred kilometres south, in a town called Vellore in 1806, twenty-one years before Mangal Pandey was even born. The revolt: On July 10, 1806, at three in the morning, five hundred Indian soldiers from the Vellore fort, armed with hundreds of muskets and two small cannons, slithered out of the Indian barracks and stole their way to where the Europeans were stationed. Briefly, they waited outside the European barracks for a signal to be issued. Finally when the signal came, the doors of the Europeans barracks were blown away. Some Indian soldiers rushed into the barrack and opened fire on the British soldiers who were asleep. Others blasted the barrack from the outside. The British soldiers who were stationed in the Vellore fort did not fight back....