This is my World

In the late 1940s, when Potti Sreeramulu began protests to carve out a separate state for Telugu speaking people from the Madras presidency, he demanded(more like pitched in for a demand that had been there since 1920) that Madras be made the capital of Andhra. Though the then prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, favoured reorganisation of states based on administrative convenience rather than on linguistic lines, he promised Potti Sreeramulu a separate state, but there was little progress made because of the demand for Madras. Tamils were opposed to annexing Madras with Andhra and this led to stalemate. It was during this time, the Telugu leaders launched Madras Manade(Madras is ours, in Telugu) movement. Countering this, another movement was launched in Tamil Nadu by the organisation Tamil Arasu Kazhagam. It was called Madras Namade(Madras is ours, in Tamil). The Tamil Arasu Kazhagam under the leadership of its founder organised various protests and rally against annexing Mad...

Mythology is one of my childhood fixations. These fairy tales have never stopped to amaze me till this day and I have always  wanted more in the end. In my time, I have read a little bit of mythology from different cultures and the parallels that can be drawn  between them are innumerable. Some of them are fairly well-known while others are not. I have tried to compile them both here  while adding a bit from my own reading.  I have also decided to keep out from this article comparisons between nature gods and their stories. Early man was a nature worshiper and wherever he migrated to, he took his gods with them. No matter what culture he adapted, he always found a place  for mother nature in it and it is not surprising that the most ancient religions of the World like the Egyptian, Greek and Indian have  innumerous similarities between themselves when it comes nature worship. In the space of a blog, it would be futile to cover this  vast to...

Most of us would have read about the Black hole tragedy in primary school. But have we been taught the real facts? Read on.  The story: In 1752, four years before he died, the Nawab of Bengal, Alivardi Khan, declared his grandson Siraj ud-Daulah as his successor. When the Nawab died of dropsy in 1756, there was a clash for power between Siraj ud-Daulah, his maternal aunt, his cousin and his uncle Mir Jafar (then paymaster of the army who later became the Nawab of Bengal). By then, the British East India Company had already established its presence in India and was expanding its military capabilities in the country, foreseeing a french offensive. Fearing such an eventuality, they backed Mir Jafar to take the throne over Siraj ud-Daulah who they perceived would align with the French. This along with the growing power of the British and the never ending expansion of forces in the region did not go well with Siraj ud-Daulah who thought the British were planning to overthrow him. In ...

The Indian independence movement brought to fore great souls who were selfless and honest. While many of them resigned back to peace after independence, others ventured into politics. Not to make money or name for themselves, but to provide a better life for the suffering and the unprivileged. Though a few of them are still remembered today, most of them have been wiped off from the pages of history. One such man is P. Kakkan.  Personal life: Kakkan was born into a Dalit family on 18 June 1908 in a small village called Thumbaipatti near Madurai. He did his primary schooling in Melur - the town closest to his village - before moving to Thirumangalam or Madurai(there is some confusion over where he studied) for higher secondary education. He seemed to have failed the SSLC exam and thereafter, worked as a teacher before becoming a social worker. He was married to Parvati with whom he fathered five sons and a daughter. He was deeply religious and rejected Periyar's ideologies and me...

Indian historians have always had selective memory. To them, the four cities of Shahjahanabad(Delhi), Mumbaai(Mumbai), Mahishur(Mysore) and Kalikata(Kolkata) form the boundaries of the country. Many a men have lost their place in Indian history due to this geopolitical blindness. One such man is Vanchinathan.  Personal life: Vanchinathan was born into a Brahmin family in 1886 in the southernmost corner of the country. Sengottai, the town in which he was born, literally means 'Red fort' in English, but this one is not celebrated as the other one in the northern corner of the country. As a child, it is said, Vanchinathan was polite and unassuming, almost shy. He also seems to have been studious, graduating with a B.A. from Moolam Thirunal Maharaja College in Thiruvananthapuram and a M.A from Baroda university. While he was in college, he married Ponnammal with whom he fathered a daughter. After college, he was offered a clerkship in Travancore forest department which he happil...

On the night of 17th december 1995, an Latvian aircraft(Antonov An-26) dropped a large consignment of arms using parachutes (including thousands of AK-47s and millions of rounds of ammunition) in Purulia district in WB. The aircraft that had taken off from Varanasi, then proceeded to Kolkata before landing in Phuket, Thailand. Five days later, on Dec 22 1995, it breached Indian airspace again on its way to Karachi It was ordered to land in Mumbai where 6 men including a Peter Bleach were arrested and one, a Kim Davy, escaped.  Fuel for controversy: 1) Two months prior to the incident, the British secret service tipped the Indian government (then under Mr. PV . Narasimha Rao ) of such an operation for which the latter's reaction was to pass on the information to the WB government through a registered post (the slowest means of communication then). Inaction or conspiracy? Was the congress trying to destablise  the communist government which had been in power in WB for ov...