Lest We Forget - A short collection of interesting facts and events from history

Tucked away in a small corner outside the Raj Bhavan complex (Governor House), in my home town of Dona Paula in Goa, is a small cemetery. A short white wall surrounds the 103 graves which appear to be spread in non-geometric pattern. It appears indifferent to anyone walking past, considering every village in Goa will have it's own church and an attached cemetery until one looks closely and reads the information plaque about this being a cemetery to British soldiers. Now why would you bother considering Britain ruled India for almost 200 years. The major difference here being this is Goa - which was a Portuguese colony until 1961. So why do we have a British cemetery in Goa and what were British soldiers doing in Goa? The answer lies in the Napoleonic wars of 18th century Europe, and the struggle between 2 European powers to get a stronghold in the Indian sub-continent. Cemetery as visible from some distance due to road construction View of the graves from the entranc...

When You Go Home Tell Them Of Us and Say For Your Tomorrow We Gave Our Today - Epitaph at Kohima war Cemetery in Nagaland (India) View of the war cemetery in Kohima The year was 1944 and world war II was at its peak. In Asia, the Japanese imperial army was going like a blizzard, conquering countries across south east Asia. China, today an economic and military power, had already fallen to the Japanese in 1937 and the important British trading port of Singapore fell in 1942. The Japanese were rapidly pushing across Burma towards their ultimate prize, India. In March of 1944, the Japanese forces arrived at the border between India and Burma. Before I go deeper into this article, let me remind that as always my intention is not to detail the complete event, as there are numerous articles on the internet for those who wish to read into the details of a battle or event. Here I intend to present some interesting facts and my own understanding of significance...

"The robbery and murder practiced by the Thugs in accordance with their ritual." - Definition of thuggee from the Oxford dictionary. The " thugs " were groups of professional assassins who had specialized themselves in the art of deceiving and killing travelers on the country roads during medieval India. The word thug is derived from the Hindi word " thag ", which means thief or swindler, which itself is derived from the Sanskrit word " staghati ", which means to conceal or deceive, and was coined to refer to the infamous and secretive cult of assassins in medieval India. The word "thug" was first mentioned in a book written during the reign of Delhi king Firoz Shah Tughlaq in the 13th century. This cult is estimated to have been responsible for thousands of killings per year for over 4 centuries and continued to remain highly secretive until the 18th century, when the British in India decided to eradicate the thugs. ...

March 5th, 1966, Aizawl  - The only time in Indian history when the Indian Air Force bombed its own territory.  I have always stressed on how climate and nature can have a direct impact on a region's politics and human conflicts. One of the best examples from history is the Mizo revolt of 1966 and the corresponding bombing of the city of Aizawl by the Indian Air force. What is interesting is that these events appear to have started with a Bamboo flowering phenomenon called 'Mautam' in 1958. The state of Mizoram in India's far north east, with it's capital Aizawl is today considered one of India's most literate and scenic states. Named after the 'Land of the Mizos', the state is a frontier territory bordering Burma and Bangladesh. While Mizoram today is an island of peace in an otherwise militancy hotbed of North East, the situation was very different 50 years back when the Mizo independence movement started. Back then Mizoram was part of the As...

Estado-Da-India or simply called as the Portuguese State of India - That's the term which defined the Portuguese rule in India. While people in India often talk of British colonization and influence on India, not many are familiar that the British were not the first european colonizers in India. It was the Portuguese who were the first in this. Even though the Portuguese are known for having ruled over the small state of Goa, not many know how deep and major influence the Portuguese had on important aspects of medieval and late modern Indian history - majorly on Politics, warfare and food habits. Portugal, a small country on the south western part of Europe, was a pioneer is sea navigation. Though today Portugal is not a major player in world politics, there was a time when this country ruled major regions of the world. Vasco-Da-Gama, a Portuguese, was the first man to circumvent Cape of Good Hope and reach India directly via sea route from Europe in 1498. This was the first ...

Jisko na de maula, usko de nawab Asaf-ud-Daula  - English translation as "He who does not receive (livelihood) from the Lord, will receive it from Asaf-ud-Daula." The above saying is attributed to Nawab Asaf-Ud-Daula, the 4th nawab of Awadh, for his unique famine relief measure in the city of Lucknow in the decade of 1780. The province of Awadh (modern day Central and Eastern Uttar Pradesh) was one of the richest Mughal provinces due to the fertile plains between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. In 1784, though there was a severe drought which went on to last for 10 years. Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula To curb the loss of income from farming, the Nawab wanted to ensure that employment is provided to every person for his fair share of labour. The only measure to provide employment to maximum people was to build a monument. Thus the construction of the Bada Imambara or Big Imambara was started in 1784. This was a unique monument in the sense it was neither a Mosque nor a Mausol...

It was on 15 th August 1947, that India achieved its independence from almost 200 years of British rule. A long fought struggle that began with the rebellion of 1857 and ended finally in 1947. The events leading to the transfer of power were quick. The British had advanced the transfer from 1948 to 1947, but the actual day of independence was actually decided by then Viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Now why did Mountbatten decide the date of 15 th August? Now this is where the closure days of World War 2 come into the picture. Lord Mountbatten was then the commander of all the British forces in Asia. After the fall of Germany, Japan was still continued its fight against the Allied powers until the United States dropped the atomic bombs in 1945 on Hiroshima (6 th Aug) and Nagasaki (9 th Aug). Japan realized it could no longer continue against the most powerful weapon in human hands and 9 days after Nagasaki’s bombing, decided to surrender on 15 th August. The Ja...