Superb. I had initially thought that given Amrita Pritam's communist leanings and Dr Dwivedi's nationalist leanings film will be more frank than novel but when I read the novel I was surprised to find that it was reverse.
Kudos to marita Pritam for not being pseudo-sec and to Dr Dwivedi to be objective. This movie touches a sensitive topic in a sensitive way. Casualty of any war are women as some poet said and this movie personifies it. It is also a sad commentary on Hindu psyche as they can't stand up against kidnappers of their girls or the Hindu Brother who can only burn the fields of his tormentor. On the other hand it also shows economic angles behind partition or in fact why girls were kidnapped in the first place. I think kidnappers thought that by kidnapping girls they Will become legal owners of the houses and thus new govt. will not be able to ask them to return the houses. This apart one has to salute the courage of characters of Puro and her Bhabhi they are two simple village girls unmindful of outside world and risk everytihng by trying to come back after being dishonored . Because there are many documented cases when such women were not accepted by their families in India.
No wonder that it required a woman to understand the pains of other women.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Movie review: haasil
This is one of my all time favorite and I have been watching it every year since my last year in college and every time I find it refreshing, more so because environ around us in big colleges and metro is so out of place or cut off from real India. What I like : 1.Opening sequence how the vice chancellor is helpless 2. conversation of minister and student leader signify how the link between college politics and real politics run. Many of top Indian politicians were once active student leaders. 3. Heroine's and Heroe's father play their part well and in real life people are like that 4. Movie plays on Bengali stereotype of being coward( hero's friend can't protect his mother) 5. More importantly movie builds on Indian idea of politics being a means of granting favors : politicians to budding leaders (!) , politicians to their sidekicks 6. Indian middle class , father -son tension , husband dominating over wife and a desire to remain away from politics and goons. 7. Love between jimmy and hrishita is so real and this is how things used to be once in small towns quite different from metro before arrival of mall, café and multiplex culture . 8. problem of successful transition in political families and how well meaning people get caught in politics 9. cinematography is fabulous which makes full use of environ :university , Allahabad & Ganges ,middle class home. In fact i would suggest to someone who wants to study small town India watch this movie instead of reading tons of books.
Movie review : 1947 Earth
Good movie but lot is left unsaid probably because it is an autobiographical account of author. The only problem people who do not know history will form wrong impressions e.g. movie gives a feeling that riots started in Lahore after Tara Singh's speech and Sikh procession while low scale rioting was on since many days. Only one scene where fire brigade actually puts petrol in fire shows that administration was partial but there could be many such scenes. One thing is sure that human tragedy is covered in its fullness but child marriage of author's friend is completely out of frame . Child marriage could be shown but that too with an old man !!! I think movie director has something against Hindus. e.g. costume of nandita Das is completely out of sync from those times. A character of Gulshen grover actually subscribes to the stereotype of violent Sikh without looking into their real loss i.e. loss of thei motherland. In all movie is good if just seen as a human tragedy but it would be foolish if viewers try to make judgmental on role of communities based on this limited information
Ramchand Pakistani
Nice movie. Plus+ Attitude of people are sown without getting melodramatic. Reaction of nadita das on hearing about border crossing,ramchand's reaction to marriage of her only friend,warning by brother in law to Nadita and by Munim to her lover and how his lover goes away from Nandita or how Pakaistani constable asks inspector to forget a bout a Hindu detainee are just dialogues how they would have happened in real life
2. jail cell is very realistic A fresh change from those of 70s with prisoners wearing white striped clothes. Crowded yes they are in a similar manner
Minuses
1. tone of madamji is Deccani Urdu - hyderabadi a mismatch with her surrounding. 2. In fact tone of none of character exhibit their thari character 3. Why the jailer was shown Muslim ? no need was there 4. It would have been good if they could show if Pakistani consulate treated matter lightly because Hindus were involved 5. Upper caste Hindus of Pkaistan were missing from action
Still background music is very good and little captions like migration of thari Hindus to work as bonded laborers with Sindhi vaderas and similar such things would have helped audience outside Pakistan
2. jail cell is very realistic A fresh change from those of 70s with prisoners wearing white striped clothes. Crowded yes they are in a similar manner
Minuses
1. tone of madamji is Deccani Urdu - hyderabadi a mismatch with her surrounding. 2. In fact tone of none of character exhibit their thari character 3. Why the jailer was shown Muslim ? no need was there 4. It would have been good if they could show if Pakistani consulate treated matter lightly because Hindus were involved 5. Upper caste Hindus of Pkaistan were missing from action
Still background music is very good and little captions like migration of thari Hindus to work as bonded laborers with Sindhi vaderas and similar such things would have helped audience outside Pakistan
Movie Review:Border
Superb.I really have pity on some of reviewers who brand movie chauvinistic.How else a war movie is supposed to be? Especially when those whom you are fighting were your own countrymen till a few years back. A pretty good depiction of Indian Army and air force and relationship between different soldiers and their dilemma. Movie also touches on pathetic condition of Indian soldiers financially in those days which is no longer a case.Most haunting scene of Movie is Rakhi wandering in tank ridden field with Serra for his son.This single scene depicts the futility of war. But there should have been paid more attention to details of war e.g. even real life soldiers have said that they were not that outnumbered and main factor was air force not the army but it is true that they did hold a whole battalion with the help of anti tank mines.
Chanakya
Chanakya describes the exploits of a clever and farsighted Brahmin to unify all of India under one ruler and his gentle persuasion of Minister of current largest kingdom i.e. Magda named "mudrarakshas".Second half of series is loosely based on this ancient Sanskrit text which details all political moves of Chanakya to win loyalty of people of Magda without much bloodshed. This ie really strange that Indian records don't mention invasion of Alexander and all information we have is from Greek sources.Similarly Chanakya the first patriot of India who succeeded and whose vision is relevant even today is not a person who is accorded his due honor and attention in history. Especially good in series are costumes and sets of those times.But physique of soldiers is somewhat less than required.e.g. Army of Porus and other republics roughly correspond to present day Pathans and Punjabis but all extras in movie are north Indian people .This was the only eye sore and in innumerable dance sequences in courts dancers were not that beautiful as they should have been or would have been.Some people may laugh at my objections but Dr Dwivedi while paying attention to small details like what a particular official was called in NW India and in eastern India in those days has not paid attention to these small things. A must watch for all history students and also political science students and in today's troubled times for all Indians
Discovery of India
This series has been telecast-ed many times on Doordarshan and is a must for any student of Indain History. It has a characteristic Shyam benegal style of concentrating on mental conflicts rather than showing war details or opulence of courts. Title song are a simple version of verses of Rigveda and anyone who keeps on branding Veda communal will have an idea of deep philosophy inherent in them by listening to these samples. Costumes of all the ages have been captured very efficiently and some of the episodes are my favorite like one on civil disobedience in 1930, quit India in 1942 , Shivaji one ( It is the only televised account of Shivaji in which his conflicts with local Hindu chieftains are shown). There were some episodes with more philosophical value rather than historical like one in which India law on parentage is illustrated by a boy being branded shudra though his mother was a vaisya, his biological father a Brahman and his adopted father was a kshatriya king or the one involving Ashoka's brother and how he turns to become a Buddhist monk. It is evident that more emphasis is placed on social and economic moorings. Now this may be depiction of Portuguese Mughal conflict for trade interests or an episode where small songs for each of six seasons were sung in traditional tones. Music of Vanraj Bhatia gave whole production cinematic value rather than being a mere documentary series
Movie Review: Gadar
Partition of India is great human tragedy but seldom dealt in films unlike world wars.This movie shows a couple caught in crossfire of ideology. Some points of movie are specially noticeable: 1.Pre independence Shimla and its elite environment. 2.How Muslim businessmen supported Muslim league. 3.How Pakistan govt literally pushed Hindus and Sikhs out from Pakistan and how they started massacring train loads of people. 4.Brothers of Amrish Puri- a minuscule minority of nationalist Muslims who were the hardest hit by partition.They never wanted Pakistan but felt cheated by congress.Khan Abdul gaffar khan walked out of congress meeting accepting partition saying "you have thrown us to wolves." Pakistan got maximum support from Indian Muslims living in what is India today but after partition no questions were asked.They were integrated in national mainstream.But same did not happen in Pakistan. It is in records that Mohajhirs from India financed Pakistan govt's day to day operations becoz they were allowed to take whatever they wanted from India but same was not true of wealthy Hindus and Sikhs from Lahore and Karachi.India should put claim on Pakistan. 5.When cousin of amisha remarks that music should be in Urdu rather than Hindi shows the beginning of Arabaization of Pakistan.It culminated in the process of denial of their Hindu past whereas in India even today Mughal are treated as national monarchs.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Indian War of independence by Veer Savarkar
Just finished reading this book. I wish Manishankar Ayer would have also read it before branding a nationalist like savarkar communalist
Just some excerpts from book
• “ An honest tale speeds best
By being plainly told.” - Shakespeare
• Talwar – newspaper of abhinav bharat society
• The book was printed in Holland and was banned even before printing
• Sikandar Hayat Khan of unionist party fame was one of the youth who smuggled book to india
• Lala Hardayalji organised the American branch of the A.N.B. and started his well-known newspaper “The Gadar”-(Rebellion) in America.
• Gadar efforts to invade India proved to be rehersal for later efforts by Netaji
• Mazzini, in a critical article on Carlyle’s French Revolution, has said that every revolution must have had a fundamental principle. Revolution is a complete rearrangement in the life of historic man. A revolutionary movement cannot be based on a flimsy and momentary grievance. It is always due to some all-moving principle for which hundreds and thousands of men fight, before which thrones totter, crowns are destroyed and created, existing ideals are shattered and new ideals break forth, and for the sake of which vast masses of people think lightly of shedding sacred human blood.
• The fear of greased cartridges and the annexation of Oudh were only temporary and accidental causes. To turn these into real causes would never help us in understanding the real spirit of the Revolution. If we were to take them as the real moving causes, it would mean that, without these, the Revolution would not have taken placed- that without the rumour of greased cartridges and without the annexation of Outh, the Revolution would not have been there
• The poet-saint Ramdas gave the same dictum to the Mahrattas 250 years ago. “Die for your Dharma, kill the enemies of your Dharma while you are dying; in this way fight and kill, and take back your kingdom !
धमासाठ मराव । मरोिन अवयास माराव ।
मारतां मारतां याव । राय आपुल
• The sepoys, whose swords won India for the English, were so barbarously treated that General Arthur Wellesley would drive the wounded sepoys to the mouth of guns instead of sending them to the hospital !
• The Rising at Vellore in 1806 was such a rehearsal on a small scale. In this rising, the sepoys had been won over by the princes and people
• In April 1848, Appa Sahib, the Maharaja of Satara, died. At this news, Dalhousie decided to annex that State. And what was the reason ? The king had no direct heirs
• Satara was not a peasant’s cottage but an ‘ally’ of the English Government. In the year 1839, Pratap Singh Chhatrapati had been charged with having engaged in a conspiracy with the object of overthrowing the British Government, was dethroned, and in his place Chhatrapati Appa Sahib was appointed by the English Sirkar to succeed him.
• Rango Bapuji, an excellent and loyal man, should go to England to lay the grievances of Satara before the ‘Home’ authorities.
• 1853 – Nagpur is next kingdom to be annexed
• English had acknowledged the adoption of Daulatrao Scindia’s widow in 1826, the adoption by Junkoji Scindia’s widow in 1836, the adoption by the widow of the Raja of Dhar in 1834, and the adoption by the queen of Kishengarh in 1841.
• Rani annapoorna of Nagpur died while rani banka remained loyal in 1857
• Madhavrao and Gangabai were real parents of nana sahib peshwa
• 1827 – Bajirao adopted Nana Saheb
• Chimanji appa peshwa was ruler of Varanasi when lakshmi was born at morapant tambe’s house
• Brhamavarta was peshwa’s place near kawnpore
• 1851 – peshwa bajirao died
• Bajirao invested his savings from pension of 8 lakh into bonds of british company and helped them to give loans of 50 lakh when britishers were at war in Afghanistan. He also did not come to aid of Sikhs while govind singh had pitched for an alliance in aurangzeb’s days but instead spent his own money to hire an army and help britishers
• 1854- azimullah wa sent as nana’s representative to London
• He had married a cousin of the chief of Sangli. While in the north, in 1857, the Revolution was being resolved upon, this relation of Nana Sahib was making strenuous efforts to achieve the same end in Maharashtra by working in the Poatwardhan State
• 1764 – nawab asked to pay 16 lakh per annum for upkeep of british forces
• Rohillakhand and doab yielding revenue of 2 crore were taken to maintain additional forces thurst upon nawab
• After robbing all this land from the territory of Oudh, the English signed an agreement that, as the Nabob had surrendered all and every right over this tract of land, the rest of the territory belonging to the Nabob should remain hereditarily in the family of the Nabob. Another article in the treaty provided that the Nabob should not oppress his subjects. After this treaty which was concluded in 1801, the Nabob was made to advance to the Company, whenever they wanted financial aid, crores of Rupees. The whole kingdom of Oudh was in the hands of the Compoany’s army officers, the treasury became empty by forced loans and contributions, and it was impossible for the Nabob to administer his territory independently or to introduce internal reforms. But the philanthropic Company kept on urging upon him, pointing to the articles in the treary of 1801, to alter his administration so as to make his subjects happy and contended.
• This treaty of 1801 was cancelled and the Nabob entered into a fresh agreement in 1837. This treaty impaired the authority of the Nabob considerably, but he signed the new agreement simply with the intention of rescuing himself from the cunning treaty of 1801. In the year 1847, Wajid Ali Shah succeeded to the throne of Oudh
• PranNath – guru of chhatrasala
• “It is my firm belief that, if our plan of educatio is followed up, there would not be a single idolator in Bengal 30 years hence !” – Macaulay’s letter to his mother, Oct.12, 1836.
• Sialkot and Ambala depot supplied greased cartridges and they were introduced openly in gurkha regiments
• Russo-Turkish War then going on, the English had been defeated in the important battle of Sebastopol, he stayed some time in Russia.
• Maulvi ahmed of lucknow was hanged for preaching sedition
• 23r june was rumoured to be date for end of british rule
• the Nabob of Oudh and his Vizier, Ali Nakkhi Khan
• Sepoys should rise on the 31st. As it was a Sunday, they would be able to find a large number of European officers in church. All European officers, along with these, were to e murdered. Then all the treasuries, that would be full with the proceeds of the Rabbi crops, were to be looted. Jails were to be broken open and prisoners released. For in the North-Western provinces, from the prisoners alone an army of nearly 25,000 people could be formed.” As soon as the rising rook place, the power-magazines and armouries were to be taken possession of.
• in the Mutiny of Vellore, too, Chapatees were used to perform the same function.
• 19th regiment was disbanded first
• When Sergeant-major Hughson saw this he ordered the Sepoys to arrest Mangal Panday (34th regiment)
• 29th march – mangal pandey incident
• 8th april – his execution
• Umballa was the chief head-quarters of the English army, and the English Commander-in-Chief Anson stayed there. The Sepoys at Umballa struck upon a new plan, that of burning of house of every officer that went against them! Every night the houses of tyrants and traitors used to receive the unwelcome visit of fire.
• 10th of may 20th regiment at merrut sounds beguile
• Meerut was about the last place where the Revolution should have started in the natural course of events. There were only two Sepoy regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, while there was a complete riflemen battalion and a regiment of dragoons of Europeans there. Besides, the whole of the artillery was in the hands of the Europeans. Under these circumstances, the Sepoys had no chance of success. Therefore was it that, immediately after the rising , the Sepoys went away towards Delhi, leaving the work of revenge to the townsmen of Meerut. It was very easy to have stopped the Sepoys on the way and to have crushed them. But even English historians are ashamed of the cowardice, mismanagement, and want of foresight among the civil and military officers there.
• Meerut army entered via kashmiri gate and Colonel ripley was killed
• Fraser was commissioner of delhi
• Lietuenant willoghly blew up the arsenal rather than giving it to sepoys
• Anson was CoC of india at that time
• Danapur had the only white regiment at the moment from Agra to Barrackpore
• Persia war had just ended and troops sent for china were on their way only
• Umbala was headquarter of army
• The Raja of Patiala sent his brother with sepoys and artillery and ordered him to
guard the Thaneswar Road, and the Raja of Jhind took up the strong position of Panipat. When these two most important stations were thus guarded, the roads from Delhi to Umballa and uninterrupted communication with the Punjab were perfectly secure;
• 7th of june jundtion of army at umbala and meerut was effected and british came till Alipur outside delhi
• Battle of Bund ki sarai was won by britishers with the help of Gurkhas
• Lahore was Indian garrison but Mian meer had british contingent .Montomgery arranged disarmament of Indians at Lahore
• They began the policy of increasing the hatred of the Sikhs and the Jats for the Mahomedans. They were reminded of an ancient prophecy which was current among the Sikhs, that the Khalsa would one day march on Delhi – the spot where the Mogul Emperor formerly killed their Guru –and raze it to the ground. Now the time had come for the prophecy to be fulfilled!
• Sikh sepoys had spent only 10 yrs under britisher and did not understand fully cruel nature of british rule
• Further khalsa was disarmed and absorbed in peasantry
• To fan still further the hatred of the Sikhs for Delhi, a false proclamation was posted that the first order of the Emperor was to massacre all the Sikhs!
• Cotton and Nicolson ensured disarmament in Peshawar on 21st may and even officers of regiment joined Sepoys in hurling abuse at company for being treated disrespectfully
• Ferozpur did revolt but was crushed
• The plan was that when the Jullunder army should send a corps to Hoshiarpur, the 31st infantry should rise and march to Pilhur; on their arrival, the 3rd regiment at Pilhur was to rise and all together were to march to Delhi.
• The English military officers of the place had, to the end, confidence in the Sepoys and informed the higher authorities that they need not be disarmed; and they really did trust the Sepoys. For this, the Sepoys not only refrained from massacring them wholesale but spared the life of those also that had not yet left the place. Thus, the Jullunder army kept its plan well and the officers who trusted them were spared their life.
• Cooper did a blackhole at ludhian with soldiers caught from ajnala
• In short, on account of the treachery of the Sikhs and the premature rising at Meerut, the roots of the Revolution in the Panjab were all weeded out. And the Panjab being the backbone of Delhi, the news was very discouraging to the Delhi patriots.
• Aligarh – 9th native infantry – Lady Outram was also there but all officers were allowed to go unharmed with their families
• A O hume was collector of Itawah
• 21st may – Aligarh,itawa, bulandshahar freed
• 28th may – naseerabd near ajmer
• Barrelly was capital of Rohillakhand and commandant here assured sepoys that he will himself trample and new cartridge .By this time CoC himself had issued order against cartridge still sepoys rose and thus theory of cartridge is disproved
• Khan Bahadur Khan, the descendant of Hafiz Rahmat, the last independent Rohilla chief, was weaving the nets of the secret society. Khan Bahadur Khan used to get two pensions from the English, one as the descendant of Hafiz Rahmat, and the other as a judicial officer under the English.
• When the English flag was hauled down and the flat of freedom began to fly at Bareilly, the Subahdar of the Sepoy artillery, Bakht Khan, accepted the commandership of all the Sepoy troops.
• Barrelly rose according to plan on 31st may
• Shahjanpur, badaun and Moradabad also rose on same day and within hourse entire rohillakhand was free
• Sikroli near allahbad was main cantonment in benaras area
• Treasury was being transferred from Gorakhpur and azamgarh but sepoy rose there
• By this time i.e. 4th june danapur army and colonel Neil from madras had reached benaras
• At benaras parade ground in confusion britsihers fired on Sikhs and this was only palce where hindu,muslim and Sikhs fought britishers together
• Benaras treasury also had ornaments of sikh queen so one surat singh ensured that jewels remained in possession of britishers with the help of king of benaras
• Sepoys could not take benaras but took jaunpur and then marched to ayodhya – 5th june
• Most of the Talukdars in the Allahabad province were Mahomedans and their tenants were Hindus. Thus, the English had considered it impossible that these two would unite and that the whole mass of the people would rise against them. But, in this memorable first week of June, how many of such impossibilities were realised! Without even waiting to hear about the rising of the city of Allahabad, all the villages of the province rose simultaneously and declared their indedpendence!
• Leakat ali was leader in Allahabad
• 18th june Neil reached Allahabad and sepoys lost it
• Neill’s barbarities were not a revenge of Cawnpore, but the Cawnpore bloodshed was the result of and revenge for Neill’s inhuman brutalities!
• Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny,
• Tatia Tope was born in about 1814. His father’s name was Pandurang Bhat. Pandurang Bhat had eight sons and of them, the second was called Raghunath. It is this Raghunath who shines as the brilliant star of liberty in the galaxy of the heroes of Hindusthan. Pandurang Rao Tope was a Deshasth Brahmin and was the head of the charity department, under the late Bajirao Peshwa at Brahmavarta.
• Cawnpore was, for a log time, an important military station of the English. In Cawnpore, there were the 1st, 53rd and 56th Sepoy infantry, and a regiment of Sepoy cavalry – altogether three thousand Indian soldiers. The cavalty was wholly in the hands of the English and, besides, they had about a hundred English soldiers. The chief officer of the whole army was Sir Hugh Wheeler. Sir Hugh Wheeler was an old and very popular commander among the Sepoys.
• The chief rendezvous of the secret societies of Cawnpore was the house of Subahdar Tikka Singh. Another place of meeting for the secret societies was the house of the Sepoy leader Shams-ud-din Khan. At these secret meetings, two faithful severants of the Brahmavarta palace household, Jwala Prasad and Mahomed Ali, used to attend on behalf of Nana Sahib.
• Azinan was nautch girl at Cawnpore who also fought with sepoys
• 25th june Cawnpore fort is captured by nana sahib
• The next morning, on the 26th Jwala Prasad and Azimullah Khan, on behalf of Nana Sahib and Moore, Whiting, and Roche, on behalf of the English, met near the walls. First, the conversation began in English, but soon Jwala and Azim forced them to carry on the conversation in Hindusthani – the language of the nation. The terms settled were that the English should hand over all the artillery, arms and ammunition, and the treasure to Nana Sahib, and Nana Sahib should give provisions to and convey the party to Allahabad.
• Durvijay singh a jamindar helped the only boat which survived sati chowda massacre
• Henry Lawrence – oudh, john Lawrence – Punjab
• He started the policy of pacifying disaffected Zemindars by sweet speeches. He took pains in organising a Durbar at Lucknow and in giving various honours, titles, and rewards, in order to make the people forget their late Swaraj.
• regiment was disarmed. Sir Henry Lawrence held a great Durbar on the 12Moulvie Ahmad Shah himself was convicted of sedition and was given the death sentence which was later commuted. The 7th th of May, in order to keep control over the Sepoys as far as possible. He then delivered there an eloquent oration in Hindusthanee. He fully dilated upon the importance of loyalty, the insults offered by Ranjit Singh to the Mahomedan religion, Aurangzeb’s insults to Hinduism, and the protection accorded by the English to both Hindus and Mahomedans against mutual injury. He then personally presented swords, shawls, turbans, and other presents to those Sepoys who had shown their loyalty; while, on the other side, the 7th regiment was being disarmed and disbanded.
• Sir Henry Lawrence now selected two places near Lucknow city, Machi Bhawan and the Residency, and began the work of fortifying these as places of refuge. The English women and children were taken there and all Englishmen, clerks, civil officials, and merchants were taught military drill, discipline, and the use of the rifle. At Meerut too, after the rising, all the civil Englishmen there had been given such training and made ready for the field in ten days. Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief military officer of the province. Oudh being close to Nepal, Sir Henry Lawrence sent a mission to Nepal requesting help from there. He asked Jung Bahadur to come down into Oudh with an army.
• Habob Tafuzar Hossein Khan – farukhabad
• Raja man singh – faizabad
• Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Province Mr. Colvin, is at Agra,
• The revolted regiments of Nasirabad and Neemuch marched on Agra; so, the “loyal” troops of the rulers of Bitaoli and Bharatpur were sent against them and thye won agra
• If the people and the troops drove out the English from the Residencies, they were permitted to do so; because, it meant the freedom of the states. Notwithstanding this, the rulers would continue to declare their friendship for the English, so that, in case of English success, they should not lose what they had. It would seem that Cutch, Gwalior, Indore, Bundela, Rajputana, and other states – all behaved in this manner.
• 11 may – delhi declares independence
• Sikh soldiers prevented allahabd fort from going out of hand of britishers & canning shifted capital to Allahabad
• Havelock was made boss of Neil and entrusted responsibility to lift sige of Cawnpore
• Neil protected Kanpur with the help of Mahars
• Teyler was commissioner of bihar
• Peer ali – leader of revolution at patna
• Jagdishpur – shahbad district
• Eyre fought against kunwar of jagdishpur
• Englsih had advantage of having occupied heights of ridge
• He gave all the power in the hands of Bakht Khan. He appointed three generals to manage the army. He then ordered that a committee of six- three Delhi citizens and three Sepoy leaders – should together look after all the affairs of the army
• Neemuch and Bareelly sepoys had differences and camped at different sites at Najafgarh.Nicholson came and destroyed neemuch sepoys
• British army had sikh and kashmiri soldiers and Raja of Jind
• British entered via Kashmere gate into city
• Ilahi baksh mirja was advising bahdur shah to surrender
• The English army, both European and Indian, engaged at the siege of Delhi, was about ten thousand men. Of those, about four thousand fell on the field, killed and wounded. Such a terrible death-roll is not found even in a struggle like the Crimean war!
• Battle of chinhat – revolutionaries got lucknow
• 24 september – delhi is lost
• Mahbob khan was chief vazir of begum hazrat mahal
• the Revolutionaries did not show as much zeal in obeying the officers appointed as they showed in participating in their appointment. In all Revolutions this common blunder is committed, and this sows the seeds of destruction of the Revolution in the very beginning.
• When Havelock moved fro Kanpur to lucknow at every point he was harassed by jamindars who had raised forces. First such instance was at unnao
• As Havelock could not proceed to lucknow Outram was made commander but he gave Havelock all authority
• Campbell new CoC of Calcutta started on 27 october to relive lucknow
• Havelock died at Lucknow after cambell relived them
• Wyndham – kalpi
• Tatia almost won back Cawnpore but Campbell came and rescued it
• Veer singh – neemuch troops
• When the English were fighting in the Doab, Veni Madhav, Mahomed Hussein, and Raja Nadir Khan had, with credit to themselves, reconquered completely the parts round Benares and to the east by Ayodhya
• Junbahadur sent Nepalese troops to attack lucknow some historian opined that he had visited London a year before and did not dare fight britishers after seeing might of their empire
• Nazim muhamamd hussain – banda sultanpur
• Kumar sing hgave up jagdishpur without much fight
• MIlman was captured by Kumar at azimgarh and now he threatened benaras and thus communication between allahabd and benaras
• Mark her and lugad were sent to relive azamgarh but kunwar left for gazipur after deceiving brisithers in beliving that he was holding azimgarh
• Douglas was following kumar singh when he was killed
• Shahjahnapur and barely were last stands
• The Begum of Ayodhya, Mayyan Sahib, the King of Mahmadi, the Prince Feroze Shah of Delhi, Nana Sahib of Cawnpore – all these leaders poured in with their forces, before the 15th of May, to help the flag of liberty, now in such immediate danger in Shahjahanpur.
• Raja of powen killed moulvi ahmed shah
• The life of this brave Mahomedan shows that a rational faith in the doctrines of Islam is in no way inconsistent with, or antagonistic to, a deep and all - powerful love of the Indian soil; and that the true believer in Islam will feel it a pride to belong to, and privilege to die for, his mother-country!
• Lakshman rao pande was minister to rani Jhansi
• Whitlok – Jabalpur
• Hughrose – mhow and then Jhansi
• Scindhia ,raja of tehri, Hyderabad and Bhopal were helping biritishers
• Ghos khan – chief gunner of rani
• Rao Madhav Rao of Kirwi was a child of ten and his guardianship was in the hands of the English. The Rao of Kirwi was a near relation of Baji Rao Peshwa. In 1827, Anant Rao, the then ruler of Kirwi, deposited two lakhs of Rupees with the English Government for some charities in connection with the temples of Benares. As soon as he died, the English swallowed the whole amount. More than that, they took unlawful possession of a further sum of several lakhs of Rupees foolishly deposited with them by Anant Rao’s son, Vinayak Rao, in spite of the lesson he had already received. This was soon after Vinayak Rao’s death. Rao Madhav, the adopted son of Vinayak Rao, being a minor, as the supervision of the whole state was in the hands of the English, and Ramachandra Rao, the chief Karbhari, had been appointed by the English, there was every reason to suppose that there would not be much fear of revolt in the Kirwi State.
• Nabob of Banda, the Raja of Shahgarh, and the Raja of Banapur had all gathered together under th kalpi fort
• Jayaji Rao Scindia, coward as he was, and his minister, Dinkar Rao, fled, not only from the field, but from Gwalior itself, and ran to Agra!
• Shrimant rao held durbar at Gwalior on 3rd june
• There were three important regiments in the south, the 27th at Kolhapur, the 29th at Belgaum, and the 28th at Dharwar. When the plans of the Rising were made by means of July, 1857. They killed some of their English officers, took the treasury in their charge, had a skirmish with the English troops that had just arrived, and went away towards the Ghats. The various Revolutionary bands united together under the leadership of Ramji Shirsal of Swantwadi and began to harass the English force in the direction of the Kadi forest. They were defeated and dispersed after some months by the English with the help of the Portuguese of Goa. The new English officer, Jacob, who had come to Kolhapur, disarmed the remaining Sepoys there and had their leaders shot. correspondence, the 10th of August was fixed upon as the day on which they were to rise. But an English army was in the meanwhile being sent to Kolhapur to keep the population and the Sepoys there in check. This news was divulged to the Sepoys by an official of the Telegraph Department. Thus the Sepoys who were already infuriated, rose prematurely on the 31st
• Belgaum about the 10th of August. But the Sepoy leader, Thakur Singh, and a bold Munshi, the leader of the citizens, were arrested just at the last moment.
• if it was any one man whose cleverness prevented a rising in the city of Bombay itself, it was Forrest, the chief police officer.
• The Gond king of Jubbulpore, Shankar Singh, and his won were doing their utmost for the Revolution
• There were risings in the Dhar state and at Mahidpur, Goria, and other places, organised by Prince Feroze Shah of Delhi.
• the fate of the English power in India lay in hands of the Nizam of Hyderabad. The new Nizam, Afzul-ud-daulah, had just come to the throne in May 1857, and the Prime Ministership was in the hands of a man called Sir Salar Jung. The whole of the Deccan hung upon one word from the lips of Sir Salar Jung. If the Nizam, of Hyderabad had joined the National Revolution, the whole of the Deccan would have risen like one man, and the corfd of English rule, already strained to breaking point by the risings in the north, would have been snapped to pieces. Nor can we say that no one preached to Salar Jung the doctrine of a patriotic rising against the English. Though we take for granted that he was too “loyal” to let love of religion, country, and independence even whisper such a thought into his mind, still the people of Hyderabad were precipitately urging him to join the Revolution.
• Torabaz Khan, was killed and Moulvie Alla-ud-din – revolt in hyderabd city
• Raja of Zorapur was Bhaskar Rao Baba Sahib, the chief of Nargund - rebel in hyderbad
• To take revenge for the hanging of the Moulvie, Nizam Ali Khan marched up to Pilibht; Khan Bahadur Khan with four thousand men ran to the field of action; the Farrukabad men rose taking five thousand followers; Vilayat Shah took three thousand men to the field and, with five thousand men, Nana Sahib, Bala Sahib, Ali Khan Mewati, and other leaders started a tremendous campaign in Rohilkhand and Oudh.
• celebrated Mogul prince Feroze Shah, who was lately fighting at Dhar, was now in Oudh.
• Veni Madhav’s town, Shankarpur,
• In November, 1959, the famous proclamation of the Queen of England was published throughout India, and according to the prophecy, the Company’s rule did vanish after a hundred years!
• Sironj, isagarh , jhallarpattan were palces where tatia tope went
• Lord Harris at Madras, Lord Elphinstone at Bombay, and Lord Canning at Calcutta
• Near chota Udaipur when he wantedto go to baroda along with rao sahib peshwa, later he lost at indargarh and sikar
• After leaving Tatia, Rao Sahib fought desperately for a month and at last retired to the forests in disguise. At the end of about three years, he was also caught and was handed at Cawnpore on the 20th of August, 1862. Feroze Shah was also roaming about in disguise, but, fortunately, in the end, he got out of India and stayed at Kerbela in Persia.
Emperor Bahadue Shah was a poet. During the heat of the Revolution he composed a Gazal. Some one asked him :
Dumdumaymen dam nahin khair mango janki
Ai Zafar thandi hui shamsher Hindusthanki.
“Now that, every moment, you are becoming weaker, pray for your life (to the English) : for, Oh! Emperor, the sword of Inmdia is nowbroken for every!”
There is a tradition that the Emperor replied :
Ghazionmen bu rahegi jabtalak imanki
Tabto Londontak chalegi teg Hindusthanki.
“As long as there remains the least trace of love of faith in the hearts of our heroes, so long, the sword of Hindusthan shall be sharp, and one day shall flash even at the gates of London.”
Just some excerpts from book
• “ An honest tale speeds best
By being plainly told.” - Shakespeare
• Talwar – newspaper of abhinav bharat society
• The book was printed in Holland and was banned even before printing
• Sikandar Hayat Khan of unionist party fame was one of the youth who smuggled book to india
• Lala Hardayalji organised the American branch of the A.N.B. and started his well-known newspaper “The Gadar”-(Rebellion) in America.
• Gadar efforts to invade India proved to be rehersal for later efforts by Netaji
• Mazzini, in a critical article on Carlyle’s French Revolution, has said that every revolution must have had a fundamental principle. Revolution is a complete rearrangement in the life of historic man. A revolutionary movement cannot be based on a flimsy and momentary grievance. It is always due to some all-moving principle for which hundreds and thousands of men fight, before which thrones totter, crowns are destroyed and created, existing ideals are shattered and new ideals break forth, and for the sake of which vast masses of people think lightly of shedding sacred human blood.
• The fear of greased cartridges and the annexation of Oudh were only temporary and accidental causes. To turn these into real causes would never help us in understanding the real spirit of the Revolution. If we were to take them as the real moving causes, it would mean that, without these, the Revolution would not have taken placed- that without the rumour of greased cartridges and without the annexation of Outh, the Revolution would not have been there
• The poet-saint Ramdas gave the same dictum to the Mahrattas 250 years ago. “Die for your Dharma, kill the enemies of your Dharma while you are dying; in this way fight and kill, and take back your kingdom !
धमासाठ मराव । मरोिन अवयास माराव ।
मारतां मारतां याव । राय आपुल
• The sepoys, whose swords won India for the English, were so barbarously treated that General Arthur Wellesley would drive the wounded sepoys to the mouth of guns instead of sending them to the hospital !
• The Rising at Vellore in 1806 was such a rehearsal on a small scale. In this rising, the sepoys had been won over by the princes and people
• In April 1848, Appa Sahib, the Maharaja of Satara, died. At this news, Dalhousie decided to annex that State. And what was the reason ? The king had no direct heirs
• Satara was not a peasant’s cottage but an ‘ally’ of the English Government. In the year 1839, Pratap Singh Chhatrapati had been charged with having engaged in a conspiracy with the object of overthrowing the British Government, was dethroned, and in his place Chhatrapati Appa Sahib was appointed by the English Sirkar to succeed him.
• Rango Bapuji, an excellent and loyal man, should go to England to lay the grievances of Satara before the ‘Home’ authorities.
• 1853 – Nagpur is next kingdom to be annexed
• English had acknowledged the adoption of Daulatrao Scindia’s widow in 1826, the adoption by Junkoji Scindia’s widow in 1836, the adoption by the widow of the Raja of Dhar in 1834, and the adoption by the queen of Kishengarh in 1841.
• Rani annapoorna of Nagpur died while rani banka remained loyal in 1857
• Madhavrao and Gangabai were real parents of nana sahib peshwa
• 1827 – Bajirao adopted Nana Saheb
• Chimanji appa peshwa was ruler of Varanasi when lakshmi was born at morapant tambe’s house
• Brhamavarta was peshwa’s place near kawnpore
• 1851 – peshwa bajirao died
• Bajirao invested his savings from pension of 8 lakh into bonds of british company and helped them to give loans of 50 lakh when britishers were at war in Afghanistan. He also did not come to aid of Sikhs while govind singh had pitched for an alliance in aurangzeb’s days but instead spent his own money to hire an army and help britishers
• 1854- azimullah wa sent as nana’s representative to London
• He had married a cousin of the chief of Sangli. While in the north, in 1857, the Revolution was being resolved upon, this relation of Nana Sahib was making strenuous efforts to achieve the same end in Maharashtra by working in the Poatwardhan State
• 1764 – nawab asked to pay 16 lakh per annum for upkeep of british forces
• Rohillakhand and doab yielding revenue of 2 crore were taken to maintain additional forces thurst upon nawab
• After robbing all this land from the territory of Oudh, the English signed an agreement that, as the Nabob had surrendered all and every right over this tract of land, the rest of the territory belonging to the Nabob should remain hereditarily in the family of the Nabob. Another article in the treaty provided that the Nabob should not oppress his subjects. After this treaty which was concluded in 1801, the Nabob was made to advance to the Company, whenever they wanted financial aid, crores of Rupees. The whole kingdom of Oudh was in the hands of the Compoany’s army officers, the treasury became empty by forced loans and contributions, and it was impossible for the Nabob to administer his territory independently or to introduce internal reforms. But the philanthropic Company kept on urging upon him, pointing to the articles in the treary of 1801, to alter his administration so as to make his subjects happy and contended.
• This treaty of 1801 was cancelled and the Nabob entered into a fresh agreement in 1837. This treaty impaired the authority of the Nabob considerably, but he signed the new agreement simply with the intention of rescuing himself from the cunning treaty of 1801. In the year 1847, Wajid Ali Shah succeeded to the throne of Oudh
• PranNath – guru of chhatrasala
• “It is my firm belief that, if our plan of educatio is followed up, there would not be a single idolator in Bengal 30 years hence !” – Macaulay’s letter to his mother, Oct.12, 1836.
• Sialkot and Ambala depot supplied greased cartridges and they were introduced openly in gurkha regiments
• Russo-Turkish War then going on, the English had been defeated in the important battle of Sebastopol, he stayed some time in Russia.
• Maulvi ahmed of lucknow was hanged for preaching sedition
• 23r june was rumoured to be date for end of british rule
• the Nabob of Oudh and his Vizier, Ali Nakkhi Khan
• Sepoys should rise on the 31st. As it was a Sunday, they would be able to find a large number of European officers in church. All European officers, along with these, were to e murdered. Then all the treasuries, that would be full with the proceeds of the Rabbi crops, were to be looted. Jails were to be broken open and prisoners released. For in the North-Western provinces, from the prisoners alone an army of nearly 25,000 people could be formed.” As soon as the rising rook place, the power-magazines and armouries were to be taken possession of.
• in the Mutiny of Vellore, too, Chapatees were used to perform the same function.
• 19th regiment was disbanded first
• When Sergeant-major Hughson saw this he ordered the Sepoys to arrest Mangal Panday (34th regiment)
• 29th march – mangal pandey incident
• 8th april – his execution
• Umballa was the chief head-quarters of the English army, and the English Commander-in-Chief Anson stayed there. The Sepoys at Umballa struck upon a new plan, that of burning of house of every officer that went against them! Every night the houses of tyrants and traitors used to receive the unwelcome visit of fire.
• 10th of may 20th regiment at merrut sounds beguile
• Meerut was about the last place where the Revolution should have started in the natural course of events. There were only two Sepoy regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, while there was a complete riflemen battalion and a regiment of dragoons of Europeans there. Besides, the whole of the artillery was in the hands of the Europeans. Under these circumstances, the Sepoys had no chance of success. Therefore was it that, immediately after the rising , the Sepoys went away towards Delhi, leaving the work of revenge to the townsmen of Meerut. It was very easy to have stopped the Sepoys on the way and to have crushed them. But even English historians are ashamed of the cowardice, mismanagement, and want of foresight among the civil and military officers there.
• Meerut army entered via kashmiri gate and Colonel ripley was killed
• Fraser was commissioner of delhi
• Lietuenant willoghly blew up the arsenal rather than giving it to sepoys
• Anson was CoC of india at that time
• Danapur had the only white regiment at the moment from Agra to Barrackpore
• Persia war had just ended and troops sent for china were on their way only
• Umbala was headquarter of army
• The Raja of Patiala sent his brother with sepoys and artillery and ordered him to
guard the Thaneswar Road, and the Raja of Jhind took up the strong position of Panipat. When these two most important stations were thus guarded, the roads from Delhi to Umballa and uninterrupted communication with the Punjab were perfectly secure;
• 7th of june jundtion of army at umbala and meerut was effected and british came till Alipur outside delhi
• Battle of Bund ki sarai was won by britishers with the help of Gurkhas
• Lahore was Indian garrison but Mian meer had british contingent .Montomgery arranged disarmament of Indians at Lahore
• They began the policy of increasing the hatred of the Sikhs and the Jats for the Mahomedans. They were reminded of an ancient prophecy which was current among the Sikhs, that the Khalsa would one day march on Delhi – the spot where the Mogul Emperor formerly killed their Guru –and raze it to the ground. Now the time had come for the prophecy to be fulfilled!
• Sikh sepoys had spent only 10 yrs under britisher and did not understand fully cruel nature of british rule
• Further khalsa was disarmed and absorbed in peasantry
• To fan still further the hatred of the Sikhs for Delhi, a false proclamation was posted that the first order of the Emperor was to massacre all the Sikhs!
• Cotton and Nicolson ensured disarmament in Peshawar on 21st may and even officers of regiment joined Sepoys in hurling abuse at company for being treated disrespectfully
• Ferozpur did revolt but was crushed
• The plan was that when the Jullunder army should send a corps to Hoshiarpur, the 31st infantry should rise and march to Pilhur; on their arrival, the 3rd regiment at Pilhur was to rise and all together were to march to Delhi.
• The English military officers of the place had, to the end, confidence in the Sepoys and informed the higher authorities that they need not be disarmed; and they really did trust the Sepoys. For this, the Sepoys not only refrained from massacring them wholesale but spared the life of those also that had not yet left the place. Thus, the Jullunder army kept its plan well and the officers who trusted them were spared their life.
• Cooper did a blackhole at ludhian with soldiers caught from ajnala
• In short, on account of the treachery of the Sikhs and the premature rising at Meerut, the roots of the Revolution in the Panjab were all weeded out. And the Panjab being the backbone of Delhi, the news was very discouraging to the Delhi patriots.
• Aligarh – 9th native infantry – Lady Outram was also there but all officers were allowed to go unharmed with their families
• A O hume was collector of Itawah
• 21st may – Aligarh,itawa, bulandshahar freed
• 28th may – naseerabd near ajmer
• Barrelly was capital of Rohillakhand and commandant here assured sepoys that he will himself trample and new cartridge .By this time CoC himself had issued order against cartridge still sepoys rose and thus theory of cartridge is disproved
• Khan Bahadur Khan, the descendant of Hafiz Rahmat, the last independent Rohilla chief, was weaving the nets of the secret society. Khan Bahadur Khan used to get two pensions from the English, one as the descendant of Hafiz Rahmat, and the other as a judicial officer under the English.
• When the English flag was hauled down and the flat of freedom began to fly at Bareilly, the Subahdar of the Sepoy artillery, Bakht Khan, accepted the commandership of all the Sepoy troops.
• Barrelly rose according to plan on 31st may
• Shahjanpur, badaun and Moradabad also rose on same day and within hourse entire rohillakhand was free
• Sikroli near allahbad was main cantonment in benaras area
• Treasury was being transferred from Gorakhpur and azamgarh but sepoy rose there
• By this time i.e. 4th june danapur army and colonel Neil from madras had reached benaras
• At benaras parade ground in confusion britsihers fired on Sikhs and this was only palce where hindu,muslim and Sikhs fought britishers together
• Benaras treasury also had ornaments of sikh queen so one surat singh ensured that jewels remained in possession of britishers with the help of king of benaras
• Sepoys could not take benaras but took jaunpur and then marched to ayodhya – 5th june
• Most of the Talukdars in the Allahabad province were Mahomedans and their tenants were Hindus. Thus, the English had considered it impossible that these two would unite and that the whole mass of the people would rise against them. But, in this memorable first week of June, how many of such impossibilities were realised! Without even waiting to hear about the rising of the city of Allahabad, all the villages of the province rose simultaneously and declared their indedpendence!
• Leakat ali was leader in Allahabad
• 18th june Neil reached Allahabad and sepoys lost it
• Neill’s barbarities were not a revenge of Cawnpore, but the Cawnpore bloodshed was the result of and revenge for Neill’s inhuman brutalities!
• Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny,
• Tatia Tope was born in about 1814. His father’s name was Pandurang Bhat. Pandurang Bhat had eight sons and of them, the second was called Raghunath. It is this Raghunath who shines as the brilliant star of liberty in the galaxy of the heroes of Hindusthan. Pandurang Rao Tope was a Deshasth Brahmin and was the head of the charity department, under the late Bajirao Peshwa at Brahmavarta.
• Cawnpore was, for a log time, an important military station of the English. In Cawnpore, there were the 1st, 53rd and 56th Sepoy infantry, and a regiment of Sepoy cavalry – altogether three thousand Indian soldiers. The cavalty was wholly in the hands of the English and, besides, they had about a hundred English soldiers. The chief officer of the whole army was Sir Hugh Wheeler. Sir Hugh Wheeler was an old and very popular commander among the Sepoys.
• The chief rendezvous of the secret societies of Cawnpore was the house of Subahdar Tikka Singh. Another place of meeting for the secret societies was the house of the Sepoy leader Shams-ud-din Khan. At these secret meetings, two faithful severants of the Brahmavarta palace household, Jwala Prasad and Mahomed Ali, used to attend on behalf of Nana Sahib.
• Azinan was nautch girl at Cawnpore who also fought with sepoys
• 25th june Cawnpore fort is captured by nana sahib
• The next morning, on the 26th Jwala Prasad and Azimullah Khan, on behalf of Nana Sahib and Moore, Whiting, and Roche, on behalf of the English, met near the walls. First, the conversation began in English, but soon Jwala and Azim forced them to carry on the conversation in Hindusthani – the language of the nation. The terms settled were that the English should hand over all the artillery, arms and ammunition, and the treasure to Nana Sahib, and Nana Sahib should give provisions to and convey the party to Allahabad.
• Durvijay singh a jamindar helped the only boat which survived sati chowda massacre
• Henry Lawrence – oudh, john Lawrence – Punjab
• He started the policy of pacifying disaffected Zemindars by sweet speeches. He took pains in organising a Durbar at Lucknow and in giving various honours, titles, and rewards, in order to make the people forget their late Swaraj.
• regiment was disarmed. Sir Henry Lawrence held a great Durbar on the 12Moulvie Ahmad Shah himself was convicted of sedition and was given the death sentence which was later commuted. The 7th th of May, in order to keep control over the Sepoys as far as possible. He then delivered there an eloquent oration in Hindusthanee. He fully dilated upon the importance of loyalty, the insults offered by Ranjit Singh to the Mahomedan religion, Aurangzeb’s insults to Hinduism, and the protection accorded by the English to both Hindus and Mahomedans against mutual injury. He then personally presented swords, shawls, turbans, and other presents to those Sepoys who had shown their loyalty; while, on the other side, the 7th regiment was being disarmed and disbanded.
• Sir Henry Lawrence now selected two places near Lucknow city, Machi Bhawan and the Residency, and began the work of fortifying these as places of refuge. The English women and children were taken there and all Englishmen, clerks, civil officials, and merchants were taught military drill, discipline, and the use of the rifle. At Meerut too, after the rising, all the civil Englishmen there had been given such training and made ready for the field in ten days. Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief military officer of the province. Oudh being close to Nepal, Sir Henry Lawrence sent a mission to Nepal requesting help from there. He asked Jung Bahadur to come down into Oudh with an army.
• Habob Tafuzar Hossein Khan – farukhabad
• Raja man singh – faizabad
• Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Province Mr. Colvin, is at Agra,
• The revolted regiments of Nasirabad and Neemuch marched on Agra; so, the “loyal” troops of the rulers of Bitaoli and Bharatpur were sent against them and thye won agra
• If the people and the troops drove out the English from the Residencies, they were permitted to do so; because, it meant the freedom of the states. Notwithstanding this, the rulers would continue to declare their friendship for the English, so that, in case of English success, they should not lose what they had. It would seem that Cutch, Gwalior, Indore, Bundela, Rajputana, and other states – all behaved in this manner.
• 11 may – delhi declares independence
• Sikh soldiers prevented allahabd fort from going out of hand of britishers & canning shifted capital to Allahabad
• Havelock was made boss of Neil and entrusted responsibility to lift sige of Cawnpore
• Neil protected Kanpur with the help of Mahars
• Teyler was commissioner of bihar
• Peer ali – leader of revolution at patna
• Jagdishpur – shahbad district
• Eyre fought against kunwar of jagdishpur
• Englsih had advantage of having occupied heights of ridge
• He gave all the power in the hands of Bakht Khan. He appointed three generals to manage the army. He then ordered that a committee of six- three Delhi citizens and three Sepoy leaders – should together look after all the affairs of the army
• Neemuch and Bareelly sepoys had differences and camped at different sites at Najafgarh.Nicholson came and destroyed neemuch sepoys
• British army had sikh and kashmiri soldiers and Raja of Jind
• British entered via Kashmere gate into city
• Ilahi baksh mirja was advising bahdur shah to surrender
• The English army, both European and Indian, engaged at the siege of Delhi, was about ten thousand men. Of those, about four thousand fell on the field, killed and wounded. Such a terrible death-roll is not found even in a struggle like the Crimean war!
• Battle of chinhat – revolutionaries got lucknow
• 24 september – delhi is lost
• Mahbob khan was chief vazir of begum hazrat mahal
• the Revolutionaries did not show as much zeal in obeying the officers appointed as they showed in participating in their appointment. In all Revolutions this common blunder is committed, and this sows the seeds of destruction of the Revolution in the very beginning.
• When Havelock moved fro Kanpur to lucknow at every point he was harassed by jamindars who had raised forces. First such instance was at unnao
• As Havelock could not proceed to lucknow Outram was made commander but he gave Havelock all authority
• Campbell new CoC of Calcutta started on 27 october to relive lucknow
• Havelock died at Lucknow after cambell relived them
• Wyndham – kalpi
• Tatia almost won back Cawnpore but Campbell came and rescued it
• Veer singh – neemuch troops
• When the English were fighting in the Doab, Veni Madhav, Mahomed Hussein, and Raja Nadir Khan had, with credit to themselves, reconquered completely the parts round Benares and to the east by Ayodhya
• Junbahadur sent Nepalese troops to attack lucknow some historian opined that he had visited London a year before and did not dare fight britishers after seeing might of their empire
• Nazim muhamamd hussain – banda sultanpur
• Kumar sing hgave up jagdishpur without much fight
• MIlman was captured by Kumar at azimgarh and now he threatened benaras and thus communication between allahabd and benaras
• Mark her and lugad were sent to relive azamgarh but kunwar left for gazipur after deceiving brisithers in beliving that he was holding azimgarh
• Douglas was following kumar singh when he was killed
• Shahjahnapur and barely were last stands
• The Begum of Ayodhya, Mayyan Sahib, the King of Mahmadi, the Prince Feroze Shah of Delhi, Nana Sahib of Cawnpore – all these leaders poured in with their forces, before the 15th of May, to help the flag of liberty, now in such immediate danger in Shahjahanpur.
• Raja of powen killed moulvi ahmed shah
• The life of this brave Mahomedan shows that a rational faith in the doctrines of Islam is in no way inconsistent with, or antagonistic to, a deep and all - powerful love of the Indian soil; and that the true believer in Islam will feel it a pride to belong to, and privilege to die for, his mother-country!
• Lakshman rao pande was minister to rani Jhansi
• Whitlok – Jabalpur
• Hughrose – mhow and then Jhansi
• Scindhia ,raja of tehri, Hyderabad and Bhopal were helping biritishers
• Ghos khan – chief gunner of rani
• Rao Madhav Rao of Kirwi was a child of ten and his guardianship was in the hands of the English. The Rao of Kirwi was a near relation of Baji Rao Peshwa. In 1827, Anant Rao, the then ruler of Kirwi, deposited two lakhs of Rupees with the English Government for some charities in connection with the temples of Benares. As soon as he died, the English swallowed the whole amount. More than that, they took unlawful possession of a further sum of several lakhs of Rupees foolishly deposited with them by Anant Rao’s son, Vinayak Rao, in spite of the lesson he had already received. This was soon after Vinayak Rao’s death. Rao Madhav, the adopted son of Vinayak Rao, being a minor, as the supervision of the whole state was in the hands of the English, and Ramachandra Rao, the chief Karbhari, had been appointed by the English, there was every reason to suppose that there would not be much fear of revolt in the Kirwi State.
• Nabob of Banda, the Raja of Shahgarh, and the Raja of Banapur had all gathered together under th kalpi fort
• Jayaji Rao Scindia, coward as he was, and his minister, Dinkar Rao, fled, not only from the field, but from Gwalior itself, and ran to Agra!
• Shrimant rao held durbar at Gwalior on 3rd june
• There were three important regiments in the south, the 27th at Kolhapur, the 29th at Belgaum, and the 28th at Dharwar. When the plans of the Rising were made by means of July, 1857. They killed some of their English officers, took the treasury in their charge, had a skirmish with the English troops that had just arrived, and went away towards the Ghats. The various Revolutionary bands united together under the leadership of Ramji Shirsal of Swantwadi and began to harass the English force in the direction of the Kadi forest. They were defeated and dispersed after some months by the English with the help of the Portuguese of Goa. The new English officer, Jacob, who had come to Kolhapur, disarmed the remaining Sepoys there and had their leaders shot. correspondence, the 10th of August was fixed upon as the day on which they were to rise. But an English army was in the meanwhile being sent to Kolhapur to keep the population and the Sepoys there in check. This news was divulged to the Sepoys by an official of the Telegraph Department. Thus the Sepoys who were already infuriated, rose prematurely on the 31st
• Belgaum about the 10th of August. But the Sepoy leader, Thakur Singh, and a bold Munshi, the leader of the citizens, were arrested just at the last moment.
• if it was any one man whose cleverness prevented a rising in the city of Bombay itself, it was Forrest, the chief police officer.
• The Gond king of Jubbulpore, Shankar Singh, and his won were doing their utmost for the Revolution
• There were risings in the Dhar state and at Mahidpur, Goria, and other places, organised by Prince Feroze Shah of Delhi.
• the fate of the English power in India lay in hands of the Nizam of Hyderabad. The new Nizam, Afzul-ud-daulah, had just come to the throne in May 1857, and the Prime Ministership was in the hands of a man called Sir Salar Jung. The whole of the Deccan hung upon one word from the lips of Sir Salar Jung. If the Nizam, of Hyderabad had joined the National Revolution, the whole of the Deccan would have risen like one man, and the corfd of English rule, already strained to breaking point by the risings in the north, would have been snapped to pieces. Nor can we say that no one preached to Salar Jung the doctrine of a patriotic rising against the English. Though we take for granted that he was too “loyal” to let love of religion, country, and independence even whisper such a thought into his mind, still the people of Hyderabad were precipitately urging him to join the Revolution.
• Torabaz Khan, was killed and Moulvie Alla-ud-din – revolt in hyderabd city
• Raja of Zorapur was Bhaskar Rao Baba Sahib, the chief of Nargund - rebel in hyderbad
• To take revenge for the hanging of the Moulvie, Nizam Ali Khan marched up to Pilibht; Khan Bahadur Khan with four thousand men ran to the field of action; the Farrukabad men rose taking five thousand followers; Vilayat Shah took three thousand men to the field and, with five thousand men, Nana Sahib, Bala Sahib, Ali Khan Mewati, and other leaders started a tremendous campaign in Rohilkhand and Oudh.
• celebrated Mogul prince Feroze Shah, who was lately fighting at Dhar, was now in Oudh.
• Veni Madhav’s town, Shankarpur,
• In November, 1959, the famous proclamation of the Queen of England was published throughout India, and according to the prophecy, the Company’s rule did vanish after a hundred years!
• Sironj, isagarh , jhallarpattan were palces where tatia tope went
• Lord Harris at Madras, Lord Elphinstone at Bombay, and Lord Canning at Calcutta
• Near chota Udaipur when he wantedto go to baroda along with rao sahib peshwa, later he lost at indargarh and sikar
• After leaving Tatia, Rao Sahib fought desperately for a month and at last retired to the forests in disguise. At the end of about three years, he was also caught and was handed at Cawnpore on the 20th of August, 1862. Feroze Shah was also roaming about in disguise, but, fortunately, in the end, he got out of India and stayed at Kerbela in Persia.
Emperor Bahadue Shah was a poet. During the heat of the Revolution he composed a Gazal. Some one asked him :
Dumdumaymen dam nahin khair mango janki
Ai Zafar thandi hui shamsher Hindusthanki.
“Now that, every moment, you are becoming weaker, pray for your life (to the English) : for, Oh! Emperor, the sword of Inmdia is nowbroken for every!”
There is a tradition that the Emperor replied :
Ghazionmen bu rahegi jabtalak imanki
Tabto Londontak chalegi teg Hindusthanki.
“As long as there remains the least trace of love of faith in the hearts of our heroes, so long, the sword of Hindusthan shall be sharp, and one day shall flash even at the gates of London.”
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Young Bengal
Below is the poem by Hanri Vivian Darozio , from famous Young Bengal movement. It is strangze that our communist dominated history books talk about all ills of Indian society which westerners pointed out but is silent on those foreigners who made India their home and contributed significantly to shaping its young minds e.g. Henry Darozio, Savitri Devi, Annie Besant, Charles Andrews etc.
To India - My Native Land
by-Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
My country! in thy day of glory past
A beautious halo circled round thy brow,
And worshiped as a deity thou wast.
Where is that glory, where that reverence now?
Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last.
And grovelling in the lowly dust art thou;
Thy minstrel hath no wreath to weave for thee
Save the sad story of thy misery!
Well- let me dive into the depths of time,
And bring from out the ages that have rolled
A few small fragments or those wrecks sublime,
Which human eyes may never more behold;
And let the guerdon of my labor be
My fallen country! one kind wish from thee
To India - My Native Land
by-Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
My country! in thy day of glory past
A beautious halo circled round thy brow,
And worshiped as a deity thou wast.
Where is that glory, where that reverence now?
Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last.
And grovelling in the lowly dust art thou;
Thy minstrel hath no wreath to weave for thee
Save the sad story of thy misery!
Well- let me dive into the depths of time,
And bring from out the ages that have rolled
A few small fragments or those wrecks sublime,
Which human eyes may never more behold;
And let the guerdon of my labor be
My fallen country! one kind wish from thee
Friday, August 15, 2008
Nice guys finish second - part4 - connections
As i grew up in life i realised the vital role connections can play. In fact we are taught at our management school that MBA is all about making yourself more presentable and forging connections. Even BK admits this fact in his book.
e.g. he clearly mentions how connections of Nehru family ensured that their stay in jail was very comfortable despite them demanding so.
Connections work silently.
Those people who lament rote learning prevalent in India and or pressure to score more should have a look at admission process of foreign universities which is highly subjective. In fact BK also used his connections to get his son admitted in UK university but I guess this is norm there.
No where the connections are more important than in Finance and diplomacy and his stint in USA and associated experience where he puts a claim to be very close to to John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson gives a proof to it.
Another interesting theme in this book is BK's unhappiness over Anglo Indians dominant position in Indian life completely disproportionate to their numbers or intellect. One can understand this if one looks at people in different professions such as air force, sports,administration etc in 30-60s period.
Similar resentment is felt today by powerful peasantry and rich people from towns towards city folk many of them occupy high positions solely because they are good in English or had a privileged background or right connections.
e.g. he clearly mentions how connections of Nehru family ensured that their stay in jail was very comfortable despite them demanding so.
Connections work silently.
Those people who lament rote learning prevalent in India and or pressure to score more should have a look at admission process of foreign universities which is highly subjective. In fact BK also used his connections to get his son admitted in UK university but I guess this is norm there.
No where the connections are more important than in Finance and diplomacy and his stint in USA and associated experience where he puts a claim to be very close to to John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson gives a proof to it.
Another interesting theme in this book is BK's unhappiness over Anglo Indians dominant position in Indian life completely disproportionate to their numbers or intellect. One can understand this if one looks at people in different professions such as air force, sports,administration etc in 30-60s period.
Similar resentment is felt today by powerful peasantry and rich people from towns towards city folk many of them occupy high positions solely because they are good in English or had a privileged background or right connections.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Nice guys finish second - finance world
Recently I was reading that some foreign diplomat was remarking that IAS officers in India consider themselves know all persons and will negotiate even scientific, military and financial matter ignoring subject experts.
Country continues to pay heavy prices for this over reliance on arrogant IAS officers.e.g. one lament Of BK in this book is increasing number of "people who matter" in Delhi. As per him it used to be 64 in British time but now he feels as he later mentions in book his own job in finance ministry had been divided into four full fledged department. I don't understand why this desire to cling to power. India expanded rapidly in same period and further when people do not get any specialist training in India and no hire-fire is practiced it is better to have more number of people to get more expertise.
He does not admit it directly but 4 out of this 64 people cost India its biggest foreign exchange loss in rupee-sterling negotiation. Another tendency to ignore industry experts present in mumbai or Calcutta or academicians was responsible for this.
In "transfer of power" by V P Menon it is mentioned that how they refused one proposal of Nizam on the basis that all financial experts were away negotiating in London and os no one could understand financial terms. A country of 30 crore had 4 financial experts then.
BK gives a further example when they were sent as a mission to Australia to study finance commission or division of financial powers between center and state. He admits that complete work was done by one professor in the delegation and ICS officers had no clue what was happening!!
Even our political masters were no better. How Nehru would spend thousands of dollars o buy paintings but would stop 70-80 dollar bills is mentioned very humorously.
BK's stint in USA at least made him aware of prowess of finance in world politics. he befriended who's and who of wall street and was instrumental in getting "India aid club" established. But sadly now a days people entering in civil service don't have fiance background necessary or elite upbringing to forge relationship with wall street bankers.
BK also mentions about one officer who even became India's representative at world bank who had a "nawabi" attitude - in short a shirker and inefficient at best and corrupt at worst. Such people were allowed to remain in system and even occupy high echelons speak a lot about Indian administration.
another telling example is Atalji when he was foreign minister in janata government was taken aback when British foreign minister discussed with him only trade relations. I hope our political leaders have improved since then.
But Morarji desai possibly due to his administrative experience come out as better finance minister.
Even today one can witness similar cases of financial ineptitude by leaders and bureaucrats alike.
Country continues to pay heavy prices for this over reliance on arrogant IAS officers.e.g. one lament Of BK in this book is increasing number of "people who matter" in Delhi. As per him it used to be 64 in British time but now he feels as he later mentions in book his own job in finance ministry had been divided into four full fledged department. I don't understand why this desire to cling to power. India expanded rapidly in same period and further when people do not get any specialist training in India and no hire-fire is practiced it is better to have more number of people to get more expertise.
He does not admit it directly but 4 out of this 64 people cost India its biggest foreign exchange loss in rupee-sterling negotiation. Another tendency to ignore industry experts present in mumbai or Calcutta or academicians was responsible for this.
In "transfer of power" by V P Menon it is mentioned that how they refused one proposal of Nizam on the basis that all financial experts were away negotiating in London and os no one could understand financial terms. A country of 30 crore had 4 financial experts then.
BK gives a further example when they were sent as a mission to Australia to study finance commission or division of financial powers between center and state. He admits that complete work was done by one professor in the delegation and ICS officers had no clue what was happening!!
Even our political masters were no better. How Nehru would spend thousands of dollars o buy paintings but would stop 70-80 dollar bills is mentioned very humorously.
BK's stint in USA at least made him aware of prowess of finance in world politics. he befriended who's and who of wall street and was instrumental in getting "India aid club" established. But sadly now a days people entering in civil service don't have fiance background necessary or elite upbringing to forge relationship with wall street bankers.
BK also mentions about one officer who even became India's representative at world bank who had a "nawabi" attitude - in short a shirker and inefficient at best and corrupt at worst. Such people were allowed to remain in system and even occupy high echelons speak a lot about Indian administration.
another telling example is Atalji when he was foreign minister in janata government was taken aback when British foreign minister discussed with him only trade relations. I hope our political leaders have improved since then.
But Morarji desai possibly due to his administrative experience come out as better finance minister.
Even today one can witness similar cases of financial ineptitude by leaders and bureaucrats alike.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Nice guys finish second
In this post I will deal with B K Nehru's view about Nehru household before he bid it a good bye to join ICS. He gives a picture of Kashmirs brahmin community in Allahabad which is interesting. A community which is rising under colonial masters in a sense cheating with other countrymen but at the same time cuaght in a time wrap in some issues.
Motilal comes as anglicized person with a great degree of contempt for common Indianm. This so called first family of India was so angliscised that they had names like batty,Dorthy for each other in house. Their living was particularly anglicized in all respects and we don't find much mention of Indian religions and common Indian people except their servants.I think it was only thanks to his dad and his postings outside Allahabad that BK turned out to be sensible man that he was.
e.g. how luxurious used to be stay of Nehru's in jail. But still one would have to agree that family wholeheartedly supported an uncertain cause and especially Nehru;s effort to organize peasants in UP were commendable.
Motilal comes as anglicized person with a great degree of contempt for common Indianm. This so called first family of India was so angliscised that they had names like batty,Dorthy for each other in house. Their living was particularly anglicized in all respects and we don't find much mention of Indian religions and common Indian people except their servants.I think it was only thanks to his dad and his postings outside Allahabad that BK turned out to be sensible man that he was.
e.g. how luxurious used to be stay of Nehru's in jail. But still one would have to agree that family wholeheartedly supported an uncertain cause and especially Nehru;s effort to organize peasants in UP were commendable.
Nice guys finish second - 1
I read the book almost a year back when I was about to enter this college. I am sure many people specially contemporary of the author and other people associated with those events would have written much insightful reviews but I guess my unique position in time and some other factors which i would deal with later make my review or rather collection of my insights from the book it interesting because ultimately all people of that age are to be evaluated by people of my generation !!!
Boasting apart before reading this book I had hear about B K Nehru in class 5th when mugging name of popular books and authors was one way of winning inter school GK contests.
Later I read a book by HT journalist who was sent to cover nagaland but ended up marrying a naga woman and became a spokesperson of naga cause which obviously did not paint a good picture of B K Nehru and he was portrayed as an old school man who was hell bent upon enforcing writ of Indian state.
Just before reading this book i read Jagmohan's "My Frozen Turbulence in kashmir" in which two main issues as to how Faruk abdualla govt failed and what happened in Srinagar city on the night jagmohan arrived were described in detail to create for justification of all the moves mentioned BK in not that adulating terms. He infact tried to pin any blame for dismissal of farukh governemnt on BK's door ( this is 84 - first stint of Jagmohan which actually saw the beginning of terrro
Boasting apart before reading this book I had hear about B K Nehru in class 5th when mugging name of popular books and authors was one way of winning inter school GK contests.
Later I read a book by HT journalist who was sent to cover nagaland but ended up marrying a naga woman and became a spokesperson of naga cause which obviously did not paint a good picture of B K Nehru and he was portrayed as an old school man who was hell bent upon enforcing writ of Indian state.
Just before reading this book i read Jagmohan's "My Frozen Turbulence in kashmir" in which two main issues as to how Faruk abdualla govt failed and what happened in Srinagar city on the night jagmohan arrived were described in detail to create for justification of all the moves mentioned BK in not that adulating terms. He infact tried to pin any blame for dismissal of farukh governemnt on BK's door ( this is 84 - first stint of Jagmohan which actually saw the beginning of terrro
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A shameless ripoff of Kramer Vs Kramers
i watched Kramer vs Kramer yesterday and that forced me to think about akele hum akele tum which I had watched years before. AHAT copies the Kramer vs Kramer sometimes scene and even dialogue by dialogue while at other times to give things Indian touch they play havoc with main story line so Manisha's parent have to be devils and she has to be super talented to garner public sympathy as to why she separated. Amir has to meet this villainous music director duo from film industry to jutify his negligence towards manisha. This shows that main story is not strong and i.e. why director needs this 'doping' of story. While copying story director forgot that with 5,000 salary in Mumbai Amir can't possibly afford the flat he is shown living in and not treat his child with costly icecream everyday. This struck very odd to me when I saw AHAT but after watching Kramer vs Kramer I know the inspiration !. Court scenes are more subtly handled in Kramer vs Kramer but maybe to sell movie in India all this was needed.
I watched movie on TV long after it was released but its songs were hit
1. Dance sequence of amir khan in club- rarely you find indian heroes singing with guitar
2. Character of music director duo seemed to hint at someone in bollywood
3. Character of Tanvi Azmi was first of its kind in India. As the movie was copy from hollywood there was no parallel for her charcter
4. Bania and other neighbours were addition on hollwood.
5. Sexual part from Kramer vs Kramer was removed so Amir Khan did not sleep with any colleague in his wife's absence and Tanvi was not looking for a boyfriend.
6. happy ending ( it is india come on)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Leben der Anderen, Das aka Lives of Others : view from India
Lives of others
Starring: Sebatian Koch, Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muhe
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donners-marck
Motivation for writing this review are three fold, recently I started learning german
, this is one of the best german movie I have seen ( i have seen only 3-4 of them). Second reason was a review of it by outlook
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080728&fname=Movie+Review&sid=1
Few days back I read a very lame revie of same movie by sudheendra kulkarni in indian express . it does not appear on goolge now but i found another review on indian express
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/334451.html
Further I also came across two revies of this movie in print media very mediocre , one in naidunia and other in Hindu.
Now here are my two cents
but before that some comments from IMDB. it is a wonderful forum and people come up with myriad explanations of things around them here
one of reader writes
"The film hardly portrays Weisler as "abruptly switching to a completely sympathetic man." In fact, it's a slow process that begins about 20 minutes into the movie, and what follows are at least 10 distinct experiences that influence Weisler's transformation. I won't go into all of them here, since I don't have the movie to refer to, but I'll sum it up.
It begins with Grubitz's undeserved promotion, which rightfully belonged to Weisler. Then seeing Christa-Marie on stage, which secretly captivated him. Brecht, Jerska's suicide, speaking with Christa-Marie at the bar, realizing Minister Hempf is using Weisler to spy on a rival suitor... you may not see any overt outward display of recognition in Weisler, but all of these things are having an effect on him. He compares his bland living quarters to Dreyman's warm apartment, compares his empty sex to their passionate love-making, and begins to question the validity of his life. Again, none of this is broadcast to the audience through dialogue or obvious plot contrivances. Outwardly, nothing about Weisler changes. He doesn't dance in the park, redecorate his apartment, or find true love of his own. He never even smiles. It is up to the audience to connect emotionally with the character, and to be aware of all the little moments that contribute to Weisler's change.
By listening in on the lives of others, experiencing people who are alive, passionate, in touch with emotion and feeling, Weisler is discovers his soul. It's an incredibly organic process that begins almost as soon as the film begins, and takes a period of months to come to fruition. I also think it's a poignant and unique way of approaching the subject of eavesdropping. See Coppola's "The Conversation" for a very different take on the same subject matter.
"Man does what's right and gets thanked for it" is greatly oversimplifying things. You could boil just about every film down to one trite sentence, but it wouldn't do justice to everything else that is going on in this film, including the cinematography, the score, the expressive and subtle performances, the sets, etc. This isn't a book, so plot isn't the only important thing at play here.
In this case, it's the way in which this man does what's right, and it's how he is thanked that makes for a world-class film. Weisler's one kind act does little to make his life better. For a time, it even makes it worse. After the fall of the Berlin wall, Weisler is still alone, still in a menial job, very much the same man he was before the events of the film. Georg Dreyman doesn't come running up to hug Weisler and thank him personally. They don't grab a beer and talk about their shared experience. Instead, Dreyman seems to know that these two can never be friends. He can't just say "thank you" and think that makes it alright. Something more must be done, and so he turns his experience into a novel about what it means to be a good man. You ask for something appropriately thematic at one moment, and then discount at another moment one of the most thematically appropriate scenes in the whole film"
well for me i have following comments to offer
1. Beautiful acting , good cinematography. we could make a similar movie in india though i doubt any regime in India ever went to this length.
2.To me very strong was the notion that perfectly normal people can be hooked to a system so bad. All of them seem to have a noble goal in mind to keep fascism at bay. They think that they should go for socialism as capitalism will ultimately lead to fascism. But in order to achieve this bigger goal they compromise on every small step and become enemies of their own citizen.
3. I believe that this is what is bound to happen in india. Hindu nationalists have a laudable final goal to save India from Islamic tyranny but in this quest they may damage Indian psyche also.
4. Once again one sees power of art in this movie. I think depsite all shortcomings our race has one distinct feature which makes our lives worth living i.e. pursuit of art forms. Artists in this movie like in real life are motivated to take risk and make society as they see in their dreams.
5. Corrupt minister who would have once started as an idealist but now is a cogwheel in system.
6. Rival officer of protagonist who is equally efficient and helps system on the plea of being honest to his job. I think this is very much relevant to my generation today when we shrug off our questionable role in perpetuating many wrong things by simply saying that we are just doing our job maybe we also need to witness lives of other to arouse that humane inside us.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wedding Album : New play of Girsih karnad
Writer : Girish Karnad
Director : Lillete Dubey
Cast : tkarsh Mazumdar, Neena Kulkarni, Ira Dubey, Suchitra Pillai, Rajev Paul, Amar Talwar, Seema Azmi, Deepika Deshpande, Raaghav Chanana & Armaan Sunny
It was performed in Bangalore courtesy IFS and as right now they are collaborating in one of our courses, I was well aware of it in advance.
1. Venue was chowdia auditorium , a violin shaped building. Nice architecture we should have something similar in every city.
2. As usual with dramas, and that too by big names are full of high society and intellectual people specially the first category who would laugh heartily in a tragic scene and be mum in scene of quick wit.
3.Now come to the play, i will rate it average only. Premise had potential but writer a known communist and Hindu basher wanted to insert even his political views in the drama. So unnecessary subplot of heroine going to net cafe and youth of nationalistic organizations raiding that place where otherwise submissive heroine uses 4 letter word umpteen number of times and turns tables on these guys.
4.A very bleak view of the housemaid , a typical elite view.
5. One fails to understand if boys going to USA , Australia are available in such plenty why would a government officer in Hyderabad would want to marry his daughter to an arts graduate who does ntohnig for living. In fact the humor tried to be induced by Amar Talwar was very cliched.
6. Similarly the angle of neighbouring boy falling for Suchitra pillai. Similarly cliched was the old father role though acting was good in both cases.
7. Play started well with good use of AV devices where in on of the videos shot by heroine brother is shown but then use of stagecraft i.e. both light and sound is missing.
8. The bridegroom is shown to be completely opposed to what one would typically expect an NRI groom to be.
Overall I spent a good 500 bucks and 4 hrs in going to the far off place and watching this drama.
Saving grace supeb acting by Neena Kulkarni and Suchitra Pillai.
Kudos to them
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The story of Integration of Indian States
So this is my first review of a book on this blog. I finished the book yesterday only. So here are the points which I noticed :
1.Author is an honest and modest man. Many other Indians who have written very mediocre memoirs portray things in such a way that they were the one doing all stuff not this man.
2. This book has changed my opinion about Lord Mountbatton to great extent.His dealings with various princes shows that he really tried to help India during those negotiations.
3. Vindhya state was so mired in corruption that it was converted to a chief commissioner's province. This is same rewa -satna area of today. Most corrupt area of India.
4. Privy purse were heavy at the time of independence but when Indiara Gandhi eliminated them they had more a notional value with high inflation of years preceding it.It was actually a communist propaganda to remove patrons of local culture and art from small towns and villages.
5. Maharaj of J&K was paid out of Indian government finance not state treasury. So Shiekh Abdullah was just another Maharaja.
6. Travancore Devsthanam board properties had revenues of 8-10 crore even in those days. So the problem of robbing Paul and paying peter is very old. Hindus have already received a shorthand.
7. States in Saurashtra were given high compensation ? why because of Gandhiji's influence? Nepotism was beginning to take root.
8. There was clearly lack of good officers and I guess it was due to elite pattern of recruitment in services and education followed during British time.
9. The kind of atrocities which were committed by Razakars on Hindus and still they were allowed to go unpunished?? India is indeed a soft state from very beginning.
10. Decision to take Kashmir dispute to UN was not as foolish as it is made to be todya and even Sardar agreed to it from very beginning.
11. Private airlines contribute heavily to Kashmir war effort - will something similar be possible today?
12. All princess big or small were too much concerned about their status ,ceremonies and honor- if they would have worried similarly about their subjects.
13. Democracy is not always good.In mysore for example Maharaja administration was much better than Democracy.
14. All the areas where there were princely states have always been weak points of congress even today.
15.Some kings were really intelligent and created investment trust for their properties.
16. The way Nizam squandered state's money and helped Pakistan at the height of Kashmir war shows our collective amnesia. Today same Nizam is feted as someone unfortunate in our media.
17.Kerala was literate due to efforts by Maharaja and communist can not claim credit for same. So this explain why communist rule kerala and Bengal are different on this parameter. It is not because of communists but despite them.
18. BK Nehru and Khushwant isngh both are critical of Maharajah of Indore's attempt to transfer jewelery out of India but are mum on Nizam or Maharajah of baroda. Reverses is case with V P Menon. so who is objective?
19. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi were at most a large Jamindar and not a prince as they style themselves to be.
20. Seeing the trouble Pakistan today has in controlling tribes in NWFP one has to believe to some extent Pakistan's claim during Kashmir crisis that they could not control tribes.
21.Indian government went to the extent of deposing kings of Bhartapur and Alwar to allay apprehensions of minorities. So they were truly secular from beginning.
22. I always though state employed a large number of British officers but they all seem to have disappeared during negotiations.
23. A less than sympathetic view for tribal and portraying them as people given to violent way of living - effect colonial education can have on a mind
24.Communists collaborated with Razakars - a worst kept secret of our history by communist historians.
Overall a good read devoid of archaic English phrases and quotations so common with the books of those era.
1.Author is an honest and modest man. Many other Indians who have written very mediocre memoirs portray things in such a way that they were the one doing all stuff not this man.
2. This book has changed my opinion about Lord Mountbatton to great extent.His dealings with various princes shows that he really tried to help India during those negotiations.
3. Vindhya state was so mired in corruption that it was converted to a chief commissioner's province. This is same rewa -satna area of today. Most corrupt area of India.
4. Privy purse were heavy at the time of independence but when Indiara Gandhi eliminated them they had more a notional value with high inflation of years preceding it.It was actually a communist propaganda to remove patrons of local culture and art from small towns and villages.
5. Maharaj of J&K was paid out of Indian government finance not state treasury. So Shiekh Abdullah was just another Maharaja.
6. Travancore Devsthanam board properties had revenues of 8-10 crore even in those days. So the problem of robbing Paul and paying peter is very old. Hindus have already received a shorthand.
7. States in Saurashtra were given high compensation ? why because of Gandhiji's influence? Nepotism was beginning to take root.
8. There was clearly lack of good officers and I guess it was due to elite pattern of recruitment in services and education followed during British time.
9. The kind of atrocities which were committed by Razakars on Hindus and still they were allowed to go unpunished?? India is indeed a soft state from very beginning.
10. Decision to take Kashmir dispute to UN was not as foolish as it is made to be todya and even Sardar agreed to it from very beginning.
11. Private airlines contribute heavily to Kashmir war effort - will something similar be possible today?
12. All princess big or small were too much concerned about their status ,ceremonies and honor- if they would have worried similarly about their subjects.
13. Democracy is not always good.In mysore for example Maharaja administration was much better than Democracy.
14. All the areas where there were princely states have always been weak points of congress even today.
15.Some kings were really intelligent and created investment trust for their properties.
16. The way Nizam squandered state's money and helped Pakistan at the height of Kashmir war shows our collective amnesia. Today same Nizam is feted as someone unfortunate in our media.
17.Kerala was literate due to efforts by Maharaja and communist can not claim credit for same. So this explain why communist rule kerala and Bengal are different on this parameter. It is not because of communists but despite them.
18. BK Nehru and Khushwant isngh both are critical of Maharajah of Indore's attempt to transfer jewelery out of India but are mum on Nizam or Maharajah of baroda. Reverses is case with V P Menon. so who is objective?
19. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi were at most a large Jamindar and not a prince as they style themselves to be.
20. Seeing the trouble Pakistan today has in controlling tribes in NWFP one has to believe to some extent Pakistan's claim during Kashmir crisis that they could not control tribes.
21.Indian government went to the extent of deposing kings of Bhartapur and Alwar to allay apprehensions of minorities. So they were truly secular from beginning.
22. I always though state employed a large number of British officers but they all seem to have disappeared during negotiations.
23. A less than sympathetic view for tribal and portraying them as people given to violent way of living - effect colonial education can have on a mind
24.Communists collaborated with Razakars - a worst kept secret of our history by communist historians.
Overall a good read devoid of archaic English phrases and quotations so common with the books of those era.
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