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55th Republic Day Parade (2004)

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number of consumers of telephony 1995 - 2020

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First mobile that came to India in 1995

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exemplary comment section below the photo

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exemplary comment section below the photo

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exemplary facebook post by a Nepali friend

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exemplary facebook post by a Nepali friend

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In India, Smartphones and Cheap Data Are Giving Women a Voice

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In India, Smartphones and Cheap Data Are Giving Women a Voice

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Ravi Agarwal, author of the 2018 book India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy says that for many Indians, the smartphone is their first private TV screen, personal music player, computer, and camera. Agarwal compares it to the experience of owning a car for the first time-autonomy, privacy, and mobility.

This is particularly true for women, who are less likely to be literate or employed in the formal workforce. Even among the literate, many read and write in one of India's more than 30 official languages-another hurdle to accessing the internet on personal computers and laptops with English keyboards. In 2015, only 10 percent of internet users in India's rural areas were women. As smartphones and data plans have become more accessible, that figure has risen to roughly 30 percent, according to IAMAI, a trade group of internet and telecom companies.

Companies including Google, Intel, and Facebook have worked with local organizations to make it easier for women to access the internet. Google and Tata Trusts, for example, run the Internet Saathi, or Internet Friend, program, which trains rural women to be digital pioneers. They are taught to use smartphones in sessions where they are provided with phones and power banks. By December 2019, the program had trained more than 83,300 women to be Saathis. In turn, they had introduced over 34 million women to the internet.

Raman Kalyanakrishnan, the head of strategy at Tata Trusts, says the Saathis can decide what and how they want to teach, though the four-day training period emphasizes using voice commands in local languages. "We don't assume we know what interests women all over the country," he says.

Pinky Katariya, 36, is a Saathi from Jind, northwest of New Delhi, who joined the program in May 2018. She married young and lived with her in-laws when her husband took work in another city. "I always wanted to run a small shop," she says. "But I wasn't allowed to have money of my own, I didn't have the resources to be an entrepreneur." In 2016, women represented less than 5 percent of the formal workforce in Jind's state of Haryana.

"If anyone who doesn't have a phone needs to look something up, they come to me."

Pinky Katariya

Today, her life looks different. "I look for high-quality cloth in the market. I look up new trends on YouTube and learn to stitch different designs," she says. Her clothes sell at a premium. "In the village, I would earn about 200 rupees (less than $3) per dress. In the market, my designs sell for 450 to 750 rupees ($6 to $10)," she says.

In April, during the pandemic-induced lockdown, Katariya created a WhatsApp group of friends and acquaintances. "If I saw an interesting video, I would share it with the group and take preorders," she said. Katariya created a visual catalogue and built inventory in anticipation of a future uptick in demand, especially towards the end of the year. "Now, with the festival season, my business is picking up again," she says. Being internet savvy has given her both credibility and a larger social network in Jind. "If anyone who doesn't have a phone needs to look something up, they come to me," she says.

Service can be spotty, as India's 700 million cell phone users compete for limited bandwidth. Katariya often must wait for videos to buffer. Mallika has to go to specific spots in the forest to use her phone. The Indian government is working to upgrade the networks, which will also make it easier for millions of women to learn, earn, shop, argue, resist, and talk in a society that often micromanages their lives.

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In India, Smartphones and Cheap Data Are Giving Women a Voice

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Ravi Agarwal, author of the 2018 book India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy says that for many Indians, the smartphone is their first private TV screen, personal music player, computer, and camera. Agarwal compares it to the experience of owning a car for the first time-autonomy, privacy, and mobility.

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Facebok's success in India

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With over 45 million users, India has the second largest number of people on Facebook in the world , according to www.checkfacebook.com, an independent provider of Facebook statistics. Only the United States has more. Given our low Internet penetration - the most optimistic estimate of India's Internet user base is around 150 million - it means one in three Net users in the country has signed up on Facebook as well.

Facebook's success is in stark contrast to the paltry memberships of India-specific social networks, which many companies have tried to set up, somewhat on the lines of Weibo in China. That could well be because the English language was never a hurdle for the first wave of Indian users of the Net, as it would have been for most Chinese. The Chinese would naturally prefer a social networking site in their own tongue.

Facebook today is no longer the preserve of India's English speakers. When Business Today recently caught up with Kirthiga Reddy, who heads Facebook India, she pointed to the work her company has been doing in making the service available in multiple Indian languages. Facebook can now be accessed in 10 regional languages, making the old argument that it is a 'elite' site, a facile one. Ironically, American web giants like Facebook and Google are the ones putting in great effort to make the Internet accessible in regional Indian languages.

At the recent launch of his latest volume of poems, Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, said that the foreign Internet companies' unwillingness to accommodate the Indian government's concerns about Internet content, on the grounds that their servers were located in the US, smacked of 'cultural imperialism'.

Given that the central and state governments have done little to support the use of regional languages on the Internet, the argument is specious. It is true ours is a country where people take offence all too easily over what appears online. Mischievously photoshopped images can lead to riots. However, sites like Facebook are also useful in that they enable people to find others who share their outlook. I doubt the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement would have garnered the support it did had its leaders not used Facebook and Twitter to spread their message.

This is why protecting these services and sites from the obvious desire of those in power to censor or control them is vital. Facebook has its own internal censors, who more often than not err on the side of caution. Sometimes offensive pictures and hateful comments do get posted, but when attention is drawn to them, they are usually removed at once. Recently, for instance, Facebook removed a community page because the Assamese community concerned happens to share its name with a common north Indian abusive epithet. But the protests that led to the page's removal highlight just how important Facebook is to the lives of all Indians, not just the well-off citydwellers.

With India's online population growing - the figure should cross the 200 million mark by the end of this year, thanks to wider availability of highspeed wireless data services - the number of Facebook users should also touch 50 million in a few months and close to 60 to 70 million by the year-end. This will make India's Facebook population an extremely influential force. One that politicians would do well not to mess with.

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India has the second largest number of Facebook users in the world

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With over 45 million users, India has the second largest number of people on Facebook in the world , according to www.checkfacebook.com, an independent provider of Facebook statistics. Only the United States has more.

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Short article about the phone's role in India's 2019 elections

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Short article about the phone's role in India's 2019 elections

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India's 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the "WhatsApp elections". Against a backdrop of rapidly improving internet connectivity and rising smartphone use, the number of people using private messaging service WhatsApp has soared since its India launch in mid-2010 to more than 200m - more users than in any other democracy. And now the country's political parties are moving to capitalise on this mass communication channel.

But given WhatsApp has already been used to misinform voters in other elections and spread damaging "fake news" that has led to serious violence in India, there's a danger this could also pose a threat to the democratic process.

Keen to extend the power of social media mobilised in the 2014 election, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to target smartphone-owning voters at the grass roots. More than 900,000 volunteer " cell phone pramukhs" are creating neighbourhood-based WhatsApp groups to disseminate information about the BJP's development achievements and prime minister Narendra Modi's campaign activities. Meanwhile, the opposition Indian National Congress party is playing catch up with the launch of its " Digital Sathi " app and the appointment of their own volunteers to coordinate local digital campaigns.

But there's good reason to think the widespread popularity of WhatsApp in India could have a damaging effect on the election. For one thing, the 2018 Brazilian elections and recent state-level elections in India exposed how WhatsApp is being used to rapidly share messages intended to misinform voters for political gain.

But India also has specific conditions related to the use of WhatsApp. While parties across India's political spectrum - as well as globally - increasingly seek to gain from fake news by manipulating public opinion, the Hindu right has been far more successful at mobilising a common socio-political identity through media like WhatsApp. In particular, invitation-only groups have spread virulent and vitriolic messages that have played a role in cultivating a strong nationalist identity.

EPA-EFE

The recent conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir, which is likely to play an influential role in the election, has led to the spread of viral content that has stoked public tension, as well as a reported flood of misinformation.

In some cases, when more sinister forms of misinformation have gone viral, the impact on everyday social life in India has been lethal. The misuse of WhatsApp has been connected with at least 30 incidents of murder and lynching, for example following the circulation of children abduction rumours.

Anxious about the inadvertent dark side of its product, particularly within one of its biggest markets, WhatsApp has already launched its own public education campaign in India persuading its users to " spread joy not rumours". It has also made simple alterations to its product design to encourage users to pause before forwarding messages and limited the number of people you can send a message to at once and the number of times you can forward it, which has since been rolled out globally. And it has banned more than 6m apparently automated and potentially harmful accounts in the past three months.

These steps are a starting point but may not be enough. For one thing, despite the forwarding limits, you can still send messages to 256 people at once and forward them five times - which means you can share something with 1,280 people in seconds.

Another challenge is that research suggests people care less about the validity of a message's source and content, and more about the sender and its potential to entertain or reinforce a sense of identity. So, journalistic efforts to fact check reports circulating on WhatsApp will likely have a limited effect on media literacy and the detrimental impact of fake news.

Blaming each other

Part of the problem is that the question over who is at fault for the spread of misinformation is contentious and politically charged. Politicians have blamed WhatsApp and called on it to trace and stop the source of hostile messaging. The company is resolute that it can't access the encrypted messages sent via its app and, even if it could, sharing them with the government would be tantamount to state surveillance, a position supported by India's Supreme Court. The firm has, in turn, blamed Indian political parties for "misusing" the app during election times.

Ultimately, the role of WhatsApp in Indian politics needs to be understood through the interaction of technology with wider social and cultural issues. WhatsApp is a tool that amplifies certain tendencies that already exist in Indian society. For example, incidents of lynching might have much more to do with incitement to violence in a divided society than with an app that potentially facilitates the spread of rumours. Similarly, messages that promote hatred on religious, caste and gender lines rely on prevailing social cleavages.

We need a more well-rounded understanding of the emerging links between digital politics and the public sphere. How is (mis)information circulated by messaging apps related to more traditional forms of political campaigns, such as door to door canvassing, rallies and speeches? And how do these different spheres influence political participation and allegiance in different ways? This knowledge needs to be the starting point of any intervention to address WhatsApp's role in misinformation during elections.

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India's WhatsApp election: political parties risk undermining democracy with technology

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India's 2019 national elections are widely anticipated to be the "WhatsApp elections". Against a backdrop of rapidly improving internet connectivity and rising smartphone use, the number of people using private messaging service WhatsApp has soared since its India launch in mid-2010 to more than 200m - more users than in any other democracy.

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The first serial drama in Hindi (1984)

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India PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for Ayodhya Ram temple (05.08.2020; DW)

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India PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for Ayodhya Ram temple (05.08.2020; DW)

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking part in the ceremony to break ground for a Hindu temple on Wednesday morning.

Modi symbolically laid a 40-kilogram (88-pound) silver brick foundation stone to formally start the construction of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram in the city of Ayodhya in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Modi also released a postage stamp on the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone, Modi described the start of the temple construction as a historic occasion. "I am grateful to witness history being made. Crores of Indians cannot believe that this day has come. The entire country is in the spell of Lord Ram," he said.

"The hopes and aspirations of Hindus over centuries have been fulfilled today," Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said at the function.

The city of Ayodhya has been in preparation for the grand ceremony since Monday, with roads leading up to the temple decorated with billboards of the proposed Ram temple and the deity Ram. Most shops close to the temple have been painted yellow.

Read more: Demolition of India's Babri mosque - the 'Hindutva project' 25 years on

Ayodhya: A religious flashpoint

Security mans the site of the Babri masjid in the city of Ayodhya

The Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, was an oft-disputed site for Hindu extremists, who considered the city of Ayodhya the birthplace of Ram, a Hindu deity. Hindu extremists claimed that the mosque was originally built by demolishing a Hindu temple.

Ayodhya: A religious flashpoint

Hindu extremists demolish the Babri masjid in Ayodhya

On December 6th, 1992, Hindu extremists demolished the Babri Masjid, leading to riots across India, killing 2,000 people.

Ayodhya: A religious flashpoint

Effigy of Indian leaders burnt during protests following demolition of the Babri mosque

Jihadist groups cited the destruction of the mosque as a reason behind the 1993 Mumbai bombings and other attacks in the 1990s.

Ayodhya: A religious flashpoint

City of Ayodhya manned by the police before the announcement of the verdict

In November 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the disputed land in the town of Ayodhya would be given to a government-run trust for the construction of a temple.

Author: Ankita Mukhopadhyay

Communal tensions

Ayodhya is widely believed by Hindus to be the birthplace of Hindu deity Ram. The site of the temple was formerly occupied by a 16th century mosque, the Babri Masjid, believed to have been built on the orders of Mughal emperor Babur. The mosque was demolished in December 1992 by Hindu extremists. The mosque's demolition led to riots across India, killing about 2,000 people.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court of India allowed the construction of a temple on the site. In February this year, Modi announced that the government had finalized an authority to build the temple.

The construction of the Ram temple is one of the leading items on the agenda of the BJP-led government, to appease its voter base of Hindu nationalists.

Modi's decision to attend the ceremony has been criticized by certain sections of the Indian populace. On Tuesday, about 300 people, including academics, journalists and some political leaders, appealed to the Prime Minister "to desist from participating in a public function that will have long term negative ramifications for the democratic, secular fabric of the country."

In a tweet, Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Wilson Center, described the moment as a loss for pluralistic India.

Meanwhile, the run-up to the ceremony saw some controversy, when the All India Muslim Personal Law Board released a statement comparing the Babri Masjid to the Hagia Sophia in Turkey, which was recently converted from a museum to a mosque. "Usurpation of the land by an unjust, oppressive, shameful and majority appeasing judgment can't change its status. No need to be heartbroken. Situations don't last forever," said the board.

Read more: India's Modi announces 'magnificent' Hindu temple on old mosque site

Coronavirus concerns

Critics of today's event have raised concerns with maintaining social distancing norms, at a time when India is grappling with rising cases of the coronavirus. Recently, India's Home Minister Amit Shah was diagnosed with the virus.

The district magistrate of Ayodhya told The Print, an Indian news publication, that there would be a distance of at least 8 feet (2,5 meters) between seats for the program. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, has reportedly asked officials to not breach social distancing norms by taking selfies with dignitaries attending the event.

About 175 guests are attending the event, including 135 saints from India and Nepal. The former litigant in the case over the land allocation, Iqbal Ansari, is also taking part in the event.

Two of the priests conducting daily rituals at the temple site have tested positive for COVID-19, along with four police officers in the area.

'Permission from mother earth'

Venugopalan Sankaran, a professor of Sanskrit at the SCSVMV University of Kanchipuram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, told DW that the ceremony is symbolic of seeking permission from "mother earth" before beginning construction.

"When you start construction of anything, you seek permission from mother earth as you are going to drill, dig and do whatever is required to build a structure. As mother earth is personified (in Hindu religion), won't it be painful for you if someone harms your person?"

He justified the need for the ceremony being conducted today. "You select a proper muhuruth (auspicious time) to start with the activity. All nine planets are propitiated before laying hands on mother earth," he said.
Editor's Note: This is an updated version of an earlier article.

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India PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for Ayodhya Ram temple | DW | 05.08.2020

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking part in the ceremony to break ground for a Hindu temple on Wednesday morning. Modi symbolically laid a 40-kilogram (88-pound) silver brick foundation stone to formally start the construction of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram in the city of Ayodhya in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

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A village gathers to watch television for the government's SITE program

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A documentary about the Ram Temple Movement. Brief clip of one of the movement's propaganda videos ("God Manifests Himself"?) c. 4:40.

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Ram Ke Naam (In the name of God) - a documentary by Anand Patwardhan (1991)

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Padmavati Scandal

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The group had disrupted shooting and one member had slapped Bhansali on the set earlier this year. Others vandalised cinemas and threatened to chop off Padukone's nose, referring to an incident in another epic, Ramayana, where a character has her nose cut off as punishment.

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Padmavati: Controversial film 'cleared by Indian censor board'

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The group had disrupted shooting and one member had slapped Bhansali on the set earlier this year. Others vandalised cinemas and threatened to chop off Padukone's nose, referring to an incident in another epic, Ramayana, where a character has her nose cut off as punishment.

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RAJA HARISHCHANDRA - 1913 - Dadasaheb Phalke

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RAJA HARISHCHANDRA - 1913 - Dadasaheb Phalke

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Silent movie (full length)

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RAJA HARISHCHANDRA  - 1913 - :Dadasaheb Phalke

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Similar to the Drum the movie was censored in India

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From the 1943 film Kismet. Avoided censorship by ostensibly referring to the Japanese and Germans.

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Door Hatho Ae Duniya Walo - Kismet (1943) | FULL SONG

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Recent abolition of a tribunal for appeals of film ratings, cuts, and bans

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Recent abolition of a tribunal for appeals of film ratings, cuts, and bans

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"FCAT served a very good purpose. It was headed by a retired judge. If producers felt that CBFC was being unreasonable they could go to FCAT. It was like a bridge; less costly than going to court, heard both the parties and came to an amicable solution," says Tagore.

"A whole new set of eyes, people of a certain stature would see your film [again]... It was the body to go to on hitting roadblocks with the CBFC. Most likely the decision would come through in your favour, you would go home and theatres would be your oysters," says senior film critic and former CBFC member Shubhra Gupta.

In fact, during her tenure, Sharmila Tagore had been of the opinion that FCAT's powers should be extended and expanded so that it could also have the authority to address the innumerable irksome public interest litigations (PILs) that were getting filed against films like Jodhaa Akbar and The Da Vinci Code. That PIL tradition is still as painful and flourishing. The idea was to strengthen it to address all cinema related issues than have filmmakers rush to the nearest High Court.

However, filmmaker Prakash Jha says that he is not so disturbed by the development. Calling FCAT "infructuous", he says that filmmakers had anyhow been rushing to the high courts with their films. For him access to the high courts and the Supreme Court is of prime importance. "There has to be a legal recourse open for the filmmakers," he feels.

According to him, the abolition could be part of the larger drive by the government to make the processes less cumbersome and amalgamate various film bodies-like National Film Development Corporation, Directorate of Film festivals, Children's Film Society of India etc-under one umbrella.

Delhi advocate Apar Gupta offers a different perspective. "The abolition of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal is likely to increase further delay, costs and indeterminacy for film makers. The writ jurisdiction of the High Court will be an inadequate basis to remedy it... While in principle there are strong arguments for the abolition of tribunals, but - till film certification is mandatory -the FCAT was largely an imperfect but a functional body. Yes, it was even censorial but that provided relief in a large number of cases," he tweeted.

One instance where it overruled CBFC decision in favour of the filmmaker was in 2017 in the much-in-the-news case of Alankrita Srivastava's Lipstick Under My Burkha. The CBFC had refused to certify it but the film eventually got an "A" certificate with a few cuts after FCAT intervention.

"Even [ex CBFC head] Pahlaj Nihalani had to go to FCAT to get his Rangeela Raja (2018) cleared from the cuts that CBFC had prescribed. Imagine then how FCAT was a saviour of filmmakers when they had to rescue their films from Pahlaj Nihalani himself when he was CBFC chief," says filmmaker Vasan Bala.

"FCAT was formed to provide fast track redressal to filmmakers who wanted to appeal against CBFC decisions. With its abolition, aggrieved filmmakers would have to now approach the HC, which means more often than not the appeals would keep pending for long periods given the workload of HCs. Also, it will take time away from HCs in dealing with important hearings," says filmmaker Utpal Borpujari.

"You could go for redressal to FCAT without spending a lot of money, could argue and hope for a solution. How many producers can afford to move court?" asks filmmaker Hansal Mehta, adding that films like Udta Punjab could go to High Court against the ban because of the backing of big production houses like Reliance, Balaji Telefilms and Phantom.

Most would choose arbitration through a body like FCAT than a litigation. "90% producers would rather not go to courts and spend money and release dates will be an issue. When release dates are fixed and theatres booked then producers just don't want to wait," says filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. According to Ms Tagore, the move would cause untold problems to the producers who can't afford delays on film releases.

For the film industry it means that one more layer of checks and balances and redressal is now gone. "It was a good thing to have. One more choice is always a choice," stresses Gupta.

The abolition of FCAT would only add to the powers of CBFC with the filmmakers left to contend with its vagaries. It would mean either falling in line with the unreasonable aesthetic constraints imposed on them and altering and deleting scenes as per the demands of the censor board instead of spending months and years to settle things legally. "This will scare the producers and they would refuse to get involved with serious films," says Kashyap.

Ironically, it's not FCAT so much as CBFC that needs a total rethink and rehaul. However, the BJP government, which had promised to move away from censorship and implement the progressive classification norms suggested by the Shyam Benegal Committee, seems to have forgotten all about that rather easily and conveniently. Before that, there was also the Justice Mudgal Committee during the UPA regime that had prepared comprehensive and extensive guidelines for the implementation of the rating/classification system for films. The report got dumped in cold storage.

Instead of opening things up for the industry, the government is adding to the creation of a more restrictive environment. More constraints on filmmakers and sanitisation of content seems to be the stuff of the future of filmmaking in India. Keep watching this space.

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central board of film certification (cbfc)

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Govt abolishes Film Certification Appellate Tribunal without consultation

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"FCAT served a very good purpose. It was headed by a retired judge. If producers felt that CBFC was being unreasonable they could go to FCAT. It was like a bridge; less costly than going to court, heard both the parties and came to an amicable solution," says Tagore.

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Guru-Shishya Relationship

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A few months ago, I heard Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society of New York recount a story that touches deeply on the relationship between the guru and shishya. The shishya was a novice monk studying under a senior swami at the Ramakrishna Mission. The first day he joined the ashram, the young monk was invited by the other young monks to join them for tea before the evening meditation. He came back afterward to the old swami, who asked him where he had been. When he replied, the swami did not say anything. The next day, the young monk came to the swami without joining the others for tea. The swami asked him why he had not gone for tea. He replied that he had thought about it, and even though the tea was nice, there was a lot of gossip and chitchat and he did not feel like joining them again.

The swami was very pleased at the young monk's discrimination and judgment and said that had he continued joining the others for tea, he would have been lost. It is perhaps astonishing to think that something as small as an afternoon cup of tea with monks could take one off the path of sadhana onto a tangent lasting years, decades or lifetimes. But this is one of the first things you learn in real sadhana - that in the smallest of moments, the most innocuous of decisions, you are being tested again and again. Just like the great king Bharata, who had become a great renunciate in the forest after turning over his kingdom to his son, suddenly came out of his meditation to rescue a deer and then became so attached to the deer that he had to be reborn again, our lives so easily can take turns in directions we are unable to foresee.

The story Swami Sarvapriyananda told struck a nerve in me. I thought about that old swami and how, had the young monk gone again for tea, it was very likely that the swami would never have said a word. He was watching and observing, testing, but would not interfere. That is the way of many of the great gurus. If they are truly apta kamah (desireless because they are self-fulfilled and therefore have no desires), then they will not impose their ways on others or seek to control them. They will let the play of karma unfold.

I thought about my own relationship with my guru. As a child, reading the little snippets I could find of the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Srimad Bhagavatam, I was struck by how consistently and uniformly the shastras emphasize the importance of the guru for spiritual progress. More than anything, I wanted to find a guru. When I did find, or rather was found, by my siksha guru and diksha guru, I was so happy and thought I had found the solution to my problems and that the worries of my life were solved.

Indeed, the anugraha of my siksha guru and diksha guru have been the greatest blessings of my life. But there is more to the guru-shishya relationship than simply having a guru. In fact, the very idea of 'having' is a fallacy, an inappropriate misconception. Nowadays, among the fashionably spiritual crowd, it has become a status symbol or conversation starter to trade names of one's guru, as if they are a designer label we wear.

I remember once a very wise gentleman was asked when he would see his guru next. He replied that he did not know if he would ever see him again. It was a simple, perhaps cryptic, response but held so much subtle beauty. He had no expectations, no selfish desire or thought of possession of his guru's time and did not take for granted a moment of time that he was bestowed by his guru. It took me a long time to learn this - that one cannot take for granted the presence and teachings of the guru, that the question to ask is not whether you have a guru but instead have you qualified yourself to be in a space of adhikara to receive the teachings of the guru. And if you are, then surely the guru will come, in one form or the other. And if not, even if you are constantly in the presence of the guru, even if you are his personal attendant and stay in the same ashram, he will not say a word of import to you, just like that old swami may never have told that young monk to not drink the tea with the others.

I could not help but wonder in my own case, how many decisions have I made, like the monk drinking the tea, that have led me adrift from my sadhana goals, how many lapses of judgment that were observed silently by my guru. How many years have I lost by not having the viveka (discrimination) and vairagrya (dispassion) that the young monk demonstrated on that second day by staying away from the others? I thought about my recent conversations with my guru and how long it has been since he sat with me to meditate or opened a book to read to me a verse or excerpt from the shastras. Even more troubling, all of our interactions recently had been pleasant, smooth, with no sharp words of caution or remonstrances for mistakes I had made. And, surely, I have made many mistakes!

When a guru is harsh with you, he or she has some hope for you. There is some possibility of your being taught and growing, of learning from your mistakes. The more he or she is stern with you, the greater promise you have. The day your guru becomes sweet to you is the day you should truly be worried.

As I reflected on the recent past, I realized that I had grown complacent in my sadhana. One of the greatest dangers in sadhana is plateauing. After having attained a certain level of stability and contentment in practice, that edge of desire, the fervor of the newcomer, is dulled and it is easy to grow stagnant, not making much further progress. Most of us turn to the divine to avoid suffering, out of a place of weakness and pain, and once that is alleviated, we tend to lapse back.

As Kabir says in his famous doha, " Dukh Mein Simran Sab Kare, Sukh Mein Kare Na Koye / Jo Sukh Mein Simran Kare, Tau Dukh Kahe Ko Hoye, " (In anguish everyone prays to Him, In joy does none, To one who prays in happiness, How can sorrow come?). Looking back dispassionately and clinically at the past few years, I could see that I had not been putting in my full effort in carrying out my purushartha (pursuit) towards self-realization. It was there as a general aim but not backed up by the specific actions of my day-to-day life, like a New Year's resolution to be fit without actually doing exercise or changing one's diet. I could see the momentum that I had lost.

In short, I was disappointed in myself, partly for letting myself down but more so in not living up to all that my gurus have invested in me. Letting myself down was one thing. Letting down those whom I revere so much was not an option.

It is difficult to explain the bhava one has for one's guru. It is like this. If on one side there lay all the happiness, greatness, riches, fame, glory, victories of the three worlds and on the other there lay just the guru's blessing, I would choose my guru's blessing.

One of the most beautiful expressions of guru bhava that I read so many years ago and which left a deep impress on me are these bhakti-soaked words of Sri Umesh from Crest Jewel of Yogis, Biography and Advices of the Peerless Preceptor His Holiness Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigal: "I know that whatever I am, is solely because of His grace. I cannot conceive of even a day or an hour without thinking of Him. I know for a fact that even a simple act like drinking water, if I do not dedicate the same to Him or think of Him, my mouth fails to drink. Likewise if I take a book and start running the pages, absolutely nothing is registered unless I think of Him. That is the extent to which He has made an impact on my life."1

The deeper the relationship with the guru, the humbler one becomes. If I speak in wisdom, it is the guru speaking through me. If I achieve something, it is due to Iswaira anugraha and the guru's grace. This is not self-negation or low self-esteem. Such surrender can only occur when one's self-esteem is healthy - ahamkara (the false sense of doership) is altogether different from self-esteem. It is just a more nuanced and perceptive understanding of the self. There is this personality that is the play of gunas, impelled by the force of karma and prarabdha - that is the little self, the one subject to birth and death. The higher self, the one that you are awakened to through sadhana, the teachings of the shastras, the grace of the guru, the blessings of the sages - that self has no identity. It is from this self that all noble and good acts arise. In connection with that self, there is no space for ahamkara, only gratitude and reverence for those who have awakened you to your own reality.

The gratitude and reverence come because the anubhava, the lived and direct experience of sadhana, of communion with the divine, of self-realization, is flavored with what has been transmitted by the guru. I cannot read the Gita or hear the Upanishads without hearing the words through my guru's voice. That is what makes those words come alive. All that I have learned of philosophy is encoded in the syntax of his parables, personal anecdotes and metaphors; it is his counsel and guidance that has shaped the path that brought me the successes and growth today and in the times to come. Not him as a person, but him as a living link of the parampara, the lineage of transmission that connects us all the way to the rishis and the devas.

It is a Western peculiarity, this fascination for originality and individuality, this need to put one's own stamp on things. For me, for those of us in the Dharmic traditions, we relish our connections with our teachers, our ancestors, our rishis. We take pride in preserving our parampara and prize is samanvaya, reconciliation and integration with the shruthi and other shastras, over originality. After all, there is nothing inherently new to say or write, only old wine to pour into new bottles to adapt to new times and environments. Adi Sankara, Swami Vivekananda, even Veda Vyasa, did not claim to be composing or discovering anything new - just reintroducing us to what has always existed in the shruthi. Our job is just to be the empty vessels carrying forth the timeless stream of wisdom.

If I write or speak of the shastras, it is my guru's words and voice flowing through me. And that of his guru and his guru's guru. The fulfillment that comes of feeling that continuity of transmission, of being bound together with thousands of years of history and tradition, is so many times more meaningful than the delusion of writing or saying anything truly original.
Looking at the years ahead, I know I will not always have the shelter of my guru's living presence. He will not be there to read my drafts before publication to make sure I have not said something completely wrong. He will not be there to advise me when I face the vicissitudes of life. He will not be there to sit next to me, to simply give me the comfort of his presence, to remind me with his mere presence that there is more to life than the mundane. He will not be there so many times when I will need him. He will not be there to tell me not to drink that cup of tea. How lucky I have been that he has been there for over the past fifteen years, and I will count with gratitude each additional day and year that he is here.

That which I can do is to make him proud, to live up to his teachings and all that he has invested in me, to reflect over the snippets of wisdom imparted over the years, in car rides to the airport, in temple canteens over paper platefuls of prasad, in phone calls and emails, in silent observance of how he carried himself and lived his life, to not let a day go wasted without sadhana, without bringing me closer to Krishna. And that is what I have resolved to do. At the end of my life, looking back, I will not measure my success by wealth, fame or glory. I will measure it by this.

One of my favorite stories goes as follows. Once, Narada was on his way to see Narayana. Along the way, he came across an old sannyasin who stopped Narada and told him to ask Narayana how much longer he had to wait to attain moksha, as he had already been doing sadhana for so long. Narada agreed to do so. After some time, Narada came across a young man dancing and singing. Narada decided to ask Narayana about him, too. After having darshan of Narayana, Narada returned and told the old sannyasin, "You have three lifetimes left." The old man got so angry that he threw away his mala and books, complaining that it was not fair and he had not expected this of Narayana. Narada then went to the young man and told him that Narayana had said that he would have to be born as many times as there were leaves on the tree under which he was dancing.

Hearing this, the young man was so ecstatic that he danced and sang in joy and gratitude. "So soon?" he asks, disbelievingly. "There are so many trees in this world and so many leaves...only this tree and these many leaves?" And he asked Narada to convey his gratitude to Narayana the next time he saw him. At that very moment, the young man attained moksha.

The point of the story is that it is one's attitude that matters. Life and progress on the path spiritual cannot be measured quantitatively or mechanically, by the slope of the path or detours one's life takes. It is moment to moment. As Swami Vivekananda writes in his eloquent Song of the Sannyasin, "Thine only is the hand that holds / The rope that drags thee on. Then cease lament! / Let go thy hold..."2 At any moment, moksha is possible. We are already ever free, ever conscious, ever blissful. We just need to realize it. We need to drop the rope that we ourselves are holding. And, if in a moment, we can lose years or even lifetimes of sadhana, then conversely, in a moment, we can leapfrog it all, too. The razor's edge of sadhana is to live day by day, wary of the pitfalls along the way yet not despairing, confident in reaching the destination, yet not complacent, with adamantine willpower and single-minded focus.

Fifteen years ago, I had knelt in front of Jagannath Puri, one of the greatest and most powerful temples in our land, and I had taken a simple and impulsive vow, to always listen to and follow the words of my guru. I did not know then what a sankalpa was or the formalities of such things - it was just a sincere, heartfelt prayer. For fifteen years, that little vow has protected me and kept me on the straight and narrow so many times when I may otherwise have fallen off the path of sadhana. That is the power of vows, especially those made at consecrated sites.
And that is ultimately what occasions like Guru Purnima are intended to do - to honor and respect those who have taught us, to resolve to develop the adhikara to truly receive and realize the teachings they impart and to dedicate ourselves to keep alive the parampara and carry forward the living wisdom they have vested in us, to keep alive for future generations all that we have been blessed with.

Ultimately, the guru is not a person. It is about being in a state of receptivity, of humility, of lowering the ego to take in the wisdom that is surrounding us always. As stated in the Rg Veda,

आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः
"Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah" (Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions).3

Just as Dattatreya had twenty-four gurus, including the humble pigeon and the moth, if we are open to it, teachings will come pouring in from all sides at every moment. It is just that we have to make ourselves fit to receive.

Today, I bow down to all my gurus. To my siksha and diksha gurus; to my parents, my first gurus; to all my teachers, secular and spiritual; to the Puranas and Itihaasa; to the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads; to the Bhagavat kathas and Vedanta lectures heard in temples and on YouTube; to my elders; to the acharyas, rishis and sages; to Veda Vyasa, the guru of gurus; and to Narayana, from whom all else emanates.

सदा शिवसमारम्भां शङ्कराचार्य मध्यमाम्।
अस्मदाचार्य पर्यन्तां वन्दे गुरु परम्पराम्॥
sadaaSiva samaarambhaam Sankaraacaarya madhyamaam |
asmadaacaarya paryantaam vandE guru paramparaam ||

Beginning with Sadashiva, through Adi Shankaracharya in between and up to my own preceptor, I bow with reverence to the entire tradition of preceptors.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author. Indic Today is neither responsible nor liable for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in the article.

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On the Guru-Shishya Relationship - Indic Today

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A few months ago, I heard Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Vedanta Society of New York recount a story that touches deeply on the relationship between the guru and shishya. The shishya was a novice monk studying under a senior swami at the Ramakrishna Mission.

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Full title reads: "India Takes Over".

London.

Independence day celebrations in London built into a general story on India and the handing over of power by the British to India and Pakistan.

MS Exterior view of India House. CU Herbert Morrison and another man arriving for the ceremony. CU Pethwick Lawrence, arm in sling, arriving for ceremony. MS Lord AV Alexander, wearing top hat and tails, arriving with his wife. CU Dr. Hewlett Johnson arriving for the ceremony at India House. MS Indian women arriving. MS Mr MK Vellodi, former high commissioner for India, hoisting the flag of Pakistan watched by an applauding crowd.

Library material of Indian leaders and Viceroys - Earl Wavell and Lord Louis Mountbatten. MS of Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru. CU Mohammed Ali Jinnah. CU of Baldev Singh (Indian Defence Minister). CU. Liquat Ali Khan premier of Pakistan speaking (lip movement only). MS the Nawab of Bhopal decorating an Indian soldier. MS of (Mahatma) M K Gandhi.

Religious shots of Muslims praying and Hindus with a statue of the god Ganesh. Shots of British and Indian troops quelling communal riots. Library shots of hunger, misery and death that constitute Indian life.

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Full title reads: "India Takes Over". London. Independence day celebrations in London built into a general story on India and the handing over of power by the British to India and Pakistan. MS Exterior view of India House. CU Herbert Morrison and another man arriving for the ceremony.

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first coloured movie

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Stills from "The Mill (Mazdoor)", an early Indian talkie and the first banned by the British

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Stills from "The Mill (Mazdoor)", an early Indian talkie and the first banned by the British

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Tags: #GreatIndianFilmHunt, 1934, Ajanta Cinetone, Celluloid Man, Great Indian Film Hunt, Mahal Movies, Mazdoor, Mill Mazdoor, Mohan Bhavnani, Munshi Premchand, NFAI, P K Nair, Shruti Swamy, The Mill

Mill Mazdoor (1934)

("The Mill")

Dir: Mohan Bhavnani. Studio: Ajanta Cinetone. IMDB entry

First Indian talkie banned by British censors, who came under pressure from Indian mill owners. Based on a Munshi Premchand novel, it was a story on the rights of the working class. On the basis of having mutinous undertones, the film was banned.

Mazdoor booklet (PDF 31.5 MB)

<< Indira M.A. | The Great Indian Film Hunt | Seeta >>

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Mill Mazdoor - The Great Indian Film Hunt

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Tags: #GreatIndianFilmHunt, 1934, Ajanta Cinetone, Celluloid Man, Great Indian Film Hunt, Mahal Movies, Mazdoor, Mill Mazdoor, Mohan Bhavnani, Munshi Premchand, NFAI, P K Nair, Shruti Swamy, The Mill Mill Mazdoor (1934) ("The Mill") Dir: Mohan Bhavnani. Studio: Ajanta Cinetone. IMDB entry First Indian talkie banned by British censors, who came under pressure from Indian mill owners.

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"Manufactured by 'Swadeshi' brethren with 'Swadeshi' materials"

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Adveritsement for the Bombay Talkies Studios 

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Adveritsement for the Bombay Talkies Studios 

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http://www.advertisementsindia.com/2011/07/bombay-talkies-studio/

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Talkies

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Nehru on Gandhi's assassination through All India Radio 1947

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Nehru on Gandhi's assassination through All India Radio 1947

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Nehru's Speech on Gandhi's death - "Light has gone out"

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Usha Mehta was just 22 when she went "underground" to run a secret radio station during India's fight for freedom from British colonial rule. BBC Gujarati's Parth Pandya and Ravi Parmar report.

"Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt," Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi told fellow leaders on 8 August 1942.

The now-famous speech launched the Quit India movement - and catapulted one young woman in the crowd, 22-year-old Usha Mehta, into the history books.

Moved by Gandhi's words, Mehta - with the help of other young independence activists - launched an underground radio station within a week.

"When the press is gagged and all the news banned, a transmitter certainly helps a good deal in... spreading the message of rebellion in the remotest corners of the country," she said in an interview in 1969.

They spent the next few months broadcasting news about India's fight for freedom, urging people to join the resistance. Her stint behind the microphone may have been short but its impact was powerful.

Gandhi and many other leaders were arrested within hours of his speech in the hope that it would leave the movement rudderless. Instead, civilians and the underground press stepped in to galvanise people across the country.

The Quit India movement quickly spread, sparking massive protests and waves of civil disobedience that lasted for two years.

And a band of young people, led by a feisty woman, played their part.

Who is Usha Mehta?

Resistance was not new to Mehta. She was born in a village called Saras in what is today the western state of Gujarat. Not only was it Gandhi's home state, it was also the site of his iconic salt march in 1930.

She was just eight years old when she took part in her first protest. It was against a committee of Englishmen led by Sir John Simon that was tasked with recommending constitutional reform in India.

"The first slogan I shouted against the British was 'Simon Go Back'," she said in an interview in Naveen Joshi's book, Freedom Fighters Remembered.

She was a teenager when she responded to Gandhi's call to defy the salt tax. "I had the satisfaction of breaking the law and doing something for the nation even as a young child," she said of the moment in an interview years later.

She took part in all sorts of civil disobedience campaigns - from picketing and protests to spinning cotton as a way of rejecting British imports.

"There was no need for any inspiration. The whole atmosphere was so charged that no-one was left untouched," she once said.

In 1933, after her father retired as a judge, the family moved to Bombay, now Mumbai.

And it was there - nine years later - that Mehta heard Gandhi speak at that historic meeting of the Congress party.

The secret Congress radio

"This is the Congress Radio calling on 42.34 from somewhere in India."

This is how the broadcasts would always begin - Mehta later revealed that they were all recorded in Bombay.

She managed to get the station up and running with the help of two other activists, Chandrakant Babubhai Jhaveri and Vithaldas K Jhaveri, along with Nanka Motwane, whose family owned a telephone company called Chicago Radio. Nariman Printer, an amateur radio operator, also helped.

Their first broadcast was on 14 August 1942.

In the beginning, they were broadcasting twice a day, in Hindi and English. But they reduced it to just once in the evening between 7.30 and 8.30 pm.

But they kept moving to throw the police off their trail - Mehta said they would have moved locations six to seven times in the three months they broadcast.

The station carried all sorts of news, from merchants refusing to export rice to arrests of leaders and civilians.

"We got news from all over India by special messengers. Also, the office of the All India Congress Committee, which was in Bombay then, used to supply us with important news." she said in an interview.

"When newspapers dared not touch upon these subjects under the prevailing conditions, it was only the Congress radio which could defy the orders and tell the people what actually was happening."

Many prominent leaders also delivered radical speeches in these broadcasts, which unnerved the British.

"(Police) vans used to chase us regularly and very often it was merely a question of touch and go," Mehta said.

In November 1942, the police raided radio shops in Bombay, including one owned by Chicago Radio. They arrested Nariman Printer, who is believed to have tipped them off about the whereabouts of the radio station.

A final broadcast

On 12 November, Mehta recalled in an interview, that police raided Babubhai Khakkhar's office while she was also in the building.

She said she took the broadcast material she had, and rushed to the recording studio, which was elsewhere. Two of her colleagues were busy preparing a program for that evening.

With the help of one of Printer's assistants, Mehta said they set up a new transmitter for a final broadcast.

"We played Hindustan Hamara, then we relayed some news bulletins and a speech. Just when we were at the end of the program, playing 'Vande Mataram', we heard hard knocks on the door.''

She said authorities broke open the door to enter.

"They ordered us to stop playing 'Vande Mataram'. We did not oblige them."

She said they seized the equipment and 22 cases containing photos and sound films of the Congress party sessions.

She and four others were arrested, and the investigation lasted for months.

Mehta said it was "real mental torture". She recalled that they even offered to send her abroad to study if she turned over more people but she refused.

Three of the five, including Mehta, were convicted. She was sentenced to four years in jail and released in April 1946.

"I came back from jail a happy and to an extent a proud person."

After her release, she pursued her PhD and went on to teach at Wilson College in Bombay University for 30 years.

She was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours in 1998.

She passed away on 11 August 2000 after a brief illness. She was 80.

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The fiery Indian student who ran a secret radio station for independence

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Usha Mehta was just 22 when she went "underground" to run a secret radio station during India's fight for freedom from British colonial rule. BBC Gujarati's Parth Pandya and Ravi Parmar report. "Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt," Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi told fellow leaders on 8 August 1942.

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"AIR' All India Radio community broadcast

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Radio tower. Male villagers gathered outdoors listening to 'AIR' All...

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Im Rahmen dieser Premium Access Vereinbarung haben Sie lediglich Ansichtsrechte. Wenden Sie sich bitte an Ihr Unternehmen, um dieses Bild zu lizenzieren. {{selectedOption.friendlyName}} Alle Lizenzen für lizenzfreie Inhalte beinhalten weltweite Nutzungsrechte, umfangreichen Schutz und eine einfache Preisgestaltung mit Mengenrabatten Wie darf ich dieses Bild verwenden?

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Billed as first India film

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Including a recording of its "theme song"

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Photo: Twitter/carlmarlamud

Most of us brush aside the magic that good old radio can bring to our lives. Back in the days, even owning a radio was a matter of pride.

Until the advent of television, radio was the prime source of entertainment. Many All India Radio listeners still recall those days when the radio broadcasted a coherent mix of news, soothing music, drama, cricket commentaries and gripping topical talks.

All India Radio broadcast started in 1923 via 2 private stations-Radio Club of Bombay & later Calcutta Radio Club. In 1924, broadcasting service was initiated by the Madras Presidency Radio Club.

After the Indian Broadcast Company in Mumbai and Kolkata went bankrupt it was shutdown in 1930. Later, Indian State Broadcasting Service (ISBS) under Department of Industries and Labour was launched.

Source: radioheritage.net

It was on July 23, 1927 that organised broadcasting kick started. Lionel Fielden was the first controller of Broadcasting in India. He was a senior BBC producer who spent five years in India as the controller of broadcasting and one of the main people who established All India Radio (AIR). It came under the control of the Government of India in 1936.

June 8, 2016, that is today, marks 80 years since All India Radio started its broadcasting operations. Since then, Radio broadcast in our country has come through a long winding journey, with hundreds of radio stations being established in several cities.

However, nothing can match up to the nostalgia All India Radio can evoke. Almost all of us have memories, ranging from vivid to vague, of listening to the signature 'akashavani' jingle at the break of dawn:

The signature tune of All India Radio was composed by Walter Kaufmann, then director of music at AIR. Kauffman was forced to leave Prague because of Hitler's fascist rule. He came to India in 1934. He lived in Bombay for twelve years and worked in the music department of All India Radio. He did significant research on Indian music and even worked for Hindi movies.

"In India's remote villages there are many who, after the day's work is done, find time hanging heavily...and there must be many officials whose duties carry them into out-of-way places, where they crave company of friends and solace of human companionship. To all these and many more broadcasting will be a blessing and boon of real value."

These are words spoken by Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin at the inauguration of the Bombay Station of Indian Broadcasting Company on July 23, 1927. His words still hold true to a large extent. People even in the most remote village find peace in the company of a radio.

According to the All India Radio website , "AIR today broadcasts in 23 languages and 146 dialects catering to a vast spectrum of socio-economically and culturally diverse populace."AIR still remains the strongest medium that binds the diversity in our nation together.
Trivia: What you didn't know about AIR
Amitabh Bachchan, who has India's most famous baritone, was rejected by All India Radio for a job

The harmonium was banned on All India Radio's networks between 1940 and 1971. The instrument was deemed incapable of handling the complex notes of Indian classical music and was also dubbed un-Indian.

On November 1,1967, commercials were introduced for the first time on Vividh Bharati

Doordarshan separated from AIR on April 1, 1976

In 2012, Bangladesh recognized Akashvani for its contribution in Bangladesh Liberation War

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80 years of AIR: Remembering the golden days of All India Radio

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Photo: Twitter/carlmarlamud Most of us brush aside the magic that good old radio can bring to our lives. Back in the days, even owning a radio was a matter of pride. Until the advent of television, radio was the prime source of entertainment.

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Qauid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah at All India Radio in Delhi

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Qauid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah at All India Radio in Delhi

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https://www.dawn.com/news/1040188

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The eight volume of THE PEOPLE OF INDIA 1868-1875

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Cinema_(Kolkata)

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a magic lantern show presented at the Foundling Museum in London (1:00 - 2:24)

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Magic lantern show at the Foundling Museum

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Coldplay - Hymn For The Weekend (Official Video)

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footage was shot in Varanasi

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Panorama of Calcutta, India, From the River Ganges (1899) - filmed in Varanasi

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Showing pilgrims, mostly military, politics

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British Rule in India, 1920's.  Archive film 61453

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Bioscope wallah at India Gate: Odd Jobs in India

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The Elphinstone Picture Palace, Calcutta

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The Elphinstone Picture Palace, Calcutta

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Opened in 1907 by J.F. Madan an early film pioneer in India

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The "Durbar" of George V and Queen Mary

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The Great Coronation of Delhi Durbar 1911

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We hardly intend to miss the opportunities to see the Museum, Palaces, Forts, Ancient remains of socio-religious and cultural structures besides the Natural Beauties, whenever we happen to visit a city or town for the first time, whether within the country or it is in the abroad. This shows our eternal inherent quest to know the yester-efforts of our ancestors who may be either the ruling leaders or patrons of the time or those being the ruled - the engineers, the architects, the craftsmen, the guilds and the artisans.

This awareness page of WCR Heritage is intended to acknowledge and pay soulful homage to the efforts of our forefathers who are silently lying in the layers of present form of this beautiful civilization. As some benchmark, pre-independence heritage items, both movables and immovables have been attempted to present but shades of some of the post-independence items have naturally appeared for completion and continuity of illustrations.These items have been put in juxtaposition with those of ' Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway '(BB&CI), now Western Railway and 'Great Indian Peninsular Railway' (GIP), now Central Railway of which West Central Railway was carved out.

This will encourage our readers, engineers and users/customers to compare and identify analytically the unique Heritage features of the existing items developed by then available resources, skills as well as the local constraints of the British Indian and Princely State Railways.

Great Indian Peninsular Railway

Bombay, Baroda &Central India Railway

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We hardly intend to miss the opportunities to see the Museum, Palaces, Forts, Ancient remains of socio-religious and cultural structures besides the Natural Beauties, whenever we happen to visit a city or town for the first time, whether within the country or it is in the abroad.

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South Asia Archives: Complaints in Bengali newspapers, 1905, about railways.

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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Many pictures on Indian railways. Also looking inside the train, train stations, construction, shops, class system...

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April 16, 2019, marks the 166th anniversary of India's first passenger train journey in which 400 invited passengers traveled in 14 carriages on a 57-minute journey from Bori Bunder in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane. Since that first journey in 1853, railways have become one of the most important modes of transportation in the country. Here's a look back at the early days of Indian railways in a series of photographs from the 19th century.

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Today is 95th Anniversary of India's First Electric Train

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April 16, 2019, marks the 166th anniversary of India's first passenger train journey in which 400 invited passengers traveled in 14 carriages on a 57-minute journey from Bori Bunder in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Thane. Since that first journey in 1853, railways have become one of the most important modes of transportation in the country.

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A yet more extreme example of crowds meeting Gandhi at stations. I believe he is seated at the window, probably waiting to get out.

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Gandhi barely has room to alight from his train, something he complained about.

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Nuclear Gandhi - Gandhi in popular gaming culture.

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Nuclear Gandhi - Gandhi in popular gaming culture.

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According to Sid Meier, the infamous Nuclear Gandhi glitch in Civilization wasn't a glitch at all, and his violence was entirely intentional.

According to designer Sid Meier, the infamous Nuclear Gandhi glitch from the renowned series isn't a glitch at all. The legendary game developer is releasing his memoirs, titled Sid Meier's Memoir! and has taken the opportunity to reflect on his illustrious and eventful career. The Civilization franchise is perhaps Sid Meier's best-known creation. The strategy games put players in control of a nation competing to become a global superpower, making alliances, fighting wars, and developing technological breakthroughs along the way.

The first Civilization game released in 1991 and it included a feature that turned a lot of heads. Mahatma Gandhi, famous in real life for leading a series of peaceful protests that eventually ended British occupation of India, would suddenly become the most aggressive leader in the game once he acquired nuclear weapons. The apparent glitch became famous throughout the internet for turning the conception of such a peaceful figure on its head, and was immortalized in future games which consistently saw Gandhi as a nuclear warmonger. Most players believed that Gandhi's murderous intent was the result of an integer overflow glitch; his base aggression score was so low that when it was lowered by the advent of democracy it wrapped around to a number far higher than any leader should be able to achieve, causing him to suddenly aspire to nuke the world.

Continue scrolling to keep reading Click the button below to start this article in quick view.

Related: Civilization 6: Best Mods For 2020 (& How To Install Them)

But according to Meier, this story is completely false. As reports, Meier wrote in his memoir that there was never any sort of bug or glitch causing Gandhi's unnatural hunger for violence. He finds the premise amusing but ultimately false, and claims that Gandhi's behavior was a completely intentional design. As for the real reason Gandhi is so bloodthirsty, Meier chose to remain enigmatic. To quote the man himself, " it's one of those mysteries that it's almost fun to keep mysterious."

For years, fans thought they'd cracked the code behind Nuclear Gandhi. The original story was a very funny anecdote about the perils of computer programming that resulted in a nonviolent activist giddily chucking nukes everywhere. It's almost disappointing to hear that the story isn't true, but the unknown reason why Meier and the rest of the development team intentionally made Mahatma Gandhi a murderous warlord makes for a very intriguing mystery in its own right.

Meier and his Civilization series have left a legacy that endures to this day. The proud genre of 4X video games would be much, much different if it didn't have Sid Meier. Nuclear Gandhi has always been a quirky and beloved part of this genre's legacy, and even if it wasn't caused by a glitch, it's still a fun story and a delightfully baffling inclusion. Fans may never know the real reason Civilization's version Gandhi loves nuking people, but as long as the Civilization games continue to endure, they can be content in the knowledge that he'll be there, waiting to wipe them off the map.

Next: Civilization 6 Needs A Cyber Warfare DLC

Source: Bloomberg
About The Author

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Nuclear Gandhi Bug in Civilization Not Actually A Bug Says Sid Meier

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According to Sid Meier, the infamous Nuclear Gandhi glitch in Civilization wasn't a glitch at all, and his violence was entirely intentional. According to designer Sid Meier, the infamous Nuclear Gandhi glitch from the renowned series isn't a glitch at all. The legendary game developer is releasing his memoirs, titled Sid Meier's Memoir!

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He is not entirely English, is he? - The Punch Magazine.

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He is not entirely English, is he? - The Punch Magazine.

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Little Girl (in a stage whisper). "mummy, that gentleman's not entirely English, is he?"

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The Rhodes Colossus Striding from Cape Town to Cairo. - The Punch Magazine.

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The Rhodes Colossus Striding from Cape Town to Cairo. - The Punch Magazine.

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Edward Linley Sambourne Cartoons from Punch magazine

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The Rhodes Colossus Striding from Cape Town to Cairo.

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Colonisation, Defence and the Railways, as mentioned in the chapter by Laura Bear

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Colonization, Defence, and Railways in Our Indian Empire

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This famous scene from Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali captures the wonder of the railways, of nature bound by wire and smoke.

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This famous scene from Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali captures the wonder of the railways, of nature bound by wire and smoke.

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APU and DURGA Pather Panchali iconic train chasing scene

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Construction of Lansdown Bridge, Sukkur, 1885-1889 - what does this picture say about the value of local 'Indian'  labourers' bodies? 

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Construction of Lansdown Bridge, Sukkur, 1885-1889 - what does this picture say about the value of local 'Indian'  labourers' bodies? 

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During the British colonial era, the North Western Railway had been extended to Sukkur by 1879, but relied upon a steam ferry to cross the Indus to Rohri, which was limited, slow and unwieldy.  A crossing was considered essential to link Lahore with the major port of Karachi on the Arabian Sea, and the section where the Indus is divided by the island of Bukkur was chosen as the most advantageous.

The workers must have been made to pose rather precariously on the construction site for a while, whilst the photo was being taken.

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'Unintended application' of objects. Railways during partition

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'Unintended application' of objects. Railways during partition

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Refugees crammed on the train on their way to newly found Pakistan.

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estimated 1848-1937
source: Dominic Winter Auctioneers

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Elephants and the transportation of goods

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Elephants and the transportation of goods

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Elephants and agriculture: An elephant pulling a plough

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Elephants and agriculture: An elephant pulling a plough

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https://www.quagga-illustrations.de/produkt/h0017354/

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Startseite / Jagd, Waffen / Großwildjagd / Elefant / Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug

Lieferzeit: ca. 24 Stunden

Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug

Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug: Zeichnung/Illustration/Holzstich - - Indian soil cultivation in the 19th century, elephant pulling plow

Bildnr.: h0017354

Bildtyp: Holzstich

Ausgelieferte Bildgröße, unkomprimiert: 3.495 x 2.962 Pixel

Erscheinungsdatum: 1893

asiatisch; Asien; Indien; indisch; Landwirtschaft; landwirtschaftlich; Südasien; Pflug; pflügen; Elefant; Asian; Asia; India; Indian; Agriculture; agriculturally; South Asia; Plow; elephant

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Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug - Quagga Illustrations

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Startseite / Jagd, Waffen / Großwildjagd / Elefant / Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug Lieferzeit: ca. 24 Stunden Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19. Jahrhundert, Elefant zieht Pflug Bodenbearbeitung in Indien im 19.

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Massive crowds are expected to gather at India's northern city of Haridwar throughout April 2021 for the religious festival of Kumbh Mela, despite the country's grappling with a COVID-19 surge.

The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at sacred tirthas, or river-ford sites, along the Ganges River in India.

This year the government expects over a million pilgrims a day to bathe in the sacred river. Over 5 million people are expected per day on the most auspicious days - April 12, 14 and 21 - for a total of a 100 million celebrants.

As a scholar of Hinduism, I celebrate this peaceful mammoth congregation of humanity. Shaped by mythology, astrology and society over the long course of history, this festival is the largest religious gathering of its kind in the world.

Rooted in Hinduism's ancient theological texts, the bathing ritual has survived wars, revolution and famine - but its biggest threat has been epidemic diseases. Authorities from the colonial British government of the 19th century to the Indian government today have had to contend with the challenge of managing the spread of contagion during this huge gathering of people.

Festival of immortality

The festival celebrates the Hindu myth of Samudra manthan - the churning of the cosmological ocean by the gods and demons to get the nectar of immortality, known as amrita.

In the fight that ensued for the amrita, several drops of the elixir fell to Earth, sanctifying the waters where they landed. The word Kumbh refers not only to the pot of nectar spilled on its way to the heavens, but also to the astrological sign of Aquarius, the water carrier, the time when the Kumbh Mela takes place. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred Ganges on the auspicious days of the festival leads to salvation from the endless cycle of reincarnation.

The traditional start date of the Kumbh, Makara Sankranti, or the winter solstice, is in January. However, this year the festival was delayed by the Indian government because of fears of the spread of COVID-19.

Colonial Kumbh

The festival is mentioned in British colonial records. In 1812 the archives of the British East India Co., a joint stock company that had been formed in 1600 to engage in trade with India, mention a "great" congregation of people at the "melah" that had not occurred in 28 years. Historians of religion have noted that the British conflated another ancient fair, which went by the name Magha Mela, with the Kumbh Mela.

At the time, the East India Co. imposed a "pilgrim tax" on participants, even though it did not provide infrastructure or amenities.

The East India Co. ruled India for the British Crown from 1757, and the company-crown alliance lasted a century until the Indian rebellion of 1857. During that time the British administration, in collaboration with the local police and heads of pilgrim organizations, made attempts to improve the infrastructure of the Kumbh Mela, including laying new railway lines, widening the access roads and building bigger bathing platforms, or ghats. They hoped to increase access, prevent pilgrim stampedes near the waters edge and garner better revenue.

Inadvertently, the British helped legitimize and popularize the Kumbh Mela as the supreme sacred festival. At the same time, they believed the Kumbh was a political gathering where revolutionary and nationalistic ideas took birth.

Politics of Kumbh

Until 1801, before the colonial rule in the state, the Kumbh Mela was controlled and managed by sects, or "akharas," of militant ascetics who fought for the privilege of bathing first, as going first conferred power and status. These were often violent battles of alarming scale in which thousands died.

But the akharas skillfully managed the logistical challenge of the massive pilgrimage and festival. They organized hostels and food, provided policing, and oversaw the arbitrating of disputes over congregant living facilities. They also instituted and collected pilgrim taxes. The ascetics of the akharas engaged in religious discourses and philosophical lectures. Their presence was an attraction for ordinary pilgrims who sought their audience and blessings.

But by 1858 the British Crown controlled all of India and attempted to take over the logistics and rules for the Kumbh Mela, particularly for pilgrims' movement at the site, to avoid stampedes and upgrade the sanitary conditions. At the time legal agreements over the bathing order ensured an end to the violence between the akharas.

The British allowed and instituted an order for the ascetics of 14 akharas to bathe on the three auspicious bathing days of the mela. Following Indian independence, subsequent Indian governments have also tried to control the crowds and organize the akharas' bathing schedule.

Fear of contagion

The first British reference that specifically mentioned the Kumbh Mela was made in an 1868 report that stated the need for increased and tighter sanitation controls at the "Coomb fair" to be held in January 1870. Recognizing the threat of rapid spread of contagion among the crowds, the British government attempted to sanitize and control the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the Kumbh.

In 1870 the Pioneer newspaper, the voice of the British in the northern city of Allahabad, said that the control of crowding was seen as a "well-directed activity towards averting, or at any rate mitigating, the ravages of disease" among pilgrims. The spread of disease was viewed as a threat to the possible collection of taxes and governance.

Between 1892 and 1908, when major famines, cholera and plague epidemics struck in British India, the colonial government controlled entry to the Kumbh, citing hygiene concerns. Pilgrims dropped to a low of around 300,000 as reported by the Imperial Gazetteer. In 1941, the British government banned sale of tickets amid rumors that Japan, in advance to entering World War II, was to bomb Allahabad where the Kumbh was slated to take place.

Rising religiosity

In the past century the Kumbh has become so popular that "half" versions - Ardh Kumbh - are held every six years.

The dramatic arrival of the akharas - that includes 14 sects of Hindu and Sikh ascetics as well as warrior monks often illustrated with exoticized photographs - has become the signature visual of the Kumbh.

These tens of thousands of ascetics, some dressed in saffron robes, some nude and covered in ash, with wild dreadlocks, come riding on horseback, or in golden seats on elephants. The processions are accompanied by loud drumming, conch blowing and the sound of gongs as they enter the sacred water, in wave upon wave of humanity.

COVID controls

This year's event takes place amid fears that a massive gathering like this could turn out to be a COVID-19 superspreader event. According to Johns Hopkins University, by April 1, 2021, the start of the Kumbh Mela, India had reported 12 million cases and 162,900 deaths.

The Indian government has issued several directives to control the spread of the disease: Thermal screening checkpoints have been set up, and efforts are being made to sanitize all restrooms and sleeping quarters. Strict protocols for participation in the Kumbh have been issued, including a limited time period of half an hour for each akhara to bathe. Furthermore, the government has stated that after April 1 all visitors to the Kumbh have to produce evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test.

However, even before the Kumbh began, the city and neighboring areas had already emerged as COVID-19 hot spots. As the festival began, seven living Hindu saints in the city of Haridwar tested positive, and 300 pilgrims were found positive during the first few days of the festival.

Images emerging from Haridwar of millions of the faithful, praying, eating and bathing, often maskless and in close proximity with one another, are raising fears about how the desire for the divine nectar of immortality might turn out in a pandemic year.

Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Emerson College

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Also read: High-level central team to review medical care arrangements at Kumbh Mela in Haridwar
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British govt to Modi govt - How Kumbh Mela has been organised through epidemics

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Massive crowds are expected to gather at India's northern city of Haridwar throughout April 2021 for the religious festival of Kumbh Mela, despite the country's grappling with a COVID-19 surge. The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at sacred tirthas, or river-ford sites, along the Ganges River in India.

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...and fording rivers

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The many uses of elephants: pushing trains...

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Photo of (part of) Simla, prominent British hill station

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Photo of (part of) Simla, prominent British hill station

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Several British buildings are identified

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Map of some of the hill stations the British built to escape the "deadly terrain" down below.

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Report on native papers for the week ending ... on JSTOR

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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Newspapers spreading the Swadeshi movement

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Newspapers spreading the Swadeshi movement

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Communication networks challenging colonialism: English newspapers creating a common Indian Identity and constructing the Swadeshi cause.

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video explaining the technologies of early telegraphs (0:00 - 1:59)
[source]

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Telegraphs and Telephones - How They Work

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How the East Indian Company wanted to be viewed

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How the East Indian Company wanted to be viewed

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Peaceful, civilised and equal

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Entirely in British control

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1870 Map of India Cable (souvenir booklet) e3

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Telegraph lines from London to India, 1866 

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Telegraph lines from London to India, 1866 

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Active lines highlighted in red

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Intent on becoming one of India's largest research-intensive Gandhian Institutes, the GRF is committed to excellence in research, based on the highest national and international standards, and is concerned with integrating applied research in teaching curricula. The GRF will function as a dynamic centre of Gandhian research and allied activities, to be initiated in stages within the next 3-5 years, in the following multi-dimensional way, by establishing:

▶ A Residential Research Fellowship Program

▶ A Student Internship Program

▶ A Biennial International Conference

▶ An Annual National Workshop

▶ A Founder's Day Annual Lecture

▶ GRF Research Journal & Publication Series (in English)

Inspired by Truth and nonviolence based life propounded by Gandhi, the Foundation has designed a number of applied training courses in the fields of peace, nonviolence, organic living and sustainable development. Notable among the courses offered are a Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Rural Reconstruction; an Annual Winter School on Gandhian Nonviolence; a Short-term Internship on Sustainable Development, as well as periodically organized soft-skill training workshops on Conflict Transformation, Peace Building, Stress Management and Gandhian Leadership.

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Intent on becoming one of India's largest research-intensive Gandhian Institutes, the GRF is committed to excellence in research, based on the highest national and international standards, and is concerned with integrating applied research in teaching curricula.

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The Colonial State and the Handloom Weaver (Douglas, 2012)

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Civilisation more as the term industrialized and modern against any difference?

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A dying craft

PYROMETALLURGY, or the process of producing iron, was introduced in India around the second millennium BC. The Harappan people were not familiar with iron, although they made artefacts from copper and bronze and jewellery from gold and silver. Production of iron and steel is mentioned in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas, which have been roughly dated by historians between 1500-1200 Bc. By the beginning of the first millennium BC, Indians were quite familiar with iron and steel and had begun using the metals in their day-to-day life.

Production of iron was always the speciality of a community of artisans known as the Agaria, who inhabited areas rich in iron-ore in central Bihar and Orissa. The story of the community is an account of the rise, fall and subsequent marginalisation of indigenous methods of iron production in India. It is also the story of the loss of an environmentally sound technique of smelting iron.
From myth to marginalisation The term 'Agaria', according to B Prakash of Benares Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, is derived from the root 'aag' or 'agni' (fire) "and probably means a worker who harnesses fire and has the power to convert minerals into metals". The Agarias consider them- selves to be the descendants of the 12 brothers of the mythical Lohasur. Over the years, Lohasur's kin were divided into three groups: the Asuras or the Agarias, the Loharsw and the Birjias. Unlike the Agarias and the Birjias, the Lohars do not smelt iron but purchase it from the former and make objects of use by forge welding, shaping and heat treatment.

The Agarias, or the Asuras, find mention in the Mahabharata. The Pandavas are said to have routed the Agaria king, Longundi Raja, and forced him to take refuge in the jungles. Even while inhabiting the forests, they pro- duced iron, which was used to manufacture weapons. The job of producing iron was carried out with the active involvement of all members of the family. The nuances of the process was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth.

By the 19th century, the Agarias had spread from central Bihar and Orissa to the rest of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

In 1828, when England was struggling with the demands of the Industrial Revolution, Major James Franklin of the Bengal Army prepared a report for the East India Company on the Indian Mode of Manufacturing Iron in Central India. The apparent aim of the exercise was to determine whether the demand for iron in India could be met indigenously. Commenting on the quality of locally-produced iron, Franklin quoted a report of the Calcutta Mint: "...When brought to the bend, it (Indian iron) showed itself possessed of the power of elongating... and stood the bend better than the general run of British iron purchased in the bazaar..."

In the same period, a British metallurgist, Colonel Presgrave of Sagar Mint, compared Indian iron with its British and Swedish counterparts, and remarked: "...(Indian) bar iron (is) of most excellent quality, possessing all the desirable properties of malleability, ductility... and tenacity, for all of which I think it cannot be surpassed by the best Swedish iron..."

However, with increased dependence on British industry and the formal colonisation of India after 1857, production of iron in India came to a halt. Smelting of iron was banned, the Agarias lost their traditional occupation, and either migrated or became itinerants. According to Prakash, it was difficult to find representatives of the community by the 1960s and their traditional technology was believed to have been lost.
Rediscovery In 1964, Moni Ghose of the Tata Iron and Steel Company managed to locate some Agarias who still remembered the nuances of the craft. Ghose persuaded them to construct and operate their ancient iron-smelting furnaces at Jiragoda and Chiglabecha in Orissa, and Kamarjoda in Bihar. This was followed by attempts by others, including historians Dharampal and Mahesh Sharma in the 1980s, to locate Agarias and persuade them to return to their traditional occupation. In 1993-94, a group led by Sunil Sabasrabudby of the Institute of Gandhian Studies at Wardha, Maharashtra, came upon a number of Agaria villages in Sonebhadra, Wadrufnagar, Surguja, Jaspur and Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, where the tribals still practised their ancient craft. The group conducted a techno-economic and sociological study of these people and published its report in 1994.

The Agaria technique
In the traditional Agaria technique, iron ore is processed in a low shaft furnace built of clay. As Verrier Elwin points out in his seminal study, The Agarias, the ore used is usually of a low quality. In fact, Elwin states that low-grade ore is preferred even when rich ore is available. He also states that the Agarias can identify the ore by its colour, appearance and density.

The ore is usually collected from the surface. Digging is seldom resorted to and, on the occasions that it is, the shaft is no deeper than two metres. Ore-bearing sand washed up by rivers and streams is the other important source of iron. Sand from the river bed is collected and the ore separated in a unique gravity separation process. A sloping pan is made on the riverbank slightly above the water-level. The sand is laid on it and, by repeatedly pouring water on it, the lighter siliceous particles are washed out, leaving the heavier black ore particles. This ore is then collected and dried in the sun. Wherever available, this ore is the preferred source of the metal and is believed to yield better quality iron.

Unlike the modern iron and steel industry, which relies primarily on fossil fuels, the Agaria process of iron smelting is totally charcoal-based. The trees used for making charcoal vary from region to region, but the wood of sal and teak is preferred. According to Vibha Tripathi of the department of archaeology, BHU, "Mostly, charcoal is made ,from the wood of dead trees lying in the forests." She Asigns this preference to strict "religio- social prohibitions among the Agarias on indiscriminate cutting of trees".

The Agarias prepare a shallow pit with a layer of dry twigs and branches at the bottom. Logs are loosely piled on pp till they reach a little above ground level. The pile is then set on fire. As the logs bur the gradually collapses into the pl, which is then sealed off. The wood burns in an insufficient supply of air and forms charcoal.

Cultural ecology
According to R C Gupta of the department of metallurgical engineering, BHU, traditional techniques of producing iron did not harm the ecosystem: "Modern technology, which uses fossil fuels, has proved to be hazardous. So, while designing the process for future needs, factors like energy, environment and economy have to be kept in mind."

Gupta notes that pollution due to burning of fossil fuels is totally avoided in the traditional mode of production of iron. There are no coke ovens giving out noxious by-products like sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (N02). Charcoal contains a very small amount of sulphur and is far less polluting. Also, Tripathi points out, only deadwood is used as fuel by the Agarias. They mine the ore manually, causing minimal damage to the environment, and no loss to large-scale industry.

On the other hand, the mechanised process generates minute particles of iron called fines. Most of this iron is lost to the air. In the Agaria process, there is minimal generation of these particles and whatever is produced is washed away by river water.

The Agarias mostly live in small groups consisting of 10-12 families settled outside villages or in nearby jungles. They cater to the village economy with their cottage industry of iron products. Says Tripathi, "If the traditional craft is allowed to prosper, it will support a pre-industrial community, which can lead a life in tune with tradition and nature."

Ironic turn
However, those willing to understand and appreciate the Agaria way of life are few and far between. The Agaria technique of processing iron has been criti cised on the ground that it uses charcoal. An optimally operated furnace, say met allurgists, consumes about 15 kg of char coal for a charge of 10 kg ore, and the yield is not more than three kg. It is iron ic that while big industry is causing deforestation, a technique that uses charcoal made from deadwood is being labelled destructionist.

Sahasrabudhy's team discovered that, in 1994, furnaces operated by Agarias in Madhya Pradesh had been reduced from 100 to less than five - a result of enforcement of restrictions on the collection of iron ore and wood.

A glut of mass produced iron implements has also forced young Agarias to migrate to nearby towns, where they work as unskilled labourers. The num ber of artisans who still practise iron smelting is falling at an alarming rate. In effect, the socioeconomic fabric of this tribe of craftspeople has been ripped apart by the forces of modernisation. As their traditional occupation was dignified, many Agarias are keen on reviving it. But, as of now, it is a dying craft.

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A dying craft PYROMETALLURGY, or the process of producing iron, was introduced in India around the second millennium BC. The Harappan people were not familiar with iron, although they made artefacts from copper and bronze and jewellery from gold and silver.

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How do people understand swaraj now? A picture of a 'swaraj tractor model'

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How do people understand swaraj now? A picture of a 'swaraj tractor model'

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What happened to the understanding of Swaraj in India? Here swaraj has taken on the meaning of modern machinery 'made in India'.

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->a way to change people's view

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Hicky's Bengal Gazette or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser was an English-language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the capital of British India. It was the first newspaper printed in Asia, and was published for two years, between 1780 and 1782, before the East India Company seized the newspaper's types and printing press. Founded by James Augustus Hicky, a highly eccentric Irishman who had previously spent two years in jail for debt, the newspaper was a strong critic of the administration of Governor General Warren Hastings. The newspaper was important for its provocative journalism and its fight for free expression in India.

Hicky began publication of Hicky's Bengal Gazette on 29 January 1780, having first printed a prospectus announcing that he would begin printing a newspaper. The idea of printing a newspaper in India had been floated twelve years earlier by the Dutch Adventurer William Bolts, but Hicky was the first to execute the concept. Hicky's newspaper was printed once a week on Saturday, and retailed for Re 1. Its circulation was estimated to be around four hundred copies per week, although possibly more.

Hicky first maintained a neutral editing policy (his slogan was "Open to all Parties, but Influenced by None") but after he learned that competitors with ties to the East India Company were intending to launch a rival newspaper, the India Gazette, he changed his editorial stance. Hicky accused an East India Company employee, Simeon Droz, of supporting the India Gazette as punishment for Hicky's refusal to pay a bribe to Droz and Marian Hastings, Warren Hastings' wife.

In retaliation for Hicky's accusation, Hastings' Supreme Council forbid Hicky from mailing his newspaper through the post office. On 18 November 1780, the same day that the first India Gazette was published, Hicky modified the name of his newspaper from Hicky's Bengal Gazette; or, Calcutta General Advertiser, to Hicky's Bengal Gazette; or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser to emphasize that his newspaper was founded first.

Hicky claimed Hastings' order violated his right to free expression, and accused Hastings of corruption, tyranny, and even erectile dysfunction. Hicky also accused other British leaders in Calcutta of corruption, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, Elijah Impey of taking bribes, and the leader of the Protestant Mission, Johann Zacharias Kiernander of stealing from an orphaned children's fund. Hicky's editorial independence was short lived as Hastings and Kiernander sued him for libel. After four dramatic trials in June 1781, the Supreme Court found Hicky guilty and sentenced him to jail.

Hicky continued to print his newspaper from jail, and continued to accuse Hastings and others of corruption. He was finally suppressed when Hastings instituted fresh lawsuits against him. Hicky's Bengal Gazette ceased publication on 30 March 1782 when its types were seized by an order of the Supreme Court. The next week, its types and printing press were publicly auctioned and sold to the India Gazette.

Hicky's Bengal Gazette was known for its sarcastic and provocative writing style. Unlike many newspapers of its time, the newspaper discussed taboo topics like female masturbation, and proto- class consciousness, arguing for the rights of the poor and the right to taxation with representation. It was strongly anti-war and anti- colonial and routinely ridiculed East India Company leadership for their expansionist and imperialist objectives.

The memoirist William Hickey (who was not related to the paper's founder) describes its establishment shortly after he had succeeded (in his capacity as an attorney-at-law) in having James Hicky released from debtor's jail:

"At the time I first saw Hicky he had been about seven years in India. During his confinement he met with a treatise upon printing, from which he collected sufficient information to commence [as a] printer, there never having been a press in Calcutta ... it occurred to Hicky that great benefit might arise from setting on foot a public newspaper, nothing of that kind ever having appeared. Upon his types &c., therefore reaching him, he issued proposals for printing a weekly paper, which, meeting with extraordinary encouragement, he speedily issued his first work. As a novelty every person read it, and was delighted. Possessing a fund of low wit, his paper abounded with proof of that talent. He had also a happy knack at applying appropriate nicknames and relating satirical anecdotes".

Hicky benefited little from the paper, as William Hickey further tells us that he allowed it "to become the channel of personal invective, and the most scurrilous abuse of individuals of all ranks, high and low, rich and poor, many were attacked in the most wanton and cruel manner ... His utter ruin was the consequence".

Hicky's Bengal Gazette was the first English-language newspaper and the first printed newspaper to be published in both the Indian sub-continent and in Asia. The newspaper became famous not only among the British soldiers posted in India at that time but also inspired Indians to write newspapers of their own.

Six archives are known to have collections (all incomplete) of Hicky's Bengal Gazette:

1. University of Melbourne

2. University of Heidelberg. From George Livius. Available for free online.[1]

3. National Library of India

4. High Court of Calcutta (only an extraordinary issue dated 25 June 1781).

5. British Library. Two collections. One originally from the British Museum, from George Livius. The other, less complete collection, is originally from a private auction and from the India Office Library.

6. University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library. Collected by H. Morse Stephens sometime before 1907. This collection was likely once owned by Paul Ferris, one of Hicky's assistants.

The second page of the first issue of Hicky's Bengal Gazette

The third page of the first issue of Hicky's Bengal Gazette

The fourth page of the first issue of Hicky's Bengal Gazette

Otis, Andrew (2018). Hicky's Bengal Gazette: The Untold Story of India's First Newspaper. Westland Books. ISBN 978-93-86850-91-1.

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Hicky's Bengal Gazette or the Original Calcutta General Advertiser was an English-language weekly newspaper published in Kolkata (then Calcutta), the capital of British India. It was the first newspaper printed in Asia, and was published for two years, between 1780 and 1782, before the East India Company seized the newspaper's types and printing press.

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Chak - Potter's Wheel as Symbol of Swadeshi

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Chak - Potter's Wheel as Symbol of Swadeshi

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freeze image out of a youtube video