East Pakistan Embankments- Philatelic History

East Pakistan dissappeared into oblivion on the 16th of December 1971.

The Mukti Bahini and the Indian forces liberated Bangladesh -The Land of the Banglas.

West Pakistan and its Punjabi establishments had gone into overdrive to show that its erstwhile eastern wing was still a part of the Pakistan federation and so many stamps, first day covers and bank noted were issued in Bengali and Urdu.

Inspite of all these superficial efforts there was no warmth in the heart of the west Pakistanis for the eastern wingers.

Our west bengal was flooded with Refugees and Indira Gandhi decisively stepped in and when West Pakistan attacked us we respeonded tooth and Nail and helped the Mukti Bahini to liberate themselves to form the New state of Bangladesh.

This First day cover is therefore part of the philatelic history of a country which showed that religion alone cannot bind people.

Gandhi & Churchill- The epic rivalry that destroyed an empire and forged our age- Arthur Herman

Book Review.

Gandhi & Churchill The epic rivalry that destroyed an empire and forged our age.

Arthur Herman.

This book focuses on the alledeged extensive rivalry between Gandhiji and Churchill. I supose it should be the rivarly between Churchill and Gandhi!

Churchill was surely given the run for his money by Dear ol' Gandhiji.

Anyway the book is a nice flick through for its snippets of history and a British perspective of Gandhiji. It has great pictures of Gandhi and Churchill andother leaders of our Independence movement.

£25

Publisher : Hutchinson London

ISBN 9780091797164 (Hardback)

ISBN 9780091921323 (trade paperback)

Huchinson

Churchgate, Bombay, India

This is a picture of the old Church-gate. The gate facing St Thomas' church in the ex- walled city of Bombay. The walls came down in 1862 as the city was growing and most of the mainland territory was under british rule and hence the threat of attack was less.

The only part of the walls of bombay that still survive is a small part on the back side of the St George's hospital. This obscure bit of Bombay's history is sometimes hidden by a few hutments.

A tribute to the people of Bombay, Mumbaikars over the generations....

William IIII - King of England -Half Silver Rupee, India

Half Rupee 1835- Quite Rare I understand. 1st Indian Coin with a portrait of a british Monarch

Bombay Anna. Anna of- The King and I - An original History -By Susan Morgan

Just saw this book on line... About Anna, the real person who went as s governess to Siam portrayed in the movie in the King and I. Wonder of anybody has read the book and would not mind telling me a little bit about it. There was apassing reference that Anna was from Bombay in the movie but no one knows more. This book should tell us all...

Mumbai- The Island City

Mumbai the powerhouse of India, an Island city, looks beautiful from space.

Home to 16 million people and full of character this Island city never sleeps. It is a microcosm of India. Hindus Muslims Sikhs Parsees Buddhists Jains Atheists Christians and the non religious live here.

Mumbai is the soul of India. Let us keep her cosmopolitan. Let us accept all who live in Mumbai, the rich and the poor, the Biharis and the marathis, the Hindus and the muslims, the christians and the atheists.

Delhi is Beautiful and old, Calcutta is full of culture, Madras smells of jasmine blossoms but Bombay alone shines 24/7

Mumbai, our city of dreams.....

Ajinkyatara - The impenetrable fortress

Satara , one of the most beautiful towns of Maharashtra is surrounded by 7 mountains or the saat taaras(Seven stars) and hence called satara.

One of the mountains is a fortress called as Ajinkyatara or the impenetrable fortress.

It has the television tower on the fortress which looks very beautiful. It can be seen from everywhere in the city of Satara.

I will try to put more pictures of the city of satara but here are two pictures of the famous AJINKYATARA

Sahyadrikand - History of Goa

The Sahyadrikand mentions Goa as Konkan Kashi as the Kashi of the Konkan

Great Konkani Book - Konkani MahaBharat Adi Parv- Krishnadas Shama

These were the days when the portuguese had landed on the sacred shores of the Konkan Kashi or Goa. They were keen to caputire the land for the King of Portugal and capture the souls for their God. Many so called saints and priests came from portuguese shores to convert the Hindus to the new faith of Christianity. To convert Hindus they had to first understand their language and their mythology and literature. It was in their interest to do so.

The Portuguese Jesuits set about writing down the literature of the Konkani Hindus. This book is a modern transliteration by Dr P Naik of the Thomas Stevens Konkani Kendra in Goa. Krishnadas Shama was a konkani saraswat brahmin from Kushasthali, saxti(Salcette), Goa who was well versed with Konkani Hindu folklore. He was proficient in Konkani, Marathi and Sanskrit and perhaps even Kannada. He gave an oration of the Mahabharat Adi Parv in Chaste Saraswat Konkani and this was written down by the Jesuits in Roman script. This happened just before the Hindu Holocaust in Goa in the middle of the 16th century.

The transliterated konkani mahabharat was filed away in the libraries in portugal when some Goans discovered them. Dr Naik, himself a jesuit priest transliterated this in the common devnagri script used by many Konkanis today and the TSKK published the same.

The preface thanks the jesuit priests who saved this piece of literature! Shouldnt they be blamed for the almost complete annhilation of the Hindu Konkani culture, temples, literature from Goa??? Wouldn't this be a living tradition if it were not for the portuguese and Jesuits iconoclasts who destroyed all the Goan temples in the province of Saxti (salcette).

There also a mention of Konkani being only an oral language before the Jesuits began to write it in the roman script . Unfortunately the then konkani literature, temples and culture was almost completely annhilated in the 1540s to 1560s to make sure that the Hindu religion never recovers and all the people were forcibly converted to catholicism.

However the mentioned book is a beautiful read for all the lovers of Konkani and makes one comprehend and lament the insurrmountable loss , the Konkani literature, culture and religion has has to suffer under the portuguese and jesuits.

Hindus and Catholics live peacefully in Goa today with a great deal of understanding. We have learnt our lessons from the past (At least we hope so).

Hindus form a majority in Goa today. Hindu temples are booming. Beautiful churches have also been built (some unfortunately on the graves of previous temples). These portuguese religious fanatics who wanted Goa to be cleansed of the Hindu faith are unfortunately not here to see that the Hindus have built a temple in Lisbon.

Do read the book.

Solavya Shekdantle Konknni Mhabharat Adi Parv

Published by the TSKK

Goa- 1990

By a kind donation of Rs 20,000 by the Kuwait Konkani Kendra.

Wicked Women of the Raj - Coralie Younger : A review

Very Interesting book.

Coralie younger has given us true stories of White women who married Indian princes. Unfortunately it was the 19th and early 20th century and soceity was not ready for mixed race marriages. Money could never completely mask the lonliness that these women and their spuses faced.Great read.

Wicked women of the Raj- Coralie Younger

Publishers Harper Collins India in Joint venture with the India Today group
New Delhi

2003

ISBN 81-7223-454-6

NonFiction/History

Goa A Daughter's story - Maria Aurora Couto

I must recommend this fantastic book for all people who are interested in Konkani History and Heritage.

Ms Maria Aurora Couto (In Picture) has written this beautifully and this book is a good keepsake. A pleasure to read , well researched and very informative

Goa A daughter's Story - Maria Aurora Couto

ISBN 0-14-303343-3

Penguin Books India

I thank Frederick Norohna for the Image of Ms Couto. He own's the copyright.

Saving our souls..... Really????

When the portuguese came to Goa they thought they were bringing culture and the 'true' religion of chrisitianity to the natives.

Hinduism was banned. Hindu practices and rituals were forbidden. All forms of Hindu worship were denied.

Hindu temples were razed and laws were passed so that only christians could own land.

Many Hindus converted. Sometimes whole villages coverted to christianity en masse. Most thought this was a phase which would end soon and they would be able to go back to their routine and old ways again. Many Hindus fled the islands of Goa onto the mainland with their deities into the forests of Antruz, now called Ponda which was then under the rule of the Hindu Sonde rayas.

The people who stayed on had their Shendys (Ritual tufts of hair signifying their Hindu heritage)cut, their Janve's (Sacred thread worn over their left shoulder) taken off. Perhaps understanding the strict shuddhi (Purity) laws these people were forced to eat beef and pork thereby making sure they would never be accepted back into the Hindu fold. The orthodox Hindus who wanted to preserve their faith went into a cocoon mode and continued their worship in private on the mainland. There are acoounts of christians sitting with Hindus for wedding meals and therefore the whole wedding party losing their shuddhi. Pork and beef were also thrown by the portuguese in all the wells. There was therefore no option but to drink this water for the few who were left behind. Many were reconciled to the new situation and accepted christianity.

Hinduism was however in the core of these neo-converts and inspite of the Inquisition to stop these practices Christians of Goan origin still practice a chrisitianity which has an abundance of Hindu customs.

Over a period of time the Hindus rebuilt their temples outside the portuguese territories. These became thriving centres of the old religion. Many christians continue to worship at their ancestral temples and give offerings to their family deities.

Hindus form almost 65% of the population of Goa. Goan Hindus have also migrated all along the western coast of India and even beyond India's shore and continue to uphold their age old traditions.

Christians and Hindus have lived together for many generations. Christianity has become a way of life and a source of spiritual sustenance for many. Hinduism has continued to thrive. Hinduism's tradition of syncretism continues and many Hindus now accept the divinity in Christ as part of the overall divinity. Hindus and Christians worshipping together in temples and churches in not uncommon.

The shuddhi laws have almost completely disappeared and it is no longer taboo to co-dine with christians. Indeed inter religious marriages are getting more common. It is this spirit of co-existence which keeps India moving.

Inspite of hiccups of intolerance by and large Hindus, Christians and Muslims peacefully share their state of Goa and their country India.