Thread by @thekaipullai

Asia's first Sugar factory, was supposedly started by the French, in a small village in Orissa, in the year 1824. However, the French being French, were not able to manufacture sugar of the desired quality. As a result, they switched production to Jaggery and tried to continue

Just like their attempt to rule India, their attempt to run the factory also failed. They sold that factory to an English Company, Called Binny and Co. The same Binny and Co, that we now shoot bad Tamil movies in.

Just like those Tamil movies, the sugar factory also turned bad.

If History repeated itself, Binny would have closed the factory, bought some more land in Chennai and that would have been that. Enter an Englishman named Frederick James William Minchin. Like other Englishmen at that time, He arrived in Madras in 1848, to make a quick buck.

He joined Binny as an accountant in 1848. In 1852, they sent him to Asika, the site of the sugar factory, to liquidate it. As a result of its huge losses, and something called in the Indian mutiny, Binny and co were happy to sell that junk to Minchin for a pittance.

And then Minchin came into his own. He went abroad to countries as varied as Mauritius, to learn the best ways to manufacture sugar. He hit F5 on the factory and transformed it into the best manufacturer of Sugar in India. His sugar was imported to South East Asia and even USA

But his major market, and where his sugar was in crazy demand, was the Madras Presidency. And the other Princely states of South India. And to put a stamp on his quality, he marketed it as "Asika Sugar"

Sugar in India is called by many names. Shakkar and Chakkarai, from Sanskrit Sarkara.

Some people call it Cheeni, some Chinese dude, who taught how to refine sugar in white colour.

However, a lot of people in TN, especially South TN, Call it Aska.

Now you know why

I can't end this thread, without mentioning the Most famous scene involving Aska.

Funny how some names originate. Half of India calls Sugar, with a term which comes from the Hindi word for Chinese.

Half of TN calls it with a name that is the name of a village in Orissa.