Every time I see Namibia playing, I think about this weird map they have with a strip called Caprivi Strip.
This strip has a hilarious piece of history behind it.
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Germans had all these colonies in African continent.
In Namibia, they did not have Caprivi strip back then. From East to West, to connect both colonies, Germans had to cross entire continent by ocean. It was costly.
Between these two regions were the British Empire areas.
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So, Germans thought of a solution.
To connect Namibia with Zambezi River. They were to use this river to reach other side of ocean and access East German territories by that route.
They offered Britain to exchange Caprivi strip with Zanzibar islands.
A murder conspiracy from 1989 which brought two of the biggest business houses of India in direct confrontation.
The conspiracy to assassinate Nusli Wadia and how Reliance group was dragged into it.
The buried startling case & hidden theories behind. 🧵
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In July 1989, Mumbai Crime Branch arrested 2 different background men in a case.
One was a small time musician Arjun Babaria.
Another was Kirti Ambani, a senior manager who was head of Reliance PR. This made headlines.
Note- Kirti wasn’t related to the Ambani Family.
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Before that, on 12 July 1989, Nusli Wadia was told at the airport that his life is in danger by govt officials who were trying to catch people who floated his “supari” in Mumbai underworld.
Nusli Wadia was made to avoid risks & kept under security.
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A non exhaustive list of people who became a casualty of Shatru Hanta Yog of PM Modi’s kundali (as per astrologers).
1. Chimanbhai Patel- last significant congress leader from Gujarat who could become CM there.
Modi was tasked to start a campaign against him in state.
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2. Keshubhai Patel.
Another ex CM of Gujarat.
Member of BJP, RSS. Was unhappy when Modi rose as PM candidate. Made a party which did not even a scratch to Modi & BJP. Merged with BJP later.
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3. Shankarsinh Vaghela
A strong opponent and long time politician which just could not better Modi. Another man who was Gujarat’s CM once and never liked Modi’s ascent & national role.
I shared one Raja Ravi Varma painting and you all liked it.
So, I am sharing another which is a lesser known masterpiece from Raja Ravi Varma’s works.
This painting is known as “Krishna Shishtai” or “Krishna as an envoy”.
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Story- Here Krishna is in court of Dhritrashtra with the peace offering of Yudhisthir. He did it as Yudhisthir was aware of impending doom by the great war.
But, Duryodhana was furious & ordered Dushasana to capture Krishna and himself took out his sword.
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All the old men in scene are aware of grave mistake Duryodhana is committing and some are even shocked to hear his command.
The facial expressions of old men are different from young ones as they know who is Krishna in real.
Arguably, this painting “Victory of Indrajit” is best work of Raja Ravi Varma.
This painting has many characters, everyone with a story in their expressions, Varma showed his mastery with light & shadows in it.
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Theme- this is a scene where Indrajit, son of Ravana is presenting his war trophies to his father after defeating Indra.
He is looking towards Sachi, wife of Indra. His gaze is victorious. Standing at lower pedestal—hierarchy in family where his father & uncle is present.
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Sachi is in sorrow (open hair) and despair (disheveled clothes). Her royal stature is still visible in her skin tone and disgust on her face.
Dark skin attendant is in contrast to show misbehaviour with her. She is looking towards skies as if to find Indra there.