If you care about the environment, this one's for you.
Today in 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published.
Named one of the greatest science books of all time, Silent Spring highlighted the damage done to nature due to excess chemical and pesticide usage.
Rachel Carson was born in an impoverished family in Pennsylvania. She didn't have a PhD and she didn't have a Y chromosome.
The odds were stacked against her as she went about her massive endeavour of telling inconvenient truths to those in power.
She spoke of how the copious usage of DDT at that time led to declining bird populations and how that in turn had a cascade effect on nature, which, if unchecked would lead to disastrous consequences for all life on earth.
Her words ring true even today, as we're faced with an unprecedented climate emergency, the likes of which will lead to disastrous consequences for all life on earth.
While that's happening, most of humanity is going:
Rachel Carson's work prompted Joni Mitchell to write this epic song (the one where they pave paradise to put up a parking lot).
"Hey farmer farmer, put away the DDT
Give me spots on my apples,
but leave me the birds and the bees.
Please!”
"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction."
Remember, we've only got one planet.
"That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam"
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A trip from Mysore to Bangalore is simply incomplete without indulging in the mouthwatering Maddur Vada in Maddur.
In 1938, the town of Shivapura in Maddur proudly hoisted the Indian national flag, leaving an indelible mark on India's freedom struggle!
A thread🧵
In 1938, The Indian National Congress held its session in Haripura village in Surat, Gujarat.
The session was presided by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. At a time when hoisting the national flag was banned by the British, the Indian flag was hoisted at the Haripura session!
The Haripura Congress session where the tricolor was hoisted, inspired the Mysore leaders to hold a similar event!
But, the administration in Mysore got a whiff of these plans & banned public gathering. This did not stop leaders like Siddalingaiah & others
Arun Shourie once called the BJP government policies Congress plus Cow. During the first ever election in 1952, Congress had a pair of bullocks as its election symbol.
It is because of this lady from Tamil Nadu that the Congress Party has the hand as a symbol. 🧵
The very first elections took place in 1952. Given that the large portion of the population were illiterate, Sukumar Sen, India's first chief election commissioner decided on symbols to identify each party.
The congress party chose a pair of bullocks as its symbol.
Even during Nehru's time, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the "Kamraj Plan". It required Congress Leaders to give up government posts, in order to strengthen the party.
K Kamraj realized that the party was losing its vigor and resigned from his post as CM of Madras to focus on rebuilding the party.
Jamnagar these days is famous for being the epicenter of Reliance industries and for welcoming the who's who of the world for a pre-wedding.
But in 1942, it played a significant role in saving over 1000 Polish children from certain death in WW2.
A thread 🧵
In 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland which started World War 2. Some Poles tried to escape the wrath of the Germans by moving into Soviet territory.
The Soviet authorities forced hundreds of thousands of Poles to migrate deeper into Soviet territory, including Siberia.
The invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany in 1941 prompted the USSR to declare an amnesty, resulting in the liberation of these Polish exiles. They were asked to find refuge themselves.
They embarked on arduous journeys to various destinations.
"Except for cricketers, poets, and singers, others found it relatively hard to come to India."
This was director John Mathew Matthan's rationale for portraying a ghazal singer as the villain!
25 years ago, crime drama changed forever with the release of Sarfarosh!
A Thread 🧵
John Matthew Matthan was an ad-film director, and "Sarfarosh" was his debut. But, he was an assistant to Govind Nihalani in Nihalani's first film "Aakrosh" and in "Gandhi," where Nihalani was the cinematographer!
He met Naseeruddin Shah on the sets of Aakrosh!
Aamir Khan's rationale to work with a debutant was as follows:
"When I read the script, I realized the social implications of what the film was trying to say (...) I reacted emotionally to it because of what I had been going through as an Indian, it talked of Hindus & Muslims living together."