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The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

May 21

Since Turkey 🇹🇷 is trending in the news, it's the perfect time to revisit this gem:
The mind-bending word origin of the turkey 🦃, the bird.

This is a history of global geographic mess and mistaken identity. Few stories never get old. A thread.

1/11

The origin of turkey, a bird that is now a traditional feature of American Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas supper in the United States 🇺🇸, has long been a source of curiosity.

2/11

Fascinatingly, it is a bird named after the nation that people mistakenly believed the bird originated from, and it was quite a global phenomenon as a result of a bizarre history of trade routes, geographic mistakes, and cultural misperception.

3/11

Read 11 tweets

The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

May 15

For any Bengali, this face needs no introduction — Bantul the Great. But during the India–Pakistan wars of the last century that split a subcontinent and birthed a nation, this comic book hero became something else: a symbol of hope and resistance.

Thread. 1/16

The bald-headed, barrel-chested comic strip hero in the 1960s became more than just a childhood favorite. He was the neighborhood strongman. No crime escaped his fist. Thieves, thugs, and goons all met the same fate — smashed into shape by Bantul.
2/16

Before we meet Bantul, let’s meet the man who drew him into existence. Narayan Debnath (1925–2022): India's longest-running comics creator. The quiet genius behind Handa Bhonda, Nonte Fonte, and Bantul the Great.

3/16

Read 16 tweets

The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

May 7

In Vidarbha, Maharashtra, the towns of Yavatmal and Murtizapur share a colonial-era legacy tied to cotton trade, a freedom fighter’s wife, and a rare wedding gift that still echoes through history. 1/19

The year was 1944. A newlywed couple and a retinue of relatives were waiting on the railway platform at Murtizapur to board the next train to Daryapur. 2/19

One half of the pair was Balwantrao Deshmukh, a freedom fighter who had only recently been released from Nagpur jail due to his active participation in the Quit India Movement of 1942. 3/19

Read 23 tweets

The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

Apr 28

Terror isn’t just fueled by hate — it runs on money.
From fake charities to bank heists, hawala to narco-trade—a secret economy powers the bloodshed. How terror groups sustain themselves — and why it matters more than ever.

Explained.

1/25

Militants need money as much as guns. In India’s insurgent zones, groups like LeT & JeM fuel their campaigns through a shadow terror economy — bank heists, extortion, hawala, fake charities. Globally, others follow the same playbook. Here is a simple breakdown. (Data 2002)

2/25

In Kashmir, militants often fund terror the hard way — through theft and intimidation. Late 2016 saw a wave of bank heists, all linked to Lashkar operatives. A three-man team hit J&K Bank branches on Nov 21, Dec 8, and Dec 15, 2016, escaping with ₹13L, ₹13.38L, and ₹10L.
3/25

Read 26 tweets

The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

Apr 26

The heinous Pahalgam attack underscores the chilling reality of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s never-ending menace. But where did this ruthless group come from? The answers lie in a complex web of religious extremism, geopolitics, and strategic patronage.
LeT's dark origins, explained.

1/23

In the late 1970s Pakistan’s military ruler Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seized power and launched an intense Islamization campaign. He allied closely with Saudi Arabia, adopting a Saudi-backed policy of Islamization that infused strict Wahhabi ideas into state and society.
2/23

Saudi money poured into new madrassas (religious schools) teaching a puritanical Islam, many of them set up explicitly to train fighters for jihad. By the mid-1980s these schools were producing youth steeped in militant ideology as part of Zia’s strategy. 3/23

Read 24 tweets

The Paperclip

@Paperclip_In

Apr 22

You may know Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes from 7 Khoon Maaf. But her story began long before the film—a few centuries ago, in Bengal.

In 2021, we followed the trail down a narrow lane off GT Road—and stood before the real Susanna’s tomb.

A Thread.

1/25

In Vishal Bhardwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) marries—and kills—all her husbands in a quest for love. Each marriage ends tragically, but the film only scratches the surface of her story.

2/25

The plot is dark, tragic, and deeply mysterious, but it is based (?) on a real-life figure whose story stretches back centuries. After years of planning, we had finally reached the tomb of Susanna Anna Maria in an winter afternoon.

3/25

Read 26 tweets

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