After more than 200 years of Colonial rule, on this day Feb 28th of 1948, the last regiment of the British army left India via the Gateway of India in Mumbai.
A History Images thread for you 🧵
The final regiment to leave was the 'Somerset Light Infantry regiment'
They marched with a ceremonial farewell parade through the streets of South Mumbai
The Guard of honour was given by the Maratha Light Infantry, Gurkha and Sikh regiments of the Indian army
The Indian Guard of honour played God Save the King and the Somerset Light Infantry band played Jana Gana Mana in return
General Lashmer Whistler gave a farewell speech next to the Indian flag
Farewell gift of a silver model of Gateway of India and an oil painting of the Indian flag was given to the British
Gifts taken. Farewell speeches given. It was time to leave. After 200 long years.
Hundreds of Indians had assembled to show their goodbyes.
The ship Empress of Australia was waiting for the leaving Britishers to take them back home.
A final bye bye. End of an Era.
What started as a small trading enterprise off the coast of Madras in the 1630s left at the end of a big colonial era from the coast of Bombay in 1948.
300 odd years that changed India in every possible way!
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This is a story of an accidental discovery in science that has changed the world in the last 100 years.
A story of luck, foolishness and human endeavor that eventually led to the Nuclear bomb.
The story of Radioactivity💥💥
A fascinating Sunday Science History for you 🧵
The year was 1896. X-rays had been recently discovered. Light rays which were invisible but can go pass opaque objects like human skin greatly interested all scientists
French scientist Henri Becquerel wanted to research whether flourescent materials were emitting X rays as well
His chosen flourescent salt was Uranium!
Uranium was already a popular element which could take in light on exposure and then glow in the dark. People even used it in decorative kitchenware set as a luxury item!
Do you know there existed a piece of India within Bangladesh within India within Bangladesh?🤯🤯
This is the story of how some historical laziness led to a weirder geography for our country.
An interesting midweek story for you 🧵
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An 'Enclave' is a geographical territory of a country/state that is entirely surrounded by the territory of another country.
During the partition of 1947, Cooch Behar district in West Bengal and Rangpur in East Pakistan ended up with hundreds of enclaves on either side
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The folk history of how these small enclaves came to be is that the Rajas of Cooch Behar & Rangpur traded them hastily as stakes in gambling leading to this weirdness😃
The more reliable story is that the war of 1713 between Behar & Mughals ended without deciding on borders
Today, we go on a short Art History tour! India has several unique painting styles - one of which is Kalighat Paintings. Started in a small scale by artists around the Kalighat temple in Calcutta to be taken back as souvenirs by the devotees, today its an art form by itself!
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As one would expect, it started mainly with mythological themes but over time interest grew & even daily life started getting depicted. British interest grew & today many of the Kalighat paintings are in museums in Britain. Lets look at a few of them
Ravana & Hanuman c 1880
You can see an unique range of locally available colours and simple but beautiful designs
As we all pay homage to #LataMangeshkar , a short story that showcases her genius
Kamal Hassan & Ilaiyaraja were composing songs for the 1988 movie Sathyaa when they chanced upon a great tune! Raja insisted that only Lata can sing such a composition & Kamal agreed to it
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Raja sat down with Vaali for writing the lyrics. He told him Lata ji is going to sing - so let’s make the Tamil words easy for her. They settled on using a grammatical form called ‘Rettai Kilavi’ which has small words repeating in every line like Kala Kala, Kulu Kulu
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As the song got written down, eventually it turned out to be so pacy and complex to sing eventually!! When Lata ji came down to the studio to record, she was surprised by the lyrics & the difficulty of the rhythm of words!