Harshil (હર્ષિલ) Profile picture
Columnist: News18, @Firstpost, @SwarajyaMag. Betting on India. Into books, photography, writing, and markets. Views are personal.
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Apr 25 26 tweets 9 min read
Gujarat has many authentic dishes other than Fafda and Khaman.

They’re not available outside Gujarat.

Many of them are spicy and hot.

A thread on food items of Gujarat’s each place. 🧵

Ahmedabad: Cholafali with green chutney Image Amdavad

Food: Dalwada (fried gujiya made from lentils, consumed with spicy chilli and onions)

Place: Gujarat College Dalwada Centre
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Apr 5 13 tweets 4 min read
#India will celebrate its National Maritime Day today.

But people don’t know why it’s important.

A century back, few Gujarati entrepreneurs from Mumbai revived national shipping in India.

Story on Narottam Morarjee and his associates:
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Prior to the arrival of the British, Indians had built the ships and done voyages.

But British policies were worse for Indian shipping. They didn’t allow any Indian ships or shipmaking companies to thrive.

Absolute monopoly in Indian waters. Image
Feb 8 9 tweets 3 min read
Next time when you go to #Puri, stop your car at Raghurajpur. This village has 160 houses of artists.

Each wall tells you a different story. Thread of what I learnt and saw:
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Pattachitra paints have origins traced back to 5th century BC. They are meticulously painted with natural colours over a piece of cloth known as patta.

Krishna doing Kaliya daman: Image
Feb 17, 2023 11 tweets 4 min read
The story of a Parsi businessman from #Amdavad.

He defeated American corporates like Coca-cola in his niche business.

He passed away last year. Posthumously, the government awarded him Padma Shri in 2023.

Areez Khambatta and the making of #Rasna: [thread] Image 1970s. This was the time when foreign soft drinks were sold at very high prices. American MNCs were making insane profits from India. 🤯

Khambhatta wanted to create an alternative. Areez He started selling affordable soft drink packs of Rasna.
Dec 6, 2022 11 tweets 4 min read
The father of Indian diamond industry was a Gujarati entrepreneur.

He had received the highest order of Belgium.

He was pivotal in normalising #India’s relations with #Israel.

The story of Kirtilal Manilal Mehta, the founder of Lilavati Hospital: 🧵 Kirtilal Mehta was born in 1907 in Palanpuri Jain community.

Year 1918. He started his career in Myanmar. And then shifted to diamond’s business gradually.

His business flourished with each year.
Sep 27, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
#Garba and #Navratri are synonyms in #Gujarat.

Garbas were used during freedom struggle to praise Tilak and Gandhi.

Garbas have always reflected the political and cultural changes.

Thread about some anecdotes: First thing first, what is Garbo?

Garbo (Garbha Deep) is a clay pot around which this dance is performed.

It symbolises a belief of the world’s conception and birth from one pot.
Sep 19, 2022 13 tweets 4 min read
This merchant from Ahmedabad took control of Jain Tirthas from Aurangzeb.

He has a special connection with IIM-A.

A thread on the life of Shantidas Jhaveri: Jhaveri was a Porwal Jain from Rajasthan. Sahasara Kiran, his father, came from Osian to Ahmedabad.

He expanded his father's jewellery business by establishing a Saraffa (bullion trading) business.
Sep 14, 2022 14 tweets 3 min read
Gujaratis taught a lesson to Aurangzeb over religious conversion with a boycott campaign.

The world's richest trader of that time led the campaign.

The story goes like this. The year was 1669. In Surat, Nuruddin Kazi forcibly converted two Hindus and one Jain to Islam. Radical Muslims helped him. It was Aurangzeb's policy too.

At that time, conversion was seen as a huge deal. Among three converted people, one committed suicide.
Sep 12, 2022 10 tweets 2 min read
A Gujarati Baniya forbade the killings of cows in Oman 200 years back!

Thread on Jairam Shivji, an Indian merchant and banker. Jairam Shivji was born in Kutch, Gujarat, in the year 1792. His father, Shivji Topan, was a merchant in Muscat, Oman.

Jairam got trained as an apprentice and then got inducted into the business.

This was when Zanzibar of East Africa was under the Omani Sultanate.
Oct 20, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read
Thread: #FabIndia’s digital partner is headed by a Congressi woke.

She and her husband have an obsession with Urdu. She cracks Gomutra jibes.

Here’s what I have found.

Explosive ahead. So, in 2019, FabIndia appointed Zeno Group as the digital partner. exchange4media.com/marketing-news…
Jul 16, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
Feb 16, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
I don't watch porn. But that doesn't mean I will deprive others from watching it.

There is a hype that increasing rape cases are due to pornographic content.

Systematic studies suggest it is not always the case. (1/n) This study (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…) was conducted in 2014.

It was India specific. Growth of rape cases, population, internet users were taken into consideration.

Sample was large enough (1971-2008).

Conclusion: No such relation found. (2/n)
Feb 2, 2021 5 tweets 3 min read
Without any backing of data, Twitter has already decided to call it largest organised strike.

Narrative building?

#Rihanna ...and subtle promotions are happening in this way.
Nov 26, 2020 10 tweets 6 min read
THREAD: Do you know how did Urdu media peddle conspiracy theories on #MumbaiAttacks?

Prof Rakesh Sinha and his team did an analysis. I’m sharing their takeaways here.

@roznamasahara called it as Mossad and CIA conspiracy like 9/11. #MumbaiTerrorAttack (1/n) Nisheman and Rahmaan-e-Mulk gave a new conspiracy theory.

These #MumbaiTerrorAttacks, according to them, were done by Hindu fundamentalists and Mossad. (2/n)
Nov 10, 2020 4 tweets 1 min read
Amazing performance of #Shivsena in Bihar. 😍

Benipur: Shivsena candidate has 469 votes. NOTA has 2145.

Raghopur: Shivsena- 30; NOTA-310

Gaya: Shivsena- 21 votes; NOTA- 79

Madhubani: Shivsena- 63; NOTA-222

Narpatganj: Shivsena- 29; NOTA- 50 Banmankhi: Shivsena-39; NOTA- 579

Kisanganj: Shivsena-49; NOTA- 75

Thakurganj: Shivsena-198; NOTA- 324

Bahadurganj: SS- 383; NOTA- 532

Manihari: SS- 141; NOTA- 672

Best Party to give a tough challenge to NOTA. 🤩
Oct 17, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
તમને ખબર છે કે ભારતીય સ્વતંત્રતા ચળવળ વખતે પણ #ગરબા પ્રખ્યાત હતા?

#નવરાત્રિ દરમિયાન આઝાદીને સંબંધિત ગરબા ગામેગામ ગવાતા અને લોકજાગૃતિનું કામ થતું.

કેટલાકનાં ઉદાહરણ આપું છું. (૧/n) "મા હિમા તે ચલથી ઊતર્યાં મા કાળી રે,
માએ ધાર્યું છે ચંડી રૂપ ભારત મૈયા રે  
માએ દીઠાં ગોરાનાં પાપ મા કાળી  
માને હૈયે થયો સંતાપ ભારત મૈયા રે"

આ ગરબો "મા પાવા તે ગઢથી ઉતર્યાં"ને મળતો આવે છે. (૨/n)
Oct 9, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read
Let’s talk about Ecosystem. I’m putting it straight without mincing words.

What happened in #Hathras case and #Rajasthan priest death case?

- National politicians from the Congress and other parties visited the victim family.
- No national leader of BJP went to Rajasthan. (1/n) What about the compensation?

- Opposition demanded more and gave some compensation in Hathras. Yogi govt gave ₹25 lakh, govt job and flat.

- No serious pressure on the Rajasthan govt by the BJP. Gehlot is keeping mum.

(2/n)
Sep 8, 2020 4 tweets 3 min read
In 1938, Gandhiji had inaugrated Laxminarain Temple, famously known as Birla Temple, in Delhi.

Staunch liberal and secular? 😁 6th point is plainly wrong, wrong and wrong.

Gandhiji quoted Swami Vivekananda too.

"I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold."

Jul 24, 2020 11 tweets 2 min read
Thread on how to deal with Covid-19 if you/your family members get infected:

Totally scientific and rational.

My both parents were covid-19 positive before few days and now they have recovered.

Father had mild symptoms and mother was symptomatic. (1/n) First step is not to get scared if anyone starts developing symptoms.

Quarantine them in a isolated room and give them oximeter along with thermometer.

Second step is keep record of temperature, pulse rate and oxygen level for thrice in a day. Write in notebook. (2/n)
Jun 13, 2020 5 tweets 6 min read
થ્રેડ:- ગુજરાતી સાહિત્યનાં પ્રકાશનાધિકારમુક્ત પુસ્તકોને અમારી ગુજરાતી વિકિસ્ત્રોતની ટીમ (@WikipediaGu) દ્વારા ડિજીટાઈઝ કરવામાં આવે છે.

આવાં ૨૧ પ્રસિધ્ધ પુસ્તકોની લિંક મૂકું છું.

ઝવેરચંદ મેઘાણી
૧. સોરઠી બહારવટિયા ભાગ ૧- w.wiki/Lv2
૨. ભાગ ૨- w.wiki/Lv3 ૩. ભાગ ૩- w.wiki/Lv5
૪. સોરઠ તારાં વહેતાં પાણી- w.wiki/KE9
૫. માણસાઈના દિવા- w.wiki/DV7
૬. સૌરાષ્ટ્રની રસધાર ભાગ ૧- w.wiki/4j9
૭. ભાગ ૨- w.wiki/LaL
૮. ભાગ ૩- w.wiki/LaK
૯. ભાગ ૪- w.wiki/6Fq
Jun 11, 2020 8 tweets 4 min read
THREAD: Heard about "cultural backwardness" of Gujarat throughout the day. Let's share some interesting facts.

When world was facing WWII, there was Gujarati king Maharaja Digvijaysinhji who gave refuge to 300 Polish kids in his palace of Balachadi. (1/n) He treated them well and taught them for free. He hired Christian priest to give religious education.

On the honour of Maharaj, Warsaw, Poland has square namely "Good Maharaja square".

In 2016, Polish parliament passed animous resolution to give respect:poland.pl/history/histor…