One of my favorite novelists, Frederick Forsyth is no more, his stories with political backdrop, were one of the reasons for me to get interested in geo politics. A brilliant storyteller, whose novels are backed up with solid research.

He started his career as a journo with Reuters in 1961, later with BBC in 1965. His first assignment was covering an attempted assasination of Charles De Gaulle, which would form the background of his first and best novel to date. He would however gain fame for his reporting of the Biafra Civil War in Nigeria( 1967). When he was asked to come back after 6 months into the war, Forsyth quit BBC, covered the conflict as a freelance reporter, which also resulted in his first book The Biafra Story.

In a way his coverage of the Biafran Conflict, would define Forsyth's style of writing, attention to detail, well researched, a fast paced narrative without any distractions, sticking straight to the plot, that made him one of the top writers.

Banda Singh Bahadur is brutally tortured and executed on this date in 1716 by the Mughals for his revolt and refusal to convert to Islam. A true warrior who was a terror to the Mughals.

The great warrior was born as Lachmann Dev on October 1670 in Jammu’s Rajouri region to a Rajput family. It is believed he took to Sanyas, after seeing a pregant doe, he shot, writhing in pain and dying. He met a Sadhu named Janaki Das and became his disciple, adopting the name of Madho Das. After travelling all over the North, he finally settled on the banks of the Godavari near Nanded.

Guru Gobind Singh was dissatisfied with the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah for not punishing the Governor of Sirhind, Nawab Wazir Khan for the murder of his two sons Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh.

Have you heard of a temple with no doors? And which is visited by ISRO Scientists before every launch to seek the blessings of the deity.

Welcome to Chengalamma Parameswari Temple at Sullurpeta, Andhra Pradesh, the Ammavaru here is the Grama Devata of Sriharikota which lies close, as well as the Pulicat Lake nearby.

Sullurpeta located close to the Andhra-Tamil Nadu border, was originally called Subagiri, a small village populated by cowherds. One day when they had taken the cattle to graze, some of them who took a dip in the Kalangi river nearby, found themselves being swept away by the current. They caught hold of an old statue, and managed to come safely ashore.

Around 400 Indian immigrants arrive in Surinam on this date in 1873, on the Lalla Rookh, which had started from Kolkata. This date is marked as Indian Arrival Day in Suriname.

Much like Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, another country with a significant Indian diaspora, though many are now settled in Netherlands.


Suriname the smallest country in South America, is located just north of the Equator, and half of it’s territory is covered by thick rain forests. It’s capital city, is Paramaribo, and the country was inhabited by indigenous natives, which included the Arawaks, Caribs and Wayana.

A Catholic from Mangalore, who represented Muzaffarpur in Bihar 4 times, an anti nuke activist who presided over Pokhran 2, a pacifist who went on to become one of the best Defense Ministers ever.

Jayanti of George Fernandes, one of my favorite political leaders, true maverick, rebel, who had a remarkable life, and spent his last years in isolation, cut off from the world. I was disillusioned, because there was a lot of difference between precept and practice where the Church was concerned.

He was born in Mangalore, to an insurance executive, and sent for training as a Roman Catholic priest when he was just 16. Frustrated with what he saw as double standards and hypocrisy in the Church, he left the seminary.

In my series on Andhra Pradesh, taking a look at Madanapalle and Horsley Hills nearby.

Madanapalle one of the major towns in erstwhile Chittor district is a mix of heritage, history and natural beauty. It’s history is believed to date back to 907 AD, when it was part of the Chola Empire. In fact some of the localities in the town like Sipayi Galli, Kota Goda( Fort wall) have a historical association. This place was ruled by two Palegars of Vijayanagara Empire- Basanna and Madanna, after whom it’s believed to have been named. There are two hills flanking the town, the Basanna Konda and Madanna Konda. As per another theory, the town was originally named as Maryada Ramanna Puram, after the famous judge, which in due course became Madanapalle.

The place was initially under the control of Cholas, Yadavas, Hoysalas from 907-955, later under the Vijayanagara Empire, and was captured by the Golkonda Sultans in 1565. In 1713, the Nawab of Kadapa, Abdul Naqi Khan took this under his control, and finally the British. The Collector Bungalow here was built during time of Sir Thomas Monroe, the first collector of Kadapa.

Telugu land was one of the worst affected by Naxal ideology. 2-3 generations lost, fell behind on economic development while neighboring Tamil Nadu, Karnataka raced ahead. The poison was injected by a whole ecosystem- academics, journalists, writers, poets, movie makers. During the 80s, 90s, even early 2000s it was common to see Naxal posters and pamphlets , in public places openly calling for overthrow of the Indian state, and replacement by a revolutionary state. The Naxal ideologues openly strutted around giving interviews to TV channels.

If the countries were students in a class.

America- Bright, articulate, belongs to richest and most powerful family in the town. Heavily insecure, can't accept other students doing better and uses the back benchers to disturb the performers. Russia- Intelligent, but not very articulate, due to which he gets misunderstood often. Belonged to a powerful family, a strong rival to US, but fell on hard times in between, lost a lot. However managed to come back in recent times. The guy whom many still fear to mess with.

#TodayInHistory The Battle of Mactan was fought on the island of Cebu in Phillipines, where the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by the native chief Lapu- Lapu. Reason why this event is significant, is that it takes a look at the Spanish colonization here.
Thread. The Battle of Mactan, is significant in that it represents a significant challenge to the Spanish colonization and evangelism in The Phillipines, that has not been given due importance in most history books in West predictably.

Today is Jayanti of Ravindra Kaushik, one of the greatest Indian spies, nicknamed the "Black Tiger" by then PM Indira Gandhi, who infiltrated the Pakistan Army, rose to the rank of Major, supplied valuable information, before a botched up communication lead to his arrest. He was born on April 11, 1952 in Sri Ganganagar, a small town in Rajasthan close to the border with Punjab, to JM Kaushik a former IAF officer and Amla Devi. Graduating from the S. D. Bihani P. G. College, Sri Ganganagar, he had already made a name for himself in theater.

G. N. Ramachandran, or GNR as he was known, one of the great Indian scientists of modern era, an equally good Vedic scholar, studied the Upanishads in depth.

Thread on his death anniversary today. One of the biggest advances in the field of molecular biophysics, has been the discovery of the triple hellical structure of collagen, that enabled a better understanding of the peptide structure.

On the eve of #RamaNavami taking a look at the famous Vontimitta Kodandarama temple in Kadapa dt, which hosts the Sitarama Kalyanam in Andhra Pradesh since 2014 during Rama Navami. Kadapa itself gets it's name from Devuni Gadapa, meaning "Threshold of the Lord", the Venkateswara Temple here is considered the gateway to Tirumala, and the deity here was installed by Kripacharya himself. Pilgrims going to Tirumla, would visit this temple first.

Created this Ghibli style images of well known places in Andhra Pradesh. Unfortunately could not create more as there was some limit, so will cover later. Anyway do hope you like these images. Amaravatti Buddha, not the capital city, but the temple town on banks of Krishna river.

Araku Train journey #ghiblistyle #Ghiblistudio

May, 1520

The Battle of Raichur one of Sri Krishnadeva Raya's greatest victories ever, where he delivered a crushing blow to the Bahmani Sultans.

Thread.
One of the main aspects of the Vijayanagara Empire history, was the regular conflicts with the Bahmani rulers, primarily over the Raichur-Tungabhadra Doab region.

Ganapati Deva was the longest reigning monarch, of the Kakatiyas, who bought most of the Telugu speaking regions in Andhra and Telangana, under one kingdom.

Thread. He also had regular battles with the Eastern Gangas for control over Kalinga and Vengi, and supported the Nellore Choda chiefs Tika and Manumasidhi against rival claimants.

If only I have eleven more followers like him I will win freedom in a year.- Mahatma Gandhi.

Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu whose fast unto death led to the formation of a separate Andhra State.

Thread on his Jayanti today. #pottisriramulu Born in a remote hamlet in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh to Guravayya and Mahalakshmamma , in 1901, his parents migrated to Chennai( then Madras), due to the persistent drought conditions there.

One of the greatest Hindu rulers ever, in Indian history, Kapilendra Deva, founder of the Surya Vamsa Gajapati dynasty, who took the empire to it's greatest extent, repelled Muslim invasions of Odisha, patronized arts and culture. Kapilendra Deva came into power following the decline of the Eastern Gangas, and ascended the throne on June 29, 1435 overthrowing the last ruler of the Eastern Gangas Bhanu Deva IV. Also referred to as Kapilendra Routray, he claimed descent from the Surya Vamsha.

The 4 main Telugu castes- Kapu, Kamma, Reddy and Velama were all once Kapus. Basically it was the common name given to the Nayakas in the Kakatiya empire, meaning protector of the land and farms. After the fall of the Kakatiyas they began to divide, forming their own kingdoms. The Reddys were mainly the Panta Kapus, Pakanati Kapus, and Reddy is actually a title indicating the village chief, it has later on become a caste tag. The Recharla Nayakas who ruled over Deverakonda, Rachakonda, became the Velamas.

The fall of the Kakatiyas and destruction of Orugallu was one dark chapter in Indian history. It was during such dark times two men, Prolaya Nayaka and Kapaya Nayaka came forth to unite the disparate Nayakas and throw the Muslim invadaders out of Telugu land.

Thread. After the fall of the Kakatiya kingdom, the Tughlaq army swept throughout Telugu land, as fort after fort fell, Kondavidu, Kolanaveedu, Kondapalli, Nidadavalou, Rajahmundry and Nellore.

Aurangzeb hoped, that #Sambhaji Maharaj's brutal execution would crush the Maratha spirit, however the opposite happened, as it actually spurred them on to resist even more intensely.

This thread takes a look at the events after that.
Sambhaji’s younger brother Rajaram was now the Chhatrpathi, and in March 1690, the Marathas under Santaji Ghorpade, led a furious assault on the Mughals, massacring them en masse.

Most Neo Vaishnava sects projected Krishna as this cool dude, lover boy, playing the flute, dancing around with Gopis.

Not much emphasis on how ruthless he was towards those not on the side of Dharma, read the Bhagavatam and Mahabharata to understand this side of him. During entire Kurukshetra War, whenever Arjun was in doubt, it was Krishna who reminded him of his Dharma.

When Arjun was unable to attack Bhishma, Krishna was furious to the extent he took up the Sudarshan Chakra himself. Only when Arjun reminded him of his vow did he calm.