Tag: history

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You can destroy by cynicism and disillusion better than by bombs

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Indian born Fareed Zakaria, who claim to be America’s best-known tutor on world events, quotes from Civilisation, the classic 1960s BBC series narrated by Kenneth Clark, an art historian.“It is lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilisation. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.” Kenneth Clark said. Age of Revolutions chronicles ceaseless action and reaction , progress and backlash, that has been endemic to the modern age. Zakaria  dates the birth of the liberal nation state to the 16th-century Netherlands, which is where  his book begins. He ends after … Continue reading You can destroy by cynicism and disillusion better than by bombs

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Death in Victorian Britain

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Acclaimed Historian Judith Flanders  an expert on everyday life in Victorian Britain deconstructs the intricate fascinating reveals the bizarre customs that grew up around death and mourning in Victorian Britain. Stories from sickbed to the deathbed, from the correct way to grieve and to give comfort to those grieving to funeral and burials and the reaction of those left behind, Flanders illuminates how living in nineteenth-century Britain was, in so many ways, dictated by dying. Deeply researched chilling social history of a period plagued by infant death, poverty, disease and unprecedented change. In elegant, often witty prose. Flanders  brings the … Continue reading Death in Victorian Britain

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How British Empire was propped up for financial survival

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Sir John Henry Rivett-Carnac wrote about his company house in his memoirs “ a quite magnificent house on the Ganges at Ghazipur, surrounded by a good garden and fine grounds”. The incentives of this job was the Benares Opium Agency that Sir John headed from 1876. When the poppy  growing season got under way in November, Sir John would embark on a grand regional tour, interspersing inspections of opium farms with shooting expeditions and visits to colourful bazars, despite the poor Indian farmers under his watch, who fed Gizarpur’s opium processing factory who were coerced into cultivating the crop to … Continue reading How British Empire was propped up for financial survival

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Ayodhya Ram Mandir inaugurated

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Thousands of invited guests including top film stars, and cricketers including Amitabh Bachchan and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar attended  the inauguration of a grand temple to Hindu god Ram, his birth spot in Ayodhya, the tranquil pilgrim town on the banks of river Sari, a tributary of the Ganges, by Indian PM Narendra Modi. The temple has been constructed at a cost of £ 170m ($217m), funded from private donations. Mr Modi performed religious rituals Pray Partishtha, “establishment of life force” inside the temple’s sanctum along with priests and Mohan Bhagwat head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) an extremist Hindu … Continue reading Ayodhya Ram Mandir inaugurated

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City of London: Built for Business

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London’s Zenith was the era of Georgian town squares, during 1700-1800, an imperial city which finds itself at the centre of world’s trade, empire, finance and manufacture. Andrew Saint, an architectural historian, conveys the excitement, diversity and richness of London at a time when the city was at the height of its power, uniqueness and attraction. Balancing the social, topographical and the visible aspects of the great city, Andrew Saint uses buildings, architecture, literature and arty as a way into understanding social and historical phenomena. He also focuses volumes on poverty of Victorian London, he provides a broader picture of … Continue reading City of London: Built for Business

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Chitle’s 111th birthday

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Influential Indian BBC radio broadcaster in the UK during World War II public servant, Venu Dattatreye Chitle, also known as Leela Ganesh Share from Kohapur, Maharastra, India, celebrates her 111th Birthday. She was also secretary to George Orwell during the early years of the second world war. She remained an avid activist for Indian independence. She read news and gave recipes in her Marathi her native language, while teaching British listeners vegetarian cooking skills at a time when meat was rationed during the war. Although she maintainer her support for Britain in the second World War in tis fight against … Continue reading Chitle’s 111th birthday