THE RISE & FALL OF EMPIRES

About: This is the fourth in a concise series of essays from the beginning of our world, from primitive life through civilizations, small Kingdoms, large Empires to the doorstep of our modern world of nations. It’s about memorable stories of conquerors and adventurers who wrote their life in blood and sweat. The tale of Genghis Khan is a fascinating one, so is that of Prithviraj Chauhan; the wealth of Mansa Musa of Africa; the rise of the Ottoman Empire; the grandeur of India’s Vijayanagar Empire; the founder of China’s Ming Dynasty; and last but not least, not an Empire Builder, but a hollowed adventurer called Christopher Columbus. (Image is Canva AI generated. 25 April 2026)

About the year 1175 CE, somewhere in Mongolia, a fatherless boy, abandoned by his tribe in the harsh environment of the Steppes with his mother and six siblings, was out hunting. Clutching a bow in one hand, he was inching his way, on his stomach, towards a deer. He slipped out an arrow with a curious hole in its point and sent it flying. The cunningly designed arrow made a distinctive hiss, causing the deer to look up startled-at exactly the right moment ‘to invite’ the arrowhead through its throat. The boy was fearless, brutal, exceptionally clever, and had a talent for reading others minds (perhaps, animals included). And he learnt most of these skills from his mother, Hoelun, in the grind of hard life in the forest.

Hoelun was an extraordinarily resilient woman of great courage and determination who single-handedly kept the family alive through extreme poverty. They foraged for wild fruits, roots, and plants; hunted small game like marmots, rodents, and fish in the Onon River area; and even scavenged ox carcasses. The boy, Temujin, was born in the year, about 1162 CE, near the Onon River in Khentii province, Mongolia. Eventually he would grow up to be called Genghis Khan, a genius Mongolian warrior-ruler, one of the greatest conquerors known to man, in the history of the world.

When Temujin was 9 years old, in better times, he was betrothed to a 10 year girl called Borte of another tribe, in a political alliance, as was the norm. The actual wedding would be held when they came of age. His father, a Tribal Chief, had made the arrangements, leaving Temujin to stay behind and become friends with the tribe of his future in-laws. On the way back, the father was killed by a rival Tribe, resulting in Temujin, Hoelun, and the siblings landing in the forest.

After about seven years in the wilderness, Temujin set out to reunite with Borte and marry her, by garnering the support of the relatives he could find. However, soon after the Wedding his family was attacked by yet another rival Tribe and they abducted his new wife. Temujin’s organised extraction of Borte, in a daring raid, is one of the key events, which set him on the path to becoming a Conqueror-and a ruthless one at that. He exterminated the Tribe that abducted his wife. And enslaved their women. He then rallied and built alliances to get back his father’s title and was soon elected a Khan of all Mongols, and given the title of Genghis(Universal) Khan (Ruler).

Over the years, Genghis Khan stayed loyal to his first wife Borte, even though he took multiple other wives and had hundreds of concubines over his lifetime. Loyalty then was very different from modern Western monogamous ideals: it was rooted in deep respect, political partnership, emotional bond, and unique elevated status, rather than exclusive sexual fidelity.

Genghis Khan united and consolidated nomadic tribes into a unified Mongolia and then extended his Mongol Empire across Asia and the Adriatic Sea in a brutal and devastating manner. His armies killed about 1.25 million people over two years!

Going in another dimension, Genetic researches say that the genetic material from a single male, around 900 years ago, was shared by one in 200 of all men alive, some 16 million men scattered across Eurasia. And that super-successful progenitor was most likely Genghis Khan. The great invader took women from his vanquished foes wherever he went, never mind his legitimate children and those of his concubines. Genghis Khan died in his early sixties-with eyes set on new victories in China.

His successors spread the Mongol Empire to its farthest extent, taking all of China and Korea and in the West, defeating the Poles and Hungarians, whose army included French, and German too.

While Temujin was still hunting to become Genghis Khan, in India, a young Prince, Prithviraj Chauhan / Rai Pithora, had just begun his rule as a Rajput King with his capital at Ajmer, in present-day Rajasthan. He ascended the throne as a minor in 1177 CE again under a mother’s watch, after his father’s death. Despite his young age, he quickly took control and proved himself a capable ruler and military leader. He expanded his kingdom through campaigns against neighbouring powers and ruled over a territory that included Delhi as a secondary holding, but with his main capital and base at Ajmer. He is called the last Hindu King of Delhi, as his passing paved the way for the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate under Qutb-ud-din Aibak-the first Sultan of Delhi, in the year 1206 CE.

One of the most enduring tales of Prithviraj is, his romance with Samyukta/Sanyogita, the daughter of King Jayachandra, the Gahadavala ruler of Kannauj, in present day Uttar Pradesh. While for Genghis Khan, Borte was a turning point for the better, for Prithviraj, Sanyogita was actually a downfall.

Popular legend says that the two fell in love after seeing each other’s portraits painted by an artist who travelled between the Court Kingdoms. Sanyogita admired Prithviraj’s heroic deeds; and he was captivated by her bewitching beauty. When King Jayachandra organized a Swayamvara – a ceremony where a Princess chooses her husband– and deliberately excluded Prithviraj due to their political rivalry, Sanyogita defied her father. She placed a statue of Prithviraj at the entrance and garlanded it instead. Prithviraj, who had arrived in disguise with his forces, eloped with her on horseback. This act intensified the feud between the Kings contributing to disunity among Rajput kingdoms at a critical time when invaders were knocking at India’s then boundaries. It’s unclear whether this story is fact or fiction, but remains a cherished symbol of love and defiance in Indian folklore.

During Prithviraj’s rule, Muhammad Ghori, a ruler from Afghanistan sought to expand into India, and attacked. Prithviraj led a united Rajput confederacy and decisively defeated the invader. Ghori was injured and forced to flee; the Rajputs pursued, but did not capture him (a huge mistake, in hindsight). This victory gave Prithviraj the badge of a defender against foreign incursions. However, Ghori returned with a larger, better-prepared army, employing superior tactics like feigned retreats and coordinated archery. Prithviraj again rallied allies, but this time could not muster a great alliance, especially that of his father-in-law, King Jayachandra’s. Prithviraj did not ask, nor did King Jayachandra offer his army. If they had indeed, India’s history would have been different. This time the Rajput forces were routed and Prithviraj was captured. Ghori’s victory marked a breaking-point, paving the way for the establishment of Muslim rule in northern India and the eventual rise of the Delhi Sultanate.

Prithviraj was taken to Ajmer, where he was executed in early 1192 CE, at about the age of 25. There is also a story, probably fictional, that Prithviraj was blinded by Ghori as punishment. Chained and humiliated, he demonstrated his mastery of shabd-bhedi baan (shooting arrows by sound alone). With guidance from a Poet, Chand Bardai (who recited verses hinting at Ghori’s position), the blinded king shot and killed Ghori. In reality, Ghori survived until 1206 CE, assassinated later by his own men. Meanwhile, Sanyogita committed Sati (burning in the funeral pyre) as was the custom those days to prevent Queens from becoming sex slaves of the Invaders. Ghori was furious with King Jayachandra, who actually helped him in the second invasion. “Whatever the differences, if this King did not go to the aid of his own son-in-law he should be treated as a Traitor”. And promptly had him beheaded. Indian Kings lacked this killer instinct and using the excuse of ‘war dharma’ and ‘large-heartedness’ they let off their enemies easily.

If you go back into the history of India, despite having fantastic warriors, fighters, heroes, and a great civilization, India was repeatedly invaded only because it failed to stay united and collaborate against an invader. Often, after momentarily joining together to repulse an attack, the Kings would go back to their old ways of infighting.

While Genghis Khan and Prithviraj were using Mom and Wife to build Empires, in faraway Africa, a King, living at the edge of the Sahara Desert, easily inherited power and wealth so much, that he created a never before sensation with this fabulous abundance. Mansa Musa was the ninth Mansa (Emperor or King) of the Mali Empire in West Africa. He ruled from around 1312 to 1337 CE and is said to be one of the wealthiest in history, thanks to Mali’s control over vast gold and salt-trade networks.

Mansa Musa belonged to the Keita dynasty, which roots can be traced to Sundiata Keita, the legendary founder of the Mali Empire in the 13th century. He occupied the throne after the previous ruler disappeared during a large naval expedition to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Musa inherited an already prosperous empire that controlled key trans-Saharan trade routes, rich gold mines, salt deposits, and ivory.

Under his reign, the Mali Empire reached its territorial and economic peak. It stretched across much of West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Mauritania. Musa expanded the empire by conquering or absorbing territories, including the important trading city of Gao, and secured control over northern Saharan outposts like Walata and salt-producing regions like Taghaza.

Mansa Musa’s most memorable and legendary act was his Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca in 1324 CE, undertaken as a devout Muslim in the 17th year of his reign. This journey put Mali on the global map and showcased its unimaginable wealth and riches. Musa travelled with an enormous caravan of about 60,000 people, including 12,000 servants or slaves, many dressed in fine brocade and silk, 500 attendants each carrying a gold staff, and 80–100 camels loaded with hundreds of kilos of gold bars each (possibly totalling up to 18 tons). His senior wife and her entourage added to the splendour. The procession started at Niana-Mali’s then Capital- through Walata, Tagaza, Ain-salah, Ghadames, Aujila, traversing across the Sahara to reach Cairo, Egypt, and then onwards to Medina and finally Mecca -a total of about 6400km. In Cairo, his lavish spending and gifts of gold were so extravagant that they flooded the market, causing the price of gold to drop significantly (by up to 25%) and disrupting the local economy for about a decade afterwards. He built a new mosque every Friday, along the route. The entire journey took nearly two years during which period Musa’s son ruled Mali. He returned to his kingdom through the same route.

Upon his return, Mansa Musa focused on turning Mali into a centre of Islamic learning and culture. He brought scholars, architects, and jurists from Egypt and Spain. He commissioning the construction and rebuilding of grand mosques, most famously the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu. And developed Timbuktu and Gao into major intellectual hubs with universities, libraries, and madrasas that attracted students and scholars from across the Muslim world. He promoting Islamic scholarship and encouraging the study of the Quran and law. Timbuktu became one of Africa’s most renowned centres of learning during the medieval period. His reign is called the Golden Age of the Mali Empire.

Mansa Musa died around 1337 CE. While the empire remained strong for a time, it gradually declined due to succession disputes, weaker leadership, over-reliance on gold trade, and the rise of rival powers, which eventually conquered much of Mali’s territory. By the late 15th–16th centuries, the once-mighty empire had broken significantly.

Mansa Musa’s story shows off the sophistication, wealth, and cultural achievements of medieval West African empires, often overlooked in traditional world history narratives. His Hajj remains one of the most spectacular displays of royal power and piety in recorded history.

Coming back to The Roman Empire, officially called the Western Roman Empire, it collapsed in 476 CE, but there was a spin-off. The Eastern Roman Empire continued, staying alive as The Byzantine Empire. It began in 330 CE when Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great re-founded the ancient Greek city of Byzantium as Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and made it the new capital of the Roman Empire. This shifted the empire’s political and economic centre eastward.

Under emperors like Justinian I (527–565 CE), the empire reached a peak: reconquering parts of the North Africa, and Italy, codifying Roman law (Corpus Juris Civilis), and building the magnificent Hagia Sophia- a Christian Basilica, which remained the world’s largest Church for more than 500 years. The Byzantine Empire lasted for over 1,000 years but faced continuous threats, losing vast territories to Arab Muslim conquests (Syria, Egypt, North Africa) and later to Seljuk Turks, which opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement. Frequent civil wars, economic strain, religious controversies, and reliance on mercenaries weakened the state. The Crusades era particularly, the Fourth Crusade (1204) was catastrophic. The Empire began breaking-up and after 1261 CE, it became a shadow of its former self- reduced to a small territory around the capital Constantinople.

The Crusader Era was a period of religious and military campaigns primarily launched by Latin Catholics against Muslim-controlled territories in the Holy Land (modern-day Israel, Palestine, and surrounding regions), as well as other areas. Ottoman Turks steadily conquered remaining lands. The empire’s end came in May 1453, when Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople after a famous siege. The Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque.

The fall of Constantinople is traditionally seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the last remnant of the ancient Roman world. The Byzantines preserved classical Greek and Roman knowledge, developed Orthodox Christianity, influenced Slavic cultures (especially Russia), and acted as a buffer between Europe and Islamic powers for centuries.

Meanwhile, thanks to the opening provided by the Byzantine Empire, in northwestern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) a Turkish Muslim nomad warrior, tired of the nomadic life, wanted a permanent homeland and a more settled life for his people. Ertugrul Gazi a leader of the Kayı tribe of Oghuz Turks was fired-up to achieve this, diving deep into his Muslim faith for guidance. Surrounded by the Mongols to the east and the Crusaders and Byzantines to the west; like other Turkish tribes, Ertrugrul’s tribe too was pushed west by the Mongols. He fought valiantly to settle his followers in the frontier town of Sogut, under the declining Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. And also as a ghazi (raider) against Byzantine forces, establishing a small Beylik (principality), about 1299 to 1326, that served as the foundation for his son Osman, who is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, around 1299 CE.

An immensely popular Turkish TV Serial, Dirilis: Ertugrul (Resurrection: Ertugrul), a Turkish historical drama television series inspired by the life of Ertugrul, the father of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, tells us the early Ottoman story.

Under Osman and his early successors (Orhan, Murad I, and Bayezid I), the Ottomans expanded rapidly through raids, alliances, and conquests. They crossed into Europe in the 1350s, captured key Balkan territories, and built a centralized state with a professional army. By the early 15th century, they controlled much of Anatolia and the Balkans. A pivotal moment came in 1453, when the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II (the Conqueror) the Ottoman Turks besieged and captured Constantinople after a 53-day siege. This ended the Byzantine Empire, and Mehmed made Constantinople-renamed as Istanbul- his capital, transforming the Ottoman Empire into a major imperial power bridging Europe and Asia.

The story of the siege and capture of the until-then-impregnable Constantinople in 1453, is legendary for its engineering ingenuity and audacity. Mehmed II faced a major obstacle: a massive iron chain stretched across the entrance to the Golden Horn, blocking his fleet from entering the city’s sheltered harbour and cutting off supply lines. To bypass it, Mehmed ordered the construction of a greased wooden log road over the hilly land of Galata-north of the Golden Horn. On the night before the assault his forces dragged roughly 60–70 lighter warships overland rolling them on the logs with the help of oxen and hundreds of men. The ships were then relaunched into the Golden Horn behind the chain. This outrageous manoeuvre surprised the defenders, allowed the Ottomans to attack the city from the north, disrupted Venetian aid, and greatly enabled the Ottomans to capture Constantinople.

Mehmed II also used a revolutionary artillery force during the siege, marking one of the first major uses of large-scale gunpowder cannons in siege warfare. The most famous was the Basilic, also called Orban’s Cannon- about 8.2 metres long and weighting 19 tons- a gigantic bronze bombard cast by the Hungarian engineer Orban. Mehmed funded it after Orban’s offer was rejected by the Byzantines due to the high cost. The city’s formidable Theodosian Walls (built during the reign of Emperor Theodosius in the 5th Century)-a triple-layered system of moats, outer walls, inner walls, and towers-had repelled invaders for over a millennium. However, Mehmed’s forces breached them through a combination of revolutionary artillery, sustained bombardment, engineering efforts, and a final coordinated assault.

The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in the 16th century under Suleyman the Magnificent, about 1520 to 1566 CE, who expanded it to encompass the Balkans, Hungary, the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Arabia, and Egypt), North Africa, and parts of the Caucasus. Sultans claimed the title of Caliph, positioning the Ottomans as protectors of Sunni Islam. It was a multicultural, multi-ethnic state with advanced administration, law, and culture.

Decline set in gradually after the late 16th–17th centuries due to costly wars, inflation, corruption, military stagnation, and failure to keep pace with European technological and economic advances. The 18th–19th centuries saw further retreats, nationalist revolts in the Balkans and internal reform attempts and the Young Turk Revolution (1908), which modernized, but could not fully reverse weakening. By the early 20th century, the Empire-called the ‘Sick Man of Europe’-had lost most European and African territories. It entered World War I (1914–1918) on the side of the Central Powers, allying with Germany. Defeat led to occupation of parts of Anatolia, and the partitioning of remaining Arab provinces. The Sultanate was abolished in 1922, and the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed in 1923 under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, marking the Empire’s formal end, after over 600 years.

The Ottomans rose from a small frontier beylik under Ertugrul and Osman, became a world power with the conquest of Constantinople, peaked as a vast Islamic empire, and slowly declined due to internal issues and external pressures before collapsing in the aftermath of World War I.

Riding back to India, the Vijayanagar Empire, a major Hindu kingdom in southern India flourished from 1336 to 1646, serving as a bulwark against northern invasions and becoming a centre of economic prosperity, art, and architecture. Its capital at Hampi is now a UNESCO site.

Brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, of the Sangama dynasty, founded the Vijayanagar Empire in 1336 on the banks of the Tungabhadra River. They had served under the Kakatiya and Hoysala kingdoms before declaring independence amid the decline of the Delhi Sultanate’s influence in the Deccan. The empire emerged to resist Muslim incursions from the north and consolidate Hindu power in the south. It gradually expanded by absorbing territories of other dynasties and controlling regions from the Krishna River in the north to the southern tip of peninsula India. The empire reached its zenith under Krishnadevaraya (1509–1529). His reign brought military victories against the Deccan Sultanates, the Gajapati kingdom of Odisha, and others, extending influence across much of southern India. This era saw booming overseas trade, growth of agricultural wealth, monumental temple construction, literature, and cultural patronage, making Vijayanagara one of India’s most powerful and prosperous kingdoms.

After Krishnadevaraya, his successors failed to keep the momentum, and ultimately succumbed to a combined Deccan forces onslaught of rival Muslim kingdoms of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, and Bidar. The victors then sacked and razed the magnificent capital of Hampi over several months, looting its wealth and destroying temples and palaces. Thereafter, the Empire never fully recovered. Though it lingered until around 1646 CE. It suffered from internal rebellions by Nayaka (Governor) chieftains, loss of territory, decentralization, and further conflicts.

By the early 17th century, successor states like the Nayakas of Madurai and Tanjore, and the rising Mysore kingdom, filled the power vacuum in the south. In short, the empire rose as a defender of southern Hindu polity and peaked through strong leadership and commerce, but fell due to a catastrophic military defeat enabled by overreach and unified opposition, followed by irreversible fragmentation.

To conclude this essay, over to China’s Ming Dynasty, and then Columbus.

The Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, in the mid-14th century. Born into a poor peasant family in Anhui Province during the declining Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty he faced famine, epidemics, and the death of most of his family by age 16. He worked as a cowherd, became a novice monk at a Buddhist monastery, and survived by begging as a wandering mendicant.

In 1352 CE, after Yuan forces burned his monastery suspecting rebel ties, Zhu joined the Red Turban Rebellion-a widespread anti-Yuan uprising. Despite starting as a low-ranking soldier and being physically unremarkable, he demonstrated exceptional military skill, leadership, intelligence, and decisiveness. He quickly rose through the ranks, gained command of his own forces, attracted loyal followers-many of whom became Ming Generals-and married the adopted daughter of a key rebel leader.

By his late 20s, Zhu emerged as a major warlord. He captured key cities like Nanjing in 1356, which became his base. He built a disciplined army, implemented land reforms and administration in controlled territories, and outmanoeuvred rival rebel factions. After capturing key territories and defeating the Mongols, he proclaimed himself Emperor in 1368, and later came to be known as the Hongwu Emperor. He established his capital at Nanjing. The dynasty lasted until 1644 and ended amid a combination of internal and external pressures in its later decades The Ming era is remembered for cultural achievements like porcelain, literature, and naval expeditions.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s extraordinary ascent-from illiterate orphan and beggar to emperor-exemplified the chaos of the late Yuan era in China, and his own ruthless ambition, strategic brilliance, and ability to rally support.

After ruling for about 30 years Zhu died in 1398. Meanwhile, is another part of the world one of the most famous explorers of our time was navigating the high seas and gave the opening for discovering a New World on 12 October 1492. Christopher Columbus-an Italian Adventurer sponsored by Spain’s Royals, Isabella and Ferdinand- and his crew on the ships, Santa Maria, Pinta, and Nina, made landfall in the Bahamas Islands at a place called Guanahani, which Columbus renamed San Salvador. He believed he had reached the East Indies (Asia), so he called the native people ‘Indians’-a term that stuck for centuries. And then to sailed to what is now Cuba, again thinking it was India. Columbus made four voyages to the Caribbean and South/Central America between 1492 and 1504, but he never set foot on the North American mainland -not even Florida, which was discovered by others.

No single person ‘discovered’ the American continents, which had been home to Indigenous peoples for at least 15,000–20,000 years, with ancestors migrating from Asia via the Bering land bridge, and possibly other routes.

The date 12 October 1492 is celebrated in many countries as Columbus Day, or Indigenous Peoples Day, in some places.

This is the end of a series of Essays beginning from Singularity, to Columbus’s discovery of (the way to) America. There are so many hard lessons we can learn from history.

THE GROWTH OF CIVILIZATIONS

About: This is the third in a concise series of essays from the beginnings of our world, the Milky Way Galaxy in the Universe, and in it our Planet Earth. I started from Singularity banged into the Big Bang, gave life to the formation of life and the evolution of living beings, and breathed-in and out- to the arrival of the human species, among other flora and fauna-Dinosaurs included. Then I climbed the rise of ancient human civilisations, of religion, and the kind.

In this essay I battle it out from the early Roman Empire taking you to the threshold of Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire-the largest contiguous empire in our history.

We left off at the foundation of the early Roman Empire in 625 BCE and arrived at the gates of the Imperial Roman Empire. So often, in the Empires of the world, there is an ‘early one’ and then a greater ‘Imperial one’.If you want to go back to the early stories you can do so at the following link.

https://kumargovindan.com/2026/03/07/the-dawn-ascent-of-civilizations/

Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE. He came up to the River Indus on India’s western boundary, defeated a mighty Indian King called Porus, termed the ‘religious way of life’ practiced by people on the other side of the Indus as ‘Hindu’, and left. Impressed by King Porus’s exceptional warrior skills, amazing courage, and nobility, Alexander made him an Ally and returned to him, his kingdom. Shortly after, his army, tired to the bone, by years of relentless war, refused to move farther into India’s Gangetic Plains and withdrew from northwestern India, creating a power vacuum in the region.

In many ways Alexander cleared the path for the Roman Empire, and many Kingdoms that followed. And also the immense history that branched from him.

About the time, 551 to 479 BCE, Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and political thinker, considered the paragon of Chinese Sages, was beginning to impact life in China. He outlined the ethical and social philosophy that became the foundational ‘civil religion’ for Chinese society and that would shape Chinese life and culture for the next 2,000 years. Confucius believed that society functions best when everyone fulfils their roles with virtue, creating harmony between individuals, families, government, and even Heaven. Chaos arises when people neglect moral duties or act selfishly. Confucianism is not an organised religion, but its principles are deeply interwoven with Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions. Confucius’s teachings rarely relied on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals were conveyed through allusion, innuendo, and even tautology.

The vacuum in northwestern India, left by the exit of Alexander was quickly filled by an ambitious Chandragupta Maurya, who born in a warrior clan of humble origins, and guided by a brilliant strategist, Chanakya, rose rapidly. He overthrew the hugely unpopular and brutal Nanda dynasty in Magadha (present day Bihar) and established the Mauryan Dynasty and Empire. He then went on to defeat the last remaining Greek General, Seleucus, married his daughter, and secured the western border, while rapidly expanding and transforming fragmented post-Alexander northern India into India’s first major unified Empire.

Chandragupta was influenced by Jainism and in later years abdicated his throne and became an ascetic. He died by fasting unto death at Sharavanabelagola (present day Karnataka), dejected by the tragic conditions prevailing during a 12 year famine in his Kingdom. His son Bindusara expanded deep into India’s Deccan region. And Bindusara’s son, Ashoka, who later became Ashoka the Great, consolidated and expanded East into Kalinga (India’s modern-day Odisha). Now, a quick leap of faith to Jainism.

Jainism has no single historical founder, and is viewed as beginning-less and endless: an eternal dharma/truth, reality that is periodically rediscovered and taught by a succession of enlightened beings called Tirthankaras (teaching Gods)- 24 of them. The first was Rishabhanatha, traditionally credited with establishing civilized society and the core principles of Jainism, in the remote past. The 24th and last was Mahavira, 599–527 BCE, a contemporary of Buddha. Mahavira systematised earlier doctrines, added emphasis on a fifth vow of Brahmacharya (celibacy), in addition to, Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfullness), Asteya (not-stealing), and Aparigraha (no possessions), organized the monastic community more clearly, and spread the teachings widely-making him the figure most people in the modern world associate with Jainism. Jains plainly regard him as a reformer and propagator. All Tirthankaras teach the same eternal truth; none invented the religion. Jainism does not believe in a creator God; and that the Universe functions on its own eternal laws. God is a realised human who has become a perfected soul.

Returning to the Mauryan Kingdom, Ashoka the Great, ruled from 268 to 232 BCE, and made the remarkable transformation from a conqueror to a promoter of peace and moral governance. After the bloody conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka is said to have experienced deep remorse and ‘converted to Buddhism’. However, Ashoka was already a follower of Buddhism before the Kalinga War, but the war marked a major turning point in deepening his commitment to Buddhist principles.

Ashoka renounced offensive warfare and introduced his policy of dharma—a code of moral conduct emphasising non-violence, tolerance, compassion, truthfulness, respect for all life. He built rock and pillar edicts across the Empire to promote his policies. He pioneered stone architecture in India with iconic pillars, like the Lion Capital of Sarnath-now India’s National Emblem- and other notable monuments that survive to this day. The four lions of India’s National Emblem face the four cardinal directions, symbolising power, courage, and the spread of Dharma.

Meanwhile, in Southern India, it was the beginning of the Sangam (assemblies of Tamil poets and scholars patronised by kings) Era, which started about 300 BCE (and went on up to 300 AD – total of 600 years). This is called the Golden age of Southern India marked by a flourishing Tamil culture, vibrant maritimer trade with the Rome and China, among others, and the rule of three dynasty Kingdoms: Cheras-Westen Coast/Kerala, Cholas-River Kaveri Delta, and Pandyas-Madurai, Southern India. The era is defined by Sangam literature, classified as Melkannaku (narrative) and Kilkanakku (didactic) works. Tolkappiyam, one for the 5 great Tamil Epics was written during this time. It also established the first rules of Tamil grammar and provided insights into the then social and political conditions.

Returning to the Roman Republic, it is about 50 BCE, and the mighty General and Statesman, Julius Caesar, hailing from a patrician family, rose through a combination of brilliant military success’s, political manoeuvring, and alliances to greatly expand Roman territory, gaining immense wealth, and building a loyal veteran army. The famous line, Veni, Vidi, Vinci – I came, I saw, I conquered– attributed to Julius Caesar, dramatically announces his arrival on the scene. Caesar was appointed and named dictator for life giving, him supreme, indefinite power by the Senate.

The Senate was created by Romulus, the first King of Rome, to advise the King on affairs of the Kingdom. The first 100 men appointed senators by Romulus are referred to as ‘fathers’ and the descendants of these men became the patrician class. Over time the Senate became the highest assembly of Ancient Rome constituting its aristocracy, and stayed that way up to the end of the Roman Empire.

Caesar had named his grandnephew and adopted son, Octavius, as his heir. Octavius defeated all of Caesar’s assassins-mainly Brutus and Mark Anthony (and, of course, the Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra) and consolidated power. The Senate granted him the honorific title Augustus (the revered one), which is the start of his rule as Rome’s first Emperor. The period of the Roman Empire from 27 BCE, marked the start of the Principate and the Pax Romana, through roughly the 6th century CE and encompasses a fascinating era of large-scale empires and civilizations across Eurasia.

On his part, Caesar introduced the Julian calendar, expanded citizenship, restructured provinces, initiated public works, and centralized authority-changes that laid the groundwork for imperial governance.The Julian Calendar is a solar-based calendar with a 365-day year, adding a leap day every four years. It was a major reform of the old Roman system, setting 12 months with a 365.25-day average year. It was largely replaced by the Gregorian Calendar in the year 1582, due to a minor drift in the number of days.

Fearing that Julius Caesar would plant himself as a Monarch and destroy established Roman traditions, a group of Senators colluded to assassinate him in the Senate House, on the Ides of March -15 March 44BCE. He was stabbed 22 times and is said to have uttered the iconic, “Et tu, Brute?” (“You too, Brutus?”) upon seeing his close friend Brutus among the conspirators-though this is likely from Shakespeare’s play rather than historical fact. The conspirators claimed they were defending the Republic, but the assassination plunged Rome into chaos.

The history of Roman is incomplete without the story of The Catilinarian Conspiracy in 63 BCE, which happened under the Consuls, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius Hybrida. During this time Julius Caesar was just beginning to rise through the ranks.

Lucius Sergius Catilina-Catiline-a Roman patrician politician and soldier was the central figure in one of the most dramatic failed coups of the Roman Republic. Catiline is also singled out as ‘one of the most interesting possibilities in the history of the world’ viewed not just as a failed traitor but as a charismatic, high-stakes gambler who embodied the raw potential of a different path for Rome-and, by extension, for Western civilization. Catiline fascinates because he stood at the crossroads of the Republic’s death throes. He was a talented, ambitious aristocrat who chose open rebellion against the system that denied him the status he believed was his birthright. His failure helped preserve the Republic for a few more decades-but it also highlighted the fractures that would soon destroy it. That tension between personal ambition, social unrest, and constitutional breakdown makes him not merely a footnote in Roman history, but one of its most tantalizing ‘roads not taken’. In the end, Catiline was killed in war, trying to overthrow the Republic.

Now, to the Common Era-CE-(or AD-Anno Domini, in the year of the Lord, Jesus). Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, was born around 6 to 4 BCE in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth, Galilee. He was a Jewish teacher and a religious leader considered to be the Son of God, who taught a message of love, forgiveness, repentance, and the coming of the Kingdom of God, performing miracles and gathering disciples in Roman-occupied Judea. Jesus was crucified in CE 30 or 33 in Jerusalem under the Roman Empire’s Governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Jesus is said to have risen from the dead, forming the foundation of Christianity as the Son of God and Saviour.

The Romans themselves practiced a polytheistic religion simply called ‘Roman Religion’, worshipping many Gods and Goddesses heavily influenced by Greek mythology.

Jesus taught in a direct, often parabolic style- using stories, metaphors, analogies, focusing on the heart, love, and the Kingdom of God rather than complex rules. Some of the best are: Love your neighbour as yourself; do to others as you would have them do to you; forgive others just as God forgives you, be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful, judge not, and you will not be judged; the greatest in the Kingdom is the servant of all, be humble like a child; the World belongs to the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and those who hunger for righteousness; have childlike faith and trust in God as a loving Father; do not worry about tomorrow.

Jesus often used parables about lost sheep, prodigal sons, good Samaritans, and hidden treasures to show that God’s love is for everyone-especially the outsiders, sinners, and marginalized — and that true life springs from a personal relationship with God rather than religious performance.

While Jesus was spreading his message of love, we return to the Sangam period of South India. In about the 1st century CE, a Chola King, Karikala Chola won a famous battle defeating a confederacy of the Cheras, Pandyas, and other chiefs, marking the rise of the Early Chola Empire (Another Chola Empire called the Imperial Cholas would rise in 848 CE). He is the greatest early Chola King. He built the engineering marvel, the Kallanai (Grand Anicut) Dam, an ancient dam across the Kaveri River near Tiruchirappalli. This structure, still functional after 2,000 years, regulated floods, prevented droughts, and boosted agriculture in the delta-one of the world’s oldest functional water-regulating structures. The dam is constructed from rough stones, cleverly placed to withstand the river’s flow without the use of binding modern-day cement. The design was a simple, yet ingenious check dam that runs parallel to the riverbank, diverting water rather than storing massive amounts like modern reservoirs.

Karikala Chola enhanced trade, irrigation networks, and prosperity. Poems like Pattinappalai glorify his rule, his port city, and his generosity to poets. The early capitals were Uraiyur or Tiruchirapalli and Kaveripattinam.

About this period, also in the 1st century CE, Kaundinya, a legendary Indian mariner, regarded as one of the earliest Indian sailors, undertook a long-distance sea voyage across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia, sailing from present day Odisha.

Kaundinya was probably a merchant seeking opportunities in the lucrative maritime networks of the time. He cleverly used the monsoon winds to cross the Bay of Bengal, carrying goods like textiles and jewellery. Upon reaching the Mekong Delta,Vietnam, he was attacked by pirates and local forces led by a formidable warrior princess, Soma, a member of the indigenous Naga clan. Kaundinya fought back successfully and fended off the attackers. But his ship was breached and had to be grounded for repairs. Rather than escalating into prolonged conflict, the encounter turned into one of mutual respect and admiration. Soma, impressed by Kaundinya’s prowess and wisdom, proposed marriage. He accepted, and their union symbolized a cultural and political alliance. Kaundinya became her consort, and together they co-founded the ancient Kingdom of Funan, with its early capital at Vyadhapura (in present day Cambodia). The dynasty drew inspiration from Indian models of governance, law, and brahmanical traditions, marking the beginning of significant Indian cultural influence in the region-through trade, Hinduism, and administrative practices-while blending with local customs. Kaundinya was the first Indian mariner to have made such a impactful transoceanic journey and left a lasting historical footprint. Funan became a prosperous trading hub, facilitating the exchange of goods, ideas, and religions between India, China, and beyond.

Recently, Kaundinya’s legacy was revived in India through the INSV Kaundinya, a modern Indian Navy sailing vessel built using ancient ‘stitched-plank’ techniques (inspired by Ajanta cave paintings) and inducted in 2025. It honoured Kaundinya as a symbol of India’s forgotten seafaring heritage, with a voyage retracing ancient Indian Ocean routes. It highlighted him as a pivotal figure who demonstrated India’s early maritime capabilities at a time when long sea voyages were rare and often viewed with caution.

While Kaundinya was settling down into a happy married life, the Roman Empire was under decline, on its last wobbly legs. And in India, about 380 CE, a new Empire was rising, with the establishment of the Gupta Dynasty under Chandragupta II. The Gupta Era is known as a the ‘Golden Age’ of ancient India for advancements in mathematics, astronomy, literature, and art.

Chandragupta II, also known as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, 375–415 CE, was the greatest emperor of the Gupta Empire. He was the son of Samudragupta, who vastly expanded the Gupta Kingdom founded by his father Chandragupta I. Samudragupta is often called the ‘Napoleon of India’ -due his military strategies-and remained undefeated in battle, until the end of his reign. Chandragupta Vikramaditya built upon his father’s successful military campaigns and expanded the empire significantly defeating the Western Kshatrapas (Shakas) in Gujarat and Malwa, which brought vast wealth and access to western trade routes. His reign marked the peak of Gupta prosperity, with flourishing art, literature, science, and culture.

Kalidasa, who was a poet in the Gupta Court wrote the epic Sakuntala. He is often regarded as the greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist of classical India- also called the ‘Shakespeare of India’. The play tells the romantic story of King Dushyanta and Sakuntala and explores themes of love, separation, and reunion. Their son, Bharata, becomes the legendary ancestor of the Bharata dynasty (after whom India is named). Mathematician Aryabhata lived in the period. Zero was invented. The ancient Gupta text Kamasutra by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana is widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behaviour in Sanskrit literature. Nalanda University was established. Chess was developed during this time. The outstanding paintings in the Ajanta and Ellora caves came into being, and it was a period of revival of Hinduism and tolerance of Jainism and Buddhism.

The Roman Empire collapsed in 476 CE. And about a century later, a new religion came into being, ‘invented’ by Mahomet, in the manner an adventurer, say Columbus, discovered a new continent, say America. Mahomet, later becoming Prophet Muhammad, laid the foundation of Islam in 610 CE. He took off from the Kaaba- the cubic building, often called the ‘Cubic Temple’- in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which today remains the central shrine of Islam. It houses a reddish-Black Stone, semi-circular, six inches high, eight broad (said to have fallen from a meteor, from the sky) Hobal, a prominent pre-Islamic Arabian deity, among roughly 360 pagan images housed in or around the Kaaba, before Islam. It included another Idol, Al-Lat, or Al-Lah or was probably another name for Hobal. A few feet from the Cube was the well, Zem-Zem, rediscovered by Mohamet’s grandfather. This well with its brackish and luke-warm water is said to have been first discovered by Hagar, Abraham’s maid servant who gave birth to his son Ishmael (Ismail) and had to flee the wrath of his wife Sarah.

According to the Bible, Abraham (known as Ibrahim in Islam) is widely regraded as foundational patriarch of both Judaism (Jews) and Islam, as well as a key figure in Christianity. He is the central ancestral and spiritual figure linking the three major Abrahamic religions. Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob inherited the land of Canaan(modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan). Jews traditionally trace their lineage and national identity directly to Abraham as the founder of the Jewish people. He is often called ‘Avraham Avinu’ (Abraham our father) in Jewish tradition. Muslims trace the Arab people and, by extension, the Prophet Muhammad’s lineage through Abraham’s firstborn son Ismail. Islamic tradition holds that Abraham and Ismail rebuilt or founded the Kaaba in Mecca as a house of worship.

When Prophet Muhammad-after establishing Islam- along with his followers, conquered Mecca in 630 CE, he ordered the removal and destruction of all idols and images from the Kaaba, rededicating the structure to the worship of the one God (Allah) alone. No pre-Islamic idols, including Hobal, remain inside or associated with the Kaaba today. The site is under Saudi Arabian management and continues to host millions of pilgrims annually. The Kaaba has been rebuilt and renovated many times over history (due to floods, wars, etc.), but its core role and the Black Stone’s placement remain unchanged in Islamic practice.

Prophet Muhammad’s companions wrote and compiled the Koran-consisting of about 114 Suras (Chapters) based on oral revelations to him by Allah, through the Angel Gabriel. When Mohamet was 25 years old he accepted a marriage proposal from a rich widow, Khadija, 40 years old, who helped him with the revelations. Previously he had worked for her as a driver in a caravan expedition. These revelations occurred over about 23 years. Muhammad, who was illiterate, recited the revelations to his companions, who memorized and wrote them down on materials like palm leaves, bones, and parchment. After Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, the revelations were compiled into a single book- the Koran-under the first Islamic Caliph, Abu Bakr.

Prophet Muhammad first launched Islam in Mecca, where he faced stubborn resistance and persecution and had to migrate to Medina (the Hijra). Later he returned to conquer Mecca. The original intent was to get back business to his home town as the rich caravan cities had fallen into abandonment and ruin. The people at that time lived off the transcontinental road traffic: lodging, feeding and robbing travellers. But then, the change Muhammad imposed upon the world through Islam outstrips that of many Adventurers, Explorers, Kings, Emperors in history, and shows the difference a single man can make. And one of the biggest Empires to rise with Islam at the core was the Ottoman Empire.

Returning to India, the Cholas under Vijayalaya Chola, a descendant of Karikala Chola- of the Early Cholas- rose again from obscurity to run a memorable second innings of the Chola Dynasty. He exploited the intense rivalry and frequent wars between the Pallavas and Pandyas, which weakened both major powers, creating a power vacuum in the fertile Kaveri delta region. Vijayalaya quickly filled it, when around 848–850 CE with a well-organized military force he captured Thanjavur and then there was no looking back. His son Aditya Chola I, who succeeded him expanded further laying the foundation of the Imperial Chola Empire. After Aditya’s death, his son Parantaka took over and ruled for about 48 years. He was one of the most powerful early Imperial Cholas. He comprehensively defeated the Pandyas and earned the title ‘Maduraikonda’ (Conqueror of Madurai).

And after a brief period of weak Chola Rulers, emerged Arulmozhivarman who later became Rajaraja Chola I (985–1014 CE)- the real Architect of the Empire and the greatest ruler of the early Imperial phase. He consolidated and vastly expanded the Chola Empire conquering the entire Pandya and Chera kingdoms. He also defeated the Sinhalese King Mahinda V and occupied northern Sri Lanka. He launched successful naval expeditions to the Maldives.

The Cholas were followers of Hinduism, specifically the Shaivite (Shiva-worshipping) tradition. They were great patrons of Shaivism, building magnificent temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. Rajaraja Chola built the iconic Brihadeeswara Temple at Thanjavur-now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and architectural marvel. He took the title Rajaraja (King of Kings).

His son Rajendra Chola I (1014–1044 CE), an equally powerful Chola emperor, continued and even surpassed his father’s achievements. He completed the conquest of Sri Lanka-annexing the entire island; launched a massive naval expedition against the Srivijaya Empire (present-day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sumatra); defeated several Southeast Asian kingdoms and secured trade routes. He Conquered Kalinga, and parts of Bengal in the north and reached the Ganges River- earning the title ‘Gangaikonda’ (Conqueror of the Ganges). He founded a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram and built the magnificent Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple (another Brihadeeswara style temple) in present day Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu. His reign marked the peak territorial extent of the Chola Empire: from the Ganges in the north to Sri Lanka in the south, and with influence across the Indian Ocean.

One of the last Cholas, Rajaraja II generally ruled in peace up to CE 1173. In total, the Cholas ruled for about 400 glorious years.

For more angles on the Great Cholas read:

https://kumargovindan.com/2025/08/13/freewheeling-9/

In my next adventure, I take you through Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire, India’s Prithviraj Chauhan and the rumblings of the invasion of India. And the great Ottoman Empire, ending this series of essays.

THE SCENT OF A WOMAN

About: I wrote this a long time ago, when living in Mumbai, in 2005. A time when I devoured The Times of India newspaper, from the first to the last page, and even engaged with it, writing letters to the Editor. It also happened that they published one of my letters on how to improve Mumbai, as the best of the day.

Disclaimer: this is a cheeky, frothy, light-hearted story of the times gone by, and any unmindful reference to a living or dead person is unintentional.

The Sunday morning newspaper of The Times of India, cleverly revealing the scents that attract a man to a woman, got me thinking, and ‘shook and stirred’ my own sexual past!

I was born, the only son, to rural parents and packed-off to a Boys-Only Boarding School in the mist enveloped mesmerising Hill Station of Yercaud, in Southern India. I passed through School without much of the scent of a woman-beyond straining every muscle and eye, to see the skirt-clad girls of the neighbouring Girls-Only Boarding School, while they walked-past, guarded by Holy Sisters of the Faith. Many of my friends, at that time, were awfully daring and adventurous, clearing boundary walls, hiding in bushes, and striking at bathroom windows to catch a glimpse of, let’s say, loved ones! And if you had a sister at the Girls-Only School you had visiting rights on Sundays, and the boys made the best use of them. Talk of ‘hitting’ many birds with one stone!

I landed in a City Engineering College; without adding many clothes or losing them, to this department! However, I found my inward eye often traveling back to Boarding School, to Class VI and dwelling on my beautiful Anglo-Indian Class Teacher! The moon-shaped face, with oval eyes, let loose waist length hair, above-knee length skirt struggling to keep hidden secrets against a well-toned white skin, all appeared crystal clear, as if I had seen them just yesterday. This despite the layers of dust years! Yes, I’m sure I could smell the very dreamy feminine soft perfume she used to wear. Amazing! My heart almost broke, when near completion of Class VI, she produced her would-be-husband, who she intended to marry in the coming months. And quit teaching at Boarding School. She asked us boys to recite a poem for him; and I literally poured my heart out! Those were the days!

In College, I picked up the courage (after many eye-shattering look-aways) to look a woman in the eye and make sweet conversation. She was a friend’s girlfriend, and within my circle of friends we lovingly called her ‘supertanker’ for the ‘super assets’ she possessed. I realised I could light up their faces with witty, Actor Rajinikant-like punch lines. However, I did not explore the ‘valleys of the South nor the mountains of the North, or the deserts in-between and beyond. I never drew my gun to fire; and my adventures were limited to teasing a charming smile out of the fairer sex.

I tested and polished this newly discovered skill on a beautiful girl who was a Miss Salem runner-up. She was a cousin, and we became good F R I E N D S. We used to exchange wonderful letters – I still treasure them, much like Nehru’s letters to Indira; and whenever we got to meet, we could talk for never-ending hours, into the twilight, on everything under the sun. It was an environment-friendly endearing relationship as I was often carefully reminded, by the family, mind-it she is a (cousin) sister. With not much scope for ‘greater things’ we kept it that way, and she will always remain the first woman I ever got to know beyond Mom. By this time, I had become a wordsmith, having written a ton of letters, and learned the secrets, and associated benefits of having a sister.

I graduated from the City College and started my first job in the sequestered Township of Neyveli, South India. Old habits die-hard, and the mystery of women still captivated me. Meanwhile, I became a something of a steam turbine expert-being an Engineer-and thoroughly explored my job. Once a curious -a long-haired black beauty she was-woman colleague of mine working in the ‘Electricity Department happened to pass by, while I was ogling at the naked Turbine – armoured casings stripped out, while assembling. I grabbed the opportunity, struck a conversation and explained the steam of workings-losing sense of time for over an hour, prompted by my ‘wit valves’.

People noticed the black interest and made a connection. On a cold December month, peer pressure and vain valour made me send her a Christmas Greeting from far away Haridwar, where I was posted on Steam Turbine Inspection Duty. She received it-showed no visible signs of moving ahead (damn Santa, he failed me!), and the following year, married someone else, and left the turbine neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, I married an extremely beautiful woman who wore the name of one of the five famous Tamil Epics, but the hair was not long enough to meet my dream expectations. It was now the time for real action on the ground, some experimentation and producing results, which I successfully did-one son was the output!

A job assignment took me to the beach-littered Island of Puerto Rico. I settled down as a married bachelor in Guayama, where I was commissioned to start-up a steam turbine. The Puerto Rican girls greet you with a kiss on the cheek; I had to wipe off the lipstick many a time, but was modest enough to teach them the ‘touch-free namaste’. I later regretted that, as the kisses came down to a trickle! Most of the Americans who were on the same assignment ‘picked-up’ someone local, while the home fires burnt bright in yonder United States. I was the odd-guy out, preferring to keep locals at a distance. The girls in Puerto Rico quit their homes on the weekends to be with their boyfriends, while the boys bring their girlfriends in!

The Puerto Rican girls were awfully breath-taking! I had severe eye burn; did not know where and when to park my eyes, during the first week of my stay, but grew familiar with the skin show. I dug deep into my woman skills and tried to create my own Caribbean black magic. It worked, but I kept it respectable, to win invitations to: dinner-many times over, a yacht trip in the Caribbean Sea-where I sighted dolphins, and perhaps mermaids too, a photo shoot, a cock-fight, and a New Year party! However, I stayed true to the Tamil Epic! A Date? What is that? No true lies here.

I learnt slowly, but have always been amazed by the beauty a woman exudes. If Helen of Troy could launch a thousand ships, the beauties of today launch over a million eye-ball swings: I’d call them the first wonder of the world! Can give the Taj Mahal a run for its wonder.

I have since moved to many offices in as many Cities, but was consistently lightening-struck by women of ‘long lustrous hair’, the right hip-to-waist lithesome figure, gorgeous face, and of course, to make a clean breast of things, the mandatory ‘great big Indian obsession’. In that order! The discovery prompts me to strike a conversation and check-out any available inner beauty; Hello, is it there? If discovered, things roll to building a good relationship. I even get the Epic introduced to them, or else, it’s sudden death.

What makes a man do this? Is it just the chemical make-up? Are men naturally born to this? I am happily married and enjoy a tremendous relationship with ‘The Epic’ at home, yet, I thoroughly enjoy the sight of a beautiful woman in full flow. Sometimes it is so intoxicating that you feel, I dare say, totally lost; weak in the knees-goes the saying, and guilty of looking or even starting a ‘Stare-Wars’ however harmless it might be!

I got this from one of my readings in The Times of India.

It takes 8.2 seconds for a man to fall in love at first sight, say scientists. What’s more, if a man’s gaze lasts 4 seconds, research suggests, he is less than impressed. But if the eye contact breaks the 8.2 second barrier, he could be in love. Man, even if got Aphrodite as a wife, he is genetically inclined and programmed to gaze at any lass. In other words, man is a perpetual gazer. Looking or flirting is to a man like fragrance is to a flower. And didn’t the Buddha say, “look intensely at every beautiful thing, for beauty is fleeting”. Men only try to follow Buddha’s sage advice in earnest.

Looking back at the nostalgic wonder years in School, when in a pensive mood, I cherish these harmless beautiful memories; call them locked up secrets? Bah! the ‘Scent of a Woman’ indeed lingers. Meanwhile, over to the next long-haired beauty! I‘ve left one behind (that’s a secret) a trail in each of the cities I’ve lived in, Chennai, Salem, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, and Chennai.

CAPTURED

About: We love to capture a lot of things, pictures of objects, songs, books, movies, memorabilia, experiences, news…and keep them with us, ‘cell them’ somewhere, in mysterious ways (some venture into capturing animals and humans too). I have captured these stories from the news of the world and am locking them down them. This time it’s about the United States in action, in Venezuela and Iran – along with its buddy, Israel- which captured my attention.

VENEZUELA

The whole of last year, 2025, we had a President, that of the United States of America, who began a 100 metre dash for the Nobel Peace Prize, then a 200m sprint, then a 400m run…growing gradually into a never-ending marathon jog, of sorts. Peace was still not in sight despite honestly bringing the Israel-Hamas war to an end, getting all the hostages released, and making Wild West claims of reigning-in India on its superb Operation Sindoor battering of, ‘living next-door’, Pakistan.

A new weapon called Tariff, was unleashed during 2025, by the US President. Never mind the US Supreme Court called the ‘Bluff’ (and India’s Priyanka Chopra fought hard, with an ancient Pirate blade, to keep the gold).

Meanwhile, the year turned a page and early on 3 January 2026 the President took the Peace Bull by the horns – actually working from behind, screwing its tail. If peace does not get one a Prize maybe surgical action could get one closer? Another President, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela found himself captured in his sleep- thankfully with his wife Cilia Flores for great company-all in the blink of an eye, in the capital City Caracas. He was into narcoterrorism, drug-trafficking, and other highs affecting the American people and a New York Court wanted him captured and brought to America for justice. The US President’s men did just that. Justice at midnight-lights out, please. It did not matter he was the President of another country!

It was a ‘crack-oiled’ operation, which the Venezuelans could not see happening in the dark and where the world could clearly see the stealth and magnificent superiority of the US Armed Forces. Operation ‘Absolute Resolve’ was absolutely clinical – would make a surgeon proud!

Maduro’s government was purely authoritarian, with electoral fraud the name of the game and with human rights abuses, corruption, censorship, and severe economic hardship permanently up its sleeve: that was the order of the day, and stacking-up into a monumental heap of misdeeds. Those who were caught in the tyranny of the land were the thousands who died in extrajudicial killings and the about 7 million forced to flee the country due to economic collapse.

After the capture, Venezuelans celebrated, a new Government smoothly slid into place and began to seriously look inward at the world’s largest proven Oil Resources, perhaps to oil the US President and the world. That’s where were are.

IRAN

The Venezuelan dust on Nicolas Maduro’s boots had just begun to settle, when the roar of the Lions of Israel and the Eagle-eyes of the United States combined with deadly precision on, 28 February 2026, to send Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thousands of leagues into the sky. Nevermind he thought he was safe with a supremely reinforced concrete and heavily fortified bunker 200 feet below Iran’s ground level, within his reach. He never got to the lift that would take him down to the underground Bunker in a 5 minute ride, but was killed by Israel’s deadly, ‘Blue Sparrow’ missile while still above ground holding a meeting. His wife, daughter, a son-in-law, a grandchild, along with a few top generals joined him in his journey to the skies above. America’s famous bunker busting GBU-57 burrowing bombs were used later to clean-up the underground world should other Iranian rats use it as a supreme getaway. Sadly, none were captured, but sent to invisible parts of the world.

For over 47 years the fundamentalist Islamic Republic of Iran has been the single greatest prime mover of death in the Middle East. It has funded, armed, and directed terror across the globe. They built Lebanon’s Hezbollah, funded Gaza’s Hamas, armed Yemen’s Houthis, spending billions a year on terrorism. They specifically targeted Americans, Israelis, Jews, Arabs, and anyone standing in their way. ‘Death to America’, ‘Death to Israel/Zionists’, were popular war cries. Others were, ‘Death to hypocrites’, ‘Death to enemies of God/Islam’. All this, on the outside world.

On the inside, all the while, Iran was quietly building nuclear weapons while shaking hands with diplomats from other countries, and bullying its own people. Tens of thousands of Iranians were killed in domestic protests and crackdowns since the year 1979. During the recent, January 2026, crackdown on protestors of the Regime, ‘ssnipers on rooftops shot protestors in their heads. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps entered hospitals and shot and killed injured protestors in their beds. Relatives were handed over dead bodies on payment of a bullet fee-based on the number of bullets on the body. This January alone, Iran executed the largest massacre of civilians in its modern history.

They shot a 16-year-old girl, Nika Shakarami, in the street. Then snatched her body and tried to bury her in secret before her family could find her. Another 20-year-old man, Amirhesam Khodayarifard walked into a protest and was chanting peacefully. A government agent shot him in the head. They beat to death a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, over a headscarf issue, after The Guidance Patrol, the Religious Morality Police, had arrested Amini for not wearing the hijab in accordance with government’s ‘gold’ standards! Then there is the heart-wrenching story of Dr Aida Rostami, a 36-year-old Iranian General Practitioner working at the Shahid Chamran Hospital in Tehran who was secretly treating (only because she was true to The Hippocratic Oath) wounded protesters during the nationwide uprising sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody. After tending to several injured people and realising she needed more supplies, she left to buy them. She called her mother earlier that evening, asking if she needed anything on her way home. She never arrived. The next day, police contacted her family claiming she had died in a ‘car accident’. They directed the family to collect her body from the forensics office. What they found instead was undeniable evidence of extreme brutality: a smashed face, broken arms, fractured shoulders, severe bruising on the lower torso indicating signs of sexual assault, and her left eye completely gouged out. The official forensics report vaguely cited death from being ‘hit by a hard object’. But medical examiners told the family privately that they had been ordered to conceal the real cause that she had been tortured and killed by security forces. Dr. Aida is one of the thousands of women who were killed by brutal anti-women Khamenei regime. These are just a few of countless horror stories of the kind. This is who they are. This is who they’ve always been.

The Israel-US joint strike on Iran was called Operation Epic Fury and the objectives centred on weakening Iran’s missile systems, naval power, and nuclear program. And disrupting the network of proxy forces that Iran has used in an asymmetric warfare to influence conflicts across the Middle East.

The strike happened even while negotiations were going-on with Iran, to prevent start of the present war. From the outset, the Iranians asserted that uranium enrichment was Iran’s inalienable right and declared their large stockpile of enriched material-about 9,980 kilograms-was off the table for negotiation. This could yield about 11 nuclear bombs if further enriched: that’s how close they are to a nuclear weapon. What killed any deal-making was probably when they told the negotiators, “We’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily.”

Experts in International Law (e.g., Natasha Hausdorff) say the war is legal and legitimate. This is especially in the background of the decades old ongoing armed conflict with Iran during which, it is well known, Iran has been consistently attacking US and Israel interests across the world. The US specifically invoked Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, saying the strikes were for self-defense and pre-emptive, and accused Iran of violating UN Security Council resolutions related to its nuclear activities. Seen in the context in which ‘Operation Roaring Lion’ was launched, Israel joining the US to strike Iran is in accordance with the international law of armed conflict.

Under International Law, the use of force by States is governed primarily by the UN Charter, Article 2(4) of which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. There are two main exceptions: 1-authorization by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII, or 2- self-defense under Article 51, which allows force in response to an ‘armed attack’ until the Security Council acts. Preemptive strikes (preemptive self-defense or anticipatory self-defense) refer to the use of military force by a State against another State (or non-State actor) before an armed attack has actually occurred, but when such an attack is believed to be imminent. Preventive strikes (also called preventive self-defense, preventive war, or preventive attack) refer to the use of military force by a State against another State to neutralise a potential future threat (such as acquiring nuclear weapons capability) that is not yet imminent.

At this time, the US has openly ruptured with the United Kingdom over Iran, base access, and broader British policies on energy and immigration, while treating Germany under Chancellor Friedrich Merz as a more reliable partner and moving to cut trade with Spain over NATO and base issues.

The UK did not join its ‘all-weather’ ally – the US- in the opening strikes and refused to allow its Diego Garcia base to be used by the US. However, later the UK relented and allowed limited use of other bases and even readied an aircraft carrier for duty in the Mediterranean. US President Trump castigated the UK for being very uncooperative and ruining relationships, saying – this is not the age of Churchill and they do not want the UK to join after they have won the war. He said about the same about Spain’s uncooperativeness.

On the other hand, in what never happened in about 50 years, almost all the Gulf countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait of the Gulf Cooperative Council united against Iran. This is because Iran has triggered the Gulf countries to get involved. While primarily targeting US military bases and assets in the region Iran’s return-of-fire also affected civilian infrastructure in several Gulf countries due to direct strikes, interceptions, and falling debris. Overall regional impacts include few killed and over 100 injured across the Gulf, with widespread economic disruptions: thousands of flights canceled, oil prices rising due to halted production, and temporary closures of key ports and airspace. The anger in the Gulf reach a crescendo.

Then suddenly you find the Shia Muslims – Iran- on one side and the Sunni Muslims – Gulf countries on other, but united. The timeless fault lines are as visible as never before.

Looking from another angle, Trump is dismantling the British system of Imperial control, of keeping the Gulf in permanent turmoil through Britain’s much used colonial era divide & rule policy, using Islamist fundamentalism as a battering ram-obviously against Russia-and in the process keeping its commerce paying through the Lloyds Register of Shipping Insurance.

Insurance for nearly all oil tankers going through the Strait of Hormuz is provided by Lloyds and with Iran closing the Strait, Lloyds said it is terminating ‘war risk’ Insurance. Trump then outflanked the UK by ordering his Government, US Development Financial Cooperation, to provide Insurance and ordered the US Navy to ensure safe passage of Oil Tankers. This seems to be the most consequential outcome in the war, thus far, with 300 years of ‘British Crown Control’ broken in a single day.

The US seems to be digging up the former American President Franklin D Roosevelt’s (FDR) ‘America First’ Policy and re-organizing globalisation, to this end. Broadly, this plan is about using America’s methods of economic development and industrialisation on its allies, and is directly opposite to the British Imperial Rule System, which America blames is the cause for many conflicts in the World, beginning with World War I.

FDR saw the British Empire as a barrier to global peace and economic fairness, arguing that colonial systems bred resentment and instability. He advocated decolonization in regions like Africa, India (at that time under British Rule), and Asia, viewing imperialism as ‘unselfish’ only if it advanced civilization without exploitation-but he saw Britain’s model as selfish, exploitative, and outdated. FDR’s anti-colonial push was pragmatic: he feared that maintaining empires would alienate potential allies in the developing world and prolong global conflicts, harming US interests.

Donald Trump seems to be first US President who has seriously latched-on to FDR’s ideas…and is trying to make it work.

Wow, there are so many layers to the present conflict:more than what meets the eye. And surely the Middle East would look a lot different after the US & Israel – Iran War is over. Meanwhile, for Israel, it’s looks like it’s just another day in Office. And India is definitely on the right side of the conflict. India anyway is quietly dismantling the effects of British colonial rule within the country.

The Dawn & Ascent of Civilizations

About: In my previous post I wrote about the origin of the Universe, from the Big Bang, through the beginning of life, up to the sole surviving human species: Homo sapiens-that’s who we are. In this post, I take you from the Hunter-gatherer mode through the formation of the first human Civilizations and Empires, up to the beginning of the Roman Empire. Again, this is an attempt to bring together various stories on our ancient history, with brevity mostly on my side and minimum technical jargon. (Image Credit: Canva AI).

First, a quick chronological recap of my earlier post – years from the present:

Big Bang: 13.70 billion; Formation of our Galaxy The Milky Way, the Solar System and Planet Earth 4.6 billion; First Bacteria-3.8 million; Oxygenation of Earth-2.4 billion: Multi-cellular Algae-1 billion; Multicellular organisms-550 million; Dinosaurs-230 million; Hominids, Southern ape, Last Common Grandmother of Humans and Chimpanzees-4 to7 million; Homo species-200,000 to 300,000; Only surviving Human species, Homo sapiens-13,000. In case you missed the story, or you want to go back in time and read again, you can do it at:

https://kumargovindan.com/2026/02/05/origin-big-bang-to-humans/

Hunter-Gatherers to Agriculture

We humans lived as simple hunter-gatherers for the vast majority, about 95%, of our existence, as small, nomadic groups foraging wild plants, hunting animals; using increasingly sophisticated stone tools; learning to make and control fire; creating art-mostly as cave paintings; developing complex social structures and, most importantly, language. Population remained low (a few million globally), with high mobility and intimate knowledge of the environment.

Language was key, used to communicate among humans, describe things, anchor learnings, build knowledge (where to hunt?), and share information, which other animals could not do as smartly as humans did, thanks to man’s ability to think. The languages that emerged in different parts of the world, from grouping of humans, and growth of civilizations, are very different from each other, though there are hints of some co-mingling in common-sounding words. This period is also called the Cognitive Revolution.

Modern humans migrated out of Africa in waves, reaching Eurasia, Australia (65,000 years ago), and eventually the Americas (15,000 to 20,000 years ago). Hunter-gatherer lifestyles continued, adapting to diverse environments, until the end of the last Ice Age, specifically the last glacial period -Peak Cold or Last Glacial Maximum – which occurred approximately 115,000 to 17,000 years ago. During this time, massive ice sheets, often 3 to 4 kilometres thick, covered large parts of North America and Europe, lowering sea levels by about 125 meters.

Recall, Dinosaurs ruled our Planet Earth for a ‘massive’ 165 million years, and humans had still not evolved at that time. But during the Ice Age, man was around with other kinds of ‘Dinosaur-sized’ animals.

The Ice Age animals were mostly large-bodied megafauna adapted to freezing, shifting environments, with iconic species, including Woolly Mammoths, Glyptodon -an extinct group of large, herbivorous Armadillos- Saber-toothed Cats, Mastodons, Woolly Rhinoceroses, and Giant Ground Sloths. These animals coexisted with early humans including the Human species of Neanderthals, in Europe and North America before going extinct roughly 10,000–13,500 years ago, due to environmental changes and maybe because of the dominating force of Homo sapiens. Could man have wiped-out the Mammoths (for their tusks, wool, and meat, for survival)?

The single most transformative shift occurred after the Ice Age ended. Humans began domesticating plants for food, such as, wheat, barley, rice, and maize; and animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. Call it the Agricultural Revolution. This allowed sedentary, permanent settlements and food storage of surpluses, population growth, specialisation of labor, utensils making-pottery, cloth making-weaving, and more advanced tools. This transition from foraging to farming was gradual, but revolutionary, enabling the rise of villages, and eventually towns and cities. Agricultural surpluses supported larger, denser populations and social complexity.

On the tools front, man gradually transitioned from using stone tools to those made from advance metalworking. The Bronze Age, about 3,300 BCE to 1,200 BCE, saw the use of copper-tin alloys for tools and weapons. The Iron Age followed with man learning to make and use Iron, and eventually leading to making of steel-man needed steel-blade swords to fight his own kind, and for survival.

Then came the first human civilizations, made up of urban societies with writing, monumental architecture, centralised governance, and social hierarchy. These were founded predominantly in river valleys-for life-giving water, enabling cultivation of flora, and raising fauna, for human consumption.

On the sidelines, there is substantial evidence suggesting man did eat man, his own kind-cannibalism-throughout human evolution, in multiple contexts such as nutritional survival, ritualistic purposes, or cultural reasons. Cannibalism wasn’t universal or constant and was prevalent in early species such as Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and early Homo sapiens.

Ancient Civilizations

The earliest human civilization sprung in what is called the Fertile Crescent Area, which is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, often called the Cradle of Civilization, where early agriculture and settled societies began. It included: Mesopotamia-the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, mostly modern-day Iraq, plus parts of Syria, Turkey, and Iran; the Levant-modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, ancient Israel; and some extensions to the Nile Valley in Egypt.

There were also 5 other pristine Cradles of Civilization across the World: 1-Ancient Egypt along the River Nile; 2-Mesoamerica-the region spanning southern Mexico through Central America (Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica); 3-Andes, Lake Titicaca; 4-Indus Valley, India; and 5-China, the Yellow River.

The first ever human civilization was that of the Sumerians, in southern Mesopotamia, which emerged about 4,500 to 4,000 BCE. It is often regarded as one of the world’s first true civilizations, with development of independent City-States such as Uruk, Ur, Eridu, Kish, Lagash, and Nippur, which had their own rulers called Ensi or Kings, temples, governments, writing-cuneiform- irrigation systems, and organized society. They also had conflicts for dominance.

The Sumerians were later conquered by the Akkadians leading to the establishment of The Akkadian Empire-probably the first Empire or Superpower of the World-of Mesopotamia, founded by Sargon the Great. The Empire’s capital city was Akkad, which was the seat of a centralised government, uniting the Sumerian and Akkadian regions. This Empire was built upon the Sumerian culture and was multi-ethnic, blending semitic Akkadian with Sumerian. It had a system of taxation, planned economy, and engaged in military conquests. It marked a shift from City-States to Imperial Rule.

The political hegemony that was decisively taken-over by the Akkadians reached its peak when King Hammurabi of Babylonia united all of southern Mesopotamia and Babylonia, which became the great and influential centre of Mesopotamian culture. One of the first ever laws of society, called the Code of Hammurabi, was written in old Babylonian cuneiform. The Sumerian cuneiform writing system – the world’s first writing system-was adopted by the Akkadians. Cuneiform writing is characterised by wedge-shaped impressions pressed on soft callus tablets using a reed stylus. The Akkadian Empire collapsed about 2,150 BCE, due to internal rebellions, weak successors, economic strain, severe drought, and invasions by other Rulers.

The very first spoken language used by humans cannot be identified with certainty, and there is no direct evidence of what it was, which Civilization spoke it, or an exact year it began. Anthropologists estimate that the complex, fully modern human language (with grammar, syntax, and the ability to express abstract ideas) emerged gradually as Homo sapiens evolved.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Civilization grew along the River Nile, and they developed a form of writing known as hieroglyphs – a pictorial writing system consisting of hundreds of symbols representing sound, ideas, and objects. Ancient Egypt is the second cradle of civilization: it was a remarkably stable society defined by magnificent architecture- the great Pyramids of Giza and the Valley of Kings- divine pharaohs, and rich cultural, artistic, and scientific advancements. The civilization flourished due to the predictable Nile flooding, creating a wealthy agricultural base and a powerful and enduring culture. Egyptians believed in after-life, which led to mummification of their dead. The Egyptian civilization fell under foreign rule, starting with the Persians, and later became part of the Roman Empire.

About this time in what was undivided India, was the third cradle of civilisation – the Indus Valley Civilization(IVC) which emerged in the cities of Harappa, Mohenjadoro, Dholavira, Ganweriwala, Lothai, and Kalibangan – all going back to as far as 3,300 BCE. It spanned much of northwestern India, Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan, along the River Indus. I am expanding more on the India story, digressing into Genetics, in an attempt to clear the cobwebs on the origins of the people of India.

When the ancient, out-of-Africa hunter-gatherers spread out and migrated to India -and beyond- about 65,000 years-ago, those who settled in the southern peninsular India formed what is called the deeply indigenous Ancient Ancestral South Indians (AASI) hunter-gatherers. The ‘undisturbed’ tribals (e.g., Sentinelese) of Andaman & Nicobar Islands are ‘living proof’ of this ancient unalloyed ancestry. The population of the IVC developed from this AASI, Neolithic farming communities in northwestern South Asia, and Iranian farmer-related ancestry (from earlier migrations). It had zero detectable Eurasian Steppe ancestry. In the IVC, people practiced early agriculture, animal domestication, and led a settled village life. The civilization was indigenous, with technologically advanced farmers and traders. They built the world’s first planned urban cities with sophisticated drainage systems and baths. They were largely a peaceful war-free civilization, but had fortified cities.

Then the IVC mysteriously collapsed about 1,900 BCE, probably due to change in course of rivers, drought, and other environmental factors, which caused the IVC people to migrate to other parts of India. Those that went northern/western mixed with incoming migrants from the Eurasian Steppes (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan – Yamnaya culture), to form the mixture that we call the Ancestral North Indians (ANI). Those who went southern/eastern mixed further with local AASI groups, forming Ancestral South Indians (ASI) (whose direct descendants today include many southern tribal groups).

The Vedic Aryans, language, and culture emerged within this newly admixed ANI, during the post-IVC period. There was no ‘Aryan race’ per se, in any biological, genetic, or anthropological sense. The term Aryan (Indo-Aryan or Vedic Aryans) represents a cultural linguistic group, and not a race of people. It means people who lived in what was called Aryavarta (described in Vedic texts as the land of the Aryas), historically referring to as the northern Indian subcontinent, primarily the Indo-Gangetic Plain, which boundaries included regions between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains. The Aryans composed the Vedas and spoke early forms of Sanskrit, and Vedic culture flourished in this region. The Rig Veda, one of the first regions scriptures, was composed between 4,000 and 3,000 years ago in old Sanskrit and passed down orally for 2,000 years before being written down. The Aryans practiced a Vedic Religion widely regarded as a major precursor or one of the key foundational strands that eventually evolved into what we now call Hinduism. They worshipped a plethora of deities (Indra, Agni, Varuna, Soma) and conducted Fire sacrifices (Yajnas), recited Ritual hymns and had priestly traditions. They had concepts like rita (cosmic order) and early ideas of dharma.

Around this time, corresponding to the Vedic Aryans, in the north (1500 BCE onward), the ASI populations practiced indigenous animistic and folk traditions-not anything resembling organized Vedic religion. These local beliefs gradually blended with incoming Vedic elements to form the diverse synthesis of the Hinduism, or Sanatana Dharma, of today.

Over time, the ANI and the ASI mixed dramatically in India, producing the genetic gradient seen in modern India and South Asia. The result is that everyone in India today is a mix of ancestry related to West Eurasians, diverse East Asian and South Asian. No Group in India can claim genetic purity. Most Genetic studies have come to the conclusion that all Indians north, south, east, west have IVC genes. Most of the migrants that came into India were male, and they mixed with the women of mostly the ANI and ASI to form the collision that is India- in fact it leans almost all towards the ASI.

The Dravidian region- primarily southern India- typically have higher ASI ancestry and lower ANI compared to northern Indo-European speakers. Genetic evidence links higher ASI proportions strongly with Dravidian languages today. The emergence of Dravidians as a linguistic and cultural group is tied to the formation of the ASI. More information will be out, once the ‘formal reports’ on the discoveries at Keeladi, Sivagalai, and Adichanallur, and other spots, near present-day Madurai, Tamil Nadu State, is published.

Going back to the Aryans. If you heard something called the Aryan Invasion Theory, forget it: there was nothing of the sort, at best migration and mixing of various lineages of people to form the Aryan culture.

The fourth cradle of civilization is that of the Chinese along the Yellow River. Ancient agricultural societies flourished such as the Yangsho and Longshan cultures leading to early dynasties such as the Xia and Shang around 2,100 to 1,600 BCE. The Yellow River provided fertile soil especially for millet farming, but was also called China’s Sorrow due to catastrophic, frequent flooding and shaped future complex water management techniques.

One of China’s first dynasties, the Xia Dynasty was founded by not by a conqueror or a warrior, but by a simple public servant, an Engineer, Da Yu, who incredibly ‘tamed’ the Yellow River. Legend says that his father called Gun, was given the task of controlling the seasonal devastating floods of the River, by the then King of the region. He failed with his technique of building dykes across the river, and was ordered by the King to be put to death-cut to pieces. His son Da Yu, who later became the ‘Great Yu’, then took on the job, and working ferociously hard, found a way. He confused the River by dividing it, having channels dug alongside to whisk the flood water to other rivers, and in turn to lakes. He came upon the idea by using the native intelligence of Villages along the river. The King was mighty impressed by his diligence and passed on the throne to him. And Da Yu founded the Xia Dynasty, the first in China.

The fifth is the Mesoamerican Civilizations flourishing around 1,500 BCE in present day Mexico and Central America. They were advanced interconnected societies known for majestic architecture, complex calendars, astronomy and writing systems. The harboured the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec cultures and Empires.

The sixth is the Andean Civilization of South America. They stretched down the spine of the Andes Mountain range from Southern Colombia to Ecuador and Peru. The Caral or Norte Chicho Civilization of coastal Peru is the most ancient dating back to 3,500 BCE. It relied on maritime-coastal fishermen- and agricultural resources- inland trade. It is best known for awe-inspiring architecture. The site of Caral contains six large pyramids, structures with the largest measuring over 60 feet. They lacked writing or pottery but used a system called quipu – knotted textiles- for record keeping. They were largely peaceful with not much evidence of warfare. The Andean Civilization like the other pristine civilizations developed independently of external influences. They are noteworthy for domesticating a wide variety of crops such as potatoes, peppers, peanuts, manioc(cassava), chocolate and coca. They figured out irrigation systems for desert farms. They were also known for building an extensive road system and textile weaving.

Kingdoms & Empires

Going back to the Fertile Crescent, and diving into the world of early Kingdoms, in the region covering much of Canaan (modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordon) the Ancient Kingdom of Israel emerged. It was established around 1,020 BCE, formed by uniting 12 tribes as a United Monarchy under King Saul; consolidated under King David; and expanded under King Solomon before splitting around 922 BCE, into Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south (according to the Hebrew Bible). The northern kingdom lasted until its conquest by Assyria in 721 BCE. The ancient Israel religion was known as Yahwism, which is a predecessor to Judaism. It began as polytheism and shifted towards monolatry. Yahweh was the primary deity. Judaism is the world’s oldest Abrahamic religion, and the way of life is based on the Torah- the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. It is based a covenant between God and the Jewish people.

After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, came the Assyrian Empire (900 to 600 BCE). The Assyrian King Ashurbanipal was its last great king and was known as one of the most barbaric rulers of his time. But one of his greatest achievements is the construction of the Library of Ashurbanipal -a collection of texts and documents of various genres, perhaps comprising over 100,000 texts at its height. It was not surpassed until the construction of the Library of Alexandria, several centuries later. The Assyrians used new warfare techniques to win wars and conquer lands. They paved the way for the foundation of the Achaemendian Empire by Persia’s, Cyrus the Great.

Cyrus’s reign defined the history of Iran for well over a millennium and future Persian empires often viewed the Achaemenid era with respect and as the ideal example to emulate. To this end, he remains a cult figure in modern Iran, with his tomb serving as a spot of reverence for millions of the country’s citizens. When Alexander the Great conquered Persia and passed by his damaged tomb he stayed a long time, thoughtfully looking at the inscribed words (in Persian), “…I am Cyrus the Founder of the Persian Empire. Envy me not the little earth that covers my body” and promptly ordered the tomb to be repaired. Darius the Great, who followed Cyrus was known for his administrative genius, building great projects, and his benevolence toward the diverse peoples in his rule.

Ancient Persia gave the world one of the oldest continuously practiced monotheistic faiths, Zoroastrianism. It was founded by Prophet Zoroaster and centres around worship of one God- the Creator- Ahura Mazda. It emphasizes a cosmic struggle between good and evil urging humanity to choose ‘Asha’ (truth) through good thoughts, good worship, and good deeds. Wow, awfully simple to follow!

Meanwhile, the Ancient Greek Civilization was getting its foot-hold in Greece, limping out of its Dark Ages (1200 – 800 BCE) which saw collapse of its civilization. The Greek civilization, arising around the 8th century BCE, was a foundational Western culture. Known as the birthplace of democracy (specifically in Athens), it was a collection of competitive Aegean City-States like Athens and Sparta that shared a language and religion. Much of the world’s cultural heritage descends from a very small population of landowners, farmers, and sailors during a surprisingly short space of time. They organized themselves into a radically democratic government, held as a high ideal the dignity and freedom of an individual free man, produced sculpture and architecture, which set the standards by which these arts are still measured. And they laid the foundations of much of the World’s philosophy, mathematics and sciences through great thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythogoras, Euclid, and Archimedes. It also saw the origin of Theatre, the Olympic Games, and advanced epic poetry such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Ancient Greeks had a pantheon of Gods led by 12 Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Dionysus who resided on Mount Olympus in Greece.

The Persian Empire came to an end with the rise of Macedon, Greece, and foundation of the Kingdom of Macedonians by King Philip who himself had an extraordinary career in building his Kingdom. His son Alexander the Great went on to establish one of the largest Empires in history stretching from Greece to northwestern India. Alexander is considered one of history’s greatest and most successfully military commanders-in a career of about 20 years he never lost a single battle. He was tutored by the ancient Greek Philosopher, Aristotle. The story goes that whenever news was brought that his father Philip had captured a Town or won a great battle, Alexander would worry, “My father will go on conquering until there is nothing extraordinary left for you and me to do”. Alexander brought The Achaemenid Persian Empire to a fatal end with the defeat of its last king, Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE. The defeat led to the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire and Alexander was able to capture key Persian cities such as Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. Alexander died young, at the age of 33, and in many ways he made the history of the world. The Greek Empire peaked in the 5th to 4th century BCE before being conquered by Rome in 146 BCE.

The Early Roman Empire was founded in 625 BCE as a City-State, in the areas of ancient Italy knows a Etruria and Latium. It went through a Period of Kings (ruled by about 6 Kings) phase, a Republican Rome phase (510 to 31 BCE) leading to the mighty Imperial Roman Empire after 31 BCE. I’ll cover the Roman Empire in the upcoming, next article.

About this time in the 5th Century BCE, Buddhism originated in India in the ancient Kingdom of Magadha- region in the Eastern Ganges Plain. Its founder Siddhartha Gautam, was born a Prince. He renounced his royal life, sought enlightenment through asceticism and meditation, and attained awakening (bodhi) under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya (in modern-day Bihar State of India).

To conclude this part of history, a quick story on numerals.

The system of numerals with the use of zero first originated in India. At that time its tremendous potential in science, mathematics, engineering and trade was not widely realised – not universalised. E.g. Archimedes struggled with a number system and had to invent one on his own to fit his ‘wild numbers’. He did not know about Indian numerals then. It was left to the Arab Scholars to embrace the Indian system brought to their lands by Arab Traders who travelled to India. Yet, it was not generally used in the Arab World until a thousand years later. Later medieval Europe adopted the Indian numerals from the Arabs – resulting in the misnomer ‘Arabic Numerals’. But then it took centuries for Indian numerals to come into everyday use – the way we use it today.

In summary, humans lived as:

Hunter-gatherers – about 290,000 years ago; Farming and a settled life – about 12,000 years ago; First Civilizations, Kingdoms, and Empires – about 5,500 years ago.

Each transition dramatically increased population, complexity, and environmental impact, shaping the world we live in today.

We are at the doorstep of the Roman Empire. Once the door opens we run through other Empires such as the Mauryas of India; building of the Great Wall of China, Genghis Khan, the Cholas…and the beginning of Christianity and Islam.

ORIGIN: BIG BANG to HUMANS

About: we have read about the origins of the Universe, our Milky Way Galaxy, the solar system, and our Planet Earth, of the beginning of time; of the beginning of life and everything as we know it today. With so many stories swirling about us, I was fascinated and wanted to pin-down our origins in about 15 minutes. This is an attempt to present how it all began in a simple manner, leaving alone much of evolutionary and scientific jargon – that’s for you to connect the dots. (The image shown is Grok AI generated).

Scientists describe the Universe beginning as an extremely tiny, incredibly hot, and unimaginably-dense point-called Singularity: where density and temperature is infinite. Everything-space, time, matter, and energy-was squeezed into something smaller than an atom. Then, suddenly, it began expanding very rapidly and finding its own ‘Space’. This expansion is what we call the Big Bang – so well explained by astrophysicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking (almost to the point that we believe he owned it). It wasn’t an explosion in space; it was space itself stretching out everywhere, all at once.

We do not know exactly what caused or triggered the Big Bang, which occurred about 13.70 billion years ago. Current scientific knowledge breaks down at that extreme point, so ‘what came before’ or ‘what caused it’ may not even make sense in the usual way. Time itself began with the Big Bang-there was no ‘before’ because time didn’t, exist yet – like asking what’s north of the North Pole. Hence, Time is Zero, when the Big Bang happened.

The first lively second produces gravity and other forces that govern physics. In less than a minute the Universe is a billion kilometres across and growing fast. All done in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.

Immediately after the Big Bang, things began cooling-down and scale-up, step-by-step: in the first moments and within about 3 minutes a soup of super-hot particles came into being. Then the Universe cooled just enough for the first protons and neutrons to form simple atomic nuclei-mostly hydrogen and helium. About 380,000 years later it cooled more, electrons joined nuclei and the first full atoms formed. Light could travel freely: we see this today as the cosmic microwave background-leftover glow from the early universe. In the next few hundred million years gravity pulled tiny differences in density into bigger clumps. The first stars and galaxies formed from gigantic clouds of hydrogen and helium gas. Stars ‘cooked’ heavier elements. Inside the stars itself, nuclear fusion created carbon, oxygen, iron, etc. When massive stars exploded as supernovae, they spread these elements into space.

About nine billion years after the Big Bang (4.6 billion years ago) in our Milky Way Galaxy, a cloud of gas and dust-enriched with those heavy elements from old stars-collapsed under gravity eventually leading to the formation of the Solar System: the centre became our Sun (a star that started fusing hydrogen). Around it, a spinning disk of leftover gas and dust formed. Tiny particles that stuck together grew into planetesimals (solid, rocky, or icy bodies ranging from a few kilometres to hundreds of kilometres across) collided and merged into planets.

About 4.5 to 4.6 billion years ago Planet Earth formed from rocky material in the inner part of the disk (closer to the Sun). Early Earth was molten from impacts and heat. A big collision with a Mars-sized object blasted debris that formed the Moon and also tilted the Earth’s Axis, causing the seasons we know. Over time, it cooled, water arrived (likely from comets and asteroids), oceans formed, and eventually life began. Then, about 3.8 billion years ago, the first organisms emerged.

Every scenario we know concerning the conditions necessary of life involves water. ‘Origin of Species’ scientist Charles Darwin hypothesised a small, shallow, warm body of water-a pond or tidal pool on early Earth-where a cocktail of simple chemicals could concentrate and react under energy sources like sunlight, heat, and other catalysts to form complex organic molecules, such as proteins, eventually twitching into the first primitive life forms. That’s the ‘warm little pond concept’. And some theories suggest that deep-sea hydrothermal bubbling vents could have done the same.

Once life existed, any new proto-life would be quickly consumed by existing organisms, explaining why such spontaneous generation doesn’t happen today. Everything that has ever lived, plant or animal, began from this primordial twitch. But this ancestral packet of life did something additional and extraordinary: it cleaved itself and produced an heir. And a tiny bundle of genetic material passed from one living entity to another, and has never stopped moving since. It was the moment of creation for all of us. Biologists sometimes call it the Big Birth. All living things use the same code.

The Earth’s surface did not become solid until about 3.9 billion years ago. There was no oxygen to breathe back then than there is on Mars today. About 3.8 billion years ago the first bacterial organisms emerged, and for two billion years they were the only forms of life: they lived, reproduced, and swarmed, but did not show any particular inclination to move on to another more challenging level of existence.

At some point in the first billion years of life on Earth, a kind of bacteria called Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, learned to tap into a freely available resource – the hydrogen than exists in spectacular abundance in water. They absorbed water molecules, supped on the hydrogen and released oxygen as waste, and in doing so, invented photosynthesis. This is undoubtedly the most important single metabolic innovation in the history of life on the planet. And it was invented not by plants, but by ‘smart’ bacteria.

Now, finally, we had oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, but it took awfully long for life to grow into the mind-boggling complex variety we know today. As the world had to wait until the simpler organisms had oxygenated the atmosphere sufficiently. Animals could not summon up the energy to do work. And it took about 2 billion years for oxygen levels to reach more or less modern levels of concentration in the atmosphere.

With the oxygen stage thus set-up brilliantly, quite suddenly an entirely new type of Cell arose, containing a nucleus and little bodies called organelles. The process is thought to have started when some blundering or over-adventurous bacterium either invaded or was captured by some other bacterium and it turned out that it suited them both. Call it a win-win situation. The captive bacterium became, it is thought, a mitochondrion, which made complex life organisms possible. In plants, a similar invasion produced chloroplasts, which enable plants to photosynthesise.

The uniqueness of mitochondria is that they are powerhouses, which use oxygen to breakdown food and release molecular energy. And without this ability, life on Earth would be nothing more than a sludge of simple microbes. They are also unique in that they have their own genetic material.

With the cell firmly established and having a means- an in-house power plant- of producing energy for its functions through the mitochondria, life naturally took the next step to building complex ‘skyscraper’ beings. Starting with a single cell, splitting to becoming two, and the two becoming four…life raced to build-up like crazy. Each cell carries the complete genetic code-the instruction manual for the living being it makes: it knows how to do its job and every other job of the body of the being. All living beings possess hundred of different types of cells. And the genetic code that enables them to be itself is the molecule called DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)- the stuff of life- a legend in its own right and the blueprint of life. DNA exists for just one reason: to create more DNA.

Quickly, ‘sizing-up’ the DNA: It holds the complete set of instructions for building and operating an organism and carries genetic instructions from parents to offspring ensuring traits are passed down the assembly line. DNA is responsible for making proteins-vital for life. But they do not speak the same language as the proteins they engineer. Enter the RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) which acts as an interpreter between the two, working with a ‘chemical clerk’ called a Ribosome to carry out the instructions of the Big Boss – the DNA. That’s it, we built this animal.

To give a timeline, the great oxygenation event occurred 2.4 billion years ago, which transformed the atmosphere into one capable of enabling life. Multicelluar algae appeared about 1 billion years ago and the first soft-bodied multicellular organisms appeared about 550 million years ago leading to organisms with hard parts (shells, exoskeletons), then marine invertebrates, which dominate for a period of time; then the first vertebrates (jawless fish), first land plants, then we reach the age of fishes, progressing to the first four-limbed vertebrates that venture onto land; forests appear; amphibians diversify, first reptiles evolve. And then the mighty Dinosaurs evolve from archosaur (vertebrate, four-legged)reptiles; early mammals and crocodilian relatives appear.

At the beginning of the age of Dinosaurs, about 230 million years, ago the continents were arranged together as a single supercontinent called Pangea. Dinosaurs lived on Earth for a fabulous 165 million years and during their existence the supercontinent slowly broke apart. Undoubtedly, they are one of the most successful groups of animals to have roamed the planet. But despite their long evolutionary history, the origin of Dinosaurs remains shrouded in mystery. They went extinct when an asteroid the size of a mountain slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with the force of 100 trillion tons of TNT. The impact created a crater about 185 kilometres across and several kilometres deep and sent tons of rock, dust, and debris into the atmosphere. A darkness descended across the planet that, along with other related catastrophes, wiped out an estimated 80% of life on Earth. Whatever the causes, the huge extinction that ended the age of the Dinosaur left gaps in ecosystems around the world. And these were subsequently filled by the only Dinosaurs to survive – birds – and mammals, both of which went on to evolve rapidly.

After the Dinosaurs became extinct small, surviving mammals thrived in the empty ecosystems. Over millions of years, these shrew-like creatures evolved into primates, then Apes, and finally, after about 60–65 million years of evolution, early hominids emerged in Africa around 4 to 7 million years ago, eventually leading to Homo sapiens, 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. Humans did not appear immediately after the dinosaurs; rather, they are the result of a long, 65-million-year, evolutionary process of mammals that survived the Dinosaur extinction event. And Dinosaurs and Humans never lived together – as show in fantasy movies.

Having come thus from simple organisms to complex Dinosaurs, how did even more complex Humans appear? Human prehistory is still under an intensive investigation with all kinds of discoveries and debatable theories evolving from the pools, vents, mysterious caves, fossils, and what not? Whatever, what we roughly know is that for almost 100% of our history as organisms, we were in the same ancestral line as Chimpanzees. Hardly anything is known about the prehistory of Chimpanzees, but wherever they were, we were.

Then about 7 million years ago something monumental happened: a group of new beings emerged – walked – out of the tropical forests of Africa- somewhere in the Great Rift Valley – and began to move about in the open savanna. They were called the Australopithecines, or Hominina (Southern Ape) and for the next five million years they would be the world’s dominant hominid species. They were capable of walking upright and existed for over a million years. The most famous hominid is the about 3.18 million-year old Australopithecine discovered in Ethiopia, East Africa, in 1974, called Lucy, named after the Beatles song, ’Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. Lucy is our earliest ancestor – the missing link between Ape and humans-said Donald Johanson the leader of the team that made the discovery. Lucy was tiny, just three and a half feet tall. She could walk and was evidently a good tree climber. She and her kind came down from the trees and out of the forests and did the walk of life. Now, being out in the open, calls for more survival skills and all the elements would appear to have been in place for rapid evolution of a potent brain, and yet that seems not to have happened. For over three million years Lucy & Co scarcely changed at all. Their brain did not grow and there is no sign of them developing simple tools despite the fact that they lived alongside other early hominids who did use tools.

At one point between three million and two million years ago there were as many as six hominid types co-existing in Africa. Only one outlasted all of them: Homo, which emerged about two million years ago. The relationship between Australopithecines and Homo is unknown, but they co-existed for over a million years before Australopithecine vanished mysteriously, and possibly abruptly. The Homo line begins with Homo habilis and concludes – rather continues – with us, Homo sapiens (the thinking man). In between there have been other Homo species: Homo ergaster, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo denisova, Homo rudolfensis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo soloensis, Homo antecessor, and Homo erectus.

One group of tool users, Homo erectus, who seemed to arise out of nowhere, overlapped with Homo habilis and is said to be the dividing line: everything that came before them was apelike in character; everything that came after them was humanlike. Homo erectus was around for almost 2 million years, making them the most durable human species ever. Remember we, Homo sapiens are only about 200,000 years old, and we are still a long way from beating the record of Homo erectus.

Homo erectus was the first to hunt, the first to use fire, the first to fashion complex tools… and the first to look after the weak and frail. They were unprecedentedly adventurous and spread across the globe with breathtaking rapidity. Ultimately, Homo erectus and all other human species became extinct and Homo sapiens -outwitting all of them, probably with a thinking brain- was the only surviving human species, from about 13,000 years ago. And that’s all Out Of Africa.

To sum up, human evolution in over five million years from the distant puzzled Australopithecine to the fully modern human, produced a creature that is still 98.4% genetically indistinguishable from the modern chimpanzee.

So finally, what are human beings made-up of? We are fundamentally made of stardust forged inside ancient stars, or during their-supernova- explosive death, of course, billions of years ago. Humans are constructed with about fifty-nine elements. The top being – Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Sulphur, and Calcium, which account for over 99%. They are the building blocks of life. We are incomplete without molybdenum, vanadium, manganese, tin, copper, cobalt, chromium, and others. The biggest component in any human, filling over 60% of available space is, Oxygen, which is bound up with say Hydrogen and other chemicals to stay in the body.

Let’s go back to the mitochondria story and talk about man and woman – the male and female of us, the Homo sapiens species.

I’m not delving into the structure of the DNA, the genome, or the 46 Chromosomes-23 pairs-each half coming to us from Mom & Dad and XX being female and XY being male. That’s for you to read-up. But, remember, each human cell defined by a cytoplasm boundary wall has a nucleus (holding the DNA) and specialised organelles such as Mitochondria, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Golgi, Ribosomes, Lysosomes, Cytoskeleton, among others.

Women are the sacred keepers of human mitochondria. Sperm pass on none of their mitochondria during conception, so all mitochondria information is transferred from generation to generation through mothers alone. Such a system means there were many extinctions along the way. A woman endows all her children with her mitochondria, but only her daughters have the mechanism to pass it onwards to future generations. That leads us all the way to a Mitochondrial Eve from whom all of us descended. And they say, the last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees was about 6 million years ago.

Mitochondrial Eve is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an unbroken line purely through their mothers and through the mothers of those mothers, back until all lines converge on one woman. Scientific studies place Mitochondrial Eve in Africa, likely in the Great Rift Valley, roughly 160,000 to 200,000 years ago. Mitochondrial Eve was part of a contemporary population of humans. Other women alive at that time may have descendants living today, but their unbroken female lineages failed to persist, or they only had sons who could not pass on her specific mitochondrial DNA.

Here we are, Homo sapiens, with such great ancestry coded in our genes, in every cell of our body-made of star dust. And to be born with all this stuff inside us, is by itself a great achievement. And remember women have a place in the scheme of things, carrying the storyline onwards.

I quote Richard Dawkins’s, Unweaving the Rainbow, “…the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here”. Make the best of it. Make it count.

The next 15 minutes story coming up is about the first human civilisations, how they evolved, the various ages of human knowledge…up to the Industrial Revolution. Watch this Space-without dust in your eyes.

A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS

About: From the time we are born, through childhood, adolescence, adulthood and probably into old age as well, we acquire and carry a chestful of fetishes, likes, dislikes, crazy beliefs, and what not? Let us call the best of them as Favourite Things. These are a few of my favourite things, and I’m sure you will be able to relate to them, with nostalgia. Also a run, down memory lane from the 1960s, in Tamil Nadu, India.

The title itself is one of my favourites-a song from the unforgettable classic Hollywood movie, The Sound of Music, released in the year 1965, which starts with, when I am sad I remember a few of my favourite things: “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm wooden mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these a few of my favourite things…”

Recall, the Sound of Music won five Oscars from ten nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Scoring Music, and Best Sound (proved that the sound is indeed good). The movie forever trapped the Von Trapp Family and Austria’s Vienna in my memory: an enthralling musical by Hollywood’s Rodgers & Hammerstein. And of course, the tongue-keeping songs such as, Do-Re-Mi, doe a deer; I am sixteen going on seventeen; so long farewell; Edelweiss… Well, I’m not actually sad at the moment, but being in a cheerful mood, I can pack my favourite things for any gloomy times ahead.

When studying in Boarding School in the Hill Station of Yercaud, I used to come home only twice a year: a fifteen-day, Half-Yearly Holiday in the middle of the year, and a three-month Annual Holiday-beginning in November and ending in January of the following year.

I lived on a farm in the wonder years and bringing the early learnings of the Hill Station School to the farm, and mixing it up, was often incredibly crazy. For e.g., I thought the water springing in a well was because of salt (in Tamil, Thaneer ooruthu) and I dug a small hole – my own tiny well- in a field. And when Mom was not looking, stole some table salt and put it in the well along with water hoping the water will spring and overflow! I then cut down a few papaya tree branches-they have a hole running through the length-to serve as pipelines, to take out the spring water (to the fields for irrigation). I waited for days, but the water never got itself out of the well and into the papaya pipelines: it dried out leaving only the salt (for Mom to gather). And I moved on. Lesson learnt.

Those days, in the villages, the most popular means of ‘cleaning your teeth’ was with Gopal Tooth Powder (Gopal Palpodi). It was a pinkish red powder with herbal ingredients (KFC’s Colonel must have drawn inspiration or stolen parts of the formula while brushing his teeth in India?) and came in cool mini-sachets. And you took some of it in your left palm and used the right second finger to rub the cleansing powder over your teeth. I always had a sachet of Gopal Palpodi whenever I travelled, visiting Aunties and Uncles, Grandmas and Grandfathers, during the holidays. Then came the white Colgate tooth power, before toothpaste and tooth brushes bristled into action, stealing the breath and whitening the teeth of India.

In Boarding School it was always the Toothpaste and Tooth Brush combo- strictly no finger-licking tooth powder. My favourite toothpaste, without hesitation, was Binaca, which came with cute miniature collectibles of soft plastic toys in each pack. A plethora of rhinos, panthers, hippos, monkeys, cats, parrots, giraffes, foxes, frogs, penguins, fish, deer, bisons, camels, tortoises, donkeys, ducks, sea-horses, pelicans and cranes, lizards, snails, bears, chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, creatures great and small… of all colours and shapes, they all came to me in, of all things, the toothpaste box. Oh, how I waited for the next Binaca. Of course, I did eat toothpaste to bring the animals sooner. Then there was this silent, serious-looking bitter tasting fluoride based Forhans Toothpaste, which never gave foam but was said to be a product created by Dentists and for safeguarding gums and enamel. It came in an orange pack and was fierce looking. An Aunt actually forced me to use it. I remember an advertisement when a kid asks the mother, ‘Ethil nurai varumma’ (Will this foam?)

My favourite soap was the pleasant green, Hamam, backed-up by Mysore Sandal Soap for special occasions. The transparent Pears was for the babies seeing-through, before Johnson’s Baby products toddled-in. I despised the other brands such as Margo and the ayurvedic Medimix (later it became a standard feature of almost every Hotel and Lodge).The beauty ‘girlish’ soaps at that time were Lux International and also the ’come alive with freshness soap’, Liril, featuring the bathing beauty Karen Lunel -wearing a green two-piece bikini – under a waterfall, and I did dream about her a lot!

Sunlight was the washing soap that Mom used for the dirty clothes and the pale yellow-bar could always be seen at home. I could not imagine a world without Sunlight before surfing for Surf and then Nirma Washing Powder dancing into our homes. So so did the blue Rin and Det soap, about that time.

Face power was typically Ponds, and later Nycil, with the girls going for that vintage Remy and Cuticura – dusting on the face using a puff held in a nice little powder box.

I never wore a wrist-watch until University and in those days HMT watches- Time keepers to the Nation-was the rage. Of course, I forced my uncle to part with his 24-jewelled, Made-In-Japan Ricoh Automatic Watch for a period. It had a fancy glass-cut as if it was a diamond. This diamond was not forever and I had to return it to my Uncle, after a while. My first owned watch was a Titan, which the Tata’s launched to bring ‘electronic clock’ times to India. And I still have the favourite first watch: a white checked dial base with date, day, month watch at the 3rd hour.

Going back to Films, beyond The Sound of Music, my favourite movie, that I watched and watched over and over again, was the eleven Oscars winning epic Ben-Hur. That galley-slave battle sequence, the Chariot Race, and the story of Jesus Christ without showing us his face, struck a chord and raced in the mind.

Another ‘watched again-and-again’ favourite is Bruce Lee’s, ‘Enter the Dragon’. The superb, clever Kung-Fu fight sequences are a delight to watch. And it was devastating to learn that Bruce Lee unfortunately died at age 32, six days before the movie’s premiere in Hong Kong. He never witnessed the massive ground-breaking international success of Enter The Dragon, which was his first. I would call it a cult movie of the time and thereafter Bruce Lee became a global icon.

Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, and Charlton Heston were my favourite heroes and almost all Hollywood heroines stepped into a long list. Spoilt for choice. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress – she was constantly in a state in undressing – and was the Bond girl, rising up from the sea, in the first ever James Bond movie, Dr No.

In our own Indian Film World, MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Savithri, Saroja Devi, Sri Devi and Zeenath Amman were a few of my favourites. And music by M S Viswanathan, and later Ilayaraja, with songs sung by T M Soundararajan, S P Balasubramanian, P B Sreenivas, P Susheela, S Janaki, always hummed inside.

Over time, I became a voracious reader and comics paved the way to serious reading. Tarzan-of the Apes, Phantom-the Ghost Who Walks (Oh, I loved Diana Palmer, the Horse-Hero, and the Wolf Dog-Devil, and the Phantom rings), Richie-Rich, Wendy the Witch, Little Lotta, and later Asterix ruled this part of the world. Mandrake the magician and a local Tamil comic series, ‘Irumbukkai Maayavai’ (the man with the iron hand) was another electrifying story, which was based on Steel Claw-one of the most famous British Weekly Adventure Comics. Then there was the comic strip Axa, which featured a semi-nude, busty, sexy, sword-wielding long-haired blonde heroine. Stirred-up many a thing.

Top-gear novels were Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, The Secret Seven, and Captain W E Johns’ Biggles (James Bigglesworth) detective series. Then I delved into the Westerns such as Oliver Strange-the Marshall of Lawless -the James Green series being a favourite. Harold Robbins’s ‘Never Love A Stranger’ and novels by James Hadley Chase opened new worlds filled with smooth mountain peaks and bushy valleys. Debonair and Playboy -I never dared buy them, but borrowed – they were magazines I read-nay, looked- beneath bed-sheets or in the dark alleys of Boarding School life. In later years Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot – Murder on the Orient Express -were my favourite detectives solving crime after crime. Often I would sit down in a corner of a restaurant and ‘play’ Sherlock Holmes in the mind.

Shoes and slippers were invariably Bata, then BSC (Bata Shoe Company), and with another brand called Corona a distant competition. One of my favourites was a brown-colour, foot-covering sandal, which I used until it broke-fractured into two- and helplessly stitched together to hold for many more times, at least while walking on the farm, at home.

Studying in an Anglo-Indian English Medium School from the beginning I was naturally drawn to Western music, The Bee Gees- every song; Beatles – yellow submarine and other songs; ABBA-Dancing Queen, Fernando; Osibisa, dance the body music; Boney M, The Rivers of Babylon; and Eruption’s, ‘One Way Ticket to the Moon’; The Eagles, Hotel California; Survivor, the Eye of the Tiger; Johnny Wakelin – The Black Superman, about Muhammad Ali flying like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. Later on, Air Supply, Foreigner, Dire Straits, Police, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd-the Wall – became favourites.

In the early days – due to my ‘English’ upbringing – I struggled with the Tamil language and an Aunt of mine introduced me to two magazines, which made my Tamil almost poetic and even classic. One was ‘Kumudham’ and the second was ‘Kalkandu’. Tamilvanan was the founding editor of the then widely read Kalkandu (Sugar Crystals), which published fiction, articles about state politics, and Tamil cinema, and pages of factoids. Tamilvanan’s novels featured the detective hero Shankarlal, who travels the world solving crimes and battling criminals, much like a James Bond. The novels often contain a good deal of factual information about the settings, which educated the Tamil audience about countries to which, at the time, relatively few Indians could afford to travel. Shankarlal frequently travelled with his wife Indra and his servants, Kathrikai (the nickname means ‘eggplant’ a reference to his fat belly and tuft of hair) and Manickam. Shankarlal always wore a black hat and sunglasses and was famous for drinking great quantities of tea. Tamilvanan’s motto as a journalist was ‘courage is the best companion’ (in Tamil ‘Thunivee Thunai’). In Kalkandu, he often substantiated his facts and statistics with authorities such as Encyclopaedia Britannica and Guinness Book of World Records besides other scholarly works.

Then there was Thiruvalluvar’s 1330 verse Thirukkural, which was a must read and must study. The Public Transport Buses in Tamil Nadu had a verse, or more, painted on the inside- to educate yourself, on the move.

On the English side, I loved the cheekyThe Illustrated Weekly of India – a weekly, odd-sized magazine newspaper and The Indian Express newspaper. I hated the stubborn and serious looking, The Hindu newspaper, and it was best used for lining shelves. An Aunt (oh, the same one!) of mine even used it to line the trays when she bought her first ever refrigerator. Those days the popular brands were, Kelvinator, Godrej, and Voltas.

In the school days chewing gum was popular as was Fruitex confectioneries. In the 1960s and 70s Fruitex were known for having collectible stamps inside its wrappers. Sweets with stamps for stamp collection, and I became a Stamp Collector.

I was always fascinated by Mermaids: those mythical, beautiful long-haired, curvy, well-endowed beauties, with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish. And two years ago, when I went to Poland’s Warsaw I learnt about ‘The Mermaid of Warsaw’, which armed with a sword and shield is believed to protect the City. I bought a momento of the Warsaw Mermaid, which I keep close to my heart (might prevent a Heart Attack). Legend says that the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is the Warsaw mermaid’s sister and they went separate ways from the Baltic Sea.

My favourite off-school games were, Marbles, Tops-Pambaram, Killi-Thandu/Gilli Danda, Snakes & Ladders (Paramapadham), Aadu Puli Aatam. Dhaayam – Daayakattai similar to the ancient Chaupur, as played in the Mahabharata, or modern-day Ludo. Chinese checkers and Chess did climb up the ladder as I progressed in School.

In Golli Gundu -as it was called in Tamil -we used glass marbles to hit and capture other players’s marbles placed in a circular area. As in a form of ‘rudimentary golf’ we shoot marbles into a small dug-out hole. I’m unable to recall the exact rules of the game, but I do remember pivoting my left fingers on the ground, holding a marble in the middle or index finger with the right hand and releasing it with precise aim, much like a catapult. Also a kind of ‘ground billiards’. And I could aim and hit another marble at quite a distance.

Pambaram (Top – made of wood) where we spin it as long as possible with a deft sting pull and a clever nail on which the Top spins. Sometimes we attack another top placed in a circle on the ground, by hitting it in a top strike. And I was an expert in making the top spin on my palm (with a flat nail). Perhaps this became the basis for the Hero spinning a Pambaram on the Heroine’s bare belly, in a popular Tamil movie. That was tingling, for sure!

In Gilli-Danda, a two-team game, a short stick with tapering ends is lobbed into the air by the longer stick the Danda, and hit as far as possible. The distance from the ‘hit point’ to the spot where Gili lands is measured in Dandas. If the Gilli is caught by the opposite team, while in the air, he is considered out (sometimes the whole team) or if he fails to strike the Gili on three consecutive attempts he is declared out. Some kind of ancient baseball?

During my school days electricity had yet to arrive at home, and we used simple wick-Kerosene lamps or the pressurised Kerosene Petromax Lamps. The latter was a special feature for lighting up Weddings. I particularly enjoyed fitting the incandescent filament, lighting it with a match-stick and then hand-pumping the lamp (pressurising) until the filament glowed a brilliant white light.

As electricity creeped into our Homes, other favourites occupied my mind: the ‘slowly heating-up’ valve-radios, the mobile battery operated Transistor Radios, the Vinyl record-players, he Philips and Bush brands were a huge hit until the National Panasonic cassette players took our world by storm. You can delve into them at

https://kumargovindan.com/2025/05/03/radio-blaa-blaa/

I started writing this article with few things in mind and as it opened and flowed, the few began growing – overwhelmed – and I thought maybe ‘many’ would be a better word but certainly not ‘less’. Should I plan a sequel as ‘much more’ Favourite Things stack-up?

FREEWHEELING

About: A break free commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the headline news of the world. Any comments beyond the storyline, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a run of events from 30 November to 31 December 2025: War & peace; turmoil in Iran; humanitarian crisis in Sudan; cost of living crisis in Nigeria; and India news – especially about Thiruparankundram Temple in Tamil Nadu.

THE WORLD

December 2025 saw heightened geopolitical tensions, diplomatic efforts towards peace in ongoing conflicts, and military escalations, particularly in Europe and Asia. Many hostilities just meandered on, with probably the sole winners being the arms manufacturers and suppliers.

United States (US) President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago Resort, Palm Beach, Florida, on 28th December, for talks on a potential peace deal. It appears that progress was made on 15-year US security guarantees for Ukraine, though territorial issues (with Russia) remained unresolved. Ukrainian negotiators agreed to 90% of a 20-point peace plan cooked by Ukraine, US negotiators, and European countries. A deal seems close at hand?

In Russia, President Putin’s residence came under a drone attack and Ukraine was accused of orchestrating it. This, amid ongoing Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, the European Union approved a Euro 90 billion loan to Ukraine for defense funding.

In the Israel-Hamas conflict, Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 29th December, to discuss the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire (including international peacekeeping forces) and warned Iran of potential strikes.

Israel approved new West Bank settlements-pushing for more ‘Israel’.

The US military along with Jordan launched airstrikes on multiple sites, targeted ISIS in Syria, following attacks.

Iran is witnessing its largest unrest in three years. And the Government grapples with its most serious challenge in years. Chants of ‘mullahs must leave’ and ‘death to the dictator’ echoed across major Iranian cities as protesters clashed with security forces of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-led theocratic regime. The eruption of anger and turmoil has been fuelled by a collapsing Rial, record inflation, and years of sanctions, amid renewed American pressure.

The country’s currency, Rial, plummeted to a record low against the US dollar, and the head of the Central Bank resigned. While traders and shopkeepers rallied in Saadi Street in downtown Tehran as well as in the Shush neighbourhood near Tehran’s main Grand Bazaar. Recall, merchants at the market played a crucial role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the monarchy and brought the present crop of Islamists to power.

Turkey and Armenia agreed to simplify visa procedures as a step toward normalising ties between the countries.

China conducted its largest military drills to date, Justice Mission 2025, encircling Taiwan with live-fire exercises, simulated strikes, and port blockades starting late December. This followed a major US arms package to Taiwan and came amid broader regional frictions.

Thailand and Cambodia held talks, mediated by China, to address border clashes. The Southeast Asian neighbours agreed on a ceasefire that took effect at noon on 27th December, stopping 20 days of fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides. The ceasefire included a halt to fighter-jet sorties, exchanges of rocket fire, and artillery barrages. The Thailand-Cambodia conflict was sparked by a skirmish in late May 2025, that left one Cambodian soldier dead. The incident stemmed from a long-running dispute over ownership of ancient temples and their surrounding land, and contributed to a broader escalation of tensions that later developed into sustained fighting.

The ongoing, seemingly, never-ending humanitarian crises in Sudan persisted with limited international attention (need someone to pay ‘attention to the matter’?) Over 30 million people, almost two thirds of Sudan’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost 25 million people, are facing acute hunger, with 637,000 of these classified as on the brink of famine. The civil war erupted amid tensions over the integration of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)-a Sudanese paramilitary force formerly operated by the Sudanese Government- into the Sudanese Army following the 2021 coup. It started with RSF attacks on government sites in Khartoum and other cities. The capital region was soon divided between the two factions.

Nigeria is experiencing severe security challenges, including a sharp rise in mass abductions of schoolchildren in the north, and ongoing insurgencies by groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). This instability, along with other factors, has led to a major hunger crisis, particularly in the northeast, and displacement of millions of people. Economically, the country faces its worst cost of living crisis in 30 years due to 2023 reforms, and has also seen issues like inflation and social unrest.

In late November, armed bandits kidnapped 303 children and 12 teachers from the St. Mary’s Private Catholic school in the country’s north-central Niger State. The students are both male and female, some as young as ten. About 50 managed to escape-soon after the abduction- and during December all students and teachers were released from captivity, first 100, then the remaining. Nigeria is home to some of the world’s largest Muslim and Christian populations with the northern region predominantly Muslim and the southern region largely Christian. Indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority. The country’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

Myanmar’s civil war intensified in late 2025, with the military junta facing significant setbacks against a unified resistance of Ethnic Armed Groups and People’s Defence Forces, losing control over vast territories, particularly in border areas, leading to major displacement, increased humanitarian needs, and the junta attempting to legitimise its rule through contested elections amidst escalating violence, airstrikes, and ground offensives. Over 3 million people have been displaced, and nearly half the population needs aid, with ongoing conflict disrupting lives and essential services. Triggered by the 2021 military coup, the war is a culmination of long-standing ethnic tensions and resistance to military rule. In essence, Myanmar is in a full-blown civil war where the military is losing ground and struggling to maintain control against a determined, though often fragmented opposition.

INDIA

India came up with a new Rural Employment Law: The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, 2025, was enacted to replace MGNREGA (The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), guaranteeing 125 days of wage employment per rural household. The Rural Development Ministry began coordinating with States to prevent fake demands during the transition.

The Election Commission extended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in multiple states, amid opposition demands for discussions on voter lists and national security during the Winter Session of Parliament. The SIR is doing the job of weeding-out very well. For e.g., in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Electoral Officer said that 97.37 lakh names have been dropped from the electoral rolls under the categories of Absent, Shifted, and Dead.

India’s Supreme Court stayed the suspension of Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s (a former BJP MLA) life sentence in the Unnao Rape Case. The case is about the gang rape of a 17 year old girl in Unnao Uttar Pradesh State in June 2017. Kuldeep Singh was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019.

The Supreme Court also put its earlier Aravalli Hills definition on hold amid environmental concerns and sought the opinion of an expert committee under the Union Environment Ministry for a fuller, comprehensive, definition. The aim is to prevent unregulated mining in ecologically sensitive areas. The criteria defined ‘Aravalli Hills’ as a landform with an elevation of 100 metres or above the local relief. Two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other constitute an ‘Aravalli Range’. The Aravalli Hills and Ranges are among India’s oldest geological formations stretching from Delhi through Haryana, Rajasthan, and into Gujarat, in a span of about 650-800km.

In business news, the Index of Industrial Production rose 6.7% in November 2025, a 25-month high, driven by manufacturing and capital goods. Australia announced duty-free access for all Indian exports from January 2026 under the ECTA’s (India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) third anniversary. India’s Lok Sabha passed a bill raising Foreign Direct Investment FDI in insurance to 100%. New Free Trade Agreement, including with New Zealand, were concluded amid global tariff challenges. The Reserve Bank of India stepped in with reductions in the repo rate to 5.25% in December, part of multiple cuts in 2025 supporting economic recovery. New Labour Codes were notified; Digital Personal Data Protection Act implemented.

People in India’s capital ‘continued to see pillar-mounted water tanks as UFOs’, as Delhi vanished under severe Air Pollution, recording its worst December Air Quality Index (AQI) since 2018 (average 349), with ‘severe’ levels persisting.

India’s largest (by passenger traffic and market share) Airline IndiGo faced massive disruptions in early December due to new flight duty rules, and fog, cancelling over 1,600 flights in a day. The Government promptly rolled back the new rules, and looking through the eyes of a stranded passenger in a Terminal Building, the Airline clearly showed the middle finger to the Government.

The Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Thiruparankundram Hill located in a suburb of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Hindu God Lord Murugan. It is one of the six abodes (Arupadai Veedu) of Lord Murugan, a set of foremost and sacred Hindu temples, dedicated to the Lord. The original temple was built by the Pandyas during the 6th century CE. It is a rock-cut temple carved into the side of a large monolithic hill. The temple is under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Murugan killed the asura Surapadman at Tiruchendur and later married Deivanai, the daughter of Indra, at Thiruparankundram.

It is customary during the Festival of Karthigai Deepam– a ceremonial holy lamp-to light a lamp (and Diyas) at the Temple. For over a century, the lamp had been lit at a lower elevation near the Uchipillaiyar Temple to avoid the upper peak, which houses a Dargah (Sufi Shrine) containing the grave of Sultan Sikandhar Badushah. The temple’s hilltop includes an ancient Deepathoon pillar, and a year 1923 decree (upheld by the then Privy Council – now abolished, in 1949) confirmed the temple’s ownership of unoccupied portions of the hill.

In early December a petitioner approached the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) seeking permission to light the lamp at the hilltop Deepathoon pillar, arguing that periodic rituals at the spot assert ownership rights. Justice GR Swaminathan issued an order directing the temple’s executive officer (under the HRCE) to light the lamp at the hilltop by 6pm that day, with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) protection to ensure safety, emphasising that this would not infringe on the Dargah’s rights and that failure to act could lead to loss of temple claims. The judge stressed the importance of upholding Hindu devotees’ religious rights under the Indian Constitution.

The Tamil Nadu Government under the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), disobeyed the ruling by lighting the lamp only at the traditional lower spot, claiming no historical evidence supported hilltop lighting and that over 100 years of practice justified the lower location. Authorities failed to make arrangements for the hilltop ritual, blocked devotees from accessing the site, imposed prohibitory orders to prevent gatherings, which led to clashes between police and devotees attempting to comply with the order.

The temple administration filed an appeal against the directive on the same day, which the court viewed as a deliberate tactic to evade implementation, noting that the Dargah (the potentially affected party) did not appeal.

Later the High Court accepted contempt petitions against Madurai district authorities, including the District Collector, Superintendent of Police, and temple executive officer, for ‘wilful disobedience’. Justice Swaminathan sharply criticised the state for ‘cocking a snook’ at the court’s authority, stating that the breach was ‘deliberate’ and that defying judicial orders ‘sounds the death knell of democracy itself.’ He warned that no one is above the law, ordered the officials to appear personally to explain the violation, and permitted the petitioner and 10 associates to symbolically light the lamp at the hilltop under CISF escort to affirm the order. The court reiterated that administrative excuses like law and order concerns cannot override judicial directives unless stayed by a higher court, and condemned the actions as a gross infringement on Hindus’ fundamental rights.

Perhaps, taking a cue from IndiGo the Govt of Tamil Nadu looked at its fingers and showed the middle to the Courts. And did not implement the Court Order, a second time.

The worst part is India’s Opposition Members of Parliament moved to impeach Justice Swaminathan. The impeachment will fail because the Opposition does not have the numbers, but the attempt is to browbeat anyone who dares back Hindu rights. However, a group of 56 judges joined together to slam the ill-thought out move. Hope, a better sense of justice prevails in the new year.

I think the Govt at the Centre needs to find its backbone: it should unflinchingly dismiss a State Government that fails to honour a Court Order – not once but twice. Would not this lead to an anarchy stand where one says, “Why should I follow the Laws, Rules and Orders? I’ll appeal to God – wherever he is. Until then, wait”.

Normally, the rowdies on the street are the ‘traditional’ Rule-Breakers. Now, how can we allow a State Govt to become rowdyish? How can a Rule-Maker become a Rule-Breaker?

Lots to think about as we close down the year 2025. Mankind should solve more problems that it creates.

I’ll be transitioning to a newer way of spreading the news of the world in 2026. A forged-on-iron format is in the works. It will be worth the wait.

Happy New Year 2026. Take full responsibility for your life on Earth.

FREEWHEELING

About: A break free commentary on events on our Planet, anchored on the news of the world. Any comments beyond the storyline, are entirely mine, without prejudice -take it or leave it. This is a run of interesting events from 1 November to 29 November 2025: Downfall of a Prince; India’s Bahubali; India’s Bad Doctors; Stunning Bihar Elections; and India’s Women’s Cricket on a high.

A Prince is Taken Down

The scandalous Jeffery Epstein story has been telling in the media over many years and this October it took down a Prince-who was blamed for being ‘sincerely’ involved.

Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier and convicted sex offender operated a vast sex trafficking network of underage girls for himself and his elite associates. His death by suicide in a New York jail in 2019, while awaiting trial, triggered widespread outrage and conspiracy theories.

On 31st October, Prince Andrew of Britain’s Royal Family, brother of the reigning King Charles, was stripped of his royal titles and duties and asked to move out of his royal residence at Windsor Mansion, Royal Lodge, following weeks of intense scrutiny over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew will now be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

He will now live in private accommodation in Sandringham Estate, which is privately funded by the King. Andrew’s two adult daughters, Eugenie and Beatrice, will retain their titles as Princesses. Sarah Ferguson, his ex-wife, will also move out of Royal Lodge.

Earlier in October, Andrew gave up his other royal titles, including the Duke of York. In a separate development, it has come to light that Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein at Royal Lodge as part of his daughter Beatrice’s birthday celebrations in 2006 – two months after a US arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor. What perhaps was the final ‘gold’ nail on the coffin of Andrew’s sacking as Prince arising from his misadventures, was the memoir of Virginia Giuffre who repeated allegations that, as a teenager, she had sex with Andrew on three separate occasions.

Virginia Giuffre was an American and Australian advocate for survivors of sex trafficking and one of the most prominent accusers of Jeffrey Epstein. She founded Victims Refuse Silence, a US non-profit organization dedicated to supporting survivors. Giuffre provided elaborate details about being trafficked by Epstein and his partner-in-crime, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre pursued criminal and civil actions against Epstein and Maxwell while appealing directly to the public for justice and awareness. She sued Ghislaine Maxwell for defamation in 2015 and the case was settled in her favour in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. In July 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the unsealing of documents from Giuffre’s civil suit against Maxwell. The first batch of documents was released in August 2019, further implicating Epstein, Maxwell, and their associates. The following day, Epstein was found dead in his prison cell.

In December 2019, Giuffre described being trafficked by Epstein to the Royal Lodge, which shifted public opinion against Andrew. She later sued him in a New York civil court. The suit was settled in February 2022 with Andrew paying Giuffre an undisclosed amount and also making a substantial donation to her charity. Giuffre died by suicide in April 2025. Her memoir ‘Nobody’s Girl’ was published posthumously in October 2025 and perhaps galvanised the King to act.

The Royal Family is bound to be, and set, an example in all aspects of life in the Kingdom, and there are no ifs and buts.

ISRO’s Bahubali

India’s, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after being quiet for quite some time, is back with a bang and a new swag.

On 2nd November, ISRO successfully deployed GSAT-7R, a next-generation communication satellite for the Indian Navy, using its LVM3-M5 heavy-lift launch Vehicle Rocket, nicknamed as ‘Bahubali’. The launch took place from the time-tested Sriharikota, and with this success India’s space capabilities received a mighty upgrade. ‘Bahubali’ means ‘one with strong arms’ and the name reflects the Launch Vehicle’s immense lifting strength and consistent reliability across missions.

The name Bahubali is most famously associated with a revered figure in Jain mythology. Bahubali also known as Gomateshvara was a prince who renounced his kingdom after winning a nonviolent duel with his elder brother. Thereafter he meditated for a long time, eventually leading to his spiritual liberation. And the name became famous after a movie – nothing to do with the original -was made showing Bahubali as one of immense physical strength and of heroic character. He is worshipped across India and especially in the State of Karnataka with huge statues showing his full form. One even had creepers crawling up his body, while he was lost in meditation.

Bahubali is India’s heaviest operational rocket, earlier known as GSLV Mk-III with a payload capacity of up to 4,000 kg to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and up to 8,000 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It is configured as a three-stage launch system consisting of S200 solid strap-on boosters for liftoff thrust; L110 liquid core stage powered by twin Vikas engines; C25 cryogenic upper stage-developed entirely in India.

Bahubali will serve as the baseline launcher for India’s Moon venture – Gaganyaan Human Spaceflight Mission, where its modified version is called Human-Rated LVM3 (HRLV).

The Bad Doctors

India’s capital New Delhi has been relatively free from terrorism for over 14 years. The last time there was a bomb blast was in September 2011 when Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister of India. It took place outside Gate No. 5 of the Delhi High Court, where a briefcase bomb was planted. The blast killed 15 people and injured 79. The Terrorist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) ) claimed responsibility, carrying out the attack with the support of the Indian Mujahideen-an Islamic jihadist group and designated terrorist organisation. Its signature weapons are timed Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) made from Ammonium Nitrate. To complete the connections, HuJI is a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist organization affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The motive for the attack was the commuting of the death sentence, ordered by India’s Supreme Court, for the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru. The demand was that Afzal Guru should not be hanged. Later, Afzal Guru was indeed hanged, in February 2013, in Tihar Jail.

Over to the present.

In early November this year, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) police stumbled upon wall posters that appeared in Nowgam, Srinagar, expressing support for Jaish-e-Mohammad- yet another Pakistani militant group active in J&K. Until 2019, posters glorifying terror groups were a common sight in Kashmir. The police would usually remove them, but not every time was there a serious investigation into who put them up.

This time, an alert Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Sundeep Chakravarthy, currently Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, had a hunch that it might be something more than the usual, and began probing. He started the hunt for the man who put-up the posters. And what followed was not routine. It was a revelation.

From those wall-posters unraveled a terror web, 2900 kilograms of IEDs, a chain of sleeper cells, and a treacherous plot meant to tear through India.

Sundeep didn’t just see paper on a wall, he saw the writing on it and acted before it became an epitaph. The rest never saw it coming. The probe led to the busting of Faridabad’s – what is now termed- White-Collar Doctor (Medical) terror module. That single decision, to investigate promptly, set off a butterfly effect. CCTV footage led to Dr Adil Ahmed Rather of Saharanpur, which led to Dr Muzzammil Shakeel, the seizure of IED-making material, and finally to a full-blown terror module stretching from Kashmir to Delhi and Faridabad.

It’s abundantly clear that had the J&K Police not acted when they did, those explosives, ten to fifteen times more than the one that happened in Pulwama in 2019, could have unleashed devastation on a scale India has not seen since 26/11.

In the following days a joint operation by J&K police, Intelligence Bureau and Haryana police lead them to the residence of Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai, a Pulwama native and faculty member at Al-Falah Medical College in Dhauj, Faridabad. Adeel Ahmed Rather of Kulgam, employed at a private health facility in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is arrested soon after. On Monday, 10th November around 2,900 kg of explosive material, including 360 kg of ammonium nitrate, is seized from Dr Ganai’s rented home in Faridabad along with an assault rifle, ammunition, batteries, remotes, and timers. An AK-47 rifle and some ammunition are recovered from a sedan car owned by a female doctor, Dr Shaheed, from the same medical college. Several arrests are made in connection with the terror module, all linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Meanwhile, on the same day, 10th November, during peak hours near New Delhi’s Red Fort in the evening, a Hyundai i20 car came to a halt at a traffic signal near Gate No. 1 of Lal Qila Metro Station, roughly 300 metres from the Red Fort, in the midst of slow-moving traffic. The time was 6.52 pm; the signal had turned red. Just then, the car exploded. Several people nearby were blown apart, their body parts strewn. Multiple other cars caught fire, windowpanes were blown, buildings trembled. The explosion killed 13 and injured several others, leaving nearby vehicles gutted, but no shrapnel or pellets were found at the site. It took about three minutes for someone to call the fire brigade.

Then the police and India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) swiftly began a hunt for the attackers and piece-together the ‘doctored’ plan. The multiple-times -sold i20 Hyundai car is traced through registration records and the driver is identified as Dr Umar Mohammad alias Umar Nabi, from Pulwama, J&K. The Bad Doctor was part of the terror module, and panicked after the arrests and seizure of the Ammonium Nitrate, earlier in the day. And turned himself as a suicide bomber driving the i20 Hyundai Car across Delhi, staying put in a parking lot, probably waiting for the busy evening, and then moving into the traffic, for the kill.

Dr Umar was working as an Assistant Professor in the general medicine department at Al-Falah University in Faridabad. His identity was established forensically by the NIA.

Ammonium Nitrate is an odourless, white crystalline chemical widely used as a fertiliser but is also a powerful oxidiser that, under the right conditions, can cause a powerful explosion resulting in fires that burn at high temperatures for sustained periods. Ammonium Nitrate by itself is not considered an explosive. It needs to be mixed with a secondary substance-in this case, fuel oil, which is a petroleum-based product- and triggered by an external detonation that gives off immense heat to explode. And it can be mixed with almost any kind of volatile substance. But the quality is important; pure Ammonium Nitrate is chemically and thermally stable, meaning it requires that external detonation. When combined with fuel oil, it becomes ammonium nitrate fuel, or ANFO, which is a commonly used bulk explosive in the construction and mining industries. It is popular because it is an inexpensive and simple explosive to manufacture and, if handled correctly, safe to store.

The J&K Police quickly arrested Dr Shaheen, a member of the Faridabad terror module, from Al-Falah University in Faridabad and later took her to Srinagar for questioning. Dr Shaheen confessed during interrogation that she and her group of doctors were plotting terror attacks across India. Shaheen told the Police that they had been collecting explosives for the last two years. She was in direct contact with Saadia Azhar, the sister of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, and was an active member of Jamaat-ul-Mominat, the women’s wing of the JeM terror outfit. The wing was established by Saadia in October 2025 to avenge her husband’s death during India’s Operation Sindoor, earlier this year.

Dr. Shaheen completed her MBBS from Allahabad Medical College (1996–2001) batch and later earned an MD in Pharmacology. From 2006 to 2013, she worked as an Assistant Professor at Kanpur Medical College after being selected through the UP Public Service Commission. After that, she suddenly disappeared. She was later dismissed in 2021 for not responding to college notices. After this, she started working at Al-Falah University and where she came in contact with Dr Muzammil.

To sum up, the NIA identified the accused as Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather and his brother Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay of J&K and Dr Shaheen Saeed of Uttar Pradesh. The Bad Doctors involved in the Delhi blast were radicalised over the last five years and freely operated from a room in the campus of the Al-Falah University. Of course, the College denies any knowledge, but it’s their job to know what’s happening on its campus. The heat turned on the Medical College itself and further skeletons began tumbling from the proverbial cupboard. The origins of the College had a dubious history. Maybe we need more Sundeep Chakravarthys in the right places?

The Indian Press had a blast of a week with terms such as White-Collar Terror, Home-Grown Terror, gaining traction. Meanwhile, recall that the Government had vowed to treat any terrorist action from the Pakistan side as an ‘act of war’. For the moment we have to wait as the investigation works its way and finds inconvertible evidence to nail the people or country behind. The Bad Doctors had links to Turkey and that would an interesting angle.

Bihar Elections

The Assembly Elections in the State of Bihar was one of the most anticipated this year. When the counting of votes was done on 14th November and final results tumbled out it was an unbelievable, stunning, landslide victory of the India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The NDA secured 202 of the 243 seats, defeating the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan (MGB) Alliance, which secured just 35 seats.

In the NDA, the BJP won 89 seats (20.08% votes); JDU (Janata Dal-United)- 85 seats (19.25%); LJPRV (Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas) -19 (4.97%); HAMS -5 (Hindustani Awami Morcha-Secular); RLM (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) -4.

In the MGB, the RJD won 25 seats (23% of the vote); INC (Indian National Congress -6 (8.7%), plus others.

Incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took the oath for a record tenth time. Incumbent deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha took the oath as the deputy chief ministers for the second consecutive time. For the first time, the BJP won the most seats in a Bihar Legislative Assembly election. The RJD, led by Tejashwi Yadav, fell to third for the first time since 2010, while Nitish Kumar’s JDU recorded its best result since 2010. The LJPRV and RLM secured seats for the first time. That’s a great making of new records.

The Congress’ Opposition Leader in Parliament who made wild, baseless statements and allegations against the Prime Minister and the Election Commission of India suffered his record 95th defeat in elections. He left abroad – perhaps of a yet another holiday – tail firmly between his legs.

Sports

India’s Women’s Cricket Team captained by Harmanpreet Kaur clinched the ICC Women’s World Cup in a first-ever win, on 3 November 2025, at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. India beat South Africa by 52 runs in the Finals.

South Africa won the toss and chose to field. India made 298 for the loss of 7 wickets, in 50 overs. That total was the second-highest ever achieved in a Women’s World Cup final.

India’s Shafali Verma, in an extraordinary batting display made 87 off 78 balls to set-up a total of 298 for South Africa to chase down. Deepti Sharma, a world-class off spinner who has raised her batting to a new level this year, backed up with a run-a-ball half-century, making 58 runs.

In reply, South Africa were bowled out for 246 in the 46th over, despite a superb 101 runs off 98 balls, by Captain Laura Wolvaardt. Again, India’s Shafali Verma took two unexpected wickets of characteristic cheek at a crucial juncture, while Deepti Sharma took a five-wicket haul that combined old-school overspin with new-age defensive skills to power the historic win. Perhaps it was the day for Indian all-rounders to discover their class.

India’s has been a campaign of redemption and resilience. From three straight defeats in the group stage to a flawless knockout run, India’s turnaround was as dramatic as it was defining. For a cricket-mad nation long waiting for its women to stand shoulder to shoulder with its men, this triumph felt epochal! Hope, it is the bellwether of a new era!

Overall, sports in India has seen an upswing in recent years, with people making their mark in various games across continents.

More wonderful stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Stay with Freewheeling.

Kumar Govindan's Words

This is my Blog where I essay stories on life about and around me, on subjects that stir and shake me up, as I turn, and make life's pages count: hoping to inspire you to live your own story!

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