A Royal Riot – The Mystery of the ‘Royal’ Family of Awadh
The decade is sometime in the early 1970s. A woman arrives at the New Delhi railway station and shakes up the atmosphere by proclaiming herself as Wilayat, the Begum of Awadh. Along with her, she brought an entire household to the platform and unloaded sets of royal crockery, carpets, two Great Danes and two young children. She settled in the V.I.P room and would stay there for almost a decade before the government finally gave into their demands.
But the story was about to get more and more twisted. As the decades passed by and the family’s demands to be handed over possession of all the properties held by the Awadhi Royal Kingdom grew dimmer and faded away, one journalist’s frenzy would soon bring them back into the limelight.
This is the fascinating story of the ‘Royal’ Family of Awadh. The article contains intricate details , photographs and videos about them and the truth that had so long been hidden in this mess of a Royal Riot.
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The Mysteries of King Tutankhamun
Ancient Egypt, is a very exciting and a rather mysterious period in human history. The concept of mummies and the extremely fascinating architecture, has lured us into excavating a world that existed a very long time before ours. When I started reading about the history of Egyptian tombs and mummies, I came across a very interesting, and now popular, Egyptian Pharaoh – King Tutankhamun or simply, King Tut.
It was not as much his life story, as the dazzling objects and artifacts that were discovered in his tomb in 1922 by British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter, that piqued interest in the life of King Tut.
Tutankhamun ascended the throne when he was barely 8-years-old, and died, heir-less, at the age of 19.
The discovery of his tomb lifted the veil off the centuries old Ancient Egyptian dynasties, and helped answer several questions about the royal dynasties of the time.
This was the life of King Tutankhamun – Egypt’s young boy King…
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The Salem Witch Trials of 1692
In the late 17th century, a strange and eerie ‘trend’ had caught onto much of the European mainland and it soon spread, with much fervour, to the American lands as well.
But what was this ominous ‘trend’ that was making it’s way across the world?
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, continue to haunt and stalk popular imagination even to this day. Over the course of four months, these ‘witch trials’ took the lives of more than 20 people and caused severe trauma to hundreds more.
While a lot of stories and popular rumours about these eerie witch trials continue to make their way around human imagination, here is the real and detailed account of what actually occurred during the sinister months of 1692, when the entirety of the Salem Village was shrouded in mystery and ‘spirits’…
Click on the icon below to read about the blood-curling Salem Witch Trials of 1692!
Malik Ambar – Journey from a Slave to a Kingmaker
Indian history is known for it’s diversity and the detailed accounts it holds. From the rise of powerful dynasties to the collapse of the 150-year-old British Empire, it has been a witness to it all.
But hidden among the shadows of these well-known tales, is yet another undiscovered account. This one belongs to one of the most important figures in Mughal, Maratha and Deccan history, without whom Indian History would have had an altogether different story to tell – Malik Ambar.
Click on the icon below to know more about the journey of this man – literally from rags to riches!
“Kaala Pani” – A Prisoner’s Worst Nightmare
“Kaala Pani“, the name itself sends chills down your spine, doesn’t it? But even this spine-chilling name doesn’t do justice to the torture and harsh conditions that the prisoners here were exposed to.
Opened in 1906, the Cellular Jail (or “Kaala Pani”), is located far away from the Indian mainland on the tiny island of Andaman and Nicobar. The Jail was established to provide such extreme kind of torture to those Indians who had either murdered someone or committed a crime equally gruesome.
However, even these horrifying crimes did no justice to what the prisoners here were put through. Torture, flogging, extreme exhaustion and complete destituteness of hope were a part of daily life in Kaala Pani.
Since the jail was far away from the centre of the Indian Revolution, everything that the inmates here suffered through, went unknown and unheard of.
Among the other freedom fighters who were imprisoned here, were a few well-known ones like – Vinayak Savarkar, who has a cell here named after him, his brother Babarao Savarkar and Sushil Dasgupta.
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BRITAIN’S WORST FAILURE – The Bengal Famine of 1943
During the course of the 150 years that the British ruled over the Indian subcontinent, they were accused of committing several atrocities against Indians – racial discrimination, lathi charges, and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919.
However, we tend to forget one of the worst of the lot – The Bengal Famine of 1943 which consumed the lives of around 3 million people. What is unique about this famine, is that unlike the 6 other major famines that had struck India during the reign of the British, the one in 1943, was a result of policy failure on part of Winston Churchill’s War Time Cabinet, and not natural factors.
Click on the button below to read more about the shocking conditions that prevailed in Bengal in 1943.
ADOLF HITLER’S PURGE – The Night of the Long Knives
Hundreds of people, some completely innocent, murdered in a matter of 3 days, and no one held accountable.
This was the reality of life in Nazi Germany. On 2nd July, 1934, exactly 86 years ago, ended the Night of the Long Knives, a purge carried out by the Nazi Party, after 3 long days.
It commenced on 30th June, on Hitler’s orders, and was carried out to eliminate any person or political organization that could pose a threat to Hitler’s dictatorial regime in Germany.
Click below to unfold the events that transpired that fateful weekend.
THE BLACK HOLE HORROR OF CALCUTTA
The late 16th and early 17th century clearly showed the development of British and French control in India. During this time, the role were slightly reversed with the Indians in much more control than the British. On one such day in the year 1756, a horrendous event took place, which is now infamously known as the Black Hole Horror of Calcutta.
This event took place exactly 264 years ago on the sinister night of 20th June, 1756.
Click on the button below to unfold the events that transpired that eerie night.
QUEERNESS IN INDIAN MYTHOLOGY
Queerness, the word itself means “strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint”. Even though the world today considers homosexuals and transgender as ‘abnormal’, stories dated thousands of years back, explain queerness as a very natural phenomenon.
To justify this argument, I present to you, a few stories from Indian Mythology itself. Specifically from epics like the Mahabharata and sacred texts like the Bhagvata Purana.
Click below to read those tales from Indian mythology, that they never told us about.
SANGHA TENZIN – The 500-year-old Mummified Monk
What if I told you that Mummies don’t just exist in Egypt, but also in India? What if I told you that these kind of Mummies are unlike the ones that are found in Egypt, and are one-of-a-kind?
In the small, remote village of ‘Gue’ in Himachal Pradesh, lies yet another piece of undiscovered history. A 15th century Buddhist monk, who underwent a very baffling and obscure method of Mummification.
Curious yet? Click on the button below to reveal the mystery behind the monk that is – Sangha Tenzin!
MAKLI NEKROPOLIS – The City of the Dead
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Makli Necropolis is the largest graveyard in the world. But, don’t let the word ‘graveyard’ fool you, because Makli is the most beautiful cemetery that you will ever come across.
It’s architectural style ranges from Muslim to Hindu designs. Makli is probably the only graveyard that you’ll be able to call – ‘A Stunning Necropolis’. Click below to reveal the story behind this unknown World Heritage Site – Makli Necropolis.
MONA LISA – The Theft that turned it into a Masterpiece, Overnight
The Mona Lisa, till date is considered to be one of the world’s most famous paintings. The reason it is considered to be the best painting of its artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, is not just because he painted her with so much passion, that she seems lifelike.
It is also because on the morning of August 21,1911, she disappeared. And that is how the Mona Lisa became a legend and a beauty, literally overnight. But that’s not where the story ends.
Click on the button below to unfold the mystery behind the theft that made the Mona Lisa what it is now.
THE NINE UNKNOWN MEN
Circa – 273 BC; The emperor of one of the largest kingdoms in the world, Ashoka ‘The Great’, has just fought the most gruesome war of the Ancient World – The Kalinga War. Traumatized after seeing the destruction in the War, he renounces all forms of violence and converts to Buddhism.
More importantly, he is said to have formed a secret society, called “The Nine Unknown Men”. These nine men possess the knowledge that mankind is now on the hunt for.
Who are these nine men? Did they really exist? Do they still exist? Read on more, to find out about the oldest Secret Society in the history of the World – The Nine Unknown Men.
ALAN TURING – An ‘Enigma’ of a Man
Alan Mathison Turing. How many you all out there have heard that name before? I would say not many of us, so allow me to expand.
As his Wikipedia page reads, “Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist.”
So, why did a man as smart as him, meet an end so sad, at the mere age of 41 years?
Click on the button below to unfold the brilliant, yet deeply saddening journey of this genius.
HORRORS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR – Terezin
During my visit to Europe, Prague, to be specific, I visited a place which I didn’t know existed till the minute I set foot into it. Terezin, originally a holiday resort built about 30 miles to the north of Prague by Emperor Joseph II of Austria somewhere in the late 18th century, was later converted into a Jewish Ghetto, or a Jewish Prison Camp, during the reign of the Third Reich.
Curious yet? Click on the button below to discover the horrors that took place in – Terezin.
Many more such obscured and hazy pieces from our history are yet to come. So stay tuned, by following my blog, as I slowly dig up similar blurred stories, events and people who have disappeared from our history.