Culture

Bill Cosby and Malaria

American comedian Bill Cosby, now more famous for his cases of sexual assault, used to sedate his victims using a drug called quaalude. Quaalude is a brand name for Methaqualone, a hypnotic sedative first synthesised in India in 1951 by Indra Kishore Kacker and Syed Husain Zaheer, who were conducting research on finding new antimalarial medications. It became popular as a recreational drug in the late 60s and 70s, known variously as "ludes", "sopers" ("soaps") "mandrakes", "mandies", "disco biscuits", etc. It is now banned.

India's link language

Since every school in India teaches English, why can't it be our link language? Why do Tamils have to study English for communication with the world and Hindi for communications within India? Do we need a big door for the big dog and a small door for the small dog? I say, let the small dog use the big door too!

India's rashtrabhasha

It is claimed that Hindi should be the common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?

Neutralising the press

Like the god Vishnu, my press will have a hundred arms, and these arms will stretch out their hands throughout the country delicately giving form to all manner of opinion. Everyone will belong to my party without knowing it. Those who think they are speaking the language of their party will be acting for mine. Those who think they are marching under their own banner will be marching under mine.

A Sikh Animal

Vic Briggs, a guitarist of the British rock band, The Animals, later became interested in Sikh devotional music and its use of the harmonium. He converted to Sikhism (taking on the name Vikram Singh Khalsa) and has performed at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Hala's knot

He was embarrassed
But I laughed and gave him a hug
When he groped for the knot
Of my skirt and found it
Already undone.

Earth's best ever villain

According to Steven Spielberg, Bollywood actor, Amrish Puri, was his favourite villain and "the best the world has produced and ever will".

Indira's monkey army

When 12-year-old Indira Gandhi was denied membership by the Congress party in 1930, she formed a children's brigade named the Vanar Sena ("monkey army") to participate in India's freedom struggle. She was their general.

More perfect than Greek

The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have spring from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists: there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothick and the

Culture