www.nasaimages.org Released today - the photo catalogue of NASA - on-line. Fascinating! ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

The following is from the July 24 2008 edition of TLS. The writer as well as the original reviewer appear to be of Indian origin by the sound of their names. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India QUOTE Letters to the Editor. Kipling Sahib Sir, – In his review of Charles Allen’s Kipling Sahib, Navtej Sarna (July 4) misses out the most distinctive features of Kipling’s persona and his novel Kim. Kipling, as a journalist, and his father, Lockwood, a modest curator-teacher, were on the very fringes of the rigidly hierarchical British society in India. The Kiplings, being neither Competition-Wallahs (Indian Civil Service) nor Box-Wallahs (planters and businessmen), were sahibs in a very equivocal sense. Also, Kipling displayed a rare sensitivity in his Indian fiction. Alone among British writers on India, he chose to write about the common run of Indian humanity. Kipling’s is the world of Kim the Anglo-Irish orphan, Gunga Din, the water -carrier, Mahbub Ali the horse dealer, Hurree Babu, the Bengali surveyor and, of course, the beloved lama – a far cry from the déraciné middle-class society of Forster’s Aziz, Hamidullah and Fielding. India’s philosopher-president, the late Dr Radhakrishnan, once remarked to Dr A. L. Rowse at All Souls College, “ . . . of all Western books about India, Kim was the best, its author really understood India”. Kipling’s “If” was also Gandhi’s favourite poem. Yet, sadly, an otherwise liberal and mature India, still hag-ridden by Kipling’s hackneyed “white man’s burden”, has yet to recognize Kipling’s genius as a writer and not the putative Bard of Imperialism. ANAND CHANDAVARKAR Washington, DC 20007. UNQUOTE

Sylvia Murphy wrote: >> British officers in India >> http://www.unithistories.com/officers/persons_british.html >> > This is a potentially very useful site - but should point out that it is > specific to WWII period. > Yes, I agree. And ... I too was initially caught out by it being WW II only. > Does anyone have any idea what became of Tod Mills and his regiments.org > website? It was the most fantastic resource which had been continually > improved over many years and suddenly disappeared early this year. > This site was of the greatest value. It is only two or three days since I wished to refer an enquirer to it, and then could not find it; I feared it was myself at fault. I am unaware of any other site with the breadth and depth of historical information concerning the army units of the UK, Colonies and Dominions. A sad loss; but I hope only temporary as the URL comes up with 'Sorry, this site is temporarily unavailable.' Mind you, if it has been doing this for the past few months things perhaps don't look too hopeful! Yours Aye Andrew Sellon A gentleman does nothing but ride or walk; and yet such a ridiculous stress is laid upon the manliness of exercises customary at public schools, exercises in which the greatest blockheads commonly excel the most – which often renders the habits of idleness inveterate - and often lead to foolish expense and dissipation at a more advanced period of life. Rev. Sydney Smith 1771-1854, Canon of St. Paul's.

Hi all Could anyone tell me if there is a searchable database for establishing the movments of individual Brigades of The Royal Artillery within India? In particular I am looking for the 6th Brigade, Royal Artillery between 1869 to 1874. Regards Jonathan.

Book - Vellore Revolt - 1806 by K A Manikumar Allied Publishers, Chennai (2007) 124 pages Rs 300 Reviewed in Frontline, Oct. 20-Nov. 02, 2007 http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2421/stories/20071102504307700.htm K.A. Manikumar's book, Vellore Revolt 1806, has met the long-felt need for a historical account of the revolt of sepoys in the fortress town of Vellore in South India, an uprising which anticipated the 1857 revolt by half a century. A brief description of the expansion of British power in South India, the nature of the Madras army, life at the Vellore fort and the New Regulations of the Army introduced by the Commander -in-Chief, John Cradock, provides readers with the context of the revolt. Then follows a vivid picture of the uprising, starting from the first incident on May 6, 1806, to the attack on and the capture of the British barrack around 3 a.m. on July 10, 1806. Colonel Gillespie, Commander of the cavalry cantonment in Arcot, who arrived with reinforcements at 9 a.m.,reportedly restored the Vellore fort to British control after an action lasting for about 15 minutes. Making a judicious use of the archival records of the Secret and Military Departments of the Government of Madras and the reports of incidents given by British as well as native officers at different levels, Manikumar weaves the narrative of the revolt, letting the events unfold through eye-witness accounts. [snip] --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

FAMOUS ARMY CHILDREN Some well-known individuals were once British army children; many among them were born in India. http://www.archhistory.co.uk/taca/famousarch.html --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

British officers in India (including Commonwealth officers serving in British units) http://www.unithistories.com/officers/persons_british.html --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Saturday, July 26, 2008 Anna Leonowens (THE KING AND I governess) once again. BOMBAY ANNA: THE REAL STORY AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF THE KING AND I GOVERNESS By Susan Morgan University of California Press, 274 pages, $25 People reinvent themselves all the time. Chefs become photographers; stock brokers join back-to-the-land communes. But few, except perhaps ex-cons, go to the lengths Anna Leonowens did to obliterate their pasts with their reinvented selves. For five years in the 1860s, Anna Leonowens really did teach the children, in their dozens and dozens, of King Mongkut of Siam. And starting in 1944, she really was the model for the Anna of a bestselling novel, a smash Broadway musical, two popular movies and even a short-lived TV sitcom. But beyond that, who was she really? Certainly not the well-born lady of British birth she claimed to be. Nor, as she told her grandchildren, the daughter of an army officer serving in India who was "cut to pieces by Sikhs who lay in wait for him." Nor the widow of another dashing officer who fell dead at her feet after a tiger hunt. This and much more about her inventions has been known for decades, especially thanks to a debunking 1976 book by W.S. Bristowe. Not known or fully understood, Susan Morgan argues in this fascinating biography, is the scope of what Anna was hiding with her reinvented self. It wasn't a crime, but something nearly as bad in the mid-Victorian empire: a mixed-race heritage. Anna's paternal grandfather, the son of a Methodist minister in England, arrived in India in 1810 as a cadet in the East India Company's army. But gently born women who were English and who would deign even to glance at someone of his low social status essentially did not exist in India. Of necessity, he married an Indian-born Eurasian, and it's a measure of her social status, lower still than her husband's, that even so basic a detail as her name has not survived. It was her existence, or rather what it implied, that Anna Harriett Emma Edwards was so determined to suppress. [snip] http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/books/story.html?id=012f3fc5-fb7e-435d-ba10-355fd8a845ce --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Why did the Dutch stop being ''a colonial threat to India''? This webapge has come out with an answer. http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Seafaring_in_Ancient_India.htm --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar QUOTE India became the first power to defeat a European power in a naval battle - The Battle of Colachel in 1742 CE. A dramatic and virtually unknown past, in an area of bucolic calm surrounded by spectacular hills: that is Colachel, a name that should be better known to us. For this is where, in 1741, an extraordinary event took place -- the Battle of Colachel. For the first, and perhaps the only time in Indian history, an Indian kingdom defeated a European naval force. The ruler of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, routed an invading Dutch fleet; the Dutch commander, Delannoy, joined the Travancore army and served for decades; the Dutch never recovered from this debacle and were never again a colonial threat to India. The Battle of Colachel in 1742 CE, where Marthanda Varma of Travancore crushed a Dutch expeditionary fleet near Kanyakumari. The defeat was so total that the Dutch captain, Delannoy, joined the Travancore forces and served loyally for 35 years--and his tomb is still in a coastal fort there. So it wasn't the Japanese in the Yellow Sea in 1905 under Admiral Tojo who were the first Asian power to defeat a European power in a naval battle--it was little Travancore. The Portuguese and the Dutch were trying to gain political power in India at that time. Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch in 1741. He was an able ruler. He established peace in his country - Travancore. It was a remarkable achievement for a small princely state. (source: The Battle of Colachel: In remembrance of things past - By Rajeev Srinivasan - rediff.com and http://www.kerala.com/kera/culture1.htm UNQUOTE

July 24, 2008 When the British Library realised that the condition of the Mewar manuscripts, which they'd had in their possession since 1840, were rapidly deteriorating, it was decided to unbind the series of over 100 illustrations. The 17th century Mewar manuscript had never been exhibited before, and the unbinding presented an opportunity to display these incredibly detailed miniature paintings depicting every scene from the 24,000 verse Ramayana. The British Library invited Tara Arts, the first 'Asian' theatre group in Britain, to design the exhibition. Jatinder Verma, artistic director of Tara Arts, talks to Venetia Ansell about the exhibition and the Ramayana today. [snip] 'The Ramayana: Love and Valour in India's Great Epic' is on at the Pearson Gallery in The British Library until 14th September 2008 http://venetiaansell.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/interview-jatinder-verma/ --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Thursday, July 24, 2008 The DVD of "The Chess Players" by Satyajit Ray has been out for a year now. Here is the review by Andrew Robinson: 13th June 2007 "It's a very, very complex mixed kind of thing, the entire British heritage in India", Satyajit Ray told me after a pregnant pause when I interviewed him at length for a biography in the 1980s. "I'm thankful for the fact that at least I'm familiar with both cultures and it gives me a very much stronger footing as a film-maker, but I'm also aware of all the dirty things that were being done. I really don't know how I feel about it." [snip] http://transcendentalworkout.blogspot.com/2008/07/satranch-raj-colonialism-british-empire.html --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

>From - Los Angeles Herald February 03, 1907, Page 7, BRITISH MISRULE IN INDIA SEVERELY ARRAIGNED BY PUNDIT CHARGES FAMINE TO ENGLISH EXTRAVAGANCE Member of Universal Peace Union Has Harsh Words for the Way King Edward's Hindoo Subjects Are Treated Pundit Dr. N. Krishna of Bombay, India, member of the universal peace union, arrived in Los Angeles a few days ago. His mission to America is, he says, to study the growth of the country in its political, economical and sociological conditions. He contemplates writing a book on each of the subjects. Dr. Krishna also has the ambition to tell the American people something about the situation in his own land, particularly relating to British rule in India. He has spent nineteen months in America, and will remain a few months longer. He has visited about thirty states. The pundit told the story of India's troubles in a quick, soft voice and in excellent English, but with an idiom that bespoke his nationality. "The only chance of the people of the United States to hear about the orient is through the missionaries who are sent there to tell our people how benighted they are," said the pundit. "These men and women are not constructive as to idea or character; on the contrary they are positively destructive. The so-called Christ characters and the beauty of Christ love is not shown. Hence they are unwelcome in India. [SNIP] http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/ndnp:1891406/display.html?n=3&scope=fulltext&pageNum=1&currentSort=&mode=list --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Sir Richmond Campbell Shakespear 1812 -1861 Soldier and administrator, youngest son of John Talbot Shakespear, of the Bengal civil service, by Emily (eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray of the Bengal civil service and his wife, Amelia Richmond Webb), was born in India on 11 May 1812. In July 1859 Shakespear became agent to the governor- general for Central India, residing at Indur. He conducted that year the negotiations with the Begums of Bhopal and installed Sikander Begum as rani of Bhopal. For his tact in extricating the government from an embarrassing position, he was highly commended by the governor-general in a despatch dated 31 Dec. He was made a companion of the Bath, civil division, in 1860, and later in the same year (30 Dec.) Lord Canning, in a despatch to the home government, expressed his high appreciation of Shakespear's conduct of the negotiations with Scindia. Scindia had been induced to concede territory to the maharaja of Gwalior in acknowledgement of the latter's services to the government during the mutiny. Scindia also consented to receive a subsidiary force composed of troops of the line in lieu of the contingent. [snip] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~shakespeare/biog/dict_nat_biog/sir_richmond_campbell_shakespear.htm --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

G'day folks, On 22/07/2008, at 5:33 PM, Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar wrote: Snipped from http://warrenbrown.tripod.com/derozio/id1.html *** Where would you find the greatest Anglo-Indian poet today? See also.... http://lathicharge.wordpress.com/2006/07/15/to-india-my-native-land/ ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

  We are an asset tracing agency in India. We have traced quite a few assets in India, that are owned by people of British origin but have been unclaimed / unattended for many many decades. We would like to approach those people/ their families/ heirs and help them with the legal procedures to claim the same.   we wish to pursue this matter to help people who may not be aware of the family benefits lying unclaimed / unattended in India, acquired during the Raj period. Their addresses also are at least 30 to 40 years old. Rakesh Gujral 09312220057   www.fundtracers.com

Dear Listers, Searching for ancestors, descendants any information at all on the Rydquist Family. Best wishes Amanda, Vic, Aust ------------------------ Descendants of Charles (Carl) Fredrick Rydquist Generation No. 1 1. CHARLES (CARL) FREDRICK2 RYDQUIST (CHARLES JOHN1) was born 1852. He married MARY SELINA LAIRD 17 Apr 1884 in St James, Calcutta, India, daughter of THOMAS WILLIAM LAIRD. She was born 1863. Notes for CHARLES (CARL) FREDRICK RYDQUIST: Coal Inspector, Calcutta, India. Baptized St James, Calcutta. On records a Rudquist. Occupaton 1900 jute broker. More About CHARLES RYDQUIST and MARY LAIRD: Marriage: 17 Apr 1884, St James, Calcutta, India Children of CHARLES RYDQUIST and MARY LAIRD are: i. CONSTANCE BLANCHE OLGA3 RYDQUIST, b. 19 Jun 1885, India Office Ecclesiastical Returns-Bengal Presidency, Misc, India. ii. FREDERICK WILLIAM RYDQUIST, b. 29 Nov 1886, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Notes for FREDERICK WILLIAM RYDQUIST: Christening: 05 DEC 1886 Calcutta, West Bengal, India iii. ALICE CHRISTINE RIDQUIST, b. 24 Nov 1887, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Notes for ALICE CHRISTINE RIDQUIST: Christening: 08 JAN 1888 Calcutta, West Bengal, India iv. ERNEST LAIRD RYDQUIST, b. 07 Jan 1889; m. BLANCHE EMILIE CHATER, 16 Feb 1919, Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Moorgyhatta; b. 1901. Notes for ERNEST LAIRD RYDQUIST: Christening: 12 MAY 1889 Calcutta, West Bengal, India - Occupation: Mining Engineer Abode: Calcutta, India More About ERNEST RYDQUIST and BLANCHE CHATER: Marriage: 16 Feb 1919, Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Moorgyhatta 2. v. JOHN LAIRD RYDQUIST, b. 04 Apr 1890, Calcutta, West Bengal, India; d. 1974, Sydney, NSW, Australia. vi. CHARLES FREDERICK RYDQUIST, b. 1892; d. 1978, Wind, Victoria, Australia. Notes for CHARLES FREDERICK RYDQUIST: Wind, Victoria is either Windsor or Windemere? vii. MARY HETTY RYDQUIST, b. 20 May 1894, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. viii. GRACE ELIZABETH RYDQUIST, b. 01 Mar 1900, St Paul's, Calcutta, India.

Dear Listers, Searching for ancestors, marriage, birth, death records for this family. Best wishes Amanda Trentham, Vic, Aust ----------------------- 1. JOHN LAIRD He married ELIZABETH JESSAMINA ?. Elizabeth Buried: 01 Jun 1841? Occupation: Cpt, Marine Svce; N/1/62 f.51 Child of JOHN LAIRD and ELIZABETH ? 2. i. THOMAS WILLIAM LAIRD, b. 01 Aug 1829, Rangoon, Old Church, Calcutta, India. Generation No. 2 2. THOMAS WILLIAM LAIRD was born 01 Aug 1829 in Rangoon, Old Church, Calcutta, India. Event type: Baptism Date: 16 MarYear: 1834 Location: Old Church, Calcutta Parents: John, mariner; Elizabeth Jessamina Notes: Born in RangoonTranscribed by: British Library India Office Records : Presidency: Bengal Child of THOMAS WILLIAM LAIRD: i. MARY SELINA3 LAIRD, b. 1863; m. CHARLES (CARL) FREDRICK RYDQUIST, 17 Apr 1884, St James, Calcutta, India; b. 1852. Notes for CHARLES (CARL) FREDRICK RYDQUIST: Coal Inspector, Calcutta, India. Baptized St James, Calcutta. On records a Rudquist. Occupaton 1900 jute broker.

See - http://www.howrahbridgekolkata.gov.in/ --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India