Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Vijay Sthamb (victory pillar) - The pillar was erected by the East India Company in memory of those who fought the battle and includes the names of the Mahar soldiers who unknowingly brought an end to the Peshwa rule in 1818.   The battle on January 1, 1818, where the British, with just 834 infantrymen — about 500 of them from the Mahar community — and 12 officers defeated the 28,000-strong army of Peshwa Bajirao II - was one of the last battles of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, which ended the Peshwa domination. While this would tempt many to suggest Mahars/Dalits always sided with the British - absolutely nothing wrong if they did give the conditions they were forced to live in - in truth, they were before this battle part of the Maratha army. During Shivaji’s reign, especially before Peshwas, many didn’t realise that Peshwas were not a continuation of Marathas under Shivaji but a deviation from it. One would do well here to remember how Brahmins of his dominion refused to conduct ...

  It took the British around 100 years to fully conquer India. And by India, I mean British India consisting of Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and present-day India. And in this, they were helped and aided by all sorts of Indian kingdoms and people. Rajputs and Marathas were major forces that helped the British conquer the most difficult of kingdoms. For instance, Tipu Sultan who defeated the British in two battles was defeated and killed by the British army in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war with the help of Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad. Otherwise, the British couldn't defeat Tipu who had by then defeated their general who had defeated Napoleon in battle. The last battle was full of ironies, I mean, ironical considering the politics of today. For instance, Maratha Peshwas, in whom today’s Hindutva-nationalists take pride were collaborating with the British, Scindias of Gwalior too supported the British while a Mughal fought against the British. This is not to say one is...

The long-awaited, more than twenty years, Ayodhya Judgement is here. Before we dwell on the same, ever wondered why people go to the courts? Why they spend on lawyers, on their travels to court? After all, all they do is present arguments from each side which they could do before a sarpanch in a village or that old man in Khaap panchayat or a mutual friend — just anyone but the judge in a court. Why walk to a court? What is it that you expect from a court that you do not expect from other avenues. Why do we say we have to respect the decisions of the court? After all, the people giving verdicts are people like us too. They go through similar lives as we do. They breathe the same air, drink the same water, eat the same food. Why then do we expect them to deliver judgements on our problems and also respect their pronouncements? Is it because we believe that they are impartial, that they rely on facts and facts alone and not on emotions and beliefs and pressures of the society? ...

India is a diverse nation, our strength lies in our unity or so are we told since school but what we are not taught is how this very diversity is time and again exploited by certain elements to sow seeds of hate in the society we live in. Just last week we saw this happening in Delhi where a parking feud spiralled into communal confrontation , a boy went missing (?), a temple was vandalized, quickly came the men with slogans and then there was more. There is a lot to learn from this but I’m quite sure we would not. There is a reason why riots keep happening in India and people who until that day lived shoulder-to-shoulder burn each other’s houses and seek more blood. Until we understand this pattern and intentions behind people who initiate these ghastly crimes, the kind of unknown non-local faces who visit the disturbed towns, we will continue to reel under these riots. India has seen many riots since 1980. Far too many. And one must try to retrace their origins, reasons why ...

Before and after of a hill that is part of many photo-shoots and regional movies. There are many such… Nobel laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore when visited Karwar, a coastal town in south Indian state of Karnataka in 1882, dedicated a chapter in his memoirs to this town. But that was in the past. The town known mostly for its long stretched sun kissed beaches, old Portuguese remnants, Maratha past, sea food, mangrove islands and lot more has gone under the hammer of ‘development’ for some time now and remains very less about anything that would inspire another Tagore. We all are very much aware how development of any city has its own drawbacks – people get displaced, vegetation gets destroyed and lot more happens that we all have got used to for now. And most of us agree it’s fine when pros weigh down the cons of any such development plan. But consider this now. There is a plan (as you read this the work is already under progress on ground) for widening of National Highw...

Bajirao Mastani, is a treat offered on celluloid for movie buffs, a brilliance at best but also a lost opportunity in portraying the greatness of the best known Peshwa! A canvas where love story has taken centre-stage while in life it was battles, 40 straight wins is no joke my friend! But then you can't really blame Bhansali because going by the title it was meant to put the story of two protagonists above all and he achieved it with brilliance, a little less I would say! I'm no reviewer and won't go into nuances of the art of doing what I'm not but I believe you need to give it a watch. For the brilliant sets, colorful canvas, larger than life imagery, things for which Bhansali is best known in the industry! And stellar piece of acting from Ranveer Singh and others. In fact Ranveer is the life of this credulous display of a time from history known for its larger than life living and blood soaked battlegrouds. I can't believe I had doubts initially when cast...

Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler is back from the grave to haunt the land he once so ferociously ruled. In the protests against Karnataka government for deciding to celebrate the birth anniversary of the Tiger of Mysore, one person has lost his life while others continue to boil their blood amidst winter’s chill. Karnataka government on the other-hand is acting all passive as if it’s a storm in the tea-cup, terming it as another political game to communalise the society. It’s one of the sad irony of our times how one person has lost his life over a ruler who lost his life more than 200 years back in a war fighting against the British! Tipu was a patriot or ‘bigot’ is debatable. Those who are protesting claim he was a tyrant, an intolerant ruler while the other fraction claims he promoted communal harmony. Whose point are we supposed to buy? This is where history comes to our rescue. The then king of Mysore introduced number of innovations during his rule, including lunis...