Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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Disgusting little vandals.
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Ramadoss demands archaeological excavations to the north of Thamirabarani River
Source: The Hindu
Date: 3 February, 2020
The PMK founder also demanded that the Archaeological Survey Of India release its report on excavations in Adhichanallur undertaken in 2004
PMK founder S. Ramadoss has demanded that archaeological excavations be undertaken north of the Thamirabarani River by Tamil Nadu’s Department of Archaeology.
In a statement on Monday, he said that Archaeological Survey Of India should release its report on excavations in Adhichanallur undertaken 15 years ago in 2004, after due process.
“The report is likely to present surprising facts about Tamil civilisation. Carbon-dating of items excavated has proved that one item was from 905 BCE and another was found to be from 971 BCE. Other circumstantial evidence seem to suggest that Adhichanallur civilization could be 3,500 years old. The report could prove that Tamil civilisation is the oldest one,” he added.
https://www-thehindu-com.cdn.amppro...3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
Source: The Hindu
Date: 3 February, 2020
The PMK founder also demanded that the Archaeological Survey Of India release its report on excavations in Adhichanallur undertaken in 2004
PMK founder S. Ramadoss has demanded that archaeological excavations be undertaken north of the Thamirabarani River by Tamil Nadu’s Department of Archaeology.
In a statement on Monday, he said that Archaeological Survey Of India should release its report on excavations in Adhichanallur undertaken 15 years ago in 2004, after due process.
“The report is likely to present surprising facts about Tamil civilisation. Carbon-dating of items excavated has proved that one item was from 905 BCE and another was found to be from 971 BCE. Other circumstantial evidence seem to suggest that Adhichanallur civilization could be 3,500 years old. The report could prove that Tamil civilisation is the oldest one,” he added.
https://www-thehindu-com.cdn.amppro...3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
ramonmercado
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Graduates don't want to fry pakodas.
"We are graduates, we are jobless, we are hungry. Don't kick us in our stomachs," a young man in India's eastern state of Bihar told a colleague this week.
His anguish followed three days of rioting over jobs spread over a dozen districts in one of India's most backward states. More than 10 million aspirants had signed up for 35,000 jobs with the railways, India's largest employer.
Aspirants alleged that the hiring process was non-transparent and riddled with problems, including allowing those with higher qualifications to compete for jobs for less qualified candidates. Frustration led to anger and escalated to violence. Students allegedly stopped trains and set fire to coaches. Police fired in the air and baton-charged protesters. The railways suspended the hiring, and threatened aspirants with barring them from all railway exams in the future.
One newspaper said the protests were not merely about a lack of jobs, but the "toll that they were taking on the young". The protester who spoke to my colleague said he was the son of a farmer who had sold his land to get him educated. His mother would not buy medicines when she fell ill so that they had enough money to pay for his rent and private coaching classes in the city. He mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark in 2018 on how opening a small pakoda (a spiced fritter snack) kiosk also counted as a job. "Why are you asking graduates to fry pakodas?," he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60165825
"We are graduates, we are jobless, we are hungry. Don't kick us in our stomachs," a young man in India's eastern state of Bihar told a colleague this week.
His anguish followed three days of rioting over jobs spread over a dozen districts in one of India's most backward states. More than 10 million aspirants had signed up for 35,000 jobs with the railways, India's largest employer.
Aspirants alleged that the hiring process was non-transparent and riddled with problems, including allowing those with higher qualifications to compete for jobs for less qualified candidates. Frustration led to anger and escalated to violence. Students allegedly stopped trains and set fire to coaches. Police fired in the air and baton-charged protesters. The railways suspended the hiring, and threatened aspirants with barring them from all railway exams in the future.
One newspaper said the protests were not merely about a lack of jobs, but the "toll that they were taking on the young". The protester who spoke to my colleague said he was the son of a farmer who had sold his land to get him educated. His mother would not buy medicines when she fell ill so that they had enough money to pay for his rent and private coaching classes in the city. He mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark in 2018 on how opening a small pakoda (a spiced fritter snack) kiosk also counted as a job. "Why are you asking graduates to fry pakodas?," he said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60165825
Mythopoeika
I am a meat popsicle
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Pakoda, AKA pakora.
ramonmercado
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A mystery, maybe mortuary jars.
Researchers have uncovered giant "mysterious" jars in India that may have been used for ancient human burial practices.
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam. They vary in shape and size. Some of the jars are tall and cylindrical, while the others are partly or fully buried in the ground. Similar stone vessels have previously been found in Laos and Indonesia.
The details of the discovery - which involved researchers from three universities in India and Australia - were published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology journal this week. The research was led by Tilok Thakuria from North-Eastern Hill University and Uttam Bathari from Gauhati University.
"We still don't know who made the giant jars or where they lived. It's all a bit of a mystery", said Nicholas Skopal, a researcher at the Australian National University who was part of the research team.
Although it is still not clear what the giant jars were used for, the researchers believe they were "likely associated with mortuary practices".
"There are stories from the Naga people (an ethnic group in north-eastern India) of finding the Assam jars filled with cremated remains, beads and other material artefacts," Mr Skopal said.
Dr Thakuria told the BBC that "presently the jars are empty", and they were once possibly covered with lids. ...
Some 10 sites containing more than 700 jars have been uncovered in Assam so far, Dr Thakuria said. They believe these jars date back to before 400 BC. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60937348
Researchers have uncovered giant "mysterious" jars in India that may have been used for ancient human burial practices.
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam. They vary in shape and size. Some of the jars are tall and cylindrical, while the others are partly or fully buried in the ground. Similar stone vessels have previously been found in Laos and Indonesia.
The details of the discovery - which involved researchers from three universities in India and Australia - were published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology journal this week. The research was led by Tilok Thakuria from North-Eastern Hill University and Uttam Bathari from Gauhati University.
"We still don't know who made the giant jars or where they lived. It's all a bit of a mystery", said Nicholas Skopal, a researcher at the Australian National University who was part of the research team.
Although it is still not clear what the giant jars were used for, the researchers believe they were "likely associated with mortuary practices".
"There are stories from the Naga people (an ethnic group in north-eastern India) of finding the Assam jars filled with cremated remains, beads and other material artefacts," Mr Skopal said.
Dr Thakuria told the BBC that "presently the jars are empty", and they were once possibly covered with lids. ...
Some 10 sites containing more than 700 jars have been uncovered in Assam so far, Dr Thakuria said. They believe these jars date back to before 400 BC. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60937348
ramonmercado
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Tools have been found along with the cave art.
Over the years rock carvings of a previously unknown civilisation have been found in India's western state of Maharashtra. Now, a cave in the same region is promising to shed more light on the creators of these prehistoric artworks and their lives. The BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur reports.
The cave, located around 10km (six miles) away from Koloshi village in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra, was discovered by a group of researchers last year. Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years.
"Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra's archaeology department. Archaeologists believe these artefacts can help us find out more about the way our ancestors lived.
The cave, which is situated in a secluded forest in Sindhudurg, was discovered by researchers who were studying rock carvings in nearby areas. Excavation work was conducted in two rounds, during which archaeologists dug two trenches inside the cave. Several big and small stone tools dating back to the Mesolithic period - also called the middle stone age - have been found.
"The microliths, or the small stone tools, date back to around 10,000 years, whereas the larger tools could be around 20,000 years old," says Rutivij Apte, who has been researching the Konkan petroglyphs and was part of the excavation team.
Dr Parth Chauhan, an archaeologist, says chemical processes are used to analyse any residue that might be present on the edges of the artefacts. This can help determine what the object was used for.
"It will take a couple of months to find out the exact time period these stone tools belong to. But right now, we can say that these artefacts are between 10,000 to 48,000 years old."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62901846
Over the years rock carvings of a previously unknown civilisation have been found in India's western state of Maharashtra. Now, a cave in the same region is promising to shed more light on the creators of these prehistoric artworks and their lives. The BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur reports.
The cave, located around 10km (six miles) away from Koloshi village in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra, was discovered by a group of researchers last year. Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years.
"Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra's archaeology department. Archaeologists believe these artefacts can help us find out more about the way our ancestors lived.
The cave, which is situated in a secluded forest in Sindhudurg, was discovered by researchers who were studying rock carvings in nearby areas. Excavation work was conducted in two rounds, during which archaeologists dug two trenches inside the cave. Several big and small stone tools dating back to the Mesolithic period - also called the middle stone age - have been found.
"The microliths, or the small stone tools, date back to around 10,000 years, whereas the larger tools could be around 20,000 years old," says Rutivij Apte, who has been researching the Konkan petroglyphs and was part of the excavation team.
Dr Parth Chauhan, an archaeologist, says chemical processes are used to analyse any residue that might be present on the edges of the artefacts. This can help determine what the object was used for.
"It will take a couple of months to find out the exact time period these stone tools belong to. But right now, we can say that these artefacts are between 10,000 to 48,000 years old."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62901846
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Signs of discontent,
Some angry residents in India's Agra city have temporarily renamed housing complexes as "gutter colony" or "smelly town" to protest against civic issues.
Residents of Shahganj and Jagdishpura localities blame an unfinished road for causing waterlogging and traffic jams. The northern city is home to the Taj Mahal, India's most famous monument, and is a big draw for tourists. But residents in the two areas complain that they have to live with filth and grime in their neighbourhoods. They accuse the authorities of not fixing their problems despite repeated complaints.
A spokesperson for Baby Rani Maurya, a lawmaker under whose constituency parts of the road come under, said that steps were being taken to start work on the road.
"We have written to the concerned authorities for additional funds so that roadwork can be started." he added.
But in the past few days, with angry residents deciding to take matters in their own hands, green and white signboards - similar to the official ones put up by the city authorities - have been installed on buildings and at road intersections with their new names.
So, Navneet Nagar is now "badboo nagar" (stinking town), Mansarovar colony is "nalasarovar colony" (gutter colony) and Panchsheel colony is "durgandhsheel colony" (smelly colony).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63197377
Some angry residents in India's Agra city have temporarily renamed housing complexes as "gutter colony" or "smelly town" to protest against civic issues.
Residents of Shahganj and Jagdishpura localities blame an unfinished road for causing waterlogging and traffic jams. The northern city is home to the Taj Mahal, India's most famous monument, and is a big draw for tourists. But residents in the two areas complain that they have to live with filth and grime in their neighbourhoods. They accuse the authorities of not fixing their problems despite repeated complaints.
A spokesperson for Baby Rani Maurya, a lawmaker under whose constituency parts of the road come under, said that steps were being taken to start work on the road.
"We have written to the concerned authorities for additional funds so that roadwork can be started." he added.
But in the past few days, with angry residents deciding to take matters in their own hands, green and white signboards - similar to the official ones put up by the city authorities - have been installed on buildings and at road intersections with their new names.
So, Navneet Nagar is now "badboo nagar" (stinking town), Mansarovar colony is "nalasarovar colony" (gutter colony) and Panchsheel colony is "durgandhsheel colony" (smelly colony).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63197377
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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Exam cheating in India.
On a chilly December morning, police in the western state of Rajasthan saw a bus heading towards Udaipur city and followed it.
The night before, they had received a tip-off - the question paper for an examination to recruit teachers in the state's government schools was going to be leaked in the morning, just hours before millions of students were to take the test. Some 1,193 exam centres were set up for the eagerly-awaited recruitment drive on 24 December.
In India, where government jobs are highly coveted, cases of aspiring candidates resorting to unfair means are not uncommon. One way many job-seekers try to secure a place is by cheating in exams, which includes buying question papers or paying someone else to write the test on their behalf.
The bus in Udaipur was on its way to an examination centre and police suspected that those leaking the paper were on it. At first, they waited at a distance as the bus circled around a building for a few minutes. Then they stopped it.
"Inside, we found four government school teachers who were solving question papers for at least 20 candidates," an official, who wished to stay anonymous, told the BBC.
The aspirants had allegedly paid the teachers, who were on invigilation duty at the centre, money - the police did not specify how much - to solve the papers for them. Around 20 "dummy" candidates, who were paid by aspirants to take the test on their behalf, were also caught from the bus. Police alleged the accused were carrying fake IDs.
A total of 48 people were arrested in connection with the scam that morning, prompting authorities to cancel the examination process.
The incident was the latest in a series of scams where question papers for crucial government exams have been leaked or solved in exchange for money. Since 2018, at least 12 recruitment drives have been cancelled in the state after the test was leaked - just days, sometimes hours, before the exam.
In Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at least nine attempts to recruit schoolteachers and junior clerks have been cancelled since 2014 due to paper leaks. In the eastern state of West Bengal, authorities had to launch an investigation last year after question papers to hire teachers were widely shared on social media, hours before the exam.
The story is no different in the central state of Madhya Pradesh which was rocked by a massive recruitment scam in 2009 when aspirants taking a medical exam hired students from neighbouring states to write their papers. Question papers were also leaked and sold to candidates at astronomical prices, before authorities clamped down and arrested thousands.
The heartland states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are equally infamous.
In Bihar, students are sometimes not allowed to wear shoes and socks to exam centres to stop them from cheating. In the past, authorities have imposed fines, jail terms and even detained parents for allegedly helping their children cheat.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, exams are often conducted under CCTV surveillance. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64495673
On a chilly December morning, police in the western state of Rajasthan saw a bus heading towards Udaipur city and followed it.
The night before, they had received a tip-off - the question paper for an examination to recruit teachers in the state's government schools was going to be leaked in the morning, just hours before millions of students were to take the test. Some 1,193 exam centres were set up for the eagerly-awaited recruitment drive on 24 December.
In India, where government jobs are highly coveted, cases of aspiring candidates resorting to unfair means are not uncommon. One way many job-seekers try to secure a place is by cheating in exams, which includes buying question papers or paying someone else to write the test on their behalf.
The bus in Udaipur was on its way to an examination centre and police suspected that those leaking the paper were on it. At first, they waited at a distance as the bus circled around a building for a few minutes. Then they stopped it.
"Inside, we found four government school teachers who were solving question papers for at least 20 candidates," an official, who wished to stay anonymous, told the BBC.
The aspirants had allegedly paid the teachers, who were on invigilation duty at the centre, money - the police did not specify how much - to solve the papers for them. Around 20 "dummy" candidates, who were paid by aspirants to take the test on their behalf, were also caught from the bus. Police alleged the accused were carrying fake IDs.
A total of 48 people were arrested in connection with the scam that morning, prompting authorities to cancel the examination process.
The incident was the latest in a series of scams where question papers for crucial government exams have been leaked or solved in exchange for money. Since 2018, at least 12 recruitment drives have been cancelled in the state after the test was leaked - just days, sometimes hours, before the exam.
In Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at least nine attempts to recruit schoolteachers and junior clerks have been cancelled since 2014 due to paper leaks. In the eastern state of West Bengal, authorities had to launch an investigation last year after question papers to hire teachers were widely shared on social media, hours before the exam.
The story is no different in the central state of Madhya Pradesh which was rocked by a massive recruitment scam in 2009 when aspirants taking a medical exam hired students from neighbouring states to write their papers. Question papers were also leaked and sold to candidates at astronomical prices, before authorities clamped down and arrested thousands.
The heartland states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are equally infamous.
In Bihar, students are sometimes not allowed to wear shoes and socks to exam centres to stop them from cheating. In the past, authorities have imposed fines, jail terms and even detained parents for allegedly helping their children cheat.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, exams are often conducted under CCTV surveillance. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64495673
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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This doesn't seem to be a case of mass hysteria.
At least 11 people have died following a gas leak in northern India.
Women and children are among those who died in the port city of Ludhiana in Punjab state. Several people were found unconscious in their homes. The area was sealed off and residents were evacuated after many reported breathing difficulties. Four are being treated in hospital. The source of the leak is not clear so far. One official suggested that gas may have spread from manholes.
PTI news agency quotes Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik as saying: "We are going to collect samples from manholes. It is quite likely that some chemical reacted with methane in manholes."
Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina, a local legislator, told Reuters news agency that the incident had happened near a milk shop. "People who came to buy milk in the morning, fell unconscious outside," she said.
A team from the National Disaster Response Force has been sent to the site, in the Giaspura area of Ludhiana. There are factories nearby.
Industrial gas leaks are not rare in India.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65440546
At least 11 people have died following a gas leak in northern India.
Women and children are among those who died in the port city of Ludhiana in Punjab state. Several people were found unconscious in their homes. The area was sealed off and residents were evacuated after many reported breathing difficulties. Four are being treated in hospital. The source of the leak is not clear so far. One official suggested that gas may have spread from manholes.
PTI news agency quotes Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik as saying: "We are going to collect samples from manholes. It is quite likely that some chemical reacted with methane in manholes."
Rajinder Pal Kaur Chhina, a local legislator, told Reuters news agency that the incident had happened near a milk shop. "People who came to buy milk in the morning, fell unconscious outside," she said.
A team from the National Disaster Response Force has been sent to the site, in the Giaspura area of Ludhiana. There are factories nearby.
Industrial gas leaks are not rare in India.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65440546
charliebrown
Justified & Ancient
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- 4,209
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- Earth
All my life I have heard China has had the most population, until now
India has now 1.4286 billion
China has now 1. 4257 billion
China has destroyed itself by killing girl babies, past one child policy, and making it hard for pregnant women to work.
China’s population will continue to decline.
India has now 1.4286 billion
China has now 1. 4257 billion
China has destroyed itself by killing girl babies, past one child policy, and making it hard for pregnant women to work.
China’s population will continue to decline.
Salmonellus
Devoted Cultist
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2020
- Messages
- 223
India can be an odd place at times, and things happen there that would be hard to imagine happening anywhere else.
Recently there was a case of a couple in their thirties in Gujarat who had become increasingly religious and were "praying in their hut every day". What the neighbors did not know was that they had also been constructing a home-made guillotine, which was powerful enough to sever both their heads at once.
The machine was set up so that the heads would roll towards the fire altar as a sacrifice.
And so they duly sacrificed themselves on their home made beheading machine. The specific deity that received the heads is not mentioned.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...acrificial-ritual-report-101681660384318.html
What gets me about this story is the practical aspects. A home made guillotine powerful enough to take two heads off at once? That's a fair bit of force. You couldn't just knock it together and hope it would work. You would need some trial runs. How did they manage the testing phase?
And getting it aligned exactly so that the heads rolled - not dropped, the article explicitly says 'rolled' - towards the altar? Again, not something that you could just cross your fingers for and pray.
It's a bit like a horror story come to life.
Recently there was a case of a couple in their thirties in Gujarat who had become increasingly religious and were "praying in their hut every day". What the neighbors did not know was that they had also been constructing a home-made guillotine, which was powerful enough to sever both their heads at once.
The machine was set up so that the heads would roll towards the fire altar as a sacrifice.
And so they duly sacrificed themselves on their home made beheading machine. The specific deity that received the heads is not mentioned.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...acrificial-ritual-report-101681660384318.html
What gets me about this story is the practical aspects. A home made guillotine powerful enough to take two heads off at once? That's a fair bit of force. You couldn't just knock it together and hope it would work. You would need some trial runs. How did they manage the testing phase?
And getting it aligned exactly so that the heads rolled - not dropped, the article explicitly says 'rolled' - towards the altar? Again, not something that you could just cross your fingers for and pray.
It's a bit like a horror story come to life.
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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- Aug 19, 2003
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- Eblana
Justice delayed. I think that's Spike Milligan in the pic.
Last week, a 90-year-old Indian villager was sentenced for life in prison for the murder of 10 people in a caste crime that took place 42 years ago. Families of the victims say the court judgement has come far too late to hold any meaning for them and legal experts say this is a classic case of "justice delayed, justice denied".
The evening of 30 December 1981 is etched in the memory of the oldest residents of Sadhupur village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
"A group of men entered the compound of my house around 6:30pm and started firing," says Premvati. She's not sure about her age but believes she's around 75 years.
"They didn't ask me anything, they just began spraying bullets at us," she says, adding that within minutes, three of her children - sons 10 and eight years old and a 14-year-old daughter - lay dead around her.
To photographers and cameramen who visited the village after the court order, Premvati showed her right leg where she had received a bullet injury. The wound has healed, but the scar remains. Her children were among the 10 members of the Dalit community (formerly untouchables) who were killed that evening. Premvati was among two women who were injured.
IMAGE SOURCE, JITENDRA KISHORE Image caption, The sole surviving accused Ganga Dayal (centre) has been sentenced for life in prison
Last Wednesday, Judge Harvir Singh of the district court in the town of Firozabad sentenced the only surviving accused Ganga Dayal, a member of the Yadav caste, to life imprisonment. Dayal was also ordered to pay a fine of 55,000 rupees ($668; £533) - if he failed to pay up, he would have to spend an additional 13 months in jail.
The judgement noted that nine of the 10 accused had died during the course of the trial. Lawyer Rajeev Upadhyay who represented the government in court told me that many of the prosecution and defence witnesses also died in the interim.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65788152
Last week, a 90-year-old Indian villager was sentenced for life in prison for the murder of 10 people in a caste crime that took place 42 years ago. Families of the victims say the court judgement has come far too late to hold any meaning for them and legal experts say this is a classic case of "justice delayed, justice denied".
The evening of 30 December 1981 is etched in the memory of the oldest residents of Sadhupur village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
"A group of men entered the compound of my house around 6:30pm and started firing," says Premvati. She's not sure about her age but believes she's around 75 years.
"They didn't ask me anything, they just began spraying bullets at us," she says, adding that within minutes, three of her children - sons 10 and eight years old and a 14-year-old daughter - lay dead around her.
To photographers and cameramen who visited the village after the court order, Premvati showed her right leg where she had received a bullet injury. The wound has healed, but the scar remains. Her children were among the 10 members of the Dalit community (formerly untouchables) who were killed that evening. Premvati was among two women who were injured.
Last Wednesday, Judge Harvir Singh of the district court in the town of Firozabad sentenced the only surviving accused Ganga Dayal, a member of the Yadav caste, to life imprisonment. Dayal was also ordered to pay a fine of 55,000 rupees ($668; £533) - if he failed to pay up, he would have to spend an additional 13 months in jail.
The judgement noted that nine of the 10 accused had died during the course of the trial. Lawyer Rajeev Upadhyay who represented the government in court told me that many of the prosecution and defence witnesses also died in the interim.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65788152
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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The Indian Magician Who Inspired a Dahl Story.
There's nothing spectacular about a man riding a bicycle through a crowded street.
But what if his eyes were covered with lumps of dough, thick swabs of cotton and several layers of gauze - and he had multiple layers of bandages wound tightly around his head in such a way that only his nostrils were left exposed?
Kuda Bux, who was born in Kashmir in 1905, was famous for performing this cycling feat on streets of England and Europe in the 1930s and 40s - something he claimed he was able to do because he could "see without eyes".
He headlined his magic shows "the man with X-ray eyes" and would appear to perform a mind-boggling range of activities - including reading passages from books and threading a needle - while covering his eyes in his signature style.
Bux has fascinated generations with his seemingly superhuman ability. He reportedly inspired Roald Dahl's 1977 short tale, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which has now been adapted into an eponymously-titled film by Wes Anderson.
Bux, whose original name was Khudah Bukhsh, was born in a wealthy family. In a 1952 interview with Dahl for Argosy Magazine, he spoke about being fascinated by magic after a performance by an Indian conjurer who went by the name of Professor Moor.
Two days later, he ran away from home and followed Moor to Lahore to work as his assistant at the age of 13. In the following years, he would travel through Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Bombay (Mumbai), learning tricks and skills from traveling magicians, yogis and theatre artists.
He also changed his name to Professor KB Duke and then to Kuda Bux, author John Zubrzycki writes in his book Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67166439
There's nothing spectacular about a man riding a bicycle through a crowded street.
But what if his eyes were covered with lumps of dough, thick swabs of cotton and several layers of gauze - and he had multiple layers of bandages wound tightly around his head in such a way that only his nostrils were left exposed?
Kuda Bux, who was born in Kashmir in 1905, was famous for performing this cycling feat on streets of England and Europe in the 1930s and 40s - something he claimed he was able to do because he could "see without eyes".
He headlined his magic shows "the man with X-ray eyes" and would appear to perform a mind-boggling range of activities - including reading passages from books and threading a needle - while covering his eyes in his signature style.
Bux has fascinated generations with his seemingly superhuman ability. He reportedly inspired Roald Dahl's 1977 short tale, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which has now been adapted into an eponymously-titled film by Wes Anderson.
Bux, whose original name was Khudah Bukhsh, was born in a wealthy family. In a 1952 interview with Dahl for Argosy Magazine, he spoke about being fascinated by magic after a performance by an Indian conjurer who went by the name of Professor Moor.
Two days later, he ran away from home and followed Moor to Lahore to work as his assistant at the age of 13. In the following years, he would travel through Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Bombay (Mumbai), learning tricks and skills from traveling magicians, yogis and theatre artists.
He also changed his name to Professor KB Duke and then to Kuda Bux, author John Zubrzycki writes in his book Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67166439
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Another surprising journey:
Runaway Indian train travels 70km without driver
The Indian Railways has ordered an investigation after a freight train travelled more than 70km (43.4 miles) without drivers.Videos shared on social media showed the train zooming past several stations at high speed.
Reports say the train ran without a driver from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir to Hoshiarpur district in Punjab on Sunday.
The railways says the train was brought to a halt and no-one was hurt.
Officials told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency that the incident took place between 07:25 and 09:00 local time (01:55 and 3:30 GMT) on Sunday.
The 53-wagon train, carrying chip stones, was on its way to Punjab from Jammu when it stopped in Kathua for a change in crew.
Officials say it began moving down a slope on the railway tracks after the train driver and his assistant got off.
The train moved at a speed of nearly 100km/h and managed to cross about five stations before it was stopped.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-68399868