Writer & Geek

The Pyramids are one of the ancient wonders of the world. It is one of the most mysterious structures ever built. In this episode, we try to uncover some of the mysteries.

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The Indian Revolutionary Movement

The first signs of the revolutionary movement can be traced back to 1847 when 5000 peasants rose against the British East India Company (EIC) in Kurnool district (Andra Pradesh) under the leadership of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy. They were protesting against the changes made to the traditional agrarian system.

Jugantar Party

The revolutionary movement was not organised till the 20th Century. The first signs of its organisation can be noticed in 1905, during the partition of Bengal.

The Jugantar party was formed in April 1906 by Aurobindo Ghosh, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Bhupendranath Datta, Lal Bal Pal, Subodh Chandra Mullick.

They collected and manufactured bombs. The Jugantars sent some of their members for training abroad, too. But the attempted murder of a district judge in Muzaffarpur resulted in the arrest of many of them.

They planned to revolt against the British during the First World War with the help of Indians living abroad. It relied on the clandestine landing of German arms and ammunitions in the Indian coast, which never materialised.

They supported Mahatma Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement while conducting revolutionary activities.

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

It was established in October 1924 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh by revolutionaries like Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjee, Chandrashekhar Azad, Yogendra Shukla and Sachindranath Sanyal. They aimed to throw out the British and establish the Federal Republic of the United States of India.

The Kakori train robbery is one of the notable mutinies by the group. It led to the hanging of Ashfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri.

The group reorganised under Chandrashekhar Azad with new members of the likes of Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Sukhdev and renamed themselves the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).

They killed Saunders, a police officer involved in the lathi-charge that killed Lala Lajpat Rai.

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru threw a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly. It was followed by their trial and hanging on 23 March 1931.

Abhinav Bharat Secret Society

It was a secret society started by VD Savarkar and GD Savarkar in 1904. It was involved in many revolutionary activities until its disbandment in 1952.

One of the popular deeds of the society was the assassination of Lt. Col. William Curzon-Wyllie on 1 July 1909.

After the existence of the society was unearthed, Savarkar was transported to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands in 1910.

Kotwal Dasta

It was formed by Veer Bhai Kotwal with around 50 members during the Quit India Movement. They cut down electric pylons to cripple the industries and railways. Around 11 pylons were cut from September to November 1942.

Previous episode mentioned in this episode: 074: Oh beer, oh beer!

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In this episode, we talk about the Boeing 737 Max accidents and the reason behind it.

Boeing’s 737 is one of the most widely used aircraft. But two crashes of its new 737 Max 8 model and the following investigation, led to some dark details about how a software system overpowered the pilots and plunged everyone on board to a horrific end.

Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, abbreviated as MCAS is a software designed to save an aeroplane from a potential stall due to a high angle of attack. The angle of attack is the angle between the aircraft direction of mention forward and the wing. Aircraft usually have a slight positive angle of attack to create more lift at slower speeds. But if the angle of attack becomes too high, added drag is created and there is a danger of a stall where aircraft falls out of the sky uncontrollably.

MCAS was designed to lower the airplane’s nose when the angle of attack becomes too high and thus preventing a stall. But in two of Boeing’s 737 Max 8 aircraft, these systems erroneously pushed the planes into nosedive resulting in catastrophic accidents. The worst part of this disaster was that the pilots of 737 were not informed of this particular software and wasn’t even mentioned in any training documents.

In this episode, we delve a little deeper into the background of these tragedies and learn how competition between two aircraft manufacturers resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives.

Previous episode mentioned in the episode: 048: Jet Engines

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Rodney Alcala is a notorious serial killer who spread terror in the United States from 1968 to 1979.

Name: Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor

Birth: 23 August 1943

Convictions: Battery, kidnapping, murder, probation violation, rape, providing cannabis to a minor

Victims: 8 to 130

Span: 1968 to 1979

Crime penalty: Death

Aliases: The Dating Game Killer, John Berger, John Burger, Rod Alcala

During his appearance in The Dating Game in 1978, the host, Jim Lange introduced him as a "successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at the age of 13, fully developed. Between takes, you might find him skydiving or motorcycling." Alcala won the competition (a date with Cheryl Bradshaw) with his charm. But Bradshaw later declined the date because Alcala started acting creepy. The fellow bachelors in the show described Alcala to be very strange and have bizarre opinions. It is believed that the rejection led Alcala on a killing spree where he killed at least three women.

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Source:

1. Rodney Alcala Biography
   
2. Rodney Alcala Murderpedia
   
3. The Dating Game Wikipedia
   
4. Rodney Alcala Wikipedia
   

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Mahatma Gandhi was the primary leader of India’s independence movement and also the architect of a form of non-violent civil disobedience that would influence the world. Until Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, his life and teachings inspired activists including Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Born: 2 October 1869 (Porbandar, Gujarat)

Known for: Being the father of the nation, political activism leading to Indian independence, nonviolence (ahimsa)

Occupation: Lawyer, activist, writer, politician

Died: 30 January 1948

Cause of death: Assassination through gunshot by Nathuram Godse


Introduction

He was the youngest son from his father, Karamchand Gandhi’s fourth marriage to Putlibai Gandhi.

Karamchand Gandhi did not have much elementary education but was capable to be the dewan of Porbandar.

He went on to become the dewan of Rajkot later on.

Mohandas Gandhi was a mediocre student who won the occasional prizes and scholarships who was - “good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography; conduct very good, bad handwriting.”

He got married at the age of thirteen to Kasturba Makhanji Kapadia.

They went on to have four children - Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas, Devdas.

Education

He liked to be a doctor but coming from a background of Vaishnava faith, they were against vivisection.

To attain a good post in the high posts in one of the states in Gujarat, he had to be a barrister.

He went to England and joined the Inner Temple which is one of the four London law colleges.

He struggled with more issues than academic problems, especially vegetarianism became a major struggle for him.

He came under constant pressure from his friends about how vegetarianism is going to wreck his studies and health.

But then he found a vegetarian restaurant and a book reasoning the goodness of vegetarianism.

He became a member of the executive committee of the London Vegetarian Society, contributing articles to its journal and attending its conferences.

Early Career

He had a lot of issues practising law.

His fear of public speaking took a toll on him as he could not get any prestigious barrister jobs back in India.

This led to him moving to South Africa and taking a job there.

South Africa taught him a lot about the disparities between the white and the coloured.

India (1915-1947)

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920)

It began because of the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Ended with the Chauri Chaura incident of 1922.

It led to the arrest of Gandhi and many other prominent leaders.

Civil Disobedience Movement(1930)

Dandi March (12th March - 6th April 1930)

Time Man of the Year 1930

Gandhi and 78 trusted volunteers marched from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi (384 km) in 25 days.

Resulted in the Government of India Act 1935 which granted large measures of autonomy to the provinces of British India.

Quit Indian Movement (1942)

It was opposed by Hindu Mahasabha, All India Muslim League, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Communist Party of India, and the Princely States.


Quotes mentioned in the podcasts from Britannica:

“Gandhi had critics in his own country and indeed in his own party. The liberal leaders protested that he was going too fast; the young radicals complained that he was not going fast enough; left-wing politicians alleged that he was not serious about evicting the British or liquidating such vested Indian interests as princes and landlords; the leaders of the untouchables doubted his good faith as a social reformer; and Muslim leaders accused him of partiality to his own community.”

“Scholars have continued to judge Gandhi’s place in history. He was the catalyst if not the initiator of three of the major revolutions of the 20th century: the movements against colonialism, racism, and violence.”

Book mentioned in the episode:

The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle Edition | MP3 CD | Audio Cassette

Fin

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Dear Listeners,

We are taking a month long break to come back with some more amazing content for you. Till then we will be recasting four of our favourite episodes from the past. Hope you enjoy it! :)

This week, we recast the episode where we talked about Dyatlov Pass Incident.

To the east of the Ural mountains, in Yekaterinburg city cemetery, there is a group grave of 9 members from a hiking group who died mysteriously.

Timeline

Arrived by train at Ivdel a town at the centre of the northern province of Sverdlovsk Oblast on 25th January 1959.

Took a truck ride to Vizhai (last settlement towards the north).

Hikers purchased and had loaves of bread when they were in Vizhai to keep energy high.

Started trek towards Otorten from Vizhai on 27th January.

Yuri Yudin returned on 28th due to health issues.

On 31st, the hikers arrived at a highland area and started preparing for their climb. They saved surplus food in a wooded area for their return hike.

Snowstorms resulted in hikers being deviated from their intended path and ended up on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl (Dead Mountain).

Group decided to camp on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl instead of hiking all the way back into the wooded area about 1.5 km away. It is speculated that the group wanted to practice camping on a mountain slope.

Dyatlov had told his sports club that he would send a telegram from Vizhai no later than 12th February and that it might take even longer.

It was not until 20th that the relatives of the hikers demanded a search be conducted for the missing hikers.

The search party was mobilised and the military also took part in the search. On 26th of February, the search party found the tent that was used by the hikers.

The tent was torn from inside and the hikers were missing. All the belongings including warm clothing and shoes were left behind.

A set of footprints could be found heading away from the tent towards the woods, but after 500m, the tracks disappeared in the snow.

At the edge of the forest, under a Siberian Pine tree, there was a visible sign of a fire that was lit.

The first two bodies, Krivonischenko and Doroshenko were found shoeless near the fire site wearing only their underwears.

The tree also had visible marks of someone having climbed it, with branches up to 5 metres broken. Someone seems to have climbed the tree to either escape from something or to look at something in distance.

Further search in the snow between the camp and the pine tree revealed the bodies of Dyatlov, Kolmogorova and Slobodin. Their poses suggested that they were trying to return to the campsite perhaps for food and warm clothing. They were found at a distance of 300, 480 and 630 metres from the tree respectively.

The four remaining hikers were not found until 4th of May under 4 metres of snow around 75 metres away from the pine tree towards the woods. These four happened to be better dressed than others and the ones who died later were wearing the clothes of the ones who had died earlier. A hastily constructed den was found near the bodies.

Something happened on the night of 31st - 1st which lead to the death of all the hikers.

Inquiry

An inquiry was started into the matter after the first five bodies were found. It was concluded that hypothermia was the reason for the deaths.

The finding of the four bodies later presented puzzling details which changed the course of the inquest.

Three of the four hikers had serious fatal injuries to the head and chest area.

Doctors concluded that the force required to cause a similar injury would be something similar to that of a car hitting a person.

Except for Dubinina who was missing her tongue, eyes, parts of lips and a part of the skull, no major external wounds were found on the bodies. It was later claimed that these injuries were a result of her being face down on the water.

Theories

The inquest concluded that all the hikers had died of a compelling natural force. The inquiry was stopped in May and all

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Dear Listeners,

We are taking a month long break to come back with some more amazing content for you. Till then we will be recasting four of our favourite episodes from the past. Hope you enjoy it! :)

This week, we recast the episode where we talked about time measurement in Hindu culture.

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Dear Listeners,

We are taking a month long break to come back with some more amazing content for you. Till then we will be recasting four of our favourite episodes from the past. Hope you enjoy it! :)

This week, we recast our conversation about the history of smoking.

History

The origin of tobacco can be traced back to 6000 BC, in the American continent. It was considered medicinal and used as a painkiller.

Smoking cannabis can be traced back to 2000 BC, India. It is also mentioned in Atharvaveda.

Cannabis smoking in the middle east was common, especially Hookah. Even women took part in it privately.

Christopher Columbus played a big part in getting it to the European continent

1531 - first tobacco cultivation in Europe.

By 1600, tobacco became an integral part of the society as a good section started smoking.

In 1560, Jean Nicot took tobacco with him to Spain from France

In 1571, a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes, apparently “found out” tobacco could cure 36 health problems (what a joke!)

In 1588, Thomas Harriet, a Virginian, said that smoking gives the daily dose of tobacco. Not surprisingly, he died of nose cancer.

English King James I was one of the first to speak against smoking

Tobacco used as an exchange during these time. The barter system did rely on tobacco.

Africa was introduced to tobacco by Arab traders in the 13th century, It was popularised by French merchants in 1600 by bringing tobacco to Senegal & Gambia.

The 17th century saw Japanese use a device called Kiseru. It was a long-stemmed device.

In 1760, Pierre Lorillard set up the Lorillard Tobacco Company in NYC. it is the oldest tobacco company in the US.

Nicotine was discovered in 1826 and found to be harmful to humans.

1836, Samuel Green mentioned that tobacco is an insecticide, a poison which can kill.

Chinese got into the habit of smoking opium due to colonialism. The British got them addicted to opium and it resulted in the Opium Wars.

Chewing tobacco became popular amongst cowboys in the 19th century. It was more popular than smoking.

By 1901, smoking was catching up with 6 billion cigars and 3 billion cigarettes sold.

In 1902, Britisher, Philip Morris set up Marlboro brand

1913, R. J. Reynolds set up the Camel brand of cigarettes.

World Wars saw a tremendous increase in smoking. It was called soldier’s smoke and was included in the soldier’s ration.

By 1923, Camel took over 45% of the market in the US.

Which led to Marlboro marketing it as women’s cigarette in 1924. They called it Mild as May. The number of women smokers tripled over the next few years.

Nazi Germany has one of the most powerful anti-smoking movement.

During the 1950s evidence of smoking leading to lung cancer began popping up.

In 1952, Kent Brand developed Micronite, a cigarette which contains asbestos. It was shelved shortly afterwards.

In 1953, Dr Ernst L. Wynders found that cigarette tar causes a tumour in mice

In 1956, first menthol cigarette was released by RJ Reynolds called Salem.

In 1964, regulations in cigarette advertisements were placed after the finding on Smoking and Health report made it clear that smoking causes lung cancer.

In 1965, Britain takes cigarette commercials off television

In 1966, health warnings started popping up on packets

In 1968, Bravo, a non-tobacco cigarette brand made of lettuce. Mega Failure!

The US takes off cigarette advertisements in 1971

the first national Great American Smokeout takes place in 1977. It is an annual event which takes place on the third Thursday of every November.

In 1982, it is found out that second-hand smoking also leads to lung cancer

In 1985, lung cancer overtakes breast cancer as the number one cause of women’s death.

India and Smoking

The first act to add a statutory warning on packets came into existence in 1975

Public smoking banned in Kerala in 1999. The first state in India to do that.

On September 8, 2000, the complete ban on tobacco and smoking advertisements came into

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Dear Listeners,

We are taking a month long break to come back with some more amazing content for you. Till then we will be recasting four of our favourite episodes from the past. Hope you enjoy it! :)

This week, we recall our conversation about Cyanide Mohan. A serial killer from South India.

Mohan Kumar, infamously known as Cyanide Mohan is a serial killer who targeted women by offering them marriage.

Details:

DOB: 1963

Place: Mangalore

Marital status: Married thrice

Span of crime: 2005-2009

Number of victims: 20

Date of apprehension: October 2009

Crime History

Cyanide Mohan worked as a primary school teacher from 1980 to 2003.

He was fired from his job for allegedly pushing a woman off the Nethravathi when she refused his marriage proposal.

The motive of the murders were to satisfy his sexual needs and to extort the valuables from his victims.

He used cyanide laced pills to kill his victims.

Convicted for 5 murders of the 20 murders.

He is his own attorney and successful appealed to convert one death penalty into a life sentence.

He is also found to have committed bank frauds and forgeries

Currently serving two death penalties and two life sentences.

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Dear Listeners,

We are taking a month long break to come back with some more amazing content for you. Till then we will be recasting four of our favourite episodes from the past. Hope you enjoy it! :)

This week, we recast the episode we did with our dear friend, Nikesh Murali. He is a writer and voice actor and also hosts the critically acclaimed horror podcast, Indian Noir.

Find Nikesh online:

Indian Noir

Nikesh’s website

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