The discovery of India??? by Vasco Da Gama???Huh...

So I was playing basketball last week,  got a little too carried away and the result, am in cast for a month for a ligament tear. So right now you can call me a potato or a ladies finger or whatever your fave veggie is cause that's what I am doing right now, vegetating. The upside am catching up on my reading, movies on youtube I have always wanted to watch, those little things as home that have always been there on my to do list which I never got around to doing.Sorry am fibbing about the last one, still been procrastinating them:). Anyways, the first week went by like a breeze, I thought wow, another feather to my cap, my first sports wound, shouldn't I be proud. Truth be told, I was hoping, the doctor would take it off at the end of the week which was the reason for my elated mood. Imagine my horror when the doctor announced that it would stay on for three more weeks.

 The first day of the second week me got myself a mindless chick-lit. The high of the book lasted for exactly one and a half days after which the ants started building their hills on me with all the overdosing of sweet and mush and everything nice. Decided enough is enough, if I am going to entertain myself, might as well watch something more intelligent. The only intelligent movies in India are made in malayalam and bengali, (I know this statement is going to make me very unpopular) and thankfully, I know both the languages, so overdosed on those for a couple of days.

Saw this amazing malayalam movie called URUMI, a nt so recent movie but a must watch, beautiful movie, certainly on my next best films list. Prithviraj is certainly one of the most talented and good looking guys in India. The movie is about a warrior named Kelu who avenges his father's death by killing yes, Vasco Da Gama,

10 interesting things you should know about this guy who "Discovered"  Indians...

1. Vasco Da Gama was a merciless pirate, an expert at torturing prisoners.
2. Their ""discovery"" ship first landed in Mozambique, Africa. On the way from Africa to India, DaGama and his crew of convicted killers with commuted sentences, robbed and looted several Arab ships and killed the merchants aboard them. It was a Gujarathi aboard one of those ships who led them to India.
3.  On their first trip they were received with much fanfare on the shores of Calicut which was ruled by one of the richest, most powerful kings in India then, the Zamorin.
4. They proudly declared they came to India in search of spices and Indian Christians. But what they got with them for bartering were pieces of striped cloth, scarlet hoods, hats, strings of coral, basins for washing hands, oil and honey. To the king of the most richest land in the world who wore diamonds the size of thumbs and was bedecked in rubies and golds, these gifts seemed ridiculous. DaGama soon lost his respect and standing in front of the Zamorin and their crew was reduced to bartering these stuff on the shore for money for their return journey.
5. However, he went back to Portugal and claimed to have discovered India and got the kings support for a second fleet to come back.
6. This time they came back with cannons and guns. Their first victim was a Muslim ship returning from Mecca with 400 people aboard including women and children. After looting the ship, he set fire to the ship burning to death all aboard.
7. He then sent an ultimatum to the Zamorin, the hindu king ordering him to kill all muslims in his city or face retaliation. Meanwhile he started capturing the fishermen and chopping off their hands, feet and then heads after which he bombarded the city aiming to kill as many civilians as possible, thus bringing the thriving economy of the port city to a standstill.
8. The Zamorin send the palace priest to negotiate with DaGama, the same guy who had received him with such royal treatment on his first trip. Dagama chopped off his tongue and ears and send them as souvenirs to the palace.
9. With such peaceful methods, it wasn't difficult for them to set up their colonies all the way to Goa.
10. The first mutiny as we all assume was not in 1857, but in 1503 by Calicut warriors known as the Urumi led by the brave Kelu whose father was killed by DaGama. Though they were not successful in completely wiping out the Portuguese rule, legend has it that the brave Kelu killed DaGama (he did not die of malaria as the history books would claim) and his warriors managed to create enough havoc to the Portuguese army before being subdued.

So the next time your kid comes home with mumbo jumbo about the discovery of India, please tell him/her the reality about Vasco DaGama. He was a pirate who looted India and murdered Indians. Please don't credit the violent buffoon with discovering our 5000 year old culture.

(The author of the blog has written the above blog based on folklore, hearsay, the movie Urumi and facts gathered from around the internet and does not vouch for the authenticity of the information produced above)