A FOLKTALE FROM ANDHRA PRADESH

 Ringing in justice 

     King Satyendra was a benevolent and just ruler. One day, he called his minister, Vishwanath, and said,“Build a bell tower just outside the palace gates. If anyone is in need or has a complaint, all he has to do is ring the bell so that I can immediately solve his problem.”

     In accordance with the king's wishes, a tower containing a large bell was built. A rope was attached to the bell that reached the ground so that even a child could ring it. For months, no one rang the bell. Then one morning, the palace woke up to the sounds of the bell clanging.

     “Find out who it is,” Satyendra ordered Vishwanath.

     On reaching the bell tower, Vishwanath found a horse tugging the rope. He noticed that a vine was twined around the rope. The horse, while chewing the vine, had inadvertently caused the bell to ring. When Vishwanath returned to the palace, the king asked him who rang the bell and why.

     “No one, Your Majesty,” replied Vishwanath. “Your subjects have no want.”

     “Then how did the bell ring?” asked the surprised king.

     Vishwanath told him about the horse and what had happened. “How does the horse look?” asked Satyendra.

     Puzzled, Vishwanath answered, “He was old and thin. Why do you ask?”

     “Horses usually don’t eat vines,”explained the king. “This one must be starving, which is why he was chewing it. It’s my duty to look after not just the people but also other living creatures in my kingdom. Find the horse’s owner.”

     Vishwanath and the king’s officers traced the horse’s owner and brought him before the king. The owner confessed that he had abandoned the horse as the animal was old and unable to work like before. Satyendra punished the owner for his negligence. The horse, meanwhile, was taken to the royal stables where he was well looked after till the end of his life.

DOPING

 How do drug tests work?

     The world of sport has become so fiercely competitive that sports persons are often tempted to take drugs to enhance their performance and increase their chances of winning. Doping is universally condemned as unethical, as it goes against the spirit of sport. Hence sports organisations that organise various sporting competitions strictly regulate the use of drugs by athletes.

     Anabolic steroids and stimulants are the main culprits in doping scandals. Every year, the World Anti-Doping Agency updates its list of banned substances and methods that sports persons are not allowed to use.

     For the test, the the sports persons are expected to give a sample of their blood or urine. The samples are sent to the lab for testing. At the Olympics for example, the first five finishers are tested immediately after the event, at the venue. Random tests are also conducted on players where they are based for the duration of the tournament.

     Two samples are taken from the athlete. If sample A shows the presence of a banned substance, the athlete can request the authorities to test sample B too, to confirm or negate the first result. A sample may be stored in the deep freezer and retested up to eight to ten years later!

     Urine drug testing is one of the most common testing methods used, because of its low cost. Steroids can be detected in urine for a period from 3 to 30 days.

 

MONEY MATTERS

 The History of Indian coinage

     In the ancient world, money was not used as the medium of exchange. The barter system was used for trade. 

     A good or service was exchanged for another good or service. For example, a cow could be sold in exchange for 12 hens. However, a problem arose. What would the cow seller do if he was offered only 6 hens? He could not sell half of his cow! 

     Eventually, cowries shells came to be used all over the world as shell money. Cowries are the small, shiny and smooth porcelain-like egg-shaped shells of slow-moving sea snails. 

     Empty cowrie shells are abundant in the Indian Ocean.These were washed ashore and collected in the Maldive islands, Sri Lanka, Indian Malabar Coast, Borneo and other East Asian islands, Maluku and the African coast. Long, long ago, these cowrie shells were used as shell money for trade transactions in Africa, South Asia and East Asia.

     Cowrie or kaudi was the currency used in trade transactions in ancient India. It was used even in the 19th century in the eastern parts of India, viz. Bengal and Odisha. Phootie cowries referred to split cowries. 

Ancient Indian Coinage system:

3 phootie cowries = 1 cowrie

10 cowries = 1 damri

2 damris = 1 dhela

1 dhela = 1.5 pie

3 pies = 1 paisa

4 paisa = 1 anna

16 annas = 1 rupaya

256 damris = 192 pie = 128dhelas = 64 paisa (old) =16annas = 1 rupaya

      There is no consensus amongst historians about whether the terracotta seals found in Mohenjodaro and Harappa sites were actually the first coins of ancient India. The first punch-marked coins (silver) were possibly minted in the 6th century B.C. Known as aahat coins, these were produced in the kingdoms of the Mahajanapadas of the Indo Gangetic plain, from the 6th to 2nd century B.C. There were 16 kingdoms in the Mahajanapadas. Puranas, Karshapanas and Panas were the minted punch marked coins (PMCs). These silver coins were made in all shapes, viz. round, oval, square, rectangular, etc. The various kingdoms in the Mahajanapadas had different types of inscriptions, e.g., human figures,flower, plant and tree motifs; geometrical designs, etc. Thus, Dakshin Panchala had a swastika punched on the coins, while Saurashtra had a humped bull.

     By the 3rd century BC, Mahajanapada acquired control over many small kingdoms. Due to the extension of this vast Mauryan empire, the Mauryan coins came to be used as the currency of the Indian subcontinent. Nishka was the name given to the gold coin of the Mauryans.

Dynastic coins in Ancient India: The Indo-Greek kings ruled North and North-western India from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century CE. They introduced a new coinage system consisting of gold, silver, copper and nickel coins. A portrait of the ruler was on the obverse side of the coin and the Greek deity on the reverse side, along with Indian religious symbols. 

     In the Kushan empire (1st century CE to 4th century CE), the coins were made of gold. Emperor Kanishka is regarded as a great king of ancient India. Coins made of gold and copper were found in his kingdom. He was a Buddhist and there were coins with a standing Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha engraved on them. Figures of various Gods and Goddesses on the Kushan coins show the tolerance this Emperor had for all religions. 

     The largest number of gold coins were found in the Gupta empire(early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE). These were known as dinars. There were also silver coins, but coins made of other metals were rare. This abundance of gold coins was due to the thriving trade on the silk route. Therefore, the Gupta rule was called the Golden Age of Ancient India.The deities on the coins were Indian and the legends were in Brahmi. Coins were of various types - King and Queen type of Chandragupta I (Lichchavi type), Aswamedha (Horse type), King playing the veena (Lyrist type), King wielding battle-axe, sword,etc. (Battle- Axe type). The post Gupta coinage had images of a seated Goddess Lakshmi and of a horse/bull.

     In the Mughal Empire, broad, thin, silver coins called sharukhis were issued during the reign of Emperor Babur. These were also issued by Emperor Humayun and Emperor Akbar. Emperor Humayun was sent into exile to Persia by an Afghan lord, Sher Shah Suri, in 1540. The Suri dynasty now replaced the Mughal empire from 1540 to 1556. Sher Shah Suri issued a new silver coin, the rupaiya, and a copper coin, the paisa. The rupaiya eventually became our modern Indian rupee. With the help of the Persians, Humayu regained control over Indian territories 15 years after he was overthrown by Sher Shah Suri. Thus began the second reign by the Mughals. The silver rupee in the Mughal empire was an adaptation of Emperor Sher Shah Suri’s rupaiya. The Afghan ruler’s dam also came to be used as the Mughal period copper currency. The standard gold currency during the Mughal period was the mohur (ashraf). This too was first introduced during the Suri empire.

     Mohur Mughal era coins had Persian legends and Kalima (Islamic religious messages) engraved in Arabic. Emperor Akbar’s religious beliefs were put on coins during his reign. Kalima coins were later banned by Emperor Aurangazeb as he felt they went against the teachings of Islam. Mughal coins were also issued by regional powers in Awadh, Hyderabad and Rohilkhand, and even by the enemies of the Mughals, viz. the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs, as well as the French and the British! 

     In the South Indian coinage system, dynastic crests were engraved on the coins viz. boars (Chalukya dynasty), bull (Pallava dynasty), tiger (Chola dynasty), etc. Ancient India had a thriving silk route trade and maritime trade with the Middle East,Greece, Rome and China. Roman coins were used in South India due to the thriving maritime trade. Sometimes the engraving of the Roman monarch was slashed to show that he was not the ruler of their kingdom in South India! Even Chinese coins were used in South India. India had close relations with China through trade and cultural activities. Coins were round with a square in the center. Ancient Chinese believed that Earth was a square and Heaven was round!

     Uniform coinage was introduced in India by the British in 1835. Coins were issued in the name of the East India Company. Initially coins had the image of William III, but by 1840, coins had the profile of Queen Victoria. From 1947-1950, Indian currency had images of British monarchs. This was the transition period for Indian coinage. The first coinage system of free India was issued on August 15th, 1950. The British monarchs’ portrait was then replaced by the Lion Capitol of Ashoka (official emblem of India). Coins issued after 1950 were 50paise, 25paise, 10paise, 2paise, 1rupee, 10rupees, etc. 

     Metals used to mint the coins were nickel, bronze, ferritic stainless steel, bimetallic cupro-nickel, aluminium-bronze, aluminium-magnesium, nickel-brass, etc. Coin shapes were circular, hexagonal, square and 8-scalloped. After independence, paper currency too, which was first introduced in India during the last half of the 18th century, came into use extensively.

Do you know? 

* Rupee symbol as we know it, was introduced in 2010. The government held an open competition to select the rupee symbol, which was won by D Udaya Kumar, an Indian academic and designer from Tamil Nadu.

* Sterling is the world's oldest currency that is still in use and that has been in continuous use since its inception. It is currently the fourth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen.

* Queen Elizabeth II is the most featured person on coins and bank-notes.

* Currently, Indian coins are minted in four locations in the country - Mumbai, Noida, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Each coin has a unique shape right below the year that helps identify which city it was minted in. Mumbai represented by a diamond, Noida by a dot, Hyderabad by a star, and Kolkata mint has no mark at all.

* Tossing a coin to determine between two possible outcomes started in the time of Emperor Julius Caesar. Romans called this game of chance navia aut caput (“shipor head”), referring to the image of a ship’s prow on one side of the coin and the emperor’s head on the other. In ancient Rome, the emperor’s word was law, so if a coin landed heads up, you had to respect the will of the emperor and carry out the action decided for that side. In Britain, the practice was called cross and pile, taking its name from the indentation from the hammer used to press the metal as the coin was struck.

* The first US coin ‘Fugio’ had the motto ‘mind your business’.

* India’s highest currency denomination was the Rs. 10000 note.

* Sailors are a superstitious lot, and favour traditions and ceremonies that bring good luck when building a new ship. One of these is the coin ceremony, whereby mariners place one or two coins under the keel block of the new ship to bring good luck. The tradition dates back to Roman times, when coins attached to ships were said to provide divine protection.

BE PRACTICAL

 Change Yourself 

     Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went on a trip to some distant areas of his country. After he returned to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he had undertaken such a long trip. The roads that he went through had been very rough and stony.

     The king then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ hides, and would also cost an exorbitant amount of money. Then one of his wise councilors dared himself to suggest to the king, “Why do you have to wastefully spend such a huge amount of money? Why don’t you instead just cut out a little piece of leather to cover your feet?” The king was surprised, but later agreed to the wise practical suggestion to have a pair of shoes made for himself.

Moral: To make this world a happy place to live in, you need to change yourself - your heart and your mindset; and not the world!

A TRIBUTE TO THE HOCKEY WIZARD

 Major Dhyan Chand

     India celebrates its National Sports Day as a tribute to the greatest hockey player the world has ever seen; the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand on August 29. 

     At the Mexico Olympics, when Bob Beaman jumped beyond 29 feet; the world record at that time being a few inches above 26 feet, the field judges went on to change the measuring tape to ensure that they were using the right measurement. Beamon’s ‘Leap to Infinity’ was attributed later to the low gravitational pull at the altitude at which the jump was taken. Legend has it that something similar happened with Dhyan Chand after a match in the Netherlands where his hockey stick was changed as people thought that he had some sort of a magnet in his stick that made the ball stick to it. In fact, it was a great tribute to his dribbling talent. 

     To summarize Dhyan Chand’s achievements, he played a major role in India winning gold medals in three successive Olympic Games; in 1928 (Amsterdam), 1932 (Los Angeles) and 1936 (Berlin) and scored 570 goals in his career which span from 1926 to 1949, during which he played 185 matches. The number of goals would exceed a thousand if his domestic matches were included in his total score. He indeed deserved titles like 'The Wizard’ and ‘The Magician’. It is a result of his exceptional career that India’s highest sports award in any sportsperson’s lifetime achievements is named after this great sportsman as ‘Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award’.

     Dhyan Singh was born on 29 August 1905 in Allahabad, which at that time was a part of the United Province of Agra and Oudh, and is named now as Prayagraj in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Dhyan’s father, Sameshwar Singh, was a part of the British Indian Army and his frequent transfers affected the study of his three sons; Mool, Dhyan and Roop, till the family settled finally in Jhansi, another district in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

     Dhyan Chand hardly played any hockey till he was recruited as a sepoy in the 1st Brahman Regiment of the British Indian Army, in 1922, as a seventeen-year-old teenager. The  Regiment was reorganised later as the 1st Punjab Regiment. Once Dhyan Chand joined the army, he started participating in various Regimental and Army games and hockey was one of them. Young Dhyan Singh was seen practising hockey even under the moonlight, which earned him the nickname of ‘Chand’ (the Moon), a name that stuck with him till the very end.

     When an Army team was sent to New Zealand, Dhyan Chand was a member of that team. The team performed exceptionally well and Dhyan Chand started getting recognition as an attacking forward. In 1925, the Indian Hockey Federation started selections for forming an Indian hockey team for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics; five Province teams were formed for the players to demonstrate their hockey skills. The teams played again in 1927 before the Indian team for the Olympics was finalised. Incidentally, before leaving for the Olympics, the team played against a Bombay team and lost. Obviously, not much was expected from the team who lost to their home team.

     However, what happened thereafter was totally unexpected. The Indian team played a few matches in England, winning all of them and also all its pre-Olympic matches. In its pool matches in the Olympics, the Indian team beat Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland convincingly and despite some of its players indisposed and even an unfit Dhyan Chand taking field, the Indian team won the final match against the home team with Dhyan Chand scoring two out of three goals. The Indian team not only won the gold medal, but what was even more remarkable was that none of the teams could score even a single goal against India. Dhyan Chand scored 14 out of 29 goals scored by the Indian team in five matches.

     The Indian Army did not relieve Dhyan Chand for the 1932 Olympic trials but the IHF selected him without any trial. This time, his younger brother Roop Singh was also in the Indian team and once again the Indian team routed all teams to win the gold medal. In the finals, India defeated the host team with a record margin of 24-1. Of the 35 goals scored by the Indian team during the Games, the two brothers had a combined tally of 25 goals.

     In 1936, the Army refused to relieve Dhyan Chand once again for the trials and once again the IHF included him in the final team and as the proposed captain refused to participate, this time Dhyan Chand was called upon to lead the Indian team. In a pre-Olympic match, India suffered a defeat against Germany but when it mattered, India defeated Germany 8-1. It is said that Adolf Hitler was so impressed with Dhyan Chand’s play that he offered the player a citizenship of Germany and the rank of Colonel in the Army which Dhyan Chand refused politely.

     Dhyan Chand’s scoring blitz can be measured from the fact that the second-highest international goal scorer is Sohail Abbas of Pakistan with 348 goals; way behind Dhyan Chand’s tally of 570. For his achievements, Dhyan Chand was given an Emergency Commission in 1943. In 1956, the Indian Government honoured him with the Padma Bhushan and after his death in 1979, in 1980, the Indian Post and Telegraph Department issued a 35 paisa commemorative postage stamp in honour of him. 

     In 2002, the National Stadium in New Delhi was also renamed as the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

     What Donald Bradman is to cricket or Muhammad Ali to boxing, Dhyan Chand is to hockey. Among all the sports’ personalities of India, Dhyan Chand stands tall, head and shoulder above the rest just as his statue on Sipri Hill in Jhansi.

CONVEYING MESSAGES THROUGH PICTURES

Emojis

     An emoji is a pictograph similar to an emotion used to accompany electronic textual messages. It was created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita for NTT Docomo's i-mode --- the world's first major mobile internet system.

     In the 1990s, email was taking the world by storm. Communication in the digital era did away with long letters. On the flipside, it also reduced the emotional content of the messages --- it was not easy to gauge the mood of the person writing the message, leading to miscommunication. Kurita thought that pictorial cues could help to convey emotions, weather, situations, activities etc. He and his team then created a set of 176 12X12 pixel images, taking inspiration from Japanese comics. The images were called emoji --- Japanese for 'picture' (e) + 'character' (moji). It was targeted for the Japanese market, especially teenagers.

     In the 2000s, emoji became visible across chatrooms and forums. In 2010, emoji characters were encoded in Unicode, the computing industry standard for most writing systems. With the release of Apple's iOS 5 in late 2011, they made their real international debut. Now emoji is universally accepted as a popular way of making our smartphone messages 'come alive'.

     Emoji is different from emoticons. An emoticon is a smiley face created by a user by combining a group of characters, whereas an emoji is a single pre-defined image. 

AUGUST 29

 National Sports Day

     Major Dhyan Chand, India's greatest hockey player, was born on August 29. India celebrates his birthday as National Sports Day. Chand was known for his talent for scoring goals. He brought home three Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936 as part of the Indian field hockey team. He scored 400 goals in 22 years and in 1956, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. After his death in 1979, the Indian postal department issued stamps in his honour. The National stadium of Delhi was renamed Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in 2002.

Facts: 

* On National Sports Day, the President of India gives away national sports awards including Arjuna award, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand awards.

* The Indian government has launched many sports-related schemes on this day. In 2018, Khelo India, in 2019, Fit India and so on.

* Vishwanathan Anand is said to be the best chess player of India. He held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002 and was the undisputed world chess champion from 2007 to 2013.

* Gama Pahelwan is known to be the greatest wrestler in Indian history. He fought 60 fights and never lost.

* Jimmy George is said to be the greatest volleyball player India has produced.