The trivia section in this, the first edition of Hafta is inspired by four things - Six Degrees of Separation, the Indian's fascination for foreign shores and distant seas, Wikipedia's "What links here" and Mumbai. Saat Samundar will be a monthly feature, where we will pick up part(s) of Mumbai and have fun travelling around space and time with it. Hopefully, we will find this journey collectively worthwhile.

VT to CST in 7 quick steps

Victoria Terminus, as we all know is named after Queen Victoria. Victoria was almost all German by descent and herself is the ancestor of almost all of Europe's current royalty. The real Queen lays hidden within shrouds of Victorian conservatism and folklore. Now the adjective Victorian stands for restraint, however, during Victorian times, the Queen herself was no dowdy old woman (at least till she became one). She proposed to her husband, her first cousin, in the face of family opposition. It is also alleged that she had an affair with (some say, even married clandestinely) her manservant, John Brown. What is not well known though is that she publicly praised and used the fashionable 19th century cocaine-based drink Vin Mariani.

1) Vin Mariani was a tonic created by Angelo Mariani, a chemist who became intrigued by coca's effects. In 1863, Mariani started marketing a wine called Vin Mariani which was made from Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves. The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves, altering the drink’s effect. This drink, perhaps, was similar to the cocaine and champagne mix that was in the news recently. Mid-1800s was a different time though and this tonic was endorsed by, amongst others, the Pope himself.

2) This tonic was copied by John S. Pemberton in 1884, originally as a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca. In 1885, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola. The beverage was named Coca-Cola because originally, the stimulant mixed in the beverage was coca leaves from South America. In addition, the drink was flavored using kola nuts, the beverage's source of caffeine.

3) Coca-Cola has stayed within the range of legal and controversy ever since its inception. The Coca-Cola Company has been criticized for some of its corporate actions, from issues such as monopolistic practices, the privatization of water supplies, to mixing pesticides and American imperialism. Mecca-Cola was launched in 2002 to counter American imperialism and Zionism.

Ironically, in the 1960s, Coca-Cola was a target of criticism for not doing business in Israel, for fear of upsetting the Arab nations. Coke claimed that this was purely because of the small market for soft drinks there (!). People found out that Cyprus, with 1/10th the population of Israel, had a booming Coca-Cola industry. It emerged that Israel had been bypassed due to fears of a Arab League boycott. Then, several Jewish institutions in the United States announced a boycott of Coca-Cola, which quickly forced the company to establish a franchise in Israel. The Arab League immediately in turn began a boycott of Coke which lasted from 1968 to 1991!!

4) The good news is that Israel now has a booming coke industry too! Another lesser-known fact about Israel is that it is amongst the world's top nations in exports of cut diamonds. This inspite of the fact that not a single diamond has ever been mined there.

5) This situation is similar to India though India can claim to a rich pedigree in diamond production. India led the world in diamond production from the time of their discovery in approximately the 9th century BC to the mid-18th century. Today, however, India is the home of the cutting industry. India produces 90% of all cut and polished diamonds by number. This is largely done in Surat.

Surat overtook Cambay in prominence as a seaport, when that port silted up. At the end of the 16th century the Portuguese were undisputed masters of the Surat sea trade. However, there were many other expat populations as well in the metropolis that Surat had become. Amongst the most interesting were the Armenians.

6) During the 16th century onwards, the Armenians formed an important trading community in Surat. Armenians have a long history in India (since the time of Alexander if not earlier), and came to be known as the Merchant Princes of India. By an imperial decree in the Mughal empire, Armenian merchants were exempted from paying taxes on the merchandise imported and exported by them, and they were also allowed to move around in the areas of the Mughal empire where entry of foreigners was otherwise prohibited. Not only this, but also the Chief Justice of Mughal Empire during Akbar's reign was an Armenian. However, their greatest diplomatic coup was perhaps when Akbar invited Armenians to settle in Agra in the 16th century.

7) Agra had an Armenian church in 1562. Agra was also the scene of one of Shivaji's greatest escapes. In 1666, Aurangzeb had placed Shivaji under house arrest in Agra, when Shivaji stormed out of the Mughal court. The commonly held historical and legendary version has that Shivaji came to know that Aurangzeb planned to shift him to a secure location from where escape would be impossible. So he feigned sickness and requested to be allowed to send sweets to temples in Agra as an offering. After several days of sending out boxes containing sweets, Shivaji disguised himself as a palanquin bearer and managed to sneak out without being seen.

This and other such acts have endeared the man to our nation. So much so that the Victoria Terminus underwent a sex-change operation (as reported by city newspapers) to accomodate the man's name in 1996!

(Dhoomketu has stopped reading newspapers to make time for his blogging,
because of his hectic day job. Besides watching movies, reading science
fiction and trying to find himself, he is furiously reading up on
professional wrestling. His passions are quizzing, eating and
travelling, all of which get occasional mention on his blog 22nd floor.)

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