Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
officers, were stripping them of their jewels and committing
every outrage on their bodies. Many of the women, rather than
be torn from their relatives, threw themselves into a large tank
and were drowned.
- From British Military Records relating to the Anantapur Massacre, 1783
While British troops raped and pillaged their way through southern
India, unrestrained by those in charge, Tipu Sultan personally shot
dead an old, dear friend for mistreating women prisoners.
The Indian masses love volume more than even thrash-metal bands
do. If a control is calibrated one through ten, Indian logic will assume
ten must be better than one. So ten was the norm. It was hard to
hear much of the film's dialogue, hard to tell if the Roman
imperialists were impressed by anything about those they subjugated
or crushed.
Only after an hour, and because of the volume, did I notice that
the projectionist was mixing up his reels. People who had died fifty
minutes earlier suddenly reappeared without any comment on their
astounding resurrection. Conquered enemies were inexplicably
threatening war again barely moments after they'd been
annihilated. Generals plotted schemes that had already failed.
Passionate lovers grew cold and then wooed each other anew. It was
karma and reincarnation run amok, effects creating causes.
If anyone else in the cinema minded this continuity problem, no
one said so. Not a soul appeared even to notice that anything was
wrong. For those to whom the West is largely incomprehensible
anyway, a topsy-turvy universe was perfectly entertaining - and
that was what counted.
. . . religious tolerance is the fundamental tenet of the Holy
Quran . . . It distresses us therefore that some persons wearing
the garb of religion have crossed into the frontiers of the Kingdom
to preach the false and ungodly doctrine of hatred between the
various religions . . . We hereby declare that from this day, it shall
not be lawful in the Kingdom of Mysore and for any Mysorean
beyond this realm, to discriminate against anyone on the basis
of religion, caste or creed . . .
- From a declaration by Tipu Sultan, 1787
