Krishna Ag

😉

[The Kaipullai @thekaipullai]

Something extraordinary actually happened today.

Stuff so extraordinary, that even if it comes as a dream, you dismiss it as something that is impossibly improbable.

Thanks to your support and blessings, today I had the ultimate honor and privilege of having a conversation with our honorable Prime Minister on Mann Ki Baat about https://t.co/CIr1xkvilD

I still can't believe that he actually spoke to me, asked me about the website, its features and some questions on general history too. I am still in a daze.

For an amateur builder like me, i don't think there is a greater recognition or validation than this.

This conversation has given me enough motivation to take BharatRajya to the next level and make it the ideal history reference and visualization website for everyone.

Thank you @narendramodi ji, for encouraging people like us and inspiring us to achieve greater heights.

These is one conversation I will not forget in this lifetime. Or maybe even the next.

And rest assured sir, I won't let you down.

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

Why would any sane kid put his/her freedom of expression above their mom/dad's career? This could even block @AprajitaSarangi from becoming a minister. Don't know if it's to do with the mindset of the kid, or the values that parents inculcate in the children.. @Mohansinha

[Mohan Sinha 🇮🇳 @Mohansinha]

It’s very unfair to target @AprajitaSarangi because her daughter doesn’t share her political ideology. Children have a different mindset, different values. My son, who is also a Gen Z, is a left liberal. We have heated arguments. Each thinks the other is misguided. Heck, there was a time, I too was left leaning. That doesn’t mean either of us is evil. I have NEVER heard him abuse Modi or any other politician. That’s more than I can say about the Gen Z who was at Jantar Mantar.

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Delhi: At the Republic TV Summit 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, "Sridhar Vembu is seated here. When our entrepreneurs operate with a 'Nation First' spirit and set their goals while understanding the country's needs, institutions are built, and the nation prospers. What has Sridhar Vembu achieved? I recently visited VivaTech in France. There must have been around 1.5-2 lakh young people present. The French President and I were visiting various stalls to see the work done by these young innovators. We visited the Zoho stall. I was amazed and felt a sense of pride to see the crowd of European youth gathered there. They were eager to understand this new global phenomenon. Perhaps it hasn't been discussed as much in India as I witnessed in France..."

(Source: DD News)

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

Not sure how Annamalai has achieved this, he seems to be the darling of Delhi media who has been constantly elevating his image. This has definitely helped him a lot to stay in the limelight nationally as well. #Annamalai #BJP

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

With the north-south divide sharpening politically,BJP needs a credible face with acceptability across southern states who can pitch the national narrative.Annamalai also is a recognisable face across North India. Fail to think why BJP would let go of him. #Annamalai #BJP

[பூதம் @angry_birdu]

Don't antagonize Radhan Pandit. Your candidature for the 2029 elections is in his hands. Send him your horoscope at the earliest.

[Sheela Bhatt शीला भट्ट @sheela2010]

What will be the actual cost of enjoying ‘reflected glory’ to @INCIndia ?

The day belongs to incredible achiever Vijay.

I think, @narendramodi to @PawarSpeaks would think twice to share the limelight with @actorvijay today with five seats in bargain.

By all accounts CM Vijay seems a hard nut.
The man who can reach at this height against all odds means he hasn’t revealed all his cards, yet.

[Piyush Rai @Benarasiyaa]

N Ram can now go for both morning and evening walk with Stalin.

[Rolex @Rolex3839xr]

அத்திம்பேர் செத்து போகல தூங்கிட்டு இருக்காரு🤣

#TVK #vijay #jananayagan #whistle #TVKVijay‌

[Stalin SP @Stalin__SP]

Hereafter I can tweet whatever I think. PEN can’t intimidate me by taking screenshots and sending them to my office.

Apdiye anupunalum *செல்லாது செல்லாது*

[Raghu Tweetbook @RaghuTweetbook]

The most shameful moment for TN after the 2024 parliament elections.🤦🏻🤦🏻
The day DMK openly humiliated TN and its own senior party members.

#dmkfails #stalinfailsTN #elections2026

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

@sheela2010 @ashoklahiribjp @NITIAayog @dasgobardhan Everyone on Twitter were complaining a few weeks ago that he was denied an MLA ticket despite..None knew the reason until now..

[The Kaipullai @thekaipullai]

I started watching the movie "Thaai Kizhavi" on Hotstar the other day, which is set in the heart of Tamil Nadu, I encountered a very unfamiliar name for a character.

The character's name was "Pennycuick"

Now in a land where language is an emotional topic where people sever relations, friendships and even give their lives for Tamil, a Scottish first name for a Tamil guy seems a little out of place.

Some may even call it a blasphemy.

How an odd Scottish Surname, whose origins lay in the town town of Penicuick near Edinburgh, became a symbol of pride and honour, 8000 kms away on the other side of the globe in Southern Tamil Nadu, is an amazing story.

It is a story that also tells you the real meaning and purpose of life. It makes you understand that all the worldly things like power, prestige, position and money that we crave for, is just a mirage that we are chasing.

The real glory lies someplace else.

And it starts with one man. John Pennycuick (1841 - 1911)

John Pennycuick was born in Pune in the year 1841, as the fourth son of Brigadier John Pennycuick, a soldier in the British army.

However at the age of 8, a great tragedy befell him and his family.

In 1849, in the second Anglo Sikh War, his father and his elder brother Alexander, were killed in action fighting the Sikhs in the battle of Chillianwala.

When a kid sees his father and brother killed by the natives they are supposed the rule, the normal course of action is to grow up into a into a rabid Indian hating racist white man, who would have spent the rest of his life cursing India.

But John Pennycuick was a better man than that. He wanted to do something that would leave a legacy behind him.

And luckily for Tamil Nadu, he did.

If you have ever seen a physical map of India, you will see a contiguous mountain range that separates Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

These are called the Western Ghats.

Now the Western Ghats, despite all their beauty and splendor, have one small problem.

If you had been attentive in your sixth standard geography class, you would have known that Kerala receives most of its rain from what we call the South West Monsoon winds, which flow in from the Arabian sea.

Most of the lush, beautiful, God's own country poster type greenery, is because of the abundant rainfall provided by these winds.

Unfortunately, despite being in close proximity to Kerala, Tamil Nadu gets almost zero benefit from them because of these imposing ghats

The problem is acute especially in the districts of Theni, Madurai, Dindigul and Ramnad.

In Geography, we call it the Rain Shadow region.

In the mid 19th Century, the British recognized this problem.

They understood that their rapidly growing cities of Cumbum, Theni, Madurai, Ramnad etc, could not be supplied by the miniscule waters of the Vaigai River. They needed to do something drastic, to avoid a catastrophe.

Their solution was the River Periyar in today's Kerala.

They thought, if they could divert that river with a dam and a tunnel, and make those waters flow into the River Vaigai, the entire area from Theni to Ramnad could be transformed from an arid wasteland to an agricultural heaven.

They even finalized a site at the confluence of the River Mullai and Periyar. They called it, the Mullaiperiyar dam.

Unfortunately, this was not a computer game where two clicks and one prompt could build a structure that would divert the water.

This was real life.

And in the 1800s, real life was infinitely more difficult what it is today.

The first proposal for this dam came from the Maharaja of Ramnad in 1789. Realizing the cost of the dam would be greater than the total value of his kingdom, he gave up

Then the British tried their luck in 1850. But when the first teams saw the malarial swamp and the pestilential land that they had to live in, they turned around faster than Pakistanis in front of an Indian army battalion.

Between 1860 to 1882, four different proposals were sent for the construction of this dam, but each time it was rejected citing impracticality, affordability, lunacy and sometimes, all the three.

Then came a Certain John Pennycuick.

Serving as an officer in the Public Works department, in 1887 he landed in this desolate area to take charge of building the dam.

First problem he faced was the access to the site. The entire dam needed 80,000 tons of limestone and motorable roads, cranes and automobiles were at least 40 years away.

So he built a ropeway and then used bullock carts to transfer the limestone to the dam site.

Then there was the issue of diseases, especially Malaria.

He stumbled across a local arrack that ostensibly prevented it.

Pennycuick issued them to all the labourers working on the dam. They were high, happy and malaria free.

Slowly, the dam started taking shape.

But then the biggest issue was the River Periyar itself.

It realized that someone was trying to control it. So it started rebelling. It blew away all the coffer dams that were trying to restrain it.

And when this flooding happened once to often, the British guys decided that it was time to cut their losses and run. They stopped funding for the Mullaiperiyar dam.

But Pennycuick was not the one to stop at trifling issues like stopping of funds.

He sold his wife's jewelry and personally funded the rest of the dam.

And finally in 1895, the dam and the tunnel needed for diversion, was ready.

Through the 173 feet dam, 3000 ft above sea level, and a 1.5 km tunnel cut thru the mountains of western ghats, 3000 cusecs of water finally flowed into Vaigai.

The water problem of Theni, Madurai and Ramnad, was finally solved.

Today the Mullaiperiyar dam, irrigates more than 2 lakh acres of farmland. More than 50 lakh people directly depend on it, either for agriculture or drinking water.

The districts of Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramnad, have transformed from arid regions with frequent draughts to agricultural hotspots.

In the last 125 years it has benefitted. directly or indirectly. more than 100 million people. It has made Theni, Madurai and Ramnad the cities that they are today.

One dam, built by the vision and perseverance of one man, 131 years later, is still benefitting generation after generation

John Pennycuick could have taken the easier path in life. He could have gone back to Britain and lived a lavish comfortable life. He could have hated us Indians for killing his father and brother. He could have been a bitter man for the rest of his life.

But he didn't.

He decided to do benefit the land that he didn't even belong to. He wanted to alleviate the lives of people who were not even from his actual country. He wanted to bring succour and happiness to a lot that probably hated him.

He built the dam despite knowing he would neither be recognized for it, nor benefit from it financially.

He helped very same set of people who were responsible for the deaths of his father and brother.

What he did, transcended race, religion, caste and identity. It towers above stuff like region and language

Today Pennycuick isn't just a name in Theni district. It is a matter or pride and honour. Their bus stand is named the John Pennycuick bus stand. People, as shown in the movie, are named Pennycuick.

There have been thousands of rich men in Theni and Madurai after Pennycuick. There have been hundreds of leaders, politicians and officers who have trod on that land.

But none inspire the following and regard that Pennycuick has, 115 years after his death.

John Pennycuick proves to all of us, that you can earn money, buy cars, build houses, go to Universities abroad and float thermacol sheets on rivers, but respect and legacy, is the ultimate currency.

Because in 2026, you don't remember the MP / MLA of Madurai / Theni. You don't remember their Ivy league degrees. You don't remember their family legacy. You don't remember their mansions and money.

They are all forgotten in the sands of time.

But you have and will always remember, John Pennycuick.

P:S: Today, we talk about North India / South India, Hindi / Tamil etc. Sometimes I wonder what would Pennycuick from heaven feel about all of this.

P:P:S: Once when someone asked why Pennycuick was doing this idiotic stuff, he said ""I am going to be only once in this earthly world, hence I need to do some good deeds here. This deed should not be prorogue nor ignored since I am not going to be here again"

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

@UC_Assist
Extremely pathetic service from Urban company. My first pest control service was done on 15th March, 2026. Follow up service was booked for 24th Mar, 2026.
Till now, none from Urban company has reached out to complete the follow up service.

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

@sandhyaravishan @svembu Will start taking Newsminute articles seriously when they dare to paint a similar picture of TM Krishna like they did with Sridhar Vembu.

But all we will see is, how TMK gave a "gripping" speech..

[Krishna Ag @agsrikrishna]

From Dravid to this. 😕😏

[Ryanair @Ryanair]

we would never give out headphones

[Omjasvin M D @omjasvinMD]

In the last decade, the @NHAI_Official has collected over Rs 1000 crore in toll at the NH-48 stretch from Maduravoyal to Wallajah. In return, what they’ve given lakhs of commuters is a DEATH TRAP, that’s called a highway.

Driving down the 100km stretch of NH 48 from Maduravoyal to Walajah, part of the Chennai-Bengaluru highway, is like dicing with death, especially after dark. The ₹1,500-crore project to widen the stretch has been dragging for 13 years now, with no end in sight. What makes it worse is that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and its contractors have collected more than ₹1,000 crore in tolls from this stretch over the past decade.

So you actually pay to dodge huge truckers and buses while avoiding wide craters when the road suddenly narrows where a flyover is being built. On most days, there’s hardly anyone working on the dozen underpasses and flyovers that are being constructed. Just seven flyovers have been opened to traffic. Four more have been completed, but these haven’t been opened to the public.

So why is it taking so long? NHAI blames it on the contractors that it appointed and the state govt. The first contractor’s services were terminated in 2016 for “slow progress”. The second contractor, appointed in 2018, walked out in 2021 over a dispute on fly ash supply. “As per contract, fly ash from thermal plants was to be free, but it was sold at ₹205/tonne by state.

After starting three flyovers and restoring parts of the KancheepuramWalajah stretch, the contractor abandoned work due to cost and logistics,” said NHAI project director (Kancheepuram project implementation unit) A Savithiri Devi.
NHAI then split the work, giving 30km (Maduravoyal– Sriperumbudur) to Tamil Nadu highways department at 400 crore and re-tendering the 36km Sriperumbudur– Kancheepuram stretch. The third NHAI contractor, who began work this Jan, has barely made progress, leaving around 20km still deadly. On this stretch, vehicles crawl at 20kmph. This isn’t the only problem.

The road passes through TN’s biggest industrial estate that houses thousands of manufacturing units. Yet, right outside Sipcot, three key flyover and underpass projects remain abandoned with nothing but pillars and rubble in sight. “Traffic chokes up every evening. Deliveries get delayed. Bad roads damage goods, such as glass, and create scratches on new cars during transportation. This affects business,” said Sipcot’s former project officer Varadarajan Shanmugam.

At Vedal in Kancheepuram, vehicles were choked bumperto-bumper on service lanes at 2pm as trucks and buses squeezed through abandoned work zones. Similar chaos reigns at Sunguvarchathram, Nandimedu, Murukkanthangal, and Attuputhur. At night, construction dust envelop the road. Near Walajah, people have begun using an under-construction flyover, though the roads are still not laid.
State highways department claims it finished its portion three years ago. “Contractors are now in their liability period. We’re fixing bad patches,” said the state’s NH Wing superintending engineer Selvakumar.

The newly relaid sections between Poonamallee and Sriperumbudur are already filled with craters for at least 10km. “Accidents happen almost every week,” said Vijaya Govindarajan, president of Vellore District Bus Owners Association. “Forcing heavy vehicles on to narrow service lanes is disastrous. Even Volvo buses crawl at 20kmph30kmph,” he said.

[The Kaipullai @thekaipullai]

Happened to see the trailer of 120 Bahadur by Farhan Akhtar.

The movie brings the brave story of Major Shaitan Singh Bhati and the 123 Soldiers of the Kumaon Regiment, who fought till the last man and the last bullet against 3000+ Chinese soldiers, in the Battle of Rezang La

The trailer was amazing, and it sent me to do some reading.

At first, I was inspired. Then I stumbled upon a sad story that made me question the very character of us as a nation.

But some history first.

The 1962 War between India and China was independent India's first reality check of international relations. It all started with the India - China border, which was always a contentious one. Both didn't agree with each other on its definition.

Our then PM who used to think that his personal charisma was enough as a diplomatic tool and thought fancy terms like Panchsheel and Speaking Good English in UN was enough to counter Chinese aggression, he embarked on what he called the "Forward Policy"

It was a fancy term for sending unprepared soldiers to dispersed positions on mountain tops which were 18000 ft above sea level. And to make things worse, we sent them with inadequate clothing, equipment, weapons, intelligence and an absolute lack of strategy.

The Chinese predictably took advantage of this cluelessness and attacked us.

Initially they raked up victory after victory in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. They even captured Tawang. They thought this war would be a walkover and trained their eyes on Ladakh.

They thought capturing Ladakh would be easy.

Unfortunately, they didn't account for Major Singh and his 123 men from the Kumaon Regiment.

On 18th Nov 1962, they came to an isolated place in Ladakh called Rezang La. It was the last point between them and another place called Chushul, which was the gateway to Ladakh.

Lulled into a false sense of confidence and expecting an easy victory, 3000 Chinese soldiers thought all they had to do was walk in and they would capture Rezang la.

But Major Singh and his men had other ideas.

On that day, they decided to show the Chinese what a Great wall actually looked like.

At 18,000 feet above sea level, in temperatures which were 20 to 30 degrees below zero, Major Singh and his men, using Machine Guns and mortars repelled wave after wave of Chinese invaders.

At times, when they ran out of ammo, they resorted to brutal hand to hand fighting to throw the Chinese back.

For 6-8 hours, Major Singh and his men sent hundreds of Chinese to the Chinese version of Valhalla. They fought with such incredible daring and bravery that they gave a serious inferiority complex to the Spartans of Thermopylae.

Unfortunately, the Chinese had too many soldiers, and eventually they surrounded Major Singh and his men.

Of his 123 men, 114 men, including Maj Singh made the ultimate sacrifice for the country. Most of them died, with their weapons in hand and facing toward the enemy. It was a performance that made Gods weep.

The performance of Major Singh and his men shocked the Chinese. This was the fiercest resistance they had faced till that point in the war.

Realizing things aren't going to be easy for them anymore, three days later, they declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew.

For his Supreme Sacrifice and his bravery that would make Lord Narasimha himself proud, Major Bhati was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously.

His brave exploits had not only moved India. It had made an impact on the Chinese and the Americans as well. So much so, that they still teach about him and his men in the PLA War College and West Point, on how to defend.

But this post is not about his brave saga. I am sure Farhan Akhtar would tell it better than me.

This post is about what his family faced at the hands of our heartless and rapacious bureaucracy and our impotent judiciary, after his heroic sacrifice.

As a wife of a fallen hero, Major Singh's widow Sugan Kunwari was eligible for 60% of Major Singh's salary as pension. But for some reason, she was only given 30%.

The Govt as gratuity gave Rs 4000 to her in 1963, and given what Major Singh had done, they bloody well had to. But the govt babudom being govt babudom, they recovered it from her pension in 1964.

The Indian babu who actually passed this order was like "You could be a war hero and might have repelled the Chinese and all, but you can't repel our rules and regulations"

Then the Indian govt "liberalized" the pension rules in 1972, but Sugan Kunwari continued receiving the pension under the old scheme till, I kid you not, 1996.

Add to that, she was supposed to get a gratuity of Rs 9500 as per the new rules. She didn't get that as well.

I guess maybe some memo granting her the pension, got blocked in some file on a random table in South Block.

To claim his rightful money, the family of Major Singh filed a case in the Armed forces Tribunal - Jaipur in 1996, for the arrears between 1972 and 1995 and the revised gratuity.

They didn't even ask for retrospective implementation of pension rules since 1962, because unlike the rotten scoundrels of our bureaucracy, they were honest people. And this was the money that was rightfully theirs.

Ideally speaking, the day someone finds out that a hero like Major Singh was wronged, every authority, every official, every armed force guy would move heaven and earth to right that wrong.

As a war hero, we think his files would have been processed in record time and within 24 hours, the family of Major Singh would have received the shortfall with interest, and an apology note from the seniormost army general of the area, right?

Wrong

The case my friends, 30 years later, is still going on.

Major Singh's widow, unfortunately passed away in 2015 without a verdict and was still receiving the old pension.

His son continued the case, but he has not been heard since 2016, as there was apparently no judge at the Armed forces tribunal in Jaipur.

As of 2021, when there are last traces of this case, it was still going on.

If the family of a war hero, who gave his life for the nation, a Param Vir Chakra awardee, someone whose bust the govt inaugurated in the national war memorial in all pomp and glory, and someone who is a hero to us all, is treated like this by our babudom, then what chance do we stand?

There is a line in the song based on this war which says "Kar Chale hum fida jaano, ab tumhare hawale watan saathiyon"

Major Singh gave his life so that we could have our country and our tomorrow. Have we justified his sacrifice?

I don't think we have.

The nation which forgets is real heroes, is doomed to live with false useless ones.

I think we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

P:S: Considering the difference, I don't think the total amount would be more than Rs 10 Lakhs, including interest.

This is the bribe money that a corrupt clerk collects before lunch time. Or a corrupt judge throws out in a raid.

And we strung Major Singh's family for this, for over 30 years now.

[Ashvathaman Allimuthu @asuvathaman]

இவ்வளவு தான் ஈவேரா கொள்கை !