(11) "whereas other Indians arrived in the outposts of empire to labour on sugar plantations or build railways, Gujaratis such as Allidina Visram, the shopkeeper in east Africa, opened the stores that serviced the labourers. So commercially driven were the ethnic-Indian Ugandans, of whom about three-quarters were Gujarati, that at the peak of their success, in the mid-20th century, they contributed about a fifth of Uganda’s GDP despite numbering only about 100,000 out of a population of 8m. One of their number was the singer Freddie Mercury, born on Zanzibar in 1946."
(a) number (n): "5: one singled out from a group : INDIVIDUAL"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/number
(b) Freddie Mercury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury
(1946 – 1991; a British singer; gay and died of AIDS at 45)
(12) "Gujaratis enjoyed similar success in other colonies of the British empire, notably Kenya and South Africa. Memons, in particular, prospered in Burma, trading mainly in teak, rice and tea. The most successful was the very wealthy Sir Abdul Karim Jamal, knighted by the British in 1920. Originally from Jamnagar in Kathiawar, the 'King of Rice' even had a street named after him in Rangoon (now Yangon). Considering how well the Gujaratis did out of the empire, it seems only natural that a Jain from Palanpur, Sanjiv Mehta, should now own the East India Company itself. He snapped up the moribund company in 2005 and has opened a posh store bearing its name in London’s West End. It sells fine crockery, traditional marmalades and, inevitably, tea. To guilty Britons the company is redolent of imperial exploitation, but to Mr Mehta it is more of a brand “known all over the world, the Google of its age”. The world’s first joint-stock company has come round full circle.
(a)
(i) Abdul Karim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Karim
(a Muslim male given name)
(ii) Abdul Karim Jamal (1862-1924; Memon)
(iii) Jamal (proper name; from Arabic noun masculine for beauty): "a male given name [that has occasionally turned into a Muslim surname]"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Jamal
(b) "Sanjiv Mehta * * * now own the East India Company:
(i) "Sanjiv was born in the family of diamond traders in Mumbai, India. He graduated from Sydenham College Mumbai and joined his father’s diamond business in 1983." Wikipedia
(ii) East India Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company
(1600-1874; section 7 Indian Rebellion and disestablishment: footnote 44 quotes section 36 of East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873, which dissolved the Company on June 1, 1874)
(iii) So it is unclear why BBC said this:
East India Company Returns After 135-Year Absence. BBC, Aug 13, 2010
www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109
two consecutive paragraphs:
"An Indian entrepreneur is relaunching the famous East India Company with the opening of a luxury food store in London on Saturday [Aug 14]. The event takes place on the same day that - more than 135 years ago - the company was dissolved [but see the preceding (ii)].
"A tiny rump of the company lived on, however, consisting of its trading name and a small tea and coffee concern.
This shadow of what was once a global trading power was acquired in 2005 by Indian businessman Sanjiv Mehta
* There is no need to read the rest of this BBC report.
(iv) Rachel Rickard Straus, East India Co Is Back, with Indian Owner. The Times of India, Aug 16, 2010
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... cleshow/6316784.cms |