How Diu Got Independence from the Portuguese!!!

'The Portuguese surrendered about midday on December 19, 1961. They were brought to their knees by the 67 sorties from Jammnagar.

Flashback:

After  Vasco da Gama's became the first European to land in India at Calicut a.ka. Kozhikode on May 20, 1498, the Portuguese wished to rule over the whole of the Indian Ocean. They wanted to stop using the established SPICE Route,which passed through the Persian Gulf and Red Sea and controlled by the Arabs.
To control the Arabian Sea- DIU was an important place for establishing their command over the spice business with India. After being victorious in the Battle of Diu, the Portuguese spread their strongholds in Goa, Ceylon(Srilanka), Malacca(Malayasia)  and Ormuz and helped in establishing the Portuguese empire rule.

View of Diu from Museum  1920

From 1535 to 1961, Diu remained under the rule of the Portuguese until the Indian Union's army invaded under  "Operation Vijay ".  The armed siege by the Indian government included strikes by sea, air and land fight for more than 36 hours and ended with Diu becoming part of India, which ended 451 years of Portuguese rule.

                                     View from Diu fort 

 After India got independence, the government started negotiations over the status of different colonies around the country. 

                                                 Diu Airport

How the Operation happened:

The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel running though a swamp. The channel could only be used by fishing boats and small craft. No bridges crossed the channels at the time of hostilities. The Portuguese garrison in Diu was headed by Major Fernando de Almeida e Vasconcelos (district governor and military commander), with around 400 soldiers and police officers, organised as the battlegroup "António da Silveira".

Diu was attacked on 18 December from the north west along Kob Forte by two companies of the 20th Rajput Battalion — with the capture of the Diu Airfield being the primary objective — and from the northeast along Gogal and Amdepur by the Rajput B Company and the 4th Madras Battalion.
These Indian Army units ignored requests from Wing Commander (rank) M.P.O. "Micky" Blake, planning-in-charge of the Indian Air Force operations in Diu, to attack only on first light when close air support would be available. The Portuguese defences repulsed the attack backed by 87.6mm artillery and mortars, inflicting heavy losses on the Indians.

The first attack was made by the 4th Madras on a police border post at 01:30 on 18 December at Gogol and was repulsed by 13 Portuguese police officers. 

Another attempt by the 4th Madras at 02:00 was again repulsed, this time backed with Portuguese 87.5mm artillery and mortar which suffered due to poor quality of munitions. 

By 04:00, ten of the original 13 Portuguese defenders at Gogol had been wounded and were evacuated to a hospital. 

At 05:30, the Portuguese artillery launched a fresh attack on the 4th Madras assaulting Gogol and forced their retreat.

Meanwhile, at 03:00, two companies of the 20th Rajput attempted to cross a muddy swamp separating them from the Portuguese forces at Passo Covo under cover of dark on rafts made of bamboo cots tied to oil barrels.The attempt was to establish a bridgehead and capture the airfield.This attack was repulsed with fairly heavy losses by a well entrenched unit of Portuguese soldiers armed with small automatic weapons and sten guns as well as light and medium machine guns. According to Indian sources this unit included between 125 to 130 soldiers, but according to Portuguese sources this post was defended by only eight soldiers.
As the Rajputs reached the middle of the creek, the Portuguese on Diu opened fire with two medium and two light machine-guns, capsizing some of the rafts. Major Mal Singh of the Indian Army along with five men pressed on his advance and crossed the creek. On reaching the far bank, he and his men assaulted the light machine gun trenches at Fort-De-Cova and silenced them. The Portuguese medium machine gun fire from another position wounded the officer and two of his men. However, with the efforts of company Havildar Major Mohan Singh and two other men, the three wounded were evacuated back across the creek to safety. As dawn approached, the Portuguese increased the intensity of fire and the battalion’s water crossing equipment suffered extensive damage. As a result, the Indian battalion was ordered to fall back to Kob village by first light.
Another assault at 05:00 was similarly repulsed by the Portuguese defenders. 

At 06:30, Portuguese forces retrieved rafts abandoned by the 20th Rajput, recovered ammunition left behind and rescued a wounded Indian soldier who was given treatment.

At 07:00, with the onset of dawn, Indian air strikes began, forcing the Portuguese to retreat from Passo Covo to the town of Malala. 

By 09:00 the Portuguese unit at Gogol also retreated allowing the Rajput B Company (who replaced the 4th Madras) to advance under heavy artillery fire and occupy the town.

By 10:15, the Indian cruiser INS Delhi, anchored off Diu, began to bombard targets on the shore.

At 12:45, Indian jets fired a rocket at a mortar at Diu Fortress causing a fire near a munitions dump, forcing the Portuguese to order the evacuation of the fortress — a task completed by 14:15 under heavy bombardment from the Indians.

At 18:00, the Portuguese commanders agreed in a meeting that, in view of repeated air strikes and the inability to establish contact with headquarters in Goa or Lisbon, there was no way to pursue an effective defence and decided to surrender to the Indians.

 On 19 December, by 12:00, the Portuguese formally surrendered. The Indians took 403 prisoners, which included the Governor of the island along with 18 officers and 43 sergeants.

In surrendering to the Indians, the Diu Governor stated that he could have kept the Army out for a few weeks but he had no answer to the Air Force. The Indian Air Force was also present at the ceremony and was represented by Gp Capt Godkhindi, Wing Cmdr Micky Blake and Sqn Ldr Nobby Clarke. 7 Portuguese soldiers were killed in the battle.
Major Mal Singh and Sepoy Hakam Singh of the Indian army were awarded Ashok Chakra (Class III).
On 19 December, the 4th Madras C Company landed on the island of Panikot off Diu, where a group of 13 Portuguese soldiers surrendered to them there.

The Diu air raids

                       A MD450 Ouragan formed the backbone of the air strikes on Diu.

The Indian air operations in the Diu Sector were entrusted to the Armaments Training Wing led by Wg Cdr Micky Blake. The first air attacks were made at dawn on 18 December and were aimed at destroying Diu's fortifications facing the mainland. Throughout the rest of the day, the Air Force had at least two aircraft in the air at any time, giving close support to advancing Indian infantry. During the morning, the air force attacked and destroyed Diu Airfield's ATC as well as parts of Diu Fort. Oorders from Tactical Air Command located at Pune, a sortie of two Toofanis attacked and destroyed the airfield runway with 4 1000 lb Mk 9 bombs. A second sortie aimed at the runway and piloted by Wg Cdr Blake himself was aborted when Blake detected what he reported as people waving white flags. In subsequent sorties, the Indian Air Force attacked and destroyed the Portuguese ammunition dump as well a patrol boat that attempted to escape from Diu.

In the absence of any Portuguese air presence, Portuguese ground based anti-aircraft units attempted to offer resistance to the Indian raids, but were overwhelmed and quickly silenced, leaving complete air superiority to the Indians. Continued air attacks forced the Portuguese governor of Diu to surrender.

Naval action at Diu

The Indian cruiser INS Delhi was anchored off the coast of Diu and offered a barrage of from its 6-inch guns at the Diu Fortress where the Portuguese were holed up. The Commanding Officer of the Indian Air Force operating in the area reported that some of the shells fired from the New Delhi were bouncing off the beach and exploding on the Indian mainland. However, no casualties were reported from this.

At 04:00 on 18 December, the Portuguese patrol boat NRP Vega encountered the New Delhi around 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Diu, and was attacked with heavy machine gun fire. Staying out of range, the boat had no casualties and minimal damage, the boat withdrew to the port at Diu.

At 07:00, news was received that the Indian invasion had commenced, and the commander of the Vega, 2nd Lt Oliveira e Carmo was ordered to sail out and fight until the last round of ammunition. At 07:30 the crew of the Vega spotted two Indian aircraft on patrol missions and opened fire on them with the ship's 20mm Oerlikon gun. In retaliation the Indian aircraft attacked the Vega twice, killing the captain and the gunner and forcing the rest of the crew to abandon the boat and swim ashore, where they were taken prisoners of war.  

Epilogue

The Indian armed forces executed the mandate in under two days, but they suffered 22 fatalities and 54 were wounded. The Portuguese toll was 30 killed and 57 wounded.

India took 5,094 personnel as prisoners from Goa, Daman and Diu, who were repatriated to Portugal in six months.

Portugal slammed India's 'irredentism', and at their request, an emergency session of the UN Security Council was convened on December 18. The resolution that called for ceasefire and Indian withdrawal was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Needless to add, diplomatic relations between the two countries soured. The chill thawed only in 1974.

Post-liberation, Goa, Daman and Diu were integrated with the Republic as centrally administered Union Territory. On May 30, 1987, the Union Territory was split, and statehood was bestowed on Goa. Goa, Daman and Diu celebrate December 19 as their Liberation Day

-Experts from Wikipedia and Rediff

“Kaka… ek chai aapo” (Uncle Give me one tea ?). And I will add “Chai garam karna .” (Make the tea hot).
.He gives tea at 10 O’ clock and 3 O clock. Without Kaka’s tea, I feel like a restless new baby who goes through pangs of separation when his mother goes out of his sight.

Tea or chai is my lifeline. For me, the world’s all well if I am having my cup of tea.It energizes me for the enxt part of the day. It wakes me up for the tough part of the job.
Tea has made me millions of friends. All my best friends are chai crazy,more than me.Chai walas, where I hang out with my friends become my family, with the udhaar(credit) stuff mainly as we drink chai one shot after another shot(Dry state Gujarat). .Drinking chai activity can happen at any time. All the plans and events that are to be done are executed during chai driking sessions.
Tea symbolises everything happy, relaxed and most importantly a sense of intimacy. A cup of tea for me is like a flowing river. There’s nothing small or stagnant about it. Even though it comes in a tiny cup or a kullad, for me it gives an innate sense of life and joy. It reminds me of home, VVN , of innumerable journeys in the Indian Railways, of all the wonderful people I have met and I have hanged out with at chai laaris. It brings back memories of my parents sharing a cup of tea early in the morning .
Every time I think the universe is not treating me like her favourite child, I call up any of my friends to the local Ketli(tea vendor) and chill out.
Over cups of tea and conversations, I feel a sense of tranquility.I feel that the moments never end and the feelings that I am getting , when I am doing this, conversing and sippinig the tea and feeling the ginger effect aaah that’s utopia!!!!! . The world seems a better place to live with a brewing cup of tea in my hand and bit of smoke(Smoking is injurious to ur health). And I embrace laughter with much ease
Tea is like a lover who is delicate, caring and understands your moods. Tea gives a sublime joy. Tea is like a soft Jaipur rezai which gives the much needed warmth on a winter morning yet it is soft on your skin.. Right now, I am waiting for Kaka to come to my desk with his ‘garam’ chai.Tea, where would I be without you

They cal it LOOOVEEEE

 The heart-beats motion gently,



Kissing the less traversed way,



Two entities rejoice in the wilderness,



They call it LOVE.









Then gracious flow of laughter and joy,



The pleasing sight of the myriad emotions,



The warmth of the occupant hands,



They call it LOVE.









The gentle touching of the lips,



The snag against the body,



The movement within the unearthed places,



They STILL call it LOVE.









The gripping of those busts,



Moving lower down the aisle,



The taste of flesh,



They NOW call it LUST.









Where faith lodges with disbelief,



Where honesty overpowers it’s peers,



Where trust is admired more by mistrust,



Why isn’t LOVE considered equal to LUST?









The equality beckons, but the truth still remains,



Where LOVE thrives, LUST also reigns.



Though LOVE keeps the anima alive, leaving it’s trails,



The truth still is: LUST leaves its stains…

HomeSick

As much as I say I am a Malu , it’s not the geography that really attracts me... It’s not the familiar landscape that calls me. Yes, I do miss the blue sea and the beautiful enchanting clear blue sky,the gothic churches and fort and of course, me being at the G-spot and watching the sunset...



But in the end, home is more of an intimate idea for me. It’s like a love af...fair. It’s a sense of fulfillment. It’s the image of my mother serving a delicious me...al and me never even wanting to eat outside whenever I am at Diu . It’s me sleeping most comfortably and peacefully .


I live today for I think of that tomorrow’s journey where the arrival sign in Jethibhai Bus stand would welcome me. And even before my bus has crossed the bridge to dIU, I can see my Daddy standing at the bus stop.






And that intimacy of home creates a rush .. a rushhhh of happiness.






Home is like an album... Every page you turn, you discover something new. Even though you are turning it for the hundredth time... Home is like reliving every moment that has touched you some time and gone far away. Home is your Mummy waiting for you even though you had told her that you will late for lunch ...Home is where I have different varities of fish day in and out... Home could be in the middle of a desert or a forest. It has to have that sense of warmth and love.;-)Home is a place whose streets I can roam without any fear, with a sense of belongingness , where at each metre I have a moment of remmebrance.
No matter how alien I am in this place. Diu being a abode of the gujaratis peaking comunity and small portuguese clan. I, natively belonging from the innermost northern part of Kerala am in no way attached to this place gentically.
     But still having been brought up in the narrow lanes of Diu has made this place my real home. There are faces whom I know and have seen the change in them. I know the smell of the place, the feelings of the streets and the sea shore. I have stories of the wall that surrounds Diu, of the rocks that have been there since eternity.The coconut trees on the way to Nagao beach recognize me, the roads have witnessed the changing Me.  I know them all.
The whole folder of my memories of Diu are there in my subconscious, so wherever I travel too, I have this comparison of people, place and weather to my Home(Diu).
People in Diu , though they consider Me and my family an outsider. I am so much part of their culture, the sounds , the smell. I am so rooted inside Diu.
From my early childhood days, I have studied about the history surrounding Diu, have met people telling tales of the bygone era and Life that existed in there.






But Ten years is fairly a long time. I have travelled a lot many places, met a whole new set of people, seen a variety of cultures . Too many changes have crept into my life, my parents’ and my brother . All of us are battling our own battles in life. Each of us have diffeent issues to settle. Each one’s aspirations and desires are different. Yet even in the midst of all that, I still call that duplex building in Diu as my own home. But still then a strange sense of familiarity, completeness overpowers me when I step into the gate of my home. The world outside seems totally irrelevant to me. Even my own mobile phone has network problems there and I care so less. That’s home for me Am going home for easter and its still one of the top 5 best feelings of my life.. maila comrades

Chitrangada Singh is one of the very human beings, whom I have liked in a instant, in a fraction of seeing her. She is A W-O-M-A-N. She must have been a prototype when women were being created , and evolution messed it up.

She has everything to perfection. Her eyes are so expressive , that I cant really get my eyes away from her.

Her voice is surreal, its magnetic. She is one species in homo sapiens , whom I see and I get goose bumps..

I will always love her and admire her for everything she is. I have been a big fan of hers since Hazzaron Khwashein Aisi. She is modern day combination of Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi and Parveen Babi,

She has a enigma around her face. And Chitrangada Singh has a amazing screen presence , that she outscores the lead male actors on screen..

Respect Chitrangada. I will surely wait for my nirvana and that will be the day I met you.

...........SCORNFUL MATERIALISM.......

One of those awful black days when nothing is pleasing and everything that happens is an excuse for anger.
An outlet for emotions stockpiled,
an arsenal,
an armour.
These are the days when I hate the world,
hate the rich,
hate the happy,
hate the complacent,
the TV watchers,
beer drinkers,
the satisfied ones.


Because I know I can be all of those little hateful things
and then I hate myself for realising that.

There's no preventative, directive or safe approach for living.
We each know our own fate. We know from our youth how to be treated, how we'll be received, how we shall end. These things don't change.
You can change your clothes, change your hairstyle, your friends, cities, continents but sooner or later your own self will always catch up. Always it waits in the wings.
Ideas swirl but don't stick.

me and ma lovely car(i mean some1 else)..but kya fark padta hai bhavnao ko samjo
me and ma friend AMRi about to enter the GREAT TAJ
at chandni chowk on the rick wit shreyas and people...
me and chotu myan (karthik)...emptyin ourselves
in the bus to agra..the wagri people

praying for powers...freom the front karthik,alok,me ,ankit
the veer zara monument ,thats wot i call it and ma friends
the very own THE TAJ MAHAL...ohhh wot a feeling...the best moment of my life..was dumbstuck

the BABA was in town...
the MeTRO PEOPLE
laughin all the way