title: Germany–United States relations

text: Roosevelt was determined to avoid the mistakes made during the First World War. He made deliberate efforts to suppress anti-German-American sentiments. Private companies sometimes refused to hire any non-citizen, or American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. This threatened the morale of loyal Americans. Roosevelt considered this "stupid" and "unjust". In June 1941 he issued Executive Order 8802 and set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee, which also protected Blacks, Jews and other minorities.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: President Roosevelt sought out Americans of German ancestry for top war jobs, including General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and General Carl Andrew Spaatz. He appointed Republican Wendell Willkie as a personal representative; Willkie, the son of German immigrants, had been his Republican opponent in the 1940 election. German Americans who had fluent German language skills were an important asset to wartime intelligence, and they served as translators and as spies for the United States.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The US played a central role in the defeat of the Axis powers and Hitler was bitterly anti-American. Berlin attacked American participation with extensive propaganda value. The notorious "LIBERATORS" poster from 1944, shown here, was a revealing example. See Anti-Americanism#"Liberators" poster" It depicts America as a monstrous, vicious war machine seeking to destroy European culture. The poster alludes to many negative aspects of American history, including the Ku Klux Klan, the oppression of Native Americans, and the lynching of blacks. The poster condemns American capitalism and says America is controlled by Jews. It shows American bombs destroying a helpless European village. Roosevelt was cautious about propaganda. The Nazis were targets, not the German people. In sharp contrast with 1917, atrocity stories were avoided.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Following the defeat of the Third Reich, American forces were one of the occupation powers in postwar Germany. In parallel to denazification and "industrial disarmament" American citizens fraternized with Germans. The Berlin Airlift from 1948 to 1949 and the Marshall Plan (1948–1952) further improved the Germans' perception of Americans.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The emergence of the Cold War made the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) the frontier of a democratic Western Europe and American military presence became an integral part in West German society. During the Cold War, West Germany developed into the largest economy in Europe and West German-US relations developed into a new transatlantic partnership. Germany and the US shared a large portion of their culture, established intensive global trade environment, and continued to co-operate on new high technologies. However, tensions remained between differing approaches on both sides of the Atlantic. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent German reunification marked a new era in German-American co-operation.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Relations between the United States and East Germany were hostile. The United States followed Konrad Adenauer's Hallstein Doctrine, which declared that recognition of East Germany by any country would be treated as an unfriendly act by West Germany. Relations between the two German state thawed somewhat in the 1970s, as part of Détente between East and West and the 'Ostpolitik' policies of the Brandt government. United States recognized East Germany officially in September 1974, when Erich Honecker was the leader of the ruling Socialist Unity Party. To ward off the risk of internal dissent, General Secretary Erich Honecker enlarged the Stasi from 43,000 to 60,000 agents.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: East Germany imposed an official ideology that was reflected in all its media and all the schools. The official line stated that the United States had caused the breakup of the coalition against Adolf Hitler and had become the bulwark of reaction worldwide, with a heavy reliance on warmongering for the benefit of the "terrorist international of murderers on Wall Street." East Germans had a heroic role to play as a frontline against America. However few Germans believed it since had seen enough of the Soviets since 1945, and half-a-million Soviet soldiers were still stationed in East Germany with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany as late as 1989. Furthermore, East Germans were exposed to information from relatives in the West, Radio Free Europe broadcasts from the United States, and the West German media.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The official Communist media ridiculed the modernism and cosmopolitanism of American culture, and denigrated the features of the American way of life, especially jazz music and rock 'n roll. The East German regime relied heavily on its tight control of youth organizations to rally them, with scant success, against American popular culture. The older generations were more concerned with the poor quality of food, housing, and clothing, which stood in dramatic contrast to the prosperity of West Germany. Professionals in East Germany were watched for any sign of deviation from the party line; their privileges were at risk. The choice was to comply or to flee to West Germany, which was relatively easy before the crackdown and the Berlin Wall of 1961. Americans saw East Germany simply as a puppet of Moscow, with no independent possibilities.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: President George H. W. Bush (1989–1993) played a large part by his constant support of unification, and several US historians argue that Bush had a significant role in ensuring the unified Germany committed to NATO. While Britain and France were wary of a re-unified Germany, Bush strongly supported West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in pushing for rapid German reunification in 1990. Bush believed that a reunified Germany would serve U.S. interests, but he also saw reunification as providing a final symbolic end to World War II. After extensive negotiations, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to allow a reunified Germany to be a part of NATO under the condition that the former territory of the German Democratic Republic would not be remiliterised, and Germany officially reunified in October 1990. This was a situation previously considered unthinkable, given the previous status of the Soviet Union, but it was made feasible by the time of the fall of the East German regime. Bush paid attention to domestic public opinion. Serious doubts about reunification were voiced by the Jewish-American and Polish-American communities—whose families had suffered immensely from Nazism. However, the largely positive public opinion towards German unification in the United States generally corresponded to the sentiments of the usually passive German-American community.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: During the early 1990s, the reunified Germany was called a "partnership in leadership" as the US emerged as the world's sole superpower. Germany's effort to incorporate any major military actions into the European Union's slowly-progressing Common Security and Defence Policy did not meet the expectations of the U.S. during the Gulf War of 1990–1991.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: After the September 11 attacks in 2001, German-American political relations were strengthened in an effort to combat terrorism, and Germany sent troops to Afghanistan as part of the NATO force. Yet, discord continued over the Iraq War, when German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer made efforts to prevent war and did not join the US and the UK, which both led multinational force in Iraq. Anti-Americanism rose to the surface after the attacks of 11 September 2001 as hostile German intellectuals argued there were ugly links between globalization, Americanization, and terrorism.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In response to the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures, in which it was revealed that the NSA may have wiretapped major German instutions, including the phone line of Chancellor Merkel, Germany cancelled the 1968 intelligence sharing agreement with the US and UK.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Longstanding close relations with the United States flourished especially under the Obama Administration (2009–2017). In 2016 President Barack Obama hailed Chancellor Angela Merkel as his “closest international partner.”


title: Germany–United States relations

text: However relations worsened dramatically during the Trump administration (2017–2021), especially regarding NATO funding, trade, tariffs, and Germany's energy dependence upon the Russian Federation. In May 2017, Merkel met Donald Trump, the paternal grandson of German immigrants. His statements that the U.S. had been taken advantage of in trade deals during previous administrations had already strained relations with several EU countries and other American allies. Without mentioning Trump specifically, Merkel said after a NATO summit "The times when we could completely rely on others are, to an extent, over," This came after Trump had said "The Germans are bad, very bad" and "See the millions of cars they are selling to the U.S. Terrible. We will stop this."


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In 2021 talks and meetings with Merkel and other European leaders, President Joe Biden spoke of bilateral relations, bolstering transatlantic relations through NATO and the European Union, and closely coordinating on key issues, such as Iran, China, Russia, Afghanistan, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and multilateral organizations. In early February 2021, Biden froze the Trump administration's withdrawal of 9,500 troops from U.S. military bases in Germany. Biden's freeze was welcomed by Berlin, which said that the move "serves European and transatlantic security and hence is in our mutual interest."


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Merkel met Biden in Washington on July 15, 2021, with an agenda covering COVID-19 pandemic, global warming and economic issues. Trump's opposition to the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline remains an unresolved issue under Biden.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The exploits of gunslingers on the American frontier played a major role in American folklore, fiction and film. The same stories became immensely popular in Germany, which produced its own novels and films about the American frontier. Karl May (1842–1912) was a German writer best known for his adventure novels set in the American Old West. His main protagonists are Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. The German fascination with Native Americans dates to the early 19th century, with a volumous literature. Typical writings focus on "Indianness" and authenticity.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Germany and the US are civil societies. Germany's philosophical heritage and American spirit for "freedom" interlock to a central aspect of Western culture and Western civilization. Even though developed under different geographical settings, the Age of Enlightenment is fundamental to the self-esteem and understanding of both nations.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The American-led invasion of Iraq changed the perception of the US in Germany significantly. A 2013 BBC World Service poll shows found that 35% find American influence to be positive while 39% view it to be negative. Both countries differ in many key areas, such as energy and military intervention.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: A survey conducted on behalf of the German embassy in 2007 showed that Americans continued to regard Germany's failure to support the war in Iraq as the main irritant in relations between the two nations. The issue was of declining importance, however, and Americans still considered Germany to be their fourth most important international partner behind the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan. Americans considered economic cooperation to be the most positive aspect of US-German relations with a much smaller role played by Germany in U.S. politics.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Among the nations of Western Europe, German public perception of the US is unusual in that it has continually fluctuated back and forth from fairly positive in 2002 (60%), to considerably negative in 2007 (30%), back to mildly positive in 2012 (52%), and back to considerably negative in 2017 (35%) reflecting the sharply polarized and mixed feelings of the German people for the United States.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: According to findings from the Pew Research Center and Körber-Stiftung in 2021 Americans considered Germany to be their fifth most important foreign policy partner, while Germans in turn regarded the US as their most important partner.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: German observers took a keen interest in American race relations, especially the inferior status of Blacks in the South. Visitors stressed the incongruity of American democratic ideals and the system of segregation prevalent before 1965.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: While musical connoisseurs deplored the low state of classical music in America, dixieland black jazz music became popular with youth in Berlin and other cities in the 1920s. Germans came to appreciate country music in the 1950s. During World War I, German compositions were dropped from the classical music repertoire temporarily. Dr. Karl Muck, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was arrested and deported in 1919. The Metropolitan Opera in New York City restored Wagner's "Ring cycle" in 1924.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: anti-Americanism was weak. However, in the late 1960s, West Germany's youth contrasted the images of Woodstock—which they liked—and Vietnam—which they hated. Young rebels turned to violence to destroy the foundations of a society that backed American cultural imperialism. Anti-Americanism reappeared among intellectuals after the attacks on 11 September 2001 because some of them linked globalization, Americanization, and terrorism. The War in Iraq in 2003 was highly unpopular at all levels of German society.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: During the Cold War, anti-Americanism was the official government policy in East Germany, and pro-American dissenters were punished. In West Germany, anti-Americanism was the common position on the left, but a majority of the population held positive views towards the United States. Germany's refusal to support the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was often seen in the United States itself as a manifestation of anti-Americanism.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Anti-Americanism had been muted on the right since 1945, but reemerged in the 21st century especially in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that began in opposition to European Union, and now has become both anti-American and anti-immigrant. Annoyance or distrust of the Americans was heightened in 2013 by revelations of American spying on top German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: German-American military relations began in the American Revolution when German troops fought on both sides. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former Captain in the Prussian Army, was appointed Inspector General of the Continental Army and played the major role in training American soldiers to the best European standards. Von Steuben is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the United States Army.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Another German that served during the American Revolution was Major General Johann de Kalb, who served under Horatio Gates at the Battle of Camden and died as a result of several wounds he sustained during the fighting.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: About 30,000 German mercenaries fought for the British, with 17,000 hired from Hesse, about one in four of the adult male population of the principality. The Hessians fought under their own officers under British command. Leopold Philip de Heister, Wilhelm von Knyphausen, and Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg were the principal generals who commanded these troops with Frederick Christian Arnold, Freiherr von Jungkenn as the senior German officer.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: German Americans have been very influential in the American military. Some notable figures include Brigadier General August Kautz, Major General Franz Sigel, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, and General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The United States established a permanent military presence in Germany at the end of the Second World War that continued throughout the Cold War, with a peak level of over 274,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany in 1962, and was drawn down in the early 21st century. The last American tanks were withdrawn from Germany in 2013, but they returned the following year to address a gap in multinational training opportunities. The U.S. had 35,000 American troops in Germany in 2017.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Germany and the United States are joint NATO members. Both nations have cooperated closely in the War on Terror, for which Germany provided more troops than any other nation. Germany hosts the headquarters of the US Africa Command and the Ramstein Air Base, a U.S. Air Force base.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: The two nations had opposing public policy positions in the War in Iraq; Germany blocked US efforts to secure UN resolutions in the buildup to war, but Germany quietly supported some US interests in southwest Asia. German soldiers operated military biological and chemical cleanup equipment at Camp Doha in Kuwait; German Navy ships secured sea lanes to deter attacks by Al Qaeda on U.S. Forces and equipment in the Persian Gulf; and soldiers from Germany's Bundeswehr deployed all across southern Germany to US military bases to conduct force protection duties in place of German-based U.S. Soldiers who were deployed to the Iraq War. The latter mission lasted from 2002 until 2006, by which time nearly all these Bundeswehr were demobilized. U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq received medical treatment at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a US military hospital located in Rheinland Pfalz.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In March 2019, Trump was reportedly drafting a demand several countries, including Germany, to pay the United States 150% of the cost of the American troops deployed on their soil. The proposed demand was criticized by experts. Douglas Lute, a retired general and former US ambassador to NATO, said that Trump was using "a misinformed narrative that these facilities are there for the benefits of those countries. The truth is they're there and we maintain them because they're in our interest."


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In a sharp deterioration of relations, in summer 2020, Washington announced plans to significantly cut the number of US military personnel stationed in Germany, from 34,500 to 25,000. Members of the German government criticized the move, calling it "unacceptable" and stating that current US-German relations are "complicated." President Trump told reporters that US troops:


title: Germany–United States relations

text: As of August 2020, the plan was to move 11,900 troops out of Germany and reassign them elsewhere in Europe, either immediately or after first returning them to the United States for a while. The movement is estimated to cost billions of dollars. In February 2021 President Biden decided to freeze the withdrawal of the troops initiated by his predecessor for further review of the troop deployment around the world.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Economic relations between Germany and the United States are average. The Transatlantic Economic Partnership between the US and the EU, which was launched in 2007 on Germany's initiative, and the subsequently created Transatlantic Economic Council open up additional opportunities. The US is Germany's principal trading partner outside the EU and Germany is the US's most important trading partner in Europe. In terms of the total volume of U.S. bilateral trade (imports and exports), Germany remains in fourth place, behind Canada, China and Mexico. The US ranks fourth among Germany's trading partners, after the Netherlands, China and France. At the end of 2013, bilateral trade was worth $162 billion.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Germany and the US are important to each other as investment destinations. At the end of 2012, bilateral investment was worth $320 billion, German direct investment in the US amounting to $266billion and U.S. direct investment in Germany $121 billion. At the end of 2012, US direct investment in Germany stood at approximately $121 billion, an increase of nearly 14% over the previous year (approximately $106 billion). During the same period, German direct investment in the US amounted to some $199 billion, below the previous year's level (approximately $215 billion). Germany is the second largest foreign investor in the US, only after the United Kingdom, and ranks third as a destination for US foreign direct investment.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In 2019 the United States Senate announced intention of passing controversial legislation which threatened to place sanctions on German or European Union companies which work to complete a petrol-chemical pipeline between Germany and Russia.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Karl May was a prolific German writer who specialized in writing Westerns. Although he visited America only once towards the end of his life, May was well known for his series of frontier novels, which provided Germans with an imaginary view of America.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: German takes third place after Spanish and French among the foreign languages taught at American secondary schools, colleges and universities. Conversely, nearly half of the German population can speak English well.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: A German-American Friendship Garden was built in Washington, DC, and stands as a symbol of the positive and co-operative relations between the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. It is on the historic axis between the White House and the Washington Monument on the National Mall, the garden borders Constitution Avenue between 15th and 17th Streets, where an estimated seven million visitors pass each year. The garden features plants native to both Germany and the United States and provides seating and cooling fountains. Commissioned to commemorate the 300th anniversary of German immigration to America, the garden was dedicated on November 15, 1988.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933, and in particular the passing of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which removed opponents and persons with one Jewish grandparent from government positions (including academia), hundreds of physicists and other academics fled Germany and many came to the United States. James Franck and Albert Einstein were among the more notable scientists who ended up in the United States. Many of the physicists who fled were subsequently instrumental in the wartime Manhattan Project to develop the nuclear bomb. Following the World War II, some of these academics returned to Germany but many remained in the United States.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: After WWII and during the Cold War, Operation Paperclip was a secret United States Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians (many of whom were formerly registered members of the Nazi Party and some of whom had leadership roles in the Nazi Party), including Wernher von Braun's rocket team, were recruited and brought to the United States for government employment from post-Nazi Germany. Wernher von Braun, who built the German V-2 rockets, and his team of scientists came to the United States and were central in building the American space exploration program.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: Researchers at German and American universities run various exchange programs and projects, and focus on space exploration, the International Space Station, environmental technology, and medical science. Import cooperations are also in the fields of biochemistry, engineering, information and communication technologies and life sciences (networks through: Bacatec, DAAD). The United States and Germany signed a bilateral Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation in February 2010.


title: Germany–United States relations

text: In the postwar era, a number of institutions, devoted to highlighting American culture and society in Germany, were established and are in existence today, especially in the south of Germany, the area of the former U.S. Occupied Zone. They offer English courses as well as cultural programs.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was then sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. This version became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours. The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and His Orchestra (vocal by Sonny Schuyler) was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists, including Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, The Crystals, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, The Temptations, The Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Luis Miguel, and The Jackson 5.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: Haven Gillespie's lyrics begin "You better watch out, better not cry / You better not pout, I'm telling you why / Santa Claus is coming to town".


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: Cantor's original performance, broadcast at the height of the Great Depression, included verses not in the standard version of the song, encouraging listeners to be charitable and help the less fortunate at Christmas.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934 (Decca 264A) featuring Tom Stacks on vocal, the version shown in the Variety charts of December 1934. The song was a sheet music hit, reaching number 1. The song was also recorded for Victor Records (catalog No. 25145A) on September 26, 1935, by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with vocals by Cliff Weston and Edythe Wright.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: The song is a traditional Christmas standard and has been covered by numerous recording artists. Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters reached the Billboard charts briefly in 1947 with it.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: In 1962, the Four Seasons version charted at number 23 on "Billboard". In 1963, producer Phil Spector included a version of the song on his rock album "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector" performed by The Crystals. In 1965, The Supremes' version charted at number 4 in Singapore.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: In 1970, Rankin-Bass produced "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", an hour-long animated TV film based on the song, with Fred Astaire narrating the origin of Santa Claus. The same year, The Jackson 5 included the song on their best-selling album "Jackson 5 Christmas Album". The Jackson 5 version would chart 50 years later on Billboard 100 at #46. In 1971, The Partridge Family included the song on "A Partridge Family Christmas Card". An eccentric 1972 live recording by Joseph Spence has been described as "a performance for the ages" by music critic Peter Margasak. The Carpenters released the song as a single in 1974.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: A rock version by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band was recorded on December 12, 1975, at C. W. Post College in Brookville, New York, by Record Plant engineers Jimmy Iovine and Thom Panunzio. This version borrows the chorus refrain from the 1963 recording by The Crystals. It was released first in 1982 as part of the "Sesame Street" compilation album "In Harmony 2", and again in 1985 as a B-side to "My Hometown", a single from the "Born in the U.S.A." album. Springsteen's rendition of the song has received radio airplay perennially at Christmastime for years; it appeared on "Billboard" magazine's Hot Singles Recurrents chart each year from 2002 to 2009 due to seasonal air play. Live performances of the song often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with—or in place of—the band's vocalists (usually the line "you'd better be good for goodness sake", and occasionally the key line "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as well). Sometimes, concert crowds would sing along with the entire song, and the band, who were known to encourage this behavior for the song, would do nothing to dissuade those audiences from doing so, instead welcoming the crowds' enthusiasm. This version remains a Springsteen concert favorite during the months of November and December (often concluding the show), and the band is among the few that keep it in their roster of songs during the holidays.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: Other well-known versions of this song include Mariah Carey from the album "Merry Christmas" (1994) and the Pointer Sisters version off the album "A Very Special Christmas", also borrowing from the Crystal's arrangement. Andy Williams performed the song on his album "I Still Believe in Santa Claus", which was released on October 1, 1990.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: Luis Miguel recorded the song in Spanish as "Santa Claus Llegó a La Ciudad" for his Christmas album "Navidades" (2006). His version of the song peaked at number 26 on the "Billboard" Latin Pop Songs chart.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: The song has also been recorded in A capella versions. First by Straight No Chaser on their 2008 album "Holiday Spirits", and later by Pentatonix on their 2014 album "That's Christmas to Me".


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: In October 2015, EMI Music Publishing lost the rights to J. Fred Coot's stake in the song. EMI had earned the rights to the song via Leo Feist's publishing company in the 1980s.


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: In September 2017, the family of Haven Gillespie sued Memory Lane Music Group for $700,000, asking for an 85% stake in "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town".


title: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

text: Sebastián Yatra recorded a Spanish version for Christmas 2019 and released it as a single. The song charted on "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs and in Spain and was certified Disco de Oro by RIAA in the US.


title: Deepshikha Nagpal

text: Deepshikha Nagpal simply known as Deepshikha, is an Indian actress and film director. She received acclaim in the Hindi film industry only after the release of "Koyla". She was also seen in the Bollywood movie "Dhoom Dhadaka" with Satish Kaushik. She has also acted in Tamil films and a number of TV soaps. Her debut film as a director, "Yeh Dooriyan", was released in August 2011. She was a contestant on "Bigg Boss 8" in 2014.


title: Deepshikha Nagpal

text: Deepshika married Jeet Upendra and has two children, but after ten years they divorced. In January 2012, she married Indore-based Keshav Arora, who had been her co-actor in her directorial debut "Yeh Dooriyan".


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background. He wrote "The Winslow Boy" (1946), "The Browning Version" (1948), "The Deep Blue Sea" (1952) and "Separate Tables" (1954), among many others.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: A troubled homosexual who saw himself as an outsider, Rattigan wrote a number of plays which centred on issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships, or a world of repression and reticence.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South Kensington, London, of Irish Protestant extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan, a notable India-based jurist and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North-East Lanarkshire. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, a diplomat whose exploits included an affair with Princess Elisabeth of Romania (future consort of King George II of Greece) which resulted in her having an abortion. The Royal House of Romania is considered to be the inspiration of Rattigan's play "The Sleeping Prince".


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan's birth certificate and his birth announcement in "The Times" indicate he was born on 9 June 1911. However, most reference books state that he was born the following day; Rattigan himself never publicly disputed this date. There is evidence suggesting that the date on the birth certificate is incorrect. He was given no middle name, but he adopted the middle name "Mervyn" in early adulthood.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan was educated at Sandroyd School from 1920 to 1925, at the time based in Cobham, Surrey (and now the home of Reed's School), and Harrow School. Rattigan played cricket for the Harrow First XI and scored 29 in the Eton–Harrow match in 1929. He was a member of the Harrow School Officer Training Corps and organised a mutiny, informing the "Daily Express". Even more annoying to his headmaster, Cyril Norwood, was the telegram from the Eton OTC, "offering to march to his assistance". He then went to Trinity College, Oxford.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Success as a playwright came early, with the comedy "French Without Tears" in 1936, set in a crammer. This was inspired by a 1933 visit to a village called Marxzell in the Black Forest, where young English gentlemen went to learn German; his time briefly overlapped with his Harrow classmate Jock Colville.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan's determination to write a more serious play produced "After the Dance" (1939), a satirical social drama about the "bright young things" and their failure to politically engage. The outbreak of the Second World War scuppered any chances of a long run. Shortly before the war, Rattigan had written (together with Anthony Goldsmith) a satire about Nazi Germany, "Follow My Leader"; the Lord Chamberlain refused to license it on grounds of offence to a foreign country, but it was performed from January 1940.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: During the war, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force as a tail gunner; his experiences helped inspire "Flare Path". In 1943 Rattigan, then an RAF Flight Lieutenant, was posted to the RAF Film Production Unit to work on "The Way to the Stars" (a substantial reworking and adaption for film of "Flare Path") and "Journey Together".


title: Terence Rattigan

text: After the war, Rattigan alternated between comedies and dramas, establishing himself as a major playwright: the most successful of which were "The Winslow Boy" (1946), "The Browning Version" (1948), "The Deep Blue Sea" (1952), and "Separate Tables" (1954).


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan's belief in understated emotions and craftsmanship was deemed old fashioned and "pre-war" after the overnight success in 1956 of John Osborne's play "Look Back in Anger" began the era of kitchen sink dramas by the writers known as the Angry Young Men. Rattigan responded to this critical disfavour with some bitterness. In consequence, his later plays -- "Ross", "Man and Boy", "In Praise of Love", and "Cause Célèbre" -- although showing no sign of any decline in his talent, are less well-known than his earlier works. Rattigan explained that he wrote his plays to please a symbolic playgoer, "Aunt Edna", someone from the well-off middle-class who had conventional tastes; his critics frequently used this character as the basis for belittling him. "Aunt Edna" inspired Joe Orton to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego stirring up controversy about his own plays.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan was homosexual, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his "congenial companion ... and occasional friend" Michael Franklin. From 1944 to 1945 he enjoyed a volatile affair with the politician Henry "Chips" Channon who detailed the relationship in his diary published posthumously in 2022.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: It has been claimed his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which was known by some in the theatrical world but not known to the public. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote "The Deep Blue Sea" as a play about male lovers, turned at the last minute into a heterosexual play, may be unfounded, though Rattigan said otherwise.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: On the other hand, for the Broadway staging of "Separate Tables", he wrote an alternative version of the newspaper article in which Major Pollock's indiscretions are revealed to his fellow hotel guests; in this version, those whom the Major approached for sex were men rather than young women. However, Rattigan changed his mind about staging it, and the original version proceeded.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan was fascinated with the life and character of T. E. Lawrence. In 1960, he wrote a play called "Ross", based on Lawrence's exploits. Preparations were made to film it, and Dirk Bogarde accepted the role. However, it did not proceed because the Rank Organisation withdrew its support, not wishing to offend David Lean and Sam Spiegel, who had started to film "Lawrence of Arabia". Bogarde called Rank's decision "my bitterest disappointment". Also in 1960, a musical version of "French Without Tears" was staged as "Joie de Vivre", with music by Robert Stolz of "White Horse Inn" fame. It starred Donald Sinden, lasted only four performances, and has never been revived. Rattigan was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1962 but seemingly recovered two years later. He fell ill again in 1968. He disliked the so-called "Swinging London" of the 1960s and moved abroad, living in Bermuda, where he lived off the proceeds from lucrative screenplays including "The V.I.P.s" and "The Yellow Rolls-Royce". For a time he was the highest-paid screenwriter in the world.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: In 1964, Rattigan wrote to the playwright Joe Orton congratulating the latter on his very dark comedy "Entertaining Mr Sloane", to which Rattigan had escorted Vivien Leigh in its first week. He had invested £3,000 in getting the play transferred to the West End. Although an unlikely champion of the "risqué" Orton, Rattigan recognised the younger man's talent and approved of what he considered a well-written piece of theatre. He also acknowledged in retrospect that, "in a way, I was not Orton's best sponsor. I'm a very unfashionable figure still, and I was then wildly unfashionable critically. My sponsorship rather put critics off, I think."


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of June 1971 for services to the theatre, being only the fourth playwright to be knighted in the 20th century (after Sir W. S. Gilbert in 1907, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero in 1909 and Sir Noël Coward in 1970). He had previously been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), in June 1958. He moved back to Britain, where he experienced a minor revival in his reputation before his death.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Rattigan died in Hamilton, Bermuda, from bone cancer on 30 November 1977, aged 66. His cremated remains were deposited in the family vault at Kensal Green Cemetery.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: In 1990, the British Library acquired Rattigan's papers consisting of 300 volumes of correspondence and papers relating to his prose and dramatic works.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: There was a revival of "The Deep Blue Sea" in 1993, at the Almeida Theatre, London, directed by Karel Reisz and starring Penelope Wilton. A string of successful revivals followed, including "The Winslow Boy" at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2001 (with David Rintoul, and subsequently on tour in 2002 with Edward Fox), "Man and Boy" at the Duchess Theatre, London, in 2005, with David Suchet as Gregor Antonescu, and "In Praise of Love" at Chichester, and "Separate Tables" at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, in 2006. His play on the last days of Lord Nelson, "A Bequest to the Nation", was revived on Radio 3 for Trafalgar 200, starring Janet McTeer as Lady Hamilton, Kenneth Branagh as Nelson, and Amanda Root as Lady Nelson.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Thea Sharrock directed his rarely seen "After the Dance" in the summer of 2010 at London's Royal National Theatre. She directed a major new production of Rattigan's final and also rarely seen play "Cause Célèbre" at The Old Vic in March 2011 as part of The Terence Rattigan Centenary year celebrations. As well as this, Trevor Nunn marked the occasion with a West End revival of "Flare Path" at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, between March and June 2011, starring Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: In 2011, the BBC presented "The Rattigan Enigma by Benedict Cumberbatch", a documentary on Rattigan's life and career presented by actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who, like Rattigan, attended Harrow.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: A new screen version of "The Deep Blue Sea", directed by Terence Davies, was released in 2011, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: Many of Rattigan's stage plays have been produced for radio by the BBC. The first play he wrote directly for radio was "Cause Célèbre", broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 27 October 1975, based on the 1935 murder of Francis Rattenbury.


title: Terence Rattigan

text: A number of Rattigan's plays have been filmed (he was the screenwriter or co-writer for all those made in his lifetime):


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) is an Indian electronic system based power trading exchange regulated by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). IEX started its operations on 27 June 2008. Indian Energy Exchange pioneered the development of power trading in India and provides an electronic platform to the various participants in power market, comprising State Electricity Boards, Power producers, Power Traders and Open Access Consumers (both Industrial & Commercial).


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: IEX is one of the two operational Power Exchanges in India. Ever since its incorporation, it has held an influential market share. IEX operates a day-ahead market based on closed auctions with double-sided bidding and uniform pricing; it has over 3,800 registered clients, over 300 private generators and more than 3,300 industrial electricity consumers.


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: 63 Moon Technologies Ltd (Formerly known as Financial Technologies India Limited) made an impulsive thrust into India's Power Sector by launching Indian Energy Exchange, along with Power Trading Corporation of India Limited. The aim of the promoters was to magnify the unexplored potential of Indian Power market and abridge the demand supply gap. Thereby creating a marketplace wherein players from different purposes may garner the business potential.


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: The concept of power exchange in India had its genesis in the year of 2005, post which, Financial Technologies Limited and Multi Commodity Exchange together yielded an application for setting up the nation's first power exchange. Since its development on 9 June 2008, IEX had recorded 37.4 million transactions, the same month that electricity prices on the exchange hit a record low 13 paisa/KWh. In November 2009, IEX won Best E-Enabled Customer Platform at the second annual India Power Awards for developing what was described as "a robust platform for energy trading.


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: IEX was envisioned as a neutral platform where participants from different segments of the sector may participate and utilize the range of products and services to match their needs. The participants are required to bear a membership and participate in the bid for the respective product/service. The exchange has launched a range of products and are broadly classified as:


title: Indian Energy Exchange

text: Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) is a wholly owned subsidiary of IEX, which involves in trading spot and forward contracts of Gas. The exchange has over 500 registered clients and 15 members. It currently operates from three physical hubs — Hazira, Dahej and KG Basin.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala, is a major coastal municipality situated in the northern suburb of Trivandrum, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the headquarters of Varkala Taluk and important government institutions such as the taluk office, court complex, office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Legal Metrology Inspector office, Excise Circle and Range office, RTO, Treasury and Mini civil station are situated in here. It is one among the oldest municipalities of Kerala established on 1980.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is the only region in southern Kerala where cliffs are found adjacent to the Arabian Sea. These Cenozoic sedimentary formation cliffs are a unique geological feature on the otherwise flat Kerala coast, and are known among geologists as "Varkala Formation". The cliffs have been declared a national geological monument by the Geological Survey of India for their protection, maintenance, promotion, and the enhancement of geotourism. There are numerous water spouts and spas on the sides of these cliffs. In 2015, the Ministry of Mines, the Government of India, and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) declared Varkala Cliffs a geo-heritage site.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is also known for the 2,000-year-old Janardana Swami Temple, which is an important Vaishnavaite shrine in India and is often referred to as "Dakshin Kashi" (Benares of the South). The temple is located close to "Papanasam" beach, which is an Ayurveda treatment centre. The temple has an ancient bell removed from a shipwreck, donated by the captain of the Dutch vessel which sank near Varkala without causing any casualties.


title: Varkala

text: Another major landmark in Varkala is the Sivagiri Mutt, established by the social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.


title: Varkala

text: It is believed that a Pandyan King was instructed by Lord Brahma to build a temple at this very place to redeem him of his sins. Several other myths abound on the birth of Varkala. Another legend states that when a group of pilgrims approached Sage Narada and told him that they had sinned, Narada threw his (a loin cloth made from the bark of a tree) and it landed at this scenic village and hence, the place came to be known as Varkala. Narada told the pilgrims to pray for their redemption at Papanasam, which literally means redemption from sins.


title: Varkala

text: As per the Census 2011, the total Hindu population in Varkala municipality is 28,273 which is 70.6% of the total population. Also the total Muslim population in Varkala is 11,562 which is 28.87% of the total population


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is an important place as far as geology is concerned as it exposes sedimentary rocks belonging to the Cenozoic age, popularly known in the geological literature as the Warkalli formation. The Warkalli formation, along with the Quilon formation, represent sediments laid down in the Kerala basin that existed during Mio-pliocene times. The Quilon formation of the Miocene age is made up of limestone, and the Warkalli formation is made up of alternating beds of sand and shale exposed along the Varkala cliffs. Thin seams of lignite in the shale of the Warkalli formation suggest good vegetation at the time of deposition of the clay sediments.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is a municipality in the Thiruvananthapuram District. Urban civic administration is overseen by the Varkala municipality or municipal council, while the rural civic administration is under the charge of the 7 panchayats of Edava, Elakamon, Vettoor, Madavoor, Navaikulam, Pallickal, and Chemmaruthy in Varkala Taluk.


title: Varkala

text: The Varkala Municipality has 33 wards under it and also has 6 standing committees that take care of basic amenities such as water, sewage, roads, taxes, and other such city or local government functions.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala comes under the Attingal Lok Sabha Constituency. There are seven State Assembly Constituencies within Attingal Lok Sabha Constituency, of which Varkala is one. One Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is elected from Varkala with Legislative Assembly no. 127.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is a well-known tourism and commercial destination. More than 300 resorts and hotels are situated in the municipality, including a Taj Hotel, owned by Tata Group. The city has an average-rated water supply system, fire station, automobile showrooms, several post offices, engineering and degree colleges and a police station. It also has government-run medical facilities in addition to over 10 private hospitals and clinics. A government-run naturopathic hospital is located near the Papanasam cliff. The District Ayurvedic Hospital is located in Varkala.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is an important hub for neighbouring places like Attingal, Kadakkavur, Chirayinkeezhu, Kallambalam, Paravur, and Kilimanoor.


title: Varkala

text: Trivandrum International Airport (39 km) is the nearest airport and is well connected with all major cities in India and Abroad and there is also a helipad at Varkala Cliff.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala Railway Station, the second busiest and third highest revenue-generating station in Thiruvananthapuram district, is well connected by regular trains from to major metropolitan cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Goa, Kolkata,Vishakapatnam etc.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is situated along the Trivandrum - Kollam coastal highway. It is also connected by the State Highway 64 with the Mumbai-Kanyakumari National Highway 66 which runs at 9 km towards the east. Private buses and KSRTC buses ply along NH 66 and through Varkala from Thiruvananthapuram city, Attingal, Parippally and Kollam city.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala is connected to National Waterway 3 through Varkala Tunnel, which passes through the heart of the city.


title: Varkala

text: Tourism began to thrive at the end of the last century at Varkala beach (Papanasam), which was earlier famous for Vavu Beli, a Hindu custom performed at the beach. Another beach is at Tiruvambadi, one kilometre away and on the way to the old palace. An island called Ponnumthuruthu is close to Varkala and is also a tourist attraction.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala Beach, or Papanasam Beach, is a heaven for sunbathing and swimming. It also offers adventurous activities in water sports. Special authentic Kerala style local food can also be experienced along the cliff. The cliff and the beach include resorts, restaurants, and other shops.


title: Varkala

text: The black part of the sand on Varkala Beach contains Thorium-oxide, which is a radioactive substance. Thorium and Thorium-oxide and its isotopes are found all over Kerala and can be identified by their black colour.


title: Varkala

text: Sections of Varkala Beach (Papanasam Beach) are used by Indians to scatter the ashes of their cremated relatives into the sea. Despite this burial activity, the sea is popular with swimmers both local and foreign.


title: Varkala

text: Kappil Lake is about north of Varkala Town. This serene estuary meanders through dense coconut groves before merging into the Arabian Sea. The bridge over the lake is a vantage point to view the backwater stretching white and grey to the distant blue horizon. Boating is another way to browse this waterway.


title: Varkala

text: Anjengo Fort is a fort near Varkala. The historic significance tagged to Anjengo comes through foreign powers like the Portuguese, the Dutch, and finally the English East India Company. In the year 1684, the English East India Company chose Anjengo to establish their first trade settlement in Kerala. At Anjengo, one can find the remnants of the old English Fort, which was targeted several times by other foreign powers, who were at that time fighting each other to get a firm footing in Kerala. The fort is now under the protection of National Heritage Monuments. There is also a cemetery inside the fort and the oldest burial site dates to 1704. Muthalapuzhi Lake is situated in Anjengo.


title: Varkala

text: Varkala Tunnel is an old tourist highlight. Its construction began in 1867 under the supervision of Travancore Diwan Sir. T Mahadeva Rao and was completed only in 1880, at the time of Diwan Sheshaya Sasthri. Varkala Lighthouse is another tourist highlight in the vicinity.


title: Varkala

text: Janardana Swami Temple is a very important Vaishnavite shrine and attracts thousands of pilgrims. The temple is about 2,000 years old. Facing the temple is Papasnanam Beach, where devotees take a bath in the belief that the sacred waters will wash away their sins. A large bell washed up from the wreck of a Dutch merchant vessel is kept on display at the temple.


title: Varkala

text: Sivagiri Mutt is a famous ashram in Varkala, founded by the philosopher and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru. Sree Narayana Guru's tomb is also located here. The samadhi (the final resting place) of the Guru attracts thousands of devotees every year during the Sivagiri pilgrimage, from December 30 to January 1. The Sivagiri Mutt, built in 1904, is situated at the top of the Sivagiri hill in Varkala. The Sivagiri Mutt is also the headquarters of the Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham, an organization of his disciples and saints, established by the Guru to propagate his concept of 'One Caste, One Religion, One God'. The Guru Deva Jayanti, the birthday of the Guru, and the samadhi day, are celebrated in August and September respectively every year. Colourful processions, debates and seminars, public meetings, cultural shows, community feasts, group weddings, and rituals mark the celebrations.


title: Varkala

text: Meenabharani festival is the primary festival in Porittakkavu temple, celebrating the month of ‘Meenam’ (March/April) in the Malayalam calendar.


title: Varkala

text: Sarkara Devi Temple is an old temple situated near Varkala at Chirayinkeezhu. The temple is famous for the "Kaliyoot" festival on the Malayalam month of "Kumbham" (March).


title: Varkala

text: The Sree Saraswathy Temple, located in Venkulam, Edava, is a VidyaDevi temple known for Navarathri Sangeetholsavam and Vijayadesami Vidyarambam.


title: Varkala

text: Kaduvayil Juma mosque, situated on NH47, between Kallambalam and Attingal, is a Sunni pilgrimage centre which attracts local Muslims.


title: Varkala

text: The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies Varkala's climate as tropical monsoon. It has heavy rains during June–August due to a southwest monsoon. In summer, the temperature rises to a maximum of and in the winters. The highest temperature recorded in neighbouring Thiruvananthapuram is . Annual average rainfall is .


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: In the first half of the 8th century CE, a series of battles took place between the Umayyad Caliphate and kingdoms to the east of the Indus river, in present-day India


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Subsequent to the Arab conquest of Sindh in present-day Pakistan in 712 CE, Arab armies engaged kingdoms further east of the Indus. Between 724 and 810 CE, a series of battles took place between the Arabs and Nagabhata I of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, Vikramaditya II of the Chalukya dynasty, and other small Indian kingdoms. In the north, Nagabhata of the Pratihara Dynasty defeated a major Arab expedition in Malwa. From the South, Vikramaditya II sent his general Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin, who defeated the Arabs in Gujarat. Later in 776 CE, a naval expedition by the Arabs was defeated by the Saindhava naval fleet under Agguka I.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The Arab defeats led to an end of their eastward expansion, and later manifested in the overthrow of Arab rulers in Sindh itself and the establishment of indigenous Muslim Rajput dynasties (Soomras and Sammas) there.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The first Arab invasion of India was an expedition by sea to conquer Thana near Mumbai as early as 636 A.D. It was undertaken during the vigorous expansionist regime of the second Caliph, Umar-bin-Akhtab, who was on a proselytizing mission to spread Islam to all corners of the world. He appointed Usman, of the tribe of Sakif, to capture Bahrain and Oman. Usman sent his brother Hakam to Bahrain and himself proceeded to Oman. Upon reaching Oman, Usman sent a naval expedition to capture Thana on the western coast of India.The Arab army was repulsed decisively and returned to Oman and the first ever Arab raid on India was defeated.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: A second naval expedition was sent to conquer Barwas or Barauz (Broach) on the coast of southern Gujarat by Hakam, [Kitab Futuh Al Buldan: Vol. 2, P 209 — Al Baladhuri Tr. By Francis Clark Murgotten] the brother of Usman. This attack too was repelled and the Arabs were driven back successfully.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The third wave of military expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate lasted from 692 to 718 CE. The reign of Al-Walid I (705–715 CE) saw the most dramatic Marwanid Umayyad conquests. In a period of barely ten years, North Africa, Spain, Transoxiana, and Sindh were subdued and colonised. Sindh, controlled by King Raja Dahir of the Rai dynasty, was captured by the Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim. Sindh, now a second-level province of the Caliphate ("iqlim") with its capital at Al Mansura, was a suitable base for excursions into India. But, after bin Qasim's departure most of his captured territories were recaptured by Indian kings.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: During the reign of Yazid II (720 to 724 CE), the fourth expansion was launched to all the warring frontiers, including India. The campaign lasted from 720 to 740 CE. During Yazid's times, there was no significant check to the Arab expansion. However, the advent of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 691–743 CE), the 10th Umayyad Caliph, saw a turn in the fortune of the Umayyads which resulted in eventual defeat on all the fronts and a complete halt of Arab expansionism. The hiatus from 740 to 750 CE due to military exhaustion, also saw the advent of the third of a series of civil wars, which resulted in the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: After conquering Brahmanabad in Sindh, Bin Qasim co-opted the local Brahman elite, whom he held in esteem, re-appointing them to posts held under the Brahman dynasty and offering honours and awards to their religious leaders and scholars. This arrangement with local Brahman elites resulted in the continued persecution of Jatts, with Bin Qasim confirming the existing Brahman regulation forbidding them from wearing anything but coarse clothing and requiring them to always walk barefoot accompanied by dogs. The eastern Jats supported the Sind ruler, Dahir, against the Arab invaders, whereas the western Jats aligned with Muhammad bin Qasim against Dahir. Having settled the question of the freedom of religion and the social status of the Brahmans, Muhammad bin al-Qasim turned his attention to the Jats and Lohana.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Significant medieval Muslim chronicles such as the "Chach Nama", "Zainul-Akhbar" and "Tarikh-I-Baihaqi" have recorded battles between Jats and forces of Muhammad ibn Qasim .


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Following his success in Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim wrote to `the kings of Hind' calling upon them to surrender and accept the faith of Islam. He dispatched a force against "al-Baylaman" (Bhinmal), which is said to have offered submission. The "Mid" people of "Surast" (Maitrakas of Vallabhi) also made peace. Bin Qasim then sent a cavalry of 10,000 to Kanauj, along with a decree from the Caliph. He himself went with an army to the prevailing frontier of Kashmir called "panj-māhīyāt" (in west Punjab). Nothing is known of the Kanauj expedition. The frontier of Kashmir might be what is referred to as "al-Kiraj" in later records (Kira kingdom in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh), which was apparently subdued.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Bin Qasim was recalled in 715 CE and died "en route". Al-Baladhuri writes that, upon his departure, the kings of "al-Hind" had come back to their kingdoms. The period of Caliph Umar II (r. 717–720) was relatively peaceful. Umar invited the kings of "al-Hind" to convert to Islam and become his subjects, in return for which they would continue to remain kings. Hullishah of Sindh and other kings accepted the offer and adopted Arab names.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: During the caliphates of Yazid II (r. 720–724) and Hisham (r. 724–743), the expansion policy was resumed. Junayd ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Murri (or Al Junayd) was appointed the governor of Sindh in 723 CE.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: After subduing Sindh, Junayd sent campaigns to various parts of India. The justification was that these parts had previously paid tribute to Bin Qasim but then stopped. The first target was "al-Kiraj" (possibly Kangra valley), whose conquest effectively put an end to the kingdom. A large campaign was carried out in Rajasthan which included "Mermad" (Maru-Mada, in Jaisalmer and north Jodhpur), "al-Baylaman" (Bhillamala or Bhinmal) and "Jurz" (Gurjara country—southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat). Another force was sent against "Uzayn" (Ujjain), which made incursions into its country (Avanti) and some parts of it were destroyed (the city of "Baharimad", unidentified). Ujjain itself may not have been conquered. A separate force was also sent against "al-Malibah" (Malwa, to the east of Ujjain), but the outcome is not recorded.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Towards the North, Umayyads attempted to expand into Punjab but were defeated by Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Another force was dispatched south. It subdued "Qassa" (Kutch), "al-Mandal" (perhaps Okha), "Dahnaj" (unidentified), "Surast" (Saurashtra) and "Barus" or "Barwas" (Bharuch).


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The kingdoms weakened or destroyed included the Bhattis of Jaisalmer, the Gurjaras of Bhinmal, the Mauryas of Chittor, the Guhilots of Mewar, the Kacchelas of Kutch, the Maitrakas of Saurashtra and Gurjaras of Nandipuri. Altogether, Al-Junayd might have conquered all of Gujarat, a large part of Rajasthan, and some parts of Madhya Pradesh. Blankinship states that this was a full-scale invasion carried out with the intent of founding a new province of the Caliphate.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: In 726 CE, the Caliphate replaced Al-Junayd by Tamim ibn Zaid al-Utbi (Tamim) as the governor of Sindh. During the next few years, all of the gains made by Junayd were lost. The Arab records do not explain why, except to state that the Caliphate troops, drawn from distant lands such as Syria and Yemen, abandoned their posts in India and refused to go back. Blankinship admits the possibility that the Indians must have revolted, but thinks it more likely that the problems were internal to the Arab forces.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Governor Tamim is said to have fled Sindh and died "en route". The Caliphate appointed al-Hakam ibn Awana al-Kalbi (Al-Hakam) in 731 who governed till 740.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Al-Hakam restored order to Sindh and Kutch and built secure fortifications at Al-Mahfuzah and Al-Mansur. He then proceeded to retake Indian kingdoms previously conquered by Al-Junayd. The Arab sources are silent on the details of the campaigns. However, several Indian sources record victories over the Arab forces.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The king of Nandipuri, Jayabhata IV, documented, in an inscription dated to 736 CE, that he went to the aid of the king of Vallabhi and inflicted a crushing defeat on a "Tājika" (Arab) army. The Arabs then overran the kingdom of Jayabhata himself and proceeded on to Navsari in southern Gujarat.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The Arab intention might have been to make inroads into South India. However, to the south of the Mahi River lay the powerful Chalukyan empire. The Chalukyan viceroy at Navsari, Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin, decisively defeated the invading Arab forces as documented in a Navsari grant of 739 CE. The "Tājika" (Arab) army defeated was, according to the grant, one that had attacked "Kacchella, Saindhava, Saurashtra, Cavotaka, Maurya and Gurjara" kings. Pulakeshin subsequently received the titles "Solid Pillar of Deccan" ("Dakshināpatha-sādhāra") and the "Repeller of the Unrepellable" ("Anivartaka-nivartayitr"). The Rashtrakuta prince Dantidurga, who was subsidiary to Chalukyas at this time, also played an important role in the battle.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The kingdoms recorded in the Navsari grant are interpreted as follows: "Kacchelas" were the people of Kutch. The "Saindhavas" are thought to have been emigrants from Sindh, who presumably moved to Kathiawar after the Arab occupation of Sindh in 712 CE. Settling down in the northern tip of Kathiawar, they had a ruler by the name of Pushyadeva. The "Cavotakas" (also called "Capotaka" or "Capa") were also associated with Kathiawar, with their capital at Anahilapataka. "Saurashtra" is south Kathiawar. The "Mauryas" and "Gurjaras" are open to interpretation. Blankinship takes them to be the Mauryas of Chittor and Gurjaras of Bhinmal whereas Baij Nath Puri takes them to be a subsidiary line of Mauryas based in Vallabhi and the Gurjaras of Bharuch under Jayabhata IV. In Puri's interpretation, this invasion of the Arab forces was limited to the southern parts of modern Gujarat with several small kingdoms, which was halted by the Chalukyan empire.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Indications are that Al-Hakam was overstretched. An appeal for reinforcements from the Caliphate in 737 is recorded, with 600 men being sent, a surprisingly small contingent. Even this force was absorbed in its passage through Iraq for quelling a local rebellion. The defeat at the hands of Chalukyas is believed to have been a blow to the Arab forces with large costs in men and arms.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The weakened Arab forces were driven out by the subsidiaries of the erstwhile kings. The Guhilot prince Bappa Rawal (r. 734–753) drove out the Arabs who had put an end to the Maurya dynasty at Chittor. A Jain "prabandha" mentions a king "Nahada", who is said to have been the first ruler of his family at Jalore, near Bhinmal, and who came into conflict with a Muslim ruler whom he defeated. Nahada is identified with Nagabhata I (r. 730–760), the founder of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, which is believed to have started from the Jalore-Bhinmal area and spread to Avanti at Ujjain. The Gwalior inscription of the king Bhoja I, says that Nagabhata, the founder of the dynasty, defeated a powerful army of "Valacha Mlecchas" (foreigners called "Baluchs") around 725 CE. Even though many historians believe that Nagabhata repulsed Arab forces at Ujjain, there is no authentic information about where precisely he encountered them.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Baij Nath Puri states that the Arab campaigns to the east of Indus proved ineffective. However, they had the unintended effect of integrating the Indian kingdoms in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Chalukyas extended their empire to the north after fighting off the Arabs successfully. Nagabhata I secured a firm position and laid the foundation for a new dynasty, which would rise to become the principal deterrent against Arab expansion. Blankinship also notes that Hakam's campaigns caused the creation of larger, more powerful kingdoms, which was inimical to the caliphate's interests. Al-Hakam died in battle in 740 CE while fighting the "Meds" of north Saurashtra (Maitrakas, probably under the control of Chalukyas at this time).


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The Turk Shahi ruler Fromo Kesaro (739-745 CE) appears to have fought vigorously against the Arabs. He seems to have been very successful in this struggle. His coinage suggests that the Arabs were defeated and forced to pay tribute to Fromo Kesaro.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The death of Al-Hakam effectively ended the Arab presence to the east of Sindh. In the following years, the Arabs were preoccupied with controlling Sindh. They made occasional raids to the seaports of Kathiawar to protect their trading routes but did not venture inland into Indian kingdoms. Dantidurga, the Rashtrakuta chief of Berar turned against his Chalukya overlords in 753 and became independent. The Gurjara-Pratiharas immediately to his north became his foes and the Arabs became his allies, due to the geographic logic as well as the economic interests of sea trade. The Pratiharas extended their influence throughout Gujarat and Rajasthan almost to the edge of the Indus river, but their push to become the central power of north India was repeatedly thwarted by the Rashtrakutas. This uneasy balance of power between the three powers lasted till the end of the caliphate.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: Later in 776 CE, a naval expedition by the Arabs was defeated by the Saindhava naval fleet under Agguka I.


title: Umayyad campaigns in India

text: The table below lists some of the major military conflicts during the Arab expeditions in Gujarat and Rajasthan.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: Born and raised in North Haven, Connecticut, he is a former business executive of General Electric, 3i Group plc, UBS, and Dollar Financial Group. He resides in Madison, Connecticut.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: Stefanowski was the Republican Party nominee for Governor of Connecticut in 2018 and 2022, losing both times to Democrat Ned Lamont.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: Stefanowski's father, Bob Stefanowski, was the scoreboard assistant for the Yale Bowl. Stefanowski graduated from North Haven High School in 1980. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Fairfield University in 1984 and an MBA from Cornell University in 1992.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: Stefanowski began as an auditor in Hartford, Connecticut for PricewaterhouseCoopers after graduating from Fairfield University.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: Stefanowski's tenure at General Electric began in 1994 where he held multiple senior roles through 2007. In 2003, Stefanowski became president and CEO of GE Commercial & Industrial Finance and then proceeded in 2004–2005 to serve as president and CEO of GE Telecom, Media & Technology Finance. Stefanowski worked at the GE Capital headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: From 2008 to 2011, Stefanowski was chairman and managing partner of 3i Group plc in London, England. He then served as chief financial officer of UBS, where he restructured the Investment Bank to meet Basel III regulatory requirements.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: From 2014 to 2017 he served as CEO of Dollar Financial Group in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: From early 2019 to present, Stefanowski has been employed by and in senior leadership and decision-making positions with Neom, a controversial planned futuristic development in the northwest of Saudi Arabia totally owned by the Saudi Government Wealth Fund, PIF.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: In September 2017, Stefanowski announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of Connecticut in 2018. He campaigned on phasing out the state income tax, corporate income tax, reducing business entity taxes, and eliminating the gift tax and the estate tax, in addition to using zero-based budgeting and creating a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Stefanowski's tax-cut proposals were backed by Republican economic commentators Arthur Laffer and Larry Kudlow. During his campaign, Stefanowski pledged to oppose further gun-control measures in Connecticut.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: His campaign ran television commercials, beginning in January 2018, in the Hartford-New Haven and New York media markets; his ads criticized Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy, promoting Stefanowski's economic proposals (co-authored with Laffer) and criticizing Malloy's acceptance of publicly funded elections. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Stefanowski funded his campaign with a combination of fundraising and his own money, but that he had declined to state how much of his own money he would spend.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: He received endorsements from former Republican competitor Peter Lumaj, state representative Noreen Kokoruda, state senator Len Suzio, former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, Middletown Planning and Zoning Commissioner Tyrell Brown, Middletown Board of Education member Edward Ford, Jr., and Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: At the May 2018 state Republican convention at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, the party endorsed Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton; Stefanowski attended the convention but bypassed the formal vote, opting not to place his name into nomination. Stefanowski secured a spot on the Republican primary ballot by collecting the requisite number of signatures.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: In August 2018 primary, Stefanowski won the Republican nomination, receiving 29.4% of the vote, surpassing Boughton (21.3%), David Stemerman (18.3%), Tim Herbst (17.6%), and Steve Obsitnik (13.4%). Following Stefanowski's nomination, on August 15, 2018, Donald Trump endorsed the campaign.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: On January 19, 2022, Stefanowski declared his intent to run for governor again in the 2022 election. He won the Republican nomination at convention on May 6, 2022, with Laura Devlin selected as his running mate. On November 8, 2022, Stefanowski lost to incumbent Governor Ned Lamont in a rematch of their 2018 race.


title: Bob Stefanowski

text: His first book "Making M&A Deals Happen" was published by McGraw Hill Publishing in February 2007. He is a Wharton Fellow, and has served as adjunct faculty to NYU Stern, London Business School, Cambridge University, and as a visiting professor of management practice at Oxford University.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride (; ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a raised plateau to the south of the Cathkin Braes, about southeast of Glasgow and close to the boundary with East Renfrewshire.


title: East Kilbride

text: The town ends close to the White Cart Water to the west and is bounded by the Rotten Calder Water to the east. Immediately to the north of the modern town centre is The Village, the part of East Kilbride that existed before its post-war development into a New Town. East Kilbride is twinned with the town of Ballerup, in Denmark.


title: East Kilbride

text: The earliest-known evidence of occupation in the area dates as far back as the late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, as archaeological investigation has demonstrated that burial cairns in the district began as ceremonial or ritual sites of burial during the Neolithic, with the use of cup-marked, and other inscribed stones at key elevated sites, only to be later built upon with earth and re-used for burial into the Bronze Age. These findings have found further support through ongoing research indicating that many East Kilbride Cairns first noticed by the Reverend David Ure in his "History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride" (1793), are embedded, alongside other monuments, into a ritual landscape related to ancestor cults and relationships with key topographical features and annual solar events. A flint arrow head was discovered by Allan Forrest, a then child resident whilst groundworks were taking place in his family's garden at Glen Bervie, St Leonards in 1970 which later was identified as dating to 1500 BC (Bronze Age). Ancient graves have also been found near the Kype Water to the south of the town near Strathaven, and Roman coins, lamps, and footwear have also been found in the area.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride traditionally takes its name from an Irish saint named St Bride (or Brigit), who may have founded a monastery for nuns and monks in Kildare in Leinster, Ireland, in the 6th century. Dál Riatan monks afterwards introduced her order to Scotland. The anglicisation "Kil" takes its root from the early Celtic monastics that St Brigit is representative of: the Culdees or "Céli Dé". The "Céile Dé" were 'the clients or companions of God'. In modern Gaelic, "Cille Bhrìghde" translates similarly as 'the clients or companions of Brigit', and can be interpreted as the 'church of Bride' or 'burial place dedicated to Bride'. Alternatively, the later dedication may commemorate the Scottish St Bryde, born in 451 AD and then dying at Abernethy 74 years later. Culdee type Christian settlements were essential to the spread of the Celtic church in Scotland, with small pagan sites being converted and chapels or cells forming little more than crude shelters, or timber and turf buildings with crude circular enclosures. The evidence of Culdee type small-scale habitation is supported by the number of early stone cross sites around East Kilbride, and their associated holy fonts, springs, and both with pre-canonisation saintly dedications.


title: East Kilbride

text: The word 'East' was added to the name of East Kilbride, and 'West' to West Kilbride to distinguish the towns from each other.


title: East Kilbride

text: The original parish church was located on what is believed to be the site of a pre-Christian sacred area, which is possibly the origin of the association with St Brigit, since the site may be dedicated to the Celtic goddess Brigid, whose traditions have been continued through the reverence of St Brigit brought on by the Celtic Church.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride grew from a small village of around 900 inhabitants in 1930 to become a large burgh in 1967. The rapid industrialisation of the 20th century underpins this growth and left much of the working population throughout Scotland's Central Belt, from Glasgow to Edinburgh, living in the housing stock built at the end of the previous century. The Great War postponed any housing improvements, as did the Treaty of Versailles and the period of post-war settlement it created. In turn, this was followed by the Great Depression. After the Second World War, Glasgow, already suffering from chronic housing shortages, incurred bomb damage from the war. In 1946, the Clyde Valley Regional Plan allocated sites where overspill satellite "new towns" could be constructed to help alleviate the housing shortage. Glasgow would also undertake the development of its peripheral housing estates. East Kilbride was the first of six new towns in Scotland to be designated, in 1947, followed by Glenrothes (1948), Cumbernauld (1956), Livingston (1962), Irvine (1964) and Stonehouse (1972), although Stonehouse new town was never built.


title: East Kilbride

text: The planned town has been subdivided into residential precincts, each with its own local shops, primary schools and community facilities. The housing precincts surround the shopping centre, which is bound by a ring road. Industrial estates were concentrated on the outskirts of the town in northern, western and south-eastern directions (Nerston, College Milton and Kelvin respectively).


title: East Kilbride

text: The Calderglen gorge bordering the eastern fringe of East Kilbride, was celebrated in a high number of printed works as a picturesque forest and 'magnificent in its grouping of craggy heights, sprinkled with trees and [...] the richly wooded and festooned valley', and with 'delightful cascades', and described as indescribable, or as 'the GRAND, the ROMANTIC, and BEAUTIFUL' - the latter being the only part of David Ure's book where he emphasised the descriptive characteristics of a place in bold characters. The northern part of the gorge and adjoining Calderwood, the gorge's namesake, was the home of an ancient family known as the 'Maxwells of Calderwood' who resided in Calderwood Castle, and were the oldest branch of the Maxwells of Pollok. The remnants of Calderwood Castle were demolished in 1951 and only a few parts of the structure remain. "Calderglen Heritage" formally constituted in early 2017 as a body to protect, record, and restore local and national interest in the areas of the former Calderwood and Torrance estates of Calderglen.


title: East Kilbride

text: The story of how workers at the Rolls-Royce factory in East Kilbride prevented engines for military jets being serviced and supplied between 1974 until 1978 to the Chilean military dictatorship is told in the 2018-released documentary, "Nae Pasaran". The factory was scheduled for closure in 2017 and was subsequently demolished and the land (at Nerston Industrial Estate) used for housing; a monument consisting of one of the unrepaired engines was installed at the town's South Lanarkshire College in 2019.


title: East Kilbride

text: Hamilton, the administrative headquarters for South Lanarkshire Council, is about east of East Kilbride. The A725 road linking the towns also passes Blantyre and one of the University of the West of Scotland campuses, with links to Bothwell, Motherwell and ultimately to the M74 and M8 motorways.


title: East Kilbride

text: The nearest Glasgow district of Castlemilk is about northwest, with the Cathkin Braes, farmland and the village of Carmunnock in between; a bypass (the B766) has been built in recent years to remove Glasgow traffic from Carmunnock. Rutherglen and Cambuslang lie about the same distance to the north-east and are linked to East Kilbride via the dual carriageway A749 road which continues into Glasgow.


title: East Kilbride

text: Clarkston and Busby are also about northwest via the A727 road, with Thorntonhall much closer. Eaglesham lies about west of East Kilbride centre; the Glasgow Southern Orbital, another modern bypass which is part of the A726 road, keeps East Kilbride traffic heading for the M77 motorway away from Eaglesham and Newton Mearns.


title: East Kilbride

text: The closest town to the south of East Kilbride is Strathaven, about away via another section of the A726. The majority of land in the area in between is taken up by Whitelee Wind Farm on the moorland hills to the southwest, including Elrig close to where one of the principal feeder burns of the Calder Water originates. The Calder itself flows northwards past East Kilbride adjacent to Blantyre, before joining the River Clyde opposite Daldowie near Newton.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride is often considered to form part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. However, the urban area is not directly connected to any other, being designed from the outset to serve as a self-contained town with some commute requirements to Glasgow. The hamlets of Nerston, Kittochside, Auldhouse and Jackton which were once separate settlements are now on the periphery of the expanding town. Statistically, as of 2020 it is the sixth-largest locality (a single defined populated place) in Scotland with a population of , but only the tenth-largest settlement, as these are formed by connected clusters of localities: for example neighbouring Hamilton's settlement – – is combined with Blantyre, Bothwell and Uddingston to exceed the population of isolated East Kilbride, with neither counted as part of Greater Glasgow under this definition.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride is divided into a number of smaller neighbourhoods bordered by main through-roads. Part of the new town design was that each of these would be a self-contained entity, with a variety of housing types, local shops and primary schools, and accessed safely for pedestrians via paths and underpasses separate from main roads. This is true for the original areas of the new town (principally Calderwood, Greenhills, The Murray, St Leonards and Westwood) while newer developments, such as Stewartfield, Lindsayfield and Mossneuk do not adhere as closely to this model and have a more generic suburban layout of low-density private housing, arranged mainly in cul-de-sacs fed by distributor roads.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride Civic Centre, which was commissioned by the burgh of East Kilbride was designed by Scott Fraser & Browning, built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts and completed in 1968. From 1975 East Kilbride lent its name to a local government district in the Strathclyde region. From creation until 1980 the East Kilbride District Council was governed by the Scottish National Party (SNP), subsequently, until dissolution, the district was under the control of Labour. In 1996, administrative functions were taken over by the South Lanarkshire unitary council.


title: East Kilbride

text: There is an East Kilbride constituency of the Scottish Parliament. From the opening of the Scottish Parliament, the constituency was represented by Andy Kerr MSP (Labour), until May 2011 when the seat was won by Linda Fabiani MSP (Scottish National Party).


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride was formerly a constituency of the UK Parliament. In 2005 it was replaced by the constituency of East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow. The seat was held from 1987 to 2010 by Labour politician, Adam Ingram. In the 2010 election Labour politician, Michael McCann, previously a South Lanarkshire Councillor was elected as the MP for the area. In the 2015 election, Lisa Cameron for the SNP was elected as part of the landslide victory the party had in Scotland, the seat was held with a reduced majority in 2017.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride as a new town was designed to provide elements of culture, sport, and heritage for residents so as to create a sense of belonging and place Key cultural facilities in the town include the Dollan Aqua Centre. This building is regarded as an outstanding and rare example of a mid-20th century public amenity building in a striking internationally inspired design. It was the first champion-sized swimming pool in Scotland and was inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi's Olympic complex in Rome; it is also very similar to the Olympic complex built for the 1964 Japanese Olympic Games.


title: East Kilbride

text: The town is also home to the popular arts and performance venue The East Kilbride Arts Centre, as well as the longstanding Village Theatre.


title: East Kilbride

text: The only other museum in East Kilbride was the Hunter House Museum, which closed after the financial crash to later open again as a cafe. East Kilbride Central Library holds the reference collections and some archival materials representing some of the history of both East Kilbride new town and the earlier village, whilst South Lanarkshire Archives based at College Milton holds more extensive original documents for public consultation.


title: East Kilbride

text: The town centre is occupied by a large shopping centre comprising six linked malls (The Plaza (development started in 1972), Princes Mall (1984), Southgate (1989), Princes Square (1997), Centre West (2003) and The Hub (2016)).


title: East Kilbride

text: A £400m redevelopment of part of East Kilbride shopping centre was approved in 2006 by South Lanarkshire Council. The plan proposed demolishing some existing buildings to create a new civic centre, health centre, library and shopping facilities.


title: East Kilbride

text: A branch of the government's Department for International Development, now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, is located in the western Hairmyres area of East Kilbride.


title: East Kilbride

text: There are approximately 30 Christian churches in East Kilbride. This includes nine Church of Scotland churches, three Baptist churches, and four Roman Catholic churches. St Bride's RC church is a category A listed building. St Mark's Episcopal church is situated in the Murray. There is one Lutheran parish of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England, which is located in the Westwoodhill area. An Evangelical Christian congregation is also located in the Westwood area. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints meeting hall is situated in Vancouver Drive, Westwood. Two congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses share a Kingdom Hall near the centre of the town. The Christadelphians meet in Calderwood Community Centre. There are two United Reformed Churches, one in the Village, and one in the Murray. In the Greenhills area is a congregation of the Methodist church, whose premises are currently shared by the Seventh Day Adventist church. An Islamic Centre opened in 2018.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride is connected to Glasgow city centre by road and rail. Three main roads connect East Kilbride with surrounding suburbs and the city, one being the A727 (formerly A726) leading west to Busby and on to Clarkston Toll. Another route being the A749 which runs north into Rutherglen. Recently, the addition of the Glasgow Southern Orbital road links the west of the town directly with Newton Mearns and the M77; this road has taken over the designation A726. Similar to other New Towns, the road network within the area is populated by many roundabouts; Glaswegians jokingly refer to East Kilbride as "Polo mint City" after the round, mint sweet. The main dual carriageway road running north–south through the town is known as the Kingsway, while the main east–west road is known as the Queensway.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride bus station, at the East Kilbride Shopping Centre, was rebuilt in June 2005 with modern facilities, including 14 rapid drive-through stances, allowing quick turnover of buses. East Kilbride railway station is situated in the Village, about a 10-minute walk from the bus station. Trains depart to Glasgow Central railway station every half-hour, with a journey time of about 27 minutes. The town is also served by Hairmyres railway station in Hairmyres.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride's primary bus operator is First Glasgow which provides regular services to the city centre, Busby, Clarkston, Castlemilk, Rutherglen, Blantyre, Hamilton, Motherwell and to many other destinations across Greater Glasgow. McGill's Bus Services provide a service linking East Kilbride to Eaglesham, Newton Mearns, Barrhead, Neilston and Uplawmoor as well as another service to Cambuslang and Halfway. JMB Travel and Whitelaws Coaches also run services in the area.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride bus station is managed and operated by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport. It is situated by East Kilbride Shopping Centre and is situated right outside the Princes Mall section of the Shopping Centre, and is easily accessible from the Olympia Arcade section also. It is approximately a 10-minute walk from the town's rail station.


title: East Kilbride

text: The current bus station went under a major £4 million expansion and re-planning of the existing site to form 14 rapid drive-through stances with new travel centre and CAB facility at the eastern gateway to the Town Centre. The bus station, which was designed by the architectural firm CDA, opened in 2005. The brief given to the designers was that they were "to achieve a fast turn around of buses, safe pedestrian/vehicular segregation and a secure and accessible environment set within an attractive urban realm".


title: East Kilbride

text: There are 14 stances (stands) at the bus station that are equipped with electronic displays showing the next few departures. There is also a Travel Centre which is open Saturdays between 9.00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The operators at the bus station are First Glasgow, McGill's Bus Services, JMB Travel and Whitelaw's Coaches.


title: East Kilbride

text: Many of the busy roundabouts in East Kilbride feature underpasses which allow pedestrians and cyclists safe access across roads. On 19 June 2009, National Cycling Route 756, connecting East Kilbride and Rutherglen with the City Boundary, was opened. In November 2007, South Lanarkshire Council published three cycle routes, named the "East Kilbride Cycle Network" which start at the East Kilbride Shopping Centre in the centre of the town and are signposted. Route One is route is to Strathaven, via Newlandsmuir; Route Two to St Leonard's Shopping Centre, and Route Three is to Calderglen Country Park. Incidentally East Kilbride prior to new town development was a prized health resort, with cycling being a popular pastime there from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.


title: East Kilbride

text: The James Hamilton Heritage Park is a park primarily containing a manmade loch with watersports facilities and surrounding nature sanctuary, adjacent to the Category A listed, 15th-century Mains Castle, now a private residence.


title: East Kilbride

text: One of the most significant buildings of an earlier phase of development was Dollan Baths leisure complex (opened 1968) which has category A listed status. The pool was built long, but only six lanes wide, as compared with the Olympic standard, which requires a length of exactly 50 m and a width of ten lanes. The Aqua Centre re-opened on 28 May 2011 after a major refurbishment costing £6.5 million.


title: East Kilbride

text: Formerly Hunter House Museum, the building contained exhibits relating to the medical and veterinary pioneers, doctors William and John Hunter, who were born on the estate.


title: East Kilbride

text: St Bride's Church is one of the buildings in East Kilbride and was designed by the architects Gillespie, Kidd and Coia and built between 1957 and 1964.


title: East Kilbride

text: A local nature reserve which comprises a Lowland Raised Peat Bog, a UK BAP priority habitat. The reserve is owned by South Lanarkshire Council and maintained by The Friends of Langlands Moss L.N.R.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride F.C. from the Scottish Lowland Football League, is based in the town, and play at the K-Park Training Academy at Calderglen Country Park.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride RFC were formed in 1968 and are based at the Torrance House Arena, at Calderglen Country Park. From 1976 they rose steadily through the leagues, peaking for three years in Premier 2. They now play in the West Regional League 1, the fourth tier of club rugby. They run two senior men's teams and numerous youth teams which are linked to the local schools. Retired Scotland national player, Alasdair Strokosch, played through all the youth levels at EKRFC.


title: East Kilbride

text: East Kilbride Pirates are the country's top American football team and play in the BAFA Community Leagues.


title: East Kilbride

text: EK82 Handball Club Founded in 1972, they train at the John Wright Sports Centre and the Alistair McCoist Complex.


title: Ala Modalaindi

text: Ala Modalaindi () is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by B. V. Nandini Reddy under the Sri Ranjith Movies banner. It stars Nani, Nithya Menen (in her Telugu debut) and Sneha Ullal with the music composed by Kalyani Malik. The film's cinematography is performed by Arjun Jena with editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh.


title: Ala Modalaindi

text: Released on 21 January 2011, the film opened to favorable reviews by critics and became a commercial success. The film grossed 15 crore on a budget of 4 crore. Reddy won the Nandi Award for Best First Film of a Director SIIMA Award for Best Debut Director – Telugu. The film is considered one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by "Film Companion". The film is remade in Tamil as "Yennamo Yedho" (2014), in Bengali as "Olpo Olpo Premer Golpo" (2014) and in Kannada as "Bhale Jodi" (2016).


title: Ala Modalaindi

text: The film begins with an accident. Gautham is abducted by John Abraham. On the way, Gautham is forced to narrate his tale as he talks of stopping a marriage and John too talks of preventing a wedding. Hence, the flashback. Gautham is ready to propose to Simran with a bunch of roses, but destiny has other plans. Elsewhere, Nithya is playing cricket and hits Gautham with her shot. He is then taken to the hospital in the stretcher. Simran falls in love with Dr. Anand, who was treating Gautham and they get married eventually. Gautham is invited and leaves for the wedding, but cannot face Simran. When he walks out, he gets drunk and meets a drunk Nithya who actually was in love with Anand. They go around freaking during the night and part ways the next day.


title: Ala Modalaindi

text: As destiny has it, they happen to meet in a pub after a few days. Gautham accompanies her everywhere. He realises he's in love with her, but before he could tell her, he finds out that she is already engaged. Gautham steps back and stays secluded. Nithya and her fiancé end their engagement over an argument about Gautham. Unaware of this and having moved on, Gautham starts dating a veterinary doctor Kavya, but they break up after an altercation. Nithya realizes that she loves Gautam and goes to his house after his mother dies, to propose to him, but is shocked to see Kavya in his house. Thinking that they both are married, she leaves to Bangalore and accepts the marriage proposal her parents set for her. After realizing Nithya misunderstood him, Gautham and his friends leave for Bangalore to stop the marriage.