LUDHIANA (PART 2)

No nikons today, as the cyber boy is not in and I can only go so far on the downloading process. Instead, I will give you a few facts about Ludhiana. It's a city of about 1,400,000 and lies just south of the Sutlej river. The river actually used to run through the city; but for some reason it decided to change it's course around 1769. The city is affectionally known as the ' Manchester of the Punjab', due to it's large textile and engineering industry. It is the home of Hero and Avon bicycles and resonsible for heavy engineering goods and sewing machines. One only has to wander through the streets of the old quarter to see that 80% of the businesses are textile based. In Ludhiana there are eight large textile manufacturing plants and around six thousand small to medium ones. Ludhiana's annual exports are around the region of $40 million.
On a historical note, it was here where the feared Punjabi army-- the Khalsa were given one of two whuppings in 1865 by the British ' John Company' ( the east india trading company). Although they outnumbered the British by far, several factors were against them. The first was that although they were quite belic and fearless, they suffered from a lack of modern weaponary and modern combat tactics; the internal rivalry and backstabbing( quite literally) among the upper echelons of the Khalsa's high command did'nt help matters. On the battlefield what also did not help , was that the Khalsa's war trained elephants were not used to facing artillery. Faced against rows of firing cannon, the scared and enraged pachyderms simply turned and ran, trampling their own troops in the process.
It was also in this region where the famous Koh-i-noor came to light( quite apt as the name means mountain of light), to this day, the largest diamond in the world. Sadly, it is the only jewel that we managed to keep from this continent as it now forms a part of the crown jewels.

Hoy no hay nikons, ya que no esta el nino del cyber y yo solo puedo ir tan lejos bajando sin ayuda. En vez, voy a dar unos datos sobre Ludhiana. Es una ciudad de unos 1,400,000 y queda al sur del rio Sutlej. El rio antes pasaba por la ciudad, pero decidio cambiar su curso sobre 1769. A la ciudad se le llama el 'Manchester del Punjab' por su industria textil y de ingieneria. Es la sede de las bicicletas Hero y Avon. Produce ingieneria pesada ademas de maquinas de coser. Uno solo tiene que pasearse por el barrio antiguo para ver que el 80% de los negocios son textiles. Ludhiana tiene ocho fabricas grandes textiles y otras seis mil pequenas y medianas. Las exportaciones anuales de la region son de unos $40 millones.
En una nota historica, tambien fue aqui donde 'John Company' ( la compania  de las indias ) le dio la primera de dos palizas al temido ejercito Punjabi, la Khalsa. Aunque superaban a los Britanicos en numero, hubo varios factores en contra de ellos. El primero, era que aunque eran muy belicos y temidos, les faltaba armamento y tacticas modernas, tampoco ayudo la rivalidad( y asesinatos) entre los altos mandos de la Khalsa. Pero era en el campo de batalla donde se noto la ineficacia de los elefantes de guerra, que nunca se habian lanzado contra artilleria. Enfrentados a hileras de canones escupiendo fuego y ruido, los asustados( y cabreados) pachydermos, sencillamente dieron media vuelta y se largaron, pisoteando sus tropas en el proceso.
Aqui tambien fue donde salio a la luz( nunca mejor dicho, ya que el nombre significa montana de luz) el Koh-i-Noor, el diamante hasta hoy mas grande del mundo. Tristemente, fue la unica joya de este continente que pudimos conservar, ya que forma parte de la joyas reales Britanicas.