A list of curious facts
One: Once upon a time, the people of Tamil Nadu spoke a language called Arwi—a fusion of Arabic and Tamil. Although it dates back to the the 8th Century CE, the language gained prominence in the 17th century when a flood of Arab traders came to the region:
Some scholars believe that Arwi's popularity during the 17th Century was due to the inter-marriage of Arab seafarers and local Tamil Muslim women, and also because it helped the traders deepen business ties — they were able to master a complex language like Tamil using the Arabic script that they were already familiar with.
"Tamil has 247 letters. Arwi had a much more manageable alphabet — just 40 letters — perfect for medieval seafarers who wanted to quickly pick up proficiency in the tongue… enough to trade and earn their livelihood in a new land," said [professor] K MA Ahamed Zubair.
FYI: Its cousin—Mapilla Malayalam—flourished in next-door Kerala, as well. Arwi or Arabu-Tamil lost cultural ground to Tamil—and has now become an “heirloom language” taught in seminaries. Ironic point to note: Arabic is taught in colleges in Tamil Nadu—but not Arwi. BBC News has more of the history—while The Hindu looks at Arwi today. The lead image offers a glimpse of the faded script on the walls of the Old Jumma Masjid of Kilakarai in Tamil Nadu.
Two: Road trippers from Delhi to Lucknow are hiding a delicious secret: the village of Maigalganj. This is the gulab jamun capital of India—home to 25 small, ramshackle stores crammed on a stretch of Highway 24. Oddly enough, many of them have the same name: ‘Mashhoor Gulab Jamun Ki Dukan’—which pretty much sums things up. Gastro Obscura has lots more on the G-jams—served with a dollop of Mughal history. Or check out Gaon Connection’s lovely video report on Maigalganj.
Three: Tired of investing in boring (but lucrative) blue-chip stocks? How about throwing some money at blue-chip pop stars—like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. That’s the genius business model of JKBK (pronounced “jukebox”)—which lets you buy a slice of the income earned by a song. Here’s how it works:
Suppose you buy shares in the sound-recording rights to Beyoncé’s “Halo,” which are available on JKBX for $6.78 apiece. Holding those shares entitles you to a quarterly distribution of fees paid to the rights holder. Such fees could come from several sources: revenue from streaming services such as Spotify, album sales, satellite-radio royalties or fees from use in movies and TV shows. The size of those payments could vary from quarter to quarter.
The earnings yield on these shares is modest—just 3-4%. That’s $3-$4 for every 100 shares you hold. But if an old song goes viral—because it’s used in a TV show—you can earn a decent chunk. The only downside: You can buy shares but can’t sell them—so that’s a bummer. (Wall Street Journal, splainer gift link)
