Kiran's Web: June 2012

Nuclear Submarine Base, USSR

Nuclear Submarine Base, USSR.
Now A Museum.

Balaklava, in Ukraine, can even today be remembered for having been one of the secret places in Russia that was extremely famous for its Nuclear Submarine Base. The place witnessed a huge underground submarine base and amazing docks, in USSR, and this was functional till 1996 when the last Russian submarine left Ukraine. But the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 compelled the Russian Army to leave the place.

The entire town was involved at the Base at that time. The people of Balaklava, worked so dedicatedly at the Base, that it was hard for any outsider to intrude into the place or visit the town without going through a tremendous chain of investigations and identification processes. As a matter of fact, even the family members or the relatives of the workers were scrutinized completely.

As mentioned earlier that the base was active till 1991, the operations were carried after until 1993 when the decommissioning process started, and the low yield torpedoes and the Russian warheads were removed from the place.

Post 1996, the whole Submarine Base, the Cannel System, and the small Museum that displays the old warheads, weapons, deep inside the hillside, are all open to visitors. The place have become more of a tourist spot, for the history lovers, situated 10km south east of Sevastopol on the Black Sea Coast.

Roots of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - He was a Rajput converted to Islam

.....Roots of Jinnah

Here are some interesting facts on the Lohana roots of Mohammad Ali Jinnah the founding father of Pakistan :
He was the grandson of Premjibhai Thakkar (Gondal), a Lohana, who, to support hisfamily, entered into the trading of fish within the coastal town of Veraval .
His business, however, clashed with the strong(vegetarian)moral ethics of the Lohanas and as a result he was ostracised from the community.
He made enough money in this trade and attempted to rejoin the community. He also discontinued the fish business. However, the Lohana leaders, in their wisdom, did not accept his request... think about the course of history, if they had not had inflated egos and had welcomed him back!

Premjibhai' s son Punjalal Thakkar (Jinnah's father) was enraged at his father's humiliation and reacted like any other Lohana - with equal and opposite force. He adopted the Muslim religion and changed the names of all his four sons. However, he continued to use his Gujarati nickname: Zino (pronounced Jinno in old fashioned Gujarati) which means 'Skinny.'

Jinno`s son - Mohammad Ali - changed his family name to Jinnah - the nickname of his converted father.
So, here is the fact. Gandhiji who effectively gave birth to independent India (Bharat) and Jinnah, who is the father of Pakistan , are both sons of Saurashtra,(old Kathiavad) Gujarat *This is an edited article derived from ' Gujarat Samachar' and just clear facts are stated.*

His grandfather, Poonja Gokuldas Meghji,]was a Hindu Bhatia Rajput from Paneli village in Gondal state in Kathiawar. Jinnah's ancestors were HinduRajputs; his grandfather had converted to Islam.