Friday, April 3, 2009

British Arrived in India


In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I dispatched the ship Tyger to the Sub-continent to exploit opportunities for trade. Sixteen years after the Tyger sailed to India, Queen Elizabeth granted trading rights to a group of London entrepreneurs. In 1614, the British East India Company opened its first office in Bombay. The British continued to seek concessions from the Mughal rulers and enjoyed a unique trading monopoly. By the middle of the 18th century, the British, in guise of the East India Company, had become deeply enmeshed in the politics of India. The British and French had both obtained permission to open factories and forts in India. It was in the guise of defense for their forts that they were able to establish large forces in India. In the middle of the 18th century the war between France and Britain was extended to the Sub-continent in order to establish control over India. The British succeeded in their mission as they took advantage of the constant bickering of the local rulers and the lack of consolidated power.
In violation of a trade agreement with the Nawab of Bengal, the British started reinforcing Fort William in Calcutta. This led to a clash between the British and the son of the Nawab of Bengal, Sirajuddullah, who opposed the British violation and reinforcement of Fort William. Owing to the treachery of his uncle Mir Jaffar, Nawab Sirajuddullah was defeated in the battle of Plassey in 1757. After the battle of Plassey, the British began the systematic conquest of the Sub-continent. It was mainly the Muslims who raised resistance to the British rule. The other organized group, the Marhattas, periodically sided with the British against the Muslims. The people of India were not united against the foreign aggressors, which made it easier for the British to seize power. The Marhattas, threatened by the British challenged them under the leadership of their Peshwas. This resulted in a series of Anglo-Marhatta wars, which finally resulted in bringing the Marhatta confederacy under the British rule. Some Muslim rulers like Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan single-handedly tried to free India from the British yoke, but were defeated. After minimizing the major threats, the British systematically expanded their control and by 1823 had become masters of two-thirds of India. They were proudly able to claim: "The sun never sets on the British Empire"

Tipu Sultan [1750-1799]


Tipu Sultan, the eldest son of Haider Ali, was born on December 10, 1750 at Devanhalli. Right from his early years he was trained in the art of warfare and at the age of 15 he used to accompany his father Haider Ali, the ruler of Mysore, to different military campaigns. In Addition, he also learnt different languages, mathematics and science. Tipu Sultan had a fascination for learning. His personal library consisted of more than 2,000 books in different languages. He was an extremely active man and worked hard for the welfare of his subjects. He took over the kingdom of Mysore after the death of his father in 1782, who died of a carbuncle in the midst of a campaign against the British. He continued fighting the British and defeated them in 1783.
Tipu Sultan was a farsighted person who could foresee East India Company's design to get entrenched in India. He therefore negotiated with the French for help and also sought assistance from the Amir of Afghanistan and the Sultan of Turkey. The British were scared of Tipu's growing strength and after their defeat in 1783 they formed an alliance with the Nizam of Hyderabad and Marhattas. The French, however, deserted Tipu after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The British availed the chance with the help of the Nizam and the Marathas, and started the third Anglo-Mysore war in 1790.
As long as the British fought alone, Tipu always defeated them. But he could not come over their diplomacy, conspiracy and intrigue. Thus he was defeated in his capital, Seringapatam, and was forced to sign a humiliating treaty on March 22, 1792. As a result he had to concede half of his kingdom and pay an indemnity of 33 million rupees to the British and their allies. The alliance between the adversaries was soon broken and in 1795 the British, after defeating the Nizam, once again turned their attention towards Mysore. After the treaty at Seringapatam, Tipu Sultan did not waste his time and made extensive preparations against the British. He had rebuilt his war machine in the shortest possible time with the help of the French. The British regarded it as a violation of the treaty. This led to the start of the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in 1798 with the help of the Nizam. The French were unable to provide the needed support to Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan retreated to his capital and continued fighting till he breathed his last in May 1799. Tipu Sultan is buried at a mausoleum that he himself had built, along with his father Haider Ali and his mother Fatima Begum.
Tipu Sultan was a great patriot and like his father realized the danger of letting the British becoming stronger. Although much of the period of his rule was given to war with the Marhattas, the Nizam and the British, he made his state secure and peaceful with benevolent rule. He was an enlightened ruler who treated his non-Muslim subjects generously. He built a chain of excellent roads and constructed tanks and dams to promote agriculture. He introduced new industries, promoted trade and commerce on a large scale. Tipu prohibited the production and distribution of liquor and other intoxicants in Mysore. He also built and fortified numerous forts and many palaces, which were demolished by the British after his death. Bangalore Summer Palace still survives and is a remnant of his grand rule.

War of Independence



By 1845, the British Empire had expanded from Bengal to Sindh, and all that remained free was Punjab. The Sikhs were ruling over Punjab and after the Second Sikh War in 1848, the British gained control over the Indus. The Koh-i-Noor diamond that Ranjit Singh had worn in his headdress now became a part of the crown jewels at Westminster.
The War of Independence broke out in January and March 1857. The British army had recruited local Indians in their forces. These soldiers were issued cartridges greased with fat from tabooed animals. The soldiers refused to use these cartridges. In 1857, starting with an uprising in Meerut, soldiers in the British Army in Bengal launched a full-scale mutiny against the British. This mutiny spread swiftly across the Sub-continent. Initially, the Indian soldiers were able to push back the British forces. The British army was driven out of Delhi and the Indian soldiers took control of the city. Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal King, was compelled to lead the freedom fighters. In Bahadur Shah Zafar, the rebels found a symbol of freedom, but a mere symbol was all he was. Wanting to spend his days writing poetry, the man was in no way even a remnant of the glory of his forefathers. He proclaimed himself the Emperor of the whole of India. The civilians, citizens and other dignitaries took oath of allegiance to the Emperor. The Emperor issued his own coin and appointed his sons to key posts.


The initial success of the freedom fighters gave a boost to the War of Independence. The Indian army captured the important towns of Haryana, Bihar and Mahdya Pardesh. However, the British forces at Meerut and Ambala put up a resolute resistance to the royal army and held them back for several months. The British proved to be a formidable foe with their superior weapons and better strategy. The freedom fighters badly lacked in adequate resources and their planning proved to be extremely brittle. The royal forces were finally defeated. The British army entered Delhi and the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar went into hiding.
The British quickly regained control of Delhi. They ransacked and destroyed the city. They took revenge in the most gruesome manner by killing innocent people indiscriminately. A wide scale massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi was carried out to avenge the killings of the British soldiers. The Mughal emperor was captured from his sanctuary, the tomb of Emperor Humayun. The emperor's sons were slaughtered in cold blood. Their bodies were beheaded and their heads were presented to the aging emperor in prison. Bahadur Shah was imprisoned in Rangoon, Myanmar, where he breathed his last.
After the War of Independence in 1857, the British government assumed sovereignty over the lands of the British East India Company. The British control over the Sub-continent grew in the next 50 years and culminated in the British Raj. Queen Victoria's Indian realm continued to expand, until Hunza, the remote kingdom bordering China, fell into British hands in 1891, bringing the expansion to its zenith.
The British delineated the frontier separating British India from Afghanistan in 1893. The resulting Durand Line cut straight through the tribal area of the Pathans. The British left the tribal areas to govern themselves under the supervision of British political agents.
The British thus became masters of India, where for nearly 800 years Muslims had ruled. However, their attitude towards the Muslims was that of antipathy. According to Hunter, a prominent historian, "The Muslims of India are, and have been for many years, a source of chronic danger to the British power in India". The British attributed the war of 1857 to the Muslims alone. As a result, property belonging to Muslims was confiscated and they were denied employment opportunities everywhere in the army, revenue department, and judiciary.

The British administrators deliberately followed a discriminatory policy against the Muslims, even in filling minor jobs. Advertisements inviting applications for government jobs specifically mentioned that Muslims would not be appointed. Hunter admits that the exclusion of the Muslims was so complete that in the government offices of Calcutta they could not accept a post higher than that of a porter, messenger, filler of inkpots and mender of pens.
By a series of revenue and financial measures, the British smashed the political and social position of the Muslims. In the province of Bombay, the government appointed "Inam Commission" to inquire into the land grants of the Muslim times. The Commission took away 20,000 estates from the Muslims and thus ruined many families and institutions of the community.
The Company's commercial policy eliminated the Muslims from internal and foreign trade. When the Europeans came to the Sub-continent, the Muslim merchants lost much of their commerce with foreign countries. But they maintained their hold on internal trade and their commercial activities extended to the Persian Gulf and the coastal territories of the Arabian Sea. During the Company's rule, the Muslim traders were pushed out of this area as well by the competition of the Company's traders who enjoyed many special concessions.
The newly introduced English system of education had many drawbacks for the Muslims, mainly because it made no provisions for religious education. As a result, they stayed away from it. Thus, within a few years of loss of political power, the Muslims lost all avenues of employment, were dispossessed of their estates and deprived of the benefits of education. A highly cultured community turned into a backward and poor people. In their place British-educated Hindus began to occupy positions in governments offices formerly held by the Muslims.

Babur - The First Mughal Emperor [1483-1530]


Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, popularly known as "Babur", meaning lion, was the founder of Mughal Empire in India. He was born in Farghana, now in Uzbekistan, on February 14, 1483. The Mughal Empire founded by him lasted for 331 years.


Babur was a descendant of Timur on his father's side and of Chengez Khan on his mother's side. When Babur's father Umar Sheikh Mirza died in 1494, he inherited the ancestral kingdom of Farghana. He was only 14 years old at that time. Babur faced many hardships during this period of his life. He was driven out of his father's state and for two years became a wanderer. In 1504, he came to Afghanistan and occupied Kabul. Here he assumed the title of Padshah.


On account of his precarious position in Central Asia, after crossing the Indus, he invaded India five times. The fifth expedition resulted in the death of Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat, in April 1526. Panipat was merely the beginning of the Mughal rule; Akbar laid its real foundation in 1556. At the time of the battle of Panipat, the political power in India was shared by the Afghans and the Rajputs. In the battle of Kanwaha, Babur defeated the Rajput leader Rana Sanga of Mewar. In 1528, he captured Chanderi from the Rajput chief, Medini Rao and a year later he defeated the Afghan chiefs under Mahmud Lodhi in the battle of Ghagra in Bihar. These conquests made Babur the "Master of Hindustan", and the founder of Mughal Empire in the Sub-continent.


Babur did not live long to rule his Kingdom. Towards the end of Babur's life, his eldest son Humayun fell seriously ill. It is said that in a religious ceremony, he transferred his son's illness to himself and sacrificed himself in order to save Humayun. As Humayun recovered, the former became worse and after two or three months Babur died at Agra on December 26, 1530. Babur was buried at Kabul, in accordance with his own wishes.


Babur's personality can be judged by his own memoirs Tuzk-i-Baburi, also known as Babur Namah, written in Turkish, personally transcribed by his son Humayun, and afterwards translated into Persian during the reign of Akbar. It is considered among the most enthralling and romantic literary works of all times. Babur possessed in him the qualities of a born leader. He was not only a brilliant general but also a great swordsman who had the quality of correctly gauging the strength and the weakness of the commanders and armies opposed to him. Babur was a man of extraordinary energy and strength. He had been known to take up a man under each arm and run with them round the battlements of a fortress. He swam and crossed all the rivers of the Indian Sub-continent. He was perpetually in saddle, riding 80 miles a day. Babur was pre-eminently a man of faith. "Nothing happens" he used to say, "but by the will of God".
During his brief period of absolute rule over India, Babur did not have the time, or indeed the opportunity, to set the affairs of state in permanent manner. Babur on his death left an empire barely held by force of arms, and lacking any consolidated civil administration. After him his 23 years old son Humayun came to power to rule an empire set up by his father.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

William Shakespeare Biography

William Shakespeare Biography describes the life of William Shakespeare. From birth to death, Shakespeare Biography describes all that is known about Shakespeare's life from available documentation including court and church records, marriage certificates and criticisms by Shakespeare's rivals.

Shakespeare (1564-1616): Who was he?
Though William Shakespeare is recognized as one of literature’s greatest influences, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone. Anecdotes and criticisms by his rivals also speak of the famous playwright and suggest that he was indeed a playwright, poet and an actor.

Date of Birth? (1564)
William was born in 1564. We know this from the earliest record we have of his life; his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564. We don’t actually know his birthday but from this record we assume he was born in 1564. Similarly by knowing the famous Bard's baptism date, we can guess that he was born three days earlier on St. George’s day, though we have no conclusive proof of this.

Brothers and Sisters.
William was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. The first two were daughters and William was himself followed by Gilbert who died in 1612 and Richard who died in 1613. Edmund (1580-1607), sixth in the line was baptized on May the third, 1580 and William's oldest living sister was Joan who outlived her famous playwright brother. Of William’s seven siblings, only Judith and four of his brothers survived to adulthood.

William's Father.
From baptism records, we know William's father was a John Shakespeare, said to be a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who dabbled in tanning, leatherwork and whittawering which is working with white leather to make items like purses and gloves. John also dealt in grain and sometimes was described as a glover by trade.
John was also a prominent man in Stratford. By 1560, he was one of fourteen burgesses which formed the town council. Interestingly, William himself is often described as a keen businessman so we can assume he got his business acumen from his father. In the Bard's case, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree at all...

William's mother: Mary Arden.
William's mother was Mary Arden who married John Shakespeare in 1557. The youngest daughter in her family, she inherited much of her father’s landowning and farming estate when he died.

Early Days on Henley Street...
Since we know Stratford's famous Bard lived with his father, John Shakespeare, we can presume that he grew up in Henley Street, some one hundred miles northwest of London.

The Bard's Education.
Very little is known about literature’s most famous playwright. We know that the King’s New Grammar School taught boys basic reading and writing. We assume William attended this school since it existed to educate the sons of Stratford but we have no definite proof. Likewise a lack of evidence suggests that William, whose works are studied universally at Universities, never attended one himself!

William marries an older woman. (1582)
A bond certificate dated November the 28th, 1582, reveals that an eighteen year old William married the twenty-six and pregnant Anne Hathaway. Barely seven months later, they had his first daughter, Susanna. Anne never left Stratford, living there her entire life.

The Bard's children. (1583 & 1592)
Baptism records show that William’s first child, Susanna was baptized in Stratford sometime in May, 1583. Baptism records again reveal that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, just eleven years old. Hamnet and Judith were named after William’s close friends, Judith and Hamnet Sadler. William's family was unusually small in a time when families had many children to ensure parents were cared for in later years despite the very high mortality rates of children and also their life expectancy in the 1500s.

The Bard as a poet.
Evidence that the great Bard was also a poet comes from his entering his first poem Venus and Adonis in the Stationers’ Registrar on the 18th of April, 1593. The playwright registered his second poem The Rape of Lucrece by name on the 9th of May, 1594.

The Bard suffers breech of copyright. (1609)
In 1609, the Bard's sonnets were published without the Bard’s permission. It is considered unlikely that William wanted many of his deeply personal poems to be revealed to the outside world. It was not however the first time; in 1599, in a collection entitled "The Passionate Pilgrim" , two of his poems had been printed without William’s permission.

The Bard's lost years?
Looking for work in London, just four days ride way from Stratford, William is believed to have left his family back home for some twenty years whilst he pursued his craft. He only returned back to his family in 1609, having visited only during the forty day period of Lent when theatres though open well into the start of Lent would later close in accordance with the traditional banning of all forms of diversionary entertainment around this important Easter event.

William applies for a Coat of Arms. (1596)
Records with the College of Heralds, reveal William applied for a coat of arms. Despite a lack of proof, he was granted his request. Later in 1599 he applied for his mother’s coat of arms to be added to his own.

William buys major residential property. (1597)
At age 15, William purchased the New Place. This was one of the most prominent and desired properties in all of Stratford being the second largest house in town. Given his father's known financial hardship from 1576, William must either have used his own money to buy this expensive property or his father had placed money in his son’s name. It is possible William might have bought this prominent property with money from his plays. It is estimated that roughly fifteen of his 37 plays would have been written and performed by 1597!

Will flats in London. (Circa 1601-1604)
Court records of a dispute between William's landlord Christopher Mountjoy and his son-in-law Stephen Belott confirm that William was living in London around 1601. The playwright's name is recorded in the court records when he gave testimony in 1612 concerning Mountjoy and Belott’s dispute. Interestingly, in 1601, he bought roughly 107 acres of arable land with twenty acres of pasturage for 20 pounds in Old Stratford.

The Bard strikes it rich.
William made his greatest financial gain in 1605 when he purchased leases of real estate near Stratford. This investment of some four hundred and forty pounds doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds income each year. Some academics speculate that this investment gave the Bard the time he needed to write plays uninterrupted and we know that he was indeed thought of as a businessman in the Stratford area...

A friend passes away.
Yet another record confirming the Bard's existence was John Comb’s will which bequeathed to the Bard the princely sum of just five pounds.

The Bard's will and death.
Records reveal that the great Bard revised his will on March the 25th, 1616. Less than a month later, he died on April the 23rd, 1616. Literature's famous Bard is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He infamously left his second-best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway and little else, giving most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna who has married a prominent and distinguished physician named John Hall in June 1607. This was not as callous as it seems; the Bard's best bed was for guests; his second-best bed was his marriage bed... His will also named actors Richard Burbage, Henry Condell and John Hemminges, providing proof to academics today that William was involved in theatre. The Bard's direct line of descendants ended some 54 years later until Susanna’s daughter Elizabeth died in 1670.

The Bard's last words...
Written upon William Shakespeare’s tombstone is an appeal that he be left to rest in peace with a curse on those who would move his bones...
Good friend, for Jesus´ sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed here! Blest be ye man that spares thes stones And curst be he that moues my bones.
Translated this reads as:
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake, forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones
And curst he that moves my bones.

Did Shakespeare write the 37 plays and 154 sonnets credited to him?
The evidence above proves William existed but not that he was a playwright nor an actor nor a poet. In fact recently some academics who call themselves the Oxfords argue that Stratford's celebrated playwright did not write any of the plays attributed to him. They suggest that he was merely a businessman and propose several contenders for authorship, namely an Edward de Vere.

Evidence that the great Bard wrote his plays.
The earliest proof that William did indeed write 37 plays was Robert Greene’s criticism of the Bard in his Groatsworth of Wit, Bought with a Million of Repentance which attacked Shakespeare for having the nerve to compete with him and other playwrights in 1592 . Robert Greene made this quite clear by calling him "an upstart crow". This criticism was placed with the Stationers’ Registrar on the 20th of September, 1592.
Proof that William was an actor comes from his own performances before Queen Elizabeth herself in 1594 and evidence of William's interest in theatre comes from the Bard's name being listed in 1594 and 1595 as a shareholder (part owner) of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, a theatre company.
The Bard's reputation as a poet is again confirmed in 1598, when Francis Meres attacked him as being "mellifluous" and described his work as honey-tongued, "sugared sonnets among his private friends" in his own Palladis Tamia of 1598.
William's theatre presence is again confirmed by his name being recorded as one of the owners of the Globe theatre in 1599 and on May the 19th, 1603, he received a patent, titling him as one of the King’s Men (previously called the Chamberlain’s men) and a Groom of the Chamber by James I, the then King of England. This honour made William a favorite for all court performances, earned each King’s man extra money (30 pounds each for a performance in 1603 alone) and made the Bard's name one rather above reproach. Macbeth which celebrates King James I ancestor Malcolm, is considered to have been written in part as appreciation for the King’s patronage. And as a potent form of royalist propaganda (it warned of the dangers of killing a King appointed like James, by God).

The First Folio (1623): Conclusive proof that Shakespeare authored his plays.
The proof most often cited that Shakespeare authored his plays however, was the First Folio (1623) where Henry Condell and John Hemminges who were actors in the Bard's theatre company, claim in a dedicatory verse within the Folio that they recorded and collected his plays as a memorial to the late actor and playwright. In terms of value, the First Folio originally was sold for just 1 Pound in 1623. Today as one of just 250 still in existence, it would fetch nearly 3 million dollars (US).

Ben Jonson criticizes and then praises William by name.
Further proof of authorship comes in the form of a poem by Ben Jonson, one of the Bard's more friendly rivals, which criticizes the playwrights dramatic plays. It is contained within a work entitled Discoveries (also known as Timber) dated 1641. Despite his criticism, Ben Johnson paradoxically also said that Stratford's famous Bard's works were timeless, describing them as "not of an age, but for all time".

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

KFC (Kentucky fried chicken )

INTRODUCTION:

KFC (Kentucky fried chicken ), Kentucky is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain, specializing in Original Recipe®, Extra Crispy™, Twister® and Colonel's Crispy Strips® chicken with homestyle sidesFood, Fun & Festivity, this is what KFC is all about. Leading the market since its inception, KFC provides the ultimate chicken meals for a chicken Loving Nation. Be it Colonel Sanders secret Original Recipe Chicken or the Hot & Spicy version, every bite brings a YAM on our face. At KFC we can proudly say, "WE Do Chicken Right".Opening the first KFC outlet in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi in 1996, KFC Wore the title of being the market leader in its industry. Serving delicious and hygienic food in a relaxing environment made KFC everyone's favorite. Since then, KFC has been constantly introducing new products and opening new restaurants for its customers. Presently KFC is branched out in nine major cities of Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Islamabad) With 34 outlets nation-wide.

Facts:

Apart from fulfilling our commitment of serving delicious, fresh and hygienic food at the same time providing our customers with the ultimate entertainment, KFC also plays part in the economic development of our country. As
- Presently KFC has provided employment to over 1200 Pakistanis, which adds up to 6000 individuals directly dependent on KFC Pakistan.
- 95% of food and packaging material used in KFC Pakistan is procured locally, which sums up to a purchase of over Rs.35 million per month.
- Each new outlet developed by KFC Pakistan costs approximately Rs.40 million, which is a huge amount for our construction industry.
- KFC and Pakistan... Growing Together.

Cupola Pakistan:

Cupola is a Dubai based multinational company involved in several business including, oil gas exploration, plastic cards, retail markets and food furnishing. Cupola holds the master franchise rights to operate KFC in Pakistan.

Their Vision:

Cupola creates value through change, challenging existing paradigms and by applying vision, innovation and skilled execution. They seek opportunities for investment where others do not look and they examine these opportunities with open-mindedness, throughness and hard-headed practicality.

Their Mission:

Their mission is to harness and reap the potential of the rapidly developing markets of the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia. They apply a regional focus to allow them to reap the potential of rapidly expanding markets in the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia. In the mature capital markets of Europe and United States, they are well regarded as innovative and creative niche investors. They believe in the minimization of risk: through the depth of their senior management and the quality of their professional staff; through exhaustive and through an emphasis on pre-feasibility.
What everyone in Cupola shares is an almost obsessive drive for quality, an active consciousness of the team approach and a commitment to their collective success. They strive continually to improve the tangible and intangible returns of all their stakeholders.

Company Weaknesses and Constraints:

KFC has been known to be a company that did not come up with new products too often. They have a limited menu and have sticked to their original recipe chicken that made their success since the beginning. We remember that even though KFC was in the chicken industry, McDonalds came up with the chicken sandwich [14] months before KFC did. KFC then occurred high cost in order to try to create awareness for its sandwich. Unfortunately, due to low sales they had to change its strategy.

Company Strategy:

Primary objective is to take advantage of the potential growth in other countries, to establish a strong position and to develop their image. Key Success Factors are ever continuing cost savings through R&D, innovations and use of new technology to work efficiently. These success techniques will lower costs and increase profits in the industry. KFC uses an integrated low cost/differentiation leadership, since it can count on its brand name and original taste and recipes to be unique while at the same time compete on price using the benefits of cost savings from economies of scale.

Strategy A:

Change the name from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC. Nowhere in a KFC restaurant will you see the name Kentucky, unless it's in a promotional piece featuring the slowly-fading icon of Colonel Sanders. They'll simply call themselves KFC from now on. And that'll be that. No more "fried", since they can't think of another word to replace "Fried" with that still works in context with "Kentucky" and "Chicken." And to be fair, it worked. The public vernacular now refers to it as KFC.

Strategy B:

They're getting buried with the fried thing. But hey, chicken's good for you, right? So technically, since fried chicken isn't a greasy cheeseburger, it's healthy. Well, healthier, at least. So they go with the healthy message.
Now, I don't know if you were lucky enough to see any of the spots that followed this strategy, but the commercials born of this thinking were borderline absurdist. One featured a young wife bringing home a bucket of chicken home to her couch-anchored husband with the line "it's okay. It's healthy." Needless to say, this spot lasted only a few weeks because we, the general public, while easily hoodwinked, are not about to believe that fried chicken is healthy. We may miss a lot, but give us a little credit.


Strategy C:

An extraneous strategy, really. Seems everyone still knew that the "F" in "KFC" still stood for fried. But they changed it already, remember? It's not "fried" anymore, it's KFC! Apparently there was some need felt in corporate to make sure the fried message disappeared entirely. So what now?
They change the "F", that's what. We make sure that everyone knows the "F" stands for "fresh," not "fried," and we call the whole product "kitchen fresh chicken." And the spots? Several people sniffing into the air saying "is that kitchen fresh chicken?" Of course it is! And it's delicious!
So what are we left with? Chicken, that's true. From Kentucky? Not anymore. Fried? Yes, but let's pretend it's not. Fresh? No, but let's pretend it is. Kitchen? I suppose in some loose way, it is created in a "kitchen" (but only with added finger quotation marks)..

Muhammad bin Qasim [695-715]


Muhammad bin Qasim was orphaned as a child and thus the responsibility of his upbringing fell upon his mother. She supervised his religious instruction herself, and hired different teachers for his worldly education. It was the uncle, Hajjaj bin Yousaf, who taught him the art of governing and warfare.


Qasim was an intelligent and cultured young man who at the age of fifteen was considered by many to be one of his uncle's greatest assets. As a show of faith in his nephew's abilities, Hajjaj married his daughter to Qasim. At the age of sixteen, he was asked to serve under the great general, Qutayba bin Muslim. Under his command Muhammad bin Qasim displayed a talent for skilful fighting and military planning. Hajjaj's complete trust in Qasim's abilities as a general became even more apparent when he appointed the young man as the commander of the all-important invasion on Sindh, when he was only seventeen years old. Muhammad bin Qasim proved Hajjaj right when he, without many problems, managed to win all his military campaigns. He used both his mind and military skills in capturing places like Daibul, Raor, Uch and Multan. History does not boast of many other commanders who managed such a great victory at such a young age.


Besides being a great general, Muhammad bin Qasim was also an excellent administrator. He established peace and order as well as a good administrative structure in the areas he conquered. He was a kind hearted and religious person. He had great respect for other religions. Hindu and Buddhist spiritual leaders were given stipends during his rule. The poor people of the land were greatly impressed by his policies and a number of them embraced Islam. Those who stuck to their old religions erected statues in his honor and started worshiping him after his departure from their land.


Muhammad bin Qasim was known for his obedience to the ruler. Walid bin Abdul Malik died and was succeeded by his younger brother Suleman as the Caliph. Suleman was an enemy of Hajjaj and thus ordered Qasim back to the kingdom. Qasim knew of the animosity between the two. He was aware that due to this enmity, he would not be well treated. He could have easily refused to obey the Caliph's orders and declare his independence in Sindh. Yet he was of the view that obeying ones ruler is the duty of a general and thus he decided to go back to the center. Here he became a victim to party politics. He was put behind bars where he died at age of twenty. Many historians believe that had he been given a few more years, he would have conquered the entire South Asian region.