title: President (government title)

text: Once the United States adopted the title of "president" for its republican head of state, many other nations followed suit. Haiti became the first presidential republic in Latin America when Henri Christophe assumed the title in 1807. Almost all the American nations that became independent from Spain in the early 1810s and 1820s chose a US-style president as their chief executive. The first European president was the president of the Italian Republic of 1802, a client state of revolutionary France, in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first African president was the president of Liberia (1848), while the first Asian president was the president of the Republic of China (1912).


title: President (government title)

text: In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the powers of presidencies have varied from country to country. The spectrum of power has included presidents-for-life and hereditary presidencies to ceremonial heads of state.


title: President (government title)

text: Presidents in the countries with a democratic or representative form of government are usually elected for a specified period of time and in some cases may be re-elected by the same process by which they are appointed, i.e. in many nations, periodic popular elections. The powers vested in such presidents vary considerably. Some presidencies, such as that of Ireland, are largely ceremonial, whereas other systems vest the president with substantive powers such as the appointment and dismissal of prime ministers or cabinets, the power to declare war, and powers of veto on legislation. In many nations the president is also the commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces, though once again this can range from a ceremonial role to one with considerable authority.


title: President (government title)

text: In almost all states with a presidential system of government, the president exercises the functions of head of state and head of government, i.e. the president directs the executive branch of government. When a president is not only head of state, but also head of government, this is known in Europe as a "President of the Council" (from the French "Président du Conseil"), used 1871–1940 and 1944–1958 in the Third and Fourth French Republics. In the United States the president has always been both Head of State and Head of Government and has always had the title of President.


title: President (government title)

text: Presidents in this system are either directly elected by popular vote or indirectly elected by an electoral college or some other democratically elected body.


title: President (government title)

text: In the United States, the president is indirectly elected by the Electoral College made up of electors chosen by voters in the presidential election. In most states of the United States, each elector is committed to voting for a specified candidate determined by the popular vote in each state, so that the people, in voting for each elector, are in effect voting for the candidate. However, for various reasons the numbers of electors in favour of each candidate are unlikely to be proportional to the popular vote. Thus, in five close United States elections (1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016), the candidate with the most popular votes still lost the election.


title: President (government title)

text: In Mexico, the president is directly elected for a six-year term by popular vote. The candidate who wins the most votes is elected president even without an absolute majority. The president is allowed to serve only one term. The 2006 Mexican elections had a fierce competition, the electoral results showed a minimal difference between the two most voted candidates and such difference was just about the 0.58% of the total vote. The Federal Electoral Tribunal declared an elected president after a controversial post-electoral process.


title: President (government title)

text: In Brazil, the president is directly elected for a four-year term by popular vote. A candidate has to have more than 50% of the valid votes. If no candidates achieve a majority of the votes, there is a runoff election between the two candidates with most votes. Again, a candidate needs a majority of the vote to be elected. In Brazil, a president cannot be elected to more than two consecutive terms, but there is no limit on the number of terms a president can serve.


title: President (government title)

text: A second system is the semi-presidential system, also known as the French model. In this system, as in the parliamentary system, there are both a president and a prime minister; but unlike the parliamentary system, the president may have significant day-to-day power. For example, in France, when their party controls the majority of seats in the National Assembly, the president can operate closely with the parliament and prime minister, and work towards a common agenda. When the National Assembly is controlled by their opponents, however, the president can find themselves marginalized with the opposition party prime minister exercising most of the power. Though the prime minister remains an appointee of the president, the president must obey the rules of parliament, and select a leader from the house's majority holding party. Thus, sometimes the president and prime minister can be allies, sometimes rivals; the latter situation is known in France as cohabitation. Variants of the French semi-presidential system, developed at the beginning of the Fifth Republic by Charles de Gaulle, are used in France, Portugal, Romania, Sri Lanka and several post-colonial countries which have emulated the French model. In Finland, although the 2000 constitution moved towards a ceremonial presidency, the system is still formally semi-presidential, with the president of Finland retaining e.g. foreign policy and appointment powers.


title: President (government title)

text: The parliamentary republic, is a parliamentary system in which the presidency is largely ceremonial with either "de facto" or no significant executive authority (such as the president of Austria) or "de jure" no significant executive power (such as the president of Ireland), and the executive powers rests with the prime minister who automatically assumes the post as head of a majority party or coalition, but takes oath of office administered by the president. However, the president is head of the civil service, commander in chief of the armed forces and in some cases can dissolve parliament. Countries using this system include Austria, Armenia, Albania, Bangladesh, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, and Singapore.


title: President (government title)

text: A variation of the parliamentary republic is a system with an executive president in which the president is the head of state and the government but unlike a presidential system, is elected by and accountable to a parliament, and referred to as president. Countries using this system include Botswana, Nauru and South Africa.


title: President (government title)

text: In dictatorships, the title of president is frequently taken by self-appointed or military-backed leaders. Such is the case in many states: Idi Amin in Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Suharto in Indonesia, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq are some examples. Other presidents in authoritarian states have wielded only symbolic or no power such as Craveiro Lopes in Portugal and Joaquín Balaguer under the "Trujillo Era" of the Dominican Republic.


title: President (government title)

text: President for Life is a title assumed by some dictators to try to ensure their authority or legitimacy is never questioned. Presidents like Alexandre Pétion, Rafael Carrera, Josip Broz Tito and François Duvalier died in office. Kim Il-sung was named Eternal President of the Republic after his death.


title: President (government title)

text: Only a tiny minority of modern republics do not have a single head of state. Some examples of this are:


title: President (government title)

text: The President of China is the head of state of the People's Republic of China. Under the country's constitution, the presidency is a largely ceremonial office with limited power. However, since 1993, as a matter of convention, the presidency has been held simultaneously by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, the top leader in the single-party system.


title: President (government title)

text: In China between 1982 and 2018, the constitution stipulated that the president could not serve more than two consecutive terms. During the Mao era and also since 2018, there were no term limits attached to this office. In 2018, the term limits of the presidency were abolished, but its powers and ceremonial role were unchanged.


title: President (government title)

text: As the country's head of state, in most countries the president is entitled to certain perquisites, and may have a prestigious residence, often a lavish mansion or palace, sometimes more than one (e.g. summer and winter residences, or a country retreat) Customary symbols of office may include an official uniform, decorations, a presidential seal, coat of arms, flag and other visible accessories, as well as military honours such as gun salutes, ruffles and flourishes, and a presidential guard. A common presidential symbol is the presidential sash worn most often by presidents in Latin America and Africa as a symbol of the continuity of the office.


title: President (government title)

text: Some countries with parliamentary systems use a term meaning/translating as "president" (in some languages indistinguishable from chairman) for the head of parliamentary government, often as President of the Government, President of the Council of Ministers or President of the Executive Council.


title: President (government title)

text: However, such an official is explicitly not the president of the "country". These officials are called "president" using an older sense of the word, to denote the fact that the official heads the "cabinet". A separate head of state generally exists in their country who instead serves as the president or monarch of the country.


title: President (government title)

text: Thus, such officials are really premiers, and to avoid confusion are often described simply as 'prime minister' when being mentioned internationally.


title: President (government title)

text: "President" can also be the title of the chief executive at a lower administrative level, such as the parish presidents of the parishes of the U.S. state of Louisiana, the presiding member of city council for villages in the U.S. state of Illinois, or the municipal presidents of Mexico's municipalities. Perhaps the best known sub-national presidents are the borough presidents of the five boroughs of New York City.


title: President (government title)

text: In Poland the "President of the City" () is the executive authority of the municipality elected in direct elections, the equivalent of the mayor. The Office of the President (Mayor) is also found in Germany and Switzerland.


title: President (government title)

text: Governors of ethnic republics in the Russian Federation used to have the title of President, occasionally alongside other, secondary titles such as "Chairman of the Government" (also used by Prime Minister of Russia). This likely reflects the origin of Russian republics as homelands for various ethnic groups: while all federal subjects of Russia are currently "de jure" equal, their predecessors, the ASSRs, used to enjoy more privileges than the ordinary krais and oblasts of the RSFSR (such as greater representation in the Soviet of Nationalities). Thus, the ASSRs and their eventual successors would have more in common with nation-states than with ordinary administrative divisions, at least in spirit, and would choose titles accordingly.


title: President (government title)

text: Over the course of the 2010s the presidents of Russian republics would progressively change their title to that of Head (), a proposition suggested by the president of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and later made law by the Parliament of Russia and President Dmitriy Medvedev in 2010. Despite this, however, presidents of Tatarstan would reject this change and, as of 2017, retain their title in defiance of Russian law. The new title did not result in any changes in the powers wielded by the governors.


title: President (government title)

text: The lord president of the Council is one of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom who presides over meetings of British Privy Council; the Cabinet headed by the prime minister is technically a committee of the Council, and all decisions of the Cabinet are formally approved through Orders in Council. Although the lord president is a member of the Cabinet, the position is largely a ceremonial one and is traditionally given to either the leader of the House of Commons or the leader of the House of Lords.


title: President (government title)

text: In Spain, the executive leaders of the autonomous communities (regions) are called presidents. In each community, they can be called "Presidente de la Comunidad" or "Presidente del Consejo" among others. They are elected by their respective regional assemblies and have similar powers to a state president or governor.


title: President (government title)

text: Below a president, there can be a number of or "vice presidents" (or occasionally "deputy presidents") and sometimes several "assistant presidents" or "assistant vice presidents", depending on the organisation and its size. These posts do not hold the same power but more of a subordinate position to the president. However, power can be transferred in special circumstances to the deputy or vice president. Normally vice presidents hold some power and special responsibilities below that of the president. The difference between vice/deputy presidents and assistant/associate vice presidents is the former are legally allowed to run an organisation, exercising the same powers (as well as being second in command) whereas the latter are not.


title: President (government title)

text: In some countries the speaker of their unicameral legislatures, or of one or both houses of bicameral legislatures, the speakers have the title of president of "the body", as in the case of Spain, where the Speaker of the Congress is the president of the Congress of Deputies and the Speaker of the Senate is the president of the Senate.


title: President (government title)

text: In French legal terminology, the president of a court consisting of multiple judges is the foremost judge; he chairs the meeting of the court and directs the debates (and is thus addressed as "Mrs President", "Madame la Présidente", "Mr President", or "Monsieur le Président". In general, a court comprises several chambers, each with its own president; thus the most senior of these is called the "first president" (as in: "the First President of the Court of Cassation is the most senior judge in France"). Similarly in English legal practice the most senior judge in each division uses this title (e.g. President of the Family Division, President of the Court of Appeal).


title: President (government title)

text: In the Spanish Judiciary, the leader of a court of multiples judges is called President of the Court. The same happens with the different bodies of the Spanish judicial system, where we can find a president of the Supreme Court, a president of the National Court and presidents in the Regional High Courts of Justice and in the Provincial Courts. The body that rules over the Judiciary in Spain is the General Council of the Judiciary, and its president is the president of the Supreme Court, which is normally called "President of the Supreme Court and of the GCJ".


title: President (government title)

text: The Constitutional Court is not part of the Judiciary, but the leader of it is called President of the Constitutional Court.


title: President (government title)

text: In the recently established Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the most senior judge is called the president of the Supreme Court. The lady/lord president of the Court of Session is head of the judiciary in Scotland, and presiding judge (and Senator) of the College of Justice and Court of Session, as well as being Lady/Lord Justice General of Scotland and head of the High Court of Justiciary, the offices having been combined in 1784.


title: President (government title)

text: Titles for a president's spouse, if female, have ranged from "Marquise" to "Lady" to simply "Mrs." (or "Ms."). If male the title of the president's spouse may be "Marquis", "Lord", or merely "Mr.".


title: President (government title)

text: President George Washington's wife, Martha Washington, was often called "Lady Washington". By the 1850s in the United States, the term "lady" had changed from a title of nobility to a term of address for a respected and well-mannered woman. The use of "First Lady" to refer to the wife of the president of the United States was popularized about the time of the US Civil War. Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, was remembered after her death in 1849 by President Zachary Taylor as "truly our First Lady for a half a century". First ladies are usually referred to simply as "Mrs. [last name]"


title: President (government title)

text: On 8 November 2016, the night of the 2016 presidential election in the United States, images of leaked pre-printed copies of "Newsweek" magazine showed the magazine celebrating the win of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, with the cover titled "Madam President". It is common for "Newsweek" to prepare for the eventuality of either candidate winning, though it was unusual that it was both published and distributed; the cover was pulled from newsstands after it became clear that Donald Trump had secured a majority of electoral votes, winning the election.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: The White Tiger is a novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was published in 2008 and won the 40th Booker Prize the same year. The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. The novel examines issues of the Hindu religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: The novel has been well-received, making the "New York Times" bestseller list in addition to winning the Booker Prize. Aravind Adiga, 33 at the time, was the second youngest writer as well as the fourth debut writer to win the prize. Adiga says his novel "attempt[s]


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: to catch the voice of the men you meet as you travel through India — the voice of the colossal underclass." According to Adiga, the exigence for "The White Tiger" was to capture the unspoken voice of people from "the Darkness" – the impoverished areas of rural India, and he "wanted to do so without sentimentality or portraying them as


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Balram Halwai narrates his life in a letter, written in seven consecutive nights and addressed to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao. In his letter, Balram explains how he, the son of a rickshaw puller, escaped a life of servitude to become a successful businessman, describing himself as an entrepreneur.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Balram was born in a rural village in Gaya district, where he lived with his grandmother, parents, brother and extended family. He is a smart child but is forced to leave school in order to help pay for his cousin's dowry and begins to work in a teashop with his brother in Dhanbad. While working there he begins to learn about India's government and economy from the customers' conversations. Balram describes himself as a bad servant but a good listener and decides to become a driver.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: After learning how to drive, Balram finds a job driving Ashok, the son of one of Laxmangarh's landlords. He takes over the job of the main driver, from a small car to a heavy-luxury described Honda City. He stops sending money back to his family and disrespects his grandmother during a trip back to his village. Balram moves to New Delhi with Ashok and his wife Pinky Madam. Throughout their time in Delhi, Balram is exposed to extensive corruption, especially in the government. In Delhi, the contrast between the poor and the wealthy is made even more evident by their proximity to one another.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: One night Pinky Madam takes the wheel from Balram, while drunk, hits something in the road and drives away; we are left to assume that she has killed a child. Ashok's family puts pressure on Balram to confess that he had been driving alone. Ashok becomes increasingly involved in bribing government officials for the benefit of the family coal business. Balram then decides that killing Ashok will be the only way to escape India's "Rooster Coop" – Balram's metaphor for describing the oppression of India's poor, just as roosters in a coop at the market watch themselves get slaughtered one by one, but are unable or unwilling to break out of the cage. Similarly, Balram too is portrayed as being trapped in the metaphorical Rooster Coop: his family controls what he does and society dictates how he acts.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: After killing Ashok by stabbing him with a broken bottle and stealing the large bribe Ashok was carrying with him, Balram moves to Bangalore, where he bribes the police in order to help start his own taxi business.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Just like Ashok, Balram pays off a family whose son one of his taxi drivers hit and killed. Balram explains that his own family was almost certainly killed by Ashok's relatives as retribution for his murder. At the end of the novel, Balram rationalizes his actions and considers that his freedom is worth the lives of his family and of Ashok. And thus ends the letter to Jiabao, letting the reader think of the dark humour of the tale, as well as the idea of life as a trap introduced by the writer.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: "The White Tiger" takes place in a time in which increased technology has led to world globalization, and India is no exception. In the 21st century, India has had one of the fastest growing economies. Specifically Americanization in India has played its role in the plot, since it provides an outlet for Balram to alter his caste. To satisfy Pinky's want for American culture, Ashok, Pinky, and Balram simply move to Gurgaon instead of going to back to America. Globalization has assisted in the creation of an American atmosphere in India. Ashok justifies this move by explaining "Today it’s the "modernest" suburb of Delhi-National Capital Region. American Express, Microsoft, all the big American companies have offices there. The main road is full of shopping malls—each mall has a cinema inside! So if Pinky Madam missed America, this was the best place to bring her". By blackmailing Ram Persad, the other driver, Balram is promoted and drives Ashok and Pinky to their new home.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Ashok is even convinced India is surpassing the US, "There are so many more things I could do here than in New York now...The way things are changing in India now, this place is going to be like America in ten years". Balram is noticing the rapid growth as well. From the beginning of his story he knows that in order to rise above his caste he should become an entrepreneur. Although his taxi service is not an international business, Balram plans to keep up with the pace of globalization and change his trade when need be. "I‘m always a man who sees ‘tomorrow’ when others see ‘today.’" Balram's recognition of the increasing competition resulting from globalization contributes to his corruption.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Throughout the book, there are references to how Balram is very different from those back in his home environment. He is referred to as the "white tiger" (which also happens to be the title of the book). A white tiger symbolizes power in East Asian cultures, such as in Vietnam. It is also a symbol for freedom and individuality. Balram is seen as different from those he grew up with. He is the one who got out of the "Darkness" and found his way into the "Light".


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: In an interview with Aravind Adiga, he talked about how "The White Tiger" was a book about a man's quest for freedom. Balram, the protagonist in the novel, worked his way out of his low social caste (often referred to as "the Darkness") and overcame the social obstacles that limited his family in the past. Climbing up the social ladder, Balram sheds the weights and limits of his past and overcomes the social obstacles that keep him from living life to the fullest that he can. In the book, Balram talks about how he was in a rooster coop and how he broke free from his coop. The novel is somewhat a memory of his journey to finding his freedom in India's modern day capitalist society. Towards the beginning of the novel, Balram cites a poem from the Muslim poet Iqbal where he talks about slaves and says "They remain slaves because they can’t see what is beautiful in this world." Balram sees himself embodying the poem and being the one who sees the world and takes it as he rises through the ranks of society, and in doing so finding his freedom.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: The book shows a modern day, capitalist Indian society with free market and free business. It also shows how it can create economic division. In India there are social classes and social castes. The novel portrays India's society as very negative towards the lower social caste.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: Sections of the novel highlight discrimination against Muslims, India's largest religious minority. The protagonist's employers demand to know if he is Muslim. Later in the novel, a character is blackmailed and later sacked when he is outed as a secretly practicing Islam.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: The novel is based on the disparities of two worlds: darkness, inhabited by poor and underprivileged who cannot even meet the bare minimum; and the lighted world, inhabited by zamindars, politicians, businessmen etc. who shamelessly exploits the ones from darkness, making them poorer and grows their own grandeur. Balram refers to this as the "Darkness". When Balram was asked which caste he was from, he knew that it could ultimately cause a biased stance in his employer and determine the future of his employment. There is definitely a big difference seen in Balram's lower caste from back home and his current higher caste in their lifestyles, habits, and standards of living.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: This novel highlights the socioeconomic discrimination in India's economic system, which creates divisions in Indian society. It limits opportunity, social mobility, health, and other rights and pleasures that should be given to all. There is a big difference in the amount of money spread around in society today and this book is alluding to that fact.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: In 2020, Emma Lee-Potter of "The Independent" listed "The White Tiger" as one of the 12 best Indian novels.


title: The White Tiger (Adiga novel)

text: On April 5, 2018, Ramin Bahrani was finalised to direct and write the film adaptation for Netflix. On September 3, 2019, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra, and Adarsh Gourav were cast in the film. The film was released on January 23, 2021 in select theatres and on Netflix. It was nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2021.


title: Friar Park

text: Friar Park is a Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, England, built in 1889. It was originally owned by eccentric lawyer Sir Frank Crisp and purchased in January 1970 by English rock musician and former Beatle George Harrison. The site covers about 62 acres (25 hectares). Features include caves, grottoes, underground passages, a multitude of garden gnomes, and an Alpine rock garden with a scale model of the Matterhorn. Though rumour and tabloid reports often claim the building has 120 rooms, this was denied by the current owner, Olivia Harrison, while speaking to NPR "Fresh Air" in March 2004, at which time she clarified the number was somewhere around 30.


title: Friar Park

text: The main house is listed Grade II on the National Heritage List, and the gardens of Friar Park are also listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In addition to the main house, the Lower Lodge, Middle Lodge, and Upper Lodge are all also individually listed Grade II. The entrance walls and piers of the Lower Lodge, and the railed wall piers and gates of the Middle Lodge are also listed Grade II.


title: Friar Park

text: Since the early 1970s, the property has become synonymous with the former Beatle's home studio, known as FPSHOT (i.e., "Friar Park Studio, Henley-On-Thames"). Harrison biographer Alan Clayson has described the Friar Park estate as being "as synonymous with his name as the Queen's with Windsor Castle".


title: Friar Park

text: Harrison put the whole property up as collateral in order to fund the Monty Python comedy team's movie "Life of Brian", after their original backers, EMI, pulled out at the last minute. As a huge fan of the Pythons, Harrison simply wanted to get to see the film − something that his friend Eric Idle has described as "the most expensive cinema ticket in movie history".


title: Friar Park

text: The Friar Park estate was owned by Sir Frank Crisp from 1889 until his death in 1919. The property was then sold at an auction to Sir Percival David. Following their divorce, Lady David moved into the Coachman's Cottage on the south-west corner of the property when the rest of the estate was donated for the use of nuns belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco order. The nuns ran a local school in Henley, the Sacred Heart School, but, by the late 1960s, Friar Park was in a state of disrepair and due to be demolished.


title: Friar Park

text: In early 1972, Harrison installed a 16-track tape-based recording studio in a guest suite, which, at one point, was superior to the one at EMI's Abbey Road Studios. By 1974, the facility had become the recording headquarters for his record label, Dark Horse Records. The album covers for projects Harrison recorded there usually mentioned "F.P.S.H.O.T." – Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames. These include the bulk of his own albums, from 1973's "Living in the Material World" onwards; among them, "Dark Horse", "Thirty Three & 1/3", "George Harrison", "Cloud Nine" and "Brainwashed".


title: Friar Park

text: In addition to Harrison's solo albums, overdubs for the two Traveling Wilburys releases and the recording and filming of The Beatles' 1995 "Anthology" project were also recorded at Friar Park Studio Henley-on-Thames. In 1996, Harrison recorded and produced the critically acclaimed album "Chants of India" for Ravi Shankar at FPSHOT. Interviews with family and friends for posthumous documentaries such as 2003's "Concert for George", the 2005 "Concert for Bangladesh" DVD release, and Martin Scorsese's "" in 2011 were all conducted at FPSHOT or just downstairs in the main part of the house.


title: Friar Park

text: Besides the records by Harrison or artists he produced, the studio was also used by Shakespears Sister to record their 1992 album "Hormonally Yours".


title: Friar Park

text: Writing in "I, Me, Mine", Derek Taylor says of Harrison's purchase of Friar Park: "It is a dream on a hill and it came, not by chance, to the right man at the right time."


title: Friar Park

text: Friar Park has extensive gardens and water features designed by Henry Ernest Milner for Crisp, including a grotto, and stones just underneath the surface of the pond (providing a walking-on-water illusion). The park also includes a sandstone replica of the Matterhorn Reflecting Crisp's sense of humour, among the statuary is a monk holding a frying pan with holes in it, and a plaque reading "Two Holy Friars". The year Harrison and his first wife, Pattie Boyd, moved in, he was photographed among four garden gnomes located on the main lawn for the cover of "All Things Must Pass", and again with his father Harry six years later, with the photo appearing inside the gatefold cover of "Thirty Three & 1/3".


title: Friar Park

text: Harrison immortalised the grand building and its surrounds in his 1976 song "Crackerbox Palace", which was his nickname for the mansion (after Lord Buckley's home in California). The "All Things Must Pass" track "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" was inspired by Friar Park's history, and the lyrics of later songs such as "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" and "The Answer's at the End" directly quote from the many carvings around the property. His humorous video clips for the likes of "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", "True Love", and "Crackerbox Palace" were all shot within the gardens and grounds of Friar Park, as were the album covers for some of his FPSHOT-recorded Dark Horse acts − Splinter's "The Place I Love" and the album "Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India" being the most obvious.


title: Friar Park

text: Harrison and his second wife Olivia restored the gardens. Until his death in November 2001, he loved tending to them personally − an activity that a visiting "Rolling Stone" journalist in 1987 deemed a "decidedly un-rock-star-ish pastime" − and among the groundskeepers were his older brothers Peter and Harry. George's son Dhani would later recall for the Scorsese documentary: "He'd garden at night-time until midnight. He'd be out there squinting because he could see, at midnight, the moonlight and shadows, and that was his way of not seeing the weeds or imperfections that would plague him during the day ..." Talking of the tranquility he felt at Friar Park, Harrison once said: "Sometimes I feel like I'm actually on the wrong planet, and it's great when I'm in my garden. But the minute I go out the gate I think: 'What the hell am I doing here?'"


title: Friar Park

text: During Crisp's time at Friar Park, the grounds were regularly open to the public. Following the murder of John Lennon, Harrison's Beatles bandmate, in December 1980, the gates were locked and security features such as fences and video cameras were installed. Despite these measures, an intruder, Michael Abram, broke into the residence in the early hours of 30 December 1999, attacking Harrison and his wife Olivia, leaving Harrison with five stab wounds and a punctured lung.


title: Artful Dodger

text: Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel "Oliver Twist". The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals on the streets of London, trained by the elderly Fagin. The term has become an idiom describing a person with skilful deception.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the novel, he becomes Oliver's closest friend (although he betrays Oliver when Oliver is caught) and he tries to make him a pickpocket, but soon realises that Oliver will not succeed, and feels sorry for him, saying "What a pity it is he isn't a prig!" He also has a close relationship with Charley Bates. The Artful Dodger is characterised as a child who acts like an adult. He is described as wearing adult clothes which are much too large for him. Like an adult, he seldom gives in to childish urges.


title: Artful Dodger

text: Ultimately the Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box and presumably transported from England to a penal colony in Australia (only alluded to in the novel). The absurdity of the master pickpocket being caught over something so small is remarked upon in the book:


title: Artful Dodger

text: The Dodger chooses to consider himself a "victim of society", roaring in the courtroom, "I am an Englishman, ain't I? Where are my priwileges?" The jailer tells him "You'll get your privileges soon enough", while the judge has little patience for the Dodger's posturing, and orders him out of the courtroom immediately after the jury convicts him of the theft. Dickens describes him this way:


title: Artful Dodger

text: Dickens had first used a similar term in his previous novel, "The Pickwick Papers". At the close of Chapter 16, Sam Weller refers to the recent schemes of Mr Jingle: "Reg'lar do, sir; artful dodge."


title: Artful Dodger

text: The Artful Dodger, though a pickpocket, is not a heartless character. He has a great respect for Fagin – "There ain't no teacher like Fagin!" (chapter 3) – to whom he delivers all of the pickpocketing spoils without question.


title: Artful Dodger

text: The role of the Artful Dodger has been played by several notable performers. Anthony Newley played the character in a 1948 film adaptation of the story. The role was amplified in the musical "Oliver!". The part was first played by Martin Horsey, and later by Tony Robinson, Davy Jones, Leonard Whiting, Steve Marriott, and Phil Collins. Elijah Wood also portrayed the character in the 1997 television film, which aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC. He was played by Harry Eden in Roman Polanski's big-budget 2005 film version.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the 1968 film "Oliver!", Jack Wild played the role and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the BBC adaptation of "Oliver Twist" in 2007, he is played by Adam Arnold. In the 2021 film "Twist", Rita Ora plays the role.


title: Artful Dodger

text: Others to have played the role in amateur productions include Adam Levine, Ben Elton, Robbie Williams, Joe Jonas, Claire Josefson, and Hayley Smith.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the 1980 ATV series "The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist", the Dodger was played by John Fowler. When Oliver is sent by Mr Brownlow to a boarding school, he finds the Dodger already there, and it is revealed that thanks to Oliver's uncle Harry Maylie the Dodger escaped transportation and was instead enrolled in the school. The two friends re-unite, and when Oliver flees the school the Dodger follows him back to London. Oliver is made to believe, by Noah Claypole, Noah's girlfriend Charlotte, and Mrs Carraway (Mr Brownlow's corrupt new housekeeper), that Mr Brownlow is ill to the point of death. After Dodger rescues Oliver from his imprisonment by Claypole in the Brownlow cellar, he and Oliver are forced to take to the streets to uncover the truth, encountering Mr Bumble, the villainous Monks, and their old mentor Fagin along the way. In Peter F. Hamilton's "Void Trilogy", Aaron pilots a spaceship called the "Artful Dodger".


title: Artful Dodger

text: Argentine football player and 1986 FIFA World Cup winning captain Diego Maradona was frequently referred to as the Artful Dodger due to his cunning personality and ability to get away with fouls, such as disguising the illegal use of his hand, as he infamously did when scoring with the "Hand of God".


title: Artful Dodger

text: At least two different books about the Major League Baseball club known as the "Dodgers" have used this character's name as a play-on-words for their titles: "The Artful Dodgers", edited by Tom Meany; and "The Artful Dodger", by Tommy Lasorda with David Fisher.


title: Artful Dodger

text: Condredge Holloway, the quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers (1972–74), was known as "The Artful Dodger" for his scrambling prowess and elusive manner. Holloway was the first African-American starting quarterback in the history of Southeastern Conference football, went on to star in the Canadian Football League from 1975 through 1987, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1999.


title: Artful Dodger

text: Dodger is one of the characters in "Shadowrun", an elven hacker; his romantic involvement with semi-autonomous knowbot Morgan spurs her into full self-consciousness and turns her into one of the setting's first true AIs, launching a far-reaching chain of events that still largely define the metaplot twenty in-character (fifteen real) years later.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the "Bewitched" episode, "The Phrase is Familiar", Tabitha's tutor uses witchcraft to make the Artful Dodger come out of Oliver Twist. In this episode he steals Samantha's ring, Darrin's watch, and the cufflinks of a client of Darrin's advertising company.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In an episode of "Gilmore Girls", "Nick & Nora, Sid & Nancy", Rory calls Jess "Dodger" after he steals her book.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the "Lost Girl" episode "It's Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away", a character refers to himself as being the "Artful Dodger" for his artist friend. Bo suggests that he did not actually read "Oliver Twist".


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the 1986 animated film "An American Tail", Tony Toponi, a streetwise teenage mouse of Italian descent, has similarities to the Artful Dodger.


title: Artful Dodger

text: The character of Adric in the science-fiction TV series "Doctor Who" was originally envisioned as an Artful Dodger-style character.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In Walt Disney's 1988 animated feature film version of "Oliver Twist", "Oliver and Company", the character of the Artful Dodger was changed to a streetwise mutt simply named Dodger. The voice was provided by musician Billy Joel.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In 1996, Jean Loup Wolfman played the role in an adaptation by Seth Michael Donsky entitled "Twisted". The film is set in a contemporary New York City underground populated by drag queens, drug abusers and hustlers. The Artful Dodger is a gay rent boy and hustler called Arthur, better known among his clientele as "Fine Art". He befriends the Oliver Twist character called Lee (played by Keivyn McNeill Grayes), the latter a black adolescent runaway.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the first edition of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic series "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", set in 1898 London, the Dodger briefly appears as an elderly man running his own gang of boy thieves, hinting that he is still following in Fagin's footsteps.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In 2001, the Artful Dodger was the subject of an Australian children's show called "Escape of the Artful Dodger". The show followed the Artful Dodger's adventures in the Australian penal colony in New South Wales, as well as his eventual redemption. Oliver Twist and Fagin also appeared.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the 2003 film "Twist", the Artful Dodger is called Dodge and is played by Nick Stahl. The film is told from his point of view, in which he is a drug addict influenced by Fagin.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In the 2010 "Doctor Who" audio drama Legend of the Cybermen, the Artful Dodger is one of the characters seen in the land of fiction. He was voiced by Steven Kynman.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In Tony Lee's 2011 novel "Dodge & Twist", set twelve years after the events of Oliver Twist, Dodger has returned to England a changed man from his time in Australia, and is planning a heist. However he cannot escape the 'ghost' of Fagin, who still guides his actions, even past the grave.


title: Artful Dodger

text: In Terry Pratchett's 2012 novel "Dodger", the title character bears certain similarities to the Dickens character. The sampler of the book also includes him meeting an astute gentleman who concerns himself with the well-being of the poor called Charlie Dickens.


title: Artful Dodger

text: A 2014 novel by Peter David, "Artful", features the Artful Dodger as the main character, and depicts his life following the events of "Oliver Twist", which includes confrontations with vampires, one of whom is revealed to be Fagin. The storyline of that novel was continued in a comic book series of the same name.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Metro-North runs service between New York City and its northern suburbs in New York and Connecticut, including Port Jervis, Spring Valley, Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Southeast and Wassaic in New York and Stamford, New Canaan, Danbury, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and New Haven in Connecticut. Metro-North also provides local rail service within the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North is the descendant of commuter rail services dating back as early as 1832. By 1969, they had all been acquired by Penn Central. MTA acquired all three lines by 1972, but Penn Central continued to operate them under contract. Service was transferred to Conrail in 1976, when it absorbed most of Penn Central's railroad functions after Penn Central's bankruptcy. The system took its current form in 1983, when MTA took over Conrail's commuter operations in the northern portion of the New York metropolitan area and merged them into Metro-North.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: There are 124 stations on Metro-North Railroad's five active lines, which operate on more than of track, with the passenger railroad system totaling of route. It is the third busiest commuter railroad in North America in terms of annual ridership, behind the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit. , Metro-North's budgetary burden for expenditures was $1.3 billion, which it supports through the collection of taxes and fees.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The MTA has jurisdiction, through Metro-North, over railroad lines on the western and eastern portions of the Hudson River in New York. Service on the western side of the Hudson is operated by NJ Transit under contract with the MTA.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Three lines provide passenger service on the east side of the Hudson River to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan: the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. The Beacon Line is a freight line owned by Metro-North but is not in service.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The New Haven Line is operated through a partnership between Metro-North and the State of Connecticut. The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) owns the tracks and stations within Connecticut, and finances and performs capital improvements. MTA owns the tracks and stations and handles capital improvements within New York State. MTA performs routine maintenance and provides police services for the entire line, its branches and stations. New cars and locomotives are typically purchased in a joint agreement between MTA and CTDOT, with the agencies paying for 33.3% and 66.7% of costs respectively. CTDOT pays more because most of the line is in Connecticut. The New Haven Line has three branches in Connecticut: the New Canaan Branch, Danbury Branch and Waterbury Branch. At New Haven, CTDOT runs two connecting services, the Shore Line East connecting service continues east to New London, and the Hartford Line service continues north to Hartford, and Springfield, Massachusetts.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Amtrak operates inter-city rail service along the New Haven and Hudson Lines. The New Haven Line is part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's "Northeast Regional" runs from New Rochelle to New Haven, while Stamford and New Haven are also served by the high-speed "Acela Express." At New Haven, the New Haven Line connects to the Amtrak New Haven–Springfield Line. The Hudson Line is part of the Empire Corridor, and the Yonkers, Croton-Harmon, and Poughkeepsie stations are all served by Amtrak as well as Metro-North.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Freight trains operate over Metro-North lines, though the company itself does not operate freight services. The Hudson Line connects with the Oak Point Link and is the main route for freight to and from the Bronx and Long Island. Freight railroads CSX, CP Rail, P&W, and Housatonic Railroad have trackage rights on sections of the system. "See" Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North provides service west of the Hudson River on trains from Hoboken Terminal, New Jersey, jointly run with NJ Transit under contract. There are two branches: the Port Jervis Line and the Pascack Valley Line. The Port Jervis Line is accessed from two NJ Transit lines, the Main Line and the Bergen County Line.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The Port Jervis Line terminates in Port Jervis, New York, and the Pascack Valley line in Spring Valley, New York, in Orange and Rockland Counties, respectively. Trackage on the Port Jervis Line north of the Suffern Yard is leased from the Norfolk Southern Railway by the MTA, but NJ Transit owns all of the Pascack Valley Line, including the portion in Rockland County, New York.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Most stops for the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines are in New Jersey, so NJ Transit provides most of the rolling stock and all the staff; Metro-North supplies some equipment. Metro-North equipment has been used on other NJ Transit lines on the Hoboken division.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: All stations west of the Hudson River in New York are owned and operated by Metro-North, except , which is owned and operated by NJ Transit.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Most of the trackage east of the Hudson River and in New York State was under the control of the New York Central Railroad (NYC). The NYC initially operated three commuter lines, two of which ran into Grand Central Depot (now Grand Central Terminal). Metro-North's Harlem Line was initially a combination of trackage from the New York and Harlem Railroad and the Boston and Albany Railroad, running from Manhattan to Chatham, New York in Columbia County. At Chatham, passengers could transfer to long-distance trains on the Boston and Albany to Albany, Boston, Vermont, and Canada. On April 1, 1873, the New York and Harlem Railroad was leased by Cornelius Vanderbilt, who added the railroad to his , which were run by the NYC. Grand Central Depot, built in 1871, served as the southern terminus of NYC's Harlem and Hudson Divisions; it would be replaced by Grand Central Station in 1900, and by Grand Central Terminal in 1913. The Boston and Albany came under the ownership of NYC in 1914.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: NYC's four-track Water Level Route paralleled the Hudson River, Erie Canal, and Great Lakes on a route from New York to Chicago via Albany. It was fast and popular due to the lack of any significant grades. The section between Grand Central and Peekskill, New York, the northernmost station in Westchester County, became known as the NYC's Hudson Division, with frequent commuter service in and out of Manhattan. Stations to the north of Peekskill, such as Poughkeepsie, were considered to be long-distance services. The other major commuter line was the Putnam Division running from 155th Street in upper Manhattan (later from Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx) to Brewster, New York. Passengers would transfer to the IRT Ninth Avenue Line for midtown and lower Manhattan.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: From the mid-19th century until 1969, the New Haven Line, including the New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury branches, was owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H). These branches were started in the 1830s with horse-drawn cars, later replaced by steam engines, on a route that connected Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Additional lines started in the mid-19th century included the New York and New Haven Railroad and the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, which provided routes to Hartford, Springfield, Massachusetts, and eventually Boston. The two roads merged in 1872 to become the NYNH&H, growing into the largest passenger and commuter carrier in New England. In the early 20th century, the NYNH&H came under the control of J.P. Morgan. Morgan's bankroll allowed the NYNH&H to modernize by upgrading steam power with both electric (along the New Haven Line) and diesel power (branches and lines to eastern and northern New England). The NYNH&H saw much profitability throughout the 1910s and 1920s until the Great Depression of the 1930s forced it into bankruptcy.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Commuter services west of the Hudson River, today's Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines, were initially part of the Erie Railroad. The Port Jervis Line, built in the 1850s and 1860s, was originally part of the Erie's mainline from Jersey City to Buffalo, New York. The Pascack Valley Line was built by the New Jersey and New York Railroad, which became a subsidiary of the Erie. Trains that service Port Jervis formerly continued to Binghamton and Buffalo, New York (today used only by freight trains), while Pascack Valley service continued to Haverstraw, New York. In 1956, the Erie Railroad began coordinated service with rival Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and in 1960 they formed the Erie Lackawanna. Trains were rerouted to the Lackawanna's Hoboken Terminal in 1956–1958.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Passenger rail in the United States began to falter after World War II. Commuter services historically had always been unprofitable, and were usually subsidized by long-distance passenger and freight services. As these profits disappeared, commuter services usually were the first to be affected. Many railroads began to gradually discontinue their commuter lines after the war. By 1958, the NYC had already suspended service on its Putnam Division, while the newly formed Erie Lackawanna, in an effort to make a successful merger, began to prune some of its commuter services. Most New Yorkers still chose the train as their primary means of commuting, making many of the other lines heavily patronized. Thus the NYC, the NYNH&H, and the Erie Lackawanna had to maintain service on these lines. Mergers between railroads were seen as a way to curtail these issues by combining capital and services and creating efficiencies.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In February 1965, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Connecticut Governor John N. Dempsey jointly suggested that operations of the New Haven Line, the New Haven Railroad's struggling commuter rail operation, be transferred to the New York Central Railroad as part of a plan to prevent the New Haven Railroad from going bankrupt. If the operational merger occurred, the proposed Metropolitan Commuter Transit Authority (MCTA; now Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA) and the existing Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) would contract with New York Central to operate the New Haven Line to Grand Central Terminal. Due to growing debts, the railroad would have to cease operating passenger trains on the New Haven Line if nothing was done. A joint report from both agencies, released in September of that year, recommended that the line be leased to New York Central for 99 years, with the MCTA and CTA acting as agents for both states. In October, the MCTA found that the New Haven Line's stations and infrastructure were even more decrepit than those of the LIRR. The New Haven Railroad's trustees initially opposed New York Central's takeover of the New Haven Line, as they felt that the $140 million offer for the New Haven Line was too low. After some discussion, the trustees decided to continue operating the New Haven Line, but only until June 1967.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 1968, following the Erie Lackawanna's example, the NYC and its rival the Pennsylvania Railroad formed Penn Central Transportation with the hope of revitalizing their fortunes. In 1969 the bankrupt NYNH&H was also combined into Penn Central by the Interstate Commerce Commission. However, this merger eventually failed, due to large financial costs, government regulations, corporate rivalries, and lack of a formal merger plan. In 1970 Penn Central declared bankruptcy, at the time the largest corporate bankruptcy ever declared. The same year, the MTA also entered into a long-term lease of Penn Central's Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. Penn Central continued to operate the now-subsidized lines under contract to the MTA. In April 1970, Rockefeller proposed that the state take over the Hudson and Harlem Lines, and the next month, he signed a bond issue that provided $44.4 million in funding to these lines.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The MTA and ConnDOT took over ownership of the New Haven Line in January 1971. In May 1972, the MTA also gained ownership of the Hudson and Harlem Lines. Penn Central continued to operate all three routes under contract. As part of its plan to modernize the commuter lines, the MTA ordered high-speed "Cosmopolitan" railcars for the New Haven Line as well as for the Hudson and Harlem Lines. After a series of delays and derailments in mid-1972, which involved Penn Central trains near Grand Central Terminal, Chairman Ronan expressed his disapproval of the way Penn Central was running its railroads. He said that the proportion of trains running on schedule had declined after Penn Central had inherited the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines in 1968.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 1976, Congress awarded the MTA "temporary" funding so the LIRR and Penn Central commuter routes could be handed over to local private operators. The bankrupt Penn Central's commuter routes were taken over by Conrail, an entity created by the federal government, the same year. Many of the other Northeastern railroads, including the Erie Lackawanna, followed Penn Central into bankruptcy, and so they had been merged into Conrail. However, the handover to private owners did not happen.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In March 1981, the administration of President Ronald Reagan suggested that struggling Conrail commuter operations across five states be transferred to state agencies. At the time, Conrail was being floated by the federal government as a private for-profit freight-only carrier. Even with state subsidies, the federal government did not want Conrail to take on the operating costs of the commuter lines, which it was relieved from by the Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981. Thus, it became essential that state-owned agencies both operate and subsidize their commuter services.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Over the next few years commuter lines under the control of Conrail were gradually taken over by state agencies such as the newly formed NJ Transit in New Jersey, the established SEPTA in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston. In March 1982, the MTA announced it would take over the Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines as long as there was no extra operating cost involved. The MTA and ConnDOT officially took control of the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines on January 1, 1983 and merged them into the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North took over the former Erie Lackawanna services west of the Hudson and north of the New Jersey state line. Since those lines are physically connected to NJ Transit, operations were contracted to NJ Transit with Metro-North subsidizing the service and supplying equipment.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In preparation for the takeover, Metro-North was created as a division of the MTA, with Peter Stangl as president. Once under the MTA's control, the agency planned to phase in capital improvements over the following five years. As part of the transition, the MTA needed to negotiate new labor contracts with the 17 unions representing 5,000 Conrail employees who would become MTA employees and had to negotiate the transfer of most of Conrail's assets.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Much work was needed in reorganization, as significant business success would not appear for at least two decades, following the faltering railroad industry in the 1970s. Conrail and later Metro-North had decided to trim whatever services they felt were unnecessary. A significant portion of the old New York Central Central Harlem line between Millerton and Chatham, New York was abandoned by Conrail, leaving northeastern Dutchess and Columbia counties with no rail transportation. Most commuter lines were kept in service although they were in much need of repair.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: On March 7, 1983, after labor negotiations between the MTA and the United Transportation Union (UTU) broke off, Metro-North employees went on strike. Commuters were left to carpool or use shuttle buses running to subway stations in the Bronx. Metro-North wanted to eliminate minimum staffing requirements and wanted the complete freedom to assign crews–a demand that the employees would not agree to. This was the first strike to shut down the New Haven, Harlem, and Hudson at the same time since January 1961. The UTU also went on strike against NJ Transit, which took over Conrail lines in New Jersey, and against SEPTA in Philadelphia. Two weeks into the strike, Metro-North President Peter Stangl estimated that it lost $80,000 a week due to the strike. The chairman of the MTA's finance committee, Stephen Berger, feared that Metro-North would lose 5% of its pre-strike ridership of 90,000–costing the railroad $1.3 million.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Richard Ravitch, the MTA Chairman, asked President Reagan to seek legislation to place the dispute under the law of New York State. Even though Metro-North was a state agency, the workers remained under federal law because Conrail was a federal agency. Reagan had turned down a request by Governor Mario Cuomo to intervene, but indicated that he would listen if a congressionally approve proposal was issued. The strike lasted six weeks, and ended on April 18 when the two sides agreed to binding arbitration.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The first major project undertaken by Metro-North was the extension of the third-rail electrification on the Harlem line from to a new station at Brewster North (since renamed ). This was completed in 1984. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, all wayside signals that did not protect switches and interlockings north of Grand Central were removed and replaced by modern cab signaling.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In October 1998, the New York State Department of Transportation announced that the Newburgh–Beacon Shuttle would be developed in conjunction with Metro-North, running from the Beacon station on the Hudson Line to the Newburgh park-and-ride on Route 17K.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North spent the better part of its early days updating and repairing its infrastructure. Stations, track, and rolling stock all needed to be repaired, renovated, or replaced. The railroad succeeded and by the mid 90s gained both respect and monetary success, according to the MTA's website. 2006 was the best year for the division, with a 97.8% rate of on-time trains, record ridership (76.9 million people), and a passenger satisfaction rating of 92%. In December 2017, the MTA announced that the Metro-North Railroad stations at , , , , and , would receive a complete overhaul as part of the Enhanced Station Initiative and would be entirely closed for up to 6 months. Updates would include cellular service, Wi-Fi, USB charging stations, interactive service advisories, and maps.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The Harlem and Hudson lines and the Park Avenue mainline to Grand Central were previously owned by Midtown TDR Ventures LLC, who bought them from the corporate successors to Penn Central. The MTA had a lease extending to the year 2274 and an option to buy starting in 2017. The MTA exercised their option to buy what was now Argent Ventures' rail assets on November 13, 2018. Under the terms of the deal, the MTA purchased Grand Central Terminal, as well as the Hudson Line from Grand Central to a point 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Poughkeepsie, and the Harlem Line from Grand Central to Dover Plains.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Diesel trains into Grand Central use General Electric P32AC-DM electro-diesel locomotives capable of switching to a pure electric mode. These locomotives have contact shoes compatible with Metro-North's under-running third rail power distribution system. Shoreliner series coaches are used in push-pull operation.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: On the Hudson Line, local trains between Grand Central and are powered by third rail. Through trains to Poughkeepsie are diesel powered and do not require a change of locomotive at Croton-Harmon. The Harlem Line has third rail from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast and trains are powered by diesel north to . At most times, passengers between Southeast and Wassaic must change at Southeast to a diesel train powered by Brookville BL20-GH locomotives. Electric service on the Hudson and Harlem lines uses M3 and M7 MU cars.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The New Haven Line is unique in that trains use both 750 V DC from a third rail and 12.5 kV AC from overhead catenary. The line from Grand Central Terminal to , uses third rail, while the section from Pelham, New York east to New Haven Union Station, which is , uses catenary. Multi-system M8 railcars equipped with third rail shoes and pantographs are used for electric service on the line.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The New Canaan Branch also uses catenary. The Danbury Branch was electrified, but became a diesel line in 1961. The Waterbury Branch, the only east-of-Hudson Metro-North service which has no direct service to Grand Central, is diesel only.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Power is collected from the bottom of the third rail as opposed to the top, used by other third rail systems, including the Long Island Rail Road and New York City Subway. This system is known as the Wilgus-Sprague third rail, and the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line in Philadelphia and Metro-North are the only two systems in North America that use it. It allows the third rail to be completely insulated from above, thus decreasing the chances of a person being electrocuted by coming in contact with the rail. It also reduces the impact of icing in winter.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines and the New Canaan branch and all passenger rolling stock is equipped with cab signalling, which displays the appropriate block signal in the engineer's cab. All rolling stock is equipped with Automatic Train Control (ATC), which enforces the speed dictated by the cab signal by a penalty brake application should the engineer fail to obey it. There are no intermediate wayside signals between interlockings: operation is solely by cab signal. Wayside signals remain at interlockings. These are a special type of signal, a go or a stop signal. They do not convey information about traffic in the blocks ahead – the cab signal conveys block information.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North began upgrading its Operations Control Center in Grand Central Terminal in 2008. All control hardware was replaced and software upgrades were performed. The new OCC at Grand Central opened over the weekend of July 18, 2010.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Most of the rolling stock on west-of-Hudson lines consists of Metro-North owned and marked Comet V cars, although occasionally other NJ Transit (NJT) cars are used as the two railroads pool equipment. The trains are also usually handled by EMD GP40FH-2, GP40PH-2, F40PH-3C, Alstom PL42AC, or Bombardier ALP-45DP locomotives, although any Metro-North or NJ Transit diesel can show up. Metro-North owned and marked equipment operated by NJ Transit can also be seen on other NJ Transit lines.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The Metro-North Railroad uses an electric fleet of M3A, M7A, and M8 electric multiple units. Multiple diesel locomotives and push-pull coaches are in use as well.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Although Metro-North uses many abbreviations (MNCR, MNR, MN, etc.) the only official reporting marks registered and recognized on AEI scanner tags is 'MNCW'. Rolling stock owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation bears the CTDOT seal and either the New Haven ("NH") logo or the MTA logo and is identified using the reporting mark 'CNDX'.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North offers many different ticket types and prices depending on the frequency of travel and distance of the ride. While the fare policies of the east of Hudson and west of Hudson divisions are essentially the same, west of Hudson trains are operated by NJ Transit using its ticketing system.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Tickets may be bought from a ticket office at stations, ticket vending machines (TVMs), online through the "WebTicket" program or through apps for iOS and Android devices, or on the train. Monthly tickets may be bought through the MTA's "Mail&Ride" program where monthly passes are delivered by mail. There is a discount for buying tickets online and through Mail&Ride. A surcharge is added if a ticket is purchased on a train.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Ticket types available include One-way, Round-trip (two One-way tickets), 10-trip, Weekly (unlimited travel for one calendar week), Monthly (unlimited travel for one calendar month), and special student and disabled fare tickets. MetroCards are available on the reverse side of the Round-trip, Weekly, and Monthly tickets.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: All tickets to/from Manhattan (Grand Central Terminal and Harlem–125th Street) are distinguished as being peak or off-peak. Peak fares, substantially higher than off-peak, apply on weekdays to travel to Manhattan on trains that arrive in Grand Central between 6 AM and 10 AM, and to travel from Manhattan on trains that leave Grand Central between 6 AM and 9 AM and 4 PM and 8 PM. Note that peak fares do "not" apply to travel to Manhattan on trains that arrive in Grand Central during the afternoon/evening rush hour. Off-peak fares are charged at all other times on weekdays, and off-peak fares are charged all day Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Tickets for travel outside Manhattan, including tickets for travel to/from the Bronx, are called Intermediate tickets and are not subject to peak fares.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North stations are split between 14 zones in New York state. In Connecticut, the fare structure is more complex due to the many branches on the New Haven Line. Generally, these zones correspond to express stops on the lines and from "blocks" of service within the schedules.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 2017, it was announced that the MetroCard fare payment system, used on New York City-area rapid transit and bus systems, would be phased out and replaced by OMNY, a contactless fare payment system. Fare payment would be made using Apple Pay, Google Wallet, debit/credit cards with near-field communication enabled, or radio-frequency identification cards. As part of the implementation of OMNY, the MTA also plans to use the system in the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 2003, the Metro-North started a pilot program in which passengers traveling within New York City were allowed to buy one-way tickets for $2.50. The special reduced-fare CityTicket, proposed by the New York City Transit Riders Council, was formally introduced in 2004. The discounted fares were initially only available for travel on Saturdays and Sundays. In March 2022, it was expanded to include all off-peak trains throughout the week for $5.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: CityTicket is valid for travel that begins and ends within New York City. CityTickets can only be bought before boarding, except at Willets Point on the Long Island Railroad where they can be purchased on board, and they must be used on the day of purchase.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: All West of Hudson stations are included in NJ Transit's fare structure, and a single ticket may be purchased for travel between any two stations on either system.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: On May 23, 2009, Metro-North opened , a station with direct, game-day "Yankee Clipper" trains from all East of Hudson lines. Trains from the New Haven and Harlem lines gain access via the wye at Mott Haven Junction, the first time that scheduled revenue service has operated across this section of the wye.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Northward expansion of the Hudson Line has often met opposition from residents of communities including Hyde Park and Rhinecliff, even though the latter is home to Amtrak's , frequented by commuters from northern Dutchess and northern Ulster Counties. Supervisors of some towns north of Poughkeepsie began expressing interest in extending rail service in 2007.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: There are plans to redevelop the former Wingdale Psychiatric Center into a mixed-use commercial and residential neighborhood known as Dover Knolls, centered around the station.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Northward expansion took place most recently when it was extended from Dover Plains to Wassaic in 2000, requiring a costly rebuilding of tracks that had been abandoned years before. Going further north would require substantial investment to rebuild tracks, grade crossings, stations and other facilities that were removed long ago, and obtaining eminent domain for the train property used by the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. Expansion of either line would probably be limited to Dutchess County, as extending Metro-North into Columbia County, and thus to Chatham, would require changes to the MTA charter, and residents of that county would become subject to the MTA tax.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 2014, Metro-North officials announced that they would be installing security cameras at all stations on the Harlem and New Haven Lines in order to address public safety concerns. These concerns arose from an incident on September 29, 2013, where the body of 17-year-old Mount Saint Michael Academy student Matthew Wallace was found on the tracks of the station. Wallace, who was inebriated at the time, was killed when a northbound train struck him while he was standing on the platform. Due to the lack of cameras at the station, footage of his death did not exist.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Discussions are underway to re-electrify the Danbury Branch with a concurrent expansion to New Milford. Connecticut officials and Metro-North also began construction of a new station in West Haven in November 2010. It was opened on August 18, 2013. CTDOT is also moving forward on a study to increase freight service on the New Haven Line in an effort to reduce the number of trucks on the congested Connecticut Turnpike. Metro-North has upgraded most of the original 1907–1914 New Haven Railroad catenary system, a project begun in the early 1990s and scheduled to finish in mid-2018. The Danbury Branch is to receive $30 million for station upgrades along the line as well as implementation of a new signal system.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Plans to extend the Waterbury Branch northeast from Waterbury are under discussion. The extension would bring passenger rail service to central Connecticut, including the two largest cities in Connecticut without passenger rail service, Bristol and New Britain, and on to Hartford, where transfers to Amtrak would be possible.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In 2014, Metro-North officials announced that they would be installing security cameras at all stations on the Harlem and New Haven Lines in order to address public safety concerns.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: In September 2009, Metro-North announced plans for a $1.7 million environmental impact statement on accessing Penn Station; although this possibility had been considered for several decades, it was never pursued because there was no space for any more trains in Penn Station. The project depends upon the completion of East Side Access, which will redirect some Long Island Rail Road trains from Penn Station to Grand Central upon its completion in December 2022. Weekday Metro-North service in the Bronx includes 253 daily trains with approximately 13,200 daily boardings. In addition, Metro-North also connects 5,000 Bronx residents to suburban jobs, making it the largest rail reverse-commute market in the United States. Governor Andrew Cuomo publicly and strongly supported the project in January 2014.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: New Haven Line trains would enter the Hell Gate Line through New Rochelle. At Sunnyside Yards, they would enter Manhattan via the East River Tunnels. Stations would be built at Co-op City, Morris Park, Parkchester/Van Nest, and Hunts Point. Open houses were held at each of the four proposed stations in the Fall of 2012. Stations would be wheelchair-accessible, with bicycle parking and multi-modal transfer areas to train or bus. Cuomo endorsed the New Haven Line portion of the Penn Station Access project in his 2014 State of the State speech, stating that some Sandy recovery money could pay for the project's cost of over $1 billion. He did not mention the Hudson Line portion of the project.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Hudson Line trains would access Penn Station via a change at and would travel under Riverside Park via Amtrak's Empire Connection. Named Penn Station Access, the Hudson line plans call for new stations on West 125th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, and West 62nd Street in Riverside South, Manhattan.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: On October 28, 2015, the MTA Board of Directors approved a 2015–2019 Capital Program which included $695 million in planned spending for the Penn Station Access project. Upon completion of the Environmental Review process, Metro-North will design and implement the track and structural work needed to operate on the Hell Gate Bridge and its approaches in the Bronx and Queens; communications and signals work; power improvements, including third rail, power substations, and catenary; construction of the four stations in the Bronx; and rolling stock specification development for the fleet needed to operate the service.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: The MTA was working with the Tappan Zee Bridge Environmental Review on several options where the replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge would have included a rail line to connect the Pascack Valley Line in Rockland County to the Hudson Line in Westchester County. A proposed bus rapid transit system using the new bridge was shelved as too expensive, but the bridge was structurally built for expansion with BRT and/or commuter rail at a later date. This is now part of a dedicated bus lane system planned to go into service in late 2018.


title: Metro-North Railroad

text: Metro-North is considering extending Port Jervis Line service to Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, a move that could make a Tappan Zee Bridge rail line even more useful, as it would serve both commuters and travelers who choose to fly to and from Stewart, instead of the three major New York City-area airports.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan (died 20 November 1659) was a general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur Sultanate in India. He played an important role in the southern expansion of the Bijapur Sultanate by subjugating the Nayaka chiefs who had taken control of the former Vijayanagara territory.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: In 1659, the Bijapur government sent Afzal Khan to subjugate Shivaji, a former vassal who had started acting independently. He was killed at a truce negotiation meeting with Shivaji, and his army was defeated at the Battle of Pratapgad.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Amid the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Bijapur government campaigned against the Nayaka chiefs who had taken control of the former Vijayanagara territory. One of these chiefs was Virabhadra, the Nayaka of Ikkeri. Kenge Nayaka (or Keng Nayak), the chief of Basavapattana and a discontented tributary of Virabhadra, helped the Bijapur army capture Ikkeri in exchange for 1,00,000 rupees, forcing Virabhadra to flee to Bednur. Subsequently, the Bijapur government decided to capture the forts of Adoni and Tadipatri, which were ruled by friends of Kenge Nayaka. Kenge Nayaka suggested that the march to these areas was difficult, and instead advised Bijapur to capture Bangalore. In exchange for this advice, Kenge Nayaka demanded the fort of Sira, which was located on the way to Bangalore.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: The Bijapur commander Randaula Khan sent a force led by Afzal Khan to capture Sira. Kasturi Ranga Nayaka, the commander of Sira, came out of the fort to negotiate with Afzal Khan, but Afzal Khan treacherously killed him. The defenders closed the fort gates before Afzal Khan could enter the fort, but Afzal Khan's contingent was soon reinforced by the main Bijapur army led by Randaula Khan. The Bijapur army captured the fort, and handed it over to Kenge Nayaka, while sending the captured wealth to Bijapur. Kenge Nayaka subsequently switched his allegiance to Bangalore, but then re-joined Bijapur, and convinced the Bangalore ruler Kempe Gowda to surrender his fort to Bijapur.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Randaula Khan then invaded Mysore, whose ruler Kanthirava Narasaraja I negotiated peace by paying 500,000 "huns" (currency unit) to Bijapur. Subsequently, Kenge Nayaka rebelled against Bijapur, and asserted independence at Basavapattana, where he raised an army of 70,000 soldiers to guard the fort. Randaula Khan then formed an alliance with his former overlord Virabhadra, the former Nayaka of Ikkeri, and besieged Basavapattana. Afzal Khan, along with Shahaji and some commanders of African origin, was deployed at the main gate of the Basavapattana fort. He entered the fort after a fierce battle, killed the guards, and captured the "qasba" – the central part of the fortified town. Kenge Nayaka then launched three successive attacks against him, but Afzal Khan forced him to retreat. Encouraged by Afzal Khan's successes, the Bijapur forces attacked Kenge Nayaka's contingent from both sides. After losing 3,700 soldiers, Kenge Nayaka surrendered the fort, and agreed to pay Bijapur 4 million "huns". He was imprisoned, and later killed for attempting to bribe a guard for his release.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Bijapur's victory over Kenge Nayaka frightened the other Nayakas of present-day Karnataka into accepting Bijapur's suzerainty. Randaula Khan sent Afzal Khan to capture Chikkanayakana Halli, whose chief ("raja") offered to accept Bijapur's suzerainty. The chief was allowed to keep control of the town ("qasba") in exchange for 20,000 "huns", but Afzal Khan took control of the fort. Afzal Khan then besieged the fort of Belur, joined by the main Bijapur army. After a four-month long siege, the local chief Venkatapati started peace negotiations, offering to cede the fort of Sakrepatna near Belur. Ultimately, he became a vassal of Bijapur, as did the Nayaka of Tumkur.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan is best remembered for his campaign against Shivaji, the founder of the kingdom that later evolved into the Maratha Empire. This campaign, which resulted in Afzal Khan's death, came to be highly celebrated in the Marathi literature. The earliest sources that describe the episode include:


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji was a son of the Bijapur's general Shahaji, who had fought alongside Afzal Khan. He administered Shahaji's fiefs in the Pune region, and had started acting independently of the Bijapur government. He had captured territories ruled by other subordinates of Bijapur, and had negotiated with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who had invaded the Bijapur Sultanate. Shivaji claimed to be a loyal servant of Bijapur, but the Bijapur government doubted his loyalty. During much of the 1650s, the Bijapur government had been unable to take any steps against Shivaji because it was busy dealing with the Mughal invasion, internal factional politics, and a succession dispute. After a peace treaty with the Mughals, and the general acceptance of Ali Adil Shah II as the king, the Bijapur government became more stable, and turned its attention towards Shivaji.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Ali Adil Shah II was a minor whose mother had been the de facto ruler since the mid-1640s, when his father had fallen seriously ill. The decision of sending Afzal Khan against Shivaji was probably taken by his mother. An English letter sent by factor Henry Revington to East India Company, dated 10 December 1659, states that the queen advised Afzal Khan to pretend friendship with Shivaji, because military strength would not be enough to defeat Shivaji.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji reportedly commanded a 60,000 infantry after his conquest of Javli. On the other hand, Afzal Khan's army – including infantry and cavalry – had 10,000 soldiers. This number is supported by the English letter, as well as "Tarikh-i-Ali". Maratha sources suggest higher numbers, stating that Afzal Khan's army had as many as 35,000 infantry; 12,000 cavalry; and 500 cannons; according to American academic Nicholas Gier, these sources exaggerate the strength of Afzal Khan's forces in order to glorify Shivaji's victory. The "Chitnis Bakhar" states that Afzal Khan's army numbered 30,000 men; and Sabhasad states that it had 12,000 cavalry plus additional infantry. "Shivaji-Pratpa", "Rairi Bakhar", "91 Qalami Bakhar", and "Tarikh-i-Shivaji" state that Afzal Khan's army numbered 12,000.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan, like the ruler of Bijapur, was a Muslim, while Shivaji was a Hindu. According to "Shiva-Bharata" (1674), composed under Shivaji's patronage, Afzal Khan's army started its march amid several evil omens, such as falling meteors and thunderbolts in cloudless sky. The text states that Afzal Khan first came to Tuljapur, where he destroyed the idol of Shivaji's family goddess Bhavani, and slaughtered a cow (considered holy by the Hindus) in front of her temple. "Afzal Khan Vadh" states that Afzal Khan challenged the goddess to show her some miracle. He went on the desecrate the Hindu temples at Pandharpur and Shikhar Shingnapur (Shambhu Mahadev).


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Sabhasad also supports the account of Afzal Khan's desecrations at Tuljapur and Pandharpur. The "Chitnis Bakhar" and "Shiva Digvijaya" state that the idols at Tuljapur and Pandharpur were removed before Afzal Khan could destroy them. The contemporary English letters of the East India Company, the Dutch East India Company's Dagh-register, and the Portuguese records do not mention any desecration of temples by Afzal Khan.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan finally encamped at Wai, a town that he had governed in the earlier years. Shivaji had taken up residence in the newly fortified Pratapgad, and Afzal Khan's desecration of Hindu sites was probably aimed at provoking Shivaji into leaving the safety of the fort. These actions alienated the local Hindu "Deshmukhs", who could have provided local support to Afzal Khan. Since Afzal Khan had governed the Wai region in the past, and knew it well, he presumed that he did not need such local support.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: At Wai, Afzal Khan wrote to local chiefs, seeking their support against Shivaji. Vithoji Haibat Rao, the "deshmukh" of Gunjan-Maval, was asked to bring a contingent to Javli in Afzal Khan's support. Khandoji Khopde agreed to support Afzal Khan on the condition that he would be made the "deshmukh" of Rohidkhore, which was held by Shivaji's loyalist Kanhoji Jedhe.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: According to Sabhasad, Afzal Khan then sent his envoy Krishna Bhaskar Kulkarni to Shivaji, declaring that he was a great friend of Shivaji's father Shahaji. He promised that he would use his influence in the Bijapur court to get the king to officially recognize Shivaji's control over Konkan and various forts. He also promised to secure further distinction and military equipment for Shivaji from Bijapur. Finally, he declared that Shivaji was welcome to attend the Bijapur court, or be granted an exemption from personal attendance, if he so desired.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Meanwhile, Afzal Khan's unchallenged march to Wai had greatly frightened Shivaji's followers. His well-equipped army had freely plundered the territory of Shivaji, who had confined himself to a fort instead of challenging Afzal Khan in an open battlefield. Both Sabhasad and "Chitnis Bakhar" state that Shivaji's counsellors urged him to avoid losses by negotiating peace with Afzal Khan.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Texts such as "Afzal Khan Vadh" and "Shiva-Bharata" claim that the goddess Bhavani appeared in Shivaji's dream, warning him of Afzal Khan's treacherous plans, and assuring him of victory. After waking up, Shivaji prayed to the goddess, and resolved to either win against Afzal Khan or die fighting. He summoned the armies of his generals – Moro Trimbak Pingle from Konkan and Netaji Palkar from the Ghats – close to Pratapgad.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji treated Afzal Khan's envoy Krishnaji Bhaskar with respect, and met him secretly at night, urging him as a Hindu to divulge Afzal Khan's real intentions. Krishnaji hinted that Afzal Khan had treacherous plans. Shivaji then sent Krishnaji back to Afzal Khan with his own agent Gopinath Pant. The envoy presented Shivaji as someone who respected Afzal Khan as an elder and an associate of his father, and as someone who was willing to submit easily. However, his real objective was to find the enemy's military strength and intentions. Sabhasad states that Gopinath bribed Afzal Khan's officers, and learned that Afzal Khan planned to arrest Shivaji at the meeting.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: After learning these details from Gopinath, Shivaji pretended that he was scared of Afzal Khan, and refused to come to Wai for a meeting. Shivaji's envoy proposed a negotiation meeting with only a few bodyguards at Javli, located near the foot of the Pratpagad fort. Afzal Khan agreed, and accordingly, Shivaji ordered his men to clear forest and create a path from Wai to Pratapgad.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: The place chosen for the meeting was a crest located below Pratapgad, overlooking the Koyna River valley. One day before the meeting, Afzal Khan marched to Par, a village near Pratapgad, via the Radtondi pass. His soldiers encamped in scattered places, close to water bodies near the source of the Koyna River. Meanwhile, Shivaji placed his soldiers in ambush at various intervals along the path leading to the meeting point. He set up luxurious tents at the meeting place.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Before departing for the meeting, Shivaji left instructions for continuation of his government, in case he was killed at the meeting.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji took precautionary measures to defend himself against Afzal Khan: he put on thin chain mail and an iron armour under his clothes, and concealed two weapons: the bagh nakh ("tiger claws" or metal hooks attached to fingers), and a sword said to be "possessed" by the goddess Bhavani. He left for the meeting accompanied by two soldiers – his expert swordsman Jiva Mahala and Shambhuji Kavji, each of whom carried two swords and a shield.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan left his camp at Par with an escort of 1,000 soldiers. However, Shivaji's envoy Gopinath argued that such a large escort would scare Shivaji away from the meeting, and convinced Afzal Khan to bring only two soldiers to the meeting, just like Shivaji. Accordingly, Afzal Khan left most of his escort at a short distance from the meeting place, and came to meet Shivaji in a "palki", accompanied by five men: two soldiers, his expert swordsman Sayyid Banda, and the Brahmin envoys Krishnaji and Gopinath.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji, who was waiting at a distance from the meeting place, demanded that Sayyid Banda leave the tent where the meeting was scheduled. Afzal Khan agreed to the demand: both Afzal Khan and Shivaji now entered inside the tent, each accompanied by three men – two soldiers and an envoy. Afzal Khan insulted Shivaji by calling him a peasant () boy, and Shivaji responded by calling him a son of a fry cook ().


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: According to the Maratha texts, Afzal Khan asked Shivaji to submit to the Bijapuri king Adil Shah, and be recognized as a vassal lord. He pretended to embrace Shivaji, but then quickly stabbed him with a concealed weapon. Shivaji was protected by his chain mail, and retaliated. Afzal Khan then rushed out of the tent; his companion Sayyid Banda attacked Shivaji, but was killed by Jiva Mahala. This event is remembered in a Marathi language idiom "Hōtā Jivā Mhaṇun Vāchlā Shivā" ("Because of Jiva; Shivaji survived the attack").


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan was subsequently killed and beheaded. The various sources differ regarding who killed Afzal Khan, and how:


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: "Muntakhab-al Lubab", a work by the Mughal chronicler Khafi Khan, attributes the treachery to Shivaji instead: it states that Shivaji feigned humility and tears while approaching Afzal Khan, confessing his sins and asking for forgiveness after every 3–4 steps. He then pretended to tremble with fear, and requested that Afzal Khan's companions withdraw to a distance. In reality, he had stationed his soldiers in ambush in every cave, and concealed a bichuwa (dagger), which he used to treacherously attack Afzal Khan.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: After Afzal Khan's killing, Shivaji's Maratha troops, hidden in the forest, came out and routed the Bijapur army at the Battle of Pratapgad, on 20 November 1659 (10 November 1659 in Julian calendar). According to Revington's letter, around 3,000 of Afzal Khan's soldiers died in the battle. Two of Afzal Khan's sons were captured by Shivaji's soldiers. Another son – Fazl Khan – escaped along with Afzal Khan's wives with the support of Khandoji Khopde. The Maratha texts state that many of Afzal Khan's men were killed, but those who surrendered were invited to join Shivaji.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Afzal Khan's head was presented before the goddess Bhavani and Shivaji's mother Jijabai as a trophy, and later buried under the "Abdullah Tower" at Pratapgad. The rest of Afzal Khan's body was buried in Javli.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Shivaji's victory over Afzal Khan caught the popular imagination of the local public, and ballads glorifying the event were sung by wandering bards (gondhalis). The victory is also glorified in the local literature (see Powada). The "Afzal Khan Vadh" equates Shivaji to Rama, and Afzal Khan to Ravana. The "Shiva-Bharata" similarly describes Shivaji as an avatar of Vishnu, while portraying Afzal Khan as a demonic incarnation. The "Shri-Shiva-Prabhuche" compares the conflict to the legendary Kurukshetra War, equating Shivaji to Bhima and Afzal Khan to Duryodhana.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: Several legends about Afzal Khan's fatal campaign became popular in the following years. One of these legends claims that he had a premonition about his death before he started his march against Shivaji. Therefore, he buried his 63 wives at Afzalpura near Bijapur to ensure that no other men would get them after his death.


title: Afzal Khan (general)

text: An annual "urs" (death anniversary celebration) was held at Afzal Khan's tomb, but in the 1990s, right-wing Hindus objected to the alleged Muslim glorification of Afzal Khan as a martyr during the event. They formed an organization called Pratapgarh Utsav Samiti, and started organizing "Shiv Pratap Din" ("Shivaji Glorification Day") to celebrate Shivaji's victory over Afzal Khan. The Samiti observed the day at the Pratapgad fort from 1996 to 2004, when the Congress-NCP-led state government banned the politicized celebration because of provocative speeches and riots at the event. In 2014, the state passed a resolution banning exhibition of paintings of Shivaji killing Afzal Khan, after some Muslim groups objected to such a painting.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Activated in 1915, as the 173rd Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War II but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. The brigade was the first major United States Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam, serving there from 1965 to 1971 and losing 1,533 soldiers. Noted for its roles in Operation Hump and Operation Junction City, the 173rd is best known for the Battle of Dak To, where it suffered heavy casualties in close combat with North Vietnamese forces. Brigade members received over 7,700 decorations, including more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. The brigade returned to the United States in 1972, where the 1st and 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, were absorbed into the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), and the 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery was reassigned to Division Artillery in the 101st. The remaining units of the 173rd were inactivated.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: Since its reactivation in 2000, the brigade served five tours in the Middle East in support of the War on Terror. The 173rd participated in the initial invasion of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, and had four tours in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, and 2012–13. The brigade returned most recently from a deployment stretching from late 2013 to late 2014.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade has received 21 campaign streamers and several unit awards, including the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions during the Battle of Dak To during the Vietnam War.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade serves as the conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe. It was a subordinate unit of the U.S. Army's V Corps and after June 2013, subordinate to US Army Europe.


title: 173rd Airborne Brigade

text: The 173rd Airborne Brigade currently consists of 3,300 soldiers in seven subordinate battalions as well as a headquarters company: