Armenia has a huge Pakistanesque problem. The focus of Armenia, just like Pakistan is not perseverance and survival. It is integration of Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia. What happens to Armenia in the process, who cares? And as like in Pakistan anyone who says let's talk with Azerbaijan and fix Karabakh issue for good will be treated like Zulfiqar Bhutto or Yahya Khan.

Alexander was neither the first nor the last who suffered in Afghanistan - but he is easily the one who suffered the most. In spite of criss-crossing Afghanistan many a time, all he was able to achieve is a series of failures. His marriage to the daughter of Oxyartes, a Sogdian noble was the only thing which changed his fortunes and allowed him to scamper back to Persia where he died of battle wounds.

The Tribal India coexisted with the mainstream India for millenia but maintained it's own traditions. There was a bidirectional flow of influence and syncretism being such perfect that the tribal religions are treated as a part of Hindu whole. Ahoms are one of the last tribes which migrated into India. Till the last, they maintained their traditional customs but modelled their religion on the traditional Hindu structure. Their foundation myth and other traditional culture reminds one how different they are from other Indians and at the same time, how same they are, to other Indians.

The Kakatiyas were a tough nut to crack for the Islamic Armies from the start. But, the spectacular speed with which Kakatiya Empire collapsed was actually the reason why Delhi Sultanates weren't able to gain a foothold in the South - simply put, the Empire disappeared but not it's armies. The resistance the armies put meant that Delhi Sultanate wasn't able to set it's foot in the territory for the next 300-350 years.

Tens of thousands died in Operation Polo. The Nizam didn't achieve anything by that grandstanding. Neither did Jinnah achieve anything by Hyderabad fighting India. But, one would see that, to satisfy his petty ego, Jinnah goaded the Nizam to take a belligerent stand leading to huge losses in life and property.

If you are asked to choose between Krishna Deva Raya and Prithviraj Chauhan as a role model for India, whom would you choose? Both were products of their generations and acted as is the expectation. For one, Dharma is to follow the rule book, for the other Dharma is perseverance and safety of his people. What lessons can they teach us, and what can India learn from the way the both handled the things?