Internet Lies

One of the key challenges of Kahaani is sorting out fact from fiction in the age of a lawless internet...

Sayajirao was King of Baroda from 1875 to 1939. He was a magnanimous ruler, investing in public education, healthcare, and infrastructure for his subjects. Some sources also rave about his aptitude as a "technologist." In particular, they commend the king for funding research of unmanned aircraft, years before the Wright Brothers (!!)

Now, if 10 different sources are validating the same claim, you often have reason to believe it to be true. However, many of these sites curiously used the exact same phrasing.

So we did some investigating. We are still not entirely sure what happened, but this is our best guess so far:

There was a scientist - S.B. Talpade - who was doing research into unmanned aircraft in the late 1800s. One day, he launched a test flight in a public park, managing to get his plane up in the air before it quickly fell back down. SB was so disappointed by the failure that he ceased his research right then and there.

So how does the King of Baroda fit into this story? Well, the King MAY have been watching the experiment at the park that day. But also maybe not.