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Count India’s gift of numbers

Fred Kerley of the United States celebrates after winning silver in the men's 100m in Tokyo. Most of the athletes I see at the Olympic Games are black, even those from the so-called white countries like the US, the writer says. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
Fred Kerley of the United States celebrates after winning silver in the men's 100m in Tokyo. Most of the athletes I see at the Olympic Games are black, even those from the so-called white countries like the US, the writer says. REUTERS/Andrew Boyers
Image: Andrew Boyers

Two of the three top countries at the Olympic Games are China and Japan. But then India and Nigeria are criticised for not having won many medals despite their large populations. Most of the athletes I see at the Olympic Games are black, even those from the so-called white countries like the US.

I did not know that China and Japan were "whites-only" countries. Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire painted Jesus white when he actually looked like a black African (Ethiopian). The Roman Emperor did this to convert Europeans to Christianity in 300 AD.

He thought if Jesus was a white prophet then most Europeans would become Christians. Before that people in the Roman Empire believed in Mithraism – the Hindu religion. You still find remnants of Hindu temples in Rome, Italy, even today.

You must thank Indians for giving the world the numbers (numerals) used throughout the world today. The Arabs got the numerals from India and it came via the Arabs to Europe. One of the greatest physicists of all time, Albert Einstein, said: "The Indians taught us to count."

Sears Appalsamy,  Netherlands

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