NPR: Light off eyes Open New Moon Darkness Skies for Metro shower

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/21/151092538/lights-off-eyes-open-new-moon-darkens-skies-for-meteor-shower?sc=fb&cc=fp

Freedom From Mental Slavery

Technology and tradition- Siddi Tribe members from Gujrat, India
The Siddi, Siddhi, or Sheedi (Urdu: شی Hindi: सिद्दी or शीदि; Gujarati: સિદ્દી; Kannada: ಸಿದ್ಧಿಗಳು), also known as Habshi, are an Indian and Pakistani ethnic group of Black African descent. The Siddi population is currently estimated to be 20,000–55,000, with Gujarat and Hyderabad in India and Karachi in Pakistan as the main population centres. Siddis are mainly Sufi Muslims, although some are Hindus and some Roman Catholic Christians. Villages in the forests of northern Karnataka, for instance, have residents who likely are descended from Mozambican/Angolan slaves who escaped from Portuguese traders and ships.
The first Siddis are thought to have arrived in the Indian subcontinent in 628 AD at the Bharuch port. Several others followed with the first Arab Islamic invasions of the subcontinent in 712 AD.The latter group are believed to have been soldiers with Muhammad bin Qasim's Arab army, and were called Zanjis.
As a power centre, Siddis were sometimes allied with the Mughal Empire in its power-struggle with the Maratha Confederacy.However, Malik Ambar, a prominent Siddi figure in Indian history at large, is sometimes regarded as the "military guru of the Marathas", and was deeply allied with them. He established the town of Khirki which later became the modern city of Aurangabad, and helped establish the Marathas as a major force in the Deccan. Later, the Marathas adapted Siddi guerrilla warfare tactics to grow their power and ultimately demolish the Mughal empire. Some accounts describe the Mughal emperor Jahangir as obsessed by Ambar due to the Mughal empire's consistent failures in crushing him and his Maratha cavalry, describing him derogatorily as "the black faced" and "the ill-starred" in the royal chronicles and even having a painting commissioned that showed Jahangir killing Ambar, a fantasy which was never realised in reality.
Some Indian Siddis are descended from Tanzanians and Mozambicans brought by the Portuguese. While most African slaves became Muslim and a small minority became Christian, very few became Hindu since they could not find themselves a position in the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy.