Today’s Motto: ‘Lower your expectations, avoid disappointments’

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History !

On this day, 04 Nov ….

1822 – Water supply scheme formally launched in Delhi under  MCD  wing Delhi Jal Board   (pic credit-orderofindia.com).

1845 – Michael Faraday, working in his laboratory at the Royal Institution, hung a piece of heavy glass between the poles of an electromagnet and observed that the glass aligned itself across the lines of force of the magnet. He further experimented on many other substances, with similar results, a phenomenon that he named diamagnetism. These investigations showed Faraday that magnetism was inherent within matter. This led to his lecture “Thoughts on Ray-vibrations” in April 1846, which he expanded in the following years into his field theory of electromagnetism.

1846 – The first U.S. patent for an artificial leg was granted to Benjamin F. Palmer of Meredith, New Hampshire. The leg had a pliable joint that worked noiselessly and preserved its contour in all positions.

1869 – The first issue  of the journal Nature  was published, edited by astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (pic credit-londonidst.com).

1873 – The first U.S. patent for a Gold Crown was issued to Dr. John B. Beers of San Francisco, California, on “artificial crowns for teeth”.

1879 – James Jacob Ritty, with help from his brother John, invented the first cash register to combat bartenders stealing at the Pony House Restaurant, his Dayton, Ohio saloon. His idea came on a cruise, when he saw a device that counted the revolutions of the ship’s propeller. Their

first model looked like a clock, but instead of the hands indicating hours and minutes, they indicated dollars and cents. Behind the dial, two adding discs accumulated the total of the amounts recorded. Known as “the incorruptible cashier,” with no cash drawer, it would show anyone within sight how much had been recorded. However, the Ritty brothers failed to sell their cash registers in large quantities – largely because shop staff distrusted this “thief trap”.

1879 – African-American  dentist,  surgeon, pharmacist and inventor  Thomas Elkins patented a refrigerating apparatus designed for chilling or cooling food, or even, according to the patent, human corpses. A porous chilling box enveloped in fabric rests on a grated floor through which a circulation of air aids the evaporation of water supplied from a trough to the fabric. As the water evaporates, latent heat is withdrawn from the chilling box (pic credit-samepassage.org).

1922 – The entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in Egypt in the Valley of the Kings, where the English archaeologist Howard Carter had been making extended excavations. One of Carter’s labourers stumbled upon a stone step, the first step in a sunken stairway that ran down into the rock. Later in the month, Carter opened the virtually intact tomb of the largely unknown child-king Tutankhamen, who became pharaoh at age 9 and died at 19 (pic credit-boshidora.com).

1939 – The first air-conditioned automobile was exhibited by its manufacturer, Packard Motor Co. of Detroit, Michigan.

1946 – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Constitution became effective. The Preamble of its Constitution declares: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” It currently has 188 Member States and 5 Associate Members. Its main objective is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication. UNESCO provides for the advancement, transfer, and sharing of knowledge, relying primarily on research, training, and teaching activities. It has headquarters in Paris, France.

1947 – India and Pakistan accuse each other of violating their neutrality agreement in the Kashmir dispute as Indian troops invade the state. Yet Pakistan had already sent its forces in the garb of  civilian  kabaylis (Lashkar militias from  Waziristan) on Oct. 22, 1947 and had  captured almost half of the state of J&K.  Indian forces  reached Srinagar after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the  Documernt of Accession into India on Oct. 26, 1947. Still a third of the area is under Pak control and is called POK (Pak Occupied Kashmir).

1948 – The Constituent Assembly of India met in New Delhi with Dr. Rajendra Prasad in the Chair. Later he was  selected  as  the first  President of  India.

1954 – The Institute of Himalayan Mountaineering in Darjeeling was established. The first Indian-Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first Director of the insitute

1997 – The Army’s Off Signal at Siachen Base Camp made the world’s highest STD Booth set up.

1998 – Paramjeet Singh upstages Milkha Singh’s 38-year-old 400m record at the national open athletic championship at Calcutta.

Born…. 1618 – Aurangzeb, the 6th  Mughal King of India who rulede beteween 1958 -1707.  He was the son of Shah Jahan and  was very cruel to his  citizens especially Hindus and non-muslims. He even put  his  father  in  jail in  his  last days.

1929 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian computer and mathematics  wizard,  astrologer who demonstrated her gift as an arithmetical prodigy in public performances (beginning at age 6 years old), rapidly computing answers to addition of several up to 13-digit numbers. Using her mental skills, she applied shortcuts using mathematical algorithms, though she could not explain that ability. Her calculations included using large numbers in multiplication and division. She also quickly gave square and cube roots, and could name the day of the week for any date in the last century.

1965 – Milind Soman, model, actor, producer and fitness freek. Made his debut thru’ Alisha Chenoy’s music videos Made in India in 1995,  followed by TV series A Mouthful of Sky,  Captain Vyom,  Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi, Ghost Bana Dost  etc. He acted in Tarkieb, Pyar Ki Dhun,  16 December, Surya, Bhagmati, Bheja Fry, Bhram, Bajirao Mastani,  Satyamev Jayate etc.

1971 – Tabassum Fatima Hashmi (Tabu), an actress who primarily works in Hindi films, alongside Telugu and Tamil language films. She has often played troubled, complicated women in a range of characters, from fictional to literary, in both mainstream and independent cinema, as well as some American productions. Debuted  in Hum Naujawan by evergreen actor/producer Dev Anand and Virasat, Hu Tu Tu, Astitva. Maachis, Chandni Bar, Jawani Jaaneman, Taal, Drishyam 2, Bhool Bhulaiyan 2, Kutte, House of Spies, Chini Kum  etc. She has won 2 National, 7 Filmfare awards, Padam Shri and several others including Tamil, Telugu film awards. Tabu also acted in 2 Hollywood films Life of Pi, The Namesake.

RIP….1970 – Pandit Shambhu Maharaj, was a famous guru and dancer of the Indian classical dance form Kathak. He belonged to the Lucknow gharana. His real name was ‘Shambhunath Mishra’. By singing thumri with dance, Shambhu Maharaj used to display  his expressions in such a way that the audience remained enchanted for hours. He was honoured  with Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards.

You may have known…. Roman soldiers were given an allowance for salt purchase — a salārium. That eventually made its way into Anglo-French as salarie, and later borrowed into English as “Salary.”   

2.  Indian  Languages: Many of the principal languages of India belong to two families, the Indo-European and the Dravidian. Also, three languages of the Sino-Tibetan family have official status in the northeastern region of the country. 

The Dravidian languages are unique to the Indian subcontinent. They are often spoken in the South of the country. Hindi, an Indo-European language, is the most widely spoken language. Hindi has various different dialects. 

Other major languages of India are Bengali,  Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Oriya,  Malayalam, Gujarati. However, 350 million Indians speak English as a second language and much of the upper middle class in large cities speak English as the usual language for daily communication. Punjabi has been spoken by over  150 million  Indians, Sikhs, and Punjabis  worldover. .         

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}

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