Today’ Motto: ‘Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep balance, we must keep moving’

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

On this day, 11 May….

868 – The first known dated printed book was the Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist scripture. It was made as a 16-ft scroll with six sheets of text printed from wood blocks and one sheet with a woodcut showing the Buddha with disciples and a pair of Cats. The scroll was one of about 1,130 bundles of manuscripts found a thousand years later,  walled up in one of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas in Turkistan. It is now one of the great treasures in the British Library (pic credit-buddhaweekly.com).

1857 – In the  First  Independence  War, Indian revolutionaries seize Delhi from the British and install  Bahadurshah (the second son of Akbar -II),  as their King. But it was a very short lived, as he had no money, nor resources to fight the British and  his own rebellious kins. He was captured by  Major William Hodson,  the East India Company’s commander  on Sept. 20 and later exiled to  Rangoon, Burma, alongwith one of  his 4 wives  and 2 of the 22 sons. He died there  in Nov. 1862. Many of his descendents have been getting pensions (vazifas) after India got Freedom in 1947.

1949 – The first Polaroid camera was sold.

1995 – In central Kashmir, Pakistani militants burnt the Charar-e-Sherif shrine (the tomb of Sufi saint Sheikh Noorudin Noorani) built in 1460 by Zain-ul- Abidin. Their act was  aimed disturb the peace  and  to start violence in the state. It is believed to be a remant of  ancient saint   Nund Rishi  of Kashmir.

1996 – The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.                                                                                                                                        1997 – Deep Blue, a ches s-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format

1998 – Three momentous events took place on the day that did India proud. Firstly, Buddha Smiles Again:  three underground Nuclear Tests at Pokhran Range in Rajasthan, which included a hydrogen bomb, were tested  by the PM Atal Behari Vajpayee  govt, in its 2nd tenure of  13 months; It was a Buddh Purnima  Day!  This followed by  hunge financial and technology sanctions by the governmernts of USA, Canada, Germany, Australia on  supply of  Uranium and other inputs, even  for  India’s  peaceful  nuclear energy requirements (pic credit-MoD.Gov.in).  

1998 – Secondly, the successful test firing of the ‘Trishul Missile’   and Thirdly, the Certification test flight of ‘Hansa-3‘, the first all-Composite indigenous two seater aircraft (pic credit-insitesonindia.com).

1999 – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case: The Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence on four of the 26 accused, life imprisionment to three and acquitted the remaining 19 people.

2000 – India’s population officially reaches 1 billion – Astha Arora is named India’s billionth baby.

2012 – Chinese Scientists break world record by transferring photons over 97 kilometers using quantum teleportation.

2015 – Two art works set world records at a Christie’s auction in New York, with Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Women of Algiers Version O’ selling for $160 million and Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture ‘Pointing Man’ selling for $141.3 million  (pic credit.vsemart.com)

2019 – Carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere hit levels not seen for 3 million years at 415 parts per million, according to the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii.

Born…. 1888 – Asaf Ali , an independence fighter and noted Indian lawyer, and the first Indian Ambassador to the United States. He was appointed governor of Odisha for two terms and later, Indian Ambassador to Switzerland. His wife Aruna Asaf Ali  was also a  noted Freedom Finghter who hosted National Flag in  Gowali Tank Maidan Bombay during Quit india Movement of 1942.

1897 – Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati, an Indian philosopher, yogi  and poet. Born in Shivaganga, (Tamil Nadu), he wrote  over 250 published works, 173 are in Tamil, 50  in English, 10  in French, four in Hindi and three in Telugu.

1918 – Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai, an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, instructor, and  the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing  Arts in Ahmedabad.  She married top  Indian  space  scientist Vikram Sarabhai  and her  daughter Mallika Sarabhai  is also a famous classic  dancer  and  socialite. Mrinalini was awarded Padma Bhishan in 1982 and Sangeet Natak Akademy AFellowship in 1994, apart from several other accolades.

1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Marathi and Hindi film actor and singer, acted in about 300 films including Sadak, Ardh Satya, Ankhen, Khatarnak, Ishq etc. He won 3 Filmfare Awards for  villain and Support actor roles. (pic  credit-IMDb.com).

1970 – Pooja Bedi, presenter, model, actor. Daughter of famous actor Kabir Bedi. Films like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Vishkanya,  Nach Billiye, Khatron ke Khiladi,  Lootere, Comedy Couple Ek Anjane etc. .

1979 – Antara Mali. Talented actress who acted in Road Gayab, Naach, Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahti Hoon, Mr Ya Miss, Company etc.  Married to GQ magazine editor Che Kurien in June 2009 and left film career Won Stardust award in 2003 and nominated to Filmfare award (pic credit-starsunfolded.com). 

1992 – Adah Sharma. Bollywood, Telugu, Tamil films  flameboyant actor, model. She acted in The Kerala Story, 1920, Commando 2.0, Bastar, Son of Satyamurthy etc. Nominated for best film awards twice.

RIP….2009 – Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas (SM)  Nanda, former Indian Navy Chief from Feb. 1970 to Feb. 1973.  He was Indian Navy Chief during India-Pakistan war of 1971, leading to separation  of Bangladesh.

You may have known….

1. 276 tons of earth need to be mined to produce a single one-carat  Diamond..                                                                                                                                                                                     2.  INDIA  Consumes  about  Half of   the World’s   Whiskey,  while most of  the foreign Brands  in India are diluted from 96% to 42%  by volume,   by blending .  Recent research by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch brought out that Indians consume the most whiskey in the world. It was found that Indians drinks approximately 1.5 billion litres of whiskey every year. The amount of whiskey India consumes is more than half of the world’s entire production.

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