Today’s Motto: ‘Try to stand out, not to fit in’

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

On this day, 22 Aug ….

1639 – Madras (now Chennai), founded by the British East India Company on sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.

1894 – Young Indian  Lawyer Mohandas Karamchand   Gandhi   founds the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) alongwith his  Gujarati  clients  trading in South Africa,   in order to fight discrimination against Indian traders in Natal (pic cterdit-mkgandhi.org).

1939 – The first U.S. patent for dispensing liquids under pressure from a disposable container was issued to Julius Seth Kahn of New York City. The patent was titled “Apparatus For Mixing a Liquid With a Gas,” but was the predecessor of the aerosol spray can.

1962 – The Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered ship, completed her maiden voyage.

1864 – International Red Cross is formed.  Swiss businessman and social  reforme mooted the idea and  got invitations to Govt. pf United State, Empire of Brazil and Mexican Empire alongwith 26 delegates from 16 nations  in Geneva. Announcement was made at the International Conference of Red Cross  (ICRC).

1901 – Cadillac Co. founded. (The Cadillac Motor Car Division, is a division of the U.S.-based General Motors that markets luxury vehicles worldwide. It was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded Detroit, Michigan. The Cadillac crest is based on his coat of arms).

1911 – Mona Lisa stolen from Louvre by the Italian thief Vincenzo Peruggia He was an Italian thief. This has been described as the greatest art theft of the 20th century. It was a police theory that the former Louvre worker hid inside the museum on Sunday, August 20, knowing that the museum would be closed the following day. But according to Peruggia’s interrogation in Florence after his arrest, he entered the museum on Monday, August 21 around 7 am through the door where the other Louvre workers were entering. He said he wore one of the white worker’s smocks that museum employees customarily wore and was indistinguishable from the other workers).

1962 – Failed assassination on president De Gaulle. (Though the assassination attempt came very close to claiming de Gaulle’s life, the President and his entire entourage escaped without injury. The event is chronicled in detail in the (otherwise fictional) 1971 work The Day of the Jackal and the 1973 film adaptation of the same name. The assassin Bastien-Thiry, was a French Air Force lieutenant-colonel and military air weaponry engineer. He was the creator of the Nord SS.10/SS.11 missiles. Bastien-Thiry was the last person to be executed by firing squad in France. De Gaulle’s car {a Citroën DS} and some nearby shops were raked with machine gun fire. De Gaulle, his wife and entourage escaped, uninjured. After the attempt, holes from fourteen bullets were found in  the president’s  vehicle, one of which barely missed the president’s head; another twenty were found to have struck the nearby Café Trianon; and an additional 187 spent shell casings were found on the pavement. De Gaulle credited the unusual abilities of the DS vehicle with saving his life —even though the shots had punctured two of the armoured tires, the car escaped at full speed (pic credit-Gamma-Rapho-Getty Images). 

1933 – Inhabitants of Partabgarh face starvation as Opium was now outlawed. They had been living from the sale of opium for the past 800 years.

2008 – The Madhya Pradesh government decided to do away with the simple forest offense cases and recovery of compensation for the Banavasis.

2017 – Supreme Court outlaws instant divorce for Muslim men  by pronouncing Triple Talaq : talaq, talaq, talaq.  (sand  sculpture  by Sudarshan Pattanaik)

Born…. 1790 – Sheikh  Muhammed  Ibrahim  ‘Zauq,’   popular Urdu poet, in the mughal court of Muhammed Shah Zafar-II, was awarded Khaqani-e-Hind title. He was contemporary of great Urdu  shayar  Mirza Ghalib.

1915 – Sombhu Mitra, popular Bengali theatre personality who  shaped theatre,  a playwriter,  acted, directed  plays.  He was honoured  with Sangeet Natak Akademy award and Padma Shri.

1922 – Hari Shankar Parsai,  legendary Hindi poet,  shayar, satirist known for political and social Vyang in Mushaiyras. He was honoured with Sahitya  Akademy award and Sharad Joshi award. 1935 – Gopi Krishna. Famous Indian Kathak dancer, Bharatnatyam expert Guru, who became the youngest choreographer at age 17 years. He composed dance sequences for Saqi,  Jhalak Jhalak Payal Baje,  a musical  marvel directed by V Shantaram.  Also Grihasti, Daastan, Mehbooba, Umrao Jaan, Naache Mayuri, Hamraaj, Annadata, Madhumati, Zamana and a role in Mahabharat serial.   Gopi created a world record of Kathak dance lasting 9 hours 20 minutes. He was honoured with title Natraj in early  days  and Padma Shri in 1975 (pic credit-the danceindia.com).

1955 – Chiranjeevi, a famous film actor and politician of South Indian cinema. Today’s biggest lead of the Telugu film industry ‘Tollywood’, Chiranjeevi has played a leading role in more than 100 films in his film career spanning three decades. films like Khaidi,  Pasivadi Pranam, Yamudiki Mogudu, Gang Leader, Gharana Mogudu etc. He founded Praja Rajyam Party in 2008, later merged with Congress Party. He was  Rajya Sabha member, union  minister for Tourism and I&B,  promoted Incredible India campaign. He was awarded State Film award, Padma Bhushan and  several other awards.

1982 – Kunal Karan Kapoor, Bollywood film and  TV actor. He has done Left Right Left, Ziddi Dil Maane Na, Zyada Mat Udd etc.  He won an Indian Telly Award and some nominations.

You may have known…. It has been estimated that India’s population was about 100 million in 1600 and remained nearly static until the late 19th century. It reached 255 million according to the first census taken in 1881.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}