Today’s Motto: ‘The volume and speed control buttons of life are in our own hands’

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

1722 – Frenchman C Hopffer patents a fire extinguisher.

1774 – Members of the Council and the Judge of the Supreme Court of England  visited  India to  study and  improve the management.

1914 – US post office first used an automobile to collect & deliver mail.

1919 – First Distinguished Service Order  Medal awarded to a woman -(Mary Vail Andress). (Instituted on 6 September 1886, DSO is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and  other  Commonwealth of Nations and British Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat. The first DSOs awarded were dated 25 November 1886. Since 1993, its award has been restricted solely to distinguished service {i.e., leadership and command by any rank}, with the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross being introduced as the second highest award for gallantry. It has, however, despite some very fierce campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, remained an officers-only award and it has yet to be awarded to a non-commissioned rank. (pic credit-commons.wikimedia.org). 

1952 – Alain Bombard, a 27-yr-old French biologist and physician, left the Canary Islands, beginning a single-handed sea voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to test his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive without provisions. He speared fish with a home-made harpoon and netted surface plankton.. He drank seawater, limited to occasional sips. His Zodiac inflatable boat, l’Hérétique, was just 4.5 m (15-ft) long and fitted with a sail. Bombard began with almost no provisions and his only navigation instrument was a sextant. He reached Barbados 65 days later on 23 Dec 1952, having lost about 25-kg (55-lb) in weight (pic credit-lessothers.com)

1970 – Privy purses and privileges of former Indian rulers abolished. These were the Annual Grants/pensions given to the erstwhile kings or princes when they merged their states into the Union of India (1947-50). PM Indira Gandhi’s step was just a  public  measure to indicate the saving money for poor citizens and remove poverty –Garibi Hatao .  The bill to abolish the privy purses was paased in Lok Sabha by 339 to 154.  (pic credit-paperjewels.org)

1970 – India’s first domestically manufactured MiG-21 aircraft was inducted into the Indian Air Force.

1990 – The Government of India under an ordinance puts forward a three-point formula for Ayodhya issue: (i) to acquire the land (ii) other land may be given for building temple, except the disputed one (iii) the issue may be referred to Supreme Court for speedy solution. The propsal was rejected by Ram Lalla  Janmbhoomi Nyas and Bajrang Dal.

2003 – Mother Teresa of Calcutta is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

2015 – Scientists from the University of California find evidence that life on Earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years earlier than previously thought.

Born….   1582 – Dmitry Ivanovich,  Russian Tsarevich and the youngest son of Ivan IV “the Terrible”, born in Moscow. A brave Commander, who ruled Russia for seven years believed to have been killed by  deceit.

1910 –  Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and black holes. he was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.

1920 – Pandursang Shastri Athavale,  an Indian philosopher, social reformer and spiritual leader. Taught Vedic philosophy and Bhagwat Gita to millions  and established Swadhyay Parivar in 1954.

1947 – Kundan Shah.   famous film producer, writer  who made classics like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro,  Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Kya Kehna, Dil Se, ek se Badhkar Ek and popular  TV serials  like  Nukkad, Waagle Ki Duniya, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi,    He won a National film and a Filmfare Best Film Award (Critics).

1954 – Priya Tendulkar,  daughter of popular  novelist, satirical theater personality,  Vijay  Tendulkar, was an Indian actress, social activist and a writer, who is most known for her eponymous role in the television series Rajani, Ham Paanch etc.. also acted in films like  Ankur, Gupt, Trimurti, Mohra, Aur Pyar Ho Gaya etc.

1957 – Sunny Deol (Ajay Singh), popular actor,  son of  veteran Bollywood  He Man Dharmendra. Sunny debuted with jubilee making  film Betaab followed by  Arjun, Paap ki Duniya,  Ghayal,  Damini, Jeet, Ghatak,  Ziddi,   Arjun Pandi, Border, Gadar: ek Prem Kathaa  and  Jaat etc.  He also appeared with Dharmendra and Bobby Deol in Mere Apne, Yamla Pagla Deewana, appearing in over 100 Hindi and some Punjabi   films. He has won  2 National Film Award and 2 Filmfare  awards apart from many other accolades. He represeneted Gurdaspur (Punjab) in the  Lok Sabha on BJP  ticket during  2019-24.

You may have known…. 1.  Famous writer Ernest Hemingway was as idiosyncratic. The scribe preferred to write in the morning, standing up. Though Hemingway preferred a pencil, he turned to a tape recorder when he needed to capture something quickly, especially dialogue: “When the people are talking, I can hardly write it fast enough or keep up with it,” he told The New Yorker in 1950. 

2.  Today, there are more than 7,100 different languages in use around the world.                                                                                    {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}