Today’s Motto: ‘A good leader starts by defining goals. He ends by saying thank you………

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

On this day,  Aug. 01….. ….

1619 – 1st black Americans (20) lands at Jamestown, Virginia, US.

1774 – Joseph Priestley, British Presbyterian minister and chemist, identified a gas which he called “dephlogisticated air” — later known as Oxygen.

1873 – English inventor Andrew Smith Hallidie, revolutionised transportation methods in San Francisco when he successfully tested a cable car he had designed to solve the problem of providing mass transit up San Francisco’s steep hills.

1905 – Horse drawn tram cars were closed down in Bombay.

1941 – Parade magazine called it “…the Army’s most intriguing new gadget” The gadget was “a tiny truck which can do practically everything.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower said that America couldn’t have won World War II without it. The tiny truck was the Jeep, built at the time by the Willys Truck Company. Parade was so enthusiastic about the Jeep, that, on this day, it devoted three full pages to the vehicle. (Many explanations of the origin of the word jeep have proven difficult to verify. The most widely held theory is that the military designation GP (for Government Purposes or General Purpose) was slurred into the word Jeep).

1944 – Anne Frank, the Frankfurt am Main  born diarist,  made her  last diary entry, about life in prison  as her family was hiding  fearing prosecution by Hitler army; 3 days later she was arrested. Died on Feb. 15, 1945 at an age of 15 in a concentration camp.

1947 – Partition of India into India and Pakistan. Power transferred. Lord Mountbatten becomes Governor General of India and Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Governor General of Pakistan.

1974 – The People’s Liberation Army’s  Navy wing put into service ChangZheng 1, their first nuclear-powered submarine, designed and built in China. Russia had refused to share nuclear propulsion technology with China, so Mao Tse-tung resolved to develop their own nuclear submarine building programme. As China’s first-generation design, its performance was generally inferior to American or Russian vessels of the time. It was decommissioned in 2000.

2000 – A man in Israel become the first recipient of the Jarvik 2000, the first total artificial heart that can maintain blood flow in addition to generating a pulse.

2000 – The Lok Sabha adopts Uttar Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill paving the way for the creation of Uttaranchal the 27th State.

2018 – Swedish crown jewels stolen in heist from Strängnäs Cathedral, Stockholm.

2021 – Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing names himself Prime Minister, pledges to hold elections by 2023.

Born….

1882 – Purushottamdas Tandon, called Rajrishi Tandon,  a Freedom Fighter, great leader and editor.  Helped  finalise Official Language Act and name Hindi as the National language. Was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1961.

1932 – Meena Kumari, veteran Bollywood actor. Also known as Tragedy Queen, she performed mo

st  tragedy roles. Popular films Baiju Bawra, Do Bigha Zamin,  Parineeta, Dil Ek Mandir, Saheb Bibi aur Ghulam, Main Chup Rahoongi, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, Phool Aur Pather,  Pakeezah etc. Was awarded 4 Filmfare, 3 Bengal Film Journalists awards and was nominated for Golden Bear award in Berlin. Acted in about 90 fioms in over 40 years of film life.

1955 – Arun Lal, famous cricketer (opening batsman  of  70-80’s),  played for Delhi, Kolkata,  is a selector, commentator and writer.

1987 – Tapsee Pannu, fashion model,  Hindi, Telugu, Tamil actor known for roles in Dunki, Tadka, Thappad, Mithu, Haseen Dilruba Rashmi Rocket, Dobaara, Looop Lapeta  etc.  Won 2 Filmfare awards. (Pic credit-India.com)

RIP….

1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a prominent national leader.

1999 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian-born writer. (He authored numerous works in English and Bengali. His oeuvre provides a magisterial appraisal of the histories and cultures of India, especially in the context of British colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Chaudhuri is best known for The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, published in 1951).

2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI-CPM politician. Was Party chief, General Secretary for several years.

Titbits….

1976 – Liz Taylor’s 6th divorce (re-divorces Richard Burton).  She married 8 times.  Famous romance  Diva of Hollywood cinema, acted in Cleopatra and many hit films.  She won 2 Akademy, 5 Golden Globe, BFTA  and several other awards,

You may have known….

Kill or get killed – Bani Festival, Andhra Pradesh: The Bani Festival celebrated at the Devaragattu Temple  every Dusshera. Hundreds of lathi -wielding devotees from Andhra and Karnataka gather at this temple to hit each each other on the heads at midnight! Drenched in blood, these men go on with the celebration till the beak of dawn, to commemorate the killing of a demon by Mala-Malleshwara (Shiva). According to the temple priest, this festival has been celebrated for over a 100 years. Earlier axes and spears were 

used instead of lathis ! Each year, men get injured in dozens, Medical attendants and policemen are deployed during this festival but they mostly remain spectators, in the face of the extreme frenzy. (pic credit-Swadeshi)

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