Today’s Motto: ‘A pessimist sees the thorns on the bush; an optimist sees the roses’
As Every Day makes a new beginning in life, it brings new opportunities, opens new avenues, to perform and make a mark, to write a Page in History Books!
This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History !
On this day, 17 Feb….
1670 – The Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare won the Sinhagadh Fort from the Mughals. Although the fort was captured, Tanaji lost his life in the battle, leading Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to
famously remark, “Gadh ala, pan Singh gela” (The fort is won, but the lion is gone).
1698 – Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb completed an 8-year siege of the Jinji Fort against the Marathas.
1739 – The Maratha Empire began its invasion of Portuguese-occupied territory, eventually leading to a decisive victory and the capture of Vasai.
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818 – Bicycle forerunner. Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patented the “draisine”, the forerunner of the bicycle. 1876 – Sardines 1st canned in US. (By Julius Wolff-Eastport). 1869 – Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. Dmitri Mendeleev cancelled a planned visit to a factory
and stayed at home working on the problem of how to arrange the chemical elements in a systematic way. To begin, he wrote each element and its chief properties on a separate card and arranged these in various patterns. Eventually he achieved a layout that suited him and copied it down on paper. Later that same day he decided a better arrangement by properties was possible and made a copy of that, which had similaelements grouped in vertical columns, unlike his first table, which grouped them horizontally. These historic documents still exist, and mark the beginning of the form of the Periodic Table as commonly used today.
1911 – The
first self-starter for cars, based on patented inventions created by General Motors engineers Clyde Coleman and Charles Kettering, was installed in a Cadillac (pic credit-woodtv.com).
1915 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi visited Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan for the first time and discussed the conditions of Indian citizens under the British rule and discussed ways to reshape Freedom Movement. After their meetings and week long stay, Tagore gave Gandhi the title of Mahatma as a respect and Gandhi in return called him Gurudev.
1933 – 1st issue of “Newsweek“ magazine published.
1936 – The world’s first superhero, The Phantom, a cartoon strip by Lee Falk, makes his first appearance i
n comics.
1976 – The Urban Land Ceiling Act came into force.
1980 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dissolved nine state assemblies led by the opposition.
1996 – Computer chess. world chess champion Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer, by winning a six-game match 4-2, in a regulation-style match held in Philadelphia.
1997 – Notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj released from jail after 20 years, and re-arrested soon after release under Foreigners’ Regional Registration Act.
2014 – The Election Commission of India banned the transmission of exit polls until the last phase of voting was 
completed.
2020 – The Supreme Court granted equal rights to women in the armed forces, ruling that women officers are eligible for Permanent Commission and command postin
gs.
Born…. 1792 – Budhu Bhagat. Freedom fighter from Ranchi (Bihar), who led Kol Tribals and Lanka rebellion in Chhoptanagpur area. He was captured by the British forces and hanged to death.
1881- Bhagat Puran Singh. scientist, teacher, popular poet, folk song writer, Bhajan singer and f
reedom fighter. Born in Abotabad nown as a pioneer of Punjabi poetery and Hindi novelist during Dwivedi era of literature.
1889 – Jibananda Das. Most popular Bengali writer, poet after Rabindra Nath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. 1954 – K Chandershekhar Rao. Prominent Andhra/Telengana politician who fought for a separate Telangana state and became the first chief minister of the new state. He’s now the leader of Opposition in the State Assembly.
1957 – Praful Patel, politician and businessman. Praful Manoharbhai Patel is also a s
ports administrator, headed footbal federation (AIFF) and is a member of FIFA Concil. He is associated with the Nationalist Congress Party. He was Union Minister for Civil Aviation in UPA govt. He was accused of using his c;out in FIFa for suspension of AIFF board, as also had some corruption allegation in Civil Aviation ministry.
1981 – Pari
s Hilton. American reality model, successful film celebrity, business woman. Known for series The Simple Life, House of Wax, Hollywood Love Story etc.
RIP…. 1670 – Tanaji, Maratha warrior in capture of Singarh fort. Shivaji won Singh Garh Fort from Mughals. This victory was on the shoulders of Tanhaji who was martyred in this attack. Shivaji proclaimed “Garh Alaa pan Singh Gela” which means that Fort was won but the Lion was lost (pic credit-Pinterest.com).
You may have known…. India shares 15,200 km long land borders with seven countries (eight including
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fghanistan which has a common border with PoK). India has the third longest land borders, after China and Russia. {Compiled b y Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}
