Today’s Motto: ‘Acceptance of one’s weakness is the real beginning of growth’

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

On this day, 14 May….

1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers from Calcutta,  arrives in Levuka Port,  Fiji – aboard the Leonidas ship  (map credit-worldatlas.com). 

1908 – 1st passenger flight in an airplane.

1921 – Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death in Ohio.

1939 – Lina Medina of Peru becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

1942 – US Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) formed.

1944 – British troops occupy Kohima, in WW-II, it was  part of Assam, now  capital  of  Nagaland.

1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent  Nation   and a provisional  government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The  fights between Israel and several Arab nations continue till date  but Israel  defends itself bravely with support from powerful  Western countries including USA and Europe.

1954 – President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad  issues an order extending application of Indian Constitution to Kashmir with the concurrence of the State government.

1992 – Srilankan rebel Tamil  group  LTTE banned in India.

1995 -Following the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.  The Panchen Lama is considered the second most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.  Three days later, he was  feared to have been abducted by the Chinese army and is still untraceable.

2018 – Shashi Tharoor is charged by police with driving his wife Sunanda  Pushkar to commit suicide (pic credit-bbc.co.uk).

2024 – Google unveils new generative AI features at its annual conference, forcing users to view AI Overviews at the top of search results despite them being factually incorrect 60% of the time.

Born….  1657 – Dharmavir Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire, who ruled from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, founder of Marathas. Sambhaji’s ruled was largely shaped by the ongoing wars between the Maratha kingdom and Mughal Empire as well as other neighbouring powers such as the Siddis, Mysore and the Portuguese in Goa.

1923 – Mrinal Sen. Faridpur  (now in  Bangladesh),  born famous Bollywood script writer, producer and director of many Bengali, Hindi and  Telugu films. Known for Bhuwan Shome,  to The Ruins, Padatik, Chorus, Mrigaya, Ek Din Pratidin , Calcutta 1971, Suddenly One Day, Chorus, Akash Kusum etc  He won almost all major film awards at Cannes, Berlin, Paris, Moscow, Venice, Montrwal, Chicago and  Dadasaheb Phalke in 2005.

1984 – Mark Zukerberg. Co-founder of Facebook and other social media platforms  etc.  He’s an American media magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is co-founder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world’s youngest billionaires, has a net worth of $ 216 billion and his  company Meta/Facebook is at $ 1.604 trillion,  just recently, being second to  Jeff Bezos  of Amazon.

RIP….1959 – Swami Atmananda, also referred to as Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, an Indian sage, guru, and philosopher. He has been described by scholars as a “neo-Hindu’’. His teachings have become a foundation for a spiritual method called the Direct Path.

Tidbits…….1. Ants are eaten in many countries. Although both larvae and adult ants can be eaten, the former is usually more appetising; adult ants contain less flavor, though they are richer in protein. Ants also contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals such as iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and phosphorus. In other words, ants might just count as a superfood.

2.  One of the more surprising accomplishments of Genghis Khan  (Changez Khan) was establishing a postal system known as the “Yam,” also called the “Örtöö,” which was expanded across the empire by his son Ögedei. Stations were placed 20 to 30 miles from one another, each featuring food, lodging, and horses; riders could either rest up or hand off their message to the next rider( pic credit-pinterest.com.au).

You may have known…. With 4 murders per 100,000 people, Jharkhand leads the murder rates in India.                                                                                                                                       {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)   Raj Kadyan}