Today’s Motto: ‘Relationship with oneself is the most important relationship in life’

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

On this day, 30 Oct….

1502 – Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut, India for the second time. Portugese mariner,  explorer and  a statesman, discvovered  Cape of Good  Hope (South Africa)  during  his first  voyage in 1498  from Lisben  via Kenya, Natal, to Kozhikode in India.  He led  sailor groups for Spice trade  and later established  a deal with local kings of  Nair community. Portugese  King John III  appointed him  Governor of  Portugese  India,  in 12521, later named  him Viceroy.

1894 – Daniel M. Cooper of Rochester, N.Y. received the first U.S. patent for a time clock.            1945 – India joins the United Nations.

1947 – Spitfires arrive in Srinagar: The first Spitfire planes from the Advanced Flying School at Ambala arrived in Srinagar and were used to strafe raiders.

1990 – Britain and France complete the “Chunnel” under the English Channel. At 37.9 kilometres, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in  the world.

1994 – India seeks Chinese support for Security Council membership.

2000 – The 160-page CBI’s report on cricket match-fixing names Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Ajay Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar and former physiotherapist Dr. Ali Irani for their deep-rooted nexus with betting syndicates. It virtually gives a clean chit to Kapil Dev.

2008 – Guwahati serial bomb blasts in Assam. A series of 18 bomb explosions rocked the city of Guwahati and 13 other places in Assam, killing over 81 people and injuring more than 400 (pic credit-picxy.com).

Born…. 1909 – Homi Jahangir Bhabha, famous nuclear scientist. Known as Father of Indian Nuclear Program. Founding director of  TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and  Atomic Energy Commission of India, later named as BARC. A nephew of  Sir Dorabji Tata, he also worked in Indian Institute of Science, Bengalore under Nobel laureate CV Raman. He later invited many Indian scietists like Vikram Sarabhai, Subrahmanian Chandrasekhar, SS Bhatnagar, KS Krishnan to join TIFR for supporting  development of Indian   nuclear research facility. He also set up a Heavy Water plant in Nangal and plutonium reprocessing plant in Trombay with Canadian collaboration (CIRUS). Following Chinese nuclear test on  Oct. 16, 1964, Bhabha advised Indian govt. to  allow development of  indigenous neclear weapon facility as a deterrant  (could take over a year).  Opposition Jan Sangh, then PM LB Shastri  and public opinion supported Bhabha on it.  Soon after Bhabha died in a Boeing 707 crash on Jan. 24, 1966 alongwith  117 passengers and crew over the Mont Banc near Geneva Airport.   It was alleged the crash was a sabotage by American spy agency CIA  to jeopardise India’s nuclear development.            Bhabha was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1954, earlier Adams Prize, Hopkins Prize and several other  honours for his contribution to  science. 

1952 – Dalip Tahil, theatre, TV and Bollywood actor.  Knmown for roles in Baazigar, Adventures of Tarzen, QSQT, IB71, Raja, Sauda, Prem Quaidi and serials Buniyad, Samvidhan, Hostage etc.  Was nominated to several film, TV awards.

1958 – Abhijeet Bhattacharya, singer who sings in Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Marathi, Tmil and Odiya languages. He won a Filmfare award in 1997 and many more.  (pic credit-PME Entertainment).

RIP…. 1883 – Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj. (The Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. He was the first to give the call for Swarajyaas “India for Indians” – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak).

You may have known…. The average height for a man in India is approximately  5 feet 8 inches (cm).

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