Today’s Motto: ‘Sometimes we need a crisis to realise our potential’

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

On this day, 28 Mar….

1556 – Origin of Fasli Era (India). it is the calender  synchronized with harvesting seasons starting Baisakh  (April) month of Hindus. Fasli era is believed to be marked by  Todar Mal, the finance minister of mughal king Akbar (or later Shah Jehan)  for agricultural revenue purposes.  Some states still follow the same calender.

1797 – Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire received a patent for a washing machine.  Though It is impossible to know exactly who invented the first washing machine and dryer. Some of the patents are so old that nothing is known about the original patent holder. The first British patent for a washing machine was issued in 1691. Not much is known about this machine or the creator. In Germany, Jacob Christian Schäffer published a design for a washing machine in 1767.  In 1782 Henry Sidgier was issued a British patent for a rotating drum washer. (pic credit- scopopnest.com).

1866 – The first hospital-based ambulance went into service in Cincinati. (The first recorded use of ambulances for emergency purposes dates back to Spain in 1487).

1905 – The radio fax was patented in the U.S. by Cornelius Ehret of Rosemont, Pennsylvania. His device was called “a system for transmitting intelligence.” However, faxing did not become a practical mode of communication until the 1920s, and high-speed faxes were not available until the 1940s.

1949 – English astronomer Fred Hoyle unintentionally coined the term “Big Bang” as a household name, in a scripted radio broadcast on a BBC Programme. He formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper.

1977 – Morarji Desai forms government.

1996 – JKLF declared unlawful by central govt.

2007 – Sri Lankan cricket fast bowler Lasith Malinga produces unprecedented sequence of 4 wickets in 4 balls, as South Africa scrambles to a 1-wicket Super 8’s ICC World Cup win in Guyana.

2017 – Britain introduces 1st new pound coin in 30 years with secret security feature inside to stop counterfeiting.

2019 – Study of a 71 year-old British woman who has never felt pain, for the first time understood as due to a gene mutation, published in British Journal of Anaesthesia.

Born….  1904 – ChittoorV. Nagaiah Sarma.   veteran Indian singer, actor, director of Telugu and Tamil cinema. Acted in Gruhalakshmi, Vande Matram, Sumangali, Devata, Swarge Seema, Vishwamohini, Ramadasu etc. He won a National Award and Filmfare on debut (pic credit-wikipedia.com).

1926 – Pahelam Ratanji “Polly” Umrigar,  Indian middle order  batsman and  occasional  pace or off-spin bowler. He played 59 Tests for India, captained  8 Tests with  3,631 runs  and 12 centuries, highest before Suniln Gavaskar overtook his records.  He was the first batsman to score a double century  for India (vs New Zealand).  Umrigar  was also  Executive Secretary of BCCI, a curator and  was awarded Padma Shri  and CK Nayudu Trophy (pic credit-rediff.com)

1975 – Akshaye Khanna. Son of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, Akshaye started his career with Himalaya Putra in 1997 and went on to do successful films like Mohabbat, Border, Kudrat, Aa Ab Laut Chalen, Taal, Dil Chahta Hai, LOC Kargil , Accidental Prime Minister etc. He won a Screen Awasrd on Debut,  2 Filmfare, awards.

1978 – Nafisa Joseph, Miss India Universe (1997).  Became a model, TV presenter and acted in some films. First cousin of popular actress Sharmila Tagore, she  had a failed  love story which led to her suicide in July 2004.

RIP….1645 – Har Govind Singh, 6th  Sikh Guru. he built Akal Takhat Saheb building in the  Harmandir complex. He was also called Sachha Padshah for his teachings,  raising military strength against mughal empire  and his outstanding valour.

You may have known….

Today, India has the world’s largest school in terms of students, the City Montessori School  (CMS) in Lucknow. Established in 1959,  by Dr. Jagdish Gandhi and Bharati Gandhi , it  has more than 62 thousand students and over 3,500 teachers.

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