Today’s Motto: ‘There is no greater gift to give than to honour your calling’

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

On this day, 18 Nov ….

1477 – English printer William Caxton, produced the first book printed in England, Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres- Sayings of the Philosophers.

1793 – Louvre Museum officially opens in Paris.                                                                                 1950 – The first fluoro-record reflector camera was announced. This could make X-ray pictures in one-sixth of the time previously required, and was used for gastro-intestinal surveys.

1961 – Indian Navy went into action under the command of Rear Admiral BS Soman, then Flag Officer Commanding, Indian Fleet. The ships conducted their mission in three geographical areas for the Liberation of  Goa.

1972 – Tiger was adopted as India’s ‘National Animal’.

1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, 918 members of the Peoples Temple are murdered or commit suicide under the leadership of cult leader Jim Jones.  He  protested sme of the edicts of Church racial wars  and  preferred Communism- Marxism too.  He purchased a Church in 1955 in Indianapolis  and called it  Wings of Deliverance, later renamed as -Peoples Temple Christian Church Full Gospel. He started  Residential Care Homes for Elderly, Foster Children and  Developmentaly Disabled Persons in large areas (over 40 acres) and was supported by Elite society members.  He once yelled on Church and threw Bible  into the Church calling: “This black book has held down you people for 2,000 years. It has no power.” He supported First Amendment in American Constitution, mainly for Freedom of Speech, Religious and  Freedom for assembly  of citizens etc. But soon he got desertion of followers and  loss of  media  support. Later in 1974, he also supported Jimmy Carter’s election for US Presidency, and shifted to Gyana, a nearly Central Americal state for safety for US laws (pic crediot-(dailytelegraph.com.au).                                                                                                                                         2003 – The congress of the Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into Kanu Sanyal’s CPI(ML).

2019 – World wind speeds have risen, 3x faster since 2010 than previous decades of decline, according to Princeton study published in “Nature Climate Change”.

Born…. 1901 – V Shantaram alias Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre, actor and film maker, legendary  actor and film maker. He made many  films on patriotic themes,  social reforms and  culturally. especially Ayodhyache Raja, Do Ankhen Bara Haath, Kunku, Navrang, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje,  Pinjra, Geet Gaya Pathron Ne, Sehra, Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani etc.  His wife Sandhya and Daughter Rajshree were also very  popular actors, classical dancers. He was awarded Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1985.

1985 –  Nayanthara, South Indian cinema’s  highly paid   actor, who is known for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam films, like O2,  God, Godfather,  Connect, Jawan etc. She won 5 Filmfare South awards, Nandi award,  Asianet and Vijay Awards. Also won the most versatile Actor of the Year Award in  Dada Saheb Phalke awards in 2024.

2009  – Abrar Alvi, famous Bollywood and Urdu  screenwriter of 1950s -60s.. He wrote scripts for Guru Dutt films for about 10 years. He was awarded  Filmfare for Best Direction for film Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam in 1962.

RIP…. 1936 – Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai, also known as Kappalottiya Tamizhan (“Tamil Helmsman”), was an Indian freedom fighter and a prominent leader in the Indian independence movement.

2022 – Tabassum (Kiran Bala Sachdev), an Indian actress,TV  talk show host, and YouTuber, who started her career as child actor Baby Tabassum in 1947. Her father Ayodhyanath Sachdev was a freedom fighter and mother Asghari Begham a journalist, author and freedom fighter. Tabassum acted as a child artist  in some films like Mera Suhaag, Manjhdhar, Badi Behn,  Deedar and  Baiju Bawra (1952), She hosted the popular TV talk show ‘Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan,’   from 1972 to 1993,   broadcasted on televsion channel, Doordarshan. Later she produced a TV show for TV Asia, USA and Canada; Abhi To Mein Jawan Hoon – based on Indian  Cinema, the show  ranf or 12 years. She professed true Secularism and was married to Vijay Govil, elder brother of  Arun Govil, the Ramanand Sagar’s TV  epic Ramayana’s Ram.

You may have known….  1. India has a staggering number of languages, with some sources citing over 19,500 mother tongues while others identify 121 major languages spoken by at least 10,000 people. The Indian Constitution recognizes 22 official languages in the Eighth Schedule.                                                                         2.  There are over 200 corpses on Mount Everest and they are used as way points for climbers. Most climbers, who died  in pursuit of  scalimg  world tallest mountain die on way and their bodies are left there only. (pic credit-Ultimate Killmanjaro). 

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