Today’s Motto: ‘Things change. Friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody’
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 Book!
This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History!
On this day, 12 May….
1459 – Sun City India founded by Rao Jodha (Rathore king) in Jodhpur. (The city is known as the “Sun City” for the bright and sunny weather it enjoys all the year round). Rao ruled the state between 1439 to April 1489. (pic credit-Wikipedia).
1666 – Chhatrapati S
hivaji Maharaj met Aurangzeb and was arrested. But he escaped cleverly, hidden in fruit baskets.
1906 – Barrister MK Gandhi supports the “Home Rule” for India in the name of ”justice and for good of humanity”. He was then fighting Indian merchants’ cases in Transval, South Africa.
1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole. Originally launched in Belgium, in Scotland, the ship started its journey to New York from Copenhagen and lost way in the Ocean in 1904.
1936 – The Dvorak Typewriter Keyboard was patented in the U.S. The efficiency experts August Dvorak and William Dealey studied the typewriter to determine that they could arrange th
e keys in a new way which would speed up the operators of the typewriter. They designed a keyboard to maximise efficiency by placing common letters on the home row, and make the stronger fingers of the hands do most of the work. By contrast, the original QWERTY layout was designed for the earlier, less efficient typewriters. Previously, speed would result in two type bars hitting each other in their travel, so the original keyboard was laid out to reduce collisions (pic credit-historyofinformation.com).
1941 – Konrad Zuse completed the world’s first fully-functional programmable computer (Turing-complete computer), his Z3 machine.
1949
– 1st foreign woman Ambassador appointed in U.S. Smt Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit from India was the sister of first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. She served in that position between 1949-1953. She also served as 8th President of UN General Assembly in 1953-54.
1952 – H H Gaj Singh-II is crowned Maharaja o
f Jodhpur. Called fondly as Bapji, he became titular head in 1952 and got Privy Purse of Rs. 10 lakhs until 1971 when it was abolished by Indira Gandhi government. He also served as a diplomat and Rajya Sabha member. He established a Girls School and Hospital under Indian Head Injury Foundation
1955 – The PM Nehru laid the foundation stone for the National Museum for safe upkeep of prehistoric Indian antiques, paintings and valuable manuscripts etc.
1987 – Britain’s HMS Hermes becomes Indian Navy’s second aircraft carrier named INS Viraat.
1995 – India refused to sign NPT in its present discriminatory form presented by the US under President Bill Clinton.
1998 -Russian President Boris Yeltsin feels let down by the Pokhran Nuclear 
Tests by India but says that Indo-Russian ties will not be hit.
2014 – Voters in Eastern Ukraine vote for self-rule in a referendum.
2020 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces a $260 million Economic Rescue Package, worth 10% of GDP.
Born…. 1820 – Florence Nightingale, English nurse and statistician, “The Lady With The Lamp,” who established mode
rn nursing practices. Her contributions to public health included developing methods of applying and displaying statistics to demonstrate the need for improvements.
1930 – Admiral R. H. Tahiliyani, former Indian Navy Chief, from Dec. 1984 to Nov. 19
87.
RIP…. 1984 – Dr. Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar, former Prince, Rajah of Chettinad , educationist, banker, politician and social reformer from Tamil Nadu. Was elected first Mayor Madras in 1933-34, became Rajah of Chettinad in Madras Presidency. founded Annamali University, was elected President of FICCI, the premier industry and commerce body of India. He was Knighted by the British in 1941. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1973.
Tidbits…. A cockroach can hold its breath for over 40 minutes.
You may have known…. 1. Until 1986, the only place where diamonds had been officially found was in India.
2. India is the larget producer of rice with its Annual Output at 150.18 million tonnes, overtaking China at 145.28 million tonnes (2023-24 figures).
{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}
