Today’s Motto: ‘We may not win, but if we do not try we WILL NOT win’

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

On this day, 08 Jan….

1026 – Turkic Muslim invador Mahmud of Ghazni looted and destroyed the famous  Shiva temple Somnath located  in Prasbhas, Patan Veraval Gujarat. He broke the Jyotirlinga, and took immense wealth (20 million dinars) back to Ghazni, killing thousands of devotees in the process, marking one of India’s most notorious temple destructions and lootings. (The temple faced multiple subsequent destructions by other rulers like Alauddin Khilji and Aurangzeb, but was consistently rebuilt, with its current form being a symbol of India’s reconstruction efforts post-independence).

1838 – The first telegraph message in the U.S. in which letters were represented by dots and dashes was transmitted. The message was: A patient waiter is no loser. The communications system was invented by Alfred Vail of Morristown, N.J., in Sep 1837. A public demonstration was given at New York University using a circuit of ten miles on 24 Jan 1838.

1889 – 1st Computer patented by Charles Babbage (1822) was later built in 1991.  Alan Turing invented computer science. The ENIAC (1945) was the first electronic general-purpose digital computer; it filled a room

1927 – ‘Star of India’, world’s largest sapphire, returned to American Museum  of Natural History. (The Star of India is a 563.35-carat {112.67 g} star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. It is almost flawless and is unusual in that it has: stars on both sides of the stone. The greyish blue Gem was mined in Sri Lanka and is housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City).

1998 – Scientists announced the identification for the first time of a key brain chemical related to nicotine addiction, in the journal Nature.

2000 – The Government reconstitutes the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and Trust and retains Mrs. Sonia Gandhi as a trustee along with Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prof. Yashpal and Dr. Abid Hussain.

2013 – U.S. scientists claim 2012 weather as the hottest year ever recorded.

2014 – First known interstellar meteor to hit Earth; crash lands in Papua New Guinea.                                                      Born….  1908 – Mary Nadia Wadia (Fearless Nadia), Australia born India actor, stuntswoman. Acted in Hunterwali, Miss Frontier Mail, Circus Queen, Diamond Queen, Fearless Hunterwali etc. She won several awards and a Postal Stamp was released by Indian govt. in 2015 and a documentary released in her honor by her nephew Riyad Vinci Wadia in 1993.

1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, a celebrated British-Indian actor known for his work in Indian and internal cinema. India born British stage-actor, character actor who acted in about 150 films  like The Man who Would Be King, Shatranj Ke Khiladi  directed by  legendary Satyajit Ray,   English Babu Desi Mem, Chasme Baddoor, Masoom etc.  He was awarded Britidsh and Canadian honors for his stage and film roles.

1939 – Nanda,  a romantic heroine  who debuted with film Mandir (1948) had a  successful film carrier of over 30 years  with  films Ham Dono, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Gumnaam, Teen Deviyan, Joru ka Ghjulam, Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, The Train, Shor, Raja Saheb and Naya Nasha  etc.   Her well-known roles were in Chhoti Bahen _(1959), _Teen Devian (1965) and Gumnaam (1965). She retired in 1995. She was awarded Filmfare in 1970.

1957 – Nafisa Ali, Indian activist, actor and TMC politician of West Bengal. She also won a Beauty pageant Filmfare Miss India in 1976.

RIP…. 1884 – Keshav Chandra Sen, a pivotal Hindu philosopher and social reformer advocating for widow remarriage, abolition of caste names, and women’s education (through Bamabodhini Patrika).                                         1941 – Swami Pranabananda Maharaj, father of Bharat Sevashram Sangha. One of the greatest Yogi of Bengal, a freedom fighter and regarded as Shiva avatar by most Bengalis, he founded BSS in 1917.

1984 – Sushma Mukhopadhyay, first Indian woman pilot who flew Indian Airlines flight in 1956. She also worked with Air Survey of India.

1995  – Madhu Limaye, veteran national leader, socialist thinker, freedom fighter, politician, writer, close associate of Ram Manohar Lohia and Jaya Prakash Narayan.

You may have known….  1. Raja Todarmal (1523-1589),  one of  the  Navratnas of Akbar’s darbar could be called the  Father of Agricultural reforms in India. He  started land  holding  measurement, revenue  system Zamindari   and as Diwane Ashraff (Finance minister), he  initiated  the land  records, for separate  residential and agricultural   holdings and village staffs like Lambardar, Patewari, Tehsildar etc.                                                                                                                                                                                                          More agricultiural taxation and  changes were done by the British  collector Thomas Monro who raised taxation (to 50% for drylands and 60% for irrigated farmlands ) in 1820.                                            2. The first telegraph message in which letters were represented by dots and dashes was: ‘A patient waiter is no loser’.                                                                                                                                                                                                 {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}