Today’s Motto: ‘Wisdom is a form of organised life’

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

On this day, 04 Jan….

1887 – Thomas Stevens, US, is 1st man to bicycle around the world.

1932 – Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested by the British as part of the renewed Civil Disobedience Movement.

1948 -British govt. allows  separation and independence from India (map credit-nations online.org).

1958 – The Russian Sputnik I satellite, the first man-made object to orbit the earth, fell back into the atmosphere and disintegrated, after 92 days in space. The Sputnik (meaning “companion” or “fellow traveller”) circled the earth every 95 minutes at almost 20,000 miles per hour 500 miles above the Earth.

1966 – A crucial summit between Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani President Ayub Khan, began in Tashkent (USSR).  Shastri ji later  died in sleep on Jan. 11, 1966,  after the  Summit alleged to have been a sabotage.

1972 – Pakistan proposed to talk after the war.

1972 – The Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (ICFS) was inaugurated in New Delhi.

2010 – The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building, is officially opened. It is about 829.8 m tall.

2024 – Diplomatic row erupts between India and the Maldives after PM Narendra Modi encourages Indians to travel to the Lakshadweep islands. Maldives is a very small island in the South Indian coast with  90,000 SqKm area and population of over Five lakhs.

It had been a Buddhist  since 3rd century BC  but came under Muslim control in 12th century CE. Recently it had a change in Govt. in 2023 and Mohamed Muizzu became president and ordered Indian security and diplomatic row started with India.

Born…. 1809 – Louis Braille, French educator who developed a tactile form of printing and writing, known as braille. He lost his eysight in one eye at age 3. (His  Birthday is celebrated as World Braille Day).

1924 – Vidyadhar Gokhle, editor, playwright.  He was also  a political activist, an  editor of a Marathi newspaper, Loksatta, from Maharashtra, India.

1925 – Gopaldas Saxena ‘Neeraj’, one of the  most beloved Hindi poet and lyricist, is known for poignant, philosophical, and romantic verses, with famous works including “Swapn Jhare Phool Se, Meet Chube Shool Se”, “Karvan Guzar Gaya, Gubar Dekhte Rahe,” and the popular film songs “Phoolon Ke Rang Se”, “Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan,” and “Likhe Jo Khat Tujhe. He was the first person, who was honored twice by the Government of India in the field of education and literature-Padma Shri (1991)  and Padma Bhushan in 2007. (video credit-YouTube.com)

1925 – Pradeep Kumar, legendary Bollywood actor. He baqcted  mostly in historical  epic stories and was most popular during 1940s-1980s  like Naagin, Anarkali, Aarti, Taj Mahal, Ghunghat, Bheegi Raat, Bahu Begam, Adalat, Shirin Farhad, Duniya Na Maane,  Noor zJehan, Chitralekha etc. He received Bengal  Journalists’ and some National Film awards.

1931 – Nirupa Roy, veteran and most popular actor of 1940s to 1990s. Called as Queen of  Misery  for her  roles  of tragedy  and  sorrow  in films  like  Do Bigha Zamin, Bhai  Bhai,  Aan Milo Sajna, Purab Aur Paschim, Ganga Tera Paani Amrit, Maa, Deewar, Abhinetri,  Mard etc. She has won 4 Filmfar e and a  Lifetime Achievement  award  in 2004.

1957 – Gurdas Mann, popular Punjabi pop and rap singer. He has ptroduced 34 albums and 340 songs. Acted in some Punjabi films like Des Hoya Pardes, Sukhmani-Hope for Life, Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Veer Zara, Ucha Dar Babe Da etc.

1965 – Aditya Pancholi, Popular film actor and producer. Known for roles in Saathi, Yes Boss, Aatish, Hero, Yaad Rahegi Duniya etc. (pic credit-CineTown)

RIP….1994 – Rahul Dev Burman, famous music director better known as ‘Pancham Da’. Son of legendary music director Sachin Dev Burman, Pacham Da produced  several successful music notes and excelled  between 1960s to 1990s. mainly with legendary singer Kishore Kishore. He won 5 Filmfare and National awards from almost 331 films (Music video credit-Universal Music India)

You may have known…. In ancient Rome, you did have to pay a tax to use urine. Aged urine was used to clean clothes and dye fabrics. Some people even used it as toothpaste. At the  time, collecting human urine was a common practice in order to take advantage of its cleaning properties. One Roman emperor, Vespasian, even taxed the stuff.                                                                                                                                                                                              {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}