Today’s Motto: ‘You may forget insults, but never forget kindnesses’

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

On this day, 07 Jan….

1714 – The world’s first patent for a “Machine for Transcribing Letters” was granted in England by Queen Anne to Henry Mill, a waterworks engineer with the New River Company.

1738 – A peace treaty was signed between the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao and the Nizam of Hyderabad, formalizing Maratha dominance after their victory at the Battle of Bhopal.

1761 – Third battle of Panipat was fought between a northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Empire and the forces of the King of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Abdali. Militarily, the battle pitted the French origin artillery and cavalry of the Marathas against the heavy cavalry and mounted artillery of the Afghans. The battle is considered one of the largest and most eventful fought in the 18th century, and has perhaps the largest number of fatalities in a single day reported in a classic formation battle between two armies. The Maraths under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau lost the battle. About 40,000-70,000  Maratha prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood the day after the battle.

1785 – The first manned flight using a gas balloon took place in France, marking a milestone in the history of aviation. Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard and American scientist and physician John Jeffries made the first air crossing of the English Channel from England to France in a hot-air balloon – the first international flight.

1980 – Indira Gandhi returned as India’s Prime Minister, less than three years after being ousted from power following the Emergency.

1987 – Kapil Dev takes his 300th Test wicket, at 28 the youngest.

1990 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public for the first time in 800 years due to concerns about collapse.

2009 – Ramalinga Raju resigned as Chairman of the IT company Satyam, revealing massive accounting fraud. He was  an Indian computing entrepreur,   the founder of Satyam Computer Services and served as its chairman and CEO from 1987 until 2009. He was charged with accountig  fraud, and convicted fraudster.

2015 – Terrorist attack on the offices of satirical newspaper “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris killed  12.  At about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly                newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with assault rifles and other weapons, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The gunmen identified themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, who took responsibility for the attack. Several related attacks followed in the Île-de-France region, where a further five were killed and 11 wounded (pic credit-BBC).

2021 – Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla, becomes the world’s richest person, worth $186 billion, overtaking Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.                                                                                             2022 – First successful transplant of a pig’s heart into a human.

Born…. 1928 – Vijay Tendulkar,  legendary and famous playwright and novelist. Began as Marathi  playwright, theatre, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily. His Marathi plays established him as a writer of plays with contemporary, unconventional themes. He is best known for his plays Shantata – Court Chalu Aahe !, Ghasiram Kotwal, Sakharam Binder, Mitrachi Goshta and films like Manthan, Aakrosh, Ardhsatya. He was awarded 3 Filmfare, a National award, Padma Bhushan,  Saraswati Samman and many more!

1948 – Shobha (Rajadhyaksha) De, a Times of India  columnist, a feminist and writer on social issues. She is the author of popular  novels viz., Socialist  Evenings,  Starry Nights, Insatiable, Second Thoughts, Speedpost, Lockdown Liaisons, Sultry Days, Strange Obsession, Sisters, Spouse : The Truth About Marriage, Superstar India, Seventy and To Hell With It! etc. She has been honoured with Best Author award by Asian Age and Lifetime Achievement awards by many organisations.

1950 – Johnny Lever (John Prakasa Rao Janumala), Bollywood actor and comedian. He is famous for his comic timing in Hindi cinema. He has mastered the mimicry of film actors.

1967 – Irrfan Khan- The celebrated Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan’s career spanned over 30 years and earned him numerous accolades, including a National Film Award, an Asian Film Award, and six Filmfare Awards. (he had said, he had worked as an AC  mechanic and once visited legendary actor Rajesh Khanna’s house for the job).

1979 – Bipasha Basu, famous model and romantic Bollywood actor. She has also acted  in language and horror films in English, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu  like Aatma, Dhoom 3, Lovers, Hamshakal, Creative 3D, Alone, Most Welcome etc. She has won a Filmfare and several awards  nominations.

1982 – Lauren Cohan- American actor known for romantic roles in The Boy, Mile 22, and  TV serials like  Supernatural, The Walking Dead etc. She has got some nominations and film awards (pic credit-The Seattle Times).

RIP:     —     1989- Emperor Hirohito. The longest serving   124th  Japanese Emperor who ruled from 1926 to 1989. Honored as Emperor Shova posthumously.

You may have known…1. In 1938, Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro patented the first successful ballpoint pen, inspired by the quick-drying ink used in newspaper printing. This revolutionary writing instrument provided a smoother, more reliable alternative to fountain pens, making on-the-go writing easier and more accessible.  (pic credit-biografieonline.com).               2. Small land holding size is one of the reasons for low production in India. The average size of holdings for all operational classes (small & marginal, medium and large) has declined over the years and for all classes put together it has come down to 1.16 hectare in 2010-11 from 2.82 hectare in 1970-71  (even smaller 5 marlas in Hills)

{Compiled by Lt. Gen.(R)  Raj Kadyan}