Today in history @ 28 Jan....

Birth anniversary of:

a. Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj (b. 1930). Though he is famous as a great classical singer, his stint in music started being a tabla accompanist to his own elder brother. Soon he was fed up with the step brotherly treatment meted out to tablists as they were treated as minor artists. He vowed not to cut his hair till he grasped the nuances of classical music. He finally cut them after his first performance in AIR. He  is married to the daughter of V Shantaram.

b. The great nuclear scientist Dr. Raja Ramanna (b. 1928) who is famous for conducting the first nuclear test for India at Pokhran on 18 May 1974. A little known fact about him is that he had professional Masters degree in Music from Bombay University. He grew under the agesis of Dr. Homi J Bhaba and after Bhaba's untimely death, he steered the nation's nuclear plans and was the last name in that area for close to 4 decades with his association spanning from BARC to IAEA, IISc, Dept. of Atomic Energy and NIAS.

c. Field Marshall K M Cariappa  (b. 1899) who was the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army. The day he became so i.e. 15 Jan 1949 is since celebrated as Army Day. He was instrumental in forming the Territorial Army and strengthening NCC which would come of use to the nation in later combat years. He is one of the only two officers of Indian Army who have been awarded the 5 star Field Marshall status; the only other person being Field Marshall Manekshaw. He was also the ambassador to Australia and NZ post retirement.

d. The techie billionaire Vinod Khosla (b. 1955) who is credited of co-founding SUN Microsystems.

e. Punjab Keshari Lala Lajpat Rai (b. 1865) was part of the famous Lal Bal Pal trio. His death in 1928 owing to lathi blows during his protest against Simon Commission was a major turning point in India's freedom fight.

f. One of the richest person of the planet Carlos Slim Helu (b. 1940).

g. Sir Henry Stanley  (b. 1841) who is credited for his discoveries in Central Africa.

Death anniversary of:

a. O P Nayyar  (d. 2007), the great film musician. I wrote about him on his birth anniversary on 16 Jan..

b. Sir Francis Drake (d. 1596), the first Englishman to circumvent the planet by water.

Other notables:

a. Nuclear fission was discovered by Otto Hahn in 1939.

Today in history @ 27 Jan

Birth anniversaries of:

a. Dmitry I Mendeleyev (b. 1834), creator of the first Periodic Table which had elements being arranged basis their atomic weight and properties. This enabled him to predict the nature of many elements which were not even discovered then.

b. Famous music composer Wolfgang Mozart (b. 1756).

c. Lewis Carroll  (b. 1832); he was basically a mathematician, though famous for writing / creating Alice in Wonderland. He was also an ace photographer and is also credited to design the modern game Scrabble.

d. Our own Bobby Deol (b. 1967).

e. Actor Shreyas Talpade  (b. 1976).

Death anniversary of:

a. Geologist Adam Sedwick (d. 1873) who is credited for coining the terms Cambrian and Devonian ages.

b. Ex President R Venkatraman (d. 2009).

c. Sir Francis Drake (d. 1596) who is famous for completing the circumvention of the globe by water.

d. Famous writer J D Salinger (d. 2010).

e. Comedian Charlie Callas (d. 2011).

Other notables:

a. John Lewis Baird demonstrated the television for the first time in 1926.

Today in history 25 Jan...

Today in history @ 25 Jan

A. Birth anniversaries of:

a. Noted Indian singer Kavita Krishnamurthy (b. 1958)

b. Noted Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta (b. 1824). Considered by many as the greatest Bengali poet of all times gave the first Bengali sonnet. Besides, he was a lawyer with a degree from London primarily based on the patronage of Iswar C Vidyasagar.

c. Noted Indian physicist A P Balachandran (b. 1938) considered as one of the greatest living exponent of quantum physics.

d. Noted Indian economist Bibek Debroy (b. 1955) who is a permanent member of NITI Aayog since inception. Member of various committees spanning Central & state governments and UN, he is also famous for translating the Mahabharata into a ten volume treatise in  English (this project took 4 years). He was the ideator behind doing away with a separate Railway budget. He is an aluminus of Ramkrishna Mission, Narendrapur, Presidency Kolkata, Delhi School of Economics and Trinity.

e. Noted Indian writer and entrepreneur Ashwin Sanghi (b. 1969).

f. Noted British playwright Somerset Maugham  (b. 1874).

g. Noted British chemist Robert Boyle who gave the world Boyle's Law (b. 1627). He was one of the original founders of The Royal Society, a membership which is still rare and given only to men and women of excellence in Science.

h. Bangiya Vigyan Parishad (estd. 1948) which is India's first organisation for popularisation of science. S N Bose founded the same in Kolkata and it is still popular.

Death anniversary of:

A.  Notorious American gangster Al Capone (d. 1947).

Today in history @ 18 Jan

Birth anniversaries of

a. Dolby Ray (b. 1933), inventor of the noise reduction system known as Dolby NR and founder of Dolby Laboratories.

b. Oliver Hardy (b. 1892) of the famous "Laurel and Hardy" fame.

c. A A Milne (b. 1882), creator of Winnie-The-Pooh

Death anniversaries of

a. Rudyard Kipling (d. 1936) famous for the books Jungle Book, Kim and The Man who would be King. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. He was born in Bombay and is buried at the "Poets Corner" in Westminister Abbey. I first came to know him from the powerful poem "If" which I consider as one of the finest poems I have ever come across.

b. Harivansh Rai Bacchan (d. 2003) ; noted Indian poet of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was born Harivansh Rai Srivastava; was called bachchan (meaning Kid) at home. From 1941 to 1952 he taught in the English Department at the Allahabad University and after that he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College, Cambridge University doing his doctoral thesis on W.B. Yeats. It was then, that he used 'Bachchan' as his last name instead of Srivastava. Harivanshrai's thesis got him his PhD at Cambridge. He is the second Indian to get his doctorate in English literature from Cambridge. After returning to India he again took to teaching and also served at All India Radio, Allahabad.
In 1955, he shifted to Delhi to join the External Affairs Ministry as an officer on Special duty and during the period of 10 years that he served he was also associated with the evolution of Hindi as the official language. He also enriched Hindi through his translations of major global writings; besides Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, he will also be remembered for his Hindi translations of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello and also the Bhagvad Gita. However, in Nov 1984 he wrote his last poem 'Ek November 1984' on Indira Gandhi's assassination.
Bachchan's work has been used in movies and music multiple times. Few notable are:
"Rang Barse", the famous Holi song from Hindi movie Silsila starring his son
Couplets of his work "Agneepath" are used throughout in the movie Agneepath (1990 film) again starring Amitabh Bachchan and later in the remake Agneepath (2012 film)
Couplets of "Koshish karne waalon ki kabhi.." are used in the movie Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara
Manna Dey sang the musical version of Madhushala
'Koi Gata Main So Jata', a beautiful song from the movie Alaap sung by K. J. Yesudas starring his son Amitabh Bachchan

c. Kundan Lal Saigal (d. 1947). Before he became famous for his singing and acting, he worked as a railway timekeeper, a salesman for Remmingtin Typrwriters and as a hotel manager. Many male singers who started their career in 1940s and 1950s started their journey by immitating him.

O P Nayyar...

Today in history @ 16 Jan

The birth anniversary of  Omkar Prasad Nayyar (b. 1926) popularly known as OP in film circles.

a. Opee is reported to have commanded the highest fees in the Hindi movie music world at the height of his reign as a composer. He was the first Hindi music director to receive 100,000 rupees for his his compositions for a movie. It was a very substantial sum of money in the 1950s.

b. Born in Lahore, after partition, OP moved to Mumbai and after many years of struggle finally landed himself a full-blown project with the film Aasman. Geeta Dutt who was impressed with OP’s unique style while singing for the film introduced OP to her husband, the legendary filmmaker, Guru Dutt for Baaz. “The rest, as they say, is history. OP used to call this journey A-Z (from Aasman in 1952 to Zid in 1993—a total of 73 films).” The Geeta Dutt-OP Nayyar duo created magic starting with Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55 and CID, which is indelibly etched in people’s memories forever.

c. He worked extensively with Asha Bhonsle delivering many cabaret and forward-looking dance numbers which are famous today also.

d. Interestingly, OP had decided very early that he had to become successful without ever recording a single song in Lata’s voice. He went ahead with that decision and remains the only composer in Bollywood’s history to do so!

e. It is said that OP was an authority in homoeopathy and qas known to cure severe medical cases; and all for free.

f. In his last year's,  he remained as a paying guest in a very small home at Thane aloof from his family and the film world. Surayya and Shamshad Begum were only allowed to meet him. As per his wishes, his demise was not informed to his family members.

Sa to Sa paradox

Isnt it incredible to discover / note that a million tunes can be and has been also created with just these seven notes. Some thoughts around this:

a. We have so many resources around on the professional front as and in the personal sphere also.  Imagine the possibilities of creating so many great things using the; all that is required is the list, prioritization and creating a positive atmosphere where each can meaningfully cointribute.

b. Each one of us has a combination of strengths on an individual level covering story-telling, recitation, fashion, cooking, flirting, writing, memorizing, writing, drawing, thinking etc.. Each one of us is thus a powerhouse for creating something which shall not only be self-rewarding but also be beneficial to the society at large.

5 Jan ...

Birth anniversary of

A. M A K Pataudi

B. King Camp Gillette (b. 1855), the inventor of disposable razor. He was a salesman and invented the disposable razor at the age of 48.

C. Paramhansa Yogananda (b. 1893), the famous yogi and proponent of Kriya Yoga. His famous book "Autobiography of a Yogi" has been translated across many languages of the globe and is a compulsory reading in Theology across many universities of the globe.
It is told that Steve Jobs used to read the book at least once every year when he was alive and had arranged for gifting one piece of this book to every person who attended his funeral (he had planned the same when he was alive).

Nice pick @ The life of K

"Of you, too, we have the highest hopes. Steady and widen yourself, and try more to bring the mind and brain into subservience to the true Self within. Be tolerant of divergences of view and of method, for each has usually a fragment of truth concealed somewhere within it, even though oftentimes it is distorted almost beyond recognition. Seek for that tiniest gleam of light amid the Stygian darkness of each ignorant mind, food by recognizing and fostering in you may help a baby brother."....advice to K

10 Jan...

Birth anniversary of

A. Noted lawyer and distinguished Constitutional expert Fali S Norman (b. 1929). He is a former Additional Solicitor General of India. His son Robinson Nariman is a sitting judge of Supreme Court and has been the Solicitor General of India.

B. Noted Carnatic musician and playback singer K J Yesudas (b. 1940). He has been the recipient of one National award and 5 filmfare awards.

C. Hrithik Roshan (b. 1974)

D. The first Railway minister of India John Mathai (b. 1886, d. 1959) who also presented 2 budgets as Finance Minister. Basically an economist, he was HOD, Dept. of Economics, University of Madras. He was the first Chairman of SBI when it started in 1955. Besides being Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, he was also the first Vice Chancellor of University of Kerala.
His son Ravi Mathai was the first Director of IIM A (at the age of 38) and is credited to have laid the foundation of what it is today. His nephew is the legendary Dr. Varghese Kurien.

E. One of my two demigods on earth and my idol, my own father.

Nice picks @ The Life of K

"The pleasant dreams my brother and I had of the physical are over...We had great fun in life though we were of different temperaments. We somehow understood each other without effort...It was a happy life and I shall miss him physically all through this life.
An old dream is dead and a new one is being born, as a flower that pushes through the solid earth...A new strength born of suffering is pulsating in the veins and a new sympathy and understanding is being born out of the past suffering. I greater desire to see others suffer less and, if they must suffer, to see that they bear it nobly and come out of it without too many scars. I have wept but I do not want others to weep but if they do I now know what it means...On the physical plane we could be separated and now we are unseperable... As K I now have greater zeal, greater faith, greater sympathy and greater love for there is also in me the body, the Being, of N...I know now, with greater certainty than ever before, that there is real beauty in life, real happiness that cannot be shattered by any physical happening, a great strength which cannot be weakened by any passing event, and a great love which is permanent, imperishable and unconquerable."

Kavi Neeraj...

Today is the birthday of Kavi Neeraj, the legendary Hindi film lyricist. Respected and regarded that he is from my perspective, I append few aspects of him, all thanking Google.

Neeraj, the pen name is famous in film Circles; his original name was Gopaldas Saxena

He was a Professor of Hindi Literature in Dharma Samaj College, Aligarh until Dev Anand heard Kaarvaan guzarta...at a mushaira and told him that they will work together— a promise that Anand kept. He invited Neeraj to Mumbai in the early 60s and introduced him to SD Burman, who was working on the movie Prem Pujari at that time. The rest as they say is history.

He abruptly stopped writing poems for films at the peak of his popularity. Instead, he chose to write and publish them in books.

The reason why he quit writing songs is strange: he considers himself unlucky. The reason for this mentioned by him was that at least two or three prominent music directors of Hindi film industry expired. He draws examples of Jaikishan of the music duo Shankar-Jaikishan as well as of S D Burman. The deaths of these music directors when they as well as Neeraj were at the peak of their popularity, left him very depressed and he made a decision to quit the film industry.

Some of his masterpieces are:

Aye Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo – Mera Naam Joker

Dhiire se jaanaa khatiyan me – Chuppa Rustam

Dil aaj shayar hai, gum aaj nagma hai, shab yeh ghazal hai sanam - Gambler

Karwan Guzar Gaya Gubar Dekhte Rahe – Nayi umar ki nayii fasal

Khilte Hain Gul Yahan, Khilke Bikharne Ko – Sharmilee

Maine kasam Li – Tere Mere Sapne

Meghaa chhaye aadhee raat bairan ban gayee nindeeyaa – Sharmilee

Mera maan tera pyaasa – Gambler

Phoolon ke rang se – Prem Pujari

Rangeela re – Prem Pujari

Shokhiyon Mein Ghola Jaaye, Phoolon Ka Shabaab – Prem Pujari

4th Jan...

Today in history: Birth anniversaries of

a. Louis Braille (b. 1809), inventor of Braille system of reading for the blind. It's strange to note that he himself was blind since the age of 3.

b. Issac Pitman (b. 1813) who invented the system of shorthand, a revolutionary concept till date and

death anniversary of one of India's greatest scientist Prof. Satish Dhawan (d. 2002). Prof. Dhawan is considered as the Father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India. He had BSc degrees in Mathematics, Physics and Mechanical Engg. besides a degree in English, MSc in aerospace engineering & aeronautical engineering and double PhD s in Mathematics and aerospace engineering.
He was Chairman ISRO as well as Director of IISc Bangalore.

New Year 2017

Yes, the day as planned started with a home-made Puree laden breakfast. What happened next was a first experience for me and Sambhab i.e. his father bathed him.

It was a learning for me and him too.

Naushad, the legend and Sadhna ...article which I wrote on 25 Dec.

On the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of the legendary Naushad (born on 25 Dec 1919), I append few points from his life and career stolen from the internet:

• When he got married, the band was playing the tunes of the super hit songs of the film 'Rattan'. While his father and father-in-law were condemning the musician who had composed these songs, Naushad dared not tell them that it was he who had composed the music.
• His greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Naushad's style was renowned for his ability to incorporate classical rhythms into his symphonies. He based his music upon the "ragas" that formed a basis in Indian classical music, and thus his music took on complex formations
• He often spent nights sleeping on the footpath opposite the Broadway theatre in Bombay, and dreamt of seeing his music played over there. Sixteen years later, he burst into tears at the premiere of Baiju Bawra (1952), at that same theatre.
• He also introduced the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogue through music.
• He is known for introducing Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd Rahi and Surayya to the scale that we know today.
• For Aan (1952), he was the first to use a 100-piece orchestra.
• For Mughal-e-Azam (1960) song Ae Mohabbat Zindabad, he used a chorus of 100 persons. He asked Lata Mangeshkar to render a part of the song "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya" in a bathroom that had glazed tiles and then recorded the music to get the echo effect.
• During the early 1940s, his recordings were done in quiet parks and gardens after midnight because the studios did not have sound-proof recording rooms. In the gardens there would be no echo and disturbances, unlike the studios where the sound reverberated because of the tin roofs.
• From 1942 until the late 1960s, he was one of the top music directors in Hindi films. While he did less than a hundred films during his lifetime, 26 of those films celebrated Silver jubilees (25 weeks run) – 8 celebrated golden jubilees (50 weeks run) and 4 celebrated diamond jubilees (60 weeks run).
• Five films have been made on his life and work. Biographical books published are Dastaan-E-Naushad (Marathi) by Shashikant Kinikar; Aaj Gaawat Man Mero (Gujarati); Hindi and Urdu biographical sketches in Shama & Sushma Magazines respectively, titled "Naushad Ki Kahani, Naushad Ki Zubani"; the last one was translated into Marathi by Shashikant Kinikar. Kinikar also came up with a book titled "Notes of Naushad" which puts together some interesting anecdotes of Naushad's life.

A small common element with Sadhna whose Ist death anniversary also falls today: Mere Mehboob

of pigeons and doves...

The association with pigeons has been a bit prolonged for my family. The alliance to my memory runs for some close to 3 decades now. 
It started with small amounts of rice thrown in to the intruders while they murmured with gloated throats around the balcony. With this quotidian benevolence, the numbers soon began to rise; seemed as if they had a wonderful shout-out system to ensure that the message goes to as many. The courtyard seemed occupied by the intruders for most part of the day. The kit / flight, as I googled out the collective noun to be, included all hues of the Columbidae family from the pure silvery shining, the light gray with dirty spots around, the magenta necked overall deep gray to the close-to-black and the lapis-lazuli shade bearers. At some point I had become so used to the lot that I could distinctly make out the hungry note from the satisfied croaking.
I remember being asked to ferry a small sack of grains from a place which I used to get on my cycle. In the initial phase, it used to last a month. But with a degree of benevolence growing through me and my younger sister, it started to last less than a fortnight. But yes, the pains (for me) and the cost (for my parents) were worth it; the sheer pleasure of having these entities around and the awe-generation because of the timing maintained by them irrespective of the climate and the part of the year. They could recognize the person who was throwing the grains because I could see a distinct comfort among them when my father or mother were in the act. When the rolls changed over to me (which was very rare, though), they maintained a larger distance from the hand and some had a stoic silence on their crop (that is a distinct belonging of pigeons and doves which I learnt later).
While I was physically detached from my roots @ Rourkela for studies and then for the job treks, I was always thrilled with the news of these winged entities. As I was away, there happened three changes in the addresses for my parents back there but these entities followed them ritually.
As I headed home after almost 1 1/2 years, I was pleased to find the continuity of the ritual. The place of action has now shifted to the modestly large rooftop. My son had his quota of excitement amidst the multiple hurls of wheat, yes thats the new food for the visiting columbidaes.
Am sure each of these winged entities had something to do with the rapid growth of goodwill and blessings for my family.

got jealous...

Few days back I was out to Delhi on a personal trip. Was glad to meet an old pal Subhankar after many many years. Thanks to him, I also managed to speak with another old friend Shalini.

I am normally beyond negations and negative thoughts but I got jealous for few minutes hearing that the two of them have 3 daughters in between them. The first thing that I did after coming back to Kolkata was to pack some gifts for them.

Durga 2016 coming: Celebrating through sketches and colours

Today being a holiday, I had planned a painting of Durga. Not that I would be getting into that profession but but for the few hours of association that this verb would bring. The result is below to see.

Never knew the Hitler-Odisha connection...

During the Second World War, aluminum was used as a prime ingredient in fire bombs, including napalm, which killed tens of thousands of civilians in air raids over Germany and Japan. In fact, the main ores for war metals are all found in Orissa — iron, chromite and manganese for steel, bauxite, and uranium. Hitler was apparently well aware of Orissa’s iron and bauxite deposits, one reason why Japanese bombs were dropped on Orissa’s ports.

Hitler’s interest in Orissa’s bauxite/aluminium and iron ore is outlined in an article inOriya in Samaj, May 3, 2005 by Ajit Mahapatra who met one of Hitler’s key metal experts,and the widow of another.

Hitler, or one of his metallurgists is said to have remarked that “he who controls Orissa’s iron, controls the world”

Mali Aja: plants, plantations and planters

How much does one think of other, what about a person who has been thinking mostly about others. There was this person whose name is not important because he was popular as Mali Aja (normal Odia word for the maternal grandfather) to juniors and Mali Mausa (typical Odia word for uncle). This was so because of the fact that he was indeed a mali, a connuesior of flowers, flower pots, vegetables and trees. All old timers of REC campus shall vouche for the beauty that was in and around the institution and few houses which had the touch of this gem. Trees standing today bear testimony to the efforts of this person who had no idea about his real date birth and he also did not remember the classes which he had studied (he had not sat for Matriculation, for sure).

But yes, he did remember the names of the various flower plants which would seldom be covered in our school books, the exact period for which a grafting is required to be attached to the tree, which species of plants had a better chances of bearing fruits faster if raised through conditioned germination and if a barren patch of land were to be converted to a flower bed what cheap ingredients were required. He had answers to all questions of plants, trees and plantings. Numerous mango trees, rubber trees and pineapple bushes still bear his signature though he is no more.

He came from a non-descript place of Odisha but that is not at all important. Be it the dispensary where he was posted or the library to which he was attached for substantial long time, all had a unique style of brick-layout for seasonal plants and each season bore a different set of colours w.r.t to the plants that breathed life into. While he was spotted making cow-dung syrup (that is the best word that I can use) at places, at times he could be find dirtying his hands in cow-dung spreading them for the sun to kiss them and he was also seen making a bed of sand-mud-dry leaves for some non-descript life to be born. It seemed as if plants and plant-making were his life; that was his first love and the last purpose of his existence.

Lastly the point on how I was connected to this non-descript entity; well, I still conjure the best memoirs of the vegetables which were planted, watered &tended by him, I still feel nostalgic with the typical cow-dung smell in my nostrils (I used to detest the same in kidhood) and I have grown seeing sheer miracles happening with non-flowering plants bearing fruits.

It instilled in me and my father a deep sense of regards for Mother Nature. My father at a later date went on to fill every single vacant square feet our ancestral village with trees and he went to plant trees in the vacant spaces of government offices. Employment Exchange at Rourkela still bears the mark of the seed that was planted in the form of plants that were planted by Mali Aja.

He had a great popularity among the employees of REC; all the employees of any department of the institution in which he worked would throng him with requests for guiding them on grafting, lawn making and flowering. Numerous kids along with the parents have developed the taste of gardening because of this person.

The other learning from him was the financial discipline which he maintained. At this age, we are aware of systematic methods of saving and expenditure. In those times, he used to miraculously manage his small salary with a fixed debit towards his family (used to stay at his native place) and a fixed savings every month (which most often used to land in Post Office or as advised by my father).

Now he is no more but the undying spirit of passion towards plants has been ingrained in the minds of almost every individual who came in contact with him during his lifetime.

Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi

Though, I am typically not a TV buff but "Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi" has almost become a weekly affair. I do not mind becoming an addict.

Through this forum, I would like to request each one to watch this wonderful program. It shows many examples which proves that for doing good, one necessarily need not have billions in bank balances and there are millions of opportunities around us. Each of the story is so inspiring that one feels like immediately joining the bandwagon or atleast contributiong something.

Today's stories which were about

a. Temsutula Imsong who initiated the Clean-Ghat drive at Varanasi, herself being from Nagaland and

b. Sunil B Satpute who started Gharkul, a home for special children

c. Subhashini Vasanth who is working for the benefit of Army widows despite herself being a Army widow