Legends Of India

Jana Gana Mana" - Just a thought for the National Anthem! How well do you know about it?

I have always wondered who is the " adhinayak"and"bharat bhagya vidhata",whose praise we are singing.. I thought might be Motherland India ! Our current National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana"is sung throughout the country.

Did you know the following about our national anthem, I didn't.

To begin with, India 's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919. To honor their visit Pandit Motilal Nehru had the five stanzas included , which are in praise of the King and Queen.(And most of us think it is in the praise of our great motherland!! !)

In the original Bengali verses only those provinces that were under British rule,i.e . Punjab, Sindh,Gujarat ,Maratha etc. were mentioned.

None of the princely states were recognized which are integral parts of India now Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore or Kerala.

Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was included, since they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time.

The Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the bestower of good fortune".

Following is a translation of the five stanzas that glorify the King: First stanza: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. (Tava shubha name jaage; tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)

Second stanza :Around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.


Third stanza: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond misery.

Fourth stanza :Drowned in the deep ignorance and suffering, poverty-stricken, unconscious country?
Waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's (the Queen's) true protection.

Fifth stanza : In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat ( India ) will wake up. We bow down to your feet O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).

This whole poem does not indicate any love for the Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing
Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying? Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God? The poem does not indicate that.

It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing as has been done the past fifty years.

Nehru chose the present national anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because he thought that it would be easier for the band to play!!!

It was an absurd reason but Today for that matter bands have advanced and they can very well play any music. So they can as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better composition in praise of our Dear Motherland India.

Wake up, it's high time! Shouldn't Vande Mataram be our National Anthem. Come Join together to put Vande Mataram as our National Anthem. Read more...

Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-born American astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist. A girl who had always dreamt of the moon and the stars had herself become a star. Not only did she achieve her dreams but she also led her life with the highest sense of values and purpose in every respect. The space shuttle Columbia, while returning to Earth, disintegrated in air on 1st Feb, 03 about 16 minutes before it was scheduled to touch down, killing all seven crew members."Kalpana, or K.C. to her friends, was admired personally for her extraordinary kindness and technically for her strive for perfection,"

FAMILY

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana on 1st July, 1961. Kalpana is a Sanskrit name meaning "idea" or "imagination.".Her father Banarsi Lal Chawla was then a leading industrialist of Karnal and owned a Tire factory. Her mother Sanyogita Chawla, a housewife, expected a boy as her last child, when Kalpana was born. Chawla's family were refugees from Pakistan who settled in Karnal after partition in 1947. Her parents had seen great hardships and were in dire straits during partition but had struggled to pull themselves up. However, they were able to provide good education to Kalpana and her two siblings
Her elder sister Sunita Chaudhary and her sister in law, Anjali Chawla are ardent bird watchers in Delhi. Her brother Sanjay is a businessman.Kalpana got married to Jean Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor in 1983, and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1990.



ACADEMICS AND INTERESTS

In 1976, she did her schooling from Tagore Bal Niketan school, Karnal. She did her pre-university and pre-engineering from Dayal Singh College, Karnal.A brilliant academic record straight through school Kalpana took part in almost everything, from athletics to dance to science modeling.

Chawla studied aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, India, in 1982, she happened to be the only girl in the aeronautics batch, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree. Her family initial resisted her decision but they also knew that she was one determined woman and nothing could stop her.

Then, she moved to the United States to go to graduate school at the University of Texas-Arlington, where she received a master's degree in aerospace engineering in 1984. Chawla earned a second Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1986 Then, she moved to Boulder, Colo., to pursue a doctorate in aerospace engineering, which she received in 1988.Later that same year she began working for NASA Ames Research Center.

Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes , gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multiengine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.She held an FCC issued Technician Class Amateur Radio license with the call sign KD5ESI.Her interest in flight was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, a pioneering Indian pilot and industrialist.



PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS


Chawla and her husband lived adjacent to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Chawla was a strict vegetarian, in observance to her Hindu faith. On her mission, she carried a white silk banner as part of a worldwide campaign to honor teachers, as well as nearly two dozen CDs, including ones by Abida Parveen, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, and Deep Purple. She went to her first rock concert, a Deep Purple show, in 2001 with her husband. "Kalpana is not necessarily a rock music aficionado," her husband said of a Deep Purple show, "...but (she) nevertheless characterized the show as a 'spiritual experience.'" She enjoyed birdwatching, backpacking, hiking, flying, and reading. Quoting philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca she always said, "I was not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land."

Hobbies: Kalpana was a person of varied interests . . Kalpana Chawla enjoyed flying, hiking and back-packing. She held Certificated Flight Instructor's license with airplane and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for airplanes. She enjoyed flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes. She enjoyed nature in all its glory; she was an avid birdwatcher. In one of her several interviews addressing a younger audience, she had said (words to these effect): "don't go after the fleeting pleasures of life, go for more permanent things."


A Spiritual Person: She was passionate about music and reading. She would consciously explore and broaden her horizons in her areas of interest. Her husband, Jean-Pierre Harrison who himself was a freelance flying instructor fuelled her interest in different music. Here is an interesting nugget that throws light on the remarkable person that she was. While she was well versed with Indian classical music, her husband introduced her to rock groups like Deep Purple. After the concert, she is supposed to have commented that it was a spiritual experience.
"Kalpana, or K.C. to her friends, was admired personally for her extraordinary kindness and technically for her strive for perfection," he said. "She had a terrific sense of humor and loved flying small airplanes with her husband and loved flying in space. Flying was her passion. She would often remind her crew as her training flow would be delayed and become extended, she would say, 'Man, you are training to fly in space. What more could you want?'"

During an STS-107 preflight interview, she was asked who inspired her. She responded that she was motivated by people who are giving it their all."I think inspiration and tied with it is motivation," she said. "For me, definitely, it comes every day from people in all walks of life. It's easy for me to be motivated and inspired by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something."

Every once in a while," Chawla said, "we'd ask my dad if we could get a ride in one of these planes. And, he did take us to the flying club and get us a ride in the Pushpak and a glider that the flying club had."

Chawla was a motivated person who made an impression on others. Despite her fame, she was truly a down to earth person! She had a great bonding with her classmates from the Tagore school and was highly respectful of her teachers. Even after becoming a famous astronaut, she diligently kept in touch with some of her closest friends to the end of her life.


LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Hailing from a traditional middleclass family, Kalpana was the youngest of the four children. Different from her peers even as a young girl, sketching and painting airplanes were more her forte than dressing up Barbie dolls.

Sanjay, her brother was her sole mentor throughout her journey as both of them shared the same dream and vision - to fly. Sanjay's plans of being a commercial pilot were shattered when his medical reports were not upto the mark. Kalpana went ahead to make her brothers and her own dreams come true and mind you it hasn't been smooth sailing.


SPACEWOMAN PAR EXCELLENCE



On what Fears described as a "lark," Chawla joined a pool of 2,000 astronaut candidates. She did not think she would be accepted, and had never really expressed interest in being an astronaut to her colleagues around her. In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started work at NASA Ames Research Center in the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research concentrated on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft such as the Harrier in "ground-effect." Following completion of this project she supported research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers, and testing of these solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana Chawla joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization. Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla participated in are documented in technical conference papers and journals.

Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second person of Indian origin to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft. It must be noted that while Rakesh Sharma represented India, Chawla was an American astronaut who represented the United States. Sharma and Chawla never met despite their common interests.



Astronaut: Kalpana was selected by NASA in December 1994, as an astronaut candidate in the 15th Group of Astronauts. She reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.


SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

First Mission: Kalpana Chawla was mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator on Space shuttle mission STS-87. This mission from 19/11/97 to 05/12/97 lasted 15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes. STS-87 was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments designed to study how the weightless environment of space affects various physical processes, and on observations of the Sun's outer atmospheric layers. Two members of the crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) which featured the manual capture of a Spartan satellite, in addition to testing EVA tools and procedures for future Space Station assembly.

In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in space. In January, 1998, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment. Subsequently, she was assigned as the lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section.



Second Mission: She was one of the seven members of the crew of STS-107 as Mission Specialist. This mission from 16/01/03 to 01/02/03 lasted 15 days, 22 hours, 21 minutes and resulted in her tragic death. The 16-day flight was a dedicated science and research mission. Working 24 hours a day, in two alternating shifts, the crew successfully conducted approximately 80 experiments.

For the second mission, she had carried with her CDs of her favourite artistes like Abida Parveen, Pt. Ravi Shankar and Deep Purple, among others. She planned to autograph them in space and gift it as mementoes to these artistes. But that was not to be. Sixteen minutes short of the scheduled landing, Kalpana Chawla became one with the cosmos she so loved.

In all she logged 30 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes in space.

Chawla's responsibilities included the SPACEHAB/FREESTAR microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety. . Prior to STS-107, Chawla logged more than 376 hours in space.
Chawla's last visit to India was during the 1991 - 1992 new year holiday when she and her husband spent time with her family. For various reasons, Chawla was never able to follow up on invitations to visit India after she became an astronaut.


When the space crew for the Columbia STS-107 was chosen, the five men and two women would end up spending more time together than most other crews in history--in part, due to delays in the schedule. Through the team's rigorous training and daily lives, they were prepared for their adventure in space that took off on January 16 and was set to return on February 1. Chawla was excited about her second trip and had sent an e-mail to a friend from space saying that having the chance at another trip was "like having a wonderful dream again."
As a member of the Red Team, Chawla worked with the commander, Rick Husband, responsible for maneuvering Columbia.

The experiments on which she also worked included Astroculture (AST); Advanced Protein Crystal Facility (APPCF); Commerical Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG_PCF); Biotechnology Demonstration System (BDS); ESA Biopack (eight experiments); Combustion Module (CM-2), including the Laminar Soot Processes (LSP), Water Mist Fire Suppression (MIST), and Structures of Flame Balls at Low Lewisnumber (SOFBALL) experiments; Mechanics of Granular Material (MGM); Vapor Compression Distillation Flight Experiment (VCD FE); and, the Zeolite Crystal Growth Furnace (ZCG).

Here are some excerpts from NASA's official pre-flight interview for STS-107

Can you talk a little bit about the interest you had growing up and maybe some of the things that may have put you on the road to NASA? How did you get here? What was it about science that intrigued you? That helped you?

When I was going to high school back in India, growing up, I think I was very lucky that we lived in a town which is a very small town and one of a handful of towns at that time which had flying clubs. And, we would see these small Pushpak airplanes, which are not much different from Piper J3 Cubs that you see in the U.S. that students were flying as part of their training programs. Me and my brother, sometimes we would be on bikes looking up, which you shouldn't be doing, trying to see where these airplanes were headed. Every once in a while, we'd ask my dad if we could get a ride in one of these planes. And, he did take us to the flying club and get us a ride in the Pushpak and a glider that the flying club had. I think that's really my closest link to aerospace engineering that I can dig deep down and find out, out there. Also growing up, we knew of this person, J. R. D. Tata in India, who had done some of the first mail flights in India. And also the airplane that he flew for the mail flights now hangs in one of the aerodromes out there that I had had a chance to see. Seeing this airplane and just knowing what this person had done during those years was very intriguing. Definitely captivated my imagination. And, even when I was in high school if people asked me what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. In hindsight, it's quite interesting to me that just some of those very simple things helped me make up my mind that that's the area I wanted to pursue. During our school year in India, we have to figure out kind of early what particular subjects you want to pursue. Basically when you are in eighth grade, around 12 years of age, you have to pick up a track - whether you're going science (as in engineering) or science (as in medical). And, that probably is the earliest decision point when I said, "Since I'm going to do aerospace engineering, I'm going to study physics, chemistry, and math." And from then on, pretty much you are on a set track. And hoping, if, you know, this is what you want to do, and if it doesn't come out true that there are some other options that you have (which I did). And after pre-engineering, which is equivalent of 12th grade in US - by which time now you've been specializing in basically physics, chemistry, and math and some language - you are ready to go to an engineering college or another profession of your choice by taking part in exams or simply answering questionnaires and based on merit of your results. I was lucky to get into aerospace engineering at Punjab Engineering College. And really in my case the goal was, at that stage anyway, to be an aerospace engineer. The astronaut business is really, really farfetched for me to say, "Oh, at that time I even had an inkling of it." Aircraft design was really the thing I wanted to pursue. If people asked me what I wanted to do, I remember in the first year I would say, "I want to be a flight engineer." But, I am quite sure at that time, I didn't really have a good idea of what a flight engineer did. Because flight engineers do not do aircraft design, which was an area I wanted to pursue and did pursue in my career. And, it's sort of a nice coincident that that's what I am doing on this flight.

And can you tell us about some of the people in your life that inspired you, or maybe still inspire you, to do what you're doing now?

I think inspiration and tied with it is motivation. For me, definitely, it comes every day from people in all walks of life. It's easy for me to be motivated and inspired by seeing somebody who just goes all out to do something. For example, some of the teachers in high school. The amount of effort they put in to carry out their courses. The extra time they took to do experiments with us. And then, just the compliments they gave students for coming up with ideas - new ideas - [that], in hindsight, I wonder how they even had the patience to look at these. In general during my life, I would say I've been inspired by explorers. Different times during my life I've read books. More recently, say about Shackleton, the four or five books written by people in more recent times, and then during the expedition. And then some of the incredible feats these people carried out; like making [it] to the Pole almost, but making the wise decision to stop a hundred miles short and return. Lewis and Clark's incredible journey across America to find a route to water, if one existed. And, the perseverance and incredible courage with which they carried it out. Patty Wagstaff. You know, she started out kind of late flying aerobatic airplanes. And then had the where-with-all to say that she was going to take part in the championships. And then, became an unlimited U.S. champion three times in a row. And, that's not men's or women's; that's The Champion. There are so many people out there that just how they have done some incredible things. And how they inspire. You know, in explorers, Peter Matthiessen and how he has explored the whole world and chronicled life, animals and birds as they exist. And, he's done it by simply walking on his feet. You know, across [the] Himalayas. Across Africa. When I read about these people, I think the one thing that just stands out is their perseverance in how they carried out what they wished to carry out.


Some Facts about Dr. Kalpana C. Chawla


• First and only Indian-American in space (she was born in India and became a naturalized U.S. citizen)
• Selected as an astronaut in 1994; first mission in 1997, this was her second mission
• U.S. doctorate & M.S. in aerospace engineering and B.S. in aeronautical engineering from India
• Second Indian in space, after Indian citizen Rakesh Sharma, who flew on a Soviet mission
• One of only a handful of Asian American astronauts and the only South Asian
• Married to Frenchman Jean-Pierre Harrison, a freelance flying instructor
• Born: July 1, 1961, in Karnal, India



AWARDS


Posthumously awarded:


• NASA Space Flight Medal
• NASA Distinguished Service Medal
• Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM)
• Congressional Space Medal of Honor



MEMORIA


• On February 5, 2003, India's Prime Minister announced that the meteorological series of satellites, "METSAT", will be renamed as "KALPANA". The first satellite of the series, "METSAT-1", launched by India on September 12, 2002 will be now known as "KALPANA-1". "KALPANA-2" is expected to be launched by 2007.
• Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla is named for her.
• 74th Street in the "Little India" section of Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City has been renamed 74th Street Kalpana Chawla Way in her honor.
• Steve Morse from the band Deep Purple created a song called "Contact Lost" in memory of the Columbia tragedy along with her interest in the band. The song can be found on the album, Bananas (album).[2]
• The University of Texas at Arlington (where Chawla obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1984) opened a dormitory named in her honor, Kalpana Chawla Hall, in 2004.
• NASA has dedicated a super computer to Kalpana. -- [3] (ndtv)
• Amar Chitra Katha (Immortal Illustrated Classics) has released a comic book biography of Kalpana Chawla's life.
• One of Florida Institute of Technology's student apartment complexes, Columbia Village Suites, has halls named after each of the astronauts, including Chawla.
• NASA Mars Exploration Rover mission has named seven peaks in a chain of hills, named the Columbia Hills, after each of the seven astronauts lost in the Columbia shuttle disaster, including Chawla hill after Kalpana Chawla.



Kalpana Chawla Memorial - Chawla Peak - Space Shuttle Columbia Inukshuk Memorials


The Chawla Peak Inukshuk Memorial was named after astronaut Kalpana Chawla. It was established in July, 2003 at the top of a rugged hill located inside the Haughton Crater basin. The site offers a magnificient panoramic view of the entire crater and overlooks Trinity Pond, a small body of water that has been investigated in detail in the course of the NASA HMP's astrobiology program.
The Chawla Peak Inukshuk was erected by NASA HMP Team members Pauline Akeeagok (Grise Fiord), Brian Glass (NASA ARC), Jeffrey Jones MD (NASA JSC), and Pascal Lee (NASA HMP PI).


DEATH:


Kalpana Chawla and her six STS-107 crewmates perished Feb. 1, 2003, over Texas as Columbia was re-entering Earth's atmosphere en route to a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.She died as hero and a role model for many young women, especially in India and particularly those in her hometown of Karnal where her life serves to encourage young people to follow in her footsteps.

Her brother, Sanjay Chawla, remarked "To me, my sister is not dead. She is immortal. Isn't that what a star is? She is a permanent star in the sky. She will always be up there where she belongs."

In a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee conveyed his sympathies to the American people. "We mourn with you in this moment of grief. Our hearts go out to the bright young men and women who were on that spacecraft. For us in India, we felt that since one of them was an Indian-born woman it adds a special poignancy to the tragedy."

"The world has seen with admiration the U.S. spacecraft program. We hope that in the days to come it will reach new heights," Vajpayee added.

"When the sad news reached her hometown," Bush said, "an administrator at her high school recalled, 'She always said she wanted to reach the stars. She went there and beyond.' Kalpana's native country mourns her today and so does her adopted land."

In a memorial service on Feb. 4, 2003, Astronaut Office Chief Kent Rominger said that Chawla loved her work and was respected by her colleagues.

When the shuttle blew apart just 16 minutes away from landing, Chawla took her place in history, and left many behind to praise her spirit and her ambition. She once described her first trip in space by saying that, "In the pre-sleep period, when you're looking out the window, you're floating. The Nile River looks like a lifeline in the Sahara." She concluded by remarking that, "Earth is very beautiful. I wish everyone could see it."



THE ULTIMATE TRIBUTE:

Plans to honor Chawla in her native country were made shortly after her death, including an entire chapter devoted to her in the IT (Information Technology) at School textbook, even though space technology was not usually a part of the text, instructions were to be included on "do exercises" based on the life and activities of Chawla, according to Business Line. An article on Chawla's life was also to be included.

On February 6, 2003, Chawla was honored with a minute of silence in the Goa Assembly in India, as well.

In her memory, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee renamed the weather satellite launched in 2002, Metstat as Kalpana-1. Deep Purple scripted and sang, Contact Lost as a tribute to her. These and many such small gestures round the world have kept her memory alive. But the real tribute, the youngsters can pay her, is to enliven the Kalpanas (imagination) in them. Read more...

Narain Karthikeyan is the first Formula-One driver from India. In 2005, he was signed by the Jordan Formula-One team. He is very passionate about driving. He is the second Asian and the first Indian to participate and win the Formula 3 Championships. He become the first Indian to win the British Formula Ford Winter Series Championship in Europe. He is the first Indian and the first Asian to win the Formula Asia International Series in 1996.

Narain Karthikeyan was born on January 14, 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. His father G.R.Karthikeyan was the Indian National Rally Champion. Narain was passionate about racing at a very young age. He attended the EIF-Winfield Racing School in France at the age of 16. Narain Studied at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. In 1992, Narain was one of the semi-finalist in the Pilote ELF competition for Formula Renault cars in 1992.He competed and was successful at the Spa Fracorchamps Formula Three Championship in Belgium. He studied Business Administration in London. His Idol is Michael Schumacher.

In 1994, Narain raced in the Formula Ford Zetec Series as the number two driver for the Foundation Racing team in U.K. In Estoril, Narain had a podium finish in the Portuguese Grand Prix support race. In 1995, in the Shah Alam Formula Asia Championship in Malaysia, Karthikeyan finished second.

1997 was a great year for karthikeyan. He competed in the Formula Vauxhall Opel and won the prestigious Donington Park race with a lead from start to finish. He was declared - "The Indian Prince rules in the rain" by the famous Autosport magazine.

In 2000, in the Macau Grand Prix, Narain Karthikeyan took the pole position and won the race in the British F3 Championship. He was 4th in the overall standings. Karthikeyan won the race in the Spa Fracorchamps F3 Championships against a full grade of 32 cars with 31 of the world's best Formula Three drivers competing.

In 2001, Narain Karthikeyan finished amongst the top ten in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship. His dream came true when he Test-drive Jaguar F1 car at Silverstone. He was the first Indian to do so. In 2004, in the World Series by Nissan, karthikeyan won in Valencia, Spain and in France.

Narain Karthikeyan became Indian's first Formula-One racing driver to be signed by the Jordon Formula-One Team in 2005. Narain Karthikeyan finished in 15th position in his first race at the Australian Grand Prix. He secured his first points in the United States Grand Prix.

On December 8, 2005, Karthikeyan was selected as a test driver for the Williams Formula-One racing team. In early 2006, Karthikeyan was chosen as Williams fourth Test driver.

In 2007, Karthikeyan has signed a new contract with Williams Formula-One team as a third Test driver. He participated in A1 Grand Prix Series. He broke the lap record for an A1GP car around the National Circuit by three tenths of a second.

Karthikeyan is in discussion with Spyker F1 team over a racing position for the 2008 season. He could be in line for a Formula-One comeback as replacement for dropped Dutch driver Christijan Albers at Spyker.

Narain Karthikeyan Career


- 2007 F1 World Championship

- Karthikeyan is the third Test driver with Williams F1 team

- Participated in A1 Grand Prix.

- 2006 F1 World Championship

- Fourth Test driver with Williams F1 team.

- 2005 F1 World Championship

- Main driver with Jordon F1 team

- Overall 18th position (5 points).

- 2004 World Series by Nissan

- Won the race at Valencia.

- 2003 Super Fund World series

- Finished Fourth in the Championship.

- 2002 Telefonica World Series

- Finished Ninth in the Championship.

- 2001 Formula Nippon Championship F3000

- Finished 14 in the Championship.

- 2000 British Formula 3 Championship

- Finished 4th in the Championship.

- 1999 British formula 3 Championship

- Finished 6th in the Championship.

- 1998 British formula 3 Championship

- Finished 12th in the Championship.

- 1996 Formula Asia Championship (won).

- 1994 British formula Ford Winter Series (won). Read more...

Viswanathan Anand was born on December 11, 1969 in Chennai, India is an Indian chess grandmaster and former FIDE world champion. In the October 2006 FIDE Elo rating list, Anand has a rating of 2779, making him the number two in the world (after Veselin Topalov). Anand is one of only four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list and he has been among the top three ranked players in classical time control chess in the world continuously since 1994.
Anand's recent tournament successes include the prestigious Corus chess tournament in years 2003, 2004, 2006 (tied with Veselin Topalov), and Dortmund in 2004. He has won the annually held Monaco Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006.He is the only player to have won five titles of the Corus chess tournament. He is also the only player to win the blind and rapid sections of the Amber tournament in the same year (and he did this twice -- in 1997 and 2005). He is the first player to have achieved victories in each of the three big chess supertournaments: Corus (1998, 2003, 2004, 2006), Linares (1998), Dortmund (1996, 2000, 2004).

Family Matters:

Anand's upbringing and his parents' focus on discipline has played a crucial role in making Vishwanathan the Champion he is today. In an interview with Shobha Warrier, Vishwanathan's father told her, "My father was a strict disciplinarian, and I guess I imbibed that trait from him. Discipline played a big role in my doing well in life, and I think that is true of my three children as well. My elder son, Shivakumar, is Chief Design Engineer with Crompton Greaves, and my daughter, Anuradha, did her MBA at IIM Calcutta. She got married, went off to the United States, did a doctorate in Corporate Management and now teaches at Michigan University. And now my youngest son, Anand, is world chess champion!"



Chess Career:

Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National level success came early for him when he won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of fourteen. He became the youngest Indian to win the International Master Title at the age of fifteen, in 1984. At the age of sixteen he became the National Champion and won that title two more times. He played games at blitz speed, earning him the nickname "Lightning Kid" ("Blitz chess" is known in India as "Lightning chess"). In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship. In 1988, at the age of eighteen, he became India's first Grandmaster.

Anand qualified for the Professional Chess Association World Chess Championship final by winning the candidates matches against Michael Adams and Gata Kamsky. In 1995, he played a title match against Kasparov in New York City's World Trade Center.

Anand’s first brush with success came as early as 1983 when he first won the sub-junior championship, the same year he annexed the national junior chess championship which was an extraordinary feat in itself. For the next two years, he won the National Championship and simultaneously the Asian Junior Championship. At 15, he was the country’s youngest International Grand Master. By the time Anand won his second national championship, he was already touted as the world's fastest rising star of chess.

Anand returned to the Philippines in 1987 as a strong contender for the World Junior championships. True to his reputation, he won the title comprehensively in the process becoming the first Indian Grand Master which he has remained for 14 long years. Philippines was a happy hunting ground for Anand. In 1990 he qualified for the candidates cycle of the World Championship after winning the Manila Interzonals.

Anand's fame as the next chess prodigy after Bobby Fischer grew and so also his impressive array of titles. In mid 1987 he touched a rating of 2500, and in just another year and a half, he was past 2600. In 1992 he became only the eighth player in the world to cross a rating of 2700. And in the same year won the world’s highest rated tournament in Reggio Emila where he out-manoeuvred the great Gary Kasparov. His moment of glory came in 2000 when he won the FIDE World Championship title, becoming the first ever Indian to do so.

His string of grand successes continued with a slew of titles the latest being the much awaited clash of titans between Anand and Kramnik in Mainz. True to its hype the clash turned out to be a humdinger of contest. After ten games each of the contestants were tied at five each and the contenders decided to go for the tie-break, which Anand won in the 'rapid and blitz' reaffirming his supremacy as the world’s best player in this format. He also became the first non-Russian after Bobby Fisher to have won the title.

After several near misses, Anand finally won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 after defeating Alexei Shirov 3.5 - 0.5 in the final match held at Teheran, thereby becoming the first Indian to win that title.

Awards and Recognition:



Chess titles

* 1983 National Sub-Junior Chess Champion - age 14
* 1984 International Master - age 15
* 1985 Indian National Champion - age 16
* 1987 World Junior Chess Champion, Grandmaster
* 2000 FIDE World Chess Champion
* 2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion

Anand has received many awards.

* 1985, Arjuna award for Outstanding Indian Sportsman in Chess
* 1987, Padma Shri, National Citizens Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award
* 1991-1992, The inaugural Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India's highest sporting honour
* 1998, British Chess Federation 'Book of the Year' Award for his book My Best Games of Chess
* 2000, Padma Bhushan
* 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2004, Chess Oscar Read more...

Lt. Saurabh K ali a of 4 JAT Regiment of the Indian Army laid down his life at the young age of 22 for the nation while guarding the frontiers at Kargil.

His parents, indeed the Indian Army and nation itself,lost a dedicated, honest and brave son.He was the first officer to detect and inform about Pakistani intrusion. Pakistan captured him and his patrol party of 5 brave men ali ve on May 15, 1999 from the Indian side of LOC.

They were kept in captivity for three weeks and subjected to unprecedented brutal torture, evident from their bodies handed over by Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999.

The Pakistanis indulged in dastardly acts of inflicting burns on these Indian officers with cigarettes, piercing their ears with hot rods, removing their eyes before puncturing them and breaking most of the bones and teeth.
They even chopped off various limbs and private organs of the Indiansoldiers besides inflicting unimaginable physical and mental torture.

After 22 days of torture, the brave soldiers were ultimately shot dead. A detailed post-mortem report is with the Indian Army. Pakistan dared to humiliate India this way flouting all international norms.
They proved the extent to which they can degrade humanity. However, the Indian soldiers did not break while undergoing all this unimaginable barbarism, which speaks volumes of their patriotism, grit, determination, tenacity and valour - something all of India should be proud of.
Sacrificing oneself for the nation is an honour every soldier would be proud of, but no parent, army or nation can accept what happened to these brave sons of India . I am afraid every parent may think twice to send their child in the armed forces if we all fall short of our duty in safeguarding the PRISONERS OF WAR AND LET THEM MEET THE FATE OF LT.SAURABH KALIA.
It may also send a demor ali sing signal to the army personnel fighting for the Nation that our POWs in Pak cannot be taken care of. It is a matter of shame and disgust that most of Indian Human Rights Organisations by and large, showed apathy in this matter.

Through this humble sub mis sion, may I appeal to allthe civilized people irrespective of colour, caste, region, religion and political lineage to stir their conscience and rise to take this as a NATIONAL ISSUE !!!
International Human Rights Organizations must be approached to expose and pressure Pakistan to identify, book and punish all those who perpetrated this heinous crime to our men in uniform.
If Pakistan is allowed to go unpunished in this case, we can only imagine the consequences.
Below is the list of 5 other soldiers who preferred todie for the country rather than open their mouths in front of enemy -

1. Sep. Arjun Ram s/o Sh. Chokka Ram; Village & PO
Gudi. Teh. & Dist.
Nagaur, (Rajasthan)

2. Sep. Bhanwar Lal Bagaria h/o Smt. Santosh Devi;
Village Sivelara;Teh.&
Dist.Sikar (Rajasthan)
3.. Sep. Bhikaram h/o Smt. Bhawri Devi; Village
Patasar; Teh.
Pachpatva;Distt.Barmer (Rajasthan)

4. Sep. Moola Ram h/o Smt. Rameshwari Devi; Village
Katori; Teh. Jayal;Dist.
Nagaur(Rajasthan)

5. Sep.. Naresh Singh h/o Smt. Kalpana Devi; Village
Chhoti Tallam;
Teh.Iglab; Dist.Aligarh (UP) Read more...

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam^ , was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007. Due to his unconventional working style, he is also popularly known as the People's President. Before his term as India's president, he distinguished himself as engineering visionary and was awarded India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with DRDO and his role as scientific advisor to the Indian government. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work and is considered a progressive mentor, innovator and visionary in India.

Personal life

APJ Abdul Kalam was born in 1931 in a middle-class family in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, a town well-known for its Hindu shrines. His mother tongue is Tamil. His father, a devout Muslim, owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor. This was also told in the book, A Boy and His Dream: Three Stories from the Childhood of Abdul Kalam by Vinita Krishna. The house Kalam was born in can still be found on the Mosque street at Rameswaram, and his brother's curio shop abuts it. This has become a point-of-call for tourists who seek out the place. Kalam grew up in an intimate relationship with nature, and he says in Wings of Fire that he never could imagine that water could be so powerful a destroying force as that he witnessed when he was six. That was in 1934 when a cyclonic storm swept away the Pamban bridge and a trainload of passengers with it and also Kalam's native village, Dhanushkodi.

Kalam observes strict personal discipline, vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. He is a lover of natural beauty. Kalam is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. He has written poems in Tamil as well. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by Dr.Kalam.

Kalam as an engineer

Abdul Kalam graduated from Madras Institute of Technology majoring in Aeronautical Engineering. As the Project Director, he made significant contributions to the development of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). As Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), he also played major part in developing many missiles of India including Agni and Prithvi. He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period, led by him.

Honours

He has received honorary doctorates from as many as thirty universities .The Government of India has honoured him with the nation's highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Kalam is the Fourth President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the highest office, the other three being Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan ,V. V. Giri and Zakir Hussain. He is also the first scientist and first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Referred to as the "People's President", Kalam is often considered amongst India's greatest presidents, going on to win a poll conducted by news channel CNN-IBN for India's Best President.

Political views

Kalam's probable views on certain issues have been espoused by him in his book India 2020 where he strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.

Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology.

Kalam's belief in the power of science to resolve society's problems and his views of these problems as a result of inefficient distribution of resources is modernistic. He also sees science and technology as ideology-free areas and emphasizes the cultivation of scientific temper and entrepreneurial drive. In this, he finds a lot of support among India's new business leaders like the founders of Infosys and Wipro, (leading Indian IT corporations) who began their careers as technology professionals much in the same way Kalam did. Read more...

There was a man in the first century B.C. in Tamil Nadu, in a place named Poompuhar on the banks of the river Cauvery. He earned a living by weaving cloth and selling it. In the same place there was a rich man whose son was a naughty boy. This lad came to the weaver and asked what was the price of the sari he was selling. The man replied, "Three rupees (the price in those days)". The lad tore the sari into half and asked what was the price of the half of the sari. The weaver relied, "A rupee and a half." The lad tore it again into two and asked what was the price of the torn piece. The man replied, "It is worth twelve annas" (The three fourths of a rupee). The weaver did not get angry at the lad’s behavior. He was calm and unruffled. The young lad was astonished. He asked the weaver, "How did you acquire the quality of forbearance (Kshama)?" The man replied, "Forbearance is truth. It is right conduct. It is non-violence. It is a source of great joy. It is heaven itself. It is the summum bonum of this world. There is nothing greater than forbearance in this world."

The weaver was Thiruvalluvar and the numerous poems he composed were Thrukkural: “Thiru” plus “Kural”. The word “Thiru” denotes Kural’s sanctity (sacredness), and “Kural” means the short verses (couplets). Thirukkural, meaning sacred couplets, is considered equivalent to the Vedas of the Hindu Scriptures and “the Bible of the Tamil Land”. It is evident from the Kurals that Valluvar had plenty of opportunities to talk to people from abroad and to know their different cultures and religions. He has taken the best from all cultures and religions and put them together in Kural form. All the 1330 couplets portray the simple human pictures of life. The sacred verses deal very much with political and social affairs of life.

St. Thiruvalluvar, the author of THIRUKKURAL was born about 30 years before Jesus Christ in Mylapore, the village of peacocks (Myl in Tamil means peacock), the present day Chennai, at a time when the Tamil Land was rich in culture, vivid in its life and adventurous in its commerce. Valluvars were the priests of outcaste people at that time. Tamilians take cognizance of the birth of Thiruvalluvar as a basis of Tamil calendar according to which we are now in the year 2032 of Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year). Thirukkural is regarded as a renowned work, eulogized as a directory of code of conduct and ethics to humanity. The revered poet not only deals with the general administration, but also codified clear-cut directions to the mankind on how they should behave and act in a social, political, religious and family circles.

Thiruvalluvar used to keep by his side, when he sat for meals, a needle and a small cup filled with water. Once, his host asked him as to why he insisted on having these two placed by the side of the plate. He said, "Food should not be wasted, even a grain is precious. Sometimes, stray grains of cooked rice or stray pieces of cooked vegetables fall off the plate or away from it. While I eat, I lift them off the floor, with the help of this needle and stir them in the water to clean them and eat them." What a great lesson this is for those who waste more, than they consume in today’s consumerist society!

As Emmons White has said, Thiruvalluvar was a kindly, liberal-minded man and his poetry is a kind of synthesis of the best moral teachings of his age. In the words of Dr. John Lazarus who has made an English translation of the Kural, “It is refreshing to think of a nation which produced so great a man and so unique a work. The morality he preached could not have grown except on an essentially moral soil.” This classical work in Tamil has been widely translated in over 60 languages of the world. Nearly 300 years ago, the Italian Jesuit missionary, Constantius Beschi (known as Veeramamunnivar in Tamil) who came to Tamil Nadu in 1710, translated the Thirukkural into Latin. Rev. G U Pope who hailed Thiruvalluvar as “the Bard of Universal Man” translated the Kural and printed the it first in English. Many European missionaries have made translations into English between 1820 and 1886. Freedom fighters and statesmen, C Rajagopalachari and VVS Iyer have also translated the Kural into English. Barring perhaps the Bible and the Koran, the Kural is the most translated work. Read more...