Legends of India

Another Milestone for sachin tendulkar

2010-12-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, its another milestone for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who scored his 50th test centuries against south africa. he pushed Dale Steyn ball to covers for four to bringing up his 50th Test hundred and his 6th hundred against South africa. Tendulkar is playing his 175th test match.

He is the number one batsman in test cricket who scroed 50 centuries followed by pointing who scored 39 centuries.

Here is the list of centuries scored by sachin

Country	Hundreds
Australia	11
Sri Lanka	9
England	7
South Africa	6
Bangladesh	5
New Zealand	4
West Indies, Zimbabwe	3
Pakistan	2

'Jai Ho' Rahman the living legend

2009-02-22T21:39:00.000-08:00

Allah Rakkha Rahman finally got a 2 Oscars for the movie slumdog millionaire. This movie won 8 oscars in this year.

There were eight categories in which it is nominated including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Score for A R Rahman.
Best Direction: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Allah Rakha Rahman

2009-01-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: ஏ.ஆர்.ரகுமான்; born January 6, 1967 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India as A. S. Dileep Kumar) is an Indian film composer, record producer, musician and singer. His film scoring career began in the early 1990s. He has won eight Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards. He is the first Indian to win two Oscars.

Working in India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, by 2003, Rahman, in a career spanning over a decade, has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide, and sold over 200 million cassettes making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists.

Time Magazine has referred to him as the "Mozart of Madras" and several Tamil commentators have coined him the nickname Isai Puyal (Tamil: இசைப் புயல்; English: Music Storm).

Early life and influences

A. R. Rahman was born in a musically affluent Tamil family. His father R. K. Shekhar, was a Chennai based composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman lost his father at a young age and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. During these formative years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots", with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja. Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue". He played the keyboard and piano, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar. His curiosity in the synthesizer, in particular increased because, he says, it was the “ideal combination of music and technology". He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj. At the age of 11, he joined, as a keyboardist, the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja, one of many composers to whom musical instruments belonging to Rahman's father were rented. Rahman later played in the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.

Bhagat Singh

2008-08-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

Bhagat Singh was born in a Sikh family of farmers in the village of Banga of Layalpur district of Punjab (now in Pakistan) on September 27th of 1907. His family stood for patriotism, reform, and freedom of the country. His grandfather Arjun Singh was drawn to Arya Samaj, a reformist movement of Hinduism and took keen interest in proceedings of Indian National congress. Bhagat Singh's father Kishen Singh and uncle Ajit Singh were members of Ghadr Party founded in the U.S. in early years of this century to route British rule in India. Both were jailed for alleged anti-British activities. Ajit Singh had 22 cases against him and forced to flee to Iran.

Thereafter he went to Turkey, Austria, Germany and finally to Brazil to escape Black Water (Kalapani) punishment for his revolutionary activities in India.Young Bhagat Singh was brought up in a politically surcharged state of Punjab which was left with a seething memory of Jalianwalla Massacre of more than 400 innocent lives and thousand injured. As a lad of 14 he went to this spot to collect the soil sanctified of the park of Jallianwalla (bagh) in his lunch box, by the blood of the innocent and kept as memento for life.

Bhagat Singh was studying in National College founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, a great revolutionary leader and reformist. To avoid early marriage, he ran away from home and became a member of youth organization Noujawan Bharat Sabha which had membership of all sects and religions. He met Chandra Shekhar Sharma (Azad), B.K. Dutt and other revolutionaries. They used to print handouts, newspapers in secret and spread political awareness in India through Urdu, Punjabi and English. These were all banned activities in India at the time, punishable with imprisonment.

Anti-British feelings were spreading; Indians wanted some proper representation in running the administration of their country to which British reciprocated only on paper. Noticing restlessness was spreading, the British Government appointed a commission under the the leadership of Sir John Simon in 1928 , to report on political happenings. There was no single Indian member in this commission and all the political parties decided to boycott the commission when it planned to visit major cities of India.

In Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai and Pandit Madan Mohan Malavia decided to protest to the commission in open about their displeasure. It was a silent protest march, yet the police chief Mr. Scott had banned meeting or procession. Thousands had joined, without giving room for any untoward incident. Even then Mr. Scott beat Mr. Lala Lajpat Rai severely with a lathi (bamboo stick) on the head several times. Finally the leader succumbed to the injuries.

Bhagat Singh who was an eye witness to the morbid scene vowed to take revenge and with the help of Azad, Rajguru and Sukhadev plotted to kill Scott. Unfortunately he killed a junior officer, Mr. Sanders in a case of mistaken identity. He had to flee from Lahore to escape death punishment.

Instead of finding the root cause for discontent of Indians, the British government took to more repressive measures. Under Defense of India Act, it gave more powers to police, to arrest persons to stop processions with suspicious movements and actions. The act brought in the council was defeated by one vote. Even then it was to be passed in the form of an ordinance in the interest of the public. No doubt the British were keen to arrest all leaders who opposed its arbitrary actions and Bhagat Singh who was in hiding all this while, volunteered to throw a bomb in the central assembly where the meeting to pass ordinance was being held. It was a carefully laid out plot, not to cause death or injury but to draw the attention of the government, that the modes of its suppression could no more be tolerated. It was agreed that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt would court arrest after throwing the bomb.

It was a forgone conclusion in 1929 April 8th at Delhi Central Assembly. Singh and Dutt threw handouts, and bombed in the corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest after shouting slogans Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live, Revolution!)

Meanwhile the killers of Sanders were identified with the treachery of Bhagat Singh's friends who became "Approvers." Bhagat Singh thought the court would be a proper venue to get pu8blicity for the cause of freedom and did not want to disown the crime. But he gave fiery statement giving reasons for killing which was symbolic of freedom struggle. He wanted to be shot like a soldier and not die at gallows . But, his plea was rejected and he was hanged on 23rd March 1931. He was 24.

Bhagat Singh became a legendary hero with masses. Innumerable songs were composed about him and the youth throughout the country made him their ideal. He became a symbol of bravery and a goal to free India..

K.S.Chithra

2008-07-17T21:14:00.001-07:00

K. S. Chithra, credited as Chitra, is six time National film awards winning singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) playback industry. Known as the “Nightingale of South India”, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films.

Professional career

Born on July 27, 1963, in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, into a family of musicians, Chithra’s talent was recognized and nurtured from an early age by her father, the late Krishnan Nair. He was also her first guru (teacher). Chithra received her extensive training in Carnatic music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, after she was selected for the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Central Government from 1978 – 1984. She was introduced to Malayalam playback singing by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979. She made her debut in the Tamil film industry in Chennai under the guidance of film music composer Ilaiyaraaja.Her knowledge of South Indian languages and Hindi enables her to render songs with originality and perfection.

Awards

Chithra has recorded thousands of film and non-film songs. During her career, numerous recognitions have come her way including six National Awards for best female playback singer[citation needed]. This is the largest number of national awards awarded to any female playback singer. She has won the awards for the following films:

* 1986 - Sindhu Bhairavi, Tamil film
* 1987 - Nakhaksthangal, Malayalam film
* 1989 - Vaishali, Malayalam film
* 1996 - Minsaara Kanavu, Tamil film
* 1997 - Virasat, Hindi film
* 2004 - Autograph, Tamil Film

She has also received 15 awards for the best female playback singer from Kerala State Government, 7 awards from Andhra Pradesh State Government, 4 awards from Tamil Nadu State Government and 2 awards from Karnataka State Government. She holds the unique honour of the first female playback singer to be recognised by all the four state governments in South India as the best playback singer.

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S.P.Balasubrahmanyam

2008-07-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, is a prolific Indian singer. He is also known as S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S.P.B. and Baalu in the media.

Family

He was born as Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam into an orthodox family on June 4, 1946 in Konetammapeta (then in Andhra Pradesh and now in Tamil Nadu). He is the second son in a family of three sons and five daughters. His father S. P. Sambamurthy was a well-known exponent of Harikatha and his sister S.P. Sailaja is a former actress-singer in Telugu. He has two children - Pallavi and Charan.

Early days

He got his first oppurtunity in 1966 to sing in the kannada film Gandhinagara starring Dr.Rajkumar in the lead role.He has captivated the audience with his mesmerising voice and approach with samskara, of which there is a dearth in present day artists. Balu took to singing as a hobby during his childhood. He developed an interest in music very early in his life, and had studied notations and learnt to play instruments such as harmonium and flute on his own while listening to his father. His father wanted Balu to become an engineer; this brought him to Ananthpur, where he enrolled for the AMIE course in JNTU. Meanwhile, he also pursued his hobby and won awards at many singing competitions. There he was identified as a good singer in annual college programmes where he use to sing. Some friends recommended that he sing in Madras and provided him with referrals.

In 1964, a Madras-based Telugu Cultural Organisation, organised a music competition for amateur singers. Balu won the first prize, and that proved a turning point in his life. Music director SP Kodandapani took him under his wing. Offers then poured in from Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam movies.

Band

Before he became a full fledged cinema singer, SPB was the leader of a light music troupe that comprising

Anirutta, who was working in Corporation and was the harmonium artist
Ilaiyaraaja who joined the group as Guitarist and then moved over to harmonium after Anirutta became busy in his regular job
Baskar, Ilaiyaraaja's brother who was in charge of Percussion
Gangai Amaran another brother of Ilaiyaraaja who was the Guitarist after Ilaiyaraaja moved over to Harmonium.

Singer

Balasubrahmanyam made his debut in film music as a singer in Dec 15,1966 with Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, a film scored by his mentor Kodandapani. He has sung more than 39,000 songs since in more than 5 different Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam. However, he has sung most of his songs in Tamil. He holds the Guinness record for having sung the most number of song recordings by any singer (the record for a female singer is held by Lata Mangeshkar).

A gifted singer, he is highly regarded for his incredible vocal range, deep rich voice, and mastery of style, technique and control. These qualities allowed him expression across various genres of Indian music, and he has been highly sought after by many of India's film music composers. His approach to singing is methodical; he perseveres to understand the full meaning of the songs that he sings (many of which are very poetic) and the settings in which these songs are couched in order to most effectively match their requirements with his vocal delivery.S.P.B., though was very young, started singing for many different language films. As he became very busy, at times he used to sing even 17 songs in 12 hours at the recording theatre. He has also sung in Sanskrit and some regard his pronunciation of this language to be very good.

He has performed both the popular and classical music of India. For example, the songs he performed in the films Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Rudra Veena were based on Carnatic classical music, and the song Umandu Ghumandu in the movie Ganayogi Panchakshari Gavayi was based on Hindustani classical music.

SPB virtually monopolised playback singing for more than 30 years in the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil cinema. His contemporary Dr.K.J.Yesudas monopolised the Malayalam music industry. SPB sang only a few songs in Malayalam. Although Yesudas' voice was regarded more suitable for sad songs in Tamil, SPB also sang some of the evergreen sad songs in Tamil such as 'Naanum unthen uravai','Nenjukkulle'and 'Kuyile pudichu'. He hosts a popular TV show called Paadutha Theeyaga on E-TV, Paadalani Undi on MAA-TV ,Ede Thumbi Haaduvenu on 'E-TV Kannada' and 'Ennodo Paattu Paadungal' on JAYA-TV. His recent achievement is Pandurangadu, a mythological cum historical movie in telugu releasing in May'2008.His voice modulation , vibrations have a divinity.He enthralled all listeners with his great voice in this movie.

S.Janaki

2008-07-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

S. Janaki born April 23, 1938 is one of the greatest Indian singers of all times. She has sung in many Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Janaki is also a lyricist and a music composer. A devotee of Lord Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba, she spends a lot of time praying and has also released devotional music cassettes on Meera.

Early days and career

S. Janaki was born in Pallapatla, Repalle village, Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh
Janaki showed interest in music at a tender age and started singing at the age of three. She started learning music from a nadaswaram vidwan, Sree Paidiswamy. She moved to Chennai on the advice of her uncle Dr. Chandrashekar and joined as a singer in AVM Studio and started her career with Tamil films in 1957 in the film 'Vidhiyin Vilayattu' under the music director T. Chalapati Rao. Later, she got a chance in a Telugu film MLA.

She wrote many songs for Tamil and Telugu films. She has sung many songs, in almost all languages in South India as well as in Hindi, Sinhalese, Bengali, Oriya, English, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu, Saurashtra, Baduga, Japanese and German. Major singers along with her are P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, K J Yesudas, P. Jayachandran, K. S. Chithra and S P Balasubramanyam.

Family

Her husband is late Sri.V.Rama. She lives with her son Murali Krishna, who acted in few films and has an audio business of his own; and his wife Uma Murali Krishna, a classical dancer (Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi); they have two daughters Amruthavarshini and Apsara.

Major awards

In 1956, second prize in competitions held by AIR (All India Radio) from the former Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad at the .

- In 1986, Kalai Mamani by Government of Tamil Nadu

- In 1987, Sur singar award

- In 2002 , Cinema 'Achiever Award' by the government of Kerala

- In 2005, Special Jury Swaralaya Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music.

- National Film Awards four times for the best Playback singer by Government of India

- State Film awards fourteen times for the best Playback singer by Government of Kerala

- State Film awards seven times for the best Playback singer by Government of Tamil Nadu

- State Film awards ten times for the best Playback singer by Government of Andra Pradesh

National awards

- 1976, Film Name: 16 vayadhinile, Language: Tamil, First line of the song: "Senthoora Poove"

- 1980, Film Name: Oppol, Language: Malayalam , First line of the song: "Ettumanoorambalathil"

- 1984, Film Name: Sithara, Language: Telugu , First line of the song: "Vennello godari andham"

- 1992, Film Name: Thevar Magan, Language: Tamil, First line of song: "Inji Idippazagha"

Mother Teresa

2008-07-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was an Albanian-born with Indian citizenship Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.

Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Early life

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. She was the youngest of the children of a family from Shkodër, Albania, born to Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Nikollë was involved in Albanian politics. In 1919, after a political meeting he fell ill and died when Agnes was about eight years old. After her father's death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, in her early years Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12 was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister.

Agnes initially went to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland to learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India. She arrived in India in 1929, and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first religious vows as a nun on May 24, 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.

Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. A famine in 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror

Reception in India

Mother Teresa lay in state in St Thomas, Kolkata for one week prior to her funeral, in September 1997. She was granted a state funeral by the Indian Government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. Mother Teresa had first been recognised by the Indian government more than a third of a century earlier when she was awarded the Padma Shri in 1962. She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Indian views on Mother Teresa were not uniformly favourable. Her critic Aroup Chatterjee, who was born and bred in Calcutta but lived in London, reports that "she was not a significant entity in Calcutta in her lifetime". Chatterjee blames Mother Teresa for promoting a negative image of his home city. Her presence and profile grated in parts of the Indian political world, as she often opposed the Hindu Right. The Bharatiya Janata Party clashed with her over the Christian Dalits, but praised her in death, sending a representative to her funeral. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on the other hand, opposed the Government's decision to grant her a state funeral. Its secretary Giriraj Kishore said that "her first duty was to the Church and social service was incidental" and accused her of favouring Christians and conducting "secret baptisms" of the dying. But Parvathi Menon, writing the front page tribute for the Indian fortnightly Frontline, dismissed these charges as "patently false" and said that they had "made no impact on the public perception of her work, especially in Calcutta". Although praising her "selfless caring", energy and bravery, Menon was critical of Mother Teresa's public campaigning against abortion and that she claimed to be non-political when doing so. More recently, the Indian daily The Telegraph referred to her as "the Saint of the Gutters", also mentioning calls for "Rome to investigate whether she did anything to alleviate the condition of the poor or just took care of the sick and dying and needed them to further a sentimentally-moral cause".

Reception in the rest of the world

In 1962, Mother Teresa received the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia. The citation said that "the Board of Trustees recognizes her merciful cognizance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation". By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God, which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title. Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time. During the filming of the documentary, footage taken in poor lighting conditions, particularly the Home for the Dying, was thought unlikely to be of usable quality by the crew. After returning from India, however, the footage was found to be extremely well lit. Muggeridge claimed this was a miracle of "divine light" from Mother Teresa herself. Others in the crew thought it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film. Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.

Around this time, the Catholic world began to honor Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace. She later received the Pacem in Terris Award (1976). Since her death, Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood, currently having reached the stage of having been beatified.

Mother Teresa was honored by both governments and civilian organizations. The United Kingdom and the United States each repeatedly granted awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983, and honorary citizenship of the United States received on November 16, 1996. Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland granted her the Golden Honor of the Nation in 1994. Her acceptance of this and another honour granted by the Haitian government proved controversial. Mother Teresa attracted criticism, particularly from the left, for implicitly giving support to the Duvaliers, to corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell, and to politicians on the right of Western politics, such as U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and United States President Ronald Reagan. In Keating's case she wrote to the judge of his trial asking for clemency to be shown.

Universities in both the West and in India granted her honorary degrees. Other civilian awards include the Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978), and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975).

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace." She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India, stating that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world's needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She answered "Go home and love your family." Building on this theme in her Nobel Lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult." More specifically, she singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.

Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities. In tribute, Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that she was "a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar said: "She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world." During her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was consistently found by Gallup to be the single most widely admired person in the US, and in 1999 was ranked as the "most admired person of the 20th century" by a poll in the US. She out-polled all other volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all major demographic categories except the very young.

Towards the end of her life, Mother Teresa attracted some negative attention in the Western media. The journalist Christopher Hitchens has been one of her most active critics. He was commissioned to co-write and narrate the documentary Hell's Angel about her for the British Channel 4 after Aroup Chatterjee encouraged the making of such a program, although Chatterjee was unhappy with the "sensationalist approach" of the final product. Hitchens expanded his criticism in a 1995 book, The Missionary Position.

Chatterjee writes that while she was alive Mother Teresa and her official biographers refused to collaborate with his own investigations and that she failed to defend herself against critical coverage in the Western press. He gives as examples a report in The Guardian in Britain whose "stringent (and quite detailed) attack on conditions in her orphanages ... [include] charges of gross neglect and physical and emotional abuse", and another documentary Mother Teresa: Time for Change? broadcast in several European countries. Both Chatterjee and Hitchens have themselves been subject to criticism for their stance.

The German magazine Stern published a hostile article on the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. This concerned allegations regarding financial matters and the spending of donations. The medical press has also published criticism of her, arising from very different outlooks and priorities on patients' needs. Other critics include Tariq Ali, a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review, and the Irish-born investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre

Periyar

2008-07-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Periyar was born as Erode Venkata Naicker Ramaswamy in Erode in Madras Presidency. He was from a prominent Kannada-speaking Balija Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak chiefs of the Vijayanagar Empire having Telugu ancestry. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.Hence he is sometimes called Periyar E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Ramaswami" was his given name and "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.A University was named after him by the Tamil Nadu Government.Periyar could speak three Dravidian languages: Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. Though Kannada was his mother tongue, he mostly used Tamil.

EVR was an atheist, noted for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." He said "Bane of tamilans is brahmins, muslims and christians consider themselves to be tamilians.

Periyar identified the women to reserve a cook at home, a maid in the house, a nurse during sickness, a breeding farm of a family, a decorated doll in bed and what not. In every aspect she was nothing but slave for man. The sad state of women was what Periyar decried. As the Courageous fighter for the cause of exploited weaker sections of society no wonder he took up the uplift of suffering women. Periyar emphasized women's education. He had no private life. His self sacrifice was unparalleled. He saved every paisa and his entire property was given to the Public.

Early life

Periyar was the son of a merchant Venkata, who was a devout Hindu of the Vaishnavite school of thought. His mother was Chinna Thayammal alais Muthammal; he had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy. Periyar studied for 5 years and joined his father's trade at the age of 12. He used to listen to Tamil Vaishnavite gurus who gave discourses in his house enjoying his father's hospitality. Periyar was married to Nagammal a girl of just 13 in 1898. He became the father of a female child which soon died and he had no more children. After being reprimanded by his father, Periyar left his house for Kasi

Pilgrimage to Kashi

He went on a pilgrimage to Varanasi (Kashi) to worship in the famous Siva temple Kashi Vishwanath in 1904. He wanted to enter a free-lunch place but finding that it was meant only for Brahmins he disguised himself as a one. But it was discovered that he was not a Brahmin and he was removed from the place.Later he learnt that the Free-lunch place was built with the donation of a Dravidian merchant.He saw the discrimination against non-brahmins. He had pictured Kasi as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. This humiliation was the turning point in Periyar's life and it inflamed intense hatred towards the caste system. Ramaswamy was a believer till his visit in Kashi, after which his views changed and he became an rationalist. On returning to Erode - his father delegated all his trade rights to this second son and renamed his major commercial concern under the title: "E.V. Ramasamy Mandi".

Ramasami as a Freedom Fighter and Congress Party member 1919 - 1925

Periyar Ramaswamy joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 after quiting his business and resigning public posts including the chairmanship of Erode Municipality he held and wholeheartedly undertook the constructive programme - spreading the use of Khadi, picketing toddy shops, boycotting the shops selling foreign cloth and eradication of untouchability. He courted imprisonment for picketing toddy shops in Erode in 1921. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation, it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise.He was arrested during the Non-Cooperation movement and the Temperance Movement and was jailed. He was elected the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu) Congress Committee in the 1922 Tirupur session and after his attempts for supporting reservation in government jobs and education was defeated in the Congress party .He quit the party in 1925.

Vaikom struggle - 1924-1925

Periyar Ramaswamy was involved in securing rights to entry into temples and access to temple roads for people of all castes in Vaikom in Kerala, which was part of the princely state of Travancore during 1924. Periyar was the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) Congress Committee at that time led the agitation after many other leaders had been arrested. Periyar agreed and came to Vaikom in April 1924 and he was arrested but he was unrelenting and refused to leave to Vaikom and the satyagraha gained strength and Mahatma Gandhi, on an invitation from Rajaji, went to Vaikom and began talks with the Queen of Travancore where it was agreed that the police pickets would be removed and that the State police would do nothing to prevent the lower castes using the roads. Periyar refused to participate in the negotiations but he had to agree, reluctantly, to Gandhi's idea that the demand for all Hindus entering the temple be put off at least for the time being He played a role along with other great statesmen and national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, C. Rajagopalachari, and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Madras Presidency(Tamil Nadu) Congress passed a resolution umanimously praising Periyar's significant contribution to the Vaikom Satyagarha and hailing him as Vaikom Veerar(Vaikom Hero) in 1925 in the Kanchipuram Session .

Self-Respect Movement: 1925-39

Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressurise the government to take measures to remove social inequality even while other nationalist leaders focussed on the struggle for political independence.

UNESCO award

On 27 June 1970, the UNESCO conferred on Periyar the title of "the prophet of New Age, Socrates of South East Asia, Father of the social Reform Movement, and Arch enemy of ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and base manners". The award was presented by the Union Education Minister of Education, Dr. Triguna Sen under the presidentship of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.

Our national anthem.....

2008-06-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Kalpana Chawla

2008-06-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

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.

Narain Karthikeyan

2008-06-22T00:28:00.000-07:00

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).

Vishwanathan

2008-06-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

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

Lt. Saurabh K ali

2008-06-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

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)

Abdul Kalam

2008-06-06T21:27:00.001-07:00

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.

Thiruvalluvar

2008-06-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Bharathi

2008-05-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathi was born on 11 December 1882. He died on 11 September 1921. In a relatively short life span of 39 years, Bharathi left an indelible mark as the poet of Tamil nationalism and Indian freedom.

Bharathi's mother died in 1887 and two years later, his father also died. At the age of 11, in 1893 his prowess as a poet was recognized and he was accorded the title of 'Bharathi' at Ettiyapuram. He was a student at Nellai Hindu School and in 1897 he married Sellamal. Thereafter, from 1898 to 1902, he lived in Kasi.

Bharathi worked as a schoolteacher and as a journal editor at various times in his life. As a Tamil poet he ranked with Ilanko, Thiruvalluvar and Kamban. His writings gave new life to the Tamil language - and to Tamil national consciousness. He involved himself actively in the Indian freedom struggle. It is sometimes said of Bharathi that he was first an Indian and then a Tamil. Perhaps, it would be more correct to say that he was a Tamil and because he was a Tamil he was also an Indian. For him it was not either or but both - it was not possible for him to be one without also being the other.

Bharathi often referred to Tamil as his 'mother'. At the same time, he was fluent in many languages including Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kuuch, and English and frequently translated works from other languages into Tamil. His said “among all the languages I have known, I do not see any of them”, any as sweet as Tamil, was his moving tribute to his mother tongue. That many a Tamil web site carries the words of that song on its home page in cyber space today is a reflection of the hold that those words continue to have on Tamil minds and Tamil hearts.

Bharathi was a Hindu. But his spirituality was not limited. He sang to the Hindu deities, and at the same time he wrote songs of devotion to Jesus Christ and Allah. Bharathi was a vigorous campaigner against casteism. He wrote in 'Vande Matharam' :

We shall not look at caste or religion; all human beings in this land
- whether they be those who preach the vedas or who belong to other castes - are one

Bharathi lived during an eventful period of Indian history. Gandhi, Tilak, Aurbindo and V.V.S.Aiyar were his contemporaries. He involved himself with passion in the Indian freedom struggle. His 'Viduthalai, Viduthalai' was a clarion call for freedom from alien rule. He saw a great India. He saw an India of skilled workers and an educated people. He saw an India where women would be free. He expressed the depth of his love and the breadth of his vision for India.

He participated in the 1906 All India Congress meeting in Calcutta (chaired by Dadabhai Naoroji) where the demand for 'Swaraj' was raised for the first time. Bharathi supported the demand wholeheartedly and found himself in the militant wing of the Indian National Congress together with Tilak and Aurobindo. Aurobindo writing on the historic 1906 Congress had this to say:

"We were prepared to give the old weakness of the congress plenty of time to die out if we could get realities recognized. Only in one particular have we been disappointed and that is the President's address. But even here the closing address, with which Mr.Naoroji dissolved the Congress, has made amends for the deficiencies of his opening speech.

He once more declared Self-Government, Swaraj, as in an inspired moment he termed it, to be our one ideal and called upon the young men to achieve it. The work of the older men had been done in preparing a generation which were determined to have this great ideal and nothing else; the work of making the ideal a reality lies lies with us. We accept Mr.Naoroji's call and to carry out his last injunctions will devote our lives and, if necessary, sacrifice them." (Bande Mataram, 31 December 1906)

Bharathi served as Assistant Editor of the Swadeshamitran in 1904. In April 1907, he became the editor of the Tamil weekly 'India'. At the sametime he also edited the English newspaper 'Bala Bharatham'. He participated in the historic Surat Congress in 1907, which saw a sharpening of the divisions within the Indian National Congress between the militant wing led by Tilak and Aurobindo and the 'moderates'. Subramanya Bharathi supported Tilak and Aurobindo together with 'Kapal Otiya Thamilan' V.O.Chidambarampillai and Kanchi Varathaachariyar. Tilak openly supported armed resistance and the Swadeshi movement.

These were the years when Bharathi immersed himself in writing and in political activity. In Madras, in 1908, he organised a mammoth public meeting to celebrate 'Swaraj Day'. His poems 'Vanthe Matharam', 'Enthayum Thayum', 'Jaya Bharath' were printed and distributed free to the Tamil people.

In 1908, he gave evidence in the case which had been instituted by the British against 'Kappal Otiya Thamizhan', V.O.Chidambarampillai. In the same year, the proprietor of the 'India' was arrested in Madras. Faced with the prospect of arrest, Bharathi escaped to Pondicherry which was under French rule.

From there Bharathi edited and published the 'India' weekly. He also edited and published 'Vijaya', a Tamil daily, Bala Bharatha, an English monthly, and 'Suryothayam' a local weekly of Pondicherry. Under his leadership the Bala Bharatha Sangam was also started. The British waylaid and stopped remittances and letters to the papers. Both 'India' and 'Vijaya' were banned in British India in 1909.

The British suppression of the militancy was systematic and thorough. Tilak was exiled to Burma. Aurobindo escaped to Pondicherry in 1910. Bharathi met with Aurobindo in Pondicherry and the discussions often turned to religion and philosophy. He assisted Aurobindo in the 'Arya' journal and later 'Karma Yogi' in Pondicherry. In November 1910, Bharathi released an 'Anthology of Poems' which included 'Kanavu'.

V.V.S. Aiyar also arrived in Pondicherry in 1910 and the British Indian patriots, who were called 'Swadeshis' would meet often. They included Bharathi, Aurobindo and V.V.S.Aiyar. R.S.Padmanabhan in his Biography of V.V.S.Aiyar writes:

"All of them, whether there was any warrant against them or not, were constantly being watched by British agents in Pondicherry. Bharathi was a convinced believer in constitutional agitation. Aurobindo had given up politics altogether... and Aiyar had arrived in their midst with all the halo of a dedicated revolutionary who believed in the cult of the bomb and in individual terrorism."

In 1912, Bharathy published the Bhavad Gita in Tamil as well as Kannan Paatu, Kuyil and Panjali Sabatham.

After the end of World War I, Bharathi entered British India near Cuddalore in November 1918. He was arrested. He was released after three weeks in custody. These were years of hardship and poverty. (Eventually, the General Amnesty Order of 1920 removed all restrictions on his movement). Bharathy met with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919 and in 1920, Bharathy resumed editorship of the Swadeshamitran in Madras.

This was one year before his death in 1921. Today, more than seventy five years later, Subaramanya Bharathy stands as an undying symbol not only of a vibrant Tamil nationalism but also of the unity that is India.

Sir C.V. Raman

2008-05-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Born: Thiruchinapalli, India; November 7, 1888

Died: Bangalore, India; November 21, 1970

Nobel Prize: 1930 Physics, for his discovery of the "Raman" effect

Biography:

Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, popularly known as C.V. Raman, was born in Thiruchinapalli, in Tamil Nadu, India on November 7, 1888. He was the second of children of Chandrasekhar Iyer and Parvathi Ammal. His father was a professor of mathematics. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Visakhapatnam, in the present day state of Andhra Pradesh, where his father accepted a position at the Mrs. A.V.N. College. Raman's academic brilliance was established at a very young age. At eleven, he finished his secondary school education and entered Mrs. A.V.N. College and two years later moved to the prestigious Presidency College in Madras (present name, Chennai). When he was fifteen, he finished at the head of the class to receive B.A. with honors in Physics and English. During that time students who did well academically were typically sent abroad (England) for further studies. Because of Raman's poor health he was not allowed to go abroad and he continued his studies at the Presidency college.In 1907, barely seventeen, Raman again graduated at the top of his class and received his M.A. with honors. In the same year he married Lokasundari.

At the time of Raman's graduation, there were few opportunities for scientists in India. This forced Raman to accept a position with the Indian Civil Services as an Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta. While there, he was able to sustain his interest in science by working, in his spare time, in the laboratories of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. He studied the physics of stringed instruments and Indian drums.

In 1917, with his scientific standing established in India, Raman was offered the position of Sir Taraknath Palit Professorship of Physics at Calcutta university, where he stayed for the next fifteen years. During his tenure there, he received world wide recognition for his work in optics and scattering of light. He was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1924 and the British made him a knight of the British Empire in 1929. The following year he was honored with the prestigious Hughes medal from the Royal Society. In 1930, for the first time in its history, an Indian scholar, educated entirely in India has received the highest honor in science, the Nobel Prize in Physics.

In 1934, Raman became the director of the newly established Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. In 1947, he was appointed as the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India. He retired from the Indian Institute in 1948 and a year later he established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, served as its director and remained active there until his death on November 21, 1970, at the age of eighty two. Raman was honored with the highest award, the "Bharat Ratna"(Jewel of India), by the Government of India.

Bibliography:

General:

Chamberland, Dennis, "Nobel Prize", edited by , pages 373-380
Mehra, Jagdish, "Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman", in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillespie, New York, Charles Scribner and Sons
Blaniped, Williams A., "Pioneer Scientists in Pre-Independent India", Physics Today, 39: page 36 (May, 1986)
Jayaraman, Aiyasami and Ramdas, Anant Krishna, "Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman", Physics Today, 56: p56-64 (August, 1988)
Weber, Robert L, "Pioneers of Science: Nobel Prize winners in Physics:, eidted by Lenihan, J.M.A., Bristol, Adam Higler, 1980

Physics:

"Dynamical Theory of the Motion of Bowed Strings", Bulletin, Indian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1914
"On the molecular scattering of light in water and the colour of the sea", Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1922
"A new type of Secondary Radiation", Nature, 1928
"A new radiation", Indian Journal of Physics, 1928
Aspects of Science, 1948
The New Physics: Talks on Aspects of Science, 1951
Lectures on Physical Optics, 1959

Sardar Patel

2008-05-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Born: October 31, 1875
Died: December 15, 1950
Achievements: Successfully led Kheda Satyagraha and Bardoli revolt against British government; elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922, 1924 and 1927; elected Congress President in 1931; was independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister; played a key role in political integration of India; conferred Bharat Ratna in 1991.

Sardar Patel was popularly known as Iron Man of India. His full name was Vallabhbhai Patel. He played a leading role in the Indian freedom struggle and became the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India. He is credited with achieving political integration of India.

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875 in Nadiad, a small village in Gujarat. His father Jhaverbhai was a farmer and mother Laad Bai was a simple lady. Sardar Vallabhai's early education took place in Karamsad. Then he joined a school in Petlad. After two years he joined a high school in a town called Nadiad. He passed his high school examination in 1896. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a brilliant student throughout his schooling.

Vallabhbhai wanted to become a barrister. To realize this ambition he had to go to England. But he did not have the financial means to even join a college India. In those days a candidate could study in private and sit for an examination in Law. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel borrowed books from a lawyer of his acquaintance and studied at home. Occasionally he attended courts of law and listened attentively to the arguments of lawyer. Vallabhbhai passed the Law examination with flying colours.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel started his Law practice in Godhra. Soon his practice flourished. He got married to Jhaberaba. In 1904, he got a baby daughter Maniben, and in 1905 his son Dahyabhai was born. Vallabhbhai sent his elder brother Vitthalbhai, who himself was a lawyer, to England for higher studies in Law. Patel was only thirty-three years old when his wife died. He did not wish to marry again. After his brother's return, Vallabhbhai went to England. He studied with single-minded devotion and stood first in the Barrister-at-Law Examination.

Sardar Patel returned to India in 1913 and started his practice in Ahmedabad. Soon he became popular. At the urging of his friends, Patel contested and won elections to become the sanitation commissioner of Ahmedabad in 1917. Sardar Patel was deeply impressed by Gandhiji's success in Champaran Satyagraha. In 1918, there was a drought in the Kheda division of Gujarat. Peasants asked for relief from the high rate of taxes but the British government refused. Gandhiji took up peasants cause but could not devote his full time in Kheda. He was looking for someone who could lead the struggle in his absence. At this point Sardar Patel volunteered to come forward and lead the struggle. He gave up his lucrative legal practice and entered public life.

Vallabhbhai successfully led peasants revolt in Kheda and the revolt ended in 1919 when the British government agreed to suspend collection of revenue and roll back the rates. Kheda Satyagraha turned Vallabhbhai Patel into a national hero. Vallabhbhai supported Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement, and as president of the Gujarat Congress, helped in organizing bonfires of British goods in Ahmedabad. He gave up his English clothes and started wearing Khadi. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922, 1924 and 1927. During his terms, Ahmedabad was extended a major supply of electricity and underwent major education reforms. Drainage and sanitation systems were extended over all the city.

In 1928, Bardoli Taluka in Gujarat suffered from floods and famine. In this hour of distress the British government raised the revenue taxes by thirty percent. Sardar Patel took up cudgels on behalf of the farmers and appealed to the Governor to reduce the taxes. The Governor refused and the government even announced the date of the collection of the taxes. Sardar Patel organized the farmers and told them not to pay even a single pie of tax. The government tried to repress the revolt but ultimately bowed before Vallabhbhai Patel. It was during the struggle and after the victory in Bardoli that caused intense excitement across India, that Patel was increasingly addressed by his colleagues and followers as Sardar.

Sardar Patel was imprisoned during Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. After the signing of Gandhi-Irwin pact in 1931, Sardar Patel was released and he was elected Congress president for its 1931 session in Karachi. Upon the failure of the Round Table Conference in London, Gandhiji and Sardar Patel were arrested in January 1932 and imprisoned in the Yeravada Central Jail. During this term of imprisonment, Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi grew close to one another, and the two developed a close bond of affection, trust, and frankness without reserve. Sardar Patel was finally released in July 1934.

In August 1942, the Congress launched the Quit India Movement. The government jailed all the important leaders of the Congress, including Vallabhai Patel. All the leaders were released after three years. After achieving independence on 15th of August 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India and Sardar Patel became the Deputy Prime Minister. He was in charge of Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of States.

There were 565 princely states in India at that time. Some of the Maharajas and Nawabs who ruled over these were sensible and patriotic. But most of them were drunk with wealth and power. They were dreaming of becoming independent rulers once the British quit India. They argued that the government of free India should treat them as equals. Some of them went to the extent of planning to send their representatives to the United Nations Organization. Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to join in the freedom of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. With great wisdom and political foresight, he consolidated the small kingdoms. The public was with him. He tackled the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Junagarh who initially did not want to join India. Sardar Patel's untiring efforts towards the unity of the country brought success. He united a scattered nation without much bloodshed. Due to the achievement of this massive task, Sardar Patel got the title of 'Iron Man'. Sardar Patel died of cardiac arrest on December 15, 1950. For his services to the nation Sardar Patel was conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1991.

Jawaharlal Nehru

2008-05-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

Born: November 14, 1889
Died: May 27, 1964
Achievements: Took active part in Non-Cooperation Movement; elected President of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years as the city's chief executive; Presided over Congress' annual session in Lahore in 1929 and passed a resolution demanding India's independence; elected as Congress President in 1936, 1937, and 1946; became first Prime Minister of independent India; was one of the main architects of Non Aligned Movement.

Jawaharlal Nehru, also known as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the foremost leaders of Indian freedom struggle. He was the favourite disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and later on went on to become the first Prime Minister of India. Jawahar Lal Nehru is widely regarded as the architect of modern India. He was very fond of children and children used to affectionately call him Chacha Nehru.

Jawahar Lal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889. His father Motilal Nehru was a famous Allahabad based barrister. Jawaharlal Nehru's mother's name was Swaroop Rani. Jawaharlal Nehru was the only son of Motilal Nehru. Motilal Nehru has three daughters apart from Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehrus were Saraswat Brahmin of Kashmiri lineage.

Jawaharlal Nehru received education in some of the finest schools and universities of the world. He did his schooling from Harrow and completed his Law degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. The seven years he spent in England widened his horizons and he acquired a rational and skeptical outlook and sampled Fabian socialism and Irish nationalism, which added to his own patriotic dedication.

Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1912 and started legal practice. He married Kamala Nehru in 1916. Jawahar Lal Nehru joined Home Rule League in 1917. His real initiation into politics came two years later when he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi in 1919. At that time Mahatma Gandhi had launched a campaign against Rowlatt Act. Nehru was instantly attracted to Gandhi's commitment for active but peaceful, civil disobedience. Gandhi himself saw promise and India's future in the young Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru family changed its family according to Mahatma Gandhi's teachings. Jawaharlal and Motilal Nehru abandoned western clothes and tastes for expensive possessions and pastimes. They now wore a Khadi Kurta and Gandhi cap. Jawaharlal Nehru took active part in the Non- Cooperation Movement 1920-1922) and was arrested for the first time during the movement. He was released after few months.

Jawaharlal Nehru was elected President of the Allahabad Municipal Corporation in 1924, and served for two years as the city's chief executive. This proved to be a valuable administrative experience for stood him in good stead later on when he became the prime minister of the country. He used his tenure to expand public education, health care and sanitation. He resigned in 1926 citing lack of cooperation from civil servants and obstruction from British authorities.

From 1926 to 1928, Jawaharlal served as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. In 1928-29, the Congress's annual session under President Motilal Nehru was held. During that session Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose backed a call for full political independence, while Motilal Nehru and others wanted dominion status within the British Empire. To resolve the point, Gandhi said that the British would be given two years to grant India dominion status. If they did not, the Congress would launch a national struggle for full, political independence. Nehru and Bose reduced the time of opportunity to one year. The British did not respond.

In December 1929, Congress's annual session was held in Lahore and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected as the President of the Congress Party. During that sessions a resolution demanding India's independence was passed and on January 26, 1930 in Lahore, Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled free India's flag. Gandhiji gave a call for Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. The movement was a great success and forced British Government to acknowledge the need for major political reforms.

When the British promulgated the Government of India Act 1935, the Congress Party decided to contest elections. Nehru stayed out of the elections, but campaigned vigorously nationwide for the party. The Congress formed governments in almost every province, and won the largest number of seats in the Central Assembly. Nehru was elected to the Congress presidency in 1936, 1937, and 1946, and came to occupy a position in the nationalist movement second only to that of Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested in 1942 during Quit India Movement. Released in 1945, he took a leading part in the negotiations that culminated in the emergence of the dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947.

In 1947, he became the first Prime Minister of independent India. He effectively coped with the formidable challenges of those times: the disorders and mass exodus of minorities across the new border with Pakistan, the integration of 500-odd princely states into the Indian Union, the framing of a new constitution, and the establishment of the political and administrative infrastructure for a parliamentary democracy.

Jawaharlal Nehru played a key role in building modern India. He set up a Planning Commission, encouraged development of science and technology, and launched three successive five-year plans. His policies led to a sizable growth in agricultural and industrial production. Nehru also played a major role in developing independent India's foreign policy. He called for liquidation of colonialism in Asia and Africa and along with Tito and Nasser, was one of the chief architects of the nonaligned movement. He played a constructive, mediatory role in bringing the Korean War to an end and in resolving other international crises, such as those over the Suez Canal and the Congo, offering India's services for conciliation and international policing. He contributed behind the scenes toward the solution of several other explosive issues, such as those of West Berlin, Austria, and Laos.

But Jawahar Lal Nehru couldn't improve India's relations with Pakistan and China. The Kashmir issue proved a stumbling block in reaching an accord with Pakistan, and the border dispute prevented a resolution with China. The Chinese invasion in 1962, which Nehru failed to anticipate, came as a great blow to him and probably hastened his death. Jawaharlal Nehru died of a heart attack on May 27, 1964.

Rajiv Gandhi

2008-05-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

Born: August 20, 1944
Died: May 21, 1991
Achievements: Became Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. Led Congress to its greatest victory in the Lok Sabha elections, winning about 80 per cent of seats. Played a key role in the introduction of computers in India.

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India. He became Prime Minister at the age of 40. Rajiv Gandhi came from a family that had great political lineage. He was the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi. Her mother Indira Gandhi and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru were Prime Ministers of India. As a Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a valuable contribution in modernizing Indian administration. He had the vision and foresight to see that information technology will play a key role in the 21 century and worked actively to develop India's capacity in this realm.

Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Bombay (Mumbai) in India's most famous political family. His grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru played a stellar role in India's freedom struggle and became independent India's first Prime Minister. His parents lived separately and Rajiv Gandhi was raised at his grandfather's home where her mother lived. Rajeev Gandhi did his schooling from the elite Doon school and then studied at the University of London and at Trinity College, Cambridge in Britain. At Cambridge, Rajiv Ghandi met and fell in love with an Italian student Sonia Maino and they got married in 1969.

Returning to India, Rajeev Ghandi became a commercial airline pilot. His younger brother Sanjay Gandhi entered politics and became a trusted lieutenant of her mother Indira Gandhi. After Sanjay's death in a plane crash in 1980, Rajiv reluctantly entered politics at the instance of his mother. He won his first Lok Sabha election in 1981 from Amethi-the erstwhile constituency of his brother. Soon he became the General Secretary of the Congress Party. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984 he became the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. He called for general elections in 1984 and riding on a massive sympathy wave led Congress to a thumping victory. Congress garnered 80 percent of the seats in the lower house and achieved its greatest victory since independence.

In his initial days as Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi was immensely popular. During his tenure as Prime Minister of India, he brought a certain dynamism to the premiership, which had always been occupied by older people. He is credited with promoting the introduction of computers in India. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi began leading in a direction significantly different from Indira Gandhi's socialism. He improved bilateral relations with the United States and expanded economic and scientific cooperation. He increased government support for science and technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications. He worked towards reducing the red tape in the governance and freeing administration from bureaucratic tangles. In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi announced a national education policy to modernize and expand higher education programs across India.

Rajiv Gandhi authorised an extensive police and army campaign against the militants in Punjab. Rajiv's government suffered a major setback when its efforts to broker peace between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE rebels backfired. As per the peace accords signed in 1987, the LTTE would disarm to the Indian Peace Keeping Force which was sent to Sri Lanka. But distrust and a few incidents of conflict broke out into open fighting between the LTTE militants and Indian soldiers. Over a thousand Indian soldiers were killed, and at last Rajiv Gandhi had to pull out Indian forces from Sri Lanka. It was a failure of Rajiv's diplomacy.

Although Rajeev Gandhi promised to end corruption, he and his party were themselves implicated in corruption scandals. The major scandal being Bofors Gun scandal involving alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company. The scandal rapidly eroded his popularity and he lost the next general elections held in 1989. A coalition comprising government came to the power but it could not last its full term and general elections were called in 1991. While campaigning for elections in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by a suicide bomber belonging to LTTE.

Subhas Chandra Bose

2008-05-24T12:29:00.001-07:00

Born: January 23, 1897
Died: August 18, 1945
Achievements: Passed Indian Civil Services Exam; elected Congress President in 1938 and 1939; formed a new party All India Forward block; organized Azad Hind Fauj to overthrow British Empire from India.

Subhas Chandra Bose, affectionately called as Netaji, was one of the most prominent leaders of Indian freedom struggle. Though Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have garnered much of the credit for successful culmination of Indian freedom struggle, the contribution of Subash Chandra Bose is no less. He has been denied his rightful place in the annals of Indian history. He founded Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) to overthrow British Empire from India and came to acquire legendary status among Indian masses.

Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. His father Janaki Nath Bose was a famous lawyer and his mother Prabhavati Devi was a pious and religious lady. Subhas Chandra Bose was the ninth child among fourteen siblings. Subhas Chandra Bose was a brilliant student right from the childhood. He topped the matriculation examination of Calcutta province and graduated with a First Class in Philosophy from the Scottish Churches College in Calcutta. He was strongly influenced by Swami Vivekananda's teachings and was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. To fulfill his parents wishes he went to England in 1919 to compete for Indian Civil Services. In England he appeared for the Indian Civil Service competitive examination in 1920, and came out fourth in order of merit. However, Subhas Chandra Bose was deeply disturbed by the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre, and left his Civil Services apprenticeship midway to return to India in 1921

After returning to India Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi and joined the Indian National Congress. On Gandhiji's instructions, he started working under Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, whom he later acknowledged his political guru. Soon he showed his leadership mettle and gained his way up in the Congress' hierarchy. In 1928 the Motilal Nehru Committee appointed by the Congress declared in favour of Domination Status, but Subhas Chandra Bose along with Jawaharlal Nehru opposed it, and both asserted that they would be satisfied with nothing short of complete independence for India. Subhas also announced the formation of the Independence League. Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed during Civil Disobedience movement in 1930. He was released in 1931 after Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed. He protested against the Gandhi-Irwin pact and opposed the suspension of Civil Disobedience movement specially when Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged.

Subash Chandra Bose was soon arrested again under the infamous Bengal Regulation. After an year he was released on medical grounds and was banished from India to Europe. He took steps to establish centres in different European capitals with a view to promoting politico-cultural contacts between India and Europe. Defying the ban on his entry to India, Subash Chandra Bose returned to India and was again arrested and jailed for a year. After the General Elections of 1937, Congress came to power in seven states and Subash Chandra Bose was released. Shortly afterwards he was elected President of the Haripura Congress Session in 1938. During his term as Congress President, he talked of planning in concrete terms, and set up a National planning Committee in October that year. At the end of his first term, the presidential election to the Tripuri Congress session took place early 1939. Subhas Chandra Bose was re-elected, defeating Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had been backed by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee. Clouds of World War II were on the horizon and he brought a resolution to give the British six months to hand India over to the Indians, failing which there would be a revolt. There was much opposition to his rigid stand, and he resigned from the post of president and formed a progressive group known as the Forward Block.

Subhas Chandra Bose now started a mass movement against utilizing Indian resources and men for the great war. There was a tremendous response to his call and he was put under house arrest in Calcutta. In January 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared from his home in Calcutta and reached Germany via Afghanistan. Working on the maxim that "an enemy's enemy is a friend", he sought cooperation of Germany and Japan against British Empire. In January 1942, he began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin, which aroused tremendous enthusiasm in India. In July 1943, he arrived in Singapore from Germany. In Singapore he took over the reins of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia from Rash Behari Bose and organised the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) comprising mainly of Indian prisoners of war. He was hailed as Netaji by the Army as well as by the Indian civilian population in East Asia. Azad Hind Fauj proceeded towards India to liberate it from British rule. Enroute it lliberated Andeman and Nicobar Islands. The I.N.A. Head quarters was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944. Azad Hind Fauj crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on March 18 ,1944.

However, defeat of Japan and Germany in the Second World War forced INA to retreat and it could not achieve its objective. Subhas Chandra Bose was reportedly killed in an air crash over Taipeh, Taiwan (Formosa) on August 18, 1945. Though it is widely believed that he was still alive after the air crash not much information could be found about him.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

2008-05-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Born in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) into a middle class family, Tendulkar was named after his family's favorite music director Sachin Dev Burman. He went to Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he started his cricketing career. When in school he was involved in a mammoth 664 run partnership in a Harris Shield game with friend and International team mate Vinod Kambli, and in 1988/89 scored 100 not out in his first first-class match, for Bombay against Gujarat. Aged 15 years 232 days, he was by some distance the youngest player to score a century on debut.

He played his first international match against Pakistan in Karachi facing up to the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He scored just 15 runs and was bowled by Waqar Younis, who also made his debut in that match. It was an innings very different from how the rest of his career went. He followed it up with his maiden Test fifty a few days later at Faisalabad. However he could not get a century in that series. His One-day International (ODI) debut on December 18 was equally disappointing where he was dismissed without scoring a run again by Waqar Younis. The series was followed by a non-descript tour of New Zealand in which he fell for 88 in a Test match, thus missing the chance to be the youngest player to score a Test hundred. In the tour of England in 1990 he scored his maiden Test century but the other scores were not remarkable. It was in the 1991/1992 tour of Australia that he made his mark as a remarkable batsman. He has been man of the match 11 times in Test matches and Man of the Series twice, both times in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
His maiden ODI century came on September 9, 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo.

He was named by Wisden as one of the Cricketers of the Year 1997 which was the first calendar year in which he scored a 1000 Test runs. He repeated the feat in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

He seems to play his best cricket against the best teams, however he has been criticized for not leading India to more Test match victories away from home. However, for a good part of his career, the Indian team was not very competitive and he was the only redeeming quality about it. There were times where he has brought India to the verge of victory only to be let down by his teammates.

Sachin's batting in ODIs really took off after he was invited to open the innings at Auckland against New Zealand in 1994[1] after he had played nearly 70 matches. At the Auckland ODI Tendulkar slammed the ball all around the stadium with a firepower that was not seen in cricket in those days. He went on to make 82 runs in 49 balls. Tendulkar's considerably better performance as an opener dawned upon everyone else. He was to stay as India's opener for long time after that. His first hundred came later that year against Australia in Colombo. He now scores a century every six innings that he plays.

Tendulkar has a shrewd cricketing brain and has a good arm from the outfield. Sachin's record as captain, however, has not been as outstanding as his batting performance. His contribution to the game and his role in attracting a following to the game goes beyond his record. His game is characterized by style, aggression and often dazzling brilliance. Sachin has earned respect from fans and cricketers around the world due to his down-to-earth nature which he maintains despite being treated as a national icon and a demi-god of sorts.

Tendulkar had an excellent fitness record but in 1999 he suffered a career-threatening back injury. This was followed by another fitness problem. Tendulkar had to miss out on two tournaments in as he was recovering from tennis elbow. He was struggling to be fit for the home Test series against Australia. However, he overcame the injury, and displayed proof of it in fine fashion scoring a double hundred against Bangladesh.
Sachin's fame in his own country is such that he is virtually a prisoner in his own home with his appearances in public causing near-riots amongst fevered fans. He is known to take his car for late-night drives around the city as one of the few chances to escape the protective bubble in which he is forced to exist. Sachin is married to his childhood friend Dr. Anjali. He has a five year old daughter Sara and a son Arjun, who is three.

Perhaps the biggest reminder of his fame, Sachin was recently made a textbook lesson in Indian schools so that children can draw inspiration from his achievements.
Australian bowling great Shane Warne who is among Wisden's list of five greatest cricket players in 21st century has had a particularly bad time against Tendulkar. During the 1998-99 season he was quoted to have had nightmares of Sachin dancing down the track and smashing him for sixes
For last couple of years Sachin has been less aggressive than what he was during his peak time. His once flamboyant style is seldom seen now and has himself admitted that he would be toning down his approach to the game with Virender Sehwag taking on the mantle of the aggressor. Experts have opined that it could be due to age, though surprisingly his average in Tests has been at an all time high indicating the capacity of his new self to gather runs instead of plundering runs. However, in the current ODI series against Sri Lanka (Oct-Nov 2005), Sachin may have reinvented himself and gained the plundering form of old, as he came out all guns blazing in the first two ODIs to score 93 and 67* in commanding style. However in an attempt to keep the flow going he found himself in a mini-slump of sorts. But on the 10th of December 2005, at 16:44:19 IST he again reminded the world of his prowesses with a masterly crafted 35th record breaking ton against the Sri Lankans.

His current records in ODI (25/march/2008)

ODIs

Matches : 417

Ing : 407

Notout : 38

Total score: 16361

Higest score : 186*

Average : 44.33

Strike rate : 85.49

100’s : 42

50’s : 89

4’s : 1785

6’s : 166

Catches : 122

Rahul Dravid

2008-05-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Rahul Dravid, the leader of the Indian cricket team who has surpassed and also created many remarkable records, is certainly man with a difference. Dravid was born on 11th January 1973 in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India. His complete name is Rahul Sharad Dravid though he is well-known with nicknames such as Jammy and The Wall, attributed to him for different reasons.

Rahul did his schooling from St. Jospeh’s Boys High School, Bangalore and graduated from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Dravid started playing cricket at an early age of 12. He played for the state in under-15, under-17 and under-19 cricket tournaments. Soon Dravid played the County cricket for Scotland and Kent. At that time his coach was Keki Tarapore, an Indian cricketer who played in one test match in 1948. In 1991 Dravid also led Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy and made a double century in the final match. In 1996 Rahul got an opportunity to play international cricket. He made his test debut against England at Lords in the 2nd Test match of India’s tour of England. In the same year Dravid’s ODI test debut was against Sri Lanka at Singapore in the Singer Cup tournament. Rahul was one amongst he Wisden cricketers of the year 2000.

In the world of cricket Rahul is known for his consistent batting and active leadership. He is one of the best defensive batsman India could ever produce. This defensive style of playing fetched him the nickname of ‘The Wall’. He is blessed with immense skill to rotate the strike and play with front foot defence, neither scoring runs nor getting out. Rahul’s brilliant strategy of playing cricket has enabled him to create some outstanding records in the cricket world. Dravid has scored 23 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 57.65 which included 5 double centuries while in one-dayers he has an average of 40.16 at a strike rate of 70. He has played a total of 104 test matches and 291 ODIs and the runs scored are 9049 and 9510 respectively. Dravid is also the world record holder for the highest percentage of runs in the matches won under a single captain, where the captain himself has won more than 20 tests. Under the captainship of Bengali boy Saurav Ganguly, Indian team played 21 matches out of which Rahul Dravid played in every single wins and scored a record average of 102.84 and made 2571 runs, with nine hundreds- three of them double-centuries- and ten fifties in 32 innings. Dravid made a great contribution of 23% of the total runs scored by India in those 21 matches. It is only due his superb and consistent performance that Dravid was first made the vice-captain and then the captain of Indian team. Apart from batting Rahul has also done wicket keeping in many matches. His innocent face and distinct attitude has made him the heartthrob of females all over the world.

Lately the Indian skipper and his boys played a scintillating test innings in and against West Indies and brought home the Cup. Prior to this Dravid along with Vireder Sehwag was crowned the hero of the Allianz Cup 2006 (Pakistan v India Test Series) as the dup played a record breaking innings on Pakistan soil.

Rahul Dravid's Cricket Career

• 1973 - born January 11, 1973 in Indore
• 1984 - attended a summer coaching camp at KSCA's Chinnaswamy Stadium where his talents were spotted by former cricketer turned coach Keki Tarapore.
• scores his first century in an unofficial match for his school team St.Joseph's against St.Anthony's.
• scores a double hundred for the Karnataka schools team which he smashed against Kerala.
• selected for the under-15 Karnataka team.
• senior cricketers and administrators like G.R.Vishwanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel and coach Keki Tarapore felt that it would suit Rahul better if he bid good-bye to the wicket keeping gloves for ever.So Dravid concentrated on his batting from then on.
• 1991 - Ranji debut against Maharashtra.
• 1996 - scores double century in the finals of the Ranji Trophy in 1996 against Tamil Nadu.
• 1996 - selected for India.
• 1996 - test debut at Lords, England after Sanjay Manjrekar is injured and Navjot Sidhu descides to stay back after fracas with Captain Azharuddin.Scores a brilliant 95.
• 1997 - Scores his maiden test hundred(148) Vs South Africa, third test, Johannesburg.
• 1997 - Scores his maiden one day hundred(107) in a losing cause Vs Pakistan, Independence Cup, Chennai.
• 1999 - Scores a hundred in both innings (190,103) against New Zealand in Hamilton.
• 1999 - Great World Cup, scores 3 fifties and 2 hundreds scoring 461 runs which was the highest by any batsman from any team.
• 1999 - In october he signs a deal with English county Kent for the 2000 season.
• 2001 - Scores 180 while Vangipurappu Laxman makes 281 in a fifth-wicket stand of 376 as India defeat Australia after following on to end Australia's 16-Test winning streak.
• 2004 - Scores career best 270 against Pakistan at Rawalpindi.India wins the series.
• 2005 - Appointed captain of Team India.
• 2005 - Dravid's Biography "The Nice Guy Who Finished First" authored by Devendra Prabhudesai released by coach Greg Chappell.
• 2006 - Dravid scores his first century as the Test captain of the Indian Cricket team in the first test against Pakistan in Lahore.

Awards Won by Rahul Dravid

• 1999 - Ceat Cricketer of the 1999 World Cup
• 2000 - Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000
• 2004 - Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
• 2004 - Padma Shri
• 2004 - ICC Player of The Year
• 2004 - ICC Test Player of The Year

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

2008-05-24T11:49:00.001-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi, was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha—a philosophy that is largely concerned with truth and 'resistance to evil through active, non-violent resistance'—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known in India and across the world. In India, he is officially accorded the honour of Father of the Nation. 2 October, his birthday, is commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday. On 15 June 2007, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring 2 October to be the "International Day of Non-Violence."

Gandhi first employed peaceful civil disobedience in the Indian community's struggle for civil rights in South Africa. Upon his return to India from Africa, he organized poor farmers and labourers to protest against oppressive taxation and widespread discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for the alleviation of poverty, for the liberation of women, for brotherhood amongst different religious and ethnic groups, for an end to untouchability and caste discrimination, and for the economic self-sufficiency of the nation, but above all for Swaraj—the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his nation in the disobedience of the British salt tax imposed in India with the 400 kilometre (250 miles) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and in an open call for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in both South Africa and India.

Early life

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born into the Hindu Modh family in Porbandar, on October 2, 1869. He was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the diwan (Prime Minister) of Porbandar, and Putlibai, Karamchand's fourth wife, a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order. Karamchand's first two wives, who each bore him a daughter, died from unknown reasons. Living with a devout mother and surrounded by the Jain influences of Gujarat, Gandhi learned from an early age the tenets of non-injury to living beings, vegetarianism, fasting for self-purification, and mutual tolerance between members of various creeds and sects. He was born into the vaishya, or business, caste.
In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents' arrangements to Kasturba Makhanji. They had five children, the first of whom died in infancy; Harilal Gandhi, born in 1888; Manilal Gandhi, born in 1892; Ramdas Gandhi, born in 1897; and Devdas Gandhi, born in 1900. Gandhi was a mediocre student in his youth at Porbandar and later Rajkot. He barely passed the matriculation exam for Samaldas College at Bhavnagar, Gujarat. He was also unhappy at the college, because his family wanted him to become a barrister.

Gandhi and his wife Kasturba (1902)
At the age of 18 on 4 September 1888, Gandhi went to University College London to study law and train as a barrister. His time in London, the Imperial capital, was influenced by a vow he had made to his mother in the presence of the Jain monk Becharji, upon leaving India, to observe the Hindu precepts of abstinence from meat, alcohol, and promiscuity. Although Gandhi experimented with adopting "English" customs—taking dancing lessons for example—he could not stomach his landlady's mutton and cabbage. She pointed him towards one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Rather than simply go along with his mother's wishes, he read about, and intellectually embraced vegetarianism. He joined the Vegetarian Society, was elected to its executive committee, and founded a local chapter. He later credited this with giving him valuable experience in organizing institutions. Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to read the Bhagavad Gita. Not having shown a particular interest in religion before, he read works of and about Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and other religions. He returned to India after being called to the bar of England and Wales by Inner Temple, but had limited success establishing a law practice in Bombay. Later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but was forced to close down that business as well when he ran afoul of a British officer. In his autobiography, he describes this incident as a kind of unsuccessful lobbying attempt on behalf of his older brother. It was in this climate that (in 1893) he accepted a year-long contract from an Indian firm to a post in Natal, South Africa, then part of the British Empire.

IDEOLOGIES of Gandhi

Gandhi's philosophy and his ideologies of satya (truth) and ahimsa (non-violence) were influenced by the Bhagavad Gita and Hindu beliefs, the Jain religion and the pacifist Christian teachings of Leo Tolstoy. The concept of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence) has a long history in Indian religious thought and has had many revivals in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain contexts. Gandhi explains his philosophy and way of life in his autobiography ‘The Story of my Experiments with Truth’.

In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk from taking them to their most logical extremes. In 1940, when invasion of the British Isles by the armed forces of Nazi Germany looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following advice to the British people:
“I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions.... If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them.” (Non-Violence in Peace and War)

Although he experimented with eating meat upon first leaving India, he later became a strict vegetarian. He wrote books on the subject while in London, having met vegetarian campaigner Henry Salt at gatherings of the Vegetarian Society. The idea of vegetarianism is deeply ingrained in Hindu and Jain traditions in India, and, in his native land of Gujarat, most Hindus were vegetarian. He experimented with various diets and concluded that a vegetarian diet should be enough to satisfy the minimum requirements of the body. He abstained from eating for long periods, using fasting as a political weapon.

Gandhi gave up sexual intercourse at the age of 36, becoming totally celibate while still married. This decision was deeply influenced by the Hindu idea of brahmacharya—spiritual and practical purity—largely associated with celibacy. He announced this to his wife, rather than discussing it with her.

Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace. This influence was drawn from the Hindu principles of mouna (silence) and shanti (peace). On such days he communicated with others by writing on paper. For three and a half years, from the age of 37, Gandhi refused to read newspapers, claiming that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused him more confusion than his own inner unrest.

Returning to India from South Africa, where he had enjoyed a successful legal practice, he gave up wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with wealth and success. He dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India. He advocated the use of homespun cloth (khadi). Gandhi and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread they themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. This was a threat to the British establishment. While Indian workers were often idle due to unemployment, they had always bought their clothing from English industrial manufacturers. If Indians made their own clothes, it would deal a harsh blow to British industry. The spinning wheel was later
incorporated into the flag of the Indian National Congress.