On this Day in History

Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, who is frequently ranked among the most powerful women in the world, was born on October 28, 1955. The company she leads is an American multinational food and beverage corporation whose products are available around the world. Its portfolio includes 22 brands, each generating more than $1 billion in... Read More →

Scholar. Diplomat. Minister. Ambassador. President. K. R. Narayanan served India in many capacities in an outstanding career spanning over five decades, the twilight of which saw him occupy the highest office of the land. Kocheril Raman Narayanan was born on October 27, 1920 at Perumthanam, Uzhavoor in Kerala, the fourth of seven children of a deprived Dalit family. His father,... Read More →

“Now, therefore, I Shriman Inder Mahander Rajrajeswar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hari Singhji, Jammu and Kashmir Naresh Tatha Tibbetadi Deshadhipathi, Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, in the exercise of my sovereignty in and over my said State do hereby execute this my Instrument of Accession [. . .]” By signing on this legal document, known as the Instrument of Accession, on October... Read More →

‘Ye mahlon ye takhton ye taajon ki duniya / Ye insaan ke dushman samaajon ki duniya / Ye daulat ke bhooke rivaajon ki duniya / Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai’ [‘This world of palaces, thrones and crowns / This world of societies that hate humanity / This world that hungers for nothing but wealth / Even... Read More →

India’s most celebrated cartoonist, Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman, better known as R. K. Laxman, the creator of the iconic ‘Common Man’, was born on October 24, 1921 in Mysore (now in the state of Karnataka). As a child, Laxman would draw inspiration from looking at illustrations in magazines such as Punch and Bystander. He took to drawing on the floors... Read More →

Writer and journalist Aravind Adiga, whose debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Man Booker Prize, was born on October 23, 1974 in Chennai (the city was called Madras then) to K. Madhava Adiga and Usha, originally residents of Mangalore in Karnataka. He grew up in Mangalore till he was about 16 and then moved with his family to... Read More →

After days of drama and suspense similar to a thrilling five-day cricket match–due to rain and thunderstorms lashing the Sriharikota spaceport–Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned lunar mission, was successfully launched, on October 22, 2008, marking a historic moment in India’s space exploration programme.  “Our journey to the Moon has just begun,” G. Madhavan Nair, the then chairman of the Indian Space... Read More →

On 21 October 1943, in a dramatic moment in India’s freedom struggle, Congressman-turned anti-British warrior, Subhas Chandra Bose—‘Netaji’ to his followers—announced the establishment of the Provisional Government of Free India. Bose, who was convinced that an armed struggle against the mighty British was the only way to throw them out, was born on 23 January 1897 in Cuttack, then a... Read More →

On 20 October 1962, after months of skirmishes between India and China; and tactical military manoeuvres by both sides along the border and disputed territories, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army launched two massive simultaneous attacks on India, around 1000 km apart, catching the Indian leadership and an under-prepared army largely off-guard. The twin attacks signalled the start of what is... Read More →

In the 1930s most astrophysicists believed that once stars burn up their fuel they collapse into small entities called ‘white dwarfs’. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a young Indian studying in England at that time, disagreed. He claimed that the ‘white dwarf’ theory was true only for stars that were similar in size to the sun; if the mass of a star were... Read More →