January 31
“Tumne Mirza Ghalib kii ruuh ko zindaa kar diyaa (You have made Mirza Ghalib’s soul come alive)” — Jawaharlal Nehru to Suraiya Of all the accolades Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh received in her career as a singer and actor, this one from the Prime Minister in the 1950s must have felt extra special. Suraiya, as she was popularly known, had no... Read More →
January 30
“While walking through the gardens to this evening’s prayer meeting, Mr. Gandhi had just reached the top of a short flight of brick steps, his slender, brown arms around the shoulders of his granddaughters, Manu, 17, and Ava, 20. Someone spoke to him and he turned from his granddaughters and gave the appealing Hindu salute — palms together and the... Read More →
January 29
A national award-winning actor of Malayalam cinema, Gopinathan Velayudhan Nair, better known as Bharat Gopi, was born on November 2, 1937 in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district to Kochuveetil Pillai and Parvathyamma. He died on January 29, 2008. After securing a B.Sc. degree, Gopi worked as a clerk in the Kerala Electricity Board. His initiation into acting for the stage was at... Read More →
January 28
Raja Ramanna, an eminent nuclear scientist who played a key role in carrying out India’s first nuclear device test in Pokhran in 1974, was born on January 28, 1925 in the then princely State of Mysore. He was introduced to Western classical music at a young age and this would remain a lifelong passion. Recalling his childhood in an interview... Read More →
January 27
The Imperial Bank of India, which became the State Bank of India after independence, came into existence on January 27, 1921. The history of modern banking in India can be traced back to 1806 when the Bank of Calcutta was established. In 1809 it was re-named Bank of Bengal. Then in the 1840s the Bank of Bombay and Bank of... Read More →
January 26
In India, almost every citizen recognises 26 January as Republic Day. However, very few know about another reason why this date is significant. Exactly 20 years before our first Republic Day, on 26 January 1930, the Indian National Congress, in an electrifying resolution, declared Purna Swaraj — complete freedom from the British Raj. From then on, it was a question... Read More →
January 25
Nestled in the lap of the great Himalayan range, Himachal Pradesh, India’s 18th state, came into being on 25 January 1971. Bordering the Indian states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand and the Tibet Autonomous Region, Himachal Pradesh has an area of 55,670 square kilometres and a population of around 7 million (2011 census). The history of the... Read More →
January 24
One of India’s greatest musicians, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was born on 4 February 1922 in Dharwad, the district in present-day Karnataka that has given birth to many musical legends. He died on 24 January 2011 in Pune. His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a teacher. His paternal grandfather, Bhimacharya, was a musician. As a child, Bhimsen loved hearing his mother’s bhajans.... Read More →
January 23
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a Congress leader-turned-Indian nationalist hero who controversially courted Germany and Japan and courageously led an underprepared but determined force to fight the British during World War 2, was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, which was then a part of the Bengal Province. The ninth of 14 children of Prabhavati Devi and advocate Janakinath Bose,... Read More →
January 22
The Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-1849 was one of the last major military conflicts between the East India Company and an important Indian power before the 1857 revolt, and resulted in the annexation of the Punjab by the British. The siege of Multan, that ended on 22 January 1849 was a turning point in the war, and victory for the... Read More →
