Today’s Motto: ‘If we are growing, we will always be out of our comfort zone’

This is Your Day-TODAY:  Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History! 

On this day,  Aug . 17……..

1835 – The wrench was patented by Solymon Merrick of Springfield, Massachusetts.

1891 – The automobile electric self-starter was patented.

1896 – The first pedestrian killed by a motor vehicle in Britain was Mrs Bridget Driscoll.

1978 – The first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by balloon was completed when three Americans, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, landed their Double Eagle II in France.

1836 – British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death.

1891 – 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in New York City (People’s Bath).

1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.

1970 – The first microwave link, which was set up without foreign assistance, was commissioned between Asansol, Dhanbad and Ranchi.

1998 – Indian Government issues a notification banning the use of quinacrine, a controversial female contraceptive and sterilization agent.

1998 – Indian National Human Rights Commission recommends compulsory registration of marriages in a bid to check childmarriages.

2015 – Discovery of 7,000 year old mass grave in Schöneck-Kilianstädten, Central Germany, published in PNAS Journal. 26 bodies bear evidence of violent conflict.

Born….

1893 – Mae West, American actress and singer (She Done him Wrong).

1932 – V.S. Naipaul, Indian -origin but Trinidad resident and later settled in Britain English  novelist (Middle Passage). was awarded Trinity Cross Award and Jerusalem Prize.

1941 – Bhim Singh. Jammu, freedom fighter, author, journalist and founder of J & K Panthers’ Party. Was elected MLA  in  Jammu & Kashmir Assembly  and elected to Lok Sabha but denied by local counting officer, and nominated to Rajya Sabha twice.

1941 – Y V Reddy, former Governor RBI. and Member of Finance Commission.

RIP….

1909 – Madanlal Dhingra, famous revolutionary, was hanged at Paintanville Jail, UK,   for assassinating WH Curzon Wyle and Lal Kaka in London.

1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pak President, and Chief of Army Staff. Died in a plane crash.There were many investigations into this crash but no satisfactory cause was ever found.

You may have known….

Smashing coconuts on the head – Aadi Festival, Tamil Nadu: Every year, on the 18 th day of the Tamil month of Aadi, thousands of devotees flock the Mahalakshmi Temple, Mettu Mahadhanapuram, in the Karur District of Tamil Nadu, to willingly allow the priest to smash coconuts on their heads for good luck and health. As the story goes, 187 coconut shaped stones were dug out at the location of the temple. During the Raj, the Britishers wanted to build a railway track across the temple and villagers were against it. To test their devotion, the British struck a deal: if they could break these stones on their heads, the course of the railway line would be changed. The villagers succeeded and the temple was saved. The tradition has been followed till date, despite warnings by medical practitioners.

                                                                                                                                     {Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R)  Raj Kadyan}