Today’s Motto: ‘Managers are not necessarily Leaders. You may Manage Things; Better You LEAD People!’

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

On this day, 16 Oct….

1868 – Denmark ended its involvement in India by selling the rights to the Nicobar Islands to the British.

1905 – The provincial state of Bengal was partitioned, effectively dividing the province on religious lines. On 20 July 1905, Curzon issued an order dividing Bengal into Eastern Bengal and Assam (with a population of 31 million), and the rest of Bengal (with a population of 54 million comprising 18 million Bengalis and 36 million Biharis and Oriyas). Officially, Curzon and his men claimed that Bengal was too large to be governed effectively and the partition was simply an attempt to smoothen the administrative machinery by dividing the state into manageable parts. There was some truth to these claims, but the partition was also a cold political manoeuvre to “split up and thereby weaken a solid body of opponents to our rule” as the then home secretary put it clinically in an official note. The “opponents” he referred to were, of course, the Indian nationalists, who at the time were most effectively mobilised in Bengal. In fact, Indian nationalism (map credit-India Today) had found its earliest    expression in 19th century Bengal, and the British were shrewdly aware of this. Though there was an attempt to turn the clock back by reunifying the state in 1911, Bengal—and India—would never be the same again. (For more details, may read ‘Autobiography of an Unknown Indian’, by the controversial author Nirad C. Chaudhuri, who grew up in East Bengal).

1928 – A U.S. patent was issued for the first electric light bulb frosted on the inside with sufficient strength for commercial handling. The advantages of frosting the inside of a bulb (versus the outside) are less absorption of light and less collection of dust. The previous etching processes tended to weaken the glass because the etched pits in the surface were sharply angled. He was able to produce rounded pits by treating the bulb with a weaker etching solution, or a strong solution used for a shorter time.

1942 – Cyclone struck Bengal, claiming around 40,000 lives.

1951 – The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi (born in Karnal, Haryana -Oct. 01, 1895).

1951 – In 1951, the first motion picture in the U.S. of the inside of a living heart was shown at the clinical session of the New York Academy of Medicine. A dog’s heart was the subject of the 9-1/2 minute colour film, which showed the opening and closing of the mitral valve. This structure was of interest because it is often crippled by rheumatic fever.

1964 – China detonated the country’s first atomic bomb, and became the fifth country with nuclear arms after the US (1945), UK (1953), the USSR (1961), and France.

1973 – Israeli tanks under Gen Sharon move through Suez Canal. (It was a bold move by the Israelis, where they crossed the Suez Canal to the West, penetrated between Egyptian 2nd and 3rd Armies and surrounded one of them).

1978 – Test debut of Kapil Dev, India vs Pakistan, at Faisalabad.

1987 – Paul Holc became the youngest person in the world known to have an organ transplant of any kind when he received a new heart at just three hours old. The heart transplant was performed by surgeons at Loma Linda University Medical Center. At birth, the baby weighed 6 pounds 6¾ ounces, and suffered from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a fatal heart defect in which the heart’s left chamber is missing or atrophied. He was delivered early by Caesarian section because a donor heart became available from a brain-dead baby in Canada. By the time he celebrated his 10th birthday, hundreds of similar transplants had been performed at Loma Linda.

1994 – CIA connection to CN Annadurai alleged in book on Seshan. Jayalalitha obtains stay.

1999 – Geet Sethi bagged the Fred Davis award as the “Billiards Player of the Year 1998-99”.

Born….

1948 – Hema Malini, most prolific romantic actor, dancer, producer and politician (Member Parliament -BJP) . Started film career in Sapnon Ka Saudagar.  Abhinetri, Dream Girl, Johney Mera Naam, Sholey, Seeta Aur Geeta,  Naseeb, Baghvan, Dharmatma, Sanyasi,  10 Numbri, Kranti are some of her most successful films, Married to  veteran actor Dharmendra in 1981, has 2 daughters.  Hema has been awarded with Padam Shri, Lifetime Achievement award from Padampt Singhania University, nominated 11 times for Filmfre award.  (video credit -Shemaroo Filmi Gaane)

1975 – Rajeev Khandelwal, Bollywood actor.

RIP…

1942 – Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills some 40,000 south of Calcutta.

1974 – Chembai Bhagavatar, Carnatic music singer.

1992 – Capt. P. K. Sahgal of Azad Hind Fauz, during the trial at the Red Fort, said, “Because I wanted freedom for my motherland , I was ready to shed my blood for it.”

You may have known….

There are lots of religious and cultural ceremonies to honour women during their pregnancies like Godh Bharai etc.. Some Hindus observe a ritual called ‘Simantonnyana’ in the seventh month of pregnancy, during which prayers are recited and the mother’s hair is delicately parted by her husband to put her in a calm, relaxed mood (Facebook photo).

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