Bhagat Singh

 Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh was born into a Sandhu Jatt family to Sardar Kishan Singh Sandhu and Vidyavati in a village in the Lyallpur district of Punjab.His ancestral village is the Khatkar Kalan village near Banga in Nawanshahr District of Punjab.The District has recently been renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. Singh's given name of Bhagat means "devotee", and he was nicknamed "Bhaganwala" by his grandmother, meaning "The lucky one".He came from a patriotic Jatt Sikh family, some of whom had participated in movements supporting the independence of India and others who had served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army.His grandfather, Arjun Singh, was a follower of Swami Dayananda Saraswati's Hindu reformist movement, Arya Samaj,which would carry a heavy influence on Singh. His uncles, Ajit Singh and Swaran Singh, as well as his father were members of the Ghadar Party, led by Kartar Singh Sarabha Grewal and Har Dayal. Ajit Singh was forced to flee to Persia because of pending cases against him while Swaran Singh died in 1910 at his home after releasing from Borstle Jail, Lahore.

In his teenage years, Bhagat Singh started studying at the National College in Lahore, but ran away from home to escape early marriage, and became a member of the organisation Naujawan Bharat Sabha ("Youth Society of India"). In the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Singh and his fellow revolutionaries grew popular amongst the youth. He also joined the Hindustan Republican Association through introduction by history teacher, Professor Vidyalankar, which had prominent leaders like Ram Prasad Bismil, Chandrashekhar Azad and Ashfaqulla Khan. It is believed that he went to Kanpur to attempt free Kakori train robbery prisoners from the jail, but returned to Lahore for unknown reasons.On the day of Dasara in October 1926, a bomb was blasted in Lahore, and Bhagat Singh was arrested for his alleged involvement in this Dasara Bomb Case in 29 May 1927, and was released on a bail of Rs.60,000 after about five weeks of his arrest.He wrote for and edited Urdu and Punjabi newspapers published from Amritsar. In September 1928, a meeting of various revolutionaries from across India was called at Delhi under the banner of the Kirti Kissan Party. Bhagat Singh was the secretary of the meet. His later revolutionary activities were carried out as a leader of this association.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai). His mother Rajni worked in the insurance industry,and his father Ramesh Tendulkar, a Marathi novelist, named Tendulkar after his favourite music director, Sachin Dev Burman. Tendulkar's elder brother Ajit encouraged him to play cricket. Tendulkar has two other siblings: a brother Nitin, and sister Savita.Tendulkar attended Sharadashram Vidyamandir (High School),where he began his cricketing career under the guidance of his coach and mentor, Ramakant Achrekar. During his school days he attended the MRF Pace Foundation to train as a fast bowler, but Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee, who took a world record 355 Test wickets, was unimpressed, suggesting that Tendulkar focus on his batting instead.When he was young, Tendulkar would practice for hours on end in the nets. If he became exhausted, Achrekar would put a one-rupee coin on the top of the stumps, and the bowler who dismissed Tendulkar would get the coin. If Tendulkar passed the whole session without getting dismissed, the coach would give him the coin. Tendulkar now considers the 13 coins he won then as some of his most prized possessions.While at school, he developed a reputation as a child prodigy. He had become a common conversation point in Mumbai circles, where there were suggestions already that he would become one of the greats. His season in 1988 was extraordinary, with Tendulkar scoring a century in every innings he played. He was involved in an unbroken 664-run partnership in a Lord Harris Shield inter-school game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli, who would also go on to represent India. The destructive pair reduced one bowler to tears and made the rest of the opposition unwilling to continue the game. Tendulkar scored 326* in this innings and scored over a thousand runs in the tournament.This was a record partnership in any form of cricket until 2006, when it was broken by two under-13 batsmen in a match held at Hyderabad in India.

At 14, Tendulkar was a ball boy for the India versus Zimbabwe game at the Wankhede Stadium during the 1987 World Cup.When he was 14, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar gave him a pair of his own ultra light pads. "It was the greatest source of encouragement for me," he said nearly 20 years later after surpassing Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries.On 24 May 1995,Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali, a paediatrician and daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta and British social worker Annabel Mehta. They have two children, Sara (born 12 October 1997), and Arjun (born 24 September 1999). Anjali is six years elder to him.

2011 World Cup

From February to April, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka hosted the 2011 World Cup. Amassing 482 runs at an average of 53.55 including two centuries, Tendulkar was India's lead run-scorer for the tournament; only Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka scored more runs in the 2011 tournament.India defeated Sri Lanka in the final.Shortly after the victory, Tendulkar commented that "Winning the World Cup is the proudest moment of my life. ... I couldn't control my tears of joy."

Sukhdev Thapar

Sukhdev Thapar

Sukhdev Thapar was born in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was an Indian freedom fighter who lived from 15 May 1907 to March 23, 1931) who was involved with Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru in the killing of a British police officer J.P. Saunders in 1928 in order to take revenge for the death of veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai due to excessive police beating.All three were hanged in Lahore Central Jail on March 23, 1931 in the evening at 7.33 pm . The dead bodies were secretly taken away by breaking the back walls of the jail and were seceretly burnt on the banks of River Satluj at Hussainiwala about 50 miles away from Lahore. The bodies were cut into pieces to make the burial quick.Sukhdev was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, being one of its most senior leaders. He is known to have started study circles at National College, (Lahore) in order to delve into India's past as well as to scrutinize the finer aspects of world revolutionary literature and the Russian Revolution. Along with Bhagat Singh, Comrade Ram Chandra and Bhagwati Charan Vohra, he started Naujawan Bharat Sabha at Lahore. The main aims of this organisation were to activate youth for freedom struggle, inculcate a rational scientific attitude, fight communalism and end the practice of untouchability.Sukhdev was deeply impressed by Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, and Chandrashekhar Azad.Sukhdev also participated in the 1929 Prison hunger strike to protest against the inhuman treatment of inmates.

His letter to Mahatma Gandhi written just prior to his hanging, protesting against the latter's disapproval of revolutionary tactics, throws light on the disparities between the two major schools of thought among Indian freedom fighers.

Nevertheless, this relatively baseless contention does not detract from the tremendous courage, patriotism and self-sacrifice that Sukhdev Thapar embodifies, as is evident in the recent naming of a school after him, in his native Ludhiana (city in Punjab).

Man of action:

Fierce patriotism and pragmatic action came together in a magical weave in Sukhdev, a true revolutionary. In his last letter dated October 7, 1930 to comrades (the day the judgment was pronounced), Sukhdev criticised mindless acts of violence and justified HSRA’s actions as the ones that sought to fulfill people’s aspirations.

He wrote, "Take the case of Saunders murder. When Lala receive lathi blows, there was unrest in the country. This was a good opportunity to draw people’s attention towards the party. That’s how the murder was planned. To run away after the murder was not our plot. We wished to enlighten people that it was a political murder and its perpetrators were revolutionaries. Our actions were always in response to people’s grievances. We wanted to infuse revolutionary ideals in the public and the expression of such ideals looks more glorified from the mouth of one who stands on the gallows for the cause." A certified copy of this letter was sent by Punjab CID to the Home Department.

Sukhdev’s letter to Gandhi is also a fine reflection of his ideals. "The aim of revolutionaries is to establish a socialist republic in the country. There is no possibility of even a slight amendment to this goal. I think you believe the revolutionaries are irrational people who enjoy destructive actions. I want to tell you that the truth is quite the opposite. They know their responsibilities and they hold the constructive elements high in their revolutionary constitution even though in the present circumstances, they have to attend to their destructive side only," he wrote.

But for Sukhdev and his comrades, India’s dream of freedom would have remained distant. But for them, the poem of Jagdamba Prasad Mishr would have never come to life. Here are the verses Sukhdev and other revolutionaries died singing:

Watan ki aabru ka pas dekhen kaun karta hai,

Suna hai aaj matkal mein hamara imtihaan hoga;

Shivaram Rajguru

Shivaram Rajguru

Shivaram Rajguru (1908-1931) was a great Indian freedom fighter who played a major role in the India's struggle for Independence. He is amongst those great Indian revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of country. His full name was Hari Shivaram Rajguru and was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family. Since his childhood days, had witnessed the brutal atrocities that the Imperial British Raj inflicted on India and her people. This instilled within him a strong urge to join hands with the revolutionaries in a bid for India's freedom struggle.

In the days of the Indian Freedom Movement, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) was an active force working against the British. Whilst their main motive was to strike fear into the heart of the British regime, they simultaneously spread awareness amongst the people. They made them take notice of the growing domestic uprising when they dealt crucial blows with attacks like in the Lahore Conspiracy Case ( 18th December, 1928) and the bombing of the Central Assembly Hall in New Delhi (8th April, 1929).

The protest against the Simon Commission in October 1928 saw the British police lathi-charge the protestors, severely injuring veteran leader Lala Lajpat Rai. Owing to the excessive beating, Lala succumbed to his injuries, which thus instilled revenge in the hearts of the revolutionaries. Thus, on 18th December, 1928 in Ferozepur, Lahore, a planned retaliation was enforced that led to the assassination of Deputy Superintendent of Police, J.P. Saunders. Shivaram Rajguru along with Sukhdev Thapar were accomplices of the legendary Bhagat Singh who spearheaded the attack. Rajguru then went into hiding in Nagpur. Whilst taking shelter in the house of an RSS worker, he even met Dr. K. B. Hedgewar. On his travel to Pune, however, Shivaram was finally arrrested. Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were then convicted of their crime and sentenced to death.

On 23rd March, 1931, the three brave revolutionaries were hanged, whilst their bodies were cremated on the banks of the River Sutlej. Shivaram Rajguru was only 23 years old when he became a martyr for his country, however, he will always be remembered in the pages of Indian history for his valor and dedication of his life towards India's independence. 

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal 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.

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.Jawaharlal Nehru died of a heart attack on May 27, 1964.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu

He was born in Patiala, in the malwa region of Punjab. Sidhu was elected to the Lok Sabha as the member from Amritsar in 2004 on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket; he later resigned, following his conviction for culpable homicide. After the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, he successfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, defeating his Congress rival, State Finance Minister Surinder Singla, by 77,626 votes.

Cricketing career :

Navjot Singh Sidhu had a volatile career as a cricketer from 1983 to 1999.He made an uneventful international debut against the West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983 scoring just 19 runs in his debut Test match. He was given another chance in that series but failed again. He was selected for the 1987 Cricket World Cup in India scoring 73 on his One Day International debut in a losing effort against Australia. He scored 50s in 4 of the 5 World Cup 1987 matches in which he batted, failing in the semifinal against England. His first ODI century came against Pakistan in Sharjah in 1989 while his 134 against England at Gwalior in 1993 was his highest ODI score and the innings which he called his best when he retired in 1999.He scored over 500 Test runs in a year thrice (1993, 1994 and 1997). His only Test double century came during India's 1997 tour of West Indies. In 1994, he scored 885 ODI runs.Sidhu's finest moment in Tests was his 201 against West Indies in 1996-97, a defiant knock lasting 11 hours. Known for his tendency to attack spinners, he cracked eight sixes in 124 against Sri Lanka in 1993-94, and four fifties in five innings against the Australians in 1997-98, deliberately singling out Shane Warne.He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in December 1999. He played over 50 Test matches and over 100 ODIs scoring over 7,000 international runs. He has 27 centuries to his credit in an 18-year career.Some of the nicknames he earned were "Sixer Sidhu" for his prolific batting performances and "Jonty Singh" with respect to his improved fielding in his late career, Jonty Rhodes being the best fielder at that time.

Commentator and Television career :

Sidhu started his career as a commentator for NIMBUS when India toured Sri Lanka in 2001. He however later became a commentator with ESPN Star Sports.After he was sacked from ESPN-Star for swearing on air, he worked for Ten Sports. He also regularly appears as a "cricket analyst" on various Indian news channels.He also figured as a judge on the television programme - "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge." He also appeared in other similar programmes as "Funjabi Chak De."

Films :

He appeared as a cricket commentator in the Bollywood film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. He also starred in a Punjabi movie Mera Pind along with Harbhajan Mann.

Mukesh

Mukesh Chand Mathur (Playback Singer)

Mukesh Chand Mathur (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) was an Indian playback singer of Bollywood.Mukesh Chand Mathur was born in a Kayastha family in Ludhiana to Zorawar Chand Mathur, an engineer, and Chand Rani. He was the sixth in a family of ten children. The music teacher who came home to teach Mukesh's sister, Sundar Pyari, found a pupil in Mukesh who would listen from the adjoining room. Mukesh left school after the 10th grade and worked briefly for the Department of Public Works. He experimented with voice recordings during his employment in Delhi and gradually developed his singing abilities. Some of his famous songs were recorded in the well-known movie Anand in 1971, such as Kahin door jab din dhal jaye and Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune.Mukesh's voice was first noticed by Motilal, a distant relative, when he sang at his sister's wedding. Motilal took him to Bombay, put him up and arranged for singing lessons by Pandit Jagannath Prasad. During this period Mukesh was offered a role in a Hindi film, Nirdosh (Innocent) (1941). His first song was Dil hi bujha hua ho to as an actor-singer for Nirdosh. He got his break as a playback singer for Actor Motilal in 1945 with the film Pehli nazar (First look) with Music by Anil Biswas & Lyrics by Aah Sitapuri. The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was Dil jalta hai to jalne de (If the heart burns, let it burn), which was picturised on Motilal.

He is best known for the songs he sang as a playback singer for Raj Kapoor, a legendary actor/director of Bollywood in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was such a fan of K. L. Saigal that in his early years of playback singing he used to imitate his idol. In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song Dil jalta hai to jalne de, he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song".

In 1974, Mukesh received National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song Kai baar yoon bhi dekhaa hai from Rajnigandha (1974), and Filmfare Awards for the songs Sab kuch seekha in the movie Anari (1959), Sabse bada naadan wahi hai in Pehchaan (1970), Jai bolo in Be imaan (1972) and Kabhie kabhie mere dil mein, the title song of film Kabhie kabhie (1976).

Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he had gone to perform in a concert. His body was carried back to India by Lata Mangeshkar, where a grand funeral ceremony was held in the presence of several famous actors, personalities of the Indian film industry, and fans paying tribute. When the news of his death reached Raj Kapoor, he burst into tears, and remarked, "I have lost my voice," which is a testimony to the association of Mukesh's voice (in playback) to the immensely popular songs of Raj Kapoor's films. A famous song of the fifties featured on Bharat Bhushan Aa laut ke aa ja mere meet is another example of his earlier melodies, as is Dil tadap tadapke keh raha hai, featured on Dilip Kumar. However some music directors like Naushad Ali did not take much liking to Mukesh and preferred Mohammad Rafi or Manna Dey.

Stamp In Tribute Of Mukesh By Government Of India.

After Mukesh's death, his newer, hitherto unreleased, songs were released in 1977 in films such as Dharam Veer, Amar Akbar Anthony, Khel khiladi ka, Darinda and Chandi sona. The year 1978 also featured a considerable number of Mukesh's songs in films such as Aahuti, Paramatma, Tumhari kasam and Satyam Shivam Sundaram, where Mukesh sang his last film song Chanchal sheetal nirmal komal for Raj Kapoor's younger brother, Shashi Kapoor. From 1980 onward, Mukesh's voice was heard in many later released films such as Shaitan mujarim, Premika, Patthar se takkar (1980), Sanjh ki bela, Maila anchal (1981), Aarohi (1982), Chor mandali (1983), Nirlaj (1985), Love and God (1986), Shubh chintak (1989), and his last known release of Chand grahan (1997).