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Hockey’s Jadoogar – Dhyan Chand

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Dhyan Chand popularly known as hockey’s jadoogar. Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August, 1905 at Allahabad. His father was in the British Indian army.

Memorable incident

He started playing Hockey with his friends who used to themselves make Hockey sticks from tree branches and balls from ragged clothes. At the age of 14 years he visited a Hockey match with his father, where one team was down by 2 goals. He insisted his father to play from the losing side, and when an Army Officer let him do so, Dhyan scored 4 goals for the team. Impressed by his skills, the Officer offered him to join the army.

Turning point

Dhyanchand joined the army at the age of 16 in the year 1922 and took serious to hockey, this proved a turning point of his carrier. Subedar-Major Bhole Tiwari of Brahmin Regiment became Dhyan’s mentor inside the Army and taught him the basics of the game. Pankaj Gupta was the first Coach of Dhyan Singh who predicted that one day he would shine like the Moon, called Chand in Hindi. Hence, Dhyan Singh came to be known as Dhyan Chand. After that Dhyanchand rose in the hockey field like a meteor. This became an important milestone of his carrier. In the year 1926, he was selected for the Indian hockey team slated to tour New Zealand.

As soon as Dhyan Chand joined the army, his tryst with hockey began. After that there was no looking back for this magician of Indian hockey, popularly known as hockey’s jadoogar. His exciting stick-work encouraged the army to allow him to concentrate on the game. Dhyan Chand took part in the inter-provincial hockey championship and made an immediate impact on the national hockey scene. From the very outset Dhyan Chand showed a lot of promise and the day was not far away when he joined the ranks of the Indian hockey.

Monumental role

In the year 1934, Dhyan Chand was appointed the captain of the Indian hockey and subsequently captained the gold winning team at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. At the age of 43, he led the hockey team to the tour of East Africa in 1947. In this tour Dhyan Chand scored 61 goals in 21 matches that India played. After an illustrious carrier of 30 years, Dhyan Chand bid adieu to international hockey in 1949. He retired as Major and was also the Chief Hockey Coach at the National Institute of Sports. For his extraordinary achievements, the Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhusan in 1956. Throughout his carrier, He scored over 1000 goals in his career, from 1926 to 1948 .

Achievements

Players like Dhyanchand become a synonym of the game; he is not a hero; he has become the parameter of hockey by which other player’s caliber is measured. Dhyan Chand helped India in winning gold medals in hockey in 3 successive Olympics games- Amsterdam Olympics (1928), Los Angles Olympics (1932) and Berlin Olympics (1936). He was the captain of the gold medal winner Indian Hockey team in the historic 1936 Berlin Olympics. Dhyan Chand scored 101 goals at the Olympic Games and 300 goals in other international matches. Dhyan Chand’s birthday (Aug 29) is observed as the national sports day. The Indian Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his memory, and the Dhyan Chand National Stadium at New Delhi has been named after him.

However, the last days of Dhyan Chand were not very happy, as he was short of money and was badly ignored by the nation. Once he went to a tournament in Ahmedabad and they turned him away not knowing who he was. He developed liver cancer, and was sent to a general ward at the AIIMS, New Delhi. He died on the 3rd of December 1979.

Saraswati Samman

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Saraswati Samman is given by K.K. Birla Foundation for outstanding literary works (prose, poetry) in any of 22 languages listed in Constitution of India. As award winner gets 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

2019: Vasdev Mohi for Short Story Series “Chequebook” in Sindhi

2018: K Siva Reddy for poetry “Pakkaki Ottigilite” in Telugu

2017: Sitanshu Yashaschandra for poetry collection “Vakhar” in Gujarati

2016: Mahabaleshwar Sail for novel “Hawthan” in Konkani

2015: Padma Sachdev for Autobiography “Chitt-Chete” in Dogri

2014: Veerappa Moily for poetry “Ramayana Mahanveshanam” in Kannada

2013: Govind Mishra for novel “Dhool Paudho Par” in Hindi

2012: Sugathakumari for poetry collection “Manalezhuthu” in Malayalam

2011: A.A. Manavalan for “Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalum” in Tamil

2010: S.L. Bhyrappa for “Mandra” in Kannada

2009: Surjit Paatar for “Lafzan Di Dargah” in Punjabi

2008: Lakshmi Nandan Bora for novel “Kayakalpa” in Assamese

2007: Naiyer Masud for short stories collection “Taoos Chaman Ki Myna” in Urdu

2006: Jagannath Prasad Das for poetry collection “Parikrama” in Oriya

2005: K. Ayyappa Paniker for poetry collection “Ayappa Panikarude Kritikal” in Malayalam

2004: Sunil Gangopadhyay for novel “Pratham Alo” in Bengali

2003: Govind Chandra Pande for poetry collection “Bhagirathi” in Sanskrit

2002: Mahesh Elkunchwar for play “Yugant” in Marathi

2001: Dalip Kaur Tiwana for novel “Katha Kaho Urvashi” in Punjabi

2000: Manoj Das for novel “Amruta Phala” in Oriya

1999: Indira Parthasarthy for play “Ramanujar” in Tamil

1998: Shankha Ghosh for poetry collection “Gandharba Kabita Guccha” in Bengali

1997: Manubhai Pancholi for “Kurushetra” in Gujarati

1996: Shamsur Rahman Faruqi for “Shere-Shor-Angrez” in Urdu

1995: Balamani Amma for poetry collection “Nivedyam” in Malayalam

1994: Harbhajan Singh for poetry collection “Rukh Te Rishi” in Punjabi

1993: Vijay Tendulkar for play “Kanyadaan” in Marathi

1992: Ramakant Rath for poetry “Sri Radha” in Odia

1991: Harivansh Rai Bachchan for Autobiography in four volumes in Hindi

National Emblem of different countries

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COUNTRY – EMBLEM

Australia – Kangaroo
Bangladesh – Water Lily
Barbados – Head of a Trident
Belgium – Lion
Canada – White Lily
Chile Candor and Huemul
Denmark – Beach
Dominica – Sisserou
France – Lily
Germany – Corn Flower
Guyana – Canje Pheasant
Hong Kong – Bauhinia
India – Lion Capital
Iran – Rose
Ireland – Shamrock
Isreal – Candelabrum
Italy – White Lily
Ivory –  Coast-Elephant
Japan – Chrysanthemum
Lebanon – Cedar Tree
Luxembourg – Lion with Crown
Mongolia – The Soyombo
Netherlands – Lion
New Zealand – Southern Cross,Kiwi,Fern
Norway – Lion
Pakistan – Crescent
Papua New Guinea – Bird of Paradise
Spain – Eagle
Senegal – Baobab Tree
Sierra Leone – Lion
Sri Lanka – Lion
Sudan-Secretary – Bird
Syria – Eagle
Turkey – Crescent and Star
United Kingdom – Rose
U.S.A. – Golden Rod
Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe Bird
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Fascinating Facts About Gold

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The world’s largest gold bar weighs 250 kg. Gold is edible. Gold has been discovered on every continent on earth. Our bodies contain about 0.2 milligrams of gold, most of it in our blood. Here are some fascinating Facts About Gold that will blow your mind.

Fascinating Facts About Gold

  • Earthquakes turn water into gold.
  • Small traces of gold have been found in the leaves of Eucalyptus trees.
  • More gold is recoverable from a ton of personal computers than from 17 tons of gold ore.
  • Olympic Gold Medals only contain 1.34% of gold.
  • 3 Olympic swimming pools can hold all the gold ever mined in the world.
  • Over 6 milligrams of gold are lost every year from a Wedding Ring just by wearing it.
  • The world’s oceans contain nearly20 million tons of gold.
  • Nearly all of the gold on Earth came from meteorites that bombarded the planet over 200 million years after it
    formed.
  • Carat weight can be 10, 12, 14, 18, 22, or 24. The higher the number, the greater the purity.
  • Compared to other metals, gold is much softer. One can beat 1 gram of gold to a 1 square meter sheet and light would shine through that sheet.
  • Do you know Fascinating Facts About Gold that the world’s first gold vending machine was unveiled in May 2010. Located in an ultra-luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, the vending machine itself is covered in 24-carat gold.
  • The chemical symbol for gold is Au, which is derived from the Latin word “aurum,” which means “shining dawn.”
  • Do you know Fascinating Facts About Gold that Pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
  • South Asian jewelry is generally more pure than western jewelry, comprised of 22 carat gold rather than 14 carat.
  • India is the world’s largest consumer of gold
  • Astronaut helmets come equipped with a visor coated with a thin layer of gold. The gold blocks harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.
  • Gold is the most popular precious metal for investments.
  • The largest gold nugget believed to exist today is the “Hand of Faith,” a 60-pound specimen discovered in
    Victoria, Australia, in October 1980. It is currently on display at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas.

Must Read:

Facts to know about Earthquakes

Countries with the Largest Gold Reserves in the World

All about earth – explained in 7 minutes

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

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MOKSHAGUNDAM VISVESVARAYA: A BORN ENGINEER AND BUILDER OF MODERN INDIA

The present day India is glowing with multi-storeyed buildings, heavy manufacturing industries, huge dams & reservoirs and well planned cities. The pioneer of building this modern Indiais the great engineer SIR MOKSHAGUNDAM VISVESVARAYA, who always dreamed of seeing a technologically advanced and industrialized India with a modern outlook.

In pre independence situation, with inadequate facilities and in adverse conditions M Visvesvaraya created many economically viable constructions and also historical projects like KRISHNARAJA SAGAR dam of Mysore, OSMAN SAGAR of Hyderabad and so on. He always aimed of modernising India and contributed his best for the same.

He served as an Engineer of varios cadres, Diwan of Mysore and Board of Director of TATA group of companies and utilised every single opportunity for the progress of the country. The Government of India celebrates the birthday of VISVESYARAYA, 15th September of every year as THE ENGINEERS DAY.

Visvesvaraya

CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE:

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born into a family of four on 15th September 1860 in a village called MUDDENAHALLI of MYSORE princely state which was now in Karnataka. Even from his childhood, Visvesvaraya showed signs of engineering bent of mind. When Visvesvaraya was at thirteen, his father passed away and his family went into deep financial crisis.

Visvesvaraya, however managed his studies and obtained his bachelor’s degree fromCENTRAL COLLEGE, Bangalore in 1881. During his college, he used to take tuitions in the morning and attend the college afterwards to support his family. He always stood first in his studies and even attained rare scholarships too. At the age of 24, Visvesvaraya completed his engineering from the famous PUNE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING.

CAREER AS AN ENGINEER:

M VISVESVARAYA joined the British Government as an ASSISTANT ENGINEER in Public works department of BOMBAY PRESIDENCY IN 1885. Since then, Visveyaraya started working very hard and always used innovative and novel ideas to solve the problems. In 1909, he joined Mysore state as chief engineer and also woked as diwan. Some of his achievements are:

  • During his early days as an engineer in Bombay presidency he devised new water filtration system in sukkur village where the people were frequently affected by diseases due to unclean drinking water. Then the people of that honoured visvesvaraya very much for his services.
  • He also worked as a freelance engineer in many areas such as Bijapur, Kolhapur, Goa, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Nagpur, Bikaner, Baroda, Bhopal and so on. Everywhere, he applied simple principles of engineering to provide clean drinking water, increase storage capacity of tanks and making the regions free from floods, droughts and diseases.
  • He was solely responsible for transforming mosquito ridden Hyderabad into a beautiful city by constructing OSMAN SAGAR reservoir.
  • He was the inventor of AUTOMATIC SLUICE GATES and BLOCK SYSTEM OFIRRIGATION which are widely used these days.
  • As a chief engineer of Princely state of Mysore, he built the Krishna raja sagar dam, in Mysore which was the largest hydro-electric project at that time. Brundavan Gardens, MYSORE SILK INDUSTRY, SANDAL WOOD SOAP COMPANY and so on were the famous projects dealt by him.
  • As a DIWAN OF MYSORE STATE, Visvesvaraya strived hard for all-round development of the state by setting up universities and industries all over the state.

POST RETIREMENT LIFE:

Even after retirement as DIWAN OF MYSORE in 1919, Visvesvaraya continued his contributions as an engineer.

  • He supervised many government projects and provided his valuable feedbacks
  • He served as a board of director in TATA group of industries for 28 years involving in many historical steel manufacturing and automobile manufacturing industries of the group.
  • He visited many European countries and always wanted India to follow their industrial models. He also given a slogan “INDUSTRIALISE OR PERISH”.

He also received many honorary doctorates, knighthood of the crown of the empire. In 1955, Indian government honoured M Visvesvaraya with the highest honour BHARAT RATNA. Finally, Visvesvaraya died at the age of 101 years in 1962.

CONCLUSION:

The contemporary engineers of India should take MOKSHAGUNDAM VISVESVARAYA’S life as an inspiration and should remember his saying “NATURE NEVER EXCUSES LAPSES”.

Top 5 Largest Aircraft in the World

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The
first prize goes fairly to Ukrainian Antonov An-225 Mriya which is acknowledged
to be the world’s largest plane up to date. The plane made its first flight in
1988, on December 21. This really huge thing was built exceptionally for
military purposes, in particular for carrying the Buran orbiter (Russian Space
Shuttle). The developers of An-225 aircraft used a base of An-124 and increased
sufficiently its engine capacity. 6 engines are used in the An-225 instead of 4
in An-124 as well as twin nail. The aircraft is the heaviest up to date: its
maximum takeover weight is more than 640 tons. Today there is only one An-225
in service.
The
second place in top-5 of the world’s largest planes takes Airbus A380F with the
first flight performed just recently, in 2005, April 23. The aircraft places
525 seats and is considered to be the worlds’ largest passenger airplane ever
known and made. This twin deck, high capacity wide body airliner is a really
beautiful and potent thing.
The
third place in the scale of the top-5 goes to Boeing 747-8 which with is length
of about 77 meters is considered to be the longest airliner in the world up to
date. This intercontinental airbus places 467 seats and is a high-capacity
machine offering more payloads, more range and more fuel efficiency.
The
next in the top-5 scale is Boeing 747-400 ER, the one from the family of
Boeings possessing the major development and the most sold one. It has seats
for 524 passengers and features all-new modern interior.
The last place in the top-5 belongs to Ukrainian An-124
Ruslan. Up to this moment Ruslan is considered to be world’s second heaviest
cargo aircraft and the biggest heavy lifter ever made.