Biography of National Billiards and Snooker Champion Pankaj Advani

Pankaj Advani, the reigning National Billiards and Snooker Champion, create history again in 2010 by becoming the only cueist to win a hat- trick of Asian Billiards titles after defeating Singapore's Peter Gilchrist in a mil-biting final encounter. He outclassed Gilchrist 6-5 in the best- of-11 ;crunch game to become the youngest Asian to win four Asian billiards titles. Advani is the winner of three world titles in billiards and snooker.

In 2005, he became the first player to complete a grand double by winning both the point’s format as well as the time format titles in the IBSF World Billiards championship. For this achievement, he was conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Considered to be the best Billiards player India has got after Geet Sethi, the maestro, Pankaj is the first player ever to have completed a Grand Double in Billiards.

Born on July 24, 1985, Pankaj spent his initial years in Kuwait as his parents and elder brother Shree were settled there. In June 1990, Pankaj, along with his family, was on a trip to US, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and the family was forced to come back to India and settled in Bangalore. Pankaj was just 6 when his father passed away, and his mother single handedly brought the two brothers up. Pankaj received his education at the Frank Anthony Public School in Bangalore. He had been a very brilliant student throughout his career and completed his B.Com from Mahaveer Jain College, Bangalore.

When Pankaj was 10 years old, he began accompanying his elder brother Shree to a Snooker Parlour and soon proved he was much better at the game than all the older boys out there. Impressed by his talent, the Managing Committee of Karnataka Snooker and Billiards Association (KSBA) gave him the Talent A Membership that made it much cheaper for him to play as much as he wanted for a monthly sum of 250 /- only. As a result, the little Pankaj would spend as much as 10 hours a day at the Club itself during his vacations, having his lunch, tea everything over there itself.

Advani won his first title at in the year 1997 at the age of 12. Afterwards, he went on breaking records after records at the State and National levels. He won the Karnataka State Junior Snooker Championship in 1997 and 1998. Further, he won the Pot Shot All India Triangular Championship and the Pot Shot Non-Medalist Championship in the year 1999. At the age of 15, Pankaj clinched the Indian Junior Billiards Championship title in 2000, repeating the feat 7 times in a row. In the year 2003, he won the Indian Snooker Championship and won the title for 4 years in a row.

In 2003, Pankaj became the youngest Indian ever to win the Senior National Billiards Championship. In 2005, he became the youngest Indian player to win the Senior National Snooker Championship at the age of 19.

Pankaj made his debut at the International level when he finished as a finalist at the Asian Billiards Championship 2002, held at Bangalore. He won the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship 2003 in China at the age of 18 years. However, the year 2005 proved to be extremely lucky for Pankaj. First, he won the Asian Snooker Championship title in India. After this, he won the Double World Billiards titles (Both Points and Time Format) in the World Billiards Championship held at Malta.

He also created a world record of being the first person ever to have won both the World Billiards titles in the same year. Also, he became the first Indian ever to have claimed five Billiard titles Junior National, Senior National, Asian Championship, World Championship (Points) and World Championship (Time) in the same year.

Further, Pankaj made the country proud by winning the Gold Medal in the Singles Event of English Billiards at Doha Asian Games 2006. Pankaj again claimed the IBSF World Billiards Championship (Time) 2007 held at Singapore, and once again won the Asian Billiards Championship 2008 held at Myanmar. He has been the only person to have won the Asian Billiards title for 3 times. In June 2008, he became the first Indian Billiards player to win the Australian Open Billiards Championship, and went on to win the First 6 Red Snooker Pentangular Team Championship 2008 held at Pakistan. He again won the IBSF World Billiards Championship 2008 held at Bangalore.

For his commendable performance as a Billiards and Snooker player, and his invaluable contribution made to the nation through the laurels he brought home through his consistent and skillful efforts, Pankaj Advani has won a host of awards from various Government and Non- Government bodies. These include the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2004, the Hero India Sports Award in 2004, Vision of India's International Indian Award in 2005, Rajiv Khel Ratna Award in 2006 (the highest award conferred upon a sportsperson in India), Karnataka's Kempegowda Award in 2007, and Karnataka Government's Highest Award, the Rajotsav Award in the year 2007. He was conferred the Padma Shri in 2009.

Some of the major records are on Pankaj's name. He is the youngest Indian and Asian to win the world professional billiards title. He is the only person in the world to win: World professional billiards title, IBSF world billiards (time format) title, IBSF world billiards (point format) title, and IBSF world snooker title. He is the only person in the world to be the reigning champion in all possible major billiards championships: World professional billiards, IBSF world billiards (time format), IBSF world billiards (point format), Asian games billiards, Asian billiards, and Indian national billiards.

He is the only one in the world to win twin titles (point and time formats) at the IBSF world billiards championships, not once but twice. He is the youngest world champion in IBSF billiards. He is the youngest Asian to win world snooker title at 18 and world billiards at 19. He has won the maximum number (six) of IBSF world titles to his name. He is the only one to have won 3 Asian billiards titles and the only person to win three world titles while still in his teens. He is probably the only sportsperson in the world to have won seven senior world titles by the age of 24.

essay on Women’s Reservation Bill (India)

Women's Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, is a pending bill in India which proposes to reserve thirty three per cent of all seats in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament of India, and state legislative assemblies. The Bill says the seats to be reserved in rotation will be determined by draw of lots in such a way that a seat shall be reserved only once in three consecutive general elections.

This Bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Parliament in March 2010. It needs to be passed by the Lok Sabha and at least fifty per cent of all state legislative assemblies, before it is put before the President of India for her approval.

Women already enjoy 33 per cent reservation in gram panchayats and municipal elections. In addition, women in India get reservation or preferential treatments in education and jobs. For instance, several law schools in India have a 30 per cent reservation for females. The political opinion behind providing such reservations to women is to create a level playing field for all of its citizens. The argument is that social norms strongly favor men and therefore, reservation for women would create equal opportunity for men and women.

Among the other benefits that the Bill is expected to provide is an increased participation of women in politics and society. Due to female foeticide and issues related to women's health, sex ratio in India is alarming at 1.06 males per female. It is expected the Bill will change the society to give equal status to women. Women are supposedly more resistant to corruption, so this bill might prove to be a factor restraining the growth of corruption.

On the other hand, the passing of the Women' Reservation Bill may cause bias in the democratic process. It may hurt the self-respect of women who have come up on their own ability, and may result in lesser respect for women in the society. It may also bring down the quality of leaders. It may create a new kind of hatred between genders as males may feel deprived of certain privileges, which in turn may create more social issues.

Another issue will be for the political parties, which will be forced to find women whether or not the women identify with the overall party agenda and the rest of the issues concerning all citizens, as opposed to just women's issues. There are no provisions to prevent discrimination against men because of finding women who are inclined towards women's issues alone, or, in other words, biased against men. Further, powerful male members of parties will be tempted to find female relatives to 'reserve' the seat for themselves. So, it is feared that reservation would only help women of the elitist groups to gain seats, therefore causing further discrimination and under-representation to the poor and backward classes.

Some leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav have vehemently opposed the Bill in its current form. They are demanding a reservation for backward class’s women with the 33 per cent, i.e. they are asking for a reservation within a reservation.

Irrespective of whether the Bill comes into effect or not, the fact is that women are as ever underrepresented in the election fray and in party structures. Very little has changed at one level since Independence. The candidates fielded by the various political parties are still dominantly male: women account for only five to ten per cent of all candidates across parties and regions. This is the same broad pattern that has been observed in virtually all the general elections in the country.

This is the case despite the hullabaloo made over the Constitution (84th Amendment) Bill relating to women's reservation even last year. The very parties that are most explicitly in favor of pushing for women's reservation put up the same proportion of women as always in elections, and certainly not more than other parties that oppose the Bill.

What may be more significant in terms of political power than the proportion of women fighting the Lok Sabha polls is the importance of women in inner party structures. Here women are by and large even less represented, in all parties. Only in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) there has been a conscious move to bring many more women into decision-making levels and posts within the party.

In most parties, the women members are by and large thin on the ground if not invisible in the actual decision-making bodies and rarely influence the more significant party policies. Most often, indeed, they are relegated to the 'women's wing' of the party, and made to concentrate on what are seen as specifically 'women's issues' such as dowry and rape cases, and occasionally on more general concerns like price rise which are seen to affect housewives.

Despite all this, women are playing an important part in Indian politics today. This is most evident in the proliferation of women leaders and in the fact that, even though some of them may head parties that are relatively small in the national context, they simply cannot be ignored. What is even more significant is that in many cases these women leaders have not emerged through the familiar South Asian paradigm of dynastic advantage. Sonia Gandhi, obviously, is a clear example of a dynastic leader, with an almost iconic relevance.

Jayalalitha and Mayawati may have originally based their rise in politics on their proximity to particular male leaders, but they are now significant leaders in their own right, who can influence not only the decisions of their own parties but even the course of national politics. Mamata Banerjee, despite or indeed because of her controversial nature, is the leader of a party who can claim to have got where she is on her own, without male assistance in any of the more obvious ways.

Of course, one myth that is easily exploded by the role played by such women leaders is that political leadership by women is dramatically different from that by men. Indeed, the truth is that most of our women political leaders are no better or worse than men. What all this suggests, therefore, is that the political empowerment of women not only still has a long way to go, but it also may not have all that much to do with the periodic carnivals of Indian electoral democracy.

This is not to say that the electoral representation of women is unimportant, but rather that it needs to be both deeper and wider than its current manifestation in the form of the prominence of a few conspicuous women leaders. It is too early to say whether the Women's Reservation Bill will serve the purpose.

Essay on My Favorite Author

William Shakespeare is my favorite author. But it had not always been so. In my initial acquaintance with the author, I was greatly repelled by the highly contrived plots of his dramas and the improbable conduct of his characters .1 could not stomach Lear's abandoning of his dearest daughter Cordelier as it seemed to me that no sane parson would disinherit a daughter for professing love for her husband.

Nor could I believe the story of Orlando in "As You like It" with its hackneyed beginning showing discord between two brothers, escape of Orlando to Forest of Arden, his chance meeting with another disinherited Princess Rosalind, the subsequent change of heart of his brother and happy family reunion accompanied by celebration of marriages of the young protagonists. I found it no better than a run of the mill Bollywood film.

In spite of my aversion to Shakespeare, I could not abandon studying his books as I had to pass and do well in my examinations. However as I matured and had first hand experiences of the people and the world ,1 gradually came to appreciate the true to life portraits and deep insight into the human psyche found not only in "King Lear" and "As You Like It" but also in most of his other tragedies, comedies and histories.

I slowly overcame my resistance to Shakespeare's improbable narratives and progressively developed a lasting admiration for his mastery of portrayal of the universal man and woman. I find new meanings and discover new beauties in every successive reading of the same play of Shakespeare.

I am enthralled by the great variety of human portraits found in Shakespeare's plays. From highly philosophical Hamlet to farcical Falstaff, there is hardly a character type which is missing from Shakespeare's repertoire of human species. Which author has created a more vivacious girl than Rosalind whose irrepressible sense of humor brightens up and radiates to every inhabitant of the Forest of Arden.

Nobody can surpass Melancholy Jacques in cynicism who could not find anything cheerful in all the seven stages of life from infancy to old age , where the infant mules and pukes in his nurse's arms, the schoolboy is unwilling to go to school, even the young man has nothing exciting in store as he is always sighing like a furnace and this unpromising existence ultimately ending in the extreme old age, sans eyes , sans teeth, san everything Othello devoured by the 'green-eyed monster jealousy' has almost become synonymous with the emotion of jealousy. Shakespeare's characters have become almost universally accepted symbols for certain specific human flaws.

You just mention 'ambitious like Macbeth' and the listener will instantly smell the impending dangerous negotiating with such a man. Where else do you find a more skillful orator than Antony who changed the history of Rome with his masterly understanding and shrewd manipulation of mob-psychology whereby he turned honorable Brutus into a villain in the eyes of Romans?

I am still to see a more cunning advocate than Portia, who turned the tables on Shylock by her extremely intelligent interpretation of the agreement signed by Antonio promising Shylock that he would give him a pound of flesh in case he fails to repay his loan.

I like Shakespeare as he enhances my understanding of human beings that I come across in everyday life. Shakespeare exhibits great psychological insight in delineating the inner drama played inside the minds of his tragic heroes like Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

The indecisiveness of Prince Hamlet in executing his revenge is rooted in his strong attachment to his mother (later characterized as Oedipus complex by Freud). Othello's jealousy is born out of inferiority complex as the black moor. Othello suffers from inferiority complex and is not very sure that the white -skinned Desdemona can truly love him and remain faithful to him. King Lear is the archetype father who would not admit that a daughter can love her husband more than her father.

There is no dearth of ambitious politicians today who, very much like Macbeth, would not mind walking over the dead bodies of their dearest colleagues and supporters to reach the top.

Shakespeare is surprisingly modern in his treatment of women. None of her women characters can be dated .They are suffused with emotions, qualities and charm which are commonly found in women of all ages throughout the world. Beatrice of "Much Ado about Nothing" is a liberated woman as modern as a woman of today who can hold her own in talking about love and sex against any clever man.

Portia is a successful lawyer who can practice in any court today. Juliet is a quintessential lover who will give up anything for love. Lady Macbeth appears to be very much like the wife of a chief executive of an MNC who would urge her husband to pull out all the stops to reach the top.

Shakespeare has endured because he deals with basic human emotions which move and motivate the people of all countries and all ages. His characters have become role models and reference points for the coming generations for demonstrating the overwhelming intensity of basic human emotions like filial love, romantic love, friendship, loyalty, jealousy, ambition, anger.

It is difficult to find a better specimen of filial love than Cordelier who is ready to give up all her possessions-'He that helps him, take all my outward worth'-and she actually stakes and loses her kingdom to save her father. Romeo and Juliet have become the standard-bearers of romantic love for the young people all over the world. Antonio in The Merchant of Venice pledges his pound of flesh for obtaining loan for the sake of his friend. He has become an icon of friendship.

The turbulence caused in marital life by the feeling of jealousy has been powerfully brought out in the doom of Othello as well as in loss of marital bliss in the case of Leones in The Winter's Tale'.

Lear's anger with her daughter leads to his fall. A reading of Shakespeare brings us face to face with our own failings and warns us to be vigilant .We may save ourselves from the pitfalls which ruined Shakespeare's characters. We identify with his characters and suffer with his tragic heroes.

By imaginatively living through their vicissitudes we are purged of many toxic effects of the evil doings of the fictional characters. It gives us thorough understanding of the impact of certain traits and prepares us better to deal with them when we come across them in our real life.

A basic human sympathy and tolerance permeates his dramas. He is not a strait- jacketed preacher but scrupulous painter and an interpreter of life as it is. He delineates life in all its variety and complexity, in all its greatness and grossness, in all its glory and excitement, in all its ecstasy and anguish.

It is for the reader to draw his conclusions in the light of his life experience. He is free to become a misanthrope like Jacques, a melodist like Edmund, fatalist like Kent, or he may cry with Macbeth and term life 'a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing'. But everywhere we come across the humanity of Shakespeare's heart and nature. He seemed to love life as it was and rendered it in his inimitable drama with a great poetic intensity.

There is hardly any aspect of life which has not been thoroughly probed by Shakespeare in his plays. Shakespeare enriches our understanding of life and makes us better equipped to deal with the problems of life.

He holds up a mirror to life in which we can virtually glimpse our past, present and future. He is a complete author if ever there was one. And he truly belongs not only to England , the country of his birth but to the whole world which reads him , learns from him and looks upon him as a constant guide for going through the journey of life.

Essay on Sachin Tendulkar

India is a cricket crazy country and there is a saying in India 'Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God'. People in India are mad about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar for he is the greatest ever One Day International player and one of the greatest Test Cricket player. The Master Blaster, holds several batting records, including the most Test centuries and the most one-day international centuries, and was rated in 2002 by Wisden as the second greatest Test batsman ever, after Sir Don Bradman.

He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for 1997-1998, and the civilian award Padma Shri in 1999. Tendulkar was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.

Sachin was born on 24 April 1973 in Mumbai (then Bombay) into a middle-class family. His parents Ramesh and Rajni Tendulkar named him after his family's favourite music director Sachin Dev Burman. Sachin was sent to Sharadashram Vidyamandir School where he started his cricketing career under Coach Ramakant Achrekar. While at school, he was involved in a mammoth 664 run partnership in a Harris Shield game with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli. At the age of 14 Sachin became the youngest player ever selected for Mumbai in the West Zone Ranji Trophy league and tine legend was born.

Subsequently, b-e was selected for the Sportster Trophy for boys under 17. His scores of 15-8, 97 and 75 also won him the Man of the Series award and took his team (Dattu Phadkar XI) to victory. In 1988/ 1989, he scored 100 not-out in his first first-class match, for Bombay against Gujarat. At 15 years and 232 days he was the youngest to score a century on debut. He is, in fact, the only player to score a century while making his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debut.

Sachin played his first international match against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989, facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Abdul Qadir, and Waqar Younis . However, his maiden Test century came in England's tour in 1990 . Tendulkar truly came into his own in the 1991-1992 tour of Australia that included a brilliant century on the fast and bouncy track at Perth.

Some other highlights of Tendulkar's cricket career include highlight number of Test centuries, overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record 34) on 10 December 2005 vs. Sri Lanka in Delhi. He has played Test Cricket on 52 different grounds, the highest number ahead of Mhd. Azh_aruddirn 48) and Kapil Dev (47). He holds the record for the fastest to score 10 , 000 runs in the history of Test Cricket along with Brian Lara. Both of them achieved this feat in 195 innings.

Wisden named Tendulkar one of the Cricketers of the Year in 1997, the first calendar year in which lie scored 1,000 Test runs. He repeated the feat in 1999, 2001, and 2002. Tendulkar also holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it six times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003. While not a regular bowler, Tendulkar has 37 wickets, in 132 tests.

Tendulkar's first ODI century came on September 9, 1994 against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo. Though it had taken Tendulkar 79 ODIs to score a century, to date, he has played more matches than any other cricketer. He has appeared on 89 different grounds and has scored the most runs as well as centuries. He is the first cricketer to cross l0,000-run mark in ODIs He is the only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs. He has the highest individual score among any batsmen in the world.

He is the only male cricketer to have ever scored 200 in ODI, the feat he achieved against South Africa in 2010. In 1998, Sachin made 1,894 ODI runs, which is still the record for ODI runs by any batsman in any given calendar year.

Today, several records remain etched on Sachin's name and most of them may remain on his name for ever. He is the highest run getter in ODIs and has scored nearly 44 ODI centuries, the most by any batsman.

He has achieved the highest number of Man of the Match awards (56) and most Man of the Series (14) awards. He is the first cricketer to get pass 16,000 runs. He has scored the most number of ODI fifties and is the only player to be in top 10 of ICC rankings for 10 years.

He is the first overseas player to play for English County Yorkshire. He is the only cricketer to receive Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. He has most number of international runs in all forms of the game and has been involved in six 200+ partnerships in One Day Internationals most by any batsman. On his name stands the record for most number of successive ODI appearances (185). He also has most number of Test appearances for India.

Tendulkar has the highest number of runs in World Cup matches 1,796 with a strike rate of 59.87. He has also won most number of Man of the Match awards in World Cup matches. He was the Player Of The Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup for scoring 673 runs, the highest by any one in a single Cricket World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar has endorsed more than 100 products in last 20 years. He has appeared in ads for Pepsi, ANZ Grindlays Visa, MRF, Britannia, Boost, Adidas, TVS, Visa, Aviva Life Insurance, Phillips, BPL Sanyo, Reynolds, Fiat Palio, Boost, Sunfeast, National Egg Coordination Committee, Airtel, Royal Bank of Scotland and many more. Sachin Tendulkar's ads are very popular, and his endorsements are still a safe bet for the advertisers.

A chronic back problem and Tennis elbow failed to deter him. He has come out stronger after every break. Sachin Tendulkar married Anjali Mehta, the paediatrician daughter of Gujarati industrialist Anand Mehta, in 1995, some years after they were introduced by mutual friends. They have two children, Sara and Arjun. Tendulkar sponsors 200 under-privileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai- based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta.

Sachin Tendulkar is considered one of the complete batsmen ever. He has all the shots in the book. Also, he is unarguably the biggest crowd puller and icon of the game. There were times in Indian households, when Sachin Tendulkar used to get out, people used to turn off their Television sets. Sachin has enthralled his legions of fans with many a great innings in more than twenty years that he has played cricket. But it is not just Sachin's willow that has enthralled cricket fans the world over, he has also made telling contributions with the ball.

Recognised by Sir Donald Bradznu and as his modern incarnation, Tendulkar has a skill a genius which only a handful has possessed. It was not a skill that he was simply born with, but one which was developed by his intelligence and an infinite capacity for taking pains. If there is a secret, it is that Tendulkar has the keenest of cricket minds he learns every lesson, picks up every cue, and dominates the opposing attack sooner or later. In fact, he enjoys devouring bowlers of the opposition the most.

biography of the legendary Mugal emperor Akbar

Akbar’s Birth and Childhood

Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar is regarded as the greatest Muslim ruler of Indian history. As the grandson of Babar and the son of Humayun, he was the third Mughal Emperor in India.

After his defeat in the hands of Sher Shah, Humayun fled from place to place to save his life. Suffering great hardship, he travelled through the deserts of Sindhu and at last reached as place named Amarkot. The Hindu King of that small kingdom gave him shelter out of kindness. It was at that place that Humayun’s wife Hamida Banu Begum gave birth to a son on 23 November 1542. That child was Akbar. Though Humayun was unfortunate as a king, he was indeed fortunate as the father of as son who was destined to been as great.

After the birth of Akbar, Humayun fled from Amarkot. Only his way towards Kandahar, he even abounded his newborn babe in order to escape capture by the enemies. The child Akbar thereafter fell to the hands of his uncle Kamran who was and enemy of Humayun.

Humayun finally reached Persia. The king of Persia gave him shelter in his capital. With his help, Humayun conquered Kandahar from Kamran in 1545. Next, he conquered Kabul, and got back at the place of his little son, Akbar, from the hands of Kamran.

In Kabul, Humayun waited for years before coming back to India to regain his lost throne. The opportunity came at last when Islam Shah, the Son of Sher Shah, died in 1544. Taking advantage of the internal struggle in the Sur dynasty for throne, Humayun conquered Delhi and established there the Mughal rule once again.

But he was not destined to rule. In 1556, he fell down from the stairs of his library and died of the fatal wounds.

Himself as learned man, Humayun had tried to make his son educated. From his age of five, Akbar was placed in charge of tutor after tutor. But no teacher could teach him to write or to read. His memory was sharp, but he showed no interest in studies. Instead, young Akbar spent most of his time in games, sports, riding horse and playing sword.

Yet, this young prince of no education came to been regarded as one of the most learned men of Asia when emporer. Akbar was one of the illiterate great men of History.

Akbar’s Accession to Throne

Akbar was as boy of 14 when Humayun died in Delhi in January 1556. He was at that time in the Punjab. The news of the emperor’s death came as a shock to the Mughals. But, fortunately for young Akbar, he had as powerful guardian named Bairam Khan to help him. At a place named Kalanaur in the Punjab, Bairam Khan placed Akbar on throne and declared him as the new Badshah.

The death of Humayun made the Afghans bold enough to reconquer Delhi. Sultan Adil Shah of the Sur Dynasty was the strongest of the Afghan Princes at that time. His Hindu minister, Himu was the real source of his strength. Himu was ambitious statesman as well as an able general. He defeated the Mughal forces and reconquered Agra and Delhi. With that victory, Himu styled himself as Raja Vikramjit or Vikramditya. The Mughal Empire came very near to and ends only the soil of India. In as situation like that, a battle between Akbar and Himu became imminent.

The Second Battle of Panipat, 1556

The field of Panipat once decided the fate of India in 1526 when Babar defeated Ibrahim Lodi. Thirty years later, once again the fate of India was decided there when as battle was fought between Akbar and Himu. This battle is famous as the Second Battle of Panipat.

Himu was determined to drive out the Mughals from India. On the other hand, Bairam Khan and Akbar were determined to regain Delhi. Thus that both the sides met in the field of Panipat to fight as grim battle. Himu commanded a big army. It contained 15 hundred war-elephants. His soldier attacked the Mughals with great force. They were about to win when an arrow from the enemy side suddenly pierced the eye of Himu. Himu fell down unconscious. When his soldiers saw their general in that condition, they fled from the field. Akbar thus won the battle.

It is learnt from the writings of Muslims historians like Badauni that when Himu’ s unconscious body was placed before Akbar, Bairam Khan advised him to cut down the head of the enemy in his own hands. But Akbar declined to strike at a dying man. Thereupon, Bairam did that work himself.

Akbar’s victory at Panipat had far reaching results. The Mughal Empire got back life at the hour of its death. The struggle between the Mughals and Afghans also come to and end. Akbar conquered Delhi and Agra.

Akbar began his rule with Bairam Khan as his guardian. But he could not tolerate Bairam’s supremacy for long. In 1560, he assumed all power directly to his own hands. Bairam revolted, but suppressed. Akbar pardoned him and permitted him to go to Mecca. Only his way to Mecca, however, Bairam Khan was assassinated by and old enemy.

Akbar’s Conquests

Akbar was the real builder of the vast Mughal Empire in India. By nature, he was an imperialist. From the very beginning of his rule, he became eager to conquer land after land. As he believed, “A monarch should been ever intent only conquest, otherwise his neighbors rise in arms against him. The army should always be execercised in warfare, lest for want of practice they become self-indulgent.”

Akbar was fortunate to enjoy as long rule. For more than 40 years, he conducted wars and carried only conquests. In result, he could unite vast parts of northern and central India under his rule.

During the first four years of his reign, Akbar and Bairam Khan conquered Ajmer, Gwalior, Oudh and Jaunpur. Thereafter, in 1561, Malwa, Baz Bahadur, did not submit to the Mughal Emperor for some time. But at length, he surrendered.

In 1564, Akbar sent as general named Asaf Khan to conquer Gondwana. At that time, Gondwana was ruled by Rani Durgavati on behalf of her minor son. She was one of the bravest of the woman rulers of medieval India. Her courage and heroic qualities were known to people even outside her kingdom. She fought against the invaders who were large in number. At last, fighting till the end but faced with defeat, she took her own life in the battle field in order to save her honour. Her young son, Bir Narayan, also died as hero death.

In 1572, Akbar conquered Gujurat next year, he occupied Surat. With these conquests, the empire extended to the western coasts. In 1547, the Mughal army invaded Bengal. The son of Suleiman Karrani, Daud, was then ruling that territory. He was defeated by the Mughals only the bank of river Suvarnarekha at a place named Tukaroi. Thereafter, in another battle near Rajmahal, Daud was defeated a killed. Bengal was thus annexed to the Mughal Empire.

In the north-west, Akbar’s stepbrother Mirza Hakim was the ruler of Kabul. He became ambitious enough to conquer Delhi for himself. He came as far as the Punjab with his forces. Akbar felt greatly alarmed. In 1581, he himself marched to Kabul a defeated Hakim. When Hakim died in 1585; the territory of Kabul was annexed to the Mughal Empire. Akbar next conquered Kashmir in 1586, an Sindh in 1591. In 1592, Raja Man Singh, the famous Rajput general of Akbar, invaded an conquered in Orissa. Baluchistan an Kandahar were annexed to the empire in 1595.

Thus that by 1595 Akbar’s empire extended from the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas in the South, a from Hindukush in the north-west to the river Brahmaputra in the east. He was thus the master of the whole of northern India. Thereafter his eyes fell on the Deccan. By that time, the vast bahmani kingdom of the south was broken into five independent kingdoms. They were Berar, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golkunda, and Bidar Of those, the kingdom of Ahamadnagar had absorbed the kingdom of Berar. There was yet another kingdom named Khandesh on the way to the Deccan.

As an aggressive imperialist, Akbar wanted to extend his empire to the south. In 1595, the Mughal armies first entered into Ahamdnagar. The Sultan of that kingdom was a minor. But his kingdom was managed by a heroic lady named Chand Bibi. She took up arms against the Mughals and fought bravely. But, after sometime, she was killed by her internal enemies. On the other hand, Akbar himself conducted the campaigns in the south from the 1599. At last, in 1600 A.D. the kingdom of Ahamadnagar was conquered. Akbar also occupied the capital of khandesh and invaded the famous fortress of Asirgarh.in 1601, the fort of Aligarh fell. It was the last victory of Akbar. He returned from there to Agra and died in 1605.

By this Deccan campaigns, Akbar established the Mughal power over Ahamdnagar, berar and Khandesh. But it was only nominal occupation. The Mughal administration was far from being strong in those southern states.

Akbar’s Deccan policy for the conquest of the south became a legacy for the future. His successors followed that policy. Till the death of Aurangzeb who was the last great Mughals, the Deccan war of mughals did not end.

biography of an Eminent Scientist C.V. Raman

Towards the end of the 19th century, there were distinct signs of a Renaissance in Science with its centre in Calcutta. Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar founded the Association for the Cultivation of Science in an undistinguished house on Bowbazar Street the nineties was the period of valuable researches in Chemistry by Dr. P. C. Ray and in Physics by Dr. J. C. Bose, conducted in the Presidency College laboratories. In this way an atmosphere, conducive to scientific education and fostering a spirit of research, grew up in Calcutta. C.V. Raman, at the invitation of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, gave up his post at the Accountant General's Office in Calcutta and joined the University Science College at Calcutta.

Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman was born on 7th November, 1888 at Vishakhapattam. His father. Chandrasekhar Iyer, was a Professor of Mathematics at the local A. V. M. College.

Chandra Sekhar was truly a prodigy. He received his early education at the local Hindu College High School from which he matriculated in his twelfth year. He took his B.A. degree in due course, with a brilliant First Class in Physics. He was then only eighteen.

It was a mere accident that, led him to the humble building where the Association for the Cultivation of Science was located. It was here that he started his great researches and continued for long years in the physics laboratory of C. U. Science College. He made the discovery, now known as the Raman Effect, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

For the next twelve years his work was divided between the University, where he gave lectures and directed his students and his own laboratory at the Association at Bowbazar. In 1924 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and was Knighted by the British Government in 1929.

In 1937 he gave up his post as, Palit Professor of Physics, at the University Science College and went to Bangalore to take up his duties as Director of the Bangalore Institute of Science. He was not the man to rest on his laurels. He retired from the Institute in 1951.

Raman now was free from official duties to carry on the researches in his own laboratory at Bangalore. In 1951 he founded the Raman Institute of Science at Bangalore which is carrying on the torch he had lighted. He had received the highest honours from Universities all over the world for this dedication to fundamental science. A grateful nation conferred on him the coveted Bharat Ratna, the highest civil distinction in the land. C. V. Raman died full of years and honours on 21st November, 1970, only a few days after he had reached his eighty-second years.

Biography of Amartya Sen – The sixth Indian Nobel Laureate

Amartya Sen became the sixth Indian Nobel Laureate. He was born in Santiniketan where his mother still lives. When he was just an infant he was taken to the First Indian Novel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He was requested to give him a beautiful name. Tagore gave him the name Amartya Sen.

As a young student Sen had great interest in Sanskrit, Mathematics and Physics. He was greatly impressed by his maternal uncle Kshitish Mohan Sen. Amartya Sen drew inspiration from Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Greek classics, Indian epics and Bengali literature. No one had an idea that ultimately this genius would opt for Economics which was considered a dismal science.

Amartya Sen changed the very way of thinking in the field of Economics. By now Economics dealt with the market economy, and Nobel Prize and other prizes were meant for those who dealt in market economy.

Amartya Sen created a renaissance in the realms of economics that by now dealt with merely material gains and losses. The Nobel Prize citation says that Amartya Sen 'has restored an ethical dimension to the vital economic problems.' He is the first to make connection between Philosophy and Economics.

As he was born in Santiniketan the Ashram left a permanent impression on his life. When he was just a boy he saw the great famine of Bengal—how the people suffered in this natural calamity. He had also seen the holocaust during the days of partition. He could just see the human weakness and his strength too—weakness in surrendering before conventions—strength in facing the problems with valour.

Amartya Sen has a social vision of development. He believes that the remedy of all economic problems are in the forces of empowerment—empowerment to the hungry—to women and to destitutes. He believes not simply in theories but in grassroot realities. Thus his work begins at the point where the conventional economics fails. He had jointly worked with Draze, an economist, on the theory of empowerment i.e. not how to help the people when they are hungry or fall victim to famines; but how to avoid hunger and famines. He is of the firm view that reform without social policy is self-defeating. We should not dole out money but expand opportunities.

According to Sen India's economic growth is checked by human factor. The Indian industrialist has contempt for the human factor. State should invest in quality of population. If there is better quality of men their consumption levels would rise. For this it is necessary to stop protection that the government provides to industrialists and big agriculturalists.

Education at lower levels works miracles in economic progress. The country must raise the literacy levels as has been done in Korea and China. India's literacy level is lower even than the most backward regions of Africa.

Medical care is necessary to improve the life expectancy levels. Life expectancy, according to Sen, is the mirror of economic achievement. Sen is happy that development Economics has been introduced as a discipline in many countries.

Even as a young lecturer Amartya Sen's classes were full even in the zero period as he was the first to show connection between Philosophy and Economics. He compares Kautilya with Adam Smith. He had the honour of becoming Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford and Professor of Economics at London school of Economics.

Later on he joined Delhi school of Economics where he brought in a number of renovations. After remaining Lamont Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University Sen was the first Indian to become Master of Trinity College at Cambridge where he had initially started his studies as a student.

Najma Heptulla, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha praises Sen for showing the causes of disparity between developed and developing countries According to her a pledge for universal elementary education is the sincere tribute to our Nobel Laureate. He is the golden midway between socialist planning and privatization. India has honoured herself by conferring Bharat Ratna on Amartya Sen.

Biography of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose

Sir J. C. Bose was an Indian scientist who discovered and proved in the world that plants also have life. They consume food and sleep during nights, and wake up early in the mornings. Pain and pleasures are there for plants too. They also have birth, growth and death, as human beings. These are the discoveries of J. C. Bose.

Sir J. C. Bose was born on November 30, 1859 in Faridhapur, which is now in Bangladesh. He had his early education in St. Xavier’s High School, and college education in Calcutta and later at Cambridge, England. He joined the Presidency College, Calcutta as Assistant Professor of Physics in 1855. He did moot of his research work in that college.

Sir J. C. Bose’s father was a highly placed official in Government of India. He was also a patriot. J. C. Bose was inculcated the curiosity about surroundings and adherence to moral values. J. C. Bose adored Karma of the Mahabharata for his steadfastness and getting success in a defeat.

J. C. Bose was sent to England to get enrolled into Indian Civil Service. He took interest in Botany and Zoology. J. C. Bose, as Assistant Professor and researcher in Physics discovered the following:

1) Generation of electro-magnetic waves of wavelengths 2mm to 5 mm

2) Common nature of electric response to all forms of stimulation.

3) He was the first to find a device that generated micro-waves of very short wavelength.

J. C. Bose attained his greatness in the field of Botany. He was the author of the world famous books.

1) Response in the living and the non-living.

2) The nervous mechanism of plants.

He proved that plants are sensitive to heat, cold, light, noise and other external stimuli, just like human beings. By injecting bromide poison into a living plant he showed that they react the same way as human beings do. This discovery made him world famous. The London Royal Society made him the fellow of the Society. The British government conferred “Knighthood” on him and the title “Sir” was prefixed to his name. Many other honours were conferred on him at home. He had close association with Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet.

On November 23, 1937, J. C. Bose passed away. He left behind him his courage, adventure and scientific spirit for others to emulate.

biography of APJ Abdul Kalam

Aval Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, popularly known as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, was the son of a little educated boat-owner in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, who went on to become the Eleventh President of the Republic of India. 'Indian Missile man' was the first scientist to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A man with a vision, Dr. Kalam has taken unto himself, the task of changing the destiny of India.

He is a vegetarian and teetotaler, who recite the Quran and the Bhagwad Gita with equal devotion. Recipient of several awards including the Padma Bhusan (1981) and the Padma Vibhushan (1990), he has been honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna (1997).

Before becoming President, Dr. Kalam had an unparalleled career as a defense scientist. He wove a first world dream for the Third World nation and acted on India's behalf to place her in the exclusive Space Club. The father of India's indigenous missile programme said, "We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action," His three visions for India - Freedom, Development and Self-Reliance, are arrived at on the basis of achievements and progress made by India, and during his own career as a missile scientist.

Born on 15th October 1931 Abdul Kalam studied at Schwartz High School in Ramanathapuram. After graduating in science from St. Joseph's College in Tiruchi, he did his DMIT in Aeronautical Engineering at the MIT, Madras, during 1954-57. His father Jainulabdeen Marakayar, though not a well-educated person, possessed great innate wisdom, true generosity of spirit and was a spiritual person.

Being the youngest in the family Abdul was pampered a lot and had a secured childhood. His neighbors remember him as an introvert interested in reading, that too in an environment where books were a scarce commodity. Kalam believes that he has inherited honesty and self- discipline from his father, while faith in goodness and kindness from his mother.

After completing his third year at MIT, Kalam joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore as a trainee. In 1958, when he came out of HAL as a graduate of aeronautical engineering, he had his long-standing dream of flying. He had two alternative opportunities for employment, one was the job at Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTD&P) of the Ministry of Defense and another was a career in the Indian Air Force. He applied at both the places, and the interview calls came simultaneously from both. While he just missed the opportunity to join the Air Force, he was selected by the DTD&P.

Initially, he was posted at the Technical Centre (Civil Aviation). He lost his resentment of failure, thinking he would be able to make aeroplanes airworthy if not fly aeroplanes. After carrying out a design assignment on supersonic target aircraft, he was sent to the Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit (A&ATU) at Kanpur to get shop-floor exposure to aircraft maintenance.

Upon his return to Delhi, he was informed that the design of a DART target had been taken up at the DTD&P and he was included in the design team. After that, he undertook a preliminary design study on Human Centrifuge. He designed and developed a vertical takeoff and landing platform, and Hot Cockpit. Three years later, the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) was formed in Bangalore and he was posted there.

During 1963-82, Dr. Kalam served the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in various capacities. Here he imitated Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP) activities. After a stint with the aerodynamics and design group, he joined the satellite launch vehicle team at Thumba, near Trivandram and soon became Project Director for SLV-3. As Project Director, he was responsible for carrying out the design, development, qualification and flight testing of 44 major sub systems. The project managed to put Rohini, a scientific satellite, into orbit in July 1980.

In 1982, as Director of DRDO, Kalam was entrusted with the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), India's most successful military research task to date. The programme constituted of 5 major projects for meeting the requirements of the defense services and for establishing re-entry technology. The missiles went up more or less on schedule: Trishul in 1985, Prithvi in 1988, Agni in 1989 and the others in 1990. The development and successful flight test of Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag, and Agni established the indigenous capability towards self reliance in defense preparedness.

The establishment of the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), a campus 8 km from DRDL, in 1988 was perhaps the most satisfying achievement for Kalam during the missile years. He received generous funding from the Government to build the futuristic centre, which is totally geared for work in advanced missile technologies. Kalam's interest in the environment saw RCI emerge as an oasis in a rocky wasteland. It has a small farm that meets the food requirements of those who stay in the RCI quarters.

In November 1999, Kalam was appointed Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and accorded the rank of a Cabinet Minister. His role was to advise on overall scientific development in the country on issues relating to scientific and technical policy in different sectors. Kalam also advised on matters relating to achieving technological self-reliance and foreign collaboration. In November 2001, Kalam quit the post to take over the job as ISRO's distinguished professor.

He joined Anna University, Chennai as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation and was involved in teaching and research tasks. He also took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.

On 18 July 2002, he was elected as President of India and held the post for five years. People loved and respected Dr APJ Abdul Kalam so much during his tenure as President that was popularly called the People's President. Dr. Kalam is always full of ideas aimed at the development of the country. He firmly believes that India needs to play a more assertive role in international relations.

He would like to see India become a developed country by 2020. On his assumption of office as President of India on 25 July 2002, he said, "Indeed, making India strong and self-reliant economically, socially and militarily is our foremost duty to our motherland and to us and to our future generations".

Dr. Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions. As an author, he has written Ignited Minds, My Journey, The Luminous Sparks, The Life Tree, Children Ask Kalam, Indomitable Spirit and Inspiring Thoughts.

He has also co-authored Wings of Fire with Arun Tiwari, 2020-A Vision for the New Millennium with Y.S. Rajan, Envisioning an Empowered Nation with S. Sivathanu Pillai, Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology with R. Narasimha, Mission India with Y.S. Rajan, and Guiding Souls with Arun K. Tiwari.

Biography of Jayaprakash Narayan

An ardent freedom fighter and a crusader for social reform, Jayaprakash Narayan was popularly known as Loknayak. He was born on October 11, 1902 at Sitabadiara (near Patna) in Bihar. As a student, he maintained a brilliant academic record throughout his academic career. After com­pleting primary schooling in his village, he matriculated from Patna and won a gold medal and a merit scholarship. In 1921, he gave up his studies temporarily to participate in the Non- Cooperation Movement. In 1922, he went to the USA and obtained his Master's degree from Ohio University.

Narayan was deeply influenced by Marxist philosophy. After returning to India, he worked for the cause of the workers and joined the communist cell. He advocated the abolition of zamindari and called for the nationalization of heavy indus­tries. Comprehending his socialistic zeal, Nehru urged him to join the Indian National Congress and offered him the charge of its Labour Department. Narayan accepted Nehru's offer. Hereafter, Narayan became actively involved in the freedom struggle. He was jailed for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement. After being released, he formed the All India Socialist Party. In 1942, Narayan was imprisoned once again for being involved in the Quit India Movement.

After independence, Narayan faded from active politi­cal life. Instead, he continued with his struggle for social reform and joined Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement. In 1975, however, he entered the political mainstream once again—this time to protest against the imposition of national emergency. He supported the movement for restoration of popular rule and was instrumental in the formation of Janata Party. He was jailed and released only in 1977. His efforts yielded results, however, since the Janata Party had a decisive victory over the Congress in the 1977 elections.

Narayan has to his credit a number of books on social, political and economic problems in India and his name figures among the erudite Indian writers. He breathed his last in 1979.

Biography of Mahadeo Govind Ranade

A social and political reformer, Ranade was born in 1842 in Maharashtra. A graduate of the University of Bombay, his professional career touched the peak in 1893 with his appoint­ment as judge of the Bombay High Court. He became involved in the working of a number of institutions aiming at social, economic and political advancement of India such as the poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Social Conference, Industrial Conference, the Prarthana Samaj and the Indian National Congress.

For social reform, Ranade believed that the discrimina­tory caste values must be done away with. Hence, he support­ed the Bhakti movement (Bhagwat Dharma) which gave all castes equal status in society. Equality of the sexes, the spread of education, rescuing children and widows from social injustices, protection of agricultural workers and land tenants from exploitation—these causes were espoused by Ranade with fervor. The State had an immense responsibility in ensuring social equality but ultimately it is the people them­selves who have to work for their betterment. Ranade held that the social, economic and administrative aspects of society are interlinked so that social uplift, political liberties and eco­nomic rights go hand in hand.

The necessary transformation of the Indian society would be a gradual process. Ranade advocated moderate methods and not outright rebellion to effect the transforma­tion. Such moderate activities include legislative and execu­tive methods, teaching and enlightening the masses and finally reforms through state penalties.

Biography of Subramania Bharati

The poet, social reformer and freedom fighter of South India is renowned for his beautiful verses celebrating the freedom struggle, the theme of patriotism and his motherland.

Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) was born on December 11,1882 in the district of Tinnevelly in Tamil Nadu. Such was his poetic genius that at the young age of 11 he was awarded the title of 'Bharati'. He was educated at the Hindu College School in his district and he gained proficiency in Sanskrit and Hindi. He began teaching in Ettayapuram in 1902 to earn his living. During this period, he studied poetical works in English and wrote for newspapers under the pseudonym, 'Shelly Dasan'. He became the assistant editor of the Swadesamitran in 1902 and later, the editor of Chakravarthini.

It was in 1905 that Bharati flung himself into the freedom struggle heart and soul. His meetings with a number of nationalist and spiritual leaders proved a great source of inspiration. He went on to write many poems on leaders including Lokmanya Tilak. He met Sister Nivedita in 1906, and later the Mandayam brothers, S. Tirumalachari and S. Srinivasachari, and the moderate leader, V. Krishnaswami Aiyar. His revolutionary writings as the editor of India and in the English weekly, Bala Bharati infuriated the Government. In 1908, he released his first book of poems, Songs of Freedom, which was not only a literary achievement but also a strong call for freedom from foreign rule. Thus, Bharati led the freedom movement in Madras.

Evading arrest, in 1908 Bharati escaped to Pondicherry which was soon to emerge as the refuge for many political leaders. His 10 years spent in Pondicherry are considered the best period of his growth as a poet. Here, while continuing his strife with the British rulers, he had the occasion to meet V. V. S. Aiyar and Sri Aurobindo. The meeting with Aurobindo greatly heartened Bharati; he learned to view the glories of his motherland and began admiring them in his poems. In 1912, he wrote some of his best poems.

Bharati was arrested in 1918 near Cuddalore. The next year in Madras, he met Gandhi to whom he dedicated a poem, 'To Mahatma Gandhi'. Bharati died on September 12, 1921, about two months after he was attacked by an elephant at the Triplicane temple in Madras.

biography of our legendary scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose

There had been great scientists in ancient India, but their names and achievements are more or less legendary today. When the British came to India, the reign of science had already begun in the West. The leaders of India at the time — men like Ram Mohan Roy, Dwarakanath Tagore wanted to introduce English education in order that India might produce scientists of her own. Almost a pioneer in this respect was Jagadish Chandra Bose, a true son of India.

J. C. Bose was born in the district of Dacca on November 30, 1858. His father, Bhagaban Chandra, was a Deputy Magistrate who was noted for his independence of character. His influence in his son was deep and abiding. He sent him to Calcutta's St. Xaviers School. This was a vital step in his career. Here he came under the influence of Father Lafont, a great scientist, who instilled in Jagadish a love of science and a desire for making researches in science. After graduation, Jagadish proceeded to England and entered the Univer­sity of Cambridge. He completed his scientific studied, specializing in Physics, and took his Natural Science Tripos in 1884.

When Jagadish returned to India, he was offered lectureship in Presidency College, Calcutta, after creating some bitterness. The post was under the Indian Educational Service, specially reserved for Europeans so long. This was the first proof of Jagadish Chandra's dogged determination of which he gave repeated evidence in his life.

Jagadish was at last placed on the teaching staff of the Presidency College as a Professor of Physics. There he served without a break for thirty years. There he taught his students enchantingly—so clear was his exposition, so fascinating were his demonstrations. In this college he made those pioneer researches, first in Physics and then in plant physiology, which have made his name a household word in India and highly respected all over the scientific world.

Jagadish Bose's first researches were in Physics, his own subject. Indeed, he was perhaps the first to send electric waves without the medium of wires from one room to another and then to his house about two miles away. His success in wireless telegraphy preceded Marconi (1911). A few years earlier he had devised improvements in the telephone receiver but he declined offers to have them patented. He indignantly refused to commercialise knowledge. It is now known that a despicable conspiracy deprived J. C. Bose from the Nobel Prize. Jagadish Bose's next discovery was sensational. He demonstrated before the Royal Institute of London (in 1901) that there was no sharp line of demarcation between the living and the non-living, that matter hitherto regarded as inorganic, responds to electrical stimuli in the same way as organic bodies do. Bose sought to prove — the nervous sensitiveness of plant tissues.

This pursuit of one behind the many in Nature was the moving force in J. C. Bose's life. He discovered in plants a simple structural identity of animals. He showed by means of highly delicate and sensitive instruments made by himself that plants behave in the same manner as animals under similar stimuli. With the help of his own instruments, he made notable discoveries. He explained many phe­nomena in plant life that used to be inexplicable.

Jagadish retired from his professional work in 1915. He now set about the task of founding an Institute where he could carry on his researches. On November 30, 1917, he founded and dedicated the Bose Institute, as a home of scientific research where scholars from all parts of the world might meet. Here he worked on with a single-minded devotion. He published his papers regularly.

The last years of his life were devoted entirely to his researches. His great ambition was to establish the unity of plant life and animal life. His greatness lay in pressing imagination into the service of science and his discoveries in that realm rank among the highest yet apprehended by the mind of man. It is no wonder that his poetic imagination has found excellent expression in his Bengali literary writing in the book 'Abyakta' (Inarticulate). Abyaka is a living testimony to his literary ability. Jagadish Bose died in 1937, bequeathing his entire wealth and property to the service of science and humanity.