The first Indian to fly into space, Rakesh Sharma was born on January 13, 1949 in Patiala, Punjab. He was a squadron leader with the Indian Air Force, when he flew into space in 1984 as part of a joint programme between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Soviet Intercosmos space program. He spent eight days in space on board the Salyut 7 space station. He joined two other Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft which blasted off on April 2, 1984.

He was awarded the Hero of Soviet Union award on his return from space. The Government of India honoured him with the Ashok Chakra. He retired with the rank of Wing Commander. He joined the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in 1987 and served as Chief Test Pilot in the HAL Nashik Division until 1992, before moving on to Bangalore to work as the Chief Test Pilot of HAL. He retired from test flying in 2001.

The manned space program of the Indian Space Research Organisation was undertaken with Russian help. The first Indian cosmonaut became the 138th man into space, he spent eight days in space aboard Salyut 7. Launched along with two other Soviet cosmonauts aboard the T-11 on 02 April 1984, was then-Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, a 35 year old Indian Air Force pilot. During the flight, Squadron Leader Sharma conducted multi-spectral photography of northern India in anticipation of the construction of hydroelectric power stations in the Himalayas.

Squadron Leader Sharma and his backup, Wing Commander Ravish Malhotra, also prepared an elaborate series of zero-gravity Yoga exercises which the former had practised aboard the Salyut 7. Retired with the rank of Wing Commander, Rakesh Sharma joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as a test pilot. He was based at the Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in Bangalore and worked on the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft program. Current

The American College of Chest Physicians has elected Dr Kalpalatha K Guntupalli, the only woman president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin, as its first Asian American woman president.

Hyderabad-born Guntupalli is currently tenured full professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, considered one of the top 10 medical schools in the US, and also chief of pulmonary/critical care and sleep division at BCM.

She will be inaugurated as the new president of the 75-year-old ACCP Nov 1 in San Diego.

With 2010 declared ‘Year of Lung’ by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, Guntupalli hopes the AACP will take on a leadership role in “contributing to celebrate lung health around the globe”.

At home, her priorities are to make the ACCP the ‘one-stop shop’ “for education, practice, management, performance improvement and monitoring and the advocacy needs of our membership.”

Guntupalli did her MD from the Institute of Medical Sciences, Osmania Medical College, Hydrabad, before migrating to the US in 1974 to specialise in internal medicine.

She has received numerous awards including the prestigious ‘Parker J Palmer Courage to Teach’ award for 2007 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, making her one of just 10 program directors to receive the honour.

Professor Balkrishna V. Doshi is an Indian architect, educator, and academician. After initial study in Bombay, he worked with Le Corbusier in Paris (1951-1954) as senior designer, and then in India to supervise CorbusierÂ’s projects in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. Professor Doshi established the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design in 1955, known for pioneering work in low-cost housing and city planning. Today, his internationally renowned projects are designed under the name of Vastu-Shilpa Consultants, with offices in Ahmedabad. As an academician, Professor Doshi has been visiting the U.S.A. and Europe since 1958, and has held important chairs in American universities. He has received numerous international awards and honours, including Padma Shri from the Government of India, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Professor Doshi served a member of the 1992 Award Master Jury, and was presented a 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the Aranya Community Housing in Indore, India.

(Source: AKAA)

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Yuvraj Singh retained the top two slots in batsmen’s list, while Team India managed to cling on to second position in the ICC ODI Rankings issued on Monday.
Dhoni held on to his numero uno status with 828 rating points while left-handed Yuvraj, who had managed his career best ranking last month, had 784 points in his kitty.

The Indian duo are followed by Australia’s Mike Hussey (767), West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (759) and his skipper Chris Gayle (756) in the list.

Virender Sehwag (seventh), Sachin Tendulkar (14th) and Gautam Gambhir (17th) stuck to their respective positions.

Meanwhile, South Africa remained on top of ODI Championships table, followed by India and Australia at second and third.

Among the bowlers, injured left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan continued to be the only Indian in top 20 at 16th.

Sri Lankan Nuwan Kulasekara tops the bowlers’ list.

Khudiram Bose (1889-1908) was an Indian freedom fighter, one of the youngest revolutionaries early in the Indian independence movement.
Bose was born on 3rd December 1889 in the village Bahuvaini in Medinipur district of Bengal. His father Trailokyanath Basu was the Tahsildar of the town of the Nadazol prince. His mother Lakshmipriya Devi was a pious lady, who was well known for her virtuous life and generosity.
Bose was inspired by his readings of the Bhagavad Gita, which helped him embrace revolutionary activities aimed at ending the British Raj. He was especially disillusioned with the British following the partition of Bengal conflagration in 1909.He joined Jugantar – the party of revolutionary activists.

‘Take Care, Don’t Touch My Body!’

Then appeared a boy of sixteen with a bundle of handbills; he was distributing them to the people. The handbill bore the title ‘Sonar Bangla’. It carried the slogan Vande Mataram’. In addition, the true purpose of the British in putting up the exhibition was also exposed.The various forms of British injustice and tyranny were  also explained.