Gr8 Personalities

8/6/2019 Gr8 Personalities

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Beauty Queens

Dancers

�

AishwaryaRai

� Priyanka

Chopra

� Diana

Hayden

� Lara

Dutta� SushmitaSen

� YuktaMookhey

� Alarmel Valli

� Mallika

Sarabhai� Anita Ratnam � Sonal Mansingh

� Birju Maharaj

� Yamini

Krishnamurthy

� ChitraVishweswaran

� More...

Businessmen

� Azim H.Premji

� D. H.Ambani

� G. D.Birla

� J. Tata � J R D Tata� N R NMurthy

� SwrajPaul

� Sabeer Bhatia

� More...

Film Personalities

� Amitabh

Bachchan

� Aparna

Sen

� Aishwarya

Rai

�

DadasahebPhalke

� Gulzar � GuruDutt

� IsmailMerchant

� KamalAmrohi

�M.N.Shyamalan

� Mira Nair

� Nargis Dutt

� PriyankaChopra

� Raj Kapoor � SatyajitRay

� Shabana Azmi � more..

Literary Figures

� Arundhati

Roy

�

R.K.Narayan� Kalidasa

� Salman

Rushdie

�

Madavikutty

� Mirza

Ghalib

� R. Tagore � S. Bharati � More...

Musicians

� Asha Bhonsale

� Pandit BhimsenJoshi

� Lata Mangeshkar

� Dr. BalamuraliKrishna

� Ravi Shankar � Pandit HariprasadChaurasia

� Dr. L.Subramaniam

� Ustad Amjad AliKhan

� S.Janaki

� K.S.Chitra � A.R.Rahman� Ustad Bade GulamAli Khan

� Lalgudi Jayaraman� Dr. M.S.Subbalakshmi

� Yesudas

� Mohammed Rafi � Kishore Kumar � More...

Politicians

� A. B. Vajpayee � Manmohan Singh � Mahatma Gandhi

� C Shekhar Azad � Subash C Bose � Rajiv Gandhi



� Dr.Abdul Kalam � Dr. B.R. Ambedkar � K. R Gowri Amma

� Jawaharlal Nehru � Indira Gandhi � More...

Social Reformers

� Annie Besant � Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

� Mother Teresa � More...

Painters

� M.F.Hussain

Religious Thinkers

� Sri Satya Sai Baba

� Mata

Amritanandamayi

� Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

� Swami Vivekananda

� RamakrishnaParamahansa

� Gautama Buddha

Sportsperson

� Anju Bobby George � Rahul Dravid � Mihir Sen

� Gama Pehalwan � Sourav Ganguly � Prakash Padukone

� Karnam Malleswari � Tenzing Norgay � P.T.Usha

� Mahesh Bhupathi � Dhyan Chand � Sachin Tendulkar

� Milkha Singh � Kapil Dev � Sunil Gavaskar

� Pullela Gopichand � Leander Paes � More...

Scientists

� C.V.Raman � S. Ramanujan � Dr. S. Chandrasekhar

� Dr. H. Khorana

� Dr.H.J.Bhabha � Shanti.S.Bhatnagar

� Meghnad Saha � J.C.Bose � Vikram.A.Sarabhai

� Shakuntala Devi

Personalities Abroad

� Amartya Sen � Manoj Night Shyamalan � G. D. Birla

� Sabeer Bhatia � Ismail Merchant � more..

� Jagdish N. Bhagvati � Swraj Paul



Sushmita sen:

Sushmita Sen, the first Indian to win the Miss Universe pageant held at Manila, Philippines 1994

was born on November 19, 1975 in Hyderabad

, Andhra Pradesh. Daughter of an Air Force Commander her family of Bengali origin was posted

in Nagpur , then Jorhat, and finally in Delhi. She did her schooling with English Honors predominantly in the Air Force Silver School.

She was interested in modelling and took part in one or two fashion

shows during her school days. After she finished her plus two, she

participated in the Femina Miss India contest and from then on therewas no looking back. 172.5cm tall girl, with her girl next-door looks

shot to fame when she became The Femina Miss India in 1994. Her

main assets- an intelligent mind, poise and linguistic competencefinally won her the coveted Miss Universe Crown. Eighteen year oldSushmita Sen, the youngest among the 76 contestants charmed a

million viewers as well as the judges with her amazing mentalacumen.

BIRJU MAHARAJ

Kathak Dancer

Pandit Birju Maharaj, internationally renowned Kathak dancer, was born on 4th February 1937

in an illustrious family of dance masters of the Lucknow gharana. Birju gave Kathak Dance anew dimension by developing his own unique style and popularised this classical dance of North

India all over the world.

Birju alias Brij Mohan Nath Mishra mastered Kathak from his father,Achchan Maharaj and later from his uncles Shri Lacchu Maharaj and Shri

Shambhu Maharaj. He gave his first performance at the young age of seven at Lucknow and since then there was no looking back. Gradually

the talents of this genius spread to other areas. Apart from dancing, hehas shown his talents as a superb musician, percussionist, composer,

teacher, director, choreographer and a poet. He composed many dancedramas like 'Gobardhan Leela', 'Makhan Chori', 'Malti-Madhav', 'Kumar

Samvav', 'Phag Bahar' etc. He also composed two classical dancesequence for Satyajit Ray's film 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi'. He has a special

flair for playing percussion instruments like Tabla, Pakhawaj, Dholak, Naal and stringinstruments like Israj, Violin, Swar-Mandal, Sitar etc. He has performed in thousands of concerts

in India and abroad.

This great guru has imparted his immense knowledge and produced several renowned artists. Hehas taught in Sangeet Bharati, Bharatiya Kala Kendra and headed the teaching faculty Kathak



Kendra in Delhi till he retired in 1998. His two talented sons Shri Jai Kishan and Deepak Maharaj are following the footsteps of their father. He still continues to impart training to a lot of

budding dancers.

Birju Maharaj has won several honours and awards like the prestigious national award for the

central 'Sangeet Natak Academy', the Indian Government's highest civilian award 'PadmaVibhushan' in 1986, 'Kalidas Samman' by the Madhya Pradesh Government, 'Soviet Land NehruAward', 'SNA Award', 'Sangam Kala Award' etc. He was also the recipient of two honorary

doctorate degrees and the 'Nehru Fellowship'. His talent, dedication, innovation, training,repertoire and performances have earned him the status of a living legend in India.

DADASAHEB PHALKE

Producer

Dada Saheb Phalke is known as the 'father of Indian Film Industry'. He was born in

1870. Phalke laid the foundation for the start of a regular feature film industry in

the country. He has produced about 175 films. His famous f ilms are 'Satyavan

Savitri', 'Mohini Bhasmasur' and 'Raja Harichandra'. The outbreak of World War I

plunged Phalke into extreme financial crisis. In 1917, he made a grand

reappearance with the revised version of Raja Harischandra and Indias first big box

office hit µLanka Dahan¶. Phalke has been honoured by naming an award for

the outstanding works in the field of films. It is called Dadasaheb Phalke

Award.

Arundhati RoyWriter & Social Activist

Susanna Arundhati Roy the first Indian woman to have won Britain's prestigious Booker Prize,

was born on 24th November 1961 in Bengal and grew up in Aymanam village, Kottayam,Kerala.

She was born to parents Mary Roy a well known social activist whowon a landmark Supreme Court verdict that granted Christian women in

Kerala the right to their parent's property and father a Bengali Hindu tea planter. Arundhati's parents separated when she was small and she did

her formal education in Corpus Christi school run by her mother inKottayam District, Kerala. When she was just 16, she left her home and

settled in Delhi. There she did her degree in Architecture at the DelhiSchool of Architecture. During this period she met Gerard Da Cunha a

fellow architecture student and married him but their marriage lastedonly four years. After a brief stint in the field of architecture, she found

that it was not for her. She left for Goa, making a life out at the beach,got tired of it after a few months, came back to Delhi. She took a job at the National Institute of

Urban Affairs, met Pradeep Krishen, a film director now her husband who offered her a small



role in 'Massey Saab'. She went to Italy on a scholarship for eight months to study the restorationof monuments. She realised she was a writer during those months in Italy.

After she returned from Italy she worked with Pradeep Krishen and they planned an episode

television for Doordarshan called the 'Banyan Tree' which didn't materialise and was shelved by

the producers after shooting 2-3 episodes. She wrote and starred in 'In Which Annie Gives itThose Ones', a film on college life in India, based on her experiences in the University of Delhi,and wrote the screenplay for Pradip Krishen's film 'Electric Moon' (1992). She quickly became

known for her work as screenwriter. Then she wrote a series of essays called 'The Great IndianRape Trick' which attracted media attention, in defense of former dacoit Phoolan Devi, who she

felt had been exploited by Shekhar Kapur's film 'Bandit Queen'. Then came her debut novel 'TheGod of Small Things' which shot her into prominence in 1997, by winning the prestigious British

Booker prize in London and becoming an international best seller. The book, which took almostfive years to complete, gives an insight to the social and political life in a village in South India

through the eyes of seven year old twins and how it effects/disrupts their small lives. The book won £20,000 as prize and sold nearly 400,000 copies globally by October that year.

In the years following her success, she has turned to activism, writing 'The Cost of Living' a

book comprising two essays 'The Greater Common Good'(1999) and 'The End of Imagination'(1998); the former against Indian Governments massive dam projects which

displaced millions of poor people and the latter; its testing of Nuclear weapons. She has been anactive participant in public demonstrations against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam

on the Narmada river in Western India and has donated a substantial amount around 1.5millionrupees, equivalent to her Booker Prize money, for the cause. She was even arrested along with

other protestors for campaigning for the cause. 'Power Politics' her latest book published, takeson Enron the power corporation based in Houston trying to take over Maharashtra's energy

sector. She has also spoken on and published several articles such as 'Promotion of equal rights'supporting equal rights for lower caste in India and 'War on Terrorism' (2001)against the Iraq

war. Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaignsand her advocacy of non-violence. In January 2006 she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award

for her collection of essays on contemporary issues, The Algebra of Infinite Justice, but shedeclined to accept it.

With her latest publications, Arundhati is carving a niche for herself as a political journalist. Thisunusual women who has been on several lists of 'the 50 most beautiful women in the world' is

not intimated by her success and fame but is an inspiration to all those who seek to speak upagainst the powers in support of the poor and the oppressed.

MOHAMMED RAFI

Playback Singer

Mohammed Rafi was a famous playback singer. He was born on 25 December 1924 in Punjab.

Even at a young age he was more fond of music than studies.



He started learning music from the famous Hindustani singer Chotte Gulam Ali Khan. Later he became the disciple of Firoze Nizam. When Firoze was appointed as a

music director in Lahore Radio Station, Rafi got an opportunity to sing inthe radio. It was a turning point in his life.

He sang first for a Punjabi movie. Then in Nazeer Khan's 'Leila Majnu',Rafi began his career as a singer in the Hindi f ilm field. But as a singer hesucceeded for his songs in the film 'Gavom ke gori'. His songs in films

like 'Jugnu' and 'Baiju Bavra' made him very popular. He also used tosing in various other languages. More than 26,000 songs are recorded in

his name. Famous music director Naushad and Rafi had a remarkablerelationship. Their team work created many hit songs.

He was very punctual and faithful to his profession. He encouraged and welcomed new comers.

His famous songs are 'oh duniya ke rakwale' (Baiju Bavra), 'ghun ghuna rehe hai' (Aradhana),'kya hua tera vaada' (Hum kise se Kum nahin), 'yaham badla vaham kya he' (Jugnu) etc. He has

performed in around thirty eight musical concerts abroad.

He got Padmashree Award in 1965 from India Government and National award twice. He also

got Film fare Award for the best singer several times. His last recording was on May 26, 1980.He died on July 31, 1980.

INDIRA GANDHI

Ex Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi was the first women Prime Minister and an important world stateswoman. Shewas born in Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She was the only

child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. She was agreat crusader of world peace. When she was just 13 years old, Indira

organized a 'Monkey Army' (Vanar Sena) comprising of young teenagerswhich proved her intention to fight for the independence of her country.

In 1942, she got married to Feroze Gandhi

. Two sons were born to her- Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. IndiraGandhi became the third Prime Minister of India on January 24,1966 and

remained in this post up to 1977. In 1975, her election to Parliamentwas declared invalid and she declared internal emergency, which led

to her defeat in 1977 elections . Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980 with an overwhelming

majority.

She was one of the most efficient Prime Ministers of India and is

credited with great achievements. Noteworthy among them are

nationalization of banks, liberation of Bangladesh and 20 point programme for the upliftment of the poor. She was honoured with



'Bharat Ratna' in 1971.

Mrs. Gandhi, met her tragic end on 31st October 1984, when she was brutally assassinated byher own guards.

MOTHER TERESAFounder of Missionaries of Charity

Mother Teresa the 'angel of mercy' dedicated herself to the service of mankind and served godamongst the poorest of the poor, sick and the dying for more than 50 years of her life.

Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin on 26th August 1910

in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia to Albanian parents. Shewas the youngest of three children. Exposed early to prayer and

service, she was deeply religious. At the age of 18, she left homefor Dublin, Ireland, to join the Loretto abbey and become a nun of

the Roman Catholic church. After her training, she was given thename of Sister Teresa. Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto, were veryactive in India, doing missionary work. She came to India on

January 6, 1929 to become a teacher and was moved at the sight of the crippled and helpless people on the pavements. She taught in

St. Mary's convent school in Kolkata for 15 years later on becamethe headmistress. In 1937, she took her final vows as a nun, in Darjeeling.

In 1947, on a journey to Darjeeling later referred by her as the most important journey of her life

she had a vision or call to leave the convent, to live among the poor and to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the homeless, to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor,

which was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity. At first she did not get the permission toleave the convent but in 1948 she got the permission specifically from Pope Pius XIII to leave

the the Loreto community and work among the city's poor. She left the convent, took basictraining in nursing and went to live in the nearby slum. She wore an inexpensive and simple

white sari with a blue border, which became the most recognised symbol of the Sisters of Charity.

Following one of her former student, others joined her in her mission. In 1948, she opened the

first slum school. As the congregation grew she sought approval from the Pope and shifted to54A Lower Circular Road, which became the Mother House. The Missionaries of charity was

officially established as a religious congregation for the Archdiocese of Calcutta in October 1950. The organisation devoted to the working for the destitute, now have thousands of homes

and members all over the country and abroad. Calcutta became the center of her humanitarianactivities. Her first home was 'Nirmal Hriday' (pure heart) for the sick and the dying, and then '

Shishu Bhavan' for the disabled, orphaned and mentally retarded children, 'Shanti Nagar', acolony for lepers where they were cared for, they could learn a skill, build their own houses and

could work on their own fields, AIDS hospices and so on. The first home outside India wasfounded in 1965 in Venezuela. Others were later opened in Italy, Tanzania, Australia, US,

Communist Cuba, former Soviet Union etc.



Mother Teresa became an Indian citizen in 1962. She has received many national andinternational awards in recognition of her noble work for humanity. The first award being

Padmashri for distinguished service (1962), then the Magsaysay Award the same year, PopeJohn XXIII Peace Prize (1971), Good Samaritan Award (1971), John . F. Kennedy International

Award (1971), Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International peace (1972), Nobel Peace Prize

(1979), Bharat Ratna (1980), Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award (1993) etc. were some of them.

In 1983, at the age of 72, Mother was diagnosed with a serious heart condition and her health

steadily worsened. In 1990, Mother had decided to step down as the head due to her failinghealth and so called a conclave of sisters to choose a successor. But in a secret ballot, she was re-

elected with one dissenting vote, that was her own. In 1991 she underwent heart surgery and inMarch 1997, Sister Nirmala a former Hindu converted to Roman Catholic was elected to succeed

Mother Teresa as leader of Missionaries of Charity. On September 5, 1997 the 87-year oldmother died of severe cardiac arrest at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Kolkata.

The late mother taught the world the beauty in giving and left behind an enormous organisation

with the will to continue her work. Mother was beatified by Pope John Paul II at St. Peterssquare in Vatican, on October 19th 2003, seven years after her death. Henceforth the mother will

be referred to as the The Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Cricketer

The pride of Indian cricket Sachin Tendulkar , was the first batsman toscore 10,000 runs in one-day cricket, in a five-day match series against

Australia on the 31st of March 2001. He has scored a world record, 28hundreds and 50 half-centuries in his 10,000 runs. A perennial crowd-

favorite, he is the only Indian cricketer to receive the Rajiv GandhiKhel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour for his performance in

1997-1998

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was born on April 24, 1973, in Mumbai.Young Sachin wanted to be a fast bowler. He even undertook trials at

the MRF pace foundation, Chennai, but his short stature proved to be ahindrance for bowling. Meeting Mr. R. Achrekar, his Cricket Coach and

changing his school to Shardashram Vidya Mandir in Dadar marked a turning point in Sachin'scricket career.

Sachin at the age of 16, made his International debut in ODI¶s India vPakistan at Gujranwala and Tests debut India v Pakistan at Karachi

around 1989/90. He then went to England as a part of the nationalteam, and has not looked back ever since. He knows every shot in the

book and and makes his own improvisations. His shots havetremendous power and he times the ball perfectly, making him one of



the best batsman in the world. He is also an effective bowler and also one of the best fielders.

This all rounder has been the captain of the Indian cricket team twice. On the personal front,Sachin is god fearing and he is married to a doctor Anjali and they have a two children- Sara and

Arjun. In 1998, he won the Coopers and Lybrand Award for 'Player of the year' and has been in

the number one position in the Wisden Cricket ratings.

CHANDRASEKHAR VENKATA RAMAN

Physicist, Nobel Prize Winner

C.V.Raman was a scientist in Physics, who won noble prize in 1930. His discovery of the

'Raman Effect' made a very distinctive contribution to Physics. He wasknighted by the British Government in 1929. He was also conferred the

highest title of 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954.

Raman was born on 7th November,1888 at Ayyanpettai in Tamil Nadu. He

had his education in Visakhapatanam and Madras. After getting topranking in the Financial Civil Service Competitive Exam, he wasappointed as Deputy Accountant General in Calcutta (Kolkutta). In 1917

he became the prof essor of Physics at the Calcutta University. After 15years service at the Calcutta University, Raman shifted to Bangalore and

became the Director of the Indian Institute of Science in 1933. In 1943 hefounded 'Raman Research Institute', near Bangalore.

The 'Raman Effect' was a demonstration of the 'Collision' effect of light bullets (photons) passing

through a transparent medium, whether solid, liquid or gaseous. Raman's publications include'Molecular Diffraction of Light', 'Mechanical Theory of Bowed Strings' and 'Diffraction of X-

ray's', 'Theories of Musical Instruments' etc. Raman conducted pioneering research in musicalacoustics, particularly on Tamboura, the well known Indian musical instrument.

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Gr8 Personalities