Local-
2017: Salt Lake gets its first Wall of Kindness in FF Block on January 22. Inspired by the global charity practice that began in Iran, it invites people to leave here anything they don’t need and for others to take what they do. The wall is started and maintained by an EE Block resident, who wants to remains anonymous.
Hemandas Kalani. The Telegraph
National-
1943: Freedom-fighter Hemandas Kalani is executed by the British on January 21, two months before he turns 20. Born into a Sindhi family, Kalani was a student leader who joined Gandhi’s Quit India movement in 1942. When the British were sending troops to Sindh to quell this movement, Kalani tried to derail the train to stop them. He was arrested and hanged when he refused to divulge details of his accomplices.
Kasturbhai Lalbhai. The Telegraph
1980: Industrialist and philanthropist Kasturbhai Lalbhai dies at the age of 85 on January 20. Born into a prestigious family in Ahmedabad, Lalbhai co-founds textile company Arvind Mills and Ahmadabad Education Society, which started Ahmedabad University and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. He also served as head of Anandji Kalyanji Trust, that manages over 1,200 Jain temples.
Calcutta is changed to Kolkata. The Telegraph
2001: The name Calcutta is changed to Kolkata on January 1, to match the local pronunciation. The state government made the decision to shed colonial hangover but critics did not want to change a name that had gained acceptance over hundreds of years. Some institutions like Calcutta High Court, Calcutta University and The Telegraph newspaper continue to write “Calcutta”.
Abdus Salam. The Telegraph
Global
1926: Theoretical physicist Abdus Salam is born in Punjab on January 29. He moves to Pakistan after partition and shares the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification theory. The first Pakistani to receive the award then travels to Calcutta to meet his former professor, Anilendra Ganguly, who taught him in college in Lahore. He places the medal around his guru’s neck and says the award is the result of the love of math instilled in him by Ganguly.
Walter Diemer. The Telegraph
1904: Walter Diemer is born in Philadelphia. He grows up to work as an accountant for Fleer, a company that made edible gum, and while experimenting recipes, invents one for bubble gum. His version is pink as this is the only food coloring available at the factory and is the reason why most bubble gum later on too are pink. Sold at a cent a piece, it proves a popular, cheap treat during the Great Depression. Sales cross US$1.5 million in the first year and it continues to be a favourite even decades later.is born in Philadelphia. He grows up to work as an accountant for Fleer, a company that made edible gum, and while experimenting recipes, invents one for bubble gum. His version is pink as this is the only food coloring available at the factory and is the reason why most bubble gum later on too are pink. Sold at a cent a piece, it proves a popular, cheap treat during the Great Depression. Sales cross US$1.5 million in the first year and it continues to be a favourite even decades later.
2011: Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old Tunisian hawker dies on January 4 after having set himself on fire. He did it to protest years of harassment and humiliation at the hand of the administration, that confiscated his wares and demanded bribes. Public anger after the incident explodes and eventually leads to the Tunisian Revolution. The then-President Ben Ali has to flee the country and the success of the protests inspires revolutions in several other Arab countries.
Mohamed Bouazizi. The Telegraph
Sports
1926: Khashaba Jadhav is born in Maharashtra on January 15. He grows up to become a wrestler who, at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, won a bronze to become the first athlete from independent India to win an individual medal in the Olympics.
Bobby Fischer. The Telegraph
2008: American chess grandmaster player Bobby Fischer dies on January 17 at the age of 64. A chess prodigy, he became the youngest US champion ever at the age of 14, and his match against Russian Boris Spassky during the Cold War sparked more interest than any chess match before or since. But the player refused to defend his World Chess Champion title in 1975 and became a recluse, making a controversial comeback in 1992 in Yugoslavia, defying UN and US sanctions.
Bhimsen Joshi. The Telegraph
2011: Bhimsen Joshi, one of the greatest Hindustani classical vocalists, dies on January 24. The Karnataka-born musician trained under the Kirana gharana and he is best remembered for the khayal and devotional music he performed. Joshi toured Europe, the US and Afghanistan to spread Indian music and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2009.
What is your most treasured personal memory of January?
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