Category: Amazing Feats

** Gira Sarabhai, co-founder of NID, passes away at 98

Along with her brother Gautam Sarabhai, she laid the foundation for design education in the country.

Gira Sarabhai, co-founder of the renowned National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad and a pioneer of design education in India, passed away in Ahmedabad on Thursday. She played a crucial role in setting up several other institutions and contributed immensely in the field of art and architecture.

With her brother Gautam Sarabhai, she founded the NID and also prepared its academic curricula, which laid the foundation for design education in the country.

Besides NID, another notable institution both Gira and Gautam were involved in setting up is the Calico Museum, one of India’s most famous private museums. The Calico was one of the textiles mills run by their father Ambalal Sarabhai, along with a range of other businesses in Gujarat.

** Indian seaman makes $1mn in Dubai sitting at home

An Indian citizen, who purchased his ticket online from Thane, won the $1 million first prize in the latest Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire draw.

On Wednesday, ticket number 0207, which was the chosen one in the 363rd Millennium Millionaire draw, belonged to a 36-year-old seaman, Ganesh Shinde.

** Chola-era temple in Velachery grabs government’s attention

The dilapidated Vasudevaperumal temple is said to be 1,000 years old

Work to clean the precincts of Sri Vasudevaperumal temple at Ram Nagar in Velachery will be expedited. A large part of the temple is covered with thick layer of dirt.

Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P. Sekarbabu said on Wednesday that officials had been asked to dig out documents and any information relating to the temple.

He said he had visited the temple, which was said to be around 1,000 years old, on the request of the South Chennai Member of Parliament Thamizhachi Thangapandian, who had asked the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation to clean up the premises.

** 147 more women Army officers get Permanent Commission

Army grants it to 424 women since 2020

The Army said on Wednesday that 147 additional women officers had been granted Permanent Commission (PC) taking the total number of women officers granted it to 424 out of the 615 officers considered since the landmark judgment by the Supreme Court last year.

Following the judgment on grant of PC to women officers in the Army, a special selection board was constituted and 277 women short service commission officers received it after medical scrutiny.

** How India first went to the Olympics in 1920 & other stories: Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian of Tata Sons tells BrandSutra

With the Tokyo Olympics set to begin later this month, one story that becomes most pertinent is how Sir Dorabji Tata, the second Chairman of the Tata Group, personally pushed for and financed the first Indian Olympic team to the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, when India did not even have an official Olympics body, thus setting the course for India’s sports culture and future Olympians.

** India to host 2026 World Badminton Championships

This will be the second time that India will host the premium tournament

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has allotted the prestigious BWF World Championship to India for 2026, it was officially announced on Tuesday.

This will be the second time that India will host the premium tournament, which is held every year except for the Olympic year, after the 2009 edition in Hyderabad.

** Deepak Kabra becomes first Indian gymnastics judge at Olympics

Kabra will be seen officiating the men’s artistic gymnasts at the Tokyo Games

Deepak Kabra has become the first Indian to be selected for judging the gymnastics competition of the Olympic Games, a life goal achieved for the man who knew he wouldn’t have made it there as an active gymnast because of his not-so-strong fundamentals.

** India’s first cryptogamic garden opens in Dehradun

India’s first cryptogamic garden housing nearly 50 species of lichens, ferns and fungi was inaugurated in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district on Sunday.

Located in the district’s Chakrata town, the garden was inaugurated by social activist Anoop Nautiyal.

Around 50 species have been grown in the garden at Deoban in Chakrata at a commanding height of 9,000 ft, Chief Conservator of Forest (research) Sanjiv Chaturvedi said.

Cryptogamae means “hidden reproduction” referring to the fact that no seed, no flowers are produced. Thus, cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants, Chaturvedi explained.

Algae, bryophytes (moss, liverworts), lichens, ferns and fungi are the best-known groups of cryptogams that require moist conditions to survive, he said.

** A family repertory: The contribution of the Alkazi and Padamsee clans to Indian theatre

The Alkazi and Padamsee clans have played, and continue to play, an extraordinary role in the history of modern Indian theatre

“Oh god, it’s a page turner!” That was the cry from various family members on reading the first draft of Feisal Alkazi’s family memoirs published earlier this year. Titled Enter Stage Right — The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir (Speaking Tiger, 2021), it is an irresistible, exciting read. The narrative details are gripping, the pace exciting, and viewing the times described in the book of the two families in pre- and post-Independence India through the lens of Feisal allows us to enter a world that we can relate to from stories that our parents and grandparents told us of the times they lived through.

** Diamonds in India’s stepwells

These architectural beauties are the inspiration for Titan Zoya’s new Samāvé collection

Climb down winding steps made of diamonds into a well of Indian craftsmanship — on your fingers! Who knew that our earthy stepwells could inspire a new twist in the world of diamond jewellery?

Zoya, the diamond boutique from the House of Tata, has come up with a setting inspired by these architectural wonders found in the arid western states of India, which, they claim, is the first of its kind worldwide.

The intricate and challenging ‘Zoya Baoli Setting’ is patent pending.