Category: Amazing Feats

** Jaishankar hands over relics of 17th century Georgian Queen St. Ketevan to Georgia

Her relics were found in 2005 at the St. Augustine Convent in Old Goa, on the basis of medieval Portuguese records

In heeding to a long-standing request of Georgia, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday handed over to the country the holy relics of 17th century Georgian Queen St. Ketevan nearly 16 years after they were found in Goa.

The relics are believed to have been brought to Goa in 1627 and interred in St. Augustine Complex.

He is also scheduled to unveil the newly-installed statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Tbilisi.

** Olympic gold-winning hockey legend Keshav Datt dies

He was part India’s historic feat at the 1948 Olympics where they beat home team Britain 4-0 at the Wembley Stadium in London to win the first gold post Independence.

Two-time Olympics gold medallist Keshav Chandra Datt, the last surviving member of the Indian hockey team in the historic 1948 London Games, passed away here early on Wednesday, according to a Hockey Bengal (HB) statement. He was 95.

** Dr Lahane retires. He has to his credit world record of cataract surgeries

The country’s leading ophthalmologist Dr Tatyaro P. Lahane — who created a world record with an eye-popping 162,000-plus cataract surgeries — has retired after over 36 years from government service.

“Now, I will go back to my first love, Opthalmology”, a visibly relaxed Lahane told IANS a day after hanging up his boots and attending a variety of media events.

** Explained: Who was Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, who took on the British in their own courts

Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was known for being a passionate advocate for social reforms and a firm believer in the self-determination of India.

Johar announced that his film will “unravel the legendary courtroom battle” that Nair fought. The film is adapted from the book, ‘The case that shook the empire’ written by Nair’s great-grandson Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Palat in 2019.

** Didi Contractor, champion of low-waste buildings, is no more

The self-taught architect, who worked for more than three decades in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh, gave a contemporary edge to traditional materials such as mud, bamboo and slate.

Delia ‘Didi’ Contractor was an artist, designer and a self-taught architect. For over three decades, she worked in Kangra valley, Himachal Pradesh, promoting the need to live and build sustainably. She died on July 5 due to age-related ailments at her home in Sidhbari. She was 91.

With over 15 homes and numerous public projects, Didi’s name has been synonymous with designing low-waste buildings.

The only child of a German father and American mother, who were engaged in the influential Bauhaus movement, Didi made India her home in 1951, when she married the late Narayan Ramji Contractor. Through her husband’s friend, Maharana Bhagwant Singh Mewar, the Maharana of Udaipur, she had the opportunity to decorate the Lake Palace Hotel in 1961.

** After centuries, palm civets with coat variations seen in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve

The first photographs of a partial albino individual of common palm civet were captured at two locations in Majhipada reserve forest of Satkosia wildlife division in March last year.

** Army Chief to inaugurate Indian Army memorial in Italy

Gen. Naravane to visit U.K. and Italy this week

Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane will inaugurate an Indian Army memorial in the Italian town of Cassino during an official visit to U.K. and Italy from July 5-8, the Army said on Sunday.

Italy has pushed for a central role for India in the European Union’s Indo-Pacific Initiative which is congruent with India’s own vision for the region.