Ebrahim Alkazi

Ebrahim Alkazi is a famous Indian theatre director, who was the founding head of the India's premier theatre training institute, National School of Drama, New Delhi. He was associated with training many well-known film and theatre actors including Om Shivpuri, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Manohar Singh, Uttara Baokar, Jyoti Subhash, Suhas Joshi, B. Jayashree, Jayadev and Rohini Hattangadi.
He has directed over 50 plays, including famous productions of: Girish Karnad's "Thuglaq", Mohan Rakesh's "Ashadh Ka Ek Din" and Dharmvir Bharati's "Andha Yug".
As the director of the National School of Drama (NSD), Alkazi revolutionised Hindi theatre by the magnificence of his vision, and the meticulousness of his technical discipline.
He was the first recipient of Roopwedh Pratishtan's the Tanvir Award (2004) for lifetime contribution to the theatre. He has received awards including the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for his contribution to theatre.

Salim Ali

Sálim Ali, born Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, (November 12, 1896 - July 27, 1987), was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys in India and his books have contributed enormously to the development of professional and amateur ornithology in India.
Salim Ali was born into a Sulaimani Mustali Ismaili (Sulaimani Bohra) Muslim family of Bombay, the tenth and youngest child. He was orphaned at the age of ten, and brought up by his maternal uncle, Amiruddin Tyabji, and childless aunt, Hamida Begum, in a middle-class household in Khetwadi, Mumbai. Another uncle was Abbas Tyabji, well known Indian freedom fighter. Salim Ali was introduced to the serious study of birds by W. S. Millard, secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who helped him identify an unusually coloured sparrow that he had shot for sport. Millard identified it as a Yellow-throated Sparrow, and showed him around the Society's collection of stuffed birds. This was a key event in his life and led to Salim's pursuit of a career in ornithology, an unusual career choice in those days. Salim Ali's cousin Humayun Abdulali also became an ornithologist.
Salim Ali's early education was at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Following a difficult first year in college, he dropped out and went to Tavoy, Burma to look after the family Wolfram (Tungsten) mining and timber interests there. The forests surrounding this area provided an opportunity for Ali to hone his naturalist (and hunting) skills. On his return to India in 1917, he resumed his education, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Zoology. He married a distant relation, Tehmina in 1918.Ali failed to get an ornithologist's position at the Zoological Survey of India due to lack of sufficient academic qualifications. He however decided to study further after he was hired as guide lecturer in 1926 at the newly opened natural history section in the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai. He went on study leave in 1928 to Germany, where he trained under Professor Erwin Stresemann at the Zoological Museum of Berlin University.
On his return to India in 1930, he discovered that the guide lecturer position had been eliminated due to lack of funds. Unable to find a suitable job, Salim Ali and Tehmina moved to Kihim, a coastal village near Mumbai, where he began making his first observations of the Baya Weaver. The publication of his findings on the bird in 1930 brought him recognition in the field of ornithology.Ali undertook systematic bird surveys of the princely states, Hyderabad, Cochin, Travancore, Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal, under the sponsorship of the rulers of those states. He was aided in his surveys by advice from Hugh Whistler. Salim wrote "My chief interest in bird study has always been its ecology, its life history under natural conditions and not in a laboratory under a microscope. By travelling to these remote, uninhabited places, I could study the birds as they lived and behaved in their habitats."Hugh Whistler also introduced Salim to Richard Meinertzhagen and the two made an expedition into Afghanistan. Although Meinertzhagen had very critical views of him, they continued to remain good friends. Salim Ali found nothing amiss in Meinertzhagen's bird works but later studies have shown many of his studies to be fraudulent. Meinertzhagen later made his diary entries available to Salim and reproduced in his autobiographical Fall of a Sparrow.
Although recognition came late, he received numerous awards, some of which are
Awards

Padma Bhushan (1958)

Union Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, a rarity for non-British citizens (1967)

The John C. Phillips Medal for Distinguished Service in International Conservation, from the World Conservation Union (1969)

Padma Vibhushan (1976)

J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize of the World Wildlife Fund (1976)

Commander of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark (1986)

He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1958. He also received three honorary doctorates and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1985.
Dr. Salim Ali died in 1987 at the age of 91 after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer.

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Aruna Asaf Ali

Aruna Asaf Ali, who has died aged 86, was a legendary heroine of India's freedom struggle. She was first a member of the Socialist Party and then of the Communist Party of India, with a seat on its central committee. Although she drifted apart from the Communists, she remained a committed leftist. Even in later years of declining health, she remained a respected figure on the Indian political firmament, which explains the outpouring of grief over her death.
Remarkably, until the 1942 Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian nation, Aruna Asaf Ali was entirely apolitical, though she was married to a prominent Congress leader of undivided India, who subsequently served as Nehru's ambassador to the United States and as governor of Orissa state. The summer of 1942 changed all that.

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Horace Gundry Alexander

Born :July 30, 1889(1889-07-30)Croydon, England
Died: September 30, 1989 (aged 100)Pennsylvania, USA
Occupation: Pacifist, ornithologist
Nationality: British
Genres : Non-fiction
Subjects Ornithology, Quakerism, Gandhi, India

He was born in Croydon, England and studied at King's College, Cambridge University, and taught at Woodbrooke, a Quaker college in Birmingham from 1919 to 1944. His first wife, Olive Graham, died in 1942, and in 1958 he married Rebecca Bradbeer, an American Quaker. After ten years they moved to Pennsylvania, United States where he spent the remaining twenty years of his life. He was also, for the first ten years, a Governor of Leighton Park School, a leading Quaker school in England. He died of a gastrointestinal illness at Crosslands, a Quaker retirement community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
Alexander was a life-long dedicated and gifted birdwatcher, keenly involved in the twentieth century movements for the protection and observation of birds. Along with his two younger brothers, Wilfred and Christopher, he took a keen interest in nature. Growing up in a Quaker home devoid of any other forms of entertainment, he found an interest in birds starting at the age of eight when his older brother Gilbert presented him a book on natural history. It was not until he was 20 that he obtained his first pair of binoculars. He was one of a small group of amateur birdwatchers who developed the skills and set new standards for combining the pleasures of birdwatching with the satisfaction of contributing to ornithological science. He made many significant observations, mainly in Britain but also in India and the United States, and was well respected for his work.
Horace spent most of his time in India and became interested in its birds in 1927. Ornithology at that time was not popular among Indians in India and when Horace informed Gandhi of an expedition, Gandhi commented, "That is a good hobby, provided you don't shoot them." Horace demonstrated the use of binoculars as an acceptable alternative to the gun and carried them at most times. Horace Alexander joined Sidney Dillon Ripley on an expedition to the Naga hills in 1950. He also associated himself with a group of birdwatchers in New Delhi and encouraged Indian ornithologists such as Usha Ganguli. Many of his notes were lost when one of his suitcases was lost in India in 1946.
He was also a founder member of the West Midland Bird Club, and its president, during his long residence in Birmingham, England.
Bird related notes
(1974): What leads to increases in the range of certain birds? JBNHS. 71(3), 571-576.
(1952): Birds attacking their reflections. JBNHS. 50(3), 674-675.
(1948): The status of the Dusky Willow-Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth)] in India. JBNHS. 47(4), 736-739.
(1948): White-winged Wood-Duck Asarcornis scutulatus (Mueller) on the Padma River, East Bengal. JBNHS. 47(4), 749.
(1949): The Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus (Linn.) in Orissa. JBNHS. 48(2), 367-368. (1949): Whitecapped Redstart Chaimarrhornis leucocephalus (Vigors) feeding on berries. JBNHS. 48(4), 806.
(1950): Some notes on the genus Phylloscopus in Kashmir. JBNHS. 49(1), 9-13.
(1950): Possible occurrence of the Black Tern Chlidonias niger (L.) near Delhi. JBNHS. 49(1), 120-121.
(1950): Field identification of birds. JBNHS. 49(1), 123-124.
(1950): Kentish Plovers Leucopolius alexandrinus (Linn.) at Bombay. JBNHS. 49(2), 311. (1950): Large Grey Babbler attacking metal hub-cap of wheel of car. JBNHS. 49(3), 550. (1953): Rednecked Phalarope near Delhi. JBNHS. 51(2), 507-508.
(1957): Bird life of Madhya Pradesh. JBNHS. 54(3), 768-769.
(1949): The birds of Delhi and District. JBNHS. 48(2), 370-372.
(1951): Some notes on birds in Lahul. JBNHS. 49(4), 608-613.
(1972): On revisiting Delhi. NLBW. 12(9), 1-3.
(1972): Nest building of the Baya Weaver Bird. NLBW. 12(9), 12.
(1964): Return to Delhi. NLBW. 4(1), 1-3.
(1929): Some birds seen in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Ibis, 12 5(1), 41-53. (1952): Identifying birds of prey in the field. BBOC 72, 55-61.
(1931): Shearwaters in the Arabian Sea. Ibis, 13 1(3), 579-581.
(1955): Field notes on some Asian leaf warblers. British Birds. 48, 293-299,349-356.
(1952): Letter to the Editor. Ibis 94(2), 369-370.
(1969): Some Notes on Asian Leaf-Warblers (Genus Phylloscopus). Private/TRUEXpress, Oxford. 31 pages.
(1952): with Abdulali,H Ardeidae with red legs. Ibis 94, 363.

Alexander's father-in-law John William Graham believed that Gandhi was a subversive and that the Indians were unprepared for self-government. However at an annual Quaker meeting in 1930, the Nobel prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore attacked the British rule in India. The Quakers were disturbed by the address and John Graham was particularly outraged. After the meeting, it was agreed that a representative would be sent to India to attempt a reconciliation of the Viceroy, Lord Irwin and Gandhi. This task was assigned to Horace Alexander. He later became a close friend of Gandhi (who, in 1942, described Alexander as "one of the best English friends India has") and wrote extensively about his philosophy.
He was consulted by Richard Attenborough in the making of the film Gandhi, but felt that the scripts did not do justice to the people around Gandhi.
In 1984 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan medal, the highest honour given to a non-Indian civilian.

Javed Akhtar

Son of well-known Urdu poet and film lyricist Jan Nisar Akhtar and Safia Akhtar, teacher and writer, Javed Akhtar belongs to a family lineage that can be traced back to seven generations of writers. The highly respected Urdu poet, Majaz was his mother’s brother and the work of Muzter Khairabadi, his grandfather, is looked upon as a milestone in Urdu Poetry.
Born : 17 Jan 1945
Javed Akhtar's body of work can be categorized under three distinct categories:
a) Script Writer b) Lyricist c) Poet

Alongwith his ex-partner, Salim, he scripted super hits like, 'Zanjeer', 'Deewar',' Sholay', 'Haathi Mere Saathi', 'Seeta Aur Geeta', 'Don', 'Trishul', etc. Salim-Javed as a writer-duo gave to and to Indian Cinema the memorable persona of the ‘Angry Young Man’.

After the split from his partner Salim (in 1981), he has written a list of successful films, notable amongst them are; 'Sagar', 'Mr. India', 'Betaab', 'Arjun' and Lakshya etc.

AWARDS:
FOR FILMS
National Awards for Best Lyricist, five times.
Film Fare Award for Best Script seven times.
Film Fare Award for Best Lyricist seven times.
Screen Award for Best Lyricist four times.
Zee Award for Best Lyricist, five times.
IIFA Award for Best Lyricist three times.
Sansui Viewers Choice Award four times.

AWARDS FOR ACTIVISM
Padmashri in 1999 by the Government of India, given to eminent citizens for excellence in their field and distinguished contribution to society.
Avadh Ratan from Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.
National Integration Award from All India Anti-Terrorist Association 2001.
National Integration Award from Mewar Foundation 2001.
Nagrik Samman by Mayor of Bhopal 2002 amongst countless other awards.

UNIVERSITIES addressed
Harvard University – Keynote speaker on Secular element in Urdu poetry.
Columbia University – Keynote speaker on Social Justice and Communal Harmony.
University of Mary Land – Keynote speaker on Forces to counter fundamentalism.
Berkeley Califonia – India Politics & Divisive Forces
University of London – Modern Urdu Poetry
University of Cambridge – Indian Society – Indian Cinema
University of Oxford – Indian Cinema & New Icons.
Jawahar Lal Nehru University
Aligarh Muslim University
Vishwa Bharati University
Javed Akhtar started writing Urdu poetry in 1980. His first collection of Nazms and Ghazals entitled, ‘TARKASH' has had a very successful release in 1995. It is already in its ninth edition in Hindi, and fifth edition in Urdu. It has received rave reviews both as a book and as India's first audio book (available on cassettes and CD) brought out by PLUS MUSIC. The audio book has sold more than a hundred thousand copies.
Dr. David Matthews, formerly Senior Lecturer in Urdu and Nepali at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University have translated TARKASH in English. The book, entitled as "QUIVER" was released by Prof. Amartya Sen. TARKASH was translated in Bengali by the noted Bengali author Sunil Gangopadhyaya. The book is also translated into Gujarati. The celebrated painter M.F. Husain has painted sixteen canvases based on Javed Akhtar's poems in Tarkash.
Javed Akhtar has written a large number of poems against communalism, social injustice, National Integration and for Women's Rights. Ministry of Human Resource Development has declared his song, beckoning the misguided youth to come forward and build the country, the National Anthem for Youth in 1995.
On the initiative of President Abdul Kalam, Javed Akhtar has written five poems on the Indian flag. Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Zakir Hussain, L Subramaniam and E Srinivas have interpreted these musically.
Two books “Talking Films” & “Talking Songs” published by Oxford University Press have featured Javed Akhtar in conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir a London based journalist. These have been hailed by film critics as the most definitive works on Indian Cinema. “Talking Songs” also carry translations of 60 Javed Akhtar’s songs.
He is a founder member of the respected Muslim Intelligentsia-a group that has been vocal against fundamentalism of all hues and seeks to lead the Muslims to concentrate on education and women's rights.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti 2nd October 2003 Javed Akhtar released the declaration of MUSLIMS FOR SECULAR DEMOCRACY. MFSD, of which Javed Akhtar is president, was formed after consultation with large numbers of organizations and intellectuals from all sections of society. MFSD has not only taken a secular, liberal and progressive stand, but to a great extent has succeeded in building a consensus on controversial issues of Muslims such as Uniform Civil Code, Triple Talaq, Haj Subsidy etc. It is heartening to note that MFSD has found support amongst both Teachers and Students Associations of Aligarh Muslim University. Chapters of MFSD have been launched in cities like Aligarh, Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and Mumbai. It is an ongoing process.
He is an active member of “Citizens for Justice and Peace”. CJP is an organization for eleven people that has kept the Gujarat Genocide issue alive and has taken Gujarat government to court.
India Today a weekly magazine equal to Time and News Week has included Javed Akhtar’s name in a list of 50 Most Powerful people in the Country.
Javed Akhtar is an avid reader with a keen interest in politics. His poetry reflects both his political awareness and his literary concerns.
He is married to Shabana Azmi, India's most respected actress and social activist and Ex-Member of Parliament.

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Begum Akhtar

Begum Akhtar
The Legend (1914 - 1974)
The legendary name of Begum Akhtar is synonymous with the thumri, ghazal and dadra forms of Indian classical music. To lovers and connoisseurs of these traditional forms, her name has a special significance, for the likes of Begum Akhtar are rarely born.
A pioneer in the field of Indian light classical music, Begum Sahiba introduced these at a concert level both in India and abroad. Sensuous romanticism is the very essence of these singing forms. Their rendition calls for a great deal of talent and imagination on the part of the singer to depict their lyrical fineries and musical subtleties. Begum Akhtar possessed all these qualities and more.

Her Music
Begum Akhtar's supreme artistry in the Thumri, Ghazal & Dadra musical forms had it's moorings in the tradition of pure classicism. This could be explained by the fact that the Begum Sahiba received her initial training from Ustads who were classical maestros in their own right. This also explains her penchant for setting her light classical repertoire to essentially classical tunes.
What set Begum Akhtar apart was the hypnotic quality of her voice and authenticity of style. The notes which she produced were so limpid, so hauntingly sweet that the audience was immediately captivated. She had the uncanny knack of choosing the right kind of ghazal, adorning it with a befitting tune and rendering it so endearingly that her every note would grip the hearts of the audience.

The Beginnings
Begum Akhtar was born in the small town of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, on the 7th of October, 1914. She was barely seven when she was captivated by the music of Chandabai, an artist of a moving theatrical company. Soon she embarked on her musical carrier receiving initial training under the great sarangi exponent from Patna, Ustad Imdad Khan. She then received training from classical stalwarts like Ata Mohammad Khan of Patiala and Abdul Wahid Khan of the Kirana gharana. She later became a disciple of Ustad Jhande Khan.
Her first public performance at the age of fifteen took listeners by storm. Those who heard her acknowledged her to be a singer of great promise. From that day she came to be known as Akhtari Faizabadi. The famous poetess Sarojini Naidu appreciated her singing during one such concert and this encouraged her to continue singing Ghazals with more enthusiasm. She also cut her first disc for the Megaphone Recording Company at this time.
In due course, age brought about changes in her voice and style. Maturity and experience lend grace to an artist's presentation and make it blossom forth in its full beauty. No wonder, Begum Akhtar soon reached the heights of fame and popularity. The one - time Akhtari Faizabadi now came to be known as Begum Akhtar. 'Real beauty can weather any storm!' This adage was especially true in her case. During recitals whenever she reached a high note her voice would crack. Strangely enough this was considered by connoisseurs as the highlight of her recital. The audience would wait eagerly for that delicious crack in her voice.

The Inspirations
Begum Akhtar's real aptitude had always been for thumri, ghazal and dadra in which she was destined to be peerless. She was inspired to achieve her goal by two stalwarts. One was Jaddan Bai, a noted disciple of the great Maujuddin Khan (and mother of the late celebrated actress, Nargis). The second was the equally noted Barkat Ali Khan the gifted brother of Bade Gulam Ali Khan.
She was later influenced by her husband, Mr. Ishtiaq Abbasi, a Lucknow barrister and a great connoisseur of Urdu poetry and music. He helped her acquire a literary appreciation of the great gazals of Ghalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Jigar Moradabadi, all of whom she sang with passion. He is also said to be responsible for a hiatus she took from music after marriage in 1945 until 1949.
Awards

She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for vocal music as well as a Padma Shri. She was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Today her name is almost synonymous with the concept of ghazal gayaki, and her imitable style of singing which immortalized her, and gave her the title of Mallika-e-Ghazal (Queen of Ghazals).

The End
The youthful exuberance she revealed until her death at 60, compelled special admiration in her countless votaries.Death came to Begum Akhtar on the performing stage on the night of October 30, 1974.The place

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Mian Bashir Ahmed

Mian Bashir Ahmed
Hazrat Mian Bashir Ahmed Laaravi, Naqashbani, Majjaddadi is highly known religious, pious, social personality of Jammu and Kashmir.
He was born in November 1923 at Wanghat, Kangan in Kashmir, is a spiritual leader and religious personality and his followers are to be found not only in India and Pakistan but in Arab countries and Europe as well.
His full name (and titles) are Sajjada-Nasheen Zayaarat Baba Jee Sahib Laarvi, of Wangat Kashmir, where his father Hazrat Mian Nizam Din Laarvi(RH) and grandfather Hazrat Baba Jee Sahib Laaravi(RH) lay to rest.
He proselytise the doctrines of Naqshbandiyya, Qadria order of Sufism to his followers through Bayyet.
His popularity can be gauged from an account that during the summer of 2004 he visited Pakistan, crossing Wagah border by foot, where he was met by two hundred thousand people who were waiting desperately to take a glance.
While on a pilgrimage to his ancestral (sufi) saint's mausoleum, in Kayyan shareef, Hazara Pakistan during period of General Zia Ul Haq, he was followed by huge masses and Pakistani officials, in wake of his political influence in Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir considered it a security risk and the Pakistani army was deployed He was not allowed to go to the mausoleum. As a result he renounced politics saying "I say bye to this politics, which stood between me and my Hazraat."
He performed the Hajj twice, and has no affiliation to any political party, though he has been approached by political leaders.
He has been elected four times to the State Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.He was closely associated with Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah, Mir Qasim and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and was a minister in their cabinets. He has been closely associated with various top leaders in India including Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Shiekh Mohammed Abdullah and others.
He has worked tirelessly for poors, nomads, to make them them educationally conscious, socially alert and politically vibrant.
During 1965 and 1971 India-Pak conflict he worked for peace and prosperity of the State and helped rehabilitate people in the tribal and border belts of Jammu and Kashmir. During the course of ongoing insurgency since 1989 he worked to eradicate misconceptions between various communities.
Mian Bashir Ahmed represented the country in the United Nations to argue for peace in Kashmir. He has headed Indian delegations to international forums.
There are hundreds of accounts that, whether it was spiritual power or what,any matter he intervened in, no matter how controversial, complex it was, how the circumstances were, how influential the opponents were, he always stood like an unshakeable mountain ,what come may ,till the matter settled as just and justified.
It is known that he has been a great horse-rider during young age. His eyes often moves into tears when talking about ancestors, and gives great respects to sayings of figures of lineage from whom he inherited the fortunes of Sufism and all.
One Account confirming his respects to saying of his ancestors is: From account of a person: In mid fifty's when Hazrat was on a visit of Rajouri with his father a great spiritual personality Hazrat Mian Nizam Din Laarvi, at that time person who expresses the account was in jail, and there were thousands of people gathered to meet their two Hazrats, that person's wife went to Hz. Nizam Din saying of her husband laying in jail. Hazrat Mian Bashir was sitting beside his father and father said to his son, "Bashir take care of my this daughter". After that, time came and passed by, that person came out of jail, and continued to remain a face in crowd. That person says after around five decades he visited Hazrat in Jammu and Hazrat asked him:"How is my sister?" then Hazrat explained of why he called her "sister", recalling the whole event
This is his mindfulness that he is always surrounded by masses and each conceives that Hazrat loves him the most.
At his residence (Srinagar in summer) and (Jammu in winter) .His hospitality can be imagined from that: always hundreds of people use to be present there, came from various walk of life with different purposes and Hazrat takes meal after the person responsible for that comes and reports that each and every guest has taken his/her meal.
He was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, by the government of India on 26th jan 2008 for his contribution to the society.
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President-elect Obama's Statement on Job Loss

The 533,000 jobs lost last month, the worst job loss in 34 years, is more than a dramatic reflection of the growing economic crisis we face. Each of those lost jobs represents a personal crisis for a family somewhere in America. Our economy has already lost nearly 2 million jobs during this recession, which is why we need an Economic Recovery Plan that will save or create at least 2.5 million more jobs over two years while we act decisively to maintain the flows of credit on which so many American families and American businesses depend. There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making, and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. But now is the time to respond with urgent resolve to put people back to work and get our economy moving again. At the same time, this painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come.

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H.P.S. Ahluwalia

Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia is an Indian mountaineer . He climbed Mt Everest on 29 May 1965.
In 1965 Indo Pak war he was injured and confined to the wheel chair.He set up Indian Spinal Injury Society in 1993.He was awarded Padma Bhushan award in 2002.
Major Ahluwalia is also the chairman of Rehabilitation Council of India and is a recipient of several awards like Padma Sri, Arjuna award, National Award for the best work done in the field of Disability, order of the Khalsa (Nissan A Khalsa).
He has written several books like ‘Higher than Everest’, ‘Beyond the Himalayas’, ‘Everest is within you’.

Gary Leonard Ackerman

Gary Leonard Ackerman (born November 19, 1942) is presently serving his thirteenth term in the United States House of Representatives. Ackerman represents the Fifth Congressional District of New York, encompassing the North Shore of Long Island, including West and Northeast Queens and Northern Nassau County. It includes areas like Corona, Flushing, Jamaica Estates, Bayside, Whitestone, Douglaston, and Little Neck in Queens, as well as Great Neck, Sands Point, Port Washington, Searingtown, Albertson, Manhasset, and Roslyn in Nassau County.
Biography

Congressman Ackerman was first elected to Congress in a special election of 1983. Born in Brooklyn to Eva and Max Ackerman,[1] Ackerman was raised in Flushing, Queens. He attended local public schools, Brooklyn Technical High School and graduated from Queens College in 1965. After college, Ackerman became a New York City School teacher where he taught social studies, mathematics, and journalism to junior high school students in Queens.
Following the birth of his first child in 1969, Ackerman petitioned the New York City Board of Education for an unpaid leave of absence to spend time with his newborn daughter. But his request was denied under then existing policy which reserved unpaid "maternity-child care" leave to women only.
In what was to be a forerunner of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, then teacher Ackerman successfully sued the Board in a landmark case which established the right of either parent to receive unpaid leave for child care. A quarter of a century later, now a Congressman, Ackerman in the House-Senate Conference Committee, signed the report of the Family and Medical Leave Act which became the law of the land.
Ackerman's second career move occurred in 1970, when he left teaching to start a weekly community newspaper in Queens called The Flushing Tribune which soon became the Queens Tribune. Ackerman served as its editor and publisher.
Ackerman was first elected to public office — the New York State Senate — in 1978. State Senator Ackerman was then elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1983 in a special election. Ackerman represented the central Queens area until 1992, when reapportionment reconfigured his district to the north shore of Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Then redistricting in 2002 slightly redrew the boundaries again to its present configuration of communities in Queens and Nassau County.
Ackerman, who sports a white carnation boutonnière each day, lives on a houseboat named the Unsinkable II while in Washington, D.C. and otherwise resides in Roslyn Heights in Nassau County with his wife Rita, having moved there from a home in Jamaica Estates, Queens that sold for US$1 million in 2008.[2] The Ackermans have three children: Lauren, who married Paul; Corey, who married Lena; and Ari.[citation needed] Representative Ackerman is an amateur photographer, an avid stamp collector and a boating enthusiast. Ackerman is an Eagle Scout.
At the 2006 meeting of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), Ackerman was unanimously elected to serve as the executive of the organization.

A. Ramachandran

A. Ramachandran is a renowned Indian painter, born in 1935 in Attingal, Kerala. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi, the highest honour in art conferred by the Government of India; three years later, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, for outstanding service to the nation.
In 1957, he obtained his Master's degree in Malayalam literature, but art had remained a continuing interest since childhood. He joined Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan and completed his education in art in 1961. Between 1961 and 1964, he did his doctoral thesis on the mural paintings of Kerala. By the mid-60s, he had moved to Delhi and in 1965 he joined Jamia Milia Islamia as a lecturer in art education. Later, he became a professor in the same department and was attached to the university until his voluntary retirement in 1992. In 1991, he was appointed honorary chairman of Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi, and in 2005 became Professor Emeritus at Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Initially, Ramachandran painted in an expressionist style which poignantly reflected the angst of urban life. The paintings were large, akin to murals, and comprised powerful figuration. By the 1980s however, Ramachandran's work underwent a sea-change. Urban reality was no longer a preoccupation. A tribal community in Rajasthan with its vibrant ethos gripped his imagination. Simultaneously, the colours and forms of the murals in the Kerala temples began to influence his mode of expression. Myths became a great resource for him. The first in this new style was ‘Yayati’, a retelling of this story from the Indian epic Mahabharata. It was conceived as the inner shrine of a Kerala temple, with thirteen bronze sculptures surrounded on three sides by painted murals, 60 by 8 feet in total size.
As a painter, his strong command over lines, colours and forms create an exciting visual drama. Ramachandran's canvases are vibrant with a sense of teeming, burgeoning life. The artist's quirky sense of irony imbues his paintings with a piquancy and feeling of new discoveries. And, as one who considered Ramkinkar Baij as his guru, Ramachandran has created sculptures which are even more intriguing in formal terms than his paintings.
In 2003, the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) organized a major retrospective of his work. A comprehensive two-volume book ‘A Ramachandran: A Retrospective’ (by Prof. Siva Kumar) documenting and analyzing his works was released simultaneously.
Ramachandran is the author of an extensive study on Kerala temple murals (‘Abode of Gods: Mural Traditions of Kerala’).
He designed the granite bas-relief sculpture at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, Tamilnadu, completed in 2003. It extends for 125 feet and has a height of nearly 20 feet.
Although known largely for his grand paintings and sculptures, he has written and illustrated numerous picture books for children that have been published in India, Japan, Britain and the United States. Some of the original illustrations from these books are on permanent display at the Museum of Children’s Books at Miyazaki, Japan.
Ramachandran lives and works in New Delhi. He is married to artist Tan Yuan Chameli.