Author Topic: CONNECTION OF FAMOUS PERSONALITIES WITH NAINITAL AND OTHER PLACES OF UK ?  (Read 37180 times)

एम.एस. मेहता /M S Mehta 9910532720

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Dosto,

There are several famous at national and international levels who have been connection with Uttarakhand. During the British period, Nainital used to be the hub centre of Britishers and even today a lot of tourists come from different parts of world to Dev Bhoomi.

Nainital has also been famous for education. Many great personalities from India also studied here like Amibitabh Bhachchan, Rajiv Gandhi etc.

We will let you know connection of various personalities with UK under this thread.

M S Mehta

एम.एस. मेहता /M S Mehta 9910532720

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Here is Amibhath Bachchan..

See this group photo of Big 'B' in red circle during his school days in Nainital.
 


Amitabh Bachchan the ‘superstar’, in other words ‘God himself’; since ages people have watched him act and talk. He is an actor who can mesmerize and hypnotize a person with his mere existence. Today is Amitabh Bachchan’s 65th birthday. From his 20’s to his 60’s he has been a performer and continues to be one. To some he is a muse, for many he is an inspiration but who is his role model, his inspiration?

Amitabh Bachchan went to Sherwood College in Nainital. No matter what he did, he knew that his father would support him at all stages. Amitabh grew up with his share of female admiration and adulation. He was no different than any teenager, with his ever-charming smile he sure won many hearts.

Acting occupied a corner of his heart even then. His play performance had won him the best actor’s award, which no doubt he treasures even today. Although now he owns a whole collection of them. One such performance was what he was eagerly waiting for; he practiced until perfection. He was to play the role of a judge in an Agatha Christie play titled ‘And Then There Were None’.

On the final day of his act he suddenly felt dizzy and was confirmed with measles, he was restrained to a room. He no longer could do the play, disappointed and dejected, in solitude he sat in the hospital room to hear the play. The play was about to begin…with every minute his heart sank. And suddenly the door opened and in walked his father. His father spoke to him for the next two hours in order to distract him. It sure was not easy seeing another actor say his lines, wear his costumes. But that day he learnt the most valuable lesson of his life told to him by his father, ‘Jeevan mein apne mann ka ho toh acha hai, apne mann ka na ho toh zyada acha’. (If life goes your way, well and good. If not, one mustn’t worry as it’s not in one’s control…it is in control of the Almighty and the Almighty will do nothing to harm an individual.)

At the crux of the moment those words did not make any sense but later he saw the enormity of those words. For when you are 20, you do not see logic, but when you are 30, you do. And when you are 40 you mellow, at 50 you accept and at 60 you follow. This is what his idol left him with, a thought that Amitabh Bachchan still follows and passes on to his next generation.

suchira

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Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited Rishikesh
He mentioned about this visit in his autobiography "Wings of Fire"

Dissapointed at his rejection by the IAF, Kalam visited Rishikesh where he bathed in the Ganga and met Swami Sivananda – "a man who looked like Buddha". He introduced himself to the Swamiji, who did not react to his Muslim identity. He asked Kalam about the reason for his sorrow. Kalam told him about his unsuccessful attempt to join the Indian Air Force and his long-cherished desire to fly. Sivananda guided him saying: "Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an Air Force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself, my son! Surrender yourself to the wish of God."

suchira

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Mahadevi Verma and Ramgarh

Twenty-five kiliometres from Nainital is the town of Ramgarh, which is situated at a height of 7,000 feet above sea level. To one side of it are the snow-clad mountain peaks of Nandadvi, Trishul, Panchchuli, Neel Kanth, Nandughunti, etc.; on the other side of Ramgarh lies the region where the Puranic sage Garg is said to have done penance-once called Gagaranchal, the region is now known as Gagar.



Atop a small ridge, known as Devithan, in the village of Umagarh at Ramgrh, the famous Hindi poetess Shrimati Mahadevi Verma had bought some land in 1937. She had constructed a small bungalow over here. During the summer months, she used to visit this place every year, alongwith her family of numerous birds and animals.
Here she would immerse hereself in the twin tasks of literary creation and social service.l Ramgarh is famous all over Kumaon as a highly-productive, fruuit-growing belt, yet most of its native residents are poor and uneducated. During the time that she spent at Ramgarh, Mahadevi Ji stayed in close contact with the local residents and encouraged them, particularly the womenfolk, to achieve economic independence, self-confidence and an awareness of the world around them.
Mahadevi Sahitya Sangrahalaya will operate at three levels-
1. To provide creative writers with peaceful conditions essential for any creative activity.
2. To analyse and redefine Mahadeviji's concept of 'Chhayawaad' and to initiate and encourage research work dealing with this concept which is an integral part of twentieth-century Hindi Literature.
3. To provide an opportunity for interaction between dedicated and promising creative artists from various streams of literature and from the fields of art and cultures.
Thus, it is hoped that while, on the one hand, the Mahadevi Sahitya Sangrahalaya will emerge as an authentic storehouse of documents related to literature, culture and the arts, on the other hand, it will also contribute towards the growth and development of the cultural scene, particularly in the context of the Indian Social and cultural ethos.

suchira

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"Gitanjali" and Tagore Top
T In 1903 Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore had visited Uttarakhand in order to give his ailing daughter a chance to recuperate. He walked on foot from Kathgodam to Bhimtal where he was received by his Swiss admirer Mr. Daniel who took Gurudev to Ramgarh. For a while Gurudev stayed at Ramgarh as Mr. Deaniel's quest. However, soon Mr. Daniel had a house constructed for Gurudev on a high ridge, now known as Tagore Top, situated at a height of 8500 feet above sea level. Gurudev had christened the house "Gitanjali" and it was here that he had started writing his immortal masterpiece Gitanjali.
The ruins of the house are still to be seen at Ramgarh, even though huge oak treees have grown in the middle of what-must-once-have-been the rooms, the verandah and the courtyard. The local residents still refer to the ridge as Tagore Top and the place attracts a few Indian and foreign tourists every year.

Anubhav / अनुभव उपाध्याय

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Wah Mehta ji and Suchira ji kya info dhoondh ke laae ho aap log.

suchira

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Swami Vivekanand
AVisit to Almora in 1897. Swami Vivekananda referred to the Himalayas as the land of their forefather's dream. He said "This is the land which since my boyhood I have been dreaming of --- I have attempted again & again to live here forever, and although the time was not ripe, and I had work to do and was whirled away outside of this holy place yet I sincerely pray and hope, and almost believe, my last days will be here, of all places on earth.... these mountains are associated with the best memories of our race."

एम.एस. मेहता /M S Mehta 9910532720

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Elsie Inglis
 
Elsie Inglis in 1916 on her return from SerbiaElsie Inglis (16 August 1864 – 26 November 1917) was an innovative Scottish doctor.

She was born in the hill station town of Naini Tal, India to a father who worked in the Indian civil service. She had the good fortune to have relatively enlightened parents for the time who considered the education of a daughter as important as that of the son. After a private education her decision to study medicine was delayed by her mother's death in 1885, when she felt obliged to stay in Edinburgh with her father. However, the next year the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was opened by Dr Sophia Jex-Blake and Inglis started her studies there. After founding her own breakaway medical college as a reaction to Jex-Blake's uncompromising ways, she completed her training under Sir William Macewen at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

She qualified as a licentiate of both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1892. She was appalled by the general standard of care and lack of specialisation in the needs of female patients, but was able to obtain a post at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson's pioneering New Hospital for Women in London, and then at the Rotunda in Dublin, a leading maternity hospital.

She returned to Edinburgh in 1894 where she set up a medical practice with Jessie Macgregor, who had been a fellow student, and also opened a maternity hospital (The Hospice) for poor women alongside a midwifery resource centre, which was a forerunner of the Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital. A philanthropist, she often waived the fees owed to her and would pay for her patients to recuperate by the sea-side. She was a consultant at Bruntsfield Hospital for women and children, and despite a disagreement between Inglis and the hospital management, the Hospice joined forces with them in 1910.

Her dissatisfaction with the standard of medical care available to women led to her becoming politically active and playing an important role in the early years of the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies.

Despite her already notable achievements it was her efforts during the First World War that brought her fame. She was instrumental in setting up the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service Committee, an organisation funded by the women's suffrage movement with the express aim of providing all female staffed relief hospitals for the Allied war effort. The organisation was active in sending teams to France, Serbia and Russia. She herself went with the teams sent to Serbia where her presence and work in improving hygiene reduced typhus and other epidemics that had been raging there. In 1915 she was captured and repatriated but upon reaching home she began organising funds for a Scottish Women's Hospital team in Russia. She headed the team when it left for Odessa, Russia in 1916 but lasted only a year before she was forced to return to the United Kingdom, suffering from cancer. She died on 26 November 1917, the day after she arrived back at Newcastle upon Tyne. Her funeral service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on 29 November was "the occasion of an impressive public tribute", according to The Scotsman. Winston Churchill said of Inglis and her nurses "they will shine in history".

एम.एस. मेहता /M S Mehta 9910532720

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Jim Corbett (hunter)

Jim Corbett (25 July 1875–19 April 1955) was an Indian-born Irish hunter, conservationist and naturalist, famous for his writings on the hunting of man-eating tigers and leopards. The Corbett National Park in India is named in his memory.

Early life
Edward James "Jim" Corbett was born of Irish ancestry in the town of Naini Tal in the Kumaon foothills of the Himalayas. Jim was the eighth child of Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett. His parents had moved to Naini Tal in 1862, after Christopher Corbett had been appointed postmaster of the town. Jim studied at Oak Openings School (later renamed Philander Smith College), St Joseph's College and the Diocese Boys School (later renamed Sherwood College) in Naini Tal, but left the latter at age seventeen before completing high school. Soon thereafter, he joined the Bengal and North Western Railway, initially working as a fuel inspector at Manakpur in the Punjab, and subsequently as a contractor for the transhipment of goods across the Ganges at Mokama Ghat in Bihar.


[edit] Man-eating tigers
Corbett was a hunter and fishing enthusiast in early life but took to big game photography later. As his admiration for tigers and leopards grew, he resolved never to shoot them unless they turned man-eater or posed a threat to cattle. Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett tracked and killed at least a dozen man-eaters. It is estimated that the combined total of men, women and children these twelve animals had killed was in excess of 1,500. His very first success, the Champawat Tiger in Champawat, alone was responsible for 436 documented deaths. He also shot the Panar Leopard, which allegedly killed 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being rendered unable to hunt its normal prey. Other notable man-eaters he killed were the Talla-Des man-eater, the Mohan man-eater, the Thak man-eater and the Chowgarh tigeress. However, one of the most famous was the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag, which terrorised the pilgrims to the holy Hindu shrines Kedarnath and Badrinath for more than ten years. Jim Corbett was tall (6'1"), brave and endowed with very keen senses. He would often stalk to within twenty feet of the man-eaters, and at great risk to himself, in order to save at least one human life. He preferred to hunt alone and on foot when pursuing dangerous game.


[edit] Conservationist
Corbett was a pioneer conservationist and lectured at local schools and societies to stimulate awareness of the natural beauty surrounding local people and the need to conserve forests and their wildlife. He helped create the Association for the Preservation of Game in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), and the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wild Life. India's first national park, the Hailey National Park, named after Lord Malcolm Hailey, a former Governor of United Provinces, inaugurated in 1934 in the Kumaon Hills was later renamed in his honor in 1957. He also had a deep affection for the people of the Kumaon Hills, and was loved by many of the region. He is considered by some in the Kumaon region as a sadhu.


[edit] Kenya
After 1947, Corbett and his sister Maggie retired to Nyeri, Kenya, where he continued to write and sound the alarm about declining numbers of jungle cats and other wildlife. Jim Corbett was at the Treetops Hotel, a hut built on the branches of a giant ficus tree, when Princess Elizabeth stayed there on February 5-6, 1952, at the time of the death of her father, King George VI. Corbett wrote in the hotel's visitors' register:

For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess, and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree the next day a Queen— God bless her.

Jim Corbett died of a heart attack a few days after he finished writing his sixth book Tree Tops, and was buried at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri. The national park he fought to establish in India was renamed in his honour two years later and is now nearly twice its original size. It is a favoured place for visitors hoping to see a tiger.


[edit] Legacy
Jim Corbett's accounts of the hunting and killing of man-eaters, which had killed almost 1,500 Indians, are related in his books: Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1944), The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (1948), and the Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1954). Man-eaters of Kumaon was a success in India and was chosen by book clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States; the first printing of the American Book-of-the-Month Club being 250,000. The book was later translated into 27 languages. His Jungle Lore is considered as his autobiography. He also wrote My India, about Indian rural life.

In 1968, one of the five remaining subspecies of tigers was named after him; panthera tigris corbetti, more commonly called Corbett's tiger. In 1994, Corbett's long-neglected grave was repaired and restored by the founder and director of Jim Corbett Foundation which has members worldwide[1].


[edit] Books
Man-eaters of Kumaon:
First Indian Edition printed Bombay 1944 (Oxford University Press)
The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag: (OUP) UK 1948
My India: (OUP) UK/INDIA 1952
Jungle Lore: (OUP) UK 1953
The Temple Tiger and more man-eaters of Kumaon: (OUP) UK 1954
Tree Tops: (OUP) UK 1955
Man-Eaters of Kumaon and The Temple Tiger (OUP, World's Classics #577) UK 1960

 

एम.एस. मेहता /M S Mehta 9910532720

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Percy Hobart
Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart KBE CB DSO MC (14 June 1885-19 February 1957), also known as "Hobo", was a British military engineer, noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during World War II. He was responsible for many of the specialised armoured vehicles ('Hobart's Funnies') that took part in the invasion of Normandy and later actions.

[edit] Early life
Hobart was born in Naini Tal, India. In his youth he studied history, painting, literature and church architecture. He was educated at Temple Grove and Clifton College, and in 1904 he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers. He was first sent to India, but during World War I he was served in France and Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

In the early 1920s Hobart volunteered to be transferred to the Royal Tank Corps. He was greatly influenced by the writings of B. H. Liddell Hart on armoured warfare. He also gained the nickname "Hobo". In 1934 he became Brigadier of the first permanent armoured brigade in Britain and Inspector Royal Tank Corps. He had to fight for resources for his command because the British Army was still dominated by conservative cavalry officers. He was made Deputy Director of Staff Duties (Armoured Fighting Vehicles) in 1937 and later Director of Military Training, and promoted to Major-General. Hobart was sent to form and train Mobile Force (Egypt) in 1938, although a local general resisted his efforts. Mobile Force (Egypt) later became 7th Armoured Division, famous as the Desert Rats.


[edit] World War II
Sir Archibald Wavell dismissed Hobart into retirement in 1940, based on hostile War Office information due to his "unconventional" ideas about armoured warfare. Hobart joined the Local Defence Volunteers (precursor to the Home Guard) as a lance-corporal and was charged with the defence of his home village, Chipping Campden. "At once, Chipping Campden became a hedgehog of bristling defiance", and Hobart was promoted to become Deputy Area Organiser.[2] Liddell Hart criticised the decision to retire Hobart and wrote an article in the newspaper Sunday Pictorial. Winston Churchill was notified and he had Hobart re-enlisted into the army in 1941. Hobart was assigned to train 11th Armoured Division, which was recognised as an extremely successful task. His detractors tried again to have him removed, this time on medical grounds, but Churchill rebuffed them. Subsequently, however, he was removed from the 11th Armoured when they were transferred to Tunisia in September 1942. He was relatively old (57) for active command and he had been ill.


 

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