It’s a hap, hap, happy birthday: New Delhi’s bday, my bday…


I have been preparing this entry for a long time now. 11 months and 11 days- to be precise! It all started on Day 1 of 2011 when I saw the exclusive page in Hindustan Times regarding the centenary celebration of New Delhi this year. What caught my attention was the fact that India’s capital and I shared a common birth date (sans the year, of course- That’s a huge 80 year gap!) Of course at that time I hadn’t planned for any blog entry regarding this; this idea came up sometime last week only! :D

So, what all happened on the 12th of December?

1901: Guglielmo Marconi (Yes, Radio ke pappaji) received the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St.John’s, Newfoundland. At least this is what Google tells me!


1911, Coronation park, Kingsway camp, Delhi- Here on the 12th Day of December 1911, His Imperial Majesty King George V, Emperor of India accompanied by the Queen Empress in solemn Durbar announced in person to the Governors, Princes and People of India his Coronation celebrated in England on the 22nd day of June 1911 and received from them their dutiful homage and allegiance. On this occasion the King announced the transfer of the capital of British India from Calcutta to Delhi. I source this to Wikipedia!

I captured this at the Sheikh Sarai Crossing. Similar
hoardings are a common sight in Delhi this month.
The transfer of capital also meant that Delhi required a facelift from the existing Chandni Chowk and Sahajahanpur area. And so, the foundations of the new capital New Delhi were laid. Delhiites going around on the roads or following Hindustan Times must be aware of this. This is the reason why so many festivals are taking place in the capital this month (I have attended the Food Festival at Baba Kharak Singh Marg. The Youth Festival at Central Park, CP might have had me in attendance had its theme and events been not-so-‘un’youth-like. What about you?) It’s Happy Birthday to New Delhi today!

1970: Kingsway Camp was official renamed as Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar on December 12, 1970 by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

1949: Rajnikanth was born. (Anna Rascalla, mind it! [:D])

1981: Yuvraj Singh was born. (His recent news of lung tumour was disturbing surely, hope he recovers soon)

1991: The Russian Federation gained independence from USSR. Yes, Google tells me this happened on 12th of December 1991. Of course this wasn’t the biggest happening of the day because on that day at 6.15 PM IST, I was born and so, I contributed to the ever increasing population of the world! :D

Coming up next is the year 2012, which as per Mayan calendars would bring an end to the world (if a recent Times of India article is not to be believed) somewhere around December 12, 2012 (Yes! It’s 12-12-12 [:D]) I would just be 21 then!

Come on now, what are you waiting for? There are so many people (and places) you need to wish a happy birthday to! Go ahead, start with me… :D
P.S.: Thanks to my University’s wonderful scheduling of the third semester exams, I won’t be available on phone from 2-5 PM today as I would be busy filling up pages of the answer-script of my Print Journalism’s paper (and scratching my brain for another point that I might be missing from the many responsibilities of the sub-editor of a newspaper like The Verity or probably thinking of differences between editing and proof-reading!!)

Comments

  1. happy birthday mr blogger!!!:)
    may u reach the heights unreached!:)
    all the best for the xam!

    ReplyDelete
  2. happy birthday.. :D
    may u do ur exam like sid's famous physics paper... :P
    and may ur blog flourish like the rumours (hopefully) of doomsday on internet.. :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. so whom should i wish??
    you or my DILLI!!!
    both of you are my dear ones!!!
    happy birthday to both of you!!!
    enjoy and ANTARIK you have a blast not DELHI
    :D :D :D
    take care...

    ReplyDelete
  4. again, a post with lot of interesting things - some i knew some i didnt

    Happy Birthday :)

    here's another post on Dilli. you might want to read:
    http://maniachunter.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-budday-dilli-shine-on-you-crazy.htm

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday to You!!!

    A nice piece of great information...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you so much everyone for the wishes and the overwhelming viewing of this page...:)
    @vartika- thanks :)
    @mangu- yea, absolutely, i wish the same :P
    @anirudh- haha...thanks yaar :)
    @magiceye- thank you :)
    @sujatha- thank you, glad u liked it. N yea, i saw that post :)
    @Pallabi- thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. great post. lots of info and anything bout delhi is fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wish you a very belated Happy Birthday. Had I known, I would have come here earlier and wished you. Those were nice facts to know about Dec.12 and wonderful to know that you share yours with the Superstar :D I will come back to read more of your stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you zephyr. Will look forward to your future visits :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy birthday once again buddy
    Awesomely written, dont knw if dat is even a word. Nonetheless this post of urs inspire me to write somethin like this on my birthday too :D without givin my age details ofcourse ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha...glad you liked the post Stuti.
      Looking forward to your birthday and your bday post now :D

      Delete

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