NTR (The Legend of Legends)

NTR was born in a farmer’s family at Nimmakuru, Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on 28th of May 1923 at 4.32pm. His mother wished to name his son as Krishna, but his uncle named him as Taraka Ramudu, which later confined as Taraka Rama Rao. His parents Nandamuri Lakshmiah Chowdhury and Venkata Ramamma least imagined that this child was going to be uprise as an remarkable persona in his future and going to come across a golden thrown for him in the Andhra Pradesh history.

In spite of being a farmers family NTR's parents respected education. NTR'S basic education was finished at his native place Nimmakuru. When his uncle Ramaiah adopted NTR, he was taken to Vijayawada concerning his further education. NTR had joined in sixth class at Gandhi Municipal School at Vijayawada. When his parents met with a bad patch frantically, NTR used to help them by tying the milk cans on both sides of his cycle and distributing them to the hotels and dwellers of farer places from their house. It was his first taste of the dignity of labour. He had undertaken so many things to earn the daily bread for their family. He ran a small provision store and worked as a clerk. In spite of all these things he remained a good student in his school and later in college. While he was studying Intermediate at S.R.R. College at Visakha Patnam, Viswanatha Satyanarayana who was the head of the Telugu dept there asked NTR to play a female role where NTR reluctantly agreed to play the role but having his moustache! That incidence fetched him the nickname meesaala naagamma.

He got married to his maternal uncle’s daughter Basavatharakam in May 1942. Because of the distraction caused by marriage, he failed in Intermediate twice. NTR completed his graduation in the year 1947. He later passed in the Madras Service Commission Exam – out of 1,100 members only seven were selected and Rama Rao was one among them. B.A. Subba Rao, the famous film producer happened to see NTR's photograph at L.V. Prasad. He called up NTR to Madras and fixed him up as the hero for his film ‘Palleturi Pilla’, without any make up test or screen test at all. But it was the film ‘Mana Desam’, for which Rama Rao faced the camera for the first time, in the year 1949. NTR was offered a small role as a sub inspector in that film. His first lead role was in the film ‘Palleturi Pilla’, in 1950 followed by L. V. Prasad’s ‘Shavukar’ in the same year.

Stardom came to him with K.V. Reddy’s film ‘Paathala Bhairavi’ (1951), which was followed by B.N. Reddy’s ‘Malleeswari’ (1951), L.V. Prasad’s ‘Pelli Chesi Choodu’ (1952) and K. Kameswara Rao’s ‘Chandra Haaram’. In 1958, A.V.M. Chettiyar determined to make his film ‘Bhoo Kailas’ under K. Shanker’s direction. He preferred the fine-looking young man N.T. Rama Rao for the role of Ravana Brahma. His first mythological film P. Pullaiah’s ‘Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam’ (1960) was a tremendous hit. He played five roles in the film ‘Sri Madvirata Parvam’. In his 44 years of film career, Rama Rao had acted in about 297 films, out of which 280 are Telugu, 15 Tamil and 4 Hindi films. 44 of his films were mythological, 13 were historical, 55 fictional and 185 films were social. 140 of his films celebrated hundred days and 33 films celebrated silver Jubilees while six of his films ran more than 50 weeks. For his film ‘Maya Bazar’ for Lord Krishna’s role, which was released in 1956, he took Rs.7, 500/-, which was said to be the highest remuneration in those days.

NTR directed his first film ‘Sitha Rama Kalyanam’ in 1961 under his own banner N.A. T. films which was managed by his brother Trivikrama Rao. In that film Rama Rao played das Ravana Brahma in such way no other actor could imagine doing that. He directed himself in a triple role in ‘Daana Veera Soora Karna’ in 1977 he also directed the film ‘Sri Rama Pattabhishekam’ in 1978. His social films ‘Adavi Ramudu’ and ‘Yamagola’ were huge box- office hits.

He made his way into politics in 1982 by setting up his own regional party, ‘Telugu Desam Party’ (TDP) aspiring to shield the pride of the Telugu People all over the world. He had beaten Congress-I in the first elections and became the non Congress Chief Minister for the first time in India. No other politician entered into politics within nine months of their entry into politics. He had brought in the 'slab system' in film field in 1984. The system facilitated the producers as well as the distributors largely. He was the chief minister of the state till 1989 when his party was discomfited. He was elected to be the Chairman of ‘National Front Party’.

As the Time grabs everybody to its cold lap, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, a great legend died in 1996 at the age of 73 leaving no other person to replace his place. He is not among us physically he remains unaltered in the hearts of millions of people of Andhra Pradesh.

BHAGAT SINGH

Bhagat Singh was born in September 27, 1907 in the village Banga of Layalpur to Mata Vidyavati and Sardar Kishan Singh. Bhagat Singh grew up in a patriotic atmosphere as his father and uncle, were great freedom fighters and were put in jail many times by the British.

Bhagat Singh grew up at a time when the Freedom struggle was all around him. Since his young age he wondered why so many Indians could not get freedom from a few British invaders, he dreamed of a free India. The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919 drove him to go to Amritsar, where he kissed the earth and brought back home a little of the blood soaked soil, he was just 12 years old then. Kartar Sing Sarabha, hanged at the age of 19 by the British was Bhagat Singh's hero.

Bhagat Singh, along with the help of Chandrashekhar Azad, formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA). The aim of this Indian revolutionary movement was defined as not only to make India independent, but also to create "a socialist India."

In February 1928, a committee from England visited India. It came to be known as the Simon Commission. The purpose of its visit was to decide how much freedom and responsibility could be given to the people of India. Indian freedom fighters started an agitation called "Simon go back". It was in this agitation that during a police lathicharge, Lala Lajpat Rai was hurt and died. To avenge the death of Lala Lajpat rai, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot and killed the British Officer who had hit Lala Lajpat Rai.

In April 1929, the Central Legislative Assembly met in Delhi. The British Government wanted to place before the Assembly two bills which were likely to harm the country's interests. Even if the Assembly rejected them, the Viceroy could use his special powers and approve them, and they would become laws. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt planned to throw a bomb in the Legislative Assembly and, get arrested. On 8th of April 1929 this is what they exactly did. The idea of the attack was not to kill anyone but to create awareness about India's freedom struggle. They were arrested after this attack.

In their trial Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt stated, "If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud. When we dropped the bomb, it was not our intention to kill anybody. We have bombed the British Government. The British must quit India and make her free."

In the trial it was decided that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were to be hanged for all their anti British activities. On 24th of March 1931 Bhagat Singh walked upto the hanging rope kissed it and put it around his neck to be hanged.

Bhagat Singh became "Shaheed Bhagat Singh" or Martyr at the age of 24. The stories of his courage and patriotism became an inspiration for many youth at that time who wanted to see India independent. Even today Shaheed Bhagat Singh's memory continues to inspire the youth and many poems and songs have been written about his courage and undying patriotism.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) was born into a Hindu Modh family in Porbandar, Gujarat, India in 1869. He was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, the diwan (Chief Minister) of Porbandar, and Putlibai, Karamchand's fourth wife (his previous three wives had died in childbirth), a Hindu of the Pranami Vaishnava order.

In May 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married through his parents' arrangement to Kasturba Makhanji (also spelled "Kasturbai" or known as "Ba"), who was the same age as he. They had four sons: Harilal Gandhi, born in 1888; Manilal Gandhi, born in 1892; Ramdas Gandhi, born in 1897; and Devdas Gandhi, born in 1900.

Gandhi was to stay in South Africa for over twenty years. The Indians who had been living in South Africa were without political rights, and were generally known by the derogatory name of 'coolies'. Gandhi himself came to an awareness of the frightening force. In his book 'Satyagraha in South Africa' he was to detail the struggles of the Indians to claim their rights, and their resistance to oppressive legislation and executive measures, such as the imposition of a poll tax on them, or the declaration by the government that all non-Christian marriages were to be construed as invalid.

After the First World War, Gandhi decided to concentrate on improving life in his native India. His ideology was well received and he soon had a healthy following that regularly practised passive resistance. The British government didn’t like the campaigning and deemed it to be revolutionary. Consequently, British troops massacred many innocent Indians at a demonstration in 1920. This caused Gandhi to instigate a policy of non-cooperation towards the Brits. Indians began removing their children from government run schools and masses of people began squatting in the streets to protest. Even when faced with physical punishments, such as being beaten with a truncheon, they would refuse to move.

In retaliation Britain imprisoned Gandhi, but he was soon released. In 1924, he was forced to call an end to the campaign of non-cooperation due to rising levels of violence from India towards Britain. Ironically, the opposite of what he preached was starting to take place. Six years later he began another campaign against the payment of tax, and many of his followers joined him on a demonstration march to the sea. In 1934, he formally resigned from politics, having been imprisoned several more times. When imprisoned, Gandhi would begin fasting in protest. The British hated this, because they knew that if he died whilst being wrongly imprisoned the repercussions from the Indian people would be catastrophic.

In 1947 India gained independence, something that Gandhi had worked towards for a long time. He was against partition though, wishing that those of Moslem and Hindu faith could live peacefully side-by-side. He was also very critical of the caste system, whereby some Indians of high social standing were deemed ‘untouchable’. Tragically, a crazed Hindu assassinated Gandhi in 1949.

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

Scottish-born American inventor and teacher of the deaf, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) is best known for perfecting the telephone to transmit vocal messages by electricity. The telephone inaugurated a new age in communication technology.

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh. His father, Alexander Melville Bell, was an expert in vocal physiology. After studying at the University of Edinburgh and University College, London, Bell became his father's assistant. He taught the deaf to talk by adopting his father's system of visible speech (illustrations of speaking positions of the lips and tongue). In London he studied Hermann Ludwig von Helmholtz's experiments with tuning forks and magnets to produce complex sounds. In 1865 Bell made scientific studies of the resonance of the mouth while speaking. From 1873 to 1876 Bell experimented with a phonautograph, a multiple telegraph, and an electric speaking telegraph (the telephone).

He invented a harmonic telegraph, to transmit several messages simultaneously over one wire, and a telephonic-telegraphic receiver. Bell supplied the ideas; Thomas Watson made and assembled the equipment. The U.S. Patent Office granted Bell the patent for the "electric speaking telephone" on March 7. It was the most valuable single patent ever issued, and it opened a new age in communication technology. Many others had worked to develop a practical telephone (the word itself was coined as early as 1849), and in all some six hundred suits were filed against Bell's patent. But it was ultimately upheld and he became a very rich man, in part thanks to his father-in-law, Gardiner G. Hubbard, who organized the first Bell Telephone Company. That firm evolved in the next few decades into the Bell Telephone System owned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

With the wealth derived from the telephone, Bell was able to assist the careers of other scientists. He also founded and helped finance the journal Science, today the premier American scientific journal, and the National Geographic Society. While constantly engaged in scientific experiments, Bell crusaded tirelessly on behalf of the deaf, encouraging their integration into society with the help of lip-reading and other techniques. In 1890 he founded the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf.

He died in 1922 at his summer home on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. People throughout North America were urged to refrain from making phone calls during his burial so that telephones would remain silent as a tribute.

SIR ISSAC NEWTON

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was an English scientist and mathematician. He made major contributions in mathematics and theoretical and experimental physics and achieved a remarkable synthesis of the work of his predecessors on the laws of motion, especially the law of universal gravitation.

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day, 1642, at Woolsthorpe, a hamlet in southwestern Lincoln shire. He was born after the death of his father, and in his third year his mother married the rector of a neighboring parish, leaving Isaac at Woolsthorpe in the care of his grandmother. In 1661, at the age of 19, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. There the questioning of long-accepted beliefs was beginning to be apparent in new attitudes toward man's environment, expressed in the attention given to mathematics and science. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1665, apparently without special distinction, Newton stayed on for his master's; but an epidemic of the plague caused the university to close.At that time he discovered the law of universal gravitation, began to develop the calculus, and discovered that white light is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. These findings enabled him to make fundamental contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and theoretical and experimental physics.

His mathematics professor, Isaac Barrow, was the first to recognize Newton's unusual ability, and when, in 1669, Barrow resigned to devote himself to theology, he recommended Newton as his successor. Newton became Lucasian professor of mathematics at 27 and stayed at Trinity in that capacity for 27 years. Newton's main interest at the time of his appointment was optics.

He built the first reflecting telescope in 1668 and became a professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1669. He worked out the fundamentals of caluclus, though this work went unpublished for more than 30 years. His most famous publication, Principia Mathematica (1687), grew out of correspondence with Edmond Halley. He was elected president of the Royal society of London in 1703 and became the first scientist ever to be knighted in 1705.

Newton died in London on 31 March 1727. After his death, Newton's body was discovered to have had massive amounts of mercury in it. Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

ALBERT EINSTEIN(1879-1955):-

Once he climbed a ladder to change the picture on the wall. His foot slipped and he fell to the floor. Quickly recovering from the fall he began working to the causes of the fall. He was Albert Einstein.

Einstein was born at Ulm in Germany. Right from his childhood he was interested in science. he was sharp in mathematics and mediocre in other subjects.He completed his education in 1900 and became a citizen of Switzerland where he tried for admission in Zurich university. He joined the Swiss patent office as a clerk. He married a science student Melva marec. In 1905 he got his doctorate degree from Zurich university. By that he had published five research papers which made him a famous scientist as he showed that when light falls on metals like tungsten etc. they emit photo electrons and the effect is called photo electric effect. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1921 for his discovery of the Law of Photo electric effect.

His major contribution was the special theory of relativity. He showed that the physical quantities are not constant, but vary with the velocity of the body. The interconnection of mass and energy was embedded in the equation E=mc2 where E is energy, m is mass and c, a constant equal to the velocity of light. The atomic bomb was the result of the equation.

Einstein died on April 18, 1955. An element Einsteinium has been named after him. He is some times called the Father of Modern Physics