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Beauty Queens : . Aishwarya Rai . Diana Hayden . Lara Dutta . Madhu Sapre . Mumtaz Mahal . Priyanka Chopra .

Sushmita Sen . Yukta Mookhey

Businessman : . Azim Premji . Adi Godrej . Amar Bose . Anil Ambani . B.M. Munjal . Bhai Mohan Singh . Dr.K. Anji Reddy . Indra Nooyi . Dhirubhai Ambani . G. D. Birla . Kumar Mangalam Birla . Lalit Suri . Laxmi Mittal . M.S.Oberoi . Mukesh Ambani . Rahul Bajaj . Ramalinga Raju . Narayan Murthy . Ratan Tata . Sunil Mittal . Raunaq Singh . Shiv Nadar . Shobhana Bhartia . Subroto Roy . Sulajja Firodia Motwani . Tulsi Tanti . Vijay Mallya . Vinod Khosla

Dancers : . Birju Maharaj . Mallika Sarabhai . Sanjukta Panigrahi . Shovana Narayan . Sitara Devi . Sonal Mansingh . Yamini Krishnamurthy

Famous Persons : . Akbar . Ashoka . Anjolie Ela Meno . Arun Sarin . Dr. Pratap Reddy . Ekta Kapoor . K.P. Singh . Baiju Bawra . Gautama Buddha . Guru Arjan Dev . E. Sreedharan . Indra Nooyi . Kalpana Chawla . MS Oberoi Film Personalities : . Amitabh Bachchan . Aamir Khan . Ajay Devgan . Ashok Kumar . B.R.Chopra . Basu Bhattacharya . Dada Kondke . Dadasaheb Phalke . Deepa Mehta . Dev Anand . Devika Rani . Dharmendra . Dimple Kapadia . Dilip Kumar . Girish Karnad . Hema Malini . Kamal Amrohi . Kamal Hasan . Madhu Bala . Mani Ratnam . Manmohan Desai . Meera Nair . R. Madhavan . Madhuri Dixit . Mammootty . Manoj Kumar . Naseeruddin Shah . Raj Kapoor . Rajendra Kumar . Ritu Beri . Satyajit Ray . Shabana Azmi . Shivaji Ganeshan . Shyam Benegal . Uttam Kumar . V. Shantaram . Yash Chopra . Nana Patekar . Nargis . Guru Gobind Singh . Guru Nanak Dev . Guru Tegh Bahadur . Kalidasa . Lord Mahavir . Rakesh Sharma . Romesh Chandra Dutt . Shakuntala Devi . Shivinder Singh Sidhu . Kiran Mazumdar Shaw . Mallika Srinivasan . Naina Lal Kidwai . Nandan Nilekani . Mirza Ghalib . Rana Pratap . Rani Lakshmi Bai . Shah Jahan . Wajid Ali Shah . Sir Mokshagundam . Sister Nivedita . Sunita Williams . Naresh Goyal . Shahnaz Hussain . Subhash Chandra . Swathi Thirunal . Vinod Dham Visvesvaraya

. Guru Dutt . Hrithik Roshan . Jaya Bachchan . Jitendra . Karan Johar . Sri Devi

. Manoj Night Shyamalan . Mithun Chakraborty . Mohanlal . Subhash Ghai . Sunil Dutt . Smita Patil

. Rajinikanth . Rekha . Salman Khan . Sanjay Dutt . Sharmila Tagore . Shahrukh Khan

Freedom Fighters : . Annie Besant . Aruna Asaf Ali . Ajmal Khan . Bal Gangadhar Tilak . Bipin Chandra Pal . Bhagat Singh . Bahadur Shah Zafar . Begum Hazrat Mahal . Bishnu Ram Medhi . Govind Ballabh Pant . Shahu Chhatrapati . Kasturba Gandhi . Madam Cama . Mangal Pandey Musicians : . Pandit Ravi Shankar . A. R. Rahman . Alla Rakha . Amir Khusro . Gulzar . Majrooh Sultanpuri . Naushad Ali . Tansen . Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan . Ustad Bismillah Khan . Zakir Hussain . S D Burman . Shankar Ehsaan Loy . Shankar Jaikishan . Shubha Mudgal . Pandit Debu Chaudhuri . RD Burman . Shiv Kumar Sharma . Sri Lalgudi Jayarama Iyer Painters : . M. F. Hussain Satish Gujral . Rameshwar Broota Politicians : . Ananth Kumar . Ananthasayanam . Arjun Singh . B. C. Khanduri . Balram Jakhar . Bhupinder Singh Hooda . Biju Patnaik . Ghulam Nabi Azad . K.R Gowri Amma . E. S. L. Narasimhan Ayyangar . Sanjay Gandhi . Gopal Krishna Gandhi . Gopinath Bordoloi . H. D. Kumaraswamy . J Dringwell Rymbai . James Michael Lyngdoh . Jaswant Singh . Jyoti Basu . Kailas Nath Katju . Khushwant Singh . Lal Krishna Advani . Lalu Prasad Yadav . P. Chidambaram . Pramod Mahajan . Shri Balasaheb . T.N. Seshan . Yashwant Sinha . K Kamaraj . Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Gangadhar Kher Personalities in Abroad : . Amitava Ghosh . Sabeer Bhatia . Mira Nair . Salman Rushdie . Swraj Paul . Ali Akbar Khan . Jasraj Pandit . Chandra Shekhar Azad . Dr. B R Ambedkar . Jawaharlal Nehru . Lakshmibai . Lala Lajpat Rai . Jyotiba Phule . Vinoba Bhave . Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari . Chittaranjan Das . Dadabhai Naoroji . Gopal Krishna Gokhale . Maulana Abul Kalam Azad . Motilal Nehru . Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan . Mahatma Gandhi . Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel . Subash Chandra Bose . 'Veer' Savarkar . Mridula Sarabhai . Pattabhi Sitaramayya . Rani Gaidinliu . S.Srinivasa Iyengar . Sucheta Kriplani

. Amjad Ali Khan . Pandit Bhimsen Joshi . Ananda Shankar . Anand Bakshi . Anand Milind . Bappi Lahiri . Tyagaraja . Laxmi Kant Pyarelal . Madan Mohan . Annapurna Devi . L. Subramaniam . MS Subbulakshmi . Muthuswami Dikshitar

. Allauddin Khan . Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia . Rajesh Roshan

. Begum Akhtar . Nadeem Shravan

. Gegong Apang President of India : . Dr. Rajendra Prasad . Dr. Zakir Husain . Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed . Kocheril Raman Narayanan . B D Jatti . Muhammad Hidayatull

. Lachit Borphukan

. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy . R.Venkataraman . Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan . Shankar Dayal Sharma . Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam . Varahagiri Venkata Giri . Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil

Prime Minister : . Choudhary Charan Singh . Giani Zail Singh . Atal Bihari Vajpayee . Indira Gandhi . Dr Manmohan Singh . Inder Kumar Gujral . Morarji Desai . Chandra Shekhar . Gulzarilal Nanda . Rajiv Gandhi . Lal Bahadur Shastri . P.V. Narasimha Rao . Vishwanath Pratap Singh

Poet : . Amrita Pritam . Bankim Chandra . Firaq Gorakhpuri . Kabir . Girish Chandra Ghosh . Sri Aurobindo Chattarjee . Mahadevi Verma . Maithili Sharan Gupt . Mohammad Iqbal . Rabindra Nath Tagore . Maithili Sharan Gupt . Michael Madhusudan Dutt . Subhadra Kumari Chauhan . Ramdhari Singh Dinkar . Sumitranandan Pant . Suryakant Tripathi . Waris Shah . Padmakar . Subramanya Bharathi . Nagarjun

Religious Thinkers : . Ramakrishna Paramahansa . Osho . Acharya Narendra Deo . Dayanand Saraswati Scholars : . A.K. Ramanujan . Amartya Sen . Dr. S Radhakrishnan . M G Ranade Scientists : . Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam . Dr.H.J.Bhabha . Dr. H. Khorana . Anil Kakodkar . Birbal Sahni Singers : . Asha Bhonsle . Kishore Kumar . Kundan Lal Saigal . Alisha Chinai . Alka Yagnik . Hemlata . Lata Mangeshkar . Mohammed Rafi . Amit Kumar . Anwar . Jagjit Singh . Sukhwiner Singh . Kumar Sanu . Manna Dey . Mukesh . Nitin Mukesh . Sonu Nigam . Suresh Wadekar . Udit Narayan . Dr. S. Chandrasekhar . C.V.Raman . Jagdish Chandra Bose . Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar . Vikram.A.Sarabhai . M Visvesvaraya . Satyendra Nath Bose . Shantha Sinha . Meghnad Saha . Vishnu Sharma . Srinivasa Ramanujan . Sri Satya Sai Baba . Swami Vivekanand . Adi Sankaracharya . Mirabai

Social Activists : . Arundhati Roy . Dr. Verghese Kurien . Kiran Bedi . Baba Amte Sport Persons : . Dhyan Chand . Gama Pehalwan . Jahnu Barua . Kapil Dev . Karnam Malleswari . Leander Paes Writer : . Anita Desai . Ananthmurthy, N. R . Bana Bhatta . Jhumpa Lahiri . Mohan Rakesh . Hazari Prasad Dwivedi . Jai Shankar Prasad . Kamala Das . Raja Rao . Kiran Desai . Mahasweta Devi . Mulk Raj Anand . Premchand . R.K.Narayan . U.R. Ananthamurthy . Kamleshwar . Manik Bandopadhyay . Mohan Rakesh . Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay . Nirad C Chaudhuri . Shashi Deshpande . Shashi Tharoor . Valmiki . Vikram Seth . Vishnu Prabhakar . Vyasa . Nissim Ezekeil . Phanishwar Nath Renu . Vikram Chandra . Shobha De . V.S.Naipaul . Mahesh Bhupathi . Mihir Sen . Narain karthikeyan . P.T.Usha . Prakash Padukone . Ravi Shastri . Rahul Dravid . Sachin Tendulkar . Sania Mirza . Sourav Ganguly . Sunil Gavaskar . Vishwanathan Anand . Mother Teresa . Raja Ram Mohan Roy . Sarojini Naidu . Medha Patkar . Abdul Ghaffar Khan . Karsanbhai Patel . Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

Beauty Queens :
Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an internationally renowned actress. She was born on November 1, 1973. Before starting her career

in acting, she was a model and winner of the 1994 Miss World contest. She made her first debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar released in 1997. In 1998 she got her first commercial success in the movie Jeans.

Aishwarya came into limelight with the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) for which she won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award and in 2002, she won her second Best Actress Award at the Filmfare for the film Devdas. Till date, she has worked in more than forty films in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English, including some international productions.

Diana Hayden
Diana Hayden was born on November 19, 1973. She is a model and an actress. She first came into limelight in 1997, when she represented India in the Miss World pageant and became the third Indian woman to win the contest. Before modelling, she used to work for an event management company, Encore and then for a public relation office, BMG Crescendo.

After reigning as Miss World for one year, Diana opted for an acting career in the Bollywood. Her fist film was Tehzeeb where she had a guest appearance and later she played the lead role in the film Ab Bas. Presently, she hosts the most popular show Biography on History Channel.

Lara Dutta
Lara Dutta is an Indian model and actress. She was born on April 16, 1978 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh in India. She won the annual Gladsrags modelling competition and represented India in the Miss International pageant in 1997 and won the title. Later in 2000, she was crowned Famine Miss India Universe and Miss Universe. She became the second Indian women to win this title.

Lara is UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. In 2003, she made her first debut in Bollywood with the film Andaaz, for which she won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. Later, she has appeared in several other films.

Madhu Sapre
Madhu Sapre is an Indian supermodel. She was born in the Indian state of Maharashtra on July 14, 1971. She came to limelight when she won the Miss India and later represented India at the 1992 Miss Universe pageant where she completed third. She won the swimsuit round and for the best evening gown. Initially, she hoped to make a career in Athletics.

At present Madhu lives in Italy with her husband Gian Maria. She still appears on the ramp in India occasionally and keeps jetting between Italy and India. She was also popular for her fling with model Milind Soman.

Mumtaz Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal was the nickname of Arjumand Banu Begum. She was the third and the most beloved wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The magnificent monument of Taj Mahal was built in her memory by Shah Jahan. Her beauty was so enthralling that Shah Jahan fell in love with her at the very first sight.

Mumtaz Mahal used to travel with Shah Jahan, throughout his military campaigns. She was his constant companion and trusted confidant and their relationship was intense. On June 17, 1631, she died in Burhanpur in the Deccan during the birth of their fourteenth child. Her body was buried in the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra was born on 18th July, 1982. She is a well-known film actress of India. She became famous by winning the Miss World title in 2000. She made her debut as an actor in a Tamil film named Thamizhan in 2001. She made her Bollywood debut in Anil Sharmas film The Hero: Love Story of a Spy.

Priyanka has won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award 2001, for her second film Andaaz. She was also awarded the Filmfare Best Villain Award in 2004, for her performance in Abbas-Mustans movie Aitrazz. Later, her films like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi in 2004 and Krrish in 2006 were her biggest commercial success. Don-The Chase Begins Again released in 2006, established her as a popular actress.

Sushmita Sen
Sushmita Sen is a well known Indian actress and a model. She was born on November 19, 1975 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. In 1994, at the age of 18, she participated in the Miss India contest and won the title. Later, she participated in Miss Universe Pageant held in Manila, Philippines. She won the crown and became the first Indian woman to attain the title of Miss Universe.

In 1996, Sushmita started her acting career in Bollywood with the film Dastak. Till date, she has starred in many movies. In 2006, for her achievement in Bollywood she was conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Award.

Yukta Mookhey
Yukta Mookhey is a model and actress of the Indian cinema. She was born on 7 October 1979. In December 1999, at the Olympic theatre in London, she was crowned Miss World. Though she is a native of northern India, she used to live in Middle East till she was seven years of age. She with her family migrated back to India in 1986.

Yukta is a diploma holder in computer sciences and has studied Hindustani classical music. She is an active member of the rightwing Hindu organization BJP. She first appeared on the silver screen in 2001 in a Tamil Movie in an item number. In 202, she made her first debut in Bollywood in the film 'Pyaasa'.

Businessman:
Azim Premji
Azim Premji is the fifth richest Indian businessman and the chairman and CEO of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India. He was born on July 24, 1945. He has been recognised as one of the "Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time" by BusinessWeek. In 2000, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education conferred him with an honorary doctorate. In the same year he was also declared the Businessman of the Year, by Business India.

Premji is a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India. On 18th of June, 2008 on the occasion of 58th Convocation Ceremony of the Aligarh Muslim University, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), an honorary degree.

Adi Godrej
Adi Godrej heads the much acclaimed Godrej Group of Industries. At the tender age of 17-years, he went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study engineering but later switched on to management. He received his undergraduate as well as MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management.

He has been instrumental in bringing about the liberalization in the working of the business that has seen immense progress. Adi Godrej is also a major supporter of World Wildlife Fund, and has developed a 150-acre mangrove green campus in the Vikhroli area of Mumbai besides the construction of a school for the children of the employees.

Amar Bose
Amar Gopal Bose, the chairman and founder of Bose Corporation was born on November 2nd 1929. Bose with a net worth of $1.8 billion was listed on the Forbes 400 for the year 2007. He was born and brought-up in Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania. He is wedded to a senior manager at Bose Corporation, Ursula Boltzhauser.

At the age of 13 years, Bose first displayed his entrepreneurial skills as well as his interest in the field of electronics. In order to support his family expenses, he began with initiating a small home business of repairing model trains and home radios. Subsequent to the completion of his graduation, he took a post of an Assistant Professor at MIT. Even while running his company, Bose continued to be a professor at MIT until the year 2000.

Anil Ambani
Anil Ambani was born on June 4th, 1959 in an Indian business family. He graduated in Science from the University of Mumbai (formerly University of Bombay), and later on pursued MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Presently, he acts as a member of the Wharton Board of Overseers.

Anil Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer and is accredited with initiating several financial modernizations in the Indian capital markets. At present, he is the chairman of Reliance Capital, Reliance Infocomm and Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance Energy Limited. He had been elected as an independent member of Rajya Sabha in the 2004 with the support of Samajwadi Party, but resigned later on in the year 2006.

B.M. Munjal
B.M. Munjal or Brij Mohan Lall Munjal is the Chairman of the renowned Hero Group. He moved from Kamalia (Pakistan) to Amritsar (India) in the year 1944 with his 3 brothers, and later on during partition in 1947 was forced to shift to Ludhiana. He initiated his career with supplying cycle components to cycle manufacturers, and soon spread its network to different parts of the country.

He is a first generation entrepreneur who began from scratch and has made to the top with sheer hard work and perseverance. At present, Hero Group is the world's largest manufacturer of two-wheelers of which the credit goes to Brij Mohan Lall Munjal. For his immense contribution and success of Hero Cycle, he was awarded with the recognition of Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2001 by Ernst & Young.

Bhai Mohan Singh


Bhai Mohan Singh was born and brought-up in Rawalpindi, and subsequent to partition came to New Delhi, herein he initiated money-lending business. His cousins Ranjit Singh and Gurbax Singh started a pharmaceutical company with the fusion of their names Ranbaxy. However, when Ranbaxy defaulted in loan, Bhai Mohan Singh bought this company on August 1st 1952.

He was a former vice president of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and was honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri for his involvement in civic matters. In fact, the Government of Punjab has name an Industrial Township near Ropar after his name, owing to the contribution made by him in the field industrial development of Punjab.

Dr. K. Anji Reddy


Dr. Kallam Anji Reddy who hails from village of Tadepalli in Guntur district is the founder-chairman of the Reddy Group of Companies. Under his leadership, Reddy Group of Companies became the first non-Japanese pharmaceutical company to be listed in the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). Dr. Kallam Anji Reddy pursued B.Sc. in Pharmaceuticals and Fine chemicals from University of Mumbai (formerly University of Bombay) and then completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, in 1969.

Besides the notable awards received for his discovery in the pharmaceutical industry is the Padma Shri recognition in 2001. Currently, Dr. Reddy is an nominated member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry, Government of India, and has also been selected to the Board of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER).

Indra Nooyi
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She is the chairperson and chief executive officer of the fourth largest food and beverage company of the world. She was declared the successor to Steve Reinemund, as CEO of the company on August 14, 2006. As per the polls conducted by Forbes magazine, Indra Nooyi ranks fifth in the list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2007. She is the number one Most Powerful Women in Business for the year 2006 and 2007, according to Fortune Magazine. She was bestowed with Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 2007and nominated to the fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

Dhirubhai Ambani
Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, also known as Dhirubhai Gujarati, was one of the richest business tycoons of India. He founded the Reliance Industries with his cousin. He was born on 28 December 1933. He stated his entrepreneurship by selling pakoras. When he was 16 he moved to Aden, Yemen and started working with A. Besse & Co.

Dhirubhai returned to India in 1962. With a capital of Rs. 15,000 he started the Reliance Commercial Corporation and the primary business was to export spices and import polyester yarn. In 1977, he took his company public and by 2007, the Ambanis became one of the richest families in the world as the combined fortune of the family was 100 billion dollars. He passed away on July 6, 2002.

G D Birla
Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla was a noted businessman of India. He was born on April 10, 1894 and inherited the family business to

diversify them in several other areas. He founded several educational institutions and established temples, hospitals and planetariums. He laid the foundation of Birla Estate and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

In 1957, Birla was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. During his lifetime, he has established several mills and industries. After Indian independence, he invested in tea, textiles, cement, chemicals and steel tubes. He died on June 11, 1983. The G.D. Birla award for Scientific Research has been established in his honour and to encourage scientists.

Kumar Mangalam Birla


Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chairman of Aditya BIrla Group was born on June 14th 1967, spending most of his childhood in Kolkata and Mumbai. He pursued MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from the London School, and joined the Birla Group of Industries in 1995 after the sudden demise of his father. Under his leadership, the group has made its presence in countries such as Malaysia, China, Canada, Thailand, Australia, Philippines, Egypt, as well Indonesia.

He has bagged in several honours for himself inclusive of The Business Leader of the Year for 2003 by the Economic Times as well as the Entrepreneur of the Year for 2005 by Ernest & Young.

Lalit Suri
Lalit Suri was the former Chairman of the Bharat Chain of Hotels inclusive The InterContinental was born on April 15th 1947 in Rawalpindi. Suri pursued his schooling from St. Columbus and then went on to study in Sri Ram College of Commerce. He represented for athletics as well as swimming at both school and college level. He also served as the MP of the Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of Parliament.

He studied automobile engineering and made bodies of automobiles. It was later on that he shifted to the field of hotel business for which he is renowned by construction of first hotel in 1988.

Laxmi Mittal
Laxmi Mittal, a UK-based billionaire was born on June 15th 1950 in Sadulpur, Rajasthan. Mittal is the Chairman and CEO of Arcelor-Mittal. He completed his graduation from St. Xaviers College, Calcutta (now Kolkata) in Bachelors of Commerce. Subsequent to a discord with his father and brother, he moved on to take charge of the overseas business of the family.

In accordance to the Forbes Magazine 2006, Laxmi Mittal is the third richest person in the world. He is known for his opulence that was reflected in the $ 50 million expensive wedding of his daughter Vanisha. He has been honoured with awards inclusive of Padma Vibhushan. At present, he lives in Kensington, London.

M.S. Oberoi
Rai Bhaadur Mohan Singh Oberoim, known as MS Oberoi was the greatest hotelier of India. He was born on August 15, 1900 in a village called Bhaun Jhelum, which is now in Pakistan. He was regarded a visionary, who put forward a modern structural model for South Asia's tourism and hospitability services industry. His father died, when he was six months old, survived by his mother with a few resources. He got his college degree in Lahore and worked as low paid billing clerk at Shimla's Hotel. After ten years, he gathered entire family resources and purchased the hotel. Later on he built many hotels and expanded his base holdings.

Later on he was selected a president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and was bestowed with very many honours.

Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Reliance Industries Limited, was born on April 19th 1957 in Mumbai. He pursued Bachelors in Chemical Engineering at the University of Mumbai and continued to study MBA from Stanford University, USA. He joined the Reliance Industries in the year 1981.

He was ranged as the 42nd Worlds Most Respected Business Leaders by a survey conducted by Pricewater Coopers and published in Financial Times. He was also selected as the ET Business Leader of the Year in 2006. In accordance to The Economic Times, Mukesh Ambani's wealth is anticipated to be USD 19.5 billion or 88,500 Crore INR as of July 2006.

Rahul Bajaj
Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman of the Bajaj Group that is placed amongst the 10 top-most business houses in India. He pursued his education in reputed institutions such as Harvard, St. Stephen's, and Cathedral and John Connon School. He has three children namely Rajiv, Sanjiv, and Sunaina.

He took the charge of the Bajaj Group in the year, and has given the boost to Bajaj Auto revenues from Rs.72 million to Rs.46.16 billion. He was listed amongst the Indias Richest 40 issued by Forbes. Rahul Bajaj has also been nominated to Rajya Sabha from the state of Maharashtra with the support of NCP, BJP, and Shiv Sena. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his achievements in the year 2001.

Ramalinga Raju
Ramalinga Raju, Founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, was born on September 16th 1954. He pursued B. Com from Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada and then continued to study MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from Ohio University, USA. He even attended the Owner / President course at Harvard.

He has won several awards and honours inclusive of Entrepreneur of the Year for Services in 1999 by Ernst & Young, Dataquest IT Man of the Year in 2000, as well as Asian Business Leader - Corporate Citizen of the Year award in 2002 by CNBC. He was also the degree of Doctorate by the Anna University of Chennai in the year 2007 for his contribution towards society.

Narayan Murthy
Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, also known as N. R. Narayana Murthy is one of the top industrialists and software engineer of India. He is one among the seven founders of Infosys Technologies which is an IT services company based in India. From 1981 to 202 he was the CEO of the company. In 202 he stepped down as CEO and started broadening his scope of activities to social services and promoting India globally.

Narayana Murthys social vision and corporation has been appreciated worldwide. He is also the recipient of the Padma Vibushan. Although he has retired from the executive position at Infosys he is still the chief mentor and non-executive Chairman of the board.

Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata was born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai. He is the present chairman of the Tata Group, the largest conglomerate of India, founded by Jamsedji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family. He was named the chairman of Tata Industries in 1981. In 1991 he took over the chairmanship from J.R. D. Tata. Since then, he has been reshaping the fortunes of Tata Group.

Under the chairmanship of Ratan, on January 31, 2007, Tata Sons successfully acquired Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch aluminium and steel producer. On March 2006, under him, the Tata Motors brought over Jaguar and land Rover from Ford Motor Company. Today Tata Group has the largest market capitalisation of any business house on the Indian Stock Market.

Sunil Mittal
Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian business man. He is the managing director and chairman of the Bharati group that runs the largest GSM-based mobile phone services in India. He was born on October 23, 1957 in Punjab is the son of a politician. In just ten years the Bharati groups became one of the largest mobile phone operators. Both the UK based telecom giant, Vodafone and Singapore based SingTel own stakes in the flagship company Bharati Airtel, which has been recently renamed.

Sunil is the chairman and the managing director of the Bharati Groups since 2001. In 2007, the President of India conferred with the prestigious Padma Bhushan.

Raunaq Singh
Raunaq Singh, counted amongst the big entrepreneurs of the Independent India was born in the year 1922. He is the founder of the Raunaq Group of Industries inclusive of

Apollo Tyres Ltd, Bharat Gears Ltd, Bharat Steel Tubes Ltd, Raunaq International Ltd, Menarini Raunaq Pharma Ltd, and Raunaq Automotive Components Ltd.

He was voted as a member of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris. He held other leadership positions as well inclusive of President Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Chairman Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), President The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), President Federation of Indian Export Organization, and Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association. Singh was often addressed as "Mr. Exporter", owing to his keen inclination towards the promotion of exports in Indian Industry. He passed away on September 30th 2002, after a glorious list of achievements.

Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar is the Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), and is listed amongst the Forbes List of Indian billionaires. He belongs to Moolaipozhi Village, Trichendur, Tutocorin District of the state of Tamil Nadu, and shifted to Delhi in the year1968. He pursued the degree of engineering from PSG College of Technology.

Nadar initially worked as an engineer with DCM Ltd., and later on with 6 colleagues initiated a firma manufacturing office products such as copiers. HCL under his leadership filled in the vacuum created by the stepping out of IBM from India in the 1970s, and ever since then there has been no looking back. He has been awarded Padma Bhushan for his noteworthy contribution to the IT industry. He is fondly nicknamed by friends as Magnus, which denotes wizard in Persian.

Shobhana Bhartia
Shobhana Bhartia was born in the family of renowned industrialist K.K. Birla in the year 1957. She is the vice-chairperson as well as the editorial director of the Hindustan Times group. Shobhana is accredited for raising Rs 400 Crore through the public equity launch of the HT Media group in the year 2005.

She has been selected as the member for the Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of Parliament. In the year 1992, she received the National Press India Award. Apart from this, in the year 1996, Shobhana was also given the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award by the World Economic Forum. She has also received the Outstanding Business Woman of the Year Award in the year 2001.

Subroto Roy
Subroto Roy is the Chairman of the acclaimed Sahara Group that accommodates a private airline, entertainment and news television channels, a newspaper, and claims to own some 33,000 acres of real estate across India. He initiated his journey in 1978, when he instituted Sahara in the year 1978, along with 3 workers in the state of Uttar Pradesh, in the Northern India region as a small deposits para-banking business.

Under Roys Ledership, the Sahara Group also sponsors the Indian cricket and hockey teams. Subroto Roy refers himself as the "chief guardian" of the Sahara Group. Amby Valley Project, is one of the recent and most prestigious project taken up by the Sahara Group under this guidance.

Sulajja Firodia Motwani


Sulajja Firodia Motwani is the Joint Managing Director of Kinetic Engineering Ltd, as well is in charge of the Company's overall business progressive activities. Besides this, she is also performing the role of the Director of Kinetic Motor Company Limited and Kinetic Marketing Services Limited.

She was honoured with "Face of the Millennium" by the well-known "India Today" magazine, which ranked her amongst the 25 top business entrepreneurs of India. In the year 2002, she was presented with the Society Young Achiever's Award for Business as well as chosen as the "Global Leader of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum. The Institute of Marketing and Management conferred her with the award for outstanding accomplishment as the woman CEO In the year 2003.

Tulsi Tanti
Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman of Suzlon Energy Ltd, and is counted amongst the 10 richest men of India. He belongs to the Gujarat and currently is placed in Pune, Maharashtra. He pursued graduation in Commerce and then continued to attain diploma in mechanical engineering.

A commerce graduate and a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, Tulsi Tanti originally hails from Gujarat and is presently based in Pune, Maharashtra. Tanti was involved into textiles business in Gujarat but due to the bottlenecks in the infrastructure has to shun away the prospect. He realised the potential of wind energy, and in the year 1990 invested in 2 windmills. At present, Suzion Energy Ltd is the sixth largest wind energy company in the world, and is the large in the Asian region.

Vijay Mallya
Vijay Mallya also referred to as liquor-baron is the Chairman of the United Beverages (UB) Group. He was born on December 18th 1955 in the family of industrialist Vittal Mallya. Besides his liquor brand, he has also launched an airline called Kingfisher Airline to cater the domestic traffic. Other pursuits of Mallya include the procurement IPL franchisee of Royal Challengers as well as introducing the first Formula 1 Indian team named as Force India.

He is known for his glitzy and flamboyant way of life, which is covered by the media very now and then. He took the reigns of the UB Group as the Chairman in the year 1983 and took it to commendable progress. His energetic leadership has given the boost to the group into a multi-national conglomerate. The UB Group has branched out business interests varying from alcoholic beverages, engineering, life sciences, engineering, chemicals, agriculture, leisure, sports, and information technology. Mallya was also selected to the Rajya Sabha o the Upper House of Parliament.

Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla, an Indian- American venture capitalist was born on January 28th 1955 in the city of Pune, India. A significant persona in Silicon Valley, he is one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems. In the year 1986, Khosla also became a general partner of the business enterprise resources firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.

He pursued degrees from the IIT Delhi, India (Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering), Carnegie Mellon University (Masters in Biomedical Engineering), as well as Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA). He also made an investment in an Indian Microfinance NGO, SKS Microfinance that extends small loans to poor women in rural India.

At present, Khosla lives in Woodside, California, along with his wife and their four children.

Dancers
Birju Maharaj
Pandit Birju Maharaj is the foremost Indian Kathak dancer of India belonging to the Lucknow gharana. He was born in 1937. He made his first mark in the arena at the age of 28, when he received the popular Sangeet Natak Akademi award. Besides, he also has several awards and honours to his credit including the prestigious Padma Vibhushan (1986), the Sangam Kala Award (2000) and the Lata Mangeshkar Purashkaar (2002).

Birju Maharaj has mastered in various degree of Kathak and has developed his own unique style. Presently, he is the head teaching faculty at Delhi's Kathak Kendra. He was awarded with honorary Doctorate degrees from Khairagarh University and Benaras Hindu University.

Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai is a notable Bhratanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer of India. She is a multitalented dancer who holds an MBA and a doctorate degree from IIM, Ahmedabad. She also has experience in film-making, acting, television anchoring and editing. She started dancing at a very young age and at the age of 15 she started acting in parallel cinemas.

Apart from being a dancer, Mallika is also a social activist. She manages the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts located at Ahmedabad. In 1965, she was awarded with the Padma Shri and in 1992 with the Padma Bhushan. She was the first Indian to receive the Diploma and medal of the French Archives Internationales de la Danse.

Sanjukta Panigrahi
Sanjukta Panigrahi was the chief promoter of Indian classical dance, Odissi. She was born on 24 August 1944. She was the first girl from Orissa to embrace this ancient classical dance at an early age and to endure its revival. For her contribution to dancing as well as associated activities, she was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1975. She also received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976 jointly with her husband, Raghunath Panigrahi, a fine vocalist of Geeta Govinda.

Apart from performing Odissi, Sanjukta was also a part of Governments cultural delegation to different countries. She has even choreographed some of the most wonderful dance performers during her long dancing career.

Shovana Narayan
Shovana Narayan is one of the best Kathak dancers in the world. Birju Maharaj was her guru. Till date, she has performed in India as well as around the world and has also been coffered with the prestigious Padma Shri and several other awards. She has been mesmerising the audience in number of national and international festivals for the last three and a half decades.

The unique style of Shovana represents a crystallisation of combined techniques obtained from the rhythmic precision of the Jaipur School and the sophisticated elegance of the Lucknow gharana. She has also authored several books on the subject of dance. She is also a visiting lecturer to several Universities in India and abroad.

Sitara Devi
Sitara Devi is a prominent Kathak dancer of India. She was born on early 1920s. She has performed all over India and in several other countries. For decades she has performed in countless number of functions and concerts and over the years she has been conferred with number of awards and recognition that includes the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1969) and the Padma Shree (1973), Kalidas Award (1995) and Nritya Nipuna.

Sitara was described as Nritya Asmragini (the queen empress of dancing) by Rabindranath Tagore, the noble laureate. For most of the octogenarian, she is a living legend and better known as 'kathak queen' who has inspired many generations of artists and audience.

Sonal Mansingh
Dr. Sonal Mansingh is one of the most eminent choreographers and Odissi dancer. She was born on May 1, 1944. She is also skilful in other classical dancing style including Chhau, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam. Initially, she started learning Manipuri dance at the age of four and at the age of seven she started learning Bharatanatyam from Kumar Jayakar in Bombay.

At the age of 18, Sonal started her actual training in Bharatanatyam from Prof. U. S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi at Bangalore. In 1965 she started learning Odissi from Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. In 1977, she founded the Centre for Indian Classical Dances. She has been conferred with several wards including the Padma Bhushan (1992), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987) and Padma Vibhushan (2003).

Yamini Krishnamurthy
Yamini Krishnamurthy was born in 1940 in Madanapalli, Andhra Pradesh. She is an eminent Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer. In 1957, she started her dancing debut in Chennai. In her eventful dancing career she has received the honour of being Asthana Nartaki (resident dancer) of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.

During her dancing career, Yamini has received several prestigious awards and accolades that include the Padma Shri (1968) and the Padma Bhushan (2001). She has been performing for more than four decades and is still active. At present, she imparts her dancing aptitude to young dancers at her institute, Yamini School of Dance located in Hauz Khas in New Delhi.

Famous Persons:
Akbar
Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great, was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun and the grandson of Babur, the founder of Mughal Dynasty. He was named as Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and was the Mughal Emperor from 1556 to 1605 and fought several battles during his reign. He was only 14 when he became the Emperor after his fathers death.

Akbar was an architect, artisan, artist, armourer, blacksmith, carpenter, construction worker, emperor, animal trainer and theologian and made several lasting contributions to Mughal architecture. He initiated a large collection of literature, including the Akbar-nama and the Ain-i-Akbari. He founded his own religious cult, the Din-i-Ilahi or the "Divine Faith".

Ashoka
Ashoka was the greatest emperors who ruled the Maurya Dynasty from 273 BC to 232 BC. He was born on 304 BC and was one of the most famous Mauryan kings and the greatest rulers of India. The city of Pataliputra, modern day Patna, was the capital of his empire. The emblem that was excavated from his empire is today recognised as Indias national emblem.

After being crowned as the king, Ashoka decided to annex Kalinga (Orissa) into his kingdom. This was the first and last battle fought by Ashoka. After witnessing the mass death of the war, he swore that he would never wage war again. He took up Buddhism and religiously followed the principles of it. He died in 232 BC.

Anjolie Ela Menon

Anjolie Ela Menon who was born in the year 1940 is one of the well-recognised women artists in the contemporary art scene. Although, she works in different mediums such as water colour but her most preferred one is oil on masonite. Her major work YATRA (2006) was purchased by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California.

She is also a well acknowledged muralist, who presently lives and works in New Delhi. She is married an Indian Naval Officer, Raja Menon. Ever since her marriage, she has lived in countries such as Japan, USA, and several European countries besides India. She has had over 30 solo shows in these countries as well as represented India at several shows. Anjolie was even awarded the Padma Shri honour in the year 2000.

Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone Group plc was born on October 21st 1954 in Panchmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. He did his schooling in Military School Bangalore and pursued his graduation from IIT, Kharagpur to gain B. Tech degree in Metallurgical Engineering. He gained MS in Engineering and MBA degree from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

He is counted amongst the few Indians who lead a global multi-national company. He wedded Rummi Anand, and the couple has 2 children. Arun Sarin has given in his resignation, after the company achieved record earnings. His resignation would be effective subsequent to AGM on July 26th 2008.

Dr. Pratap Reddy


Dr. Pratap Reddy is the founder of Apollo Hospital, which is the first corporate hospital group in India. He came to India subsequent to serving in the US as the Chief Resident of the Worcenter City Hospital to initiate his practice in Chennai with Rs. 100/- per day.

The inspiration to undertake the project of Apollo Group of Hospitals came in when a patient who could not make to Texas for open heart surgery was lost by Dr. Reddy a patient who couldn't make it to Texas for an open heart surgery. It was in the year 1983, that he set-up the first center of the Apollo Hospitals Group in Chennai. At present, the Apollo Group of Hospitals has spread to various other parts of Asia as well.

Ekta Kapoor

Ekta Kapoor was born on June 7th 1975, who is the daughter of yesteryears Bollywood star Jeetender and sister of present Bollywood hero, Tusshar Kapoor. She began her career at the age of 19 years and has carved a niche for herself in Indian Television Productions.

Her home-productions known as Balaji Televisions has produced about 25 serials, majority of which are still on air. Some of the popular serials produced under Ekta Kapoor's production are Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kkusum, Kahin Kisi Roz amid others. Her Production House even ventured into some Bolloywood Flicks inclusive of Krishna Cottage, Koi Aap Sa, and Shootout at Lokhanwala, Woodstock Villa.

For her exceptional entrepreneurial skills and achievements, Ernst & Young (E&Y) honoured her with Startup Entrepreneur Of The Year award in 2001.

K.P. Singh
Kushal Pal Singh or K. P. Singh was born on August 15th 1931, at Bulandshahr in the state of Uttar Pradesh. At present, he presides over the helm of the DLF group. This group under the leadership of Singh is one of the largest real estate developers in prime city locations inclusive of Gurgaon.

He graduated in Science from Meerut College and went to the UK for pursuing Aeronautical engineering. However, he was selected in the Indian Army by the British Officers Selection Board in the UK. Later on, he left army to join his father-in-law, the founder of DLF Group.

He has also presided over the affairs of the ASSOCHAM (Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India) as well as the PHD Chambers of Commerce & Industry as the President. Singh has also been honoured with the recognition of 'Delhi Ratna' Award to felicitate him for his valuable contribution towards Delhi.

Baiju Bawra
Baiju Bawra also known as Baijnath Prasad or Baijnath Mishra was one of the famous Indian Dhrupad singers. He was born in 1542 and was considered as the finest classical vocalist. Initially he was court musician of Raja Chanderi and later became the court musician of Raja Mansingh of Gwalior. Some of the contemporary work of Baiju was Raag Ramdasi Malhar, Nayak Charju

and Raag Charju ki Malhar.

According to the historian Faqirullah at Emperor Aurangzeb's court and Abul Fazal at Emperor Akbar's court, Baiju once defeated Tansen, the renowned singer, in a singing competition at the court of Akbar. He died of typhoid at the age of 71 in 1613.

Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism. He was born around 565 BC in Nepal and died around 483 BC. He was originally named as 'Siddhartha Gautama and was born as a prince. However, he was not happy with his life. So, he gave up his householder's life and devoted himself in search for the ultimate truth.

Buddha kept on wandering for many years and soon realised the four noble truths- The Noble Truth of Suffering, The Noble Truth of The Arising of Suffering, The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering and The Noble Truth of The Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering. Later, he gained many followers and after 45 years of teaching, Buddha passed into Parinirvana- the final deathless state abandoning the earthly body.

Guru Arjan Dev


Guru Arjan Dev Ji was the fifth Gurus of Sikhism. He was born in Amritsar on 15 April 1563 and died on 30 May 1606. On 1 September 1581, he became the Guru following in the footsteps of his father, Guru Ram Das. He was the head of Sikhism for a quarter of a century and during his reign he completed the construction of Amritsar.

The completion of Adi Granth was the most notable work of Arjan Dev. In 1604, he collected all the work of the first four Gurus and dictated it in the form of verses. He also founded the city of Taran Taran and Kartarpur and constructed a Baoli at Lahore.

E.Sreedharan

E.Sreedharan, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan is referred to as the Metro Man of India. He was born on 12 July 1932 in Kerala. He graduated in engineering and started off his career as a lecturer in Civil engineering. Then, he shifted to the Bombay Port Trust as a learner just before joining hands with the Indian Railways. He has surpassed various challenges and contributed a lot for public service. He was retired in 1990 from Indian Railways, but was called out and appointed as the CMD of the Konkan Railway. Under his guidance in 7 years, the immensely challenging project met completion. He is the mastermind behind some of the rare project like Delhi Metro and is with a number of prestigious awards including Padma Shri in 2001.

Indra Nooyi
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She is the chairperson and chief executive officer of the fourth largest food and beverage company of the world. She was declared the successor to Steve Reinemund, as CEO of the company on August 14, 2006. As per the polls conducted by Forbes magazine, Indra Nooyi ranks fifth in the list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2007. She is the number one Most Powerful Women in Business for the year 2006 and 2007, according to Fortune Magazine. She was bestowed with Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 2007and nominated to the fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was a renowned scientist and Indian- American astronaut, born in Karnal, Haryana on July 1, 1961. Her academic career was brilliant despite many struggles. JRD Tata, an Indian pilot and industrialist was her inspiration. She joined NASA in 1995 and got selected for her first flight in 1998. She was the first Indian born woman to fly in space. She was an American astronaut and represented the United States. She was posthumously bestowed with a number of honours including Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Distinguished Service Medal. She had always dreamt of stars and the moon has herself become a star.

M.S. Oberoi
Rai Bhaadur Mohan Singh Oberoim, known as MS Oberoi was the greatest hotelier of India. He was born on August 15, 1900 in a village called Bhaun Jhelum, which is now in Pakistan. He was regarded a visionary, who put forward a modern structural model for South Asia's tourism and hospitability services industry. His father died, when he was six months old, survived by his mother with a few resources. He got his college degree in Lahore and worked as low paid billing clerk at Shimla's Hotel. After ten years, he gathered entire family resources and purchased the hotel. Later on he built many hotels and expanded his base holdings. Later on he was selected a president of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and was bestowed with very many honours.

Guru Gobind Singh


Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs. He was born on December 22, 1666 in Patna, Bihar. On 11 November, 1675, at the age of nine, he became the tenth guru of Sikh after succeeding his father Guru Tegh Bahadur. He was not only the leader the Sikh faith but was also a warrior, a poet and a prophet. His establishment of the Khalsa is considered as the most important event in the history of Sikhism. With the Mughals he fought twenty defensive battles.

Guru Gobind Singh was the last human Sikh Guru. He completed the Dasam Granth, the Sikh holy book and declared that the Guru Granth Sahib to be the next permanent Sikh Guru. He died on 7 October 1708 at Nanded.

Guru Nanak Dev


Guru Nanak Dev was the first of the ten Sikh Guru. He was born on 20th October 1469 near Lahore, Pakistan and was the founder of Sikhism. His birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam Asthan. Janamsakhi (life-accounts) is the earliest biographical sources of his life which is believed to have been written by Guru Bhai Bala. Bhai Gurdas also wrote about Nanaks life in Vars.

It is said that at the age of five, Nanak had voiced interest in divine subjects. He announced Lehna as the next Guru and also proclaimed that his death had arrived. According to the western calendar, Nanak is said to have died on 22 September 1539.

Guru Tegh Bahadur


Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth Guru of Sikhism. He was born on 1 April 1621 in Amritsar. He was the youngest son of Guru Har Gobind and was trained in the arts of archery and horsemanship. He was arrested at a place called Malikhpur near Anandpur after he had departed from Anandpur for Delhi.

Before being arrested he nominated his son, Gobind Rai (Guru Gobind Singh) as the next Sikh Guru. Later he was tortured until he would accept Islam but he could not be convinced and was executed on 11 November 1675 on the orders of Mughal Emperor

Aurangzeb in Delhi. The martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur has been written by Guru Gobind Singh in Bachitra Natak.

Kalidasa
Kalidasa was one of the famous Classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Apart from his well known works, nothing is certainly known about him. Precisions are made that he resided in the Gupta period, probably in the 4th, 5th or 6th century. His plays and poetry were primarily based on Hindu mythology and philosophy.

Meghaduta, Abhijnanasakuntalam and Kumarasambhava are some of the notable works of Kalidasa. Among these three Abhijnanasakuntalam ("The Recognition of Shakuntala") is commonly regarded as a masterpiece. It was among the first Sanskrit work that has been translated in several other languages. The two epic poems written by him are the Raghuvamsa ("Dynasty of Raghu") and Kumarasambhava ("Birth of Kumra").

Lord Mahavir
The Indian sage Vardhamana was commonly known as Mahavir (599 527 BCE). He established what at present is considered as the central tenets of Jainism. He was the 24th and the last Trithankara according to the Jain tradition. He was born in 599 BCE in Jamui District (present day South Bihar). His mother had 14 auspicious dreams before he was born. The dreams were signs foretelling the advent of a great soul.

The birthday of Vardhaman's is celebrated as Mahavir Jayanti, and is considered as one of the most religious holiday of Jains around the world. His birthday is celebrated with decorations, prayers festivity and processions.

Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to visit space. He was born in Patiala Punjab and joined the Indian Air Force. He started the historic mission on 1984 along with the Indian Air Force. It was a part of a joint space program between the Soviet Intercosmos and Indian Space Research Organization space program. Sharma photographed northern India in anticipation of the construction of hydroelectric power station. He was bestowed with the honour of Hero of Soviet Union and later on with the highest gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra by the Government of India. Presently, he is the Chairman of the Board for Automated Workflow.

Romesh Chandra Dutt


Romesh Chandra Dutt was a civil servant, prolific writer, economic historian and translated Ramayana and Mahabharata. In 1899, he was selected as president of the Indian National Congress. He was born in a Bengali Kayasth family known for literary academic achievements. His father was Deputy Collector of Bengal. He started his administrative career in the year 1871 in Alipore. Then he worked as relief Officer in Meherpur, Shahbazpur, Bakerganj and Nadia. He was district magistrate of very many places and Division Commissioner of Orissa, which is the highest position that any Indian has ever reached. On political grounds, he was not a radical but proved to be a great asset for the country.

Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi is a calculating genius, born on November 4, 1939 in Bangalore, India. Her father was a trapeze and tightrope performer in circus. Her talent was demonstrated, while performing the card trick with her father when she was just three years old. At the age of six, she exhibited her immense calculation and memorization abilities ay Mysore University. At the age of eight, she succeeded at Annamalai University. Unlike other such prodigies, her abilities did not decline in her later life. She multiplied the two 13 digit numbers chosen randomly by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London with in 28 seconds. The time is probably for dictating the 26 digit answer, than for mental calculation. This event is stated on page 26 of the 1995 Guinness Book of Records.

Shivinder Singh Sidhu

Dr. Shivinder Singh Sidhu was born on October 13, 1929 and is a notable administrator. He has embodied India in a number of International Seminars. Subsequent to serving very many prestigious positions, he is appointed as the Governor of Manipur. He did his Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and Ph.D from Kanpur in Economics Development. In 1952, he joined Indian Administrative Services and is rendering its services to central and state government. He has worked as the Chairman of Air India and Indian Airlines. He has even authored two books, Tourism and Aviation-Airborne for Progress and Flight in to the Millenium-Aviation and Tourism Symbiosis.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw


KIran Mazumdar Shaw is the Chairman & Managing Director of the well-known Biocon Ltd. She was born on March 23rd 1953 in Bangalore. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw began started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In the year 1978, she became associated with Biocon Biochemicals Limited as Trainee Manager in Ireland. The same year, with a capital of Rs.10,000, Shaw founded Biocon India in partnership with Biocon Biochemicals Limited.

Although, she had to face a several problems regarding finances in the initial stages but despite this, she made it to being the richest women entrepreneur in India. KIran Mazumdar Shaw has been felicitated by the Government of India with Padma Shri (1989) as well as Padma Bhushan (2005) honours.

Mallika Srinivasan
Mallika Srinivasan is the director of TAFE, who was born on November 19th 1959 in the family industrialist A. Sivasailam, as the eldest daughter. She pursued her M.A. in Econometrics from the University of Madras. Thereafter, she went to the USA to pursue MBA (Masters of Business Administration) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mallika is wedded to the CMD of TVS Motor, Venu Srinivasan and the couple has two children.

She has served as the president of leading industrial bodies such as Tractor Manufacturers Association as well as the Madras Management Association. In fact, she is the first woman president of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mallika has also been a notable member of the governing board of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Naina Lal Kidwai


Naina Lal Kidwai is a well-known personality in the corporate world, as the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. Currently, she is working as the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India. She was born in the year 1957, and was brought-up in Mumbai and Delhi. She pursued her schooling from Shimla, and continued her college studies from the University of Delhi. She is accredited to be the first Indian woman to have graduated from Harvard Business School.

For her commendable achievements with constant hard work and sincerity, she has been awarded with the fourth highest civilian award of India, Padma Shri.

Nandan Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani born in Sirsi, a small town of Karnataka is a renowned Indian software entrepreneur. At present, he is the coChairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd; of which he is also the co-founder. He is also the co-founder of Indias National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), and well as chairs the Bangloe Agenda Task Force (BATF).

This software entrepreneur wedded an English-language writer and novelist Rohini Nilekani. The couple has two children, a daughter Janhavi and a son Nihar.

He was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan in the year 2004. In addition to this, he was the youngest entrepreneur to associate with the league of 20 global leaders on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board in the year 2006.

Mirza Ghalib
Mirza Ghalib was a great classical Urdu and Persian poet of India. During his lifetime, he has written several gazals which are still sung in different ways by different people. He was born on 27 December 1796 in the city of Agra and died on 15 February, 1869 in Delhi. He is famous for being the most popular and influential poet of Urdu language.

Ghalib never wrote poems for a livelihood, instead he lived on the patronage and generosity of his friends. His fame came to him after his death. He is arguably regarded as the most notable of all the Urdu poets.

Rana Pratap
Maharana Pratap is a synonym to Rajput loyalty, valour and perseverance. He was the ruler of Mewar and was born on May 9, 1540. He was a fighter who stood against the Mughals and never bended down to any kind of temptation and fought for independence.

He had a difficult time in resisting the Mughals because he had no capital. In 1576, he lost the Battle of Haldighat to Akbar even though he fought valiantly and was aided by the Bhil tribes of the surrounding hills of Mewar. But he never surrendered and continued his fight till the end of his life. He died on January 29, 1597.

Rani Lakshmi Bai


Rani Lakshmi Bai, also known as Rani of Jhansi was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi in North India. She was a symbol of resistance to British rule in India and was a leading figure of the Indian rebellion of 1857. She was born around 1828 in the city of Varanasi. At the age of 13, in 1842, she was married to Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, and became the Maharani of Jhansi.

After the death of Maharaja Gangadhar Rao on 21 November 1853, Lord Dalhousie decided to annex the state of Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse. In January of 1858, the British Army started its advance on Jhansi, and in March laid siege to the city. She met her death on 17 June, 1858 during the battle for Gwalior.

Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal Emperor and was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. He was born on 5 January, 1592. In 1627, he succeeded to the throne upon his fathers death. Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful monuments of the world is a significant part of Shah Jahan life history. He built this monument in the memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The period of Shah Jahan reign is known as the Golden Age of Mughal architecture. He erected number of splendid monuments and mosques. He was also the founder of Shahjahanabad, presently known as Old Delhi. He felt ill in 1658 and was confined by his son Aurangzeb in the citadel of Agra until his death in 1666.

Wajid Ali Shah


Wajid Ali Shah was the tenth and last nawab of Awadh, presently known as Uttar Pradesh. He was bon in 1822. In 1847, he ascended the throne of Awadh and ruled for nine years. On February 7, 1856, his kingdom was annexed by the British. The Nawab lived in Matiyaburj, then a suburb of Kolkata for the rest of his life. Apart from being a nawab, he was also a poet, dancer and a playwright. He is credit for the revival of Kathak as a major form of classical Indian dance.

Wajid Ali Shah under his pen name Qaisar wrote countless poems, prose, ragas, playwrights and ghazals. He passed away in 1887, while his mausoleum lies at the Imambara Sibtenabad, in Matiyaburj.

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was a prominent engineer and statesman. He was born in September 15, 1860 in a village of Karnataka. His father died, when he was 15 years old. He went to Bangalore for higher education and later on joined the Science College to study Engineering and topped there. He was offered the post of an Assistant Engineer at Nasik by the Government of Bombay. He was the mind behind the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam in Mysore. In 1912, he was appointed as the Dewan of Mysore. He worked rigorously for the development of the state. During his lifetime, he was awarded with a number of honours.

Sister Nivedita
Margaret Elizabeth Noble (1867-1911) is popularly known as Sister Nivedita. She was an Anglo-Irish social worker, author, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She was born in London and travelled to India in 1898. The name Nivedita was given to her by Swami Vivekananda, on March 25, 1898. In November 1898 she started a school for girls, now called Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Sister Nivedita Girls' High School.

In the Bengali community, Nivedita was a good friend of many intellectuals and artists. She worked hard to develop the lives of the women of all castes of India. In later years, she took up the cause of Indian independence. She promoted pan-Indian nationalist views both in her public meetings and writings.

Sunita Williams

Sunita Lyn Williams was born on September 19, 1965 in Ohio, Unites States. She is a member of Expedition 14 at the

International Space Station. She is the second woman of the Indian origin after Kalpana Chawla to visit space. She is married to Michael J Williams and belongs to Gujarat from paternal side. She has done her Masters in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. She joined NASA in 1998 and flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-116 on December 10, 2006. she is the first female space traveler with longest spaceflight of 195 days, four space walks for total period of 29 hours an 17 minutes. In 2007, she became the first NRI to be bestowed with Sardar Vallabhai Patel Pratibha Award by World Gujarati Society.

Naresh Goyal
Naresh Goyal is the founder Chairman of Jet Airways that began its operations in 1993. He has even overtaken Air Sahara that has added 32% of the Indian travel market to his company.

Goyal graduated in commerce in 1967, joined the travel business with the general sales agents for Lebanese International Airlines. In the span of 1967 to 1974, he obtained expansive training in all aspects related to the travel business, and also travelled overseas extensively during this time framework due to business obligations.

The private limited airlines; Jet Airways was founded in May 1974, with the intention of providing sales as well marketing representation to foreign airlines in India. He has served on the Board of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the tenure from 2004 up to 2006. He also holds the honour to selected amongst the IATA's prestigious Board of Governors, being the first Chairman of a private airline of India to make it.

Shahnaz Hussain
Shahnaz Hussain, founder of the Shahnaz Hussain Herbals hails from a royal Muslim family that migrated from Samarakand to India. She pursued her schooling from the Irish Convent, and developed a taste for poetry as well as English literature. Shahnaz got married at the tender-age pf 15 years, gave birth to her first child the next year.

It was when she accompanied her husband to Tehran that she developed an interest in beauty treatments, and decided to study cosmetology. She initiated writing articles for the Iran Tribune on wide-ranging subjects. Shahnaz Hussain initiated her independent clinics in the 1970s, and ever since then there has been no turning back.

She has received several coveted awards inclusive of the fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award, prestigious Global Indian "Woman of the Millenium" Award, presented by Global Indian Congress for her outstanding work. She even received World's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur Award from Success magazine of the USA.

ubhash Chandra
Subhash Chandra, born on December 30th 1950, is the Founder of Zee TV that became India's first private TV channel. He initiated his career as a rice trader from Hissar, Haryana, and at present is a well-known media baron. His other interests include packaging, cinema multiplexes, as well as lotteries. The formation of Twenty20 format based ICL or Indian Cricket League as a challenge to BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is also the brain-child of Chandra.

In October 1992, he launched Zee Telefilms Limited, as a content supplier for Zee TV. Zee TV under the leadership of Subhash Chandra has branched out in different regions of the country as well as acclaimed international fame by viewers.

Swathi Thirunal
Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, Maharaja of the state of Travancore was born on April 16th 1813 in India. From the time span

of 1813 up to 1829, he reigned under the regency of his mother Maharani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi (1813-1815) and his aunt Maharani Gowri Parvati Bayi (1815-1829). Subsequent to becoming a a major in the year 1829, he assumed full powers as a ruler till his death in the year 1846.

He was a connoisseur of music and a well-versed musician himself. Swathi Thirunal is said to extend patronage to both Hindustani as well as Carnatic music. Over 400 compositions in Carnatic and Hindustani styles of music are accredited to him. Besides music, he was fluent in several languages inclusive of Sanskrit, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya as well as English.

Vinod Dham
Vinod Dham, father of Pentium processor was born in Pune in the year 1950. He completed his graduation in Electrical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in the year 1971. He then, worked with Continental Devices, a semiconductor company based in Delhi for a brief period.

Dham went to US in the year 1975 to pursue Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. He joined the National Cash Register (NCR) after completion of his Masters, wherein he got many patents for his work. He even worked with Intel and was the chief force behind the Pentium Processor. In the year 1995, he resigned from Intel.

At present, Vinod Dham is the chairman, president as well as CEO of Silicon Spice, telecommunications technology development firm.

Musician:

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