~ A Visual Chronology Of Post-Independence India ~

[MysteRy]

1978 – Fertility’s triumph and shame




India’s first test tube baby, Durga (Kanupriya Agarwal) was born after India’s first successful in vitro fertilization, credited to the late physician Subhash Mukhopadhyay. The doctor unfortunately received only posthumous credit, as during his time, he had to battle ostracization and bureaucracy, with the government refusing him the right to attend international conferences. He ultimately committed suicide and became the inspiration for the Tapan Sinha movie, Ek Doctor Ki Maut.

[MysteRy]

1980 –India shuttles to the top





Though the year will go down in history as the year of Indira Gandhi’s return to politics and her son Sanjay Gandhi’s controversial death, India took giant leaps in sports. Two triumphs in the international arena set India on the global map. For one, the Indian hockey team won gold at the Moscow Olympics and young badminton star Prakash Padukone, father of starlet Deepika Padukone, became the first Indian to win the All England Badminton Open.

[MysteRy]

1981 – Standing on the shoulders of 7 giants





Seven unassuming entrepreneurs, with a collective capital of Rs 1,0000 among them, opened an unassuming information technology company in Pune. What used to be Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd then is today Infosys Limited, one of the proud behemoths in global IT, with offices in 33 countries, boasting of numerous awards and partnerships with top universities and ranking 28 among the world’s IT services providers. N R Narayana Murthy, founder and chairman emeritus of Infosys, continues to be an inspiration to Indian and global entrepreneurs alike 30 years down the line.

[MysteRy]

1982 – Color me glad




Television and radio separated as broadcast media in 1976, and for the better part of the 1970s, the idiot box was a phenomenon restricted to only seven cities in the country. Indian television programming actually kicked off in the early 1980s and Doordarshan stood tall as the sole channel when in 1982, colour televisions entered the Indian market. Lo and behold, entertainment in Eastman, Deluxe and Technicolor was now available in the comfort of a middle-class home. Crowns and Coronas made way for Solidaires and Keltrons, and television programming received a fillip with epics such as Ramayan, Mahabharat, the Sunday morning cartoon show, the Wednesday evening Chitrahaar and one long-running family drama after another.

[MysteRy]

1983 – Kapil’s Devils go from underdogs to top dogs




Seen as underdogs going into the tournament with no hopes of clearing the league matches, the Kapil Dev-led Indian cricket team triumphed over all odds, including wagers of 100-1in favour of the Windies in the finals of the World Cup. With a modest score of 183 to defend, the match, and subsequently the trophy, belonged to the Indian medium-pacers. When Balwinder Singh Sandhu swung the ball, Gordon Greenidge had no other choice but to edge it, helping India to its first wicket. WI’s swashbuckling batsmen had a rather meek task of adding runs to the scoreboard in little trickles, but some smart bowling, swift fielding and superlative catches by the Indian team ensured that the Cup belonged to India and India alone on that unforgettable day of June 25, 1983.

[MysteRy]

1984 – The night of the living dead




Even as the country came to grips with the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, a terrible tragedy struck its people on December 2. As the nation slept, a deadly leak of highly toxic methyl isocyanate gas at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, claimed thousands of lives insidiously. Thousands more succumbed in the days and years ahead and tens of thousands were disabled for life. The Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide continues to fight civil and criminal lawsuits against it for negligence and endangering public life. Warren Anderson, then CEO of UCC, was convicted last year but his conviction is largely seen as a mere rap on the knuckles for a crime of epic proportions.

[MysteRy]

1985 – Blown apart in mid-air




Kanishka, Air India’s ill-fated Flight 182, en route to Delhi from Montreal, met with a bloody end mid-air. All 329 on board, including 22 Indians, died. Sikh extremism that was consuming India in the wake of Operation Blue Star is said to be the motivation behind the bombing. Sikh separatists are said to have placed explosives inside the plane, blowing it to smithereens just an hour after takeoff. Investigations carried on for more than 20 years, making it one of the most expensive trials in Canada’s history.

[MysteRy]

1986 – A black end to Sikh strife




Coming close on the heels of Operation Blue Star during Indira Gandhi’s reign, this two-part attack, labelled Operation Black Thunder, was carried out by ‘Black Cat’ commandoes of the National Security Guards to rid Amritsar’s Golden Temple of Khalistani separatists who were using the holy shrine as a base and refuge. The 1000-member strong team of NSG and BSF personnel stormed the temple and captured over 300 militants, with little collateral damage compared to 1984. Soon after, the Indian Government deemed it illegal to use religious shrines for military and political purposes.

[MysteRy]

1987 – The day the music died




Kishore Kumar, born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, lent not just his voice to umpteen Bollywood heroes, but his soul as well to Indian cinema. Known as much for his soulful songs as for his peppy musical outbursts, Kishore Kumar was one-third of the trifecta (Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh being the other two) that formed the firm foundation of the golden era in Bollywood music. Hiding behind the façade of an eccentric artiste, this idealist, philosopher and dreamer’s voice was the harbinger of joy to millions, but this very troubled multifaceted personality was very private, famous for his temper tantrums and refused to let go of his inner child well into his old age. He died of a heart attack in 1987.

[MysteRy]

1988 – The show must go on




India had to say goodbye to yet another stalwart of Indian cinema this year, with Raj Kapoor’s death. Branded as the showman of the millennium, Raj Kapoor had no cinematic equal, though many aspired to (unsuccessfully) walk in his shoes. Hailing from a family of thespians, this controversial actor-filmmaker was responsible for the blossoming of the careers of many leading ladies, literally and figuratively, and had the gumption to stray into uncharted territories of brazen intimacy and nudity on the silver screen. His death ended what many saw as an unapologetic era in Indian cinema, and no Kapoor since then has been able to make the merest speck of a mark as Raj did during his glorious reign.

[MysteRy]

1989 - A small town’s pride




While India was dealing with the kidnapping of the Union Home Minister’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed, and the subsequent drama that unfolded, Kottayam, a small sleepy town in the state of Kerala, was preparing to earn the distinction of being the first town in India with a 100% literacy rate. All 70,000 inhabitants, give or take a few, could read and write, a distinction that today makes Kerala the most literate of all of India’s states.

[MysteRy]

1990 - Caste inferno engulfs the nation




Rajiv Goswami’s attempt at self-immolation to protest Prime Minister V P Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission’s recommendations, sent shock waves through a nation already cleaved by caste. His bravado fanned the flames of protest that had already been lit by Singh’s attempt at raising the reservation quota of students in professional institutions and central universities to 49.5 per cent from 22 per cent. The riots stalled the recommendations in their tracks and were never implemented. Goswami died 14 years later due to liver and kidney related complications that could be traced back to his self-immolation bid.

[MysteRy]

1991 - The budget that opened up the world




In 1991, after the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE, a new Congress government headed by P V Narasimha Rao was voted in. India was smack dab in the middle of an extraordinary financial crisis. It had a huge problem with its balance of payments, and foreign exchange reserves had all but depleted. India had to literally pledge the family gold (airlifted to provide guarantee for an IMF loan) to make ends meet. Something had to give. Manmohan Singh, finance minister under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, presented the interim budget of 1991-92, which rearranged the economic architecture of a nation and ushered in what is often referred to as economic liberalization. Foreign investment in many industries was allowed and peak duty reduced from 300 plus percent to around 50 percent. India shed its much-derided “Hindu rate of growth” and in the subsequent two decades its GDP grew between 6-10 per cent.

[MysteRy]

1992 - When the roof of Foreign vandalist invaders fell down




December 6 was one of the brighest days since India gained Independence. The nation rose with national pride by the demolition of the Ramjanambhoomi Temple/Babri Masjid, the contentious mosque located in Ayodhya, the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram. The mosque was demolished by Hindu karsevaks who believed that the mosque was built at the site of Ram’s birth by destroying the Ram Janambhoomi Temple by the barbarian mughal foreign invader Babar. What followed changed the course of a nation forever. The communal riots that followed between the Hindus and Muslims took the lives of over 2000 people.

[MysteRy]

1993 - Mumbai blasts scar the nation




Retribution for the destruction of the Babri Masjid was not swift, but that was because revenge had to be planned and plotted. Thirteen coordinated explosions ripped apart Mumbai and changed the psyche of the nation. In all, 257 people died and about 700 suffered injuries. Mumbai would never be the same again. Religious differences simmer and wounds of that fateful day have not healed. Since 1993 numerous other explosions have killed hundreds more in a city that has learned grudgingly to live with violence.