Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

First Indian iconic ‘ Guess Girl ‘. October 2013 .

Priyanka Chopra, Bollywood superstar, former Miss World has been selected as the face of Guess.

She will be featured in the brands’ Holiday 2013 advertising campaign in leading fashion magazines.

Priyanka is not only the first woman to be named a ‘Guess Girl’ but the first non-white woman in the 30 years the company has advertised.

The other famous faces, fashion icons posing for the Guess clothing line include, Claudia Schiffer (twice), Alessandria Ambrosio, Kate Upton, Adriana Lima, Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore.

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India’s First Woman Bishop elected by Church of South India (CSI). September 2013 .

In a first for the Indian manistream church, the Church of South India (CSI) created history by appointing Rev.Eggoni Pushpalalitha as its first woman bishop in India.  September 25th, 2013 .

The bishop-designate E.Pushpalalitha is to be installed at a consecration ceremony to be held at the historic Anglical cathedral at Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh on Monday – September 30th, 2013. The moderator of the Church Rev. Devakataksham will adminster the oath and grace the occasion alongwith other dignitaries of the church. She will assume charge as Bishop of Nandyal diocese which is spread over 5 districts in Rayalaseema and part of Prakasam with a membership of over 90,000 people.

She is the first amongst 3 surviving children and was born to a family of agriculturists in a small village Diguvapudu in Kurnool district in 1956. She became a pastor in 1984. Rev. E. Pushpalalitha earned her B.A. degree from Andhra University and then went on to do BD from the Andhra Christian Theological College in Hyderabad. She also attended a few courses in theology in UK and USA.

Rev. E. Pushpalalitha is the second woman to become bishop among all churches of the country. The Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Mission located in Bhadrachalam appointed Rev. A. Katakshamma as their bishop in 1996.

The Church of South India ( CSI): Inaugrated in 1947 is one of the 38 member Churches of the Anglican communion. It is a ‘United’ church – the result of the Union of Churches of varying traditions Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed.

The CSI has 22 bishops across all dioceses in the country and Sri Lanka. The mission has over 3,000 presbyters of which around 120 are women.

In India, the Anglican family of churches, include Church of South India, Church of North India, Methodist Church and Marthoma Church amongst others.

 

The First Indian-American to be crowned ‘ Miss America 2014 ‘. September 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, the 24-year old Miss New York won the 2014 ‘Miss America 2014’ competition, held at the Boardwalk Hall Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. September 15th, 2013.

Nina Davuluri has become the first American woman of Indian descent to claim the ‘Miss America’ title. This event has once again put the Indian-American community in the spotlight.

 

For more information: Please use the ‘Search’ facitlity to view the Post of July 20th, 2013 OR ‘Search’ for Nina Davuluri to view the post with the Headline ‘First Indian Crowned Miss New York 2013 at Staten Island, New York. July 2013.

Nokia’s Launches First Device in India with Urdu Language Capability. September 2013 .

Nokia launched the Nokia 114 model, the first ever device with Urdu language capability / option in India.

It was launched at an event by Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Communications & Information Technology in the presence of P.Balaji, MD Nokia India in New Delhi. The Hon’ble Minister handed over the first Nokia 114 to Muzaffer Ali, noted filmmaker, poet, a revivalist and a social worker.

The launch is a part of Nokia’s strategy for democratising the reach of mobile telephones. India has over 15 crore urdu speaking people  making it one of the largest urdu speaking populations in the world.

 

First Indian to Receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1913 .

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize for Literature . He was also the first Asian and simultaneously the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel for Literature. December 19th, 1913.

He was awarded the prize for Gitanjali, a collection of songs and poems. Tagore himself had translated the poems into English in 1912 with an introduction by W.B.Yeats who won the Nobel for literature a decade after his Indian friend in 1923.

This year (2013) marks the 100th anniversary of Tagore winning the Nobel prize in 1913.

More Info….Coming Up.

India’s First ‘Miss Diva’ 2013 . September 2013

Manasi Moghe was adjudged the Winner of the 1st edition of Miss.Indian Diva 2013, at a star studded gala evening held at the Westin Mumbai Garden City, Mumbai on Thursday – September 05th, 2013.

The Winner, Manasi Moghe will now represent India at the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Moscow, later on in November 2013. The 21-year old was born in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and is pursuing a degree in Engineering – in Electronics & Telecommunications from Nagpur.

The contestants were judged by a Panel comprising Zeenat Aman, Raveena Tandon, Atul Kasbekar, Malaika Arora Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Kunal Kapoor and Miss. Universe Canada 2012 Sahar Biniaz.

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First Indian Woman Recipient of the ‘ Jnanapith Award ‘. 1976

Ashapurna Devi was the first woman to win the Jnanapith Award in 1976 for her work ‘Pratham Pratisruti’ in Bengali. This prominent Bengali novelist and poet was also known as Ashapurna Debi or also as Asha Purna Devi.

She was also awarded the ‘Padma Shri’ by the Government of India in the same year 1976.

Ashapurna Devi was born on January 08th, 1909 in Potoldanga, Calcutta (now Kolkata). She passed away aged 86 in 1995.

The Jnanapith Award is a literary award in India. Alongwith the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship it is one of the 2 most prestigious literary honours in the country. The Jnanapith award was instituted in 1961.

The name of the award is taken from the Sanskrit words ‘jnana’ and ‘pitha’ (knowledge-seat). It carries a cheque for Rupees 11 lakhs, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Indian Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

More Info….Coming Up.

India’s First Recipient of the ‘ Jnanapith Award ‘. 1965 .

G. Shankara Kurup was the first winner of the Jnanapith Award in 1965. He won the prize for his collection of poems in Malayalam ‘Odakkuzhal’ (The Bamboo flute, 1950).

Born June 03rd, 1901 in Nayathode, Kingdom of Cochin(now in Ernakulam district, Kerala). Shankara Kurup is better known as Mahakavi G (The great poet).

The Jnanapith Award is a literary award in India. Alongwith the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship it is one of the 2 most prestigious literary honours in the country. The Jnanapith award was instituted in 1961.

The name of the award is taken from the Sanskrit words ‘jnana’ and ‘pitha’ (knowledge-seat). It carries a cheque for Rupees 11 lakhs, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Indian Goddess of knowledge, music and the arts.

More Info….Coming Up…