1. The singer who reached space Kesarbai Kerkar went on to win the title of ‘Surshri’ (Queen of Music) in 1938. In fact, the echoes of her music even reached space, when NASA’s space probe Voyager 1 carried one of her musical compositions alongside those of Beethoven and Mozart.

2. A chess marvel who stunned the world South Asian chess player Mir Sultan Khan won the British Chess Championship, not once but three times in 1929, 1932 and 1934. What made his victory more noteworthy is that he wasn’t well-versed in English and didn’t appear to have a prestigious educational background.

3. The ‘Human Calculator’ who didn’t shy away from voicing her opinion Shakuntala Devi was not only known widely for her prowess in maths, but also for her grit and opinionated self. In 1977, she wrote a book on homosexuality, the first of its kind in India.

4. A Master of many trades As the first woman chartered accountant of India, R Sivabhogam was a nationalist at heart and during the Civil Disobedience movement taught khadi-based block printing. For her disobedience, she was imprisoned but used the time to appear for the Graduate Diploma in Accountancy (GDA) exam and went on to become India’s first female auditor.

5. The Father of the God Particle In 1924, Satyendra Nath Bose wrote a paper wherein he derived ‘Plank’s quantum law of radiation’ without going the usual route of classical physics. The news of his work reached the ears of Einstein who applied Bose’s ideas to a group of atoms and the results were termed the Bose-Einstein condensate.

6. A triad of maestros In this picture, three stalwarts of music can be seen — Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar — recording the song ‘Band mutthi lakh ki khuli to pyare khaak ki’ for Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1982).

7. Paving the way for women to shine Rani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi empowered women by nominating them to high government positions. She also advocated for the study of law to be open to female students. In time, the Women’s College in Trivandrum transgressed to include subjects like science, maths and languages.

8. A revolutionary who knew no fear Suniti Choudhury was influenced by the talks of  Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and at the age of 14 undertook the dangerous and risky task of shooting a tyrannical magistrate, for which she went to prison for seven years. After being released from jail, she went to Calcutta Medical College where she completed her MBBS.

9. Suswaralakshmi Carnatic vocalist MS Subbulakshmi was once told by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, “You are not Subbulakshmi, you are Suswaralakshmi! (Goddess of pure note),” she was elated. Her grandson started the Suswaralakshmi Foundation for Classical Music and Performing Artsfor budding artists who wish to make their career in the classical arts.

10. The legacy of the Tatas In an Instagram post, Ratan Tata reminisces about his first visit to Jamshedpur, the city named after one of his ancestors Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. His post reads, “I remember the first time I ever visited Jamshedpur when I was on holiday from college. Mr R G Da Costa and Mr J D Chokshi invited me to visit the Telco plant and have a walk around the plant.”

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