even the lightning in my eyes

bow to your glory,

the thunder in them

no more speaks in a vehement voice,

it's hoarseness melts

by the power of your gaze,

it was humbled

ever since your presence patted

it on the head like a pet

what we share,

time can never destroy,

by your name, my heart proclaims me Hercules

with the muscles of possiblity,

I can do anything if you're by my side

Nature couldn't have sketched

happiness in a more grand way,

than a living Monalisa portrait

such as you

And when the eyes that tell the story of a bloom,

so eminent met mine,

I spoke a different language,

I sang a new song,

that was...love.

                    By Kakraba Afful

She was the 20th child of her parents out of 22 children.When she was 4 years old she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever which paralysed her left leg.At 9 years

of age she removed her leg braces and started walking  without them. Inspite of these problems,her aim was to become a runner. So at the age of 13 she participated in

races and miserably failed in all of them.She kept trying inspite of several detractors and finally started winning every race she participated and won three olympic gold medals.

She was none other than.....

He was scolded by his mathematics teacher for not paying attention in the class and not able to solve even simple problems.She told him that he would miserably fail

in his life and no body will respect him.But his mother believed him and taught him mathematics.

You want to know the boy?

He attended an interview for a news broadcaster's position and he was rejected because of his voice.He was also told that he would never be famous with his long name.

Today,almost every indian and even people all over the world can recognize his voice and the man is?

He was born in a very poor family in a small village.He was the fifth child for his parents out of seven.He was selling newspapers to earn money.He was not

a clever student at school but he had a passion for rockets.The first rocket he built crashed.The missile he built crashed multiple.But he went on to become the

person who scripted the space Odyssey of india single handedly.You might have guessed the person by this time. He is...

In the year 1962, four young musicians nervously played their first record audition for the higher officials of the Deccan recording company.They were not able

to impress the officals and were rejected.One of the official said "We don't like their sound.Group of guitars are on the way out".

The group was called.......

In 1944,Emmeline Snively,director of the blue book modelling agency told her "Don't come for modelling.You better take some secreterial job or get married".

The model is :

Giovanni Bellini is a famous Venetian painter, and he was considereda as the genius of early Renaissance painting in Venice, and also a world class artist.He belongs to a well known family, and his father is the son of Jacopo and his brother's name is Gentile Bellini.

Giovanni Bellini was born in Venice,and at his early age he was an an assistant in his father's workshop.He had a great passion for painting and this maade him to continue painting till his mid 80s,and this made him to achieve in his life and he also got great recognition.

His interest in art was influenced by his formidable brother-in-law,named Paduan painter Andrea Mantegna. And Giovanni Bellini was greatly inspired from his brother in law and this made him to take from his brother in law the sculpturesque figure style,which is a sense for the potential eloquence of contour line and  he also took occasional compositional ideas,  natural landscape, and a human empathy far more direct and tender than Mantegna's.

Apart from this he had his own creativity and the style of Bellini style, later became the fundamental to the character of Venetian Renaissance painting.He also proved that painting can be done with the heap of oil medium with the help of

i)Flemish painting 

ii)Antonello da Messina's paintings in 1475

Giovanni Bellini later used this type of oil paintings in place of tempera and apart from this his color took on added depth, and he also experimented the interactions of color, light, air, and substance still more fully and as a result of this, the distinction between solids and space became less clear.

Of his major work Saint Francis in 1408 represents an early stage with his new technique and apart from this others includes

i)Madonna of the Trees  in 1487

ii)Madonna with Saints in 1488

After this The Saint Francis represented the great innovation work of Bellini's paintings and in these paintings the mood and meaning are usually conveyed by means of landscape with the help of figures.

The landscapes which he used is a combined work of Flemish-inspired minuteness and also the Italian grasp of general principles, and this was the first time these kind of paintings were done.

In his 65-year of evolution as an artist, he was responsible for bringing the Venetian painting from provincial backwardness into the forefront of Renaissance and also tothe mainstream of Western art.

Duke Ellington,is a famous American jazz composer.He is not only a composer but also a orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist. Duke is considered as one of the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and many feels that one of the greatest musicians that the 20th century has ever produced.He was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington D.C.

Ellington was always different and he personally created most of the music played by his orchestra and with his musical insight and sensitivity, he also wrote different pieces designed for specific players in his band, so that they could  give their best performance.

He wrote highly personal harmonies,and he did so by concerning himself with many of the new musical forms and also by using  high quality of sounds,and he is also responsible for creating a body of innovative and also original music.

More than 2000 works were composed by Ellington and this includes

i)Musical comedies

ii)Music for ballet and motion pictures

iii)An opera and

iv)Numerous short songs and instrumentals.

He was also responsible for composing for his jazz big band with the help of players who had very distinct musical styles. He toured with his group form 1930s till the remainder of his career.

Estimated reports says that during his tour he had travelled about 1.6 crore km and also staged about more than 20,000 performances throughout the United States and in 65 other nations around the world.

Ellington was born as Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington, D.C.. He was nor born rich as he was born into a middle-class family.The nickname Duke was acquired by him when he was a child for his manners, clothing, and personality.

Ellington parents had musical backgrounds, and this was a great motivation for Ellington as he started to play piano in a musical style called as ragtime, when he was a teenager.When he was young he started playing for his friends and also at the parties and he slowly became popular and soon he formed a small dance band under the name "The Duke's Serenaders".

Ellington moved to New York City in 1923, and he was also in hunt for musicians who are capable for contributing special sounds to his band and one of the specialists he found was an American trumpeter called as James “Bubber” Miley,who was a specialist in creating uniques sounds and he was able to achieve this through the use of mutes (i.e,sound-altering devices).

It was Jammes who helped to transform Ellington's combo from a polite society band into a respected jazz group.The turning point for Ellington was in 1927 when he started to perform at the Cotton Club, which is considered as one of the most prominent nightclub in the Harlem area of New York City at the time.

It was in late 1920s Ellington composed for and recorded with his 12-member orchestra such pieces as

i)“Black and Tan Fantasy”  in 1927

ii)“The Mooche” in 1928  and

iii)“Mood Indigo” in 1930.

Through these recordings and also through radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club, Ellington gained a national and
international reputation. In 1931 he took his band on its first tour of the United States.

His work “It Don't Mean a Thing ”, which was released in 1932,expected swing music and dancing to become a national obsession in the United States.So he enlarged his orchestra to 14 members after 1932, and in 1939 he hired a gifted young American arranger, Billy Strayhorn,who later became his musical collaborator.

Billy also wrote one of the Ellington orchestra's signature tunes,i.e., “Take the ‘A’ Train” which was released on
1941.Ellington's band included some of the best American jazz instrumentalists in the year 1940 and it includes

i)Saxophonists Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges

ii)Trombonists Lawrence Brown and Joseph “Tricky Sam” Nanton

iii)Trumpeters Rex Stewart and Cootie Williams and

iv)Bassist Jimmy Blanton.

At the beginning of the 1940s Ellington orchestra made some brilliant recordings and these includes

#)“Ko-Ko” in 1940 and

#)“Concerto for Cootie” in 1940

#)“Dusk”  in 1940

#)“Cotton Tail” in 1940

#)“Moon Mist” in 1941and

#)“Main Stem” in 1942

For the first time they performed at at New York City's Carnegie Hall,which is a prestigious musical venue,in 1943,and and their performance includes "Black, Brown, and Beige", and this is considered as one of Ellington's longest and most ambitious compositions.

But after this performance they regularly played at Carnegie Hall more every year until 1952. During the late 1940s Ellington's band, they experienced a higher rate of turnover among musicians and went into creative and commercial decline.

At this time the band crew was increased to 18 members,and now it is considered a standard size for a jazz big band.
His most enduring work as a pianist is the album called Piano Reflections which was released in 1953.After this album he earned critical success with recordings of suites, composed for concerts and records,which includes

#)A Drum Is a Woman in 1956

#)Such Sweet Thunder in 1958

#)The Far East Suite in  1966

#)Anatomy of a Murder (in 1959 .

As Ellington was a religious man,from 1960's he started composing liturgical works and he called this as sacred concerts Ellington also received  11 Grammy Awards and 19 honorary doctorate degrees during his career and he was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the United States in 1969 and in 1973 the Legion of Honor by France.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., acquired his entire archive in 1988,which contained about 200,000 pages of unpublished music and other documents and they made it available to researchers, musicians, and the general public.

He eventually died on May 24, 1974 at the age of 75 in New York.