02 March - Vasco da Gama's fleet visits the Island of Mozambique 1498

 
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.

Vasco da Gama spent 2 to 29 March 1498 in the vicinity of Mozambique Island. Arab-controlled territory on the East African coast was an integral part of the network of trade in the Indian Ocean. Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, da Gama impersonated a Muslim and gained audience with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, the explorer was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler. Soon the local populace became suspicious of da Gama and his men. Forced by a hostile crowd to flee Mozambique, da Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannons into the city in retaliation.

02 March - Sarojini Naidu death anniversary

 

Sarojini Naidu: Sarojini Naida was born in a Bengali family in Hyderabdad on 13th February, 1879. She was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and also the first woman governor to become the governor of a state in India.

She was also a renowned poet and was famously known as Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India). Sarojini Naidu was a prominent figure during India’s Independence Movement and was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s Swaraj ideology.

Naidu died of cardiac arrest at 3:30 p.m. (IST) on 2 March 1949 at the Government House in Lucknow. Upon her return from New Delhi on 15 February, she was advised to rest by her doctors, and all official engagements were canceled. Her health deteriorated substantially and bloodletting was performed on the night of 1 March after she complained of severe headache. She collapsed following a fit of cough. Naidu was said to have asked the nurse attending to her to sing to her at about 10:40 p.m. (IST) which put her to sleep.She subsequently died, and her last rites were performed at the Gomati River.

Few notable and interesting facts related to Sarojini Naidu

•     At a tender age of 12, she wrote a play called “Maher Muneer”. Her work gained immense popularity and also impressed Nawab of Hyderabad. She gained worldwide popularity for her play.

•     Sarojini Naidu’s father wanted her to become a scientist or mathematician but she was more inclined towards poetry and writing

•     At a very young age, she wrote a poem ‘The Lady of the Lake’ which consists of 1300 lines.

•     Sarojini Naidu married Padipati Govindarajulu Naidu at the age of 19 in 1898.

•     She was awarded with Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for her work during the plague epidemic in India by the British government.
  

02 March - Mikhail Gorbachev birth anniversary

 

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev( 02 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and additionally as head of state beginning in 1988, as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990 and the only President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism but moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.

02 March - Sir J. J. School of Art began in 1857

 

 

The Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art (Sir J. J. School of Art) is the oldest art institution in Mumbai, India,and is affiliated with the University of Mumbai. The school grants bachelor's degrees in fine art and sculpture, and Master's degrees in fine art.

The School founded in March 1857, was named after Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy, a businessman and philanthropist who donated Rs. 100,000 for its endowment. Operations were managed by a committee headed by the Chief Justice of Bombay. The School's first class was in drawing, and began on 2 March 1857. Classes were held at the Elphinstone Institution. John Griffiths became Principal of the School in 1865. He later became famous for copying the murals in the Ajanta Caves temple complex, a project which lasted from 1872 to 1891, and which the School's students assisted in.

In 1866, management of the school was taken over by the Government of India. Also in 1866, Lockwood Kipling, who had become a professor of the School in 1865, established three ateliers for (i) Decorative Paintings, (ii) Modelling; and (iii) Ornamental Wrought Iron Work, and became its first dean. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling, who was born on the School's campus.In 1878, the school moved to its own building, where it is currently situated. The building was designed by architect George Twigge Molecey,in neo Gothic architecture.The School campus, including the Kipling House, better known as the Dean's Bungalow, is classified as Grade II heritage structure by the Government of Maharashtra, and underwent a restoration in 2002-2006, and again in 2008