This Day in History – May 10

1857 – The Indian Rebellion of 1857, considered as the first war of Indian Independence, began as the sepoys of the East India Company revolt against their commanding officers at Meerut.

Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury

1863 – Father of the well-known writer Sukumar Ray and grandfather of the legendary film-maker Satyajit Ray, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was born. He was famous as a writer, painter, musician, composer and a zamindar. He wrote several books for children on topics like science and music and also holds the credit for starting ‘Sandesh’, a popular children’s magazine in Bengali that is still published today. He is recognized widely for his work “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne”, later made into a feature-film by his grandson Satyajit Ray, winning several awards nationally as well as internationally.

1927 – One of the noted female Indian writers, Nayantara Sahgal was born. She was the niece of Jawaharlal Nehru making her a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. She wrote several novels with a political theme and is best known for ‘Rich Like Us‘ (1985) which bagged her the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986 and world wide recognition.

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