From the archives of the Hindustan Times: September 16

Crowds throng to see first TV show (1959)

Television came to India on Tuesday (September 15) when the President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, formally inaugurated from the auditorium of the Vigyan Bhavan the first TV station set up by All India Radio in New Delhi.

Thousands of men, women and children in Delhi and the adjoining villages witnessed the inauguration through nearly two dozen sets installed by the Government and a commercial concern.

At places the crowds were so thick that those in charge of the installations had a hard time maintaining order. At the Social Education Centre in Paharganj the crowd became unwieldy and all doors had to be closed. Later the police had to be called in to prevent the crowd from crashing in.

Nearly a thousand people witnessed the programme through a set installed at the Community Hall on Panchkuin Road. They sat in pin-drop silence, but when the sound mechanism temporarily stopped functioning, once or twice, they shouted and booed.

Judging from the reactions of the audience, what seemed to have attracted them was the novelty of the show rather than any particular interest in the programme.

Indian athletes strike gold (1974)

Teheran- While India’s hockey challenge foundered against Pakistan, our athletes surpassed their earlier feats to mitigate the setback with two more gold medals three silver and a bronze medal in the Asian Games athletics at the Aryamehr Stadium today (September 15).

Our athletes thus contributed 15 medals out of the total of 28, including all the four golden feats

Sriram Singh won the first gold medal today when he beat off a powerful challenge from Pakistan’s Younis, Iran’s Entezari and another Pakistani Siddique to win the 800 metres race in a record time of 1 min 46 sec. The old mark of 1 min 46.57 sec was set by Burma’s Crampton at Bangkok in 1970. Entezari claimed the silver while Siddique and Younis finished third and fourth.

The second gold medal went to distance runner Shivnath Singh in the 5,000 metres who had earlier won a silver medal in the 10,000 metres.

2,500 Indians may lose jobs; markets rocked (2008)

New Delhi- US Investment giant Lehman Brothers on Monday (September 15) said it has gone bankrupt amid a worsening credit crisis in the home country, while rival Merrill Lynch, also bitten by the same bug, managed to find a buyer.

The news roiled markets worldwide, including India where the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex plunged 850 points, or 6.1 per cent, in intra-day trading. It later recovered half-way to close at 13, 531 points.

But Lehman and Merrill Lynch’s India connection goes much beyond stock swings. Both companies have been rapidly expanding operations here, besides hiring aggressively in India to shore up talent for such key bases as New York and London.

Lehman currently employs about 2,500 people in India, most of whom run the risk of losing their jobs. Merrill has about 600 people here. “We have not been told anything as yet, but everyone thinks it’s a matter of weeks before we are asked to pack up,” said a Mumbaibased Lehman executive, who oversees back-office support for the company’s operations in Sydney and Tokyo.

Lehman’s decision to file for bankruptcy came after talks for either possible merger with British bank Barclays or a bailout from the US Federal Reserve failed during the weekend.