Most days on the calendar are forgettable. March 7 is not one of them.

On this day in 1952, Paramahansa Yogananda — the Indian yogi who introduced Kriya Yoga to the Western world and authored the iconic Autobiography of a Yogi — passed away, leaving behind a spiritual legacy that still shapes millions of lives globally.

 On the same date in 1979, Jayaprakash Narayan, the independence activist and democratic crusader who led the historic movement against Emergency rule in India, also breathed his last — a man who chose conscience over power at every turn. 

And in 1961, Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant — lawyer, freedom fighter, and one of the key architects of independent India — died, having served as Home Minister under Nehru and helped shape the nation's earliest institutions.

But March 7 also carries light. It is the birth anniversary of Pandit Ravi Shankar, born in 1920, the sitar maestro who carried Indian classical music to concert halls across the West and made the world stop and listen.

In 1969, the Food Corporation of India was also established on this date — a cornerstone institution built to support farmers and ensure food grain supply across the country.