Vol. 1997No. 227The nineties edition
The India you were born into
Friday15 August1997
Look at 15 August 1997 sideways: fashion and clothing reveals the everyday scale of a year in which fifty years after independence, India was balancing coalition politics, economic change and a rapidly globalising economy.
Change dateThe Front Page
India marks Independence Day
A national day of remembrance and celebration
India marks Independence Day, commemorating independence from British rule on 15 August 1947.
IWM Vijayalakshmi wins Asian Zonal Women's Chess tournament in Tehran.
IWM Vijayalakshmi wins Asian Zonal Women's Chess tournament in Tehran.
India in Numbers
A snapshot of India when you were born.
In august 1997, a litre of petrol cost Loading… and a local phone call cost Loading….
Interpolated placeholder between benchmark years; replace with annual UN WPP estimate before publication. Not a census count. Source: current India population working dataset.
Prices from the month you were born, listed the way the kirana shop would have written them.
- The Hindu archive
- National archival records
- Press and public memory
04 · Sport
India on the field in 1997
Moment of the year · Tennis
Mahesh Bhupathi becomes India's first Grand Slam champion
Bhupathi won the French Open mixed doubles with Rika Hiraki.
199705 · Cinema & music
What India was watching and humming
The film everyone queued for that month, and the song that played from every cassette player that year.
DIL TO PAGAL HAI
Year 1997
Film of the year · 1997
Dil To Pagal Hai
Also in theatresBorder · Pardes · Gupt · Ishq · Koyla · Judwaa
Song of the year · 1997
"Sandese Aate Hain"
Also on the radio"Dil To Pagal Hai" · "Do Dil Mil Rahe Hain" · "I Love My India"
$ cat science-and-technology-1997
Internet, mobile phones and the software boom
What science and technology looked like in India in 1997.
Technology moves closer to daily life
Computing, communication and consumer electronics were gradually moving from specialist institutions toward ordinary homes, offices and public life.
Faces of 1997
Arundhati Roy
Won the Booker Prize for her debut novel 'The God of Small Things'.
K. R. Narayanan
Sworn in as the tenth President of India, becoming the first Dalit to hold the country's highest office.
I. K. Gujral
Sworn in as Prime Minister and formulated the 'Gujral Doctrine' for foreign relations in South Asia.
Kalpana Chawla
Flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87), becoming the first woman of Indian origin in space.
A. R. Rahman
Released the album 'Vande Mataram' to mark the 50th anniversary of Indian Independence.
L. K. Advani
Conducted the Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra across India celebrating 50 years of independence.
09 · BEYOND INDIA
Beyond India
Before the internet put the world in our pockets, news from abroad arrived through telegrams, radios, television sets and eventually phones.
Hong Kong returns to China
1 JUL
Britain transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.
1997, circled in red
The year India turned 50.