Nida Fazli
- One of the foremost Urdu poets of his generation and a lyricist who brought a dash of quality to Bollywood songs in the trashy 1980s, Nida Fazli, passed away in February, 2016 at the age of 77. He brought in a style of nazms that was different from the traditional.
- A student of English literature, Fazli grew up in Gwalior. He came to Bombay and wrote for magazines such as Dharamyug.
- In Hindi films, he mostly worked with composers Khayyam and RD Bunnan, often sharing space as lyricist with Vithalbhai Patel and sometimes with Gulshan Bawra.
- He got the Sahitya Akademi award for his collection of poems, Khoya Hua Sa Kuchh, in 1998.
Sushil Koirala
- Nepal’s former Prime Minister and leader of the Nepali Congress, Sushil Koirala passed away on February 9, 2016 at the age of 78.
- He led Nepal in 2014 when he had to lead the Constituent Assembly (CA) in charge of framing the new democratic constitution of Nepal.
- Koirala in September, 2015 presided over the promulgation of the new constitution of Nepal. Koirala’s Premiership ended with the first election under the new constitution of Nepal in October, 2015 which brought Kharga Prasad Oli as the next Prime Minister.
Dan Hicks
- American singer-songwriter Dan Hicks known for his traditional mix of folk, jazz and country, music passed away on February 6, 2016 in Mill Valley, California at the age of 74.
- Hicks was known as the frontman of the acoustic band Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, which was a contemporary of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane in the late 1960s San Francisco psychedelic scene.
Sudhir Tailang
- Eminent cartoonist Sudhir Tailang, who chronicled contemporary Indian politics with wit and humour, died on February 5, 2016 at the age of 56.
- He had worked in a number of newspapers including Hindustan Times, Indian Express and The Times of India.
- Tailang was bom in Rajasthan’s Bikaner on Febnruary 26, 1960 had his first cartoon published in a newspaper at the age of 10 in 1970. It was in 1982, when he got his first major break in Illustrated Weekly of India, Mumbai.
- In 2009, he had come out with a book of cartoons titled ‘No, Prime Minister’, which carried cartoons on Manmohan Singh drawn during first stint of his prime ministership. Tailang was awarded Padma Shri in 2004.
Edgar Mitchell
- Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot on Apollo 14, passed away on February 4, 2016, Mitchell joined Apollo 14 commander Alan Shephard, Jr., the first American in space, in the lunar module An tares, which touched down February 5, 1971, In the Fra Mauro highlands.
- Shepard and Mitchell were assigned to traverse the lunar surface lo deploy scientific instruments and perform a communications test on the surface, as well as photograph the lunar surface and any deep space phenomena. It was Mitchell’s only spaceflight.
Leslie Bassett
- Pulitzer Prize-winning composer known for his lush sonorities and ecumenical instrumentation, Leslie Bassett died on February 4, 2016 in Oakwood, Georgia at the age of 93.
- He received the Pulitzer in 1966 for ‘Variations for Orchestra’, which had been given its United States premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in 2014.
- He was the Albert A. Stanley distinguished university professor emeritus of composition at the University of Michigan, where he had taught from 1952 until his retirement in 1992.
