ONE
1. A poor Andhra boy who came to the US in the 1920s, is credited with the synthesis of Folic acid, Aureomycin, the first of the tetracycline antibiotics that have saved millions of lives since its introduction in 1948, and Methotrexate, which is used to alleviate several types of cancer, including childhood leukaemia. He was born in Bhimavaram and schooled in Rajamundhry, both in Andhra Pradesh, Bharat. He thrice flunked matriculation and studied Ayurveda before switching to the western system of medicine after working as a night porter at a Boston Hospital because he was too poor to pay the fees. In fact, it is said that Aureomycin, presented to the medical world in 1948, should have won him the Nobel Prize. But Subba Rao died at 53, the same year as his hero Mahatma Gandhi. Which means that the great scientist's 55th death anniversary is passing us by without as much as a decent commemoration. There are many such stories that never see the light of day. Not all NRI achievers grab the headlines. 2. Dr Rangaswamy Srinivasan, is the little known pioneer of Lasik eye surgery, who is the only Indian to feature in the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in the company of greats such as Edison, Ford, Disney, Nobel and the Wright Brothers. After he engineered the technique to correct shortsightedness that has enabled millions to get rid of eye glasses, Srinivasan wrote out the patent to IBM, the corporation he worked for. His reward: A measly $10,000. 3. In a recent interview, Dr Praveen Chaudhari, the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory, who was also Dr Srinivasan's colleague at IBM, was asked how it felt to have such achievements go unrecognised by the media and unrewarded financially in an age when people were patenting age old inventions and milking millions. "The joy lies in the discovery, not in the reward," he said.Dr Chaudhari should know. He engineered the rewriteable compact disc(CD), and like Dr Srinivasan, wrote out the patent for IBM for a fraction of the billions Big Blue, Sony, Phillips and other corporations got from the invention. But neither man displays the slightest sign of rancour at IBM's profits or envy at the fame and fortune of today's NRIs. "Between a billion dollars and the pleasure of giving perfect eyesight, what do you think I will choose?" asks Dr Srinivasan.
Based on a report in The Times of India November 23, 2003.
TWO
Preliminary trials of 'Panchagavya,' made up of five products of cow -- dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee -- on various crops have shown a positive trend of enhanced yield and shortened crop duration, a senior scientist at Tamilnadu Agricultural University said. Dr K Natarajan, a practising physician in Kodumudi in Erode district, was instrumental in successfully popularising the concept, Dr E Vadivel, Dean, Horticultural College and Research Institute of the University said. With organic farming becoming more popular, the Institute decided to validate the microbial aspects and carried out trials on individual crops, which had shown a positive trend of enhanced yield and shortened crop duration, he said. Claiming that yield after the first trial has shown 20 to 25 per cent increase in Sunflower, Ashvagandha (a medicinal plant), Maize, Paddy, Drumstick and Raddish, Vadivel said that it was also found that the duration of the crops, like paddy and sugarcane, was reduced at least by 20 days. Even the recovery percentage in sugarcane has shown an increase of one per cent, Vadivel claimed. Though Panchagavya, easy to prepare as all the ingredients were available on the farm itself, was useful in normal cultivation, it would be more effective in garden land, horticulture and commercial crops, Vadivel said. Products of 'deshi' cows were said to have more potent than that of exotic breeds, he said adding dung and urine of pregnant 'deshi' cows have proved to be more stronger. The university was making efforts to patent Panchagavya, in coordination with CSIR, which had already carried out test and patented the use of cow urine, he said. On the preparation of panchakavya, Vadivel said that ingredients--cow dung slurry (from gobar gas plant), fresh cow dung, urine, milk, curd, ghee, sugarcane juice, tender coconut water, ripe banana and toddy, if available, -- can be added to a wide-mouthed mud pot, concrete tank or plastic cans, in the recommended proportion. The container should be kept open in the shade and the contents should be stirred twice a day--morning and evening-- and the solution would be ready after the seventh day, to be used as spray, flow and seed or seedling treatment.
PTI, January 26, 2004.
THREE
February 1, 2004. It was the annual day at the ‘Seva Bharati Tamilnadu’ state headquarters at purasaiwalkam in Chennai.. The time for release of the annual report came. Shri. Muthu and Smt. Gita were called to the dais to receive the first copy from the chief guest of the day. The young couple did so. Muthu works as a tailor. Gita is a housewife. They have a little girl child. This family conducts two service activities in their house in the backward Pulianthope area of North Chennai, Tamilnadu, Bharat, for the past one year. 15 women (their husbands work as conservancy workers in the Chennai Municipal Corporation), learn sewing taught free by Gita. 30 school children whose parents are either head load workers or rikshaw drivers, benefit by the free tuition clsses that Gita conducts. Muthu has inspired a colleague of his, Shri. Sekar, to take classes for children in 8th to10th class. Gita has studided upto class 8 only and Muthu did not study beyond primary school. “The house in which the Muthu - Gita couple live is just as big as the dais at the function (10 feet by 10 feet)”, points out Shri. Ravi, organiser of the function. The couple had disposed of the cot, the only luxury the had, to accommodate the sewing machines in their one-room house.
Based on a write up in VIJAYABHARATAM, Tamil weekly, Chennai - 31.
FOUR
It was 1946.A young Samskritam scholar used to wait patiently on the banks of a river on solar or lunar eclipse days or on festive days hoping that somebody would throw into the river rare and ancient Samskritam manuscripts. It is the practice among some Hindu families to offer to the ‘Ganga’ ancient scripts they have inherited if they felt they could no longer keep them or if there is any illness or difficulty in the house. If anybody threw any manuscripts the young scholar had men ready to dive into the river and pick up the manuscripts. The scolar is Prof. K.T.Pandurangi who became (in 1971) the Haed of the Sanskirt Department of Bangalore University, Karnataka. In his ‘hunt’ for ancient manuscripts for 25 years, Pandurangi could obtain 2,500 interesting Samskritam manuscripts on palm leaf, plates made of bamboo and country papers. The collection resulted in the formation of ‘Sri Vidyadhisha Sanskrit Manuscripts Library’. Even after becoming a professor he visits some districts utilising winter and summer vacations to meet the descendants of ancient scholars to see if he could any valuable manuscripts. Prof. Pandurangi said, in his anxiety to lay hand on as many manuscripts as possible,he had even established contact with dealers in waste paper in important cities and offered them, for Samskritam manuscripts, four times the price at which they sold old paper. About 5 lakhs of Samskritam, Prakrit and Pali manuscripts are deposited in 215 institutions in India and 1 lakh are deposited in 40 institutions in several countries around the globe.
Based on a report in THE HINDU of April 22, 1971, included in a book
THE WEALTH OF SANSKRIT MANUSCRIPTS IN INDIA AND ABROAD authored by Prof. K.T. Pandurangi (1997).
FIVE
In 1956-57, Chintaman D.Deshmukh resigned as Finance Minister, Government of India, on a point of principle.However, he agreed to work as Chairman of the University Grants Commission taking one rupee as a token salary, when he was entiltled to a monthly pay of Rs. 3,000. Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime minister, had the highest esteem for him, sent B.K.Nehru as his personal emissary to ask if Deshmukh would agree to the joint proposalmade by the governments of USA and the United Kingdom to nominate him as the director General of the International Monetary Fund, prestigious post carrying a salary of 30,000 dollars plus perquisites. Nehru wanted him to add that it would be an honour to India if he accepted the post.Deshmukh asked for time to consult his wife and give his decision.Anybody else would have grabbed the opportunity, which come once in a life-time. The husband and wife (Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh, an internationally known social worker whose service activities have benefited a large number of Chennai’s needy persons including women and children) discussed the offer and decided that high salary had no attraction for them since both of them had resolved to dedicate the rest of their lives to service of their motherland. This extraordinary reaction to the attractive offer was conveyed to Nehru. In 1962, Durgabai too resigned her post of Chairperson of Central Social Welfare Board which she had held with distinction for an eventful decade.
(From a biography of Durgabai Deshmukh).
Ooooooooooo
Panchaamritam 32
ONE
Decades ago two close associates of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan wanted to perpetuate the memory of Prabhawati ji, the woman behind the Lok Nayak. They sought the permission of the great leader. And Prabhawati Jayaprakash Sewa Kendra was born at the outskirts of Chennai City (at Guduvancheri). Shri Shobhakant Das and Shri Mehta (84 years young) started this institution, with the blessings of the Lok Nayak. Went through some harrowing time during the infamous emergency. This is clearly an institution with a great difference. Till date, there have been no brochures designed. No pamphlets printed. No advertisements seeking donations have been issued. They have remained firm in not inviting any politician to their premises. The eager politicians were politely told to “bless our children from where you are”. No press meets have been held to promote their Seva work. Silently, this institution has taken the responsibility of over 300 children. Each one of them is physically challenged. And the institution has never succumbed to publishing photos of these children to seek donations, like most institutions of today. Half a dozen cows obtained with the blessings of Kanchi Shankaracharya provide nourishing milk to the inmates. Teachers here are sold to the concept of service. All of them continue to stick to the institution though better offers continue to stare at them each academic year. Of the 130 odd schools in the Kanchi District, this is the only institution to come out with a 100% pass in the Board Exam last year. (Based on a write up by Shri. S.V. Badri, Chennai posted in www.rss.org February 7, 2004).
TWO
This article in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22763-2003Dec22.html) is mostly about the appointment of Robert D. Blackwill as coordinator for strategic planning with the National Security Council, a new and very influential position. Blackwill, a former Harvard professor, was much appreciated in India during his recently-concluded stint as ambassador, and appears to have imbibed some of India in the process. The article reads in part: “Although he returned this summer, part of Blackwill's heart is clearly still in India. A huge map of "Mother India" adorns the cream-colored walls of his fastidious office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The only item on his vast desktop is a tiny figurine of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed God of wisdom and success. During his two-year stint, Blackwill oversaw one of the fastest transformations in relations between the United States and any country by peaceful means. Blackwill quotes Krishna -- "Be thou of even mind". (Source: Hindu Press International, December 23, 2003).
THREE
Shri. R.Chandrasekhar records an experience of his in ASEEMAA, an English monthly published from Mangalore, Karnataka, Bharat. Following is its gist: “An excessive muscular growth on my right arm (Lipoma) was operated for biopsy purposes. The stitches were removed in due course. A part of the wound, about 2 cm in length had not healed. Therefore, the doctor applied medicine and did the dressing (to be replaced every alternate day). Even after the 9th dressing, the wound showed no sign of healing. The doctors named it ‘Non healing ulcer’ and advised me to consult another surgeon. Meanwhile, I contacted Shri. K.S.Gajender Rao (who performs Agnihotram regularly for 24 years) of Secunderabad over phone and sought his advice. He told me to apply Agnihotra ashes mixed with cow’s ghee on the non healing wound. My wife Smt. Thilagam did the daily dressing with gauze and cotton after applying the agnihotra ashes on the wound, as per prescription. After some days I went to the doctor. He carefully examined the wound and informed me that 30% of the wound has healed. After another couple of weeks, the doctor confirmed that the wound was completely cured. Now, the doctor became eager to know more about Agnihotram. I gave him a pamphlet on Agnihotram.” (ASEEMAA of December 2003, Mangalore - 575 008)
FOUR
Shri.M.T.Gopalaratnam was only a clerk in Tiruppathur Panchayat office. His hands were clean. He applied his mind to the work on hand. Therefore, he could make it a point that teachers in the Panchayat school received their salary on the first of every month without delay. That gladdened the teachers greatly. When he was transferred from that place, he was given three different farewell parties, of course, including one by the teachers. Whenever his honest ways landed him in trouble in the form of improper transfer, Gopalaratnam fought it out even if it meant a representation to the concerned Minister. He always won his case. The IAS officer of his district had to suffer embarrassment due to his straightforward nature, but when the official left for another place, he did not fail to leave a note to his sucessor to the effect that “this man can be trusted”. After serving in the state Secretariat towards the end of his career, the retired - but not tired - Gopalaratnam continues to be useful to the neighbourhood. He practises Homoeopathy in Ambattur, charging the patients only the cost of the medicine. (Gopalaratnam is a Swayamsevak of RSS, spotted by late Shri. Shivaramji).
FIVE
Meet Smt. Madhu Agrawal. Her 4,094 letters to editors have so far been published in various newspapers. Her first letter was published in 1976. The Limca Book of Records has granted her a certificatefor setting the national record in writing letters to editors.Her name is now being forwarded for Guinness Book Of World Records with recommondations to start an exclusive catagory for woman having written the largest number of letters to editors of newspapers. Smt. Madhu’s husband, Shri. Subhash Chandra Agrawal, has already entered the Guinness Book Of World Records for writing the largest number of letters (1,226) to editors of various newspapers last year. He had surpassed Pakistan’s Hakkim Sayyad Irshad who earlier held the record for getting 602 of his letters into print. The Delhi - based Madhu-Subhash duo is actively engaged in social work by writing letters on a wide range of topics concerning national and public interest. (Based on a report in ORGANISER, English weekly dated August 24, 2003).
OOOOOOOOOO
Panchaamritam 33
ONE
Every morning, the High School in Palacode, Dharmapuri District, Tamilnadu, Bharat presented a routine spectacle: 32 students, all latecomers, are punished with a sprint around the school playground. All of them have to make the 7-km distance from their hamlet P.Chettihalli by bus to reach Palacode at 9 a.m.as per schedule. That renders all these youthful passengers as latecomers to the School Prayer. A group of Palacode youngsters decided to put an end to this sorry state of affairs. They approached the Transport authorities with a request to reschedule the bus arrival to 8.40 a.m. The officials in Palacode referred them to the Transport Office in Dharmapuri. The spirited youngsters did not give up. They took it up with the officials in Dharmapuri and in the end the bus from P.Chettihalli began to arrive at 8.40 a.m., thus putting an end to the decades-long practice of the rural children receiving punishment as a routine. Those public-spirited Palacode youngsters attend the local RSS Shakha regularly.
TWO
A few years back, Vachatti, a hamlet in Dharmapuri District, was in the news for wrong reasons, particularly, atrocities on SC brethren. A few weeks back, the villagers were hit by a mysterious disease. Many of them had nausea. Quite a number of them had a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea. Panic gripped the village. Four lads noticed that the Panchayat overhead tank which supplies drinking water to the village had not been cleaned for a long time. They had a talk with the Panchayat President. Then they went ahead and in the course of half a day, cleaned the overhead tank using bleaching powder. Before that, they took care to go round the village announcing the stoppage of water for cleaning purposes. The week that followed witnessed womenfolk in the village chiding Communist activists with this barb: “You fellows keep shouting and thrusting a bandh on every occasion much to the inconvenience of all of us. But, look at these young thambis of RSS Without much ado, they have swung into action and have saved the lives of all of us.”
THREE
Konalam, near Arakonam in Vellore District, did not have a national flag ( the tricolour) since quite a number of years Hurt by this, a few swayamsevaks of the place pooled contributions and got ready a flagpost, of course, along with the National flag. They offered it to the village. Now, on the occasion of National days, the tricolour flutters proudly atop the flagpost right in the middle of the village. The swayamsevaks also noticed that twenty of the poor students in the village school had to struggle to buy note books. They went door to door collecting unused blank sheets from the previous year’s note books. They got them all bound neatly into note books and distributed them among the needy.
FOUR
In a stretch of a couple of kilometers of the village road in Vijayamanagaram in Cuddalore District, Tamilnad, Bharat, the road was visible amid a series of potholes and bumps. People in the village and their vehicles were badly hit. Swayamsevaks of the village started filling up pothole by pothole and leveling the road bump by bump. In the course of a week the particular stretch of the road presented a picture of motorable thoroughfare much to the relief of the village population.
FIVE
Kavita runs a typewriting institute. This gives her an opportunity to interact with the young men and women in the village. Kavita being of a mindset to heighten the awareness of all good things among aspiring youth, does not miss a chance when it comes to providing an exposure to the youth of her village. It was in this manner that a dozen of her students – seven of them girls – attended Chennai Media Centre’s (CMC) two-day Journalism Training camp in Vellore, Tamilnadu in January 2004. As a follow-up, a functionary of the CMC visited the village. Food was arranged in Kavita’s house. Kavita belongs to a community with which the non-changers of other sections of the society consider it a taboo to share food, etc. To the utter surprise of the visitor, the young and awakened Bharat presented itself in full strength. Youngsters, including girls, forgetting all taboo and totem partook the food offered by Kavita, enjoying every bit in the lunch. This happened in village Vanjoor, 2 km. away from Vellore.
All five anecdotes courtesy: CHENNAI MEDIA CENTRE NEWS,
Tamil Fortnightly, Chennai 600 031.
Panchaamritam 34
ONE
1. A 14-year-old girl's presence of mind and timely action saved several people from a watery grave in Kendrapara in Orissa. Parvati was waiting on the banks of Mahanadi river near Mushadiha ghat for her uncle to come for fishing when a motorised boat capsized. The girl raised a hue and cry as the passengers shouted for help. But as no one could hear her cries. Parvati then sailed out in a boat anchored nearby and rescued many. "But for the act of valour and exemplary courage shown by Parvati, several persons would have definitely died," Superintendent of Police, Jagatsinghpur, Suresh Kumar Palsania said. Palsania, quoting her uncle, said the girl knew how to handle a boat and managed to rescue at least three persons before his uncle and other fishermen arrived on the scene and pulled out the remaining six from the swirling waters. From rediff.com, March 02, 2004 (Idea: Shri. Ambalavanan.A.P). 2. Shri. A. Janardan Reddy, a home guard on duty, forgot he didn’t know swimming, and dived into the Hussainsagar lake in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, to save a woman, one Anita, who had jumped into the lake to commit suicide. Within moments, both the home guard and the woman were drowning. Reddy’s determination to save Anita was so strong that it slipped his mind that he didn’t know how to swim. “When I started swallowing water I realised I couldn’t swim. I thought I was going to die when someone pulled me up by my hair,” Janardhan told the media (It was one Shri. N Anand, a supervisor with a contractor wh noticed the two struggling, dived in and rescued them).
Based on a report in Deccan Chronicle, December 19, 2003.
TWO
In a welcome move that comes not from feminists but from those
representing the orthodoxy, priests in a Madhya Pradesh district have decided not to solemnise marriages where the groom has taken dowry. A group of 50 priests, from two organisations called the Brahman Samaj and the Parshuram Vahini, met in the state's Chhattarpur district and unanimously decided to boycott marriages that involved dowry. S.S.Tiwari, who presided over the meeting, said the priests had decided to
ask whether or not the bridegroom's family was taking dowry before deciding to solemnise a marriage. "If we come to know that the bridegroom's family is taking dowry, we will not solemnise the marriage and will boycott it," Tiwari said. He said the step would enable priests to check the social evil. "We will contact priests in other districts of Madhya Pradesh as well and ask them to adopt the stand taken by us," said Tiwari.
Deccan Herald, February 2, 2004 (Idea: Shri. Ashok Chowgule).
THREE
Chennai schoolboy Janarthanan – Jana as he is known – had to lose his left leg just below the knee, the toes on his right leg, his left hand till the elbow, and the whole of his right hand up to his shoulders. This was due to severe eloctrocution, while he was at play, in which he was badly burnt. He underwent treatment in Stanley Hospital for
about six months, during which time Dr Seeniraj urged the boy to try and live life as normal as possible. He encouraged Jana to learn to write with his mouth and to study further. Jana’s family is loving and supportive. His father sold his printing press that was their only means of livelihood to pay for his treatment which came up to Rs 4 lakh. His sister Sandhya feeds him lunch everyday at school. With motivation from his parents and Dr Seeniraj, Jana pushed himself to work hard. By now, he can not only write perfectly well with his mouth, but paint as well, for which he has received numerous prizes. For four consecutive years – the most recent one being this February 14 – Janarthanan came first in the painting competition organised by Victoria Technical Institute. But it wasn’t all going well for Jana – initially many schools had refused him admissionuntil finally SRNM Matriculation of Nesapakkam took him in. Even there he didn’t find friends easily. During the drawing period, his teacher used to look at him with sympathy as he was not able to draw. ‘‘This gave me an urge to succeed in drawing and that has driven me to this level of success.’’ Now that Janarthanan has artificial limbs, he can perform simple tasks like eating by himself and even enjoys playing football. Ask what his ambition is and he says he wants to become a computer graphics engineer. Already, he is learning the basics of computer graphics from Vishwanathan of Azhagi.com.
Based on a report in The New Indian Express, March 1, 2004
(Idea: Shri. M. Pramod Kumar)
FOUR
Jyothi Ramalingam, a little boy from a small village, V.M.Chatram near Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, Bharat, is a student and an earning member of his family as well. He distributes newspapers to houses early in the morning before he goes to school and he earns Rs.70 per month from this. His mother works as a servant-maid. His father had left the family years ago. Jyothi Ramalingam doesn't distribute newspapers from December 16 to January 15 every year. Reason: He attends "Margazhi Bhajans" ( Early Morning Nagar Sankirtan) every year without fail. He takes special permission for this from his employer. His mother does all the work in the temple during this month and prepares things for the next day Pooja! NOT for money. Although the Rs. 70 is a big amount for the family and their survival, Jyothi and his mother love to do this.
Contributed by Dr. Narayanan (London) on January 25, 2004
FIVE
A Standing Committee of the Parliament attached to the Ecology and Forest Ministry has recommended to the Government of Bharat, in its 21st report tabled in both Houses during the final session of the 13 th Parliament, that the Brahmanda Puranam must be studied in order to get the sacred river Ganga cleaned. The committee had expressed its anguish at the heavy pollution of Ganga. The report cites 13 kinds of activities to be avoided in and near Ganga as mentioned in the Puranam. The Committee called upon the government to include all the 13 in its list of “Dont’s”. A few of such activities are: easing, washing clothes, letting in water, throwing certain kinds of flowers as an offering, using toilet soaps, indulging in sports, accepting Daan, vulgarity, throwing in clothes and swimming. “We worship rivers. We imbibe a tradition that looks upon rivers as an aspect of the divine. The Puranic lore gives details of the code to be followed so that the water of Ganga could be kept clean”, observed the 13 member Committee headed by Shri. C.Ramachandrayya.
Source: Patha Sanket, Lucknow Hindi weekly of February 23, 2004.
Panchaamritam 35
ONE
Smt. Indira Gandhi lost her election case on June 12, 1975 and became a dysfunctional Prime Minister. Immediately thereafter, on June 25, 1975, she proclaimed a state of internal Emergency. In a midnight swoop, Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani and many others were detained without charges and trial. The fundamental rights to life and liberty (Article 21 of the Constitution) and equality (Article 14) were suspended. Many persons were detained and they presented petitions of habeas corpus for their release. The case came before a five-member bench of the Supreme Court, Justice H.R. Khanna forming part of the bench. Later, in his autobiography, Khanna writes about the Habeas Corpus Case graphically. To a question, ''In view of his (Attorney General's) submissions, would there be any remedy if a police officer, because of personal enmity, killed another man?'' the answer Mr. De (Attorney General) gave was: ''Consistent with my argument there would be no judicial remedy in such a case as long as the Emergency lasts.'' It was Justice Khanna's finest hour. He gave a verdict against the Emergency government -- with all the other four judges going in favour of Emergency. Khanna thus became a beacon and a symbol of selfless courage and lion-hearted resolve to stand up for what he considered to be right without regard to personal consequence. Today he is still among us, honoured and venerated by members of the Bar and Bench wherever he goes (In 1977, on the principle of seniority, Justice Khanna was due for appointment as the Chief Justice of India. His dissent in the Habeas Corpus Case sealed his fate. On January 28, 1977, Justice M.H. Beg, who had decided in favour of the Government, was appointed Chief Justice of India, superseding Justice Khanna).
Based on an article by senior lawyer Shri. Anil B. Divan
in THE INDIAN EXPRESS, March 15, 2004.
TWO
He was just 29, married only 10 months earlier. Major Rajesh Adhikari’s target was Tololing, a 14,000 feet high mount from which the Pakistan army was raining bullets on our soldiers down below. It was pitch dark. As he set out with an AK-47 rifle in his right hand, and the terrain map in his other hand, came the letter carrying the longing love of hos wife Kiran. He thrust it in his pocket and thought, ‘I will read it after I capture the peak’. He could not read it that day or the next day. He relentlessly advanced, leading his men. The enemy’s fire caught him in the neck, chest and shoulders, yet he moved. He captured the main bunker but being the lion-hearted soldier he was,he wanted more. Bullet-ridden all over, he crawled forward, but bled to death just 20 metres from his target. And never read Kiran’s letter. Major Vivek Gupta, 29, Captain Amol Kalia, 25, Lt. Col. R.Viswanathan -- all of them under 30, braved bullet rains and bled to death leading their men, crawling and capturing enemy positions at high altitudes. This is an illustrative list of those who perished - in Kargil - in the cause of the motherland so that we may live in peace.
From an article by Shri. S.Gurumurthy in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, July 28, 2000.
THREE
Shri. Gopalakrishnan, an Assistant Post Master in the Head Post Office in Karur, Tamilnadu, Bharat, has given away more than 1,00,000 pens to as many persons over decades. All those were the ones who had approached his desk with the request, “Lend me your pen, please, just for a minute”. All the pens are of good quality. On this, he has a tale to tell. Years back, as a class X student, he had to cross the river in a boat to go to school. During his school final examinations, the boat capsized one day. Though he swam to safety, he lost his pen. He was baffled. He did not know how to face the examination without his pen; he was in tears. Just then, a police constable who came that way consoled him and handed him his own pen. After the examinations were over, Gopalakrishnan went seeking the policeman to return the pen. The latter asked him to keep it for himself and wished him all the best in life. That day onwards, Gopalakrishnan gives away the pen to everyone who is need of it He says he remembers that act of kindness thus. He sets apart Rs.1,500 every month for this purpose.
Based on report by Shri. Unnikrishnan
in ANANDA VIKATAN, Tamil weekly, March 28, 2004.
Idea: Shri. Balanarendhiran
FOUR
An Indian boy in his 12th standard has disproved Einstein's "Theory of Relativity". Shocked? Read on. Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proven the existence of a sub-atomic particle which can travel at speed greater than that of light, thereby challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the "Theory of Relativity". In his recent research paper submitted to the "Institute of Advanced Physics (IAP)" at Trieste (Italy), Sudarshan has proved the existence of a class of sub-atomic particles called "leptons", which can travel faster than light. The international physics community was shocked by this discovery. His work builds substantially on the work of Einstein and other in the field of relativity. When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure Sudarshan's IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi), the meter broke down, simply because it was not calibrated to measure such high IQ. This was reported in the Times of India. Prof. Carl Uppsala, Chairman of the Nobel sub-committee for physics has confirmed that Sudarshan has been short listed for the Nobel prize in physics. (Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of Madhu Reddy, the Indian whiz kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft Windows).
Idea: Shri. R.Shridhar
FIVE
Smt. Neelavathi, a domestic help, is a resident of Triplicane, Chennai, Tamilnadu, Bharat. She is the mother of three sons, all of them carpenters. On March 8, she found a camera attached cell phone lying on the road. It is worth Rs. 18,000 and someone offered to sell it and give her Rs. 10,000 to part with it. The wedding of her eldest son is slated for June 9. But, for Neelavathi, others’ belongings amounted to “burden”. She promptly handed it over to the lady of the household where she has been working for the last 18 years. The lady, Smt. Sharadha, in turn, called in the police and passed it on to them. The police traced out the owner as one Shri. Saumitran, a US based NRI presently in town. Saumitran gifted Rs. 1,500 to the good-natured Neelavathi. The Chennai Police Commissioner Natarajan gave her Rs. 500 in appreciation of her honesty. Octogenarian astrologer-philanthropist, Shri. Varadhan awarded her Rs. 7,000 when he learnt of the incident, as is his practice.
Based on a report in DINAMANI, Tamil Daily of March 20, 2004.
ooooooooooooo
No comments:
Post a Comment