Panchaamritam 21- 25

Panchaamritam - 21

ONE

Kids in school learn that the sun is 93 million miles from the earth and that the speed of light is 1,86,000 miles per second. Yoga may teach us about our Higher Self, but it can't supply this kind of information about physics or astronomy. Or can it? Professor Subhash Kak of Louisiana State University recently called my attention to a remarkable statement by Sayana, a fourteenth century Indian scholar. In his commentary on a hymn in the Rig Veda, the oldest and perhaps most mystical text ever composed in India, Sayana has this to say: "With deep respect, I bow to the sun, who travels 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha." A yojana is about nine American miles; a nimesha is 16/75 of a second. Mathematically challenged readers, get out your calculators! 2,202 yojanas x 9 miles x 75/8 nimeshas = 1,85,794 m.p.s. Basically, Sayana is saying that sunlight travels at 1,86,000 miles per second! How could a Vedic scholar who died in 1387 A.D. have known the correct figure for the speed of light? If this was just a wild guess it's the most amazing coincidence in the history of science! The yoga tradition is full of such coincidences. (‘Yoga at the speed of Light’ By Linda Johnsen, Courtesy Yoga International ). Idea: Shri. Sanjeev Nayyar.

TWO

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray's A History of Hindu Chemistry defies all summary. The father of modern chemistry in India had explored an unknown world of science hundreds of years ago. This monumental work of Prof. Ray has a history behind its completion. When he was a student at the University of Edinburgh during the end of the 19th century, he was fascinated by how much the ancients in the western hemisphere knew about chemistry. Young Ray became curious to know where Indians stood in this regard. He studied in detail the works of Charaka, Susruta and various standard texts of Ayurveda which escaped the ravages of time. French scientist Marcellin Berthelot's Alchemists Greece influenced him to write a letter to him, mentioning India's contribution in alchemy and its significance. Berthelot, while admiring Ray's views, made a personal request to provide him more information about ancient Hindu chemistry. Inspired, Ray began writing A History of Hindu Chemistry, incorporating, among others, the alchemical ideas described in the Vedas and the works of Charaka, Susruta and the Bhagbhata. He discussed the chemistry in the Siddha Yog and of Vrinda and Chakrapani, the entire tantric period -Rasaratna Samuchchayya and much else. Pandit Nabakanta Kavibhusana collated the Sanskrit texts. The second volume of the title, dedicated to the memory of Berthelot, was also a treasure trove. It described the works of Nagarjuna and various Buddhist alchemical texts. Going through it, any reader would be left with the impression that ancient Hindu chemistry was in some respects moredeveloped than even Greek science. The physical and chemical theories ofthe ancient experts, discussed by Prof. B N Seal, were an added attraction of the volume. According to Dr Robin Bal, owner of Shaibya Prakashan Bibhag, which has published the facsimile edition of A History of Hindu Chemistry, the title has got relevance even today. "Our nation has a splendid past and this should make our young generation feel proud of it," he said. The world has come a long way from the era of alchemy. We have entered a brave new world of chemistry, particularly after the completion of the Human Genome Project. Will the publication of A History of Hindu Chemistry serve any purpose today? "History is always important," said Bal. "I decided to reprint it as it has always been regarded as anauthentic source of our excellence in chemistry in those days."

From a review by Shri. Parthasarathi Chakraborty in The Telegraph on September 1, 2003

THREE

In the Bagaan region of western Garhwal in Himalayas, there exists a tiny fraternity speaking a language with a massive mix of ancient Samskrit words as old as 3,000 years. These people uphold Vedic traditions as well. Parts of the Samskrit vocabulary of Vedic age believed to have become extinct years back, are found to be in day-to-day use of the members of this fraternity. German linguist Claus Petertzolar, a professor at the Centre for South East Asian Studies in the Hydelberg University, has unearthed this fraternity dwelling in the upper reaches of river Toas on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Garhwal. This research could prove valuable in the study of history and anthropology. For example, the final outcome of this ongoing research could provide a new angle to the ‘Aryan invasion’ theory. Professor Petertzolar has spent two years living in the fraternity trying to make out the exact origin of this fratrnity.

Based on a report in the Hindi daily SWADESH, Indore,reproduced in Hindi fortnightly PATHA SANKET of January 8, 2003

FOUR

According to Romain Rolland, Vivekananda had said that being itself a science, Vedanta gives an honoured place for all physical sciences, whether physical sciences accept Vedanta or not. A few physical scientists of the West respond to vedantic truths today. Nuclear scientist Schrodinger quotes the profound dictum of the Chandogya Upanishad (6^th Chapter) which says, ‘You are That (infinite Atman) – Tat twam asi.’ So also, Professor J.B.S.Haldane, an agnostic British microbiologist who went to India and settled down, worked and died in Bhubaneswar, said in a lecture that when he went to Germany, he went to a microbiological laboratory of his friend. At the entrance he saw inscribed this Upanishadic message ‘Tat twam asi – You are That’, and he (Haldane) said that if any one in the audience could understand this truth and live it, he would be happy, and he would consider his lecture there as rewarded.

From a 1981 lecture of Swami Ranganathananda in Chicago (Courtesy: An Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, publication, THE APPROACH TO TRUTH IN VEDANTA ).

FIVE

SETU, a fortnightly online news summary of Media Centre, Chennai, came out with this report in February 2003: “Coca Cola and other aerated soft drinks could now have competition in the form of 'kela-kela', a banana based, carbonated, healthy, ready-to-serve beverage developed by Thiruchirapalli-based National Research Centre for Banana, a leading agricultural research institute and a wing of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR). ‘A method has been standardized for the preparation of ready-to-serve banana-based juice and aerated soft drinks, which taste best when served chilled. The cost of production of these drinks is only Rs 2 or 3 per 250 ml bottle,’ said officials of ICAR in New Delhi”. Now, here is some heartening update of that news from Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. BARC has found the methodology to extract watery juice from kela pulp. That had remained a major challenge for scientists. The preservative substance to be used in the kela beverage will be human-friendly, because it will not contain any harmful chemical. Nor any irradiation method will be adopted, scientists of BARC say. That means it will not be ‘business as usual’ hereafter for what are hailed as the “cola giants”. Not only that. Thousands of tons of raw kela that had all these years been destroyed (since kela production in Bharat exceeds the domestic demand and there was no viable food processing technique for kela) will hereafter be gainfully used to prepare the proposed beverage. A kilo of kela yields 500 ml of juicy – and tasty – beverage.

Update based on a news report in the INDIAN EXPRESS.

oooooooooooooo

Panchaamritam - 22

ONE

Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, President of Bharat, in his celebrated autobiography WINGS OF FIRE, introduces one Sivakaminathan to the readers. Shri Sivakaminathan was a member of the team lead by Dr. Kalam (then with ISRO) that was working on SLV-3. The launch was slated for early 1980. Sivakaminathan was given the job of bringing a C-Band tranponder from Thiruvananthapuram to Sriharikottah. It is a crucial component for SLV-3, designed to keep sending radar signals from the moment the rocket is fired till it reaches the programmed altitude. The signals would be strong enough to indicate the condition of the rocket in flight. Dr. Kalam writes: “As the plane in which Sivakaminathan was travelling touched down at Chennai airport, the aircraft swerved from the runway and started running in a haphazard manner. A cloud of smoke surrounded the aircraft. All the occupants hurriedly jumped out through the emergency exit. Everyone was keenly intent on saving his own life. But one person was busy retreiving an item from out of his baggage and ensuring that it was safe. He was Sivakaminathan. He was among the last few who emerged from the cloud of smoke. The others, in fact, were the crew. Sivakaminathan was seen hugging the transponder close to his chest as he reached safety.” Dr. Kalam refers to the bravery of persons like Sivakaminathan as a varaprasadam for the Bharat’s space programme.

TWO

Even in these days of rampant judicial activism, the hitopadesam offered by Justice M.Karpagavinayakam, a judge of Chennai High Court, is something unique. His upadesam was directed at Shri.Ranganathan, an MLA of Congress Jananayaka Peravai headed by Shri.P.Chidambaram. Ranganathan had sought anticipatory bail in a case accusing him that he threatened a farmer by pointing a gun at him in a land deal quarrel. The judge granting a conditional anticipatory bail to the MLA, ordered that the MLA should sign not at any Police Station or Court but present himself daily, from September 29 till further orders, in front of the Director of Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, Chennai, and sign a register there. It is a historic Gandhian institution offering vocational training to Harijan youth. Prior to that, the judge ordered, Ranganathan should go to Madurai and stay there from September 22 to 26 and sign a register daily in front of the Secretary of the Gandhi Museum there and that arrangements should be made for his access to the library there so that he may go through the Gandhian books available there. The learned judge surmised that the Court did not want to punish the representative of people by making him sign at a police station or a court, but wanted to give a chance to the MLA elected on the ticket of a party having Gandhian ideals as its basis, to reform himself into a good person to be able to serve his constituency better. The MLA should realize that his responsibility was to serve the people, the judge concluded. (Based on a report in DINAMANI, September 18, 2003).

THREE

Meet the couple Shridhar – Kalavathi. Both are scientific officers working for Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre, Kalpakkam, Tamilnadu, Bharat. Together they spend upto Rs. 40,000 every year on the education of Harijan children living in the adjoining village, Vaayalur. Their speciality: they make the children stay with them in their house. The children grow with the son and daughter of the couple. Says Kalavathi: “Durairaj and Bhaskar who studied staying here have completed an ITI course. Manoharan and Ramesh are doing B.Sc Physics now. Elumalai is an engineering diploma student.” Adds her husband Shridhar: “We were conducting coaching classes for children in Vaayalur. There were too many dropouts at class 8 due to poverty. So, we took children of class 9 to 12 eager to study further under our care. Jaiprasad has scored 402 out of 500 in SSLC this year (centum in maths). He is now in class11”. There is smooth equality in Shridhar’s household with his mother Smt.Suguna caring for all in the family lovingly. Shridhar had to struggle much in his boyhood to pursue his studies; he had to work as a shop assistant in the evenings because his father had left his job as a lecturer in English. (Based on a DINAMANI report of July 28, 2003).

FOUR

At the crematorium in the Ambernath municipality near Mumbai, Maharashtra, Bharat, the dead are cremated using a type of gas extracted from logs of firewood. Earlier, 250 to 300 kgs of firewood were required to cremate a body. The gas method has brought the requirement down to mere 80 to 100 kgs. This first-in the-country technique was made available by the efforts of the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI). Even useless bits of wood can produe the gas and so, felling of trees for this purpose could be avoided. Cremation of a body using firewood costs Rs. 900, whereas just Rs. 300 is enough to cremate a body using the gas. (Based on a report in Mumbai Vishva Samvad Kendra’s bulletin VICHAR-SAMACHAR, August 10, 2003).

FIVE

It so happened that a worker of Hindu Seva Pratishthana (a movement training seva-vratis or full-time social missionaries), after using the public toilet at the bus stand of Basavana-Bagewadi, Bijapur district, Karnataka, gave two rupees to the watchman and left the place. However, the watchman called him back to give him the remaining change. When the worker told him to keep it, the watchman replied, “No sir, a few days back, my child after returning from the sishu mandir (run by seva vratis) as usual sitting on my lap told me, ‘Our mataji today told us that the money earned by immoral means is like poison and that earned through legitimate means is like Amrit’. Since that day I have stuck to that principle.” Saying this, the watchman returned the change to the worker. (From the book, RSS: A VISION IN ACTION, Page 222); Compiler-Editor: Shri.H.V.Seshadri).

oooooooooooooo

Panchaamritam - 23

ONE

An IAS officer. Let us call him Durairaj. He heads a state government – supported cooperative bank with branches all over the state of Tamilnadu. On a particular occasion, nearly 100 vacancies in the organisation were filled up. But how? Durairaj brushed aside the transfer threat that is common on such occasions. That is how a ‘pliable’ officer is brought in, to handle the recruitments “benefitting” vested interests. Durairaj went ahead with the scrutiny of the applications and conducted the interviews. Addressing the selected candidates he said, “Look here, you are all here by virtue of your merit and nothing else. Take heart”. It goes without saying that not a single rupee changed hands by way of bribe in the entire process. I asked Durairaj later, “Did you have to suffer for the honest stand that you took?” He laughed heartily. Said, “Only others had to”.

(Late Shivaramji Joglekar, a veteran RSS pracharak, has recorded this anecdote. ‘Durairaj’ is one among the 1,000 honest persons in Chennai metropolitan city whom Shivaramji could spot in an informal survey in the mid 1990s.)

TWO

Meet Shri J.Sundaresan, 48, a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, US. He has designed a T shirt that tells a physician all about the wearer’s body temperature, blood pressure level, pulse rate, Oxygen level, etc., via a monitor attached to it. The T shirt is manufactured using cotton-polythene yarn, with optic fibre filaments criss-crossing the fabric. The tips of the optic fibre filament act as sensor spots. They measure and communicate the wearer’s clinical particulars to an attached pocket size control box, which, in turn, passes on the data to the hospital monitor. The wearer too can read those on the monitor of the control box itself. Thus, a son sitting in the US could read the blood pressure of his father in Bharat who wears the T shirt with the help of an internet connection. This way, the unique T shirt helps save lives by constantly monitoring the various body functions of patients. Sundaresan says he is now at work on developing a T shirt that accommodates a camera and a mike. TIME and NEWSWEEK have hailed his invention. Sundaresan is a native of Salem, Tamilnadu, Bharat.He did B.Tech at the Alagappa Chettiar College of Technology, Chennai. After his M.Tech, he did his Ph.D in US, where he lives now.

Based on a DINAMANI report on July 17, 2003.

THREE

An unnoticed page from history: In 1908, an additional sessions judge, an Englishman by name Pinhey, sentenced the great freedom fighter V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company fame, to 40 years of imprisonment and the indomitable Subramaniam Siva to ten years. THE HINDU condemned the verdict.as “monstrous”. Later the paper strongly attacked the repressive measures of the Britishers in arresting the Editor of the respected Tamil daily SWADESHAMITRAN, Shri G. Subramania Iyer. Naturally, friends of the then Editor of THE HINDU Shri Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, were worried. They anticipated reprisal on THE HINDU by the bureaucracy. Some of them advised Iyengar to follow the example of poet Subramania Bharati (the de facto editor of INDIA weekly known for its bitter attacks on the British rule) and voluntarily leave for Pondicherry, held then by the French, to be safe; he could return when the trouble had blown over. Salem C. Vijayaraghavachariar, an intimate friend of Iyengar’s family also met the Editor. When the two were alone, they wanted to know each other’s mind most dispassionately. For this purpose, they decided that each should write on a piece of paper what he thought the best policy to adopt in the circumstances. Vijayaraghavachariar wrote on his slip of paper: “An editor, if he wants to honourably discharge his duties, should not be afraid of imprisonment or even loss of life.” Kasturi Ranga Iyengar had written on his slip that he was not going to be daunted by anything coming in the way of his following his principles and putting his ideas into practice. They were mutually happy to discover their like-mindedness.

Source: KASTURI RANGA IYENGAR by V.K.Narasimhan, published by Publications Division, Government of India, in 1963 as part of their ‘Builders of Modern India’ series.

FOUR

In the year 2000, motorcycle makers of Bharat were a worried lot. A number of them had announced plans to launch dirt-cheap Chinese bikes, fearing that such dumped motorcycles would swamp the Indian market. The Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which had lobbied vigorously to block the onslaught, say dumping by China is no longer an issue. But how did the miracle take place? To begin with, Indians beat the Chinese at their game of aggressive pricing. Three years ago, the entry-level price of Indian motorcycles was Rs 31,000, and there was talk of Chinese motorcycles being launched at Rs 25,000. Since then, Indian firms have brought down the entry-level price to Rs 26,000. Monto's Chinese bike, the Cosmo Blaster, in contrast, is available for Rs 30,000. Leading automobile companies like Bajaj Auto and LML had scouted the Chinese industry to source components but could not find anything worthwhile. Far from being annihilated by China, Indian manufacturers currently hold potential export orders worth $10 billion. Interestingly, Bajaj Auto now plans to produce a bike in China, with components supplied from India. "The Chinese are delighted with our quality and price," Bajaj Auto vice-president (business development and marketing) R L Ravichandran said. Moreover, the Chinese could not deliver quality products. According to Pankaj Gupta, director of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Chinese products failed because of India's stricter emission norms. The same goes for tyres. On average, the life expectancy of a Chinese tyre is at least 20 per cent less than its Indian counterpart.

Based on a rport in the REDIFF ON THE NET (August 9, 2003)

FIVE

Acharya Shyam Upadhyaya was honoured this year (2003) with a ‘Samskrita Mitra’ award by the Human Resources Development Ministry, Government of India. He is an advocate who practises in the courts in Kashi – in Samskritam – for over twenty years now. The Acharya renders the atmosphere in the courtroom fully Sanskritised in no time. He manages all the proceedings of the cases for which he appears in Samskritam. If the magistrate or the other party has any difficulty with any of his Samskrit words, the Acharya comes up with the etymology and also makes his sentences as small as possible till the court comprehends his argument. The magistrate’s chamber is invariably crowded with eager advocates whenever he expounds his case in Samskritam. He was moved immensely when the judgement in the very first case he fought in Samskritam went in his client’s favour. That was in the year 1976. The Acharya says it was the yearning of his father, also an advocate, that cases should be argued in Samskritam as well. Whatever case he argues now is only in Samskritam, even if it were in the Supreme Court. The Acharya is now busy training the nearly 1,000 advocates attached to the Kashi courts to affix their signatures in Samskritam. The target he has set for the next 5 years is to train 10,000 advocates in the courts in Uttaranchal to sign in Samskritam. On Samskrit Day every year, he oganises a Samskrit program in the court precincts.

Based on a report in RASHTRA DEV, Hindi fortnightly, dated September 25, 2003.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Panchaamritam - 24

ONE

Railway accidents seem to have lost their news value. But not the one that happened on October 7 around 12.55 in the night at a level crossing in Munneerpallam near Tirunelveli. A train rammed against a truck that had been left in the middle of the track after it had a breakdown. The assistant driver of the train was killed in the accident and 25 passengers sustained injuries. The news, rather the good news, part of this episode is the alacrity of the Tirunelveli District Collector Suneel Paliwal. As soon as information reached in the dead of the night, he rang up the Revenue Divisional Officer and sent him to the government hospital with instructions to reach medical help to the victims on the spot immediately. Next, the Collector called in the Fire Service people and asked them to hasten with relief work. After that, the dutiful Collector spoke to the Superindendant of Police regarding the accident (The SP, of course, had received information). Next, the Collector called the managing director of the State Transport Corporation and got him deploy buses to transport the affected people to the government hospital and other places. Having done all this, the Collector set out to visit the accident spot, only to find out that his personal assistant was not around. So, he went to the residence of the assistant, picked him up and made it to the spot even before the railway authorities could reach the place.

Based on a report in DINAMANI dated October 12, 2003.

TWO

The Vanavasi hamlet Madoor, situated 28 kilometeres from the hill station Yercaud, Tamilnadu, Bharat, was in the news when all the goats in the village were sold and they were herded away. This was in order to enable the afforestation programme by the forest department. The vanavasis are naturally grateful to the forest department which has installed a deep borewell of 340 feet and provided water distribution to the hamlet from an overhead tank. The villagers stand to benfit in 10 different ways for their unique co-operation. Some are: 1 lakh saplings planted on 300 hectare, 60,000 percolation trenches dug to harvest rain water, etc.

Based on a DINAMANI report

THREE

Years back, in October 1962, when China invaded India and when clashes in the India – China border took place, Shri.Chaman Lal Chaman, a correspondent of Kenya Brodcasting Corporation was in India for a week to cover the developments following the clash. When he returned to Kenya, he was given a hero’s welcome at Nairobi airport by a large number of Indians domiciled in the African country. Shri.Chaman Lal drove straight to a reception in his honour at the city hall, where he spoke about his experience in India. He informed the predominantly Indian audience that India needed funds to fight China. At once, Indian women in the audience offered their ornaments without any hesistation. A huge amount was collected on the spot. When he reached his residence, Chaman Lal was in for a pleasant surprise. His wife, who had been to the recption, had offered her earring made of gold to India’s defence fund.

Based on media reports in October 2003,

citing an item from archives posted in www.historytalking.com

FOUR

India was home to a large variety of wonderful dogs. History ha it that when India was invaded by Alexander, huge Indian dogs attacked lions and tigers Alexander, in fact, took a few dogs with him from our country. I had a breed of dog called Jonangi which is beautiful, friendly, faithful and awonderful guard dog. I bet it was better than any foreign breeds. It is easier to maintain an Indian breed. Many foreign breeds suffer from skin infections, liver problems and so on because of the different climatc condition and food. Unfortunately, many still lack knowledge about the Indian breeds. There are lovely breeds like Pasharis, Rajapalayams, the Himalayan sheep dog, gaddi, Bhuttia, Shanekota, etc.,I have heard, on my trips to the Ganges that each village in the Himalayan ranges has a dog which is a kind of protection to the village. There are many heroic stories of how these dogs fought panthers, cheetas, hyenas, etc. We need to revive these breeds instead of imposing defective foreign breeds on our country. Let the pride of being an Indian show in our pets as well.

From an article by Shri Pullela Gopi Chand,

the former badminton national champion,

in THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS, dated February 9, 2003.

FIVE

1.Loganathan (36) of Nanjundapuram, works as a welder in the Essem Engineering Company in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, Bharat. His monthly income of Rs. 2,500 is not sufficient to give money to poor students so that they could continue their studies (a passion with him). He took up the additional job of cleaning the toilets of his office that yielded Rs. 400 per month. He deposits that in the bank. Out of this fund he finances 10 students. This goes on for quite a few years. (DINAMANI, July 8, 2003). 2. Shri Subramanian of Vishnupuram (Nanninlam taluk, Thanjavur District, Tamilnadu) is a history teacher who has retired from service in the Nannilam Government Boys higher Secondary School two years back. Even after his retirement, he teaches history to students in class XII at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in the same town for free. He has declined the honourorium that was offered to him by the parent teacher association of the school. “ At this stage I look upon teaching as my Dharma” says Subramanium. (DINAMANI January 27, 2003). 3. Teachers of Schools run by Chennai Municipal Corporation continued to teach in their respective classes even after they (118 of them) had been dismissed by the Government for participating in a strike in July 2003. these were teachers of schools situated in Tiruvanmaiyur, Koiambedu, Magazinepuram, Vyasarpadi. They were driven by humanitarian consideration. The quarterly examination was also round the corner. The Corporation, too, permitted them to attend teach. (DINAMANI July 13, 2003) 4. In Kadirampatti, near Erode, Tamilnadu, educated citizens of the village volunteered to teach the children of the village under the shades of the trees. The local Pachayat elementary school was locked following an indefinite strike by teachers. These volunteers, all graduates, are old students of the same school which is there for over thirty years. The mid-day meal for the children is cooked right on the roadside. Every household in the village contributed rice, pulses and vegetables. This beautiful local initiative was later picked up by villagers of adjoining Nanjanapuram, Rayapalayam, Koorapalayam, Veppampalayam, Vannankattuvalasu and Pichchandanpalayam.

(DINAMANI October 10, 2002)

oooooooooooooooooo

Panchaamritam - 25

ONE

Occasionally we find the note 'Avoid gifts' at the bottom of wedding invitations. Here is a rare kind of such a note: 'In case you are particular in giving a gift, let it be a cheque -- drawn in favour of 'armed forces personnel welfare fund'. That one was found in the invitation card of the wedding of Shri. Parijat, son of Shri. J.C.Sharma, Secretary, Foreign Affairs, government of India. The note had effect. Guests avoided giving gifts to the newlywed couple. But donations to the Jawans' fund totted up to Rs. 1.50 lakhs on that auspicious day in the last week of May, 2003. Sharma had served in the 1971 war with Pakistan and had received Sena medal. His happiness was doubled when bride Archana's family too appreciated the gift arrangement. Archana's father Shri. Ravi Rana is a retired Colonel. Deputy Prime Minister Shri. L.K.Advani, among others, attended the wedding reception.

(Based on a report in DINAMANI, May 30, 2003)

TWO

Sashirerekha runs Akshara Fun School in R.S.Puram, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, Bharat. 100 kids in the age group of 2-3 study here. Medium of instruction is English. But the school staff interact with the children in their respective mother tongue -- Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, etc. All festivals are celebrated in the school. Competitions including those in games are conducted. "As the school functions within the precincts of my house, parents admit their kids in full faith", she says. Okay. What is specal here? Sashirekha cannot move her limbs and needs help even to take food or change her dress. She was hit by Rheumatoid when she was 15. She was an athlete in her school. But soon all that became things of the past. Every joint in her body gave her unbearable pain. She was taken to the US for treatment. During her 2-year stay there, she received training in teaching pre school kids. On her return, she had relief for ten years and she launched the school. Her family backed her. Now, crippled completely, Sashirekha manages to visit the school all the same, only to withdraw for a bit of rest when the pain shoots up.

(Based on a DINAMANI report by G.Menakshi; March 11, 2003.)

THREE

The people of Kollugudi, a hamlet in Sivaganga District, Tamilnadu, Bharat, are in the news. The reason: they give up the joy of celebrating Deepavali by bursting crackers year after year. This is because, Kollugudi is a bird sanctuary. More than a dozen variety of European birds visit this place in their hundreds during winter. To escape the severe cold of the Northern hemisphere. The villagers appreciate that birds are scared by the sound of crackers and therefore, have voluntarily given up the practice of buying crackers in spite of their children’s insistence. This is because they seem to love the birds more than their children. The same norm is observed even during occasions like weddings, and festivals when normally fireworks form part of the festivities.

(A DINAMANI report, October, 2003)

FOUR

1. Meet Shri.K.Sambandam, a student of class V at the evening school in Iyyampettai, Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu, Bharat. His age is just 75. He is a regular for three years. He has stopped selling lungies as his health did not permit. But no such bar for his scholastic pursuit. He is seen reading aloud laessons from class V Tamil textbook a energetically as his classmates the age of his grandchildren. "He does all his homework promptly", says his class teacher Arunagiri. There seems to be no such thought as, 'what use studying at this stage?' passing through Sambandam's mind; "I shall go on studying as far as I can", he says. (DINAMANI, July 28, 2003). 2. Also, meet Shri. Prahlad Mishra, 87, of Kendrapada, Orissa, Bharat. He is a retired Samsritam teacher. What engages him all his retired life is his translation work. For the last 10 years, he has been rendering the entire Mahabharata epic into simple Oriya language in verse form. So far he is done with 13 volumes. 12 more volumes remain to be done and he hopes that it could be completed in 2 years. "There was a break in the work because of my ill health. I have managed to print 2 volumes. Paucity of funds impedes the work of printing the finalised script of 10 volumes", he says. His lifetime savings and his retirement cash benefits were all spent in the translation work he adds.(DINAMANI, July 6, 2003).

FIVE

It was October 13, 2003. A Christian girl and a Muslim youth get married at a Hindu temple. Their families oppose. Police comes to their protection. The girl, Mary Alishya, is an 18-year old college student. The youth, Hussain Shareef, is 22 years old and works as a tailor in a garment export factory. This unique marriage took place in Periyapalayam, Amman temple, the Kuladevata of Chennaiites. The boy and the girl were neighbours and they eloped when parents of both opposed the proposal. After marriage, they sought the help of the police. Joint Commissioner (North), Shri C. Sylendra Babu directed his men to ensure the safety of the couple. The police summoned the family members of the couple and tried to broker a peace. At the end of it all, the couple decided to live alone. The police have warned the parents not to harm the couple.

(Based on a report in THE HINDU, October 14, 2003).

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO