PANCHAAMRITAM 13

ONE

This happened in late 80’s. As part of a nation-wide campaign, Swayamsevaks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh accompanied by workers of other Hindu organizations were busy in a labuorers’ colony in north Chennai, going door to door, collecting signatures of the residents in a petition. The petition called upon the Central government to permit construction of Ram Mandir precisely at the Ram Jamnasthan in Ayodhya. The response was naturally overwhelming. This seemed to have irked a few toughs entrenched in the colony. They kicked up a quarrel with the volunteers. Peaceful campaign became impossible. The volunteers withdrew. Shri. Shivaramji, the veteran RSS Pracharak coordinating service activities of the Sangh in Chennai, came to know of all this. The younger volunteers, a few among them college students, were seething with anger. They wanted to avenge the setback. Shivaramji hinted at a novel kind of retort. Everyone instantly liked it. Accordingly, the very next week the colony witnessed inauguration of a free tuition class for students of X standard. The service was offered through the entire academic year. The result was telling. Parents (many of them daily wage earners) of quite a few of the beneficiaries were in tears at the felicitation function to pat the students who were successful in the examination. Thus Swayamsevaks could endear themselves to the people, neatly rendering the toughs totally irrelevant in the scene. That is the way Shivaramji went about bonding the Hindu society for over six decades in many parts of Tamilnadu. (Born on May 17, 1917, Shri. Shivaramji passed away in 1999).

Based on the narration of an eyewitness, reported in

VIJAYABHARATAM, Tamil weekly.

TWO

March 12, 2003 was proclaimed Narayan Kataria Day in Queens County, New York. The office of the President, Borough of Queens, Helen M. Marshall, issued a Declaration of Honor in favor of Shri. Narayan Kataria, a Hindu leader, freelance writer and organizer who has worked for the last 25 years selflessly to promote and propagate Hindu view point in USA. Narayan is fired with a zeal to unite and organize Hindu society. Narayan is connected with a dozen organizations in New York City. He is the founder of Indian American Intellectual Forum, a group based in New York, which has been organizing seminars and serving to strengthen Indo-American ties. The Declaration acknowledges Narayan Kataria as a dedicated community organizer. This was at the Hindu festival of Phagwah (Holi) organized by the Caribbean Hindus at Queens Borough Hall. Through his outstanding work, Narayan has made lasting contributions to the social, cultural and economic fabric of the borough and beyond. Messages from the Mayor of the New York City and the Governor of the New York State were also read.

Courtesy: ORGANIZER (May 4, 2003) Weekly, New Delhi

THREE

One of the central messages of the management guru, C.K Prahalad, to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) during the first week of May, as on previous occasions, was that India Inc's biggest problem is that it has consistently been underestimating its own potential. Dr Prahalad's way of pressing his point home is to present a series of examples in order to show just how competitive Bharat can be. For those who say Bharat simply cannot develop new products since it does not have the technological skills, he cites the examples of Telco's Indica and Mahindra & Mahindra's Scorpio - both are new products developed autonomously, at a fraction of the cost of buying finished technology overseas, and in a sense these have catapulted Bharat into the league of countries where advanced engineering can be done at low cost. Indeed, the prospectus for the public share offer by Maruti Udyog talks of how Suzuki plans to use Maruti as one of the only R&D centres that it has outside of Japan. For those who say Bharat cannot compete with China's low costs since it doesn't have a large enough domestic market, Prof. Prahalad cites the example of Aravind Netralayam (he calls it Aravind Eye Hospital) where the cost of a lens implant is just $16; this compares with more than $1,000 in US hospitals. Similar is the instance of the Jaipur Foot, which fits prostheses for as little as $30 (against $10,000 in the US). Dr Prahalad argues that Bharatiyas don't celebrate their small victories enough, certainly not publicly, and that's why good ideas don't spread and/or inspire others. That's true too; too many Indians spend more time on the bad news than on the good.

From a report in the BUSINESS STANDARD of May 1, 2003.

FOUR

March 30, 2003. Sindhupriya, a fifth standard student of Indira Nagar Government Middle School, Pondicherry, was on her way to school at 8.30 in the morning. She spotted a purse lying on the road. She gave it to her mother Sita, a domestic servant maid. Sita, in turn, took her daughter and the purse to her husband Ramalingam, a wayside artisan. They found a sum of Rs. 2,000, a credit card and a driving licence in the purse. Looking at the driving licence, they came to know that the purse belonged to an IAS officer, Shri. C.C.Girwal who had gone to Delhi. Ramalingam handed over the purse to Chief Secretariat officials. On his return, Girwal met the Ramalingam family living in Laspet in Pondicherry and honoured them. He also made a gift of Rs. 2,000 to Sindhupriya in appreciation of the poor family’s straightforwardness.

Based on a report in DINAMANI (Tamil Daily) dated April 25, 2003.

FIVE

Asifa, a post-graduate in Urdu, living in the Jama Masjid area of Delhi, does the role of Sita in the massive Ramlila celebrations at the Red Fort during the October Dussera festival in the national capital. This has been going on for the past eight years. Asifa takes no remuneration for this. “It is because I look upon Sita as the ideal of Bharatiya womanhood”, she explains. Likewise, Maqbool, an advocate of Bulandshahar, puts aside his black gown and gets down into Ramlila preparations a month ahead. His favourite role is that of Lakshman. Neither Maqbool nor Asifa is a stage artiste. Maqbool says Dussera (Vijayadasami) is not the festival of any one religion.

Source: PATHIK SANDESH (November 2002), Hindi Monthly from Jullandhar.

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