Sunday, January 31, 2010

PANCHAAMRITAM 179

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Vishwa Samvad Kendra (Media Centre), Chennai (vskch.2009@gmail.com)

PANCHAAMRITAM 179

Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar

Poornima, Kali Yugaabda 5111, VIRODHI Thay 16 (January 29, 2010)

ONE

"During the Second World War, in 1942, nearly 1,200 Polish men and women escaped from Europe and came to India. At that time, British government refused to keep them as refugees. But they were taken by the Maharaja of Bhav Nagar (Gujarat) and were looked after for three years till the war came to an end. That is called India's civilization.  So, we consider we are very fortunate that we have taken birth in this holy land. India is the only country in the world where Jews are living for the last two thousand years without facing anti-Semiticism". (That was Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, India's most popular Jewish leader at the launch of Global Foundation For Civilizational Harmony at Delhi on January 22, 2008. Malekar is the Rabbi of Judah Hyam Synagogue, Delhi). Shri. K. Suryanarayana Rao, a senior RSS Pracharak, recalls how years ago the Mumbai-based Israeli Consulate General's office came out with a publication that gratefully recorded that Bharat is the only land where Jews lived peacefully thanks to the Hindu nation's inclusive ethos.                                       Team PANCHAAMRITAM 

TWO

A sculptor in the south Indian state of Tamilnadu has created a traditional wind instrument  (nadhaswaram) for the first time in stone. The nadhaswaram is one of the most popular traditional Tamil instruments and is usually made of wood. Sculptor Shri  Chinnakkannu used a single piece of hard black granite to make the instrument which is more than two feet in length. Musicians say that they are amazed at how well it plays. It took three months of hard labour .

Based on a report by Shri  P. Sivaramakrishnan (http://news.bbc.co.uk), 15 January 2010.

THREE

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the world's largest, with its student base extending to three million, UNESCO has said. UNESCO Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova, during her first official visit to India as Director-General of UNESCO, delivered the IGNOU Silver Jubilee lecture on "Building inclusive knowledge societies in a globalized world".  Ms Bokova's visit to India has drawn attention to IGNOU, the largest university in the world, as well as to distance education in general. Almost three million students in India and 33 other countries study at IGNOU which is also India's National Resource Centre for Open and Distance Learning and a world leader in distance education. Through its 21 schools of study, 59 regional centres, 2,300 learner support centres and some 52 overseas centres, the university offers 175 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programs, comprising around 1,500 courses. IGNOU's staff consist of 380 faculty members and academic staff in headquarters and regional centres while some 36,000 counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning and professionals from different spheres. With the launch of EduSat (a satellite dedicated only to education) in 2004, and the establishment of the Inter-University Consortium, IGNOU has ushered in a new era of technology-­enabled education.

From www.indiaedunews.net , January 18, 2010 . 

FOUR

Archaeologists in Indonesia have uncovered a 1,000-year-old temple that could shed light on the country's Hindu past. The temple was found on the grounds of Yogyakarta's Islamic University as workers probed the ground to lay foundations for a new library, and they realised the earth beneath their feet was not stable Digging soon revealed an extraordinary find: three metres underground were still-standing temple walls. Heavy rains then exposed the top of a statue of the god Ganesha in pristine condition. A few weeks into the excavation, archaeologists are declaring the temple and its rare and beautiful statues an important discovery that could provide insights into Indonesia's pre-Islamic culture A volcanic eruption is thought most likely to have covered the temple around the 10th century, about 100 years after it was built. The eruption preserved its statues and reliefs in better condition than almost everything else discovered in Indonesia from that period, including the Borobodur and Prambanan temple complexes.  The library that was destined for the site will be redesigned to incorporate the Hindu temple.                                                                          From  http://www.abc.net.au , January 15, 2010

.FIVE

Each of the 50 plus saplings girding the Luz Garden Enclave (the High Income Group flats behind Navashakti Vinayaka temple) in Myalpore , Chennai  (Tamilnadu, Bharat) promptly receive a bottle of water every morning, thanks to the thoughtful school going  kids of the Enclave. As part of New Year celebrations, instead of dinner and dance, the children of this community planted saplings of various trees. The Owners' Association president Dr. A.M. Jayaraman led the activity. Association auditor Shri Raman, impressed with this campaign, announced a gift of Rs, 250 to each of four well-maintained saplings to be given at the end of the year to the child who planted it. 

From MYLAPORE TIMES, January 9-15, 2010

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

PANCHAAMRITAM 178

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PANCHAAMRITAM 178

Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar

Amavaasyaa, Kali Yugaabda 5111, VIRODHI Thay 1 (January 14, 2010)

ONE

Come Kumbh Mela, and sixty-four years old Abdul Hafeez, a retired health department employee, is seen telling Hindus about the right way of performing `snan' and `Gangajal aachman'. He performs `Surya namaskar' and has been taking holy dip at the Sangam since 1968 on all main bathing days. He does the job of health supervisor and oversees arrangements in all major ashrams, akharas and camps in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh, Bharat). He was felicitated by the state government in 2001 for his valuable contributions during Kumbh, Ardh-Kumbh and Magh Mela for over four decades.  ``It gives me an immense pleasure to see smile on the faces of the pilgrims as it means God has accepted my services,'' he says.He is called by mela officials every year. Besides offering services to pilgrims, Hafeez also offers the mandatory namaz five times a day regularly. His family members also offer prayers to `Maa Ganga', he adds.

Based on a report by Shri Kapil Dixit in THE TIMES OF INDIA, January 6, 2010 (Idea: www.tamilhindu.com)

TWO

Shri Prasad is an auto driver based in West Mambalam, Chennai (Tamilnadu, Bharat). On Decemeber 17, he drove a passenger to T.nagar. While alighting, the passenger left behind a bag containing Rs. 35,000. When, later, Prasad noticed the bag, he handed it over to the Ashok Nagar police station.  Even while the police were looking for the owner of the bag, one Shankarlal, an employee of a jewller' shop in T.Nagar, lodged a complaint with the Ashok Nagar police station stating that he had left behind the cash bag in an auto. On cofirming that he is the owner of the money, the police handed him the bag. Officials appreciated prasad for his honesty.

www.tutyonline.com/news/view/2/3395/1261185060.shtml  ; December 18, 2009. (Idea: Smt. Rama devi)

 

 

THREE

The Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand state (Bharat) has set an example for other states in the country by declaring Sanskrit as second official language. The Rajbhasha Vidheyak (Official Language Bill) was introduced in the Assembly to make Sanskrit as second official language as people of the State have keen interest in the language. They tend to use Sanskrit on special auspicious occasions with extreme regards. There are primary, intermediate, graduate and postgraduate Sanskrit medium schools and colleges also in the State which contribute to spread and learning of Sanskrit. Former RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri KS Sudarshan and many Sanskrit scholars felicitated Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokharial `Nishank' in Haridwar for this courageous step. Shri Sudarshan described it a historical and commendable decision. It is a great irony that in India, 18 states have made Urdu their second official language under the appeasement policy, but the Uttarakhand government took the right decision by declaring Sanskrit the second official language, he said.

From ORGANISER, January 17, 2010

FOUR

Come and visit Thennur village near Trichy, Tamlnadu (Bharat). Here is a man, Senthil by name,  who was earning Rs 2 lakhs per month 5 years ago in the US. One of his ambitions, from the time he was studying in school, is to serve his village. Hence, after earning some money for his parents, he resigned his job in the US and came to his village   in order to support the village. He is just 36 years old now, which means he resigned his job when he was 31! He is also called as `Ilam Gandhi' (Young Gandhi). After resigning his job, he invested Rs 40 lakhs in Thennur to build a community health center and an informal learning center.Out of the Rs 40 lakhs Rs 31 lakhs came out of his own pocket. He started an NGO called `Payir' (plant) to help this village. He has created a small IT company at the village. This company has 4 employees as of now, who are all graduates from the village. They have a US client and are currently working on a $ 2500 project. Payir trust provides him with daily food. The trustees have agreed on this. He has built a hut for himself using his past earnings. So shelter is not a problem. He has 3 sets of shirts and Veshti (Dhoti). which he says, he can use for the next 2 years. Asked how he will manage in his old age, if he gets any disease, he coolly replied that he will go to a Govt. hospital where everything is free of cost. Thennur is a proof of the change that youth can bring in our country.

From https://ch1blogs/blogs/everest/files/2009/09/100_5470.JPG

Idea:  PANCHAAMRITAM reader Shri. Ramani Jambunathan

FIVE

Akrit Pran Jaswal has been declared a genius. An IQ test he took yielded a score of 146. He is the smartest kid in a country of more than a billion people.  Akrit had read Hamlet and Othello at an age when kids start school. On the Oprah Winfrey Show to which he was invited when he was 14 he was asked if he could understand Shakespeare at four and he had answered, 'I could understand it. That's why I was reading it'.His genius was not limited to this reading abilities alone, the wonder boy was able to perform a surgery when he was just seven to a girl who had burnt her fingers. No wonder then that fame and recognition caught up with him.Doctors at local hospitals began to take notice and started allowing him to observe surgeries. Inspired by what he saw, Akrit read everything he could on the subject. A 16- year- old now, Akrit has taken up M Sc in Pharmaceuticals at Chandigarh.  Locals come to him seeking medical advice for their various ailments. He wants to study both neurology as well as oncology and find a cure for all forms of cancer. To know more about Akrit, write to him at  akrit_2005@yahoo.co.in

Based on  a report by Smt. Deepika Saravanan in NEWS TODAY Chennai, November 20, 2009.

 

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Friday, January 1, 2010

PANCHAAMRITAM 177

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Vishwa Samvad Kendra (Media Centre), Chennai (vskch.2009@gmail.com)

PANCHAAMRITAM 177

Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar

Poornima, Kali Yugaabda 5111, VIRODHI Margazhi 16 (December 31, 2009)

ONE

Recently, 167 students out of 400 students voluntarily obtained Transfer Certificate in R C Nadunilai Palli (i.e. RC Middle School), a Christian institution in Nathampatti village, Srivilliputhur Taluk, Virudhunagar district (Tamilnadu, Bharat). The reason: The school management had started teaching Bible during classes; teachers pressurized Hindu students not to display Hindu religious symbols.  Agitated Hindu parents opposed this brainwashing attempt on their children.  They stood together, obtained Transfer Certificate from the school and admitted their wards to other schools.

Team PANCHAAMRITAM

TWO

In Tamilnadu, Rashtra Sevika Samiti's members have been campaigning among Hindu girls not to wear T-shirts, jeans etc. They are dissuading girls from taking to weird hairstyles. This was disclosed by Samiti's state general secretary Smt. Gomathi Naveen in a press meet at Erode in connection with the centenary of Samiti's former president Saraswati Tai Apte. Gomati insisted that Samiti will not indulge in any agitation to achieve this end. The press meet was held on December 27, the last day of the three day state level sammelan of the Samiti in which 720 Sevikas from all over the State participated. The punctuality and discipline with which the Samiti route march was held, prompted a woman police official on duty to exclaim how great it would be if they (women police) too could receive wholesome training in this fashion.

Team PANCHAAMRITAM

THREE

Due to the recent heavy showers in the District of Nilgiris, (Tamilnadu, Bharat) many parts of the district have been affected by land-slides that left 43 dead and thousands homeless.  RSS and Seva Bharathi volunteers from various parts of the District swung into the action. Their rescue and relief operations started as early as 10th November 2009 at Gandhinagar, Lovedale. Since then, this team has without any break and reluctance is still working with a motto of serving the affected people. It was the dedicated service of this team to carry all the relief materials by walking around 17 kms from Coonoor to Kurumbarpadi – due to non-availability of motorable road to reach the affected area. Women workers of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of India provided counseling to the affected families. Impressed by the disciplined and dedicated display of service to the needy people, on 15th, the teams were asked by authorities to take care of another camp at Old Ooty.  Swayamsevaks took up the task and did the work to full satisfaction.

Team PANCHAAMRITAM

FOUR

An Indian doctor working in 600 B.C. might have been the world's first plastic surgeon, according to a new exhibition that challenges Western domination of the history of science and technology. The Science and Technology Heritage Exhibition opened last week at New Delhi's National Science Centre, showcasing the advances and discoveries with which the country says it should be credited. The plastic surgery claim relates to Susruta, who lived 150 years before Greece's "father of medicine," Hippocrates, and who lends his name to a number of modern Indian clinics. The surgeon pioneered nose reconstruction in northern India, which entailed removing skin from the forehead of a person to re-build the facial feature. Criminals were often punished by having their noses cut off during his time. He is credited with authoring the Susruta Samhita, a medical text which details 650 types of drugs, 300 operations, 42 surgical procedures and 121 types of instruments, according to available records. The earliest documentation of Indian medicine is found in holy Hindu scripts of the Vedas compiled between 3,000 and 1,000 BC. The organisers linked the new permanent show to the Commonwealth Games next year when 100,000 spectators are expected in New Delhi. Sensing a sunrise market in the heritage sector, New Delhi now plans to dig deeper into its past and go beyond the well-chronicled Indus Valley Civilisation of 2,500 BC.

October 29, 2009. AFP

FIVE

Sahitya Academy, Madhya Pradesh (Bharat) and Sanskriti Parishad in co-ordination with Seva Bharati have organised for the first time a two-day training workshop for the women writers of slums. Panchayat Raj Commissioner Mrs Veena Ghanekar inaugurated the workshop by lighting the traditional lamp. Commending efforts of the Parishad, Mrs Ghanekar said that the thinking of women living in slums would help create a good family and society in future. Sahitya Academy director Dr Devendra Deepak said that the writing done from air-conditioned bungalows and Coffee House about life in slums is far away from truth. Sahitya Academy is trying to reach the deprived of people. Women Writers' Association chairman Rajashree Rawat said that the writings show that children would be cultured. Academy had given four subjects to the participants - 'My Locality, My People'; 'My Mother'; 'My Ideal Woman'; and 'My Interest'. In spite of difficulties faced in life the write ups expressed hope for the future. 35 participants read their creations before subject specialists.

Based on a report in CENTRAL CHRONICLE, Bhopal, December 20, 2009.

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