Monday, April 16, 2012

PANCHAAMRITAM 233

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Vishwa Samvad Kendra, Chennai

PANCHAAMRITAM 233

Pancha is five in Samskritam, Amritam is nectar

Poornima / Kali Yugaabda 5113 / Kara Panguni 24 (April 6, 2012)

Posted on April 16, 2012. Regret the delay. – Moderator.

ONE

One of India's holiest cities, Varanasi (Kashi) has a shrine to Bharat Mata, or Mother India. Built in 1936, its centrepiece is a huge marble mapof undivided India, complete with Pakistan and Bangladesh. But it never caught on with pilgrims. That would have pleased John Strachey, a 19th-century British civil servant, who told arrivals on the subcontinent that essentially "there is not and never was an India". Yet this geographically unwieldy nation-state remains stubbornly united. What binds a country of such immense ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity? The answer is Hinduism, argues Diana Eck in her sprawling and convincing new book. (India: A Sacred Geography; Harmony; 576 pages; $27 and £18.99). 

http://www.economist.com/node/21550765     March 24,  2012 . Idea: Shri Venkat

TWO

Puja Mishra, who received her MBA degree from IIM-Calcutta last week,  has chucked IIM-C placements so that she can live and work in a remote village to educate children . But this is not the first time that Puja has cold-shouldered a plum job. She had earlier given up an Infosys job in Chicago to study at the management college. She met her husband, Shashank Shukla, who had to drop out of NDA after an injury. "I always dreamt of teaching village kids. My forefathers are from Rae Bareilly and thus I have seen village life from close quarters. Students travel at least 35 km to reach colleges. The girl child is the worst affected. My father would always tell me that I was lucky to be where I am and that my education would be useless if I did not do anything for village students," said Puja. The duo have started Gurukul Mahavidyala, a degree college, in a remote village called Purasi in the Rae Bareilly district. The land on which the college stands belongs to Puja's father RD Mishra, a prominent lawyer from the Lucknow high court. They have started Gurukul Public School as well. Looking at the zeal of these two indefatigable youngsters, the UP government has helped by extending free studentships for those unable to pay tuition fees. The teachers are paid from a corpus that the duo has intelligently created partly from their savings and partly from a huge loan. "People often say that we are mad for taking our careers so lightly. But this is our call in life and we don't mind the risk. As far as uncertainty is concerned, nothing in life is certain!" Puja said bravely. Based on a report by Smt Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey In THE TIMES OF INDIA, April 2, 2012. Idea: Shri Vasuvaj.

THREE

Ajit Singh , 41, a resident of Varanasi (Kashi) has caused over 100 women to be freed from the hell of flesh trade. He has provided them alternative livelihood as well. He has opened a school for the children of those unfortunate women. For this service he had to face threats and attacks from local dadas, the police and sundry leaders. Ajit Singh remains unfazed in the face of over 50 false cases slapped on him and his outfit the `Gudiya'.  Earlier, he had been running a school for the children of maajis (boatmen) on the Ganga. A boat at the Manasarovar Ghat in Kashi is the classroom where the vagrant kids of the boatmen receive education. In recognition of his service activities, THE WEEK English weekly, honoured Ajit Singh by choosing him as `The Man of the Year - 2011' and carried a cover story on him. Source: THE WEEK, December 18, 2011. Idea: PATHEYA KANN, Hindi fortnightly, January 1, 2012.   

FOUR

Twentyfive years ago, R. Rajaram, barely 20 then, learnt about cadaver donation when he read about  a doctor who donated his body. It triggered a spark in him, which has now resulted in seven members of his family including his 15-year old son A.R. Thamizhamudhan, a tenth standard student, agreeing to donate their body after death. The seven are: Rajaram; his wife Anuradha; son Thamizhamudhan; his father M. Rathinam; his mother R. Padmavathy; his brother R. Madhavan; and Madhavan's wife Geetha Madhavan. All of them submitted documents offering their bodies for medical purposes to students of K.A.P. Viswanatham  Medical College in Tiruchi (Tamilnadu, Bharat). The family members have also donated their eyes. Rajaram's gesture is not so common, as he has legalized his cadaver donation even while alive. From a report by Shri V. Mayilvaganan in THE TIMES OF INDIA, October 4, 2008. Idea: Shri Raghuram  

FIVE

In an act worth emulating, seven members of a family have decided to donate their bodies to a medical college. The family hails from Kappalaguddi village in Bagalkot district. Shivaputrappa Kadappa Badiger, his wife Mahadevi and children Kalamma, Kumar, Iranna, daughter-in-law Vaishali (wife of Kumar), grandson  Ravi Prakash Kumbar are the donors. This family of three generations registered their names at KLE Societys Jawaharlal Medical College, Belgaum (Karnataka, Bharat), through Dr P G Halakatti Trust of Mahalingapur. Of the seven members, three Kalamma, Kumar and Iranna are visually challenged. Kalamma serves as a teacher in a blind school at Hubli, while Kumar works as a music teacher in Hukkeri and Sankeshwar. Iranna is also a music teacher in Mahalingapur town. Dr B M, Trust chairman, said: "Whenever a body is donated to the Trust, it is handed over to a medical college for the use of medical students. This is completely legal, according to the Act of 1957. The Dr P G Halakatti Body Donation Information Centre promotes and encourages donors in this endeavour. Since its inception, nearly 76 persons have voluntarily come forward to donate their bodies to Patil the Trust, Patil  added. Based on a report by Shri Sushilendra T Naik in THE TIMES OF INDIA.

OOOOOOOO

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