PANCHAAMRITAM 291
(pancha is five in
samskritam; amritam is nectar)
Poornima / Kali
Yugabda 5117 / Manmatha Thay 25 (February 8, 2016)
ONE
In
a gesture of love to people suffering from cancer, 13 students from the
Providence Women’s College, Kozhikode (Kerala, Bharat) donated their hair at a programme
organised on campus. Beauticians from a leading beauty parlour in the city came
to help the girls to cut and pack the hair for donation. Archana Sebastian, a
student from the same college who coordinated the initiative said the collected
hair would be donated to some of the selected hospitals in Kerala for making
quality wigs for cancer patients. “For You, a non-governmental organisation
working for the welfare of children in Kerala, is currently coordinating the
initiative on the campuses and more number of students from various colleges
have expressed their willingness to join the initiative,” she said. Last year,
around 60 students from Providence College had donated their hair expressing
solidarity to the wig-making programmes. Though the participation was
comparatively less on Wednesday’s programme, organisers said it was due to some
new quality parameters fixed for the selection of hair for donation. The
side-effect of chemotherapy is most visible on the hair. For a woman, it is
really a painful experience. The programme coordinators believe that the
voluntary support of young girls would be a big consolation for such struggling
women. (Based on a report in THE HINDU, January 14, 2016).
A similar news item that PANCHAAMRITAM - 2 (12 years back)
had included was this : “Revathy Sankaran, a Chennai - based television artiste
is also adept at a few fine arts. She is an exponant of quite a few folk art
forms as well. But the mention of her hobby made Ramya, a mass communications
post gratuate course senior student, sit up while the artiste was being
interviewed by her: Revathy Sankaran said she collects human hair. With a
purpose. Cancer patients lose hair and go bald at a very young age. Revathy
noticed it during one of her solace-giving visits as a volunteer to the Cancer
Research Centre, Adayar. She also learnt that the Centre has a gadget which
converts locks of loose hair fed into it into wigs for use by patients. Then
on, she never forgets to insist everyone she meets to carefully collect the
hair that falls while combing the head daily and send it to the Centre. (As
narrated by an eyewitness)”.
TWO
Shri
Pon. Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways,
rescued an accident victim on January 29, 2016 and got him admitted to a
hospital at Chinthamani near Neelambur on way to Kerala. When
Radhakrishnan’s convoy was near Chettipalayam (Tamilnadu, Bharat) around 11
a.m., he found M. Balakrishnan (44) lying on the road with injuries on his head
and hand. He immediately stopped the car, took the victim in an escort car and
had him admitted to a private hospital. Mr. Balakrishnan of SIHS Colony was
riding pillion on K. Gandhirajan’s two-wheeler when the accident happened. The
police said that. Gandhirajan lost control of his motorcycle and fell to the
ground after hitting another two-wheeler. That two-wheeler had a few minutes
earlier rammed a lorry that was parked on the road side and was lying on the
ground. . Pon Radhakrishnan also visited the hospital,' said a police officer.
Balakrishnan was given treatment for the injury and his condition is said to be
stable. Based on a report in THE HINDU, January 30, 2016.
THREE
A
child prodigy has gifted Rs 85,000 to the famous Kohilambikai-Tirukameeshwarar
Temple in Villianur (Puduchery UT, Bharat). The more than 1,000-year-old Chola
period temple, the biggest one in Union Territory of Puducherrry was renovated
and consecrated recently after a gap of several years. A.Thirukaamesvaran, a
six-year-old boy, earned the amount by singing sacred hymns written by famous
Saivite saints Manikavasagar, Sundarar, Sambandar and Appar, at various temples
over the last one year. Shri B. Anand, the father of child, who is an
electrician said “my son used to sing since the age of three. He used to listen
to the hymns played through mobile phones and would instantly pick them and
recite at the temples in Puducherry and also in neighbouring Tamilnadu,” Anand
added. His mother Sangeetha said, “I used to visit the temple since I conceived
the child. After birth of the child, I used to take him for evening prayers at
the temple where Thevaram, Thiruvasakam hymns were sung. We never compelled him
to learn all these hymns.” The boy has been singing the hymns at various
temples since 2014. Impressed by his talents, the devotees and philanthropists
offered him money as token of love and affection for him. He gave the entire
cash to the temple authorities in the presence of his parents. Mr. Anand added:
“Well-wishers advised us to utilise the money for good cause and so we donated
the money for the renovation works of temple.” Based on a report by Shri
Sivaramanu in THE HINDU January 30, 2016.
FOUR
Shri
Mohammed Zahir works as a caretaker of Lord Shiva temple in Khandwa, Indore
(Madhya Pradesh, Bharat). According to Dainik Bhaskar, he sweeps the temple,
decorates the Shiva Linga and sticks around from dawn to dusk in the temple
premises for the past six years. The temple comes under the Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI) and they employed him as the caretaker. The 40-year-old
man finds the job as a privilege and has been happy to serve the temple.
He performs ‘archana’ to the Shiva Linga. Interestingly, he also serves a
nearby Dargah which also comes under ASI. Zahir believes that his services to both
the temple and Dargah will teach equality and harmony to his five children. He
hails from Asirgarh 20 kms away from Burhanpur in MP. Based on a report in
THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, August 13, 2015.
FIVE
Weaving
khadi through solar charkhas has changed the life of Geeta Devi, 50, and Komal
Devi, 40, of Dausa (Rajasthan, Bharat). Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned
their names and their success stories in his `Man Ki Baat', his monthly radio
broadcast over All India Radio. The Khadi Commission had started a training
programme for solar charkhas which both Geeta and Komal had attended.
“Tailoring and weaving is our ancestral profession. With regular use of charkha
one gets a pain in the shoulder in old age. But this (solar) is easier to
operate. Earlier I used to earn Rs 80 a day but now I am making Rs 150 to Rs
200,“ said Geeta. (From a report by Shri Ashish Mehtain THE TIMES OF
INDIA, February 1, 2016). During the radio programme, the PM said,
“The experiment with the solar energy based charkha has been successful. The
(physical) labour has gone down, production has increased, and there has been a
qualitative change. Those using a solar charkha have been sending me lots of
letters. Geeta Devi and Komal Devi of Rajasthan and Sadhna Devi of Nawada in
Bihar have written to me saying that their lives have changed drastically
because of the solar charkha. They say their income has doubled.” (INDIAN
EXPRESS, February 1, 2016).
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