PANCHAAMRITAM 291

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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PANCHAAMRITAM 290

PANCHAAMRITAM 290

(pancha is five in samskritam; amritam is nectar)

Poornima / Kali Yugabda 5117 / Manmatha Thay 12 (January 23, 2016)

ONE

Throat cancer patients who have lost their voice can look forward to speaking again, without having to shell out thousands on an artificial voice box. Dr Vishal Rao, Bengaluru-based (Karnataka, Bharat) oncologist, has invented a voice prosthesis priced at just Rs 50. The device weighs just about 25 grams and is seen as a boon for the poor. The prosthesis available in the market costs Rs 20,000 (to be changed once in six months). The device has been aptly named Aum voice prosthesis. "We decided to term it Aum, as that is the sound which first resonated across the universe. Regaining one's voice is so much like a rebirth," said Rao. He took the help of his friend Shashank Mahesh, an industrialist, to deal with the financial aspect of the project. Ramakrishna, 55, a watchman from Peenya suffering from throat cancer, was the first recipient of the prosthesis."He was a beedi addict. He had been smoking for years to keep awake at night. He suffers from throat cancer and we had to remove his voice box. He was given a Western voice prosthesis. Though it had a shelf life of six months, he used it for two years as he couldn't afford a new one. He came to me with tears in his eyes saying that food was leaking through the prosthesis. Our device innovation was just about ready and we offered it to him for Rs 50. He regained his speech and returned with a million dollar smile, telling me that he was doing fine. That was the biggest gift for me," said Dr Rao. At any given point of time, there are over 1.5 lakh cases of tobacco-induced cancer in the state. (Based on a report by Smt Sunitha Rao R in THE TIMES OF INDIA, December 25, 2015).

TWO

Smt K.N. Paru in her late 70s had resigned to a life in her gutted one-room hut. For generations of the students of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), Kochi (Kerala, Bharat) behind which stood her rundown house, she has been Paru Amma, the granny who unfailingly swept clean the campus. Moved, a few students of the School of Engineering decided to repay by refurbishing her home. And on January 15, they did as the School of Engineering Principal, G. Madhu, gave her key of the renovated house. It all started after Nitin Vasanth, a final year B.Tech student, spotted the septuagenarian sweeping the campus on a rainy evening last November. It took countless visits to local body offices to clear issues related to the 0.90 cent of plot and get the clearance. The students started with pulling down the gutted structure. They took turn to help masons. The truss work was done using welding machines at the mechanical lab. They braved cold December mornings to water the cement structures, painted the house during evenings after the classes and electrified the house. A contractor provided an earthmover for free to clean up the mess in the front yard. Finally, when a tearful Paru Amma boiled the milk to mark the house warming they were all present as if to make up for the absence of her own children. (Based on a report by Shri M.P. Praveen in THE HINDU, January 17, 2016).

THREE

Recognising his honesty, the West Bengal government today honoured a city taxi driver 42-year-old Prodyot Paul with a cash award of Rs 10,000 and urged others to emulate his example. Handing over a cheque (of that amount) at a simple function in his Writers Buildings chamber, state Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty informed that Paul had willingly returned Rs 7 lakh to its rightful owners, who had left the currencies in a bag in his taxi while travelling in the city on March 20, 2006. Paul after dropping a passenger near the Great Eastern Hotel found a bag lying on the floor of his taxi after about an hour. In order to trace the identity of its owner he opened the bag and to his surprise found that it contained several gold ornaments and bundles of cash inside. But without a second thought Paul first rushed back to the hotel and tried to identify the person he had dropped. But despite waiting for nearly an hour when he could not find him, he went to the New Market Police station and deposited the bag to the Officer-in-Charge. Later it was estimated that the cash and jewellery in the bag was valued at more than Rs 7 lakh which was returned to its owner the next day after proper verification, Chakraborty informed. Highly impressed by his act of honesty the New Market police recomended his case to the state transport department for a suitable reward. Paul refused to claim that he had done something extraordinary."I only tried to implement ‘honesty is the best policy’ - which I learnt in my childhood", he emphasied. UNI, February 19, 2007.

FOUR

On December 22, 2015, a BSF plane crashed on the outskirts of Delhi. The plane, which was spiralling down towards the airport, was at a very low altitude and barely managed to avoid a passenger train as it came crashing down. “The landing path of the aircraft to the IGI airport goes right above our village, but this flight was flying way off the mark before it crash-landed,” said Rajeev, a resident of the Shahbad Mohammadpur village (Delhi, Bharat), indicating that the pilot might have deliberately tried to avoid the populated area. Hundreds of people had a lucky escape after a Ranchi-bound BSF aircraft narrowly missed an express train and crashed in west Delhi’s Dwarka after developing a technical snag, killing all ten on board. (Based on a report in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, December 23, 2015).

It is with a sense of déjà vu that Team Panchaamritam add hereunder an anecdote contained in PANCHAAMRITAM 36:

“It was early 1989. Squadron Leader S.K.Karve takes a quick glance from the cockpit of the burning IAF aircraft that he was piloting. It was a usual check-up sortie. Karve was one of the ace pilots of the special squadron of IAF in charge of ensuring that fighter-bombers are in fighting fit. The aircraft had developed a snag and had caught fire mid air. It flew across the sky awkwardly, leaving a trail of dark smoke. Down below, children were going to school along the road. Little boys were playing in the lake that Karve wanted to crash into. In a split second, he changed his mind. He was right above the village -- Paaroor-Kizhkuppam – near Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu. Now he decided to crash his craft onto the fields outside the village. Before he did that, it was too late. Karve lost his life. His body was torn to pieces like the aircraft, which smashed onto the roadside tamarind trees. The entire village was witness to the whole drama. They realized that the pilot could have saved his life by bailing out from the burning aircraft without bothering about the consequences. But Karve was too humane for that and he paid the price with his life in order to save the lives of the villagers. The grateful villagers renamed a village near Krishnagiri dairy farm as ‘Karvepuram’ on June 13, 1989”. (As reported by V.Yuvaraj in JUNIOR VIKATAN IN 1989).

FIVE

An engineer hailing from Veerasamy Nagar Alankombu near Sirumugai, along with his family members, was on way to Udhagamandalam in a car. A bag was kept on the carriage of the car. When the driver took a sharp turn, the bag fell on to the road. Rangasamy (40) from Godepalayam near Bhavani Sagar, who was driving a car, picked up the bag and followed the other car in vain. As he could not stop the car, he handed over the bag to the Mettupalayam Police Station. The bag contained about 200 gm of gold jewellery, and Rs. 8,500. The police contacted a phone number found in the bag. The family members came to the station and collected the bag. They expressed their gratitude to Rangasamy, and his friends who were in the car. The police too appreciated their honesty. (Based on a report in THE HINDU, January 20, 2016).

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