PANCHAAMRITAM 293
(pancha is five in
samskritam; amritam is nectar)
Amavaasya /
Kali Yugabda 5117 / Manmatha Maasi 25 (March 8, 2016)
ONE
Four
girl students from VIVEKANANDA KENDRA VIDYALAYA of Nirjuli (Arunachal Pradesh, Bharat)
have secured the 3rd position at the Taiwan International Science Fair held on
January 24-29, 2016 at Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Lishank Tasar (Class 7)
and Tadar Parte (Class 8), presented a “Study on Traditional House Architecture
in Itanagar Capital Complex and to improve climatic responsive contemporary
house” while VKV Jirdin Aalo students, Toyir Kamgo and Zarnie Lollen, (both
class 8 students), made their presentation on “Impact of firewood collection on
weather & Climate of Jirdin village, Aalo”. The four were awarded medal,
citations and cash prize of 3,200 dollars. 153 projects were presented in the
event which saw the participation of 513 young scientists from 22 countries. The
selection process involved scrutiny of projects at districts and then at the
state Level by State Council for Science and Technology, Department of Science
and Technology and finally at National Children Science Congress held at
Bangalore and Chandigarh, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology,
Government of India. (A Facebook post, February 9, 2016).
TWO
Vivek
Vadke (59), a chemical engineer, has set an example for others to follow, by
cutting down expenses on his daughter's wedding and donating the amount to two
drought-affected villages in Marathwada (Maharashtra, Bharat). This region is
the most-affected area in the state, with just 8% water stocks remaining. Vivek
and his wife Vasanti have always been very active socially and connected with
the Gram Vikas wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). They decided not to
spend money on decorations and other unimportant things during wedding and thus
saved ₹ 6
lakh, which was then donated to two villages. The money will be used to desilt
and widen rivers that run along these villages so that they are ready to
accommodate more water during the monsoon. Their daughter, Jaai, a
bio-informatics graduate, married Tejas, a fighter pilot, on December 24, 2015
after which the sum was personally handed over to the villagers. "After
visiting the villages, we realized that the best way to use the money would be
to help deepen and widen the water resources in these villages to increase
their capacity for the monsoon," said Vadke. (Based on a report in THE
TIMES OF INDIA, February17, 2016).
THREE
When
modern medical practitioners in India try to laugh away ayurveda treatment
system, here is a Greek physician who integrates both systems in his practice
at his clinic in Athens.In Kochi (Kerala, Bharat) as part of the Global
Ayurveda Festival, Dr. N.G. Kostopoulos, greets his ayurveda mentor with ‘Hari
Om’ when a phone call comes. It was his chance meeting with ayurveda physician
Ashwin Barot, a clinical specialist and researcher practising at the Harley
Street in London, which made Dr. Kostopoulos take up the study of ayurveda
treatment system and then integrate it with the modern medicine that he was
practising. In 1990, he gave up his research in modern medicine and turned to
ayurveda. “It was easy for me to study ayurveda as I had studied Sanskrit when
I was about 17 or 18 years old . I was drawn to the language while studying
ancient Greek. So many words in Greek have come from Sanskrit,” the Greek
Vaidya asserts. After studying and
taking up some research work in ayurveda, he shifted his practice to Athens in
1999. He gets patients from all over Europe as many in the region have started
looking up to ayurveda as a panacea, said Dr. Kostopoulos.A patient coming with
problems of hypertension and high cholesterol is provided an exposure to
ayurveda system too as he introduces them to ahara, vihara and aushadi along
with yoga and meditation step by step. There was a lot of similarity in the
ancient Greek medicine and ayurveda, he said. (Based
on a report by Smt Shyama Rajagopal in THE HINDU Kochi, February 22,
2014).
FOUR
On
February 16, Harish Nanjappa (26) met with a terrible accident that severed his
body in two. Minutes before dying, Harish told the ambulance driver his last
wish: to have his eyes donated. Less
than a fortnight later, almost the entire village of Karegowdanahalli, Gubbi
(Karnataka, Bharat) have decided to pay a fitting tribute to their hero: they
have all pledged their eyes too. Inspired by their village boy’s heroic act,
180 villagers under the leadership of their gram panchayat chief Nanjundappa
made the pledge on the 13th day of Harish’s death ceremony. Of the 180
villagers aged between 11 and 82, 107 are women. “A total of 102 women, 71 men
and 9 children volunteered to pledge their eyes,” said Dr Somashekar, medical
director, Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank, Narayana Nethralaya, who had come to the
village to create awareness on eye donation. Dr Bhujang Shetty, chairman,
Narayana Nethralaya, said, “We collected Harish’s eyes as he was keen on
donating his organs. It’s astounding how a man who was split into two and lying
on the road was able to think with such clarity. It’s unheard of. Harish’s eyes
have been successfully transplanted on two different individuals. A 24-year-old
person from his village and a 28-year-old woman from North Karnataka have got
vision and Harish sees the world through them,” said Dr Shetty. (Based on a report n THE NEW INDIAN
EXPRESS, March 2, 2016).
FIVE
For Narikuravar community people,
technical education is a distant dream due to their poor financial status. But
a 22-year-old female BE graduate, the first from the community to get the
degree in Trichy, prefers to be a noon meal organiser in a government-aided
school in the area to fulfil her parents' wish. At the weekly public grievance
redressal day, M Swetha, who graduated in B.E computer science from
Deverayaneri in Thiruchrappalli (Tamilnadu, Bharat), submitted her plea to
collector K S Palanisamy to consider her demand to appoint her in the post, for
which the eligibility for her community is Class 8. Interestingly, the post of
noon meal worker is lying vacant in Thiruvalluvar Gurukula Elementary School,
which is run by her father Mahendran. "I want to use this opportunity to
stay in touch with the children in my area where I was born and brought up.
Moreover, it is my parents who want me to compete for the job because they do
not want me to leave the city for safety reasons," said Swetha. "From
the first day of my college, I was identified as a Narikurava girl because of
the dress of my grandfather who came to drop me. Yet I didn't feel any
discrimination either from my classmates or from the faculty," Swetha
said. However, her mother M Seetha recalled an incident where a small boy
verbally abused Swetha by calling the caste name in her first standard.
"Our people have been facing such abuse in many places, including in
educational institutions. We need to break all barriers to come up in life,"
said Seetha. (Based on report by Shri Gokul Rajendran in THE TIMES OF INDIA February 16, 2016).
Of
course, Swetha is no stranger to PANCHAAMRITAM. See what PANCHAAMRITAM 93 had
to say on the kind hearted woman: S.M. Suvetha, a standard VIII student of St. Philomina's
Higher Secondary School, Tiruchi, performed Bharatanatyam. That is nothing
extraordinary for a 13-year-old schoolgirl. She belongs to the Narikorava
community and that makes it an unusual event. It was at a function organised by
Indian Bank's Tiruverumbur branch on July 29, 2006 to distribute loans to
members of the community. The Narikoravas are traditionally gypsies. Daughter
of Shri. S. Mahendran, a resident of the Devarayaneri Narikorava colony near
Thuvakudi, Suvetha learnt Bharatanatyam from Kanmani, a dance teacher at
Kalkandarkottai. The girl evinced keen interest and picked up the `bhava' and
`rasa' of Bharatanatyam, surprising her teacher. Chairman and managing director
of Indian Bank K.C. Chakrabarty commended Suvetha's performance and honoured
her with a purse.(Based on a report in THE HINDU of August 1, 2006).
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