Suhani gets 4

 

Suhani, our grand-daughter (daughter of Rupesh & Sulekha) celebrated her birthday yesterday, the June 23. She became four. Though Suhani’s tummy was somewhat up-set yet she was excited to have the cake and eat it too. She wanted a special cake, shaped as the cartoon character Doraemon. We arranged a small dinner party at home with close extended family members. It was a wonderful evening. Sukhdev (my brother-in-law – Sandu Bhai) helped us getting made some special dishes by the competent cooks of the PAP. Sunny (son of my brother Pammi who is a budding vocalist) engaged the young crowd in karaoke singing.  It made the party all the more enjoyable. I recall that we celebrated Suhani’s first birth anniversary in Minsk (Belarus) in 2010 at the Taj, the only Indian Restaurant in the City. She is older by one more year but cuter and charming too. It is rightly said ‘one gets more interested in the interest than the capital.’ (Mool nalo biaj piara). God bless her.

I generally don’t take the initiative to celebrate birthdays particularly my own and that of my wife Vidya. But I do believe in celebrations with a view to bring in some cheer to the hassled life. The famous TV personality Oprah Winfrey has rightly said “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”  I pray that Suhani grows up as a good child as “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional."

Some Introspection & Some Relections

I am sitting (without much work) in my office at Jalandhar School of Careers & Opportunities. Some introspection and some reflections of the last two weeks have over-powered my mind. My daughter Vaishali was with us in Jalandhar with her two lovely daughters Komal & Tania during their summer vacations. It was a wonderful time. It was all the more good for Suhani, my granddaughter who will be 4 on June 23, who along with her parents my son Rupesh and daughter-in-law Sulekha, had shifted to Jalandhar from Gurgaon to live with us. The girls enjoyed their swimming at Suhani’s school – Cambridge International early in the mornings. Over the recent years, I have found that Komal & Tania were always willing and eager to come to Jalandhar and spend their holidays with us. I think Vaishali has given them a good sense of belonging. We are lucky to have such a good and caring daughter.

 On the side of introspection, I can very well say that we (me and my wife Vidya) remained ordinary parents which could not do much for our children. Nevertheless, our children have been caring and attached particularly our daughter Vaishali. We both are happy in the advancing years of our life. As regards some reflections, I must say with some sense of satisfaction and pride that Vaishali has been very kind to us. Every time she is in Jalandhar, she ensures to that our kitchen is redone, fans are cleaned, and bath rooms are spruced up. At her own house, she has good and enough domestic help to do all this and need not do these odd jobs herself. But at our small flat we don’t have much help. Vaishali tend to do all by herself. I appreciate this not as a good help to us but as a good quality in these days of superfluous living. God bless her. JP her husband is equally good. In spite of his busy schedule in his business as the CEO of Rothenberg (India) Ltd, he came to pick up Vaishali and their daughters. We relished a good bottle of Chilean white wine to unwind ourselves. They went to Chandigarh for touristic urges on the way back to Faridabad. We miss them here. More say Suhani who since yesterday repeatedly remember Shelly Bhua and Komal & Tania by murmuring that she wants to go to Chandigarh too. Vaishali is in demand. Amen!

 

BUDDHA PURNIMA

 

Today, May 25, is Buddha Purnima – the birthday, nirvana (enlightenment) and parinirvana (death) of Gautam Budh, an apostle of peace and well-being. I congratulate my fellow citizens on the occasion and extend greetings and all the best wishes for peace and harmony in the years to come.

It is a matter of co-incident and gratification that my daughter Vaishali was born on May 25 on the Budh Purnima day in 1975. We named her Vaishali, the capital city of the State of Maghda which was said to be the first democratic state in the Buddhist tradition. Today is her birth anniversary and has fallen on the auspicious Budh Purnima.  May Lord Buddha bless her with all happiness and prosperity?

I don’t believe in rituals as preached by Gautam Budh. I do believe in three basic things propounded by him to salvage our lives – Let us company the wise (Buddham), Let us do right (Dhamma) and Let us be social (Sangha). I think it is more than enough. I don’t know what I am but I am a Buddhist by mind. It is for sure.

Buddham saranam gachchhaami
Dhammam saranam gachchhaami
Sangham saranam gachchhaami

SHAHEED SANT RAMA NAND – A TRIBUTE

 

Today, May 25, is the death anniversary of Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand Ballan. He was assassinated by fundamentalists in a mindless and tragic shoot out in Vienna in May, 2009. The dalits consider him a Shaheed of the community and rightly so. Sant Rama Nand was the leading light of Dera Sachkhand Ballan which was increasingly becoming the nerve centre of the dalit community in the recent years. He was instrumental in adopting the agenda of social and educational upliftment and awakening among the dalit youth while spreading the lofty philosophy of oneness and equality of Guru Ravidassji. He attainted the position of reverence and acceptability in the community with his relentless efforts to provide a sense of confidence. It was not a small job. Sant Rama Nand will be remembered for his sterling contribution in this regard.

In the aftermath of Sant Rama Nand’s death, it was felt that the dalit community will understand and get united. The immediate fall out of the Shaheedi of the Sant was an outburst of pent up feelings of the community against the treatment and high handedness of the upper castes against the poor dalits. The dalit community clearly demonstrated that they were in no mood to tolerate any longer the snobbish and unbecoming behavior of the so called Thekedars of the society. But this reality was short lived. Alas!

The leadership could not rise to the challenge. The opposite social and political forces succeeded in their nefarious agenda in dividing the community. It was unfortunate, to my mind, Dera Sachkhand Ballan which enjoyed unprecedented support and following, could not lead from the front to channelize the energy of the community. The Dera got bogged down in matters which added to further confusion. The issue of granth ‘Amritvani’ as counter to ‘Shri Gurugranth Sahib’ and establishment of ‘Ravidassia Dharam’ as counter to Sikhism, to my mind, are the two acts of the Dera which were taken without debate and thought. Though the Dera and the proponents of Amritvani and Ravidassia Dharam would not admit that these two steps were taken as ‘counter’ measures to establish separate identity of the dalits yet the reality remains and speaks loud and clear. These steps proved counterproductive. The community got divided. The Deras got divided. The unity got shattered. It is confusion all around. It seems that we are traveling in a rudderless ship. I am writing this with a heavy heart with all humility and have no intention to hurt the feelings of anyone. My humble request is to kindly sit and ponder over the existing sorry state of affairs of the community, with a view to find out some way out. Otherwise, things would get more difficult in the years to come.

The soul of Sant Rama Nand may not be in peace. He wanted unity. He strived for a strong and enlightened community. Let us think and shed false ego and work for much needed unity and sense of purpose. Today is Budh Purnima also. May Lord Buddha guide us in choosing the right path.

 

BABA SAHIB AMBEDKAR – A TRIBUTE

 

Today, April 14, is the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (April, 1891 – December, 1956), the greatest Indian of the contemporary India. The greatness of Ambedkar rests with fact that in spite of the fact that he held divergent or even conflicting views with Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and other leaders of the contemporary India on many matters of interest and concern, Dr. Ambedkar could hold and prevail against tides of the time. Mahatma Gandhi rightly said on dealing with Ambedkar ‘You may criticize him but you cannot ignore him’. It is a matter of satisfaction to note that as the time passes, contemporary India is in the process of paving its way to go ahead in its progress and development, the acceptance of Ambedkar and recognition of his contribution in the nation building also increases and rightly so.

There were two major contributions which Ambedkar made to the polity and governance and social edifice of India. First he was the father of the Indian constitution. It is gratifying to note that India is the largest functional democracy of the world. The governance of the country is run under the provisions of the constitution in which the ultimate power rests with the people. India is on the rails. It has come a long way in its development but still it is still to go a long way to eliminate poverty and misery among the masses. There is hope to do so if we remain in the constitutional norms as stipulated by Dr. Ambedkar. He said in his last speech in the Constituent assembly on November 25, 1949 “If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form but also in fact, what must we do. The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means we must abandon the methods of civil dis-obedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned the better for us.”

 The second important contribution of Baba Sahib to the society at large was his untiring crusade the clean the society from the shameful stigma of untouchability, caste system, religious dogmas, ill treatment of women folk and socio-economic inequality in general. Dr. Ambedkar was of the view that unless the political democracy we had established in the constitution was transformed to economic and social democracy, India will not make a big dent in its progress and prosperity. The mission and philosophy of Baba Sahib is as relevant and potent today as it was before.

My second innings -2 – Vidya Niketan

I wrote about my second innings on April 1. We took the second step on April 13, by performing the Shubh Mahurat ceremony of Vidya Niketan. The auspicious occasion of Baisakhi was fixed for the purpose consciously with a view to invoke all the best wishes to all our friends and well wishers. The guruvani dictum “Deh Shiva var mohe, shubh karman te kabhun na tarun“ of the great Guru Gobind Singh will be the guiding force behind our thinking and action in running the School.

The registration for various courses at the Jalandhar School of Careers and Opportunities (An Institute of Pritam-Sodhi Vidya Trust) will start on April 15. The classes and coaching is scheduled to begin on May 1. We are starting in right earnest. But we are to catch up in the race as the competition is tough. We know that it is not an easy job. We shall do our best. Our target, as written before, is the weaker sections of the society. We would tend to provide not only excellent educational facilities and much needed guidance but also the necessary confidence to the students to stand up and say “We can do it. We will do it” Our motto underlines the Buddhist philosophy “Be Your Own Light”

The formal ceremonial launching of Jalandhar School of Careers is likely to take place later in May/June 2013. The School Website: www.jalandharschoolofcareers.com  may be visited for some more details

My Second Innings – Jalandhar School of Careers & Opportunities

I retired from my diplomatic career (IFS) on December 31, 2010. At my ‘Good Bye’ Reception hosted for the Diplomatic Corp in Minsk (Belarus), my last station of posting, I said that it was not the end of journey for me. I had just finished my first innings in the game of life. My second innings was yet to begin. The day has come when I am all set to start with my cherished dream of opening a school as my post retirement activity. It took almost a year to come up with a suitable venue and building, Vidya Niketan, at a plot at Bootan Mandi (near Buddh Vihar) in Jalandhar, my native place. Jalandhar School of Careers and Opportunities have been announced which will unfold step by step. I have started sitting at the School from today April 1, the FOOLS DAY. My greetings to all of you on the occasion.

The Mission and Vision of the School to provide much needed guidance and help to the young students, particularly the weaker sections of the society, at affordable costs. The objective is not to run a commercial entity with profit motives but to make a social and personal endeavor to repay the debt of gratitude which I owe to the community. It will be done under the aegis of Pritam-Sodhi Vidya Trust which my immediate family has decided to establish after the name of our parents. The lofty ideals of self-help and self confidence as stipulated in the Buddhist thought “BE YOUR OWN LIGHT” will be the guiding principle of the School. Yet another guiding force with us would be to prepare the young people for “LEARN to EARN”. I don’t believe in academic degrees alone. I believe in preparing ourselves to enter life in a meaningful way. The catch word is to earn ones bread and butter with dignity. That is what my parents taught me.

I wanted to write more but I am not in that mood but still I want to post this today. I would pick up the threads later. Kindly wish me luck.