St. Mother Teresa

Today is the birth anniversary of St. Mother Teresa ,also known as the Blessed Teresa of  Calcutta, MC. A symbol of selfless service to the suffering humanity, she has held the rare distinction of being a Nobel Laureate and a Bharat Ratna.
Her canonization took place on September 4,2016.
Our humble tributes to the noble soul  !

Arun Jaitely & Khayyam

SUNDAY MUSINGS :
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind....."
- John Donne
 This last week did not  go well for India as we lost Khayyam, a very talented and outstanding Composer & Music Director of Hindi Cinema and Arun Jaitley, a former Union Minister. As expected, glowing tributes were paid to the departed  celebrities/ dignitaries on mainstream Media & social Media .The contribution of Khayyam to the Indian Film music is too well known to need being repeated here as the melodies he composed are going to stay through the decades if not the ages.
Coming to Arun Jaitley, admittedly he was a prominent , popular face of the BJP. Starting as a student leader, he emerged as a prominent figure during the Emergency. He was a key figure of the BJP especially after 2004, when the late Atal Bihari Vajpai chose to withdraw from public life. We all know about the role he played in Government and the party. An intelligent, articulate person, he carved a unique place for himself in the Indian polity . It was left to  him to  justify  policies and  decisions of the  Government, some of which did not go down well with the public . Many have paid him tributes as being their mentor and guide .However , his humane aspect has also came to light. That he facilitated and funded the education of  the kids of his driver and cook speaks volumes for him as a human being.
A big loss to the BJP .
Humble tributes to the departed souls !

BEWARE THE FURY OF A.........

I thank  God and my stars when a Saturday passes peacefully. The days are left long behind when I could look into the oil filled saucer containing a metal image of  Shani Devata, held by  the person , sitting on the side of a busy road who would expect any passer by to put some coin in the saucer to appease and ingratiate the deity .

This gone by Saturday, my wife after doing her  pooja in the forenoon decided to go to Kalibari temple with empty stomach to mark Jetha Shanivar of the current month.  She told me to boil rice as and when I felt like having lunch.

Fine and nothing new as I am used to this practice.

Being a retired government employee, sticking to the Sarkari lunch time of 1:30 scrupulously , I boiled the rice , took my bit out of it , put the dal/ sabzi on to the plate  as per requirement and  literally enjoyed my lunch.

At  about 2:30, my better half came back all wet and drenched , the umbrella proving of little help in such a heavy spell of rain. After changing as she went into the kitchen, she saw some portion of the floor wet. Like me , at first she wondered as to from where water had fallen as there was little chance of rain water entering through the ceiling.

Sooner than later Shani started showing its effect, when my wife discovered that it was not water but refined oil that had spilled from the  freshly opened pouch, placed on the wide space in front of the window. I being the only  poor soul present when this happened, became the target of wife's ire and fury as she had to mop and clean the floor with warm water. Had it occurred to me that it was refined oil and not water, I would have myself mopped and cleaned the floor before her return. But I was destined to bear her tongue lashes  silently, thinking at the time only of Socrates, the great Greek philosopher , who was subjected to this  wifely torture day in and day out. My silence finally paid off as the storm subsided after some time .

Neelam Sharma

SUNDAY MUSINGS :
Social Media was abuzz with the well deserved praises showered on Syed Akbaruddin , our Ambassador to the UN for the excellent way in which he answered the queries from the reporters from various countries including Pakistan. I also watched the  short video clipping  going viral on the social Media and was quite impressed by the way  he carried himself. His body language and gestures were quite in line with the behaviour, conduct and stance  that is expected  of an Ambassador and  more so  of a Career Diplomat. I have been an ardent admirer of  Syed Akbaruddin and  Navtej Sarna who have been  spokesmen for the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the past.The measured talk with the carefully chosen words  has always enamoured me. I wish our political representatives and leaders took a cue and  exercised the same restraint and  made discreet utterances and  statements.
Yesterday was also the sad and shocking demise of  Ms.Neelam Sharma, a well known , familiar and celebrated anchor of the Doordarshan News for the past more than two decades. The who's who of the Doordarshan and Prasar Bharati came up with rich tributes to her. A winner of Naari Shakti Award only this year, she herself was no less than a Tejaswini of the program she  hosted to make us familiar with the Women who made their mark in various fields of activity. She was a native of some village in tehsil Bhoranj of Himachal Pradesh, so we are told.
Our humble tributes to the wonderful Anchor and  presenter , who will be remembered for long !

Art .370

SUNDAY MUSINGS -
I avoid writing Political posts, partly due to the fact that there are better and more knowledgeable people around to express their  views on matters Political.
Occasionally I do watch inconclusive TV debates with every thing so predictable. Name the participant and you  know what he/ she will speak. 370 has been the buzzword for the last few days . As usual there are diametrically opposite views even from the people who matter and from the people who do not matter.
To a layman like me, 370 did allow some aberrations like double citizenship and two flags- one Indian National Flag and the other Kashmir flag - to happen.  Perhaps it also meant more Central grant and other peripheral concessions.
The claim that removal of some of the provisions will mean the region, entering into a phase of development , hitherto not seen seems contrary in view of the available statistics which put J&K in better position in some of the parameters Vis-a- vis other states. What hampered the development of the other states also needs to be looked into on a comparative basis .
While it is heartening to see the ray of hope in the eyes of people who were made to leave hearth and home, to return to their homeland, it is also hoped that the changed scenario helps to meet the aspirations of a common  Kashmiri.  The blatant , unthoughtful , insensitive talk of purchasing plots and bringing Kashmiri brides  is enough to put us to shame.
Reducing Kashmir simply to a geographical entity and commodifying the people shows us in poor light .

Yusuf Meherally

Yusuf Meherally , the then  Mayor of Bombay was the person who gave the slogan 'Quit India '. The slogan was duly approved by Mahatma Gandhi and was adopted for the Quit India Movement, of
which 77th anniversary  falls today .

ALVIDA, SUSHMA SWARAJ !

 At last , death has laid its icy hand on Sushma Swaraj, a former Union Foreign Minister  !
My memory takes me back to 1998 or 1999, when she visited Kinnaur , declared as a State guest .She had come to Kalpa,  after a halt enroute at Sangla, accompanied by her daughter.
A prominent leader of BJP, she was surrounded by local party leaders . She had her lunch. Her stay was cut short as she had to rush back on receiving a message regarding some urgent
meeting .The scheduled night stay at Kalpa, could not materialise. She came across as a sober, gentle, affable person as far as I could observe , contrary to her image as a firebrand political leader.
The Tehsildar ,Sangla,who  had attended her as protocol ,later showed me his  official Diary, bearing her autograph. She had been gracious enough to put her autograph on a Diary .He was all praise for her, and rightly so.
Her death has come as a National loss, also a blow to the Party that has lost a knowledgeable , charismatic leader and a fine orator .
Humble tributes !

Rasoolan Bibi

SUNDAY MUSINGS :
Yesterday, there was the sad news of the passing away of Rasoolan Bibi, the widowed wife of Company Quartermaster Havaldar Abdul Hamid , the hero of the 1965 war with Pakistan, who single handed destroyed a number of Patton tanks . He was awarded Paramavir Chakra, the highest Gallantry Award . Rasoolan Bibi was 90 years of age.How she spent 54 years braving the odd situations that life offers, can only be guessed. It is heartening to note that two years back , on September 10, 2017 our Army Chief had honoured her to mark the occasion of 52 years of the martyrdom of the bravest of the brave Indian soldier.
Today is the113rd birth anniversary of  Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and rightly called 'Himachal Nirmata '.
A friend commenting on my post reminds of Dr.Parmar's words , calling himself the ' first Mundu' of Himachal Pradesh.Another friend comes with the explanation of words like Mundu & Munnu colloquially used.
 But the word  Mundu also has negative connotation too being used in a derogatory and demeaning sense , usually for a boy helper in a dhaba or teashop who takes orders, mops the tables and also cleans the utensils .We Himachalis in those times were not held in any esteem, education level was low. Dr. Parmar knew this  and  to boost the morale of the people made this remark .That shows his love for Himachal and Himachalis.
Thanks to visionary leaders like him, ,Himachal has come very far and a long way from the Mundu or Khadu days and  progress is there for anyone to see.