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A man taller than a mountain

I have recently come across a book of this name by Shri Subhash

Gatade. Initially I thought that it was the tale of some Mr. Long lording

over other over midgets. While his/her exercising might have been

helpful in elongating him the basic drive lies in his derivative factors.

However, on going through I found that the hero of the book is some

midget like us. He is even not endowed with circumstances like

wholesome food and facilities for shooting of his length. In fact,

he is almost a bonded labor working for a landlord in the remote,

undeveloped parts of India-Bihar. Born of a similar semi-slave family he

was condemned to remain a midget for all his life which he actually also

did.

But our Puranic tale of Waman is not just to underline the inherent

strength of the divine over demonic. The being midget of Waman

Avtar is more symbolic than real. In fact, the struggle of the alleged

midget over Asur Bali and his final triumph over him banishing him out

of earth ,couched in terms of height is more symbolic. When Shivaji

mounted attacks on the mighty Mughal forces-the ganimi attacks—with

just a batch of the Mawlas and finally driving them out were nothing

short of miracles. His almost invisibility in attacks has been likened as

the depradations of rats hiding in the holes in the mountain.It is not for

nothing that he has been considered as an avatar of Shiva.

Shivaji is comparatively nearer to us in time. However, it is not that

we were not required to struggle to maintain ourselves in the ancient

past also. In fact, the monthly publication Purusharth’published from

Badoda in the 30s had contained an interesting and more practical

interpretation of the Amruit Manthan. It had stated that this was a

symbolic representation of a maritime adventure of the gods and

rakhsas together. They had jointly undertaken a maritime adventure

across unknown waters. The heavy churning noise said to be that of

the Mandar mountain used as a churner is suggestive of such a noise

which a ship made across seas. The findings of the fourteen jewels is

suggestive of new findings on the say. The airawat, the seven trunks

elephant of Indra, the flying horse etc. are symbolic of the findings

on the way. The initial coming up of halhal poison in indicative of

unknown diseases the navigators might have faced initially. And the

final finding of the Amrut is symbolic of new life they were awarded

after this laborious journey across unknown lands and waters. The

clash which ensued over the distribution of the Amrut among the gods

and demons is symbolic of similar struggles with subsequent similar

adventurers in history.

The same Purusharth magazine had given interesting version of the

Ramayan episode of Hanuman crossing into Shri Lanka in search of

Seetaji. The Sanskrit word plu-plo-plawati used is used to indicate the

way in which Hanuman crossed into Lanka across the sea. Interestingly

this word also means ‘to swim across’. The magazine had hazarded a

guess that Hanuman had actually swam across. Now the gap between

the Southernmost tip of India and Northernmost tip of ShriLanka is

no more than the width of the English channel between France and

England and Purusarth had hazarded a guess that Hanuman could

have swam across. The English channel has been crossed both waysa

number of times. Even the explanation that India and Shri Lanka could

have been joined together by a mountain range (TheAdam’s Bridge)

is there. In fact, proposals for the removal of the undersea remnants

of this mountain to free the waterway for maritime use are also under

consideration. I do not remember where but a guess had been hazarded

that perhaps the Brahmi Vanaspati for which Hanuman had undertaken

the South-North flight was a implied compliment to him for locating

the plant in the mountains of Shri Lanka itself. I understand that for the

purpose of attracting tourist traffic Shri Lanka has installed a replica of

Dronagiri there together with Brahmi Vanaspati.

We have a symbolic tale of a Titvi, a bird which built and builds its nest

on sea shore in the sand. Once the nest of one of them ,along with its

bird lings was swept away in the sea waters. Apparently the nest has

been built beyond the line symbolically laid down by the Sage Agtastya

for the ocean beyond which it could not come forward. This is indicative

of the possibility that such lines had been mentally drawn for their

own safety by the humans but which the Sage has been credited with.

The story of Vishnu who was delayed in his journey for delivering his

devotee from a demon as his vehicle Garuda, who was the king of ther

Birds, was busy in emptying the ocean for recovering the nest was not

available immediately. To save his name and the situation Vishnu is

reported to have not only made the ocean to give up the nest swallowed

by it but also laid down a boundary line to give up the nest swallowed by

it but also laid down a boundary line beyond which it should not come

on land.

There are similar stories of the Midget challenging the Mighty elsewhere

also.The tale of an old man in China tells about one who had two

mountains blocking his way out of his house. One fine morning he

called out both of his sons and the three together set down to dismantle

the mountains with the help of the hammer and the chisel. The gods are

reported to have looked pityingly at them and tried to persuade them

away from it but when they refused the gods themselves took it upon

thekselves and picked up both the mountains and dumped them far

away.

Yet another similar tale is told about one more town in China. The

villagers of Matigu had to travel for hours and hours to reach the nearest

city Shiyan on account of the intervening mountain between them. Many

had even lost their limbs and even lives while negotiating the distance.

The villagers got together with their old hammers and chisels. They

prayed gods but never waited for them to come to help them but within

five years they made out a passable way through the mountain.

Subhash Gatade’s book referred to above contains the story of the

actual exploits of a man Dashrath Maanzi in Bihar who had actually

brought down a mountain, symbolically on its knees, to make way for

his villagers to go across it to Vazirpur which is the nearest place where

a public hospital is there.

A mountain stands stolidly between them and the people required to go

across facing all the hurdles had to tread a distance of 80 kms. Dashrath

Maanzi was among the bonded laborers of the local landlord from

generation to generations. There could ,of course, be no hopes that the

local landlords would do anything to facilitate the journey across. As for

themselves they had all the facilities at their command to carry their old

on shoulders across the mountains. For the Maanzis (who as aforesaid

almost the bonded laborers of the landlords) no such facilities were

available. Let alone medical help when Dashrath’s father died and he

had to procure earthen pots for the formalities to be completed on the

fourteenth day of the death he had to make four trips since the earthen

pots broke on the way. Yet more disturbing tragedkes were that when

his wife got ill he could not afford to take her to Vazikrpur for treatment

and finally lost her. Earlier when his son got his foot burnt accidently he

could not afford to provide good medical help to him even after taking

him to Vazirpur. In fact, it led to the amputation of one of the child’s leg

making him permanently lame. That was his personal tragedy but there

were many similar tragedies in the village.

After grieving for some days for his son’s fate Dashrath had willy-nilly

to move out at the summons of the landlord. But that proved the turning

point. The same evening he repaired to the mountain with his hammer

and chisel and starting breaking it. Initially the people felt that this was

because of the shock in the family. However, even after days and even

months Dashrath did not seem desist from it they felt intrigued. They

tried to persuade him away from it. But he would quietly listen to their

advices and then resume his khut-khut-khut. His undivided loyalty to the

job persuaded some people to help him.They would occasionally come

to assist him. A pot for contributions was kept and sometimes it was

possible to secure even paid help for some time but such occasions were

few and far between

Finally a road could be dug across the mountain which reduced the

distance from 80 kms to just 14 kms. The road is strong enough for

allowing heavier traffic. When Dashrath Maanzi got ill he could be

taken to the hospital at Vazirpur and from their to Patna and finally the

AIIMS Delhi. When he dies despite all this he was given a royal burial

at a place near the route he had dug across the mountain.

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A Pakistan Salam to Bhagatsingh

A movement has begun in Pakistan to rejuvinate the Bradlow Hall School, Lahor, the alma mater of Bhagatsingh . It will be named after him when it restarts.

The school was at one time the main educational institution in Lahore but has fallen on evil days what with madarsas sprouting all over. Some ex-students did noit like it and took initiative in rejuvenating the institution again. Miss Saida Deep, Head of the Institute of Secular Studies is among them. It is also proposed to have a meseum of things devoted to the Indian Freedom Struggle, which shows that the young Pakistan considers the Indian Freedom Struggle as part of their own struggle also. Bhagatsing will be at the center of this rejuvenation. There is a proposal also of renaming the Shadman Chowk where Bhagatsing was hoisted on the gallows as Bhagatsing Chowk.

Bhagatsing and his colleagues had shot down Deputy Superintendent of Police as a revenge for his manhandling of Lala Lajpat Rai and others by the Police then.

Saida has been proud of Bhagatsing from her school days. She has approached the Pakistan Court for restarting the school and change in the name of the Chowk.

Other martyrs who had participated in the Freedom Struggle are also proudly presented gratefully in Pakistan School Books irrespective of their caste, colour or creed. These are welcome signs of slow but sure reassertion of the joint struggle of even this part which was once a part of India in breaking of the shackles of slavery.

Earlier during the reign of President Ayyub Khan and others there have been attempts at interpreting the Partition movement as a part of historic struggle of that part of India for retaining its separate identity eulogizing the role of the invaders in the process. In fact, there was a palpable attempt to take this part of India to the Middle East.

But the panIndian identity is slowly but surely establishing itself. It may not be long before pictures of Bhagatsing and other revolutionaries will adorn the Pakistan Parliament walls!

A Drunk Car

It is an offence to drive a car after a drink but what if it is the car, which has had a glass! In medieval Europe the car would have been sentenced with imprisonment. They did jail a pet dog if it bit anybody. However, we consider ourselves civilized and do not penalize the dumb animal as its action is a reflex action and not a deliberate act. But such a plea would not be admissible with a human driver even if it turned out that the drink was forced down his throat. Such a plea would, however, be tenable in a drunken car since others have forced the drink down in its tank. Nor would be the men whom did this would be held responsible of any misdemeanor since the liquid was fed into the car as a substitute combustible material to drive the vehicle. Even if the car were to be the latest self-driving car it would not be held culpable for the simple fact that it purred on smoothly and did not commit any misdemeanor. Mr.Martin Tamney who heads a team, which has developed this substitute material from alcohol and appropriately named it Beautamol says that this material has as much energy as petrol. He confidently asserts that in another couple of years cars running on beautamol would hit the market and they would hit it quite hard. What is more the employment of this substitute would not need any elaborate changes or additions to the tank for the switchover. The team from the Napier University of Edimborough developing this biofuel has already applied for a patent for it. It claims that it is more efficient by almost 30% the ethanol. The team was working on it for the last two years. And the beauty of this is that this technique of conversion of liquor into beautamol has been in use over a century. I remember an incident of some fifty years ago. When our car in which we friends were out for a Eat, drink and be merry suddenly stopped and to our chagrin we found that the tank was empty. Nobody had bothered to check up it it was full when we started and now the pump was nowhere miles around. But we had enough and to spare drinks. One of us frustratingly suggested that we should feed it to the car, which would make her forget that the tank is empty and make it move. But even in our desperation we had not lost our heads that much. If only we had listened to the suggestion we would have been the pioneers in the matter of development of beautamol fifty years ago. Develop Mobile Website

Doctors prescribing patients for their own health.

Everybody of us knows that when we go to a doctor very few of them have dispensing arrangements in their dispensary. They normally write down the names of the medicines, which we should take as per frequency noted against them. In some cases by way of friendly caution they also ask us to obtain the provisions from a particular chemist suggestively throwing the shoulder suggesting that you do that at your own risk. Who can dare to defy the doctor’s advice? I do not know whether you have seen the Chemist noting down the name of the doctor in a long notebook. Even if you had you might not have thought anything much about it.

I cannot vouchsafe for it but there is buzz among patients that this is meant for keeping an account of the doctor wise prescriptions subsequently to finalize an account of commission to be paid to the concerned doctor. Had you cared to devote a little thought to this you would have understood the throwing up of shoulders by your doctor when you mentioned name of a chemist other than the one recommended by him. The recent reports are that the doctor leaves it entirely to our discretion the shop from where we desire to purchase the prescriptions indicating that there is an implicit understanding between the doctors and the chemists at large on the cuts.

However, you will find that this is nothing if you learn that despite specific legal provisions prohibiting doctors recommending the products of any specific medicine company the doctors are doing it brazenly and openly. In fact, the records show that at least 159 doctors who knew of this prohibition have endorsed products of medicine companies. This list includes the names like Dr. Ketan Desai,former president of the Medical Council of India who had taken initiative in brining this prohibition by the MCI. It also lists Mr.G.Samaram its current national president as also the present national secretary Dr/.Dharam Prakash.

In fact in 2008 the Central Working Committee of the IMA signed with Pepsi to endorse Quaker Oats and Tropicana juices and the another MOU with the Dabur to endorse its Odojmos gel and lotions.This endorsement will be in operation till March 2011 and it has brought in Rs. 2.25 crores revenue for the IMA. This works out to about one lac per each member. This amount is supposed to cover the frequent foreign trips the doctors have to undertake. This despite the fact that the MCI regulations specifically prohibit the members to claim any travel allowances from the companies for their travel expences.The quantum of punishment for breach of its rules has been put at penal esasure from the registry for one year . However, no action has been taken against anybody so far. When MCI was confronted with this fact it brazenly responded by saying that IMA is outside the purview of MCI. It reassured that, despite this MCI would initiate action provided a list of such recipients. However, in spite of furnishing a detailed list with names, addressed etc. of the 159 doctors, as aforesaid no action has as yet been initiated.

This is an open case of defiance of prohibitory regulations of which there is a specific record available.

What can you expect from doctors who are not so officially listed and where the exchange is under the table.

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If you are unfortunate to fall ill, you have to depend more on your inherent resistence and god’s grace for you cannot but be sure that the medicines prescribed have only your indisposition as the frame of reference or the commission received.

The East India Company lives again in India

We read in our history books in schools that Queen Victoria took away the reign and rains of India from the East India Company and we thought that that was that. Of course we never looked into what happened to the company thereafter thinking that it must have rolled up its activities and that was that. We should have known better. We did not do so when the Company entered India. We were lost in establishing new kingdoms and conquering more territories and looked almost pityingly at these people with the scales in their hands and asked only for permission to open shops in India. We did not appreciate or even care that in fact they were weighing us in their scales and then artificially tilting the scale this or that way like the monkey in the Aesop’s fables they ate away most of the butter and claimed whatever remained at the end as their commission. They did leave India being forced by their own people to quit (not us forcing them out) However, they left a legacy of weighing everything in terms of profit and loss. We forgot the legacy of Damaji Pant of Mangalwedha who at the risk of brining upon himself the wrath of the Sultan opened the godowns of corn collected as taxes and allowed the starving people to help himself or herself. The godowns in Kolkata overflowing with rice were kept locked up despite the fact that the poor starved to death before the closed doors. Mind well, these godowns were not of the East India Company or even of the Britishers but of Indian like you or me. Yet the profit motive, which drove the East India Company to force the farmers to cultivate opium and indigo plants in the 19the century to meet the growing demands for it in China, was our models. Even now with all our tall talks of altruism wheat is rotting in the godowns or for lack of them stores in the open in leaked or directly falling rain water we cannot see our way to rather distribute it before it rots away completely to the starving millions. We rather tend to boast our capacity of exporting food grains where at one time we depended entirely upon imported grains. As they say every forth roti of our meals came from American wheat and we were ridiculed as living from American what to mouth. We have reversed completely our once dearly held values-Best Farming, Medium Trade and Lowest Service. Now almost everybody is after getting qualifications to catch a well-paying post preferably in a MNC, never mind if it is engaged in exploiting India. Trade, not licit trading but one entirely motivated by profit is our high priority. Agriculture comes last. There also the emphasis is on cash crops never mind if we will have to revert to the days of eagerly waiting for foreign ships bringing food grains. And that East India Company is staging a comeback here. It is small satisfaction that this East India Company is now owned by an Indian financier Mr.Sanjay Mehta.In his introductory speech he even lauds the East India Company saying that ‘the world would have been a different place if East India Company was not there. ‘The East India Company,’He goes on,’ was the Google of its time. It controlled the world’s navigation routes it way the online giant controls many information routes today. The East India Company’s input in the world was massive.’ If he was to believed the East India Company is one of the most recognized brands in the world with over two billion people aware of its history. If this is so Indians like me are indeed ignoramus who had consigned it to the dunghill of history. He further adds that he hopes to capitalize on and retain the East India Company’s brand ‘which he describes as of impeccable pedigree and enviable heritage.’ Mobile Website Be on your guard! The East India Company is staging a comeback. If I were Mr.Mehta I would have at least changed the name of the Company to dissociate it from all the unhappy memories (for India) of the past.