Warrier's Collage 08102020 : Freedom Fighters

Welcome to Warrier's Daily COLLAGE October 8 2020 Thursday Your daily dose of inspiration, writings - by you, for you : Curated by MG Warrier Prayer🎻 https://youtu.be/U3vrd5UKfCo Recited by Sooryagayatri Good Morning Friends! Happy Birthday to Rbichennaifriends Sarathi B Chandraiah In this Issue: A Interaction AA State Bank of India B Freedom Fighters C Readers Write D Blogs and Links E Leisure : Sixth Sense Nice Day M G Warrier Let's start the day lightly : https://youtu.be/wUcF2-_qnS8 Listen to Ra. He takes motivation seriously. A Interaction 1) R Narayanan, Thiruvanantapuram "I have read the article of PPR Sir. He has narrated his family background and described his native place Pallassana (a small village in the Palghat District), in an excellent style. I had the opportunity to know him closely during his service in RBI, Thiruvananthapuram. He was very helpful to all of us. His cabin door is always kept open and he is friendly with all the staff in the office. I really enjoyed his article published in the Collage. Wish him good health and happiness in his future life also. Thank you very much, Sir, for all the help and support given to me." (Similar message reflecting love, affection and gratitude to PPR has been received from TRS Iyer* also- Collage) *Pretty long. Conveyed to PPR via email-Warrier 2) S K Gupta, Panchkula "The extant economic situation is not ripe for any tinkering with the prevailing Repo/reverse Repo rates. But various analysts and experts would still bat for a rate cut in the name of sprucing up our badly lagging economy." 3) R Jayakumar Jayakumar tells a story on "Sixth Sense". Please see E Leisure. AA. Current Affairs : State Bank of India https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/dinesh-kumar-khara-to-face-several-challenges-as-sbis-new-chief/article32782466.ece?utm_source=email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Newsletter Change of guard at SBI. B Freedom Fighters 1) Ten Freedom Fighters of India https://besttoppers.com/top-10-freedom-fighters-india/ Netaji to Gokhale 2) Durgavati Vohra* Durgavati Vohra: Remembering India’s unsung warriors (*Write-up received from Sitendra Kumar, Delhi) I am writing this on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, struggling with conflicting thoughts. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was undoubtedly a colossus who will illuminate mankind’s path for all time. But I am going to focus on the saga of a vibrant woman who chose a path that is diametrically opposite to Gandhi’s non-violence. Have you heard of Durga bhabhi? She is, among many others, one of the forgotten names of our past. Durgavati Vohra and her husband Bhagwati Charan Vohra ought to be remembered by our country and let me tell you why. Her birth anniversary falls on October 7. It will pass and no one will pay tribute to her this year, as in the years gone by. Durgavati was born into a wealthy family in what was then Allahabad district. Now this is part of the newly-created Kaushambi district and Allahabad has been renamed Prayagraj. Her father, Pandit Banke Bihari, was a nazir (a court official) in the Allahabad collectorate and her grandfather was a police officer, both in the service of the British. At the age of 10 or 11, she was married to Bhagwati Charan Vohra, the 15-year-old son of a wealthy Gujarati, Shivcharan Das Vohra, who had settled in Lahore. Shivcharan Das Vohra was conferred with the title of “Rai Saheb” by the British, but his son was not enamoured of the colonisers. Bhagwati Charan Vohra often met Bhagat Singh and other progressive revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in March, 1926. At that time, many young people, including members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), suspected that Bhagwati Charan was an informant for the British intelligence, coming as he did from a privileged background. But Bhagwati Charan threw himself into the revolution wholeheartedly. By the end of 1928, he was given membership of HSRA. At this time, he planned a trip to Calcutta. Before setting off, he gave his wife ₹5,000 to use in an emergency. While Bhagwati Charan was in Calcutta, on December 17, 1928, British police officer John Saunders was killed. The government imposed restrictions in Lahore. Durga bhabhi was alone at home with her three-year-old son when someone knocked on her door at night. On answering, she found Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru at her doorstep. It did not take long for her to understand that the killing had been carried out by them. She gave them shelter but since this was not enough, she disguised herself as Bhagat Singh’s wife and took him out of Lahore. Such an act, even today, would be considered audacious. There were a number of restrictions on women in those days, but Durgavati blazed her own path. It was her determination and courage that saved Bhagat Singh. The money her husband had left her for an emergency, a substantial sum in those days, was used to help the revolutionaries. The relationship between Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Durgavati was one of a unique companionship and commitment. The revolutionaries called her bhabhi. But she was not a mere supporter of the revolutionaries, she was an active participant. Bhagwati Charan even taught her how to use a gun. On October 8, 1930, she opened fire on a British police sergeant and his wife near the police station on Lamington Road in South Bombay. She took this step in retaliation for the death sentence awarded to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru a day earlier. It came as a huge surprise to the British that an Indian woman could be so bold. As a result, the might of the British administration came down on her and she was arrested in September, 1932. A book, No Ten Commandments, written by the then inspector- general of police, ST Hollins, tells us how she had become a thorn in the side of the government. Two years prior to her arrest, Bhagwati Charan Vohra was killed in an explosion while making a bomb on the banks of the Ravi river. Durga bhabhi was not able to see his body but her husband continued to inspire her. After her release from prison, new struggles awaited Durga bhabhi. Fellow revolutionaries had either been killed or arrested. She was left alone. In 1935, she moved to Ghaziabad and started teaching in a school. Later, she set up a school in Lucknow for poor children. Jawaharlal Nehru went to see that school but it is not known whether he kept in touch with her after Independence. When she died in Ghaziabad on October 14, 1999, it was not treated as the passing of a revolutionary, but of an anonymous woman. Even today, no effort has been made in any of the places she stayed in to keep her memory alive. There is a saying attributed to the philosopher, George Santayana, that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Or are we, today, uninterested in the lives of the many unsung heroes and heroines from our past from whom we can learn so much? 3) What do the people think of democracy? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/10/this-is-how-people-view-democracy Little confusing. Iam yet to read it full. C Readers Write 1) When words go silent Yesterday, we received this message from VT Panchapagesan : " Today is 51st death anniversary of my wife, Had I been in my house, I could have saved her, But I was stuck up in office working round the clock.. She died due to Tetanus. Be Well, V. T. Panchapagesan" (Collage View : Such thoughts will linger on. No philosophy works. Still, the second person always tries to repeat : "We are only tools/actors. The script, direction, stage...are all pre-determined." Collage shares Panchapagesan Sir's sorrows.) 2) Vathsala Jayaraman I get into this mental chatter quite often. Is my castle built with strong foundation? Will it last the test of entire span of my life time? Next major thought in my mind is whether what I built as my understanding of this world correct? The foundation for this was laid by my parents when I was young. On top of it, I have life experiences of close to 7.5 decades now. I have difficulty in understanding what real values are embedded strongly in my mind leave alone understanding the values of others. I speak about my values and how much each one of them mean to me is questionable always as I think if they are important values, I must be able to give my life rather than letting these values down. I have good and bad experiences in my life and I learn lessons out of both of them. Is my understanding correct about the lessons learned out of these experiences? I have a strange feeling many of the values I have built are in conflict with each other without which I won’t be having uneasy, uncomfortable and unhappy moments in my life. If my values, thoughts, words and actions are in perfect synchronization, why would I not be happy? I believe I need to keep finding those conflicts and eliminate them for me to become a better person. I am not going to give it up just by thinking that it is too late to fix them. I also feel that I have the habit of analyzing everything I come across and determine whether they are good or bad. I have a need to label them into one or the other categories Children are perfect example of diverting their minds from one to another pretty quickly and they are less judgmental when compared to adults. If there are people around me, I am deciding quickly who is good and bad and try to label them quickly. If I see things around me, I decide quickly what is good or bad. Why can’t I enjoy people around me with no strings attached and accept the people as they are? Why can’t I lead a life without judging everything around me? I have a feeling my judgment about the world will be perfected once I begin My work to fix my mind. Let me try and understand whether my castle is built with good foundation. Am I building values in my life based on good understanding of what they are, with proper understanding of my experiences and whether they conflict with each other? Do I have an open mind to accept if what I perceived as a bad experience turned out to be good ? I have come to the conclusion that the judgments I make every day go in the wrong direction and they should be inwards instead of outwards. I think that my analysis about myself goes well with that of many others too. What is happening outside in the world is not impacting me but it is my reaction to what is happening outside that is impacting me every day. Vathsala Jayaraman 3) Rasamaana Vivaadam* Sambar, Rasam, Paayasa and Majjige. Never have I heard or read an article like this till date.... A beautiful explanation about our own Sambar, Rasam, Paayasa and Majjige (Buttermilk) and their significance to the quality of life we lead. The explanation continues with the order of food intake as well. V S Rangasayee Rasamaana Vivaadam An explanation given by Kanchi Periyaval (Late Paramacharya Chandrashekarendra Saraswati) ''What is the difference between Sambhar and Rasam..?" Both contains Dal, Tamarind, Salt, Spices and Asafoetida. Someone from those assembled said, 'We consume Sambar first, then Rasam, that's the difference...' The Acharya laughed loudly. He said, the Sambar has vegetables, but Rasam does not. Based on this, the discussion proceeded. Acharya's explanation: If Ego occupies our mind, we get confused, that's like Sambar. But, if that Ego is not there, our mind is clear like Rasam. We should not forget this, and so, we consume each day, both Sambhar and Rasam. You go to a feast. You are served Sambar, Rasam, Paayasam, and Majjige (Buttermilk) in this order. Why? This food culture is not found anywhere else. As soon as a man is born, Ego fills in first. He faces a number of problems that totally confuses him, like Sambhar, with different types of vegetables. When his mind settles, it becomes clear, like Rasam - which is served next. This is followed by the sweet Payasam, because your mind is settled and that which gives you happiness is done. So many similarities between life & food. Now, in the end, it's Majjige or Buttermilk - which has a separate quality. Once our mind is settled and we get happiness, our mind becomes one with the Lord, just like we get curd, butter, ghee and buttermilk from milk in that order. Buttermilk is the last stage in our Life - from which you cannot get anything more. The same way, once you attain the Lord, then there is nothing more to achieve. Majjige oota(meal) in the end, also indicates 'Enlightenment' and that, its the last item on the "menu", after which you just leave your "leaf" behind. Thus, ended the Acharya's discourse. D Blogs and Links Chance encounters https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/mindspace/2020/feb/03/chance-encounters-with-celebrities-2098130.html E Leisure SIXTH SENSE... R Jayakumar The fourteenth point given by the Speaking Tree to know the presence of sixth sense in us is that there is always a good spirit and a bad spirit hovering around us to guide. The good spirit may be an angel and the bad spirit a devil, as held in some religions, which may be behind the good and bad happening to us. Our strength and our weakness over our sixth sense may be making us to succumb to the promptings of the good or the evil spirit. Some times back I heard a moral story which resembled this. I am not copying and pasting the story from another source but typing it as I remember. Some of you may know the exact version. The Story.... There was a sadhu who wanted to acquire special powers by doing meditation under a tree. Without eating or drinking anything for a long period he continued to meditate. One day in the morning something fell on his face from the top of the tree and his meditation was seriously disturbed. The sadhu became furious and looked up on the tree and saw a bird sitting on a branch above him. The bird's dropping had disturbed the sadhus meditation. The sadhu was so angry that he cursed the bird to be burnt to become ash. Within a second the bird fell before him as burnt ash. The sadhu was delighted. His meditation had paid dividend and now he had the power to curse anyone to be burnt to ash. Soon the sadhu realised that he was very hungry. He had not eaten or drank water for many days. He walked to the nearest village and stood before a house and asked for food. The lady from inside the house asked him to wait for a while and that she was bringing him food. He waited and waited for a long time and became impatient and angry as she was taking a long time. At last when the lady came out holding food for him in her hand he told her that she offended him by making him stand outside for a long time. So he cursed her to be burnt into ashes. But to his surprise nothing happened to her. The lady was still standing alive. The sadhu was confused why his special power just acquired did not work. He came to his senses. (May be his sixth sense told him that he did something wrong). He asked the lady why did she take so long to bring food for him. She replied that her husband was bedridden and she was busy attending to his urgent needs and once she finished that she immediately brought food for him. The sadhu realised that it was wrong on his part to curse the lady ..... Now he also lost his special power received through long meditation. ***