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1. FESTIVALS: Ganga Dussehra falls on Jyeshta Shukla 10 (8th June this year) and is also known as Gangavataran which means 'the descent of the the Ganga'. It is dedicated to Goddess Ganga and is commemorated as the day when Ganga was descended to the Earth to accomplish her mission to purge the cursed souls of Bhagiratha's ancestors. Before coming to the Earth, the Ganga was residing in Kamandal of Lord Brahma and along with her brought the purity of heaven to the Earth.
On Ganga Dussehra devotees
worship Ganga and take bath in the river. Taking bath in Ganges and offering
charity or Dan-Punya on Ganga Dussehra day is considered highly auspicious. It
is believed that holy dip in Ganga can purge all type of sins. --top
2. OBAMA CONGRATULATES
MODI; INVITES HIM TO VISIT US: U.S.
President Barack Obama on 16th May congratulated prime ministerial
candidate Narendra Modi on the BJP's historic victory and invited him to visit
the US.
“The President invited Narendra Modi to visit
Washington at a mutually agreeable time to further strengthen our bilateral
relationship,” the White House said following the maiden telephonic
conversation between the two leaders.
During the call, Mr. Obama felicitated Mr.
Modi on the BJP’s success in Bharat’s historic election.
Many other world leaders including Heads of
states viz Pak PM Nawaz Sharif, Bangladesh PM Shiekh Hasina and Jamaat – e –
Islami ameer Makbul Ahamad also congratulated him. --top
3. VIVEK JYOTI – SV 150
CONCLUDING PROGRAM IN UK: “Let us
read Swamiji’s life in depth, understand him and then follow his teachings.”
said Swami Dayatamandaji (Chair person of SV150 UK) as he addressed the
concluding function of SV150 called Vivek Jyoti. Vivek Jyoti, the official
concluding function of SV150 UK was held on Sunday 13th April 2014 in
Laxminarayan Mandir, Birmingham. Madhava Turumella, Vice President of Hindu
Forum of Britain welcomed important leaders of the main umbrella bodies of
Hindus i.e. Hindu Forum of Britain, National Council of Hindu Temples and
Hindu Forum of Europe.
The 2 hour event had a variety of performances
which included a classical dance-song narrative on Swamiji’s life by a
talented group from Manchester, Swamiji’s Chicago speech presented by a 4 year
old girl named Payal Jain, an interactive panel discussion on “What would
Vivekananda Say” etc.
The chief guest was Bob Blackman MP, the Chair
Person of All Party Parliamentarian group APPG for British Hindus who lauded
the cultural values of Hindus and their contributions to the UK. The community
can no longer be ignored or sidelined, he emphasised.
In the concluding speech, Dr Ram Vaidya
(Sanskrit Scholar) explained the true meaning of education as given by
Vivekananda. All round character building education was the need of the hour
which would remove tensions, violence and greed in the society. --top
4. SARSANGHACHALAK ADVISES
WOMEN STRENGTHEN FAMILIES, LEAD THE SOCIETY:
Underlining the important place, participation
and role of women in family system, RSS Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat
categorically stated that only women can strengthen the family roots.
Interacting with a group of women
representatives of various social organisations and NGOs at Reshambagh
recently, he called upon them to play a more vital role in this direction. He
expected them to take the initiative and play a decisive role in the decision
making process in the family as the family draws its strength with the active
participation of its women members. Shri Bhagwat said that the RSS wanted
women to be self-reliant and assume the leadership of the society. There was
an express need to inculcate good moral values amongst the family members. For
this, it was imperative for the women to imbibe those values and actively
transmit them to their children. He emphasised that in Bharat the honour of
women was held very high since the hoary past. Even today we relate rivers,
land, etc with womanhood. These are our life values. Today, we witness a
devaluation of such high moral values, which calls for proper awakening and
education of the menfolk.--top
5. SUCCESSFUL ASTRA TEST
GIVES BOOST TO AIR MISSILE TECHNOLOGY:
Bharat on 4th May finally tested
its first indigenous air-to-air missile 'Astra' from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter
jet, marking a significant turning point in the decade-long tortuous
developmental saga of the complex beyond visual range (BVR) weapon.
The test-firing of the sleek BVR missile over
the Arabian Sea off Goa is the first concrete step after several false starts
and technical glitches like a defective aerodynamic configuration since the
project was first sanctioned in March 2004 at an initial cost of Rs 955 crore.
Astra is to initially have a 44-km range with
"high single-shot kill probability", while its Mark-II version will be able to
hit enemy aircraft over 100 km away.
"Astra's successful launch from the
Sukhoi-30MKI is a major step in missile-aircraft integration. This will be
followed by missile launch against an actual target shortly. “said DRDO chief
Avinash Chander. Only a few countries like the US, Russia, France and Israel
have managed to develop BVR missiles till now. --top
6. 3RD AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL
HINDU CONFERENCE was held on 26-27
April at Parramatta, New South Wales. The conference attendees included Hindu
organizations, temples Hindu associations and other community organisations.
In addition, representatives from the Buddhist and Sikh community also
attended the conference. The chief guest of the conference was Hon. Phillip
Ruddock MP, the chief Government Whip of the Australian Government while
several other local govt dignitaries, Bhupinder Chhibber representing the
Shadow minister for citizenship and Multiculturalism and Swami Vigyananand,
International Co- ordinator and Joint Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
Bharat also participated in the conference. The theme of the conference was
‘Serving Australia Serving Community’.
The conference began with the welcome to the
land by Respected Aborginal Elder Mr Brian Freeman, Wiradjuri Tradition and
lighting of the lamp. Various sessions included discussions on topics like
“Australian Hindus serving at the forefront of serving the community”,
‘temples serving the community’, ‘Role played by Hindu organisations and
associations in serving society’, ‘Youth development and shaping future
leaders’. --top
7. INAUGURATION OF SI
REHABILITATION PROJECT IN UTTARAKHAND:
“Development of a family, society or country
starts with an empowered woman. Women are the engines for development,” said
Shri Shyam Parande, International Coordinator of Sewa International while
addressing a gathering of women farmers in Chandrapuri, Rudraprayag District
of Uttarakhand. This was the first gathering of women drawn from 10 villages
along the river Mandakini in Kedarnath valley that experienced the worst kind
of disaster less than a year earlier.
A brief on the agriculture in those particular
villages was presented by Shri Kailash Goswami, a Best Farmer awardee, who
narrated his efforts in to be a successful farmer.
Shri Bhajjan Singh Khatri, a local social
worker with rich experience in this region, narrated that it will be the
initiative of the locals who would bring in development and people from
outside can only guide or help. Bara Devi, President of the Federation of the
Self Help Groups in that area with 191 SHGs under it helping more than 3500
women, that women in the state are in need of support and guidance in the
field of agriculture and would surely benefit out of this program.
Quality Seeds were distributed to the
villagers free of cost at the end of the program. Sewa International has also
started three Computer training centres in Chandrapuri, Guptakashi and
Ukhimath to train the youth and all the three centres is attracting good
number of youth.--top
8. 5th ITGF at
SINGAPORE: Vivekanand Seva Sangh (VSS)
Singapore is a registered non profit organization to practice and promote
‘Universal Brotherhood’. Indian traditional Games Festival ITGF is one of the
various activities of VSS with an aim to preserve traditional Bharatiya games
by re introducing them to new generation of Bharatiya youth. This is usually
celebrated around New Year day - Baisakhi day. ITGF provides opportunities to
create integration and harmony by bringing people together, provides
opportunities for families to come together and play outdoor games like
Kabaddi, kho kho etc, and generate interest among non Bharatiya people from
Singapore in Bharatiya ganes and culture.
This year, ITGF was inaugurated on 27th
April by Shri Bajranglal ji – Secretary VSS while Shri Inder jit Singh was the
guest of honour. Various individual and group games like Gilli danda, lemon
spoon, kabaddi, kho kho, lagori, skipping rope were demonstrated and played
by various players and teams. In all, over 500 players took part in about 50
matches. The festival has become an annula feature now after it was started in
2010.
9. GBE: RATAN TATA
RECEIVES ONE OF UK'S TOP CIVILIAN HONOURS:
Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has
become the first Bharatiya since independence to receive the Knight Grand
Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), one of the highest civilian
honours of the UK. Tata was presented the GBE by British High Commissioner to
Bharat Sir James Bevan on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
"Mr Tata has been awarded an honorary GBE, one
of the highest civilian honours conferred by the UK, in recognition of his
services to UK-Bharat relations, inward investment to the UK and
philanthropy," the British High Commission said in a statement.
Commenting on the honour, Bevan said: "Ratan
Tata's leadership, vision and integrity will remain the gold standard for
generations of aspirational British and Indian business people."
Queen Elizabeth II had conferred on Tata the
honorary award of Knight Commander of the Order of British Empire (KBE) in
2009.
Under his leadership the UK benefited from
significant inward investment from Tata companies. Tata are now the largest
manufacturing employer in the UK.--top
10. COMTRUST EYE CAMP AT
PULPALLY: Swami Vivekananda Medical
Mission ay Wynad in the remote hilly areas of North Keral has been in the
field of eye care for the last 10 years in collaboration with the Comtrust Eye
care Society, Kozhikode. On 2nd June 2013, the refurbished Eye Clinic was
formally opened in a new form by the Hon. Minister Kum.PK Jayalakshmi. The
funding agency is Sewa International, USA. On 1st May 2014, Comtrust Eye Care
Hospital in cooperation with the Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission, Muttil and
SNDP Youth Movement conducted an eye camp at Sree Narayana Balavihar, Pulpally.
The Camp was inaugurated by SNDP Youth
Movement President Shri Jaijulal Sthuthikkat after a welcome speech by
Secretary Shri Saji Kodikkulath. 264 patients attended the camp in which 37
referred for cataract surgery. Spectacles prescribed for 128 persons and 10
were given other treatments.--top
11. BHARAT TO DIGITIZE
SCRIPTS: Thousands of significant
Sanskrit and Hindi manuscripts including ancient Bharatiya erotic literature
written on palm leaves kept in University of the Punjab in Lahore and
University of Dhaka will soon be digitized by Bharat.
Director of National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)
Prafulla Mishra said NMM will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Iran Culture House (ICH), New Delhi, for the digitization work. ICH has
already been digitizing Persian and Arabian manuscripts in Lahore and Dhaka.
"After the MoU with NMM, it will also start
scanning Sanskrit and Hindi texts on our behalf. We have already completed
preliminary discussions with the cultural body," Mishra said.
Mishra said there were around 9,500 Sanskrit
and Hindi scripts in Punjab University, the largest and oldest seat of higher
learning in Pakistan established in 1882. The collection includes around 2,000
palm leaf writings. Besides Hindi and Sanskrit, the stock includes texts in
Prakrit, Telugu, Sharada, Tamil, and Nandinagari languages.
The over 90-year-old Dhaka University too has
over 10,000 such texts. Some of these scripts are over 1,000-year-old while
many others are of pre-independence era, Mishra said.
The NMM director said the repository of
knowledge in the two varsities will be of great help to researchers. "Once
scanned these texts can be made available online so that research scholars can
access them," he said. The CD forms of the texts would be preserved at the
National Archives of Bharat. From various parts of the country and abroad, NMM
has so far digitized 35 lakh manuscripts of over 1.50 crore pages.--top
12. YOGA BENDS THE TRENDS
IN KENYA: Yoga has grown
increasingly popular among the poorest neighbourhoods in the capital city of
Nairobi thanks to Paige Elenson and her partner Baron Baptiste, two American
yoga teachers who established the not-for-profit organisation Africa Yoga
Project in 2007.
Their goal was to create job opportunities and
empower youth in impoverished areas of Nairobi. The two teachers raised
$10,000 to found the organisation and train 40 Kenyan yoga instructors. Today,
72 instructors are working in poor areas of Kenya, including at schools and
prisons.
Margaret Njeri is one of the teachers. She was
an acrobat before starting the yoga-training programme. The young mother says
earning a living as an acrobat was not easy. She sometimes even had to turn to
petty crime to survive. She is now paid $100 a month to teach five classes a
week in prisons, schools and other parts of the city. The rest of the time,
Njeri teaches private classes to round up her salary. Thanks to yoga, she is
now able to support herself and her one-year-old daughter.
Instructor Samson Muhalia, 53, says yoga has a
positive impact on people. "What I really like in yoga is that it brings
people together and teaches them how live together. It makes people share and
discuss."--top
13. 17 BHARATIYA
UNIVERSITIES AMONG ASIA’S TOP 300:
Seventeen Bharatiya universities have made it to the Asia Pacific rankings of
ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) this year compared to 11 last year.
Ranking agency QS released the rankings, which include Asia's top 300
universities, in association with non-profit organisation The Indian Centre
for Assessment & Accreditation (ICAA) in New Delhi on May 8th. Six
Bharatiya institutes have made an entry to the list. Banaras Hindu University,
Panjab University, Manipal University, Amity University, Birla Institute of
Technology and Science, and the Indian Institute of Information Technology
made it to the Asia rankings for the first time this year.
As in the previous editions of the rankings,
the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) led the way. IIT Delhi held on to
its 38th position like last year, ahead of IIT Bombay which was placed at 41.
Five other IITs featured in the top 100, led by Kanpur and Madras just outside
the top 50 at 52 and 53, respectively.--top
14. HINDUS OPEN GRAND
BHARATIYA- STYLE TEMPLE IN GUYANA:
The Hindu Society of Berbice opened the multi-million-dollar Shri Krishna
Mandir with a grand ceremony on 16th April at Gay Park, Greater New
Amsterdam, Berbice in Guyana. The temple The edifice, which models the
rare designs of Hindu places of worship in Southern Bharat, is a rarity among
architectural designs in these parts of the world. President Donald Ramotar
and First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar were present as were thousands of Hindus
from across Guyana. President Ramotar congratulated the Hindu Society for
erecting the new structure. He said that he had to come “because of my deep
appreciation of this religion and for its contributions made to the country in
many, many ways.” Others spoke at the occasion were Hindu activist Mrs.
Chandrowtie Maraj and Swami Aksharanandji. .--top
15. WORLD'S FIRST KABADDI
LEAGUE LAUNCHED IN BHARAT: Kabaddi
got a major facelift on 6th May with the launch of the World
Kabaddi League, a personal venture headed by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister
Sukhbir Singh Badal. The league is all set for inauguration in mid-June at
Thyagaraj Sports Complex at New Delhi.
The league follows the Formula 1 touring
sports format and will be played across four continents starting from August
to December. The official website of the World Kabaddi League (www.worldkabaddileague.net)
was launched by Badal and Pargat Singh, sports administrator and Olympian. "In
the northern region of the Indian sub-continent, kabaddi is an extremely
popular sport and the last four kabaddi World Cups held in India bear
testimony to this," Badal said.
"In its current form, the league will be
played across four continents with access to nearly 200 kabaddi clubs across
the world. For kabaddi, I believe this is just the beginning," he said.--top
16. 2 BHARATIYA AMERICAN
WOMEN NAMED ‘CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE’:
Two Bharatiya American women namely Manjusha P. Kulkarni and Ranjana Patel
have been named as Champions of Change within the Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders (AAPI) community for their efforts to promote President Barack
Obama’s controversial Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) legislation.
The purpose of the program is to honor and
recognize ordinary individuals who work to promote widespread change and
reform in their own respective areas of the country.
Kulkarni is the Director of the South Asian
Network (SAN), a community-based organization in Southern California that is
“dedicated to advancing the health, empowerment and solidarity of persons of
South Asian origin,” according to the White House. Patel is the Program
Manager of the Asian Health Coalition’s partnership consortium, which works
towards education, outreach, and enrollment for underserved AAPI communities
across the state of Illinois. --top
17. BHARAT HOME TO 54 OF
WORLD’S LARGEST, MOST POWERFUL PUBLIC COMPANIES:
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL)
leads the pack of 54 Bharatiya companies in Forbes’ annual list of the world’s
2000 largest and most powerful public companies, with Chinese companies
occupying the top three slots on the list.
The Forbes ‘Global 2000′ is a comprehensive
list of the world’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by
revenues, profits, assets and market value.
The US retains its dominance as the country
with the most Global 2000 companies at 564. Japan trails the US with 225
companies in aggregate. Bharat is home to 54 of the world’s biggest companies.
Reliance Industries is ranked 135 on the list
with a market value of 50.9 billion dollars and 72.8 billion dollars in sales
as on May 2014. It is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 155 and
has a 23.6 billion dollars market value. --top
18. PIO BECOMES DEAN OF
TOP US LAW SCHOOL: A Bharatiya-American
expert in comparative constitutional law, Sujit Choudhry, has been named dean
of a top law school, University of California, Berkeley. In a statement, the
University of California Berkeley executive vice chancellor and Provost Claude
Steele called Mr Choudhry a “brilliant scholar, professor, and mentor,” who
would inspire and lead with “big ideas” during a time of rapid change in the
legal profession. The Bharatiya American called the Berkeley Law deanship the
opportunity of a lifetime.--top
19. TIBETANS VOTE FOR
FIRST TIME: Beginning a new chapter
in the country's poll history, Tibetan residents in the hill town of
Dharmshala in Himachal Pradesh participated in the democratic process for the
first time on 7th May to elect a member of parliament. As many as
217 Tibetans had enrolled themselves as voters for the Kangra parliamentary
seat.
"I am happy to have voted in Indian general
elections today. It was an opportunity as well as a learning experience for
me. However, my Tibetan roots and the quest for free Tibet will not change. My
next target is to get an Indian passport. It shouldn't be hard now," said
Lobsang Wangyal (44), a prominent Tibetan activist. "My voice will now have
power and value." Officials said 150 Tibetans voted at various polling
stations. --top
20. KEDARNATH SHRINE
REOPENS FOR DEVOTEES: Sacred
portals of the Kedarnath temple were reopened to devotees amid elaborate
rituals about a year after the Himalayan shrine was marred by flash floods
that had left hundreds of people dead and many others stranded.
Chief priest of the shrine (Rawal) Bhima
Shankar Ling presided over the rituals on 4th May as its gates were
opened amid chanting of Vedic hymns, Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee CEO
V D Singh told PTI over phone.
About 1,252 devotees including eight foreign
nationals visited the shrine on the opening day, he said. It is the first
'Char Dham' yatra after last year's calamity. --top
21. BHARATIYAS MAKE UP
UK’S HIGHLY SKILLED: A new report
that analyses Britain global population has found that Bharatiyas tend to
cluster in the highest skilled professions in the country.
The UK’s Policy Exchange think tank presents a
detailed picture of the five largest minority groups in the country –
Bharatiyas, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Black Africans and Black Caribbeans – as
part of its A Portrait of Modern Britain handbook released this week.
It also found that the Bharatiya community was
the most dispersed all over the UK with most other ethnic minority communities
predominantly living in three main cities of London, Manchester and
Birmingham.
Also, Bharatiyas stood out for their tendency
to cluster in the highest skilled professions.
“Almost all minority groups, except the Indian
community, have unemployment rates double the national average... 24 per cent
of Pakistani men are taxi drivers and half of all Bangladeshi men work in
restaurants. In contrast 43 per cent of Indians work in the highest skilled
professions,” the report found.--top
22. BHARATIYAS, ASIANS
FAST BECOMING POLITICALLY RELEVANT IN US:
They are also quickly reaching the critical
mass needed to be politically relevant, says the report from the Centre for
American Progress and AAPI Data on how the growth of this group will affect a
variety of key policy areas from immigration and education to healthcare and
the environment.
With the Bharatiya-American population
shooting up 76 per cent in the first 12 years of the 21st century, Bharatiya-Americans
numbering 3.34 million are already the third largest Asian community in the
US, after people from China and the Philippines.
The top six groups — Chinese, Filipino,
Bharatiya Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese — account for 85 per cent of all
residents, the report noted.
Chinese are still by far the largest group of
Asian-American population with 4.1 million (22 per cent), Filipinos come next
with 3.59 million (19 per cent) followed by Bharatiyas with 3.34 million (18
per cent) in the third place. The largest concentration of Bharatiya
-Americans is in three States — California (19 per cent), New York (12 per
cent) and New Jersey (10 per cent). Hindus (51 per cent) are in majority among
Bharatiya-Americans, followed by Christians (18 per cent), Muslims (10 per
cent), Sikhs (5 per cent), Jains (2 per cent) and Buddhists (1 per cent).--top
23. SI APPEAL PAKISTAN:
A below average rainfall and a dry
winter in Tharparakar District, Thar desert Sindh Pakistan has resulted in the
starvation death of 140 children and left more than a million people
suffering.
Sewa International’s partner organization
Harey Rama Foundation of Pakistan is working to provide disaster relief to the
affected residents with a long term plan to rehabilitate affected families.
Your donations will provide immediate help to the victims and help reduce
their suffering. For more info pl visit
www.sewausa.org
--top
24. GURKHA JAWAN KILLS
ULTRA IN HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT:
Displaying raw courage and nerves of steel, a 23-year-old braveheart of the
Bharatiya Army, part of the Gurkha Regiment, eliminated heavily armed
infiltrator in a hand to hand combat along the Line of Control in Poonch in
the wee hours of 10th May. Another infiltrator was killed by the
ambush near Baghialdhara nallah along the LoC in Poonch.
One Bharatiya solider was injured in the
fierce gunbattle. As per to sources, "Based on hard intelligence inputs,
ambush parties were deployed along the LoC in Poonch sector when movement of a
group of militants was noticed on night vision devices around 2.30 am.
During the operation, Rifleman Prem Bahadur
Roka Magar of Gurkha Regiment displayed nerves of steel as he grabbed an AK-47
of another Pak trained infiltrator and tried to overpower him. In the melee he
dropped his own weapon and escaped unhurt.As they were grappling with each
other in a hilly terrain the two were segregated due to free fall in the
nearby nallah. Running for safety the infiltrator was finally neutralised by
the courageous soldier with the help of live grenade, official sources said.--top
25. IIT-GUWAHATI AMONG
TOP 100 YOUNG VARSITIES:
IIT-Guwahati has made it to the top 100 list of the world's dynamic young
universities - the only Bharatiya entry at 87th place.
In the ranking given by The Times Higher
Education, East Asian institutions lead the 100 Under 50, with universities
from South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore claiming top-five positions. The 100
Under 50 is designed to be dynamic and forward-looking so only universities
founded in 1964 or later are listed. --top
26. PUNJAB-BORN
COUNCILLOR BECOMES MAYOR IN BRITAIN:
A Punjab-born Councillor has been elected as
mayor in Erewash ward in Britain's Derbyshire, a media report said.
The Conservative Party's Councillor for
Wilsthorpe, Kewal Singh Athwal, became the first Erewash mayor to be elected
by a casting vote at a meeting at Long Eaton Town Hall in Derbyshire. .
27. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN:
Pravas: Shri Saumitra Gokhale, samyojak Vishwa Vibhag returned to USA
after his pravas to Australia and New Zealand. Visitors: Dr. Bhishm
Agnihotri, Smt and Shri Ramesh Shah, Jagdish Sewhani, Sanjay Tripathi, Gokul
Kunnath – USA. Prof Azad Kaushik – Canada, Ashwin – Mauritius Ravi Srivasta –
Nigeria, Dr. Shailendra Singh – Ghana.--top
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Hinduism is not bound up with a creed or a
book, a prophet or a founder, but is persistent search for truth on the basis
of a continuously renewed experience. Hinduism is human thought about God in
continuous evolution. - Dr.Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan
--top
JAI SHREE RAM
MY EXPERIMENT WITH RSS
Mohammad
Azeemullah
This is the election time. A lot has been
written about Narendra Modi and the BJP. A lot has also been said about the
Congress and other secular parties.
From the point of view of Muslims, both
parties have been painted in black and white terms.
Modi, if he becomes the next Prime Minister of
India, will turn the country into Gujarat subjugating Muslims. Then Congress
and other secular parties, being protector, will emancipate them from the
devil.
Thus, Muslims seem confused and are dangling
like pendulum from fear to hope and so on.
I do not endorse a particular party. Let it be
upon Muslim voters to decide. However, I would like to narrate my direct
experience with the RSS and its affiliate institutions.
I grew up in the background of communal
violence. Being a Muslim, I used to feel that I am being targeted for my
religion in India.
Media further accentuated my fear by bringing
live the violence against Muslims to me...Bhagalpur, Mumbai, Gujarat,
Muzaffarnagar...endless, to name a few.
The fear multiplied many folds within me. I
began to view all those individuals and organizations responsible for
engineering riots as hunters seeing me as their next prey.
Truly, I began to view "instigators" of
violence differently...being killers and only killers. I had no option but to
live in India. I could not fly. I could not escape. I accepted fear as my
destiny.
The time passed by.
One evening, I received a letter of
appointment from Durga Prasad Baljeet Singh College in the district of
Bulandshahar. I had applied for a job at various places after having qualified
the National Eligibility Test (NET) for lectureship.
My joy knew no bound. I always looked forward
to future.
The next day, I visited the college. The
campus truly impressed me: the physical facilities, the ambience and overall
discipline were up to the mark. I decided to join, though I hesitated
initially.
The college was situated on the bank of the
river Ganga, in a town known as Anoopshaher. The location of the institution
was symbolic - to provide modern education in the environment of spiritual
liveliness.
I began to work hard. At the same time, I also
carried the fear of insecurity as I was the only Muslim in the institution.
Moreover, the management belonged to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),
the organization about which I had heard that it was anti-Muslim.
I was given free accommodation in the college
campus. Every night I slept, I thought if any communal violence would start, I
would be the first to be targeted, yet I lived.
Soon, I befriended many. The most notable ones
among them were Shri Acharyaji, a lecturer of Sanskrit and a scholar in
Hinduism and KC Gaur, a lecturer in Education.
We often shared the same dining hall, the same
food, the same joke and the same laughter. We often played together, watched
movie and had innumerable interactions every day.
The fear which I had carried for so long about
certain organizations and certain individuals being 'killers' began to
evaporate.
The principal of the college, Dr Dhal, after
having seen my performance, said: "Mr Azeem, you have a good future here".
Within weeks, my perception about people
coming from other communities changed. None of what I had feared all along
ever nagged or troubled me. In fact, I began to feel more secure both
physically and financially. I felt I had a rebirth.
Soon, I was elevated to be a member of the
management in allotment of flats to the teachers in the college. Next my
family joined me, and I began to live happily.
That was truly my first interaction with the
majority community. For the first time, I realized how brotherly feeling they
carried toward their fellow-workers. My religion never came in my way to ever
obstruct communications with them. Surprisingly, it became an advantage to me.
Being the only one from the minority community, I was shown much affection and
care compared to others.
For better financial opportunities, I
travelled to Libya on leave from the college. I still miss the college, the
campus and the people there. I wish I have that life back to me.
Much of what creates 'fear' in individuals
results from gap in communication between the two individuals and between the
two communities.
We should rely on our first-hand experience
before coming to a conclusion about certain individuals or organizations. My
impression to paint everyone as a 'killer' was absolutely wrong.(Times of India May 7, 2014)--top
Shri Vishwa Niketan Delhi
