Remembering M.S.
M.S. Subbulakshmi has inspired many generations, through her divine voice and her rare qualities of humility, compassion discipline and principles of conduct. Her quest for perfection and sincerity of effort were not reserved for the stage. Her own simple lifestyle and donation of most of her earnings to charity were the testament to the person she was.
How does it feel if half of the buses and trains supposed to be running are canceled at random? And how long will we stand such disruption? At most a day or two, maybe. Well, a similar disruption in the daily lives of children has been happening quietly for years. About half of the time, there is no teaching going on in government primary schools, while these voiceless students suffer.
Barely two decades ago, India held more than half of world’s polio cases. In February last year, India's name was struck off the list of polio-endemic countries as there was no case of polio reported in the country for over a year. In three months from now, India will be declared a polio-free nation.
The
Mian Akbar Shah, the recipient, had never got a telegram from the Supreme leader. He is excited. Palpitating. But he knows better than sharing this news with anybody.
On June 13, 2011, the day after Baba Ramdev broke his 9 days fast under media arc lights, another sage, admitted in the same Himalayan hospital in Dehradun, Swami Nigamananda passed away. He was on a fast since February 19th, to save river Ganga from illegal sand mining and stone-crushing in Uttarakhand.