‘REDISCOVERING THE SPIRIT OF TEACHERS DAY’

    It has indeed been a great honour for Indians to have some outstanding personalities as the Presidents of the Indian Republic. Among all the Presidents of India till date, some remarkably outstanding names stand taller, notably Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. K. R. Narayanan, Dr. R. Venkatraman, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr.Radhakrishnan. Of these,Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s popularity as outstanding academicians is far greater than as the Heads of State. Dr.Kalaam pursued his passion of encouraging and inspiring youth by addressing them and always finding time to talk to them even during his tenure as the President of India! He went as far as making them review their orthodox notions about ‘ dream’ and redefined it for them as ‘one which gives you sleepless nights and not as the one which appears when you are fast asleep at night’ thereby waking up an entire generation to an altogether  new thought  that spilled out incredible and amazing Indians in hundreds! Dr.Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President and the second President of India, a Philosopher, through his works bridged the gaps between the east and the west for which he was knighted and it was little wonder then that when he was elected to the highest Office, his friends and students requested his permission to celebrate 5^th September, his birthday, as teacher’s day.

    But surprisingly, the person to whom I am dedicating this teachers day to, is neither an academician nor an Indian! He is a Prince turned sportsman whose passion for sport won him Gold at Olympics! The person we are talking about is Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, belonging to the ruling family of Dubai and a Gold Medalist at 2004 Athens Olympics in Men's  Double Trap Shooting event! In 2004 Sheikh Ahmed not only won UAE’s first Olympic Gold but also it’s only Gold Medal at Olympics! In one of the competitions, so overwhelming was his performance that a young man all of twenty walked upto him requesting his help to realize his dream to win an Olympic Gold. Convinced of the young man’s resolve to realize his dream Sheikh invited him to Dubai where his sporting skills and abilities would be tested before making any commitments. When the young man flew to Dubai, his skills and abilities were found to be perfect. In due course of time not only would the Sheikh discover that the young man was not only a mere farm help but also someone who had lost funding to his passion and now a waiter but also respond to this shocking discovery with nobility - firstly by waving off his coaching expenses and secondly by  doing away with the formalities in return for one condition – the man would do anything and everything he would be asked to unquestioningly and with full faith and devotion failing which he would lose the Sheikhs guidance! Such was the commitment of the young man to his game that he readily accepted without giving it a second thought! And the result – the young man, Peter Robert Russel Wilson, a farm help from Dorset, U.K, whom Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum took under his wings in 2009, realized his dream of winning Olympic Gold at 2012 London Olympics in the same Men’s Double Trap event scoring 188 out of 200 points, just one point below Sheikhs 2004 Olympic score of 189/200! An emotionally charged Peter Wilson remarked that his relation with Sheikh would forever remain as it was on the day they first met! But the greater credit goes to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum who went through a range of emotions for the young man as his erred in his finals before he finally struck gold and yet benevolently gave the entire credit for the success to Peter Wilson’s dedication, discipline and perseverance!!

    It inarguably takes more than just a good human being to see some one else’s dream through his eyes and devote himself to see him achieve it and it assumes all the more significance when except for the passion there isn’t anything in common to be shared whether it is  religion,race, nationality, language, culture or rank!!

    Imagine an Arab Shooter Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum sharing his Gold winning shooting secret with a British Peter Wilson, inspiring a Sachin Tedulkar or Sunil Gavaskar to share their cricketing secrets with youth from terror stricken Kashmir or Afghanistan or a Saina Nehwal or a Mary Kom sharing their skills with women from male dominated societies like that of Haryana or Iran and present sport as a medium of liberalization  Or a Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt sharing their grappling skills with the sturdy Gadwali youth from difficult terrains of Garhwal or Kumaon regions or with the wrestlers from Varanasi and Kolhapur to provide the much needed professional touch! But then why should the spirit be confined to sports alone? Imagine this spirit being inculcated in every possible aspect of social life helping people to discover themselves, their hidden talents and the world to wake up to an entirely new breed of artists, academicians, and leaders who would live by the same spirit of handing over the baton to the most worthy successor without any bias or prejudices before they have called it a day!

     Is there a better contender to whom this Teachers day could be dedicated other than Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum? I guess not!As the missile man of India and former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalaam puts it ‘Any child’s best role models after his parents are his teachers’ - I see no better way to celebrate this teacher’s day than to dedicate it to the spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum!

Happy teacher’s day!

                               - Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI)

Mumbai, 05.09.2014.

Excellent !!!

    It has indeed been a great honour for Indians to have some outstanding personalities as the Presidents of the Indian Republic. Among all the Presidents of India till date, some remarkably outstanding names stand taller, notably Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. K. R. Narayanan, Dr. R. Venkatraman, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr.Radhakrishnan. Of these,Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalaam, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s popularity as outstanding academicians is far greater than as the Heads of State. Dr.Kalaam pursued his passion of encouraging and inspiring youth by addressing them and always finding time to talk to them even during his tenure as the President of India! He went as far as making them review their orthodox notions about ‘ dream’ and redefined it for them as ‘one which gives you sleepless nights and not as the one which appears when you are fast asleep at night’ thereby waking up an entire generation to an altogether  new thought  that spilled out incredible and amazing Indians in hundreds! Dr.Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President and the second President of India, a Philosopher, through his works bridged the gaps between the east and the west for which he was knighted and it was little wonder then that when he was elected to the highest Office, his friends and students requested his permission to celebrate 5^th September, his birthday, as teacher’s day.

    But surprisingly, the person to whom I am dedicating this teachers day to, is neither an academician nor an Indian! He is a Prince turned sportsman whose passion for sport won him Gold at Olympics! The person we are talking about is Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, belonging to the ruling family of Dubai and a Gold Medalist at 2004 Athens Olympics in Men's  Double Trap Shooting event! In 2004 Sheikh Ahmed not only won UAE’s first Olympic Gold but also it’s only Gold Medal at Olympics! In one of the competitions, so overwhelming was his performance that a young man all of twenty walked upto him requesting his help to realize his dream to win an Olympic Gold. Convinced of the young man’s resolve to realize his dream Sheikh invited him to Dubai where his sporting skills and abilities would be tested before making any commitments. When the young man flew to Dubai, his skills and abilities were found to be perfect. In due course of time not only would the Sheikh discover that the young man was not only a mere farm help but also someone who had lost funding to his passion and now a waiter but also respond to this shocking discovery with nobility - firstly by waving off his coaching expenses and secondly by  doing away with the formalities in return for one condition – the man would do anything and everything he would be asked to unquestioningly and with full faith and devotion failing which he would lose the Sheikhs guidance! Such was the commitment of the young man to his game that he readily accepted without giving it a second thought! And the result – the young man, Peter Robert Russel Wilson, a farm help from Dorset, U.K, whom Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum took under his wings in 2009, realized his dream of winning Olympic Gold at 2012 London Olympics in the same Men’s Double Trap event scoring 188 out of 200 points, just one point below Sheikhs 2004 Olympic score of 189/200! An emotionally charged Peter Wilson remarked that his relation with Sheikh would forever remain as it was on the day they first met! But the greater credit goes to Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum who went through a range of emotions for the young man as his erred in his finals before he finally struck gold and yet benevolently gave the entire credit for the success to Peter Wilson’s dedication, discipline and perseverance!!

    It inarguably takes more than just a good human being to see some one else’s dream through his eyes and devote himself to see him achieve it and it assumes all the more significance when except for the passion there isn’t anything in common to be shared whether it is  religion,race, nationality, language, culture or rank!!

    Imagine an Arab Shooter Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum sharing his Gold winning shooting secret with a British Peter Wilson, inspiring a Sachin Tedulkar or Sunil Gavaskar to share their cricketing secrets with youth from terror stricken Kashmir or Afghanistan or a Saina Nehwal or a Mary Kom sharing their skills with women from male dominated societies like that of Haryana or Iran and present sport as a medium of liberalization  Or a Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt sharing their grappling skills with the sturdy Gadwali youth from difficult terrains of Garhwal or Kumaon regions or with the wrestlers from Varanasi and Kolhapur to provide the much needed professional touch! But then why should the spirit be confined to sports alone? Imagine this spirit being inculcated in every possible aspect of social life helping people to discover themselves, their hidden talents and the world to wake up to an entirely new breed of artists, academicians, and leaders who would live by the same spirit of handing over the baton to the most worthy successor without any bias or prejudices before they have called it a day!

     Is there a better contender to whom this Teachers day could be dedicated other than Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum? I guess not!As the missile man of India and former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalaam puts it ‘Any child’s best role models after his parents are his teachers’ - I see no better way to celebrate this teacher’s day than to dedicate it to the spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum!

Happy teacher’s day!

                               - Bhushan Kumarsen Sarmalkar (JAI)

Mumbai, 05.09.2014.

Go – bindaas ?

“Does this boy look 12?” asks a prominent daily displaying photo of a collapsing Govinda who definitely is not 12! I say its a wrong caption. A correct one should be “Does this boy have concerned parents?” Its a sad thing that the Supreme Court of India had to intervene in a matter that was domain of adults or more aptly speaking parents to ensure the safety of minors. What possibly could be the purpose of having a Dahi Handi at such an enormous height? One – adventure, two –culture. Let’s consider the first option – adventure. Every adventure sport has a definite purpose or correctly speaking every traditional adventure sport has a definite and a well defined purpose. It is so atleast in India. In Maharashtra for example traditionally played sports be it Kusti, be it mallakhamb or be it dand patta all were aimed to keep the youth ever ready for warfare. And therefore it is not surprising there are legends of warriors or adventure sportsmen continuing to be associated with the sport either directly or indirectly till his very end despite an injury or an accident. Not only this, it would not be surprising to find his siblings or offsprings embracing the same without protest from family members – even women! Does Dahi Handi evoke that kind of feelings? Can an injured be expected to participate in future events with same zest or the parents of those deceased Govindas his siblings to carry forward what has been increasingly touted as cultural baton? The answer is obvious. This not because of the dangers involved but because the entire exercise lacks the purpose and much needed conviction. Culturally speaking Dahi Handi was a pure fun where friends in a locality got together on Janmashtami collected money shopped for earthern pot, rope, cucumbers, fruits, garlands etc., tied it at a decent height in a muddy ground cleared of all stones and other dangerous things likely to cause injury in the event of a fall. It would take a 3-4 tier pyramid to break the Handi that would be broken by noon. Today the event seems to have got all the glitz and glamour but at the cost of its essence of simplicity and togetherness which used to be the soul of the event. Today’s Dahi Handi seems to be driven more by glitterati and money. We dragged Dahi Handi from muddy grounds to busy road junctions and overloaded it with cash prizes and smothered the true spirit of Dahi Handi.

Dahi Handi commemorates the childhood exploits of Lord Krishna who as a child broke into houses with friends and stole butter from pots hung from ceiling by forming human pyramids that would be needless to say two or three tiers tall. So where does the cultural aspect of forming an 8 tier human pyramid come from? The butter stealing acts of Lord Krishna have two explanations – 1. He being aware of his being divine incarnation did not want his maturity to rob his foster mother Yashoda of the pleasures of raising a child. 2. It symbolized Lord Krishna breaking into the minds of people and robbing them of their hearts.

In the present case are the Govindas giving their parents pleasures of raising children or nightmares? In the view of the two fatal accidents wherein two minors lost their lives while practising for Dahi Handi, the Honourable Supreme Court India clearly demarcated the age limit for ones participation in such risky sport leaving the height and the number of tiers untouched. It could have easily been obeyed and should have been obeyed. There wasn’t any need to be rebellious and flaunt the orders of the SC. Even if some politicians did it there wasn’t any need for the Govinda troupes to be part and parcel of this rebellion. They should have respected the court orders and boycotted such rebellious politicians since it is this very Supreme Court who have time and again intervened and come to the rescue of the common man like in Priyanka Matto and Jessica Lal case. Lord Krishna when punished for his mischief by his foster mother Yashoda repected his confinement and seldom rebelled. Have our modern day Govindas instilled these values of Lord Krishna? After all isn’t it that it’s we who have to decide whether we are ‘Govindas’ or ‘Go- Bindaas’?

- Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI) 19.08.2014

CULTURAL QUIRKS

“Don’t you think that you are holding back some one when you stress on his or her retaining the cultural identity by upholding his linguistic identity?” asks a family friend over a dinner conversation. I say “No” and nothing more. “Don’t you agree that English education is the need of our times and a gateway to a whole new world of opportunities that we would deny if we stress on education in a vernacular medium school?”  “Yes” I say, “But then who’s denying that? All that’s been stressed is retaining our cultural identity while we embark on the journey to keep ourselves abreast of the modern sentiments”.

I wonder how does retaining ones cultural identity and importantly speaking ones mother tongue  interfere with mission modernisation - properly speaking you ability to communicate(converse to be precise) in English? And how does one buy the theory that fluency in English, especially spoken, is a gateway to success? English came to be spoken in parts of world other than the United Kingdom during the colonial era. The purest or phonetically correct form of English is the Queens English spoken in United Kingdom. In terms of numbers it follows two major slangs – the American Slang and the Australian Slang. So the question is if the merit of a person is to be decided or preference is to be decided why would a British, an American or an Australian show interest in their linguistic colonial cousins?  In the East Indian community which gets it name for its members having been employed with the then East India Company, it is not surprising to find people who can fluently converse in English but lack the ability to  read and write! For generations these community  members have been employed with the East India Company as stewards, attendants, guards and porters and have picked up the language due to professional requirements but the question is  ‘ Has their ability to converse fluently in English induced what one may term as progress?’ - I guess we all know what the answer is! On the other hand we may consider the example of South Indians who aggressively guarded their cultural identity, retained their linguistic identity despite being largely employed with the British during the colonial era. We find them more successful or progressive.  Internationally, China has made great progress despite its inability and hesitancy to communicate in English. It won’t be fanatic to say here that China’s success can be primarily attributed to its retaining its cultural identity. And it won’t be an exaggeration to say that it’s this orthodoxy that helped china survive the recession not only survive but even to bail out some other nations as well!

Language will just decide how you communicate but culture will decide what you communicate! How true – had it not been so The British Parliament would have never invited Anna Hazare a non matriculate dhoti clad simpleton Gandhian who lacks the ability to speak in English to address the British Parliament! 

                                                                                                                       - Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI)