My Residences: मेरे निवास स्थान

 I had the opportunity and privilege of living with my siblings, parents and grandparents , nice neighbors and friends in Jhalu in my ancestral home and house for a long time. We enjoyed living together cordially and happily caring for each other. Such a possibility does not occur any more. see my blog about ancestral home;  https://shubhkamna-davendra.blogspot.com/2021/07/ancestral-home.html

Description of my house and living conditions in those days are given in another blog; https://shubhkamna-davendra.blogspot.com/2015/03/living-conditions-in-small-town-during.html

Once I mentioned to my grandson, Satvik about the living conditions of those, he simply said " Baba, your life was much better than ours and perhaps, your parents and grandparents might have lived much better life in a very peaceful environment " I have a few blogs about my conversation with Satvik;  https://davendrak.wordpress.com/?s=satvik&submit=Search and one about the living conditions in my village; https://davendrak.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/a-conversation-with-my-grandchild2-life-in-a-village-in-early-1950s/

Any way, one has to leave his ancestral home and the town for further/higher education  and employment postings at some point or the other . I have to leave early in 1950 after my middle school education as there was no facility in my town after middle school. Once I left, there was no return except during summer or other vacations or waiting for employment periods etc. I lived in several places in India and abroad - with my relatives, in the hostels, temporary shelters and mostly in rented houses/ apartments and during my early career with ONGC in the field camps. The experience of living in various and different situations ( places and times /durations etc) is very rich and interesting, very unique in its own way;

Places I lived; Jhalu, Chandpur, Meerut, Varanasi, Gajraula,.Katni, Aligarh,DehraDun, Baroda, Jodhpur,  Anjar (Kutchh) , Karaikal, Madras (Chenai) , Bangalore, Dharwad,  Ibadan (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Southfield (Michigan), Dublin/Columbus (Ohio), now Windsor (Ontario, Canada) ; 

Field Camps: During 1961-1969, I worked  for Oil and Gas exploration and lived in the field camps; Field camps used to be for a month or so in one place and we used to live in tents ( living tent, kitchen tent, bath tent and a toilet tent) : 

I started my camp life in December 1961  from Chakkar ka milak (Moradabad) - a village near Moradabad and our camp was next to Police training centre; and the last one was Ghotaru ( Thar Desert in Rajasthan ); There were several camps  and partial camps during this period. I will try to give some salient features and important events of those camps;

CHANDPUR; Chandpur was my next residence like a home where I lived my respected and most beloved beloved person during 1950-1955 , pursuing my education in Hindu Inter College from 8th class to High School and Intermediate. we lived in a spacious space and the best location of a big house of a big combined family. The big house accommodated the families of Hakeem Ajudhiya Prasad -Triloki Nath, Ishwar Chandra Bansal, Piyare Lal Bansal ; all very close relatives of my nani ji; in fact, my nani ji was living in a rented portion of Hakeem ji; Great and wonderful environment for me. I spent one of the prime period of my life here with great comfort, love and care from everyone and completed some big steps of my education from  here. I had very good friends from Chandpur and I still continue my association and contact with them; I learnt many and many new things here from Mama ji (Hakeem ji; I used to spend some time with him each evening ); Mama Piyare Lal ji was my great teacher, learnt my reading newspapers from him ( He was alone for first three years , then got married ).

Ancestral Home; पैतृक घर : पुश्तैनी मकान

 An ANCESTRAL HOUSE is not a proprty , a commercial thing and value which certainly has emotional value just like we have with people even after they leave us.

Our Ancestral Home was in JHALU (Bijnor) where, we were born, brought up and lived till we settled down in our careers and left for different places. The house was built by our ancestors ( not known by whom) and it was owned and preserved by our family from generation to generation for many generations. I know at least my grandparents and parents lived there and we ( our generation ) disposed it off in late 1970s by selling it to our neighbour- Virendra Kumar ( Chowkrayat) . Otherwise also it would have been destroyed with time without care as all of us left the house and the town to live elsewhere.

Normally, we are sentimentally and emotionally attached to a place or even a spot which we have used for some considerable time. Ancestral house becomes a HOME and we are especially attached to it. Your emotional touch with people or places depends upon your association with them. I am especially attached. Even after so many years, now even the house is  completely demolished, it remains in my thoughts and dream. I remember each and every corner of the house with smaller details including five overhead stoarge spaces ( TAND= टांड ) in different places. I used to help my grandmother who used to clean the whole house on the occasion of Deepawali. 

Not every place we live become HOME and we get attached to it. Like, we had "Dilkusha" in Civil Lines, Bijnor, I had no attachment with, it had only commercial value as PROPERTY.

The concept is fast eroding as people in new generation are born in one place, brought up in different places and move to  and live in different places depending upon their jobs. Most of them live in rented houses .Some people even get attached those rented places if they live for longer periods or some events take place over there. From childhood till now, I lived in several houses and places and how do I feel about them, I will write in my second blog.

Rich Man’s Game vs Poor Man’s World

                                        Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia 

                                                Pebble Beach Golf Club, California

Rich Man’s Game vs Poor Man’s World by Satvik Gupta

( The contents of this blog belong to my grandson, Satvik Gupta )

Last summer I had the privilege of going on a vacation to California, specifically visiting San Francisco and going on the scenic highway 1. While on highway 1, my family stopped by to take a detour to Monterey where we went on the iconic 17 mile drive. Both my father and I have played golf for many years, so we were extremely excited to see the famous Pebble Beach Golf Club, located near mile 15. When we got to the golf course, we stepped onto the first tee because nobody was playing at the time and took it all in. Majestic green fairways, the grainy bunkers, and tons of trees. A couple of  weeks later when reviewing the photos we had taken, my mother explained that golf courses were outside the cities and surrounded by trees, but were actually significantly harmful to the natural environment. Initially, I did not believe her because golf courses were in nature and there was always wildlife roaming around . She agreed that golf courses did have some positive effects but continued to explain the negative effects. From that conversation, I started to understand the relationship between golf courses and the natural environment. Even though golf courses are in nature, they are not very natural and seem to harm the environment more than they help it. Just a couple weeks ago, the Masters, a major golf tournament, was played at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Augusta has an extremely prestigious reputation; the course is known for having near perfect conditions for a golf course. In the golf world, most if not all golf courses want perfect conditions, known as having the Augusta National syndrome. But to satisfy this desire, copious amounts of chemicals and water need to be used. According to Katharine Gammon, just in America, some 2.08 billion gallons of water are used every day just to water golf courses. Billions of gallons being lost every day doesn’t seem intelligent when places like Las Vegas and most of California face droughts and have water scarcity problems. On top of droughts, California alone has over 1000 golf courses and each course (on average) uses 130,000 gallons of water every day, so there is a massive amount of water used just for keeping grass green. Gammon also explains that if golf courses reduced water use by 25% in just California, one million bathtubs could be filled. This is a great example of how water could also be used to help people directly instead of keeping grass green. The water could also be used to assist other countries facing water crises, like Lesotho or Uganda. While millions of children and women walk for hours every day to collect dirty water in developing countries, America is using over two billion gallons every single day for sustaining golf courses. This inequality reflects back to why golf has traditionally been called “the rich man’s game.” In America and other developed countries, golf courses have been created for leisure and recreation because the countries have the resources to spend, while developing countries rarely have golf courses because they need to conserve their resources. But to fully satisfy the Augusta National syndrome, golf courses also need many chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and fertilizer. Pesticides are substances created and distributed meant to control pest populations. Similarly, herbicides are meant for controlling plants, insecticides are meant for controlling insects, and fungicides are meant for controlling fungi and bacteria. Finally, fertilizer is a substance that gives plants or soil nutrients. According to author Carol Leonetti from The Environmental Magazine, “the average golf course dumps regular treatments of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and fertilizer--more per square foot than the average farm.” Even in small amounts, these chemicals can be very harmful, but when a golf course (on average) uses even more of these chemicals than a farm, there is a huge issue; all of these chemicals can contaminate groundwater, kill animals and disrupt the local food chain, and change nutrient levels of soil. Groundwater contamination occurs when chemicals such as pesticides enter groundwater, and mainly happens through leaching, a process in which chemicals travel to foods or beverages. This concept is further explained by Samantha Jakuboski,  who founded the Green Science blog: “Many people depend on groundwater for their drinking supply, yet if that water has pesticides in it, it is unsanitary and harmful for people to drink.” Jakuboski emphasizes that people depend on groundwater, but so do animals who drink from freshwater streams and lakes. Due to pesticides killing animals and disrupting the local food chain, some species can go extinct, become endangered, or be forced to migrate thereby causing a loss of biodiversity. All of these effects relate to each other, and even one effect happening can cause the other effects to happen. For example, if a species becomes endangered, some of their predators’ population will decrease and some will be forced to migrate because there’s a lack of prey (food for predators) in the ecosystem. Finally, if nutrient levels change, certain crops may not be able to grow which directly affects the food supply of many species, once again altering the population of these species, causing imbalances in the local ecosystem. One way that nutrient levels can change is through volatilization, a process that happens when “a pesticide turns into a gas or vapor after it has been sprayed, allowing it to travel through the air and spread to different pieces of land” (Jakuboski). If pesticides spread through air, they can easily find soil and fields changing the nutrient levels in them. While it is not the most obvious, many people and animals’ food supply and water sources can be disrupted through the processes of leaching and volatilization. Even though golf courses use large amounts of chemicals and water, they still benefit the natural environment by protecting biodiversity and providing wildlife sanctuaries. Since the property on a course is being used for golf, the land cannot be urbanized and used for other constructions. Not only does this protect the biodiversity within the area, but it protects local plants and local species by continually providing a habitat. Lauren Sewell,  expands on protecting biodiversity by explaining that “Researchers are finding that golf course land can actually mimic naturally occurring habitats.” By mimicking naturally occurring habitats, local species can live peacefully without threats to biodiversity. Sewell’s point also reiterates the fact that golf courses provide sanctuaries because all the trees, natural bodies of water, and interacting ecosystems on the golf course work to allow animals to live like it’s their natural habitats. These sanctuaries help land animals, amphibians, and birds, with one bird sanctuary being Pinehurst Golf Club, where endangered red cockaded woodpeckers have been living and recovering from endangerment (Sewell 335). I believe that even though golf courses directly negatively impact the environment, courses directly positively impact people. I have been playing golf since I was 9, and the game has been a huge part of my life. I am confident that my experiences are similar to those of 25+ million who play golf around the world. Golf courses allow for a multitude of individual benefits, including family bonding time, skill development, improving mental and physical health, and teaching life lessons to players. Because of golf courses, I am able to bond with my family and friends because I spend 4 hours every round talking to them and enjoying their company. I am able to work on my golf skills over time, set goals for myself, and challenge myself to be better. I get to be outside improving my physical health by walking and carrying my clubs on my back. I get to improve my mental health by also walking and being in nature to see wildlife. Currently with Covid, golf has become especially beneficial because golfers can safely play and improve their mental health. I also learn life lessons, like learning how to behave in a group (etiquette), how to leave areas better than I find them (repairing divots and cleaning bunkers), how to have respect for others and my surrounding environment, and how to be thankful for what I have. Many golfers appreciate all these individual benefits. Golf courses also have general benefits that help many people, like attracting real estate and creating jobs. With all these benefits, I want to emphasize that even though golf courses negatively affect the environment, they also directly positively affect people. Although golf courses protect biodiversity and provide wildlife sanctuary, they have high pesticide and water usage. Golf courses being constructed and existing negatively impact the environment, but on a grander scale, we are destroying our Earth. Our standard of living in America is not sustainable. We must make a change, and it can start with the beginning of using more sustainable practices to maintain our golf courses. Hopefully in the future, golf courses will focus on conservation of resources and won’t develop the Augusta National syndrome.

                                            Pinehurst Golf Club

Works Cited 

Gammon, Katharine. “In Face Of Drought, Golf Tries to Reduce Water Use.” insidescience.org, 18 June 2015, https://insidescience.org/news/face-drought-golf-tries-reduce-water-use

 Jakuboski, Samantha. “The Dangers of Pesticides.” nature.com, 25 July 2011, https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/green-science/the_dangers_of_pesticides/#:~:text= Pesticides%20are%20stored%20in%20your,but%20surely%20poison%20the%20body.&t ext=After%20countless%20studies%2C%20pesticides%20have,system%2C%20and%20t he%20endocrine%20syst.

Leonetti, Carol. “Green Golf.” E: The Environmental Magazine, vol. 6, no. 3, May 1995, p. 22. 

Sewell, Lauren. “Golf Course Land Positive Effects on the Environment.” Seattle Journal of Environmental Law, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 329-356. Seattle University School of Law, https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sjel#: ~:text=Environmentalists%20argue%20that%20golf%20course,destroying%20habitats% 20for%20wildlife%20species. 

STORY TELLING TO CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS

 

During our living and working in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, America and Canada, we found that story-telling to children in schools is very common and a part of their teaching. We observed that the effect and influence of story-telling is very good for learning , at least we found very useful for our children and grand children. I thought that such a teaching method should be applied in our schools in India also; A short description of such a programme is given here :

___________________________________________________________________________________

" If you want your children  to be smart, tell  them stories. If you want them to be brilliant, tell them more stories  "

      -    Albert Eisenstein

"  Storytelling is an age-old art shared among friends, families and strangers, and its presence can captivate young and even older learners in the classroom too."

Story telling to children is stepping stone for future learning;

makes learning easier and natural,

Storytelling is a form of teaching and has the potential of fostering EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and help children gain insight into human behaviour . ( SOCIAL SKILLS)

*Stories have transformation power to see the world in a different way (EXPOSURE)

* Developed and used purposefully, storytelling can contribute to inclusion and connection, build confidence and bring about change.

 IMPORTANCE of storytelling/stories;

SKILL DEVELOPMENT: 

Develops various skills, behavioral , social, ( learning about kindness, wisdom, honesty , compassion and more) communication skills etc.

Develops confidence ( enhances their communication skills; increase their ability to express themselves; encourages them to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas;

 Develops listening, reading and writing skills;

Develops  imagination, creativity,,  understanding, open to new ideas,

 Stories teach about life, about ourselves and about others; and the world ( about various and different cultures); increase their cultural understanding ; expose young children to new things, places, cultures, traditions and values

Motivational memories with characters whose value they can emulate,

* improves social SKILLS; children learn how to pay attention and listen actively to the person talking;

* Boost LISTENING skills  ( to focus, to be attentive)

* Fosters their imagination, enhances their creativity and open to new ideas

* Increase their CULTURAL understanding ; expose young children to new things, places, cultures and traditions

* Enhances their COMMUNICATION SKILLS; increase their ability to express themselves; encourages them to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas

* Pick up new words and hence the VOCABULARY Promotes LANGUAGE learning by enriching  vocabulary and  acquiring new language structures

* Help sharpen memory ( through feedback, reviewing process etc )

*Increases knowledge and confidence ( exposure to new things, environments etc )

* Learn about kindness, wisdom, honesty, compassion  and more  and try to emulate ( VALUE SYSTEM)

* Develops VALUE SYSTEM  ; learn values, critical values  sharpens our opinions and values

* Improves THOUGHT PROCESS ( imagination, creativity, thinking  and expression etc)

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STORY_TELLING PROGRAMME IN A SCHOOL: 

* Story-telling programme can be initiated in a school any time in a most flexible manner; 

* May start at any level /standard/class of children  as a regular programme or casual weekly /periodically as suits to the environment of the school;   or

may a a few minutes at the end of the class as suits to the teachers; 

SELECTION OF STORIES: 

Short stories can be selected /identified according to the type of story from Internet,  Google and many other websites; for example ;  http://sushmajee.com/; 

http://sushmajee.com/stories/index-stories-1.htm

stories for children (Shishu Sansar); http://sushmajee.com/shishusansar/index-shishu.htm

1; General stories; http://sushmajee.com/stories/index-stories-1.htm

2. Inspirational Stories: http://sushmajee.com/stories/inspirational/index-inspirational.htm

3. Religious stories; http://sushmajee.com/stories/inspirational/index-inspirational.htm

4. Historical stories: http://sushmajee.com/shishusansar/stories-historical/index-historical.htm

5 Motivational: ( Great Indians)  http://sushmajee.com/shishusansar/stories-great-indians/index-great-indians.htm

 (Great People)     http://sushmajee.com/shishusansar/stories-great-people/index-great-people.htm

Probably, should be started in an experimental way by forming three groups of children and watching the effect on them:

A; group of children , no story-telling to them;

B;  group of children with story telling to them;

C;  group of children with story-telling to them with REINFORCEMENT ( by giving them some assignments and taking feedback etc.)

An experimental programme can be designed for feedback from the children of different groups as how they interact among themselves with others and outside the school at home with their friends, family member etc;

A competitive environment can be created by giving children various assignments based on the stories and evaluating their performance and awarding them certificates and trophies  of MERIT and Prizes etc. 

One school /your school can serve as a MODEL and then motivates other schools to introduce such a programme if successful in your school; Competition can be extended to several schools locally, then at District level- state  level and even at National level; ( Such programmes are already there for Maths, Geography, Public Speaking etc. at various levels in Canada and USA): https://www.northsouth.org/public

Potential of a story-telling programme as a new technique of learning/teaching of school children must be tested in our schools.

गायत्री मंत्र ; बच्पन्न के कुत्छ संस्मरण ;

 हमारे  गांव , झालु में, मेरे बचपन के दिनों में , संत, महात्मा, पंडित , समय , समय पर आते रहते थे; ठंड के दिनों में तो प्रतिएक  वर्ष ही आते थे ! गढ़वाल तथा कश्मीर से  तो सदैव ही कोई न कोई पंडित हर वर्ष ही आते थे !   कुत्छ दिन रहते  और कभी कभी प्रवचन भी करते थे! मेरे बाबा जी , भगत जी के नाम से तो जाने ही जाते थे  परन्तु वह , इन संत, महात्माओं की सेवा में सदेव ही रहते थे ! यह सभी लोग, ठाकुरद्वारे वाली धर्मशाला   में ही रुकते थे ! कुत्छ दिन रहते , फिर कहीं और चले जाते ! बाबा जी  सांयकाल के पश्चात , प्रायः प्रतियेक दिन ही  उनके दर्शन करने तथा  वियाखियाँन  सुनने जाया करते थे ! मुझे भी साथ में ले जाया करते थे ! मुझे भी उनके दर्शन का लाभ होता, षष्टाचार भी सीखने को मिल गया ! स्वमी जी तथा डंडी स्वामी जी को " नमो नारायण " कहना है! उनके चरण स्पर्श करने हैं ! आदि आदि! 

में, नौ या दस वर्ष का  हूँगा , एक बहुत ज्ञानी/योगिये स्वामी जी आये !  उनोहने  गायत्री मंत्र के विषय में , मंत्र की महत्ता के  विषय में बड़े विस्तार से समझाया ! कुच्छ दिनों तक मंत्र के उचित प्रकार से उच्चारण करने का अभ्यास भी कराया ! में उसमे बड़ी ततपरता तथा  धियान   से भाग   लिया !  He mentioned that in our Vedic system, we have Mantra, Yantra, and Tantra which our great ancestors, Rishi/Mehrishi- the great scholars and researchers created after long long time of search/research through tapasya, yagiya, upasna  etc.  All the three have great powers as they are designed for specific purpose. MANTRAS are very special , constructed based on the effects of sound vibrations  on our sensory organs , especially the EARS which transmit those vibrations to the brain to create certain effects : each Mantra has its own effect; In most of the Mantra, you may find "  OM " in the beginning which has maximum sound vibration effects on our brains, even on animals and plants and other living beings) ; Each Mantra is created by some Rishi after deep studies over long period of time. GAYATRI MANTA is Mahamantra among all the mantras created by BRAHAM RISHI, Vishwamitra jee. Great gift to us. The  sound vibrations created by chanting Gayatri mantra when strike to our ears, they transmit  special effects to the brain faculties especially related to Intelligence. These vibrations in a balanced way can improve, one or several brain faculties depending upon the existing brain cells and composition ( you may find some are born genius , some intelligent and some dull ... retarded etc. ) But over all , Gayatri mantra and its sound vibrations do improve/boost  our brain faculties. He further explained that among many other things , brain has five main faculties- Understanding, Memory,  Imagination,  Thinking, Creativity and totality of these faculties is called as Intelligence );Swami jee gave some very simple examples illustrating the effects of sound waves; we do not like to hear the sound of a Drum ? Drum beating , we do like to hear melodious music of flute because they differently affect our brain. music is pleasant feeling while Noise is a disturbance or kind of pollution (sound pollution); Swami jee,s preaching on the aspect of Mantras and especially of Gayatri Mantra left a long lasting impression on me.

 उनके प्रवचनो का प्रभाव , मेरे मस्तिष्क तथा हिरदय पर आज तक भी विद्यमान है! अपने जीवन में  मैंने उसका अभ्यास भी किया, पिरयोग भी किया ! मंत्र उच्चारण के लाभ का व्यक्तिगत रूप से अनुभव भी किया ! कई उद्धरण हैं ! उनमें से दो का , यहां वियाखां कर्रूँगा! 

१. विद्यार्थी की सफलता के लिए मस्तिस्क की दो शक्तियों की अव्शाकियता होती है , समझ तथात यद्दाश्त  ( Understanding and Memory ; ) A student needs two things- UNDERSTANDING- to understand the contents and concepts of the subject , MEMORY to retain those understood concepts and be able to RETRIEVE them whenever necessary. A student understands but he fails in the examination by not reproducing/retrieving them . I had wonderful memory up to my High School and Intermediate examinations though better till High School. I successfully passed my examinations based on these two faculties. I was confident about my abilities and depending on them, I prepared my B.Sc.Part I Examination very well but I knew that my memory did not work for me in my first examination paper in Chemistry. I left my answer sheet completely blank; At home, I tried to prepare for the next paper but found that my understanding was OK but Memory did not work, so I decided to drop from rest of my examination. Remembered the preaching of Swamijee in my childhood and I decided that I will try and test Gayatri Mantra to boost my memory. I decided to go to BHU where, they had old style B.Sc. Exam. - only final examination at the end of two years though had half yearly exam for first year and second year and annual examination after first year to promote one to second year. I chanted Gayatri Mantra and tested my memory by appearing in the half yearly exam , a little bit improved, then did my first year annual , it was better, then appeared in half yearly exam of second year ( most students will good memory never appeared in annual exam of first year and half yearly exam of second year as they do not affect the result of final exam.) I found it was much better and was confident that atleat, I will pass B.Sc. with 3rd. Division. to my surprise and of my friends, I got more than 55% - passed with second division. It was simply based on my boosted Memory as I did not understand the contents of the subject. Even my attempt for Dynamics and Statics paper was based purely on guess work and memory. Stories are long to put them here. Honestly telling, I do not know even the topics of Physics, Maths though know  somewhat of Geology. Realising this fact, I never tried my admission to M.Sc.Physics or Maths, and found no interest in Geology. I only tried my admission for LL.B but I was late in applying and lost the year . But destiny then decided to do my M.Sc. in GEOPHYSICS - it was simply because of Prof Raj Nath, HOD Geology and geophysics. Story is long and should not be discussed on public platform.

2. A similar example is of a very close person to me who wanted to drop from his Engineering course because of loss of Memory. I gave him example of my personal experience and watched his progress , he got out of it; redid some of the exams. Finally came out with success.

3. I experimented this even on some foreign elders with memory loss or confusion, it helped them too even with deviated vibrations.

My life and my Destiny 2

 Passed my B.Sc (Physics, Maths and Geology ) in 1958; Initially , I was not interested in further education especially to go for Geology or Mathematics , but later some how I tried my admission to Lucknow University for LLB; I stayed with Prof Gyan swarup Sharma, then Dean of the Law Faculty; He was from Jhalu , cousin of Shri Om Prakash Sharma - a very close family friend. Could not get admission because of late; though not interested in Geology but on the advice and recommendation of Prof Raj Nath, I tried my admission with Aligarh University ( with a letter of Dr Raj Nath in the name of Prof Sapru, the Head of the Dept); could not get admission; So, it was too  late to seek admission to any programme in any University this year. DESTINY decided that I must try something else during this year.

I tried some teaching jobs here and there however landed in SJ High School Gajraula for a short period. Detailed account of my job , life and experience is given in another blog;  https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7434278182063497637/1652779700775160573

I got very rich experience of  managing to live and survive with bare minimum facilities; knowings that the private schools are run as commercial ventures; also teaching various subjects including English to High School students.

I never liked Chemistry as it cheated me at Meerut College and I have to waste my one year that. But DESTINY forced me to work as a Chemist in my second job in Katni. Detailed description about is already given in another blog ; https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7434278182063497637/2473737783465933451

That job provided me real good , rich and practical experience working in a private enterprise .

The story of Destiny goes on explaining as how it controlled all my decisions and actions in life. I had no control for any aspect of my life , education, career, marriage , family life ( including children or my parents etc) . I did what it dictated me and I followed the course like a river , meandering on its way, finding its way to destination.

My life and my Destiny 1

When young, I never realized many facts of the life as there was no time to look back and assess the events of life. As usual, most people are busy in making the career., looking after the family and extended family ; busy at job and many such things. It is the retirement when, you are free from such activities and you have time to go back and look into past happenings and analyse them with new perspectives and perceptions with cumulative knowledge and experience through all these years of life.
I feel that my life was guided and shaped perfectly by my destiny especially after 1953. I passed my High School Examination with good scores . Having no more facility for science education in Hindu Inter College, I decided to go DehraDun to study Science for my Intermediate Examination at DAV College- one of the best school around in those days. I had no guides, mentors or consulars and my parents and family members were not capable to guide me for my education and career. Who decided to choose DAV College for my further education? my destiny !!! I was living in Pooran  Ashram (Hostel on the campus ) sharing the room with Satya Prakash Agrawal from Jwalapur - a very serious and brilliant student. My grandfather, Shri Har Prashad ji once came from Muzaffarnagar to visit me and guided and directed me to change the subjects from Biology to Physics and was switched over to Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics Group as he thought it would provide me wider opportunity for my career instead limiting myself only for medical career with Biology group. My course of career was changed for ever. Destiny guided my grandfather to visit me and advised me, rather forced me to change the courses. The College was good with very good teachers who cared about good students and especially about me. Laboratories were good. The education was of very high quality. I was satisfied with my education and environment and rest of the things. I made some very good friends in a very short period. I liked the place and I wished if I could live here for ever. ( Perhaps, GOD listened to me and kept in mind for some other time; Later in 1961, I got the job with ONGC with its Head Quarters in DehraDun ). If I would have continued over here, my career and life would have been different. But, my Destiny changed the course of my life again.

Some times in Late August, I got a letter from the Principal of Hindu Inter College that they have started Science courses over there and I must join back the college. Thinking that I will enjoy to live at home with my Nani who loved and cared for me so much, without any second thought , I came back to Chandpur .  This changed the course of life again- the DESTINY. This new environment for science courses did not provide appropriately good education and motivation and hence lost my scores to second division mainly based on my memory not understanding the concepts properly ( not realized at that time ).

Joined Meerut College for my B.Sc. I have separately written about a loss of my year education over there: Read that blog here; It was designed by my destiny to leave this college and place for some other program in its plan for future. Having no reasonable idea as why should I go to BHU for my further education, I went there. why ?? Even my friends and parents asked me as why should I go to BHU? I did not know for sure?? Even , my attempt to seek admission to BHU was half-hearted; In-spite of the fact that my admission would be cancelled if I did not deposit the fee in time, I paid only some amount , a fraction of the fee, not full.I did not like Chemistry, so I decided to take any other combination without Chemistry. The best option was Physics, Mathematics and Geology ( known popularly in BHU as PMG group.) Knowing nothing about Geology, I chose this subject but in the first and orientation class Prof Mukherjee told as what we have to study in Geology and had shown the Books, Holms Physical Geology, ........ for all the various branches of Geology; It was so scaring that I went back to College office to change it for any other subject but College office refused not to make any changes at this time. All the programmes were finalized by then. Destiny decided to go for this group. Perhaps, preparing me for Geophysics as PMG was the requirement of admission for post graduate programme in Geophysics.
The story is getting longer, I passed my B.Sc. in 1958; continued.........

My grandfather; Shri Ram Swaroop Mal jee (Bhagatjee )

The father of my grandfathers was a visionary and very forward looking man . He was known for several things /changes brought  to the family;
1. Changed the tradition of Daal Roti replacing with Kachodee, Puree etc. during the major festivals ;
2. He wanted that his children must receive highest education; the result was that Baba Behari Lal jee was a graduate Civil Engineer from Thomson College of Engineering ( later known as Roorkee University and now IIT )  and honourably retired from State Services as Executive Engineer - a very difficult thing  to achieve during those days; Shri Har Prasad jee had his Matriculation ( now known as High School); I t was not easy for any one to get educated during those days as our town had very limited facility of Primary school with Urdu Medium; How my grandfathers got their education out of the town is another big story. This tradition continued that my grandfather wanted all his sons to be properly and professionally educated; My father went to Agra Medical School , my uncle did his B.Sc. with first Div and joined Civil Service, another uncle went to Thomson College of Engineering and joined MES;
3. Very wisely , he distributed his wealth and property according to the ability of his chidren; Almost nothing to my own grandfather , knowing fully well that he can develop of his own and he did; nothing to Babab Behari Lal jee; half of his wealth went to Baba Chhangi Mal jee, he established his workable business ; half of it to Baba Jagan Nath Prasad jee; and nothing to Baba Har Prasad jee.
My own grandfather was not educated; never knew how to read and write but very wise man  with very good intelligence and management skills. He developed his wealth and property in a very wise manner.
Being the first child in my generation in the family, I was very priviledged person. I got the love, affection, care and attention of every person within the family and outside. My grandfather spent lot of time with me explaining many things with facts and logic. Some of them, I would like to share here with you;
About FESTIVALS: He explained that besides religious beliefs, our festival are arranged according to the society and their living environment that is why they are celebrated differently in different places and in different way. Festivals in our region are based on agriculture and local weather conditions. In those days, roads were not there, if some of them were there , they were in very poor conditions; means of transport were very limited not like now ; rivers without having bridges were difficult to cross even in normal days , not at all possible during raining season. Most of the population was living in villages or small towns, urban population was very low; the living conditions were very hard, I have written in anothe blog about my own town and during my own chiildhood days;https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=7434278182063497637#editor/target=post;postID=8136542096939563207;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=7;src=postname
festivals thus celebrated acoording to local conditions, weather and mainly agriculture;
1. HOLI: major festival , known as festival of colours ; comes at the end of winter season , main crop of wheat and gram etc. is ready for harvesting 

Large collection of Forein folk tales translated in HINDI; देश विदेश की लोक कथाओं का हिंदी में अनुवाद

FOREIN FOLK TALES TRANSLATED IN HINDI

 

While on assignment in different countries Nigeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho , Canada, North America etc, I had the opportunity to access the hard-to-find resources of information in Research Libraries (Institute of African Studies, Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Institute of Southern African Studies etc). I collected  more than 1600 folktales of those countries.

After my retirement I, have been working on the project "Gyan Daan" without any objective for any financial gains. Thinking that Hindi speaking people in India and abroad, especially the children ( more in rural areas ) need to know about the  cultures of other countries  than of India - foreign countries. Literature of Folktales was a good medium to develop  this awareness. There is a lot of literature in English and other languages but nothing  in HINDI, so, I started translating the folktales in Hindi. During last twenty years, I have developed a kind of mini-library of HINDI FOLKTALES with more than 1600 stories packed in 105 books. ( see the list of all  compilations/books , attached herewith);

I have arranged those folktales in several books for publishing in PRINT media, ELECTRONIC media, and Braille also;

Most of the folktales from Africa and South America ( about 450 or so ) are not published anywhere. Stories from Europe, America, Canada, China, Russia etc. are too many and published in standard print media. Only the most popular ones are selected and translated. These stories are so popular that they are even dramatized on TV channels, and You tube and dramatized through films and documentaries. They are most popular throughout the world. Unfortunately, nothing in Hindi language.

I am not a professional translator but tried to translate these stories in simple " BOL CHAAL KEE BHASHA" so that children in rural areas may read them comfortably without looking for meanings of the word.

CLASSIC BOOKS

In 1850,  a literary Critic and Historian, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve stated his answer to the question " What is Classic?"  " The idea of classic implies that has continuance  and consistence and  produces unity and tradition , fashions and transmits itself and endures ..   " ( Literary and Philosophical Essays ,1909-1914; vol 32, Oct. 1850).

. work translated in several languages (work admired in various countries ),

. work published by reputed publishers all over the world (work admired in various countries ),

. work being published over and over again for a long period  ( contents have powerful message  and value for the society ) ,

. they are powerful , have a certain eternal and irrepressible  freshness,   healthy, elastic and everlasting recognition,

. Read again and again with ever deepening  pleasure.

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with above mentioned definition and criteria , when a literature survey was conducted  for WORLD CLASS Classic LITERATURE of FOLK TALES, it was found that out of very few books , there were only three following books related to Indian folk tales:

1. Folk-Tales of Kashmir : Rev. J. Hinton Knowles. London, (Ludgate Hill )  Trubner & Co. 1888, 510p;

2. Folk-Tales of Bengal: Lal Behari Dey, MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, 1883; 271 p

3. Tales of Punjab told by the people; Flora Annie Steel; London; Macmillan & Co; Ltd. 1894 422 p;

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Above mentioned three books of Folk tales of India have been published by most reputed publishers of the world including Forgotten Books, Penguin Classics over the period of 125 years or more , being published even recently in 2018;  published over and over again; translated in several languages ; now available in digital media , " Goodreads.com " and " Gutenberg.org"

Considering that such popular classics are not available in HINDI, books are translated in Hindi for a wider Hindi speaking population in India and abroad. " FOLK TALES OF BENGAL " is  published by the National Book Trust of India (NBT) , the other two should also be published soon.

 

 

Our project "GYAN DAAN "  has so far  published some of them in print media ; Indira Publishers, Bhopal and Prabhat Publication of Delhi have already published FIVE books; and other three are going to be published soon by PRABHAT. One is  published by NBT and other three are being considered to be published by NBT.

 

NAB ( National Association for the Blinds) , Mumbai and AICB ( All India Confederation for Blinds)  , Delhi have  already converted Four books in HINDI BRAILLE , published them and distributed them to more than two  hundred Schools of VH Children in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, M.P,. U.P , Rajasthan Haryana etc.

A list of all the books is attached herewith .The list shows of all the books with titles in Hindi and English and the number of stories and number of pages  ( A4 size) in each book. Another list gives a few lines of description of each book.

1. the number of stories and hence the pages of any set of books can be increased or decreased as appropriate ( for example 10 books of Italian Folktales can be reformatted to 15 or less );

2. At the moment all these folktales are compiled in 105 books; which can be published as a series on Hindi Folktales as "" DESH VIDESH KEE LOK KATHAYEIN);

you may read some of the stories on my face book page/group;

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hindifolktales

also you mat browse another website;

http://www.sushmajee.com/

A CAR ACCIDENT CHANGED OUR LIVES

This car accident in December , 1998 completely changed our lives. I was coming back escorting Sushma from her office in the evening that SNOWING started. It was the first snow fall of the season , traffic was high and very slow because of slippery road and poor visibility. just a few yards away from our residence , my car started skidding and simply went out of control. I knew that something is going to happen. It was multiple cars accident ; In fact, all over Detroit Metropolitan , hundreds of cars were involved in such accidents.

Car was completely smashed, I broke my finger with very minor injury but Sushma broke her shoulder with seven fractures; The help was almost immediate with ambulance and fire brigade and police etc. we were taken to Hospital and promptly attended; car was towed to some towing/parking facility. Sameer or Sapna were not available over there, however, they were informed about the accident. They came next day. Sushma,s injuries were serious and Hospital waited for three days for Dr. Shea, Specialist in Sports Medicine , to take care of surgery of her shoulder. He was very much concerned about her shoulder and really spent several hours replacing the shoulder and saved the amputation of her hand. Great man who really took personal care. Angle in the form of human being; He did so perfect job that it worked for the rest of her life.

She has to go through a rigorous sessions of physiotherapy for about a year or so. gained wait, lost her mobility; developed arthritis. Finally, she lost her job and we lost our status living in USA. Fortunately , we could get our immigration to Canada well in time and then landed in Windsor , Ontario, Canada in 2000  . Since then , we have been living here without any job or gainful activity- kind of complete retirement life. Thus, this accident changed our status from USA to Canada and thus complete  life style.

Lost opportunities

What we get in life is just according to our prarabhad  ( प्रारभ्ध ) ! several opportunities come in the life but we get what is reserved for us. At this stage of life, in retirement when I go back to the life journey, I find that I lost many very good opportunities , here I would like to give a few important ones which have changed the direction and the situation ( दिशा तथा दशा ) of my life .
1. ACADEMIC opportunity with BHU:
I was a very favourite student of Prof. Rathor , who was my guide also for my M.Sc. Thesis. I was his  most trusted student ( He gave me even an examination  Question Paper to set for final examination on his behalf) .Prof Rathor wanted me to join the Department as Assistant Professor and simultaneously register for the Ph.D research. He even discussed the topic for Ph.D. work and the whole process of completing the work and also the future academic program and career. I would have been certainly benefitted  under his  care  and my future would have been safe and successful under his  guidance. I would have been a faculty of a very prestigious University not only of India but of the world. A house on the campus, academic environment and an institution with full of  activities. etc etc. I missed the opportunity. DESTINY never wanted me to go that way.

2. HIGHER EDUCATION in Canada :

My external examiner for my M.Sc. Thesis was Prof A.E. Beck, Professor and Head of the Department of Geophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He was very much impressed with my thesis work and invited me to work with him for a Ph.D. program. He was quite keen and interested  that I should join his Department. I missed the great opportunity by declining his offer as  my own priorities and responsibilities at that time were different and forced me to take that action. When I think about that opportunity now living in Canada as what could have been my life and career if I would have come to Canada in 1961 ( almost 60 years ago). Unthinkable and unimaginable . Lost the opportunity . DESTINY never wanted my life to be that way.


3. ONGC:
I joined ONGC in 1961 with my first attempt of interview. Dr. Hari Narain, One of the Superintending Geophysicist ( SG) , next to the Director, Mr. B.S.Negi in seniority was the Chairman of the interview Board, Mr. Sengupta, and Prof. Amlendu Roy were the other members of the Board. During the interview process , Dr. Hari Narain asked me to show the copy of  my M.Sc. Thesis to him and all the members of the board, complimenting my work that this report has given the idea of the Offshore prospecting  about which even ONGC did not know so far. He further told that he was the examiner of this thesis work and he was very much impressed with it and thinking to write to the Department of Geophysics, BHU that he wanted to see me.
I was selected and enjoyed working with ONGC till December 1976 in different positions, different kinds of responsibilities , doing different kinds of work; Obtained very rich experience . Describing my work and experience will take very long space here, hence some other time and in another context. ONGC is and was the best organization in India to work. . My Director, Shri S.N. Talukdar was not happy that I was leaving ONGC and even mentioned that if I wish he could get the whole process reversed for me to join back. Any way, now when I see my friends and colleagues who retired from ONGC, nicely settled with all the facilities one could think of, I feel I committed a mistake. I came later in 1980 to visit India and went to see Mr Talukdar . In fact he really helped me out of way  to get my Visa for Nigeria. He invited me for the breakfast at his home, though I was little shy to be with such a high ranking person, I visited him at his home; He was then Member Exploration and told me that if I was still interested to come back to ONGC. He will fix me with proper rank and salary etc. Also mentioned the concept of Voltage and Amperage  (Power and Income); He gave me time to think about it. I declined the offer and certainly lost the opportunity to work for ONGC and enjoy the life in my retirement like my friends.  DESTINY never wanted me to live that kind of life.

4. LAND in DehraDun:

I have been looking for a small piece of land to construct a house. I got a very good deal and arranged the land for my friends and well wishers; The plots were taken by Mr. Talukdar, Mr Mathur, Mr.MC Agarwal, Mr. MP. Agarwal, Mr Chaudhry and me; it was a great location on EC Road , very near to MKP College ; I decided to go to Nigeria hence returned all the papers for buying the land , deciding not to buy the land. Others constructed nice houses and enjoyed living in DehraDun: The cost of land appreciated not hundreds of time but thousands of time because of Uttrakhand and its capital as DehraDun , Lost opportunity;

Another land piece just by the side of my younger brother , Mohan was available to me through Pradeep Gupta : Mohan took half the land for Rs.20,000/- and the double of it on the corner side ( roads on three sides while Mohan had only on one side) was offered to me for Rs.40,000/- not grabbed , recently sold for Rs. 10 Lakhs. Lost opportunity; 

Thus, lost academic opportunities to get better qualifications and career  ( Twice) ; Lost my wonderful career with ONGC; ( Twice ); also lost financial gain opportunities by not having land in DehraDun ( twice); Well, I very strongly believe in  DESTINEY which carried me along as it was decided.