Vidur Kuti and Bathuwa Saag; विदुर कुटि और बथुवे का साग

 Historically, Bijnor is related with Mahabharat. Vidur Kuti on the bank of Ganga is only 12 kms from District Head Quarters, Bijnor. Vidur Kuti is just on the opposite side of Hastinapur on the bank of Ganga.Vidur Kuti is historically important where Vidur ji spent rest of his life after the dispute with Duryodhan. This is the place where Lord Krishna visited Vidur ji and enjoyed eating Bathua saag. Bathua plant is grown here in plenty and very popular for its flavour and taste.

बथुवा , आज भी विदुर कुटी के पास बहुत मात्रा में होता है; यह वह ही बथुवा है जिसका साग विदुर जी ने भगवान् कृष्ण  को ख़िआलाया था! भगबान को भोग लगाते  समय सभी जगह यह गीत गया जाता है :  " दुर्योधन का मेवा टियागा , साग विदुर घर खाये " 

आये, आप भी हमारे साथ बथुवे के साग का आनंद लीजिये ! 

Dr. BRIJ BHUSHAN SARAN GUPTA

 

Details of our ancestor family is given in another blog; https://shubhkamna-davendra.blogspot.com/2015/06/sher-maar-panju-our-earliest-known.html

and details about my grandfather are given in; https://shubhkamna-davendra.blogspot.com/2022/10/my-grandfather-shri-ram-swarup-mal.html, 

My father: Shri BRIJ BHUSHAN SARAN GUPTA:
My father, the eldest of his brothers and sister was a professional Medical Doctor- a student of Agra Medical School, one of the two schools then in UP; the other one in Lucknow. A very simple , social and responsible person. Would be remembered in our town for his dedicated community services. He was a very popular doctor not only in our town but around several villages nearby; only professional doctor in that locality rendering A-Z medical services. He was never a greedy person , only service oriented; He could have been a rich person but he died as a poor person only with some debts on him. At times, he had no money, borrowed from here and there for day to day survival. It was all at the cost of family;

His biography is quite long but I wish to put it in short;

He used to volunteer each summer for a months in Bhawali T.B.Sanitorium - only one in those days. T.B. was highly infectious and deadly disease in those days as there was no antibiotics, medicines or treatment. But all the risk involved, he used to do it also at the cost family ( whole family used to be worried);

Some people around him; Ch. Gulzar Singh, Shri Shyam Lal Gupta, Mahasheye Kashin Nath, Vaid Kashi Nath, Munshi Ram Krishna Lal, Padhan Daloo Singh ; His friends in Bijnor; Kr, Satya Veer, Govind Sahaye, Dr. Deva Swaroop; In Chandpur , Dr. Rameshwar Prasad, 

He served for a long time as a member of Town Area and Chairman for full term during mid of 1950s.He sreved the town and the community with dedication and devotion. He is well known of his contributions during his chairmanship.

For the development of town, he not only devoted his time but also also all the savings - money and assets of our family . But he enjoyed his life in doing so and left us on July 26, 1973 with a brief illness and heart attack in Bijnor Hospital. 

He lived RICH though died POOR.

My Grandfather: Shri Ram Swarup Mal : Bhagat jee

 Shri Ram Swarup Mal , my  grand father was popularly known in the town as Bhgat ji. He was very simple, disciplined and religious person, kind hearted and generous person. He did not know much about vedic scriptures but perhaps, even unknowingly, he was following them. He was not educated, he was not even literate; hardly travelled out of town, knew nothing about the external world; his needs and desires were bare minimum; he was very healthy person, I never saw him sick and asking any help for his personal matters. He was land lord, managing small farm lands in various places and earned good amount of money by doing some petty business also; He was married in Bijnor , but no body or any property etc exist in their name in Bijnor; my grand mother  ( Moongia Devi) had one brother  and one sister ( married in Kiratpur, had one son, Shri Mangoo Lal ji who had his small nice family; uncle Mangoo lal ji disappeared in mysterious circumstances, never returned back and his family was shattered; Dadi ji, his mother, my grand mother,s sister came to live with us and aunt with her children went to her parents in Chandpur). My grandmother's brother had one son and one daughter; daughter was married in Mandawar to Shri Mahasheya Raghubir Saran ji ( had two sons, Ram Awtar ji and Prem Awtar ). We used to visit them occasionally on various occasions, very affectionate family, now lost contact with them since long, may be fifty years or so ); My grandmother's nephew Shri Krishan Lal had one son , Rishi, very handsome personality died very young a very tragic death with brain cancer ( thus the last of their family was gone to end the family line); two daughters, one married in Hasanpur and the other married in Roorkee ( unfortunately, I never met them); Grandmother's nephew, Tau ji used to come to live with us in Jhalu at time to time, a nice but sad person for obvious reasons- loosing every thing, he had, very unfortunate situation);

My grandfather though very much living in the world but with least attachments, interests and concerns but very responsible and duty bound; most contended person. He had three sons , Brij Bhushan Saran Gupta, Shri Kanhaiya Lal Garg and Ved Prakash Garg and a daughter, Chameli Devi.I am the most lucky person among all my brothers and cousins having all the love and affection from my grandfather. In fact, I received maximum love from all my relatives and people in the town. My grandfather died without any ailment through out his life, at the age of 85 or so , within a few minutes by heart attack, on July 1, 1953 . It was a great shock for me as I lost the person who loved and cared for me the most. He told me so many things of practical life and importance of our religious and cultural rituals, though his conversation with his family members was bare minimum. I never saw him talking to his sister or daughter but just casually.
He built a water well and a small shelter near the village of Redhwa, Gandaspur and Sikandarpur; planted two pipal trees; incidentally , it was June, 1, 1936 , the day I was born. In those days , it was a great help to the people traveling or working in that area as there was no water source or shed near by. There is small platform of our family deity ( grah devta) . We worship them ( a pair of white snakes , locally known as Bhure Singh Devta )on special occasions like some one's marriage in the family; a son born in the family etc.It is supposed that they take care of our family. We give them full honour. In 2008, when I visited the place, I found that the geography and topography of that place has completely changed; It is now all green with lot of water sources around .

Two Incidents;
My grandfather and grandmother used to go for Ganges bath at Ganj every year on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. I always accompanied them and enjoyed the trip; two incidents to mention here :
 (1) one time, I was watching that young boys and people were taking dives into the ganga which used to flow in very turbulent and floody state during this month and at this time. I thought if they could do that diving and swimming , why not I can do that. It was only the direction of GOD that at the last moment I got scared and did not do that deadly diving, otherwise, in those high currents of Ganga, I would have just gone;
(2) I do remember visiting with my Baba ji an ashram of Brahamchari ji in Nizamatpura/Islamabad about 2 miles south of Ganj. This place strangely and spiritually recognized by the local people for many miracles and mysterious happenings . No doubt, Brahamchari ji had great Devine powers to help really needy people with out any self interest and greed . ( 2008; when, I visited Ganj and the place where Ganga ji used to flow, there was no sign of Ganga,s flow even during the flood time in rainy season. It was all dry for a far distance place. One could see some kind of garden and farming at a long distance in the middle of Ganga ji. It was very shocking to look at this devastating change. Only the old ghats, temples were lying on the bank side of Ganga and waiting perhaps, for their further destructions in future.

Mujh ko hai teri jus­tuju mujh ko teri ta­laash hai; मुझ को है तेरी जुस्तजू मुझ को तेरी तलाश है

·        Prayer

·        Mujh ko hai teri jus­tuju mujh ko teri ta­laash hai

·        Jan-e-jahan kahan hai tu mujh ko teri ta­laash hai

·        Wadi mei marghazar mein jangal mein kohh­isaar mein

·        Darya mein aabshar mein mujh ko teri tal­aash hai

·        Nargis mein lalazaar mein sumbal ke tar tar mein

·        Sehra mein sabzazar mein mujh ko teri ta­laah hai

·        Phoolon mein misl-e-­bu nihan baitha hai chhup ke tu kahan

·        Patton mein gul mein khar mein mujh ko teri talaash hai

·        Suraj mein kaun hai jalwagar taaron mein kis ka hai asar

·        Dhundoon kahan mein bekhabar mujh ko teri talaash hai

·        Mera Feroze naam hai teri talaash kaam hai

·        Allah hai ya tu Ram hai mujh ko teri tal­aash hai 

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so finally, I got this my childhood, middle school prayer we used to say everday during 1947-1950;

Iqra'

Mujko hai teri justuju, mujhko teri talash hai..

Khaliq mere kaha hai tu mujko teri talash hai 

Davendra K Gupta

I am also looking for full prayer, we used to say it every day in our middle school morning prayer; Please post it on my time line if you get it from some where; Thanks with Greetings

Ashraf Qureshi

Davendra K Gupta The prayer was written by my maternal grandfather, S. K FEROZE, who used to teach Persian and Arabic in Khalsa High School for Boys in Ambala, before partition. It is unfortunate that he was killed in the senseless carnage that accompanied partition. The last couplet testifies to the fact that the prayer was written by him: “ Mera FEROZE naam hai Teri talaash kaam hai..... Allah hai tu ke Ram hai mujh ko Teri talaash hai". The prayer was widely read in schools in Punjab and if I'm not wrong it was used as the anthem for Boy Scouts of Punjab. I promise that I'll post the full text as available with me. Having been born after partition I never got a chance to meet my Nana but I've heard a lot about him from my father and uncles.

 

Ashraf Qureshi

Davendra K Gupta I hope now you have the full text of the prayer. Regards

·        

Story telling to children in schools

 

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; 

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.

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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

 

 

 

पंडित श्याम लाल शर्मा जी; उनके साथ बचपन की कुत्छ यादें

 पंडित श्याम लाल शर्मा जी; उनके साथ बचपन की कुत्छ यादें :

 श्याम लाल जी के हमारे परिवार के साथ बड़े घनिष्ट संबंध थे ! उनके पिताजी, श्री नथूमल जी , मेरे बाबा , श्री राम स्वरूपमाल जी के साथ काम करते थे , बाबा जी को लिखना पढ़ना नहीं आता था , लिखने पढ़ने का सारा काम , उनकी  ज़मींदारी का , स्याम लाल जी के पिताजी ही संभालते थे ! हम सब लोगों का उनसे और उनके परिवार से बड़ा घनिष्ट संबंध था ! बचपन से ही में उनसे , उनके परिवार से लगभग दैनिक रूप से ही मिलता जुलता रहता था ! वह सब लोग भी हमारा बहुत ख्याल रखते थे, बहुत पियार करते थे ! 

बचपन की उनके साथ की बहुत सी यादें हैं, परन्तु यहाँ केवल कुत्छ ही दे पाउँगा ! श्याम लाल जी बचपन से ही बहुत बुद्धीमान थे , यदि उनको ठीक से शिक्षा और अवसर मिले होते तो वह भी  सफल ेइंजीनियर  होते ! राम ओ तार जी की चक्की पर काम करते थे! चक्की  पर केवल आटा  ही  पिस्ता था , श्याम लालजी ने दूसरे कमरे में धान कूटने की मशीन लगा दी , फिर कुत्छ दिनों के बाद, रुई धुनने की मशीन उसी दूसरे कमरे में लगा दी ! चक्की को चलने बिजली के मोटर के पटे तथा उनकी दिशा बदल कर , अलग अलग प्रकार से एक ही मोटर से काम करते थे ! रुई धुनने की मशीन झालु में पहली और आखरी बार आई होगी !

चककी के ऊपर जुगाड़ लगा कर अपने आप से बनाकर चार पंखड़ी  का पंखा भी लगा दिया था ! यह सब देख कर मुझे बचपन में बहुत अध्भुत लगता था !  कौनसी  मशीन लगनी है, कान्हा से आएगी , कैसे चलेगी, यह प्रश्न , उस समय के लिए बड़े कठिन थे परन्तु, शयाम लाल जी यह सब करते रहते थे!

कुत्छ समय बाद उन्होंने अपना साइकिल सुधारने, किराये पर देने का कार्ये  शुरू किया, धीऱे धीरे , गैस की लालटैन , शादियों में  गैस की लालटेन तथा लाउडस्पीकर किराये पर देने लगे ! रिपेयर का काम तो किसी भी प्रकार का हो , आज भी कर लेते हैं ! किसी भी प्रकार की कोई भी चीज़ हो, जुगाड़ लगा कर ठीक कर ही लेते हैं! 

उनकी बुद्धि  व् क्षमता को में नमन करता हूँ !

अभी , झालु में सब से अधिक आयु के हैं ! वरिष्ठ , सम्मानित व्यक्ति हैं! इस वर्ष, २०२२,  गणतन्तंर दिवस पर , उनसे धव्ज आरोहण कराया गया , सम्मानित किया गया ! उनके के लिए दीर्ध आयु की कामना करते है !  , 

A Ghost in ( पूर्ण आश्रम ) Poorna Ashram-DAV College Hostel, DehraDun

 In 1953 July,  after my High School from HIC, Chandpur, I took admission in DAV College , DehraDun. I was given a seat in Dayanad Ashram - a hostel of the college on campus. After some time, all the students of first year ( 11th class) were transferred to Poorna Ashram, another very small hostel of the college , also on the campus. It was wonderful location on the west side of the college , having varandah on both the sides of our rooms. One varandah opening towards DBS College ( then DAV Inter College ). Our warden , Prof Pathak, HOD, Law Department lived next to our hostel; His wife died just a few months ago and there was a rummer that as a Ghost, she lived on a giant tree in front of the house of the warden . There was a water tap just under the tree.

Budh Deo Sharma ( from Najibabad) was on one of our classmate who also lived in Poorna Ashram, one day  had a bet that anyone  dare to get a tumbler of water from that water tap in the middle of night because of the presence of the ghost.Though I was young at the age of 17 years, did not believe in the ghost. I accepted the challenge and went in dark night at about 12 midnight time to fetch the water. As I reached, I heard strange voices coming out from the huge tree ,and as I reached there , some thing started coming down slowly. I took my water and snatched the object coming down. To my surprise, I found that it was a blanket which was lowered by Budh Deo , he also got down from the tree with strange figure and sound. Any way the drama was over with a climax. I gave him a good beating for staging this scary drama. Perhaps, it could have been a fatal incident for a weak heart. I reported the incident to Prof Pathak and he was very furious on Budh Deo. Later Part is not interesting for this blog.

Be brave, there is no Ghost, it is made by people to create scary stories.