Dr. Saroj Ghose @ 85 : the Bhishm Pitamah of Science Museums/Centres in India

Saroj Ghose @ 85 : the Bhishm Pitamah of Science Museums/Centres in India

Images : Courtesy Wiki Commons and NCSM.

This day - the 1st September 2020, marks the 85th birth anniversary of Dr. Saroj Ghose, the founding Director General of National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), the premier scientific autonomous institution, which governs most Science Centres and Museums across India including our Centre - Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai (NSCM). Saroj Ghose was born on 1st September, 1935 in the very year in which Bharat Ratna, the Honourable former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee was born. Incidentally Dr Ghose was quite close to Pranab da who departed for his heavenly abode yesterday and was cremated with full state honours in Delhi in front of the grieving nation. I shall be writing a separate eulogy for the one and only Pranab da, this blog however is a tribute to Dr. Saroj Ghose on his 85th birth anniversary. Age may have caught with Dr. Ghose, but his unending energy, commitment and passion to continue to serve the Museum community and other cultural institutions in in general and the Science Museum / Centres in particular, remain unperturbed. The words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who famously said, ‘na tired na retired’ so vividly are applicable to the octogenarian, Dr. Ghose, who remains very active even today. The COVID-19 pandemic and the passing away of one of the doyens of Indian political system -  Bharat Ratna, the Honourable Shri Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, has restrained NCSM from celebrating his 85th birth anniversary in the manner, which beholds his outstanding stature.

 

Dr. Ghose, one of the founding fathers of NCSM - the preeminent one at that - has been an inspiration for most of us the current Directors of NCSM and it is under his tutelage and mentorship that we have grown up and have been indoctrinated with his undying spirit, passion and commitment to serve our organisation. Dr Ghose, the only child of his parents, was born on 1st September 1935. He was a precocious child who completed his high school and matriculation from Narkeldanga High School with record distinction and highest marks. He holds an extraordinary academic career and graduated as an Electronics Control Engineer from the Jadavpur University and immediately thereafter decided to take the path less treaded by engineers - a career in museums. He joined the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM) - our mother Museum, as a Technical Officer in 1958. Back then graduate engineers were in great demand and had excellent career opportunities not just in private sectors but also in the public sectors, which were coming up across the country under the category of ‘Temples of Modern India’, a term that Pandit Nehru had coined for these Public Sector Companies, which were hiring the best of minds from the engineering background and offered the best of remuneration. The BITM was yet to open its doors to the public, when Dr. Ghose chose to join the museum. The genesis of starting a public science and technology museum - the BITM, in India has an interesting history which is inextricably linked to Dr Ghose.

 

Bharat Ratna, Dr. B.C. Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, after visiting the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, was so impressed with the Museum that he envisaged building a similar museum back home in India and Calcutta (Kolkatta now) was his obvious choice. Dr. Roy, approached Ghanashyam Das Birla - the benevolent industrialist with nationalistic approach, for donating a suitable plot of building and land for establishing a Museum on the lines of the famous Deutsches Museum.  The Birla’s were known for their philanthropy, particularly in the field of education. G.D. Birla willingly agreed to part with the 19 A Gurusaday Road plot of land and their existing building to Dr. Roy for the establishment of the said museum on its premises. Dr. Roy called up then Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, and sought his help to support his initiative for starting a world class technology museum in Calcutta. The Prime Minister of India, who also happens to be the President of the premier scientific research institution – the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) society, assigned the task of developing the best possible ‘Technology Museum’ to the then Director General of CSIR, Prof M. S. Thacker. Dr. Thacker with support from Dr. Amalendu Bose established the BITM and it was during this period of its development that Dr. Ghose joined the CSIR team of Dr. Bose and worked as a Technical Officer in the development of the BITM. The BITM was formally opened to the public on 2nd May 1959. Ever since BITM, where Dr Ghose spent most part of his service, has played a pivotal role in the Science Museum movement in India and it has served as the mother museum for our organisation - the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM). BITM, therefore, has an extraordinary connect with Dr Ghose and other NCSM employees, particularly those who started their career in NCSM from the precincts of BITM, including Dr Ghose and yours truly. One of the main attractive features of BITM is that it is housed in the historic and architecturally beautiful building, on 19A Gurusaday Road. This historic building with its majestic elevation with a porch and a pediment that is a mishmash of various European architectural styles, was constructed by N. Guinn & Company in 1922. It was in this historic building that Dr. Saroj Ghose started his career, working under the then Curator Museums - Dr Amalendu Bose.

 

Dr. Saroj Ghose, while in service at BITM, completed his Masters - MS in Control Engineering - from the Harvard University and during his stay in US, he was actively engaged with research work at the Smithsonian Institution from September 1964 to January 1965. It is this connect with the Smithsonian institution, which motivated him to pursue his Doctoral work at the National Museum of American History under the guidance of Dr. Bernard Finn, Curator of the Electricity Collections at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington DC, and an expert in history of electrical engineering, communication including telegraphy and submarine. Dr. Ghose obtained his PhD from the Jadavpur University. As soon as Dr. Ghose returned back to India from the US in 1965, the then Curator Museums, Dr. Amalendu Bose decided to shift to Bangalore from Calcutta, where CSIR had just completed and opened the second museum - Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM). The Visvesvaraya Museum was developed as a centenary tribute to the living centenarian - the legendary Sir M. Visvesvaraya, in Bangalore. Before moving out from Calcutta, Dr. Bose handed over the charge of BITM to the young Dr. Ghose. 

 

At the age of 29 years, Dr. Ghose shouldered the high responsibilities of the BITM. It was during this period that Dr. Ghose realised that the benefits of the BITM, which by then had very well established, is reaching only to the people of Calcutta and that too mostly the well to do section of society. He, therefore, conceived a bold and ambitious plan to try and take science to the door steps of the people who find it difficult to visit BITM. He prepared a well researched and thought out plan, which went on to receive high acclaim from UNESCO, for  the first Mobile Science Exhibition (MSE), which on its approval from the DG CSIR was launched by BITM  on November 17, 1965 at the Ramakrishna Mission School-Narendrapur in Kolkata. Subsequently, the MSE buses became a trade mark of BITM and NCSM and these buses travel across the state of Bengal and India to different schools in remote areas. The extraordinary importance of this remarkable idea can be appreciated from the fact that during the first 100 days of the NDA-2 Government, under PM Shri Narendra Modi, NCSM launched 20 new MSE buses in September 2019, which are an addition to the 23 existing fleet of MSE buses. Millions of students from different parts of the country - small and medium towns and villages, have been benefitted with this programme, which takes science to the doorsteps of the people and the genesis for this profound idea stemmed from the vision of Dr. Ghose. The aim of the programme was to promote learning of science and cultivation of scientific temper among the rural masses.

 

The first two museums under CSIR came up in quick succession in 1959 and 1965 in Calcutta and a Bangalore respectively but then the plan for the next museum, proposed to be set up in Bombay (now Mumbai) received major setbacks. What started as a plan to establish a Mafatlal Museum of Science and Technology, for which the Industrialist had pledged land and money, did not materialise and finally at the behest of Dr. Saroj Ghose, Dr. Amalendu Roy, agreed to the proposal of Dr. Ghose to receive a garbage dumping ground in Worli for the establishment of a Science Museum in Mumbai. Tonnes of city garbage had piled up in this area and the very thought of working in this god forsaken space appeared to be daunting and filled with major health hazards for those who adventured to take up this challenge. By then there were some other administrative issues, which cropped up and the authorities of CSIR rightly or wrongly debated if the Museums could be a part of the CSIR and not surprisingly decided that the museums don’t come under the objectives of CSIR. A task force was, therefore, constituted by the CSIR and the government to report on this issue and as expected the task force recommended that the museums be detached from CSIR and a separate autonomous body be formed, which could work under the aegis of the Department of Education. Thus the two existing museums BITM and VITM and the project in Mumbai were all clubbed under a new scientific institution, National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), which was formed in 1978. NCSM is currently functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The separation of the two museums and the staff from the parent body CSIR and the formation of NCSM came up with their own shares of opportunities and agony leading to unprecedented strikes by employees besides other administrative issues. This was one of the most turbulent period through which the newly formed NCSM was passing through. It was during this trying times that Dr. Ghose came up with yet another innovative idea of developing a open air science park at Mumbai. The plan for the development of the major Science Museum / Centre in Mumbai envisaged that it could only be completed latest by middle of the 1980s considering the massive construction of the building and developing exhibits and models to fill up that building. Therefore, the suggestion of Dr. Ghose to start a science park in the first phase, before the main science centre project, was appreciated by Dr. Bose.

 

Unfortunately the Mumbai project, which had started some time in the middle 70s  was already inordinately delayed and therefore urgent action to fast forward the project was a dying need and this need was accentuated after the formation of a NCSM. Any further delay in the project would not have gone down well with the CSIR and the Ministry. It was during this period and the subsequent formation of NCSM that the new idea of Dr. Ghose to develop the project in Mumbai in two phases - first phase to be developed as a open air science park and to keep that facility open to the public and in the second phase to develop the main project of completion of the massive building and development of exhibitions, appeared exciting and Dr. Bose, the Director of NCSM, gave a go ahead for the work on the science park. 

 

The open air Science Park of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai (NSCM) a brain child of Dr. Ghose, was a trendsetter for the Science Museum movement not just in India but globally. The first two Government science museums in the country -  BITM and VITM, did not have an open air Science Park, which is now one of the major attractions of most science centres of NCSM including the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. Incidentally the science park in Mumbai, spread across six acres of land, was inaugurated on 22nd December 1979. The park remained open to the visitors while the work for the main Science Centre continued. The Nehru Science Centre was formally dedicated to the nation on 10th November 1985, by the then Prime Minister of India, Shri Rajiv Gandhi. The science park of NSCM is the first such science parks in India and most likely it is also the world’s first science park, which has inspired other science centres in US to adopt this unique concept. Incidentally the UNESCO recognised this new concept as an unique informal science learning ambience and the open air science park of Mumbai was featured majorly in one of the UNESCO publications. The science park has several hands on outdoor science exhibits demonstrating fundamental principles of science in mechanics, levers, pendulum, optics, etc. Adding to the attraction of the science park are the vintage locomotive vehicles (precious artefacts) of yesteryears - the Railway locomotive engines (steam and electric), Horse drawn Tram Car carriage, Tramcar, HAL HF 24 Marut Fighter aircraft and the Steam Waggon. These precious historic artefacts were acquired by the NSCM from different sources in India in which Dr Ghose was actively involved. Even to this day the science park of NSCM continues to attract and appeal to a very large audience. The dumping ground of Worli was transformed into the current stage of a lush green area with science park courtesy the vision of Dr Ghose. The proposed Science Museum Metro station, which will connect Colaba to Bandra must owe its credit to the science park project which started in 1979 from the vision and idea of Dr. Saroj Ghose, during the International Year of Children. 

 

Dr. Amalendu Bose retired as the first Director of NCSM in early 1979 and by then NCSM had 3 units under its wing - BITM, VITM and Sreekrishna Science Centre, Patna. Dr. Ghose took the reins of NCSM under the most turbulent times as stated above. There were plenty of issues of staff members which was a result of separation of NCSM from its parent body - the CSIR. Staff agitation was the most common feature in Calcutta, Bangalore and so also in Mumbai during this period. Dr. Ghose had to immediately address these nagging staff problems including union problems, which the staff had formed with allayed fears in Calcutta and Bangalore. He also had to prove to the authorities in the Department of Education that separation from CSIR was beneficial not only to the staff of NCSM but also to the country at large. Dr Ghose had no time to rest and had to plunge into the expansion mode while also addressing administrative problems that plagued NCSM. He started a new concept of setting up Science Centres in different scales, which he classified as National level Centres (in metropolitan cities) Regional level Centres (in state capitals) and District level Centres in small towns and district headquarters. The massive success of the opening of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai by the then PM, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, who was very excited to see the NSCM, helped Dr. Ghose not only to establish a personal rapport with the then HRD Minister Mr. Narasimha Rao but it also helped him in upgrading his status from Director, NCSM to DG, NCSM, the position of which he occupied from 1986 until his retirement in 1997 (post the two years extension that he got post his superannuation). 

 

From three units under NCSM, which Dr. Ghose inherited, he scaled up the science museum movement at a rapid pace. He developed two National Level Science Centres in Mumbai and Delhi, both opened by the Honourable Prime Ministers the later in January 1992 by Shri Narasimha Rao. He developed many more Regional Science Centres including two Centres in the west zone at Nagpur and Bhopal and several others. By the time he retired, Dr. Ghose had scaled up the achievements of NCSM from 3 units in 1978-79 to 20 units in 1997. He conceived another major idea to start a massive Science City, the scale of which he envisaged must be much bigger than the four existing national level Science Centres and the result was the establishment of the Science City in Kolkata, which now receives nearly 1.5 million visitors annually and is perhaps the only self sustaining museums in the country. The District Science Centres in places like Purulia, Gulbarga, Dharampur and Tirunelveli have carved their niche in these districts and are immensely benefiting the society. He also started the Central Research and Training Laboratory under NCSM.

 

Dr. Ghose was an exemplary task master and was kind of a terror to many, particularly to those who were found wanting when it came to efficiency and timely delivery of results. But to those who came upto his expectations and beyond he was overwhelmingly supportive and gave them the best of opportunities, which are hard to imagine now. I was one of those lucky ones who received the best of opportunities from Dr Ghose. Within eight months of my joining the council (June 1986) in January 1987, Dr. Ghose provided me an opportunity to undertake air journey, which was a rarity in those days. The official eligibility of air travel during those days was only for the Curators in in senior grade, which would have accrued to me not before another 10 years. Courtesy Dr. Ghose I travelled by Air for video recording the progress of science centre works in Guwahati, Delhi, Lucknow and Patna. The newly appointed curators to the council are put through the probation period of two years and I was under probation from June 1986 to June 1988. It was during this probation period that I received some of the unimaginable incentives from Dr. Ghose, with whom I had the honour to work quite closely. Dr. Ghose had taken up a massively successful Festival of India (FOI) exhibition, which was organised in different Science Centres in US during the period 1985. This exhibition besides appealing to the American audience, it also helped in taking the significant achievements of ancient Indians in the field of science and technology to the western audience. Egged by the success of the FOI in US, Mr. Sam Pitroda, conceived of a larger FOI exhibition to be taken to the erstwhile USSR during the period from September 1987 to March 1988. NCSM was one of the major participants in this exhibition which also included most other S&T institutions of India. This exhibition was organised in Leningrad, Moscow and Tashkent. Even while I was on probation, Dr. Ghose had approved my name for deputation to Moscow for this exhibition for a period of 45 days from middle November to end December, 1987. This perhaps will be the best of my life time experience. Coming from a small town in north Karnataka, that too from a backward district Raichur and from a humble family background, I had not even seen a hill station in north India let alone having to experience snow. What I experienced when I landed in Moscow is something which will eternally remain etched in my memory, a snow cladded capital with -20 degrees centigrade, and the Moscow river completely frozen. Adding to this was an opportunity to see the 1987 Russian revolution celebrations, which took place at the Kremlin on the 17th December 1987. Once every ten years this revolution was celebrated by the erstwhile USSR and incidentally this was the last of the celebration since the USSR broke up subsequently. This is one experience, which no money can ever fetch for anyone. It was during this period that we were also taken to the Panorama Borodino (as it was then called) a panorama museum. It was this museum, which inspired Dr. Ghose to conceive of the Kurukshetra Panorama and Science Centre (KPSC), which features the battle of Kurukshetra that is painted and portrayed in the massive panorama. Although the KPSC was opened post the retirement of Dr. Ghose in the year 2000 by the then PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the credit for this project must also go to its visionary Dr. Ghose. KPSC has paved the way for many more such panorama projects in India, which are very popular.

 

When he started planning for the setting up of the Science City Project in Kolkata, NCSM was hard pressed for funds for this project. It was during this period that Steven Spielberg had created history by producing science fiction film on Dinosaurs. His film the Jurassic Park became a global blockbuster and in India this film was a roaring success. The success of the film motivated an American company, Dynamotion, to develop animated life like moving Dinosaurs and show them in exhibitions and this exhibition became a roaring success in US. The American company tied up with an Indian agency, Hariparvat, to bring this exhibition to India. Dr. Ghose had read about this news and immediately decided that NCSM should develop the ‘Dinosaurs Alive’ exhibition featuring some 20 robotic Dinosaurs and open this exhibition in July 1996 at the Science City in Kolkata before the arrival of the American Dinosaur exhibition. Dr. Ghose called for a meeting of Mechanical engineer curators of NCSM and I was the only Electronic engineer curator, who was in this team to plan for this exhibition. This meeting was organised in NSC, Delhi in February 1996 and Dr. Ghose announced that we must develop all the 20 odd Robotic Dinosaurs departmentally in the four major national level science centres and assemble them at Science City and that this exhibition must be opened before the American Dinosaur exhibition which was scheduled to arrive in India by July 1996. Lo and behold, all of us who were tasked with this responsibility including yours truly who was tasked to develop electronics controls and sounds for these dinosaurs ridiculed Dr. Ghose for his ‘Tughlaqui’ dream and felt that it is impossible for us to adhere to this target. But then the fear of Dr. Ghose and so also his infectious optimism rubbed on each one of us and we all worked almost 12 hours a day non-stop and the Dinosaur Alive exhibition, was opened in first week of July 1997, ahead of the target. This was one achievement which none of us who were part of the project ever felt we could achieve. The success of the exhibition at Science City, Kolkata, NSC Delhi and RSC Lucknow was overwhelming and the exhibition earned almost 2 Crore Rupees in revenue for NCSM and this money was used to fund the deficit for the Science City, Kolkata project. This exemplifies the compulsive optimistic approach of Dr. Ghose, which we have all inherited and it is this habit that makes NCSM take up extremely challenging projects such as the National Museum of Indian Cinema, which we have developed on turnkey basis for the Films Division in Mumbai and several such other projects of national importance including the VEM in Varanasi, Uniting India: Sardar Patel Exhibition and many such other projects, which NCSM undertakes. 

 

The Kurukshetra Panorama and Science Centre - the first of its kind in India - that portrays episodes from the epic battle of Mahabharata in the larger than life panorama digital prints that are enlarged from the painstakingly hand painted canvases and commissioned in vast cylindrical building, is an outcome of the vision of Dr. Ghose. During one of his visit to Russia, Dr. Ghose had visited the famous Panorama Borodino - as it was then called in the Center of Moscow. It presented a life like visuals of the panorama of the Battle of Borodino. The panoramic painting, which depicted the battle was pained on a massive canvas which was 115 meters long and 15 meters high. The paintings depicted the decisive moment of the battle. Dr. Ghose was so impressed with what he saw that when he came back to India he immediately visualised a project where he could replicate this idea of a larger than life panoramic paintings, which could portray the epic battle of Mahabharata. He also decided that this panorama must be established at Kurukshetra, the very place where this epic battle is believed to have taken place. Although this project was opened in the year 2000 by late Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, three years after the superannuation of Dr. Ghose, it owes its genesis to Dr. Ghose. The KPSC, not surprisingly receives visitors in excess of 6 Lakhs every years, and this visitor figure can only be matched by national level science centres.

 

This year -  2020, marks the silver jubilee of the Internet in India, which was introduced in india on 15th August, 1995. It is to the credit of NCSM that within one year of the public launch of Internet in India the National Science Centre, Delhi created history by opening a public facility ‘Cyberskool’ which boasted of a free internet facility for our visitors. This facility was fully funded by Intel and the same was opened by Craig Barrett in May 1996, and I had the honour to be the coordinator for this project. Dr. Saroj Ghose graced the inaugural program. Although Dr. Ghose had no direct involvement in this project, for which I was the project in-charge, yet he is to be credited primarily because of the extraordinary faith that he had in me for handling this project, which had Forex implications and so also some tricky administrative matters of agreement etc to be signed with Intel, Singapore. The ‘Cyberskool’ facility further accentuated the technology implementation in NCSM and today when it comes to implementing state of the art technology in museum design and interpretation, NCSM stands out.

 

Dr. Ghose retired from NCSM in August 1997 but then he continued to remain active in his profession. Post retirement Dr. Ghose shifted his attention to history museums, which until then were adopting traditional approaches with objects and antiquities and 2D visuals hung on the wall and artefacts encased in glass cabinets. This drab and passive presentation in museum display were not helping museums in reaching to a larger audience. Dr. Ghose immediately realised that he could put to use his vast experience of creating interactive exhibits and state of the art technology, which he had seen in NCSM, in the traditional museums to increase visitor participation in history museums. He also had an overwhelming international exposure owing to the coveted position of President of ICOM, which he held for six long years from 1992-98. It was during his presidency of ICOM that he showed the strength of India in the field of Museums to the international museum community. He also exhibited the extraordinary capabilities of India back in producing international quality ICOM publications at half the international cost. He created a NDL - National Digital Laboratory, including setting up state of the art DTP section in NCSM, which designed and printed most ICOM publications from India and my dear friend and colleague of NCSM, Shri S.P. Pathak held a special position with Dr. Ghose for his creation of all these facilities. However, Shri Pathak and I, who were perceived as the favourites of Dr Ghose, had to pay a very heavy price for this.

 

Dr. Ghose put to use all his intellect, international experience and his state of the art technology know how, which he had gathered while serving as the DG of NCSM and as President, ICOM in creating some of the best story telling museums in the country. These museums and projects include Kolkata Panorama for Kolkata Museum Society, Parliament Museum, Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum etc. He was also the Museum Advisor to the President of India. He also played a key role in the development of Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabad. He extensively introduced Digital tools in all these projects to bridge large gaps in collections, provide contextual information and form a well-knit story around individual artefacts. He introduced seem less Multi screen panoramic projections to create immersive visualization, which provided visitors a feeling that they are standing in the midst of an event surrounding them. Long before the modern buzz words VR and IR technology took centre stage in India, Dr. Ghose was able to envisage their utility in museums. He understood that VR (Virtual Reality) can take visitors to a historic past, breaking the barriers of time and space. He extensively introduced Animatronics, with computer-controlled pneumatic/hydraulic movements to create period setting to present historic personalities in life like situations. Fortunately, we are now witnessing that these technologies are extensively being used in conventional art museums and the credit for introducing these technologies must go to Dr. Ghose. 

Dr. Ghose played a pivotal role in the development of the Gujarat Science City, the third Science City in the country, which was established in Ahmedabad by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat. He continues to play an advisory role to the Gujarat Science City. Dr. Ghose had prepared the DPR for the Science City project on behalf of TCS who were the main consultants for the project. This was some time during 2000-01 and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India and the project proposal had reached the PM office for its review. Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni was the OSD to the Prime Minister and I had the honour to know him in connection with a project of establishing a modern computer lab facility at the Delhi Kannada School. One fine day I got a call from Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni asking me to meet him in his office in the PMO. Shri Kulkarni discussed about the project and handed me the DPR, which was submitted by TCS to the Government of Gujarat who in turn had sent it to the PMO. I was asked. Y Sudheendra Kulkarni to study the project and submit a precise recommendation on the merit of the project. As I started going through the DPR it took me no time to understand that this was prepared by Dr. Ghose, and later I learnt that TCS who were appointed by the Government of Gujarat to be their consultants for the Science City Project in Ahmedabad, had engaged Dr. Ghose to prepare the report for them. The report had a tell tale mark of Dr. Ghose imprinted all through. As expected the report was quite comprehensive with the scope of the project, which was spread across three 3 phases. In a way the review and approval of the project by the PM office was based on my report, which I submitted to Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni. The Government of Gujarat were supported by the Government of India in the first phase and the vibrant science city that we see now in Ahmedabad is a result of Dr. Ghose’s vision. 

 In recognition of his services to the museums, Dr. Ghose has been conferred with many national and international awards and recognitions and some of these include ; The  'Indira Gandhi Prize' from the Indian National Science Academy, the ‘Hari Om Trust Award' from University Grants Commission for Popularization of Science in 1988. In 2001, NCSTC, Govt. of India, awarded him 'National Award' for the best effort in science popularization amongst children. He received the ‘Padma Shri’ in 1989 and 'Padma Bhushan' in 2007. In 1996, Dr. Ghose received 'Primo Rovis International Prize' from the Trieste International Foundation. The ASTC, an internationally acclaimed Association of Science and Technology Centers, USA, conferred on him the prestigious Fellowship in 1997. He is the only Asian who has been elected as the President of the International Council of Museums twice 1992-98. 

On this auspicious occasion of the 85th birth anniversary of Dr. Ghose, I join the entire NCSM family and all the stakeholders of NCSM and most other museum community in India and abroad in praying for the continuing good health of Dr. Ghose and may he continue to inspire and motivate not just all of us in NCSM but the whole of India.

 

Wishing you very happy birthday Dr Ghose Sir and prayers for your good health and long life with your continuing creative contributions to Indian society.

 

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 Inaugural Cricket Test on Indian Soil - Bombay Gymkhana, Dec 15-18, 1933

Just one year after India was baptised into Test Cricket in England - 25 June, 1932, when India played their inaugural test against England at the Lords Stadium, India got an opportunity to host the English team in India and to play their inaugural home test in Bombay (Mumbai) in December 1933.  The Indian team performance, which was higher than what was expected, in their inaugural Test provided that fillip and accentuated England's first official Test series tour to India in 1933-34., during which England played a three test series against the hosts India. The famous Bombay Gymkhana, which is inextricably linked with cricket in India during the formative years of Indian cricket, was the venue for the inaugural home Test, which was played from Dec 15 -18, 1933. The visiting English (MCC) team was captained by Douglas Jardine, who had helped England regain the Ashes in Australia by adopting the infamous bodyline tactics. Most interestingly it was a homecoming for Jardine, who was born in Bombay and therefore Jardine had a soft corner and liking for India, which was vividly seen during the series. The home team was captained by Col. CK Nayudu.

Bombay ( now Mumbai), which was famous for the highly popular Triangular and Quadrangular Cricket matches that witnessed unprecedented spectators and huge media coverage, was obviously the first choice for hosting the inaugural cricket Test on the Indian soil and the organisers were sure of record turn out of spectators for the match. True to expectations a record 40000 plus cricket crazy crowd thronged the stadium to witness the inaugural Test, on home soil, on all the four days of the inaugural Test in Bombay. The match began at the Bombay Gymkhana stadium, which was reserved only for the whites, on an unusually hot day - 15th December, 1933. Although it was winter time in Bombay (now Mumbai) it was a hot and humid day and the organisers, in anticipation of huge crowd, had created a temporary double-decker makeshift stands for the Indian spectators (colies or Aam aadmi), while for the whites there was an ostentatious arrangements with colourful shamianas with plentiful sofas for seating for the whites. It was part of the traditions that the colonial rulers practiced all through their rule in India - a racial discrimination, which often times bordered between insanity and inhuman when it came to discriminating the Indians.

The Indian captain, C K Naidu, won the toss and elected to bat first to the thunderous applause of the native audience. The opening pair of Wazir Ali and Navle began their innings on a cautious note putting on a respectable opening stand of 44 runs, before Navle was caught by Nicholas of the bowling of Verity. The young debutant Lala Amarnath walked into the crease and remained the top scorer for India with a score of 38. The minnows Indian team quickly folded up for a paltry 219 with their captain, CK Naidu scoring 28 and Wazir Ali 36. England, true to their form, having conquered the mighty Australians under Don Bradman in their infamous Body-line Ashes test series, scored an impressive 438 runs in their first innings with BH Valentine scoring an magnificent century (136) and Walters and their captain Jardine scoring half centuries each 78 and 60 respectively. England ended their innings scoring exactly double of what the Indians scored. Indian pacer, Nissar scalped five wickets to remain the top wicket taker in the English innings followed by Jamshedji who scalped three wickets. 

India, with more than 200 runs in deficit, started their second innings on a very poor note losing two early wickets for just 21. The spectators were muted in their shocked response and all seemed lost and when it looked like India would face an ignominious innings defeat, suddenly things changed. Captain Nayadu and his partner young debutant Amarnath played outstandingly and created an enviable history and were involved in a record third wicket partnership of 186 runs. The  young stylist debutant, Amarnath scored a spectacular debut century. Indian captain, Nayadu, who was dubbed the Hindu Bradman by the British during the Indian inaugural test tour to England in the previous year, played a cautious knock in this innings. Debutant Lala Amarnath outshined his illustrious and dashing partner, captain Nayadu, who conscientiously preferred to play second fiddle to the young Amarnath. The two played remarkably well and were involved in a record partnership in the match. As the lights began to fade on the third day - Sunday, December 17, 1933, and the spectators remained anxious Amarnath pushed for a single to record a historic first Test century for an Indian to the thunderous applause of the audience. This historic feat resulted in the play to be held up for some time since there were unending celebrations and hugs all around the stadium. The most ironical part of all the celebrations was the celebration tune, which was played by the band present at the ground. They played “God save the King” while waving the Union Jack flag. It was during this celebrations that one of the most memorable incidence, which will permanently be etched in history was witnessed on the ground. The moment Amarnath completed his single and scored his century, the spectators rose with a thunderous applause and started celebrating. One of the over zealous enthusiast spectator ran on to the field hoping to garland the centurion Amarnath. Skipper Nayadu, who was overwhelmed by the situation, ran towards the spectator to shoo him away from Amarnath, forgetting in the process that the ball was not dead yet  and that he had not  grounded his bat at the crease. Fortunately, Jardine, who had a soft corner for India, the land of his birth, managed with some extra effort to restrain his team mate and wicket-keeper Harry Elliott, who was preparing to take advantage of the situation and run the Indian captain out. This was truly memorable. It was the same Jardine who had showed his ugly sporting attitude when he toured Australia for the Ashes and adopted his infamous Body line tactic and here in India the same Jardine behaved in a completely different way showing restraint and exemplary sporting attitude and coercing his wicket keeper not to take the bails off to run out Naidu, which would have been completely legal. Most interestingly some of the reports which covered the match on the third day, when Amarnath had remained 102 not out at stumps, reported that women at the Indian spectators enclosure threw their jewellery at Amarnath as he walked out of the ground. The hero worship, which is now rampantly followed in India, where cricket players like Sachin Tendulkar are literally worshipped, perhaps owes its genesis to Lala Amaranth and his test century in inaugural test that India played in Bombay.

But most unfortunately the celebrations of the record third wicket partnership and the debut century by Lala Amarnath were short lived. From a very strong position of 207 for 2, on the third day, the Indian team lost both their record breaking partners - Amarnath and Naidu, in quick succession and the score line read 208 for 4. Amarnath was the fourth to go, out for 118. Thereafter the Indian team folded up meekly and were all out for 258 with some resistance shown by Vijay Merchant who scored a plucky 30 runs. This meant that England were left with a modest score of 40 runs to win the Test. England scored these runs loosing one wicket and won the inaugural Test in India by 9 wickets. The remaining two Tests were played in

Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Madras (now Chennai)and India lost the series 2-0 loosing at Bombay and Madras and managing a creditable draw at Calcutta. 

Amarnath became an instant hero in India and his 118 made him rise to a level of stardom Indian cricketers had never reached before. Though he could not replicate his stellar performance in the subsequent two test matches in Calcutta and Madras with the bat, he did manage to take 4 wickets at Madras. The stardom which rightfully belonged to Amarnath in the inaugural test series continues to strive in India ever since and from time to time India has seen different cricket stars, who have huge fan following across India be it Sunny Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and now Virat Kohli.

India may have lost the inaugural series but the Indians had seen what Test Cricket was all about. Over the years India and BCCI have established as the unwritten leaders in international Cricket and every cricketer dreams to play against India in front of a massive crowd. The  IPL tournament, which India has been hosting every year since its inaugural tournament in 2008, is one of the most sought after tournament for all the cricket players and ICC gets maximum revenues from India. Next time when we cheer our players we must cheer for Bombay (amchi Mumbai) and Mumbaikars who paved the way for what Cricket is now in India. 

Ganesh Festival & the Spirit of Mumbai.

 Ganesh Festival & the Spirit of Mumbai.

The 10 day Ganesh festival - a cultural, religio-spiritual  tradition, celebrated with great fervour across Mumbai and Maharashtra, the tradition of which has spread  to most other parts of India, began today amidst the Covid 19 pandemic with an attenuated response and a Covid cover.  But the spirit of the people celebrating this holy festival remains that quintessentially Mumbaikars spirit. 

The Ganesh festival, the genesis of which dates back to atleast 16th century and suggests that the Ganesh Chaturthi was mostly observed in the aristocratic individual households of the Pehwas - the Prime Ministers in the Maratha regime. This  festival tradition over the years has evolved into a social, cultural and political hallmark of Mumbai in particular and Maharashtra in general and so also across other parts of India. This holy tradition of the celebration of the Ganesh Festival in the royal households of the Marathas, which was revered by the people, was effectively used to kindle the spirit of the freedom movement by one of great leaders of the Indian fredom movement - Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 

In 1892, Bal Gangadhar Tilak decided to  bring Lord Ganesha out of individual homes and onto the public space to channelise and unite the larger national sentiment against the oppressive British rule. This was a momentous decision, which helped in accentuating the freedom movement by creating a sense of cultural unity among the masses. The British were successfully managing to crush the freedom movement, particularly gathering of large number of people on to the streets, with that inhuman and barbaric force. Tilak realised that no amount of barbaric force will be able to supress the spritual belonging and oneness of the people of India and therefore he decided to use the auspicious occasion of the Ganesh Chaturthi  to assemble large number of people together for collectively celebrating this festival.  The festival provided that much needed impetus for the freedom struggle and ever since the Ganesh Festival has come on to the public space in Mumbai and Maharashtra and has also spread across different cities in India. The Covid pandemic has however attenuated the celebrations this year but definitely not the spirit of the people. 

The first Public  Ganesh mandal - Keshavji Naik Chawl Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal at Girgaum - was commissioned in 1893 and ever since it has been celebrating this auspicious Ganesh festival in the same traditional form each year. Lord Ganesh  — a small idol - is consecrated  with no loudspeakers or expensive lights, or any of the modern day style pooja traditions in Girgaum for over a century now.  However there are other public Ganesh Pandals, across the city including the famous Lalbaug ka Raja,  which celebrate Ganesh Pooja and the festival with modern day fanfare with DJs and lights and sound and crackers and what have you.

Whether a sombre pooja or an ostentatious collective celebration, one thing remains central to this holy festival, which every Mumbaikar and Maharashtrians celebrate -  the festival is celebrated with Shradha and Bhakti, which in essence is the very spirit of India - the socio, cultural and spiritual land that is home to most religions of the world. The administration and all other stakeholders, including the public, who ensure that this extraordinary 10 days Ganesh Festival passes of peacefully with the immersions of the Ganesh murthi and the festival becomes a grand success time after time and festival after festival, must be saluted for their efforts. 

Another primary reason for the success of this auspicious Ganesh Festival in Mumbaj are the Mumbaikars - the rich and mighty, the powerful and powerless, the poor and the insignificant, the lettered and unlettered, sheltered and unsheltered, the males, females and the transgender’s, the believers and non believers, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, the religious and non religious, young, middle aged, old and the very old. That undying spirit of unity in diversity in India gets exemplarily played during this festival in Mumbai, which is cherished not just in Mumbai but across the country and globally. 

May Ganapati Bappa bless us all and may he guide  us to tide over the current pandemic and its aftermath.

Ganapati Bappa Morya. 

Eulogy for Chetan Chauhaan who Fell Victim to Covid.

 Eulogy for Chetan Chauhaan

Cricketer turned cricket administrator and politician - Chetan Chauhan, who besides being elected twice to the Loksabha from UP in 1991 and 98, as a BJP candidate, was also the incumbent Cabinet Minister in the Yogi Government in Uttar Pradesh, most tragically left for his heavenly abode this evening - 16th August, 2020. Chauhan was 73 years and it is rather a divine coincidence that Chauhan died on the same day when his mentor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee has died two years earlier. Chauhaan had joined the BJP enamoured by his political inspiration from Vajpayee. He succumbed to the Covid pandemic, which he had contracted on 11th July. The very next day - on 12th July - Chauhan announced the news of his Covid contraction in his tweet where he also said; ‘ Your prayers will definitely work. I will get back to you healthily soon, all of you take care of your self, thanks a lot’, but then as destiny would have it, no prayers of his well wishers could help him combat Covid 19. 

Chauhan, aged 73 years, had tested Covid positive on the same day when Big B, Amitabh Bachchan had tested positive and therefore news of his testing positive was dimmed by Amitabh Bachchan who had hogged all news headlines. The news of his death has also not been covered in the media as prominently as the news of the retirement of MS Dhoni, who announced his retirement yesterday. After contracting Covid on the 11th of July in Lucknow,  Chauhan was admitted at the Sanjay Gandhi PGI Hospital in Lucknow. Most unfortunately his condition did not improve and subsequently when he developed other complications Chauhan was shifted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. He developed further complications when the infection affected his kidneys and blood pressure, leading to multiple organ failure. He was put on life support couple of days but most unfortunately, he could not fight the infection and was declared dead this evening - 16 August at 4.45 PM, by the hospital authorities.

Chetan Chauhan, though not a highly acclaimed international cricket player, will ever be remembered as the test opener who successfully partnered  his illustrious partner the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan scored some 3000+ Test runs as Test opening pair including 10 century opening partnerships and averaged an impressive 53.75 runs for the opening wicket. They remained the highest opening pair for quite a long time until being overtaken by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. In a decade-long Test career, Chauhan played 40 Tests and seven ODIs and scored 2,084 Test runs with 16 half-centuries but missed out on a century with a best of 97. Chauhan also holds the dubious distinction of being the first player in Test history to score 2000+ runs without a century. His last first-class game was the Ranji final against Bombay in 1985. Batting with a fractured finger, he made 98 and 54 in that match. Chauhan made his test debut against the visiting New Zealand team in Mumbai in September 1969. 

India won the Test match by 60 runs and Chauhan scored 18 in first innings and 34 in second innings in a low scoring match, where Prasanna and Bedi excelled taking eight wickets each in the Test match. Chauhan was in and out of the test team during the next couple of seasons until becoming a regular from 1977 onwards when he established a fine partnership with Sunil Gavaskar. 

Chauhan had a distinguished career in local games and he represented two states Delhi and Maharashtra. He scored a lot of runs while representing Delhi from 1967 to 1975 and Maharashtra from 1975 to 1985 in domestic cricket. In 179 First-class matches, he has scored 11143 runs at an impressive average of 40.22, which included 21 centuries and 59 half-centuries. In 1976–77, playing with a fractured jaw, he scored 158 against Haryana. Later that season, he scored 200 against Punjab and 147 versus Karnataka. Another hundred in Duleep Trophy early next season earned him a place in the Indian team going to Australia and then began Chauhan's most impressive period with the bat, as an opening partner to Sunil Gavaskar. 

In his first match of the Australian tour Chauhan made 157 against Victoria. He was selected in the playing eleven for the second Test and made 88 runs in his very first innings at Perth. From there on, he became Gavaskar's regular opening partner and only missed one Test match till the end of his career. Chauhan and Gavaskar's best opening partnership came against England in 1979. Chasing a mammoth target of 438 in the fourth innings of a Test match at the Oval, they added 213 for the opening wicket. The match though ended in a draw as India missed the target by nine runs. 

Chauhan was preview to  two controversial Test matches in Australia both of which were marred by controversy including bad one sided umpiring decisions in which India was at the receiving end on both the occasions. The first instance happened during the 3rd test of the India Tour of Australia in 1981. The test was marred by some bad decisions, which went against India. Sunil Gavaskar was not at his best in the entire series and had mostly failed in the earlier two tests. Coming into the 3rd test match, which began in Melbourne on 7th February, Indian first innings began on a bad note with Chauhan scoring a duck and barring Gundappa Vishwanath who scored a gritty 114, the Indian team folded up for a paltry 237 runs. Australia helped by some bad umpiring decisions, went on to score 419 Runs in their first innings. The second Indian innings began on a good note and for the first time in the series, Gavaskar was in his elements and was playing very well. Chauhan and Gavaskar had added 165 runs for the first wicket, when tragedy struck. Gavaskar was given out lbw, even after indicating to the umpire that he had nicked the ball onto his pads. He was livid yet started hesitantly moving back to the pavilion, when Dennis Lille mocked him. This infuriated Gavaskar, who after walking some 30 metres could not control his anger and returned back to grab his batting partner, Chetan Chauhan and ordered him march in the direction of the players' gate. Chauhan who was playing well and was hoping for his maiden century, which he had missed by just three runs earlier, grudgingly followed a few metres behind Gavaskar, like a crestfallen player not ready to go back to the pavilion. Fortunately India's team manager, Wing Commander Shahid Durrani, met them at the fence and pleaded for calm. Gavaskar, regained his composure and allowed Chauhan to return to the centre wicket with new batsman Dilip Vengsarkar for company. With the wicket of Gavaskar, Lille had equalled Richie Benaud’s Australian records for highest wickets 248. Chauhan could not hold on for long and soon drove Lille straight to Bruce Yardley at cover point thus allowing Lille to break the record of Richie Benaud to become Australia's greatest-ever wicket-taker. Soon thereafter the Indian team do,Dee up leaving Australia to score 142 for a win. It was Kapil’s day and he bowled a miracle spell in the fourth innings and Australia needing just 142 runs to win folded up for a paltry 83 runs handing India a great victory in which Chauhan had played an important role in his second innings.

Chauhan was also witness to another controversial Test match against Australia, which also had some embarrassing moments. This time however, Chauhan was not playing the match but was involved as the manager of the Indian cricket team, which was touring Australia in 2008. It was the second Test that was played at the SCH Sydney in January 2008. This match came to be known for the Bhajji - Symonds verbal duel, infamously called the Monkey gate scandal. In this match too India was at the receiving end of some atrocious umpiring decisions, each of which went in favour of Australia and Bhajji was not spared and handed a three test ban by Mike Procter. All this ugly incident was played out in front of Chauhan who was the manager of the team. India lost the Test. The ban on Harbhajan Singh, for alleged racist remarks to Andrew Symonds in the Sydney Test almost led to an India boycott of the series. Fortunately the tour continued after India’s appeal was upheld by the ICC adjudicator, who turned the ban to heavy fine for use of abusive language. India went on to win the Perth Test.

Born in UP’s Bareilly, UP, on 21st July 1947, Chauhan grew up in Pune where his father, who was in the army, was posted. Thus he took early steps in Pune cricket and went on to play for Maharashtra before moving to Delhi. 

.Chauhan has also served the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) in various capacities - president, vice-president, secretary and chief selector - apart from being manager of the Indian Team during their tour of Australia. Chauhan was twice elected to the Lok Sabha from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, in 1991 and 1998 but also contested unsuccessfully in 1996, 1999 and 2004. In 2017 he was elected to Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Naugawan Sadat Assemby  Constituency and was made a minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government. He was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1981. Though not a flamboyant player, Chauhan has left behind a legacy both as a player and administrator before succumbing to the Covid 19 on the very day 16th August, when his political mentor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee died. He died in Gurugram, Haryana, at the  age of 73 Years. He is survived by wife Sangeeta and son Vinayak. Rest in Peace Chetan Chauhan.

74th Indian Independence Day, Sangolli Rayanna & his Tryst with Indian Destiny.

 Indian Independence Day, Sangolli Rayanna & his Tryst with Indian Destiny.

Wishing  you a very happy 74th Independence Day and May this auspicious day be the beginning of the end of global Covid pandemic. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat a post which I had posted during the previous Independence Day as well, with some modification for it warrants a repeat posting. This year I shared the honour of the flag hoisting with my colleague Mr Patankar, who was admitted in the Hospital with Covid 19 and has recovered and reported back to duty. 

“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world was asleep, India woke to life and freedom” on this historic day in 1947. This historic moment was commemorated with the immemorial ‘tryst with destiny’ speech by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. He said “A moment comes, which comes  but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance ...,’. Today - 15th August 2020, when we celebrate our 74th Indian Independence Day we must remember those thousands of men and women and innumerable other unsung heroes (both noble men and women) who have sacrificed their life for our independence. Among them there is one hero - mostly an unsung hero  - Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, who shares a rare and an extraordinary tryst with Indian destiny.

15th August and 26th January, our independence day and the Republic day respectively, are inextricably linked to every Indian. These two days, which are connected with the destiny of our revered nation, are inextricably linked with  Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna who was born on the 15th August 1798 and was martyred on the 26th January, 1838 fighting the British. Krantiveera is an epithet given to Sangolli Rayanna - an army chief of the Kittur Kingdom, which was ruled by Kittura Rani Channamma. The story of Rayanna, often ignored by the Indian historians, is one of adventures, bravery and martyrdom – and therefore it may not be wrong to term him as one of the earliest freedom fighters of India. 

At the stroke of that historic ‘midnight hour’, on the 15th August, 1947, India woke in to freedom and it took another 2 years and few months for ‘We, the people... to adopt, enact and give ourselves the Constitution’, on the 26th of January, 1950. While wishing all fellow Indians a very happy Independence Day, I wish to take this opportunity of using this auspicious occasion to pay my reverence to those millions of Indians - the freedom fighters, our military and para military brethren - particularly our soldiers who have been martyred in the Galwan Valley and others who have made that supreme sacrifice in service of our great motherland. My reverence is also for all the health workers, Doctors, Sisters and all other Covid 19 warriors and innumerable other unsung and face less workers who continue to serve our nation. 

One such valiant hero who made his supreme sacrifice trying to fight the British (East India Company) for their injustice, decades before the beagle of the first battle of independence was blown by the likes of Rani Jhansi and others, was Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, a general in the Kittur kingdom, down south of India, in the state of Karnataka.  Most unfortunately history writers have been majorly unfair to Sangolli Rayanna and he is one among  those freedom fighter heroes, who have been mostly forgotten or at most find a foot note mention in history books. Fortunately, the state to which Rayanna belongs - Karnataka - has been fair to him and his valour gets echoed in the legendary tales that have transcended generations from the early nineteenth century. Sangolli Rayanna, has a unique honour of sharing his  life and death destiny with our nation. He was born on the 15th August, 1798 and he laid down his life fighting the British on 26th January 1838. Sangolli Rayanna was hanged by the British (East India Company) on 26th January, 1838. 

Decades before the bugle of revolt and the first war of Indian Independence, which was led among others by  Rani Jhansi in 11857 against the British, down south in Karnataka, the forgotten queen, Veer Rani Channamma had raised the first flag of defiance against the British, who deceitfully had introduced the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ policy in 1824 to illegally usurp the kingdom of Kittur and accede it to the East India Company (British). Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna was Rani Channamma’s Commander in Chief and a warrior par excellence. This tribute to the great Sangolli Rayanna is also a tribute to those hundreds of millions of other unsung freedom fighters without whose sacrifice Mahatma Gandhi - the father of our nation - and an apostle of peace, whose sesquicentennial birth anniversary we are celebrating, may not have been successful in getting us our freedom with his non violent, peaceful and non cooperation movement against the oppressive British rulers. It is so painful that even after seven decades of our Independence and Republic, most Indians, except those from the state of Karnataka, hardly have heard the name of Sangolli Rayanna. Not just Sangolli Rayanna, history writers have mostly been unfair to several such freedom fighters particularly from the areas south of the Vindhyas. Not just the freedom fighters the history writers have also not been fair even to the South Indian kingdoms and their great rulers that include among others the Cholas, Vijaynagar, Hoysalas, Rashtrakutas, Pallavas, etc and  to some extent even the Chalukyan kingdom and their contributions have mostly been overlooked by the historians. Therefore it is no wonder that for most Indians, particularly young students, the name of Sangolli Rayanna might sound like a stranger. Rayanna is regarded as one of the most valiant warriors in Karnataka, who fought till death against the villainy British East India Company.

Rayanna was born on 15 August 1798, in a nondescript village, Sangolli in Karnataka. He became a prominent warrior at a very young age and raised to the significant position of the Army Chief of the Kingdom of Kittur, which was ruled at the time by Queen Rani Chennamma, who was one of the first female rulers to rebel against the British rule. Incidentally it was this very town Kittur, which was chosen by the Centre for Development of Telematics (CDOT), for creating another tryst with destiny for a digital India, when the first ever Rural Automatic Exchange (RAX), indigenously designed and developed by CDOT, was commissioned in this city on 21st July, 1986, which kick started the start of India’s telecom revolution. Incidentally the Internet saga, which is now omnipresent, started in India 25 years ago on 14th August 1995. 

The story of Sangolli Rayanna has been ignored by the historians and there is little that one gets to read in the history books (outside Karnataka) about the adventures, bravery and martyrdom of Sangolli Rayanna, who can also be rightfully referred to as one of the earliest freedom fighters of our country. Sangoli Rayanna’s struggle against the British began during the famous Kittur rebellion in 1824, regarded by many as the first ever rebellion for freedom of India. It was the year when the British East India Company first announced the idea of the infamous Doctrine of Lapse – a law in favor of unrighteous empowerment of the British Empire that worked by annexing the princely states that was left with no natural heir to the throne. Rani Chennamma did not have her biological son and had decided to adopt a son, Shivalingappa, to succeed her in ruling her kingdom. The British did not agree for the adopted son to rule Kittur and instead ordered for Kittur to secede to the British East India Company. Rani Channamma refused this illegal demand and thus had to fight the British (1824), she fought bravely and her campaign was led by Sangolli Rayanna. Although this battle ended with the unfortunate death of the Queen Channamma, Sangoli Rayanna’s struggle against the overpowering British Empire did not end. Sangolli Rayanna remained adamant and decided to fight for crowning the adopted son of Rani Channamma - Shivalingappa, as the ruler of Kittur. His valour during the battle against the mighty British East India Company is now a folklore legend in Karnataka and this has been immortalised through the Kannada celluloid film ‘Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna’, which hit the screens in 2012 and became a box office hit, breaking several records.

Sangolli Rayanna and Rani Channamma fought valiantly against a highly superior British East India Company, whose war arsenal was tens of times superior to what the Kittur army possessed. The battle may have ended in a loss to Kittur Rani Channamma, but her champion Commander Sangolli Rayanna fought like a tiger leading from the front and facing the mighty enemy with an unprecedented valour, which finds a parallel in the charge of the Light Brigade of the British soldiers in the Crimean war. Sangolli Rayanna was arrested by the British and was released much later after Kittur was acceded to the British. Rayanna could not digest the injustice meted out by the British and on his release from the prison he set out to mobilise men and materials and began a deadly guerrilla war against the British. He shifted his army from one place to another and often bled the British very badly in the deadliest of guerrilla attacks on the enemy. His army burnt government offices, waylaid British troops and plundered their treasuries and so also those other landlords who sided with the British.

Alas, like all the stories of valiant soldiers and rulers fighting against the British (East India Company), Rayanna also became the target of deceit and treachery. As a result of this, one of the first ever precursor of the Indian freedom movement ended abruptly with the arrest of Rayanna. The British brain washed the landlords into influencing one of the confidant of Rayanna to cheat him. Legend has it that when Rayanna was having a bath in a stream near Dori Benachi, the British soldiers attacked and at that moment Rayanna's sword, which it is said was blessed to him by a divine power of Shakti, was in the hands of his confidant who had cheated on him. When Rayanna asked for his sword, Laxman, his confidant, gave his divine sword to the British soldiers. Unarmed and surrounded by deceit, Rayanna was overpowered and captured. Rayanna was then tried in the British kangaroo court and sentenced to death. Sangolli Rayanna was executed by hanging him from a Banyan tree about 4 kilometers from a village called Nandagad in the modern day Belagavi district in Karnataka, on 26 January 1831. The folklore story says that at the time of hanging, Rayanna is believed to have said “My last wish is to be born again in this land to fight against the British and drive them away from our sacred soil". It is also believed by the local people that a close associate of Rayanna planted a Banyan sapling on his grave at the very place where he was hanged. The sapling has now grown to a massive banyan tree, which stands to this day and serves as a befitting memorial to Sangolli Rayanna. A modest memorial has been built at this site, which continues to be revered by scores of visitors who throng this place for paying their respects to this greatest of the warrior, one of the foremost soldier, who waged the first war of the freedom struggle against the mighty and treacherous British. 

What an honour it is for this great warrior, Rayanna that he shares his birth date with the Indian Independence Day and his death date with the Indian Republic Day.  On this momentous occasion of the 74 Independence Day I join billion plus IndianS in paying my respect  to Sangolli Rayanna and those of his kind and pray that their sacrifice is never ever forgotten by our countrymen.

Jai Hind.