Eulogy for Arun Jaitley: Modern Day Chanakya & One Stop Trouble Shooter for BJP

Eulogy for Arun Jaitley: One Stop Trouble Shooter for BJP

The 24th, August 2019 @ 12.07PM, (IST) the date and time when the medical bulletin from AIIMS announced the tragic news of passing away of Arun Jaitley ji, will remain etched in my memory for an hitherto unknown experience. On this day, for reasons I thought was due to the Jet Lag that perhaps was not, I suddenly woke up at around 0300 hours local time at hotel in Binghamton, New York, where I had travelled for an official deputation with three of my NCSM colleagues. It was kind of a very strange experience since I am one of those who are hardly affected by a so called Jet Lag experience, when one travels to Europe and US. But then I began to believe that age has caught up with me and with it the Jet Lag. Since sleep eluded me completely- despite my best of efforts - I tried catching up with my Sainik school and engineering college friends on the whatsApp groups, which is the best of stress buster that connects us all including our families.

 There are few hyperactive friends in these two groups who are always online for chatting. When I logged on to the WhatsApp at around 0320 (Binghamton time) I noticed that Shirish Patil from my SSBJ 77 group and Bhagavathi from the HKE group had posted an important medical news bulletin from AIIMS in the group. It was the news of the passing away of Arun Jaitley, who the press release said had passed away @ 12.07 PM on the 24th August at the AIIMS where he was admitted. Binghamton, US, is 9 hours 30 minutes behind the Indian Standard Time, which meant that Arun Jaitley had passed away @ 0237 hours - Binghamton local time - on the 24th, August, just 23 minutes before I abruptly woke up. Was my untimely wake up kind of a premonition (sorry for being unscientific) with the news of Jaitley ji death or was it because of the natural biological Jet Lag phenomenon, I will leave the judgement to the readers and not be judgemental on this premonition - unscientific kind of an issue. I was one of those innumerable admirers of Jaitley and his death did affect me. My Sainik school friend Mr Gurupad Hegadi, a die hard supporter of the BJP was an ardent fan of Arun Jaitley. Gurupad served as the Principal of the Delhi Kannada School, which is located on the Lodhi Road and this position Donne ted him with most of the politicians and other top Kannadigas in Delhi and he had met Jaitley with some of the MPs of Karnataka and often times he used to talk about him. Gurupad post his voluntary retirement moved to Karnatak but then we remain in touch. He had kind of an ordered me that I must write an eulogy for Jaitley if he is unable to combat his illness and departs for his heavenly abode. I sent a message to Gurupad to see if he is awake and has seen this news. He was awake and he was actually glued to the TV watching the news about Jaitley cremation. He reminded me once again that I must post an eulogy for Jaitley. But then when I reminded him that I am out of the country and that I will do the needful on my return to India, he was insistent and therefore I had no way but to write this eulogy to adhere to the request of my friend Gurupad, a die hard fan of Arun Jaitley.

Whatever little information that I possess about Arun Jaitley, is based on the information that is available on the public domain. But then one of my Sainik School Bijapur friend, one year senior to me in school and an Ace Lawyer of national fame - Satish Maneshinde -  enriched our knowledge about Jaitley’s unique attributes and abilities, since Satish was friends with Arun Jaitley for more than three decades. Jaitley was one stop solution veteran for most of BJP problems, be it political (Rafale defence deal), economics (demonetisation and GST) or what have you. He defended his government with all the erudition and legal brain that he possessed and it was very difficult for the most belligerent opponent to silence Jaitley neither on legal terms or on sound political arguments. Such has been the reputation of Arun Jaitley and his trouble shooting qualities for the government.  It is also widely believed that Jaitley played a pivotal role in Modi ji shifting from state politics to national politics and the rest is history. Therefore it was no wonder that Modi ji became emotional while addressing the Indian community in Bahrain (where he was touring) when he received the news of the death of Jaitley,  and described Jaitley as his very close friend who was a political giant, towering intellectual and legal luminary and an articulate leader who made a lasting contribution to India.

Jaitley ji was admitted to the AIIMS on the 9th of August, just three days after the shocking death of his illustrious colleague Sushma Swaraj, for whom Jaitley had paid obituary respects in his tweet on the 6th of August, which unfortunately turned out to be the last but one tweet of Jaitley. The absence or lack of clarity on the medical condition of Jaitley, which AIIMS was releasing from time to time had created an apprehension that he may not make it. Most unfortunately this worst fear came knocking at Jaitley - the modern day Chanakya - to take him away to his heavenly abode on the 24th August at 12.27 PM, just minutes after I woke up at 0300 hours, at Binghamton, USA. His par excellence intellect and his outstanding articulations of BJP thoughts and ideologies - in which he had firm conviction - both in and outside the Parliament, proved to be the most effective combat for BJP to counter left and Congress leaning intellectuals, whose acerbic criticism of the Modi led BJP made national and international headlines, which often brought disrespect for the party.

Jaitley was a god sent delight for any party to have as a member and so it was with the BJP of which he was a member all through his political career, starting with his association with the ABVP. His handling of the Party Spokesperson’s responsibilities and so also his innumerable other responsibilities that the party bestowed him which kept him overly occupied with politics and the looser was his judicial career in which he was truly outstanding. He continued to share and contribute to his party’s interest till his very last breath. Even after he prematurely withdrew from party affairs, due to his health conditions, he continued to work for the party defending its decisions and ideologies through his most well reasoned and intellectually enriching blogs and cryptic, yet highly effective, tweets. His blog was delightful reading, perhaps even for those who were in complete disagreement with his points of view. There are very few, or may be none, in the BJP who have this unique quality of intellectually taking on their adversaries using the famed 'pen is mightier than the sword adage', which the left intelligentsia and the Nehruvian congress party and the followers of this ideology are famed not just in India but globally. Like most of the left leaning intellectuals and Nehruvian socialites and journalists, whose writings are normally picked up by most media both nationally and internationally to form an opinion, Jaitley’s writings too had this unique character. The past year or so has been a body blow for BJP, which has lost four of their most outstanding leaders ; Atal ji, Parrekar ji, Sushma ji and now Jaitley ji. It may take take a very long time for the party to come to terms with such back to back shocks.

Arun Jaitley will be remembered for the GST, which he managed to successfully pass through the parliament and while announcing the benefits of GST he had said, in his inimitable erudition style, “the old India was economically fragmented. The new India will create one tax, one market and for one nation”. The GST, notwithstanding some of the compulsive naysayers blaming it for the economic crisis in the industry - Rahul Gandhi described GST as Gabbar Singh Tax, a metaphor for terror tax -, was widely hailed as a game-changer for India's economy. The International Monetary Fund had said it could eventually add nearly two percentage points to India's growth. Although there have been several initial hiccups and many businesses have struggled to adapt to this new tax regime, yet the GST is on its path of taking firmer roots and is destined to be remembered as a crowning glory and a true legacy of Jaitley ji. Another major economic decision, the demonetisation, which many considered to be an abrupt move of Prime Minister Modi, which sent shock waves for the Indian economy, was also bravely faced by Jaitley. He repeatedly defended the move as essential to cracking down on tax evasion and promoting digital payments, calling it a "watershed moment" that Indians would look back on with pride, articulating his reasoning with fairly acceptable arguments. 

A lawyer by profession, Arun Jaitely was a key person in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet during his first tenure and almost always acted as the chief trouble-shooter for the government. During the first five years of the Modi government, Arun Jaitley shouldered several important assignments including holding the portfolios of Finance Ministry, Corporate Affairs Ministry, Defence Ministry, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting at various times, including donning multiple hats of different portfolios simultaneously. Arun Jaitley ji was also the Indian Defence Minister besides he also held the Finance and Corporate Affairs ministry. Although he never kept good health, he was indispensable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Arun Jaitley had an enviable contacts across the political, legal and social spectrum, which he effectively used to support PM Modi, in the smooth passage of bills in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP was in a minority. He was the go-to guy to keep the NDA running smoothly. He was Modi’s "eyes and ears". Perhaps it was too much for Jaitley to continue to shoulder such arduous responsibilities, while his health was failing him. Jaitley's deteriorating health including his kidney transplant in May 2018, compelled him to opt out of Modi's second government and active electoral politics but then before he could recuperate destiny had a different role set out for him in the heavenly abode where he now resides in eternal peace.
Leaders cutting across party lines were united in overwhelmingly paying extraordinary rich tributes to Arun Jaitley ji. Arun was one of those young student leaders who was jailed for taking part in student protests during the emergency period. He will be remembered for taking on the - hit and run striking man - Arvind Kejriwal, who has a compulsive allegation habit, which he used most effectively to make corruption and other allegations against all and sundry including Arun Jaitley. But then Kejriwal had to bite the dust and render an unconditional apology to Jaitley, who sued him for character assassination and false allegations. Not withstanding the fact that Kejriwal had hired - the one and only - Ram Jethmalani to defend him, yet Kejriwal had to accept defeat and render an unconditional apology and withdraw his false allegations. Such was the strength and power of conviction that Jaitley ji had in his integrity.
Now that Arun Jaitley is gone for his heavenly abode, yet one thing remains certain, his voice will continue to reverberate not just in the Parliament but all across India. Long live Jaitley ji. RIP.

Centenary tribute to Vikram Sarabhai : The Father of Indian Space Program

Centenary tribute to Vikram Sarabhai : The Father of Indian Space Program

This day the 12th of August, is special on many counts; First it happens to be the Eid Ul Adha, the auspicious festival of sacrifice that commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim's unstinting devotion to God, Second, the much hyped episode, Man VS Wild, featuring Bear Grylls with our Prime Minister, will be premiered tonight on the Discovery Channel and lastly and most importantly, today also happens to be the 100th birthday of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian Space Program, who was born on this very day in 1919 in Ahmedabad. This post of mine will confine only to Vikram Sarabhai, courtesy my colleague Ramdas Iyer, who in his yesterday’s FB post tagged me to write a tribute to Sarabhai. Incidentally Google too is honouring Sarabhai today on their site. Sarabhai, most shockingly, like his illustrious predecessor Dr Homi Bhabha who died at an young age of 57 years, in an air crash in 1966, also died at a very young age of 52 years while holidaying with his family in Kovalam, Kerala. Just before his untimely death Sarabhai had witnessed firing of a Russian rocket and inaugurated Thumba railway station before retiring for the night, which was to be his last. There are several controversies doing the rounds, which compare his so called natural death in sleep to that of Lal Bahadur Shastri. I shall not delve into this emotive issue here.

Unity in Diversity - the often used phrase for India that all of us have grown up living with - is one of the greatest attributes of our country, which is inseparable to this great nation, notwithstanding the unending differences and diversity that exist in our country that gets played out during the heated debates on the news channels. Unity in Diversity an unique attribute of India - the worlds largest democracy - is vividly visible and is exemplified through the medium of Cinema, Cricket and Chilly, which connects we Indians, without exception, to one common nationhood. ISRO has now become the fourth common connecting chord for all of us, the evidence of which came to the fore when the entire nation was seen united in hailing the successful launch of the Chandrayaan 2, by ISRO. On-board this historic mission is the Vikram Lander, named after the founding father of ISRO, Vikram Sarabhai, whose centenary the nation is celebrating and in whose honour ISRO is organising over 100 events in 100 selected cities across India, starting with a mega event at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad which will be launched today.

The PRL was a kind of a crucible for ISRO, which was started in the backyard of Sarabhai house in Shahibagh, Ahmedabad before moving to the MG Science College and finally to its Navrangpura campus where ISRO was conceived on third floor of the PRL building. PRL churned out the idea for the Space programmes for India and was also the place where prominent ISRO scientists, Sarabhai, U R Rao, Kasturirangan, Prof Yashpal and others were groomed and ISRO culture cultivated. It was Vikram Sarabhai who put Ahmedabad on the world map of scientific and industrial research by establishing several institutes and organisations in various fields, notable among them include the PRL, Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association (ATIRA), Indian Institute of Management, National Institute of Design (NID), and Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VSCSC). Darpan Art and culture centre was also started by the family (Mrinalini Sarabhai). The famed Space Application Centre (SAC/ ISRO) was set up at Ahmedabad courtesy Sarabhai and PRL, which acted as the intellectual springboard of ISRO. Incidentally most of my Museum friends will also recognise PRL for the dating of their antiquity objects, which most often were carried out at the PRL.

Vikram Sarabhai - visionary, businessman, scientist and also an art connoisseur - the sixth child among the eight children born to the illustrious parents Ambalal and Sarladevi Sarabhai, was born on the 12th of August 1919 in Ahmedabad into an illustrious Gujarati Jain business family. He had a privileged childhood and grew up in ‘The Retreat’ a colonial style mansion in which the Sarabhais lived. Among the decorated luminaries who visited the Sarabhais at the Retreat, included Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Bhulabhai Desai, Rukmini Arundale, J Krishnamurthi, Prithviraj Kapoor and others. It is therefore no wonder that Vikram Sarabhai had great vision for his country, the seeds of which were sown early on in life by the visits of such great nationalist stalwarts to his house. Nehru and Indira Gandhi also visited the Sarabhai mansion as guests.

Tagore, incidentally, wrote a recommendation letter for Vikram Sarabhai's admission to the Cambridge University. Aged 17, Sarabhai enrolled at St. John's College in Cambridge in 1936 and completed his natural science tripos in 1939. The onset of World War II forced him to return to India. After coming back to India from Cambridge he joined the Tata Institute (now Indian Institute of Science) Bangalore to carry out research on cosmic Rays, the subject that was assigned to him by his illustrious teacher Sir C V Raman. It is here that he met his would be wife, Mrinalini Swaminathan and Dr Homi Bhabha. He published his first scientific paper ‘Time distribution of Cosmic Rays’, in 1942 while studying at the Tata Institute. After the end of the World War II, Sarabhai once again returned back to Cambridge to finish his doctoral dissertation, which he completed at the age of 28 years. After attaining his PHD from Cambridge, Sarabhai returned to India in 1947, by when India was an independent nation. Sarabhai, like Bhabha, set out to carve his own space for the nation development and persuaded charitable trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution near home in Ahmedabad and the result was the formation of the the Physical Research Laboratory. Barely twenty-eight years old, Sarabhai had set out to transform India and its space aspirations and true to his prophetic vision, PRL went on to play a pivotal role in the formation of ISRO.

Vikram Sarabhai, a man of passion for science and its benefits to human society, was appointed the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in May 1966, after the sudden death of Homi Bhabha in an air crash. Sarabhai envisaged harnessing the power of space science to find solutions to the problems India was facing in the field of communication, meteorology, and education. Sarabhai was instrumental in the setting up of the Indian Space Research Organization on 15 August 1969 under the Department of Atomic Energy. Sarabhai used his stature to connect with NASA, leader in space science, to start the first experiment of commencing TV programs in rural villages in India and the result was the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). The SITE, program was launched in 1975 and became the first major India-US partnership in space, which has grown from strength to strength, notwithstanding the cold era period and the sanctions that India endured. SITE was India’s first attempt to use technology for education through TV broadcasts. Courtesy the success of the SITE, India began launch of communications satellites beginning with the INSAT 1 and also brought about a revolution in establishing Low Power Transmitting TV stations from 1982, which helped India in taking giant leaps in the field of mass communication particularly the TV transmission.

Indian Space programme has now come a very long way from the humble beginning of the launch of our first launch vehicle - SLV- and the satellite Aryabhatta, to the current era in which ISRO creates, builds and launches gigantic rockets, including the most successful PSLV - the work horse- and the GSLV, which carry Indian and international payloads, satellites, and complex spacecraft not just for our country but also for several other countries. Projects like the Chandrayaan, Mars Orbit Mission, built at frugal costs, not only exemplify Indian excellence in Space but also kindle an outstanding sense of Indianness among the people. Today, courtesy Sarabhai’s vision the Indian Space programme can rightfully claim to be in the elite club of nations. Sarabhai had a deep belief in India and her people. He was inspired by India’s yearning to be self reliant and not dependent on other nations for our every need. He did not want India to be vulnerable to pressures that would make us take decisions that would harm the nation or our people. He had a great belief in people and his people in ISRO have proved him right and continue to behold a sense of needing to contribute for the nation.

Sarabhai was a doting and hands-on father to Kartikeya and Mallika, who followed their parents’ footsteps to become India’s celebrated luminaries in their own ways. Mallika Sarabhai, the eminent daughter of Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai, has in one of her interview said that Vikram Sarabhai used to attend most of the parents meeting. His wife the noted Bharatnatyam dancer, Mrinalini Sarabhai, travelled extensively performing all across the world and it was left to Vikram Sarabhai to attend most of the parents meeting. The fatherly love and affection of Sarabhai can be seen in the way he guided his children, which Mallika has alluded to in one of her interviews where she says “I grew up as papa’s daughter, not as Dr Vikram Sarabhai’s. He was papa. With little time but loads of love and fun. He would whistle ‘Bridge On The River Kwai’ and have me marching around the carpet”. The lessons that he taught to his children to think independently is something which holds value even today. He too was fallible and human and his relationship with Kamla Chaudhury throws light on his being human.

On this historic day I join Google and a billion plus countrymen in paying our rich tribute to this great visionary, who died so early at the age of 52 leaving behind so much of his unfinished vision for the nation. I truly believe he would have contributed much more to the nation and influenced our path as a nation differently had he been alive a little longer. Fortunately the organisation he built and the people who he mentored have left no stone unturned to live up to his expectations in contributing to the nation. May ISRO continue to live up to the ideals of this great Visionary for eternity. Rest in Peace.

Sangolli Rayanna : Forgotten Freedom Fighter

Remembering Sangolli Rayanna : Forgotten Freedom Fighter, who shares his birth and death destiny with India.

15th August and 26th January, our independence day and the Republic day respectively, are inextricably linked to every fellow Indians. These two dates, which are connected with the destiny of our revered nation, are inextricably linked with one of the heroes of India - Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, a forgotten hero who made his supreme sacrifice fighting the British. Krantiveera is a Kannada word used to describe Sangolli Rayanna, an army chief of the Kittur Kingdom that was then ruled by Kittura Rani Channamma. On the occasion of our Independence day, 15th August, which also happens to be the birthday of Rayanna, I had paid my reverence to him by posting a Facebook post and now on the occasion of the seventieth year of our Republic Day, 26th January, which incidentally also happens to be the day when Rayanna, made his supreme sacrifice and was hanged by the British, I am once again writing this reverential post to pay my obeisance to him. The story of Rayanna, often ignored by the Indian historians, is one of adventures, bravery and martyrdom – and it won’t be wrong to term him as one of the earliest freedom fighters of our nation.

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 (including all those Indians who are spread across the globe) a very happy 70th year of our Republic 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 and innumerable others - who made supreme sacrifice in service of our nation and continue to do so. 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.  Most unfortunately history writers have been majorly unfair to him 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 down generations from the early nineteenth century. Sangolli Rayanna, has a unique honour of sharing his  life and death destiny with our nation. He shares his birthday with our Independence Day - born on the 15th August, 1798 and he made the supreme sacrifice in service of this nation, when he was hanged by the British (East India Company) on the 26th January- Republic Day - in 1838. 

Decades before the valour of Rani Jhansi’s famed First War of Indian Independence (1857) against the British, down south in Karnataka, the forgotten queen, Veer Rani Channamma had raised the first flag of defiance against the British - Colonial Rulers - who deceitfully had introduced the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ in 1824 to illegally usurp Kittur and accede it to the British. Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna was Rani Channamma’s Commander in Chief and a warrior par excellence. This blog tribute of mine 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 centennial 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 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 the South Indian kingdoms and their great rulers that include among others the Cholas, Vijaynagar, Hoysalas and  to some extent even the Chalukyan kingdom and their rulers, whose contributions have mostly been skimmed over 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 of the erstwhile 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 the 21st July, 1986, which kick started the start of India’s telecom revolution. 

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. Rani Channamma refused this illegal demand of the British and thus had to fight the British (1824), she fought bravely and her campaign was led by Sangolli Rayanna.

Although the battle ended with the death of the Queen Channamma, Sangoli Rayanna’s struggle against the overpowering British Empire did not end for he was adamant upon crowning the adopted son of the Rani, Shivalingappa, as the ruler of Kittur. His valour during the battle against the mighty British is now a folklore legend in Karnataka and this has been immortalised through the 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 Company, whose war arsenal was tens of times superior to what the Kittur army possessed. The battle may have ended in a loss to the 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 prisons 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 impossible 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 date of birth with the Indian Independence Day and he was hanged to death on 26th of January - the Republic Day.  On the momentous occasion of the seventieth year of our Republic, I join my countrymen in paying our reverence to Sangolli Rayanna and those of his kind and pray that their sacrifice is never ever forgotten by our countrymen.

Jai Hind.

Bahi - Khata, Double Entry Accountancy : Luca Pacioli’s Contribution to the Global Economy.

The humble Indian बहि खाता - the accounting book of yesteryear’s - whose history predates, by several centuries, the modern day double entry accounting system introduced to the world by an Italian mathematician Monk, Luca Pacioli during the Renaissance period, gained national headlines and from near obscurity, the बहि खाता hit the front pages of most of the print and electronic media. Mrs Nirmala Seetharaman, the first women Finance Minister of India, in a major departure from the past colonial tradition and practise - where the Finance Ministers, in different governments, carried a briefcase to present their budget- sported her budget documents in the red silk bag, the बहि खाता, with the national emblem, for presenting her maiden budget on the 5th of July. While many praised her for dumping the colonial past, few others dubbed it as gimmick. For me, however, a science communicator with limited knowledge in commerce and accountancy, it evoked an interest in knowing more about the double entry accounting system the बहि खाता and Luca Pacioli’s contributions to the modern day accounting system in a globalised market economy.
 My interest primarily stemmed from the fact that very recently, I had an opportunity to be a member of a panel discussion ‘Leonardo Da Vinci : The intersection of Philosophy and Science’, which was organised by Avid Learning and the Italian Embassy to commemorate the 500th death anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci. While researching on the subject, I came across scores of published material, which majorly advocate that Luca Pacioli, a very close companion and associate of Leonardo Da Vinci, is credited with introducing the double entry accountancy system and is referred to as the father of modern accounting.

Although Luca Pacioli is universally considered as the father of modern day double entry accounting, primarily because of his monumental work Summa, which was printed in 1494, there is fair amount of recognition that the ancient system of Indian accounting - the बहि खाता - predates Pacioli. The बहि खाता, some scholars like Lal Nigam argues, is a double-entry system of bookkeeping that was used and continues to be used in India and it predates Pacioli’s Summa by several centuries. Its existence in India, prior to the Greek and Roman empires, suggests that Indian traders may have taken this system with them to Italy and from there the Pacioli’s book helped the double-entry system spread through Europe. The plausibility of this argument gets strengthened when one looks at the spread of the Hindu Numerals and the decimal place value system to the western world through the Arab world.

Although the legendary Indian बहि खाता may have had some merits to its fame, yet global scholars majorly credit Pacioli for introducing double accounting system to the world. Luca Pacioli, a close associate of the par excellence genius, and a symbol of the Renaissance- Leonardo Vinci - introduced the concept of double accounting system to the Italian Businessmen, through his famous treatise, ‘the Summa de Arithmetica Geometria, Proportioniet Proportionalita’ meaning “Everything about Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion”. This book, written as a guide to existing mathematical knowledge, covered five topics including book keeping, for which there were 36 short chapters. This book is regarded as the official beginning of the double entry bookkeeping.

Interestingly enough the first edition of this book, printed in 1494, was auctioned by the Christie’s in New York just last month and this original book fetched a whopping 1.3 million US $ from an anonymous buyer. This book contains mathematical principles of most vital features of the contemporary finance. Luca Pacioli and Leonardo Da Vinci were both a product of the Renaissance and the former was a mathematical genius. Leonardo was more inclined towards military engineering, while Luca towards abstract and pure math. When Pacioli included - Double Entry Bookkeeping, little did he know that he would change the world. Luca's math textbook contained the basic notions that accountants follow today: Assets equal liabilities plus owner's equity (A=L + OE). This system of modern day double entry bookkeeping is the origin of all subsequent book-keeping treatises throughout Europe.

Luca Pacioli, a mathematician monk, was a companion and a friend cum associate of Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo learnt his mathematics from Pacioli and he also contributed a lot of drawings for Pacioli’s monumental book “The Collected Knowledge of Arithmetic, Geometry, Proportion and Proportionality”. The outstandingly elegant mathematical proportions that one witnesses in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting and so also in the Vitruvian Man and his other works owe their genesis to his understanding of mathematics, particularly the ratios and proportions including the divine or the golden ratios that are exemplified in most Gothic architecture. The legendary Leonardo considered Pacioli as his math teacher. In one of his writings, in the to do list, Leonardo reminds himself "Learn multiplication from the root from Maestro Luca”. Luca Pacioli’s book mainly deals with arithmetic and geometry. In one of the small chapters in his monumental book, Pacioli describes the double-entry accounting system, which has entered into the annals of commerce and accountancy and is considered as one of the most influential works in the history of accountancy and capitalism. It was during this period the Gutenbergs printing press had been invented and Pacioli’s book was printed on the new Gutenberg press. This book became an instant hit among the Businessmen and a whopping 2000 copies of this book were printed and the book was also widely translated, copied, and plagiarised across Europe.

Pacioli’s description of double-entry bookkeeping is critical in the development of the accounting profession as we know it today. Pacioli included all of the mathematical knowledge available at the time and this was also the period when the Renaissance thinkers adopted and synthesised Hindu-Arabic mathematics with rediscovered ancient Greek concepts. With the fall of the Constantinople, a large number of mathematicians and other scholars, artists and thinkers migrated from Istanbul to Italy a land which provided an excellent ambience and encouraged free thinking. It is therefore no wonder that these people may have carried with them the Hindu decimal place value number system and other mathematical practices including the the Indian accounting system of बहि खाता, to Florence, Italy.

Pacioli’s Somma was a large and serious undertaking, which took about a year to print in its entirety. This treatise was targeted as an worthy investment for savvy merchants and businessmen, who would make a return through its use and it went on to be the most widely used mathematical text in Italy for 50 years after its publication. Interestingly enough, Pacioli applied for a 20-year copyright extension in 1508 for his book. This evidences the importance and influence of Pacioli’s work, which informed generations of merchants on the basic tenets of bookkeeping, fast calculation, and arithmetic. Professor Ingrid Rowland, daughter of a Chemistry Nobel laureate and a frequent contributor to the New York review of books, writes that this book “may be the most elegant and compendious of all vernacular manuals.Neither a simple primer nor a tome for the learned, the Somma was a serious work made to meet the demand of the burgeoning classes of businessmen, artists, artisans, and merchants in Renaissance Italy”.

Pacioli’s double entry system of accounting envisaged that business transactions of each entry is to be recorded twice – first as a debit and second as a credit. This system was originally developed to reduce mistakes associated with bookkeeping and at the end of the day it was expected that the sum of the debit side should be equal to that of the credit side otherwise, something must have gone wrong somewhere. Luca Pacioli by his ingenious explanation of Double Entry Bookkeeping system made possible modern day international commerce, which eventually led to the opening of the flood-gates to what today we call "The Global Economy." Long live the बहि खाता, and Luca Pacioli.

Can we prepare our youngsters to face Failures, which are as integral to their lives as success are?

Failure is inextricably linked to ones life as much as success, and this is one constant for which there are no aberrations. But then it is a different matter as to how one handles failures in comparison with success, the hard evidence of which the nation witnessed last week, in the tragic death of V G Siddharth, the entrepreneur of Cafe Coffee Day fame, who took the extreme step while failing to effectively combat failure. “I have failed” and “I gave up”, with these dreaded words in a signed, kind of a suicide letter, Siddhartha took the extreme step of jumping into the Netravati River and his body was fished out of the river on July 31st. 

Everybody fails and there are no exceptions to this cardinal dictum and Siddharth was no different. The difference lies in how one faces failures ; what one person sees as a debilitating disappointment another may turn it into an opportunity. Unfortunately in the case of Siddharth, unrelenting pressure from investors and creditors, as well as harassment from tax authorities, perhaps resulted in his extreme form of disappointment leading destiny to play its unscheduled role, aided by inability of Siddharth to handle failures. The lesson that we all must learn from this tragic incident is to prepare ourselves, particularly our youngsters, as much for failures as we are prepared for handling successes and learn to appreciate that failure is integral to ones life and just as we celebrate successes we must learn to handle failures in life.

 
History is abound with failures and some of the most brilliant minds have failed. The best example of which can be seen in Thomas Edison, by far one of the most famous inventors in history. He holds more than one thousand patents and is a name one grows up listening to when it comes to inventions. However, legend has it that while attempting to invent a commercially-viable electric lightbulb, Edison failed more than 10,000 times. When asked how it felt to fail so many times, he merely stated, “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” A profound way to look at failures.

In his best selling book Brilliant Blunders, Mario Livio, unfolds a fascinating story of blunders committed by the best of minds in the world of science. The author in his scholarly insightful work on the lives of five great scientists, Charles Darwin, Lord Kelvin, Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein, speaks of the colossal mistakes committed by these great scientists who made ground breaking contributions, which changed our understanding of the life and our universe. While it is fashionable to bask in the glory of success and advocate books and articles that speak of success, it may be equally important to ask our students to read books on failures and prepare them to celebrate failures as much as successes, which will be the best way forward to prepare our youngsters to face challenges of modern life.

 
Modern world is full of challenges and in order to face today’s extremely complex and multifaceted challenges, we need an overall new attitude towards failure. This is an important issue which needs to be promoted in our society. This must start very early and right at the school education system itself. We need to openly recognize and promote the overall lack of predictability that comes with most real life challenges in the modern world and fundamentally alter the way in which we view and approach failure. We must prepare our youngsters to be better equipped to engineering the fail, which will allow them to master the inextricable linkage of failures in life and prepare them to face challenges of failures.

Kargil Vijay Diwas : Nation owes its debt to Colonel MB Ravindranath - our fellow Ajeet-, the Indian Army (all forces included) and specially to those who made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation.

Two Decades of Kargil Vijay Diwas : Salutations to the Battle heroes who made supreme sacrifice
(My blog posted on 26th July 2019)

This day, 26th July, 20 years ago, will ever be etched in the annals of the bravery of the Indian Armed forces, and befittingly the entire nation joined in  commemorating this momentous occasion in the form of विजय दिवस, which, this year,  was celebrated all across the nation with the theme, ‘Remember, Rejoice and Renew’. The valour of our armed forces in this treacherous war, thrust on us by the enemy in deceit, can best be exemplified by its comparison with the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who, in his famous poem, portrays  the bravery of the 600 men of the Light Brigade, who marched into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell, without asking the reason why, but firmly believing in the orders to do and die in service of the nation. True to the traditions of the Indian Armed forces, more than 500 (527 to be precise) sons of India - Armed Forces - made their supreme sacrifice combating the enemy trenched advantageously on the vantage point on top of the Kargil hills, while protecting our motherland to win the dreadful war, which was as treacherous a valley of death as the one faced by LordTennyson’s Light Brigade.

The entire nation, which included our Honourable President, the Prime Minister of India, the RM, and leaders cutting across party lines and so also the celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and innumerable others, joined in the celebration by paying their respects to our battle heroes and saluting the courage and bravery of our Indian armed forces, who were engaged in some of the fiercest battles to eject out the enemy - the Pakistani army - who had surreptitiously and deceitfully occupied the high-altitude posts in the Kargil area during the Operation Vijay. The indomitable spirit, indescribable determination and supreme valour with which our Armed forces battled in the peaks of death and successfully managed to flush out the enemy entrenched on top of the Kargil peak, will ever remain an army folklore for generations to come. One among those army heroes who was part of this epic battle was our very own Ajeet -student of  Sainik School Bijapur - brethren Colonel, MB Ravindranath, a very dear friend of mine.

Colonel Ravindranath was an exemplary leader and an extraordinarily brave, decorated, military officer who was the Commanding Officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles that captured the Tololing peak, the primary battle, that changed the course of the Kargil war. The capture of the strategically significant Tololing peak - A dominant position overlooking Srinagar- Leh Highway (NH-1D) - was so very important that after it was conquered by Col Ravindranath and his men,   it was only a matter of few weeks for the Indian troops to notch up a string of successes by evicting well-entrenched Paki enemy intruders in the four nearby outposts. Colonel Ravindranath besides being an extraordinarily brave officer who led his men from the front, was also a greater human being and a man who epitomised humility. Most unfortunately Vir Chakra Col. MB Ravindranath died of a massive heart attack in Bangalore in April 2018, leaving the entire Ajeet fraternity in utter shock and disbelief. He was an alumnus (Ajeet) of the the Sainik School, Bijapur (1969-76 batch) just one year senior to us in the school.

It was on the night of 13th of June, 1999, that Colonel M.B. Ravindranath, the commanding officer of the 2 Rajputana Rifles, along with his men scaled the near vertical peak - and a valley of certain death - on which the enemy was entrenched fully armed, to fight the enemy and to eject them to claim the Tololing peak, loosing in the process several of his officers and men who had made their supreme sacrifice in service of their motherland. Colonel Ravindranath, on reaching the Tololing top and hoisting the tricolour, radioed the most awaited message to his commander of the 8 Mountain Division, Major-General Mohinder Puri, camping some 20 km away. It was the most simplest of message, which to General Puri was as profound as the message of Neil Armstrong, when he landed on moon fifty years ago. Colonel Ravindranath messaged to his commanding officer General Puri ‘Sir, I'm on Tololing Top." Until then the enemy was entrenched on top of the Tololing and was able to observe the movement of the Indian soldiers making progress excruciatingly slow. Regardless, Col Ravindranath and his dare devil troops captured the Tololing peak in the Drass Sector after a fierce, night-long hand-to-hand battle. One officer, two JCOs and seven jawans, among his men, had made the supreme sacrifice for the nation and lay dead before him on the most treacherous of rock that often tilted at 80 degrees. The only cover for Ravindranath and his men while capturing the Tololing peak were the prayers of his countrymen and their ammunition a combination of bayonet, bare hands and dare devilishly bravery. It was for good reason that the General Malik had complimented Col. Ravindranath. Once the Tololing was captured by Col Ravindranath and his men, it took just six days for Indian troops to notch up a string of successes by evicting well-entrenched intruders from four nearby outposts with names that had become the talking points across the nation - Point 4590, Rocky Knob, Hump and Point 5140, which was followed by yet another recapture of a similarly strategic height of Tiger Hills.

Books written by General Malik and General Puri on the battle of Kargil provide more insights into the bravery of Colonel Ravindranath and his men and the two appended YouTube links also bear testimony to his extraordinary contributions in Operation Vijay. Col Ravindranath is no more with us for he died of a massive heart attack last year in April but his deeds and those of his men, will remain etched in the annals of Indian history and he will continue to live in the hearts of all Indian specially the Ajeets. A million salutes to you my friend.

Tribute to Sheila Dikshit ji, an extraordinarily Warm and Affable leader who made profound contributions to Delhi.

Tribute to Sheila Dikshit ji, an extraordinarily Warm and Affable leader who made profound contributions to Delhi.

Sheila Dikshit, uniquely blessed with a warm and affable personality and three times (1998-2013) Chief Minister of Delhi and an outstanding contributor for what Delhi is today, passed away this after noon after a massive heart attack at a private hospital in Delhi. Sheilaji personified Delhi and the aspirations of its citizens and her three terms as the Chief Minister of Delhi, was a period of momentous transformation for the nations capital and I was privileged to witness this transformation. She was 81. 

She was one of the most successful Chief Ministers of Delhi and it was during her tenure that Delhi made substantial progress including introducing the largest network of Metros in India and giving the father of Delhi Metro, Er Sreedharan a complete free hand, which ensured that DMRC could complete each of the phases on time and most times before time. The Common Wealth Games in Delhi may have been made infamous due to some of the scams that came to light, yet one thing is certain the landscape of Delhi was completely transformed and for this credit must go to Sheila Dikshit ji. I was one of those hundreds of thousands of people who will be privy to the spectacular achievement that Delhi could achieve in conducting one of the most successful CWG ever to have been organised. Unfortunately undue discredit has been meted out to her because of the infamous CWG scams while no credit whatsoever has been given to her for the success of the CWG which she truly deserves. Most of the Museums and almost every public and cultural spaces were completely transformed and geared up to international standards and we from the National Science Centre played a small role in contributing in this endeavour. We overhauled and completely transformed the Nehru Planetarium, which was in terrible condition and we were also involved in upgrading works of National Museum to international standards besides gearing up our centre for the CWG and for welcoming international delegates.

The National Science Centre had the honour to host Sheila Dikshit ji on three occasions including opening of the Water the Elixir of Life exhibition, for which the funding came from the Delhi Government. Our centre also had the honour to sign the MoU, in the August presence of Sheila Dikshit ji, for completion of this project in record time, which she had informed that she wished to open. True to her commitment she opened this exhibition. It was during her tenure as the Chief Minister that the National Science Centre made giant gains in exponentially increasing the visitors to the centre, primarily because the Delhi Government partnered with us in ensuring that majority of the students visit our centre.

Sheila Dikshit ji also hosted the National Science Seminar students and teachers who came from across the country for participating in the seminar at the National Science Centre, Delhi and spent substantial time with them. She entered the parliament by winning election to become an MP for the first time from Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in 1984. She was a very close associate of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi ji and she was also minister in his cabinet. The pleasing personality that she had ensured that she did not have acrimonious relationship with any of her opponents including Kejriwal who left stone unturned to tarnish her image by spreading canards and unverified and unverifiable allegations against her in his inimitable style. The school education standards in Delhi particularly the government schools is now one of the best in the country for which Kejriwal ji has gone hammer and tongs to claim credit for but the fact of the matter is the foundation for this was laid by Sheila Dikshit ji the fruits of which are now harvested by him.

The passing away of Sheila ji is a huge loss for Delhi and her contribution in transforming Delhi will always be remembered. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and innumerable other leaders, cutting across party lines, paid rich tributes while condoling her untimely demise.

 I join hundreds of thousands of people from Delhi and across the country to pray for her soul to rest in peace.

श्रद्धांजली to the doyen of Museums : Sadashiv Gorakshkar.

Sadashiv Vasantrao Gorakshkar, a veteran and doyen in the field of museums in India - a recipient of the coveted Padma Shri award (2003), who spent more than five decades of his life working with the museums and art and culture institutions in different capacities, including as the Director of the coveted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai - formerly the Prince of Wales Museum - as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Nehru Science Centre , Mumbai and a Member of the Governing body of NCSM, Kolkata, passed away at his residence in Vasind - a pristine location far away from the maddening crowd of Mumbai, which he had preferred - this morning. He was 86 years.

Born in the year 1933, Gorakshkar started his career in Museums as a Lecturer in the Department of Museology MS Baroda University before moving to Mumbai to start his innings with the Prince of Wales Museum (CSMVS), and his tryst with this famed museum ended in 1996, when he retired as the Director of the Museum. Among the museum professionals he mentored include Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the current Director General of the CSMVS under whose leadership the museum has grown from strength to strength and is now counted among the best of Museums not just in India but globally and for this Gorakshkar also needs to be credited. There will be hardly few, particularly those in my age group and higher, in the museum community who may not have interacted with Gorakshkar ji and I am one of those who had the privilege and an opportunity to be associated with. He was very closely associated with our centre from its inception and worked in advisory capacity with the founding fathers of our Council, Dr Saroj Ghose and Mr RM Chakraborty during the formative period of NCSM.

He was one of the chief architects of the Oil and Natural Gas Museum, which was developed by our council, NCSM, on turn key basis at Dehradun. His passion for museums and exhibitions, notwithstanding his frail health, came to the fore when he visited the Uniting India : Sardar Patel exhibition (2016) at our centre and spent substantial amount of time, going through most of the exhibits and holding discussions on the exhibition. He served as one of the members of a committee constituted by the Ministry of Culture for submitting a report on the National Maritime Museum, and I had the honour to be the member secretary of this committee while I was the Director of the NGMA, Mumbai. He possessed Shastri like physical stature and also shared the strong character of Lal Bahudar Shastri ji.

Gorakshkar curated several exhibitions including Maritime Heritage of India to commemorate 250 years of Indian Naval Dockyard, Magnificent Obsession exhibition of the Karl Khandalvala collections, which eventually were graciously gifted by the family to the CSMVS, Lavanya Darpana exhibition in Sweden, Tibetan Art and Culture exhibition “Where Mountains are High and the Land is Pure”, which was opened by His Holiness DalaiLama. He was also involved in mounting some of the significant international exhibitions in countries like Bulgaria, Mauritius, Sweden, Japan. Gorakshkar had the honour to deliver prominent endowment and keynote addresses on various topics of art, history, museology and his publications include A Comprehensive Survey of Eastern India Bronzes, Lavanya Darpana (Mirror of Beauty) exhibition catalogue of the exhibition held in Sweden, Mriga exhibition catalogue held in Japan.

Gorakshkar had the honour to be the President, of the prestigious Commonwealth Association of Museums. He was closely associated with Indian Heritage Society, INTACH His last public assignment was as the Chairman, Archives Advisory Committee, Raj Bhavan, Mumbai. Gorakshkar is the recipient of several awards which include among others Tagore Fellowship, Jeevan Gaurav Purashkar - Chaturanga Prathishta, Sai Ratna Purashkar and the prestigious Padma Shri.

 
The mortal remains of Gorakshkar may have been engulfed by the divine flame during the last rites, which were paid to him by his family, friends and a large number of people including state Government representatives and the Police who joined in the state funeral, but then his services in the field of art, culture and museums will ever remain immortal. Rest in Peace Gorakshkar ji.

Sadashiv Gorakshkar image credit : Ganguly Biswarup, who has been passionately posting photographs on Wiki Commons for the benefit of public.

Last rites image credits Suhas Bahulkar ji.

Nail Biting Sunday : Two exciting close encounters in sporting events and a last minute aborted Chandrayaan 2 Mission.

Nail Biting Sunday : Two exciting close encounters in sporting events and a last minute aborted Chandrayaan 2 Mission. 

Sunday, the 14th of July, was a day full of nail biting moments for TV spectators - particularly in India - which started with the cricket World Cup, 2019, finals played between the hosts England and New Zealand and an equally fascinating Wimbledon finals, played between arch rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. What an exciting finals both these two games turned out to be, the former ending with both teams tied even-steven even after the super over and England declared the eventual winners by virtue of some strange ICC rules, while in the later, Djokovic overcame some anxious moments - including facing two championship points - against the veteran, Federer to win the equally coveted Wimbledon championship in a thrilling marathon five set match. If this excitement was not enough, there was more to come as night progressed. 

The excitement continued for tens of millions of Indians who stayed awake late into the night waiting to watch - live - the historic lift off of the Chandrayaan 2 mission scheduled to take off at 2.51 hours on early Monday morning. Most news channels and the media - both the print and web - had hyped up the launch of Chandrayaan 2 to an unprecedented heights, added to this, the Honourable President of India was to witness this launch live from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, creating that much more excitement in the mission. Incidentally this July also happens to be the 50th year of the historic Apollo 11 Lunar mission, which created history. Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Eagle, carrying three astronauts, landed on the moon on the 20th of July, 1969 and the subsequent small step that Neil Armstrong took on the surface of the moon, has resulted in India taking this giant step forward in space exploration, aiming to launch the Chandrayaan 2 mission and achieve what no other country has so far succeeded, in soft landing its Vikram Lander on the south polar region of the moon, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of mans landing on moon and the centenary of Vikram Sarabhai, ISRO’s founder. 

I was one of those tens of millions of Indians who remained awake late night on Sunday - early Monday morning - to witness live, India make tryst with its moon mission. Many news channels and several other Internet sites and You Tube were beaming live the launch of Chandrayaan 2 mission, for which the count down had begun in the early hours of July 14, 2019, at precisely 6.51 am, the customary 20 hour countdown for the launch. As the final hour of the countdown began so did the excitement, raising the hopes of millions of Indians for the success of the mission and the spacecraft reaching the moon and soft landing on it, which until now had been achieved only by Russia, USA and China. The recent efforts of Israel, and so also the earlier efforts of Japan and European Space agency had met with failures. With the start of the countdown, the clock in the mission control room started ticking backwards, signalling the scheduled launch at 2:51 am on July 15, 2019. The control panel in the launch control room came alive and displayed all the vital parameters of the launch vehicle, which were followed by the initiation of various steps of the launch sequences one by one. Every steps pointed to yet another successful ISRO launch until the initiation of the last significant step in the launch sequence, of filling fuel tanks of the third stage cryogenic rocket with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

At T-156 minutes, 12:15 AM on 15th July, came an announcement of filling of Liquid oxygen. Another 79 minutes of countdown went by and at 1.34 AM, 77 minutes to the scheduled launch (T-77), ISRO tweeted completion of the filling of Liquid Hydrogen and asked the followers to stay tuned for updates. The countdown kept ticking and with it the excitement. With less than an hour for the Chandrayaan 2 launch, suddenly some thing seem to have gone wrong with the launch, reaffirming Murphy’s law. The display screens went blank and the countdown clock stopped ticking, stopping at T-56:24. No one seem to know what exactly had happened, was it a power outage or something more serious, every one including the ISRO officials, who were interacting with the media, were as perplexed as the rest of us, with no specific answers. 

It was very well known that there was a limited window of opportunity for the launching of Chandrayaan mission and as time clicked from seconds to minutes a sense of gloom dawned and the worst fears of abortion of the mission soon came to dawn upon everyone. After waiting anxiously for another 45 minutes or so, an official announcement was made by ISRO representative - my friend, Guruprasad - who read out the official ISRO statement “ A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at T-56 minute and the Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off and the revised launch date will be announced later”. Disappointment it was, but then all space missions are riddled with some of the most difficult technological challenges and there are in place checks and balances to try and minimise the errors which may lead to failures of the missions. Fortunately for ISRO the technical snag was noticed before disaster could vanquish the mission. All those who remained awake late into the night to witness yet another monumental success of ISRO mission were deeply disappointed. But then fortunately the snag was noticed by ISRO before it was too late. Let us hope ISRO manages to correct the technical snag as early as possible and begin the fresh count down. Until then let us all continue to support our scientists and the support staff of ISRO who have made our nation proud on innumerable occasions and will do so for yet another time and succeed in the Chandrayaan 2 mission as well. 

श्रद्धांजली to the Philanthropist, Businessman Basant Kumar Birla.

श्रद्धांजली to the Philanthropist, Businessman Basant Kumar Birla on his First Punyathithi. 

On this very date last year, 3rd July 2019, one of the doyens of the Indian Industry – Shri Basant Kumar Birlathe the philanthropic nonagenarian bid adieu to this world. On the occasion of the first anniversary of the  punyathithi of Shri B K Birla, who is inextricably linked to the very existence of our organisation, which took its birth from the very building in which BK Birla lived,  that was so graciously donated by the Birla family to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India for  the establishment of a world class science museum, it is an honour and privilege for me to post my tribute, which I had paid last year to this great  philanthropic industrialist, whose munificence remains etched in the history of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, the mother Museum to the National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata,

The passing away of the nonagenarian (98 years old) B.K. Birla, the philanthropic Industrialist and grandfather of Kumar Mangalam Birla, and father of Aditya Birla, who died on Wednesday, 3rd July, 2019, in Mumbai, ends an era of philanthropy whose beneficiaries, among innumerable other religious and educational institutions include our very own mother museum, the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM). Just two days ago we celebrated the National Doctors Day on 1st July, as a mark of our respect for medical Doctors whose profession is reverential. 1st July is declared as National Doctors Day in memory of one of the legendary Doctors in India, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, who was awarded the highest honour of India - the Bharat Ratna, - in 1962 in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and Arts.  

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 Kolkata. Dr Roy, approached Ghanashyam Das Birla, father of B K Birla, for donating a suitable plot of 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 the building to Dr Roy for the establishment of the said museum on its premises. Dr Roy called up the Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, and sought his help to support his initiative for staring a world class technology museum in Kolkata.   The honourable Prime Minister of India incidentally also happens to be the President of the premier scientific research institution – the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, in India). Pundit Nehru assigned the task of developing the Technology Museum to the then Director General of CSIR, Prof M S Thacker, who with support from Dr Amalendu Bose, the founding Director, established the BITM, which played a pivotal role in the science museum movement in India and BITM has served as the mother museum for our organisation, the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).

The BITM is housed in the historic and architecturally beautiful building, on 19 A 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 and this building was home to the Birla family. Subsequently this building along with its surrounding area was donated by GD Birla to the government of India (CSIR) for the establishment of our mother museum, BITM, which opened its doors to the public on 2nd May 1959. This building is now popularly known as the Birla Museum, a befitting tribute to the benevolent family who donated this sprawling area and the majestic building. B K Birla and his wife Sarala Birla were frequent visitors to the Birla Museum and on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of the Birla Museum (2009), they spent quite a lot of their time at the Museum interacting with visitors and employees of NCSM and also reminiscing nostalgic memories of their long stay in the Museum building. Shri B K Birla and his wife, Sarla Birla, were very frequent visitors to the Birla Museum. Therefore, when the news of the death of Shri B K Birla trickled in, a gloom of sadness engulfed all of us in NCSM particularly those of us who have started our long career in science museum from this very building. 

The end for the nonagenarian came in Mumbai and the body of B.K. Birla was flown from Mumbai to Kolkata, a city where B K Birla was born and so also his कर्मभूमि, and his पार्थिव शरीर was placed in the Birla Building, next to our Birla Museum, the place and ambience which shaped not just the extraordinary business and philanthropic career of Shri B.K. Birla but also the entire Birla business empire. Most of Industry captains, the Chief Minister and other distinguished citizens of Kolkata came calling to the Birla house to pay their last respect to the departed philanthropist industrialist. True to the very nature and reputations of the Birla’s, B K Birla was humility personified and lived a modest and humble life. The Birla’s have also played a pivotal role not just in the field of business but also in philanthropy and nation building. The father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi ji was very closely associated with Ghanshyam Das Birla. Alongside the Tata’s the Birla business empire and its brand value is very closely in the hearts and minds of Indians, the evidence of which is seen in an often used metaphorical phrase ‘Tata- Birla’, which has made it into the Indian lexicon.

The “Tata Birla” phrase is used when referring to the high and mighty business magnates, who are also known for their extraordinary simplicity, kindness and benevolence. Our organisation, the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is one of the innumerable beneficiaries of the munificence of the Birla in general and B.K. Birla in particular. Perhaps it was therefore providential and a divine coincidence that all the current Directors of the NCSM, which was born out of BITM, had assembled for a Directors meeting at the NCSM headquarters in Kolkata on the day of his demise for a meeting. The first thing that we did before the commencement of the meeting was to pay our reverence and sand in silence for a minute as a mark of our respect for the departed soul. All of us, while paying our homage to the departed soul of B K Birla, requested our colleague, Mr V S Ramachandran, the incumbent Director of BITM, to visit the Birla family for conveying our collective respect and condolences to the bereaved family. Mr Ramachandran paid his last respect to B K Birla on behalf of our entire organisation and in the brief discussion that he had with the Birla family including with B K Birla’s famous son Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mr Ramachandran was informed by the family of the immense interest that B.K. Birla had for the BITM.

The triumphs and tribulations that our organisation - the National Council of Science Museums - has faced, especially during the foundation days and years of the organisation including the troubled times of its separation from the CSIR, were actually shaped at BITM and it was here that the apex national body of science museums and science centres in the country - the NCSM - was born in 1978. It was in this very building - early home to the B K Birla and to his beloved wife Sarala Birla - that most of the founding fathers of the science museum in the country including Dr Amalendu Bose the First Director of Museums and the भीष्मपितामह of science museums in India, the former President of the International Committee of Museums (ICOM), Padma Bhushan, Dr Saroj Ghose, and all the current Directors and the Director General of the Council, and past Director Generals and Directors including yours truly, were baptised in to the museum profession at BITM. Incidentally, I started my NCSM career from this campus in the year 1986. Being completely new to the Museum profession and that too coming from the engineering background with work exerience of working for multinational companies like HP (Blue Star) and Intel ( Micronic Devices), it was not easy for me to adapt to the museum settings where my electronics and communication engineering skill alone would not be sufficient. But then I was fortunate enough to get a boss - Mr Samares Goswami, who too was an electrical engineer from IIT Bombay and he mentored me and gave me all that freedom and complete support and guidance to work on the latest of technologies including the robotics, which we introduced in the science museums and centres. BITM therefore has a special place for me in my museum career.

B.K. Birla and his family members have often times visited BITM and have been overwhelmed that their munificence has led to a massive growth of science museum movement in the country and has touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Mr Basant Kumar Birla, the youngest son, born in the year 1921, of the philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla, remained active in business since the age of 15. He was the visionary of the Birla family, who was instrumental in conceiving, fructifying and managing several business initiatives for the Birla’s starting with his stint as the chairman of Kesoram Industries and tapping into opportunities in sectors like cotton, viscose, polyester, nylon yarns, refractory, paper, shipping, tyre cord, transparent paper, spun pipe, cement, tea, coffee, cardamom, chemicals, plywood, MDF Board etc. People who have worked with him very closely have publicly stated that Basant Birla had a divine intellect, and this providential wisdom enabled him to sift through balance sheets and accounts in minutes and point out salient points, which would have taken several hours for the professionally trained chartered accountants to find out. Notwithstanding his unprecedented success in business and the wealth that followed, he continued to lead a simple Gandhian life.

 

 B.K. Birla’s father’s role in the Indian independence movement and his close association with leaders of the time had helped B.K. Birla to closely observe the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and other national leaders. Perhaps his early acquaintance with such great stalwarts of nation helped BK Birla to imbibe their nation building characteristics. It was perhaps this acquaintance and understanding of national spirit and social service, which helped him in several of his extraordinary charitable ventures and other social works which he continued to engage, particularly in the field of education. Even his business philosophy was heavily influenced by Gandhi’s socio-economic advocacy of trusteeship. Incidentally BK Birla’s marriage was also solemnised by Mahatma Gandhi and therefore it is no wonder that both he and his wife Sarla Birla, led an austere Gandhian life all through their lives. B.K. Birla was known as a perfect gentleman in industry circles.

BK Birla’s philanthropic and charity work has greatly helped build several educational and art institutions of excellence including the internationally acclaimed BITS, Pilani. There is a saying in the industry that his philanthropic works have overshadowed his equally illustrious accomplishments in business. B K Birla is responsible for opening around 25 educational institutions across India and other parts of the world, including a Sanskrit school in Rishikesh, the Birla Public School in Qatar and the BK Birla College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Mumbai. Although not formally trained, B.K. Birla was also a prolific writer, film and music lover, and a collector of rare stamps and coins. One of the veterans in science museums and a friend, Mr Dhaulakandi, the Director of the Pilani Science Museum, often used to speak about B.K. Birla and his kindness. He told us that any interaction with him was always a moment, all his employees would cherish. Birla literally means ‘rare’, and true to this literal meaning Shri B.K. Birla was very rare and will continue to be so for years to come and we at NCSM will eternally remain grateful for his benevolence.

Rest in peace respected Basant Kumar Birla ji, in the heavenly abode which is now home to you.