India's Inspirational Personalities

MohanJ
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Post by MohanJ »

Subramanya Bharathi stands out clearly as the 'National Poet' of India. (He is the only poet to have the honour to be called thus in post-independent India) His songs aroused patriotism of Southerners... the effect can still be felt if one lisens to those songs. He advocated equality of women, of humanity and national unity.

Bharathi Dasan, selfstyled 'Dasan' of Bharathi is also worth mentioning.

C.V Raman, inspite of non-availablity of adequete laboratory facilities, made India proud by sheer willpower combined with intelligence of a genius.
Subramanya Bharati
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Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India
Verrier Elwin, one of the most interesting Englishmen to have worked in India this century, came to his adopted country when he was only 25. A few years later, he moved to a tribal village in the heart of India. He lived most of the rest of his life among the tribals of India, whom he loved and worked for, and about whom he wrote beautifully, intensely and extensively.
Tribal World of Verrier Elwin
Due to his close association with the tribals, he became an authority on their lifestyle and culture. He dedicated his life and money to their betterment. It is only because of him that the adivasis who were lost in the deepest forests became the citizens of free India.

The government of India, after freedom (in 1947) appointed Verrier Elwin as a consultant to reform and improve living conditions for the large number of tribals in India. He served as the chief of the Anthropological Survey of India and documented many many native tribes and lifestyles in central and far east India.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by member_4349 »

In my opinion ;
Guru Gobind Singh Ji , who continues to inpire hundreds of millions .
He laid down his life fighting to save dharma , created the miracle of the Khalsa and reinforced our vitality as a nation in a dark and evil age.

http://www.baisakhi1999.org/toc.htm
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by SandeepA »

Chanakya
Adi Sankaracharya
Guru Gobind Singh
Chatrapati Shivaji
Swami Vivekananda

These 5 men rejuvenated the India of their times by actually refocussing on our core values. They are my most inspiring personalities.

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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Joeqp »

How's this for an inspirational personality: <A HREF="http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story ... 23">Kirpal Kazak</A>
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

The first Engineer to become a Cabinet Minister in independent india. The current Chief Minister of Goa (IIT Graduate) is also an Engineer. Unlike the FSU and China Engineers are not conspicuous in indian political circles, kaushal

Dr.K.L.Rao

Pride of Andhra Pradesh is Padma Bhushan Dr. K.L.Rao. He was born on 6 th June 1902 In Kankipaadu Villages near Vijayawada in Krishna district. His name is Kaanuri Lakshman Rao. He is a world renowned Engineer, Technical Advisor and Specialist and a multifaceted personality. His Father was a Village Attorney. He was brilliant and distinction student right from his childhood.

He took his B.E degree from Madras University and he is the first Student to obtain Master's Degree in Engineering. He worked as a Professor in Rangoon and Burma, later he took his PhD in 1939 from Birmingham University in United Kingdom. He worked as assistant Professor in UK and wrote a book called Structural Engineering and Reinforced Concrete.

After returning to India in 1946 he worked as a Design Engineer for Madras Government. He held the Post of Director (Designs) in Vidyut Commission-New Delhi in the year 1950. He was promoted as the Chief Engineer in 1954.He was a Member of (CWC) Central Ware Housing Corporation and continued to be the Member even after his retirement during 1957-62.

He contested for the Loksabha elections from Vijayawada Constituency in 1962. He worked as UNION MINISTER FOR IRRIGATION AND ELECTRICITY for a period of 10 years. Dr. Rao was a specialist in making models for the Dams. Under his Regime as Union Minister for Water Resources, Dr. Rao designed many Hydro Electric and Irrigation Projects. World's Longest Earth Dam (Masonry) on River Krishna in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh is to his credits. In the First Four Five Year Planning commissions periods, he designed projects like Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Lower Bhavani, Malaam Puja, Kosi, Heera Khud, Chambal, Farahkha, Srisalam and Thungabhadra.

For the Floods Prevention techniques in Ganga and Brahmaputra basin he motivated the construction of Gandhinagar, Jawahar Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar. He wrote a book called 'India's Water Wealth'. For his services to the Nation Dr.K.L.Rao was awarded Padma Bhushan in the year 1963 by Government of India. Andhra University (1960), Roorkee University (1968), Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Universities conferred Dr.Rao with a Honorable Doctarate.

Dr. Rao worked as the Union Minister in Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastry and Indira Gandhi's Cabinet. During his tenure he established Rural Electrification Corporation. His formulation of providing water supplies to the Drought prone areas of Rajasthan, Gujarath, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu from the storage of flood waters of Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers is Today's National Water Grid is an outstanding acheivement.

Vijayawada Thermal Power Station is another feather in his cap. He died on 18 th May 1986.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

I never thought i would live to see the day this would happen. Bravo to President Kalaam for having the courage to take part in the celebration. He was entirely within his rights in refusing to do so. Bravo to Najma Heptullah too. Kaushal

President unveils Savarkar portrait in Parliament

PTI[ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2003 04:00:05 PM ]

NEW DELHI: Ignoring Opposition pleas to stay away, President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday unveiled a portrait of Hindu Mahasabha leader Veer Savarkar in the Central Hall of Parliament at a function boycotted by the entire opposition barring former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.



Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and a host of Union Ministers were present at the function, attended by members of the BJP and its allies including DMK, TDP and Samata.

While Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah, who belongs to the Congress, participated in the function, her party colleague and Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed was not present.



As the President unveiled the portrait, the Central Hall was reverberated with chants of "Swatantryaveer Savarkar Amar Rahe" and "Jab tak Suraj Chand rahega, Savarkar tera naam rahega" (Long live Swatantrayaveer Savarkar).



The unveiling of the portrait had snowballed into a major controversy with Opposition parties deciding to boycott the function and also asking the President to stay away from it.



Congress President and Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi had on Tuesday joined leaders of other Opposition parties and wrote to Kalam not to take part in the function in view of a "serious controversy" in the matter.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

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posted 06 March 2003 06:31 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Vartak wanted the following published in the English media newspapers, but none has agreed to do so. Its about the unveiling of statue of Veer Savarkar. Dr. P. V. Vartak, a great admirer of Veer Savarkar and a keen student and authority on Veer Savarkar's life. He also happens to be the classmate of a close family friend. The message was forwarded to me by this family friend. If this is not the right thread, please feel free to move it.

QUOTE

It was a great folly to oppose unveiling of the portrait of Veer Savarkar. The opposition said that Savarkar wrote letters to the Govt. for excuses, showing total submission. It is true that he wrote letters, but is it not wise to consider the background and the tactics played by Savarkar, a great tactician revolutionary? Savarkar writes in 'My Transportation' thus ? "We may accept the conditions of the Govt, which will not amount to treachery to our nation, and get released. After release we can work again for the nation." Savarkar was telling this to all the political prisoners in the Andaman's Cellular jail, giving examples of the letters written by Shivaji the Great, to Mirza Jayasinha, Afzalkhan ,etc. along with actions of the Lord Shri Krishna and Guru Govind Sinha etc. "To deceive enemy is the Truth" said Savarkar following Shri Krishna. Accordingly when, later, he got released from jail to the house arrest in Ratnagiri, he gave miraculous service to our nation. He removed untouchability from Ratnagiri, Malavana etc. He taught scientific attitude to the masses removing superstitions.

Even Gandhiji was fascinated by Savarkar's work and praised him from heart.

Savarkar has clearly stated that the political behaviour has to be modified according to the circumstances and new tactics have to be played; but the opposition did not care to read this.

In the letter to the Govt. Savarkar began, " The mighty alone
can be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return, but to the parental doors of the Govt.?". "Only the mighty can be merciful" is a general statement. The king is supposed to be the father of the subject or the people ruled by him, so Savarkar wrote in that sense. Is it wrong ?

Beginning like this Savarkar demanded in the same letter some legal rights and reliefs. Thus it was not prostration before the Govt. The Govt. replied that his previous history is so formidable that no legal relief can be given. Savarkar wrote back that if it was so, why should he behave honestly? If legal reliefs are not granted, we will go on strike, stop all work. This application was also rejected. Hence Savarkar went on strike. He was beaten up severely, when he told the jailer, " If you harass like this, beyond the law, we will retaliate in the same fashion." Is this called as prostration?

On 16-11-1913 Sir Rejinauld Kradock met Savarkar in Andaman when Savarkar talked frankly, so angrily he threatened Savarkar. Savarkar went on strike and demanded that either the political prisoners be given first class, or they be treated as ordinary prisoners and be released to give clerical job; or they be transferred to the Indian jails and given legal reliefs. These demands were granted in Dec.1914. However, only Savarkar was not granted any legal relief . Savarkar had wirtten a letter to the Govt that " in the shadow of the war with Germany the conditions in India may be causing anxiety to the Govt and the Govt. may want to know the reactions of the revolutionaries. Therefore, I want to state that if the Govt is ready to give India the Colonial Self Govt, I swear that all the revolutionaries will cease their activities and will assist the British in the war. I am not writing this for my release; you may release all revolutionaries except me, even then I will be happy." Is this total submission to British?

In 1920, Savarkar told the Jail Commission, " We always, first,
try to get the political benefit as per law. If the legal way gives success any revolutionary will follow the legal path. Nobody is tired of his life to do assassinations willfully. Because the legal way failed, we tried this dangerous path, not because of fancy or whim." Savarkar repeated the same in 1921 & 1923.

Savarkar further stated, " If some nation assaults British, we will fight for their freedom too."

It is a folly to say that Savarkar had a hand in Gandhiji's
assassination, so many years after his acquittal and it amounts to the Contempt of the Court, for which those speakers should be prosecuted.

Savarkar never backed Jeenah. Savarkar only told the Truth that the Muslims behave as a separate nation and have faiths, not in India, but outside, and they are not loyal to India. Only Veer Savarkar opposed vehemently the vivisection of India. On the contrary, Rajaji, Nehru, Patel and Gandhiji consented the division on communal grounds. Savarkar has defined 'Hindutva' in a scientific manner, in a secular way, that any one, who believes India as his holy land and father's land, be held as Hindu; his religion may be different. Savarkar held Hinduism as a nation and not as a religion.

However nobody considers what Savarkar defined. Savarkar never hated Muslims and Christians and other religions. To spread literacy he taught Muslim and Christian prisoners in Andaman and other jails. Govt reports state that wherever Savarkar was imprisoned the literacy rose to ninety per cent among the prisoners. Savarkar celebrated Dasara i.e.Vijaya Dashami festival in London and invited Muslims, Christians, Sikhs etc. Due to his loving force all gathered enthusiastically. Savarkar made Gandhiji the chairman for that celebration. After Savarkar's enlightening speech Gandhiji delivered presidential speech when he said, " I wondered how Dasara, a Hindu festival, is celebrated in London and youths from all religions gathered together affectionately. I feel honoured by the opportunity to sit near Savarkar. Let our country get the fruits of his sacrifice and his extreme devotion to India, permanently. Everybody assembled here should learn Savarkar's words by heart and respectfully honour him."

Barrister Asafali said on 15 Aug.1947 in America, " Today the
national flag hoisting in Delhi should have been performed at the hands of Veer Savarkar. I had suggested this to Pandit Nehru, but unfortunately he did not heed".

Savarkar suffered 22 various sentences in Andaman for many days. If the opposition leaders are given any one of those sentences for even one day or if they are forced to squeeze 30 lbs of oil in a day by that oilmill, the famous 'Kolu' , they will not dare to speak against Veer Savarkar, the Great Hero.

Speaker Shri Manohar Joshi has done a great work by unveiling a
portrait of Veer Savarkar, who spread scientific temper throughout his life, in India, by the hands of the President Abdul Kalam, who is a great scientist, in the parliament hall.

***
Dear Editor, please publish this letter in your famous, popular newspaper.
Thanks.
Yours Truly,
P. V. Vartak
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Post by Kaushal »

The imprisonment of Savarkar in the Andamans(for sedition) was a great blot on British honor and British justice and the British Raj in India. It is an even greater blot on those in India who defend his imprisonment.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

Sita Ram Goel- 80 yrs completed
Author: Navratna S. Rajaram
Publication: Bhartiya Pragna
Date: February 2002

==============
Sita Ram Goel:
THE DOYEN OF HINU INTELLECTUAL IDEANATION ====================

The founder of voice of India, an 'intellectual' Kshatriya' par excellence, completes 80 years

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siata RAm Goel as a FOUNDER OF Voice Of India SCHOOL OF THOUGHT:

In December 2001, Sri Sita Ram Goel, scholar, writer, publisher, and creator and mentor of a vigorous school of thought rooted in Sanatana Dharma, completed 80 years.

It is not easy to describe this many-sided man, but the phrase 'intellectual kshatriya' first used to my knowledge by David Frawley appears most appropriate. How are we to describe an intellectual kshatriya? Fortunately Sri Aurobindo has already done it for us:

****************************
"[Such a person] should be absolutely unsparing in our attack on whatever obstructs the growth of the nation, and never be afraid to call a spade a spade. Excessive good nature will never do ... in serious politics.

Respect of persons must always give way to truth and conscience... What India needs especially at this moment is aggressive virtues, the spirit of soaring idealism, bold creation, fearless resistance, courageous attack; of the passive tamasic inertia we already have too much."
****************************

------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY ACQUINTANCE WITH SITA RAM GOEL:

I know no one who exemplifies these qualities better than Sri Sita Ram Goel.
My acquaintance with Sri Goel goes back to 1993. Remarkably enough it came about through Leftist circles, when the well-known feminist sociologist Smt Devaki Jain passed on to him a transcript of my lecture on the Aryan invasion theory. (Smt. Jain is the daughter of the late M.A. Srinivasan who was a close family friend of ours.)

Sri Goel then contacted me, asking if he could publish it as a Voice of India booklet. I agreed and sent him another transcript-of a lecture given at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai. He published these as a small book, Aryan Invasion of India: The Myth and the Truth.

He soon published two more of my books on the same theme-The Politics of History and Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization, the latter with David Frawley now in its third edition.

This was followed by the publication of my books on Christianity and Islam, most recently Profiles in Deception: Ayodhya and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which happens to the first study of the Dead Sea Scrolls by anyone outside the Judeo-Christian tradition publisher in India. (My earlier book on the Dead Sea Scrolls had appeared in England.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
SITA RAM GOEL AS A SERIOUS PUBLISHER:

I mention these facts only to point out that Sri Goel has been as important a pioneering publisher as a scholar and writer. In fact I regard him as the foremost serious publisher in India whose work has led to the creation of the most important school of thought in the Indian humanities today, the Hindutva School in all its diversity in this regard, his publishing house Voice of India has been more like a research center and think tank than a commercial house.

MARXISTS and SECULARISTS RUN FOR COVER:

While the Marxists and the anti-Hindu 'secularists' are running for cover, desperately clinging to what is left of their perks and positions (their influence is all but gone), many of the positions advocated by Sri Goel are moving into the mainstream. He was twenty years ahead of his time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHUNNED BY ENGLISH MEDIA:

Though the English language media continues to shun his name, his influence is proving to be significant and growing.

Discussion of Jihad is now all the rage, often found on the front pages of newspapers, but no one mentions two important books published by Voice of India- Suhas Majumdar's Jihad. The Islamic Doctrine of Permanent War and Goel's own The Calcutta Koran Petition.

The latter is probably the best introduction available on the theory and practice of Islam, compiled by drawing upon both Islamic scripture and history. It is the same story when it comes to ancient history.

The Aryan invasion theory is now on its last legs, its only support coming from Christian missionaries and Communists-now practically one and the sameyet Voice of India and Aditya Prakashan (also founded by Sri Goel) have published more scholarly works refuting the Aryan invasion and providing alternatives than all other publishers in the world put together. And this is only a sample.

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VOICE OF INDIA SCHOLARS:

While the media is beginning to recognize the contribution of several Voice of India authors like: -- David Frawley,
-- Koenraad Elst,
-- Shrikant Talageri,
--and this writer,

it continues its policy of ignoring Sri Goel.

Recently, a national weekly did a feature on Koenraad Elst as a major voice on Hindutva but said not a word about Sri Goel and his publications, without which Elst (and a few others) might have remained in obscurity.

It is time that the media, the English language media in particular, dropped its petty prejudices and recognized Sri Goel as a major voice and a national asset. The Government should also recognize him with a suitable national award.

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A HISTORIAN AND INCISIVE ANALYST:

As a writer, Sri Goel is best known for his incisive and uncompromising analysis of Islam as a political ideology and its impact on Indian history. His range of knowledge, however, is much wider. For example, in 1996 when I acquainted him with the work I was doing with Natwar Jha on the decipherment of the Indus script, he immediately grasped its significance.

He went on to point out that like the Indus script, Gurumukhi was also written without vowels. This led Jha and me to explore the origins of northwestern scripts, particularly Landa and Morea, which were once in use in areas where the Indus script was widely distributed. I can only contrast this with the illiterate but pretentious response of some 'eminent' academics in India and abroad.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
SITA RAM GOEL and HIS MENTOR MAHAYOGI RAM SWARUP:

This brings up another facet of Sri Goel's character: though obviously aware of his own worth, he freely acknowledges the contribution of others. He has worked closely with the late Ram Swarup, and the following statement made at a lecture bears eloquent testimony to Sri Goel's generosity and modesty:

************************
"...It would have been in the fitness of things if the speaker today had been Ram Swarup, because whatever I have written and whatever I have to say today really comes from him. He gives me the seed ideas which sprout into my articles ... He gives me the framework of my thought. Only the language is mine.

The language also would have been much better if it was his own. My language becomes sharp at times; it annoys people. He has a way of saying things in a firm but polite manner, which discipline I have never been able to acquire."
************************

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NEED TO GIVE HIM HIS DUE:

Many would disagree with this self-assessment-that insights came from Ram Swarup while he did little more than give them shape. My experience is that Sri Goel has many insights to contribute. I already gave an example relating to the Indus script. The second part of his statement with regard to his language comes from the experience of some who accuse him of being abrasive.

But in the overall scheme of things, in the light of his magnificent contribution, it is at the most a minor irritant. I sometimes feel that he has made his task of gaining support for his views unnecessarily difficult because of his way of expressing dissent, and some people's excessive sensitivity to it. Happily, there are now winds of change and the ideas he propounded and propagated are proving their worth. It is time that the people of India, the media in particular, gave him his due.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOEL AS A MULTIFACETED HINDU INTELLECTUAL:

I owe him personal gratitude not only because he published my books, but even more, for being the medium for some memorable friendships, especially of the late Ram Swarup. I still remember with warm feeling the one small favor that I did for Ram Swarup shortly before his death, of translating a few articles in French at his request.

Sri Goel is a prolific writer. It is not easy to pick one or two works as his most significant.
Nonetheless I would recommend The Calcutta Koran Petition and his monumental two-volume compilation, Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them.

Written in finely chiseled English with scrupulous attention to facts and sources, they are indispensable to every serious student of India. (His Hindi is no less distinguished.) A collection of his writings should be compiled and prescribed as a text for all students of history. The Government also should recognize his contribution by a suitable award and instituting scholarships in his name.

Let us join the nation in saluting this heroic figure as he completes eighty years.

============================================
Voice OF India: ( http://www.bharatvani.org ):

Humanity faces difficult times. Its deeper spiritual vision and values enshrined in various indigenous religions and cultures of the peoples of Asia, Europe, Africa and the two Americas have been under the attack of monolatrous creeds(Chrisitanity, Islam) claiming to be the only true religions.

Hinduism along with other members belonging to its family too has been under their attack, physical and ideological.

Bharatvani Institute aims at providing an ideological defence of Hindu/native pagan religions and native peaceful cultures through a series of publications.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Yogeshwar »

Pandurang Shastri Athavale Known as "Dada"

Winner of the Tempelton Award. Transformed the lives of millions.

Educates millions about True (non-ritualistic & non-blind faith) origins and meanings of Vedic Culture that is applicable even in the 21st century.

Never accepts Charity. Never expects any.

A MUST READ for all
http://www.dadaji.net/
http://www.swadhyay.org/ar2.htm
http://www.swadhyay.org/ar3.htm
http://www.utexas.edu/students/dbt/docs/main.html
http://www.younginfluencers.com/pdf%20files/vol4_01.pdf
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

Wealth by itself does not make for an inspirational personality but the processes by which wealth may be accumulated may be inspiring of simulation. Note also the gender invasion of the wealthy.

Tendulkar, Bachchan join India's richest

Infosys chief N R Narayan Murthy comes fourth with wealth of Rs 47 billion. The Hinduja family is at ninth position with riches of Rs 18 billion. There are three women in India's top 20 - Thermax CEO Anu Aga, HSBC chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai and herbal "czarina" Shahnaz Husain.

Tendulkar's rise from humble beginnings to where he is today was documented by the report. "Tendulkar comes from a lower middle class Maharashtrian family, studied in a Marathi school and lived in a community chawl in Bandra (East), a suburb in Mumbai," it said.

"Not only is Tendulkar talented on the field, he has also been smart off it," said advertising expert Prahlad Kakkar, who has directed several advertisements featuring the cricketer.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Antim »

Did anyone yet mentioned:

1. Bhai Parmanand (freedom fighter).
2. Swami Dayanand ( religious and social reformist; first one to propound 'swadeshi' and female literacy)
3. Pundit Nain Singh ( One of the greatest discoverer of 19th century; charted map of tibet as a spy).
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Guest »

Originally posted by SandeepA:

Swami Vivekananda

I think this remarkable man is hardly given the credit he deserves. The ex-director of IIT-M (Dr. N.V.C.Swamy) used to give lectures on the lives of Swami Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The latter basically single-handedly upheld Hinduism in the US, during the Chicago parliament of religions, and after, to the extent that Americans started questioning their missionary activities in India. He's done a lot of work in India as well, for one- establishing the RK mutt. All in all, one of the most remarkable personalities of the last century.

Sudarshan
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Post by S Bajwa »

2. Swami Dayanand ( religious and social reformist; first one to propound 'swadeshi' and female literacy)
There were many before Dayanand for female literacy like Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Angad Dev and Guru Amardas. Also.. Baba Ram Singh Namdhari was first one to boycott british manifactured clothes and asked people to use Khadi about 70 years before Mohandas Gandhi.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Sridhar »

Another of India's tall personalities - V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, immortalized as Kappal Otia Tamizhan (literally translated as the Tamil who sailed a ship). He got that sobriquet for starting a Steamship company as part of the Swadeshi movement (so as to deny the British any earnings on that account).

The following story is an extremely interesting account of an exchange of letters between VOC, as he was commonly called and Mahatma Gandhi. He was (and remained till the end) a supporter of the so-called 'extremist' camp of the Congress - being a supporter of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/01/26/stories/2003012600160200.htm

An interesting fact that I learnt through this article is that Gandhiji knew how to read and write in Tamil. A facsimile of a letter he wrote to VOC in Tamil is also in the article.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Prateek »

May be this should explain why TOI is pro Pakistani ?

I am not sure if this is the right place for this thread..

Jinnah’s friend, Nehru’s foe
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=21768

Ramkrishna Dalmia, the first Indian owner of The Times of India, was undoubtedly one of our most colourful industrialists. Starting today, a three-part extract from Father Dearest, written by Neelima Dalmia Adhar, one of his 18 children from six wives.

Dalmia’s strong words never offended Jinnah. His thin lips pursed into a downward sneer, making his gaunt cheeks look even more hollow. Living under the shadow of death, breathing through lungs ravaged by the dreaded tuberculosis, Jinnah said, ‘‘I do not speak frequently, Dalmia, but I speak at the appropriate time. Perhaps we could have arrived at an amicable settlement because of you. Your selfish love for your motherland and your deep affection for me makes you the most competent man to have negotiated it. But mark my words — your leaders are not worthy of your loyalty.’’ Indeed prophetic words of a dying man!.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

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Post by Reg »

A lovely tribute paid to Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan by a Pakistani (who still has an Indian heart). Nice!

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag10.htm
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Mann »

Originally posted by Nalwa:
In my opinion ;
Guru Gobind Singh Ji , who continues to inpire hundreds of millions .
He laid down his life fighting to save dharma , created the miracle of the Khalsa and reinforced our vitality as a nation in a dark and evil age.

http://www.baisakhi1999.org/toc.htm
Guru Gobind Singh is Ideal for many non Sikhs. He has always inspired me.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Bhrigu »

One of the many who went back !!!

http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99jun03/edit.htm#7
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Umrao »

"The man who designed Tiranga Few of us associate the name of Pingali Venkayya with anything else other than as being the original designer of the national flag. But how many of us know that this versatile genius was a prolific writer, a Japanese lecturer and a geophysicist? Born on August 2, 1876 to Hanumantharayudu and Venkataratnamma at Bhatlapennumaru in the Divi taluk in Krishna district, Pingali was a precocious child. After finishing his primary education at Challapalli and school at the Hindu High School, Masulipatnam, he went to Colombo to complete his Senior Cambridge. Enthused by patriotic zeal, he enlisted himself for the Boer war at 19. While in Africa he met Gandhi, and their rapport lasted for more than half a century. On his return to India he worked as a railway guard at Bangalore and Madras and subsequently joined the government service as the plague officer at Bellary. His patriotic zeal, however, did not permit him to stagnate in a permanent job, and his quest for education took him to Lahore where he joined the Anglo-Vedic College, and learnt Japanese and Urdu. He studied Japanese and history under Prof Gote.

During his five years? stay in the north, he became active in politics. Pingali met many revolutionaries and planned strategies to overthrow the colonial rule. The 1906 Congress session with Dadabhai Naoroji witnessed Pingali emerging as an activist and a force behind the decision making committee. Here he met the famous philanthropist, the Raja of Munagala, and from 1906-11, he spent his time in Munagala researching on agriculture and the crops. For his pioneering study on the special variety of ?Cambodia cotton?, he came to be called ?Patti Venkayya?. Even the British were taken up by his contributions in the field of agriculture and conferred on him honorary membership of the Royal Agricultural Society of Britain.

Finally, this man went back to his roots at Masulipatnam and focused his energies on developing the National School (at Masulipatnam), where he taught his students basic military training, horse riding, history and knowledge of agriculture, soil, crops and its relation to nature. Not content with being a theoretician, Pingali's day-to-day activities also reflected a deep commitment to his liberal values. In 1914, he turned his agricultural land into an estate and named it Swetchapuram.
The prismatic colours of his personality reflected an unusual ray in the years 1916-21. After researching into 30 kinds of flags from all over the world, Pingali conceived the design of a flag which became the forbearer of the Indian national flag. Though all credit goes to Pingali for having conceived the national flag in its present form, its antecedents can be traced back to the Vande Mataram movement."

http://in.geocities.com/dil_dollat_hai_teri/Indian_Flag.htm
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

I came across this in another site. Apparently this gentleman passed away recently

"Dr. Nitu Mandke, MS, DM (Cardiology)
Honorory Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon

This gentleman has performed over 10,000 heart surgeries.

He had some feats in his kitty. Some very complex surgeries involving
significantly multiple grafting was done by him.

He never used to charge economically weaker people and many social
workers (Considering such group of people take some "Negotiated" fees
from patients /relatives)"

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/22nitu.htm
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Abhijit »

IIRC, Dr. Mandke was also a general secretory of BJP some time ago - or he was some office-bearer of VHP ? He was a great surgeon though and a great help to poor patients.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Vikram »

The heroism of Onakke Obavva has always inspired me. It takes a lot of courage to single-handedly kill a lot of soldiers using a pestle as a weapon.. especially when the soldiers were from the well-trained army of Hyder Ali and their nemesis was a woman.
During the reign of Madakari Nayaka, the city of Chitradurga was beseiged by the troops of Hyder Ali. A chance sighting of a woman entering the Chitradurga fort through a crack hole in the rocks led to a clever plan by Hyder Ali to send his soldiers through the crack hole. The defence guard on duty of the port near that crack hole had just gone home as usual asking his wife to guard till he is back from his lunch. The wife of that guard, Obavva while in her temporary seat, noticed the soldiers emerging out of this crack, Obavva was not perturbed. As she was carrying with her, the Onake (a wooden long club meant for pounding paddy grains) she killed and quietly moved the dead, so that hundreds of them entered and fell, without raising any suspicion. The guard, Obavva's husband, upon his return from his lunch was shocked to see Obavva standing with a blood stained Onake and hundreds of dead bodies of the enemy fleet around her. Though her sincere brave attempt saved the fort this time, Madakari could not resist the attack of 1799 by Hyder Ali. The fort of Chitradurga was lost for Hyder Ali once for all.
http://prabhu.50g.com/vijayngr/chitra_nayakas.html
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

A reminder to people in the Bay Area about the screening of the Savarkar movie this weekend and the next.

http://www.calaaonline.com/page18.html
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kuttan »

Amazing. A decent article by Sheila Bhatt on LKA.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jun/07spec.htm
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

But I certainly give credit to Nehru for strengthening democracy in India after Independence.

I couldnt agree more. Pt. Nehru is the one person I credit with fostering democratic principles in the modern era in India. He had no need to do so. If he had so decided he could have easily turned a dictator like Nasser or Tito or Soekarno or Khwame Nkrumah , all of whom were his buddies in NAM, with an adoring nation. But he stood for a larger principle and for that India will always be eternally grateful to this great man.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Prateek »

Don't know where to post this one...
Why Sonia is against the Sangh
http://sify.com/news/pioneer/fullstory.php?id=13165174

Greenhorn as she is in the wonderland of Indian politics, Ms Sonia Gandhi has the added disadvantage of having been born and brought up in an alien land and culture. No wonder most of the time she is still a 'reader' and not a 'leader' and frequently underscores the sad reality (through her words and silence as well) that she is yet to mature and strike roots in the Indian tradition. Her faux pas outside Rashtrapati Bhavan when she claimed a majority after the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government in 1999 is still fresh in the mind. Also the fact she could resort to slander, such as in Guwahati last August when she said "the Prime Minister has lost his mental balance".
The lady can also resort to distortion of palpable realities as she recently did in Srinagar. Her Congress ka haath may arguably be garib ke saath, but her valedictory speech at the Chief Ministers' conclave clearly showed where Congress ka heart lies. Her prickly utterances against nationalistic organisations like the RSS and Saraswati Shishu Mandirs show that it lies with jihadis and Islamic fascists threatening the peace of not only India but her country of origin, Italy, as well.

If Ms Sonia Gandhi is keen on crushing the Sangh, let her make an attempt. Such attempts had been made in the past by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. But history shows that neither the British nor their ideological successors in the 'secular' establishment of free India have been able to counter the Sangh because it is deeply rooted in Indian traditions. As for what is taught in the Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, it is character-building, love for India, reverence for its epics, pride in the country's freedom fighters and regard for elders. It is an open curriculum for anybody to see. I have no doubt that civil society will crush the 'crushing' mindset of the Congress sooner rather than later.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Kaushal »

A reminder to people in the Bay Area about the screening of the Savarkar movie this weekend and the next.

http://www.calaaonline.com/page18.html


I was able to go for the screening of the movie (and was able to convince my wife to see it too). We enjoyed it. It was a sombre movie but well taken and of a high technical quality. The acting by the Savarkar character (Shailendra Gaur ?) was exceptional. I was very moved by the whole movie and the dialogues were excellent.

It is being shown both this weekend and the next in the Bay area.
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Re: India's Inspirational Personalities

Post by Murali »

A very inspiring article about our President

(Since, I am having trouble posting just the URL, I am posting the entire article. This is from OUTLOOK. For those who need to know, when I post the URL the error message says 'Sorry, we do not permit this HTML tag: Parenthesis in HTML tag ', Let me know if there is a solution to this)


THE crowd began collecting from the early hours, lining both sides of the newly-laid road from Paliganj to the Bodhgaya helipad in Bihar, unmindful of the long wait in the blistering 45°C heat. These are the kind of underfed people—men and women, old and young—politicians usually hire for their rallies, but there were no tell-tale signs of hired buses. Finally, in a flurry of dust, a stream of 26 white Ambassadors began speeding through the waiting crowds. The villagers would probably have returned to work satisfied with this passing glimpse, but suddenly to their delight, the car at the centre of the motorcade halted, and the silver-maned man they had been waiting for stepped out to shake hands and wave. In little more than 10 months, scientist and missile man A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who everybody dismissed as a political ingenue, too naive to handle the republic's top post, is drawing crowds that would be the envy of most prime ministers."There have not been such enthusiastic crowds in Bihar since Indira Gandhi came here," said a bemused district official as the crowds surged past the securitymen to shake hands with the country's 11th and most unusual president.

Only a fortnight ago, when President Kalam was visiting Orissa to inspect cyclone shelters, the crowds at the helipad were so unmanageable that officials had to resort to a measure that wasn't spelt out in the Blue Book: hire an open jeep and parade the president around to the waiting villagers. Rashtrapati Bhawan officials have now become resigned to the president racing across the barricades and past securitymen, to not only shake hands but even stop for a brief but intense exchange. And when it's impossible to stop while driving to acknowledge their greetings, the president does the next best thing: switches on the overhead lamp inside his car to ensure that he's clearly visible and then wave out to the crowds.This unusual ability to draw crowds wherever he goes could partly be ascribed to curiosity. After all, Kalam is the most talked-about president we have had so far, forever in the news for his unconventionality. He ignored advice to cut his long hair or change his tailor. He insisted on inviting schoolchildren for his investiture. Famously impatient of the ceremony that surrounds his post, he refused to let an attendant take his shoes off at the samadhis of national leaders, even leaving them behind in his car and padding around barefoot.
As he did when he went to a school in Karnataka last week, personally serving a midday lunch of curd and rice to rows of schoolchildren. Forced to switch over from his trademark bushshirt and trousers to bandhgala, he dispensed with the rigid dress code for his receptions, even mingling with his guests in the most informal manner. He is equally impervious to ceremonial forms of address, telling a schoolteacher in Orissa to cut out the 'Your Excellency' and proceed with her question. At every convocation he presides over, he insists that students be moved to the front row "so that he can see them when he is speaking". And if organisers ignore his request, as they did at Baripada's North Orissa University convocation last month, he rushes down the stage the instant the function is over, cutting through the vip-packed front rows to talk to the students sitting at the back of the hall. He has thrown open the Rashtrapati Bhawan for public durbars on two occasions, Id and Diwali. Lasting an hour-and-a-half each, these were no durbars in the usual sense: the president went around shaking hands and talking to individuals in the 6,000-strong crowd that had assembled without a prior appointment.

He calls up journalists on reading their newspaper reports to personally discuss the issues involved.Besides, he has invited an astounding range of people, including schoolchildren, teachers, scientists, the disabled, development activists, doctors, museologists, farmers, and engineers from across the country, for chat sessions. He has transformed the sleepy, pensioner's pace of the Rashtrapati Bhawan with a couple of engagements a day into an 18-hour working day fitting in as many as seven to ten engagements in his day's overflowing schedule.

He has a fan club, plays the veena, composes poems for all occasions; he gives out autographed cards, with his portrait and a little "knowledge" verse, embossed with the national emblem and with his e-mail address, responding to about 400 e-mails every day. His staff is so enamoured with the new president that one of his security cops, Radhakrishna Pant, composed a poem hailing the "president of hearts". His autobiography, Wings of Fire, has become a runaway bestseller with over 2,00,000 copies sold.Kalam is a peripatetic president who has already visited 21 states in the 10 months he has been in office. This is possibly more than what most presidents manage to do in five years. He packs in as many as 15 programmes into these whirlwind tours, arriving the night before to fit in as much as possible into his tight schedule, often staying up till midnight to meet his many admirers, and travelling to relief camps in riot-affected Gujarat, cyclone shelters in Orissa, or farmers in Paliganj in the Nalanda district of Bihar. He meets the state's lawmakers, secretaries, entrepreneurs, development activists and, of course, students and teachers. Add to that Kalam's self-devised rule that if he visits a place of worship of one community, he has to visit a shrine or church of each of the other major religions. Even an election campaign would pale in comparison.He also seems to have an unerring instinct for the right gesture: he cancelled the traditional Rashtrapati Bhawan Iftar party during the month of Ramzan, donating the money to orphanages; he arranged to meet with a cobbler in Kerala. He talked long distance to a 14-year-old boy in a remote Tripura village and arranged for his heart surgery by specialists from Hyderabad's care Hospital. Among the invitees on his famous rail trip from Harnaut to Patna, for instance, was a 10-year-old schoolgirl from a government-run school near the state capital, Sangeeta Kumari, the daughter of a watch-mender, who got a chance of a lifetime to chat with the president and ride in his saloon car. And when he saw a newspaper photograph of schoolgirl Minnuz Fatima in tears because she had missed meeting the president and getting his autograph, he took the pains to find her address and send her his autographed card with a letter of greeting. But these are no random or politic gestures. President Kalam has always been a man with a mission: to make the best use of his five years in Rashtrapati Bhawan in promoting his dream of making India safe, prosperous and enlightened—in short, a developed nation—by the year 2020. "He believes that within his constitutional role he has the scope as president to motivate and inspire people from different sections of society to work towards this goal," says an official.

A vital part of this vision is firing up schoolchildren, especially those in high school, who will be the adults running the country in 2020. It was not a mere whim that prompted him to invite schoolchildren for his swearing-in. "There are 300 million children in the country—almost a third of our population," he has pointed out. "If I influence even one in thousand out of them, think what a difference I can make." Working overtime to meet as many high school students as he can, the president calls them in groups on his official tours and even invites them over regularly to Rashtrapati Bhawan."My goal is to meet a lakh children in one year," he told a child soon after he became the president. But with two months left before his first year is up, he has already met over 1.5 lakh children from public schools, government-run schools, schools in slum areas, corporation-run schools, even a school for the children of bonded labourers. "We get 8-10 requests for appointments daily from schools all over India," says an official.

These are no mindless, target-geared meetings, but a "grand adventure" as President Kalam once described it. His staff has now become accustomed to laying out the full, awesome treatment for President Kalam's little guests. Seated in an informal circle around him, it takes less than a few minutes before tongue-tied awe is replaced by candour—when the scientist president is asked some of the "most powerful questions". Like "How can you as a President help this country grow?" Or, "What can I as a student do for my country?" Charmed by "Chacha Kalam", they tell him things they have never told adults before. One schoolchild, for instance, confided to the president that she made her father give up smoking. Confessions like these have convinced the president that the way to change parents is by reaching out to their children.

In fact, some would say he even treats ministers like children. At the series of breakfast meetings he had in the first three months with them, for instance, the MPs were given some lessons on development. With the aid of flow charts, always painstakingly prepared over the previous night, a large screen and a laser pointer, President Kalam confronted the MPs of each state with development indicators. Few dared to ask questions, but the president himself had a poser. "Wherever I go I meet a lot of children," he told one group, "and each time I ask them, 'who is your role model', sometimes they say it is a scientist, or a teacher or their mother or father. But why is it nobody ever tells me that my MP is my role model?" There were no answers.

Despite Kalam's naive and almost embarrassingly didactic manner, even experts sometimes find themselves fumbling for answers to his searching questions. During his recent visit to Patna's renowned Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, he floored director Bijoy K. Chaudhary with the question: "In Indian history there are references to foreign invasions for the last 3,000 years, but no invasion took place from India. What has been the role of Indian warrior kings?" Officials say he puts in a lot of homework before his engagements, calling for papers and trawling the internet for information.

Behind his guileless and Pollyanna-like manner dwells a shrewd mind waiting to pounce on any chance to realise his dream mission. When Union minister for social justice Satyanarayan Jatiya came to invite the president to a function to commemorate B.R. Ambedkar's birthday, the president was quick to strike a bargain. He would come, he said, if the minister agreed to announce three schemes on the occasion: scholarships, hostels and financial support for public school admissions for scheduled caste students. Jatiya was forced to agree.

But ministers, from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee downwards, find themselves warming to Kalam's disarming lack of airs, whether it is accepting an invitation to lunch at Vajpayee's house, or the inoffensive manner in which he offers his suggestions. When Union railway minister Nitish Kumar received a condolence letter from the president after a railway accident, he found it contained some technical suggestions to beef up railway security. Kumar went to see him the next day along with railway board members. One reason why more ministers are turning voluntarily to the president for advice is his genuine disinterest in politics.Add to that his scrupulous honesty (he insisted on paying for his family's train trip and accommodation in Delhi for his investiture ceremony) and his consistent refusal to stomach any kind of favouritism, and it's impossible to get prickly at his advice or ignore the tireless energy that he brings to his self-appointed role as prime motivator of the country.

He takes this role seriously, whether it is talking to scientists, doctors, schoolchildren, teachers, or even to the Indian cricket team. At a reception for the Indian team after the World Cup, President Kalam held a discussion with the cricketers about the reasons why they lost to Australia. Aware that it didn't really matter to him that they had lost (he made sure his invitation reached them before the match with Australia), the cricketers were led into the kind of review discussion he had often had with his own mentor, space scientist Vikram Sarabhai: identifying the team's strengths and weaknesses, the importance of setting up better training facilities, and so on. In fact, it is Sarabhai's model of leadership that Kalam seems to be introducing in the country's top post: instilling a relentlessly positive attitude, interacting rather than giving orders, learning to listen to others, pushing towards more research and hard work in all fields, and optimum utilisation of the country's rich resources and talents.

Those who know him well point out that the most striking aspect of the president is neither his missionary zeal nor his unrelenting energy, but the spontaneous acts of kindness. Like arranging a surgery for a weeping child who couldn't make use of the callipers he was giving to polio victims. Or the recent cheque for Rs 10,000 that went to former billiards champion Wilson Jones, when the president heard that he was in hospital. As former colleague R. Ramanathan points out in his biography, Who is Kalam? (Konark), the president has set up a trust, Developed India Foundation, donating his own money from the various awards he has won to provide career-oriented training to 1,000 graduate students from villages. He has also given away his considerable earnings from book royalties to his favourite charity, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. And you will not hear about these acts, they are carried out with unusual secrecy by a president who is genuinely afraid of being idolised.

One example of how he wins over hearts was witnessed by Patna officials during his recent visit to Bihar. Unaccustomed to the president's packed schedule, they found themselves waiting till 3.10 pm to serve the president an elaborate lunch.They tried futilely to escort him to the presidential table set up, as is the custom, in a separate wing of the Raj Bhawan.But the president insisted that he would only lunch with his staff at the buffet table, waving aside their protests with: "Aren't there plates there? Isn't there food? I'll eat with the rest." Eventually, a compromise was reached: all the food from the presidential table was brought down to the buffet table. It is incidents like these which endear Kalam to all those who know him, and those he meets for the first time, and makes them willing to give all they have to fulfil his impossible dream.
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