Log On, Switch Off, Make a Difference

A new trend of campaigns, courtesy technology, allows the public to take action against politicians and corporations. It signals better times ahead as the real power now seems to vest with the common man.

Pratik Kanjilal, Publisher of The Little Magazine
pratik@littlemag.com

Hindustan Times, Mumbai, January 24, 2009, Page 10


This article encourages people to take up issues and advocate the viewpoints through email and sms campaigns. One does not have to depend exclusively on the print media journalists

India Today's 60 Greatest Indians of 20th Century - Issue 21 April 2008

List of the 60 greatest Indians

Amartya Sen — Global Indian
Mulk Raj Anand — Free radical
Amrita Sher-Gill — Brush with beauty
Munshi Premchand — Pen drive writer
C.N. Annadurai — Letter and spirit
Jawaharlal Nehru — The architect
Baba Amte — Man of action
P.C. Mahalanobis — The plan man
Bal Gangadhar Tilak — Street fighter
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke — First showman
B.C. Roy — Bengal tiger
Ravi Shankar — Sultan of string
Begum Akhtar — Queen of melody
Prakash Padukone — Feather touch
Bhagat Singh — The patriot
R.K. Narayan — Tale spinner
S.S. Bhatnagar — The catalyst
Raj Kapoor — Dynasty’s child
Bhimsen Joshi — Song and trance
Raja Ravi Varma — Royal touch
Bimal Roy — Romantic realist
Raja Ram Mohan Roy — The modernist
Bismillah Khan — The enchanter
Raja Ramanna — The energiser
B.R. Ambedkar — Eternal fighter
Rajendra Prasad — Son of the soil
C.V. Raman — Bright spark
S. Ramanujan — Perfect equation
Dhirubhai Ambani — Guru of growth
Ramnath Goenka — The kingmaker
Dhyan Chand — Sorcerer’s score
Rukmini Devi Arundale — Poetry in motion
E.M.S. Namboodiripad — The pragmatist
Sarojini Naidu — Civil crusader
Homi Bhabha — Nuclear maharaja
S. Radhakrishnan — Guiding light
Indira Gandhi — Triumph of will
Sachin Tendulkar — Beyond the boundary
J.C. Bose — Ahead of the curve
Sam Manekshaw — Warrior king
Jayaprakash Narayan — Lead factor
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — Iron in his soul
J.R.D. Tata — Steel in his spine
Satyajit Ray — Universal eye
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — The visionary
Subhas Chandra Bose — Supreme soldier
Lata Mangeshkar — Voice of India
S. Tripathi Nirala — Freedom’s verse
Ram Manohar Lohia — The provocateur
Rabindranath Tagore — At home in the world
M.S. Subbulakshmi — Endless echo
Viswanathan Anand — Lightning kid
M.S. Swaminathan — Roots of change
Verghese Kurien — White knight
Mahatma Gandhi — To Bapu, with love
A.B. Vajpayee — Renaissance man
Milkha Singh — Fast and gentle
Vikram Sarabhai — Master mind
Mother Teresa — Mission possible
Zubin Mehta — Baron of baton

http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/60-greatest-indians-132.html

According to me the notable omissions are religious leaders and founders and developers of RSS.

Mentioning Lohia, Anndurai and not mentioning RSS founder is totally irrational. Even Kanshiram should have made this list.

I invite readers to give their comments

RSS Vijaya Dasami Function

I attended the vijaya dasami function in our locality. As it was a street corner many people gathered around and watched the proceedings. I was also one of them.

But the speaker has not made an appeal to them to participate in RSS activities from that day. In the talk, the basic purpose of RSS was not adequately put forward. The basic purpose is to bring together people at various levels(from sakha to nation and even world) and involve them in planning and acting for development of the society.

There has to be social development activity at sakha level and in such public functions, activities at various levels have to be recounted. Straight away going to Kashmir problem or Ram setu problem ignoring local social problems like overcrowded railway platforms, deteriorated roads, may not attract many participants. Social development must include local problems.

Change old traditions to bring unity of Hindus

I just studied an address by Shri Balasaheb Deoras in his Vijaya Dasami address in the year 1991, calling for ending all old traditions that are coming in the way of building a unified hindu society.

It is a telugu publication by Bharat Prakashan Trust Vijayavada. Listen to the voice of reason.

Unity in Extreme Diversity - Hindu Gods Symbolize it

The practice of unity in diversity casts faith on interdependence. swami Suddhananda explains the practice of unity in extreme diversity by referring to the togetherness of Shiva, Shakti, Ganapati and karthikeya.

They have as their constant means of transport, the bull, the lion, the mouse and the peacock. In addition Shiva wears a snake around his neck. The lion normally feeds on the bull, while the snake feeds on the mouse. Peacock feeds on the snake. Still they live in divine unison, thye live joyfully in peaceful co-existence.

Also remember, Adi Sankara founded his monastery in the place where he observed to his delight, a serpent protecting with its raised hood a pregnant toad from rain.

Excerpts from Establish yourself on true strength by K Vijayaraghavan in Economic Times dated 18-6-2007 (June) in the editorial page under the column Cosmic Uplink