history Archives

Josephine MacLeod And Vivekananda’s Mission – A Song of Freedom

June 3, 2017June 6, 2017 Abhishek JhaLeave a comment

“Two weeks after her sudden departure for California, Swami Vivekananda praised Joe’s detachment, as noted in a letter from Betty to Joe, written October 27:

He spoke of “Joe” and said you were the only real soul who had “attained freedom among us all,” including himself. You could drop everything, everybody and go out without a thought of regret & do your work, that you had attained this through thousands of reincarnations, he had seen it in India & here. No luxury counted, no misery (as in India) mattered – [you were] the same poised soul, etc.

Continue reading “Josephine MacLeod And Vivekananda’s Mission – A Song of Freedom” →

Ambedkar on Whatsapp

April 20, 2017May 10, 2020 Abhishek JhaLeave a comment

Vajra pushed down the lid of his laptop, gulped down a bottle of water, and hastened to his bed with his cellphone. It was 11.30 p.m. and he had to finish sending a few replies on his phone before calling it a day. There were 120 messages flooding his inbox from friends and groups. The most noisy of all the groups he was part of spoke of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar incessantly.

Continue reading “Ambedkar on Whatsapp” →

तैमूर-Timur-Lang-Langda Tyagi और नाम में क्या रक्खा है?

December 22, 2016July 5, 2025 Abhishek JhaLeave a comment

लंगड़ा त्यागी ने अपने लड़के का नाम तैमूर रखा है। इस से ट्विट्टर वालों का मुंह फूल गया है। गुस्से की वजह है – तैमूर का मतलब होता है लोहा। कोई अपने बच्चे का नाम लोहा कैसे रख सकता है? लोहा अली खान पटौडी – कैसा अटपट नाम रख दिया है! जब चाँदी, सोना जैसे नाम उपलब्ध थे, तो ये लोहा क्या सोच कर रख दिया ?

खैर छोड़िये, तकलीफ सिर्फ इस बात की है कि नाम का मतलब तो सबने समझ लिया पर किसी ने तैमूर लंग को याद नहीं किया। ऐसा भी तो हो सकता है कि सैफ को वो तानाशाह इतने पसंद हैं कि बेटे को भी कुछ उसी मुकाम पर देखना चाहते हों! क्यों? नहीं हो सकता है? हाँ, पर ट्विटर नागरिकों को ये बात कौन समझाए?

अब नामों की बात चली है तो नामों की ही बात करते हैं। मेरे भाई की क्लास में एक बच्चे का नाम था सद्दाम हुसैन। न न, रुकिए। इस से पहले की आप उसके माँ बाप को इराक भेज दें, मैं बता दूं कि जब इस सद्दाम का जन्म हुआ था तब इराक में जैविक या बायोलॉजिकल अस्त्र बनने शुरू नहीं हुए थे। हाँ, मगर आप ये कहते हैं कि जब अमरीका ने हम सबको सूचना दे दी कि ऐसे अस्त्र वहाँ मिल रहे हैं, तो इस सद्दाम के अब्बाजी को बच्चे का नाम बदल देना चाहिए था। जॉर्ज बुश अच्छा नाम होता।

नाम का खेल बहुत गहरा होता है। मेरे पड़ोस के मोहल्ले में एक अंकल ने अपने चार बच्चों का नाम – बनावन राम, बसावन राम, बिगारन राम और घिनावन राम रख दिया। सृष्टि, स्थिति, और प्रलय तीनो विभाग अपने परिवार में ही रख लिए। जैसे आज ट्विटर हँसता है, तब मोहल्ले हँसा करते थे। सो हमारे मोहल्ले ने ठहाके लगाए। बनावन राम और बसावन की शादी हो गयी है । बिगारन और घिनावन के लिए कोई बिगड़ी रानी और घिनौनी नारी मिले तो मुझे बताइएगा।

हमारे दूधवाले का नाम दुखलाल था। ये हमेशा दुःख में लाल पीला होता था। एक दिन वो काफी दुखी हो गया। फिर उसके दोस्त टोनी ने उसे अपना नाम बदलने को कहा। अब उसका नाम सुखलाल हो गया है। अब वो हमेशा खुश रहता है। मेरा बचपन बोकारो जिला के अंतर्गत कथारा नामक स्थान में गुज़रा। जगह बहुत विकसित नहीं है। कोलफील्ड है, जन्म से पहले ही बच्चे काले हो जाते हैं। जगह की दुर्दशा देखकर कुछ सड़कछाप दार्शनिकों ने नाम को बदलकर खटारा रख दिया। नाम बदलते ही हालात बद से बदतर हो गए और गुमला जिले ने कथारा पर परमाणु बम गिरा दिया।

डाकू मंगल सिंह का नाम बड़े अरमानों के साथ मंगल रखा गया। अपने नाम से प्रभावित होकर उसने लोगों में इतना धन बाँटा कि अब उसका नाम लोग दानवीर कर्ण रखने की सोच रहे हैं। इसी प्रकार शत्रुघ्न सिन्हा भाजपा के रामायण में आदतन अदृश्य हैं। अरविन्द केजरीवाल महर्षि अरविन्द घोष की अपूर्ण राजनैतिक यात्रा को पूरा करने आये हैं। कपिल सिबल ज़ीरो लॉस का सांख्य देने वाले महर्षि कपिल हैं, भाजपा के एम.जे. अकबर बाबरी मस्जिद का बदला लेने आये पोते हैं, अखिलेश यादव अयोध्या मसले का हल निकालने दोबारा जन्मे भगवान राम हैं, राहुल गांधी गौतम बुद्ध के लड़के हैं और नरेंद्र मोदी स्वयं स्वामी विवेकानंद हैं।

विजय माल्या बैकों पर विजय प्राप्त कर अपने देश से आज़ाद हो गए हैं, और मेक इन इंडिया को आईसिस वालों ने सही समझ लिया है। ५०० और १००० के दानवटाइज़ेशन में रिज़र्व बैंक हर रोज़ अपने रिज़र्व होने का एक नया प्रमाण दे रहा है और ऑटोमेटेड टेलर मशीन से आटोमेटिक पैसे निकल रहे हैं। वहीँ काले धन ने फेयर एंड लवली स्कीम को ठुकरा दिया है।

आप भी सोच रहे होंगे कि इस लड़के ने पी रक्खी है क्या! इतनी रात गए क्या बकवास कर रहा है। नहीं, मेरा नाम अभिषेक है। मैं पीता नहीं हूँ। मैं सुबह से शाम तक मंदिर में बैठकर नारायण मूर्ति को तिलक लगाता हूँ। वैसे ट्विटर वालों ने ऐसा हंगामा मेरे नामकरण के वक़्त किया होता तो आज हर चौराहे पर एक अभिषेक माथे पर तिलक लगा कर खड़ा न मिलता। अमिताभ बच्चन के बेटे का नाम भी शायद अभिनय बच्चन होता।

#लोल।

To See Is To Believe?

November 27, 2016May 10, 2020 Abhishek JhaLeave a comment

A circular was read out in the classroom. It had been decided by the school management that students from Std 8th – 10th would be taken on an educational tour to Calcutta. I was in 8th standard then. I was excited enough to convince my parents about the idea. I set my plans straight about the places I had to visit and spent the night taking a virtual tour of the city in my dreams.

Continue reading “To See Is To Believe?” →

A Book, An Odyssey and a Football Novice

October 8, 2016 JeevaNayagi2 Comments

I am a football illiterate. My vocabulary in football is limited to a mere goal, foul, Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and probably a few club names thanks to the newspapers I read. Not long ago, FC meant Food Court to me and not a Football Club. I have had friends and colleagues who used to swear that football isn’t a matter of life or death but something more than that. I could never comprehend the madness over it. I would laugh them off saying there are better things to fight and die for rather than chasing a ball into a net. In my defense, none of the football clubs had neither a Sachin Tendulkar nor a Rahul Dravid. Yet, when I travelled around Europe, I ended up taking stadium tours in Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu and Stamford Bridge because my friends loved football and I loved them. Just a walk through the stadiums listening to its stories was enough for me to be goose bumped. As I walked out of these stadiums, my respect for the game increased by manifolds. That was two years ago and that helped me add more words to my football vocabulary – Copa America, La Liga, UEFA and some more.

Fortunately for me I have this friend who says football is in his blood (sometimes I think there is only football and no blood) and wouldn’t rest until he contaminated mine too with football. So he sent me a birthday gift that read ‘Tiro – A football odyssey from Amazon to Alps’. A wicked move, I must say because he knew it was easier to make me read a book on football than get me to watch a football match. I fell partly for his trick and partly for the cover of the book. It looked beautiful in white and couldn’t let it get dusted in the book shelf.

Tiro is a collection of articles from goaldentimes.org, a renowned group of football story-tellers winning accolades all over the world. Hence the book has multiple authors and a diverse flavor to it too. The first impressive thing about the book is their ‘Line up’, where the ‘First Half’ of the book features 15 football stories from Latin America, the ‘Second half’ with another 15 stories but this time from Europe and then there is an ‘Extra time’ with 3 articles that has stories flowing across the continents. For an ardent football fan this would give the feel of a football match but for someone like me that was a very important first lesson. If not for Tiro, it would have taken me forever to learn that these regions have a very distinct and distinguished culture and history when it comes to football.

As the match began, the first half was terrific. There was a occasional drag towards the second half probably because some of the stories were a little too longer than the other ones, but the later part of the second half made up for it. And the extra time finished it just perfect. Every article carries an interesting short introduction of what is being covered in them that helps you decide whether or not to read it. However even if I was dozing off exhausted, reading these introductions through half droopy eyes would wake me up and let me finish the article. As for the articles, almost all of them are inspiring and engrossing stories knit very tactically and presented very poetically. I must say the GT boys are brilliant story tellers. I had to sneak out in between conversations with friends, during office hours and even during sleep to finish reading the stories that I had started. I wasn’t expecting to be hooked on to the book, but I was. And at times to YouTube too replaying few shots especially the ‘hand of god’ goal.

(I have replayed it so many times now and even different versions of it. Did he or did he not? This has been driving me mad. How do you people live with such suspense stories?)

The book starts from Brazil tracing down in detail the history of various footballing nations, their greatest victories, their biggest humiliations and their mighty come backs. It sings the glory of unsung heroes and paints the struggles of their lives. It makes you fall in love with those fallen stars and tells you why some deserved more than being forgiven. The book tells you how football has been an instrument of change bringing about a revolution in the political landscape of many of these countries and how footballers were not only sports icons but also champions of nationalist movements. I realize how ignorant I was to think of football as just a game of a ball and net with few mad men running around it while this ‘beautiful game’ has been the beacon of hope for multitudes across continents over generations. The stories of the lives that were saved by the game, the lives that were spared by the game, lives that were sacrificed for the game tells me why this not just a matter of life and death but a lot more than that. While the world is well aware of the wars on a football ground, Tiro also tells the world about the games fought on war fields with a knife hanging over their heads. And that is why Tiro is going be a very significant piece of sports literature not only for football aficionados but also for history enthusiasts across the globe.

Tiro has been a thoroughly enlightening, enriching and entertaining experience for me. I have just one thing to complain about at the cost of being called a lazy reader. But hey, how would you feel if you must switch television channels while watching a nail-biting match. That is how inconvenient it is to flip over the pages to read the chapter notes. It would have been wonderful had the chapter notes been added at the end of the page, especially for people who like me do need the help of chapter notes. I am still a football illiterate and will continue to blink when you say a quarter back or a 4-4-2 formation. Nevertheless, I have tremendously improved on my football vocabulary. I know what derby means. I know Alfred Di Stefano, Ruth Malosso and Barbosa. I know what a bicycle kick is. I even know some football chants. Finally, I know what Srinwantu Dey means when he says “Football is a palette of life which reflects all the emotions – joy, sorrow, grit, helplessness and determination”. And for that I am immensely grateful to my dear friend Aritra Biswas and the GT boys.

Can you see SriLanka from Kanyakumari ?

March 4, 2016May 10, 2020 JeevaNayagiLeave a comment

“I come from a place very close to Kanyakumari. The beach is only about 10 kilometers away from my home” – Every time I tell someone about this, especially someone who isn’t from the southern part of the country, there is always a smile on their face accompanied by a glee in their eyes. I am very aware that the smile usually means “how amazing it must be to live near Kanyakumari”. Almost always this smile is followed with “Can you see Sri Lanka from Kanyakumari? “. Then it becomes my turn to smile. I had been an unsuspecting audience to a lot of conversations where newly-wed husbands on their honeymoon trip to the Cape Comorin explain to their new wives how the part of the sea behind the rock beside the shore where the water looks green is indeed the Arabian sea, the blue part the Indian ocean and the grey part, the Bay of Bengal. My smile turns into a grin when the Arabian Sea moves to east and Bay of Bengal shifts to the west.

Continue reading “Can you see SriLanka from Kanyakumari ?” →