ForesterNeginhal, RIP

S.G.Neginhal (IFS reitred) who fell a victim to Covid-19 at the age of 92 on Sunday May 2, was a friend in the 1980’s who I lost touch with. I met him when some girls of a girls college nearby    protested when a huge banyan tree, which still provides shade to bus travelers at a stop at the  Malleswaram 18th cross and SankeyRoad junction was to be cut down. Editing a newspaper in that city, I took up the matter with him — the Conservator of Social Forestry in the state. He   swung into action to save that tree from the axe. Later when he took a Press party to some forestry projects, he diverted the route on way back and took us to a famous  sanctuary at Ranganathitoo for birds. Unlike many officers of his rank, he used to talk to rural people who told him,at a wayside teashop, about Kokkirebellur village. In Kannada  KokkIre means bird and being a nature lover, he went there to find a lake and an island (thittu) in it where storks from Siberia and places far away come every year to breed. Migratory birds are of great interest to wildlife lovers. As a forest officer he took steps immediately to start a sanctuary there to protect the birds even before the government sanctioned his proposal for such sactuary.
This shows that red tape and long delays in action by administration need not thwart a committed officer. He was backed by another such officer, Chief Conservator Pushpakumar. They made Bangalore India’s greenest city. The tree-lined streets and boulevards in the city are a tribute to how he went from house to house tto urge people to plant  trees and get involved in caring for them. He headed a task force for greening the city, set up by (then) CM, Gundu Rao.
Neginhal was well-versed in urban forestry,  trees, wildlife and biodiversity. His popular books are City Trees, Forest Trees of Western Ghats, Golden Trees and Urban Forestry, Sanctuaries and Wildlife of Karnataka. He has published research papers and popular articles in many publications.  He was also  a nature and wildlife photographer.  A forester with a flair for writing is very rare.If not people, at least a banyan tree and Ranganthittu birds shed tears for the man who made the city green.

It is only rarely that a Forester becomes so famous that tribuTes are paid to him on his death. Men (or women) of the jungle many of them fit the desctption of ‘junglee’

Neginhal, who fell a victim to Covid-19, at the age of 92 on Sunday May 2, was a friend in the 1980’s who I lost touch with. I met him when some girls of a girls    college nearby protested when a huge banyan tree, which provides shade to travelers at a bus stop at the  Malleswaram 18th cross and Sankey Road junction was about to be felled. Editing a newspaper in that city I took up the matter with him as the Conservator of Social Forestry in the state. He   swung into action to save that tree from the axe. Later when he took a Press party to some forestry projects, he diverted the route on way back and took us to a famous  sanctuary at Ranganathitoo for birds.Unlike many officers of his rank, he used to talk to rural people who told him, at a wayside tea stop, about    Kokkirebellur village. In Kannada  KokkIre means bird and being a nature lover, he went there to find a lake and an island (thittu) in it where storks from Siberia and places far away come every year to breed. Migratory birds are a field of great interest to wildlife lovers. As a forest officer he took steps immediately to start a sanctuary there to protect the birds even before the government sanctioned his proposal for such sactuary.
  • This shows that red tape and long delays in action of the administration need not thwart a committed officer. He was backed by another such, Chief Conservator Pushpakumar. They made Bangalore India’s greenest city. The tree-lined boulvards and streets in the city are a tribute to how he went from house to house urging people to plant  trees and get care for them. He headed a task force for greening the city, set up by R. Gundu Rao (the CM).

Neginhal was well-versed in urban forestry,  trees, wildlife and biodiversity. His popular books are City Trees, Forest Trees of Western Ghats, Golden Trees and Urban Forestry, Sanctuaries and Wildlife of Karnataka. He has published research papers and popular articles in many publications.  He was also  a naature and wildlife photographer.  A forester with a flair for writing is very rare.If not people, at least a banyan tree and Ranganthittu birds shed tears for the man who made the city green. RIP friend.

Holi:A Lession in Ethics

by B Someswar  Rao 

Holi teaches us that a gift or talent should not be misused. A boon  is to be used too save someone and  not to kill.  Prahlada and Hoika are just symbols.                  This lesson is significant today : technology, a gift to humanity,  is being misused.
Most terrorists are highly ‘educated’ people who use their knowledge wrongly as their religion does not teach value of  vasudaivakutunbakam and justifies killing of kafirs’ and destruction other religions’ idols. Fanatics are not alone in using  knowledge of technology wrongly. A computer virus is a wrong program code written by someone with IT knowledge; so are cloning of ATM cards and other cyber crimes. Education today only means degrees and not imbibing of ethicsal values.  Holi is not just smearing colors, abuses or gambling which North India associates with it today. Unfortunately ritualism crept ireasons Hinduism  and we follow only when the colour of religion or custom is  smeared on a practice, ఏచరవచ without understanding. All Hindu festivals have scientific . It is a  distortion of idiom that Northerners believe gambling on Holi day is a MUST. Taking liberties with women and using abusive language are later distortions of the need to shed inhibitions.  Holi is a colourful lesson in ethics.

Selfie Time

While exploring the fair this visitor found this place an interesting one to have a selfie probably for the background.

Selfie Time

,

Holi, a Colourful Lesson in Ethics 

by B Someswar  Rao Holi teaches us that a gift or talent should not be misused. A boon  is to be used too save someone and  not to kill.  Prahlada and Hoika are just symbols.                  This lesson is significant today : technology, a gift to humanity,  is being misused.
Most terrorists are highly ‘educated’ people who use their knowledge wrongly as their religion does not teach value of  vasudaivakutunbakam and justifies killing of kafirs’ and destruction other religions’ idols. Fanatics are not alone in using  knowledge of technology wrongly. A computer virus is a wrong program code written by someone with IT knowledge; so are cloning of ATM cards and other cyber crimes. Education today only means degrees and not imbibing of ethicsal values.  Holi is not just smearing colors, abuses or gambling which North India associates with it today. Unfortunately ritualism crept ireasons Hinduism  and we follow only when the colour of religion or custom is  smeared on a practice, ఏచరవచ without understanding. All Hindu festivals have scientific . It is a  distortion of idiom that Northerners believe gambling on Holi day is a MUST. Taking liberties with women and using abusive language are later distortions of the need to shed inhibitions.  Holi is a colourful lesson in ethics.

Fake Secularism Just For Fashion

While

‘Didi’ Mamata Banerjee who refused to address a meeting along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi simply because she was greeted with shouts of protest when she objected to ‘Jai Sreeram: but chose at another meeting to recite a Muslim prayer, has written to Sonia the boss of dynastic Congress and other parties to come together to eradicate BJP and it’s communalism. For her being Hindu is communal but seeking Muslim votes is very secular. At the same time she can flaunt her Gotta and Brahmin origin to get Hindu votes which she fears losing in the polling being held today. Whether the electorate will see through this game will be known only on May 2. However, the scourge of fake seculars and liberals playing vote bank politics is a serious issue. They pretend that all Muslims who stayed back in India when the country was split on communal basis did so to reject the 2 nation theory ad were secular. That their choice was for the sake of property and their social contacts alone is not accepted. If this is true why did they vote for pro-partition forces is not explained. How did only Muslims get elected from seats where they had majority or ‘secular’ Congressmen only when there were no Muslim candidates,, or why so many terrorist ‘sleeping cells’ exist with local Muslim suoport in states like Kerala??

Many such questions reain unanswered. The ‘sickulars’ object to the ‘remote’ being in the hands of highly qualified agenda me who gave up everyting for the cause of RSS but do not mind a semi literate Italian who amassed wealth due to dynasty support or some mullahs holding it. This is taking a fashion fad too far Can they deny that India never tried to spread it’s faith though it had great impact on many nations, that it was once a predominantly Hindu country or that the Constituent Assembly had debated at length on calling it secular. When the Saudi kung visited the country, Nehru had all idols in Kadhu covered, but namaz on roads, blocking them, continues in India. But indians are not secular!

Bismillah And Baba Counter Fanatics

SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUND today in stories of Islamic ‘sleeping cells’ in Kasmir and Kerala, of Imams calling for defiance of virus epidemic lockdown rules, clerics who direct attack on health staff from masjid mikes used for Azan or maulvis saying Clovid hit only Hindu kaafirs not Muslims.. There was even a cleric who wished more Hindus die of the virus.

These are mavericks and, luckily, a minority. Hindu fringe groups like Ram Sena and Bajrang Dal are equally fanatic but, again luckily, ignored by people. My plea for yeaes for a Museum of National Integration to show how both sides have sane people showing tolerance and admiration for the other side is, therefore, very relevant.

Of those who rose above fanaticism was Bharat Ratna Ustaad (Bismillah) Khan, a devout Shia muslim who was brought up in a friendly Hindu environment and used to do riaz in a temple. He disclosed at several fora that he was blessed by Hindu Gods and Lord Krishna had favored him with his deedar (darshan), revealing to him secrets of a new ‘Raaga’.A few years back, the Ustad was travelling by train from Jamshedpur to Varanasi. It was a coal-run passenger train and he was travelling in a third class compartment. From an intermediate rural station, a young cowherd boy boarded the bogey in which Ustad was sitting. He was a dark and lean boy holding a flute in his hands. Slowly the boy started playing his flute. The supreme quality of his music surprised the maestro, who didn’t even know the ‘Raga’ the boy was playing. Bismillah Khan immediately recognized that the boy was Sri Krishna, the Supreme God Himself.The nectar in Nada-Brahma (Brahma in the form of music) flowing out of Krishna’s flute filled Ustad’s heart with ecstasy; and tears of joy started poring out of his eyes. After the stunning performance,the Ustad called and presented him with a coin requesting him to play the song again. Krishna ddi. This was repeated again and again until Bismiillah Khan’s wallet became empty. Young Krishna got down at the next railway station and vanished. In fact, the Ustad was on way to play in a music concert of Kumbh Mela (a holy Hindu gathering of many millions devotees). In that concert, Ustad presented the ‘Raga’ which he learned that day from Krishna.It was greatly appreciated by the audience who sought an encore many times . Music scholars around couldn’t name the ‘Raga’ and they asked about it to Bismillah Khan. Ustad replied that the name of the Raga is ‘Kanharira’.Next day’s news papers contained headlines about the new ‘Raga’ invented by Ustad Bismillah Khan. Having read it, Hariprasad Chaurasiya, the legendary Musician (Flutist), asked about ‘Kanharira’ Raga’s details to Bismillah Khan. The Ustad revealed the truth and sang Kanharira. Hariprasad Chaurasya, worlds top fluit player, burst into tears of joy. ‘Kanharira’ is a divine gem in Indian music, as it originated from the lotus lips of Sri Krishna.The story was told by the Ustad to the Editor of Illustrated Weekly of India. Bismillah Khan was born in a family of court musicians in the princely state of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate. Bismillah hated studies anf played marbles on the streets of Benaras. In the corridor of the house hecould hear his uncles playing the sehnai. Bismilla Khan’s uncle Ali Bux used to go to the Jadau Sri Balaji (Vishnu) temple every morning to play the sehnai for the entire day for four rupees a month. Sometimes, after sessions, both walked to the temple where a room was reserved for Ali Bux to practice for about five hours daily. Bismillah was sitting beside him, listening to him though hungry, not disturbing his uncle. They returned each day for lunch. Bismillah often wondered why his Uncle practiced in the temple when he could do it at home undisturbed. He asked his uncle one day and was told,”You will learn it one day.” That evening uncle Ali took Bismillah to the temple and, after the evening sehnai recital, to the room he practiced in for 18 years. Then the uncle gave Bismillah permission to practice there, on one conditiin: ”In this temple, if you experience or see anything extraordinary, don’t say to any one.” Bismillah practised in the room for 4 to 6 hours a day, oblivious to the outside wold, overtaken by the thirst to perfect his music. One day Bismillah was engrossed in his sehnai practice at 4 a.m. all alone. Suddenly he realised that someone was sitting next to him. It was none other than Bhagavan Balaji Himself!. Shocked and astonished, Bismillah Khan remained still . Balaji smiled and said, ”Play.” Khan was too shocked to continue. Then Balaji smiled and disappeared. Later Bismillah Khan went to his Guru Ali anf narrated to him the experience. The uncle slapped him and said, ”Did I not tell you not to say any thing to any one?“ Ustad Bismillah Khan told this on Doordarshan some 10 years ago. Bhagavan does not go by caste,or creed; ‘Bhakti’ is the only criterion.

My father used to tell me about another such case. Pt Ravi Shankar’s first wife Annapurna’s father Ustad ALauddin Kan was  Muslim who was a devotee of Saraswati at a temple in Maihar, MP. When the king of neighboring kingdom of Rewa invited him to shift there and be his asthana vidwan, he refused saying he couldn’t leave Ma Saraswati. Ravi Shankar was a dancer in the troupe of his elder brother Uday Shankar, but after an accident he was told he could never dance again. .He wanted to commit suicide. Uday then brought him to Baba and asked him to save the boy. Baba taught him music and made him world’s greatest Sitar player and also gave his daughter who he named Annapurna, in marriage.Such a great singer, who rejected a king’s offer, sang for a postal audit party of my father because a member of the team knew classical music and asked some questions about it. Dont beleive fanatics on both sides. Remember the son of Kazi Nazrul Islam, aa great a poer as Tagore, had a Sankri name: Savyasachi.

Abrahamic Islam of Sunnis is NOT the only Islam. It also has Sufis, Babas and Bismillahs.

ప్రతిలిపిలో చదవండి – “చంద్రశే ఖర రాఓ గారికి ఒక విజ్ఞప్తి”

“చంద్రశే   ఖర   రాఓ  గారికి ఒక  విజ్ఞప్తి”, ప్రతిలిపిలో చదవండి: https://telugu.pratilipi.com/story/cduc1jmz2a9z?utm_source=android&utm_campaign=content_share భారతీయ భాషల్లో అపరిమిత కథలను పూర్తి ఉచితంగా చదవండి,రాయండి మరియు వినండి

On Way To Victory

Shedding tears (when not sleeping in public) helps
REMEMBER MEHARCHAND KHANNA, the Union Minister from 1954 to 1967, who could not stand unless supported by two persons, one on each side, but was given a Congress ticket to contest again in 1967 in Delhi, but lost?

Some media persons are crying hoarse and shedding copious tears about 91-year-old Lal Krishna Advani being NOT fielded again by the Bharatiya Janata Party, though he is given all respect as’margadarshak'(Mentor-guide) of the party. They themselves wanted “energetic, young” leaders like Rahul Gandhi to take over.

HD Devegowda is the new mentor of Congress in Karnataka, though he heads another party, the Janata Dal (Secular). The Indian National Congress made his son, heading the party that got the lowest number of votes, the Chief Minister of the State. Now it will support Deve Gowda in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Mehar Chand Khanna thought he would win the Delhi election as he, as Minister for Rehabilitation, had “settled” lakhs of Punjabi refugees like himself by giving them houses which are now worth crores. Similarly, Deve Gowda thinks he can win the election on the strength of the Gowda caste vote as he made it a Gowda caste party (you are communal if you talk of Hinduism, but advocating casteism is secular). And all Muslims will vote against BJP. Don’t people vote sheepishly on caste and religion and not on issues?

So the grandfather, Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda is Fighting from Bangalore North. Grandson one is fighting from Hasan, grandson two is fighting from Mandya, one son is Karnataka CM, another son is a minister, daughter-in-Law one is an MLA and second daughter-in-law is Zila Parishad head. Both will be MLAs next,

Did you notice the great sacrifice of Deve Gowda ji?

He did not bring his wife into politics, as another hero of the Congress, Lallu Yadav did, making her the Chief Minister when he himself had to quit because of conviction in a scam. Though that happened during Congress rule, how he is the mentor of the Congress in Bihar as, like the grand old party, he too believes in dynasty rule and his too is a caste-based party.

What a great man, Deve Gowda! He wept in public when “handing over” his Hasan seat, an ancestral property, to his grandson. He knows Indians are emotional fools who will fall for tears.

And that he is good at… when not sleeping in public.