Sardar the Patel

 

Though the Biography of Sardar Vallabhai Patel by Rajmohan Gandhi is more than 3 decades old and much talked about, I got to read it only now due to the kindness of AK Raghunathan sir, who sent it to me with great love.

Most of the part of Patel’s illustrious life is quite known to most of us.  His work with the peasants, contribution to the freedom movement, being the Bismark of India by integration of the princely states, etc need no elaboration.  Yet, reading the biography was a very slow affair because, with his life is attached a national movement itself and without recounting the entire events, passing by, is difficult.

Yet, there are some interesting and important details in the book, which were completely new, at least to me.  So I thought, it should benefit others, if they are given here, and if it could induce some to read the book, might be they will get benefited too.

The book starts with a startling revelation that the date of birth of Sardar is an approximation.

The Patidars, the community to which Patel belonged to, were less polished and an independent type.  While others would stand with joined hands in the presence of superiors, the Patidars would immediately sit down. 

As a student, there is an instance where Vallabhai stands up to his Gujarathi teacher who insists that every Hindu should learn Sanskrit to which Vallabhai said if everyone took to learning Sanskrit, the Gujarati teacher himself would be without a job.  The student was asked to stand upon the bench for his impudence, which Vallabhai suffered.  But when the teacher asked him to write tables, then twice, then two hundred times, the student stubbornly refused.  When produced before the principal, Patel said that he had suffered the punishment of standing on the bench, but the later punishments were un called for and without justification and more over, writing tables was an insult to him because it was done by students of lower standards.  He had shown this mettle.

Several instances show his wit and humour as an Advocate, and his sharp acumen and logic.

He says that ‘One reason why a people living 7,000 miles away were ruling India was that they had perfected the art of clothing a firm “no” in a blanket of polite reasonableness.

Regarding his brother having taken to public service and he having to do the advocate’s job, he said ‘my brother gave up his flourishing practice and started on a career of public service, while I bore the burden of maintaining the household.  I had thus to commit all the sins and he performed all the good deeds”.

During a trial at VT after a lathi charge, when Patel would not speak, Malavya gives a big lecture to which Patel says in Hindi, ‘Does one read the bhagavat to a buffalo?’  When the European judge asks, “What was that?, Patel with a straight face says, ‘I was telling him that the lathi charge had been ordered by the Home Member who was watching the procession from the VT terrace”.

Once, when a person had asked Gandhi in a letter, how can a man weighing three maunds avoid crushing ants when he walks on this earth”, Patel remarked, ‘Tell him that he should walk with his feet on his head”.  This was during their prison life.

At a meeting at Godhra, where Tilak, Jinnah, Gandhi and Patel spoke, Gandhi had insisted on Jinnah and Patel to speak in Gujarathi.  Later Gandhi was to say that on that occasion he had lost Jinnah and won Patel.

In fact the entire animosity appears to have been between Jinnah and Patel.

Patel, having lost his wife, very early in life, remained unmarried thereafter and took care of his children with such great care that he becomes a role model for a father. There are poignant instances of his tender feelings for his daughter and her feelings towards her father too, at different places and times.

There is an instance in 1930 when Patel was imprisoned and was to meet his son, he changes into the best kurtha available and tells Gandhi, ‘I want him to think that I am enjoying life here’.

At first, by his unerring commitment to Gandhi, he is likened to his younger brother.  But, later when he starts deviating due to the necessity of the Congress movement or in National interest, he is likened to a son, who can defy a father.  Earlier, only Jawahar enjoyed the freedom to be like a son.  Thereafter sibling rivalry arises.

Though it is commonly felt that Nethaji’s leaving the Congress was because of his differences with Gandhi and also with Nehru, this book gives an impression that it was more between Patel and Nethaji than between the other two.  In fact, the dispute regarding the will of Vitalbhai that Nethaji produces and is disputed by Patel appears to be one basic line from where they differed.  This episode is particularly not widely known.  Patel goes to the extent of doubting Nethaji’s role in this affair.

Once to a statement by Subash that Patel was undemocratic, Patel says, ‘The lion becomes a king by birth, not by an election in the jungle’.

Similarly regarding the air crash that is said to have killed Subash, Wavel writes in his diary, “It is just what would be given out if he meant to go underground”.  It appears that neither the Government nor Congress believed that the plane carrying Subash had crashed.

Once when Patel and Gandhi are imprisoned together, there is a conversation between them as to why the Muslims had not been assimilated into the Hindu society.  Gandhi says they were being treated like the untouchables and says that is the reason.  Patel says that while Hindus are vegetarians, Muslims were not and hence that was the reason.  Gandhi tells Patel that he was speaking with Gujarat alone in perspective and that majority of the Hindus are also non-vegetarians.  It was astonishing to read that such a deep person like Patel would not know such a fundamental fact.

Equally surprising was to note that Patel had not known or heard about Vivekananda until after Gandhi talks about him.

The grit, determination and knack in leading the peasant movement by Patel is given in detail.  It shows that a movement could succeed only if the women involve themselves in it with full vigour.

The book quotes a witty statement of Rajaji.  “ Hello, this is a funny thing.  All along Gandhi was saying that if we made khadi we will get Swaraj.  Now he says we must make salt also!”.  That was on the proposed Salt Sathyagraha. Later CR had said before his arrest at Vedaranyam, “The Mahatma was manufacturing disobedience, not salt”.

There is generally a belief that Gandhi did not do anything to stop the hanging of Bhagat Singh. P 203 of the book records that Gandhi once again told Irwin that “our Pact would be destroyed” if the hangings, scheduled for March 23 took place.

Similarly in respect of Subash Bose also (p 307) ‘the escape of Subash Bose made a great impression on Gandhiji” as quoted by Maulana Azad, though it was Nehru who was against Bose aligning with the Axis powers.

There is a poignant statement (p 215) “On April 24 the news came that “both Malaviyaji and Sarojini have been arrested”.  Early in May, however, Malavyaji was released, and Patel tried to assess what this meant”. 

In respect of Quit India, Patel was one of the first of Gandhi’s colleagues to support it and Nehru was the last.  Nehru in fact had little to do with the Quit India movement also.  Thus, when the Government was to be formed and a Prime Minister was to be selected, Gandhi prefers Nehru to Patel on grounds that the former had a mass connect.  This fact Patel himself acknowledges. And Patel himself before his passing away, extracts a promise from Gadgil that ‘whatever your differences with Panditji, never leave him’.

Gandhi tells Birla, “I do not like the Sardar collecting money from businessmen”.  To that Patel said, “That is not his concern.  Gandhi is a Mahatma.  I am not. I have to do the job”. This is the point where election funding starts.

The book contains a lot of information on the Political struggles, the internal differences between the leaders, how Gandhi was forced to accept what the Congress said, though he was against it, the partition, the bargainings, the riots, differences arising between Nehru and Patel, Gandhi mediating, assassination of Gandhi, the problem of Kashmir, problem with Tibet and a hurt and tired Sardar leaving for his eternal abode.  It is difficult to bring out all the details here.

It is very difficult to bring out the pangs of a generation, for Swaraj of this Country.  The turbulence they faced.  The personal tragedies they faced on the way. And one would be forced to ask, whether the present generation realizes all this?  

Vallabhai’s brother dies in Geneva.  Patel is in prioson.  He would not ask for parole.  However, his friends asked him to be released for his brother’s cremation.  The Raj’s response was that Patel could be released for 48 hours provided, he “undertook” to make no political speech and also to present himself for a re-arrest “at a previously agreed time and place”.  Patel simply kicked the offer saying, “I cannot purchase my liberty at the sacrifice of my honour and self-respect”.

The freedom has been taken for granted.  And as a result we are at a state where we do not know that it will be threatened too.

This book has referred me to another valuable source - ‘Day-to-day with Gandhi’, the diary recordings of Mahadev Desai when he was in prison along with Gandhi, a major part during which Patel also was with them.

 

 

Gargi

It was quite refreshing to view a Tamil film made very close to reality, in recent times.

#SaiPallavi in her lead role has proved that she is close to #NanditaDas in her acting prowess.  The variations from sublime to sternness, come so naturally to her and the change could happen within a flicker of a second. She requires to be specially congratulated for choosing good scripts with a message for the society.

As a child who herself had suffered harassment, the moral high ground held by the character throughout requires special attention.  

In pursuit of justice for her father, she admonishes the advocate saying he need not look at the case from all angles but only from 'her' angle, to save her father. But this very character ultimately being prepared to look at the issues from another angle, when her father was nearly out of it, is a great script and message.  Sai Pallavi has brilliantly portrayed it, without any drama, but with firmness, sorrow and conviction.

She has been ably supported by Kaali Venkat, as the advocate who rises up to the occasion for a cause.  His performance brings pity and makes our heart break when we see that he has a great intention, but limitations come in the way.  He has brought out sincerity in all its glory.

The transgender Judge, sincere Police Officer, the journalist who wants to do justice to her job but is pressurized into doing things due to the compulsion of  TRP ratings, the victims's father, are all beautifully portrayed.

Even the dogs shown in the film have acted.

The direction is great, not allowing any let or hindrance in the movie.

A milestone movie with a message.  The message is that anything is possible, with any one. No matter how they may look, how they have behaved in earlier or different situations, what their age or status in life is, etc. 

'You believe in the stars, days, astrology and all, but not in me, because I am a girl - not a boy',  That is a great statement.

In one of the last frames, the journalist says, 'They may say that to be born a woman, one should have done a lot of great penance, but in reality being a woman is a great ordeal, every day'. That is another message.

VANDE MATHARAM

 

Whenever the Tricolor flag is hoisted and the National Anthem is sung, images of two great men come to my mind.

The pensive Gandhi, who was on the day of Independence, far away at Noakhali dousing the flames of communal enmity that had torn the nation apart. The Gandhi who had been used by the Congress for negotiating with the British Crown, whose spirituality had been used by them to reach to the masses, whose advice they would seek when they had a divide among themselves and which they would accept or reject as per their convenience, who was the bridge between communities, between the haves and have nots, who was the embodiment of what sacrifice could mean and who unabashedly declared and demonstrated to the world, how one could be open to criticism including from oneself and overcome ones own weaknesses to have the spirit master the matter – and that man who was left behind by his comrades in arms, after they had achieved what they wanted – power.

The other image is that of the great mind and heart which beat for the entire humanity and whose poem we sing when the National Flag is unfurled, with such great fervor.

He also did not live to see the Tricolour being hoisted in an independent India. But, his definition for independence was altogether different that he may not have accepted it as a real independence.

In an open letter to Gandhi in the early 20s under the title, ‘The Call of Truth’, he had this to say:

“Allien government in India is a veritable chameleon. Today it comes in the guise of the Englishman; tomorrow perhaps as some other foreigner; the next day, without abating a jot of its virulence, it may take the shape of our own countrymen.”

As we look back, his prophesy has come true. New feudal minded authorities have taken charge of running the country. The consent of the people is obtained only to dictate. Even freedom has to be ‘observed’ rather than being ‘enjoyed’ or ‘celebrated’.

It is made to appear that hoisting the National Flag is a duty rather than a matter of pride. Generations to come may be told that it was a particular party or a person who made the National Flag into a people’s flag. It may also be quite forgotten or even suppressed that it was the Hon’ble Supreme Court which in its land mark verdict on 23rd January 2004 in the case of Naveen Jindal (CASE NO.:Appeal (civil) 2920 of 1996) held that individuals had the right to fly the National Flag. Until then, the right was reserved by the Government.

This right is to be exercised, not imposed. For, once freedom is imposed, it loses its value. Gurudev himself so poignantly depicts it in one of his poems in ‘Fruit Gathering’:

“No: it is not yours to open buds into blossoms.
Shake the bud, strike it; it is beyond your power to make it blossom.
Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew them in the dust.
But no colours appear, and no perfume.
Ah! it is not for you to open the bud into a blossom.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.
He gives it a glance, and the life-sap stirs through its veins.
At his breath the flower spreads its wings and flutters in the wind.
Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays a sweet secret.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.”

It is on the point of the limitations of the Nationalism and the concept of Patriotism that Tagore and Gandhi differed.

“I am willing to serve my country; but my worship I reserve for Right which is far greater than country. To worship my country as a god is to bring curse upon it,” Tagore had written in his 1916 novel, The Home and the World.

Even earlier to that in 1908, in a letter to his friend, A M Bose, Tagore is quoted to have written, “Patriotism can’t be our final spiritual shelter. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.” (Selected Letters of Rabindranath Tagore, published by Cambridge University Press in 1997)

What he had really meant can be seen in his open letter ‘The Call of Truth’:

“But if we can gain within us the truth called our country, all outward maya will vanish of itself…..the true nature of man is his inner nature, with its inherent powers. Therefore, that only can be a man’s true country, which he can help to create by his wisdom and will, his love and his actions.”

Every moment when I see the National Flag or hear the National Anthem, I pray, ‘Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake’.

ON VIDHEYAN MOVIE DEPICTING SERVITUDE

 

The protagonist ;Vidheyan’ or the ‘servant’ in the Malayalam film ‘#Vidheyan’ is played by one M.R.Gopakumar.  The feudal Patialdar is played by #Mamooty.  This film along with ‘Pondhan Mada’, in which Mamooty plays the role of the servant to that of the Master Nasrudin Shah, both of which were released in 1994, got Mamooty his second Bharath Award. 

While Pondhan Mada is a breezy story showing the song like relationship between an elegant master and a loyal servant, ‘Vidheyan’, portrays the roller-costar relationship between the two.

Right from the very first scene where the servant-to-be Thommi is insulted and humiliated by the feudal Pateldar, upto the last till the servant exults in his freedom, it is a continuous emotional turmoil for the servant.

He has come to Karnataka from Wayanad along with his wife, only to land in a place which is ruled by a ruthless feudal land lord (Pateldar), who though said to be good in the beginning with the only fault of being short tempered, was progressively spoilt by the society around, by liberal supply of liquor and women for achieving 'their' ends.

When Thommy comes to know that the Pateldar had broken into his house and when the next morning one of the henchmen of the Patedar comes to fetch him saying that Master had called him, Thommy, burning with indignation shouts back, “whose master?”.  His wife gives him an option to die, together.  But the weakness within the servant prohibits.  He agrees to live together, ‘somehow’.  And for that he compromises and ends up as a helper in the liquor shop of the Pateldar and becomes his most trusted servant.  He is the only person having access to his house and whom Pateldar’s wife feeds with her own hands.

But Paeldar wants to kill that wife of his, for her fault of trying to counsel him.  Only one thing he is bothered about.  That his wife should not know that he killed her. For that he enlists the help of the servant.  But in the fiasco, it is the servant who gets shot and it is the wife of the Pateldar who saves him and even visits him in his house when he lies convalescing.  Thommy has a great attachment for the lady.  Pateldar even asks him, ‘You like Saroja akka a lot, isn’t it?’. 

Ultimately Pateldar accomplishes the murder of his wife, alone and gets the help of Thommy to make it look like a suicide. Thommy, all in tears, does as ordered by his master.

The scene where a person produces his wife and children along with another man accusing her of having run away with the other man is a classic scene. After his tiring previous night, when he had visited Thommy’s wife, Pateldar is seated in his house and Thommy is massaging his back.  “Slowly, it is hurting,’ says Pateldar.  Thommy slows his pace in the massaging.  It is then that the dispute is brought before the feudal lord.  On hearing the dispute, Pateldar gets up and slaps the complainant husband saying, ‘If you cannot properly maintain a lady, why do you want one?;  The camera fixes on the face of Thommy.  Next, Pateldar kicks and punishes the fellow who had taken away the other man’s wife saying, ‘how can you take the other man’s wife?’.  The camera again strays to show the face of Thommy.  Then as if the message should be made further clear, Pateldar warns the lady saying that only because it is not proper to beat a lady that he is refraining from doing so and sends her and children with her husband.  Thommy is a witness to all this. Knowing absolutely well that none of the preaching would apply to him and his master.

On one hand Thommy is loyal to his master to the extent that he is prepared to help him to kill his wife (though with a heavy heart – when he requests her for gruel, he adds with lump in his throat ‘pl don’t add salt’) and also is on the other hand prepared to help the foes of his master to enable them to kill him. 

He dislikes his master interfering with his familial life, and yet is enthralled that his wife had progressively started smelling the scent used by his master.  His wife also giggles to that and Thommy assures her to get the same scent for her on his own.  This perhaps is the point in the film where servitude is highlighted at its best.

At the same time, the self respect of the couple is also in a subtle manner shown when in a scene the saree purchased and gifted by the Pateldar for Omana through Thommy, immediately after his first visit to her, is shown as unused and just hanging from a string, in the back ground of a scene, long after.

When Patialdar and Thommy are about to leave into the forests because the relations of Pateldars wife are after him for her murder, Thommy’s wife Ommana weeps on Thommy’s breast.  They are literally afraid.  But Thommy suddenly realizes that she was doing so in the presence of Pateldar himself, suddenly gets back to his senses and perhaps remembering the brutal assault made by Pateldar on Thommi's former master, only for the fault that Thommy had shown courtesy and respect to his former boss in the presence of Pateldar, says to her, ‘don’t worry, I will not allow anything to happen to the master’. 

And in the final hours of their togetherness, in the wild, when the feudal lord has no one else but this servant to depend upon, he calls him by his name and Thommy becomes overjoyed saying, ‘Master has called me by my name’.  Till then he used to be called only by abusive epitaphs. 

When finally Pateldar is killed, Thommy who initially has fled from the scene fearing for his own life, goes near the body and after making sure that he is dead, throws his gun into the waters.  Then he laments and cries alound,’ Omanna, our Master has died’.  It is as he runs towards his house that his weeping and wailing change into jumping and laughing, an accompanying background score signaling that at last he senses freedom, really.

While the depiction of the servant is a reflection of each one of us to some extent, in each and every situation in life, where we are not able fight back, pretty well knowing that we are being treated shabbily, and yet compromising with an expectation that we will be able to overcome some day, it is also depiction of our own weakness where we fall under the spell of the tormentor without our knowing it.

Apart from the drama in the interpersonal relationship between the master and servant, to me the protagonist depicts our society itself, in dealing with a Tyrant.  The society detests him and also fears him. It obeys him and yet given an opportunity tries to bring him down.  It exults in his company and his very scent. But it exults more when he is felled.   The servant survives; so too the concept of servitude.  Feudal lords come and go, servants and society go on forever.

There are several other nuances of #AdoorGopalakrishnan in the film I have deliberately avoided highlighting so that viewers can enjoy themselves.

2024

 

Conversation with an unknown

I do not recollect the faces.  But the voices are still in my mind.  I do not know whether I was dreaming or whether I was overhearing some conversation.  It was during a train journey and the news about train burning in some places was perhaps inside my mind when I had gone to sleep.

“Why not provide the youngsters a 4 year course in the military?  It will enhance patriotism.

How?

Just like compulsory military service was mandated in many nations.

Like?

Russia.

How will it enable patriotism to develop?

That is the best place where discipline can be inculcated. 

But do not people of army commit all sorts of heinous crimes when an area is under their occupation?

But that is when they are bound to show their might. Not within the ranks.

But once they go out, what is the guarantee that they will continue with that sort of discipline?

They should be kept under surveillance, for the larger good.

But how can that be done in such a large country?

We should be able to make people take them into their organisation so that they can be monitored.

But why should organisations take such a responsibility?

They have the benefit of getting a trained and disciplined labour force at a very cheap price no?

How can it be called cheap?

These organisations did not have to train them the hard way.

But how does all this create patriotism?

Indoctrination is part of any military training. Don’t you know?

Regarding what?

See, if you have to make a person give his full to fight an enemy nation like Pakistan, indoctrination is essential.  Only then they will be able to fight with conviction, to the extent that either they kill or are prepared to be even killed.  No military can afford to work without such an essential element.

But how does that enhance patriotism.

Fool, don’t you know that being against Pakistan is patriotism?

How?

They have separated away from us and have given us a lot of torment. 

So what is the remedy?

We have to become like them.  It was Gandhi’s fault that we did not become a Hindustan like Pakistan.

Are we not Hindustan now?

No.  There are several others who have confused our identity.

What is our identity?

Our identity is that of great Hindu samrats.

Who was the last Hindu samrat?

There were several …but I do not really remember now.

....

Ok leave it, will everyone be able to get into the training programme?

Now, you have come to the real point.

What is that?

Not everyone can.  They should be qualified.

Qualified? How?

First of all they should possess the physical fitness.  Then mental fitness.

Mental fitness?

Yes, all their back ground can be checked and only then after proper verification certificate from the Police they will be allowed.

But that is done even otherwise for all military training.

But now, we have to be careful.  Since we are going to give them arms training, it cannot be given to those who are against our ideology. Even their outlook in social media will have to be verified.

Yes. Now I got the point. This is a good idea.”

My new Guru

 

When my daughter named him ‘Sidhu’ and I had made it ‘Sidharth Bhairav’, little had I realized that our Labrador will become my Guru.  (Sri Krishna tells Udhava that he had numerous Gurus)

Daily mornings he takes me for a walk.  He waits till I have my tea and then will not allow me another moment.

He was only a pup. Street dogs that are in plenty in our area and would encircle us at certain points that I would not know what to do. Hence, I started carrying a long stick.  It would give some sense of protection and also enable me to ensure that the pup would not eat up any unwanted stuff during the walk.

Now that he has become 6 months old, he has grown more confident.

It happened that we were encircled by around 8 dogs, male, female and their kids all yelling and howling at a particular street and they were about to attack Sidhu.  I swiftly took him away on our course.  But they would all chase and try to get at him. Then, suddenly the event happened. Sidhu turned around and sat on the road, facing the chasers.  Facing them straight like this:

(I do not know when he learnt the technique stated by Swami Vivekananda - facing the brute) 

Then all those chasers just stood where they were and continued their barking. Then, they also sat down before him in a semi-circle.  There was no noise. Then Sidhu lied on the road just looking at them.  

For some time, there was full calm.  One neighbor who had come out of his house to the road, hearing the noise, was standing and watching the entire proceedings.  After some time, I had to persuade our gentleman to get up and continue our walk.

If this was a lesson I learnt, I wanted to put it to test again.

Today I took him to a place where he had been attacked by one street dog last month.  He used to be more aggressive than the others and had attacked Sidhu.  Then I had to shoo him away with my stick. After that incident I used to avoid going that way because I understood that he was standing guard to some young pups and was therefore extra-ferocious.

Today I took Sidhu to that road again.  Again all those pups and their mother came rushing and barking.  Sidhu walked away. Then came the one who had attacked him earlier. He was charging at him gnashing his teeth and growling.  I did not intervene.  Sidhu used the same sitting pose on the road, facing the attacker.  The attacker stood some space away and continued with his barking and gnashing of teeth.  Then he also stopped. All of them then sat down in a semi-circle facing Sidhu and there was peace.

When I came home I saw the statement of Zelensky that he wanted to sit and talk to Putin.  ‘I will not bite’, says Zelensky.

My friends say that Sidhu’s technique may not work with all dogs.

I do not know.

(Note: Since I want to protect the privacy of my latest Guru, the photos used above are not his)

Quixotic Collector of Kozhikode

 

When Gopalan sir said that he had ordered a book for me, I thought it will be a difficult stuff related either to Western History or an in-depth understanding of the English language.  I was very much apprehensive about how I will finish reading such a stuff.

Then in the face book, he had made a post linking me.  The name of the book got revealed there.  'Collector Bro'.  The Tamil poetic prose written by him in the post did not either give me a hint as to why he decided that I should read the book or rather that I would love reading it.  I said I reserve my comments, awaiting to see what lay in store.

When the book came and I started reading, I was thrilled that he had chosen me to read it.  Rather, it showed his great opinion about me, because the author, Shri. Prasanth Nair, who had been Collector of Kozhikode had narrated some of the highlights of his tenure there. 

As the author himself says at the outset, usually first person accounts tend to be tedious and self praising, thereby making the reader lose interest, unless of course the author is a well known celebrity, whose personal life, one would be inclined to peep into.

And there have been thousands of Collectors earlier and there will be thousands to come too.  What a big deal?

But I should confess that after a very long time, I found a book totally engrossing, which I completed from wrapper to wrapper, without touching any other for a break.

I do not know whether the author was known as Collector Bro as in the tile of the book or Collector Chettan, at Kozhikode during his tenure. But, the idealism of youth and maturity given by an innate wisdom alone appears to have allowed him to venture into things usually people only dream of and to accomplish them where people leave in between, after a mere beginning.  Keralites have the notoriety of being Great Beginners (meaning not great finishers) which is called in Malayalam as “Aramba suratham’.

The author obviously has broken that ill fame for the Keralites.  The steps he took to carry out is all about the book.

In the early pages itself, the Talisman of Gandhi gives out the very purpose of the book and the guiding light of the author.  It was a gratifying moment for me personally to come across this talisman because, it had been one of the touch stones in my own heart for a very long time, right from child hood.  And for those who had not come across this talisman, our actions look like ‘Communism’.  After all, where has there been a greater socialist in action that the great Mahatma himself, in the recent past?

The depth of the feeling of the author for the suffering of people of different walks of life and in different situations is heartening.

Only a real compassion and understanding of the mental turmoil of the persons in the Kudiravattom home for mentally disabled could have made him get an entire chapter printed in black with letters in white.  It shows the gloom in their lives – for example where one person has crossed just two days in 15 years. The author puts his finger on the very crux of the issue, these inmates, have no relations to claim them, look after them, no groups to take interest because they are not going to be useful to them.  The funds allocated to them do not get translated into any benefit.  Even their menu had not been changed since 1979! They cannot be hospitalized because there are no bystanders to take care of them during post operative care.  Even when declared medically cured, there is no one to take them back home, into the society. The squalid conditions in which these helpless being are forced to live in, would bring tears to anyone who would go through the chapter. And to just see that by the end of the chapters, several have been rehabilitated and joined with the families and the conditions in the hospital made much better, some light could be seen at the end of the tunnel and a great relief, as if one had been associated with the efforts oneself.

Similarly in the case of the orphaned children.

Another major effort of the Collector had been in addressing poverty.  The novelty in dealing with it and the difficulties to be overcome in introducing a scheme, even at the cost of dishing out a very costly lie, are unbelievable.  But true.  It worked.

The incident describing a self respecting woman partially paralyzed and having to take care of her completely paralyzed father, reluctantly taking the food coupon, the author and his assistant becoming emotional about the success of their endeavor in reaching out to the really needy, is poignant.  The heaviness of the moment had been broken perhaps by the author with his impish comment on how wide tables can save people from scandals some times.

The other heavy moment comes when a senior chides the author for a delay of around 10 minutes in attending a meeting, pretty well knowing the humanitarian issue which had caused the delay.  The heaviness again is cast aside by casting away the image of the senior into the dust bin of history.

There is the other instance of how a way was found for the parents of autistic children to take care of their children as well as themselves.  The author magnanimously gifts away the credit for the entire effort to the beneficiaries themselves, for having come to him and goaded him into action!

Throughout the book, there are pictures, figures, narrations etc of artistic nature.  It requires the reader not only to read but pause and absorb the feelings behind the words and the actions.

I deliberately do not want to detail all the great deeds that the author along with his dedicated team had managed to accomplish in Kozhikode during his tenure because, it may be doing injustice to the efforts of these noble souls.  One has to read and live the moments, oneself.  Only then one would be able to see, what novel ideas could come to open minds and how daring spirits find ways even in dense jungles.

The book gives a hope to those hearts which look forward to breaking the red tapes and for administration to reach out to the poor and needy.

Only a daring mind and a stout heart can stop the Collector’s residence from being approachable only by the rich and mighty and throwing it open to all.

We see a people’s Collector, an activist administrator and a philosopher performer all rolled into one in Shri. Prasanth Nair.  He would have definitely been seen as self styled, for a person self propelled alone would dare to do such things, out of the book and out of the box.  I do not know how the strict confines of the codes, protocols, etc would have permitted him to go ahead with his projects.  He should have been called a maverick.  He himself terms it ‘quixotic’. There is also the instance of his having a clash of egos with a politician.  That is how society generally deals with such people who dare to be different.

He dedicates the book to the Universal Mother.  Undisputedly only that Mother could give the strength and wisdom to a young mind to take upon the huge demon of vested interests, without practically any support of the state, but his faith only in the people of the District.

Yet, I feel that the book deserves to be dedicated to ‘that’ Cultured IAS Officer, whom the author had met as a child along with his mother, but for whom the author may not have aspired to become an IAS Officer himself and but for which the society could have lost the services of such a great personality.  Of course, for a person with so much vision, zeal and idealism, he would have performed even without being an IAS Officer.  Only this post gave him easy access to resources, which most others use for their own fulfillment alone.

Looking forward towards meeting at least some of the great persons who had been of assistance to this author, some day, if not chance permits me to meet the author himself.

Heart felt Pranams to his parents. Their purpose of life is indeed fulfilled by bringing forth such a Cultured human being. And with prayers to that Universal Mother that the author continues to make such path breaking services throughout his life and that may many more such noble souls get born and flourish.

This book should be prescribed as a guidance book for every aspiring young person entering whichever walk of public life.

A great thanks once again Gopalan sir, for having thought me fit to come across this treasure.