Aches, Pains and Other Diseases
Life is a unity. It is one and indivisible yet manifest in all animals and plants. The tree in front of my house has same life as I, not similar but identical. Our bodies are animated by life. Tribal people all over the world call it the animator. They therefore recognize kinship with birds, animals and plants.
Life’s Wisdom is embedded in every being. Furthermore it comes afresh every day with the air we breathe and sunshine in which we bask. Everyone living in the wild imbibes it. But when some animals (particularly we humans) insulate themselves by living inside four walls, they lose touch with the free flowing Manna. But nature in its generosity does not give up. It punches us to puncture our shell. The pain immobilizes and makes us lie down to pay attention. If we recognize true nature and purpose of this pain, the gift of precious wisdom is delivered and the pain goes.
I illustrate this with a personal experience.
In the beginning of December 2008 I woke up one morning with a pain in my right thigh. It was not severe but vexing enough to ring an alarm. I tried to recall what all I had done the previous day. It was an ordinary day and I had followed my routine of exercise, deskwork and leisure of a couple of short naps. I definitely had not hurt myself. There was no telltale sign on my leg, no swelling, no red or blue color, not even a scratch. Yet the pain persisted and by the following morning it became severe.
I got up from bed feeling considerable pain but when I tried to walk the pain became so intense. I knew it was a major event not likely to go away as quickly as it had come. Both bedrooms in our duplex house are upstairs. So we got a bed brought down with the help of some visiting friends and I made myself as comfortable as was possible.
Low pain was constant but it flared every time I moved my right leg. I lay on bed and meditated most of the time. Neighbors got word and came to see me. They gave suggestions. I heard but didn’t feel the necessity to do anything in a hurry. It is not my habit to run to a doctor for every little ache. Four days passed. My friend and neighbor Sreedhar came in to announce that he was taking me to our good Doctor C. M. at 10am. I said okay for when this dear friend comes in such situations there is no other answer.
With great difficulty I walked the short distance from car to the elevator and we were in the doctor’s room. She sat me down and asked what had happened. I told her I did not think there was anything wrong with me. My pain was benign and had come with a gift! Dr. C. M. was not surprised, for she knew me well. “You may be right, but we have to find out our way,” she said. She made me lie down on a bunk, examined me, and said she will make appointments with some specialists and inform me when to come. In a week I was checked by three of them. All gave me a clean chit. She said she too was puzzled. She prescribed some pills twice. I bought and swallowed the first bunch, but quietly skipped the second. I knew they were painkillers and I did not need them.
There was nothing wrong with me. The pain was a wrap covering a priceless gift. I needed patiently to wait. After a long month I knew the gift was being delivered and it was with me. The pain mellowed and soon disappeared.
I had had such experiences many times since 1956. Most of them came when I needed guidance. The path to take was pointed. I was healed. I know that a silent Animator permeates my body. In fact that is who I am. It needs to draw my attention and communicate with me in silence, not words. If I am ready to receive the message it comes clear as bell.
Partap Aggarwal
January 9, 2010
Environment in a New Light III
Environment in a New Light III
“Prabhate mala darshanam” -unknown
This dictum probably comes from Vedic time. It says, “every morning look at your feces.” As we try to make our lifestyle more eco-friendly by avoiding wrong eating, saving water, and recycling sewage, this advice of a Rishi (sage) of ancient times is more appropriate now than it was then.
It sounds simple; some people may even think it simplistic. But it is profoundly wise counsel. I have lived by it all my life and it has worked like a powerful talisman.
By its odor, color, texture, shape, quantity our feces clearly tells us every single day whether or not we are eating the right food in right quantity.
For instance, normally our feces should not stink. Its rancid odor means we are eating wrong food in large quantity and it is not digesting properly inside the stomach. When we change our food, the offensive smell goes. This can be seen in animals also. I lived in upstate New York for several decades. In the 60’s and 70’s the state was dotted with small farmers many of whom raised dairy cows in addition. Cows were mostly grazed in the fields and fed some additional grain meal to sustain their high milk yield. Their excreta smelled okay. But later, in the 80’s and 90’s yield of milk per cow had to be raised in order for the farmer to remain competitive. Factory made feeds of higher nutrient content became vogue. They contained grain and waste materials from food processing plants. Some clever animal nutrition experts began to recommend feed factories to use waste products of butcheries. These included blood, ground up hoofs, bones and bits of viscera. Cow dung odor turned terribly obnoxious. Dairy farms began to stink so bad that one could smell them from miles.
This trend is changing for the better in the present millennium as dairy farmers go organic. I visited some of them in 2006. Offensive odor in many dairies had vanished. We visited a highly successful farmer who keeps 80 cows. “It smells good,” he said. My family and I live in a house right next to the dairy. He served us snacks and coffee in his house to prove his word. He also told us that Cornell experts had warned him that he would not be viable for long. “I proved them wrong,” he boasted! As you can see I am doing well.
In India we have always considered cow dung shuddha, (clean and safe). We use hands to lift, carry and use it. Our houses were regularly plastered with it. The reason obviously is that we fed the cows their natural feed, i.e. grasses. No wonder we call it gobar, not cow shit!
When I am at Navadarshanam I never use indoor WC, for I do not want to waste precious water and valuable manure. I find a secluded area near our house and a spot where a plant can use manure. I cover the excreta with mud or dry cow dung if some is found nearby.
Most of the time all is well but sometimes odors turn rancid. I quickly make amends. Sometimes one may notice little worms squirming and whole peas and other grains. Timely action sets things right. Feces may occasionally be too runny or hard. It may be of unusual color or have too much white mucus. It may come out as one long piece, or in small shreds. Sometimes I have to spread it with a twig to see clearly. Whenever one or more unusual signs appear, they tell a tale. I can easily recall what and how much I ate the previous day. Because of long experience I know what amends I need to make. Often all I have to do is miss one or two meals and all turns well. But occasionally I have to fast for a day or much longer. I must also avoid foods that do not agree with my stomach. One thing to remember always is to eat less.
Human feces dry quickly in open air. Good living soil decomposes it quite fast. I cannot even find it after three or four days in many places; microbes and insects have eaten it up. All of it is finished off and gone. There is no room for pathogens to lurk. But when we give human feces a watery medium, like in a modern flush latrine, pathogens love it and thrive. No wonder every city in the world faces a huge sewage disposal problem. There is no solution in sight while the problem worsens at alarming speed.
Mala Darshanam teaches us much more. But it won’t fit in this paper.
Partap, December 29, 2009
“Prabhate mala darshanam” -unknown
This dictum probably comes from Vedic time. It says, “every morning look at your feces.” As we try to make our lifestyle more eco-friendly by avoiding wrong eating, saving water, and recycling sewage, this advice of a Rishi (sage) of ancient times is more appropriate now than it was then.
It sounds simple; some people may even think it simplistic. But it is profoundly wise counsel. I have lived by it all my life and it has worked like a powerful talisman.
By its odor, color, texture, shape, quantity our feces clearly tells us every single day whether or not we are eating the right food in right quantity.
For instance, normally our feces should not stink. Its rancid odor means we are eating wrong food in large quantity and it is not digesting properly inside the stomach. When we change our food, the offensive smell goes. This can be seen in animals also. I lived in upstate New York for several decades. In the 60’s and 70’s the state was dotted with small farmers many of whom raised dairy cows in addition. Cows were mostly grazed in the fields and fed some additional grain meal to sustain their high milk yield. Their excreta smelled okay. But later, in the 80’s and 90’s yield of milk per cow had to be raised in order for the farmer to remain competitive. Factory made feeds of higher nutrient content became vogue. They contained grain and waste materials from food processing plants. Some clever animal nutrition experts began to recommend feed factories to use waste products of butcheries. These included blood, ground up hoofs, bones and bits of viscera. Cow dung odor turned terribly obnoxious. Dairy farms began to stink so bad that one could smell them from miles.
This trend is changing for the better in the present millennium as dairy farmers go organic. I visited some of them in 2006. Offensive odor in many dairies had vanished. We visited a highly successful farmer who keeps 80 cows. “It smells good,” he said. My family and I live in a house right next to the dairy. He served us snacks and coffee in his house to prove his word. He also told us that Cornell experts had warned him that he would not be viable for long. “I proved them wrong,” he boasted! As you can see I am doing well.
In India we have always considered cow dung shuddha, (clean and safe). We use hands to lift, carry and use it. Our houses were regularly plastered with it. The reason obviously is that we fed the cows their natural feed, i.e. grasses. No wonder we call it gobar, not cow shit!
When I am at Navadarshanam I never use indoor WC, for I do not want to waste precious water and valuable manure. I find a secluded area near our house and a spot where a plant can use manure. I cover the excreta with mud or dry cow dung if some is found nearby.
Most of the time all is well but sometimes odors turn rancid. I quickly make amends. Sometimes one may notice little worms squirming and whole peas and other grains. Timely action sets things right. Feces may occasionally be too runny or hard. It may be of unusual color or have too much white mucus. It may come out as one long piece, or in small shreds. Sometimes I have to spread it with a twig to see clearly. Whenever one or more unusual signs appear, they tell a tale. I can easily recall what and how much I ate the previous day. Because of long experience I know what amends I need to make. Often all I have to do is miss one or two meals and all turns well. But occasionally I have to fast for a day or much longer. I must also avoid foods that do not agree with my stomach. One thing to remember always is to eat less.
Human feces dry quickly in open air. Good living soil decomposes it quite fast. I cannot even find it after three or four days in many places; microbes and insects have eaten it up. All of it is finished off and gone. There is no room for pathogens to lurk. But when we give human feces a watery medium, like in a modern flush latrine, pathogens love it and thrive. No wonder every city in the world faces a huge sewage disposal problem. There is no solution in sight while the problem worsens at alarming speed.
Mala Darshanam teaches us much more. But it won’t fit in this paper.
Partap, December 29, 2009
Environment in a New Light (part II)
Environment in a New Light (part II)
“The need today seems to be to reexamine our way of life in every detail. Whatever seems in anyway to harm the natural order must be shed and what promotes health and peace needs to be adopted. For this we must have reverence for the Creator and discipline to obey rules that govern the universe.” We concluded the last article with this statement. Now let us see what all we need to shed and what to adopt.
AIR
Let us first talk of air, for it is our most important intake. We breathe it all day and all night throughout our lives. On waking up we need to stretch our limbs and take deep breaths. Next we city folks must find a way to soak in our quota of oxygen for the day. The best place for it is a local park where there are trees and other plants. Morning air has moisture that soaks up impurities. The plants pull this moisture, drink it and eat what’s in it. You see it as dew on the leaves. The air is washed clean, or relatively so! We must add this qualification because the amount of pollutants we put into the air is huge.
Let us walk in this morning air for ½ or at least ¼ hour. Brisk walk is better, but do not torture your body. Remember always to remain comfortable or you can hurt yourself.
Then sit down on a bench. Do basic neck exercises. These are especially important for people over 40, or if you use a computer for work. Take long breaths inhaling maximum amount of air so that your lungs are full and belly puffed up. Then exhale. Be sure the belly contracts. In most people this process is reversed and very harmful. To learn the correct way, observe a baby sleeping in a crib. That is the way we need to breathe every day all our lives. It is not difficult to learn.
Learn 6-7 basic pranayams as Baba Ram Dev teaches them. Do each 10 or more times. But this is not enough. In addition pick one and do it continuously for 15 to 20 minutes. I do the kapal bhati 500 hundred times. This way you absorb a lot of oxygen in your blood and rest of the body. Specific pranayams are recommended for different ailments. Take advice from a yoga teacher if you need it.
Next, you stand up straight and do some basic exercises of your arms. This is essential for people with sedentary jobs.
There are many benefits of this daily routine. One is that you become conscious of the quality of air you breathe and learn to avoid polluting it. You then know that it is good to avoid known polluted areas in the city. Cut down on shopping. Reduce your needs. Do whatever you can to be in cleaner areas. I always use Volvo buses in Bangalore. This also keeps me safe from prevailing road rage.
I have often mentioned what “I” do only to stress that you too can do it. For I believe that everyone can do what even I can do.
Partap Aggarwal
December 24, 2009
“The need today seems to be to reexamine our way of life in every detail. Whatever seems in anyway to harm the natural order must be shed and what promotes health and peace needs to be adopted. For this we must have reverence for the Creator and discipline to obey rules that govern the universe.” We concluded the last article with this statement. Now let us see what all we need to shed and what to adopt.
AIR
Let us first talk of air, for it is our most important intake. We breathe it all day and all night throughout our lives. On waking up we need to stretch our limbs and take deep breaths. Next we city folks must find a way to soak in our quota of oxygen for the day. The best place for it is a local park where there are trees and other plants. Morning air has moisture that soaks up impurities. The plants pull this moisture, drink it and eat what’s in it. You see it as dew on the leaves. The air is washed clean, or relatively so! We must add this qualification because the amount of pollutants we put into the air is huge.
Let us walk in this morning air for ½ or at least ¼ hour. Brisk walk is better, but do not torture your body. Remember always to remain comfortable or you can hurt yourself.
Then sit down on a bench. Do basic neck exercises. These are especially important for people over 40, or if you use a computer for work. Take long breaths inhaling maximum amount of air so that your lungs are full and belly puffed up. Then exhale. Be sure the belly contracts. In most people this process is reversed and very harmful. To learn the correct way, observe a baby sleeping in a crib. That is the way we need to breathe every day all our lives. It is not difficult to learn.
Learn 6-7 basic pranayams as Baba Ram Dev teaches them. Do each 10 or more times. But this is not enough. In addition pick one and do it continuously for 15 to 20 minutes. I do the kapal bhati 500 hundred times. This way you absorb a lot of oxygen in your blood and rest of the body. Specific pranayams are recommended for different ailments. Take advice from a yoga teacher if you need it.
Next, you stand up straight and do some basic exercises of your arms. This is essential for people with sedentary jobs.
There are many benefits of this daily routine. One is that you become conscious of the quality of air you breathe and learn to avoid polluting it. You then know that it is good to avoid known polluted areas in the city. Cut down on shopping. Reduce your needs. Do whatever you can to be in cleaner areas. I always use Volvo buses in Bangalore. This also keeps me safe from prevailing road rage.
I have often mentioned what “I” do only to stress that you too can do it. For I believe that everyone can do what even I can do.
Partap Aggarwal
December 24, 2009
Environment In a New Light
Environment In a New Light
Even as far back as the1950’s there was much talking about environment. Few people heard this talk seriously. I know many friends called such people doomsayers. As time went by pollution levels rose and the media began to think environment news was fit to print. Awareness level of people went up. They began to hear with more interest. But most of them thought ‘scientists’ would fix the problems. There is nothing to worry. More recently, when the globe began to overheat enough for people actually to feel the effect their interest level rapidly shot up. Environment talk became louder and concern more urgent. Many friends have begun to see sense in such talk and merit in this concern.
I persevered in my interest in environment study. As a result I have learned little more and become slightly wiser. Today I say there is no environment problem. For rain still falls and water percolates into the earth. The Sun shines and the air flows. New species of living beings evolve. Older ones adapt to the natural environment. New ones grow and change. Individuals die and yield their bodies to the living so that life should continue. Everything needed by the living is still provided by nature. Otherwise life on this Earth would have ended.
Even in my primary school I learned through shlokas of the Vedic Rishis that the entire universe is one single whole. All things are connected. Therefore, whatever any one of us does affects all the rest. Because we are part of a unity, whatever we do must get reflected in the whole. If my community and I cut down the trees around our settlement we must face consequences. But if we cherish the old trees and plant more for fruit and other produce we would benefit. Nature gives us a lot of freedom to act but whatever choice we make appropriate consequence follow. This law governs us humans and all other living beings. No one is exempt, not even Vishnu, Shiva and other deities.
Condition of our environment is bad and it is rapidly deteriorating further. It is not just one country or a few people who are responsible but it is the worldview and lifestyle promoted by the industrial civilization. Sadly it has spread worldwide and is still expanding. A few islands of sane living that still linger are fast disappearing.
The need today seems to be to reexamine our way of life in every detail. Whatever seems in anyway to harm the natural order must be shed and what promotes health and peace needs to be adopted. For this we must have reverence for the Creator and discipline to obey rules that govern the universe.
Partap,
December 13, 2009
Even as far back as the1950’s there was much talking about environment. Few people heard this talk seriously. I know many friends called such people doomsayers. As time went by pollution levels rose and the media began to think environment news was fit to print. Awareness level of people went up. They began to hear with more interest. But most of them thought ‘scientists’ would fix the problems. There is nothing to worry. More recently, when the globe began to overheat enough for people actually to feel the effect their interest level rapidly shot up. Environment talk became louder and concern more urgent. Many friends have begun to see sense in such talk and merit in this concern.
I persevered in my interest in environment study. As a result I have learned little more and become slightly wiser. Today I say there is no environment problem. For rain still falls and water percolates into the earth. The Sun shines and the air flows. New species of living beings evolve. Older ones adapt to the natural environment. New ones grow and change. Individuals die and yield their bodies to the living so that life should continue. Everything needed by the living is still provided by nature. Otherwise life on this Earth would have ended.
Even in my primary school I learned through shlokas of the Vedic Rishis that the entire universe is one single whole. All things are connected. Therefore, whatever any one of us does affects all the rest. Because we are part of a unity, whatever we do must get reflected in the whole. If my community and I cut down the trees around our settlement we must face consequences. But if we cherish the old trees and plant more for fruit and other produce we would benefit. Nature gives us a lot of freedom to act but whatever choice we make appropriate consequence follow. This law governs us humans and all other living beings. No one is exempt, not even Vishnu, Shiva and other deities.
Condition of our environment is bad and it is rapidly deteriorating further. It is not just one country or a few people who are responsible but it is the worldview and lifestyle promoted by the industrial civilization. Sadly it has spread worldwide and is still expanding. A few islands of sane living that still linger are fast disappearing.
The need today seems to be to reexamine our way of life in every detail. Whatever seems in anyway to harm the natural order must be shed and what promotes health and peace needs to be adopted. For this we must have reverence for the Creator and discipline to obey rules that govern the universe.
Partap,
December 13, 2009
Baba Amte’s Childhood Lesson
Baba Amte’s Childhood Lesson
I subscribe to a Hindi-language monthly magazine called Madhusanchaya. It is in fact a modest 8 page non-profit publication circulated to a small number of subscribers. But every issue has nuggets of wisdom. In one of the recent issues there was this beautiful piece that describes a touching incident in Baba Amte’s childhood.
When Baba was just about 6 years old his mother gave him a Japanese toy. It had a human figure set on a wooden base. The figure was so fitted on a spring that one could push it down flat on the base. But as soon as the figure was released it shot back up in its original upright posture. Boy Amte found it very amusing.
One day his mother sat him down next to her and asked, “Son, do you know that this toy has an important message for you?”
“No” said Amte, “ I do not get any message. Please, mother, tell me what it is.”
The mother explained, “In life, every one experiences many big and small pit falls. But one must remember not to feel overwhelmed. Knowing that they are a normal part of life one must stand up as quickly as possible and resume ones journey.
You must remember this lesson all your life.”
“Very good, mother,” said Amte. “I will always remember what you have told me. I promise.”
Baba Amte, a towering personality of modern India, lived a long life of very difficult struggles. But remembering what his mother had taught him he faced them with courage and overcame every single one of them.
Partap
December 8, 2009
1
Enjoyed your story about Baba Amte. He must have been extraordinarily courageous to have himself injected with leprosy when it was commonly felt to be contagious. When I looked him up in Wikipedia it said, surprisingly, that he was an atheist. It then offers a poignant quote from him: "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see, I sought my god, but my god eluded me; And then I sought my sisters and my brothers, and in them I found all three." It also said he liked to think of himself as a "mechanic with an oil can" ministering to small ills, rather than the spectacular, although he played a major role in India's struggle for independence. Your story about his childhood experience is an interesting sidelight.
Wikipedia also said he worked with the Gonds. Remember the Gond community northeast of Hoshangabad (I think it was northeast)? At Rasulia, I was told they were an "island" of the original inhabitants that survived the southward migration of people displaced by the invasion of the Aryans. Are you familiar with any studies of them? From the N.Y. Times I get intimations that Maoist groups in Madhya Pradesh are trying to appeal to them. But it's all a muddle in my head and I'd like to read more about it.
Enjoyed your account of "Renu's first visit to America." It was funny.
Partap, your example may be spreading, in the sense of encouraging others to write up their recollections as well. My cousins and I are finding great joy in sifting through family diaries and records. But we know we're missing many stories. It's important to write them down as you have been doing. So far, I've written about 45, and still have many more to go. One, incidentally, is about John Gwaltney whom I think you knew at Cornell. I'll attach it to this e-mail and hope you get it.
Again, thanks for your stories. Winter is here. Today, I've been shoveling paths through about 5 inches of wet snow. Enjoy India's beautiful winter weather!
With best wishes,
Wendell
Thanks Wendell for the wonderful rich reply. I vividly remember visiting with John Gwaltney. We were both at an Anthropological meeting in NYC. He said many memmorable things. One of them was: you know I can place you so well that if I had a gun and wanted to shoot, I could get every one of you. This was when someone asked if he could find his way down the fire escape from fifth floor. I am glad Cornell hired him. For it I give my alma mater a high grade.
JOHN GWALTNEY
The rule is: "three strikes and you're out." But not for John Gwaltney. He had three strikes against him and he was still swinging.
One strike was his poverty. Another was his blindness. A third, he was black and bore scars of discrimination from childhood.
I don't know how he afforded classes at Columbia University. Perhaps he had a scholarship. If so, it didn't help with his transportation problem.
The rest of us lived on campus, a few steps from class. Not John. He lived in New Jersey. His itinerary every day included a bus ride from his home to the terminal on the Jersey side of the Hudson. Transfer to the train under the Hudson River to the Port Authority Terminal on the Manhattan side. Find his way through the labyrinth of this massive terminal to the subway station. Take the express train on the IRT line to 96th Street. Cross the platform to the local train to 116th Street. This put him just outside the gate to the Columbia campus. Cross the campus and up the steps near Low Library, across another plaza to Schermerhorn Hall. Then down several floors to our classroom in the basement.
John did this in utter darkness, without the benefit of eyesight. Going home, he reversed the sequence.
We sat next to each other in Professor Bowles class on the anthropology of India. Occasionally, John would be late.
"I feel off the subway platform at 96th Street," he explained one morning.
Once he had scratch marks on his arms and face. He laughed. "You know how the campus is almost completely paved over. Well, I found one of the few places where it wasn't, a bed of roses!" In climbing the stairs near Low he went too far and fell six feet over the side of the stairs into a flower bed.
Once, we were talking about Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.
"You know, Wendell, I've got to tell you a story about his wife, Eleanor. I was a small kid. It was the 1930s and the middle of the Depression. My mom wanted something or other from Social Services and she got the run-around."
"You know what my mom did? She whipped off a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. And do you know what happened? She got a letter back! And what's more, Social Services called up and said to come in and pick up the thing my mom wanted!"
Maybe that's where John got his moxie. Not once did he ever imply that he was a victim. Not even with three strikes against him. He was a doer and a mover.
Our paths went separate directions after Columbia. However, I heard that Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist at Columbia, took him under her wing. She may have given him a boost. But he did the rest.
Like his mother, whatever John did, he did under his own power.
The last I heard, John was a full professor at an Ivy League school, Cornell.
Enjoyed your story about Baba Amte. He must have been extraordinarily courageous to have himself injected with leprosy when it was commonly felt to be contagious. When I looked him up in Wikipedia it said, surprisingly, that he was an atheist. It then offers a poignant quote from him: "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see, I sought my god, but my god eluded me; And then I sought my sisters and my brothers, and in them I found all three." It also said he liked to think of himself as a "mechanic with an oil can" ministering to small ills, rather than the spectacular, although he played a major role in India's struggle for independence. Your story about his childhood experience is an interesting sidelight.
Wikipedia also said he worked with the Gonds. Remember the Gond community northeast of Hoshangabad (I think it was northeast)? At Rasulia, I was told they were an "island" of the original inhabitants that survived the southward migration of people displaced by the invasion of the Aryans. Are you familiar with any studies of them? From the N.Y. Times I get intimations that Maoist groups in Madhya Pradesh are trying to appeal to them. But it's all a muddle in my head and I'd like to read more about it.
Enjoyed your account of "Renu's first visit to America." It was funny.
Partap, your example may be spreading, in the sense of encouraging others to write up their recollections as well. My cousins and I are finding great joy in sifting through family diaries and records. But we know we're missing many stories. It's important to write them down as you have been doing. So far, I've written about 45, and still have many more to go. One, incidentally, is about John Gwaltney whom I think you knew at Cornell. I'll attach it to this e-mail and hope you get it.
Again, thanks for your stories. Winter is here. Today, I've been shoveling paths through about 5 inches of wet snow. Enjoy India's beautiful winter weather!
With best wishes,
Wendell
I subscribe to a Hindi-language monthly magazine called Madhusanchaya. It is in fact a modest 8 page non-profit publication circulated to a small number of subscribers. But every issue has nuggets of wisdom. In one of the recent issues there was this beautiful piece that describes a touching incident in Baba Amte’s childhood.
When Baba was just about 6 years old his mother gave him a Japanese toy. It had a human figure set on a wooden base. The figure was so fitted on a spring that one could push it down flat on the base. But as soon as the figure was released it shot back up in its original upright posture. Boy Amte found it very amusing.
One day his mother sat him down next to her and asked, “Son, do you know that this toy has an important message for you?”
“No” said Amte, “ I do not get any message. Please, mother, tell me what it is.”
The mother explained, “In life, every one experiences many big and small pit falls. But one must remember not to feel overwhelmed. Knowing that they are a normal part of life one must stand up as quickly as possible and resume ones journey.
You must remember this lesson all your life.”
“Very good, mother,” said Amte. “I will always remember what you have told me. I promise.”
Baba Amte, a towering personality of modern India, lived a long life of very difficult struggles. But remembering what his mother had taught him he faced them with courage and overcame every single one of them.
Partap
December 8, 2009
1
Enjoyed your story about Baba Amte. He must have been extraordinarily courageous to have himself injected with leprosy when it was commonly felt to be contagious. When I looked him up in Wikipedia it said, surprisingly, that he was an atheist. It then offers a poignant quote from him: "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see, I sought my god, but my god eluded me; And then I sought my sisters and my brothers, and in them I found all three." It also said he liked to think of himself as a "mechanic with an oil can" ministering to small ills, rather than the spectacular, although he played a major role in India's struggle for independence. Your story about his childhood experience is an interesting sidelight.
Wikipedia also said he worked with the Gonds. Remember the Gond community northeast of Hoshangabad (I think it was northeast)? At Rasulia, I was told they were an "island" of the original inhabitants that survived the southward migration of people displaced by the invasion of the Aryans. Are you familiar with any studies of them? From the N.Y. Times I get intimations that Maoist groups in Madhya Pradesh are trying to appeal to them. But it's all a muddle in my head and I'd like to read more about it.
Enjoyed your account of "Renu's first visit to America." It was funny.
Partap, your example may be spreading, in the sense of encouraging others to write up their recollections as well. My cousins and I are finding great joy in sifting through family diaries and records. But we know we're missing many stories. It's important to write them down as you have been doing. So far, I've written about 45, and still have many more to go. One, incidentally, is about John Gwaltney whom I think you knew at Cornell. I'll attach it to this e-mail and hope you get it.
Again, thanks for your stories. Winter is here. Today, I've been shoveling paths through about 5 inches of wet snow. Enjoy India's beautiful winter weather!
With best wishes,
Wendell
Thanks Wendell for the wonderful rich reply. I vividly remember visiting with John Gwaltney. We were both at an Anthropological meeting in NYC. He said many memmorable things. One of them was: you know I can place you so well that if I had a gun and wanted to shoot, I could get every one of you. This was when someone asked if he could find his way down the fire escape from fifth floor. I am glad Cornell hired him. For it I give my alma mater a high grade.
JOHN GWALTNEY
The rule is: "three strikes and you're out." But not for John Gwaltney. He had three strikes against him and he was still swinging.
One strike was his poverty. Another was his blindness. A third, he was black and bore scars of discrimination from childhood.
I don't know how he afforded classes at Columbia University. Perhaps he had a scholarship. If so, it didn't help with his transportation problem.
The rest of us lived on campus, a few steps from class. Not John. He lived in New Jersey. His itinerary every day included a bus ride from his home to the terminal on the Jersey side of the Hudson. Transfer to the train under the Hudson River to the Port Authority Terminal on the Manhattan side. Find his way through the labyrinth of this massive terminal to the subway station. Take the express train on the IRT line to 96th Street. Cross the platform to the local train to 116th Street. This put him just outside the gate to the Columbia campus. Cross the campus and up the steps near Low Library, across another plaza to Schermerhorn Hall. Then down several floors to our classroom in the basement.
John did this in utter darkness, without the benefit of eyesight. Going home, he reversed the sequence.
We sat next to each other in Professor Bowles class on the anthropology of India. Occasionally, John would be late.
"I feel off the subway platform at 96th Street," he explained one morning.
Once he had scratch marks on his arms and face. He laughed. "You know how the campus is almost completely paved over. Well, I found one of the few places where it wasn't, a bed of roses!" In climbing the stairs near Low he went too far and fell six feet over the side of the stairs into a flower bed.
Once, we were talking about Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.
"You know, Wendell, I've got to tell you a story about his wife, Eleanor. I was a small kid. It was the 1930s and the middle of the Depression. My mom wanted something or other from Social Services and she got the run-around."
"You know what my mom did? She whipped off a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. And do you know what happened? She got a letter back! And what's more, Social Services called up and said to come in and pick up the thing my mom wanted!"
Maybe that's where John got his moxie. Not once did he ever imply that he was a victim. Not even with three strikes against him. He was a doer and a mover.
Our paths went separate directions after Columbia. However, I heard that Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist at Columbia, took him under her wing. She may have given him a boost. But he did the rest.
Like his mother, whatever John did, he did under his own power.
The last I heard, John was a full professor at an Ivy League school, Cornell.
Enjoyed your story about Baba Amte. He must have been extraordinarily courageous to have himself injected with leprosy when it was commonly felt to be contagious. When I looked him up in Wikipedia it said, surprisingly, that he was an atheist. It then offers a poignant quote from him: "I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see, I sought my god, but my god eluded me; And then I sought my sisters and my brothers, and in them I found all three." It also said he liked to think of himself as a "mechanic with an oil can" ministering to small ills, rather than the spectacular, although he played a major role in India's struggle for independence. Your story about his childhood experience is an interesting sidelight.
Wikipedia also said he worked with the Gonds. Remember the Gond community northeast of Hoshangabad (I think it was northeast)? At Rasulia, I was told they were an "island" of the original inhabitants that survived the southward migration of people displaced by the invasion of the Aryans. Are you familiar with any studies of them? From the N.Y. Times I get intimations that Maoist groups in Madhya Pradesh are trying to appeal to them. But it's all a muddle in my head and I'd like to read more about it.
Enjoyed your account of "Renu's first visit to America." It was funny.
Partap, your example may be spreading, in the sense of encouraging others to write up their recollections as well. My cousins and I are finding great joy in sifting through family diaries and records. But we know we're missing many stories. It's important to write them down as you have been doing. So far, I've written about 45, and still have many more to go. One, incidentally, is about John Gwaltney whom I think you knew at Cornell. I'll attach it to this e-mail and hope you get it.
Again, thanks for your stories. Winter is here. Today, I've been shoveling paths through about 5 inches of wet snow. Enjoy India's beautiful winter weather!
With best wishes,
Wendell
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