Video: The angry tigress

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

Watch the angry tigress in the virgin wild life haven of Assam in India. She has lost her cubs and extremely annoyed. That's nature.

THERE IS A GREAT NEED TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF A CANCER PATIENT

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

Book title: Refractions … from the Prism of GodREFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

What goes on in a cancer patient’s mind is not even fully known to his very near and dear ones. Maybe only a part of it is known, and the rest remains within the confines of the patient’s mind.

It is said about cancer, that only the ones who have seen cancer from close quarters are sensitive about it, and the rest are not. This includes cancer patients, their near and dear ones, Parents of child cancer patients, and also people who have lost their loved ones to cancer.

A normal and healthy person may not even think about cancer, forget reading about it, because your mind is clouded by a plethora of interesting things around you, where the word ‘cancer’ is somewhat uneasy and eerie. But there is still a need to communicate to the society about the incessant suffering of a cancer patient.

This book does exactly that. It communicates the mindset and sufferings of a poor, young and a three time cancer survivor Suresh from Chennai in a comforting and engrossing manner that readers would like to read. First time when Suresh got cancer he was six, and then he was okay for a decade and a half. But it struck again when he was twenty one and again when he was twenty four. All three were different types of cancer.

Suresh wanted to tell his story for the benefit of other cancer patients primarily to make them understand what the challenges are for a young cancer patient where he has his entire life in front of him in terms of his school, college and professional education, career and aging parents, when he doesn’t even know how long he is going to survive and in all of that he builds his determination and alters his mindset to take cancer head on.

Number of cancer cases in the world, are on the rise and there is a great need to communicate the sufferings, trauma, and the challenges of a cancer patient to people in general. Also there is need to communicate how to handle such situations, and more importantly make people realise that cancer is conquerable.

The author of this book is Kamlesh Tripathi and co-author Dr Sujata Tripathi who had lost their younger son to brain cancer.

The book is co-published by Cankids … Kidscan and Shravan Charity Mission. Both are NGOs that work for children suffering from cancer.

The gutsy founder of ‘Cankids … Kidscan’ is Ms Poonam Bagai who herself is a colon cancer survivor but that has not deterred her from taking up this noble cause.

Sharvan Charity Mission is an NGO that was started by the author and the co-author in the name of their late son Shravan that also works for child cancer.

The book is available online in:

The Variety Book Depot

A.V.G. Bhawan, M3 Connaught Circus

P.O. Box 505

New Delhi-110001

Tele Nos: (011) 23417175/2567

Or you could write directly to the NGO for your copy- shravancharitymission@gmail.com

Story: An insight into religious conversion

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

    One wonders at times, if individuals are in the habit of peeping into their family history and more importantly their family tree as a giveaway to their posterity. Well if they are, they would surely know the names of their ancestors beyond their Grandfather; that is grandfather’s father and even his father and also his father’s father.

    It is widely believed many Muslims in India have converted from Hinduism. And that makes me wonder how the present generation of Muslims deal with their forefathers and ancestors who were Hindus; with love or hate? This is an emotional topic that is often thought of by inquisitive individuals but never spoken about, even in the serene and quiet corners of their homes. Also the society in general doesn’t want to dig into this tabooed adventure, and so be it. Yet there is an undying inquisition at times to know more about such happenings.

    Let us as a hypothesis think about a person named Brij Singh, son of Prakriti Singh, who some two hundred years ago converted into Islam and named himself as Shamsher Khan. If we were to take sixty years to be as one ‘generation’ that would mean this would be Shamsher Khan’s fifth generation as a Muslim, flaunting their surname as Khan. Let me further suppose that one out of the current descendant of Prakriti Singh is Amjad Khan, who knows about Prakriti Singh as part of his ancestry.

    Then my inquisition would run wild as I would like to fathom from Amjad Khan as to how he deals and feels about his ancestry and does he have any feelings for Prakriti Singh and Brij Singh, the last Hindu mark in his long lineage. Also, if he is proud and fond of his Hindu forefathers and his lineage or has he grown up hating them or revering them or thinking it is a zone where he should not enter. And, last but not the least if it is a stalemate issue beyond Amjad Khan’s comprehension.

    Often the friction point is the religion of a person. But can religion wash away the truism off an individual’s lineage is the big question; answer of which is only to be felt by the individual and never to be spoken about.

    Perhaps, this remains the weakness of mankind where, when one is bulldozed by religion he gives up on his lineage. While one may cosmetically try and overlook his lineage over his religion, but it is difficult to wash away the truism of life.

    And if the theory of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the world is one family) is not a myth we reach a point, that the world is but one family even if people may have converted into various religions and your lineage is a bliss and not a curse.

***

        

        

Book launch: ‘REFRACTIONS ... from the Prism of God’

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

Book launch: ‘REFRACTIONS ...  from the Prism of God’

    Cankids-Kidscan and Shravan Charity Mission, both leading NGOs that work for child cancer in India, have jointly released the book titled, ‘REFRACTIONS ... from the Prism of God’ on brave ‘Suresh’ a three time cancer survivor from Chennai. Suresh was diagnosed of cancer when he was six, and he comes from a poor family.

    It is an inspiring story of raw guts. Suresh has been carrying his dream to pursue PhD in cancer even after his long struggle in terms of his illness. He is always keen to encourage other young cancer patients and survivors from his own journey of life. He is an active member of Kidscan Konnect (Young cancer survivor group)

    The book is setup in a motivational and positive tone that will only cheer you up and motivate you to fight the disease, and even wade through troublesome life. It will help cancer patients, their near and dear ones, parents of child cancer patients, NGOs, Doctors and even para-medical staff and even recommended for general reading for awareness as to how one can take on cancer.

    The book has been endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group.

    Avail special discount for cancer survivors and students @ Rs 175 including postal charges and for others @ Rs 200 including postal charges. Limited copies so please hurry. (postal charges anywhere in India)

    Please contact us on 9971494795 or e-mail at: shravancharitymission@gmail.com or write to us directly on facebook to reserve your copy.

Judges to appoint judges … a voter’s perspective

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

Supreme Court has the done the right thing by keeping the corrupt executive and legislative out of the process of appointing judges. Some electronic media channels have also termed it as ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the people,’ rather I would call it ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the L&A,’ (legislative and elective) and not the people of India. Consequent to this, a spate of debates, have taken place in political circles, the print media and more vociferously in the electronic media, but sadly the general public is again a mute spectator in all of this. So from a voter’s perspective let me put forth some arterial points to which the big guns of the country may not be privy to.

Government and some political parties, (because now Congress like a chameleon has changed its colour) feel the traditional collegium system of judicial appointments is opaque, out-dated, and even has deficiencies. But, as a common man I feel this opacity and deficiency is hundred times better than the blatant corruption and callousness of the L&A. For over a period of time since independence the ‘trust deficit’ between the common man vis-a-vis the L&A has only increased and therefore, why would the common man trust the L&A when it comes to appointment of judges. In that manner Supreme Court has shown maturity by drawing a line and not allowing them to tamper with the process of justice, even if it happens to be appointment of judges. In a healthy democracy some amount of turf war is desirable between the L&A and the judiciary. The moment the executive takes over judiciary, it will become like the various inefficient police departments of India that wag their tails incessantly only in front of the political class without performing their actual duty, and where the concept of a world class policing doesn’t even exist.

Democracy is only good if it is played as a gentleman’s game, but unfortunately this game in India has now been completely taken over by the goondas, opportunists and cheats, where the few honest ones are not even visible; and there is a great risk that if judiciary too goes into their hands, nothing will be left in the common man’s hand.

Across all political parties a trait exists that as long as they are in the opposition they talk the common man’s language but when they attain power they show their real teeth. When BJP was not in power they used to talk about anti-vvip culture, but now all their guns are blazing to promote VVIPISM. They are now snooping in to net- neutrality and even dictating what to eat and what not to eat. They had never shown their real teeth before elections otherwise probably they wouldn’t have won. Congress is no different.

Even after 68 years of independence the entire political class could not produce another Gandhi or anyone close to him and that itself speaks of the hollowness in the character of politicians that sum up as political class. 65% of India’s population was born after 1970s and the political class that often keeps harping about high standards of values and morals could not even produce a modern day Gandhi as a role model for the youth of this country. Some could only see a glimpse of that in Anna Hazare.

In the past we have had politicians like Sanjay Gandhi who forcefully got people sterilised, and then you had Mrs Indira Gandhi who for her own personal benefit forced the state of emergency down every Indians throat, how very selfish. There have been riots where thousands of Sikhs were killed, lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of their homes, together with several Hindu-Muslim riots in which members of both communities have been killed and all of this happened at the subtle behest of the political parties that runs the L&A. So how will such people add any value in appointment of judges?

In India democracy is only for the day of the voting and thereafter the elected politician has no connect with his voters, election commission also doesn’t monitor this, and therefore he is a tiger for the next five years. They rarely meet their voters and are only surrounded by sycophants and coteries. Most of them are low on morals and are criminals and only believe in promoting their family. They also enact laws that suits the entire political class, without showing any morals or respect to the common man, such as keep contesting elections even if you have cases against you till the matter is finally decided by the highest court, going on foreign jaunts when the state is reeling under famine, increased VVIPISM, vote bank politics and the list is endless.

If the elected legislative wants NJAC, that does not mean the voters also want it. Elected legislative has only become an eye wash for people’s mandate. Elected members do not discuss issues of national importance or state importance with their voters back in their constituencies to take their mind. So it is wrong to say that in every important decision the will of the people is involved. Rather the elected member listens only to his party diktats which may or may not suit the voters of his constituency. Voters are supposed to vote as per their choice after ascertaining what the political Party has to offer through its manifesto. But in today’s India political parties don’t work as per their manifestos, rather some don’t even release their manifestos, some only release their vision documents, and some work totally against their manifestos. And the election commission has no check on them. In fact Supreme Court has issued guidelines on this but political parties have not responded.

If we allow the L&A to takeover the media and the judiciary there is a great risk of political class playing havoc with the general masses.

What is legislated in the parliament is necessarily not what the people of India want and what people of India want is often not legislated in the parliament or the state assemblies. This is because the elected members have lost connect with their voters. For example the entire India wants VVIPracism to be abolished but has the government tried to enact any legislation to abolish it? On the contrary VVIPISM is only growing in this country.

Amongst the four pillars of democracy the L&A has largely let the masses of India down and there is now only hope from the media and judiciary and in no manner should they allow the L&A to enter their turf in the interest of the masses.

***

Story: A PASSIONATE ACCOUNT OF THREE TIME CANCER SURVIVOR

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

A PASSIONATE ACCOUNT OF THREE TIME CANCER SURVIVOR

Just finished writing a book on a three time cancer-survivor from Chennai. The book is under print. It is co-published by Cankids, a PAN India NGO for child cancer in India and Shravan Charity Mission, again an NGO that works for child cancer. The book has been endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, Vice-Chairperson, Apollo Hospital Group. While we will unveil the book next week, below are some kind words for author Kamlesh Tripathi and Co-author Dr Sujata Tripathi from the Can-survivor Suresh himself.

"There are two kinds of people in the world: Givers and takers, the takers may eat better,but the givers sleep better.

Grateful that we all are in the later category. Convey my special greets and bunch of thanks to Dr.Sujata Tripathi.

God bless you sir."

Nothing like being blessed in this manner.

Follow the teachings only, don’t attempt to imitate God- Gita

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

A tip from Gita

Follow the teachings only, don’t attempt to imitate God- Gita

“Man should attempt to follow the spiritual teachings of God; either by following the God directly or through his avatars on whom he has vested such powers. His updesh (sermons) alone are good enough for the welfare of human beings, which any intelligent person can explain to us in a proper manner.

It is indeed in the interest of human beings to draw their lessons only from the sermons of God and never try and attempt to either imitate or emulate his actions for that could be hazardous. A devotee of Lord God Shiva shouldn’t attempt to consume poison just as he drank all the poison that came out from the Samudra Manthan (Churning of the sea)

We should consider God as the supreme power and his avatars the forces that reign and control the direction and speed of the sun and the moon.   Any person without such powers in his own interest should not try and imitate or emulate the all powerful God almighty.

Lord God Shiva consumed all the poison that came out of Samudra manthan, because he had the capacity and ability to do so, but if an ordinary person tries to consume even a drop of poison he will die. Lord Shiva has many ardent devotees and followers who consume ganja (Cannabis) and other intoxicating stuff, thinking they are permitted to follow suit just because Lord God Shiva consumes it. Such devotees and followers are only killing themselves because their body and soul does not have the capacity to sustain this poison over a long period of time like Lord Shiva.

In the same manner there are many devotees of Lord Krishna who intend to practice and imitate his Rass-Lila or love dance but forget that he also had the capacity to lift theGoverdhan Parvat which an ordinary person can’t.

Therefore the best option would be not to imitate the all powerful God and his Avatars and only follow their updesh. Without eligibility and capacity one should not try and copy what he does as it will only hurt. And there are many God’s and Avatars who too don’t have the powers of God Almighty yet they are God’s.

***

BEEF-HINDUISM-VOTE BANK POLITICS-RAGHUVANSH PRASAD SINGH

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    In a recent statement RPS (Raghuvansh Prasad Singh) of RJD said ‘Hindu sages, ate beef.’ Tomorrow if it suits his party he might even say Allah preferred poke. RPS knowingly crossed the line hurting Hindu sentiments. Such silly netas can go to any extent for vote bank politics. They should not be taken seriously, rather as opportunist of the rotten kind. They belong to no one, except hustings. Neither Hindus, nor Muslims should get enamoured by useless netas like RPS. They only belong to themselves and do not shirk to scathe the sentiments of the masses through their quirky bayanbazi and I would leave him as be pendi ka lota (a vessel without a stable base).

    That apart, we need to understand the criticality of times while talking about, who ate what and why?

    In this regard let me take you through the famous incident of Andes flight disaster.

        Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Andes flight disaster that happened in South America, and is the Miracle in the Andes (El Milagro de los Andes) was a chartered flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby union team, their friends, family and associates, that crashed in the Andes on 13 October 1972. More than a quarter of the passengers died in the crash and several others quickly succumbed to cold and injury. Of the 27 who were alive a few days after the accident, another eight were killed by an avalanche that swept over their shelter in the wreckage. The last 16 survivors were rescued on 23 December 1972, more than two months after the crash.

The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions at over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 10-day trek across the Andes, found Chilean arriero Sergio Catalán,^[1] who gave them food and then alerted the authorities to the existence of the other survivors.

    The Andes survivors fed on dead passengers when faced with an onerous situation where they were about to lose their lives, so does that mean they were cannibals? In the same manner the sages of ancient times led a life of extreme austerity in tall mountains and tough conditions, and they may have consumed a crisis diet of beef only to survive; as to keep yourself safe, and to survive is one of the biggest obligations of life. So does that mean they were regular beef eaters?

    A crisis diet should not be branded as your normal diet, but as a survival diet supposedly allowed by a religion. What really matters is your mainstay diet or what you eat on a regular basis should be labelled as your standard dietary habit.

    RPS should know that food preferences and diets of communities and civilizations don’t change overnight like political affiliations. In case of Hinduism beef is banned and in case of Islam pork is banned as a regular religious practice.

    Respecting the sentiments of our brethren, is our duty; however we should not open our little mouth to vitiate the atmosphere by hurting the sentiments of any community.

    RPS thinks if he hurts Hindu sentiments he will get Muslim votes which may not be true. Muslims are wise and definitely won’t vote for RJD on beef appeasement.

***

Column: KEJRIWAL KE DAT KHANE KE AUR DIKHANE KE AUR

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

KEJRIWAL KE DAT KHANE KE AUR DIKAHNE KE AUR.

     The sweet simple janta of Delhi voted for the duo of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, thinking, that ‘idealism’ was their totem-pole. They initially projected to the people of Delhi they had come to serve, sans perks, lal batti and corruption and in fact they sounded loud opprobrium against parties like Congress and BJP who were after power and corruption. But today AAP is cheating the hapless public of Delhi by going back on almost all parameters of ‘idealism’ and now they want a hefty salary increase OF 140%. Kejriwal should visit all the mohalla sabhas and seek permission from the junta of Delhi whether this increase is justified, for this is how party works for all major decisions.

SNAP/JUDGEMENT toi TODAY

Kejriwal, Stop This

    Delhi’s AAP government came in on a wave of idealism. However; it is now trying to raise MLA salaries from the current Rs 88,000 per month to Rs 2,10,000 per month. Such a hefty hife, amounting to a 140% raise, is outrageous. Has the AAP government , in the six months or so it has been in power, raised incomes in Delhi by 140% for MLAs to deserve this much of a hike?

STORY: BLESSINGS AND SUPREME HAPPINESS

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Once upon a time there lived a renowned scholar in the forest who had many bright shishyas (pupils). They were under his aegis for a long period of time, and were eager and impatient to learn the rare talent of Brahmagyan (divine knowledge) from their Guru; considering they had acquired enough mastery on other issues and what was left was only the divine knowledge.

     They were somewhat suspicious, thinking the Guru was not keen to teach them Brahmagyan the way to paramsukh (supreme happiness) for reasons best known to him. Somewhat, dissatisfied these shishyas were now desisting to move as per the guidance of their Guru and had started putting pressure on him for teaching them Brahmgyan. Their logic was, when they had surrendered themselves completely at the Guru’s feet, then why wasn’t the Guru teaching them the coveted talent that was the way to supreme happiness.

    One day the guru called all his shishyas and said, ‘don’t be under the impression that I don’t want to share Brahmagyan with you. But I only want to say that you all are not ready for it as of now. There is no point in pouring amrit (elixir) in a vessel which has many holes because the entire nectar will just flow out. Before pouring the nectar we need to close all the holes.’

    Upon hearing Guru’s words all the shishyas started whispering amongst themselves. The oldest out of them got up and said, ‘Gurudev we don’t agree to your logic that we are not ready for Brahmagyan yet.  For many years we have been staying with you and we have carried your message and teachings to many places.   People know us as your representative and even you have praised us for our work in the past. Besides Brahmgyan what else is left for us to attain? Your words are creating doubts in our minds, that you don’t want to share this divine knowledge with us, which is the only way to attain supreme happiness.’

    Guru for a moment went quiet as it saddened him, thinking his pupils were not humble, and on the contrary arrogant. He thought this distance between the pupils and the Guru will only weaken them and give them a feeling of defeat, and on the contrary nearness to Guru will increase the feeling of self respect.

    After a little while the Guru said, ‘dear students, possibly; I was wrong when I thought you all were not ready for Brahmgyan. I guess you all are adults, knowledgeable and ready for the divine knowledge. But I want to take a small test of you all.’

            After saying this he took out is basket of fruits and distributed one fruit to every shishya and requested them to hide it in such a place that when no one is watching they could eat it.

    All the pupils were a little surprised at this unusual and simple request of the Guru but since all of them were determined to learn Brahmagyan they decided to carry out his the instructions at any cost. They accepted the order of the Guru. After sometime all the shishyas returned with the belief that they had successfully obeyed the orders of the Guru. Leaving aside one who was a continuous laughing stock, and considered a simpleton in the entire group and many didn’t even consider him in their league.

    Guru was eagerly waiting, and with a lot of inquisition he asked about how they ate the fruit without anyone noticing them. Everyone narrated their success story.

    Then, was the turn of the simpleton, who was often ridiculed by his fellow students. Upon orders from the Guru he came forward on his wobbly legs with the fruit in his hand to tell his story. Guru displayed anger and said, ‘I had asked you to eat the fruit. Everyone obeyed my orders then why did you not have the fruit? What is the reason tell me?’

    Shishya said, ‘’Gurudev I wanted to obey your orders but I had no place to hide. You had instructed to have this fruit when no one is around. But wherever I went I felt I am not alone and God is around me, as you only told us God is omnipresent. Because of this I could neither hide myself nor the fruit. Kindly therefore forgive me because I could not pass the test.

    ‘No, my child, only you have passed in the exams. All the other shishyas only counted on the physical presence. They forgot about the omnipresent God who watches every action of ours and is a witness to all our deeds. When they don’t understand omnipresent God, how will they be blessed with Brahmagyan? Only you could recognise that supreme existence and that is why only you are entitled to receive the supreme divine knowledge—Brahmagyan.’

    This story is from the purans (religious texts) which highlights the point that we should only desire for something when we are capable of handling it. Guru knows when he has to bless his shishyas and when they would be capable enough to learn Brahmagyan the way to supreme happiness.

***