અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

ના વ્યવહાર સચવાય છે, ના તહેવારસચવાય છે,

દિવાળી હોય કે હોળી, બધુઓફિસમાં જ ઉજવાય છે.

આ બધું તો ઠીક હતું, પણ હદ તો ત્યાં થાય છે,

લગ્નની મળે કંકોત્રી, ત્યાં શ્રીમંતમાં માંડ જવાય છે.

દિલ પુછે છે મારું, અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

પાંચ આંકડાના પગાર છે પણ પોતાના

માટે પાંચ મિનીટ પણ ક્યાં વપરાય છે,

પત્નીનો ફોન બે મિનીટમાં કાપીએ છે,

પણ ક્લાઈન્ટનો કોલ ક્યાં કપાય છે.

ફોનબુક ભરી છે મિત્રોથી, પણ કોઈનાયે ઘરે ક્યાં જવાય છે,

હવે તો ઘરનાં પ્રસંગો પણ હાફ-ડેમાં ઉજવાય છે,

દિલ પુછે છે મારું, અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

કોઇને ખબર નથી, આ રસ્તો ક્યાં જાય છે,

થાકેલાં છે બધા છતાં, લોકો ચાલતાં જ જાય છે.

કોઇકને સામે રૂપીયા, તો કોઇકને ડોલર દેખાય છે,

તમે જ કહો મિત્રો, શું આને જજીંદગી કહેવાય છે?

દિલ પુછે છે મારું, અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

બદલતા આ પ્રવાહમાં,આપણા સંસ્કાર ધોવાય છે,

આવનારી પેઢી પૂછશે, સંસ્કૃતિ કોને કહેવાય છે.

એકવાર તો દિલને સાંભળો, બાકી મન તો કાયમ મુંઝાય છે,

ચાલો જલ્દી નિણૅય લઇએ, મને હજુંય સમય બાકી દેખાય છે.

દિલ પુછે છે મારું, અરે દોસ્ત્ તું ક્યાં જાય છે?

જરાક તો નજર નાંખ, સામે કબર દેખાય છે.

Appreciation..

A farmer was particularly in a very bad state. His wife was suffering from malaria and in the absence of food or money he was desperate.

One day he was sitting under the village tree and was thinking desperately about ways to get some money somehow so that he can take his wife and his children to the town, where he knew that somehow he would get some work.

He then saw his cow wandering nearby munching the dried up patches of grass and bushes. He suddenly had a thought of selling his cow. "Surely someone would like to buy her", he thought.

The next day, early morning he started for the market. There, he stood under a tree and explained his plight to anyone who came and requested them to buy his cow. Nobody seemed to be the least interested.

The day wore by. The sun relentlessly shown on the barren landscape.  With sweat drenched dirty clothes and in the poor state of health he was in, he was looking a picture of the misery.

As evening was approaching, he was losing all hope he had started with.  Then a merchant passed him. He looked at the peasant and with a sudden drive of compassion decided to help him sell the cow.

He asked a few questions and then, in a loud voice full of enthusiasm, he announced to the passers by,

"Ladies and gentlemen, never let go an opportunity like this. This cow here, gives 2 bucketfuls of milk everyday, morning and evening. Do not be mistaken by her health. It is just because she has recently given birth to a young calf.  This animal is of such an exceptional breed that last year she had won a prize during the agricultural exhibition of the neighboring village. My friend here, has come to an urgent situation and is willing to part with her for a price that seems to me ridiculous for such a prize animal. Who amongst you realize that an opportunity like this does not come everyday?"

Meanwhile, a small crowd gathered around them all willing to buy the animal. They all wanted to know the price. The merchant asked the peasant, "Well my friend, what is the price you expect?

We have several buyers here".

The peasant stood up and with head held high, declared with pride and arrogance, "This animal is mine. She is too good to be sold. I shall keep her."

This story has several morals. The first is that we do not appreciate sufficiently what we have. Health,children, family, etc., we take them all for granted without rejoicing each day for our blessings.  Sometimes it is necessary to have the look of others in order to become conscious of the value of what we have. 

The Rain..

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly

gentleman in his 80's arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb.

He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour

before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I

was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the

doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he

had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to

the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health.

 

He told me that she had been there for a while and that she

was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not

recognized him in five years now.

 

I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every

morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled as he patted my hand and said,

'She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.'

 

True love is an acceptance of all that is,

has been, will be, and will not be.

 

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,

But how to dance in the rain.'

Finding Positive Out of Every Negative..

This is nice - finding positive out of every negative - which we don't always manage to do. We should be thankful...

1. For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.
2. For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets.
3. For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.
4. For the mess to clean after a party because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.
5. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
6. For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
7. For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.
8. For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.
9. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.
10. For the noise I have to bear from my neighbours because it means that I can hear.
11. For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.
12. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
13. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am stilll alive.

Mission Impossible..

Changing India At a Glance - The Times Of India..

The Chief Minister of Gujarat..

The Law of Action..

TO SAY that results are according to deeds sounds simple, for almost everyone knows it. But not everyone always follows it; and the reason is that knowing a law does not necessarily enable man to observe that law. Besides the nature of life is so intoxicating that, absorbed in the activity of life, one mostly forgets this rule. It is natural, however, that this most simple thing should be very difficult to practice, because one generally neglects to think seriously about it. In order to prove this theory, that the results of a deed are similar to the deed, one need not go far. One can see numberless examples in one's own life and in the lives of others. For it is like an echo; what one does has an echo, and in that echo is the result.

Zarathushtra says that actions may be divided into three kinds: deed, speech, and thought. One may not do wrong, but one may speak wrongly. One may not speak wrongly, but one may think wrongly. And the wrong is done just the same. And how many people excuse themselves by saying, 'I only said it, but I did not do it!' A person can even excuse himself by saying, 'I did not say it, I only thought it.'

According to the ideas of the mystics the world in which we make our life is an Akasha, and Akasha means capacity. It is pictured by them as a dome; and whatever is spoken in it has its echo. Therefore no one can do, say, or think anything for one moment which will become non-existent. It is recorded; and that record is creative. It is not only what one does, says, or thinks that is recorded in the memory or in the atmosphere, but that record also creates at every moment, so that every line and letter of it becomes the seed or the germ that produces a similar effect.

I once heard a sculptor say that every man is the sculptor of his own image. Not only is this true, but every man is also the creator of his own conditions, favorable or unfavorable. The difficulty is that man never has the patience to wait till he sees the result. For the result takes some time to manifest, and before that he may meet with contrary effects. For instance a man who has just robbed another person may have the good luck to find in the street a purse full of gold coins. Naturally he will think, 'What a good result after good work! Now that it is shown that I have done good work, I must continue it! It is the simple ones who say things against it, but I have seen the good results in my own experience!' Life is so intoxicating that it gives man no time to think that the result of one's deed is perhaps waiting. That what happens today may be the result of something else further back.

When we consider the law of action we see that it can be divided into five different aspects. One aspect is the law of the community. For this law is made for the comfort and convenience of the members of that community. Another aspect can be called the law of the state. It is the law by which different classes of people and different communities are governed as one whole. No doubt this aspect of the law is as limited as the mind of man. Naturally, therefore, many laws are rejected, and many new laws are made and brought into practice. And as time goes on people will see that the members of the community or the state will always wish for changes to be made in the law. This has always been and will always be.

The third aspect of the law is the law of a Church; a law which perhaps comes from tradition; a law that people accept, not only because it is a law by which they are governed, but because it is a law that is concerned with their faith, with their belief, which is sacred to them. It is this law which builds a conscience, more than any other aspect of the law.

But then there is another aspect and that is the law brought by the prophets from time to time. And what is this law? It comes as an interpretation of the hidden law which a prophet has been able to see. But a law given by a prophet is also related to the period in which he lived, to the people of that period and their particular evolution. Thus this law is brought about by two actions. One action is the condition of humanity at that specific time, reflected in the heart of the prophet. And the other is the light of God, shining from above to make that condition so clear that a solution can be found for it. It is this solution which can be called the divine law, given by the prophet.

When we study the religions given by various prophets to different people in this world, in different periods of the world's history, we shall find that the truth which is behind all the religions is the same. If the teaching differs it differs only in the law they have given. People have always disputed in vain over this difference in the laws that the different teachers have given to their people, not realizing how much that law depended on the people who received it and on the time when it was given.

But these four laws mentioned above: the law of the community, of the state, of the Church, and of the prophet, all have their limitations. There is, however, one law which leads man towards the unlimited. And this law can never be taught and can never be explained. At the same time this law is rooted in the nature of man, and there is no person, however unjust and wicked he may seem, who has not got this faculty in his innermost being. It may be called a faculty, for it is the faculty of discerning between right and wrong.

But what determines that something should be called right or wrong? Four things: the motive behind the action, the result of the action, the time, and the place. Wrong action with the right motive may be right; and a right action with wrong motive may be wrong. We are always ready to judge an action, and we hardly think of the motive. That is why we readily accuse a person for his wrong, and excuse ourselves readily for our wrong, because we know our motive best. We would perhaps excuse another person as we excuse ourselves if we tried to know the motive behind his action too.

A thought, a word, or an action in the wrong place turns into a wrong one, even if it was right in itself. A thought or word or action at a wrong time may be wrong although it may seem right. And when we analyze this more and more we shall say as a Hindu poet has said, 'There is no use in feeling bad about the wrong deed of another person. We should content ourselves with the thought that he could not do better.' To look at everything, trying to see what is behind it, to see it in its right light, requires divine illumination, a spiritual outlook on life. And this outlook is attained by the increase of compassion. The more compassion one has in one's heart, the more the world will begin to look different.

There is another side to this question. Things seem to us according to how we look at them. To a wrong person everything looks wrong, and to a right person everything looks right. For a right person turns wrong into right, and a wrong person turns right into wrong. The sin of the virtuous is a virtue, and the virtue of a sinner is a sin. Things depend very much upon our interpretation, as there is no seal on any action, word, or thought which determines it to be wrong or right.

There is still another side to it: how much our favor and disfavor play their part in discerning right and wrong. In someone whom we love and like and admire we wish to see everything wrong in a right light. Our reason readily comes to the rescue of the loved one. It always brings an argument as to what is right and what excuses his wrong. And how readily do we see the faults and errors of the one whom we disfavor. And how difficult it is for us to find a fault, even if we wanted to, in someone we love!

Therefore, if in the life of Christ we read how he forgave those who were accused of great faults or great sins, we can now see that it was natural that the one who was the lover of mankind could not see faults. The only thing he could see was forgiveness. A stupid or simple person is always ready to see the wrong in another and ready to form an opinion and to judge. But you will find a wise person expressing his opinion of others quite differently, always trying to tolerate and always trying to forgive still more. The present is the reflection of the past, and the future will be the echo of the present; this saying will always prove true.

The Sufis of Persia have classified the evolution of personality in five different grades. The first is the person who errs at every step in his life and who finds fault with others at every moment of his life. One can picture this person as someone who is always likely to fall, who is on the point of tumbling down; and when he falls he at once catches someone else and pulls him down with him. This is not rare if we study the psychology of man. The one who finds fault with another is very often the one who has the most faults himself. The right person first finds fault with himself. The wrong person finds fault with himself last. Only after having found fault with the whole world does he find fault with himself. And then everything is wrong, then the whole world is wrong.

The next grade of personality is that of the one who begins to see the wrong in himself and the right in the other. Naturally he has the opportunity in his life to correct himself because he finds time to discover all his own faults. The one who finds fault with others has no time to find fault with himself. Besides he cannot be just. The faculty of justice cannot be awakened unless one begins to practice that justice by finding the faults in oneself.

The third person is the one who says, 'What does it matter if you did wrong or if I did wrong? What is needed is to right the wrong.' He naturally develops himself and helps his fellow men also to develop.
Then there is the fourth man, who can never see what is called good without the possibility of its becoming bad, and who can never see what is called bad without the possibility of that bad turning into good. The best person in the world cannot hide his faults before him and the worst person in the world will show his merit to his eyes.

But when man has risen to the fifth grade of personality, then these opposite ideas of right or wrong, good or bad, seem to be like the two ends of one line. When that time has come he can say little about it, for people will not believe him, while he is the one who can judge rightly, yet he will be the last to judge.

There are three different ways that man may take in order to progress towards human perfection. But a person who is not evolved enough to adopt the third way or the second way, should not be forced to attempt them. If he were forced at this stage it would mean that he was only taught a manner. For these three ways are like three steps towards human perfection.

The first degree is the law of reciprocity. It is in this degree that one learns the meaning of justice. The law of reciprocity is to give and to take sympathy, and all that sympathy can give and take. It is according to this law that the religion and the laws of the state and of the community are made. The idea of this law is that you may not take from me more than you could give me. I will not give you more than I could take from you. It is fair business: you love me, I can love you. You hate me. I can hate you. And according to this law if a person has not learned the just measure of give and take, he has not practiced justice. He may be innocent, he may be loving, but he has no common sense, he is not practical.

The danger in this law is that a person may value most what he himself does and may diminish the value of what is done by another. But the one who gives more than he takes is progressing towards the next grade.

It is easy for us to say that this is a very hard and fast law. But at the same time it is the most difficult thing to live in this world and to avoid it. One must ask a practical man, a man with common sense, if it is possible to live in this world and not to observe this law of give and take. If the people of the world did no better than keep this law properly there would be much less trouble in this world. It is no use thinking that people will become saints or sages or great beings. If they became just it would already be something.

And now we come to the next step. This is the law of beneficence. And this law means being unconcerned with how another person responds to us in answer to what we do to him in love and sympathy. What concerns one is what can one do for the other person. It does not matter if a favor is not appreciated. Even if the favor were absolutely ignored, still the satisfaction of the beneficent man comes from what he has done, not from what the one who has received it has expressed. When this sense is born in man, from that day he begins to live in the world. For his pleasure does not depend upon what he receives from others but depends upon what he does for others. His happiness is not dependent on anything. His happiness is independent. He becomes the creator of his happiness. His happiness is in giving, not in taking.

But what do I mean by giving? We give and take every moment of the day. Every word we speak, every action we do, every thought and feeling we have for one another, is all giving and all taking. But it is the man who gives who will forget his sorrow, it is he who will forget his miseries, it is he who will rise above the pains and miseries of this world.

Then comes the third law, and that is the law of renunciation. To the one who observes this law giving means nothing. For he is not even conscious of the fact that he gives; he gives automatically. He never thinks 'I give'; he thinks that it is being given. This person may be pictured as someone walking on the water. For it is he who will rise absolutely above the disappointments, distresses, and pains of life which are so numberless. Besides renunciation means independence and indifference. Indifference to all things, and yet not by the absence of sympathy. And independence in regard to all things, and yet not independence in the crude sense of the word.

Renunciation, therefore, may be called the final victory. Only one in a million can attain to this ideal. And the one who has attained this ideal is he who may be called elevated, liberated.

Judge Not..

I was shocked, confused, bewildered

As I entered Heaven's door,

Not by the beauty of it all,

Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven

Who made me sputter and gasp--

The thieves, the liars, the sinners,

The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade

Who swiped my lunch money twice.

Next to him was my old neighbor

Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought

Was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,

Looking incredibly well.

I nudged God, 'What's the deal?

I would love to hear Your take.

How'd all these sinners get up here?

God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,

So somber - give me a clue.'

'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.

No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

The Gujarati Tube..

Valentine's Day..

Here's the song for my wife, on the eve of valentine's day.



Song: Tum Aa Gaye Ho Noor Aa Gaya Hai
Movie: Aandhi (1975)
Singers: Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar
Music Director: Rahul Dev Burman
Lyricist: Gulzar
Actors: Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen

God's Plans..

Some things are beyond planning.

And life doesn't always turn out as planned.

You don't plan for a broken heart.

You don't plan for an autistic child.

You don't plan for spinsterhood.

You don't plan for a lump in your breast.

You plan to be young forever.

You plan to climb the corporate ladder.

You plan to be rich and powerful.

You plan to be acclaimed and successful.

You plan to conquer the universe.

You plan to fall in love - and be loved forever.

You don't plan to be sad.

You don't plan to be hurt.

You don't plan to be broke.

You don't plan to be betrayed.

You don't plan to be alone in this world You plan to be happy.

You don't plan to be shattered .

Sometimes if you work hard enough, you can get what you want.

But MOST times, what you want and what you get are two different things.

We, mortals, plan. But so does God in the heavens.

Sometimes, it is difficult to understand God's plans especially,

when His plans are not in consonance with ours .

Often, when He sends us crisis, we turn to Him in anger.

True, we cannot choose what God wishes us to carry,

but we can carry it with courage knowing that

He will never abandon us nor send something we cannot cope with .

Sometimes, God breaks our spirit to save our soul.

Sometimes, He breaks our heart to make us whole.

Sometimes, He allows pain so we can be stronger.

Sometimes, God sends us failure so we can be humble.

Sometimes, He allows illness so we can take better care of ourselves.

And sometimes, God takes everything away from us so we can learn the value of everything He gave us.

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans:)

Man O Man!

When without money, eats wild vegetables at home

When has money, eats same wild vegetables in fine restaurant.

When without money, rides bicycle;

When has money, rides the same ‘exercise machine’.

When without money, walks to earn food

When has money, walks to burn the fat

Man O Man! never fails to deceive thyself!

When without money, wishes to get married;

When has money, wishes to get divorced.

When without money, wife becomes secretary;

When has money, secretary becomes wife.

When without money, acts like rich man;

When has money, acts like poor man.

Man, O Man! never can tell the simple truth!

Says share market is bad but keeps speculating;

Says money is evil but keeps accumulating.

Says high positions are lonely but keeps wanting them.

Says gambling & drinking is bad but keeps indulging;

Man O Man ! Never means what he says and never says what he means!

The Silent National Anthem, India..

Very Beautiful..

Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat..

I grew up in state of Gujarat, India.  Gujarat is one of the most diverse States in India. Its history stretches over a long years from the age old Harappan Civilization to the Mughal period. Gujarat's endless journey from Roots to Wings is timeless with historical and cultural traditions glorifying the State.  Proud to be a Gujarati.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - The Boss..

A great article from the archives.  January 27, 1947.  Courtsey Time Mangazine.

Gandhi's toes were blistered. As he walked the flower-strewn paddyfield paths of eastern Bengal last week, through lines of Hindus and Moslems who wept and knelt to touch his bandaged feet, other Hindus and Moslems in distant Bombay chopped at each other with long knives. Twenty-two people died in the Bombay riots, including some Untouchables who were caught in the middle.

While Gandhi preached love and nonviolence to the Bengalis, an old jailbird named Vallabhbhai Patel, who calls himself "a blind follower of Gandhiji" and whom the British Raj had imprisoned eight of the past 16 years, had 40 Indian Communists, whom he hates, clapped into jail.

In short, everything was as usual in India, where the people are more fertile than the land and the paradoxes are more fertile than the people. India's pullulating contradictions obscured the view at a moment when it was more important than ever that the world understand what was going on in the seething subcontinent.

Princes & Paupers. On the 17th anniversary of the Indian Congress' Purna Swaraj (complete independence) resolution of Jan. 26, 1930, India was almost completely free of Britain but in danger of lapsing into anarchy. The infant country faced these problems, among others:

¶ Hatred between the Hindu and Moslem communities, which flared last August into the Great Calcutta Killing when 6,000 died, has now hardened into a grim struggle over Pakistan.

¶ Rising prices and falling production have intensified the conflict between millions of the poorest and some of the richest people in the world. Strikes are bubbling all over India. Communist power is rising. The Congress Party is likely to split into right and left groups and the Moslems face a similar division.

¶ While Gandhi continues to attack industrialization, some of his most devoted followers go ahead with plans to make India the industrial heart of Asia.

¶ Freedom for India does not affect the princely states, where 93 million (25%) Indians live. These are more or less despotically ruled by an anachronistic group of princes who have, on the average, 11 titles, 5.8 wives, 12.6 children and 3.4 Rolls-Royces. Sooner or later a free Indian nation will have to deal with them; right now the Communists are advocating expulsion of the princes.

Power Is the Spur. To bring under control this vast interplay of seemingly irresistible forces and immovable bodies would take more than the fanaticism of Moslem Leaguer Mohamed AH Jinnah, more than Jawaharlal Nehru's eloquent idealism, more, perhaps, than Gandhi's combination of mysticism and manipulation. India needed an organizer. It had one. Gandhi listened to God and passed on his political ideas to Vallabhbhai (rhymes with "I'll have pie") Patel; Patel, after listening to Gandhi, translated those ideas into intensely practical politics.

Patel has no pretensions to saintliness or eloquence or fanaticism. He is, in American terms, the Political Boss. Wealthy Hindu and Parsi industrialists (like C. H. Bhabha, Patel's son's employer, who has just become Works, Mines and Power Minister) thrust huge campaign funds into his hands. With their money, Congress Party patronage, and ceaseless work, he has built a machine that touches every one of India's conflicts. In every fight his objective is the same—power for India.

As Home and Information Minister of the new Central Government, as boss of the Congress Party, Patel represents what cohesive power Free India has. This cinder-eyed schemer is not the best, the worst, the wisest or the most typical of India's leaders, but he is the easiest to understand, and on him, more than on any man, except Gandhi, depends India's chance of surviving the gathering storms.

Interrupted Rubber. The first movement Patel ever organized was a student revolt against a teacher he accused of profiteering in pencils and paper. Later, Patel went to London, studied law 16 hours a day, topped the list in a bar examination and headed back for his beloved India without stopping to tour the Continent. He has never left India since.

His legal career was mainly defending murderers and bandits and frightening district magistrates with his caustic tongue. One magistrate, hearing that Patel was expanding his practice, moved his court to a town out of Patel's reach. In later years Gandhi found in Patel "motherly qualities" that eyes less inspired than the Mahatma's never saw. Today, Patel is coldly pleased when his enemies call him "the Iron Dictator" and "Herr Vallabhbhai." Enemies and friends tell an anecdote of his criminal law days. He had just put his wife in a Bombay hospital, returned to Ahmedabad to argue a murder case. He was on his feet when a telegram arrived. He read that his wife had died, put the telegram into his pocket and went on with his argument as if he had never been interrupted.

In 1915 Patel was playing bridge in Ahmedabad's Gujerat Club when he first saw his fellow lawyer Gandhi, fresh from agitational triumphs in South Africa. At that time Patel dressed in fancy Western clothes and affected the manners of the most pukka sahib Briton. When his eyes fell upon Gandhi, Patel interrupted his game long enough to make a few scathing remarks. A year later he joined Gandhi's movement.

By 1927, when Patel had become the mayor of Ahmedabad, unofficial capital of Gujerati-speaking India, his extraordinary skill as an organizer showed itself for the first time during the great Gujerat floods. Everything broke down—transport, communications, all methods of distribution. The general Indian attitude used to be to regard such catastrophes as acts of God What little relief there was usually came from a British Government which took its good time to relieve distress. Patel initiated an unheard-of fund-raising drive for the relief of the flood victims. Supplies were moved into the flood areas by hundreds of volunteers wading through waist-deep water, carrying boxes and sacks on their heads. When lumber was required for constructing small bridges or building houses, Patel arranged for it all without making a single approach to the Government. It seemed a miracle to Indians when all the lumber arrived on the scene in the needed sizes. By the time the Bombay provincial representatives got there, no official assistance was needed.

Nothing like it had ever been seen before in India. Here at last was organization by and for Indians.

Somber Masterpiece. Now that India seems to require miracles of organization if its Government is to survive, Indians recall Patel's organizational masterpiece, the Bardoli no-tax campaign of 1928. Despite the fact that crops had been bad for several years in the Bardoli district, a 25% tax increase was ordered by the Government assessors. This was precisely the opportunity Gandhi had been waiting for to launch the first real experiment in mass civil disobedience.

Patel took charge. Dressed in simple dhoti and shirt, he trudged from village to village, day after day, exhorting the peasants at every stop to stand fast and pay no taxes. "Some of you are afraid your land will be confiscated," he said in one speech. "What is confiscation? Will they take away your lands to England?" In another speech he set forth the principle that was to govern every Congress struggle of the future: "Every home must be a Congress office and every soul a Congress organization." Under Patel's orders the peasants' buffaloes, which the Government might have taken, were brought right into the peasants' houses. No servants would work for the Government collectors. Nobody would sell them food or give them water. Some property was, of course, confiscated and sold, but bidders were few. In all Bardoli not one rupee was collected in direct taxes.

A stunned Government finally asked Gandhi for terms. The upshot was a 6¼%, not a 25%, increase in taxes. Patel emerged from Bardoli with a new and exalted status. He received the unofficial title of "Sardar," meaning captain or leader, which he has carried ever since. (Lawyer K. F. Narriman was the first to call Patel "Sardar"; years later he and Patel quarreled and the Sardar forced Narriman out of Bombay politics.)

Money Makes the Mare Go. After Bardoli, Patel became recognized as the Congress Party's chief organizer and disciplinarian. He checked up on what Gandhi's followers ate, drank and wore. He passed on the party lists in provincial elections. He approved party-sponsored legislation, and personally drafted much of it. No detail was too unimportant or sordid for Boss Patel. Recently he took charge of negotiations between the Congress Party Ministry in Bombay and the Western Indian Turf Association, which wanted to renew its license for the Bombay racetrack. Patel, who has never seen a horse race, knew what the traffic would bear. He upped the license fee from half a million rupees to three million.

Although he has handled millions in party funds, Patel has no personal love of money. With his daughter Maniben, who acts as his secretary (she has accompanied him on most of his sojourns in British prisons), he now lives in a little suite in his son Dahyabhai's Bombay house. He eats little, drinks no alcohol, quit smoking when he first went to jail. In recent years he has had serious stomach trouble. His only exercise is a walk when he rises, at 4:30 a.m. His only recreation is bouncing a ball across the room to his grandchildren. He has never seen a movie. He cares little about the world outside his country. Of 300 books in his Bombay library, every one is by an Indian, mostly about India.

Patel's closest friend is probably Ghanshyam Das Birla, jute and cotton magnate, who boycotts his own textile mills by wearing khadi (homespun).* Though Birla dotes on Gandhi, he dreams of an industrialized India. (Birla has contracts with Britain's Nuffield for an India-assembled automobile called the Hindustan Ten.) India's liberals and leftists are stridently suspicious of Patel's friendship with Birla and the other big industrialists, but Birla insists that he seeks no Government favors. Says he: "I already have all the money I need."

Bedside Talks. Last week, sicker than usual, Patel stayed in bed. Few other 71-year-old men would call it a rest. From his visitors and from the distant effects of his bold and subtle schemes, it was apparent that in Patel's mind, at least, India was no chaos, but a puzzle to be fitted together with thought and patience.

Arthur Henderson, Under Secretary of State for India, came in for final talks on the liquidation of those superlatively damned and praised institutions, the Indian Civil and Police Services. The question boiled down to a matter of severance pay; the 850 remaining British members wanted to get out. It was up to Patel to find the new men who, with the 750 Indians in the two Services, would rule India.* Nehru called twice. He and Patel have a deep bond of mutual attachment to Gandhi and to Indian independence. Otherwise, politically and temperamentally, they are antipodal. Two subjects almost certainly mentioned in Nehru's bedside talks with Patel were the Moslems and the Marxists.

The Moslem League's Jinnah, also exhausted by the crisis and the long trip from the London conference (TIME, Dec. 16), was at Karachi struggling with a problem which Patel had fashioned for him. By meeting most of Jinnah's demands, Patel had passed back to the Moslems the decisions on whether or not they would enter the Constituent Assembly, which reconvenes this week. Patel, who has said that he could end communal strife in Congress Party provinces in six months, wanted a settlement; if he could get one, time would work in his favor in the struggle for control of India. He had the police power and his Hindus had the majority.

New Techniques. A settlement of the communal issue, even if it was temporary, would allow Patel to turn his attention to the growing labor strife. Late last summer, when a famine impended, a Communist-led strike had tied up south India railroads; a nationwide 25-day postal strike in July was also Communist-inspired. Two weeks ago Karachi dock workers walked off ten grain ships for ten days to get a wage of 94¢ daily. As a result of the stoppage, the rice ration in New Delhi was cut from twelve to eight ounces. In New Delhi 100,000 children were out of school because of a teachers' strike (87% of Indians are illiterate). In southwestern India even the aboriginal Warli tribesmen refused to perform farm work, tried to chase landlords off the land.

The worst recent labor flare-up came last fortnight at Cawnpore, where militant Communist-and Socialist-led workers have developed some new bargaining techniques. They locked a labor inspector in an office and made a factory manager stand bareheaded in the sun for four hours until he agreed to reinstate four discharged employees. When the district magistrate ordered the arrest of 100 labor leaders, workers marched in protest, women in front. Police used lathis. Workers threw stones. When the police opened fire, six were killed. Last week 100,000 Cawnpore workers were still out.

As if in answer to the strike wave, police last week raided Communist headquarters throughout India. Patel's Home Ministry denied that it had ordered the raids, but few familiar with the workings of the Criminal Intelligence Department believed that it was coincidence that brought police simultaneously to Red headquarters in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Lucknow and seven other cities. India's Communist leader, smart, tousled Puran Chandra Joshi, followed the Moscow line by blaming the British for the raids.

The raiders were more thorough than bright. They searched homes as well as offices, spent 5½ hours going through the files of one Delhi office. A police official turned up a copy of Molotov's famous Paris speech of Aug. 5. He did not like what he read. "Who is this man?" he snapped. But Molotov was present only in spirit.

In spite of recent Communist gains, the Socialists, led by lithe, 44-year-old Jai Prakash Narain, are still the strongest group in the Congress Party's left wing. Narain went to the Universities of California, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State, became a convert to Communism in Chicago, where he sat up late talking to intellectuals. Returning to India, he soon abandoned Communism for Socialism because the Communists tried to impose a Moscow-dictated line on India. Narain's estimated 1,000,000 followers (out of India's 4,000,000 industrial workers) do not include Narain's wife. She says: "I am faithful to Jai Prakash domestically, but to Gandhiji politically."

Which Way? Fidelity to Gandhiji was still the dominant note in Indian politics. But what did it mean in practical terms? Gandhi, in steaming Bengal, talked of love, and sang:

If they answer not to thy call, walk alone, If they are afraid and cower mutely, facing the wall, O thou of evil luck, Open thy mind and speak out alone.

Patel would not walk alone if he could help it. He was obviously trying to base the new Indian nation on a compromise of the communal issue, a mildly rightist line in the labor split—plus full use of the police power (which Gandhi deplored but Organizer Patel did not). When the British Cabinet Mission reminded Patel last spring that he might be sent to jail again for defying the Raj, Patel replied calmly: "My bags are packed." That is the way he understands the game, and that is the way he plays it, in & out of power.

The strong, repressive arm of law & order would be no permanent solution in a country where the average per capita wage is 5¢ a day and a quarter of the population of Bombay and Calcutta sleep on the streets. But the other horn of the dilemma is unrestrained freedom for communal and class conflict which, in a weak, new state, might disastrously degenerate into chaos. Patel is obviously going to try it his way. The Boss has performed miracles of organization before.

*Khadi is the official Congress uniform, supposed to symbolize Gandhi's cottage industry drive and to emphasize Congress leaders' connection with the toiling masses. But hand spinning is so inefficient that a khadi outfit costs as much as a good suit of English tweeds. *To Indians there are few if any callings higher than the Civil Service. A recent movie ad, stressing its subject's sacrificial devotion to her art, said: "She turned down an I.C.S. man to become a movie star!"

‘ટાઈમ’ મેગેઝિનના મતે સરદાર જ બોસ’ હતા..

આવનારાં વર્ષોમાં દેશના તમામ નેતાઓ ભૂલાઈ જવાના છે, પરંતુ ગાંધીજી અને સરદાર લોકોના માનસપટ પરથી કદીયે અદૃશ્ય નહીં થાય. કોંગ્રેસ પણ હવે જવાહરલાલ નહેરુને ભૂલતી જાય છે. ભાજપા વાજપેયીને પણ ભૂલી ગયું છે. ડીએમકે કામરાજને, તેલુગુદેશમ્ એન.ટી. રામારાવને અને એડીએમકે એમ. જી. રામચંદ્રનને ભૂલી ગયા છે, પરંતુ ભ્રષ્ટાચાર, ત્રાસવાદ અને વકરતા જતા પ્રદેશવાદના સમયમાં સરદાર સાહેબ વધુ યાદ આવે છે. સ્વિસ બેંકોમાં ભારતીય નેતાઓના સૌથી વધુ નાણાં હોવાનું મનાય છે ત્યારે સરદાર સાહેબે ‘ભારત કી એક્તા કા નિર્માણ’ પુસ્તકમાં લખ્યું હતું : “મારા પર ઘણી વાર આક્ષેપ થાય છે કે, હું બિરલાજીનો સાથી છું, મૂડીવાદીઓનો સાથી છું, પણ એ બધું ખોટું છે. જે દિવસથી મેં ગાંધીજીનો સાથ આપ્યો છે તે દિવસથી મેં એક પ્રતિજ્ઞા લીધી છે કે, હું મારી કોઈ પણ મિલકત રાખીશ નહીં. મેં ગાંધીજી પાસેથી શીખી લીધું છે કે, આનાથી વધુ બીજા કોઈ સમાજવાદમાં હું માનતો નથી.”

સરદાર સાહેબ પાસે પોતાની કોઈ જ ભૌતિક મિલકતો નહોતી. નહીં જમીન કે નહીં મકાન. સરદારને એક જ પુત્ર હતા તે ડાહ્યાભાઈ અને પુત્રી મણિબહેન. તેમણે પોતાના પુત્ર કે પુત્રીને જાહેરજીવનમાં કોઈ પણ અગ્રસ્થાને બેસાડવા પ્રયાસ કર્યો નહોતો. કોઈને પક્ષનો હોદ્દો કે ટિકિટ પણ આપી નહોતી. સરદારના પુત્ર ડાહયાભાઈ મુંબઈમાં મરીન ડ્રાઈવ વિસ્તારના ‘મેઘદૂત’ નામના ઘરમાં રહેતા હતા.

તે વખતે ડાહ્યાભાઈ પાસે એક મોટરકાર હતી. સરદાર મુંબઈ આવે એટલે પુત્રના ઘેર ઊતરે. એક વખત સરદાર મુંબઈ આવ્યા. એ વખતે તેમણે ડાહ્યાભાઈના ઘર આગળ બે એમ્બેસેડર મોટરકાર જોઈ. સરદારે પૂછયું : “ડાહ્યા, તારી પાસે તો એક જ મોટર હતી. આ બીજી ક્યાંથી આવી?”

ડાહ્યાભાઈએ કહ્યું : “એ તો બિરલા શેઠે ભેટ આપી છે.”

સરદારે કડક થઈ કહ્યું : “બિરલા શેઠ તને મોટર શા માટે ભેટ આપે એ ભલે તું ના સમજતો હોય, પરંતુ હું બધું સમજું છું. તું આ રીતે વેપારી લોકોની ભેટ લેતો થયો છે તેથી હું તારા ઘેર હવે રહી શકું નહીં.” - બસ સરદાર સાહેબે તેમના જીવનનો છેલ્લો દિવસ પોતાના એકના એક પુત્રના ઘેર ગાળ્યો અને તે પછી તેઓ કદીયે ડાહ્યાભાઈના ઘેર ઊતર્યા નહીં.

એ વખતે સરદાર સાહેબ દેશના નાયબ વડા પ્રધાન હતા. એક વખત ડાહ્યાભાઈએ મણિબહેનને પત્ર લખ્યો કે, “હું દિલ્હી આવવા માગું છું.” મણિબહેને એ પત્ર પિતાને વંચાવ્યો. સરદાર સાહેબે મણિબહેનને સૂચના આપી : “લખી દો એને, તારે દિલ્હી આવવાની કોઈ જરૂર નથી. એ રહ્યો વેપારી માણસ. જાણે-અજાણે પણ મારા નામનો ઉપયોગ થાય એ મને પસંદ નથી.”

સરદાર સાહેબની મિલકતમાં પતરાની એક પેટી, એક સગડી અને એલ્યુમિનિયમના બે લોટા જ છોડીને તેઓ ગયા.

સરદાર સાહેબને કોઈએ એક વાર પૂછયું હતું : “સરદાર, તમારું કલ્ચર વેસ્ટર્ન કલ્ચર છે કે ઇસ્ટર્ન?”

સરદાર સાહેબે કહ્યું હતું : “મારું કલ્ચર એગ્રિકલ્ચર છે.”

સરદાર સાહેબ બિનસાંપ્રદાયિક હતા, પરંતુ તેમને દંભી બિનસાંપ્રદાયિકતા ખપતી નહોતી. જિર્ણોદ્ધાર બાદ સોમનાથના મંદિરનો પ્રાણપ્રતિષ્ઠા મહોત્સવ યોજાયો ત્યારે સરદાર સાહેબે એ વખતના ભારતના રાષ્ટ્રપતિ રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુને સોમનાથ આવવા આમંત્રણ આપ્યું. રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુએ એ આમંત્રણ સહર્ષ સ્વીકારી લીધું. એ વખતના વડા પ્રધાન જવાહરલાલ નહેરુને આ વાતની ખબર પડતાં વડા પ્રધાનની હેસિયતથી રાષ્ટ્રપતિને સાત પાનાંનો પત્ર લખી જણાવ્યું કે, ભારત એક સાંપ્રદાયિક દેશ છે. ભારતના રાષ્ટ્રપતિ કોઈ મંદિરના પ્રાણ પ્રતિષ્ઠા મહોત્સવમાં જાય તે યોગ્ય નથી, પરંતુ સરદાર સાહેબ અને રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુ જુદી જ માટીથી ઘડાયેલા હતા. રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુએ જવાહરલાલને પત્ર લખી જણાવ્યું: “હું ભલે રાષ્ટ્રપતિ રહ્યો, પરંતુ તેથી હું હિન્દુ મટી જતો નથી.”

અને સરદાર સાહેબ તથા રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુએ જવાહરલાલની પરવા કર્યા વગર પ્રાણ પ્રતિષ્ઠા મહોત્સવમાં ઉમંગથી ભાગ લીધો.

આવા સરદારનું તા. ૧૫ ડિસેમ્બર, ૧૯૫૦ના રોજ મુંબઈમાં સવારે ૯.૩૮ કલાકે અવસાન થયું. સંપૂર્ણ રાજકીય સન્માન સાથે તેમની અંત્યેષ્ઠિ કરવાનો નિર્ણય લેવાયો, પરંતુ સરદારના પુત્ર ડાહ્યાભાઈ, પુત્રી મણિબહેને કહ્યું : “સરદાર ધરતીપુત્ર હતા. તેમના માટે એક એક સેન્ટિમીટરની જમીન પણ કીમતી હતી. તેમની સમાધિ માટે અલગ સરકારી જમીનનો ઉપયોગ કરવાની જરૂર નથી. તેમના અંતિમ સંસ્કાર એક સામાન્ય વ્યક્તિની જેમ સામાન્ય લોકોના સ્મશાનમાં જ થવા જોઈએ.”

અને સરદાર સાહેબના અંતિમ સંસ્કાર મુંબઈના સોનાપુરના સ્મશાનમાં કરવાનો નિર્ણય લેવાયો. સ્મશાયાત્રામાં મુંબઈના પુષ્કળ લોકો જોડાયા. એ વખતના વડા પ્રધાન જવાહરલાલ નહેરુ સરદારની અંતિમક્રિયામાં ભાગ લેવા ઇચ્છતા નહોતા. મહારાષ્ટ્રના નેતા સદોબા પાટિલે જવાહરલાલને ફોન કર્યો, પરંતુ નહેરુએ ના પાડી. સદોબા પાટિલે રાષ્ટ્રપતિ રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુને ફોન કર્યો. રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુ એ કહ્યું : “હું આવું છું.”

રાષ્ટ્રપતિ અંતિમક્રિયામાં જવાના હોઈ જવાહરલાલે પણ નાછૂટકે મુંબઈ આવવું પડયું. સ્મશાનમાં સદોબા પાટિલે સરદાર સાહેબની અંતિમક્રિયા વખતે અંજલિ આપવા માટે નાનો મંચ ઊભો કર્યો હતો. જવાહરલાલે કહ્યું : “સદોબા, આ બધું શું નાટક માંડયું છે?”

સદોબા પાટિલે કહ્યું : “આ તો રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુ વગેરેની ઇચ્છા છે કે, સરદાર સાહેબને અંજલિ આપવા બે શબ્દો બોલી શકાય.”

જવાહરલાલ નહેરુએ કહ્યું : “હું આવા લાગણીવેડામાં માનતો નથી. મૃત્યુ પામેલાઓના મૃતદેહ પર શું બોલવાનું?”

જવાહરલાલે બોલતાં તો બોલી નાખ્યું, પરંતુ બીજી બાજુ લાખો લોકો સરદાર સાહેબની અંતિમક્રિયા વખતે હાજર હતા. રાજેન્દ્ર બાબુએ જ પ્રવચન શરૂ કર્યું અને જવાહરલાલ નહેરુએ પણ નાછૂટકે બોલવું પડયું અને સરદાર સાહેબના પુત્ર ડાહ્યાભાઈએ પિતાને મુખાગ્નિ આપ્યો. લાખો લોકોની અશ્રુભીની આંખો સમક્ષ સરદારનો દેહ એક આમઆદમીની જેમ પંચમહાભૂતોમાં વિલીન થઈ ગયો.

આજે દિલ્હીમાં અનેક નેતાઓના ઘાટ અને સમાધિઓ છે, પરંતુ સરદાર સાહેબની અંતિમક્રિયા મુંબઈના એક સામાન્ય લોકોના સ્મશાનગૃહમાં થઈ હોઈ તેમની સમાધિ કે ઘાટ નથી.

સરદાર સાહેબને ઇંટો કે સિમેન્ટની બનેલી કોઈ જ સ્મૃતિની જરૂર નથી, સરદાર સાહેબની સમાધિ ભારતીયોના હૃદયમાં છે.

ગુજરાત સરકાર તો નર્મદાકિનારે સરદારશ્રીની પ્રતિમા તો જ્યારે ઊભી કરશે ત્યારે કરશે, પરંતુ ઘણા ઓછા લોકોને ખબર છે કે, નર્મદા તટે સરદાર સરોવર પાસે શ્રી સ્વામિનારાયણ સંસ્થાન મણિનગર તરફથી સરદાર સાહેબની ૧૨ ફૂટ ઊંચી ધાતુની પ્રતિમા ઇ.સ. ૨૦૦૦ના મિલેનિયમ વર્ષે જ સ્થાપિત કરી દેવામાં આવી છે. અમદાવાદના એરપોર્ટ ઉપર પણ સરદાર પટેલની કેનવાસ પર પૂરા કદની તૈલ પ્રતિમા શ્રી સ્વામિનારાયણ ગાદી સંસ્થાન તરફથી મૂકવામાં આવી છે અને ‘સરદાર પટેલ એક સિંહ પુરુષ’નું પુસ્તક પણ પ્રકાશિત કરવામાં આવ્યું છે. સંસ્થાના સ્થાપક મુક્તજીવન સ્વામીના પિતા મૂળજીભાઈ તુલસીભાઈ પટેલના સરદાર સાહેબ પ્રિય સાથી હતા અને મુક્તજીવન સ્વામી પણ સરદારશ્રી પ્રત્યે અત્યંત આદર ધરાવતા હોઈ મંદિરના આર્કાઈવ્ઝમાં ૧૯૪૭ની સાલના ‘ધી ટાઈમ’ મેગેઝિન જેવાં અલભ્ય સામયિકો સંગ્રહિત કરવામાં આવ્યાં છે. ન્યૂયોર્કથી પ્રગટ થતા ‘ટાઈમ’ ના ૧૯૪૭ના જાન્યુઆરી માસના અંકમાં આ મેગેઝિને સરદાર સાહેબની તસવીર સાથે ‘ધી બોસ’ શીર્ષક સાથે એક વિસ્તૃત લેખ પ્રગટ કર્યો હતો અને સરદાર સાહેબ ગાંધીજીના કેવા મજબૂત સાથી હતા, કેવી સાદગી અપનાવતા હતા અને લોકો પર તેમનો કેવો જાદુ હતો તેનું વિસ્તૃત વર્ણન કર્યું છે. આજના આ કક્ષમાં ‘ટાઈમ’ મેગેઝિનના કવર પેજની એ દુર્લભ તસવીર મૂકવામાં આવી છે.

IITs on CBS 60 minutes..

A short documentary on the life of IITians shot at IIT Bombay and why they are the most outstanding engineers and entrepreneurs and how IITs are the best technology schools in the world.

Very Impressive.



Happiness for A Life Time..