Lichipuran

Lichi sang pura jamanaa

Hindi English ek samanaa

Rasargar jibh tar lagay

Anthee kathahar san lagay

Pet kastkar karay

Chhot gachh, chhot far

Lage lag lagga nahi lagay

Chhot khant madhur lagay

Bina daant seho chakhay

Kebal Muzaffarpar basay

O kahu kon far huay?

Anhak  Lichee.

 

Je lachabay duranhi san

O Lichi aab jay desh videsh

Tokyo, Korea, Saun Paulo

Lekon nahee bhetay

Apan gam ke gareeb ke

Gareeb ke bacchaa ke karan

Okara pas nahee hai

Kharedy ke shakti

Manmohan ke manmohak banee

Apne khanee gareeb ke dikhanee

LPG ke hai eehe  hal

Gareeb ho gayeel behal

Liberalisation,  privsatisation

Aa  upar se Globlisation

Kar delak hamar lichi ,aam latam

Kab Ganga Jamuna parke intajam

 

Bhetat anhake Tokyo me a Ttata me

Nahee khareed payab

Musaharee me aa  Majholiya me

Amrtys Sen ke  Poverty Economics

Ho gayeel bharee

JP aa  Ramanandan par

Hunkar admee lalachait rahat

Aa Londan Dilli bala lichi  khayat.

 

Dhanakar kahalee ee Rajkishore se

Chhod professory karee vyapar

:Nahee t hoyat Mithila ke bantadhar

 e-Lichee ke hai amar kahanee

Sunayalk ek daktar  jabanee.

 Lichipuran  Tokyo me karyarat Muzaffarpur ke Prof.Rajkishore se   e-chattingpar likhal. Shubh ratri (Ratri Tokyo ke   samay  me)

 -Dr. Dhanakar Thakur,  03:50:33 PM, 25.7.2007.

Mithila Mango

You have surely read it as Mihtila Mango (Demand for Mithila-from GOI) as i am always writing for Mithila State and now  anybody to reply me will have also to add mithila in my new id (which in effect will give you a bonus 'punya 'than writing my title 'thakur'  though it  meant for Raja Ramchandra- in whole Bengal and adjoining areas like at my home town, Forbesganj too Ram-Janki  Mandir is called Thakurwadi but it  has an ubiquitous meaning used by many castes  in Mithila though  Maharajas of Mithila Mahesh Thakur to start with was a Thakur like Jyotitishwar and Vidyapati)but here I meant from MITHILA MANGO  posting after a good reading on AAM, the fruit.

MITHILAMIND should keep Mithila aam too in among Mithila  dishes.

Anyway we can also demand Mithila for preservation and export of mango to foreign countries- air cargo will  always be booked full - remember Kathalbari's kathi  garis(bullock carts), maybe century before there may be gachhi of Kathars (jack fruits). 

Mithila can sustain itself only on its aams  too ( many have suspicion on its sustainability)  like on it paan and meen(fish) and makhan..if properly grown and food processing units are established- even many  aam(common people) thrives on aam(mango) in its season ,if not have daam(money) to purchase other things  when they have  to sell aam(mangoes) to middlemen in very cheap rate( as transportation is poor!)

I am not able to go to my village for many years though crossed through  side Madhubani-Sakri Road where I had myself planted  some 30 trees of mangos(kalams purchased from Rahmganj behind Naka no.6 of Darbhanga) when I was a  High School student- Bambai,the earliest crop,Maldah, the tastiest crop, Kalkatiya, the last crop and sweetest to me looked  a Jarda though I had not asked  for that to the nursey but  maybe in confusion it wasgiven, a 'fruitful' error, a good fruit yielding varity as a blessing un disguise (it is a mango type not of tobacco but its  pale colour of 'gudda' will  look you to unripe but when you will eat you will feel deliciousness superb) and likewise one Kalam turned to a Beeju(I am not talking about the President Kalam who is now made a biju being superceded by a patia made of grass...

Mango,the king of fruits evolved from north-eastern region of India as per the below  description in the book and Akbar's 100 thousand mango trees's grafts may be still in Mithila(Darbhanga and adjoning area) which was in the east upto Malda(WB) in the historical times.

MITHILA MANGO will mean in Hindi Demand Mithila (state we are demanding out of BIhar)

But at Jamshedur in Jharkhand, MANGO is a locality, pronounced as MAANGO; I have been there many times but did not enquire as to how people understand both differently when written in English(by  context probably).
Arundhati Thakur(which must jhaveread totle as MAANGO may reply who is always putting several interesting information, dughter of a resident from western fring of Mithila(of Champaran)now from Jamshedpur shifted to NOIDA in a mamangement school to study. I had been guest  of her  family in  the area of Mango this year.
Dhanakar

Davidar's 'The House of Blue Mangoes' and my Cuban Mango Batido
By Mathy Kandasamy
Never one to do things by halves, he had ordered an army of malis to raise an orchard of a hundred thousand trees in Darbhanga. Even more dedicated to the cause of the fruit was Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow who was feted throughout ...
VIRUNDHU - http://mathy.kandasamy.net/virundhu
David Davidar's 'The House of Blue Mangoes' and my Cuban Mango BatidoPosted by Mathy Kandasamy |


He learnt that Mangifera indica, to give its proper name, had evolved somewhere in the mysterous northeastern corner of the country over two thousand years before, and had been spread by travellers and other carriers throughout Southeast Asia, China and the Malay Archipalago. Greedy Portuguese traders and adventurers were the first pale skins to encounter it in the early years of sixteenth century. Immiediatly falling under its spell, they had introduced the fruit to Africa and South America. About the same time, it had travelled by another route to the West Indies, the Philippines and thence to Mexico. In the nineteenth century, it had appeared in the orchards of California, Florida and Hawaii.

Everywhere they traveled, there were fascinating stories about the fruit, a delicacy so prized among the connosseurs that it drove its admirers to all sorts of excess. The Mughal emperor Akbar's romance with the mango made even the Dorais' obsession with it pale in comparison. Never one to do things by halves, he had ordered an army of malis to raise an orchard of a hundred thousand trees in Darbhanga.

Lakhnaur to Kualalmpur: Coincidences

  Lakhnaur to Kualalmpur
14.6.2006
Incidentally today I was much late due to Dhirendra and when I took a bus at the Central Silk Board and entered in a bus for BTM Layout  the conductor said that it will go up to the East End from where I could take other bus for the South End where my office was situated.

There was not rush in the bus and two young persons were talking in Hindi . One of them came to sit besides me on next stop and I asked his house.
He was  Paramjit from Patna.
I  told him that I was from Madhubani.
The boy standing had small hairs and a small Teek on the small hairs, which must be cut for some rituals, and I guessed that her was a Maithil.
I asked  Parmjeet as to from where his friend was. He said might be from my area.
I asked that boy.
He was Rajesh from Lakhnaur of Madhubani and was working in the IT sector at Jhanjharpur. I gave him my one line introduction that I worked for the Antarrashtriya Maithli Parishad and had visited his village when it was flooded few years back and I had gone to have medical camp at nearby village Pachhi  as well as Jhanjharpur where his father Umesh Thakur was working in the SBI.
I referred one Vermajee who had arranged my meeting and whose article was also printed in the same book 'Yeh Madhubani Hai," in which mine was  too- "A pedestrian's view" describing my padyatra/cycle yatra during 1993-94 of the district and presenting the salient  developmental plan of the same.

Before visiting Jhanjharur for a meeting by Vermaji, I had gone  to Mehath , a young Maithil author Anand's village though he could studied only up to I Com  due to pressing familial problems he had  written tree drama books  which were also played by the Kokil Manch of Kolkata.

I recall the river bed and path along that to Jhanjhanpur 's Purani Bazar to the house of Vermaji whose son also incidentally was seated on my side seat of the bus from Ranchi to Darbhanga and when he said that his father's article was  also published in a book by the DM of the Madhubani I had  asked whether it was the same book in which mine articles were published. When he phoned, his father confirmed and invited me ,"we were together at least in the same book among pages.." and when I returned from Mehath doing some personal work and addressing a well organized meeting near a temple, it  was again a good meeting at the Purani Bazaar, Jhanjharur and I stayed at night at Vermaji's house.
Incidentally today(15.6.2007) , I had got a mail from Gajendra Thakur of Delhi who too belonged to the village, Mehath  and I have asked him whether it was the same Mehath and if so could he send me whereabouts of Ananad whom I saw last  in 2005 Kali Pooja at Faridabad.
Lakhnaur is famous for Radhananadan Jha's village who  had been the speaker of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He had also attended VII International Maithili Conference at Jamshedpur and as he had been a Maithili student  as well who  spoke a lot on diverse problems of Mithila and Maithili , however, his personality  never attracted me as he was said to be close to Lalu  who tried to throttle Maithili.

Jhanjharur railway station I crossed several times and have some remembrance of the place and people- once while returning from somewhere I had a small meeting at  a gas distributor's shop east of the station and on other occasion  i9n front of the station met satish Jha, a prminent BJP worker who was apprehensive whether party would take any action if he worked for the Maithili(with Tarababu who was  then expelled  from the BJP).
I had told him that any social worker should be with the public and if he is was so he would be recognized. Tara Babu was recalled by the BJP on the same token because he was with the Maithils, the constituency of his leadership.
Personally I am not  in any political party and hence I have no fear of such happenings.

By the time I took e-mail id of  Rajesh the East End Stop has come and we were only for few minutes  in the bus in which it was difficult to know that how did he go to Kualalampur. However, I said him that Pushpk Jha, moderator ampmithila@yahoo.co.in was at Bangkok and we will be in touch.
I also then in few seconds asked Paramjeet from where he belonged – from Muzaffarpur he replied and I took his e-mail id also quickly.

     
Somebody said, "East End stop has come." I quickly got down  from the bus which had started after stopping a while.

Every thing has a time-Tirupati yatra

  Every thing has a time-Tirupati yatra
I had to do a lot of paper work that whole day  for taking them to Tirupati.. From  Bangalore City station,  I phoned Amireenath Jha 'Amar' (of Bokaro who had been  at Vellore)  should I come to which he said that  his TMT was normal and he was discharged. I had thought to drop at Katapadi  at 130 am and go to Vellore few km from there in the  morning and then to go to Tirupati 110 m from there  by bus.

I could  not take my dinner  but took some snacks only with me which I had  at platform.

I was already puzzled that I was Wait List 1. Of course,  it was not a journey to Mithila that I would be happy that now our chance has come! In every list of every train there are some who are like W/L 1 but it was my first chance.

I occupied TTE's seat and chained my bag and then contacted TTE who gave me routine reply despite my introduction as a doctor in GOI service," I've to clear RAC first. No scope."

I told him that after some times I will contact him and went to the seat and started noting confusions in few corrections in Maithili Gita on a post card.  In the meantime again TTE passed from there and I quipped seeing  chandan on his forehead that I had translated Gita in my mother tongue and  I had known Swami Chinamaynanda. It had a magic effect and within half an hour he came twice to say," Please wait for some time, I will surely provide you a berth."
I told I was not in a hurry and was doing some of my writing work.
After some time he instructed me to go to other coach on berth no.7.
I recalled the episode of Chennai-Howrah Mail where the same berth no. 7 was  the TTE's berth. Did the TTE offer me his own berth? Anyway I slept there and in the morning I was at Tirupati.
I entered in a city bus and again was at the SVMC gate. I was a bit hungry and thirsty and I asked a vendor to give me grapes for a note of Rs.5. He not only gave me a good quantity but as it was his 'bohni (first customer of the day)' he prayed God with his money uttering something in Telugu (probably he was saying me that he had given me more or good grapes which certainly he had chosen big sized). I remembered that coconut gorl of last visit who had done such prayers on bohni. After few steps I washed grapes in a shop which was being ready for the idleys and ate them- grapes were big but were somewhat sour too.
Anyway for me grapes are sours always!
Though I searched that coconut girl on that road  she was not there otherwise I must have taken a coconut water.
I entered the road to SVIMS- on the left side was Kashyapa  Hostel for girls of the SV Ayurvedic Medical College. Ahead to that some persons were exercising in the early morning and so one in front  of the Physiotheray College. I saw a statue and went near that. It was of Ms. Mary MC Millan(1880-1959), the founder of physiotherapy.
I had reverence and praise for her that she in  recent past only made it a discipline by her sheer devotion.
In front was the College of Nursing- a bit asymmetrical in position, which should have been made just in front of the College of Nursing for increasing its aesthetic beauty.
I imagined that there should have a statue of  the Founder of Nursing, Mrs. Florence Nightamgle (12.5.1820-13.8.1910) and lo! It was there!

I advanced towards Dr. K. K. Sharma's quarters amidst the same route between cashew gardens- that little guide,daughter of a nurse was not that day and I reached the destination.

It was a long walk on hilly area and I was exhausted and after bath and puja I was given heavy breakfast (paratha, kheer and chana's  ghunghani).
Little Jaya Vaishnavi was playing with her little friend Radha who was daughter of an endcrinologist from north. I had taken only two pens for gifting two sisters- Shuchi Somya and Jaya Viashnavi and seeing third child I was confused on both counts to give who two were sisters and also to give them two only later I  postponed my decision  and I slept  but later I thought it would be better to give  those to jaya asking her to give one to her friend Abha which will suggest the little child a habit of giving things other and  when she returned from her school I gave her both giving instruction to give one to her friend Abha. Shuchi was a elder and so she was compromised.
In Mahabharata when  leased Yaksha asked Yudhishtir to take back his any brother, he opted for step-mother Madri's son Nakul or Sahdev not  the valiant Arjuna or Bhima who were so much required for the ensuing battle.
I rested almost whole day in between Dr. Sharma came and went his hospital twice. We had a light khichari diet with chokha about the three varieties of which I left choice on Archana- plain with green chilies though would have been better from medical point of which, others with fried onions and chilies more tastier. People like fried things but at a higher temperature fatty acids do break and are potentially carcinogenic too(as ghee in Halwa).

In the meantime, a Bharat Vikas parishad worker Nacharamji  had visited with his wife and child for  talking Dr. Archna for the forthcoming visit of their secretary General  I.D. Ojha whom if I recall had once met  nearby Agra in rail route.

In the evening,we all started for the town. Dr.Archana was driving- elder daughter Shuchi Somya had to take a gift for her friend's birthday and while they were selecting book I roamed the shelves- one book, 'Unbound India's Hindi edition'  caught my attention- of Gurucharan Das who had  in some of the essays there had dealt  as to how we Indians became poorer after the British came here. The essence was the closure of  cloth industry.
One more interesting aspect I could scan –once Jawaharlal Nehru giving a lecture on industrial revolution in India seeing a person gong to urinal diverted his whole lecture on the essence of discipline.
Shuchi Somya with her younger sister Jaya Vaishnavi went to the birthday party and we went to the house of Prof. Radha Kant Thakur, Dean of Vedang Faculty at the Rastriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth.
I had stomach heaviness- due to the mango eaten in day with skins (which were so thin and sweet and also from the medical point of view a good source of fiber) and or with my cough cold and heavy food at Archana's house.
I could take only few puris and did not eat skin of the mango which here Kanchanjee and Radhakantjee ate with skin saying that it was a custom here to avoid untidy look of leaving skins which I had done in the afternoon unknowingly but did not do the same with them. We returned and slept.
Whole night my stomach was upset and since the morning of  10th my nose was for cough.
Kanchanji gave me cephalexin, which I started taking since sputum was purulent.

From Shuchi's books I read some chapters from An  Autobiography  by  Gandhji. I had read at least some portions of that long back but was hardly remembering anything.
I saw it was a long book 464 paged and highly subsidized by the Navjivan trust (rs.30 only).  Read Gadhiji's experiments with Brahmcharya and found hs submission for milk foods may be scientifically valid and fasting surely calms the emotions.
I also read one chapter on his acquaintance Raichandbhai at Mumbai who though a diamond jeweler had an astute knowledge of religious texts and Gandhi had acknowledged him as one of  his character molder and other two being books of Tolstoy and Ruskin Bond(unto the Last). Tolstoy's ,' 'The Kingdom of God is within you' which surprisingly is not counted one among the important book by the author ( according to google search they are : War and Peace . Anna Karenina . Death of Ivan Ilych . Forged Coupon . Confession . Twenty-Three Tales . Exiled to Siberia . Kreutzer Sonata . Master and Man . Father Sergius . Articles .

Further I could read Gandhi's first case at Mumbai where he could not speak a word and returned the fee to client. But at Mumbai too he did not compromise for giving a per cent to tout for the case which being unsuccessful at Rajkot he had to accept as the fee used to be pooled among  a group or  advocates .
At Rajkot too he protested an English officer's bad behviour to him though he accepted that he should not have approached  for favour to his brother the officer out of his acquaintance at England ,
Having not practice to sustain him he had accepted a job offer of a Muslim businessman from India  but he insisted for First Class ticket for the ship and later was thrown out at Marizburge station by  a racist English. The next day also he insisted for his seat  in the cab and then too  for the final journey where station master a Hollander gave him First  Class ticket but on the condition that  he would not make him issue if asked to vacate by  police.
He was asked by the police but the Englishman in the coach this time  defended him that he had first class ticket and so he could travel.
Whether that man gave Gandhi's mind a twist that all Englishmen are not alike,I do not know but my own experience with  traveling an Englishman is good enough!
Maybe among ll the colonial powers English would be more civilized- even Shilpa Shetty was requested for a meeting  with the British PM recently when racist remark on TV show was headline.

A meeting of Maithils at the  Rastriya Sanskrit Vidaypeetam was initially fixed at 1030 am but  Thalkurji said that Krishneshwar Jha, Secretary,AMP,Tirupati  had examination duty and hence I asked him to advance it to 5 pm.
Around 530 he came and we went to Vidyapeetham.

It was so well-maintained an institute – every sign board written in Sanskrit  and every grass and flower was systematically decorated ; every building was well painted.
In the meeting hall gradually few Mathils assembled and we talked about Mithila- Maithili and  role of Pravasis in that. Young and energetic Baghish from a village badalpura of Begusarai  (son of a lady doctor Gayatri Kumar  Mishra  at the DMCH and his father Kunj Bihari Mishra was a businessman at Kathmandu) who was also youth secretary of a party LOKSATTA (started by an IAS, JaiPrakash Narayan ,after resigning, doing the work appropriate his name inspird by JP who lived whole life for establishing  Loksatta)  pointed that our orgnisation should be structured  systematically with rgistration etc.  to which I replied with our efforts in that direction and said that the AMP's main worker I may be but it was an ideology driven organization and hence has been working continuously.

Bagish  had probably difficulty in speaking Maithli and he for the most time spoke in English to which I without objecting continued  my saying in Maithili recalling an episode of  Darbhanga where my guru  Dr. B.N. Das Gupta was speaking in Hndi to some Mahaseth's (an important person of the town) son who was showing him some of  his album and  was describing in English.
With the given patience such would take up points as they have genuine difficulty in speaking a language which they usually not speaking in work.
The same Bagish had  good rag  of  Jai Jai Bhairavi ,  we sang in the end and also we repeated Bhagwan hamar Mithila Sukh Shanti ker ghar ho.
Gaurab Mishra of Sitamari and  Keshav Mishra of Darhar were also present though they did not participate much.
I said that an organization can be made by two or more persons who work for a goal and work consistently and hence they were now in addition to Radhakant Thakur and Krishneshwar Jha should search more and more Maithils in the locality so that we can not only have a good functioning unit there but also a Maithili Conference in coming days.

We came out and I saw  one among many portraits of the eminent persons in the entrance of  Ananatahayanam  Ayangar who was also the Governor of Bihar when we were child(in 1960s/70s).
Dr S. Radhakrishnan had inaugurated the institute- I could not understand the year written there on the plaque in  a great literary fashion.. Netra Ras Nav Chandra  AD (Netra = 2 as eyes are two ; Ras=6 as rassa are of six types, Nav=9, Chadra = 1 i.e.
2 6 9 1 will be read as 1962 ad-in Sanskrit you can write anything  in reverse order as well which will be  interpreted in right sequence but then where was the Vikam samvat? It was written  as  Vasu Chandra Gagan  Netra( Vasu=8-there are 8 Vasus, Chandra=1, Gagan=0, Netra=2) so it was 8 1 0 2  read inversely 2018 Vikram Samvat!
What a wonderful way to write- the beauty of Sanskrit.
I told them next time I come I want  to address students in my broken Sanskrit- once I had spoken in 2005 at my residence at Ranchi  on the eve  of Sanskrit Divas(Raksha Bandhan day).

I also told them that Sanskrit may be made National Language of India if it was simplified- by omitting Dwicvachan, keeping only 3 lakars(of 10, five are commonly used , and four cases only, any Indian can ;learn such Sanskrit in 10 days.

With Thakurjee I took  off of them and had a glimpses of the serene campus.
Thakurjee told me that there was a good Net Lab and  Chandrababu Naidu was amazed to see that.
It was an Accredited University and hopefully Thakurjee well regarded by students become VC of that a day.
He recalled my quotation of Amarnath Jha when he was introduced as the VC in a meeting at Allahabad University he had said, "Not Yet.," which he became later and was for more than a decade on that  post.

I also remarked on his faculty of Vedang (SHIKSHA || KALP || VYAKRAN || NIGHANTU / NIRUKT || CHHAND || JYOTISH) which I could not say to a Bengali student, named Vedang  at Tumkur doing his MBBS and could search that on google

I hoped someday I  would  stay in that campus and  would walk in the morning there.
I always feel my desire for being a teacher was not fulfilled due to destiny's hands.

While going to Kanchanji's house I said to Radhakant Thakurji that next time I would go to  the Sri Venkateshwar Medical College and contact students and teachers for the NMO. Dr. Sharma is not very overt to have acquaintance with other doctors but when we reached there was  a couple doctor- Mrs. Neeti Chandra, who was a student of 1882 batch at the Rajendra MC, Ranchi  and had my face familiar to her and her husband a professor of medicine Dr.R.Ramesh . We talked a lot about  Ranchi and Darbhanga,
In Andhra's cyclone of 1977,  I  had worked  and I recalled several  Telugu doctors,  particulary  his named Dr. Ramesh of Kurnool who once upon a time in 1980s had enrolled  69 subscribers of the Aayurviguan Pragati.
Prof.  Ramesh welcomed the idea of a national conference at  the SVMC after December and  asked me to call him next time I visit.
I had already talked with Dr. Archana for NMO's  lady members' (and their spouces/father of any  girl medical student) conference at Tirupati as a part of XXX year  Celebration  conference there which has been in my mind for long but could not be executed.

After dinner, I reached station with Radhkantji-  Whole station was filled with pilgrims  returning from the darshan of  Lord Balji- I was only who did not even try to go therein this visit too but like last visit I again asked  for prasad from a lady who though spoke Kannada was a Marathi.

This time my ticket was already confirmed but due to cough related headache I could hardly sleep and in the midnight was awakened by  TTE, "Sir ,you are a doctor;  a patient is having asthma in next coach."
I went to see but his pupils were dilated and fixed (He was died already).  He did not have asthma which is confused by laymen by wheeze  rather it was left ventricular failure- also called cardiac asthma  which occurs on the setting of  myocardial infarction. Though I tried to revive with thump and external cardiac message,  it was too late and declaring him dead I came back to my berth.
Human life is how much made of incidents and uncertainties! Some person needed me but  why not a few minutes before I was contacted.
I did my daily rituals including bath and puja and then seeing shrubs of Punarnava  around the rail tracks in the morning I had a memory of my father  who  used  that for liver diseases.  I was in time on duty in my office remembering," Every thing has a time."

My Reply to an Anti-Mithila Bihari

An anti_Mithila Bihari who turned to an eager Maithili learner

Extracts from my Reply

Dear,

Regarding your comments I do not know your backgrounds (age, job and ideological convictions) and hence, I can give general reply only.

Thanks for appreciate the work for Mithila and for Maithili language but let me say that I had to join that work at a mature age of 37 years in 1992 when Maithili was removed as a subject from the BPSC by Laloo Govt. and had gone deep in the subject and am fairly convinced with facts and figures as to how a group was systematically neglected continuously in a state to which it does not belong principally.

Incidentally on 6.6.2007, I visited Bihar Govt.'s website-
http://gov.bih.nic.in/Profile/default.htm

You will be surprised to know that there is no mention of word Maithili and Mithila though its history has started from Sitamata.

This is the attitude of almost every non-Maithil Bihari and Maithils in fact constitute majority of Bihar only they are not united.

Even the name Bihar is Bihar not Vihar due to Maithili's way of writing "B" but would one consider renaming it as a whole as Mithila or even Mithila Bihar/Mithila Vihar which is logical after the separation of Jharkhand?


Sure," There is a need to understand that the regional conflicts in India are on rise," but India is constitutionally a Union of States and plurality of language and culture has been accepted and should be respected and our fight is democratic and constitutional- even Maithli's inclusion n the VIII Schedule was also a Constitutional one though protracted unnecessarily while it was in the Sahitya Akademy accepted since 1965,it could be included in 2003 only(and Govt. of Bihar and Jharkhand has yet to accept is as a State language though it boasts for Urdu which had divided India- though only 8 per cent Pakistani speaks Urdu).


"We will fell apart if we (all Bihari people) start thinking for the sake of our own culture/language instead for the whole region..." which region is Bihar only Patna where despite congestion of population Govt. wants each and every developmental icons-centres of excellences."

And there is nothing as BIHARI- and it can never evolve in the given mind set where you callously neglect around 50 per cent population.

"As far as representation is concerned it has to do with merit -" In which respect 'merit' you meant- if for language, Maithili is merited as one among best for its literary traditions even before Vidyapati-1360-1448 AD(with which Hindi and Bangla starts), we had encyclopedic work (Varnratnakar by Jyotitishwar-1280-1340 AD).


"And the 'real' people understand the meaning of unity," I could not follow it but till you respect diversity unity is improbable.


"Those who believe in numbers should be in politics-" Political education is one thing and partisan politics is other. In a democratic country every one should be politically educated.

"Lets first talk about development of Bihar-" True but whether Bihar is minus Mithila?
Come with data that out of how many new institutions how many in Mithila region-- I always say commissionary-wise allocation of higher centres and district-wise philanthropic/developmental work..
What are the figures of Bihar Govt.. go to website. .Mithila's Sheohar, Kishanganj least developed.. Patna, Nalanda highest..
So what should be priority?


"Once we are developed rest all the things will fall in place- ", but how with this mind set of having all things in your (Constituency's) cup...

"India had paid heavy price for being so diverse country. It becomes easier to provoke people and break their unity. We could have got independence in 1857 if we were united and not thought about regional gains. In fact we could not have been slaves for many years if we were united.-"

I do not know your ideological convictions- I am a RSS-bred person who has been working for past 43 years continuously for the national work of different dimensions (and has founded one of its wing- in most challenging branch of doctors) though I for some years have made myself free from prejudices.

Our idea is to see not unity n diversity but Bharat is one it looks different (and hence I have no apathy with a Bhojpuri or a Baluchi; a Magahi or a Manipuri as all sings the same song of Ram and Krishna). Talking for language and development is not breaking the unity. India's every language and region should develop otherwise a developed area would be a tumor (like Hyderabad is for AP and Bangalore for Karnataka and Mumbai for Maharshtra- if these are the indices of development. You must be aware that highest farmer's suicide is in Maharashtra and so Naxal menace in AP and north Karnataka is bubbling due to under development...when I say for Mithila more or less the condition is same while Patna is flourishing above national averages Mithila is drowned in floods..

Therefore, talking regional development of the underdeveloped areas is most national thing today. Even India's history des not start with 1947 or 1857 you quoted--which unity you wanted and which developed people- you delve deep in 1857 history -t were developed group/people who sided with British.

Slavery was imposed on us because Hindu society did not felt united- it was not a question of Hindu-Muslim unity...slavery started since 1193 with the establishment Muslim empire with the fall of Prithwiraj..not with 1757..by which time India was again with its inherent potential to fight had resurrected itself 1763..Panipat III (Marathas and Punjabis could made India free already but sure were not united against Abdali).
So it is a matter of Hindu unity.. wherever Hindus became less there is problem- Punjan, Bengal,Sindh(Pakistan), Kashmir , Nagaland. Manipur., Mizoram, Assam,Tripura, ....

This issue need not be compared with Maithili-Mithila issue- just that is a State of India we demand like Orissa or Kerala or Jharkhand- it has nothing to do with national unity as it would not be practical to teach all Biharis in Maithili (because it is spoken by maximum number there and had richer heritage than even Hindi which too start with Vidyapati's lyrics..) nor it would be practical to say Maithili or any other regional language to make them irrelevant in favour of Hindi(or English as some modern thinkers could say who see Shining India forgetting the poor Bharat).

In Bihar problem is not with Maithils problems is with other that they want to throttle Maithili and Mithila and if you cannot give respect to us better leave us, even otherwise we are poorer part not difficult to shed off like rich Jharkhand.

Yes, some politicians would lose value at Delhi but if three or four state person like Lalu will be contained a smaller area and if all good CMs they cant take more resources from centre(and less cost on aerial visits)- even the smaller parties would gain being national status like that of NCP (in three states, I told Ranjita, MP from Saharsa last year on a dais incidentally we were together at Faridabad).

After all these very big states need partition like in a big family.

When Bihar was made it was of 3 crore(today Kerala, the highly developed state, is 3 crore) so shelve it ..

0n 28.8.06 I had written in TOI,"A State should be formed with sufficient mass(area and population) for its self-sustenance to overcome rigid socio-economic as well as linguistic forces. This way it assumes a nearly well defined cultural shape. The mass of Indian states should be 2.5-5 per cent of area or population. Smaller states and Union Territories should be merged and bigger states shelved for optimal political potential. Mithila, Vidarbh, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand need serious consideration like Telangana."

In India I have been traveling all regions for past three decades and probably may be one who could do this with service and have no apathy with any one group.
On 5.6.2007, , a Manipuri website has published my article on Manipur..
http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageSelector.asp?src=Manipur_the_Mani_of_India&ch=leisure&sub1=EI
( You might need to copy and paste the whole sentence if clicking on
the above link gives an error)

Maybe by my entering in Mithila fray it has become more nationalistic agitation, which could have gone in the hands of other divisive forces.

Nice to hear from a young man of 29 years.

Cast/creed is ok but about religion it is confusing word- Hinduism is not a religion but a Dharma, a way of life.
India was divided on the name of religion and may further divide for which Hindu thinkers have been apprehensive as it is their only motherland- in past too Hindus persecuted in Uganda, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Sri Lanka take refuse in their only abode here.

True, if Indians shed their egos and work for their country then no one can stop them from becoming developed nation.

It is not that I do not change my views bit there should be convincing arguments.
Many times questions and answers both are tricky.

Though Indians are in better state than many countries our progressing would have been more.

Japan can become superpower once demolished completely during the time when India got Independence because they are nationalists to the core and give utmost importance to the primary teachers (only next to their King).

For solutions one need to know cause/s as well.

One will have to go back to history as well but for making a brighter future.
The countries, which are not taking lessons from its history, go to Archives.
We may be poor country materially bit have many things better than so called advanced countries and mere imitation is not good.

We may be one of the most corrupt in the world though for corruption every developed country too is famous (Japan, Amercia and many others) yet most of the corruption in India is embedded in its social causes. J used to say extravaganza in dowry, shraddha etc. were cause of corruption in our state, which is true to a large extent.
Honest persons though get honor in the end their life is miserable.

Today (11.6.07) is my ekadashi- I wanted to take curd with chura and asked two shops for curd- MRP printed was Rs.4 but both asked Rs.5, I did not take- it is also a type of corruption but not taking was not sufficient but I had no time and energy to approach authorities concerned.
And system will not be corrected without that..

Bihar's case cannot be seen isolated.

Not only Lalu Yadav his predecessors too did nothing for Bihar.

The fault of other Biharis is that they choose such leaders due to caste-afflictions and they are bound to suffer for that (and for that matter even Neetish is a cast leader- his party too is a caste party , personally he may be honest that is other thing).

Probably they are already segregated and distinct as people of Mithila, Magahi or Bhojpuri and it is better accepted as in past 100 years they could not be co leased and would not be in next 100 years as it is a matter of culture which though as Hindu is same is different regionally as those of Malayali and Tamil or Gujarati and Marathi.
And if country had no problem giving them their due status there would not be granting us our status as per provisions in the Constitution.

It is indeed sad that Bihar Gov removed Mathili from BPSC syllabus(and did not restore despite High court's severe remarks against them- now that the VIII Schedule status was granted by Vajpayee Govt. Bihar Govt. has restored in BPSC but yet to accord it a State language status though it is happy with Urdu as second language.
In fact Maithili deserves first language status in Bihar.

An unbiased census done by an Irish Sir G. A. Grierson in 1911 as the official Linguistic Surveyor General of India had put Maithili's figure 93, 89, 376 (including in-migrants in Bengal-1,96,782 and in Assam- 66,575 adding Nepal's 610,624 exact figure was 10,263,357 meaning around 1 crore in the then Bihar (of 3 crore) under Bengal presidency.
Now that Jharkhand is out (one third), Maithili speakers should be equivalent to that 1 in 2 crores (and increasing population taking same in all groups. it is half).
However, anti-Maithili propaganda by anti-Maithili Biharis has eroded its area as Angika and Vajjika and what not..

It is surprising that Tripura-Bengladesh- WB- Jharkhand/Bihar Bangla is same but Deoghar to Darbhanga Maithili is not same(Remember Binodanand Jha was from Depghar) and so from Champaran to Kishanganj..
It is because we were not granted a statehood..

Visit Bihar Govt.'s official website. http://gov.bih.nic.in/Profile/default.htm
there is no mention of Mithila or Maithili..
And so in different projects Mithila remains last or even not that..
had we a state at least one ALL India organisation must be within us- be IIT/AIIM/IIM anything which all are gifted to Patna on flimsy grounds..

Yes, the consensus of all non-Maithil Bihari leaders have been opposing Maithli including revered Dr. Rajendra Prasad who despite a dissent note by Dr.Amarnath Jha (on whose name there is still a hostel at Allahabad University and one hostel on his father Sir Ganganath Jha's name father and son were VCs there one decade each when it was the fourth University of India)..did not allow education by Maithili medium in 1930s during provincial government's day..

Jharkhand was historically a separate area and in fact for many decades Bihar exploited its revenue (and all Chara ghotalas were from that area).
Yes, from a nationalistic point of view what is difference if another 3-4 small states out from Bihar or U or MP or AP or Maharashtra?

As long as the people of those new states are prospering and living a dignified live all is fine. People will decide what they want. We can influence them with our thoughts but they will make the last call.

It is not that it is always for personal gains - Chhattisgarh has developed so much..and Sibu Soren had hardly been the cause of Jharkhad creation though he too struggled (and while a different thing than this debate...he might have taken bribe but what about the scholar PM of Cong(I) who gave bribe?? Press is silent and public ignorant.

TRS has got immense popularity in the region which is very much under developed and hence, Naxal infested .

If Maithls say they want a state it is dangerous but what about all others- from Manipur to Gujarat from Kashmir to Keral..India's states have been linguistic whether you like or not??
Probably smaller states (not too tiny like Goa or Manipur) do prosper(about 2-3 crores population) as I wrote for efficient administration and hence , all BIMARU states need division for development-.

Because I am from Mithila I can ask my people that it fits most appropriate in the Bill- even Syed Shahabuddin, Muslim ideologue(not criminal Shabauddin) and Govindacharya(Hindu ideologue) had supported Mithila's case..

Hindi bashing in Tamil Nadu has different cause though common Tamilian does not hate Hindi. Raj Thakrey, Sheela Dikshit do not represent their local people.

Punjab-Haryana, Assam carnage are pathetic and Karnataka - Maharashtra episodes are dangerous for India, true but why in-migration because of non-development of the vast track of BIMARU area for obvious reasons which need political, economic restructuring on a faster level.

'Tit for tat' is not advisable in any case.

How Biharis have been treating Marwaris/Nepalis like jews or 'Cooleys' to Indians in South Africa?

Only talking for unity will not work- one will have to work on various planes- local village/district/regional as well as national.

I do not want you be submerged in anyone's seniority but be pragmatic in thinking and work..
I can tell you what I was doing when I was 29 years( in 1984 was struggling for my MD as well as undertook a 41 day tour of south India to propagate a medical journal in Hindi working for a national organisation of Medicos I founded in my 22nd year- still I am working for that on national level. Yesterday I talked a Tirupati physician to organise its conference there(and he was a Christian?)- Where I have problems if other party is able to understand my genuine grievances- do you think that I had stopped my anti-conversion view. No .
But still we can work for common scientific development..
It needs a magnanimity of personalities which is to be inculcated by rigorous and continuous efforts.

It is not the question of how many students enroll for Maithili or any language.
SC has direction even if 10 students a teacher is to be provided in primary education.
Question is you can allow Bengali and Urdu but not Maithili language in Bihar State School?
" If there are enough students to learn Maithili then this move is really in bad taste."

Maithili is offered in almost all Universities of Bihar up to D Litt?
When it was removed from the BSC its students strength of such classes came down before that it was in thousands in many universities and would again be same after its restoration in the BPSC(JPSC on the anvil) and inclusion in the UPSC.

1992 to 2006 - Govt. of Bihar tried to throttle a language, the language of Vidyapati and many great persons to name Nagarjuna in the end(who is said to be fakkad poet after Kabir).
Hindi starts with Vidyapati but does not end with Yatri Nagarjuna or Suman- it is the irony of Hindi that it is not accepted by people like me who ask for Sanskrit as national language.
I agree it is not only Maithli language but most of the Indian languages are loosing to English in a really slow poisonous way but it is ONLY MAITHILI which has been facing a step-motherly attitude by GOVT.( of Bihar). If the subject is removed for 15 years from the examination worth job who will take up that?

It is a genocide like sacrilege Lalu did and he met to his fate. Others too will not be spared for.
Let me say that in 1917 Sir Ashutosh Mukhejee included Maithili as a subject in Calcutta University but it was protested by Patna and Bihar University.

Except Magahis and Bhojpuris none of the indian is Maithili-baiter.
And hence, we want ourselves to be out of the black hole of Bihar.

>"At the same time, I would like to know when people from Bihar move out from state (people speaking Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi etc) they send their children to convent school and obviously they don't learn Maithli or any other such language over there in schools."- It is applicable to all Indian languages.
They are very passionate about their mother tongue so they speak their language in their home.
These people have better job opportunities as well.
"At the same time if students back home have to study local language along with Hindi and English don't you think it would be unnecessary burden on them."
"NO, a polyglot is a better student of any faculty other than language too as per the scientific evidences. Moreover it is applicable to majority of Indians Malayalee, Tamil, Telugu ,Bengali, Assame, etc. .etc..'
Even being different language the literature of all is same- it is one looks different and hence it sharpens the mind of baby rather than burdening him/her.
"If they are really in love of their mother language they will continue to spread its beauty but if they have to choose between a language with can offer then job and mother tongue then most people would opt for English."
- Those who had better mother tongue also could have better English-Is in India anybody to challenge Amarnath Jha or Damodar Thakur 's English.
Remember they all spoke Maithili in house.
True-"This is the irony of poor country we just keep loosing our local customs / languages at the cost of languages which are saleable." and language is a part of our culture.

>"I know about Mulayam Singh Yadav who supports Hindi and at the same time sends his son to Australia for higher studies. This is hypocrisy."
Though am not supporter of Mulayam but sending someone for higher studies(i do not which faculty) is not bad and more so such high profile have several security concern to their children as well.

>"I think the problem is deep rooted. The core here is: choose any one between = your mother tongue OR a language which can offer you job. And people go for option 2."
So far students are not allowed by State boards at least to take English as mother tongue-In CBSE too there is mother tongue paper.

>"We need to first understand why people dont want to learn their own mother tongue?-" Our objection is on throttling Maithili, if the Govt. 'paranoidically' decided NO INDIAN Languages will be taught where we are but if you force us to read Hindi as mother tongue we will object- as Rastra Bhasha paper ok but our mother tongue is different. And you should respect that OR Make us separate where we can teach our students all subjects in our tongue at school level as per direction of the HC.

>"Whatever be the reason it is really sad that Maithili language is dropped from syllabus in Bihar. If we can show the figure to Bihar Govt. that there are enough people ready to learn Maithili then may be they will reconsider their decision."
"If a population of half of the state has not even some students to read Maithili then OK we deserve MINORITY LANGAGE STATUS and then more privileges we will have- Patna HC had already warned Bihar Govt. in this matter.

>Bit I know how to deal with these politicians. They only know electoral strength and I have calculated that in 89 (28 in Mithila and others by in-migrant voters) parliamentary constituencies Maithils have sizable votes and am organising them to vote for those who would help Mithila State or Maithili's cause.
As Vajayee did a lot for Maithili we were binded with BJP but not that condition would be with other leading BJP or failing his work in states like Bihar and Jharkhand.
Let them neglect us we will show them the doors."

Differences in opinion should be welcomed efforts must be united.
Lenin had said (though I am not a communist),"March separately, strike together."

Peoples views on separate states would differ but India is a Union of States and Mithila fits the Bill on any count including language, culture, economics, national security etc.etc. and there is no point that any one equates it or any nationalists demand for statehood to any anti-national campaign like Khalistan.


"I don't have any concrete reason (facts that prove me that linguistic separation leads to prosperity). - It gives homogeneity like in Bengal or Kerala things are done in their languages be education or administration.

Our problem is to become like even if Punjab in prosperity not to talk of Singapore.
You have picked up another issue which needs details as to what happened with Sikhs which is a matter of long article but let me say in a line that Sikhs are part and parcel of Hindus and it was the British ploy who made them different seeing their valour and were apprehensive of rebellion from them just after 1857(Kooka Revolt)

Yes, there was a time before World war I (1814-19) that Sikhs and other under Lala hardayal had made Gadar Party to free India but now from there Khalistan sings..Who patronised Bhinderwalan? same Indira whom they killed.
When political considerations have upper hands than national these happen.

I never thought to go abroad though was well equipped with knowledge to settle anywhere for my organisational responsibilities and though I could work it was not without a price on my personal life but it happens with all who are non-compromising with values.

Whenever a young takes interest in social problems it gives pleasure to person like me.
I have not even asked from where you belong to but if you can concentrate on work as per your choice and area it is good but be genuine.
If you work for Bihar , currently Mithila is half of and that is its due.
If you work for your area or district working for that is equally important.
If you work for nation, Bihar constitus 8 per cent.
Problem comes when one on a potion to work for whole becomes myopic..
Remember Dhritrastras are born old and Abhimanyus die young.

Some MPs from Mithila have tried in their capacity for the uplifting Mithila Region but most of them are not even aware of the problems for the development and or of Maithli language.

I have no hesitation to talk to other non-Maithils who are in Bihar but I am sorry most have vision of Dhritrashtra(in past one century and they have proved unworthy of the job to retain us along with them).

If you write where you are I can refer some Maithils of that area.
I am not aware of learning Maithili online but such a course should be explored to start by some of our IT workers even if it was there already.
(Rajeev Ranjan Lall rajeevranjanlall[at]gmail.com has accepted this responsibility. Other should help him in sending words, phrases, Maithili Grammar book, etc. so that the course takes a shape within few days.)

Dr. Dhanakar Thakur
Spokesman,
Antarrashtriya Maithili Parishad
www.geocities.com/maithili_parishad

Manipur- the Mani (Jewel) of India:Coincidences

Coincidences: Manipur- the Mani (Jewel) of India

 

I had no intention to talk to that Manipuri boy talking on mobile who was living on ground floor of that Jayanagar  (Bangalore) house where I had stayed six months in Dhirenda's house on second floor. I did not talk to them while I was there for long only once I had gone in their house and had an impression that they were Christian Nagas?

And though I had been to Nagaland talking  them once I had left that place long back!

I was thinking to go to my office on that Sunday and correct Srimad-BhagbadGita's correction in my translated Maithili Gita's manuscripts but I incidentally told that Manipuri boy that I wanted to talk to him.

 

He requested me that as his talk on phone might be longer I should rather go inside and talk to his friends as well as his elder brother.

There were three Manipuris there- Boris, Roshan and Sanjay whose brother Santosh had sent me in  from out side.

 

I initially though Boris was a Christian and Roshan, a Muslim and more so when Boris told me that out of 24 lakh Manipuris 50 per cent are (Maitei- original Manipuri tribal who follow  almost all Hindu rituals with minor differences) and 25 per cent Muslim and  25 per cent Christians.

 

I told them that t was a good balance   in the room from that point of view to which they said,"No, we all are Maeties."

 

I told them that though  born and brought up in a RSS milieu I have no prejudices even for non-Hindu religions but surely I am against of conversion by alluring  or threatening   or by providing medical services or schools to the innocent tribal.

 

I told them that though  many think seeing the facies that Manipuris  or Nagas were not historically was far from correct.

 

In 1947, India  had seventh partition  since British days however it was 24^th partition in past 2500 years. Upto Bali, Borneo, Indonesia and Cambodia,  it was India not to talk of Myanmar bordering Manipur which seceded in 1937.

(I-  24.5.1876- Afganistan as a Buffer state as per Gandamak Treaty with Russia.

II- 817- Nepal as Sugauli Treaty

III-1906- Sikkim and Bhutan were  seceded

IV-1914- Tibet was accepted as Buffer State which China gobbled in 1956

V-1935- Sri Lanka (Ceylone) was seceded

VI-1937- Burma(Myanmar) was seceded

VII-14.8.1947- Pakistan was carved pout of remaining  India.)

 

I talked with them for long my association with Manipur due to Kshetrimayum Birendra Singh, three years junior to me  in  Medical College who had been a swayamsevak of the RSS from Manipur itself but at Darbhanga came close to me rather like my real brother.

 

 

 I had accepted an editorial job to Dr. K.K.Sinha.Ranchi's  office as an assistant editor to the Progress in Clinical neurosciences and that too when my MD examination was only  two months away and simultaneously  I had asked Birendra  to come  from Delhi leaving housejob at  the Safdarjung Hospital  so  that he could resume  post graduate studies at Ranchi and at Ranchi we stayed together in the rooms of the local NMO workers and later together in a room.

Once,  I had been very rude to him for some reasons I did not like and I had changed room but saw that he could continue with his study without any trouble.

 

Then though we were meeting in the NMO meetings he was  not talkingto me . He got his MD and came to me on the day  of his departure to Manipur  and as a brother touched my feet and asked apology to which I  had said that I did not feel he was an  adult and I should rather not have imposed my views on him and I was wrong even though might be thinking his  welfare.

 

Birendra  usually attends AP conferences and recently he met  at Goa at the moment I was leaving out the  venue. Though I gave a pen as a gift to his lovely child I forgot to give something to his wife, Dr. Roma, as per my family customs since I was in  hurry to catch train. She too was a student at  Darbhanga.

 

I had been  to Imphal  and to his home, Myang Imphal circuiting  Loktak  Lake . His father was a teacher and while coming out of the house  I  had asked his  younger brother, Narendra, to lace shoes to which he said,

"How I can put shoes, I have to do pranam to parents."

 

I said that I too would do but I was not knowing that with  the shoes there in that interiors of Manipur pranam was neither taken nor given and the climax was that both parents  stood together and then he did pranam and took ashirvad.

Such  culture is preserved nowhere in India and after seeing that  I am hesitant in shoes taking pranam or doing to someone.

Sanjoy and his friends said that even in Manipur now it was vanishing.

Yes, our good culture preserved would vanish in modern fashion.

 

And at present  Manipur is the hot-bed of AIDS due to intra venous  drug route  on ' golden triangle' of drug trafficking.'

 

I recall at least three times I had been to Manipur;  twice when I had gone for camps in Nagaland during  1986-1988. I may be regarded as the first Hindu missionary doctor to lead a team of the NMO to Nagalnd though some Hindu doctors had gone there earlier but for service and or practice.

 

I had a class fellow Kuki, a Naga and a Manipuri  Achow Singh but than in 1970s they were not enemies of each other as today Nagas and Manipuris have become after Isac-Muhivah's demand for a Greater Nagaland, including some territories of  Manipur.

 

 

I questioned  the wisdom of having such small states- Nagaland has a  population of  around 20 lakh with 14  tribes named  Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, Khemungan, Konyak, Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, Sangtam, Sema, Yimchunger and Zeliang.(among which I worked in 1980s and had also an occasion to meet Rani Gaodilinue at Kolkata- she was not a Rani but was so called  by Jawaharlal Nehru  honouring her fight   for identity; she did  collect her people  from the conversion by Christian Missionaries and when we went it was a news," Our doctors have come." They walked 48 hours in the hilly terrain to get some medical consultation from us. Before us swayamsevaks from Kerala had gone there to open schools and particularly one from Gorakhpur, Jagdamba Mall ,was initially humiliated by them but later was accepted as own person.

 

Though we did not do any political thing- BJP could get over 20,000 votes that year and that was said to a great extent due to our work. Now BJP has five MLAs there and they have been in power too.

 

Nagaland to me looks most beautiful part of the nation and so are Naga women.

When I said those Manipuris that if I have to remarry I would like for a Naga women, one of the Manipuris retorted ,"NO, you have not seen Manipuri beauty when we will call you in our group function here you will know."(there are about  seven such grous at Bangalore and some persons are quite aged on senior poats).

 

Yes, I was neither a Bhima who married  Naga Hidimba( whose son was the great hero Ghatotkacha- on  Hidimba' brother's name Hidimb – whose palace's ruins I had seen- Hidimbapur was later called as Dimapur- the railhead for Manipur as well  nor I was an Arjuna who  marry\ied  Manipuri  beauty Chitrangada…

 

At Imphal, near Nagamphal, where at Sewa Bharati I stayed twice, I had seen a market, 'Ima Market,' which is an all- women  market who  sell hand-woven Manipuri clothes and other things. 'Ima'  is  word in Manipuri for mother.

 

Once my meeting at Sewa Bharati was attended by the ex-principal of the RMC(Regional Medical College, now renamed RIIMS), Dr. E. Kuladhwaja Singh who was also an alumnus of the Darbhanga Medical College.

 

I recalled   Dr Manichandra, a pediatrician and Kumarjeet from the DMC. I also recall Dr. Y. Bajo Singh, an anesthetist whom I met at the Jabalpur Medical  College and when  I had gone that room to contact a Manipuri student  for the NMO. He was Dr. Bajo singh's son. Dr. Bajo Singh too had studied at the medical college of Jabalpur and when I met him at Imphal he was  surprised.

 

Initially I used to meet specifically medicos from north-east and had even planned an all India  medicos conference of that area under the NMO.

 

 

 

Boris said that he would provide me the recent contacts of the medicos and his sister too was an Ayurvedic medico. Sanjoy working for the rehabilitation and prosthetics had many contacts with  the neurologists and orthopedic surgeons  at Karnataka. He was not much willing to return to Manipur as his specialty was little developed there. I asked him to have contacts for proper referral from there and also train people of his area.

 

Manipur's population 's around 60 per cent live in the valley and remaining in  hilly areas around .

Manipur has some major festivals like other eastern parts of India - Mithila and Bengal though names maybe different .  NINGUL CHAKEBA  is Bhatri Dwitiya where sister comes to brother's house –two days after Deepawali and gets gifts. They do come during Raksha Bandhan too.

But Holi is most important festival.

I recalled my senior at the DMC,  Dr. L. Tondon Singh who used to play dholak so marvelously. Incidentally he was  the neighbour of one of the  students present there in Bangalore house that day.

 

I could not attend Birendra's marriage but  I was with young persons and asked them about the rituals of marriage in Manipur.

 

In Manipuri traditional marriage a girl comes (elopes) with a boy and comes to boys house to stay for a night the next morning parents of boy goes  to girl house and they inform them for their daughter. They talk something and if marriage is acceptable they come and take the girl to her house. Rarely, if the girl's parents did not come  she remains in that house with boy.

The girl returns to her house and a marriage date is fixed as per lagna- some months are barred. Marriage is held in daytime at the house of girl.

One of the boys in the meantime seeing me interested in a Manipuri marriage put the video of the marriage of his brother on the computer.

Whole village comes as  Barat both males and females(on many cars , may be 30-40,in a middle class family – a car rent  for a day is  minimum Rs. 400 to as per distance). Bride has a  muretha (head gear) and including him all males are in white  dhotis and kurtas however females can put up any type of  colourful dresses and they are welcomed in a mandap with chandan  and  pan. There are coconuts and bananas  in the welcome thal   as is supposed to be auspicious in rest of India also.

 

Barat is offered merely some snacks  but no lunch nor father of boy offers  ornaments. There is no dowry system.

There remains a Brahmin more to assist in the marriage than  doing rituals as rituals are not many and though guests are welcomed with fire there is no custom of seven rounds of fire is observed  rather  the bride takes seven rounds of the groom and does pranam with folded hands and then  exchanging garlands first to boy and being removed by Brahmin from boy to girl the same garland of beli flowers.

 

 

 

Howere, like all over India, Kanyadan is done by some elder (in the video Bhabhi had done). Persons from both sides offer pranam to each other. It completes the rituals of marriage of the marriage day and girl returns to boys house. Girls relatives too go to see off her but again only snacks no dinner is offered.

On the fifth day the persons of boys side again go to girls' house where they are offered nice lunch- of 32 dishes.

I observed that on banana leaves first rice with half of the dishes were put and then the invitee was asked to come and take food. In our area the person sits first and then the food is served.

 

One average cost one to two lakh and this cost of lunch on 5^th day is shared between the groom's and bride's sides.

Hence, the marriage is a bit simpler but not much different from rest of the India.

 

When I asked them  about the genealogy of marriage system they said Maeitis have seven clans like Lyshram and others.

There are some clans among which one can marry and also somewhere one can't. However 10 per cent persons do marry in prohibited clans and very rarely one marries in his own clan (sagotriya).

 

This too seemed to me, a system of our Maithils where too  Vatsa and Sawarna cannot intermarry though of different gotras(clans).

However,we Maithils have proper persons(Panjikars or registrars who certifies that there is no  blood relation for the fifth place from maternal side and seventh  place from the  paternal side) but  there is no such record keeping  system among Manipuris and they go by the knowledge of elders but do not marry where from mother or such relations come from which should be barred.

 

I asked them whether in my proposition of India's States reorganization they would come under Barak State with Shillong as  the Capital covering Meghalaya, Mizoram,Manipur, Nagaland ,Tripura as well as Barak valley they asked  me to put this view on their website  www.e-pao.net

 

Manipur  is derived from mani- jewel  and in fat it is the jewel of Bharat and my several visits need booster for my familiarly with this land of great culture.

 

But now I am at so distant  that managing leaves would be equally difficult but surely I would write Birendra to convene a meeting of the NMO so that I can visit there once more;  once I had declared that my last part of life would be spent with Birendra but much  time has passed out  like water in the Brahmputr and though I asked those some of neo-Birendras of Jaynagar' Manipuri  house to invite me in their marriage, I know I could not even attend my  own marriage  properly( sandwiched between  two days of the NEC meeting of the NMO)  and probably a video of a Manipuri marriage should be supposed to be sufficient for the time which I could see incidentally!

 

Dr. Dhanakar Thakur

Spokesman,

Antarrashtriya Maithili Parishad

www.geocities.com/maithili_parishad

---

Here's a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

Katihar : Coincidences

Coincidences: Katihar
People usually do not go to their old rented houses often more so to a relative's  old rented house even if you would have stayed  there for  some times.
But on the Sunday 27th May May, I was almost having no appointment when Dhirendra  left me at Jaynagar where he used to stay and where in  I too had stayed with him for a span of about  six months.
I was confused to find that house near IX Block Bus  stop but after sometimes could recall a drug shop and seeing the cross board sign realized that I was  almost at the spot.
That house has three stories- in the middle Shrinivaslu who was very close to Dhirendra and used to take the role of an elder in any problem. I  knocked his house and his daughter  Hema asked  to sit  and said that his was father was not in his. Incidentally Dhirendra's sister is also named Hema.
I asked for any of Dhirenda's posts  and then asked as to who came in upper floor where we used to live.
She said," they are students, north Indians, like you."
I went upside and knocked.
A young man, Nishantranjn came out and on probing he told me that he was from Katihar. His father used to work in the Electicity Department and he used to live nar Durgasathan from where one of my bhahi (widow of my  cousin Padmakar, who succumbed to  a railway accident at Gandhinagar Jaipur Railway station ,near his house; a well renowned Hindi poet, Ashok Chakradhar etc. belonged to his group) belonged to.
"I was also born 95 km north at Forbesganj," I said.
"I was also born there," he quipped.
"Near Power House," he said and I had a flash of memory of the nearby field where during 1960s I had gone to see a football match between Mohun Bagan and some other team. There was huge crowd and whole field was field of chorkanti…

Then we talked a lot of things about Forbesganj. He was also a alumnus of the Lee Academy from where I  did my Matriculation in 1970. He could recognize my home there in front of post office and  telephone exchange.
For Katihar we talked too much. I recalled the days of Katihar when I had gone there with a ambulance and full team (one other doctor, one pharmacist, one dresser and medicines  worth many thousand rupees from the CCL, Ranchi  where I was working in those days).( under the title of  'Ek Medico ki barh daiary" in Hindi it is available and can be sent to the interested person on e-mail also, if asked for).
I asked him as to what was needed for Katihar to improve . He replied an engineering college. I informed him that Prof. Raman Jha (Gangtok's Sikkim Manipal Technical University ) had once informed that the Aryabhatta Engineering College had already opened there to which  Nishikant  was  ignorant.

I asked him to make a plan to have some IT work (as he worked with the IBM)  at Katihar itself- for such work an organization NSWEO is in womb of time despite my efforts I could not get good workers for it,


Just now Prabhanjan from NOIDA has informed me that some villages may have computers –such type of works should be taken by AMP/NSWEO units and any philanthropic person/ organization can give  the organizations to purchase such computers which local AMP units can locate where to  provide in other word if every  Maithili in service provides an ordinary computer  of few thousand rupees to his/her village school-an IT revolution may come  in Mithila in no  time).
Nishikant said that he along with his friends would after few years start some such business venture at Katihar.
Incidentally his two other house partners were also from Katihar- one of his  partners,  Kunal was there with who did not take much interest in my talk.
Nishikant told me that there were many young persons at Bangalore from katihar and even from Forbesganj. I asked him whether  they can meet any day to have some development  work in their area. People do like to meet but only for socialization which may be ok for some but in that an element of social responsibility need addition.
My own experience is that Bangloreans  are not interested much in such type of activates if I compare it with Pune or Kolkata. Is it  that  matririn( social obligation)  is  inversely proportional to distance or affluence of the person while it hould have been  directly proportional.
In fact, our whole education system s that it can not enthuse anyone for society even for his own parents' care.
And ultimately that person is more sufferer(and hence, a  National Institute  of Psychiatry at Bengalore?)
For that matter psychiatric diseases are highest in USA and once in 1977, Dr. Davis, FRCS(Psych) had told me ,"In UK there were more  Indian psychiatrist than India had- then 250)." I had gone there to see Vashishtha Narayan Singh, a famed mathematician who was sick there and Dr. Davis agreed to me that  his familial  reasons were  a great contributor to  his insane state.While you are sane if  you would not do  the work of empowering others and it  may make you insane. A recent report says that religious preachers, doctors were in best mental health.
Dr. Davis had also not replied me a relationship between intelligence and insanity and certainly I feel the intelligent persons must work for the society- it is in their own interest.

I asked Nishikant to join AMP meetings which he agreed. IT workers are time pressed but for that matter every other employed person is. In IT sector at least week-ends mean all Saturdays and Sundays and because they have not developed any hobby or interest in other work they are further pressed to work and some even go to office on holidays to avoid tension of house.

Wipro chief Azim Premji's one statement  few years back I remember that those who sit after the office hour in fact do not work properly during office hours.
Now  if  compare this statement with Wipro's some workers it may be  opposite. Every IT worker usually work 10-12 hours a day but even if that if you would not spare some tome for wandering can you have such coincidences I described?
I asked Nishikant that I would be glad to live in that house with them again but they were overpopulated there itself and even otherwise I was a stranger!

Dr. Dhanakar Thakur

Spokesman,

Antarrashtriya Maithili Parishad

www.geocities.com/maithili_parishad

---

Download prohibited? No problem! CHAT from any browser, without download.

Coincidences: Pan incidence

 
  Coincidences: Pan incidence


Mithila s famous for Pan. Makhan and Manchh but I am not only a vegetarian but also do not take  pan. Particularly, I do not like spitting by pan-eaters and also most of them take tobacco in the form of zarda of various varieties  which is the most important cause of cancer in south-east Asian countries yet if you are with a Maithil you will have to stop somewhere he would take a pan.

On 25.5.2007, Dhirendra stopped at a pan-shop and I too had to on his bike.
While the panwala was making  betal for for him, I  asked  in Maithil,
"Kanha Gam achhi?"
"Bihar."
"Kat?"
"Rajnangar lag."
"Sonbari."
"Nam?"
"Ramnarayan."
"Rasnarayanji ke janit chhiyainhi?"
"Hunke sang rahit chee."
  He was thus firth such panwala at Bengaluru whom  could incidentally know.
Many years back someone had told me that in Bengaluru most of the panwalas were Maithils and hence I could guess and my guess was right  on such places though it was wrong also at some of the betal-shops.

Regular kirtans are done there and they are planning building a community hall and temple there. They also celebrate Durga Puja every year in the Vasant Nagar area near the Cantonment station.


It also shows how community help can make many more employed in a distant land.
They have also purchased a community land at Bengaluru some times back in Tawrekere area  which  would be of the rice of around  one crore now.


There are many more Maithls of upper echelons in this city but they could not organize themselves so nicely, mot of them  remaining encrusted in their nuclear families  and aloof from even their relatives not to talk of villagers.
Though there are two or three families I know here who did take care of there family and they are many members of their families are established in job in this city.
This is the story of almost every city not only of this city. One can say it is pan-incidence unlike Pan incidence which you will find for Maithil panwalas at Bengaluru.

Way to Mithila-V&VI :Whether Mithila’s statehood was also n

  Way to Mithila-V

I took a ticket for Samastipur  in way to Delhi which is a way to Mithila  State also as it happened in the case of Maithili's inclusion in the Constitution too as  National capital  was the battle ground for such issues.
Even for the IIT at Darbhanga Dr. Sureshwar Jha advised for campaigning near MPs and Ministers from  Mithila area as he had done for the radio station at Darbhanga.
Incidentally my job is that in which leaves are restricted and  for that I had already instructd our Delh workers for  having such work at their own level and they were to meet  me there.
At Delhi the primary function was the NEC meeting of the NMO and  query about May 27th meeting for the AMP at Delhi for which some important workers were to meet me at the NMO's venue.

I  entered in the almost vacant  passenger train for Patna, even knowing that Shahid Express would go  one and hour  late. I resumed by 12 noon I would be at Delhi whch was already communicated. At previous night I was cautioned that Shaheed  usually runs late and hence I had made an enquiry at station.
There was Sampark Kranti standing on platform no.1 which was a faster  train but  for a meeting at Samastipur  I had  chosen  the Shaheed express to have some  more time and when it was  known to me that it was  late I  informed the house  of Hareramji  that it will give some extra time and I had  gone to passenger train and was almost sleepy that a boy told further announcement that Shaheed would be  five and half hour late. I became anxious and quickly I got down went to the reservation counter for canceling my  reservation in Shaheed but there was a long queue and I  rushed to platform 1 for Sampark  Kranti express- whether to board the train with an improper ticket( of a passenger train) to Samstipur (as the passenger was  then supposed to leave after Sampark  Kranti jeopardizing my  meeting there)? I went to towards the general compartment and near the engine there was a half  coach(meant for ladies but  almost males were there) where a person  recognizing me called me. He was  Prof.Ayodhyanath Jha, brother of Tara Babu and I entered that utmost I would have to give penalty.
In such circumstances where a passenger is not  at fault, technically he is wrong and has  agony what to do.
Anyway we talked on the Mithila movement and he informed me about a very successful meeting of the Mithila Rajya Abhiyan at Biraul and he was of the opinion that Biraul can play a vital role for the movement as Rahika had played for the Maithili movement.
I still said that we should concentrate on other districts of Mithila as well.
He also reminded me for an article on Tara Babu Abhinandan Granth(while its editor Dr. Sureshwar Jha had in  previous journey asked me for an article this time he had not reminded and infact it was  I had forgotten that). I told him that on my one decade association with him I would write at the earliest and send it on e-mail of my teacher Dr. Mohan Mishra whose number he provided.(from Delhi I took his id and after I came to Bangalore did  that work first to write and e-mail and also sent a hard copy to Sureshwar Babu with his desired materials on Ireland and Irish language).
The Sampark Kranti too behaved like a passenger train and halting everywhere(justifying my ticket) it could reach Samsatipur. In the way Prof. Jha contacted Hareramji and I talked to him . As he was fighting  for a local body election no meeting could be arranged. While I took a shy of relief that now I would take the first available train (Vaishali Express ) it also suggests how  even a good worker takes up the modality of meeting despite one comes  with such strain and well informed - be it Darbhanga or  Samastipur  or any or many such places. We need a cadre-based mass organization everywhere for proper utilization of our little resources.
At Samastipur there was  not a long queue and I could  cancel  my ticket  although with full refund whether my  problems were to be addressed ?
There was no question of  a berth in the Vashali- even 15 days back there was 200+ Waiting List! I  was apprehensive whether with an ordinary ticket I could enter into the compartment but there was no rush and I could get a seat at least.
At Muzaffarpur I went to the STD booth and informed Dharmandji's daughter that I was in the general compartment in the rear side of the train. He would have been instructed not to come by Ayodhyanathji  as in the train we could not  get him on mobile.

Hazipur, famous for Hariharkshetra, an avatar kshetra which I wish be named on Hariharnath rather a lootera Hazi Illias!
Sonepur I saw famous for animal fair and Bhojpur started.

Jeeradei I saw and thought whether Rajendra Babu was born there. Initially there  was one Natwarlal there and everywhere scores of Natwarlal are may not be so sharp and educated like original!

At Hazipur I purchased  bananas though  famous for it, t was not so tasty but purchasing  those or peda by  vendor had also a feeling in my mind that I  was  by purchasing those was  also helping the person.
I was reading book on Sooraj Narayan Singh presented by Dr. Sureshwar Jha and had almost finished with ters in eyes many times- how  such great revolutionaries  who made India independent  were neglected in free India and Sooraj Bau thogh escaped from  martyrdom  during British Rule got it in Independent India and shameless Govt. even tried to  put a curtain on his death by brutal lathi charge - that revolutionary died in a Gadhian way without any protest in the regime of a PM who had a title GANDHI!
As soon as the train reached Chhapra it was over packed and I was alone to have not allowed others on my single window seat- there were 27 passengers  packed  on and above seats and on the floor! The gate became  chocked and there I was an idol (a Murthy) on my seat! It is not that I had not traveled in past in  such  rush but  after having a reservation and canceling that and then having journey like that!
A young man's family was going and how pleased they were with little home-made food!
I decided that I would not eat  or drink anything as it was  very difficult to go to toilet.
I started eating one banana(small size of Hazipur) half hourly and  a sip of water in between till I slept in midnight on that seat.
I crossed through  Basti and whenever I cross that station I see the portrait of Achrya  Ramchandra Shulka who  worked for Hindi as if  for the freedom movement and me or any Maithil is not opposing that Hindi.
We oppose only intrusion on our mother tongue and that is applicable to Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Braj as well.
Gonda came and I remembered Nanaji Deshmukh who worked there  renunciated  politics at 60(his disciples are  gluing to the posts)!
Came Gorakhpur and Dharmanandji was there! He praised the work  of a BJP MLA who won again despite  Maya's maya.. that MLA was a doctor of course!
Somebody had said  in the NMO conference, doctors as a politician are better than others and one more proof of that(the most  enlightening was  of a place Multai of MP where about a decade back an independent doctor  had won as was said by a co-passenger!
I want such politicians from every walk of life and have no prejudices about party as nation is supreme than party.
We talked till train left. He was surprised how I was traveling in that coach and me too on myself and had memoirs of him – he had been my one of the best associate(a few junior to me  but very mature) for the NMO work while he was at Ranchi and I started NMO from Darbhanga!
He  was also of the opinion that we should embark for a medical college as now the day of doing small things have gone..
Way to Mithila-VI :Whether Mithila's statehood was  also not Wait Listed 2 (Concluding)
I saw Lucknow from my seat where many times I have halted but this time I could not even gt down on the platform. At Lucknow I had  so far not  a Maithil meeting  but always I had been there for the NMO meeting since 1988 however, Anant Kr. Singh, IAS was the only Maithil  whom I knew  from my medical college days but more  like a younger brother as he was a few years  senior to my youngest brother at Netarhat School and his eldest brother  Dr. Swatantra Kumar Singh, senior to me was introduced  by him who now practices at Saharsa. Swatantraji was very close to Ramnanadan Mishra, a great Socialist leader who was an assitant to Gandhiji also and  when Jay Prakash Narayan differed from his booklet'Socilists whither.' He took a spiritualistic path and there I was taken by Swatantraji. I use to read newspapers for that old freedom fighter. He invited me several times on spiritual path but I did not  follow. With hs letter I was introduced to Acharya Binoba Bhave who had given me an appreciation in his own when handwriting when I met him at Pawanar in 1981.
Anant  was posted at Lucknow most of the time and in few visits I could meet him. Once I was traveling on Agra-Kanpur route and somebody criticized him that he ordered firing  on Uttarakhandi agitationists while DM of Muzaffarnagar.
I decoded I would never  see him again-was he same Anant who used to go with me selling Babuji(Ramnandan Mishra)'s  booklets in the outskirt of Darbhanga?
Once I had gone to Saharsa and could not resist myself to meet Swatantraji in Koshi Colony there. Bhabhi saw me from a distance and recognized-'Dhanakarjee, bahut  varsh bad ayalanhu?" I had memory of  Swatantraji's room in the House Officers' Residence where  two days' before the publication of Ananat's result of Matriculation I had asked him two questions:
1.     Write any  four lines of any poem
2.      Draw a rough sketch of India.
When he did that I found the mistakes- he had not started every line from a Capital letter and had not shown Andman Nicobar and Lakshdweep in sketch, even on prompting he had added Sri Lanka which was not a part of India. Only today(24.5.2007) the TOI has published my letter, on renaming the islands' names on Britishers' on old tribal traditional names rather than  of Jhansi rani or Tatya Tope who had not been there.

I said with sorrow that he should not top in Bihar(including Jharkhand) and when  after two days  the results were published in the Aryavart(then popular Hindi daily, established by Darbhanga maharaja at Patna) he was laced third in  Bihar though he had been top in the internal examinations of Netarhat School.
Bhabhi  started  saying,"aanha Brahmin bhay shrap day deliyak, tain Anantbabu top nahee lelkay," despite my plea that the result would have been made much before I had said that.
After his housephysicinship Swatantraji changed his house near Babuji's house and there too I was a frequent visitor and used to relish mangoes from Bhabhi's naihar, Mathai, a village near Saharsa(where too once I had gone to meet her).
And so many memories –of her daughter, Preeti whose nick name was Sweetee but I used to call her Madhulika, after a long  pause I could translate  Sweetee like that.

At  that summer night at Saharsa when we  all were on the roof to  sleep I said to Bhabhi,"Some day Anant will fire on me too leading Mithila  movement procession."
Now she started weeping," No, Anantbabu was made a ploy of conspiracy of some fertilizer mill owner, he is innocent."

After few years, in the next visit  when I had gone to  Lucknow, I enquired from him the details. He had already won the case in the Press Council of India as his imaginary interview was published  in a  newspaper  where he was cited as saying if women would go to field in such processions there rape was not unnatural…
This thing  I had also read in a book by T.N. Sheshan. When Anant had phoned him  he had not talked him. A defamation suit could not be  done against him as he had not mentioned his name but merely written, "DM of Muzaffarnagar."
I later wrote against it to some of the editors.

And  few years later I saw a  full page news in India Today,"Akhir Anant Singh ko Nyay Mil Gaya,"- he had been absolved of charges by the High Court.

When that Anant  had come to me in my medical ward informing that he had competed in IAS, I had  given peon Rs.10 to bring sweets(then in 1982 Rs.10 has some value!) and after he had eaten, I had told," I am not happy with your result. You should have been a scientist." he was a record breaker of the IIT, Khargur in physics and had first joined Indian Railway Traffic Sevrice then also I had told him to work on the modernization of railway lines.

Later he used to write me from Masooree and Ranikhet and Deoria  always rebutting my points," Administrators behind the screen do this ..that..etc.." I used to read his good handwriting but later our connection were severed.
In one such visit,  at Lucknow, I was offered a glass of sharbat by his wife but there was an ant and hence I asked her to change. She changed that.  During that time Anant was talking on phone. After that his wife asked whether he too would take sharbat. "Bhaiya jo nahee piye ,vahee lakar de do.."
She had alredy thown that. He said,"kya hua, cheetee to aise hee,cheeni ke sath rahti hai."
At least I had an impression that he must not have been bribed by those fertilizer mafia with a bagful of notes as Bhabhi had said me that night at Saharsa.
While Secretary to Union Minister Rajnath Singh in the Vajayee cabinet, once I had been his office ,not only there but also at the airport he touched my feet as if a real brother in Maithil tradition.
The Saharsa corridor of the East-West road was due to his intervention.
In one of the visits I was coming from south and he pointed to my little bag to his son, a school going student," dekho, Chacha kaise  itna kan saman me 15 din kee yatra karenge."
It was good that this time I had not asked him for arranging a berth. Once I had phoned him my PNR number to his PS and then return phone at my residence had come "in which class,"
"A sleeper ticket,' might be surprising for that PS when my sister had told him but had he came to me to see me like Dharmanandji he might have cursed me.
IAS is "I Agree Sir," used to  Abhash Kumar Chatterjee, the only other IAS I knew closely (and MK Hassan after being introduced with him at Abhasjee's death bed at Ranchi when though he was under my care a call was not sent to me and I could see him after 12 hours and a late diagnosis of  cerebral malaria and he could not be saved despite being airlifted to the AIIMS).
Abhashji was topper of Matriculation in Bihar in 1957 and was also a topper of the IAS who took VRS and spent his time among tribal people of  Chotanagpur, provided livelihood to hundreds of traditional weavers and saw their product was marketed even up to Germany. He was distributing chloroquine tablets to prevent malaria among them but became a victim of that. Abhashji was also from Purnea and I had almost made agreed him to join Mithila movement but his condition was that he may join ,"Mithla Hindu Party," as per Christian Democratic Party of Germany. Hindus are in itself democratic, though we agreed on the historical analysis of our independence movement we differed on rigid Hindu approach.

Lucknow is a crucible of politics and though once named on Laxman(Laxmanpuri) has a tradition of moderation in  polity. Vajpayee represented the constituency and several RSS stalwarts karmbhumi was it but  without mentioning my  memoires with Bhaurao  Deoras who studied there and was a whole-timer, let me say few  names from medical field-
I was first introduced there with Anil Jain who was a student and later served also in the tribal area of Bihar for a year who arranged NEC meet(in fact any big meet outside Bihar) of the NMO  during September 25-26, 1988.
And then the hostels of the KGMC, many times I visited- Suryakant(yes he is Tripathy though named after the great poet is not 'Nirala'), Narsingh Verma and  Vinay Agrwal, Lal Chand,  from BHU to LHMC to Mayurvihar, whose house remained my  stopover till he had a house, and last but not the least I had been at the house of Manish Pandey who organized a national conference and  also once my press conference, so widely covered by the media and  also of Ashwini Tondon who was a  student of ANMMC, Gaya.

I also was once a  guest of Dr. N.S. Bhatnagar(on whose insistence luckily I could have darshan of  Ayodhya temple before  it was demolished by hard-liner Hindus. I say it temple because I had seen inscriptions of lotus and pitcher on the walls where Ramlala was kept and also as a circumstantial evidence  there were many small temples as one can see in any Hindu ancient  major temple and no  mosque  around).

I had also been at the house of Dr. Vinay Mishra and used to talk Dr. Narsingh Verma frequently for my programmes.
As said crucible of politics,' politics in servics' also began from here, in the realm of the NMO when at its XIV National Conference at Lucknow  (April 8-9,2000) one worker insisted for the post which was till then unthinkable in the NMO.

People change but place remains and so memory! Once  while in 1980s I had met Kalraj Mishra on that Lucknow platform , a youth leader who is a prominent one. Dr. Ashok Varshneya once came to receive me as Nagar Parchark became Prant rachark of Jharkhand has been in cordial relation always.

Why Maya prevailed- there may be many explanations to that but harnessing even 30 per cent of 46 per cent votes polled need a cadre. The Congress lost its one party rule because  it lost its cadres in UP and so BJP lost because of its 'Congressisation' and Mandalisation  from UP  as well as other states.
The Maya had put herself a viable alternative and all who wanted to get rid of Mulayam and went to vote made her 'Behanji of UP' who may dream to be 'Malika of India,' if the national parties do not change their way and modalities of functioning.
Lucknow is  having a building(Imambada probably) which  'Bhul-bhulaiya' where one  forgets the way without a guide and in  a bigger sense Lucknow itself is a 'bhul bhulaiya' of Indian polity.
Though constitutionally one state, U.P. despite shelving hilly Uttarakhand  is an amalgam of several states- Purvanchal,Awadh, Bundelkhand,Braj and Shaursen(which now Ajit Singh wants as Harit Pradesh). Taken together equivalent to Pakistan, only five countries of the world (China, rest of India, USA, Indonesia and  Brazil) are  having more population  than U.P.
Formerly it was called Province of  Ouadh State & Brar which was later changed to the United Province before it was called Uttar Pradesh though it is not in fact the northern (uttar) state(Pradesh) it has given  Uttar(answers) of the questions  whenever put before the nation as it is the heartland of the Ganga-Brahmputrea valley  but at the moment it has put more questions than provided answers, I thought seeing the platforms and population of the area and do not remember when I slept  on my seat.
I  was awakened by the voices of vendors at Kanpur where too I did not called in that mid-night Premkant Jha, a senior Maithili worker and Shrigesh Mishra of Madhubani who has been with me since the I International Maithili Conference at Ranchi June 19-20,1993 and  was a fellow who on cycle was my pilot like guide to arrange meetings  in my 132 km padyatra in Oct.1993 when I  had started  alone  on an unknown path of Mithila…
My first Maithili  meeting was held  there at the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Railbazar and then at many places including one big meeting at the Chambers Hall I had addresses where Babu Saheb Chaudhary, Kolkata's son-in law had played the role of Ugna in Ugna natak (Lord Shiva  working as  a servant of Mahakavi Vidyapati brought  Gangajal when asked by Vidaypati to bring water in a summer and that Vidyapti recognized- "From where you could bring Gangajal? Who are you?' Lord said I am Shiva but will live with you  on the condition that you will not reveal that. Once Vidyapati's wife was angry on Ugna and  threw a burning  wood on Him..
"What you are doing –He is Lord Siva..
And Shiva  vanished.
Mahakavi became  mad and wrote- "Ugna re more kat Gealaih?"
(In this journey in that early morning to Madhubani I saw the  dome of the temple from Sakri- Pandaul road; from Ugna I had started my Cycle Yatra in 1994 in a  scorching summer and had been there also in a Maithili workers' training camp thereafter- a nationally important pilgrimage center it may be if developed properly).
There is also a Maithil  Ugna Mahadev Mandir at Shastri nagar where once I had my pradosh puja after which I had taken almost full stomach sweets brought by Dr. Malay Chaturvedi, an surgeon. and twice I was guest of Shriballabh Jha where  typical Maithili food was served.
I remember a  pan-vendon at the Jarail more in Madhubani district had once told me during my Cycle-Yatra that after Kolkata Maithils were most at Kanpur. In some respect they have achieved more respect there.
True, Kolkata has a Vidyapati Setu(and now Mumbai's Mulund has a Vidyapati Chowk) but Vidyapati was a great on whose name in every city of the country there should have been roads and chowks by this time if proper contribution  of him would have been dessiminated but Kanpur has a raod on the name of Dr. Ramesh Jha  in Kakadeb area- I was his son's guest twice and also once I had inaugurated a medical camp by the NMO at Kakadev organized by Dr. Bajpayee, an orthopedic surgeon at whose house I went so many times in the Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College(GSVMC) Campus- at least one person at Khagaria I found(whom I asked  was you entitled after  the great Ganesh Shankar,Rajkumar Vidyathi, a  senior worker to me in age replied affirmatively).

With Premkantji I had gone to see the place where in 1857 several Indians were tied on tree were shot dead!
We are celebrating 150th year of that First war of Indian Independence. Historian Irfan Habib said few days back around two lakh Indians were brutally killed by civilized(?) British, forgetting all we are trying our next generation be English speaking.
Once famous for textile mills Kanpur perished and once I had a meeting at a dilapidated  staff quarter of it.
Now Kanpur is famous as the city having highest number of TB patients!
I slept afterwards and train too became late and hence, in the morning too I found myself in U.P.
Aligarh was there where when I visited first had seen aboard mentioning the tickets for the stations to Pakistan!(Nowhere in India I had seen in those days when there was neither the  Samjhauta Express nor the  Thar Express!).
At Aligarh though my first acquaintance was  Pramod Arya, (ABVP worker in 1977 who had attended Varanasi's Conference  where I could gather 41 medicos from tent  to  tent to found medico), my relation could be physically possible when I new Dr. Jagadish Prasad Goyal  who had gradually made single-handedly highest number of life members of the NMO in a city and also from a  family of Dr. Singhal where almost all adults seemed to be doctors and  also the life members of the NMO.

Once with Jagadishji I had gone to see the AMU the buildings of which were looked to me as domes of the mosques! There was much hue and cry when court had declared that it was not a minority institute.
But the more interesting thing I would ever remember  for the city in a street  there was a  very fat person running his " Lala Moteramjee ke dahi  ki  dukan…" with a board with this name!


Aligarh is a part of Brajbhumi and Brajasth Maithils have been there who migrated there during Muslim  rule of 14th century from Mithila . They have there dharmshala and all things required for a community and mostly they work for making locks like any ironsmith but they clam to be Brahmins of Mithila which at present is difficult to say for want of Panji.
Once Jagdishji took me to a person  named Pathakji who  happened to be a friend of Kalyan Sinh and was 'guru' of Jagdishji in Sangh work but more interestingly I remember a other person of the same community Pt. Totaram Jha.

The train passed in that early morning one of the most fertile parts of the country – Khurja and then Gazhiabad but train stopping at many small places did not stop there.

I had to go to Viveknagar and one of the passengers  said that there was  a small station of that name in the way but I did not see that and even at Anand Vihar  it did not halt. Now it was Vaishali Superfast and  though I was not  feeling urge to go to toilet due to my regulated water and food(banana) intake there was a pressure of  rush I continuously facing- after all it was a train from Bihar's Mithila ( though the rush was of Bhojpuris in the compartment)  who export maximum number of labourers on which the green revolution was possible in  Punjab and I must  had a booster  of  that experience which in past I had once in Shramjeevi Expresss from Patna and once going to Allahabad in the Prayagraj Express.

The glory of Pryag and Varanasi though in the UP  has  not been described yet as those were not in the route but let me salute Jaykant Mishra's family of Prayagraj who  did  immense contribution to Maithili and Mithila cause.

There I had some  NMO meetings too especially when Indranill Basy  Ray of Kolkata joined  in MD there.
With a senior doctor RC Gupta,I had once gone to the inauguration of the IMA house and had also  addressed there.
With him I had gone to see the martyr place of Chadrashekhar Azad and when the thorny branches of that tree in side of which Azad was martyred, pierced my head and blood oozed out I said," It is  a good salute to Azad!"
I  had not been in Triveni though  crossed the bridge hundreds of time but at Varanasi where as the NMO, a chapter of my life rather new life  of my was written when I was 22 years old,  had visited Baba Vishwanath on few occasions.
BHU did impress me where I could not join despite forms sent by Laxman Shrkrishna Bhide who later became in charge of the Foreign department of the RSS who had  unending affection to me.
During the APICON in 2003  not only had presented my model of medical education which  attracted  media  but also in shivering cold I could do a Pradosh  puja to Lord  Vishwanath after Ganga-snan because my train  for  Dhanbad coming from Ferozpur was over 24 hours late!
Vaishali  Express too was late and I was in panic for the NMO meeting. I  could have get down at  Tilak Bridge was not sure for getting a bus for Vivek Vihar but as soon as I left my seat some other occupied and  I went to toilet which was in fact more comfortable than the  jam-packed compartment!
I got down at new Delhi and took buses to reach Vivek Vihar where  during the NMO meetings talked workers from  many places including Goa and Gujarat.

I found there I have somewhere  missed  my Excel sheets of addresses and phoned Madhubani and Darbhanga, seems I've lost them and later I found  at Bangalore also my small Maithli Panchang.

It was pleasant  to talk the doctors who were present and also who were on phone from outside as well as Delhi- they all were once were close to me and sitting without them was very uncomfortable when some two groups incidentally seating n a same city but ..the law of nature who can change..
"Yato Dharms tato jayah,"  so proclaimed Lord Krishana and also He had said, "You will have to work whether you like or not and work without being attached."
I do not intend to write for Delhi's association with me  in this travelogue but reaching Delhi was not the end.
After medical meeting assembled Maithils- Kripanand, Dr.Rabender  Jha and  Rajesh, son of Dr. Chadrakant Mishra, Darbhanga  and notably Comrade Bhimsingh Maithil from Faridabad with two young workers.

We fixed  up date(12 Aug. 2007) for the next meeting and while entering data of the NEC meeting of the NMO  was talking with Maithili group- the net was there and e-mailing the proceedings to newspapers and groups  and so a  forward of the NMO's resolution to Maithili group later evoked a good discussion on privatization of medical services).
We had condemned Delhi CM,  Shiela Dixit for her anti –Bihar-UP bias which we see here or there (now from Pune such incident of beating Biharis for an All India level Railway Examination).

Why it is so? Because we could not make understand the people of that nation that region and nation are like the parts and body.
Where is the soul of the nation- soul searching  is needed.
When Manish phoned me-I had asked him how you like Gujarat.
"Very bad for Ahmedabad."
"Then you are capable of any all India responsibility- ndia is not India- Ahmedabad."
I know he said so as his  family  resides at Delhi and  the utterance was  a  human reflection to it
Bhimsinghji's friends were advised by Kripanand to learn Maithili.
They wanted a Maithili Brahman Yuva Parishad's simultaneous meeting but I had already written a postcard but not posted which  I gave to Bhimsinghji where I had said such meeting was not possible under the ambit of the AMP which is working irrespective of caste.
Bhimsinghji appreciated  my point and  also Kripanand's point that till you speak Maithili how you can be a Maithil?
AMP would run 10-day course for such  Pravasi Maithils  at Delhi- It may be done at Raipur as well and so  at other places.
Regarding their lost Panjee they should meet Panjikars where the AMP would not be much helpful but  all should come under one umbrella. While taking off from them, I said what I had once written to Bhimsinghjee,
"Work as a Comrade for Mithila cause and as a Maithil for Comrade cause but if there was any confusion in the way, remember  Prathamtah aur antimtah aap maithil Hai,"

And repeating  that I said," We  do not know whether Marxian theory will remain 500 years hence, but even before that we  were Maithils and  would remain 500 years after. It the grace of Mother Seeta where  Vajpayee and Bhogendra Jha- dono ke sar jhuk jate hain."
They were anxious as to my transfer to south had hampered the work but I said them that though  I might have difficulty in familial problems  but it had given me an opportunity to work  Chennai, Tirupati, Hyderabad, Goa, keral etc. which would  not have been possible from Ranchi but finally I may come to live Delhi as I know Delhi is the way to Mithila and Dr.Rajput's house was having an open invitation since long  whose  wife  had already given  a pack for  night tiffin on that Ekadashi  and  as it was  late so my villager Kripanand  somehow could  leave me on his bike at New Delhi station  barely 5 minutes before the schedule time of departure.
Dr. Narendramohan Singh  or Dr. Manish had not come there-though we could have talked for 15 minutes there.
The end-leg of journey was confirmed but my mind  was hovering since the beginning whether Mithila's statehood was  also not Wait Listed 2 (after Telangana ?) and would it remain unconfirmed in my whole  life time or will  it be confirmed after my half life - in the second phase of life- like that of the half journey of beginning, I described?