Little Things in Life -

Are so underobserved that it needs mention as well as elaboration.

How many times do we notice these little things - both, natural, and human-oriented, in life? Right from the colors of the dawn to the afternoon fragrance to the gentle night breeze that blows.

And then, when do perform the little chores, like washing a cup or folding a kerchief, we do it unnoticingly and without paying it the attention it deserves.

There is a system in everything and even washing a cup has a system. For example you need to use a good soap, protect your hands from damage, mind the mater, and at the same time, see that the cup is washed clean and dried.

I am elaborating here some steps or systems of doing the little things in life.

Do feel free to contribute your own thoughts. Cheerio!

http://www.aicc.org.in/new/role-of-press.php Role of Press in India's Struggle for Freedom

At the time of the first war of independence, any number of papers were in operation in the country. Many of these like Bangadoot of Ram Mohan Roy, Rastiguftar of Dadabhai Naoroji and Gyaneneshunadvocated social reforms and thus helped arouse national awakening. It was in 1857 itself that Payam-e-Azadi started publi cation in Hindi and Urdu, calling upon the people to fight against the British. The paper was soon confiscated and anyone found with a copy of the paper was presecuted for sedition. Again, the first hindi daily, Samachar Sudhavarashan, and two newspapers in Urdu and Persian respectively, Doorbeen and Sultan-ul-Akbar, faced trial in 1857 for having published a 'Firman' by Bahadur Shah Zafar, urging the people to drive the British out of India. This was followed by the notroius Gagging Act of Lord Canning, under which restrictions were imposed on the newspapers and periodicals. Notable Role In the struggle against the British, some newspapers played a very notable role. This included theHindi Patriot! Established in 1853, by the author and playwright, Grish Chandra Ghosh, it became popular under the editorship of Harish Chandra Mukherjee. In 1861, the paper published a play, "Neel Darpan" and launched a movement against the British, urging the people to stop cultivating the crop for the white traders. This resulted in the formation of a Neel Commission. Later, the paper was taken over by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The paper strongly opposed the Government's excesses and demanded that Indians be appointed to top government posts. The Indian Mirror was the other contemporary of this paper which was very popular among the reading public. Yet another weekly, Amrita Bazar Patrika which was being published from Jessore, was critical of the govern ment, with the result that its proprietors faced trial and conviction. In 1871, the Patrika moved to Calcutta and another Act was passed to supress it and other native journals. Marathi Press Mahadev Govind Rande, a leading leader of Mahara shtra, used to write in Gyan Prakash as well as inIndu Prakash. Both these journals helped awaken the con science of the downtrodden masses. Another Marathi weekly, Kesari was started by Tilak from January 1, 1881. He aIongwith Agarkar and Chiplunkar started another weekly journal, Mratha in English. The Editor of the 'Daccan Star' Nam Joshi also joined them and his paper was incorporated with Maratha. Tilak and Agarkar were convicted for writings against the British and the Diwan of Kolhapur. Tilak's Kesari became one of the leading media to propagate the message of freedom movement. It also made the anti-partition movement of Bengal a national issue. In 1908, Tilak opposed the Sedition ordinace. He was later exiled from the country for six years. Hindi edition of Kesari was started from Nagpur and Banaras. Press and the First Session of Congress The Editors commanded a very high reputation at the time of the birth of the Indian National Congress. One could measure the extent of this respect from the fact that those who occupied the frontline seats in the first ever Congress session held in Bombay in December 1885 included some of the editors of Indian newspapers. The firstever resolution at this Session was proposed by the editor of The Hindu, G. Subramanya Iyer. In this resolution, it was demanded that the government should appoint a committee to enquire into the functioning of Indian administration. The second resolution was also moved by a journalist from Poona, Chiplunkar in which the Congress was urged to demand for the abolition of India Council which ruled the country from Britain. The third resolution was supported by Dadabhai Naoroji who was a noted journalist of his time. The fourth resolution was proposed by Dadabhai Naoroji. There were many Congress Presidents who had either been the editors or had started the publication of one or the other newspapers. In this context, particular mention may be made of Ferozeshah Mehta who had started the Bombay Chronide and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya who edited daily, Hindustan. He also helped the publication of Leader from Allahabad. Moti Lal Nehru was the first Chairman of the Board of Directors of the leader. Lala Lajpat Rai inspired the publication of three journals, the Punjabi, Bandematram and the People from Lahore. During his stay in South Africa, Gandhiji had brought out Indian Opinion and after settling in India, he started the publication of Young India; Navjeevan, Harijan, Harijan Sevak and Harijan Bandhu. Subash Chandra Bose and C.R. Das were not journalists but they acquired the papers like Forward and Advance which later attained national status. Jawaharlal Nehru founded the National Herald. Revolutionary Movement and the Press So far as the revolutionary movement is concerned, it did not begin with guns and bombs but it started with the publication of newspapers. The first to be mentioned in this context is Yugantarpublication of which was started by Barindra Kumar Ghosh who edited it also. When the Ghadar party was organised in Amenca, Lala Hardayal started publication of the journal 'Ghadar'. Within one year, millions of copies of this journal were published in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and English and sent to India and to all parts of the world· where Indians were residing. In the beginning the copies of the journal were concealed in parcels of foreign cloth sent to Delhi. It was also planned to smuggle the printing press into India for this purpose. But then the war broke out and it became almost impossible to import printing machinery from abroad. Lala Hardayal was arrested in America and deported to India. One of his followers Pandit Ramchandra started publishing Hindustan Ghadar in English. With the U.S. joining the war, the Ghadar party workers were arrested by the American Govern ment. When the trail was on, one of the rivals of Pandit Ramchandra managed to obtain a gun and shoot him dead in the jail itself. The death of Ram chandra led to the closure of this paper. In 1905 Shyamji Krishna Verma started publication of a journal Indian Sociologist from London. It used to publish reports of political activities taking place at the India House in London. In 1909 two printers of this journal were convicted. Shyamji Krishna Verma left England for Paris from where he started the publication of the journal. Later on, he had to leave for Geneva. He countinued to bring out the journal from there for two or three years more. In Paris, Lala Hardayal, in collabora tion with Madam Cama and Sardar Singhraoji Rana brought out Vandematram and Talwar. After Yugantar, it was Vandematram that played a significant role in the freedom struggle. This journal was established by Subodha Chandra Malik, C.R. Das and Bipin Chandra Pal on August 6, 1906. Its editor, Aurobindo Ghosh, the editor of Sandhya, B. Upadhyay and editor of Yugantar B. N. Dutt had to a face a trial for espousing the cause of freedom. So far as the Hindi papers were concerned, they looked to government for support for some time. Bhartendu Harish Chandra was the first to start a journal Kavi Vachan Sudha in 1868. Its policy was to give vent to the miseries of the people of India. When the Prince of Wales visited India, a poem was published in his honour. The British authorities were given to understand that the poem had two meanings and that one word used in the peom could also mean that the Prince of Wales should get a shoe- beating. The government aid to journals like Kavi Vachan Sudha was stopped for publishing what was objectionable from the government point of view. Bhartendu Harish Chandra resigned from his post of an honorary Magistrate. His two friends, Pratap Narain Mishra and Bal Krishna Bhatt started publication of two important political journals Pradeep from Allahabad, and Brahman from Kanpur. ThePradeep was ordered to be closed down in 1910 for espousing the cause of freedom. The Bharat-Mitra was a famous Hindi journal of Calcutta which started its publication on May 17, 1878 as a fortnighly. It contributed a lot in propagating the cause of freedom movement. The journal exposed the British conspiracy to usurp Kashmir. Several other papers published from Calcutta which played an important role in freedom struggle included Ambika Prasad Vajpayee's Swantrtmtra, Ramanand Chatterjee's Modern Review' in English, Pravasi Patra' in Bengali and Vishal Bharat in Hindi. One of the foremost Hindi journalist who has earned a name for his patriotism was Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi. In 1913, he brought out weekly Pratap from Kanpur. He made the supreme sacrifice in 1931 in the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity. Krishna Dutt Paliwal brought out Sainik from Agra which became a staunch propagator of nationalism in Western U. P. The noted Congress leader, Swami Shradhanand, started the publication of Hindi journal Vir Arjun' and Urdu journal Tej. After the assassination of Swami Shradhanand, Vidyavachaspathi and Lala Deshbandhu Gupta continued the publication of these journals. They were themselves prominent Congress leaders. In Lahore, Mahashaya Khushal Chand brought out Milap and Mahashaya Krishna started publishing urdu journals which helped a lot in promoting the national cause. In 1881, Sardar Dayal Singh Majitha on the advice of Surendra Nath Bannerjee brought out Tribune under the editorship of Sheetala Kant Chatterjee. Bipin Chandra Pal also edited this paper for sometime. Later in 1917, Kalinath Rai joined the paper as its editor. There is not a single privince in India which did not produce a journal or newspaper to uphold the cause of freedom struggle. A. G. Horniman made the Bombay Chronicle' a powerful instrument to promote militant nationalism. He himself took part in the meetings where Satyagraha used to be planned. He published vivid accounts of Jallianwala Bagh carnage for which one correspondent of his paper, Goverdhan Das, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by a military court. Horniman too was arrested and deported to London even though he was ill at that time. Amritlal Shet brought out the Gujarati journal Janmabhumi which was an organ of the people of the princely states of Kathiawad, but it became a mouthpiece of national struggle. Similarly another Gujarati journalSaanjvartman played a pro minent role under the editorship of Sanwal Das Gandhi, who played a very significant role in the Quit India Movement in 1942. It was soon after independent formed a parallel Government in Junagarh and forced the Nawab of Junagarh to leave the country. The three editors of the Sindhi journal Hindi Jairam Das Daulatram, Dr. choithram Gidwani and Hiranand karamchand, were arrested, their press closed and the property of the paper confiscated. In Bihar the tradition of national newspapers was carried forward by Sachidanand Sinha, who had started the publication of Searchlight under the editorship of Murtimanohar Sinha. Dev Brat Shastri started publication of 'Nav Shakti and Rashtra Vani'. The weekly yogi and the Hunkar' also contributed very much to the general awakening. - Jagdish Prasad Chaturvedi http://www.aicc.org.in/new/role-of-press.php

It is only when you let your heart out, and let it be known to the person you love that you love her, and consider her more than a "friend" that your heart can be really satisfied, even if nothing comes out of it. Friendship is a different feeling, a beautiful feeling, nonetheless, but love is love, and love cannot be friendship. When you are in love, you want that person, entirely, body and soul, and emotions and feelings, and heart and mind.

Yes, you can be "friends" with that person you love, but somewhere, in hearts of hearts, you keep expecting until you, or that person gets married or committed.

http://www.manase.org/en/maharashtra.php?mid=68&smid=23&pmid=9&id=763

Balshastri Jambhekar
Father of Marathi journalism

Birth: 6 Jan 1812

Balshastri Jambhekar was a highly qualified learned pundit. He was the first person to start a daily newspaper Darpan in Marathi in the early days of the British rule in India. He was instrumental in molding the Maharashtrian mind-set in the beginning of the 19th century.

He was born in the village Pombhurle in the Rajapur taluka in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. A great scholar and researcher in many subjects, he was a very good teacher, excellent author and left a stamp of his personality as a social reformer and a journalist during the period 1832 to 1846.

Balshastri Jambhekar is mainly known as the founder of the Marathi newspaper Darpan. He ably carried out the responsibility as editor of this newspaper during the British rule in India. He had grasped very early the importance and power of the print media in the coming times. He was sure that if the British was to be overthrown and freedom was to be attained, then it was essential to awaken the society and the pen was the most useful tool to that end. He was a hard-core patriot. The newspaper Darpan was born out of this patriotism and social awareness. This was a new dawn in Marathi journalism. Govind Kunte and Bhau Mahajan were also associated with him when this newspaper started. Balshastri Jambhekar was only 20 years old then. But even at that early age he had the mastery on the language and social awareness as required by the editor of a journal.

The first issue of Darpan was published on 6th January 1832. The matter was in both English and Marathi languages. It was priced at 1 rupee, and had 2 columns, in Marathi and in English. Marathi was meant for the general public and English was meant for the ruling British. A newspaper was a new idea in India at that time and so naturally very few people used to read it. The subscribers were very few in the beginning but slowly people appreciated it and agreed with the thoughts expressed in it. The readership grew. The newspaper mirrored the personality and thinking of Balshastri Jambhekar. It was published for eight and half years. The last issue was published in July 1840.

Balshastri Jambhekar was the first generation social reformer from Maharashtra. Darpan was an instrument at his disposal for the enlightenment of the masses. He specifically dealt with the issues of widow re-marriage and to inculcate a scientific temper amongst the readers. He wrote abundantly on these topics. This resulted in a large-scale debate in the society and finally in a movement for the support of widow re-marriage. He wanted the society to pursue knowledge, scholarly studies and intellectual development. He passionately desired that the knowledge should percolate in the society. He was aware that the country could only progress with the use of scientific knowledge and a rational outlook towards social problems. He wanted to build a society having a scientific outlook. To summarize, he dreamed of a society as we see today, as early as 200 years back. He was a visionary social reformer. Knowing the importance of public libraries he founded ‘The Bombay Native General Library’. He also started ‘Native Improvement Society’, of which ‘Student’s Literary and Scientific Society’ was an offshoot. Intellectual giants like Dadabhai Navroji and Bhau Daji Lad drew inspiration through these institutions.

In 1840 he started publishing first Marathi monthly, Digdarshan. He edited this magazine for 5 years. This magazine published articles on geography, history, physics, chemistry, nature and environment etc. The magazine had ample illustrations, maps and diagrams to make the topics easier to understand. His erudition had many dimensions. He had mastery in many languages including Sanskrit, Marathi, English and Hindi. In addition he also had a good grasp on Greek, Latin, French, Gujarati and Bengali. He had exceptional insight in science, geography, physiology and general knowledge. Today, he is acknowledged as The Father of Marathi Journalism. He was also well known as the first professor of Hindi in the Elphinston College, Mumbai. He was the first Indian to have published research papers in the quarterly journal of the Asiatic Society. He was the first person to print Dnyaneshwari in 1845. It was known as the first ever-printed version. He also worked as Director of the Colaba Observatory. He wrote books –Neetikatha (stories on morality), Encyclopedic History of England, English grammar, History of India and Mathematics based on Zero.

He was active during the years 1830 to1846 and worked for the betterment of Maharashtra and India. In those days most of the populace was ignorant and illiterate. It was plagued with blind faith. Therefore his contribution to the society in his short life span of only 34 years proves admirable, important, and of fundamental nature. His birthday and coincidently the day of publication of the first issue of Darpan is 6th June and it is celebrated as the Journalist Day in Maharashtra in his memory.

Death: 18 May 1846

http://www.manase.org/en/maharashtra.php?mid=68&smid=23&pmid=9&id=763

An ode to 60 years of Indian journalism

The traditional concept of journalism in our country can never lose its touch, even though we are getting modern in our approach day by day. But the press should still keep itself engaged in real journalism.

CJ: Amy Mookerji

Fri, Aug 15, 2008 18:30:29 IST

DURING THESE 61 years of Independence, every citizen of India may not have celebrated the Independence Day with a jingoistic patriotism - a dangerously overrated virtue, but with contentment. The contentment of seeing India marching to reach the goal of becoming a developed nation. In turn having the satisfaction that ‘yes, we are growing’ and able to get ourselves pampered with all the Western stuff and technology.

However, this growth and development is only secluded to have increase in the national income. Leave the growth of ‘real India’, its state is the same as ever, the rich becoming richer and the poor poorer. There has been no remarkable change at the grass root level. Poverty seems to rise day by day, no strong literacy programmes, immigration to urban cities at high levels in turn creating problems for the city and its people, health and hygiene of our people always in question, endless economic and social problems of the people, crimes of frustration and need etc - the list’s is endless. Then how can we say we are developing? Even if on the one side we are growing, thanks to the foreign investment, these basic problems of our country pulls us somehow back and we are not able to grow holistically. Human development Index (HDI), the correct measurement of development and growth, is not able to increase of our country.

But far from all these, our Indian journalism has not left any stone unturned to highlight the real issues of India. Be it the regional or small-scaled newspapers or our daily national broadsheets. This Independence owes a positive look towards our print medium. However, in today’s world the scenario is somewhat different, due to all the profit making thinking of the owners and to survive in the existing competitions. To quote an example, one such newspaper would be ’The Hindu’.

In all these years the media and press of our country is fighting a constant parallel war with the existing scenario. The mighty pen always on the work to highlight and bring things into account of our people and the people who manage our country. The nation has won freedom, and gone on into a totally new era of development. Momentous changes have taken place in the fields of economy, politics, social life, culture and scientific and intellectual development, which had their impact on the general condition of the people. The rapid advance of science and technology, in particular, has opened up bright prospects for making the earth a better place to live in and raising the quality of life of the people.

The world of communication has been revolutionised, leading to speedier, more accurate, more sophisticated and, on the whole, better methods of processing and disseminating information about nature and society. These transformations have brought about enormous and yet-to-be fully comprehended changes in the scope, approach and technique of journalism. The public confidence and integrity is what has made this fourth pillar stand firm all these years. It has become clearer to us than ever before that it is the happy and stable relationship between the newspaper and the public – reflected in the large and enthusiastic response to this occasion – that is the real guarantee of its future. Such a relationship with society is guided by the desire to put the criterion of public purpose at the centre of our practice of journalism.

After Independence, the press had to function in a greatly transformed situation, with new perspectives and tasks. One of the key changes in its role has been professionalism. In the early days, those who came to serve this newspaper entered a vocation and an opportunity to make their own contribution to the fight for freedom. Today, it is part of a well-established profession where journalistic and technical competence has to be matched, in ways better than we know today, by new kinds of commitment to the public interest. Practice over many a long and significant decade has made the Indian press conscious that public purpose encompasses a broad based approach. The national responsibility has come to mean to help safeguard the independence and integrity of the nation.

So somewhere the traditional journalism has never and can never lose its touch of excellence and acceptance. No matter how modern we become in our thinking and conceptualising, people still want the meritorious journalists to be grounded and down to earth in their writing. The people want that the media of our nation should grow in a positive way. They should write and put forward the real problems and issues of our country and its people. Also giving coverage to the states and sections of society, which are never covered, or their problems put forward.

The states of north east, the tribal of Andaman and Nicobar islands, news related to women, children, old and youth of our country. How to change their thinking and to develop them through the writing. This will, in turn, make these sections to burst from their cocoons and to come in the forefront and do something for their nation. This will only be possible if they will see themselves being covered and worried about. They will try to grow and support India to develop. Other than just blindly following the Western concept of consumerism, our country needs more of hardcore serious news and views in our papers than the lifestyle, potpourri, page3, fashion and technology and stuff like that. Shaking hands with the futuristic modern approach but keeping its base strong; the base of grounded and real journalism, which can only be found in the traditional approach. Therefore, the need of the hour is to accept the new concepts into the journalism world, this in order to be updated. But not forget the real motive of the press in our country. First, to be socially responsible and not being biased. Secondly, engage in hardcore investigative and interpretative journalism.

All this is only possible if the citizens of our country puts forward their views as to what it really wants to read, in turn setting agenda for the media to write about. Not let media always set agenda for them. They can do this by being good citizen journalists and write on our country’s issues and also to various media and press organisations. Adding to this requires the full support of our Indian government. Only then can Indian journalism’s legacy be preserved and given the respect it always had.

http://www.merinews.com/article/an-ode-to-60-years-of-indian-journalism/139483.shtml

28th July, 2010

I may have sayd "It's okay,"

But from within I feel the pain,

I guess I didnt have an option,

But to just let it remain.

justaheartbreakaway

You were so near, yet ever so far, given a chance we’d have found out our way, but I should have known better than that, that you were just a heartbreak away . . .