Archives November 2012

He was the amalgamation of Gandhian philosophy and modern western democracy. As an ardent believer in communism, it was not enough for him that (lie nation ha;; got political freedom. 'Freedom' had much greater connotations for him. Freedom to him was negation of hunger poverty rind ignorance. JR or 'Lok Nayak' as he was fondly called, was truly a champion of the masses. Born on October 11, 1902 in Sitabdiara, a village on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, his father worked in the canal department of the State Government. There was no high school in the village, so Jayaprakash was sent to Patna to study in (he Collegiate School. Here, he stayed with relatives at a hostel called Saraswati Bhavan, which was a meeting place for students who normally discused the political scene. The feeling of nationalism was at its peak at this time and young people had more...

An academician, a philosopher and a statesman—these are some of the many hats that Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wore. He is, undoubtedly, one of the most recognized and influential Indian thinkers in academic circles of the 20th century. Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888 into a middle class Brahmin family in a small town of Tamil Nadu. Not much is known about his early education but between 1900 and 1904, he attended the Elizabeth Rodman Voorhees College in Vellore. a school run by the Reformed Church in America. It was here that he was introduced to western thought. In 1921, he was appointed to the most important philosophy chair in India, the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. Later in 1929, Radhakrishnan was invited to take the job of teacher at Manchester college, Oxford. This gave him the opportunity to lecture the students more...

We can choose a good house to live in. But we cannot choose our neighbours. It is a great blessing to have a good neighbour. If the neighbours are otherwise, it In-comes hell. Generally it is found that if the parents are good, the children are good too. Neighbours may be good, bad or indifferent. We live in a busy locality. The streets are narrow and the houses are mostly multistoried. That accounts for the, good number of neighbours. Our next door neighbor in ii workman belonging to lower middle class. He works painstakingly. He is a workaholic and yet cannot make the ends meet. His working hours are from early morning right  up to sunset by which time he calls it a day. His wife is good natured and is busy doing something or the other It is owing to this factor that the neighbours are not able to more...

In 1928, the old dream of an 18 years old boy clashed with the traditional thinking of his father. The father—a lawyer by profession, wanted his son to become an engineer—a traditional dream of every father. But his son wanted to study physics. "But you are not Socrates or Einstein", his father had taunted him without knowing the destiny of his son. The clash of two divergent wills was between H.J. Bhabha, who later became the architect of nuclear India, and his father J.H. Bhabha. Homi Jehangir was born in an aristocratic Parsi family in Bombay in 1909. He passed the senior Cambridge Examination when he was sixteen and went to Cambridge to study mechanical engineering. He was influenced by his Mathematics teacher Paul Dirac, who initiated him into the field of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. He soon decided that his true interest was in nuclear physics, a discipline, then more...

Dr Rajendra Prasad, son of Mahadev Sahai was born in Zeeradei village of Saran district (now, Siwan) in Bihar on December 3,1884, Being the youngest in a large joint family, he was greatly loved and was strongly attached to his mother and elder brother Mahendra. Zeeradei's population was cosmopolitan in nature and the people lived together in happiness and harmony Rajendra Prasad spent his childhood days playing 'Kabaddi' with his Hindu and Muslim friends. He got married when he was barely 12 years old to Rajvanshi Devi A brilliant student throughout school and college, he stood first in the entrance examination of the University of Calcutta and was awarded a $30 per month scholarship. He Joined the Presidency College of Calcutta in 1902.   The partition of Bengal in 1905 fueled the Swadeshi and Boycott movements. The movements had a deep effect on students in Calcutta. One day, residents of more...

Introduction. Shri Lal Bahdur shastri was the second Prime Minister of India. He was one of the makers of India. He was great patriot. His Birth und Parentage. He was born in 1904 on 2nd October in Mughal Sarai. He belonged to a Kayasth family. His father was a teacher- He died when Shastriji was only one and a half year old. He was brought up and educated by his maternal grandfather. His Political Career. When he was a boy he joined the Congress. He was a born patriot. He took active part in the first Non-co-operation Movement of India. He left his studies. He went to jail in 1920. Next year he was out of jail. He was married in 1927. He became life-member of the Servants of People Society. He did a lot of work for the city Congress. He was elected the General Secretary of the U.P. more...

It was my final year of school and I was to take the senior secondary examination of the CBSE. As is the Tradition, we the students of the 12th class were to be given a formal farewell. The date fixed was February 28.  On that day, we, the senior finalists, assembled in the School at 4 p.m. The school wore a festive look. The green Lawn was a welcome sight. The flower beds in the campus were colorful. The newly colour-washed school building looked magnificent. A shamiana was put up for the function the arrangement was to bid us farewell on the eve of' our departure from school. We gathered under the shamiana. The principal was in the chair. There were long and short speeches. There were songs. The teachers too addressed the students.  They spoke feelingly about our conduct. All of them were giving advice   to us. Some tenth more...

'Patriot of Patriots' as described by Gandhiji, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 at Cuttack, in Orissa, He was born to Janakinath and Prabhavati Bose and was the ninth child among the fourteen children. Rai Bahadur, Jankinath Bose was a public lawyer by profession. He was a public prosecutor in Cuttak and later became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. The family of Subhash Chandra Bose was a large one consisting of eight brothers and six sisters. At school, he was always serious, reserved and did not take much interest in sports. The sadhus and pilgrims visiting Puri, the famous shrine near his dwelling place, fascinated him. He was an intelligent kid and stood second in the school examination and took admission in Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1916, he beat an English professor because of his racist attitude towards Indians. As a result he was more...

Introduction. All of us have heard his name. He was our first Prime Minister, He was known all over the world. His Birth and Parentage. Shri Nehru was born at Allahabad in 1889onl4ih November. His father Motilal Nehru was a great lawyer. He brought up his son as a prince. Very efficient teachers taught him. His Education. At the age of 15, he was sent to England for higher studies. There he joined the Public School at Harrow. Then he went to the Cambridge University where he took his degree in 1910. Then he joined law. He was called to bar in 1912. He came to India. He started his practice at Allahabad High Court. He was married at the age of 27. Work In the Political field. In the young age of Nehru British ruled over India. The English treated Indians badly. This pained the heart of Jawaharlal Nehru. more...

I have read the biographies of many scientists who have brought about revolutionary changes in the life of modern man but none has impressed me more than Thomas Alva Edison. Edison was born in a poor family and as such could not get any formal education except the rudimentary knowledge of the three R's—reading, writing and arithmetic. From very early age he had to work for a Living. He was allowed to set up his laboratory and printing press in a compartment of a railway train through the rood offices of a railway guard. It was here that Edison printed and sold his newspaper. But one day however as ill luck would have it he broke a bottle which set fire to some of the rail boards. The angry guard thereafter turned Edison out of the train. Edison was fond of making strange experiments that m.ide him an object of more...