TRIPLE STREAM
CONGRATULATIONS! TEAM INDIA
Prof. I. V. Chalapati Rao
The Men in Blue have done it in
style. Our little masters led by the young leader Mahendra Singh Dhoni became
the World Champions in the great game of Cricket and brought home the coveted
cup by their triumphant participation in the International Cricket Council’s
inaugural World Twenty 20 tournament in South Africa. It is a victory snatched
from defeat in a neck-to-neck race with Pakistan, ending in almost a photo
finish.
Our boys played with exemplary skill,
resourcefulness and self-confidence under tremendous pressure, displaying their
abilities in all departments of the game.
It shows India’s till-now untapped
youth power, shaped into team work by the dynamism and humility of a true
leader - young and ever-smiling Dhoni who believes in participative style of
functioning.
It is fitting that the Team India
received an unprecedented ovation at a fantastic felicitation ceremony along
with a victory parade in an open bus, led by a motorcade.
It is good. Let us hope that Hockey,
our national game, too will receive encouragement from the government and other
agencies.
REMEMBERING PRINCESS DIANA
We remember Princess Diana on the occasion of her tenth anniversary on 31-08-2007. The heads of nations and the common man in the street were stunned and devastated by the tragic news of the demise of Diana in a high speed car crash. There was not an eye that was not wet with tears for the untimely and premature end to ‘the people’s princess’ who had attained international repute as an icon of beauty, royalty, celebrity and charity.
‘Death is a void
Nothing can heal.
Memory is a treasure
Nothing can steal.’
To many she was the ‘queen of hearts’. During her short span of life she criss crossed the world and visited several countries delivering hope to suffering humanity as U. K.’s messenger of love. Her heart melted at the sight of the children and the plight of the poor who needed help. Her compassion sprang to attention at any thing that sounded like a worthy cause, be it Cancer, Aids, Leprosy or Landmines. She could raise millions of dollars in charity by her dazzling presence. She risked her life fearlessly walking in places where mines were laid.
I have a vivid memory of Diana’s visit to our Andhra Mahila Sabha in February 1992 during her brief stay in Hyderabad. She shook hands with some of us. She was dressed in immaculate white, when we received her. I could say with the poet, “She was a phantom of delight when she first flashed on our sight!”
Subsequently she paid homage to Durgabai Deshmukh, the architect of Andhra Mahila Sabha, a premier social service organization, by lighting the lamp. As she went round visiting the Hospital and the DDTVRC, she greeted every patient with a smile and had a private word to every one of them. She comforted the differently abled children. Her visit electrified the campus and enthused the workers.
The secret of Diana’s extra-ordinary popularity was not merely her superlative looks. If that is the case there are film stars by the dozen and beauty queens who glitter on the silver screen, and models who are glamour goods. Despite her ‘vulnerability’, word used by the Archbishop of Canterbury referring to her, there is a uniqueness about her complex personality which is far superior to the mystique of royalty. Her love for the poor, solicitude for the ailing, passion for ‘giving’ and charitable disposition are stuff which belong to the domain of spirituality. As the old nursery song reads: ‘Let truth and honour guide our way. Charity to truth will lead.’ It is no wonder, more than five million people watched her last rites and Service in the Westminster Abbey, with moist eyes. As humanism flowered, tears flowed.
If any, Princess Diana’s tragic death brings to light some of the absurdities and obscenities of the media. Constantly she was pursued, pestered and harassed with unimaginable cruelty. Her every step was dogged by the blood hounds – photographers of the commercial tabloids. They earned millions of bloody dollars by intruding on her privacy, callously violating her rights. How to deal with this kind of the menace of media? It is scandalous that even after the fatal accident (incident?) the photographers trained their accursed cameras on Diana when she was caught in the baggage, instead of trying to rescue the victims in the car! Every tick of the watch was precious at that moment! Even when their quarry was dead, the pursuers did not leave her! An inquest has been ordered into her death. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead what accusations could be made?
We heard that there was Good Samaritan Law in France which would deal with such culprits suitably. But our expectations were belied. The Law is conceptually, exceptionally good. There is need for such a Law in our own country so that the indifferent passers-by will take some interest in the luckless victims of road accidents which frequently occur in our country. We desperately need such a law to inject humanity in callous persons and also those who suffer from the psychosis of non-involvement
As Diana was called to her heavenly abode, I prayed to God:
‘Take her up tenderly
Lift her with care
Fashioned so slenderly
Young and so fair.’
*
Harold Rogers studied unsuccessfully about 5000 chemical compounds
before he invented a new chemical molecule for obtaining instant pictures.
Dr. Paul Ehrlich made 665 unsuccessful attempts to develop
SALVARSON cure for a dreadful V.D (Syphilis). He named it 606th formula.
Thomas
Alva Edison failed 1000 times before he invented the electric bulb. Each time
they failed, they failed forward!