Baba Amte, a leading social worker who devoted his life to the care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, passed away today.
Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as ‘Baba Amte’ (‘baba’ is a honorific and his last name is pronounced as Am’tay) was born on December 1914 in Vidharbha, Maharashtra, India in a wealthy family. Educated with a law degree, he setup a successful practice in Warora, and was leading a very prosperous life. One one rainy day, he saw a leper on the street getting drenched in rain and left helpless. Baba Amte thought to himself – ‘What would have happened if I was in his position?‘ This little incident was enough to cause a paradigm shift in his perception of society. The well educated rich professional simply quit his practice and decided to dedicate his life to the cause of social justice.
Leprosy was/is probably the most damned disease in India. Plenty of myths and orthodox beliefs existed around leprosy patients. As a result, they were (and still are to some extent) subjected to severe social boycott and condemnation. Baba Amte devoted his life for the cause of the leprosy affected, even allowing his body to be used for medical experiments. With 14 Rupees, two cows and a makeshift building, Baba Amte and his wife established a community project at Anandwan (आनंद वन abode of happiness) near the woods of Nagpur, Maharashtra, central India.
Today Anandvan is recognised all over the world and has led the crusade for dispelling prejudice against leprosy in India. It has a sprawling campus of 180 hectors and runs a budget of millions of Rupees. Thousands of patients live in this colony.
This is one of his compositions that touches my heart. (I’d be thrilled if someone can translate, I can’t)
Update: Ash has translated the first paragraph, and Devendra has translated the entire poem. Checkout the comments section, thanks guys 
A picture that speaks more than a thousand words.
“Joy is more infectious than leprosy”
- Baba Amte
माणूस माझे नाव, माणूस माझे नाव…
दहा दिशांच्या रिंगणात या पुढे माझी धाव…
बिंदु मात्र मी क्षुद्र खरोखर,
परी जिंकले सातहि सागर,
उंच गाठला गौरीशंकर
अग्नीयान मम घेत चालले आकाशाचा ठाव…
मीच इथे ओसाडावरती,
नांगर धरुनी दुबळ्या हाती,
कणकण ही जागवली माती
दुर्भिक्ष्याच्या छाताडावर हसत घातला घाव…
ही शेते अन् ही सुखसदने,
घुमते यातून माझे गाणे,
रोज आळवित नवे तराणे
मी दैन्याच्या विरुद्ध करतो क्षण क्षण नवा उठाव…
सुखेच माझी मला बोचती,
साहसास मम सीमा नसती,
नवीन क्षितिजे सदा खुणवती
दूर दाट निबिडात मांडला पुन्हा नवा मी डाव…
[संग्रह: ज्वाला आणि फुले]
“शिवसेना-भाजप-कॉंग्रेस युतीला मतदान करा” – ठाकरे
सकाळ: सत्तेसाठी आम्ही हपापलेलो नाही. शिवसेना-भाजप युतीशी कॉंग्रेसने अंबरनाथच्या विकासासाठी हातमिळवणी केली आहे. राष्ट्रवादी कॉंग्रेसची मस्ती उतरविण्यासाठी शिवसेना-भाजप-कॉंग्रेस युतीला मतदान करा, असे आवाहन शिवसेना कार्याध्यक्ष उद्धव ठाकरे यांनी येथे केले.
अंबरनाथ तालुक्यातील जिल्हा परिषदेच्या दोन आणि पंचायत समितीच्या चार जागांसाठी शिवसेना-भाजप-कॉंग्रेस युतीतर्फे निवडणूक लढविणाऱ्या उमेदवारांच्या निवडणूक प्रचारासाठी वांगणी रेल्वेस्थानकाशेजारीच झालेल्या प्रचारसभेत ठाकरे साहेबांनी असे विचार मांडले.
राजकिय पक्ष खरंच् विचार भिन्नतेतून जन्माला आले आहेत का? ‘सत्ता’ हा जरी एकच् विचार असला तरी हे मात्र फारच् झालं…. !!
Last week’s Economic Times article “Where even Ethiopia is doing better than Asia” brings out the stark imbalance in [tag]India[/tag]’s [tag]economic growth[/tag]. India’s position on malnutrition is worse than that of Ethiopia – one of the most poor countries of the world.
“The Unicef analysis, done in conjunction with India’s health ministry, found that about 46% of children below the age of 3 suffer from [tag]malnutrition[/tag]. That’s a staggering figure, and one that compares with roughly 35% in sub-Saharan Africa and 8% in China. It’s even more startling when you consider India predicts growth of 9.2% this year. “
The fact that we are so casual about our future, speaks volumes about the disconnected focus of the government on ‘reforms’. What’s worse, the situation hasn’t really improved since independence. This news succeeds the recent shocking event at Puri’s Jagannath Temple reported by DNA: “[tag]Food[/tag] destroyed at temple after foreigner’s entry”.
In a country where millions go to bed hungry, Rs 1 million worth of food meant as a holy offering at Orissa’s Jagannath temple was destroyed on Friday because a foreigner had entered it — an act seen as defiling the premises.
Patrix has some creative ideas I couldn’t agree more-
If the temple authorities feared associating themselves with the ‘defiled’ food then they could have ‘conducted a yagna to disassociate’ (bear with me, trying to be a lil creative here) themselves from it and leave the food alone in a lonely corner outside the temple complex. I’m sure the ‘defiled’ food would find plenty of takers even in the most religious of towns.
60 million malnourished [tag]children[/tag] in India, while people in North America take food for granted… I can picture Gods shaking their heads in disapproval.
If you saw Canadians surprised over a spring-like December, you ought to see this Toronto Star report about a [tag]freezing [/tag]February. If they said that December 2006 was the warmest in 40 years, so here we have, February 2007 as the [tag]cold[/tag]est in 28 years!
The average temperature was -8.4C, which was three degrees colder than normal.
That also made it the fifth coldest February since 1937 when weather records were first kept at what is now Pearson International Airport.
- Toronto Star, March 5, 2007
Indeed, it’s March already, yet we had one [tag]snow storm[/tag] yesterday and today’s temperature has plummeted to -21°C with a wind chill of -35°C. Ooh!!
Pjf writes:
Dearest readers in warmer climes, please blow some warm air our way for we are suffering terribly as we navigate the bitterly frozen landscape of Toronto.
Blow?? We came here to do just that! Some time back, we joked amongst ourselves that there are too many people ‘imported-from-warm-countries’ which is making Toronto all heated up. Looks like they have turned a cold shoulder now 
The weather Gods haven’t spared India either. Northern parts of the country are grappling with a brutal [tag]cold wave[/tag].
The hill state (Himachal Pradesh) came in the grip of severe cold with temperatures falling 3°C to 4°C below normal as the state experienced isolated snow during the past 24 hours.
-Tribune India, February 15, 2007
Brace yourself for the climatic shift…
सकाळ पेपरात बातमीची पहिली ओळ वाचली आणि पूर्णपणे गंडलो. भारताबाहेर जाऊन २ महिने पण झाले नही आणि देशात एवढे बदल?? डॉल्फिनच्या दरात कपात म्हणजे नेमकं काय झालं असावं याचा विचार करत होतो. पुढे वाचलं तेव्हा समजलं की ही बातमी डॉल्फिन माश्याबद्दल नव्हे, तर MTNL डॉल्फिन मोबाईलसेवेच्या ग्राहकांसाठी आहे. हुश्श..
मोबाईल सेवा आणि सिग्नलचं जाळं आपल्या कडे अतिशय प्रगत आहे. हच, एअरटेल, डॉल्फिन ईत्यादी कंपन्यांमध्ये अटितटीची स्पर्धा असल्याने अधिकाधीक ग्राहक मिळवण्यामागे त्यांचे लक्ष असतं. म्हणूनच् मोबाईलचे दर इतके स्वस्तं असावेत व मोबाईल असणं सर्वसाघारण गोष्टं असावी. ईथे मात्र परीस्थिती वेगळी आहे. खूप कमी लोकांना मोबाईल परवडतो. कोणासठाऊक का, पण ईथल्या मोबाईल कंपन्या पण मंद वाटतात. असो.
ईथे बहुतेक सेलफोन (यंत्र) हे कॉन्ट्रॅक्ट वर मिळतात. यंत्राची किंमत अतिशय कमी, किंवा शून्य असते. पण मासिक प्लॅन ठरलेला असतो. नियोजीत भाडं भरायचं की झालं. रात्रीच्या वेळी व शनिवार, रविवार विनामूल्य कॉल करू शकतो. अर्थात त्यांच्या बर्याच् योजना असतात. तरी, मुंबईत जी सेवा मिळते तशी ईथे मिळतच् नाही.
या बाबतीत आपण नक्किच प्रगत आहोत
Since a week, minimum temperatures in [tag]Toronto[/tag], [tag]Canada[/tag] are consistently in negative double digits. For me this is very exciting, but the Canadians don’t like it. This graph shows the forecast for next week. Note that it shows average high [tag]temperature[/tag]s. At night it gets quite cold.
(Source: The weather network)
Although your face is the only exposed part of your body, the [tag]wind chill[/tag] will rob it off sensations in no time. It helps if you keep talking; else the muscles go so numb that you cannot speak at all.
The night sky looks illuminated and bright gray when it’s snowing. I live on the 14th floor and everything below looks foggy. [tag]Snow[/tag] is beautiful.
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