Thakkar Bappa's Birth Aniversary

Today is Thakkar Bappa's birth aniversary and  the ST and SC development department of Orissa state observes the day in all its educational institutions. To commemorate the birth anniversary of Thakkar Bappa our college also declared a holiday and convened a meeting. In order to brace myself up for the meeting  I searched the Internet yesterday to find information about this great man but the outcome was very slender. I could not find any substantial information about his life and achievements. However, my interaction with other staff next day convinced me that I am better known about Thakkar Bappa than they know about him.

With a view to attending the meeting I came to college a little earlier. I was alone in the administrative block, sitting alone in front of a computer. Two boys came and asked my permission to go out of the campus to buy some items. I granted them the permission and they went away. I became alone once again. Few minutes latter another student approached me and stood silently before me. I presumed that this student has also come to ask my permission to go out. But his long silence more than the normal behaviour pattern drew my inquisitiveness. I withdrew my eyes from the computer screen and looked at the boy . His eyes spoke more than his tongue could. In a friendly tone I asked, "What can I do for you.". He gave a short reply, "Nothing,Sir." But he was on the verge of crying. In a deep painful tone intimated that he could not pursue his studies because he has a diseased father. He had to work as a labourer to feed his family. Even though the Government is providing facilities for food and study to the tribal students they have their own set of compulsion which looms larger than all welfare programmes in Orissa. If some income generating activities are added with regular class-room education a lasting solution to such problems can be found.

Never be in conflict with your moral values

Since the time when the human child becomes conscious of the outer world, he assimilates a number of influences and impressions which go in forming his life's general philosophy.The society is such a machinery which instills and teaches a lot of  social principles & human values. Such intrinsic human values and moral principles always show their presence in our mind . They subtly influence us.

Our life's activities can cause great mental conflict in us when they go against our own acquired value-systems. Such contrasting activities or actions in life shatter our whole-being and weaken our will-power and spiritual forces. Therefore the journey to greatness must be in conformity with the general moral principles of life. Any violation to our own preset value-systems lower our dignity in our own eyes and we suffer a psychological fragmentation.

Life finds a greater expression when the moral force of an individual keeps in line with his activities and life's missions.

A life lived within the limitations of self interests may not draw upon  moral strength.Because you don't require an atom bomb to blast a rock. A dynamite can achieve that not-so-great result. But events of greater dimensions necessitate greater force. similarly, the lowly thoughts of human mind revolving around a single individual may go without the endorsements of moral values but a powerful thought can never assume its revolutionary and ennobling potentialities unless it is accompanied by a right moral attitude.The more are we restricted in setting the goals of life , the lesser becomes the need for moral evolution.But inculcating a moral value system in life opens the petals of all other divine virtues.

Ailing roads causing ailments

The KBK districts of Orissa are the most interior regions of the state. It has very poor communication facilities. Underdeveloped railway connectivity and poor road service mark the sorry state of the districts. The state capital Bhubaneswar is at an enormous distance of 700 hundred Kilometres from the southernmost district head quarter of KBK districts. A single journey over the rough roads to the capital can make any healthy person ill. Recently one of our staff had been to Berhampur on the grounds of Medical treatment. After being cured of his ailments when he returned from Berhampur his health condition once again deteriorated severely because of the awful long journey. As a result, he was made to rush to the hospital again.

Since the month of September 2010 my wife, who is an expectant mother, is in her paternal home because I cannot provide her adequate medical facility at this place. Yesterday I was chitchatting at a local beetle shop. The shopkeeper proudly showed me a photograph, which was published in a daily local paper. The shopkeeper had clicked that photograph that showed an ailing patient being carried by four men on a cot to the near-by hospital. The published photo was loudly proclaiming that: We do not have ambulance; if we have ambulance, we do not have roads; if we have roads, we do not have doctors; we have many ‘Nots’ because we are the Havenots.

The lack of connectivity and good road system has an indirect benefit. It is that once we come to this interior pockets we stay in the place for months together. My colleagues who are working with me in the same college take extra classes on most Sundays because Sundays have no meaning to them. On Sundays, they cannot go to their hometown. The distance and the tiresome journey desist everyone ( my colleagues) to remain in the headquarters. So it becomes more sensible for us to engage ourselves in doing our duty even on Sundays as the most pleasant form of diversion. However, the irony is that in spite of our committed service the Government is never pleased to allow us the KBK allowance. Nevertheless, this allowance is provided to other service holders of the region. In Orissa, the teachers are the most neglected community.

Atmaprakash Nayak has invited you to join Rediff MyPage

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Hi, I would like to add you as a friend on Rediff MyPage, a great place to keep in touch with friends, post photos and videos. Add me as friend Cheers, Atmaprakash Nayak

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Thinking habit is a powerful tool to unleash the latent potentialities of an individual. Taking a little physical exercise, reading good books, listening to positive thoughts and developing the power of concentration can take an individual to newer heights. Life's possibilities can be explored only by holding the steering wheel of the mind consciously and directing its movement meticulously towards the higher aspects of life. Above all the wise technique of avoiding all lowly and degenerating thoughts from mind enhances the true beauty of life.