Got the below excerpts from one of my bestie's FB wall. Was amused to see that Atal ji's poetry had such a deep reflection of ethos that bind INDIA as a single nation amongst multiple diversities forever.....☺
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जाते जाते श्री अटल जी इतना सिखा गए पूरे हिंदुस्तान को की
कौन कहता है कि सो गए हो आप, सारे वतन के हो गए हो आप....
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जाते जाते श्री अटल जी इतना सिखा गए पूरे हिंदुस्तान को की
कौन कहता है कि सो गए हो आप, सारे वतन के हो गए हो आप....
यमुना तट, टीले रेतीले,
घास–फूस का घर डंडे पर,
गोबर से लीपे आँगन मेँ,
तुलसी का बिरवा, घंटी स्वर,
माँ के मुंह मेँ रामायण के दोहे चौपाई रस घोलें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
घास–फूस का घर डंडे पर,
गोबर से लीपे आँगन मेँ,
तुलसी का बिरवा, घंटी स्वर,
माँ के मुंह मेँ रामायण के दोहे चौपाई रस घोलें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
बाबा की बैठक मेँ बिछी
चटाई बाहर रखे खड़ाऊं,
मिलने वालोँ के मन मेँ
असमंजस, जाऊँ या न जाऊँ?
माथे तिलक, आँख पर अनेक, पोथी खुली स्वयम से बोलें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
चटाई बाहर रखे खड़ाऊं,
मिलने वालोँ के मन मेँ
असमंजस, जाऊँ या न जाऊँ?
माथे तिलक, आँख पर अनेक, पोथी खुली स्वयम से बोलें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
सरस्वती की देख साधना,
लक्ष्मी ने संबंध न जोड़ा,
मिट्टी ने माथे के चंदन,
बनने का संकल्प न छोड़ा,
नये वर्ष की अगवानी मेँ, टुक रुक लें, कुछ ताजा हो लें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
लक्ष्मी ने संबंध न जोड़ा,
मिट्टी ने माथे के चंदन,
बनने का संकल्प न छोड़ा,
नये वर्ष की अगवानी मेँ, टुक रुक लें, कुछ ताजा हो लें,
आओ मन की गांठें खोलें|
~ अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी
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Srijan Pal Singh is with Swami DhyanSuman and Soumya Ranjan Biswal.
It is one of the most saddening news about the passage of a leader of decades and generations and one of the most iconic Prime Ministers India ever had – Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji. Growing up in Lucknow as a child, I remember how the city used to unite in its pride of being the chosen constituency for the leader who all parties had equal respect for.
As one of the most resplendent stars of Indian politics and leadership bids adieu today, I am reminded of a story of friendship and compassion which blossomed between Dr. Kalam, my guru, and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji.
As one of the most resplendent stars of Indian politics and leadership bids adieu today, I am reminded of a story of friendship and compassion which blossomed between Dr. Kalam, my guru, and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji.
(extract from the book, What Can I Give: Life Lessons from my teacher APJ Abdul Kalam).
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I Want To Hear Him Speak Beautifully Again...
As usual, there were a number of visits planned to the laboratories of the University of Edinburgh, UK. One of the visits was to the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic. The laboratory is largely funded by J.K. Rowling, the creator of the famous Harry Potter series, in memory of her mother, Anne, who had lost her life battling brain degeneration. There we met Professor Siddharthan Chandran, who had migrated from India and was heading the centre. He showed us all the work that was being conducted in this small but cutting-edge laboratory. We were all particularly impressed with the work on early detection of mental and neural disorders. Professor Chandran showed us his work deploying technology typically used by eye-care professionals.
As we were about to end our hour-long tour inside the laboratory we came across one last researcher—a young lady from England. She was working on a technology to regenerate speech. Her project was aimed at those people who were suffering from slow brain degeneration and who were likely to lose their voice in a few years. This condition is called dysarthria. And the innovative project that was being developed to fix it is called Voice Banking. Through this method, a person who is about to lose his or her voice can speak into a device and store it. The device can store a huge repository of words. Once the disease sets in, and the person loses his or her voice, this voice bank becomes the tool through which they can communicate. When the voiceless person types some words on a keyboard the device says those words out loud in his or her voice. The lead researcher said, ‘In this way the world can hear them in their original voice.’
We were all very impressed. But Dr Kalam had a follow- up question, ‘But what if the person is already unable to speak much?’
‘I’m afraid we can operate only when we can actually record a person’s voice, and that too thousands of words,’ said the researcher.
‘Okay, what if some existing speeches are supplied—say, someone’s speech that is recorded in the past?’ Dr Kalam probed further.
This time Professor Chandran replied, ‘Oh! We have not thought of this yet. But if we can isolate the words from the past recordings, and map them, then it should be possible. Once our ongoing experiment gets over in a year, we can surely try that too.’
‘Please do let me know next year. I am keen to find out,’ Dr Kalam insisted.
We moved on. I asked him in the car, ‘You seemed most interested in this Voice Bank.’
‘You know why?’ ‘I don’t know.’
‘Because I have a friend, a wonderful man whom I respect a lot. He was a great orator once but now he has a lot of difficulty in speaking fluently. I want to hear him speak beautifully again. You know who he is?’
And before I could think of a reply, he answered his own question. ‘Vajpayeeji.’
‘We should definitely check with them next year, to see whether they can construct a Voice Bank using old speeches. I will propose this solution to Vajpayeeji’s folks if these scientists give the green signal. I wish I could give him this gift on his birthday next year.’
‘That will be a wonderful Christmas present from Edinburgh,’ I replied, recalling that Vajpayeeji’s birthday coincided with Christmas.
‘Yes.’ We both smiled. It was touching to see his concern and compassion for his ‘old friend’, whom he dearly respected. Incidentally, Vajpayeeji used to live just 30 metres away from Dr. Kalam’s house.
This idea had remained in his mind ever since. On 25 December 2014, when Dr Kalam met Vajpayeeji for the latter’s ninety-first birthday, he asked me to post this message on his social media:
Just arrived home after meeting Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji at his residence in New Delhi. I greeted him on his birthday and also congratulated him for being awarded the much deserved Bharat Ratna.
I told him, ‘Vajpayeeji, I have had the privilege of working with you for more than five years as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government and then as the President of India while you were the Prime Minister. I learnt so much from you. I learnt from your experience in building India as a great and strong nation. When we decided to make it a Nuclear Weapon State we agreed to a unilateral no first-use policy. I admire how you as a Prime Minister embarked on the mission of unifying the minds and hearts of a billion strong nation.’
With those words, I greeted the stalwart leader and wished him a long life.
When this message was posted, Dr. Kalam commented, ‘Maybe next year I will have a wonderful gift for him.’ This gift remained an unfulfilled dream of Dr. Kalam’s.
Today, both these Bharat Ratna friends are no more with us but their life, their work and their teachings will inspire us and generations to follow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I Want To Hear Him Speak Beautifully Again...
As usual, there were a number of visits planned to the laboratories of the University of Edinburgh, UK. One of the visits was to the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic. The laboratory is largely funded by J.K. Rowling, the creator of the famous Harry Potter series, in memory of her mother, Anne, who had lost her life battling brain degeneration. There we met Professor Siddharthan Chandran, who had migrated from India and was heading the centre. He showed us all the work that was being conducted in this small but cutting-edge laboratory. We were all particularly impressed with the work on early detection of mental and neural disorders. Professor Chandran showed us his work deploying technology typically used by eye-care professionals.
As we were about to end our hour-long tour inside the laboratory we came across one last researcher—a young lady from England. She was working on a technology to regenerate speech. Her project was aimed at those people who were suffering from slow brain degeneration and who were likely to lose their voice in a few years. This condition is called dysarthria. And the innovative project that was being developed to fix it is called Voice Banking. Through this method, a person who is about to lose his or her voice can speak into a device and store it. The device can store a huge repository of words. Once the disease sets in, and the person loses his or her voice, this voice bank becomes the tool through which they can communicate. When the voiceless person types some words on a keyboard the device says those words out loud in his or her voice. The lead researcher said, ‘In this way the world can hear them in their original voice.’
We were all very impressed. But Dr Kalam had a follow- up question, ‘But what if the person is already unable to speak much?’
‘I’m afraid we can operate only when we can actually record a person’s voice, and that too thousands of words,’ said the researcher.
‘Okay, what if some existing speeches are supplied—say, someone’s speech that is recorded in the past?’ Dr Kalam probed further.
This time Professor Chandran replied, ‘Oh! We have not thought of this yet. But if we can isolate the words from the past recordings, and map them, then it should be possible. Once our ongoing experiment gets over in a year, we can surely try that too.’
‘Please do let me know next year. I am keen to find out,’ Dr Kalam insisted.
We moved on. I asked him in the car, ‘You seemed most interested in this Voice Bank.’
‘You know why?’ ‘I don’t know.’
‘Because I have a friend, a wonderful man whom I respect a lot. He was a great orator once but now he has a lot of difficulty in speaking fluently. I want to hear him speak beautifully again. You know who he is?’
And before I could think of a reply, he answered his own question. ‘Vajpayeeji.’
‘We should definitely check with them next year, to see whether they can construct a Voice Bank using old speeches. I will propose this solution to Vajpayeeji’s folks if these scientists give the green signal. I wish I could give him this gift on his birthday next year.’
‘That will be a wonderful Christmas present from Edinburgh,’ I replied, recalling that Vajpayeeji’s birthday coincided with Christmas.
‘Yes.’ We both smiled. It was touching to see his concern and compassion for his ‘old friend’, whom he dearly respected. Incidentally, Vajpayeeji used to live just 30 metres away from Dr. Kalam’s house.
This idea had remained in his mind ever since. On 25 December 2014, when Dr Kalam met Vajpayeeji for the latter’s ninety-first birthday, he asked me to post this message on his social media:
Just arrived home after meeting Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji at his residence in New Delhi. I greeted him on his birthday and also congratulated him for being awarded the much deserved Bharat Ratna.
I told him, ‘Vajpayeeji, I have had the privilege of working with you for more than five years as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government and then as the President of India while you were the Prime Minister. I learnt so much from you. I learnt from your experience in building India as a great and strong nation. When we decided to make it a Nuclear Weapon State we agreed to a unilateral no first-use policy. I admire how you as a Prime Minister embarked on the mission of unifying the minds and hearts of a billion strong nation.’
With those words, I greeted the stalwart leader and wished him a long life.
When this message was posted, Dr. Kalam commented, ‘Maybe next year I will have a wonderful gift for him.’ This gift remained an unfulfilled dream of Dr. Kalam’s.
Today, both these Bharat Ratna friends are no more with us but their life, their work and their teachings will inspire us and generations to follow.
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