The very word Ahimsa or non- violence conjures up Mahatma Gandhi., who used Ahimsa effectively against the oppressors instead of violence and hatred to achieve freedom to India.

Passion for truth.

Even  from his child hood Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had a passion for truth. The story of Satya Harishchandra, who gave up everything for the sake of truth, had a profound impact on Gandhi. At that early stage Gandhi’s thoughts were so firm and unwavering, that his commitment to truth and integrity remained unshakeable unto the last. 

Our elders said,’ one practical thought is always better than thousand impractical thoughts.’  Which is why, our thoughts should be practical. Thoughts without practicality is an exercise in futility. In this respect, one wonders, how Gandhi identified the practicality aspect of his thought at such an young age and adhered  to his thoughts religiously all along his life.

Just think, how much thinking goes in to the preparations you make before going on a holiday. What should be the mode of transport, Bus, car, plane or sea. Then we turn our attention towards economic factors. And then towards the convenience aspect. And the list goes on. 

Now come to think of it. We give such an importance to a small holiday trip. How much planning and thinking  is necessary  do you think for a life’s journey?

Decision making is an Art.

Decision making is such an Art with several complexities , even the most seasoned decision makers too falter and fumble at times. Hence, it’s evident, none is assured of  100 % right  decisions. But we can endeavor to commit fewer mistakes by devoting more time and energy to observe the situation and circumstances.

Decision making is directly connected with the level of confidence in you. A person with confidence in his abilities will have a very clear picture of his aims and objectives.

No scope for ambiguity. 

Just take a small example. Those who make a simple list of the things to be bought in the market, will finish off their shopping  in no time .And those who are without a plan will waste their time plagued by indecisiveness and un certainty.

This is all to drive home the point, ‘Decision makers are Destiny makers.’

A Decision that changed the destiny of a Nation

Everybody knows the fact that India was invaded by several rulers of several countries in the past. All the invaders not only plundered the country, but made us slaves and we were subjugated for centuries. Seeing this dismal condition of a Nation with a fabulous heritage many attempts were made to regain the past glory of India. But none succeeded in getting the freedom to India

In the year 1888, a young man Mohan das Karamchand Gandhi, from Gujarat went to London to study Law. He came back to India  in 1891 after finishing his law education. In the year 1893, he has been entrusted the job of representing an Indian firm in Durban, South Africa.  

Gandhi’s sojourn in  South Africa was an eye-opener for him. The racial discrimination of the English rulers was so appalling, that Gandhi, who never thought of his own country’s  slavery thought  about the atrocities committed by the British rule for the first time .The fact that people were made slaves in their own country made him sit and think.

He found lot of similarities between the people of South Africa and India. Both were crushed under an alien rule. Both were suffering silently. But why? That question haunted Gandhi day and night.

The last straw.

Once , Gandhi was travelling by a train in a first class compartment. A white man who was also travelling in the same compartment could not tolerate the bitter fact that a black man is also travelling in the same compartment in par with him. The white lifted Gandhi’s suit case and thrown it out on the platform. Then, he has thrown out Gandhi also. In that humiliating condition , wisdom dawned on Gandhi.

Gandhi thought, ‘This white man thrown me out of the railway compartment. But, I’ll see that all  whites are thrown out of my Country.’ Note, that it was not angry outburst with vendetta in Gandhi's mind. It was a decision which Gandhi wanted to make as the guiding principle for the remaining part of his life. 

Though he spent a duration of 21 years in South Africa, not a single day passed without the thought of. ‘How to get back my country’s independence.’ 

At last in 1915, Gandhi set his foot on the soil of India.

This turned out to be an epoch making event in the independence movement of India.

 What Gandhi is made of?

Gandhi never proved his leadership qualities, before he plunged in to independence campaign. Then what made him so confident ? What made him to give up a lucrative profession and plunge into an unknown realm?

Influenced by Henry David Thoreau. 

The main inspiration  behind Gandhi’s action to plunge in to Indian independence movement was, He happened to read an article written by  Henry David Thoreau , The name of the article was ‘Resistance to Civil government.

Gandhi was well convinced that through the movement of Civil disobedience, he can carry on the fight with the mighty British empire I India. The principle is simple and very effective. Above all, it’s a passive resistance, which doesn’t need any arms. There is no scope for violence.

Innate leadership qualities

Gandhi was a born leader. His firm belief in, ‘Service before Self.’ Stood in good stead and made him a natural leader. Owing to this reason, he always laid stress on Responsibilities rather than on Rights. Gandhi ‘s commitment to service owes its origin to his quality of ‘ Pro-activity.’ That means, he cannot remain as a mute spectator to any sort of injustice perpetrated by mean minded oppressors. 

Hears inner voice

Gandhi always believed that inner voice is the mouth piece of one’s conscience. You can deceive hundreds of others, but never your conscience. Owing to this reason, Gandhi, in his book. ‘My experiments with truth’, without any hesitation, he has clearly and openly accounted all the mistakes he committed.

Gandhi felt that every leader should learn to listen his inner voice and follow its diktats. This  crates a trust in the followers. And a leader with such followers can conquer the world. 

inventor of a new weapon

The credit of inventing a new weapon  to defeat the opponents however strong they be, goes to Gandhi.  Gandhi knew the might of his opponent. To defeat him and get back the lost freedom of India is no small a task. But Gandhi is not a person to be cowed down by the physical strength of his opponent.

He invented a new weapon, ‘non- violence’ or Satyagraha to face the ego and might of the British.  Satyagraha  doesn't believe in using any form of violence. A person who believes and practices Satyagraha will never indulge in inflicting injuries on his opponent. Through his non- violent protests, a ‘Satyagrahi’ appeals to the reason of his opponent.

Gandhi said, Satyagraha intends to bring a change through the suffering of ‘Satyagrahi’.

Dandi March, Salt Satyagraha , Burning the foreign goods are a few victories credited to ‘Satyagraha.’ The Britishers were perplexed seeing the behavior of Satyagrahis.  They bore the lathi beatings silently. They neither protested nor turned violent against the British Police forces.

To everybody’s surprise, he won the freedom to India using his newly found weapon.

‘De Di Hqmein Azaad bina Khadg bina Dhal

Sabarmati Ke Sant Tu ne Kar diya Kamal.

(O, the saint of Sabarmati, what you have done is magic. You gave us the freedom without using a sword or an armour.- Kavi Pradeep.)

His Vision

Gandhi visualized long before he decided to come to India, what India needs. He realized that India needs ‘Swaraj’, the power of ruling themselves. ‘Swaraj’ is the source from which, the entire Gandhian Philosophy emerged out.  Gandhi has seen ‘Swaraj’ as the starting point for achieving ‘Self – Reliance’ in economic, social and moral spheres.  And the most heartening feature of ‘Swaraj’ was it’s equally applicable to individual or the institution. Society or state.

His moral and ethical strengths.

Gandhi’s belief that a leader should lead by example is visible in all the spheres of life. A leader according to Gandhi is one who hears his followers. He never believed in thrusting is own one-sided views on his followers.

It’s the general belief that a leader is one, who is in power. But in the case of Gandhi. He never held any position. But he had the entire nation at his back. The reason for this is that Gandhi is a leader from all the conventional leaders. He is a learner first and a leader last. 

A great CEO

A Chief Executive Officer of an organization, is not a mere head. A CEO  is the one who knows the aims and objectives of the organization. He knows how to make them work in order to take the organization in the path of progress. He knows how to involve and motivate  the people who work for the organization. Akin to this, Gandhi stood as a Beacon of light to the people of the nation and led them all as a single unit in to the paths of success.

Image : Author's creation

Can you imagine a day without seeing milkman at your door step or his cycle giving a ring? How many of you prefer to start a daily routine without a cup of hot tea or coffee in your hand? Have you ever thought about that person who bought great milk revolution in our country? It’s Varghese Kurian, who is fondly known as ‘The great milkman of India’ who brought great revolutions to our country through his achievements and hard work. Through this article, I am briefly explanation about his struggle to change India from milk deficient country to world’s largest milk producer of the world.

Through his journey in a snapshot

He was born in November 26, 1921 in Kozhicode in a Syrian Christian family as the son of Puthen Paraikkal Kurien who was a civil surgeon of British Kochi constituency. He took Physics degree from Madras Loyola College in the year 1940 and later from Madras University, he took Mechanical engineering degree also.  He got special training from TATA Iron and Steel Company, Jamshedpur and later went to Mishigen University, America to get a post graduation degree in Engineering. In 1948, he joined as Dairy engineer in a milk powder factory run by central government in Anand, Gujarat. But he resigned his job very soon to join a group of farmers in Kheda which very soon gave birth to ‘Amul’. In 1965, with the help of Kurien, Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Prime Minister of India started National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which formed the success stone of Amul which later spread all over the world. In 1973, he organized Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation and very soon, under his organization India became no.1 milk producing country in the world. After remaining three decades as the Managing Director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation he stepped down in the year 1996. During the last phase, after seeing fights for power in an organization he developed through his struggle and hard work, he resigned with broken heart. He had 17 honorary doctorates from universities in India and abroad and has won many awards including Padma Wibhushan, World Food Prize, Padma Shri, Ramon Magsaysay Award, International person of the year, Krishi ratna award and many more.

Real fighter in the ‘Milky’ way

Revolution can be done not only through weapons and swords, but also through purity of milk! Real warrior who was able to prove this was none other than Kurien. From a small remote village of Gujarat, he initiated a big revolution leading India to a ‘Paalazhy’ – the sea of milk where Lord Vishnu stays. Kurien has once told that except drinking milk, he has no connection with cows or cow farming during his childhood days. A young engineer whose mind was filled with thoughts related to metallurgy and physics told in his autobiography, “I too had a dream” in his autobiography. But his destiny was something else. Since he was studying in US with scholarship, he had to work under central government for a short period. Thus he was appointed in the dairy department of central government in the year 1948. Next year, he became the dairy engineer in a milk powder industry of central government. Seeing the exploitations faced by poor farmers his mind melted and he resigned his post very soon.

It gave him new piece of information about problems faced by milk sector. Thus, he joined Kheda District Co-operative society, a firm started by Morarji Desai and Tribhuvandas Patel, suggestions carry forwarded from Sardar Vallabhai Patel. That society was going through its bad phases due to the exploitations of bureaucrats when he joined them. His real challenge was to fight with Polson Dairy. He joined hands with Tribhuvandas Patel to start a new milk processing unit which paved way to the birth of Amul. Amul was a boom to poor milkmen. By collecting milk from different co-operative societies Amul produced different food products. For its marketing, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation was formed. Thus, forming small branches continuously, this revolution gradually spread all over India. 

Through his 'billion-litre idea' or Operation flood, he kept his promises revolutionizing milk all over India. A unit that started with just 250 litres a day very soon reached a high position no one can even dare to dream that time. He didn’t want to contract himself to milk production only. He has made his distinct mark in many fields including fruits, vegetables, deforestation, edible oil etc. Keeping Anand as a model, he formed co-operative society for oil, making available its seeds at a low cost for farmers and very soon, started the brand, ‘Dhara’. He had to face resistance from already existing oil lobbies. Throughout his life, Kurien has kept himself away from all political parties. His honesty, sincerity and hard work helped him to climb every mountain he dreamt. Let me give a simple example of his honesty. Once, his daughter Nirmala was appointed in the board by other members without the knowledge of Kurien. When he came to know about this matter, he became so angry saying, anyone may criticize him saying he has given a job to his family member misusing his power and very soon, Nirmala resigned the post.

Influence of his uncle

Kurien was nephew of famous John Mathai – the first Kerala representative in the central government. India’s first railway minister who became minister of finance later. John Mathai dreamt to see him as an engineer while Kurien dreamt a soldier life. Thus, he got resistance from his family itself and very soon, he joined TISCO as an apprentice. Very soon, when he came to know that he got that post through his uncle’s recommendation, he felt ashamed of himself. Also, the considerations he got from there as the nephew of John Mathai was more than he could accept. So, he resigned the post ignoring even his uncle’s words and very soon, departed to study for his PG course. When he returned back with handful of degrees, he stayed with his uncle at Delhi. John Mathai was financial minister of Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. This time, his uncle asked him to do as his wish and didn’t offer him any help. If he had continued his job in TISCO, he might not have achieved more in his life than the top position of that company.

Sea of milk flown from Kozhicode

It was a great desire of Kurien to see his childhood home once again. He told his desire to his friend P.A.Abdul Azeez, who was former Managing director of Milma in the Malabar zone. He had to search a little to find his home and very soon Kurien reached the city. It was 2006. Now, though that house is not there, his place still holds his ‘milk’ perfume. Kurien was born in West Hill, Kozhicode. Puthen Paraikkal Kurien got transferred to Kozhicode and he along with his wife was living in Government quarters when she gave birth to their third child, Kurien in 1921. He was given his uncle, Rao Sahib P.K.Vargeese’s name. His autobiography is filled with piano notes of his mother mixed with his first residence. Later, when he was studying in St.Joseph High school he along with his family resided in John Mathai’s home. He came to Kerala for the last time in 2010.

He spent childhood days in Thrissur

He was an atheist. The first time he went to a church with happiness was for his marriage. He married Molly and at All Saints CSI Church, Thrissur on June 15, 1953 and same day itself, he took her back to Gujarat. Though he didn’t believe God, he believed poor peasants. He got it back too! When Kurien left us, we lost a chain from John Mathai family. He is Thrissur’s son and son-in-law. Both his mother and wife belong to Thrissur. He spent his childhood days here. His uncle John Mathai resided in this town along with his wife, also his elder brother Cherian Mathai who was the head of the family. He stayed unmarried looking after the whole family. When Kurien’s father passed away, whole family came to Thrissur to stay. But very soon, he left Kerala for further studies. Cherian Mathai was the educational director of Kochi at that time – the family along with Vargeese spent his childhood days. Now also, many close relatives are there in Thrissur. The first time he went to Anand was along with his wife, Susan Molly, the same day of their marriage. The rest is History!!! He has described about his relations in his autobiography, though he gave more importance to his success journey.

Real ‘Bharat Ratna’

When a dairy firm was formed in the year 1948 with new technologies imprinted, Vargeese Kurien worked as its manager. They had a milk production unit named ‘Polson’ from which they made Polson butter, which was used by India during the early ages after its independence. Now Polson butter doesn’t exist. When milkmen began to give milk to Amul, slowly Polson disappeared from Indian market. At that time, collecting milk also had many open challenges. Very soon he got grand to buy equipments from Holland to store and freeze milk. When it turned to be a profitable business, milk production centres of Anand began to share the profits, thus helping the milkmen to stand against the difficulties they faced that time.

Very soon, the then Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand and seeing the well flourished dairy firm, decided to stay at a peasant’s home one night. Very soon, National Dairy Development Board was formed in Anand to replicate ‘Anand models’ all over India. Through his program of Operation Flood, he raised milk deficit India to self dependent India and as a part of it, all over the country Mother Dairies were established. When he visited countries like Holland, Denmark and France, the milk products he got as gifts were converted to milk to survive the milk deficit period of India. He spread his ideas to other villages of Gujarat. Sabarkantha, Mehsana and Banaskantha were some of them. Educated youngsters were selected to Farmer’s Training centres, given training to co-operative movement, economics, marketing etc and send to different states. The first gift he asked them was ‘honesty’. He used to directly communicate with those people giving them inspiration. ‘One farmer- One share’ – this slogan was given by him to organize new firms in different states. Now 1.2 crore milkmen are sharing its benefits. Giving power to the hands of milkmen was itself a revolution and hence it began to be known as ‘Milk Revolution’. During the period of 1975-1985, lakh litres of milk were transported in local tankers, yet they were holding success. Many international markets tried to give an end to ‘Operation Flood’. His principle to retain milkmen along with its production, marketing and selling was the main success behind his efforts. If kids of today are drinking good milk, whole credit goes to Kurien.

To exclude professional MBA graduates from his group, he established Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) in the year 1980. Instead of selling pink soaps for multinational companies, he asked his followers to work for co-operative societies and villages. What Gandhi dreamt of India, he made them real through rural development giving poor people what they actually deserve! Today, the co-operative societies of Amul, started with 247 litres of milk have reached 16000 villages of Gujarat itself, coming under 15 units with annual income of10000 crore rupees. 30 lakh people are associated with it, of which majority are poor women. “It’s the greatest fight against poverty”, World Bank says.

Even 1 lakh words is not sufficient enough to say what Vargeese Kurien has contributed to our country. Yet, it's my humble attempt to say at least a few words about his early childhood, his success path, the way, he influenced millions of people and won their hearts. Let me salute him once again and I am proud to say, I belong to the same soil he was born!!!

“There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with fields of grain and hillsides of orchards where, in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields ………………….Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community ……. There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children, who would be stricken suddenly while at play and die within a few hours. There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed……..”

The words which made the whole world think about the harmful hazards of pesticides and its impacts on living beings of environment. One of the most discussed books among nature lovers that inspired many environment movements against pesticides even resulting in the ban of many harmful pesticides all over the world – Silent Spring. On 27th September 2012, the book which told the story of a muted spring is celebrating its 50 years.

Rachel Carson – the author of ‘Silent Spring’

Rachel Carson was born in Springdale in 1907. She was a quiet child who always loved to spend her time in her own beautiful world of butterflies, springs, woods and birds and lovely nature. She was an already well known established writer before she published ‘Silent Spring’ and this book raised her popularity a little more when this book became an instant best seller. She began writing at a tender age of 8 and published her first book when she was 11. She got degree in genetics and zoology from Hopkins University.  Later she was appointed as Aquatic biologist in U.S Bureau of fishes, which gave her ideas to write two books related to sea life of which ‘The sea around US’ got appreciated as the best book of the year in US. Then she told the harmful effects of DDT through her book, ‘Silent spring’. Till then, DDT was praised as a good insecticide. So, her book was really an eye opener. Though even biologists opposed her ideas with doubtful minds, her book inspired millions to fight against pesticides. She was suffering from breast cancer during her late ages and died of a heart attack in 1964, April 14 in Silver Bridge, Mariland.

Inspiration from a friend’s letter

The village about which ‘Silent Spring’ told story is just imaginary. But she was inspired by an event, she read through the letter of her friend Orga from whom she came to know about DDT for the first time. At that time, she was the chief editor of Fish and Wild life services publications. Through the letter, Orgo told about her the sudden death of her birds, which she kept as pets. She also specified the spraying of DDT across nearby forests by American agriculture department to kill pesticides with the help of helicopters. As soon as Rachel read her words, she began her research and wrote a book based on her findings and published in the year 1962, September 24. She told in her book, about the health hazards the excess usage of pesticides can bring, not only to animals and plants but also to human beings. Very soon, many chemical companies came forward questioning her, even filing cases against her.

Her fight as single

During that time, environment organizations were not there as we see now. Also, no Government agencies available at that time. So, she had to fight alone through her writings and speeches. She did everything by giving solid proofs. As a result, the then American president John.F.Kennedy appointed a committee to study the issues. The wind created by ‘Silent Spring’ soon spread all over the world which even gave many evidences of bad effects of pesticides. Before the completion of the book, she was detected of breast cancer and she died in 1964. In 1972, American government banned DDT forever. Though a half century has passed since the ‘Silent spring’ has gone, we are still witnessing such disasters. Endosalfan, another face of DDT has already shown its bad face in different parts of the world. Many countries have banned it. Protests are going on in India asking the complete ban of this chemical.  

Pesticide with the name DDT

DDT was found by German scientist Othmor Zeidler in the year 1874. Its scientific name is Dichloro diphenyl trichloro ethane [(C6H4C1)2CH.CCl3]. When this pesticide was able to kill mosquitoes and insects spreading plague, malaria and typhoid as a part of second world war, it was praised all over the world. World Health Organization arranged campaigns to spray this pesticide around every homes, septic tanks and forests to kill mosquitoes and other insects. Thus DDT helped a lot to keep malaria under control. Since it won’t dissolve easily, it can reach skin and get stored inside the fat cells. Also, through plants, DDT can reach both man and animals, even though in small quantities. It adversely affects nervous system of animals and human beings. Paul Herman Muller, a Swedish scientist was the first person who understood the insect killing nature of DDT for which he got a Nobel Prize in the year 1948. He identified it in 1938 while he was doing his researches in Geigy Company.

Spray here, it will reach Antarctica

Of 9 lakh species of pests identified till now, only below 1% are harmful. That means, only about 3500 varieties are harming agricultural products and spreading diseases. Majority of pests are men’s friends. They play a major role in keeping equilibrium of nature. Since pesticides can’t identify and kill enemies only, many of our helping friends are also destroyed. If long lasting Organochlorides are sprayed in our forests, it can even reach living beings of Antarctica. Rain plays an important role in transporting those pesticides from soil to seas. Soon they are absorbed by algae which in turn reach fishes and birds. Thus remains of pesticides and insecticides are even reaching penguins living in the poles!!!!

Let me conclude

It’s true, we can’t avoid certain evils in our daily life. Yet, we can reduce their amount thus helping our earth, nature and its living beings. The battle started by Rachel Carson should not end with the reading of ‘Silent spring’ or organizing 50th anniversary of the book. Instead we should carry on her struggles, believing that, it’s our duty also, to see our nature smiling free of all pesticides and insecticides!!! Let my article be a small effort to see her dreams fulfilled through many people who read this. 

Indian Famous Personalities

Dr. Abdul Kalam : Dr. Avul Pakir Jainubhudin Abdul Kalam is the twelfth Indian president and the father of Indian missile techniques. Dr. Abdul Kalam has born on 15^th October 1931 in Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram city, Tamil Nadu. In his career as an aeronautical engineer Dr. Abdul has enormous contribution in launching Indian first satellite SLV-3 and 'missiles like Agni', 'Trishul' and others. He is an important team fellow of Indian National Academy of Sciences and other professional parties. Dr. Kalam has been reputed with Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and The Bharat Ratna' in 1997, Dr.Biren RoySpace Award, Om Prakash Basin Award in Science and Technology, National Nehru Award, Arya Bhatta Award etc. He reads Bhagvad Geeta and Kuran both without any discrimination.

Adi Godrej : Adi Godrej is the chairman of Godrej industry in India. He was born in professional family. Godrej products are the first Indian products replaces foreign brands and a huge World wide business supporter in India. Adi Godrej has joined his family business after completing education and raises the business to the heights of glory.

Aditya Birla : Aditya Birla group industry initialised in India and working in 20 countries like Thailand, Egypt, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland, China, Australia and similarly others. Aditya Birla organization works in different sectors including cement, Tele communication, fertilizers, iron, alchemists, carbon products, branded garments in India. Baldeo Das Birla was the inventor of Birla Group born in Rajasthan and turned to calcutta to start business. Birla are also known for their corroboration during Indian freedom fights.

Amar Bose : Amar Bose born in 1929 was the inventor of Bose association. He was the first speaker famous for supportive work in acoustics. Bose speakers are popular in world for their endless quality performance.

Amartya Sen : Amartya Sen an economist born in 1933 in west Bengal got popularity for his appreciable work to enhance Indian economy definition for poor and famine hurted people. He was the first young chairman of Jadavpur University and won noble prize in economics.

Anil Ambani : Anil Ambani is the managing director of Reliance capitals and the 18^th most richest person in the world. Anil has most of his income from reliance telecom. Reliance corporation is the India's biggest corporation established by Dhirubhai Ambani, Anil's father. Anil has been born in 1959 and completed his education from Bombay university. He has married with Tina munim and has two sons.