1. Moti baba lives in village Maniarpur, on fringes of Santhal Pargana. He is totally illiterate,a saffron clad monk, celibate since childhood and follower of Meinhi Maharaj. He is more than 100 years old.

2. The nearest township of Baunsi is 6-7 kms away, where one can catch a train or bus. Moti baba, with the help of a stick, even today very happily walks the distance alone, to go to various places when people invite him.

3. He has a Thali for eating food and drinking water. At the end of his meal, he pours water into it, shakes it so that all left over particles come unstuck and then drinks that mixture. He says that it is a healthy practice not to leave any left overs in your plate. He has not fallen sick in last one century.

4. The youngest member of the Ashram is about 85 to 90 years younger to Moti baba. At times, the young monks ask him,"When are you going to die." His reply till Jan used to be,"I shall die after all of you are dead." But now he has started saying that he will die after five years.

5. I met him for the first time in Jan 09 when I went to stay with them along with a friend. Both of us generated a lot of interest in the area because of the colour of our skin. Santhal Pargana is dominated by very dark skinned people.

6. We were asked questions like are we from Kashmir or England. My reply of Shillong was taken as Ceylone(Sri Lanka) as the new name of that country has not yet got registered with them. I gave up after some futile efforts at clarification.

7. Moti baba does not talk much, if at all. However he did honour us, maybe because we were oddities, by speaking for a few sec. He spoke only three words,"DHYAN KARO DHYAN."

8. I met him again in May. He did not talk to me at all and just ignored me altogether.My gut feeling is that it is because I ignored his advice and did not do as much as I could or should have. People like him can make out.

9. I feel that advice of a man who has been at it for a century is important.

Our prominent scientists

In the ancient and medieval periods some prominent scientists were born in India. They made immense contribution to the development of science in the country and brought laurels to their motherland. Some of our ancient scientists are mentioned below:-

• Aryabhatta: Aryabhatta was an astronomer and mathematician. He adorned the court of Chandragupta Vikramadhitya. He was credited with the invention algebra. It was who first revealed the rotation of the earth and the causes for the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses. He wrote two books – Suryasiddanta and Aryabhatteeyam. India’s first satellite Aryabhatta’ is named after him.
  
  
• Bhaskara: Bhaskar he was an astronomer. India’s second satellite for earth observation, Bhaskara is named after him.
  
  
• Bhaskaracharya II: Bhaskaracharya II was a mathematician as astronomer of 12 century A.D. he was the author of Siddhartha Shiromani. He was first to state that anything divided by zero is equal to infinity. He invented Calculus long before other did.
• Brahmagupta: Brahmagupta was a mathematician. He was first to treat Zero as number. He was the author of Brahma Siddhantha. He announced the theory of the gravitation of the earth.
• Charaka: Charaka was a physician. He adorned the court of Kanishka and authored Charaka samhita. His writing is invaluable in the study of Hindu medicine.
• Dhanvantari: Dhanvantari was a physician of the 5 century A.D. he adorned the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya.
• Nagarjuna: Nagarjuna was philosopher and chemist. He adorned the court of Kanishka. In his Madhyamikasutra, he enunciated the theory of reactive and anticipated Einstein by a number of centuries. He is described as Indian Einstein.
• Susruta: Susruta was a surgeon, and father of plastic surgery. He devised an artificial nose, diagnosed cataract and described hernia and medical value of garlic. He wrote a medical treatise entitled Susrta samhita.
• Varahamihira: Varahamihira was an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher of the 5 century A.D. he adorned the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. He wrote a book entitled Brihatsamhita which was a treatise on geography, astronomy and botany. He wrote other books like Panchasiddhantika, Brihatjnatika and Laghujataka.
• Vagbhatt: Vagbhatt was a physician of Gupta’s times. He wrote a medicinal treatise Ashtangasangraha in which he described human anatomy.

Martin Luther king and Mahatma Gandhi services

Martin Luther king was one of the greatest men of the world. He was like Gandhi in many respects. Both belonged to the 20th century. Both supported the cause of the down-trodden. Martin Luther king championed the rights of American Negroes. Both were peaceful warriors. Non- violence was their only weapon. Both were shot dead.

Martin Luther king was a clergyman. He believed in the equality of man. He felt distressed by the racial discrimination against the Negroes and the denial of their rights. The Negroes did a lot towards the building of modern America. They worked hard in mines, on the docks and in the foundries. They fought bravely to defend America’s honor. But they were not given good treatment by the America Government. According to martin Luther king, they were regarded as half slave and half free.

The Negroes lived economic insecurity although America was prosperous. The Negroes were denied normal education and normal social opportunities. A Negro could not attend a school or a public amusement park meant for whites. They were not served food at the same counter with the whites. A Negro was nobody in his own land. The situation in India for the untouchables was the same as that of Negroes in America. Mahatma Gandhi fought all his life for the betterment of the untouchables. The British rule was another evil in India. It exploited India and blocked her mental and spiritual growth. Gandhi started opposing the British rule in India. He put into the India’s a new spirit by his doctrine of non- violence. He and his men were beaten up but they never offered any resistance. At lasts the British left India.

As a young boy, martin Luther king was deeply influenced by Gandhi’s success in social and political fields, non –violence and the moral strength. From Gandhi he learnt to set right wrongs by love and not by hatred.

For about 350 years, twenty million Negroes sobbed and wept. White Americans did not care their difficulties. Abraham Lincoln and john Kennedy did feel for them. Martin Luther king did not understand why American democracy should crush the rights of the Negroes. He wanted the Negroes to enjoy the same civics facilities as the white Americans. He wanted these rights without any delay. Some people said that martin Luther king was impatient. Martin Luther answered back that those people might never have felt the hurt of racial discrimination.

Martin Luther gained national importance when he led a boycott of the people public buses in Montgomery to protest against separate seats on them. After several boycotts, he met with success. The U.S. Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public transport as unlawful. Martin Luther kin’s movement was non- violent.

The Montgomery victory encouraged the Negroes. Martin Luther awakened the Negroes with fiery speeches. In 1963, he made a historic speech when 250000 Americans of all faiths, races and creeds assembled together to 1March on Washington’. The gist of his speech was that he had a dream of the time when racialism would end.