Darlings Of The Department. The Story Of Harry Vinoir. By P.S.Remesh Chandran.

042.

Darlings Of The Department. The Story Of Harry Vinoir. By P.S.Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.  

By PSRemeshChandra, 6th Jan 2012. Short URL http://nut.bz/3xu7tqdk/

Posted in Wikinut True Stories  

When someone steals 3.2 millions from government treasury, causes the death of one woman, two children and three men in this adventure and escapes into the safety of a promotion post of a very senior officer in that government, a few will admire him but the majority of the people in the world will wonder who is ruling Kerala and if there is any law and policing there. Any sensible person will ask who that rogue is. Read here the true story.

A Story from the The Hospital Window Series- True stories of what one sees through hospital windows from the inside and from the outside.  

This story is from the archives of the imaginary investigative organization ‘Kerala Peoplez Vigilenz included in their forthcoming book ‘The Hospital Window’. ‘The Hospital Window Series’ contains true stories of what one sees through hospital windows from the inside and from the outside. Many people have the notion that educational qualifications, ability and skill are the determinants for selection and promotion in government services. This notion is held by more and more people nowadays, following the American government’s decision to recruit persons into their services more through telephone interviews than through face to face interviews so that the colour and beauty of applicants shall not be a consideration. The American government’s decision is admirable in that selecting only the beautiful, fleshy and protein-rich ladies into the services can be avoided and coloured people too, if with enough abilities, could get their rightful chances. It is an action which several nations and states in the world, some of them claiming to have achieved complete socialism and some claiming even to be God’s Own Native Land have not been bold enough to take. But wait till you read this story which I tell you here, before deciding who will eventually become the darlings of government departments.

Doctors never commit suicide because they have enough patients there to kill through their blunders.  

Many years back, when it was a time of no mobile phones, internet or television, the newspapers in Kerala celebrated a story. An employee in the District Surgeon’s Office in Trivandrum organized large scale monetary crimes following which a doctor and his family, including his wife and two children, were found dead in a hotel room in the capital city, with burned currency notes of higher denominations scattered everywhere around them in the hotel room. It should be noted here that doctors rarely take their own lives when there are enough poor patients for them there to kill silently and deliberatively through their greed and blunders. It should also be considered that whatever complexities they themselves have got into, they would be having highly placed persons in their contact to get them out of any kind of problem and that theirs is a profession they are licensed to practice till the end of their days unlike those of the other senior civil servants of their rank and genre. That is why the world seldom hears about doctors committing suicide anywhere. So naturally the revelations following this multiple suicide, if it was suicide, became exceptionally sensational in Kerala and remained bold frontline headlines for months to come in all major and minor newspapers in the state. Since old dated copies of these papers are available in the State Public Library in Trivandrum for the reference of anyone who is interested and also since it is not the right thing to give undue publicity to these papers, we shall avoid mentioning their names here.

Where did all those bundles of currency notes to burn in a hotel room come from?  

Now since it was a multiple suicide by a reputed doctor and his family in a hotel room, with currency notes scattered everywhere which in itself was rare, it became great news. The social, political and civil service life of this doctor was scrutinized into and in the investigation which followed it was revealed that this doctor was a very generous person whenever money came his way. It was reported that he was generous in presenting rich sarees and gold ornaments to his subordinates, especially ladies, frequently. It mostly happened when bills for the special expenses of his hospital were cashed from the government treasury. He was an Assistant Surgeon in charge of a rural Primary Health Centre in a very remote hamlet called Vellappil. It is now relevant here to note how funds for a small hospital are received encashed and accounted for. The money to be paid as salaries to the staff would be provided in advance in the budget plan of the department for the year, for the encashment of which no allotments of funds are needed. Medicines and other stores for the hospital would be issued from the government stores according to requirement and indents. All other inevitable expenses will have to be got approved by the District Surgeon’s Office and allotment of funds will have to be received both in the institution and in the concerned treasury before presenting the bills.

Simply put a zero on the right side of 10,000 in a government communication and 1, 00,000 will come your way.  

How does an allotment for a certain amount reach a remote hospital? Newspapers also brought out how it is done, every single stage explained in detail, for a column is a column, a page is a page and here the news is anyway free. Suppose an amount of Ten Thousand rupees has to be allotted to Vellappil Hospital for purchasing stationary, sanitation materials for field services or for securing local services such as loading and unloading of materials or coolie labour. A triplicate allotment letter would be prepared in the District Surgeon’s Office. A Yellow copy will go to the concerned government treasury to enable them to set aside sufficient amount to pay when the bill is presented. A Blue copy will go to the concerned institution. A White copy will remain in the District Office as office copy. Then there will be the ledgers and registers in the office wherein notings will be made. The clerk will write 10000 toward the left of the column, leaving space for a single digit on the right edge of the entry in the paper. The higher officers will compare the figure with the ledgers and registers, approve and sign the allotment and return the file to the clerk’s table. The clerk will then put an additional Zero on the right, making the figure 100000 and send the allotment letters to the Vellappil Hospital and the Treasury there. The additional Zero will be put only in the Yellow and Blue copies and the White copy will remain unchanged in the original file. Thus the officials in the District Surgeon’s Office normally will not know about this cheating until one of them becomes suspicious or it is caught in the next audit by the internal wing of the department or by the Accountant General, provided none other is involved in this racket. Thus the doctor will mix original vouchers for 10000 with bogus vouchers for 90000, present a bill for 100000 rupees in the treasury and encash the amount. It was later revealed that the actual 10000 indeed was utilized in the hospital against original vouchers, another 10000 was spent on silencing a few, 30000 became the doctor’s lavish money to be spent at his will and the rest 50000 straight went to the clerk in the District Surgeon’s Office. A very lucrative deal indeed, until caught.

Perpetrators of a crime taking their own lives, one, two, three, except the original plotter.

Burning currency is a serious crime. Those officers who went after the burned, semi burned and unburned bundles of notes in the hotel room eventually found out that the clerk in the District Surgeon’s Office was the original planner and founder of this racket, that he was simply captivating a convenient doctor from a peripheral institution to execute his agenda and that they had already stolen 32 Lakhs rupees within a period of one year. It was also found out that the treasury officials could easily have detected this theft when inconceivably high bills began to be presented from a minor institution while annual such expenditure from other similar lower hospitals remained below just two lakhs rupees during those decades, and that not less than two treasury officials were receiving their share of the loot. The peon of the hospital who was assigned the duty of going to treasury for cashing the bills was satisfied with just his liquor money. When investigations progressed and the vigilance net came closer and closer, this person took his life, leaving his family orphans. Then there was the clerk of the institution who actually prepared the ballooned up bills. The next mysterious death was his, which also was supposed to be suicide. The death toll now has reached six. The stealing of 32 lakhs rupees from government coffers took the lives of three men, one woman and two innocent children. Now, of the four perpetrators of the crime, only one person is alive – the clerk in the District Surgeon’s Office, the original plotter of the crime. Newspapers happily brought out how many cars he bought, how many bungalows he bought and how many acres of land he bought in Trivandrum city. A heinous crime committed by a greedy government official resulted in leaving behind it a trail of suicides, the unwanted death of six persons, including two infants. Any alert administration and people will shake the world with news of apt immediate punishment, but not civilized Kerala. When faced with such sinful a situation, some will suicide, some will confess and go to the confines and solitude of prison and some others will repent, but not our man. The greatest wonder in Kerala is that even the loss of six human lives and 32 lakhs rupees from government treasury caused no prosecution, conviction and jail terms. This was an incident which seriously raised the question, whether any real laws are really existing there in Kerala or is Kerala simply boasting about civilization.

Steal 32 lakhs from government, join ranks of caste zealots, escape punishment, and get promoted as officer.  

Now we come to our character, Harry Vinoir, the original plotter and designer of the scheme. He is now the only alive perpetrator of the crime which took the toll of six human lives. Everything regarding his past and present have been brought out by the newspapers. His two bungalows, three cars, five bank deposits and four stretches of purchased land in the city are now public knowledge. The department could do only one thing decent-promote him. He deserves it, considering the department standards. But due to public pressure and wide media attention they reluctantly had to suspend him from service, ordering a departmental enquiry the order for which was issued not by the reluctant department but by the government in the face of public accusation and considering the gravity of the situation after six deaths. Been recruited into service following the death of a relative in service, this employee had strong family supporters in the department. Moreover, he belonged to the forward Vinoir community of Kerala, the rotten caste system of which land is famous all over the world for its notoriety and unjust favouritism. He did not hesitate to join their ranks and make his way to the upper leadership of the caste organization. The Vinoir community in Trivandrum did not find it an abomination and shame to elect him a leader in the Vazhuthanakkadu branch of their organization which assured him impunity from punishment for his crimes. They simply became bound to help him in spite of the notoriety of his crimes.

If one is skilled enough to steal millions from government, generous enough to share it and belongs to some upper caste, Kerala is God’s Own Country for him.  

We will think that the person, our Harry Vinoir, is now spending his life in jail or he is engaged in some other employment after serving his jail term. Actually his protectors in the department, the community figure heads, by stalling the enquiry, gave him enough time and lee way to argue that the enquiry is belated, he is already punished psychologically, there is no evidence against him and that he should be retaken into service. With lightning speed, they sent him to some remote institution where it was some fouled up doctor’s duty to re-enter him in service by simply writing in his service book ‘reinstated in service and rejoined duty’ without mention of number or date of a reinstatement order or even affixing a copy of the suspension and reinstatement orders in the book. In fact, the government that suspended him later revealed that it never issued an order reinstating him. Neither the department did, for that matter. It was another trick employed by devious minded government officials. Wait for one or two years till the uproar over the issue silences, simply fabricate orders, simply sent the favourite to some distant institution and simply write that some he has rejoined duty. It is that simple in Kerala, provided one is a member of the crooks’ clan. Now there is no hindrance to promoting him and the machinery moved on, well oiled up. The fact that the top authorities who reviewed his requests for these many promotions failed to note that copies of suspension and reinstatement orders and number and date of reinstatement order were absent in his service book serves as proof for how wide and omnipotent the hold of the crook’s clan and caste zealots is in the administration in the state. Within a few years Harry Vinoir was first promoted as an Upper Division Clerk, then as a Head Clerk, then as a Junior Superintendent and now he is on the brink of promotion to the post of a Superintendent. If one is skilled enough to steal millions from government, generous enough to share it and belongs to some upper caste, anything is possible in Kerala: Kerala is God’s Own Country for him. It is the benefit of being a darling of the department. Not one government official from the top most to the bottom ever asked that most feared question: “Why was the money stolen from government not ever recovered?”

Some sinners, when they reach the tranquil abodes of saints and holy people will repent deeply and redeem part of what humanity was lost from them.  

Sin is something that creates in some of us the false notions of religion. When we know that everyone knows we are crooked thieves who did unspeakable crimes, some of us will decide it is time to make a show of religion and piety. So Harry Vinoir decided to lean on some respected man of miracles so that the blood of half a dozen human lives could be somewhat washed from his hands. Now we are entering a part of our story which never should have happened. Who served hundred thousands of acres of parched fields and villages in dry Andhra Pradesh with water? Who inspired thousands and thousands of writers, singers and dancers with sweet melodious songs in the bygone era? Who solaced desolate millions, sitting in a bamboo hut in the midst of a vast yellow mustard field in his rustic native hamlet? Who founded and directed the biggest free hospital in Asia? Our animal which is Harry Vinoir selected the learned Satya Sai Baba to lean on. What can Baba do against such sinners and hypocrites joining and maligning his sacred organizations? Vinoir made it a great show, sang bhajans and went pilgrimages. Some sinners, when they reach the tranquil abodes of saints and holy people will repent deeply and transform their minds into other configurations without knowing, redeeming a part of humanity that was lost from them, but not our man! He is in his heart and blood a beast that wallows deep in the wormy pits of fleshly pleasures. One will wonder if this creation has a family of his own and why his wife and children did not enter anywhere in our story. Let us not further pain them, those pining human souls who on their way to eternity, though for a very short time, got entangled in the clutches of this wretched god-abandoned thing.

He, in his heart and blood, is a beast which wallows deep in the wormy pits of fleshly pleasures.

Flesh is something important and influential in government services. When a fleshy, protein-rich lady with sufficient curves and projections comes to work in an office, several changes in seating arrangements and sections would be made there to sit her as lightly and cozily as the sex-starving officers of that office could do. In a particular government office, the clerks were previously sitting in two rows facing each other. One saw the face of the other and communicated well. With the arrival of one such lady, the junior superintendent of that office ordered the seats to be placed one behind the other, all facing him so that he can feast on the face and curves of the new arrival. Now all see another’s back, which is taboo in the East and now there is no communication between anyone but discord. The officer looked up some book, coined a new phrase and said it was Ahmadabad- Model Administrative Change! When the new arrival did not like one particular section since it involved actual work, another rearrangement in sections was made to suit her disturbing all others and when she did not like the second one too, a third rearrangement was ordered. One senior and reliable officer of that institution commented that the girl had to learn to do actual work, not show curves. Curvaceous flesh can move officers but not office files. It needs learned work and dedication to move them. Then one day the husband of this lady came to that office shouting that his wife has been going out with that junior superintendent, their family is on the brink of ruin and that this cannot go on. Following advice from her new lover, she filed law suit for divorce and her two little children thus lost a father. It needn’t be specially told here that this junior superintendent was our Harry Vinoir. So now we know that a born sinner will never repent and that heaven will not touch the devil. A mad dog will not cure and that is why the world kills it. A person who is left at liberty and freedom to destroy human lives everywhere will continue to do it without remorse or hesitance. He leaves a trail of destruction behind him, his intolerance for having been exposed once brutally expressing itself in causing him to destruct whatever solid human creations and relations he comes across. Learning about this incident of the birth of two new orphans and the prospect of two more suicides, many wondered how long he will continue this destruction of human lives. A few say, till he also takes his own life.

Dear Reader, If you cannot access all pages of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum, kindly access them via this link provided here: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles

To read about the life and people of Kerala, visit KERALA COMMENTARY here.

More similar articles can be read in Bloom Books, Trivandrum or Sahyadri Books here.

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Caste Zealots And Criminals, Crimes That Went Unpunished, Darlings Of The Department, Escapees From Crimes, Hospital Crimes, Kerala, Kerala Commentary, Kerala Life, P S Remesh Chandran, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Short Fiction, Short Stories, The Hospital Window Series Stories, The Story Of Harry Vinoir, True Stories

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PSRemeshChandra Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of ‘Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book’. Unmarried and single. 

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Father’s Help. R.K.Narayan Story. Reintroduced by P.S.Remesh Chandran.

30.

Father’s Help. R.K.Narayan Story. Reintroduced by P  S Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

 

By PSRemeshChandra, 11th Jul 2011.  Short URL http://nut.bz/228jxdn3/
Posted in Wikinut Short Stories

 

Children are very reluctant to go school due to various reasons, especially on Monday mornings. They will find many excellent reasons for not going to school, which are not new to us as we all had taken out the same excuses in our childhood days to evade going to school. But it is good to be very sympathetic and considerate to them in their little problems which to them are big. Who knows whether they would be having big genuine problems in school or not? This article is dedicated to the tiny buds of this world.

A tale from the banks of the vanished and imaginary Sarayoo River.

R.K.Narayan is a famous novelist and short-story writer fromIndia. Many of his stories are pictured as happening in the Malgudi District in South India which never existed. These stories became famous as the Malgudi Stories. Malgudi is an imaginary district situated on the banks of the imaginary Sarayoo River. It is widely believed that this Sarayoo River made its appearance on this earth from the heaven and in the middle of forgotten ages decided to disappear below ground. The scientists and explorers did try to prove the once-existence of this mythical river. R.K.Narayam’s Malgudi District stories are in this respect identical to Thomas Hardy’s Wessex County novels. Narayan’s style is simple, lucid and humorous. Narayan’s father’s name was Krishnaswami Iyer of Rasipuram in Tamil Nadu, who was a provincial school headmaster. His brother R.K.Laxman also is a renowned cartoonist.

Would anyone enter the mind of children going to school unwillingly after protestation?

Dream of a nation, Future of a generation.

The South Indian boy Swami is reluctant to go to school on Mondays as boys everywhere are, which is a universal phenomenon. He told his mother that he cannot go to school that day because he had a headache, which also is universal. Going in a Jutka (cart) will only make things worse. Moreover, he had no important lessons for that day. He convinced his mother who was very easy to be convinced as mothers everywhere are, but his father was a very stubborn person. He lied to his father that Samuel teacher would beat him mercilessly if he went to class late and that it was very late to go to school already. The teacher was a very violent man who would cut him to pieces with a cane and twist his ears. He also told his father a few false stories about Samuel teacher’s cruelty to children. His father became such furious that he wrote a very lengthy letter to the Headmaster which would bring Samuel teacher’s sure punishment and eventual dismissal from service. Thus Swami was forced to attend school that day with this letter.

One day is enough for a boy to provoke a teacher into doing some horrible crimes against him.

The Cuba School Bus.

On his way to school Swami had many thoughts. Samuel teacher was not a very bad teacher. Of course he beat boys, but he was not totally unkind as the other teachers. Swami could not find any fault with that man that would make his dismissal from service deserving. By the time he reached the school gates, he had resolved to hand over the letter to the Headmaster not in the morning, but only in the evening. Within that time, he was sure he could do something most mischievous to provoke the teacher to do some horrible crime against him that would make his punishment justifiable.

The astonished student finds the teacher has developed tolerance and gentleness overnight.

Educational authorities fly in imported cars.

Samuel teacher taught Arithmetic in Swami’s class in the morning and History in the evening. In the Arithmetic class he was not punished for coming late or for not doing his homework. He was not minded but just ignored. His headache was readily accepted as an excuse. To his astonishment, the teacher seemed to have developed tolerance and gentleness overnight. He waited for the History class in the evening to come. In the History class he tried in many crazy ways to provoke the teacher to beat him. He asked many wayward questions, shouted several times in the class and answered questions that were asked to others. Finally he succeeded in obtaining eight hot cane cuts on his palm. Thus, when the evening bell rang, with satisfaction and without feeling any guilt, he went to the Headmaster’s room to deliver the letter from his father. Alas, the Headmaster was on leave for a week and the Assistant Headmaster Samuel teacher was in-charge of the Headmaster. He did not dare deliver the letter to the man. When he returned home his father called him a coward, and tore the letter to pieces.

Had there been no problems in school, would the child be unwilling to go to school?

Going to school by Tuk Tuk.

This story was written by R.K.Narayan in the beginning of the Twentieth century, based on the experiences of a child in Indian circumstances. The times have changed and the perspective has now become universal. Academic syllabuses and the modes of students’ travel to schools have changed much. But what did not change was our attitude to children’s problems. Had there been no problems in school, and had the school atmosphere been very interesting and stimulating to children with their friends and play opportunities, would a child be unwilling to go to school? There of course are genuine reasons for a child to be refusing to go to school.

Sadism and masochism now prevalent and dominant in the teaching world.

Protective shield of her elder sister.

Pestering and persecuting teachers are the prime reason for the child trying to keep away from school. Sadists and masochists are now in plenty among the teachers. Professional quality of teachers has also dwindled. Ethics in profession and pedagogical values are never kept. Trade unionism consumed and ate into excellence. Corruption is the face mark of educational administration. Governments shamelessly accept money from bargaining private managements and license opening and running of schools as they like including medical schools. Politicians and legislators are no more ashamed at the guilt of getting in the middle of auctioning of school permits. In India, if we give bribe to educational authorities and the private school managements, any low class graduate can become a teacher. Even talented teachers have to secure their jobs through bribery. This dissatisfaction and hatred they feel in securing their jobs are extended towards children in the form of intolerance, leading ultimately to unrest in schools. The child has nothing at all to do in this except bear the brunt of things.

Educators around the world have become one of the obstacles to education.

Laughter often fades when they reach school.

Another factor that make children loath going to school is their backpacks. It weighs often up to 20-25 kilos. When we ask children why it is so, they answer that everything has to be taken to school each day, if not the teacher will beat them, put them out of class or send them away from school. We will wonder whether drug companies manufacturing medicines for back pains and back bone deformities are bribing the world educational authorities to continue this practice and keep back from bringing about humanitarian legislation. Why can’t the world legislate and limit their daily burden to below 5 kilos, including water bottles and food? When one of the world renowned teachers, writers, philosophers and former Presidents of India Dr.S.Radhakrishnan said “we are faced with the paradoxical fact that educators have become one of the obstacles to education,” it was very true. The morning face of a child going to school is the most beautiful thing in this world to see. That radiance there is the guarantee that human beings are taken care of in the Universe. Will it continue to be so in the coming years?

 

_________________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.
_________________________________

 

Dear Reader,

You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:

https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles 

Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking here.

http://knol.google.com/k/psremesh-chandran/-/2vin4sjqlcnot/0#collections

 

Tags

Behaviour Of Children In Schools, Boys In School, Novelists, P S Remesh Chandran, Reintroductions, Reluctance Of Children To Go To School, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books Trivandrum, Short Stories, Short Story Writers, Stories, Writers, Writers From India

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

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Son From America. Isaac Singer Story. Reintroduced by P.S.Remesh Chandran.

29.

Son From America. Isaac Singer Story. Reintroduced by P S Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

 

By PSRemeshChandra, 11th Jul 2011.  Short URL http://nut.bz/2zzou3c./
Posted in Wikinut Short Stories

 

The Jews are a race hunted down and persecuted through centuries and generations. In whichever countries they migrated and escaped to, they did well and made a decent living. Their endurance before endless adversities owes to the simplicity in their lives. They even reached Cochin Kerala centuries earlier in quest of a quiet life. Now they have their home land to where they are returning, again to fight for the existence of their nation. Won’t the world leave them alone?

However severe they persecute me, I will not leave my soul alone nor leave it polluted.

Comm.Joselewicz dies. Military Uprising 1867.

The Son From America is a short story by the famous Jewish writer Isaac Singer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978. He usually wrote about the lives of Jews who lost their homeland and settled in various countries. Among such people, an old man named Berl and his wife Berlcha settled in the peaceful village of Lentshin in Poland. Lentshin was such remote and far from civilization that city news rarely reached there. The village had small thatched houses, almost all the inhabitants were farmers and there were no thieves. Like the other inhabitants, Berl and Berlcha led a simple, humble and satisfied life. They had half an acre of land, a cow, a goat and some chicken. They all lived in that little hut together.

The son from America finally returning to his native village Lentshin.

Inside Cochin Synagogue Kerala built in 1568.

Most of the young men of the village had gone abroad. Many had gone to America, including Berl’s son Samuel. He had been in America for forty years and regularly sending money. Berl had cashed it, but was not spending it, as the family had no need of it. He kept the money inside an old boot in his home. One day his son Samuel unexpectedly arrived from America after forty long years. He had sent a telegramme which did not reach the village. Berl and Berlcha were much excited and delighted to see their son. Their neighbours came in flocks to see how he looked like, but did not accept any of his gifts. None of them needed anything.

Rustic tranquillity of a Polish village untouched by the pollutants of riches.

Cochin Jewish Inscription in Kerala India.

Samuel was shocked to see the simplicity of his home. It was a simple thatched hut with barely room enough for all. The cow, the goat, the chicken and his parents all lived together in the same room peacefully. Life untouched by the pollutants of riches allows for and provides for the co-existence of man and bird and beast. Samuel had expected a huge house in place of the old hut. He asked his father why the large sums of money sent to him were not expended. His father replied that he did not need it and that they were satisfied and self- sufficient with the earnings from their land, cow, goat and chicken. Samuel then knew that the rustic tranquillity of this Polish village would never be touched by the pollutants of riches such as ostentation, vanity, pride, splendour and luxury. Even then he had to account for his decisions regarding the future of his village as an envoy from an organization.

In old age one needs praying alone, and may be said to be living so long as he remains healthy.

A simple Jewish home in a village in Poland.

Samuel had great plans for his village. The young men from Lentshin Village in America had formed a ‘Lentshin Society’ in New York. They had all prospered well in America and had amassed a huge amount in their society as their contributions, to be utilized later solely for their home village in Poland. They had many plans for the welfare and development of their home village. It was carrying their huge amounts of money that Samuel arrived as their representative. Now he is in a dilemma. Their village seemed to need nothing. There were only old people there. An old man Samuel met in the Synagogue told him that in old age one needed praying alone, and that one may be said to be living so long as he remains healthy. They did pray and did have health. So Samuel intimated his intention to build a new Synagogue for the village and a home for the aged. But he was dissuaded, as the existing Synagogue was enough and they all had their homes.

The opulence of imperial persecution retaliated with rustic simplicity in life.

Kazimierz The Great and Jews.19th century painting

Samuel brought money, but his village had no use of it which was his dilemma. Such simple, satisfied and self sufficient a rustic life strongly reminds us of the characteristics of a happy life as described by Alexander Pope in his poem The Ode On Solitude. One thing also is to be remembered here. The Jews were a race hunted through centuries and through generations. They were arrested, tortured, executed, transported, relocated and scattered throughout the world for no fault of their’s but for religious misconceptions of the world. In Russia, in Germany, in Poland: their hunting and persecution was continuous. Wherever they were scattered, this simplicity in life was what sustained them.

That mad dog that we called Hitler which sent millions to gas chambers and firing pits, not even sparing little children and old women.

Transportation and relocation of Jews in 1939.

When at last a home was found for them, by the intervention of world nations, it was just like as island in the middle of a sea of hostilities. We know they laid plastic over bomb-burned soil, lorry-loaded fresh soil above it, planted crops and survived. They deserve the respect of mankind and human society for showing us the fine example of enduring relentless adverse living conditions and undeserved persecution from the political Brahmins of this world. That mad dog that we called Adolph Hitler sent millions of them to gas chambers and firing pits, not even sparing little children and old women. The world is duty-bound to help their nation and its people whom we all wronged.

It is time the Jews turn to discovering petrol from plant leaves so that their friends would stay.

Jews in Poland lined up for identification.

It is particularly to be noted here that nations, people and political parties in this world are unstable and wavering in their opinions of and approach towards the Jews. The only nation that remained unwavering, stable and steady whatever may come and still remains so, devoted to their cause as earlier, is the United States of America which deserves praise, and which reflects the lofty principles upon which this nation was founded. It has now become a fashion to denounce and condemn the Jewish nation so that a few drops of precious oil could be secured. It is time the Jews turn to discovering petrol from plant leaves so that they can retain their friends.

 

_________________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.
_________________________________

 

Dear Reader,

You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:

https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles

Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking here.

http://knol.google.com/k/psremesh-chandran/-/2vin4sjqlcnot/0#collections

Tags

American Literature, English Literature, History Of Poland, Isaac Singer, Jewish Authors, Jews In Poland, Lentshin Village In Poland, Migration Of The Jews, P S Remesh Chandran, Reintroductions, Relocation Of Jews, Russian History, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books Trivandrum, Short Stories, Story, The Son From America, Transportation Of Jews

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

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rama devi nina
11th Jul 2011 (#)

Congrats on your star page. This is well researched and presented with superb photos. I have visited that synagogue in Cochin a few times. Nice to see it written of here!

PSRemeshChandra
11th Jul 2011 (#)

Dear Rama Devi Nina,

It seems you have travelled through and visited almost all beautiful places which I very much wished to visit but never did. Thank you for going through the article and complimenting it. When I was a school boy, what I heard most was about the Palestine Refugees who lost their home land. It was their plight that kindled revolutionary spirits in me as I grew older. In my very early teens I wrote and published a long song Before The Dawn Rises (Prabhaathamunarum Munpe in Malayaalam) as I always wished to cherish in human minds the picture of the Palestinian Fighters destined to live in and move through the dark in forests, training more among them to perish for their cause, without leaving behind a trace of their very existence in this dear world. Within that time I had read and known much about the centuries-old flight and plight of the Jews and their connection with the decisions after the Second World War and with the Palestine problem. I sympathize with both these people who I think are my brothers. There were many famous Jewish Business Houses such as the S. Coder’s and the Spencer’s in Trivandrum. I know many of them were in Cochin also. When they all closed their businesses and returned to their homelands, many grieved as if family members are going away for ever. I like to think that the Palestinians and the Jews will someday embrace each other and drink tea from the same samovar. Anyway Ibrahim and Abraham are but one and the same.

 

 

Good Manners. J C Hill Essay. Reintroduced by P S Remesh Chandran.

25.

Good Manners. J.C.Hill Essay. Reintroduced by P.S.Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

 

By PSRemeshChandra, 4th Jul 2011.  Short URL http://nut.bz/t5js2x7m/
Posted in Wikinut  Essays

 

We are staying on this planet only for a very short time. Before it is a hundred years, our times are out. We will never see those who we live with again in our lives. Perhaps we will never see a human face again. This is our only chance to see, acquaint with and deal with human beings. So why not behave politely, and please them and help them? A famous British writer’s observations are reintroduced here.

Are you a Boy-Scout? No, I am an egg on toast.

A young boy scout of 1914. Australia.

The famous writer J.C.Hill has written a few things on the various factors constituting what good manners are. Men are fragile things come to live in this dangerous world. We are unimportant humble little human beings who shall not pass this way again. During our short stay here, we should help the world as much as we can. A child would not be knowing about the sufferings of his parents, which they would not be willing to tell him. So children should make life easy for them. Good manners come from sympathy with others and from understanding our own limitations. We should strain and train ourselves to remain calm before irritating questions. Once when an old lady, seeing his dress, asked a little boy whether he was a Boy Scout, he was irritated and rudely barked that he was ‘two eggs on toast’. She only meant how nice he looked in a nice uniform and there was really nothing silly in her remark. This is considered improper behaviour towards older people.

Good listeners get enough time to think so that when they speak, they can speak clearly.

Listeners to Orpheus. Nymphs by the stream.

Suppose an old man is crossing a young racing cyclist very slowly. The speeding cyclist would be annoyed and irritated at this unexpected obstacle and barricade on his way. Do not scold him for being that slow. He may be weak and losing his agility. A healthy young man who never cared for others once became seriously ill and when he recovered, he was very weak and had to remain so for a few days. Even walking became very difficult for him. It was then that he realized the misery of weak and old people who get no seats in transport buses. He will get back his strength someday but those old people will never get back their’s. So from then onwards he promptly gave up seats for the weak and aged in buses. While in company, we should be very careful in observing good manners. We should speak clearly and sufficiently loud for others to hear us. It is our duty to make ourselves understood. And do not talk too much. Always give others a chance to speak.

Delighted to hear one’s own voice resounded from everywhere.

Eve listening to the Voice for the first time.

Some people are delighted to hear their own voice resounded from everywhere and always, and some young men and young women talk away their lives, thinking the company is delighted to hear them, but every one there would really be exhausted and angry at their unpolished and rude behaviour. Good listeners get enough time to think. Don’t say unpleasant things about some one on his back. Such remarks will usually find its way to that person. Always adjust your remarks, thinking that the very person would be overhearing you.

It takes two to speak the truth-one to speak and another to hear.

Slacken our paces when passing the infirm.

Many often, what we speak will not be the truth. We shall not hold it that what we speak is truth. The acclaimed American writer Thoreau once said that ‘it takes two to speak the truth- one to speak and another to hear.’ Truth differs from person to person. Socialism might be control of commerce and industry to some, but it is robbing the riches of others to some others. What we think to be true needn’t always be true. J.C.Hill sites an example. Some students were once shown a picture of a bull-fight and asked later to describe it from memory. One said, a bull’s tongue was out. Actually the bull’s mouth was closed, but because its head was turned to the side, its ear had looked like a tongue. So whenever we argue with somebody about a point, think that always there is always a chance of us going wrong.

 

________________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

________________________________

 

Dear Reader,

You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:

https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles

Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking here.

http://knol.google.com/k/psremesh-chandran/-/2vin4sjqlcnot/0#collections

 

Tags

British Writers, English Literature, Good Manners, J C Hill, P S Remesh Chandran, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Short Stories

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

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PSRemeshChandra
4th Jul 2011 (#)

When I am walking a way, sometimes I would see old men, women and sick people on the way who strain to walk. I know how they would feel when somebody passes them from the back in full health, vigour of strength and agility of body, for I am a quick walker. So I slacken my steps in whatever hurry and urgent need may I be, so that they may think they are not the only persons who have lost strength. It is our duty not to make them offended, hurt and pining in hearts for their lost health.

Steve Kinsman
5th Jul 2011 (#)

Very nice article. Thank you.

PSRemeshChandra
5th Jul 2011 (#)

Thank you Steve Kinsman for reading it. I have gone through and very much enjoyed your works. I am trying to improve myself to stand in level.

 

 

Spring Time. O Henry Story. Reintroduced by P S Remesh Chandran.

24.

Spring Time. O Henry Story. Reintroduced by P. S. Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

 

By PSRemeshChandra, 6th Jun 2011.  Short URL http://nut.bz/3rrqb.i5/
Posted in Wikinut  Short Stories

 

O.Henry’s stories are famous for the twist towards their end. William Sydney Porter was the real person behind this name. He wrote more than Two hundred short stories, almost all of them equally famous. His stories are noted for the great sympathy they show towards human life. Here in this story he is describing how the happiness of spring is returning to Sarah’s life after the cold of a winter.

Typewritten menus for a restaurant in exchange for three meals a day.

The O. Henry family in 1890s.

Sarah made her living through type writing. In the cold winter times, food was a problem. She made an agreement with the Schulenburg (Shoolenberg) Restaurant near her home. According to the agreement she would type the bill of fares for their twenty one tables each day and they had to provide her with three meals a day. When spring finally arrived it had no character of a spring. The snow of January still lay there in the streets even though it was March. And spring was already delayed a little in that American City of Manhattan. When spring arrived, there were changes in the menu of the restaurant. Soups became lighter, meat dishes changed and fried foods altogether vanished.

Life in distant farms in the countryside can be as calm, quiet and peaceful as a gently flowing river.

Typing away dreams.

While Sarah was typing the bill of fares for the restaurant, her mind flew back to the country side she visited during the last summer. Life in distant farms in the country side can be as calm, quiet and peaceful as a gently flowing river. After the tediousness and monotony of life in a city, the life in the country side seemed to her appealing and pleasant. She had there fallen in love with a young farmer by the name of Walter. He was a very clever and modern farmer who had a telephone in his cow-house. He could even calculate cleverly the effect of Canadian wheat crops on the American prices of commodities.

Heaven sent Dandelions to show how pleased and delighted the ethereal realms were with earth.

Distant farms are as quiet as a flowing river.

Sarah and Walter loved each other and he had decorated her hair with dandelion leaves and flowers as an expression of his love. She had left those flowers there for his caring and walked back home happily. We living in cities great and small can assume how much she might have wished to stay forever in those glens, vales and coves. How much will not an insecure girl wish for a safe and secure life under the protection of a loving husband! Her wishes were granted. They had agreed to get married in spring but he has not yet arrived in her town. She is awaiting him and she wept on her type writer.

No human beings are left alone. Teardrops of a loner are wiped away by invisible hands.

Two dandelion friends catching the Sun.

In the evening the waiter from the restaurant brought Sarah’s food and the next day’s menu. While typing, a dish item in the menu caught her attention. It was ‘Dandelion with Eggs.’ Dandelions are not only a food but a symbol of love also. While typing, the very word Dandelion made her remember her long awaited lover and weep again. In her grief and tears a strange thing happened. One tear drop fell on the type written menu and one word was mistyped.

It is an invisible God that leads the way and walks a few miles with us.

The last Typewriter Factory closed in 2011.

The next day, Walter from the country side arrived Sarah’s town, Manhattan searching for her. She had moved from her old address and the letter she sent him from the new address unfortunately had not reached him. Therefore he was not in a position to know about her whereabouts. He by chance stepped into the Schulenburg Restaurant and was given a menu of that day’s dishes. But what a bill of fare! There was the all distinguishable mark of a tear drop on it. ‘Dearest Walter with Eggs’ typed in place of ‘Dandelion with Eggs’. And there was the tell tale characteristic of his lover- the capital ‘W’ typed above the line! The instant he sighted this strange bill of fare, Walter knew who the typist who created this laughable thing was. Without waiting, obtaining her address from the restaurant, he rushed to her house.

 

________________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

________________________________

 

Dear Reader,

You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:

https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/wiki-nut-articles

Translations of this article in French, German, Spanish and Italian published in Knol.com can be read by clicking here.

http://knol.google.com/k/psremesh-chandran/-/2vin4sjqlcnot/0#collections

 

Tags

American Literature, American Writers, Appreciations, English Literature, English Short Stories, English Short Story Writers, O Henry, P S Remesh Chandran, Reviews, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Short Stories, Spring Time, Stories, Studies, William Sydney Porter

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

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