Think Woow

Ambayaluwo chpter four

2024-02-08T16:34:00.004+05:30

Since it was Friday three was no need for Sunil to change his clothes. The mother had given him permission to wear at home the clothes that he had worn to school on frieday.

After he had eaten his lkunch he took his shoes off, patted the dog Neela which was tied in a corner of the building where the barn was and went under the lovi tree in the courtyard. He did not go there for any special reason but happened to go there without any conscious effort. He only thought of Nimal. Sunil could no forget him.

Sunil stepped down into the garden of the walauwa. There were two grown trees, a betel creeper climbing a Kahata tree, a Cashew tree with an earthenware pot in which there were honey bess and a sweet waraka tree. He passed them all and went down. He then came up to the fence and reached the sour guava scrub jungle. The sour guava fruits were ripe. He hastily plucked a few anbd ate them. They were sweet like bee's honey. He crammed his two trouser pockets with guavas. Then he put guavas right round the waist between his body and the shirt.

Sunil then remembered the story of Columbus. Columbus sailed the seas and discovered a new land. Can't one go on land and discover a new land? Sunil went further into the land. A mongoose ran away in front of him. The crickts which were deceived by the darkness of the woodland began screeching Sunil fearlessly went further. A wild mango had fallen on the ground. He picked it up and gnawed at it. It was sweet. it could be said that it was even sweeter than the kind known as papaw mangoes. There were three more. He picked them up too and went further down. On a tall guava tree there were three fruits. Sunil climed it and picked all three of them, He remembered princess Madri who went to pick fruits in the jungles. Is it dificult to live only on fruits. Sunil sat on a bough of the guava tree and ate some of the guavas. He then heard a voice. It was somewhat familiar to him. Yet he was unable to identify it at once.

"Mother why is it that we don't have rice today too?" asked the familiar voice of a child.

"Although we had broken stones we did not get money for it yet", answered an unfamiliar female voice. Sunil looked around. He saw a shanty at the foot of the slope. The conversation came from that direction.

''Why, the paddy of this field?"

"This does not belong to us"

"Why?"

"We have sold this"

"To whom?"

"To Aluth Walauwa"

"Why is that?"

"Your father fot entangled in a land case and as he coulkd not pay the lawyer's fees he sold the paddy field"

"To whom?"

"To Aluth Walauwa'

"Then Sunil and the other's will be having rice everyday"

"Who is Sunil"

"He is in our class, That's the boy from Aluth Walauwa"

"Is Sudu Appo's name Sunil?"

Sunil's doubts were cleared.

That was Nimal and his mother.

"Evenm to make roti why did you take such a long time, mother?" asked Nimal.

"I came only now after plucking tea leaves"

"Where did sister go?"

"She went to Ihalagedara to pound rice"

"Then sister will be bringing a little rice?"

"Yes"

Sunil got down from the guava tree and proceeded twoards the hut. The hut was thatched with cocount leaf. The walls were of wattle and daub and the floor was sameared with cow dung Sunil walked towards the front of the shanty.

Nimal clad in sarong and a banian was seeated on a bench. He was holding an enamel plate on his left palm and eating roti with scraped cocounut. Nimal who heard footsteps looked over his shoulder and after keeping the plkate on the ground got up

"sunil, Where are you going?"

"I came for a walk"

Instantly a woman came out of the house. He also heard the babble of little children. Sunil become aware that they too were cating roti.

"I was wondering who it is, it's Sudu Appo isn't it?"

"Where are you goiong this way?" aslked Mo,a;'s mother. Sunil easily recongnized Ranmenika. He remembered that she came often to Aluth Walauwa to pound paddy. She was clad in a sopilded jacket and a chinitz cloth with red flowers. Nimal's mother resembled him bery closely.

" I just came" said Sunil bashfully

" In this jungle?" She asked and smiled

"Come Sunil. sit down" invited Nimal.

"Call him Sudu Appo son, otherwise they will blame us" Said Ranmenika.

: IOt doesn't matter" said Sunil going inside the house.

"It's a pity! There isn't even a place for Appo to sit down", she said and spread a piece of paper on the dirty bench Sunil sat down after putting the paper aside.

A voice was heard calling " son, son" That was the voice of Galbanda.

"Why appachchi?" Nimal went out and shouted back.

"Are you coming or not to break stones today?"

"Son tell him that we are coming" said Ranmanika it could have heard by Galbanda, too.

"Are you coming to break stones today or tomorrow?" asked Galbanda as if in anger.

"Then we'll gi" said Sunil.

Sunil and Nimal went off towards the stone quarry. The two friends crossed the stream. UJnil then theyt did not talk much At last Sunil broke the silence.

"Nimal, are you angry with me? asked Sunil holding his hands and lokking at his face.

"No"

"I fell very sad because I hit you"

"That doesn't matter"

''Did your arm hurt you?" asked Sunil rubbing the back of Nimal's palm.

"No it didn't hurt me" said Nimal although the hand was slightly swollen as a relsult of the kick with the shoe on

''You even got a beating from your appachchi because of me isn't it?"

"It doesn't matter"

'' I will never hit you again" said Sunil taking the finest guavas and the mangoes from his poclet and offering them to Nimal.

Nimal took a few of them

"Where are you going now Sudu Appo?"

"Chi! Don't call me Sudu Appo; call me Sunil just as on other days"

"If appachchi hears, sh'll beat me"

"Why"

"I have been asked to call those at Aluth Walauwa that way"

"Anyway don't call me Appo, if you call me Sunil, that's enough"

Galaband's angry voice as heard again

"Oh God, won't you all come today?"

"They have already started coming there" shouted Ranmenika.

"Are your legs groken?'' asked Galabanda again.

"Your go, I'll come later" Whispered Sunil into Nimal's car. Sunil hid himself in the Kanda shrubbery and Nimal went to the stone quarry.

"Where is sister?"

"She is said to have gone to pound paddy."

"Can you break stones alone until I tie the buffalo and come?"

" I can"

"Then I'll come soon" said Galabanda and went away.

Nimal stared crushing stones with a small hammer, when Galabanda's call to the buffaloes was heard in the distances Sunil slowly went towards Nimal.

"Give me also a hammer Nimal"

"You can't do these things, blisters will come on your plams"

"Then why do you break?"

"I am used to this"

"I too will get used"

"What for?"

"Then why do you break stones?"

"To buy rice for us"

Sunil laughed.

"Why rice?"

"Ti eat"

Sunil laughed more. He thought Nimal's answer was childish.

"Is rice bought by beaking stones?"

"Rice is taken from paddy,paddy is taken from paddy fields"

"That is not the way Nimal Stones are broken to be paved on the roads"

"Yes when stones are broken we get money, from the money we buy rice"

Sunil could not understand the argumnent. He too asked for a hammer and started breaking stories. But Sunil soon realized that he could not do the work carefully, nimbly with ability Before long Sunil's hand started paining.

"My hand is paining a great deal, Nimal"

That is what I told you ' said Nimal and laughed

"Let me see your hand?"

Nimal showed both his hands Sunil who saw the corns that had come up on Nimal's palm was surprised. He compared Nimal's hand with his.

"Your hand is very soft" said Nimal stroking the palm Suddenly the noise of a car was heard Sunil identified it by its sound.

Its our car. I'll hide"

Sunil went behiund the heap of granite stones and hid himself. The Morris Minor car climed the hill with a big noise. In it was Nelum Bandara and Maithri.

"I'll go Nimal, we'll meat tomorrow" he said and jumped on to the road and ran.

"Rice is taken from paddy, paddy

Ambayaluwo Chapter Three

2024-02-08T15:23:00.001+05:30

Sunil's house stood on the upper side of the road. It was called Aluth Walauwa, sunil climbed the tree rows of steps leading to the courtyard of the house thoughtfully.

"Mother?"

"Yes, son"

"Are you asleep?"

"No"

Sunil kept his satchel of books on table and went twoards the dining table. The mother got

rid of her drwosiness and having gone towards the dining table removed the reed cover and served the food Sunil.

Sunil's mother is Nelum Kumarihami. She was about thirty years, fair complexioned, tall and slender. She was wearing a blue saree and a white bluse. " Queen Elizabeth is just like mother" is what Sunil often Said.

" Are all yiouor sums corect. son?"

"Yes. don't serve me bitter gourd. what's this"

"Wetakolu"

"That too, I don't want "

"Then here are beans"

"That too, ha....ha...a little"

"Dry fish?"

"One piece; what meat is that?"

"It's straw mushrooms Don't you want?"

"I want; I want a little more"

"This is mutton"

"A little"

Sunil began eating.

"Start mixing the rice from one end, son"

"I forgot"

"Yes, you always forget"

"Why, didn't I eat well last night?"

"Eating well once is not enought. you must eat well every day"

"Will it be late tonight too when sister comes, moher?"

"No, appachchi said he will come early today" Nelum Bandara is Sunil's appachchi. He is the chief cleark at the courts. He goes to office in th car. When he goes he takes Sunil andn his sister Mainthri. this is beacuse the time of the courts tally to a great extent with that of her shchool. But since Gemunu vidylaya closes at one thirty in the afternoon sunil comes back wallking. Sunil ate his food thoughtfully.

" Mother, who is that man who breaks stones?" asked sunil finally.

"which, With the beard?"3

"Yes, yes"

"That man is called Galabanda" said Nelum Kumarihami and smiled humorously.

But Sunil put on a serious look.

"Not that! I ,eam the name in the book"

"In what book?" The mother suppressed a smile.

"The true name?"

"That man's true name is Muthumale Walauwe Muthe Banda: after he came to that house he was called Galwalegedara Muthe Banda. For convenience all called him Galabanda"

"What a Prty"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just"

"Why just"

"Please mother shall I go to break stones?"

"Why?"

"No,I love it so much"

"Why is that?"

"A boy in our class too will come to tht quarry to break stones"

"A boy in your class?" asked the Kumarihami amazed.

"Who is he?"

"Niml: he is Galabanda's son"

"Is he also in puth's class?"

"Yes,why?"

"Aney, Aney" said theh Kumarihami in surprise.

''What is it?" asked the grandmother coming towards them. She is the mother of sunil's appachchi. The older Kumarihami is good looking, well groomed and buxom. Her fce is round and she is fat. He hair is silver grey and her face is wrinkled.

The mother was still smiling.

"What is it daughter?" asked the grandmoother

"Nothing. Galabanda's said to be in putha's calss"

" is it true?" asked the grandmother suprised.

"Do you know what his name is? It's Nimal " said the mother smiling again.

"This is the curse of teaching them free; and all the riff-raff going to big schools, " said the grandmother with force.

"Don't you go even to talk with that sort of fellow" she advised Sunil.

"Why grandomother?"

"There, you question me. I say don't because it is no good"

"Listen a little to what I say will you" said the grandmother as if she were a little angry.

The conversation mixed with humnour that took place between the mother and the grandmother was not understood by Sunil. Sunil who started thinking about it did not even care about what he ate.

"Son why do you eat only curries? " asked the mother and once again started serving him curries.

Ambayaluwo Chapter two

2024-02-08T14:03:00.002+05:30

Sunil Was ten years old and younger tio Nimal by one year Nimal was so strong tht he could have beaten up Sunil. But Nimal did not beat him. Therefore Sunil felt sorry. With down cast eyes and ull of thought he went away along the road.

How bad it was for him to have kicked Nimal. Nimal did not even speak. How cruel was Sunil not to have taken the piece of mango. Sunil felt shy. The pther thing is to whom did the mango belong? Sunil might have seen it earlier. Whoever saw it first, doesn't the mango belong to the person who picked it up?

The clock at the Moratu kade, near the bridge, struck two. Sunil stood there and looked back. Still the clique of boys did not come. The boys were students of the fifth standard at the Nelumpura Gemunu Vidyalaya. They lived in the same cluster of houses in the village In the morning Sunil went in the car with his father. When school closed at one thirty in the afternoon it was his habit to join the other childern and go home together walking. However when they come up to a distance from where they could see the mango tree they run and pick mangoes.

Almost every day it was Nimal who ran and got under the mango tree first. It was mostly for this that Sunil got angry with Nimal. But what a cruel thing Sunil did! He was unable to pardon himself for doing this.

"Patience begets relie" was written on a school plaque which Sunil remembered. He realized the truth of it that day without any effort. Mimal will of course, like the otherer boys, sit under the mango tree for a little while and come. Just like the other boys he'll be crying out" O squirrel, O squirrel give us a mango to eat" at this time. As a reward for his ptience Nimal should have received immediate relif, But Sunil on the other hand decided not to do that kind of thing ever again.

Hard he hurt Nimal? Had he sprained his arm? Had mango juice soiled his clothes?

Sunil who saw the clique of boys coming at a disance resumed his journey.

One the sleeve of Sunil's crumpled white shirt there was patch of mud. The blue pair of short too was dirty. Since it was Friday it did not matter; because of Monday he would wear a new suit. The black pair of shoes was covered with dust. Sunil saw this and standing on one leg he wiped his shoes with the Grey socks. His slightly curly hair which was parted on the leftwas a little dishevelled. His broad forehead was smeared with sweat mixed with dust. And as a reason of the warmth of the sun and the effect of the quarrel his slightly dark cheeks looked flushed and bright. Since his mouth had strck Nimal's knee his upper lip too was slightly swollen. As a reason of ll this Sunil's mischivous appearance showed itself more prominently than his good looks.

It was Sunil who had good clean clothes than all the others in the group. He did not wear any suit for more than two days.That may be the reason why the other boys treated him with particular esteem. The lady teacher had a faint fonndness for him. This made him worried at times. He also felt shy. He thought how good it would be if he also could be like the other boys. Yet he sometimes took pride in being treated with a particular regard by the other boys.

Whatever it was how crude was the manner in which Sunil behaved under the mango tree. If Nimal too treated him in this manner what would he have done?

Nimal wore only a pair of rown canvas sheoes. After the quarrel Sunil saw that one of Nimal's shoes was smeared with cow dung. What a pity! Sunil heard Nimal saying once that he has only three pairs of blue shorts and three khaki shirts. They were worn after being mostly hand washed at home. As a result of the quarrel Nimal's shirt would have become dirty. That was he going to wear on Monday? Of course twoards the end of last month Sunil's father had brought home sis suits stitched on on occasion.

If Nimal had hit him at least one blow he wold not have been hurt so much. Was Nimal a coward? It connot be. He remembered one day that a boy in the sixth stanbdard was given a good beating. Yet why did not Nimal sepak a word against sunil who kicked him?

Paddy fields on either side of the rad were ripe. Sunil bent dwon toards the field and plucked an ear of paddy. He bit off baddy grains one by one and ate them after removing the husks as he went along. It ma be that since the sun was not so bright paddy birds in flocks flew hither and thither early. A parrot too flew towards the clearing adjoining the paddy fields carrying an ear of paddy. The tin hat of the scarecrow in the centre of the paddy field shone in the sunlight.

Sunil left the stretches of paddy fields and walked close to the stone quarry.

" Sudu Appo, alone today?" asked the quarry man taking his straw hat in his hand. He was a sturdy man wearing a pair of native shorts. HJe placed the hammer on the ground and stood erect. The bare upper part of his body was bathed in sweat. He curved his right forefinger and wiped the sweat off his heavily scarred broad forehead. Sunil had seen him standin in his courtyard several times; not in this dress but in a sarong and gauze banian. Theerefore he was not able to recognize him at once.

Sunil smiled at him packing up a stone threw it into the stream below. A rabbit which was on the bank of the stream being frightened at the noise scuttled off wildly through the scrub jungle.

"Where is our boy, Sudu Appo?"

"Who is it?"

"Nimal"

"There he is coming"

"Why didn't he come alsong with you Sudu Appo?"

"Nimal has ot angry with me" said Sunil picking another tone and throwing it in to the stream.

Presently Nimal emerged from the cure of the quarry alone. The other boys had turned at the junction ner the bridge and taken the other road. Sunil and Nimal came as far as the stone quarry Nimal walks down from the quarry. From there onwards Sunil goes alone.

The quarry man broke off a stick from a nearby Hinguru bush. "Why didn't you come with Sudu Appo?" asked the quarry man from Nimal in a stern voice raising the stick. Nimal looked into the distance without talking. " Have you got pittu in your mouth?" yelled out the quarry man. He hit him once and said.

"Heven't I told you to come with Sudu Appo?" and raised his stick again. sunil rushed in and held the stick which was in the quarry man's hand.

''Don't hit Nimal" said Sunil. The quarry man's face lit up with an unusual smile.

"Becase of Appo I have tolerted you today, if not I would have skinned you '' he said by way of rebuke and therw the stick away. "Appo loves you so much, why can't you come with him because he comes alsone. Run home, have your meals and come with your sister to break stones" said the quarry man. Nimal walked down from a spot close to the quarry and disappeared.

"Can Sudu Appo walk this distance alone?" asked the quarry man.

"Yes"

:Otherwise am I also to come?"

"Don't said Sunil and walked away thoughtfully.

Ambayaluwo Chapter One

2024-02-08T12:35:00.001+05:30

Nimal caqme running past the other boys, and leapt from the road on to the grass and picked up a mango,

''That's mine said Sunil trying to snatch it from him

''I'll give you!"

'' could the mango I picked up be yours?"

'' May be you picked it, but I am the one who saw it first''

The other boys walked about under the mango tree looking for mangoes. A few boys picked up good ones, some even picked up mangoes partly eaten by squirrels while some were decivbed by immature ones that looked ripe.

Sunil who only wnated to get the mango Nimal had picked up got nothing.

'' Are you giving my mango or not?'' asked Sunil and rushed towards Nimal leaving the satchel on the ground and fought for the mango.

Nimal too thrust his bundle of books under his armpit and held the mango with both his hands. Because of the quarrel the books slipped and fell on the ground. The other boys who picked up manges shared them together.

''If you want a pice I'll give you one" said Nimal Still fighting.

''Why only a pice for me?"

The fight increased in internsity. Both of them fought rolling on the ground, crawling on thir keness and by getting up and falling several times over. The other boys who were only interested in enjoying the taste of manges thought that it was a mock fight at first and made fun of it. But when they saw the angry faces of the fighters they were drawn towards the scene of the fight.

''What's this? asked one.

''He is trying to take the mango I picked up "said Nimal without giving up the mango.

" I am the one who saw i first" said Sunil drawing his fist and giving Nimal a powerful blow on the forehead.

Nimal who did not expect this blow was thrown aside and it was with difficulty that he prevented himself from falling on the ground. The boys were alarmed. Without trembling Nimal continued to look at Sunil Silently. Sunil also stood up preparing to him if the need arose. Immediately. Nimal stepped forward and offered the crushed mango to Sunil. Sunil drew his foot back and kicked Nimal's extended hand. The mango slipped out blue flies. Still Nimal kept on looking at Sunil. Sunil too stared at Nimal like a fighting cock.

"In vain! None got it" said some boys. Nimal wiped the mango juice that soiled his hands on his trouser pockets dused his clothes and collected his books when a fully ripe golden mango fell in front of Nimal and he picked it up.

"See how the sqirrels selected the correct side, "said Nimal. Sunil who heard it looked up as if he intended to hit the squirrel.

Nimal took out his penknife from his pocket, opended it and cut the mango. The boys surrounded him Nimal pinned the first piece of mango with the tip of his knife and offered it to Sunil sunil looked at Nimal's face and as he saw it tears gatherd in Sunil's eyes.

''Take Sunil, take" said one boy. Sunil looked at the piece of mango and Nimal's two innocent eyes twice or thrice, then he turned back, picked up the satchel and went away.

so cute

2023-12-18T18:31:00.005+05:30

Please help, I'm haunted ghost asking to take a picture

2023-12-17T00:11:00.005+05:30

Stay Calm: Try to remain calm and composed. Fear can often exaggerate a situation.
Leave the Area: If you're in a location where you feel uneasy, consider leaving the area and moving to a more comfortable or familiar space.
Seek Support: If you're with someone else, share your feelings with them. Sometimes, talking about it can help alleviate fear.
Avoid Provoking: If you believe in the supernatural, avoid provoking or challenging any presence. It's best to approach such situations with respect and caution.
Capture the Moment Safely: If you still want to take a picture, do so if it makes you feel more comfortable. However, prioritize your safety and well-being. Remember, many alleged ghostly images turn out to have logical explanations, such as camera glitches, light reflections, or dust particles.
Consult Professionals: If you continue to feel haunted or scared, and it's affecting your well-being, you may want to consult with professionals, such as counselors, clergy, or paranormal investigators who can provide support and guidance.
Consider Natural Explanations: Keep in mind that many situations that seem supernatural can often be explained by natural phenomena. Sometimes, investigating the source of the fear can help alleviate it.

Underneath the open sky, a horse shares a laugh with a married couple—because sometimes, even the noblest steeds appreciate a good love story and a hearty dose of humor

2023-12-15T19:45:00.001+05:30

someone stole coconuts 🌴 🥥 🌴😍🤣😂 Cre: Lượm #funny #funnypicture #animetop #babyfunny

2023-12-15T17:31:00.005+05:30

"When a baby steals a coconut, it's not mischief; it's the first page of their tropical adventure book."

"In the nursery of curiosity, coconuts are the first toys babies 'borrow' for exploration."

"Tiny hands, big dreams—today’s treasure: a coconut caper!"

"Babies and coconuts: a match made in curiosity."

"When life hands you coconuts, it's probably because a baby got there first."
"To babies, coconuts are not just nuts; they're passports to a world of munchable mysteries."
"Stealing hearts and coconuts: the classic moves of a baby mastermind."
"In the grand heist of babyhood, coconuts are the first stolen kisses."

"The secret life of babies: undercover agents stealing coconuts since forever."
"Babies and coconuts: a tale of innocence, discovery, and snack time surprises."
"When a baby takes a coconut, it’s not larceny; it’s an entry into the baby hall of fame."
"Tiny fingers, big plans—today’s mission: the great coconut caper!"
"The baby’s guide to coconuts: Snatch. Goo. Giggle."
"In the world of baby thievery, coconuts are the ultimate contraband."
"Babies, coconuts, and the art of spontaneous discovery—because life's an adventure, even in a crib."

travel girls in sri lanka

2022-10-12T11:26:00.009+05:30

John F Kennedy

2022-10-12T11:24:00.003+05:30

Credit by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

John F Kennedy, the 35^th President of the United States was also the youngest president elect of the country. His charismatic charm is legendary and as in his lifetime even today he’s counted amongst the most popular icons of the past, and is subject to the same idolatry. His intellectual excellence together with sagacious handling of the Cuban missile crisis, amongst other things, got him international recognition. No other president since has enjoyed such a concentrated fanfare, as this young president whose words at the inaugural address have had gone in the pages of history for posterity to quote and requote, “Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” He held the torch of a new generation of Americans who were born in this century, who were tempered by war and disciplined by hard work and bitter peace.

Born on May 29, 1917, in Brooklyn, Massachusetts, John was the second of the nine children of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. They were a wealthy business family with a background in politics. Rose Kennedy was the daughter of John F.Fitzgerald, who as a mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, was popularly known as “Honey Fitz”. Joseph Kennedy was the son of Patrick Kennedy, a successful businessman and a prominent Boston politician. It was the Kennedys’ plan to send their first born, Joseph Kennedy Jr., into politics. But fate had different plans and Joseph K. Jr. was killed in World War II. The next in line was John who fulfilled his father’s dream of not only joining politics but also becoming the first Roman Catholic president of the United States. Later, as a US Senator, Kennedy said, “Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happens to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over from him.” How true these words would ring within a few years of their being uttered was perhaps unfathomable to even John Kenndey who, though speaking with conviction, never imagined that it would all be only too tragically true.

Kennedy, at the age of 13, went to canterbury School, a private school in New Milford, Connecticut for a short while. An illness cut short his term there. He later graduated from Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford, Connecticut and in 1935 he entered Princeton University. Once again the onset of an illness forced him to leave school and the following year, he joined Harvard University. Despite ill health, John Kennedy was a good athlete. He proved himself to be an ace swimmer and an outstanding sailor.

Kennedy was intellectually-oriented. His undergraduate thesis at Harvard culminated in a book, ‘Why England Slept’ (1940). It was an in-depth study of Great Britain’s response to German re-armament prior to World War II. The book gained attention in England and the United States. Kennedy graduated in 1940. He then attended Stanford University’s business school for a while and then travelled to South America.

In 1939, Kennedy became commander of PT Boat 109 in the South Pacific. In August 1943 the boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in the waters off New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. The boat was sliced In half and two of the twelve men abroad were killed. Kennedy and the other survivors clung for hours to the wreckage, hoping for rescue. When none came, they swam to a small island 5 km away. Kennedy towed a wounded crew member by clutching the long strap of the injured man’s life jacket between his teeth. For the next four days, Kennedy swam along a water route he knew American ships used. He finally encountered friendly natives on Cross Island. They brought his message for help, carved on a coconut shell, to the US Infantry Patrol and Kenndey and his crew were finally rescued. Kennedy received the US Navy and Marine Corps medal for “courage, endurance and excellent leadership.” Ill health once again made him leave the army and return to the US.

At the age of 29, Kennedy won the Democratic nomination in the 11^th Congressional District of Massachusetts. He served three terms in the House of Representatives, all during the Democratic administration of President Harry S Truman. His recent heroic record and his concentrated meetings of the voters won him the elections. During his term as a senator, he backed legislation beneficial to the Massachusetts textile, fishing, watch and transportation industries.

In 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, less than a year after his marriage Kennedy underwent a spinal-disc operation. Four months after a painful convalescence, a second term operation was performed. It was at this time that Kennedy wrote ‘Profiles in Courage’ that won him the Pulitzer prize in 1957. It was a book of essays on American politicians who risked their careers fighting for just but unpopular causes. The book gave him the needed mileage as a politician and won him admiration in literary and other circles.

In the 1956 Democratic Convention, Kennedy failed to win the nomination for the post of Vice President under the former Illinois Governor, Adlai Stevenson, who was nominated for the post of President. It was a blessing in disguise that Kennedy did not get nominated, for Stevenson lost to Eisenhower in the elections.

Kennedy aspired to be nominated as a Presidential candidate for the 1960 Democratic presidential elections. He faced a number of hurdles. Many party leaders lacked confidence in him, as they considered him too young and inexperienced for the post. Many also doubted a Roman Catholic’s chance to win a predominantly Protestant country. Kennedy even lacked the support of many liberals, who backed either Hubert Humphery of Minnesota or Adlai Stevenson. Kennedy proved all these apprehensions as baseless.

Kennedy won in West Virginia, that was an essentially Protestant state. Kennedy quelled the fear of Protestants that a Catholic might be subject to orders of the head of the Roman Catholic Church at Rome. He made clear cut definite statements in this regard. In a speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Kennedy said, “I believe in an America where the separation of the church and State is absolute ….. where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from ….. (an) ecclesiastical source.”

During his campaign Kennedy visited 46 states and 273 cities. His rival Republican candidate was Richard Nixon.

Kennedy proved himself to be an able debater in all the nationally televised debates. That he was too young and inexperienced was soon a discredited assumption. The support he received from the blacks in the important Northern states contributed to his election. The states of Illinois and Pennsylvania forwarded their full support to Kennedy because Kennedy, along with his brother Robert, had tried to obtain the release of the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr.

The election drew a record of 69 million voters to the polls, but Kennedy won only by 1,13,000 votes. He won 49.7% of the popular vote and Nixon won 49.6%. it was the closest popular vote in 72 years. However, because Kennedy won most of the larger states in the north east, he received 303 electoral votes to Nixon’s 219.

Kennedy was inducted as the President of the United States on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address Kennedy appealed for, “a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and peace preserved.” Recognizing the difficulties of the goal he said, “All this will not be finished in the first hundred days …. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” His forthright sincerity won the hearts of people all over the nation. His hope was to bring new ideas and new methods into the executive branch. The credit of developing Kennedy into a political liberal goes to Theodore C Sorenson, a member of Kennedy’s staff since his days at the Senate. Soreson wrote many of Kennedy’s speeches.

The first couple was determined to make the White House the nexus of cultural activity of the nation. Writers, artists, poets, scientists and musicians were encouraged. On one occasion, the Kennedy’s held a reception for all the American winners of the Nobel Prize. Kennedy, endowed with a good sense of humour, remarked that more talent and genius was at the White House that night than there had been since Thomas Jefferson had dined alone.

Kennedy’s sense of humour never waned even when his political life was beset with crises. At a meeting with the leader of the USSR, Nikita Krushchev, Kennedy asked the name of the medal Krushchev was wearing. When the Premier identified it as the Lenin Peace Medal, Kennedy remarked, “I hope you keep it.” On another occasion he told a group of Republican business leaders, “it would be premature to ask for your support in the next election and inaccurate to thank you for it in the past.”

On taking over office, Kennedy started to work arduously to get some of the Bills passed in the parliament. He was quite successful in doing so. In his first year at office, the Congress passed a major housing Bill, a law increasing the minimum wages, and a Bill granting federal aid to the economically depressed areas of the United States. The most original piece of legislation Kennedy put through Congress was the Bill creating the Peace Corps, an agency that trained American volunteers to perform social and humanitarian service overseas. The programmers goal was to promote world peace and friendship with developing countries. The idea of American volunteers helping people in foreign lands touched the idealism of many citizens. Within two years, Peace Corps volunteers were working in Asia, Africa and Latin America, living with the people and working on education, public health, and agricultural projects.

The civil rights movement was at its height during Kennedy’s term as president. Kennedy attempted to aid the blank cause by enforcing existing laws. He particularly wanted to end discrimination in federally financed projects or in companies that were doing business with the government.

In September 1962, Governor Ross R Barnett of Mississippi ignored a court order and prevented James H Meredith, a black man from enrolling at the state university. On the night of the 29^th, even as the president went on national television to appeal to the people of Mississippi to obey the law, rioting began on the campus. After 15 hours of rioting and two deaths, Kennedy sent in troops to restore order. Meredith was admitted to the university, and troops and federal marshals remained on campus to ensure safety. There were other such instances that Kennedy handled in the same just way. Kennedy also appealed to the Congress to pass a civil rights Bill that would guarantee blacks the right to vote, to attend public school, to have equal access to jobs, and to have access to public accommodation. Kennedy told the American people, “Now the time has come for this nation to fulfil its promises …. To act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law.” Though Kennedy began to lose popularity because of his staunch support to the civil rights movement, he never gave up his fight for justice.

When Cuba became Communist, the Kennedy administration approved of an invasion by the Cuban exiles of America. They were trained by the Americans to invade Cuba and fight their cause. In April 1961, 1000 Cubans exiles made an amphibious landing in Cuba at a place called the Bay of Pigs. Their plan was to move inland and join the anti-Castro’s forces to stage a revolt simultaneously, but instead Castro’s forces were there to meet the invaders. The revolt in the interior did not materialize, and sir support, promised by the CIA never came. The exiles were defeated and taken prisoners. Castro demanded money for their release. Kennedy refused to negotiate with Castro, but he took steps to encourage both business and private citizens to reach an agreement with Castro and to contribute to their ransom. On December 25, 1962, 1113 prisoners were released in exchange for food and medical supplies valued at a total of approximately $ 53 million.

The Cuban missile crisis was, perhaps, the world’s closest approach to nuclear war. In 1960, Soviet Premier Krushchev decided to supply Cuba with nuclear missiles that would put an end to the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile were being supplied to Cuba, but in the summer of 1962, US spy planes flying over Cuba photographed Soviet-managed construction work and spotted the first missile on October 14.

Kennedy, in response to this discovery, called upon Krushchev, “to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to the world peace and to stabilize relations between the two nations.” Kennedy did not budge from his stance until the nuclear base at Cuba was dismantled. Kennedy did not succeed in Vietnam as well.

On November 22, 1963, president and Mrs. Kennedy were in Dallas, Texas, trying to win support in a state that Kennedy had barely carried in 1960. They were sitting at the head of a motorcade in an open convertible waving to the crowds when two bullets were shot in rapid succession. One bullet pierced the head of the president who fell forward in a pool of blood. Midst screams, hysteria and wailing, he was rushed to parkland Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The bullets that killed the president were fired from the sixth storey window of a nearby house. That afternoon, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was employed at the warehouse was arrested in a Dallas movie theatre and charged with murder. Two days later, as the suspect was being transferred from one jail to another, the Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby sprang out from a group of reporters and as millions watched on television, fired a revolver into Oswald’s left side. Oswald died in the same hospital where the late president had breathed his last.

The world was shocked at the brutal and sudden way in which their charismatic president was taken away from them. Less than two hours after the shooting, abroad the presidential plane at the Dallas airport, Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as the 36^th President of the United States. Kennedy was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery after a state funeral which was attended by delegates from 92 nations.

Keeping the family tradition, Robert Kennedy aspired to the nomination as the candidate for the Democratic Presidential seat in 1968. He was shot dead on June 6, 1968 by an Arab assassin. His brother, Edward stepped into his shoes and went on to become a Senator. The Kennedys kept their promise.

Abraham Lincoln

2022-09-16T12:12:00.002+05:30

credited by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black, A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl Make him the quaint figure that men love, The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.

Vachel Lindsay

(‘Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight’)

A century and a half later, the name of Abraham Lincoln conjures up a legendary resonance to all those who hear it. It is a name spoken with reverence not only across the length and breadth of America but worldwide. This celebrated national hero, heralded as Walt Whitman’s “Captain” was indeed worthy of all the respect and regard that the land of prairies bestowed on him. Based on hard work and conviction, Lincoln’s life was a journey from the log cabin to the White House. Taking up cudgels against slavery during his team as President of the United States, he ended this inhumane activity through the Thirteen Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, thus, giving the United States its unique blend of colossal breadth and unity and an unchallenged position on the world map.

Abraham Lincoln descended from a family that were pioneers in moving west with the expanding country from Massachusetts through Pennsylvania to Virginia. They were wandering farmers who cleared the frontier of its wilderness and cultivated farms to give it character. After development, the wanderlust, once again taking hold of them, propelled them to other wilder pastures. Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas Lincoln followed the tradition of his ancestors and lived a full life as a frontier man moving from place to place. He developed as a skilled carpenter and never was in want of the necessities of life. Lincoln, recollecting his father said that he, “even in childhood was a wandering boy, labor boy, and grew up literally without education. He never did more in the way of writing than to bunglingly sign his own name.” Abraham’s mother, Nancy, was an illiterate woman from a poor Virginia family. She signed her name with an ‘X’.

On February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on a farm, south of Nolin Creek near what is now called Hodgenville, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born. He had an elder sister, Sarah. Abraham Lincoln was only two when the family moved to another farm on nearby Knob Creek. Hunting, fishing, farming and household chores took up most of the time and there was hardly any time left to play. Life was hard. Due to confused administration and arbitrary justice, Thomas Lincoln lost the title to his farmland. Disappointed, in 1816 the Lincolns decided to move to Indiana where the land was surveyed and sold by the federal government. Sailing across the Ohio river, they settled near Pigeon Creek, close to what is now Gentryville, Indiana. It was winter and Thomas Lincoln built a three-sided shelter with a fire at the open end that kept them warm until he made a log cabin for the family. Heavily forested, the place was not without apparent danger from the wild animals. Lincoln described it as a “wild region, with soon the untamable wildness gave way to a thriving frontier community.

Abe had learnt the ways of the rugged frontier life. Clearing the forest for farmland was one of the most important tasks. Young Abe became adept at using the axe to fell trees. His strong frame and large built made it easy for him to handle what he later referred to as the “most useful instrument.” He used it till he was twenty-three years of age. He also used it till he was fence rails by spelling poles. Years later as a presidential candidate. Lincoln was known as the ‘Railsplitter’.

In 1818 tragedy struck the family. The raging epidemic at the time called ‘mil-sick’ struck Abraham’s mother who died. The lack of immediate medical attention, as the nearest doctor was 35 miles away and ignorance of the cause of the epidemic, led to her immediate death. The disease, it was discovered later, was apparently caused by drinking milk from cows that had eaten the poisoned wild snakeroot plant.

The following year Thomas Lincoln, journeying to Elizabethtown, married Sarah Bush Johnson, a widow with three children and a former sweetheart of Thomas Lincoln. She was a robust, bright-faced, energetic woman with curly hair and a friendly face. The Lincoln children at once took to her. Abe became very attached to this stepmother and referred to her as “my angel mother”. Her arrival brought order to the chaos of the Lincoln household. She understood the importance of education and tried her best to educate these children in an environment that did not cater for the mental development of its inhabitants. The physically demanding farm life made it difficult to spare Abraham for school life. But whenever time afforded, Lincoln attended the ABC school. Such schools were held in log cabins where the teachers knew little more than the children themselves. According to Lincoln, “no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond reading, writing, and ciphering, to the Rule of Three.” Lincoln had less than one year of formal education in his entire life that too in fits and starts.

To the education given in the log cabin schools and to the unflagging encouragement given by his stepmother to learn, Abraham learnt to read, write and do simple arithmetic quite early in life. His own interest in learning aided his quest for knowledge. He was able to read classical authors like Aesop, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe as well as William Grimshaw’s ‘History of the United States’ (1820) and Mason Locke Weem’s ‘Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington’ (about a lasting impression on Abraham who tried to emulate the ideals of this great man.

Young Lincoln grew to be a tall lad of about 6ft 4in. His long muscular body gave him an awkward appearance, though he had remarkable strength that came from hard labor. His father commenting on his appearance once said, “He looked as if he had been rough-hewn with an axe and needed smoothing with a jackplane.” His early education and inherent intelligence gave him a way with words. His rustic humor and his ability to mimic made him a popular figure at the general store in nearby Gentry Ville. His easy congeniality was infectious. A neighbors affectionately recalled, “Abe was awfully lazy, he would laugh and talk and crack jokes and tell stories all the time.”

Lincoln’s keen wandering mind looked for things to do that were beyond the humdrum of farming life. He found this opportunity when he was employed to ferry passengers and baggage to riverboats waiting midstream. At the age of 19, he was hired by a merchant, James Gentry, to take a cargo-laden flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He thus experienced his first contact with the world outside the narrow confines of farming life.

Another ‘milk sick’ epidemic threatened to rage Indiana in 1830. The Lincoln family moved west to Illinois. Near what is now called Decatur, Illinois, the Lincolns settled at a junction of woodland and prairie on the north bank of Sangamon. Lincoln, together with his father, built a log cabin for the family and fenced in 4 hectares of land to grow corn. He even hired himself to the other settlers to split rails.

It was here that Lincoln first attended a political rally. He was also coerced into speaking on behalf of the candidate, his first exposure to public speaking, A witness recalled that at first Lincoln was frightened but warmed up and eventually made the best speech of the day!

In 1831, Lincoln was hired by a Kentucky trader and speculator, Denton Offutt. Lincoln, along with his stepbrother and a cousin, had to build a flatboat and take it down the Mississippi river with a load of cargo. Here was the first time Lincoln saw a slave auction that had a long-lasting impact on his life. Seething with rage he said, “If I ever get a chance to hit this thing, I’ll hit it hard,” This early acquaintance with inhumane, terribly wrong practices parading as ‘right’ made Lincoln such a strong advocate for the abolishing of slave trade in America. His compassionate heart made him aware of the wretchedness of the system and made him a rightful candidate in emancipation of slaves.

Offutt, much impressed with Lincoln’s uprightness and his diligence, hired him as a clerk in a general store in New Salem. Lincoln earned $ 15 a month plus the use of the store for sleeping. Lincoln’s good humour, integrity and intelligence won him a place in the hearts of the people. His ability to take on the local ruffian in a local wrestling match carved a respectable position for him amongst the youth. His duties as a storekeeper provided ample time to read. Sprawled on the counter, book in hand and rolling off every now and then to serve a customer became a common sight. He improved his grammar by studying books on the subject. He discovered a new love for poetry and avidly read Robert Burns and William Shakespeare.

The store was also a place for informal chit-chat. Lincoln would entertain his customers with the latest information from the newspaper who, in addition to hearing the news, were only too delighted to hear him talk. Lincoln also joined the local debating society. A member had this reaction to Lincoln’s first debate: “A perceptible smile at once lit up the face of the audience, for all anticipated the relation of some humorous story. But he opened up discussion in splendid style, to the infinite astonishment of his friends . . . . He pursued the question with reason and argument so pithy and forcibly that all were amazed.”

James Rutledge, the owner of a local tavern suggested a career in politics to the young Lincoln. Lincoln also came in contact with the attractive daughter of the tavern owner. Though much attracted to her charm and good nature, he did not pursue his suit for she was said to be already engaged to a certain New Yorker called McNeil.

As a logical consequence, Lincoln decided to run for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives. In the meanwhile Lincoln found himself out of a job as the store he was working in went bankrupt. But the Black Hawk rebellion came just in time. Lincoln enlisted as a volunteer to quell the rebellion of the Native American Sauk and Fox led by their chief Black Hawk. His popularity made him head the company he was enlisted in. when his term expired, he re-enlisted as a private. Though he saw no actual fighting, Lincoln was very proud of his career in the army.

In 1832, he contested for the Illinois seat. He was defeated. He then opened a general store with an acquaintance, William Berry. But Berry misused the profits and in a few months, they were running in a loss. Berry died in 1835, leaving Lincoln responsible for debts amounting to $ 1100. It took Lincoln several months, even years before he cleared these debts. He then began a short stint as the postmaster at New Salem which earned him $60 a year plus a percentage of receipts on postage. He even became the deputy surveyor of Sangaman Country.

Lincoln contested the legislative elections in 1834 and was elected. He was re-elected in 1836, 1838 and 1840. At this time he heard that Ann Rutledge had been jilted in love. She was sick and before dying had asked to see Lincoln. Legend has that Ann was the one love of his life and that he never actually got over this loss. His later bouts of melancholy have been attributed to this loss. In the meanwhile, Lincoln continued to study law and in 1836, he was admitted to the Bar as a licensed attorney. He moved to Springfield.

By certain unknown circumstances, Lincoln became engaged to a Kentucky girl called Mary Owens. But the engagement broke, much to Lincoln’s relief, it is believed. Later Miss Ownes is said to have said, “I thought Mr. Lincoln was deficient in those little kinks that make up the chain of a woman’s happiness.” On 4^th November 1842 he married another Kentucky girl, Mary Ann Todd. She was high strung and a member of the local aristocracy. A week after the wedding he wrote, “Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.” His wife’s Whimsical, vain ways were a definite contrast to the sweet-natured Ann Rutledge. Their marriage, always beset by arguments, could never be termed as “well matched”, except for their sharing of ambition. Mary played a key role in aiding and supporting her husband’s political career. The Lincolns had four boys out of which only Richard Todd Lincoln reached adulthood.

Though still a practicing lawyer, Lincoln strove to achieve his political ambitions. He began to look beyond the statehouse to the seat in the US Congress. In 1843, he wrote to a fellow politician, “Now if you should hear anyone say that Lincoln doesn’t want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is I would like to go very much.” Lincoln sought the nomination for the US representative, for the Seventh Congressional District in 1842 and 1844. He received it in 1846. He defeated the Democratic candidate, the Methodist preacher Peter Cartwright, in the election of November 1846. In 1847 he went to Washington.

The question of slavery always haunted Lincoln. He became a forceful spokesman for anti-slavery and in faith introduced the Bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, during the second session. The Bill was rejected and Lincoln returned to Illinois, disappointed. He was not re-elected the following term.

The bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Carolinians was a testing time for Lincoln. Using the language and authority of the Militia Act of 1795, he declared that in seven states the federal laws were opposed. He asked the remaining loyal states for 75,000 militia for three month’s tenure. The Civil War had begun. By virtue of a Constitutional clause he was the Commander-in-Chief of the US Army and Navy. He said, “I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may subdue the enemy.” His most competent general during the war was Ulysses S. Grant who drank whiskey and fought like a lion. In characteristic dry humour Lincoln asked, “Do you know what brand of whiskey I’d like to send a barrel to each of my other generals.”

In 1854, denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln attacked Stephan A. Douglas, a democrat and the supporter of the Act. For Lincoln slavery was both a moral and a political issue. Highlighting the sheer injustice of the Act, he said, “It is said that the slaveholder has the same political right to take his Negroes to Kansas, that a freeman has to take his hogs or his horses. This would be true if Negroes were property in the same sense that hogs and horses are. But is the same sense that hogs and horses are. But is this the case? It is notoriously not so.” In autumn that year, Lincoln was elected to the legislature but lost the United States Senate seat.

Secession from the Union of the Southern slave-owning states was becoming a burning issue. In 1858, the Republican Party gaining momentum declared Lincoln as “Our first and only choice” for US Senator, Lincoln was defeated. But by May 1860, Lincoln’s speeches in New York had gained him a national reputation. He was nominated as a candidate for presidency. He was elected and on 4^th March 1861, Lincoln took over the office of the President of the United States. In the winter of 1861, the Union became involved with Great Britain in the Trent Affair. The Confederacy sent James Murray Mason and John Slidell to Britain and France to support the Southern cause. When aboard the British ship ‘Trent’, the ship was stopped and searched by a Union naval captain, Charles Wilkes and the two Southerners were taken prisoners. Britain demanded an apology and midst much ado Lincoln complied and apologized. He thus averted war with Britain. The Civil War continued to rage through Lincoln’s first term at office. He was nominated for the second term and was re-elected. Supporting his stance on the Civil War he said, “This is essentially a people’s contest . . . to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry out an election can also suppress a rebellion; and ballots are the rightful successors to bullets, . . . “

At first Lincoln had believed in gradual emancipation. But gradually he came to believe in complete emancipation. His views on anti-slavery were clear. To him slavery was incompatible with American democracy. He said, “when the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs another man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that ’all men are created equal,’ and that there can be no moral right in connection with the man’s making a slave of another.”

General Lee of the Confederate surrendered and the war came to an end with the Union flag raised high over Fort Sumter on the 14^th of April to the thundering guns. Lincoln, though an adversary, respected Lee’s total commitment to a cause and his enviable soldiering. Paying tribute to the photograph of this hero of the Southern states he said, “It is a good face, the face of a noble brave man. I am glad the war is over at last.”

The aftermath of war saw Mrs. Lincoln plunging into much awaited hectic social activity. She cruised through the social scene making up for lost time. The war had offered little opportunity to parade as the First Lad. An evening at Fords Theatre was arranged to see Laura Keen in a play, ‘Our American Cousin’. The Lincolns arrived and took their place in the flag-draped box. Tired and exhausted after the grueling hours of wartime America, the piece of entertainment must have been a good change for the Lincolns, to begin with. The nightmare began when softly into the box came a dark shadow. Shooting the president at point-blank range the man disappeared into the folds of darkness. Midst smoke and uproar, the wounded president was rushed to a house across the street and immediate medical attention followed. At 7 o’clock in the morning the next day, i.e. April 15, 1865, he declared dead.

John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin and a supporter of the Southern cause was shot down in a barn a few days later.

The country was shrouded in intangible darkness as the endless number of mourners joined the funeral procession from Washington to Springfield. Walt Whiteman’s “star” had fallen and “the lilacs had for the last time bloom’d in the dooryard”.

Marilyn Monroe

2022-09-16T12:10:00.006+05:30

credited by - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Midst all the glamour and glitterati that the world of motion pictures provides, the name of Marilyn Monroe stands supreme as the first most famous international sex symbol of the world. Oozing charm and charisma, this nymph of the 50’s had the whole world crooning at her feet. It money, beauty, fame be the measure of success, then Marilyn Monroe had it all. Two generations later she still wears the crown of the sexiest woman of the 20^th century. The choice is unanimous.

Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926. Her mother was a pretty redhaired Hollywood film cutter whose husband had left her. She then met Marilyn’s father, a baker and Marilyn was born out of this casual union. Her father’s itinerant behavior and his subsequent abandoning of the mother when she broke the news of her pregnancy left painful scars of rejection that Marilyn could never come to terms with. As though illegitimacy was not a big enough cross to bear, Marilyn’s mother soon began to show signs of mental disturbance. She was committed to an institution. Thus, began the life of this rootless little orphan with all its share of insecurity, hurt, desolation and humiliation.

For the first few years Marilyn was transported to foster homes by the Country Welfare Agency. The foster parents were paid $ 20 a month for the upkeep of this lost girl. At orphanages she earned a living by cleaning toilets. When she was seven or eight, she was seduced by a boarder in her foster home. He gave her a nickel “not to tell.” On reporting the matter to her foster mother, all she got was disbelief, suspicion and an admonishing for tarnishing the name of that “fine gentlemen.” The seeds of insecurity were well sown. The security of a warm hearth was something Marilyn never knew. Guilt-ridden and torn by confused feelings of inadequacy, Marilyn grew up with a low self-esteem. These early insecurities became an integral part of her unconscious and though dormant, were potent enough to shape her life. Marilyn recollecting her childhood said, “I always felt insecure . . . . But most of all I felt scared.”

On approaching womanhood, Marilyn discovered her one asset that would give her an edge over everyone else. It was her vital exuberant sexuality. “My arrival in school started everybody buzzing . . . . The boys began screaming and groaning.” At last, she had found a constant in her life that she could rely on. Her dazzling looks gave her confidence that she need not fear rejection any longer. For acceptance, her beauty was baton and she used it unsparingly. So hungry was she for acceptance and affection that she exploited her looks to an extent of what seemed a little short of promiscuity. When barely 16, she entered an ill-matched marriage. Her husband and she separated after about two years apparently without tears.

In 1944, while working on a difference plant. Marilyn’s natal stars began to shine. A United States Army photographer noticing her magnetic sex appeal induced her to pose for posters for the troops. An instant success as a model, she was signed by a number of magazines as their as their ‘Cover Girl’ She was signed by 20^th Century-Fox for a small part. She worked briefly with Columbia Pictures in low budget musical films like ‘Ladies of the Chorus’ (1949) and ‘Love Happy’ (1949). At this time, a failed love affair with a musical director raked her past insecurities and put her on the road to self annihilation. She attempted suicide. It was only the beginning of a spate of suicidal attempts the last of which was to take her life.

This golden tressed, curvaceous blonde love goddess with a Madonna’s face was the instant choice of Arthur Hornblow, Jr., and John Huston when they were looking for a face to fill a minor part in their film, ‘The Asphalt Jungle.’ “As soon as we saw her we knew she was the one,” recalls Hornblow. The virile voluptuousness of Venus combined with the quality of innocent depravity were what sent the audience pulsating to see more of her. She was recognized as that ‘Calendar Girl’ but instead of disowning her, the public vied to never let her go. Her films like ‘All About Eve’ (1950), ‘Love Nest’ (1951), ‘Clash By Night’ (1952), all hailed Marilyn Monroe as the love icon of the century. In 1953, she received international fame for her roles in films like ‘Niagara’, ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’ and ‘gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. 1954 saw her as the leading lady of Fox Productions.

Marilyn married the famous baseball player, Joe Di Maggio in 1954. They divorced a year later. Rebelling against her long succession of stereotype roles, she sought more challenging roles which a Fox Contract offered her. In 1956 she married the playwright, Arthur Miller. During the years of their marriage Marilyn said, “Now for the really first time, I feel I am not alone anymore. I have a feeling of being sheltered. It’s as if I have come in out of the cold.” Their marriage lasted four years.

Marilyn’s years in stardom were beset with emotional highs and lows. Unending visits to the psychiatrist and compulsive suicidal tendencies beset her life with depression. Beneath the veneer of bubbling casualness was a confused chaotic mind struggling to keep afloat. The fleeting years made her aware of her one enemy-Time. The ethereal beauty that so captivated the world had begun to wane and with that her only anchor of stability was fast disappearing. She was 36 and the mirror on the wall would not be able to hide the truth any longer. A lethal overdose of barbiturates in 1962 put an end to this saga of romance that had set the passions of millions on fire.

Marilyn’s third husband, Arthur Miller, dramatized the tragedy of Marilyn Monroe in his play, ‘After the Fail’. Her acute sense of victimization was the direct residue of her precarious past. Her sense of vulnerability never allowed her to trust and to believe, leading to failed relationships. She required “Limitless” love and no man, according to Miller, is capable of it. A normal woman on maturing needs the reassurance of the mirror only marginally as the years go by. She relies more heavily on inner self confidence. This, Marilyn lacked.

Perhaps deep down Marilyn was still the little lonely Alice, lost in the woods. So frightened was she of the gnomes and fairies of this world that she lived through life without making any lasting contact with reality. She drifted in a make-believe world of hers riddled with prejudice, some justified and the rest of it unnecessary. This beautiful creature, who was the envy of women and the fantasy of men all over, died pathetically, a lonely figure unaware that the world of love could have been hers if only she had not allowed the demons of distrust to take over and destroy her completely.

Helen Keller

2022-09-16T12:08:00.006+05:30

credited by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

Helen Keller

The dawn of this century saw the working of determination and faith in the story of Helen Keller. Hers was the heart-rending tale of a little girl who, being afflicted with fever at 19 months, lost not only her eyesight but her hearing and speech as well. To conquer this triple handicap and to rise above such basic limitations was not only an arduous task but must have seemed an impossible one too. Today too, with the hi-tech gadgetry that the modern-day world can boast of, it still seems quite a fantastic feat. But Helen Keller’s diligence and fiercely-invincible spirit has etched a story of success on the pages of history that inspires all humanity.

Born in the little Alabama town of Tuscumbia on June 27, 1880, Helen was a beautiful healthy baby of her parents, Captain Arthur Keller and his wife Katherine. Tragedy struck when Helen, a little over one and a half years, lost her eyesight and hearing after she was struck suddenly by a “fever of brain and stomach.” This rendered her to a life of total dependence. By the age of three, Helen became mute as well. The happy gurgle of a child which are a mother’s delight were never to be. Helen was sentenced to a life of silent, dark loneliness the screams of which must go unheard.

Incarcerated in her prison of speechless sounds and blank darkness, Helen’s early childhood was characterized by temper tantrums. Unable to communicate her needs, desires, wishes and thoughts, Helen was confined to a confused, frustrated state of mind. Rebellion was the only successful way of effecting a response from the outside world. Shuttered in a tomb of silence and failing to make herself understood, she gave in to wild gusts of rage that alienated her further from anyone who would otherwise have forwarded a hand of friendship. It seemed at that time that a life of seclusion, bereft of a single ray of light or a single note of music, was to be her lot. But hope came in the form of Anne Sullivan, a graduate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Together, Helen and she were to make history.

Hope has a way of entering the penumbra of darkness and enlightening it. Helen’s parents accepting their destiny, still waited for a miracle to happen. On reading Charles Dickens’ ‘American Notes’, one day, Mrs. Keller learnt about the much acclaimed Dr. Samuel Howe of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, in Boston. He had successfully instructed a deaf, dumb and blind girl, Laura Bridgman to read and write. Great expectations arose, only to be quelled as the troubled parents contacted the Perkins Institute for the Blind in desperation. Dr. Howe was dead. Thoroughly disappointed, they saw the curtain falling on their hopes and plunging in darkness what started as a ray of light. It was then that the Greek, Dr. Michael Anagnos, Dr. Howe’s capable successor, suggested the name of Anne Sullivan to try and teach the girl something.

Anne Sullivan’s own life also had been far from happy. Born of Irish immigrant parents, her mother’s death when Anne was eight and her father’s abandonment of his three children thereof, exposed Anne to a life of harsh depravity. Anne was nearly blind from trachoma at the and was sent to the Massachusetts State Infirmary. In 1880, she entered the Perkins Institute for the Blind and after two operations, she regained her eyesight to a workable level. But her eyes always were a source of trouble to her all her life. It was on graduating from the Institute at the age of 21 that Anne was offered the assignment of Helen Keller.

Anne arrived at Alabama in 1886 with steadfast determination seething under a patient demeanor. On arrival, she encountered the trapped misery of her six-year old ward. Unable to perform the everyday sundry actions like washing her face and buttoning her shoes, Helen’s pathetic condition faced her with a formidable challenge. Anne’s own experience with a handicap equipped her well to understand the anguish of this tortured soul. To build a bond of trust was the first daunting task that Anne tackled. Anne handed a doll to the rampant child, made by the Perkins children. She made her first significant move by spelling the word d-o-l-l into Helen’s hand. Helen was captivated by this novel move and soon she began to imitate Anne. The rapport between the student-teacher was established. Anne noted pf Helen, “Her restless spirit gropes in the dark . . . . Her unsatisfied hands destroyed whatever they touch-they do not know what else to do with things.”

Helen’s education began with her teacher getting to know the dark recesses of her troubled soul. Anne tried to understand the agony and ecstasy of Helen’s life. She also began to understand Helen’s attempt at communication. Anne started to teach Helen to spell words manually. Taking Helen to the pump house one day, Anne drew water. Pouring a mug of water on Helen’s hand she spelled the word w-a-t-e-r into her hand. It was a startling revelation for Helen that everything had meaning. Excited with this new method of correlation, Helen pointed out to Anne in a questioning way. Anne then spelt the word t-e-a-c-h-e-r into her hand.

Thus at the age six. Helen Keller started to discover the vistas of the new world that opened before her. Years later Helen recollecting her first experience with the new world said, “Somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that water meant the wonderful cool something that flowed over my hand. That living word awakened my soul; gave it light, hope, joy; set it free.”

Helen learnt to read little sentences that Anne made possible by writing raised words next to their objects that Helen could identify. Within a few months, Helen knew 625 words. Anne said, “The eagerness with which she absorbs ideas is delightful.” Health also learnt to write beautifully and within a month of her training, she wrote a letter to her cousin, correctly and in legible hand.

At the age of eight Helen was taken to Perkins Institute by Anne. A new world of knowledge opened for Helen. Helen learnt of other people like her and nurtured new associations. She widened her social circle and formed new associations. She learnt Braille and voraciously poured over books from all walks of life. She communicated with other children who knew the manual alphabet. Both physically and mentally, this was a very productive period for her. Helen travelled with Anne who painted an exact word picture for her of the gliding landscape, the booming cities, the different types of people and their different ways of lifestyle. Helen’s education widened and she understood the world around her in totality. Holidaying at Cape Cod, Helen discovered the world of sports. She learnt to swim, ride, row and sail.

In 1890, when Helen was 10 years old, she learnt of a deaf, dumb and blind Norwegian girl who had been taught to talk. Anne took Helen there who met Sarah Fuller, the principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. Miss Fuller taking Helen’s hand made her feel the movements of the jaw and teeth and tongue as she (Miss Fuller) spoke. She made sounds of “I” as in “it” several times. Helen picked up this techniques and thus began her first tryst with speech. She learnt the vowels and soon she distinctly speak the words ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’. Going home after her seventh lesson, Helen said in hollow, breathy tones- ‘I am not dumb now.”

Helen entered the Gilman School for Young Ladies in Cambridge and was intensively tutored. She entered Radcliffe in 1900 and was the first individual with a triple handicap to enter the portals of this prestigious institution. Helen was 24 when she graduated with special honours in English. By this time, she was a national celebrity. She was corresponding with well known figures like Graham Bell who not only was a keen admirer of her spirit but became a good friend to her. After training her voice, she began giving public appearances to inspire people more fortunate than her. Her tall, graceful personality, full of charm and humour and her invincible spirit captivated the audience nationwide. Oliver Wendell Holmes wept when she read Tennyson’s “Break, break, break”. In 1913, she made her first public appearance. “My mind froze,” Helen recollected later. Though words rose to her lips, she was unable to utter even a single syllable at first. Then she uttered a single sound that sounded like a cannon ball going off, but it actually was only a whisper!

By 1914, Helen was an international speaker. She worked tirelessly for the blind, raising money for them and inspiring them through her own example. At this time, a young Scottish girl, Polly Thompson, joined them as their secretary and manager. Signing a contract with Hollywood, they made the film ‘Deliverence’. Helen participated in vaudeville acts that she loved very much. She felt alive and refreshed at the close interaction that such a performance entailed. Helen wrote many books. Her books were published in many languages, as well as in Braille. She wrote, ‘The Story of My Life’ (1902), ‘The World I Live In’ (1908), ‘Out Of The Dark’ (1913), ‘Midstream-My Later Life’ (1930). ‘Let Us Have Faith’ (1940), ‘Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy’ (1955), and ‘The Open Door’ (1957). The motion picture, ’The Unconquered’ (1954) and the play, ‘The Miracle Worker’ are based on her life. She visited many foreign lands and received rare honours in many countries. Helen’s contribution to the handicapped after World War II, adds a generous dimension to her social work. She visited American hospitals and lectured in Europe on behalf of the physically handicapped.

In 1936, Anne died after a steady deterioration of her eyesight. It was a great loss to Helen who not only lost a teacher but a friend and a companion of a life time. Before her death someone said, “Teacher . . . . get well. Without you Helen would be nothing.”

“Then-then I have failed,” Anne said. After Anne’s death Helen, picking up the reigns of life, continued to make the world a better place for the blind all over the world. She became a pillar of strength for the American Foundation for the Blind. She lived with Miss Thompson in a picturesque house set in the Connecticut woods near Westport, with a stone Japanese lantern eight feet high constantly burning in a symbolic veneration of Helen’s struggle. Helen died in June 1968, just before her 88^th birthday.

Bill Gates

2022-09-16T12:06:00.008+05:30

Credited by https://en.wikipedia.org/

Bill Gates

Bill Gates, the software magnet holds not only an enviable position in the business world today but is the acclaimed genius of our times. As the American business executive officer of the Microsoft Corporation, Gates dominates the world of hi-tech computers.

Gates was born at Seattle, Washington on October 28, 1955. Gates’ father was a lawyer and his mother a strong-willed, outing lady. Gates in contrast was a shy boy. He preferred the company of his own thoughts. Unlike his mates Gates was far more concerned with the magic of numbers than fast cars and movie mania. He would spend hours alone and his parents became concerned about the little boy. His father recalling Bill’s childhood says, “He was so small and shy, in need of protection and his interest were so small and shy, in need of protection and his interests were so different from the children of his age.” Gates at the time was in the sixth standard. Often, when asked, “What are you doing?” the standard reply would be, “I’m thinking.”

Bill’s rationale and a fiercely competitive spirit where “winning mattered” was nurtured in early childhood. Large family dinners were often followed by organized bridge games and trivia. These, Gates recalls, were played seriously. He was nicknamed “Trey” (Three in card terminology.)

Even as a boy Gates’ interests were different from others. Instead of following the normal run of the mill activities. Trey often spent time thinking about the numbers and their varied behavioral pattern. At a small school where he studied he first came in contact with the world of computers. It was a teletype computer terminal.

By his 13^th year, Gates and his close friend Paul Allen had picked up computer language from a manual. In the eighth standard, Bill had to his credit two programmers. One of them dealt with conversion of one mathematical base into another base. The second programme was a game of noughts and crosses. Later he devised as computer version of RISK, a board game with the final aim of world domination.

Trey’s novel interest gave him an exposure into the world of men where work was done with a serious intent. With his friend Paul, Trey spent hours at a local company with a new computer. They had to identify the “bugs”, that would crash it. Often Trey would sneak out after his parents went to bed and spent most of the night at the company. He did maximum overtime and his reward was pleasure!

While work was pleasure, pursing of leisure was an arduous task for the reticent Bill. Gates lacked confidence in social settings all through his early years. It was only in high school that the shackles of self consciousness began to give away. Getting places in the top 10 of the US aptitude exam and his meritorious mental ability amongst his comrades gave him the required confidence. At this point “his confide4nce and sense of humour increased, “ his father recalls. He even worked out programmes that would put him in classes with the ‘right’ girls.

It was at Harvard that Bill Gates met steve Ballmer. Both took postgraduate level courses and Ballmer nurtured Gates’ social side. Under Ballmer’s influence Gates joined the college eating club and started to visit popular discos in New York. In 1980 Ballmer joined Microsoft. Gates says, “I always would have close business associates like Ballmer and several of the other top people at Microsoft, and that we would stick together and grow together no matter what happened.”

While attending Harvard in 1975, Gates teamed with Allen to develop a version of the BASIC computer programming language for the ALTAIR, the first personal computer. This led to the formation of Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the same year. Gates decided to drop out of Harvard in 1977 to work at Microsoft full-time, pursuing his vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home.” In 1979, Gates and Allen moved the company of Redmond, Washington, a suburb of their hometown of Seattle. Since then, Microsoft has grown from 15 employees and over $50,055 in revenues in 1978 to over 55,000 employees and $ 50 billion in revenues for the fiscal year in June 2005.

In 1981 Microsoft took its first step in diversifying beyond the programming languages market when it released MS-DOS, the operating system for the original IBM personal computer (PC). Microsoft went on to convince other PC manufacturers to license MS-DOS, which made it the de-facto software standard for PCs. Microsoft’s collaboration with IBM throughout the 1980s created the world’s first mass-market phenomenon in the computer industry based on the availability of computer chips, parts and the MS-DOS operating systems. The acceptance of the MS-DOS as the software standard for the PC led to Microsoft’s Increasingly important role in the industry.

Microsoft is a sprawling campus of over thirty-five low-rise buildings where competitive workers work relentlessly to materialize Gates’ dream, perhaps of world domination. To Microsoft goes the credit of growing the market in desk top operating systems. They survived companies like IBM, which are 10 times their size.

Dressed in khaki trousers and flannel shirts, the young members of the Microsoft world are called “Bill clones.” These are brilliant young minds hired to be trained in the combined art of technical brilliance and creativity. At the entrance test they are subjected to e rigorous IQ test that poses all but easy questions.

One of the routine tasks of Gates at the Microsoft is to hold meetings with teams working on various projects. The teams are subjected to grilling questions on politics of their rivals, details of technology, marketing strategy and so on. No area remains untouched. Gates expects only excellence from his teams. There is no place for second rate outputs. A good set of ideas is unhesitatingly termed as “really Neat” or “supercool.” The bad strategies are unsparingly labelled as “crummy”, “really dumb” or “random to the max”.

Gates’ office like the man himself is shrouded in silence most of the time. The phone almost never rings. Most of his contact to the outside world is through e-mail. The office is sparsely decorated with ordinary furniture with a lot of airy room for thought.

Gates married Melinda French on January 1 1994. She was working for the company when he met her at One of the Microsoft press conferences. She is intelligent and independent and spends most of her time devoted to charity work now. The Gates have as already given away over $ 500 million as charity to various organizations.

Although the birth of three children may have tempered the fiercely competitive spirit, he still pushes hard and is known to be a Darwinian at heart. A former Microsoft executive and an admirer-cum-critic points out, “He doesn’t look for win-win situations, but for ways to make others lose. Success is defined as flattening the competition, not creating excellence. In Bill’s eyes, he’s still the kid who’s afraid he’ll go out of business if he lets anyone compete.” Countering the view that what drivers Bill is not threatened by intelligent people . . . . only stupid ones.” For Gates competition is a sport and one must play it with verve and alacrity. He calls it “superfund.”

The 50-year-old big boss of the bit and byte with a passion for speeding and intelligent minds is a much matured man. Less enamored with pure intelligence than before he says, “I don’t think that IQ is as fungible choices and how to think more morally.”

This giant of the computer world has a lot of years ahead of him. With his marked ability to translate technical vision into market strategy and to blend creativity with technical acumen, we can look forward to a future of stupendous innovation, that not only sharpens our grey cells but will have us crying for more.

Anne Frank

2022-09-07T16:49:00.005+05:30

Anne Frank

this image credited by - https://en.wikipedia.org/

It was August 1944. The World War II was at its height. Germany under Hitler’s dictatorship was a menace. The Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis. The terror of Fascism had spread. The Jews were desperate for survival. In a small office building in Amsterdam, hiding from the German gun was the Frank family. Their only crime was that they were Jews.

Anne Frank was the second daughter of Otto Frank, a banker by profession. She was born on June 12, 1929. Her elder sister was Margot. They lived in Germany, till the unjust regime of Hitler’s army made it impossible for them to survive.

They shifted to Amsterdam in the hope of a life free from Hitler’s hatred. But that was not to be. In 1942, the family went into hiding. They lived in hiding for two and a half years. It was in this secret annexe that Anne Frank, a young girl of 13 years recorded her daily life and impressions in a diary that she had received as a birthday gift. She had hoped to publish it after the war. The young girl had planned to see a brighter tomorrow, when the scars of hatred would only be a dim memory. But destiny had different plans.

On August 4, 1944, four Dutch Nazi soldiers and one German Nazi soldier stormed into the secret annexe. Mr Kraler, their Dutch friend and confidante, after being mercilessly harassed by the Nazi troops revealed the whereabouts of the Frank family and ransacked the place for money and jewels. In their endeavour for more booty, they emptied Mr. Frank’s briefcase. Anne’s diary was in the pile of papers that was emptied on the floor. No one took notice of it then. A week later, after the arrest, Miep, the Frank family’s Dutch friend came back to the secret annexe. She discovered Anne’s diary. The diary contained detailed information of the Frank family’s life in hiding. It included help rendered by their friends like Miep, Elli, Mr. Koophius, Mr. Vossen and Mr. Kraler. It had volatile information. Miep, risking her life, kept the diary with her. It was only in 1945 when Otto Frank by some weird stroke of destiny, surviving the horror of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, returned to Amsterdam. On reaching Amsterdam, he learnt from a friend that his wife and daughters had perished. A friend described Anne’s last days at Belsen camp as “cold and hungry, her head shaved and skeleton-like form draped in a coarse, shapeless, striped garb of the concentration camp.” This description choked Otto with immeasurable grief. The image of Anne as his ‘Tender one’ came to his eyes. Anne had been an overflowing bundle of energy. With her delightful chatter, she had been a constant source of joy to Otto Frank. He could easily recollect the delight that Anne had demanded from life. Her cheerful optimism in the face of the most demanding perils was a quality that few could boast of. Otto remembered Anne’s boundless energy on their first day in hiding. The secret annexe had been in an unused state for a very long time. It was covered with cobwebs and dirt. Anne was, Otto remembered, not at all deterred. Instead, she had plunged into the task at hand. Cleaning the shelves, dusting the cupboards and pasting pictures of her favorite film stars was done with characteristic enthusiasm. Otto could not believe that this little girl, with so much zest for life had now become a part of nameless history. His remorse was great when he realized that the past would now remain merely a recollection of fragments that could only be reconstructed again and again in the long lonely hours of twilight. The horrors of the German genocide would simply become a distasteful part of human history, that would at best be recorded in some cold pages of a history book. The unforgivable German atrocities would only remain cold facts that happened to someone at sometime. For the future generations, the German holocaust would just be something they would like to forget.

I was at this juncture that Otto Frank met Miep, the Dutch typist who had been the family’s angel of mercy during their trying days in hiding. Miep gave Otto, the diary that she had found in the secret annexe. Seeing Anne’s familiar writing scrawled across the pages overwhelmed Otto. It was days before he was able to actually get down to reading the diary.

Sensitively written, the diary was an account of a girl’s blossoming into teenage life. The pressures of a life in hiding were visibly marked in the words that she wrote on every page. After being isolated from the world for nearly 16 months, Anne wrote, “I feel like a song-bird whose wings have been brutally torn out and who is flying in utter darkness against the bars of its own cage”. The problems of coping with the unanswered questions of life were all portrayed with vivid clarity and depth. Beneath the veneer of a cheerful chatterbox was a girl with the most passionate heart and a profound insight into life that was almost ascetic. On religion she wrote, “people who have religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift in believing in heavenly things.”

Otto Frank was painfully torn by the past that was gone forever. Reading the diary, he rediscovered the person that was behind the sprightly little girl. His daughter’s attempt to conceal her inner fear and uncertainty so as to save her family from undue anxiety could only be categorized as brave. Her extreme love for her father, her inevitable adolescent conflict with her mother, together with the sibling rivalry between the two sisters documented in all sincerity made Otto Frank understand Anne Frank’s diary such a success all over the world. For generations now, young girls who have read the diary have identified with Anne. Atter its publication Otto Frank was overwhelmed with the response he received from all over the world. A typical letter read, “Oh Mr. Frank, she is so much like me that sometimes I do not know where myself begins and Anne Frank ends”.

At first Otto had no intention of publishing the book. He started to copy parts of the manuscript for his old mother who was still alive. He gave one typed copy to a close friend who in turn lent it to a professor of modern history. The professor devoted an entire article to it in a Dutch newspaper. The article was widely read. On popular demand, Otto half-heartedly gave the manuscript to some Dutch publishers, two of whom refused publication. The third publisher accepted it. It was an instant success. He sold 150, 000 copies of the Dutch edition alone. Other editions followed. The figure of the sale was phenomenal. Otto received letters from all over the world. Some were just addressed to, “Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank. Amsterdam”. The response was global. Otto had to retire from his business and take up the care of his daughter’s book as a full-time job. He answered each of the letters he received personally. All the royalties of the book were devoted to humanitarian causes. Otto felt that this is what his daughter would have wanted.

Anne Frank’s life, though short, touched people all over the world. The dramatization of the book by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett, won the Pulitzer prize for Drama in 1956-57. It played in 20 different countries to two million people. It ran in London for six months at the Phoenix Theatre. Twentieth Century Fox turned it into a film. ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ written by an impressionable 15-year-old girl in such candid simplicity, captured the hearts of millions all over the world. Anne’s story retold in dramatic artistic mediums turned the cold facts of history into pulsating reality. Audiences when confronted with the thumping of Nazi boots on the stage were at once faced with their own failure as human beings. The onus lay, not on the Germans alone, but, on the whole human race for being nothing more than helpless spectators. The audience, while seeing the play in heavy remorseful silence, were afraid to face each other. Each one felt the burden of guilt. The Dusseldorf, producer of ‘Anne Frank’, the play in Germany, talking of the success of ‘Anne Frank’ said “Anne Frank’ has succeeded because it enables the audience to come to grips with history, personally and without denunciation. We watch it as an indictment, in the most humble, pitiful terms, of inhumanity to fellow men. No one accuses us as Germans. We accuse ourselves.” The drama strove to portray the futility of Anne’s death, and above all, the futility of hatred itself.

Anne’s life was an embodiment of faith in humanity. Midst such perils and racial prejudice, Anne never abandoned hope in humanity. Despite harsh rejections. Anne continued to trust. A passage in Anne’s journal reads, ”In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart”. At Auschwitz, she proved to be a courageous leader. She dared to stand up for her rights and ask for food. Having lost her mother on their way to Auschwitz in a cattle-truck and being forced to separate from her father, Anne gained strength only from her sister’s presence. Margot became Anne’s reason for living this life of painful hardship inside the iron gates of Auschwitz where it was ironically inscribed “Work makes men free.” Soon they were deported to Belsen camp where due to the unhygienic conditions of living, both the sisters caught typhus. They, nevertheless struggled on until one day, Margot lying above Anne’s bunk bed suddenly collapsed due to fatigue. Margot’s death snapped Anne’s last tenuous link to life. It broke her spirit. Anne died in March 1945, two months before Holland was free and three months before her sixteenth birthday.

Anne’s life healed scares that even a veteran psychologist would have found a daunting task. It instilled in the Germans a sense of shame and a desire to make amends for the past wrongs. German school children would often write to Otto Frank voicing their opinion against racial persecution. Social homes for young people, organisations combating Anti-Semitism or any other champions of human rights in Germany after the war all bore Anne Frank’s name. her name had become a symbol of secular and religious tolerance. The headmistress of one of the largest schools in England wrote to Otto Frank. “It must be a source of deep joy to you-in all your sorrow-to know that Anne’s brief life is, in the deepest sense only just beginning”. In 1957, a group of 120 students cycled to Belsen to lay wreaths of flowers on the graves thee. For one unnamed grave in the hundreds there, spoke a story of complete courage and faith in humanity. It had to be honoured.

Though gone forever, Anne Frank has left behind a legacy of courage, faith and love for the future generations to benefit from. Anne wrote, I want to go on living after my death. And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift ……… of expressing all that is in me.”

Harry Houdini

2022-09-07T16:47:00.004+05:30

Harry Houdini

this image credited by - https://en.wikipedia.org/

Imagine is a man was tied and locked in a packing case that was bound with steel tape and dropped into the harbor off the Battery in New York City. What does one suppose would happen to such a man? Surely, he would meet his end. But this is exactly what did not happen to Harry Houdini, the famous magician of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He emerged free on the water surface within sixty seconds. Houdini was the man no lock could hold.

Houdini was born on March24, 1847, in Budapest, Hungary. He was the fifth of eight children of a poor Rabbi. His Jewish name was Ehrich Weiss. His family migrated to the United States when Houdini was still infant. They settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. To contribute to his family income, Houdini worked as a newspaper boy and as a shoeshine boy. Houdini worked as a newspaper boy and as a shoeshine boy. Houdini’s fascination with locks started early. It was in a luggage shop he worked in that Houdini discovered this. When he was 16 years old, on reading the autobiography of the famous French magician, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, Ehrich decided to become a magician. Modifying the surname of the great man, Ehrich Weiss came professionally to be called Harry Houdini. He started his career in 1882 as a trapeze performer. This led him to later achieve astounding feats in the world of magic. He could extricate himself from any kind of shackles that anyone chose to impose on him. Handcuffs, ropes, locked trunks of any sort were no hindrance to him. When still a boy of 17, Houdini took to performing his art in front of any audience he could get. He did this on a part time basis, for during the day he worked as an apprentice cutter in a tie factory. Only the evening afforded him time to perform. Whenever someone would hire him for an evening or a Week-end show, Houdini would put up a spectacular show. A quick switch trunk escape was one of his favourite performances.

Surprisingly, in the early years New York still had not acknowledged this great man’s art. Disillusioned with the lack of response, he set out for London to make a mark. But on reaching the famous Alhambra Theatre in London, Houdini was unable to impress the manager with his portfolio of tricks. The manager mocking the young magician asked him to go down to Scotland Yard and “If”, he said, :you can get out of their handcuffs I might give you a try.” It was the famous Scotland Yard that really was responsible for putting Houdini on the road to success. At “The Yard”. Houdini persuaded a young superintendent to handcuff him. Houdini was like wise handcuffed to a pillar. The superintendent, then in a jocular fashion said that he would come to free him only after lunch. To the astonishment of the policeman, Houdini replied. “Wait a second. I’ll go with you!” Saying this he handed the handcuff to the stupefied policeman. Houdini became an instant rage. All of England acknowledge his talent. He was the man whom no lock, no fetter, no restraint could hold. By 1905 he was a celebrity in Europe and America.

Houdini was a short man of about 1.65 metres in height. Not a great conversationalist, on meeting him, one would hardly think that he would be able to capture for hours the attention of a mesmerized audience. His incorrect diction and far-from-perfect use of the language made him the most unlikely candidate for a performing art. But only on adorning the magician’s mantle did he turn into the most spectacular showman the world had ever seen. On stage, he underwent a complete metamorphosis, Robust and confident, his speech became every orator’s envy and sitting in front was the most enchanted audience.

Houdini’s mastery of craft was outstanding. But throughout his life, he maintained that magic was nothing but a set of tricks that could be scientifically proven. On psychological principles of misdirection, suggestion, imitation and concealment, the magician’s victory is based. Sleight of hand, i.e. deception of manual dexterity is one of the methods that magicians use to outwit the audience. Mechanical methods involving the use of camouflaged apparatus that the audience sees but does not comprehend and of apparatus that the audience sees but does not comprehend and of apparatus that is not seen are some of the jugglery secrets that the magicians use to perfection. Houdini practiced this art with utter seriousness. He improved manyfold on the art of his Egyptian ancestor Dedi who is recorded to be the first magician in the history of mankind. He flourished in 2700BC.

Between 1895 and 1926, Houdini was a phenomenon. An escape artist, a magician, inventor, filmstar, aviator, showman and an author of more than 40 books, Houdini’s was a sensational story. In Moscow, on one occasion, he challenged Moscow’s secret police chief that he could free himself from The Carette-a two-metre square, steel-sheathed cube-was used to transport dangerous criminals to Siberia. It had only two openings-a tiny 20 centimetre barred window and a steel door. This door once locked could only be opened by a second key kept by the prison governor in Siberia, 3000 kilometres away. Houdini was stripped naked and checked thoroughly for any concealed tools or pins of any kind. He was then chained and handcuffed. The great steel door was vaulted and The Carette was moved against the wall of the prison so that the door of the vault was against the prison wall. The Moscow Police left no stone unturned to ensure a foolproof vault that could now only be opened in Siberia. With Houdini locked inside, they were satisfied only to be completely thrown off balance when they saw a sweety Houdini emerging from behind the cell. The seal of the door was still remains a mystery.

During his lifetime, Houdini was a subject of much debate and speculation. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Homes, accused him of having supernatural powers. A German reporter once wrote of him that Houdini had the ability to dematerialize his body and pass it through the walls. At the Washington federal penitentiary, Houdini escaped from a maximum security cell and also moved 18 other prisoners into different cells in 27 minutes. As always Houdini claimed that all could be explained scientifically. In an interesting instance, he once set out to demolish a yogi’s claim to supernatural powers that enabled him to be buried alive. After a lot of practice to stay without food, Houdini climbed into a coffin, with hands on his breast and allowed himself to be sealed inside with the limited amount of oxygen. After an hour and a half on his release, he told the reporters that this too was just a trick. By training himself not to eat or drink 24 hours beforehand and by remaining still he trains himself to use less of oxygen, so he can survive. This was the excruciating length into which Houdini could go to train himself. Behind the story of his success is the secret of a lot of hard work.

The last years of Houdini’s life were devoted to relentless campaign against fraudulent mediums. His through knowledge of deceptive techniques enabled him to expose them. Houdini challenged Margery, the Boston queen of mediums. Her act guaranteed a direct contact with the world of beyond. ‘The Scientific American’ was ready to pay $ 2500 for a genuine contact with the other world. Houdini, hearing this, took up the challenge of exposing her. He was ready to pay $ 10,000 to anyone who could convincingly put him in touch with the world of spirits. He was sure that his art of necromancy could duplicate any trick that Margery could play. Cancelling his scheduled performance, he travelled to Boston with the aim of breaking the Margery myth. His only condition was that he allowed to sit next to Margery during the session. Before going for the session, he desensitized his leg that was to be pressed against Margery’s leg during the session. This would lead to exposure of her trick. As Houdini expected, Margery, at an opportune moment during the session, made an almost imperceptible gesture to press a button with her leg. The movement was at once caught by Houdini whose leg was extremely tender due to his intelligent tying of a band below his knee. Houdini caught Margery red-handed. He proclaimed Margery a fraud!

At the age of 50, he was at the peak of his popularity. But ironically it was at this time that the premonition of death began haunting Houdini. He knew his time was up. Just before setting out on a tour to Montreal, Houdini rang up the famous magician John Dunninger, requesting him on a rainy night in October 1926 to help him cart some boxes to a storage place at the other end of the city. As they were driving away, Houdini asked Dunninger to turn back. Houdini then got out of the car in the rain and stood before the house in silence for a few seconds. Then getting back in the car he said, “I just wanted one last look. I’ll never see it again alive.” After an exhaustive tour at Montreal, on the day of his last performance, as Houdini was resting in his dressing room, a group of young boys came to see him. They were very much intrigued by Houdini’s confident denouncing the working of any kind of spiritual medium. One of the boys was infuriated at Houdini’s rigid stance and without a warning punched Houdini in the stomach several times. The youth wanted to puncture the myth that Houdini was invincible and that the reality was that he could be hurt. Houdini was badly wounded and after a few days was admitted in the hospital for appendix and peritonitis. He died a few days later.

As in life, he remained an icon even after his death. Fake spiritualists, taking advantage of his popularity began proclaiming that Houdini had contacted them and was sending messages to the world. It became a joke when the American wit will Rogers said, “If Houdini keeps this message stuff up, he’s going to put the western union (a telegraph company) out of business.”

Today too, Houdini’s grave is visited by earnest magicians, year after year, in the hope that the mystery man whom no lock could hold would send them some formula to make that greatest escape from the very clutches of Death.

Diana, Princess Of Wales

2022-09-07T16:45:00.006+05:30

Diana, Princess Of Wales

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February 24, 1981, in the white and gold ballroom of Buckingham palace, as the notes National Anthem died away, the Lord Chamberlain came center stage and said that the Queen had commanded him to make a special announcement. Lord Maclean, in a manner that befits royalty, announced, “It is with great pleasure that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh announce the betrothal of their beloved son, the prince Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of Earl Spencer and the Honorable Mrs. Shand-Kydd”. This was indeed an illustrious moment in the history of the British royalty as Lady Diana was chosen by the exclusive royal family of Britain to be the future Queen of England.

On July 29, 1981 midst the pomp, glamour and much glitterati, Lady Diana walked down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral with Prince Charles, the heir apparent to the British throne. Lady Diana became Her Royal Highness, the princess of Wales. It was a fairy-tale wedding that struck the very picture of romance. The world applauded and cheered as the starry-eyed nineteen-year-old princess, with a warm style and stunning looks, waved to them as her royal carriage passed the heavily-packed London streets. She was an instant success.

Earl Spencer held a position as Viscount Althrop, King George VI’s equerry between 1950 and 1952, and equerry to the Queen for two years after her accession in 1952. It was in 1954 he married the Honorable Frances Ruth Burke Roche, the younger daughter of the 4^th Baron Fermoy. Diana was the couple’s third daughter. She was born at Park House, in a rambling Victorian mansion, in the grounds of the Sandringham Estate, the Royal family’s house. It was only till the age of seven that Diana enjoyed a happy childhood. Matrimonial strife between her parents ended in a divorce. She was then sent to a boarding school. In 1975, on the death of her grandfather, her father inherited the title and became the 8^th Earl Spencer. They moved to Althrop, in Northampton shire. Diana became ‘Lady’ Diana. Two years later, her father remarried and Diana went off to a finishing school in Switzerland. She felt homesick and was back before the year was over. It was in 1977 at a shooting party that she met Prince Charles for the first time. Little did they know that destiny had more plans for them than was afforded by this casual meeting. It was two years after this that Prince Charles started taking more than a casual interest in this unaffected 18-year-old girl. She was a marked contrast to the more worldly girls in his circles.

At first their marriage seemed happy enough. Within a span of three years, Diana gave birth to two sons, Price William of Wales and Prince Anrew. The four of them presented a picture of a happy family. Princess Diana had all that the future Queen of England must possess. She became an obsession with the media. Her gorgeous looks with a model-perfect figure matched by a warm elegance became a perfect story for the print world across the globe. She was always in the news, sometimes as ‘shy Di’, sometimes as ‘Disco Di’ and other times as ‘Caring Di’ or ‘Crusading Di’. So powerful was her appeal with the masses that many a time her charisma and charm overshadowed the more sober Prince Charles. Her fanfare was phenomenal and she gained a tremendous amount of applause when she associated herself with unfashionable and controversial issues like leprosy and AIDS. She soon gained the stature of a model lady pf the 20^th century. She became an icon.

Unfortunately, this idyllic state did not last. Hints of strained relations between the couple became apparent. In December 1990, separation of the royal couple was announced by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons and in 1996 they were divorced. Diana’s title of Her Royal Highness was taken away and she came to be addressed as merely Diana, Princess of Wales. This move by the royal household earned them a poor reputation as the world opinion was with their very own Diana. In a candid BBC interview she said that what she wanted most was to be not the Queen of England but the Queen of people’s Hearts. And that she definitely was.

It would indeed be difficult to delineate the causes of the failure of this marriage which started with so much of hope and optimism. The formality of the monarchy which Diana found stifling together with the hounding media are surmised to be the two major causes of the breakup of this marriage of the century. Prince Charles, tutored to keep the proverbial tight upper lip, could not perhaps understand the spontaneousness of the girl he had married. They were two kind but different types of people, tied together in a set of circumstances made painful by fate.

The divorce could not rob Diana of the charm that she was endowed with. Her popularity never flagged, though there were articles every now and then about some clandestine romance that she was supposed to be having. But all was quelled when Prince Charles too confessed of having a relationship with his companion of many years, Camilla Parker-Bowles. The public, she was a lone brave mother of the royal household trying desperately to bring the much-needed contemporaries into the portals of the British monarchy. The people identified and sympathized with her.

Though no longer the wife of heir apparent to the British throne, Diana had a significant role to play as the mother of the future heirs of the country. She decided to forge a new bond with the public that gave her so much adulation. She focused on causes that gave her so much adulation. She focused on causes that needed her attention. Her association with the AIDS trust, Leprosy Mission, Cancer hospitals and the British Red Cross won her many laurels. She was a symbol of refreshing New Royalty that even shield away from wearing gloves when shaking hands!

Thus, when on August 30, 1997 the world heard of Diana’s death in a car crash at Paris, there was gloom that spread in all the corners of the world. There was a common outpouring of grief as people participated in what seemed a global loss. It was history in the making. They all mourned the snatching away of one so young and irreplaceable. Ironically, it was on this fateful day that Diana had truly found personal happiness. That evening her companion and friend Dodi al-Fayed, the eldest son of the owner of Harrods had presented Diana with a fabulous diamond-studded ring that commemorated the start of a new life together. Diana put it on the third finger of her right hand. She had been on the threshold of a new life when both Dodi and she were killed in the car crash.

Diana’s tragic death put an end to an era that had just started to take shape. It reinforced the finality of death and the contrasting elusiveness of life. People from all over thronged to the iron gates of Kingston Palace, the official residence of the Princess and paid their heartfelt tribute in flowers and messages. Even 45 condolence books were a measure less for recording the monumental grief of these people who mourned her death as one does a close friend.

In her death. Diana has been canonized with all the people who, In their short but meaningful lives, have left an unquenchable void. Diana’s close friend and famous singer Elton John’s first line of his song “A Candle in the Wind” poignantly captures the essence of Diana’s impact on the world. When bidding farewell he says, “Goodbye, England’s Rose.” With the death of Diana, a contemporary icon faded away but from these ashes was a legend of a princess that will live on …………

Walt Disney

2022-09-01T16:02:00.006+05:30

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Walt Disney

It would be appropriate to say that the creator of Disneyland was one of the most dreamy characters that history has ever recorded. Without the fertile imagination that so gripped this gangly man with this country-boy figure lost in deep thought, We would, today, perhaps still be foreigners to this concept of a sprawling amusement park that attracts millions of tourists from all over the world. The Disneyland at Orlando in the United States is the fruit of this creative genius’ persistent effort to realise an idea once it gripped his imagination. The very concept of an amusement park was thought of as presposterous and a definite failure by all those who heard about it. But it was solety by conviction and hard work that Walt Disney earned a place in the hearts of people across the globe.

One of the earliest recollections that Walt’s brother, Roy, has of him is his fascination for animals and his love for drawing. Walt grew up on a mid western prairie farm in a small town of Marceline. Amidst the romantic setting of the apple orchards and the weeping willows, Walt sketched his first impressions. The first nickel that Walt ever earned was for a sketch he had made of a neighbour’s horse. His fascination for animals never ebbed and with an extra fillip of his imagination he immortalized them into characters we come across everyday, be it on TV or comic strips or a full length cartoon movie. Walt’s Mickey Mouse is now a household name that children of all races and nationalities enduringly associate with.

Walt began his career by launching a cartoon series called ‘Alice in Cartoonland’. He was 21 and the project was finances on a loan of $500 that he borrowed from his uncle. Both Walt and his brother were in this together, Roy at the camera and Walt doing the animations. They worked hard. The series flopped. But undetered, Walt started a new series called ‘Oswald The Rabbit’. Oswald did better but Walt was once again duped by the distributor, who, having bought the copyrights, took charge of the series himself. Not disheartened at all, Walt made a significant decision that was to affect the future course of things. He decided to go into business on his own. With characteristic enthusiasm he said to Roy, “We are going to start a new series. It’s about a mouse and we’ll own the mouse.” ‘Mickey Mouse’ was born that year. Mickey was Walt’s first success. His matchless imagination and his uncanny ability to turn the ordinary into something wonderful was applauded by the audience. But it was only with ‘Snow White’ that there was a definite windfall for Walt. Walt made several million dollars on this one.

One would expect that money rolled in after this stupendous hit. But this was far from truth. Walt invested nearly all that he earned into building a studio and doing more cartoon features. Walt never spared any expense on improving his pictures. His bankers, bookkeepers and lawyers often tried to put brakes on his unbridled imagination. Once an idea possessed him, he went headlong into realizing it, no matter what the cost. His brother, on seeing him triggered with that special verve, would often say. “When I see you happy, that’s when I get nervous.” But it was this desire to see perfection in everything that makes Walt Disney the unmatched creative genius of our times.

All through world War II and the Depression of the Thirties, it was the extraordinary partnership of hard work and invincible faith that kept Walt afloat. During the depression when the studio was on the verge of closing down, Walt gave his staff a raise! It was thought to be a crazy idea. But, it gave morale a big boost. Walt involved himself in everything. He had an exacting eye for details. Rarely anything escaped him. During one story conference on the Mickey Mouse Club TV Show, the story man, pointer in hand was outlining a sequence called ‘How to Ride a bicycle’. “Now when you get on your bicycle ………………..”, he began. Walt at once said, “Change your bicycle’ to ‘a bicycle’. Remember every kid is not fortunate enough to have a bike of his own.” He was a perfectionist. Thought he demanded perfection from his crew, never could he fire anyone. If someone did not suit a job, he almost always tried to find another job for him in his own concern. WED (for Walt E. Disney) Enterprises at Glendale was his favourite place to absorb people who could not fit into other departments. This place eventually was to become the illustrious Disneyland that the world throngs to see today.

Walt Disney’s success can be credited to four things. Hard work, a panache for details, extraordinary imagination and some luck. At the studio, he worked the hardest. Nothing ever escaped his perceptive eye. Very often on retrieving some discarded work of an animator from the waste basket, Walt would invariably write a note for the animators saying “Let’s not throw away the good stuff.” In the jugglery of creative work, Walt Disney knew what “good stuff” meant. With an extra gag or a new angle, the whole thing would suddenly come alive. His ability to give a graphic description of a story was so overwhelming that his nephew preferred a story telling session with Walt, rather than see the actual picture. On seeing ‘Pinocchio’, the new animated Walt Disney production that won acclaims all over, was in fact a disappointment for his nephew. He is known to have said, ‘”It didn’t seem as exciting as when Uncle Walt told it”. So it can be safely said that the only rival his productions ever faced was Walt Disney himself!

The amazing success of Disneyland did not in the least change this man’s simple way of life. He hated parties and his idea of a good evening was a hamburger and chili at a little restaurant. The only extravagance was a little miniature railroad that ran on the grounds of his house. His passion for railroads can be traced back to his boyhood days at Marceline, when his Uncle Mike, an engineer would sound two long and short whistle to wake up these boys so that they could take a closer look at the locomotives. Walt never lost his love of trains. Years later, one of the first attractions at Disneyland was an old-fashioned train.

Work was his passion and he pursued it faithfully. The money earned was ploughed right back from where it came. A friend once asked, “What do you do with all your money?”. “I fertilise that field”, was walt’s reply, pointing towards his studio. This financial stability gave him an opportunity to develop other fantastic ideas. Millions of dollars were poured into making an alpine-like valley, high in the Sierra Mountains, called Mineral King. He donated land and money to the California Institute of Arts which was worth millions and he stared the Disney World and the city of Tomorrow in Florida.

Walt Disney’s enthusiasm would have gone on endlessly had it not been for the fatal illness that suddenly seized him in the midst of this hectic activity. But his enthusiasm did not leave him even in his last hours. His brother, Roy, records that the night before he died, Walt was full of plans for the future. This infectious celebration of life, which was so characteristic of Walt Disney is what Disneyland is all about. Through his creations, the future generations will continue to celebrate what he once described as “that precious, ageless something in every human being which makes us play with children’s toys and laugh at silly things and sing in the bathtub and dream.” And to children, all over the world, he will always be the one that actually brought fairyland into their lives!

Alexander The Great

2022-08-05T14:56:00.004+05:30

This image Credited by - https://www.biography.com/

Alexander The Great

To conquer the world was not only his dream but a reality which this young Greek General called Alexander had almost achieved. When, at the age of 32, he suddenly died. Dynamic he and enterprising, this young hero was spurred on by an insatiable appetite to have the world at his feet, Standing a little over five feet, he possessed that unique blend of youth and wisdom that today puts him in an unchallenged position amongst the world's greatest generals.

Alexander was born on July 1, 356 BC in Pella, Macedonia, to Queen Olympias and King Philip.

As the son of King Philip of Macedonia. Alexander was the beneficiary of his father's military and political genius. This, together with the unsurpassed tutoring by none other than Aristotale himself, inculcated in him a love for knowledge and life. Be it botany, science, anatomy, history, literature, morals or political science. Alexander found answers to all possible questions under the able tutelage of his teacher. This made Alexander the most well-read conqueror of all times. Due to his sagacious insight into military strategy, great and much envied generals like Hannibal. Caesar and Napoleon studied him.

It was in 336 BC, on losing his father, that Alexander donned the mantle of responsibility of the new king. At first it was thought that his father's splendid military feats would surely outshine Alexander's military exploits. But the Macedonians were wrong. Alexander struck north, east, west and then south into Greece proper. Once having all of Greece under his command, the young general started looking outwards.

Leading his army, Alexander marched towards Asia. Akexander thought that it was time to punish the Persians for invading Greece 150 years ago. King Darius III, the Persian King, laughed when he heard about the valiant Alexander who led an army of a mere 30,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry officers against his vast army of million soldiers! But it was Alexander who was to have the last laugh. Using a planned intelligent manoeuvre. Alexander let his centre. Alexabder, taking advantage of this, carried out a wild but disciplined cavalry charge on to the unsuspecting enemy. He caught the enemy unawares and this led to an unprecedented victory over Darius' fled the battlefield but was killed buy hid own men. He was found dying by the Macedonian soldiers. The dying king muttered some words of gratitude to Alexander for treating the royal captives with courtesy. Alexander, in his characteristic manner, covered the body of the dead king with his won royal mantle as a mark of respect.

Alexander's bravery did not in the least dampen his humane approach to things. His annexation of the other Greek city states was done with tolerance and the least loss of life. It was only the plunder of Thebes that saw the ruthless exploitation by Alexander's army, but here too the characteristic Alexanderian touch spared the house of Pindar, the great Theban poet. He venerated all knowledge. In another instance, after winning over Darius' army, Alexander in a drunken state is said to have gone along with the demand of the Greek soldiers to burn down the palace of their enemy. Alexander himself led the parade throwing blazing torches at the building, only to retrace his steps once the spectacle of that magnificent fire had a sobering effect on him. He then tried to save all that he could. Today, Because of this spontaneous act of saving the monument, the archaeologists have found wonderful stone carvings nearly intact.

Alexander had started his journey for Asia with the sole aim of making slaves of the Persians. He had been taught to think that the Persians were second rate citizens and were fit to be subservient, always. But on experiencing the might of the Persian army and coming in close contact with the Persian soldiers, Alexander fond them to be noble, cultured and with great dignity. He was impressed. As a goodwill gesture, He chose 30,000 of the best Persian soldiers to train in the Macedonian art of military leadership. Alexander was no a slave to prejudice. He acknowledged rare qualities of bravery and camaraderie even in soldiers of the enemy camp and he did not forget to respect them' On capturing a state in India, Alexander defeated the king of Indus called Porus. He took the defeated king captive and then asked him as to how he would like to be treated. To this Porus sense of honour and self-respect, Alexander restored his territory to him as a protected state under Macedonian regime.

Even today Alexander's tales of vaolur can be an inspiration to any aspiring commander of troops. He always fought right beside his men and never deterred to face fierce attack. When still a boy, Alexander was the only one to master the famous horse Bucephalus when it was brought before his father, king Philips. Where stalwart riders had failed Alexander simply turned the horse towards the sun so that he could no longer see the sun and be frightened by its shadow. Alexander coaxed and tamed the witful brute. Bucephalus, from then on, was Alexander's personal companion. When Bucephalus died in India, Alexander mourned his death as one would of a true friend. He founded the city of Bucephalia in memory of his beloved charger.

In another instance, while facing the high fortified walls of an Indian city, it was this son of Macedonia who unhesitatingly climbed the walls and jumped right into the enemy camp. He was at once accosted by the enemy who lost no time in attacking him from all sides. Alexander fought courageously but soon collapsed when a metre-long arrow pierced his chest. Seeing their general set a bold example, the other Macedonian troops swarmed in. On finding their general badly wounded, they took to the streets with a vengeance, slaying all who came in their way. Although Alexander was badly wounded, he refused to be carried back. It is recorded that even at such a time, he asked for a horse and mounted it. He rode a few paces saluting his army then dismounting he walked, to the cheers of his men. Such was his strength and such was his commitment to his soldiers, that they followed him wherever he went.

This leader of men was driven by a lust for adventure that never could be easily satisfied. An ancient biographer wrote: ''He would always have searched beyond for something unknown." At the age of 22, he was the master of Asia Minor and at the age of 30, he had mighty Persia under his thumb. Alexander had been taught that the world did not stretch beyond the Hindu Kush mountains. But, to his delight, on reaching the land of the five rivers, the state of Punjab in India, he found his spirits soaring as unexplored virgin territory spread before him for miles and miles. At this point, Alexander's surveyors had recorded that they had marched 18, 100 kilometers in eight years. Alexander valiantly fought across the four rivers but on reaching the fifth river, his army generals refused to follow him. The harsh, unrelenting monsoons of the Indian soil broke their spirit. So their king had to give up hopes of further conquests.

By the time Alexander died he had conquered an empire that would be very general's envy. His empire stretched from present day Yugoslavia to India and included all or parts of Bulgaria, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union His exploits have left an indelible mark on the history and culture of the places he conquered. Traces of Greek culture and art were found in the stone carvings as far as India. Oriental rugs bearing designs of Greek art and Greek classics had found their way into the folk tales of Central Persia.

The only incident that tarnishes Alexander's impeccable record as the people's general and a superb administrator is a foolhardy drunken instance. All the Macedonian soldiers were not as generous in respect for their opponents as was Alexander. There rose a discontentment among the soldiers when they saw their leader doling lenient punishments to their prisoners of war and in many cases Alexander was downright kind. The Macedonians could not understand this liberal stance. It was on such an occasion at Samarcand that Cleitus, debauched with wine, taunted Alexander that it was not Alexander that won the wars but the Macedonian soldiers that fought and were victorious. He also reminded Alexander that it was Cleitus that saved his life when Alexander was attacked by the infantry soldiers of the Persian army. He hurled taunts with such an exaggeration that Alexander, Who was worked u p to a frenzy, stuck him don with a spear. It was a mortal blow and Alexander was inconsolable and chided himself a murderer.

Alexander married the beautiful daughter of Oxyartes of Sogdian Rock. Her name was Roxanne. It was in this matrimonial alliance that Alexander saw much happiness. Alexander's end come in 323 BC. After a huge drinking party he went to bed suffering from a fever which eventually took his life. As word spread amongst his troops. they all come to pay their lives. As the troops filed passed Alexander, he lay there acknowledging their salute with the blink of his eyes, for he was too weak for any other movement. In his last moments too, this grand general never once forgot to respect his valiant troops for their unflinching and steadfast devotion to him. Though it has been more than 2000 years since Alexander walked the earth, his footprints on the sands of time have left a lasting impression. His legacy of courage and leadership will always be an inspiration to many an aspiring young warrior for generations to come.