Shri Jagadish Prasad Mandal, an epitome of struggle and achievement

 

Shri Jagadish Prasad Mandal, an epitome of struggle and achievement

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Shri Jagadish Prasad Mandal, the winner of the Sahitya akademi Award in Maithili for the year 2021 for his novel, Pangu, is an epitome of struggle and achievement. Perhaps very few people knew that until the age of 59 he had hardly touched his pen, was busy fighting court cases thrust upon him by the local strongmen against whom he fought for years together for the sake of the poor and the downtrodden villagers. Having acquired M.A.degree in Political Science and Hindi, he could definitely have got a good job and spent a life of luxury. But he consciously chose to live a life full of struggles, participated in various farmers agitations, did many things valuable for the upliftment of his fellow villagers. That is how he spent his entire youth and continued with this till he approached 60 years of his life.

Having realized that he may now need to reduce physical activities due to growing age, he decided to spend his time in writings although farming continued his means of livelihood. A few acres of land that he inherited, were sufficient to manage his day-to-day necessities.

His entire family, his son (Dr Umesh Mandal), his daughter-in-law, his granddaughter -all work day and night to publish his work. And this is continuing not for one month, two months but for years together and that too without any financial gain. They have set up Pallavi Prakashan and Manav Art Printing for publishing books in Maithili. In fact, my first book in Maithili, Bhor san Sanjh dhari(भोर सँ साँझ धरि),was published by Pallavi Prakashan (in collaboration with Dr. Umesh Mandal) in the year 2017.

Jagadish Babu is a true Karmyogi. He gets up at 2AM in the morning. After a cup of tea, he spends about three hours’ time till 5AM in the morning on regular basis since last about 16 years now. During this period, he wrote about 106 books in Maithili language in almost all genres. He wrote 20 novels,750 stories, hundreds of poems.Thus, he has done a lot in the field of Maithili literature.

Sahitya Academy has added to its prestige by honoring this great son of Mithila. In fact, this award should have gone to him much earlier. He deserves much better. His writings are original and tell a lot about the realities of rural life of Mithilanchal. He deserves even the Novel prize in Literature.

I got the opportunity to meet him for the first time on 11th March 2022 when he came to Sahitya Akademi to receive the award. I was amazed by his simplicity. I was very much impressed with his innocent smile. The warmth in his manners, his utterances and behavior—were all excellent! I could hear him speaking many original words of Maithili which are now mostly forgotten.

I pray for the long, happy and healthy life of Jagadish babu so that he continues to benefit us from his literary talent for many, many years!

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Rabindra Narayan Mishra

mishrarn@gmail.com

O Mother!

O Mother!

You tolerated unbearable pain to give me life

You provided everything so that I survive

Your unflinching support made me stand

You taught me to speak and to walk on land

 

You were so much thrilled when I achieved anything

And encouraged a lot for every small thing

You were so much caring and affectionate

For every problem you were the ultimate

 

 

When I got my job, became self-dependent

You were so much happy on my achievement

I went running to you to share my joy

And   felt satisfied to see sparks in your eyes

 

Whenever I faltered and felt aghast

You always stood with me till the last

I always felt strong when you were behind

Even when I wronged you were always kind

 

 

 

 

Whatever I could achieve in my life

That happened because you were there to guide

As you always inspired not to get ever tired

That took me high as I relentlessly tried

 

Now that you are no more with us

We remember you always full of tears

Unable to forget those golden moments

When we celebrated together many events

 

O Mother! open your merciful eyes once again

Before you depart forever and leave me alone!

Let me hear your roaring laughter and smiling face

Before you vanish in the infinite space

 

R.N.Mishra

9.11.2021

Greater Noida

 

 

 

Message of Life

 

Message of Life

 

When there is lot of hue and cry

And there is plenty of darkness around

We can nevertheless make a try

Till a solution has been found

 

Life is not all about money and power

Even without which may smile like a flower

Life has always a lesson to give

To those who have come,  have to leave

 

They journey of life is never complete

Because we always try to compete

We want to rise and settle at the top

At the cost of those who are already atop

 

We have to make a clear choice

During the jig-jag journey of life

To embrace contentment and limit our need

Or to run after endless sensuous greed

 

Life has given us a rare chance

To see the beauty of nature and dance

And to enjoy everything seen around

With strength and power that we owned

 

We must love and like them all

Howsoever big or may look small

They have a beautiful message of life

We must smile and enjoy till alive

 

 

Rabindra Narayan Mishra

mishrarn@gmail.com

4.10.2021

 

Forget it Not

 

Forget it Not

 

When we feel stressed and too much tired

As things happened not as we desired

Our repeated attempts went entirely wrong

We need to relax and sing a song.

 

No point in keeping burden from the past

When the bag is light, we travel fast

Like everything that happened on its own

Let us forget and forgive before it is down

 

Never feel lost if you are left alone

Why to worry about those already gone?

Have faith in God and your own right hand

That helps a lot we must understand

 

We are hurt utmost, feel so much lost

Because of a jolt from the trusted most

But that is the life dear forget it not

Stories of great men will tell a lot

 

We might have tried and failed to achieve

Nevertheless, stick to that we believe

We need strong will and resolve to fight

There is always hope when we are right

 

The life is full of unfulfilled dreams

Everybody does not achieve everything

Do not underestimate that you could find

Pray and thank God for being so kind

 

Rabindra Narayan Mishra

8.10.2021

Greater Noida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motto of life

 

Motto of life

 

The entire process of the universe is automatic. The Sun rises and sets down at the right moment. The stars move in their designated path with a set speed in appropriate directions so that there is no collision. Thus, millions of planets and stars are co-existing in this never-ending space in the universe. The entire universe consisting of millions of galaxies, planets and stars are running constantly without any break even for a moment. Their movements are so scientific and calculated that even a slight variation here and there can bring about a catastrophe. We often hear news of unidentified objects moving very close to the earth with huge speed. If such objects collide with the Earth, everything on and around it may vanish within moments. The question is: Who is protecting us from such things? Who is behind the movements of the entire universe?

We do not know where did we come from? We also do not know whether we will still exist in one form or the other after death. It is a fact that those who have come to this world will go today or tomorrow. That brings about the end of our physical existence. but our good deeds would survive even after death and may often make us immortals.  We must remember that we have come to this world to do something for the welfare and well-being of mankind. We do have an opportunity to do something remarkable during our life time. We should and must make the best of it and focus our entire energy in that direction.

Millions of people have come and gone but nobody remembers them. Only a few persons like Vyas, Shankarachary,Vivekanand, Christ or Buddha are still remembered. They lived and died the welfare of mankind. We must learn from them. We can bring about happiness in the lives of others by developing a sense of oneness. That should be the motto of our lives. But it can be done only through honesty. But it is part of one`s personality and can not be bought. It can be developed in the company of good people, by studying life histories of great men. We have to develop strength of character. Adi Shankaracharya or Swami Vivekanand lived very short and died early but they are remembered by everybody. They used their lives for the welfare of humanity and became immortals.

These days people are suffering not because there is shortage of essential things but mainly because most of us have adopted totally wrong attitude towards the things around. We think only in terms of personal gains.  The world has come to the present impasse mainly because of this narrow-minded approach. We have to understand the prevailing situations and keep our eyes open to the realities of life.

The fact of the matter is that we are not getting fair deal anywhere. The teacher does not teach well, the doctor is not treating the patients properly, the Police is unable to provide protection to the common man. This is happening because everybody has become too much selfish and self-centred. We want to benefit the most without caring for others. This creates a vicious circle and   we are the ultimate sufferers. We may have money but we cannot buy things of our choice . These things might be adulterated because someone might have desired to have enough profit, may be at the cost of others. Even lifesaving drugs are often spurious. The net result is that we are forced to live under constant fear and consequential uncertainty despite having acquired high position   and enormous wealth.

Lot of our energy is often lost in negativities. We spoil lot of time thinking about the past. We keep on worrying about the future. We are all the time busy in comparing ourselves with others. Why our thought process   drives us to such things? Why cannot we be broadminded and concentrate upon our targets instead of criticizing others? This happens because we are unable to understand the message that God gives us in one or the other way. The messages of the Gita, Bible   or for that matter any religious scriptures are so much pertinent even today. They teach us the values of life. They give us message of universal love. They inculcate in us the sense of sacrifice. They make us feel that the entire world is a family.

Life is not all about material achievements. We have come to this world just like travellers and we will certainly go one day. Nothing came with us nor will anything accompany us when we leave the world. In between, we have to act or react to the things around according to our abilities and that makes the difference. It is immaterial how long we live. What matters most is the way we live. Are we doing best with the abilities that God have given us? Are we really helping others to the extent we can?

Unfortunately, we keep on fighting for every inch of the land on the earth like a child. We proudly say- “Ït is mine.” There cannot be greater surprise than this attitude which everybody keeps afloat till he is forced to leave the world one day. At the end, everything dear and near to him is left out here itself. Nobody howsoever strong and mighty could carry anything. This is the reality of life which we prefer to forget. But that does not help us in anyway. What is correct is correct. Merely because we chose to keep our eyes shut from the truth, the facts would hardly change. It is, therefore, wisdom that we realise our limitations and follow the right path during our journey of life. If this happens, we can not only improve our lives and add beauty to it rather a lot of welfare can be done to humanity at large.

We must understand futility of material gains, howsoever big it may look like. It ultimately fades away in course of time. It does not give lasting peace of mind. On the other hand, persons with a sense of sacrifice make a lot of difference. Only such persons leave indelible marks on the footprints of time.