HELLO SAHAYAK!

“The world is my house,
The bus stand and the railway station is my professional hub,

 Come whenever you want,

 My name is Raju,

 And with love people call me. Coolie no. 1.”

 This is one of the famous dialogues of the actor Govinda. The iconic look that Amitabh Bachchan made famous in a movie by the same name, “Coolie” is set to change,
The age old uniform, that thick cotton red shirt, white pajamas, a shiny brass 'billa' on the arm and a gamcha up on the head, is going for a makeover .

 Long time back, during the Victorian era, Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hope of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour. The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world and this is how the porter or the coolie jobs came into existence.

The Railway budget presented in the Lok Sabha on 25^th February, 2016 declared that the porter will hereafter be called 'sahayak' (helper), "Naam mein kya rakha hai,” inserted a fellow collie.

Another alteration from the past, from now on they will also have the privilege of using luggage trolleys to ferry heavy weights across platform. And also learn the soft skills lessons in the offing.

 The coolies at New Delhi Railway Station had gathered around a giant screen to watch the live telecast of the budget, “They are disappointed at losing their red shirts and, it  is Hanuman's colour, it gives us shakti (power)," says Bhanwar Singh, 33, who has been working as a coolie for seven years. His colleague Rahim adds that the red shirt marks them out clearly.

The porter is the fundamental part of the railways .The introduction of trolleys is definitely going to be welcome news for them! “It’s gonna take a longer route. Passengers will start missing their trains. Then don't blame us," says Bhanwar Singh.

Rather than theses superficial changes what they really desire is better pay not a new name, say the men in red. Their main demand is to bring porters under 'Group D' of rail services, put them at par with safai karamcharis, and entitle them to pension and healthcare benefits.

"I started from one rupee per trip and today its only Rs 60 for 40kg. The budget should address these, rather than superficial things like our shirts," echoes Rauf, one of the oldest porters at the station.

These ancient labours are believed to be real heroes carrying a lot of luggage at their backside. With the announcement of budget, the weight got less but the decision taken up by the railway minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu is still unsatisfactory.

NEERJA BHANOT- WOMAN WHO FOUGHT DEVILS TILL HER LAST BREATH.

“Never criticize anything too strongly that you yourself face trouble in accepting it in times of “NO OPTION."

“It's very strange that WE always wish to listen good for ourselves from others, but at the same time becomes tough for us to speak good for OTHERS.” 
― Neerja Bhanot

The movie”NEERJA” a complete paisa wasool has acquired four stars by the critics, This movie that hit the theatres on third week of February 2016, made me realize, the real life story of the Late Senior Flight attendant Neerja Bhanot on board who sacrificed her life in saving the passengers in the flight while facing the terrorists.

 It was September 5, 1986. PAN AM flight 73 landed in Karachi at Pakistan that had arrived from Mumbai and, had nothing gone wrong, would have departed for Frankfurt and onward to New York City. The flight was carrying, among members of other nationalities, Indians, Germans, Americans, and Pakistanis. Unfortunately, the flight was hijacked while it was parked on the runway at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

 Witness say it was four heavily-armed terrorists, dressed as airport security guards, entered the aircraft while firing shots from an automatic weapon and seized control of the plane.

 Neerja Bhanot, A model and a flight attendant, who helped a number of passengers escape. She was murdered while shielding three children from terrorist fire, less than 25 hours before her 23rd birthday. After the terrorists boarded the plane, Neerja alerted the cockpit crew, who escaped through an overhead hatch in the cockpit. As the senior most crew member remaining on board, this left Neerja in charge. One of the terrorists asked the flight crew to collect and hand over the passports of all passengers on board Neerja, realized that the primary targets of the terrorists were American passengers, she hid their passports – even discarding some of them down the rubbish chute. From a total of 41 American passengers, only 2 were killed. After holding passengers and crew member’s hostage for 17 hours on the runway, the terrorists opened fire. Neerja stayed on the plane to help passengers escape. Even though she could have been the first to leave, she was shot while shielding three children from the bullets being fired by the terrorists.

Most of us will never find ourselves in a high-pressure situation, facing life or death the way Neerja did. True bravery emerges in the face of fear. We might never know what Neerja was thinking or feeling during those terrible hours of the hijacking, but we do know that she chose to respond to the actions of the terrorists with exceptional grace, courage, and grit. Of the 380 passengers and crew members on Flight 73, 20 were killed. While many others were injured, they did survive – in no small part due to the actions of a 22-year-old flight attendant who chose compassion over cowardice and performed her duty till the very end.

 The Bhanot’s suffered an unbearable loss when they lost their only daughter. “Neerja was the ‘laado’ of the family, the youngest and most pampered.  Her  father had mentioned how, when she was born on September 7, 1962, the maternity ward matron here at Chandigarh hospital rang up to inform, it’s a girl. To her surprise, he gave her double thanks, for Neerja was a prayer answered after two sons,”recalls Aneesh, her brother. 

 While the movie was to be made, the director and the actress had met the family that mentioned, “Neerja was a very sensitive, deeply affectionate and an extremely decent and the prettiest person who believed in sharing with her people all her joys but not the jolts. She had well-defined principles and there was little room for compromise in that area.” She was a diehard Fan of Rajesh Khanna and the last conversation before boarding her flight she said, Puspa I hate tears rey, you will celebrate my birthday very peacefully. Love you ma.”

Despite their irreplaceable loss, her parents, Rama and Harish Bhanot, soldiered on, and even found a fitting way to honour Neerja’s memory. With the insurance money that they received after her death and an equal contribution from Pan Am, they set up the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust. Through the Trust, they present two awards of Rs. 1, 50,000 every year - one to an Indian woman who faces social injustice but overcomes it and helps other women in similar situations, and one to honour an airline crew member who acts beyond the call of duty. There could hardly have been a better way to keep Neerja’s memory alive.

This year on January, 13 rewoned bharanatyam dancer Subhashini Vasanth, w/o Late Indian army martyr Col. Venugopal received  Neerja Bhanot award for her sevice towads creating a support system for the well being of the families of jawans died serving nation.

For her actions on the day of the hijacking, Neerja Bhanot was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration for the “most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice,” and the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat, awarded by the Pakistan government for showing incredible kindness. She also posthumously received multiple awards for her courage from the United States government.

The movie needs applause, best watched if in mood of good cry.

“Some people don’t attend funeral not because they don’t want to but they are not emotionally strong to see anybody GO.” 
― Neeraj Bhanot”

ACUITY OF SOCIETY TOWARDS SUNNY LEONE?

 

  

 Weeks back, Sunny Leone's promotional interview on CNN-IBN with Bhupendra Chaubey stirred a storm on the social media. Chaubey pointed questions centered on only one aspect, her past. However the vicious manner of inquisition was tackled by Sunny in a very sparkling and witty way.
   
 It was deeply touching and highly electrifying interview of Sunny Leone, “Karenjit Kaur Vohra” aka Sunny Leone comes from a NRI typical Punjabi family born and brought up in a small village of Canada. She was working as a pediatric nurse; also she did a part time job in a tax consultant firm.  At the tender age of 19 yr she became a penthouse model gained fame and reached the apex of her business.

Though her parents were devastated when they came to know about her career and they had to bear all the grunts and grudges and were excommunicated by the extended family and society around.

It was her vibrant and loving personality which shone throughout the interview.. Sunny Leone came across as a confident and forthright individual who stood by her past and never repented about any of her actions.  

The interview brought out the hypocrisy of Indian society. Bhupinder Chaubey with relentless insults, tried to rile her up; but kudos to her for not falling in the trap.   

People blame her for spoiling Indian minds but these are the same people who lusciously enjoy her videos on their smart phones and laptops. Isn’t she the most viewed celebrity on the internet in India; how weird is that?

She herself admits that Pornography is just a fantasy, a crafted profession.

Thus," Don't judge a person by his profession instead start loving him as a human."
Sharing link of the Interview anchored by Bhupendra Chaubey
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/movies/would-change-nothing-about-my-career-even-if-i-could-go-back-in-time-sunny-leone-1190344.html