A Ramakrishna Prasad
In the year 1985, three-day Prant Pracharaks Baithak was held in Sree Rama Kalyanamandapam, Nungambakkam, Chennai during Deepawali. That was the first Akhil Bharatiya Baithak to be held in Tamil Nadu. On all the three days, unprecedented heavy rains lashed Chennai. The whole karyakarta team was involved in the vyavastha of the entire three-day Baithak in such a manner that there was no disruption in the karyakram. Suriji, who was then Kshetra Pracharak, was overseeing the entire vyavastha. In between meetings, he used to enquire about the vyavastha and was particular that at any cost there should not be any delay in the scheduled karyakram.
On the evening of second day, Chennai Mahanagar Sanghik was scheduled to be held. In the morning on that day, Suriji was taking his bath in an unusual way. He was standing below the balcony of Kalyanamandapam where the rain water was pouring down from the top outlet of the balcony and was thoroughly enjoying the shower of rain water. If I remember correctly, the total ‘Baithak Sankhya’ was 54. Hence, 54 chairs were put on the dais for evening Sanghik, for introducing the Prant Pracharaks and above adhikaris to the swayamsevaks. Suriji casually asked the karyakartas whether there will be a sankhya of at least 54 in the Sanghik. What prompted Suriji to ask this question was that in the morning newspapers it was reported that the entire Chennai came to a standstill due to heavy water logging in all places with pictures of vehicles floating in water. The weather report was that the rains will continue unabated for other two days. The karyakartas confidently replied that a good number of swayamsevaks will turn out for the Sanghik. The location of the Kalyanamandapam was a narrow road leading from Gemini Flyover. All the approach roads to Kalyanamandapam were completely flooded with water upto waist level. No vehicle could come to the venue of the Baithak. The swayamsevaks had to really wade through the waters. For many swayamsevaks their vehicles got struck in different locations and many of them came wading through water for 1 or 2 kms. Every swayamsevak who reached the venue had different kind of experience. The Sanghik Sankhya on that day was around 250. During the entire programme rain continued. Even while returning the swayamsevaks had to wade through waist-deep water and with lot of difficulties reached homes.
Respect to the Seniors In the 1960s and 1970s Tamil Nadu witnessed vicious Aryan Dravidian race theory propaganda dividing people; atheism, bent upon vilifying Hindu gods and goddesses alone, was also rampart. Swami Childbhavananda, through his Ramakrishna Tapovanam, ran educational institutions across the state for installing devotion in the hearts of the next generation. But Swamiji had voiced his objection to the huge amount spent in raising a memorial for Swami Vivekananda at the land’s end, in Kanyakumari. But Suriji, who was organising RSS work in Tamil Nadu, met the Swami, and in all sincerity, reported the activities and ideals of the RSS to the Seer. Being impressed, the Swami threw open all his institutions for RSS use after gaining a first-hand experience of the Sangh atmosphere. He went further and described the swayamsevaks in a Sangh camp as bhagyavantah because, he elaborated, RSS is taking forward the man-making mission envisioned by Swami Vivekananda. He blessed RSS workers with “May your tribe increase”! Future Governments to Take Care |
Soon after the Sanghik, Suruji’s face was beaming with joy and he expressed his happiness and commended the karyakartas for good turnout for the Sanghik. On the same night (at around 11 or 11.30 pm), some swayamsevaks and I were going around the rooms of adhikaris to see to it that there was no disturbance to them due to rain. All the adhikaris were sleeping. There was a big hall in which the Prant Pracharaks were sleeping. To our dismay we found that in some places water was leaking from the top of the hall and falling down in drops intermittently. Immediately, we decided to keep tumblers wherever water was falling. We couldn’t sleep that night as the situation needed continuous monitoring. Whenever the tumblers became full we replaced it again. The Prant Pracharaks who were sleeping were not aware of it. Around midnight, Suriji was going around to take stock of the situation. When he came to the hall, he saw us and enquired what we were doing. We told him about the leakage of water and what remedial action we had taken. He patted us and left with words of appreciation.
After the Baithak, Suruji appreciated all the karyakartas for the commendable work carried out on all the three days. Sarsanghachalak Shri Balasaheb Deoras also appreciated the way in which the karyakartas managed the entire three days Baithak without any disturbance to the karyakram. He used to narrate the way in which the karyakartas had handled the situation to the karyakartas/swayamsevaks of other provinces while on pravas. The entire three-day Baithak was an unforgettable experience for all the karyakartas who were involved in the vyavastha.
(The writer is Sah Prant Karyavah of Uttar Tamil Nadu)
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