Dr. Birbal Jha

The Covid-19 is dampening the mood of people and the spirit of religious pluralism. Long-established Chhath Puja, an outdoor religious ritual and celebration is an environmental necessity. However, with the lockdown on public gathering and such celebrations, given that the pandemic coronavirus, devotees all across the country are reported to be despondent and downhearted.

The ‘Covid-19’ is one of the newly coined words that have come into fashion. For some months there’s hardly been any day when this word does not pop up when watching TV or reading news or reports on health.

The unprovoked yet violent attacks recently carried on a team of doctors and paramedics on duty in Indore and other places in the country must be condemned by all quarters in the strongest possible words. Furthermore, to set a precedent and send across a strong message, a quick and stringent action on part of the government must be taken against those erring hoodlums.

As a child, I went to a village school where the students from different castes, creeds and religions were seated and taught together under the same roof without any discrimination. In class six, my first teacher of English, Md Ali, popularly known as Maulavi Saheb who taught me the ABC of English was from the Muslim community.

It was the 135th birth anniversary of the first president of India Dr Rajendra Prasad, 3rd of December, 2019 when for the first time I as a citizen of the country had the privilege to visit the Parliament to see how it looks and functions at first hand.

Let’s celebrate Samvidhan Divas or Constitution Day or National Law Day today as it was 26th November 1949 when the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the constitution of the country which, however, came into effect on 26 January 1950.

To resolve the Sabarimala Temple issue, let’s take an English proverb - what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Very recently, the Madhubani Railway station has registered its global presence in terms of its beauty, thanks to the Mithila Paintings all around in the vicinity of station. The Bihar-bound trains like Rajdhani are well decorated with such arts and crafts. Moreover, even the capital city of Bihar, Patna now is well wreathed in such paintings more or less everywhere, inviting public view.

With the advent of science technology, the world is shrinking day by day in terms of accessibility and communications. To reinforce the view, I would like cite a simple example that you can reach London from India in six hours, for which it used to take days and months in the past.

At the very beginning of writing this piece, I’d like to know whether you are a multilingual person. I am not sure of your answer whatever it may be. However, I assert that the world is indeed yours if your answer is in the positive. The next instant and related question is how many languages can you speak comfortably? Say 1, 2, 3, 4 or more?