<p><bold>Vithal Kamat, <italic>Idli, Orchid and Will Power</italic>. Mumbai: Orchid Publications, 2006, x + 170 pp. Rs 220 paperback.</bold></p><p>West has a tradition of both great entrepreneurs as well as great managers writing their memoirs, be it, great entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and George Soros or great managers like Lee Icocca and Jack Welch. They have all given vivid account of mental and emotional challenges they faced while overcoming roadblocks in their entrepreneurial and business careers. In India, Mr. Vithal Kamat, the promoter of Orchid Hotels, has recently come out with his own memoirs in keeping with such trends. This book is a first hand account of the saga of a great entrepreneur who had at some stage even thought of ending his life in wake of bankruptcy and financial hardships following division in his family business.</p><p>The title of the book in the first instance seems hilarious but the author has figuratively chosen to drive the point that his company made a long journey from the start-up of selling <italic>idli</italic> to ultimately establishing a chain of Orchid Hotels. This company later bagged the ‘best hotel chain award’ instituted by the International Hotels Association which could not have been possible without tremendous hard work and determination put up by company owners. The book begins with the family background of Mr. Kamat and how his thinking later transformed the organization into a mighty chain of hotels. Born in a traditional south Indian Brahmin business family of hoteliers with brands like Kamat Hotels and Udupi restaurants, it was not easy to introduce changes. He brought significant changes in business environment by serving non-vegetarian items and liquor not served earlier and even introducing discotheques in the midst of opposition from elderly family members. The book provides interesting reading of how he convincingly managed such opposition and brought new thinking. After division in his family business, he single handedly promoted the Orchid Hotels by borrowing capital from banks, overcoming all attendant difficulties and running the company on fast growth trajectory.</p><p>Two of the most important aspects of the book are about his views on innovative implementation of marketing strategies and his concept of service quality. As a case-in- point, Mr. Kamat believes that efficient restaurateur should focus more on kitchen rather than cash counter. Providing quality food and service would automatically impact bottom-line. His advice to budding restaurateurs is to analyze reasons for leftovers in customer plate which could provide important clue to improving food quality. Apart from his emphasis on quality food and service, employees welfare and development have been his equally important concerns. Even after his hotel became a grand success and received international recognition for most environment friendly hotel in world, he vowed not to buy chauffeur driven Mercedes till his lowest level employee also drives minimum a scooter.</p><p>He has put numerous ideas for managing hotel industry on efficient lines. According to him, one should be careful to trust one's chartered accountants beyond a point who may at times try to blackmail the owners and demand their pound of flesh. Similarly, one should also never rely too much on wisdom of family members. According to him, one should use more one's head rather than heart in managing one's business.</p><p>The book also provides some very interesting ideas and guidelines for entrepreneurs in hospitality industry. However, some of his ideas such as that one should not rely on chartered accountants beyond a point may not appeal to many readers as it is more influenced by one's personal experiences rather than any logical rationale behind it, which could be more contextual and case specific rather than generalized and applicable in a wider context. On the whole the book which contains lot of interesting and valuable ideas is very appropriately suited for reading by budding entrepreneurs and members of family run businesses.</p></sec></body><sub-article><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">MC</journal-id><journal-title>Management & Change</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0972-2149</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Institute for Integrated Learning in Management</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="other">mc-10-2-br008</article-id><article-categories><subj-group><subject>Turning Events</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Raja Ram Mohan Roy: A Great Scholar and Social Reformer</article-title></title-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>7–12</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>255</fpage><lpage>257</lpage><counts><page-count count="3" /></counts></article-meta></front><body><sec id="sec003"><title /><p>Rammohan Roy was born in Radhanagar village near Krishnanagar in Hoogly district on May 22, 1772. His great grand father, Krishna Chandra Banerji, worked under the Nawab of Bengal, and was honoured with the title “Roy Roy” which was later contracted into “Roy”, and the family subsequently retained it as surname in place of caste title “Banerji”. Braj Benode, the third son of Krishna Chandra and the grandfather of Rammohan, served the Nawab Siraj-ud-Doula in a disatinguished capacity. He had five sons, of whom Ramkanta, the fifth was father of Rammohan.</p><p>Very early in life Rammohan Roy showed signs of visible talent and father Ramkanta accordingly sent him for education to Patna for study of Arabic and Persian; and later Banaras for study of Sanskrit and Upanishads. After completing his studies of languages and Indian culture he returned to Kolkata, but with the changed mindset to publicly challenge traditions and rituals of Hinduism and other Indian religions that he believed were taking the country backward. This obviously invited opposition from locals who believed in orthodox traditions including his own father creating a situation that constrained him to leave his paternal roof. In search of truth he went out on travel, which was not confined to India alone but extended to far-off Tibet.</p><p>After about three years of travel Rammohan Roy returned to his father — when he was about 20 years old – and on his return he was taken back with great kindness and affection. He however could not continue to live at home this time also for long as he found environment inhospitable for fulfilling his cherished plans in life. He thus once again proceeded to Banares in 1793. While at Banares, Rammohan, besides his multi-faceted development in three years, also acquired proficiency in English in 1796 when he was 24.</p><p>Later, in wake of death of his father ten years later in 1803 under family compulsions, he moved from Benares to Mushirabad, the old Mogul capital of Bengal, where he published his first work entitled <italic>Tuhfat-ul-Muwahuddin</italic>. In English, it translated as, “A Gift to Monothiests”, a treatise in Persian with an Arabic preface, which gave expression to his disapproval of some of the country's orthodox traditions and rituals. He tried to convey that strength of any religion is faith in one ‘Supreme Being’ and all else is religious dogma.</p><p>In the meanwhile for earning livelihood Rammohan joined East India Company as a clerk where he was later promoted as Dewan, ‘the principal native officer in the collection of revenue’. During his stay at Rangpur, Rammohan raked up several religious controversies with <italic>pandits</italic>, wrote tracts in Persion, translated portions of the <italic>Vedanta</italic>, studied the <italic>tantras</italic> and made a study of <italic>Kalpa Sutras</italic> and other <italic>Jaina</italic> scriptures, which all set pace for his strenuous preparation for future work.</p><p>After about ten years Rammohan retired from service around 1810 with a view to finding more time for the work which was closest to his heart. Leaving government service he went back home to stay with his mother, Tarini Devi, but again found continuation at home inhospitable due to opposition from local <italic>pandits</italic> who would not support his non-traditional ways of living and preaching to others.</p><p>He then went to Raghunathpur, a neighbouring village. It was during that time that an unfortunate event took place at home, emerging as a <bold><italic>turning event</italic></bold> in his life, which created an indelible impression and a far reaching impact on Rammohan's mind, and strengthening his resolve to remove orthodoxy and inhuman practices from country's social life.</p><p>Rammohan had an elder brother named Jaganmohan, who died in 1811. His wife who was devotedly attached to him committed <italic>sati</italic> on his funeral pyre. Rammohan had tried to dissuade her from this heinous act, though it had religious sanctions of those times, but he had failed to dissuade her. However, on pyre when flames touched her, she tried to run away and escape but the orthodox relatives intervened and managed to keep her on the pyre using bamboo poles, and through noise of tom-toms and other instruments they drowned her frantic shrieks.</p><p>Rammohan, though a witness of this awful scene, having failed to avert this tragic end, was stricken with pity and remorse. It was at the funeral pyre he took the vow that he would not sit at peace till this heinous practice was brought to an end. Given his firm resolve to end immolation of widows, he made arguments and appeals in court proceedings, which ultimately won backing of Lord William Bentinck, the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, who appreciated humane sentiments of people and Rammohan's indefatigable and forceful arguments, and as supreme authority, decided to bring an end to this inhuman practice.</p><p>In 1814 Rammohan settled in Kolkata with a view to begin his life work in right earnest thinking that period was congenial and favourable for his work. He had now set his heart on waging war against the current idolatry and superstition, and on reviving the unidolatrous Hindu monotheism of old. With this object, he first published, at considerable expense, the Sanskrit original with annotations of a few of the Upanishads. In 1815, he published <italic>Vedanta Sutras</italic> in Bengali.</p><p>In 1816, he published abridged version of <italic>Vedanta</italic> in Bengali, Urdu and English and translated the <italic>Kena</italic> and Isha <italic>Upanshads</italic> into Bengali and English. In 1817, he translated <italic>Katha</italic> and <italic>Mundaka Upanishads</italic> into Bengali and English, and in 1818 translated <italic>Mandukya Upanishad</italic> into Bengali. In 1818, he also wrote ‘A Defence of Hindu Theism’ and ‘A Second Defence of the Monothiestical System of the Vedas’. These publications, appearing in quick succession one after another, caused a great commotion in the orthodox camp.</p><p>In 1820 Rammohan published ‘The Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness’ and published three ‘Appeals to the Christian Public in Defence of the Precepts of Jesus’. He also edited two journals <italic>‘Sambad Kaumudi’</italic> in Bengali and the <italic>Mirat-ul-Akhbar</italic>, in Persian for disseminating historical, literary and scientific knowledge.</p><p>Rammohan Roy fought for women's rights. He founded <italic>Brahamo Samaj</italic> in 1828, which discouraged idol worship, discouraged orthodox rites and rituals, believed in universal religion of one God, extended respect to all religions, and derived considerable wisdom from <italic>Vedas</italic> and <italic>Upanishads</italic>. Rammohan was a scholar of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity and knew eight languages including Arabic, Greek and Latin.</p><p>In 1829, the <italic>Sati Act</italic> was passed in India and this inhuman and heinous practice put down for ever. Though Rammohan tried to bring many other social reforms as mentioned above, but his name is inseparably linked most profoundly with his courageous role in bringing an end to this heinous practice of committing <italic>sati</italic> which immortalized him.</p><p>In 1830 he went to UK to promote Indian renaissance and bridge the gap between the East and West thinking on contemporary issues. He died at Bristol on September 27, 1833 where he had gone to rest and re-coup his tired nerves. His earthly remains lie interred in Arno's Vale Cemetry at Bristol. <disp-quote><attrib>–Editor</attrib></disp-quote></p></sec></body></sub-article><sub-article><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">MC</journal-id><journal-title>Management & Change</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0972-2149</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Institute for Integrated Learning in Management</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="other">mc-10-2-br008</article-id><article-categories><subj-group><subject>Inspiring Lives</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar: An Epitome of Modesty and Social Service</article-title></title-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>7–12</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>258</fpage><lpage>259</lpage><counts><page-count count="2" /></counts></article-meta></front><body><sec id="sec004"><title /><p>Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in a Brahmin family on September 26, 1820 in Bengal. After elementary education, he moved to Calcutta where he studied and later acquired a law degree. In 1841 he studied Sanskrit and obtained Certificate of Proficiency in Sanskrit and later became a faculty at Fort William College in Calcutta. He later joined the Sanskrit College in Calcutta in 1850 as Professor of Literature and later served as the Principal of the College. He believed in value-based education and he ensured that caste played no role in the admission process. In fact, he was a symbol of simplicity and modesty. In 1855, he also became an assistant inspector of schools besides being the college principal.</p><p>Vidyasagar toured Bengal extensively and set up 20 model schools in villages and 25 girl schools during 1857–58. With his untiring efforts females were encouraged to pursue higher education and take up jobs. Miss Kadambini Bose became the first woman to pursue graduate studies at Calcutta University in 1878. The senate of the Calcutta University for the first time admitted a female member.</p><p>Widow remarriage was prohibited for centuries among the Brahmins and other high castes. Vidyasagar, though not an originator of the cause of widow remarriage, presented his case with force and ability and it was through his consistent efforts and petitions to the Government that the Widow Remarriage Bill was finally passed into an Act in 1856. Thus, while Raja Rammohan Roy, a great son of India, was instrumental in ending the inhuman practice of committing <italic>sati</italic> on husbands’ pyre by bringing a legal end to it and bringing the Sati (Abolition) Act in place in 1829, Vidyasagar was instrumental in passing of the Widow Remarriage Act, and providing momentum to widow remarriages in the country.</p><p>Proceeding parallely with the widow remarriage movement, Vidyasagar also worked to eradicate polygamy from the society. He published series of pamphlets drawing people's attention to the horror of polygamy in the society. In 1855, he sent a petition signed by 25 thousand persons seeking prohibition of polygamy and in 1866 realizing that not enough done till date, he put up another petition from 21000 persons. He emerged as a champion to free society from social evils of his times such as polygamy and superstitions hindering widow remarriages.</p><p>Apart from being social reformer, Vidyasagar was an eminent literary figure of Sanskrit and Bengali literature. He lived a life dedicated for the service of community. He once went to a railway station to receive a guest whom he had not seen before. The visitor not finding any porter around used Vidyasagar to carry his luggage and the latter had no hesitation in offering his services. It was only after reaching the destination he found that the porter was none else but Vidyasagar he had come to see. When confronted by the guest that why he did not disclose his identity, he said that according to his personal philosophy no job was menial for him and any act that served others always pleased him. To commemorate his distinguished life which was characterized by social service and modesty, Kolkata's famous suspension bridge <italic>Vidyasagar Setu</italic>, a great feat of civil engineering built with Japanese assistance, is named after him besides several academic institutions and social organizations. He breathed his last on July 29, 1891 and lelt a rich legacy of humility and social service.</p><disp-quote><attrib>–Editor</attrib></disp-quote></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>Source

Management & Change

0972-2149

Institute for Integrated Learning in Management

mc-10-2-br008

BOOK REVIEW

Idli, Orchid and Will Power

Shirur

Srinivas

Assistant Professor

IGSM (IILM Graduate School of Management), 16 Knowledge Park II, Greater Noida 201306.

7–122006

102253255

<p><bold>Vithal Kamat, <italic>Idli, Orchid and Will Power</italic>. Mumbai: Orchid Publications, 2006, x + 170 pp. Rs 220 paperback.</bold></p><p>West has a tradition of both great entrepreneurs as well as great managers writing their memoirs, be it, great entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and George Soros or great managers like Lee Icocca and Jack Welch. They have all given vivid account of mental and emotional challenges they faced while overcoming roadblocks in their entrepreneurial and business careers. In India, Mr. Vithal Kamat, the promoter of Orchid Hotels, has recently come out with his own memoirs in keeping with such trends. This book is a first hand account of the saga of a great entrepreneur who had at some stage even thought of ending his life in wake of bankruptcy and financial hardships following division in his family business.</p><p>The title of the book in the first instance seems hilarious but the author has figuratively chosen to drive the point that his company made a long journey from the start-up of selling <italic>idli</italic> to ultimately establishing a chain of Orchid Hotels. This company later bagged the ‘best hotel chain award’ instituted by the International Hotels Association which could not have been possible without tremendous hard work and determination put up by company owners. The book begins with the family background of Mr. Kamat and how his thinking later transformed the organization into a mighty chain of hotels. Born in a traditional south Indian Brahmin business family of hoteliers with brands like Kamat Hotels and Udupi restaurants, it was not easy to introduce changes. He brought significant changes in business environment by serving non-vegetarian items and liquor not served earlier and even introducing discotheques in the midst of opposition from elderly family members. The book provides interesting reading of how he convincingly managed such opposition and brought new thinking. After division in his family business, he single handedly promoted the Orchid Hotels by borrowing capital from banks, overcoming all attendant difficulties and running the company on fast growth trajectory.</p><p>Two of the most important aspects of the book are about his views on innovative implementation of marketing strategies and his concept of service quality. As a case-in- point, Mr. Kamat believes that efficient restaurateur should focus more on kitchen rather than cash counter. Providing quality food and service would automatically impact bottom-line. His advice to budding restaurateurs is to analyze reasons for leftovers in customer plate which could provide important clue to improving food quality. Apart from his emphasis on quality food and service, employees welfare and development have been his equally important concerns. Even after his hotel became a grand success and received international recognition for most environment friendly hotel in world, he vowed not to buy chauffeur driven Mercedes till his lowest level employee also drives minimum a scooter.</p><p>He has put numerous ideas for managing hotel industry on efficient lines. According to him, one should be careful to trust one's chartered accountants beyond a point who may at times try to blackmail the owners and demand their pound of flesh. Similarly, one should also never rely too much on wisdom of family members. According to him, one should use more one's head rather than heart in managing one's business.</p><p>The book also provides some very interesting ideas and guidelines for entrepreneurs in hospitality industry. However, some of his ideas such as that one should not rely on chartered accountants beyond a point may not appeal to many readers as it is more influenced by one's personal experiences rather than any logical rationale behind it, which could be more contextual and case specific rather than generalized and applicable in a wider context. On the whole the book which contains lot of interesting and valuable ideas is very appropriately suited for reading by budding entrepreneurs and members of family run businesses.</p></sec></body><sub-article><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">MC</journal-id><journal-title>Management & Change</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0972-2149</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Institute for Integrated Learning in Management</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="other">mc-10-2-br008</article-id><article-categories><subj-group><subject>Turning Events</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Raja Ram Mohan Roy: A Great Scholar and Social Reformer</article-title></title-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>7–12</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>255</fpage><lpage>257</lpage><counts><page-count count="3" /></counts></article-meta></front><body><sec id="sec003"><title /><p>Rammohan Roy was born in Radhanagar village near Krishnanagar in Hoogly district on May 22, 1772. His great grand father, Krishna Chandra Banerji, worked under the Nawab of Bengal, and was honoured with the title “Roy Roy” which was later contracted into “Roy”, and the family subsequently retained it as surname in place of caste title “Banerji”. Braj Benode, the third son of Krishna Chandra and the grandfather of Rammohan, served the Nawab Siraj-ud-Doula in a disatinguished capacity. He had five sons, of whom Ramkanta, the fifth was father of Rammohan.</p><p>Very early in life Rammohan Roy showed signs of visible talent and father Ramkanta accordingly sent him for education to Patna for study of Arabic and Persian; and later Banaras for study of Sanskrit and Upanishads. After completing his studies of languages and Indian culture he returned to Kolkata, but with the changed mindset to publicly challenge traditions and rituals of Hinduism and other Indian religions that he believed were taking the country backward. This obviously invited opposition from locals who believed in orthodox traditions including his own father creating a situation that constrained him to leave his paternal roof. In search of truth he went out on travel, which was not confined to India alone but extended to far-off Tibet.</p><p>After about three years of travel Rammohan Roy returned to his father — when he was about 20 years old – and on his return he was taken back with great kindness and affection. He however could not continue to live at home this time also for long as he found environment inhospitable for fulfilling his cherished plans in life. He thus once again proceeded to Banares in 1793. While at Banares, Rammohan, besides his multi-faceted development in three years, also acquired proficiency in English in 1796 when he was 24.</p><p>Later, in wake of death of his father ten years later in 1803 under family compulsions, he moved from Benares to Mushirabad, the old Mogul capital of Bengal, where he published his first work entitled <italic>Tuhfat-ul-Muwahuddin</italic>. In English, it translated as, “A Gift to Monothiests”, a treatise in Persian with an Arabic preface, which gave expression to his disapproval of some of the country's orthodox traditions and rituals. He tried to convey that strength of any religion is faith in one ‘Supreme Being’ and all else is religious dogma.</p><p>In the meanwhile for earning livelihood Rammohan joined East India Company as a clerk where he was later promoted as Dewan, ‘the principal native officer in the collection of revenue’. During his stay at Rangpur, Rammohan raked up several religious controversies with <italic>pandits</italic>, wrote tracts in Persion, translated portions of the <italic>Vedanta</italic>, studied the <italic>tantras</italic> and made a study of <italic>Kalpa Sutras</italic> and other <italic>Jaina</italic> scriptures, which all set pace for his strenuous preparation for future work.</p><p>After about ten years Rammohan retired from service around 1810 with a view to finding more time for the work which was closest to his heart. Leaving government service he went back home to stay with his mother, Tarini Devi, but again found continuation at home inhospitable due to opposition from local <italic>pandits</italic> who would not support his non-traditional ways of living and preaching to others.</p><p>He then went to Raghunathpur, a neighbouring village. It was during that time that an unfortunate event took place at home, emerging as a <bold><italic>turning event</italic></bold> in his life, which created an indelible impression and a far reaching impact on Rammohan's mind, and strengthening his resolve to remove orthodoxy and inhuman practices from country's social life.</p><p>Rammohan had an elder brother named Jaganmohan, who died in 1811. His wife who was devotedly attached to him committed <italic>sati</italic> on his funeral pyre. Rammohan had tried to dissuade her from this heinous act, though it had religious sanctions of those times, but he had failed to dissuade her. However, on pyre when flames touched her, she tried to run away and escape but the orthodox relatives intervened and managed to keep her on the pyre using bamboo poles, and through noise of tom-toms and other instruments they drowned her frantic shrieks.</p><p>Rammohan, though a witness of this awful scene, having failed to avert this tragic end, was stricken with pity and remorse. It was at the funeral pyre he took the vow that he would not sit at peace till this heinous practice was brought to an end. Given his firm resolve to end immolation of widows, he made arguments and appeals in court proceedings, which ultimately won backing of Lord William Bentinck, the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, who appreciated humane sentiments of people and Rammohan's indefatigable and forceful arguments, and as supreme authority, decided to bring an end to this inhuman practice.</p><p>In 1814 Rammohan settled in Kolkata with a view to begin his life work in right earnest thinking that period was congenial and favourable for his work. He had now set his heart on waging war against the current idolatry and superstition, and on reviving the unidolatrous Hindu monotheism of old. With this object, he first published, at considerable expense, the Sanskrit original with annotations of a few of the Upanishads. In 1815, he published <italic>Vedanta Sutras</italic> in Bengali.</p><p>In 1816, he published abridged version of <italic>Vedanta</italic> in Bengali, Urdu and English and translated the <italic>Kena</italic> and Isha <italic>Upanshads</italic> into Bengali and English. In 1817, he translated <italic>Katha</italic> and <italic>Mundaka Upanishads</italic> into Bengali and English, and in 1818 translated <italic>Mandukya Upanishad</italic> into Bengali. In 1818, he also wrote ‘A Defence of Hindu Theism’ and ‘A Second Defence of the Monothiestical System of the Vedas’. These publications, appearing in quick succession one after another, caused a great commotion in the orthodox camp.</p><p>In 1820 Rammohan published ‘The Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness’ and published three ‘Appeals to the Christian Public in Defence of the Precepts of Jesus’. He also edited two journals <italic>‘Sambad Kaumudi’</italic> in Bengali and the <italic>Mirat-ul-Akhbar</italic>, in Persian for disseminating historical, literary and scientific knowledge.</p><p>Rammohan Roy fought for women's rights. He founded <italic>Brahamo Samaj</italic> in 1828, which discouraged idol worship, discouraged orthodox rites and rituals, believed in universal religion of one God, extended respect to all religions, and derived considerable wisdom from <italic>Vedas</italic> and <italic>Upanishads</italic>. Rammohan was a scholar of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity and knew eight languages including Arabic, Greek and Latin.</p><p>In 1829, the <italic>Sati Act</italic> was passed in India and this inhuman and heinous practice put down for ever. Though Rammohan tried to bring many other social reforms as mentioned above, but his name is inseparably linked most profoundly with his courageous role in bringing an end to this heinous practice of committing <italic>sati</italic> which immortalized him.</p><p>In 1830 he went to UK to promote Indian renaissance and bridge the gap between the East and West thinking on contemporary issues. He died at Bristol on September 27, 1833 where he had gone to rest and re-coup his tired nerves. His earthly remains lie interred in Arno's Vale Cemetry at Bristol. <disp-quote><attrib>–Editor</attrib></disp-quote></p></sec></body></sub-article><sub-article><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">MC</journal-id><journal-title>Management & Change</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0972-2149</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Institute for Integrated Learning in Management</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="other">mc-10-2-br008</article-id><article-categories><subj-group><subject>Inspiring Lives</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar: An Epitome of Modesty and Social Service</article-title></title-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>7–12</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>258</fpage><lpage>259</lpage><counts><page-count count="2" /></counts></article-meta></front><body><sec id="sec004"><title /><p>Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in a Brahmin family on September 26, 1820 in Bengal. After elementary education, he moved to Calcutta where he studied and later acquired a law degree. In 1841 he studied Sanskrit and obtained Certificate of Proficiency in Sanskrit and later became a faculty at Fort William College in Calcutta. He later joined the Sanskrit College in Calcutta in 1850 as Professor of Literature and later served as the Principal of the College. He believed in value-based education and he ensured that caste played no role in the admission process. In fact, he was a symbol of simplicity and modesty. In 1855, he also became an assistant inspector of schools besides being the college principal.</p><p>Vidyasagar toured Bengal extensively and set up 20 model schools in villages and 25 girl schools during 1857–58. With his untiring efforts females were encouraged to pursue higher education and take up jobs. Miss Kadambini Bose became the first woman to pursue graduate studies at Calcutta University in 1878. The senate of the Calcutta University for the first time admitted a female member.</p><p>Widow remarriage was prohibited for centuries among the Brahmins and other high castes. Vidyasagar, though not an originator of the cause of widow remarriage, presented his case with force and ability and it was through his consistent efforts and petitions to the Government that the Widow Remarriage Bill was finally passed into an Act in 1856. Thus, while Raja Rammohan Roy, a great son of India, was instrumental in ending the inhuman practice of committing <italic>sati</italic> on husbands’ pyre by bringing a legal end to it and bringing the Sati (Abolition) Act in place in 1829, Vidyasagar was instrumental in passing of the Widow Remarriage Act, and providing momentum to widow remarriages in the country.</p><p>Proceeding parallely with the widow remarriage movement, Vidyasagar also worked to eradicate polygamy from the society. He published series of pamphlets drawing people's attention to the horror of polygamy in the society. In 1855, he sent a petition signed by 25 thousand persons seeking prohibition of polygamy and in 1866 realizing that not enough done till date, he put up another petition from 21000 persons. He emerged as a champion to free society from social evils of his times such as polygamy and superstitions hindering widow remarriages.</p><p>Apart from being social reformer, Vidyasagar was an eminent literary figure of Sanskrit and Bengali literature. He lived a life dedicated for the service of community. He once went to a railway station to receive a guest whom he had not seen before. The visitor not finding any porter around used Vidyasagar to carry his luggage and the latter had no hesitation in offering his services. It was only after reaching the destination he found that the porter was none else but Vidyasagar he had come to see. When confronted by the guest that why he did not disclose his identity, he said that according to his personal philosophy no job was menial for him and any act that served others always pleased him. To commemorate his distinguished life which was characterized by social service and modesty, Kolkata's famous suspension bridge <italic>Vidyasagar Setu</italic>, a great feat of civil engineering built with Japanese assistance, is named after him besides several academic institutions and social organizations. He breathed his last on July 29, 1891 and lelt a rich legacy of humility and social service.</p><disp-quote><attrib>–Editor</attrib></disp-quote></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>Source

Bhatnagar

R.K.

Vidyasagar

Ishwar Chandra

Bhavan's Journal, 53 (11), January 15, 2007<p><boxed-text1><p>Treat every body with politeness, even those who are rude to you. For remember that you show courtesy to others not because they are gentlemen but because you are one. <disp-quote><attrib>– Anonymous</attrib></disp-quote></p></boxed-text1></p></sec></notes></back></sub-article><sub-article><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">MC</journal-id><journal-title>Management & Change</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0972-2149</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Institute for Integrated Learning in Management</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="other">mc-10-2-br008</article-id><article-categories><subj-group><subject>Distinguished Careers</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Vandana Shiva: An Eminent Environmentalist</article-title></title-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>7–12</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>10</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>260</fpage><lpage>260</lpage><counts><page-count count="1" /></counts></article-meta></front><body><sec id="sec006"><title /><p>Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker and activist. She obtained her Ph.D degree in Quantum Physics from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Being born in a mountainous region, she was naturally drawn to environmental concerns. She was attracted to ‘<italic>Chipko</italic> Movement’ even while she was pursuing her doctoral programme. Accordingly, she later shifted her area of concern in areas such as sustainable growth, ecology, environment, agriculture, natural resources, biodiversity, bioenergy, social justice and women empowerment.</p><p>In 1982, she set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, which she looks after as its Director. In 1991, she founded ‘Navdanya’, which literally means nine seeds, a national movement for protecting the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, and for promotion of organic farming and fair trade.</p><p>She feels there is greater merit in building water harvesting structures and tanks than building large dams. According to her, organic matter increases soil moisture retention tenfold and increases the ability to recharge ground water because whichever soil can hold water can also recharge better. Soils that do not hold water make for instant run-off of the water. Instant run-off also means lower recharge and combined with famine and extra extraction of ground water can also lead to disastrous consequences. This could have led to the idea that the only place water can be held is in large dams. Gujarat, in the last decade, has played a huge role in creating tanks and water harvesting structures. Karnataka has always been a land of tanks which are also a source of protective irrigation.</p><p>She has authored a number of books which include, ‘Protect or Plunder? Understanding Intellectual Property Rights’, ‘Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, ‘Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge’, ‘Monocultures of the Mind’, ‘The Violence of the Green Revolution’, ‘Staying Alive’ and ‘Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit’.</p><p>Her book ‘Monocultures of the Mind’ is largely an outcome of her work at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and association with the ‘Chipko Movement’. She has received several globally acclaimed awards including ‘Right Livelihood Award, 1993’, ‘Order of the Golden Ark’, ‘UN Global 500 Award ’, and ‘Earth Day International Award’. <disp-quote><attrib>–Editor</attrib></disp-quote></p></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>SourceManikutty

, An Interview with Vandana Shiva, Vikalpa, 31 (2), 89–97 (2006).