Thread: This is a long thread about my wife's grand-father: Vinayak Apte.
Born, brought up & lived in Pune. Aptewada, Sadashiv Peth. Qualified as an engineer in 1920s or so. Married around same time.
I promise you this is worth reading, so settle down with your cup of tea....1/n

Around 1921, young Vinayak writes to Mahatma Gandhi expressing his desire to join Bapu & work for freedom struggle.
Bapu writes back saying sending money for the ticket (₹5) & get your backside up here (not exactly these words, but you know what I mean!).
Bapu adds a PS...2/n
"If you change your mind, please return the ₹5 by money order to Sabarmati Ashram" Typical Bapu, you might say! Careful with money.
Vinayak quits his job & decides to go to Sabarmati. Entire extended Apte clan is horrified. Joining that fakir? Giving up your job? Ostracised.
Vinayak goes to Sabarmati with young wife & 2-3 yr old daughter. Wifey not impressed at all, bcoz on arriving there they are assigned to separate living quarters (men & women), celibacy & every1 (incl her, a Brahmin woman) was expected to clean toilets! Horror of horrors..3/n
Wife never forgave Vinayak & Bapu. She had married a engineer & was looking forward to a prosperous life. Life on other hand, was full of austerity. Everyone had to work & was paid a pittance. 5 am wake up.Cook. Clean. Khadi sarees (which btw weigh a ton!) & evening prayers...4/n
Through her life she wrote letters to Bapu (in Marathi) complaining about everything incl the weight of the sarees. Bapu always replied in Gujarati, emphasizing the need to maintain celibacy! My father-in-law, her youngest son (4th child) was born in 1930s. So much for Bapu!..5/n
Vinayak was a dedicated Gandhian & took to ashram life like fish to water.
In 1930, he was chosen as one of the 78 satyagrahis to accompany Bapu on Dandi March. After return from Dandi, Bapu had decided to disband the Ashram. Vinayak was asked to return to Pune & spread...6/n
the word about Khadi. That's what he did the rest of his life. Travelling interiors of Maharashtra & setting up Khadi stores.
In 1940s my fa-in-law remembers his father taking him to meet Bapu who was in Pune
Bapu asks young kid how they had travelled. Kid says by horse cart 6/n
My fa-in-law remembers Bapu replying in his broken Marathi - the horse must have been troumbled having to carry your weight! Bapu had a sense of humour!
Vinayak's father died in 1940s. Vinayak was travelling doing his Khadi prachar & refused to leave the work, so missed...7/n
the funeral. Said Bapu would not have approved of it. Extended family ostracized him even more.
But..but..you have to hear this. My father in law tells me the day Bapu was murdered in Delhi, his father Vinyak cried like he had never ever done. Vinayak mourned the death..8/n
of his father, Bapu.
Post independence, he never got any awards. He never contested any elections.
All the politicians who became Chief Ministers & Minsters were his friends, but he never asked for any favours.

..9/n
After independence, freedom fighters got a pension. But Vinayak never got a pension. Bcoz the jail records (where he was jailed as part of freedom struggle) got burnt down. So the Indian government had no proof to say he was a freedom fighter. Kamalnayan Bajaj (his friend)..10/n
wrote letters on his behalf to the Indian Government to no avail. Vinayak never received a freedom fighter's pension & died in relative penury.
Post independence, he spent his life doing 2 things: helping freedom fighters get their pension & spreading Khadi..11/n
I never knew Vinayak bcoz he died in early 1980s, before I met my wife. She remembers her grandfather as a simple warm man, always cheerful, wearing Khadi dhoti. He always travelled by train. 2nd class. Bapu had drilled it into him..12/n
Today, it is important to remember it was due to such selfless people who joined in protests & demonstrations, gave up their careers, that you enjoy this freedom to abuse Bapu & his followers. They were true Desh bhakts (Patriots).
तुम भूल ना जाओ उनको
इसलीये कही ये कहानी।

END

More from Society

This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.
We finally have the U.S. Citizenship Act Bill Text! I'm going to go through some portions of the bill right now and highlight some of the major changes and improvements that it would make to our immigration system.

Thread:


First the Bill makes a series of promises changes to the way we talk about immigrants and immigration law.

Gone would be the term "alien" and in its place is "noncitizen."

Also gone would be the term "alienage," replaced with "noncitizenship."


Now we get to the "earned path to citizenship" for all undocumented immigrants present in the United States on January 1, 2021.

Under this bill, anyone who satisfies the eligibility criteria for a new "lawful prospective immigrant status" can come out of the shadows.


So, what are the eligibility criteria for becoming a "lawful prospective immigrant status"? Those are in a new INA 245G and include:

- Payment of the appropriate fees
- Continuous presence after January 1, 2021
- Not having certain criminal record (but there's a waiver)


After a person has been in "lawful prospective immigrant status" for at least 5 years, they can apply for a green card, so long as they still pass background checks and have paid back any taxes they are required to do so by law.

However! Some groups don't have to wait 5 years.

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शमशान में जब महर्षि दधीचि के मांसपिंड का दाह संस्कार हो रहा था तो उनकी पत्नी अपने पति का वियोग सहन नहीं कर पायी और पास में ही स्थित विशाल पीपल वृक्ष के कोटर में अपने तीन वर्ष के बालक को रख के स्वयं चिता पे बैठ कर सती हो गयी ।इस प्रकार ऋषी दधीचि और उनकी पत्नी की मुक्ति हो गयी।


परन्तु पीपल के कोटर में रखा बालक भूख प्यास से तड़पने लगा। जब कुछ नहीं मिला तो वो कोटर में पड़े पीपल के गोदों (फल) को खाकर बड़ा होने लगा। कालान्तर में पीपल के फलों और पत्तों को खाकर बालक का जीवन किसी प्रकार सुरक्षित रहा।

एक दिन देवर्षि नारद वहां से गुजर रहे थे ।नारद ने पीपल के कोटर में बालक को देख कर उसका परिचय मांगा -
नारद बोले - बालक तुम कौन हो?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चहता हूँ ।
नारद - तुम्हारे जनक कौन हैं?
बालक - यही तो मैं भी जानना चाहता हूँ ।

तब नारद ने आँखें बन्द कर ध्यान लगाया ।


तत्पश्चात आश्चर्यचकित हो कर बालक को बताया कि 'हे बालक! तुम महान दानी महर्षि दधीचि के पुत्र हो । तुम्हारे पिता की अस्थियों का वज्रास्त्र बनाकर ही देवताओं ने असुरों पर विजय पायी थी।तुम्हारे पिता की मृत्यु मात्र 31 वर्ष की वय में ही हो गयी थी'।

बालक - मेरे पिता की अकाल मृत्यु का क्या कारण था?
नारद - तुम्हारे पिता पर शनिदेव की महादशा थी।
बालक - मेरे उपर आयी विपत्ति का कारण क्या था?
नारद - शनिदेव की महादशा।
इतना बताकर देवर्षि नारद ने पीपल के पत्तों और गोदों को खाकर बड़े हुए उस बालक का नाम पिप्पलाद रखा और उसे दीक्षित किया।