My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans Had Elephantine Memory

My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans Had Elephantine Memory

My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans Had Elephantine Memory. The upbringing in a middle class household earned him its share of praise and ire from known and unknown men as the time flew by. The ease with which he could narrate biographies of leaders of that era (freedom movement and post independence) was an illustration of his memory rich and solid. And this won him kudos from his father Jaideo Rajhans. As time went by he gained knowledge of history and this added to his oratory skills whenever he had to narrate anecdotes. The speech after speech that he made in Parliament or Laos and Cambodia stint where one was expected to speak extempore the historical underpinnings came handy. 

His punchline was knowledge is power. And there was no escaping this truth. I can say with confidence that when he wrote on waste of food in India on different occasions like marriage, birth of a child and anniversaries was a brutal reflection of a civilised society having not come to terms with this horrendous fact. This story he would have done with enough memories of the past. A household which was occasionally witness to meagre supply of food the four brothers had to remain content with whatever little food was available as the times were uncertain and distress all around. The four sons knew their parents had spared no effort to get the augmented supply of food but the odds they faced were no less. 

The four sons were not blinkered by the efforts of their parents in arranging meals on their plate. And this memory he would have carried forward when he noted that in Five Star hotels in locales like Delhi and Mumbai millions were spent by grooms/brides and there was large scale wastage of food. And this was happening when in the heart of these cities there were slums after slums where people went unfed every night. Nothing could be more barbaric than this act of wasting food in the name of upscale celebrations. In the '60s when the nation was faced with famine then govt of that time put in place "Guest Control Order" by which the number of guests invited to a function was limited. Though such a move in recent times is not possible and there is an urgent need to create awareness on vast food wastage. And here media which is independent and doesn't shy away from holding mirror to politicos at helm can do a lot to raise awareness. To think of any law to rein in this wastage of food practice may prove infructuous as right from those in khaki to I-T department men would put their spotlight on such functions and unnecessarily harass people and this would add another layer of corruption. I still believe corruption is rampant across India and moves to herald a corruption free era hasn't yielded much. 

My father Gouri Shankar Rajhans noted that in a poor nation state like Pakistan be it any function at home or in Five Star Hotel the rule is to serve just one dish and none put pressure on the host to add more dishes to the plate. This has been in practice for some time. 

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 was one particular happening where My Father Gouri Shankar Rajhans essayed thoughts day after day. He could script stories as his memory was a tool with which he could spun tales. He knew the invasion was unlawful and only a steady response from the West could ease tension and provide relief to Kuwait. Kuwait was freed after Colin Powell led a successful assault against Iraqi forces. Here I am of the view that would Russia invade Ukraine and that looks highly unlikely and if it does so it would have to pay a heavy price. The Russian leader can't see the writing on the wall that heavy casualties the nation would suffer and his close associates would come under all sort of sanctions. Once the sanctions kick in leave the rest to God it would show effects on the ground sooner than later.