Campaign to replace doctor's 'Red Cross' with 'Swastika'

Organisations sympathetic to Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh [RSS] have recently  started a campaign to replace the Red Cross with the symbol, Swastik.

The nationwide campaign has gathered some momentum and the organisation claims nearly 50,000 docs have already adopted the symbol.

The office-bearers of the organisation, Arogya Bharati, feel that Swasthik is similar to Red Cross and replacing it will be easy.

Also, it will bring doctors close to the 'Indian culture', they believe. Not all doctors seem to agree though.

Many feel that a religious symbol shouldn't replace the Red Cross.

Some private organisations of doctors that are close to Sangh Parivar are enthused and supporting the campaign.


Whether the campaign succeeds in its objective or not, one wishes that the focus is more on taking health services to the poor.

On the top left, you can see photograph of a a woman riding her two-wheeler.

The scooter has the symbol on it. In fact, the symbol of doctors is not the 'cross' either.

 It is the caduceus--the traditional symbol that shows two snakes, which you can see on the left [in black]. Still, cross is used by doctors as it is more recognisable.

Doctor's' symbol

Often, chemists and those associated to the medical profession also put the cross on their vehicles.

Will Arogya Bharati think of arranging docs' visits to rural areas where no doctor wishes to go and treating poor at nominal fees?

If it does that then it will be a great service and it will support even the 'Hindu cause' better than the mere symbolism. 

Photo: Muslim boys celebrating Diwali

A Muslim boy lights a 'phuljhadi' as another kid watches.

This is the second day of Diwali and still the SMS messages are taking hours to reach. Many SMSs are simply lost.

Cell phone networks are still not working properly. I will be home soon and have got a dozen sweet packets waiting for me.

[I think the photographer is Nitin Kanotra though I am not sure about the City.]

The demise of Dr Zohra Begum: First Muslim woman who passed MBBS in 1935

Dr Zohra Begum Kazi, amongst the pioneering women to have got a degree in medicines, passed away in Dhaka.

She had got the degree of MBBS from Lady Harding Medical College in 1935.

She was the first woman Muslim doctor of the sub-continent, say newspaper reports.

Begum Kazi had served as head of Gynaecology department of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

At the time of her death she was 97. An activist, she had played an important role in the 1971 struggle. Her husband, Raziuddin, a lawmaker, had died in 1963. She was issue-less. She died on the night of November 8 at her Gulshan residence and was buried at Banani graveyard.

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Just when I came across the news, I recalled the letter published in Rashtriya Sahara Urdu daily about the huge money spent on advertisements by the warring factions of Qureshi biradari.

The letter writer had expressed surprise over the manner the office-bearers were flaunting their money and numerical strength, and questioned whether they had opened any schools, colleges or given a thought to how many Qureshi girls are passing PET, MBBS and other exams.

An Indian Muslim 'celebrates' Diwali in an alien land, remembers the childhood

I am not in my City and that has made such a big difference!

It's Diwali and here I am sitting far away from my friends. Will not visit any home tomorrow.

Have no friend to greet here and can't enjoy the holiday either. Though a few SMS I have received, haven't sent many.

No Gujhias. No sweets. A friend called me to tell that my 'mithai ka dabba' is lying in office, and he is going to take it home.

Diwali is the biggest festival in India. Though Dussehra fascinated me more in the childhood because of the huge effigies burnt, Diwali was no less exciting.

I always had more Hindu friends than Muslims and never felt left out during any of the festivals.

The neighbours would come and place 'diyas' at our door and in the verandahs. The mithais would come from every flat.

The young ladies of the nearby flats who were younger would come and touch my mother's feet also. We were the only Muslim family there.

That was an intriguing sight to the new neighbours who would find it strange why rest of Hindu families had this special relationship with a Muslim household. And by the next year, a couple of Eids later, they would also become as close to us as others.

[Who cared about any cultural differences or Hindu-Muslim divide then? Ultimately what matters is friendship and relations...]

As a kid I was not much into bursting crackers but phuljhadis, 'saanp' [the small black tablets which were burnt and unending spirals emerged from them] and chakris were always brought for me. Occasionally Anars also but no patakhe. [Please don't say Phatake or fatake, it really turns me off].

Once though to impress a girl I did set fire to a 'bandar bomb' holding it in my hand. Fortunately the cracker took sometime before it exploded. I got a scolding from everybody in the locality. [I was 12 or perhaps 13]. Boyhood bravado!

Rush of memories. So many incidents, which you relive, when you are free. What else to do! Here I am blogging on Diwali eve. Anyway, just.to refresh our memory. Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Rama Chandra Ji to Ayodhya after 14-years.

So Happy Dipawali to All of You, who have come to this blog. And also to those who haven't :)

Sher Ali: The revolutionary Indian freedom fighter who assassinated the Viceroy

Shams Ur Rehman Alavi

Do you know that a Viceroy was killed on Indian soil during the freedom movement?

Though many other revolutionary freedom fighters are remembered, the name of Sher Ali who was behind the assassination, is mostly forgotten.

In fact, Sher Ali's name barely finds a mention. Forget textbooks, the voluminous studies also have his name just in footnote.

It was in February 1872, when this revolutionary who had been sent to Andaman Islands [Kala Pani], assassinated Lord Mayo, the viceroy who was on a visit to the Andamans where the freedom fighters were kept incarcerated.

Richard Bourke, the 6th Earl of Mayo and Viceroy of India, was visiting the Andaman along with high ranking officials and security personnel, when Sher Ali stabbed him to death. When asked why he murdered the viceroy, the man from Tirah valley of Khyber said that 'Khuda ne hukm diya, is waste kiyaa'.

He was charged with murder and hanged on Viper islands the next year. Revolutionaries wanted to overthrow the imperial rule through force, as the felt it was by deceit and military might that the East Indian company had snatched their liberty. It was one of  the few ways in sight for the ordinary Indians to take on the power of the foreign imperialists, then.

We have read how Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad assassinated Saunders. Also, about Madanlal Dhingra, who in England assassinated William Hutt, there is little focus on the role of Sher Ali. 

Today, the assassinations are seen differently but it was colonial era, Indians were treated as second class citizens, they were exploited and brutalized, the freedom fighters were fighting the imperialists in different ways. But the fact remains that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad and Madanlal Dhingra are heroes in India. Their sacrifices are taught in texts, every child is aware of their role, and annually they are paid homage. However, nothing has come in way of Sher Ali.

1. Here is the Link to the Wikimapia image [the map] of the coast of Andaman where 135 years ago this incident had occurred.
2. Also, a link to the Times of India editorial page article on Sher Ali.

On the 150th anniversary of 1857

[Above photo of Sher Ali on the left and the place on Viper Isles where he was hanged]