Let many Priyankas bloom in the Mithila’s laps who are not blessed to be born in any PM’s house (or doctor’s house of the famous ‘Chopra’)!

I had sometimes back written a blog on a rural girl whom I had met on 30.8.2008 in a school where she had told me that she would like to be an administrative officer though would opt for biology after matriculation. Somehow her phone number was missed and though I had told Mahesh Jha of Thadhi to procure her number last month again today she came in my mind and I wanted to contact her through her school and started writing a post card after a long time. After writing her name I wished to get the PIN of her school and in that connection I phoned a Maithili worker Akhilesh who was in way to Patna and he told me that she passed SSC with 70% and would give me her number once he reached Patna,
Usually I do not postpone any work and I completed that Meghdoot postcard with PIN provided by Akhilesh and gave to my peon to post that in post office (ina way a taste for post office too whether they can locate a person of not much significance as in her address I had just written Priyanka, passed in first division from ..School vill…. PIN…).
Earlier I wished to taste the letter boz in front of my health centre by this post card as the postmaster had said me vehemently that everyday those boxes(one in front of my centre and other in front of nearby DPS School) do open on which I did not believe as in this day of mobile telephoney hardly people (of my affluent colony at least) do write letters and postmaen usually bring mostly the printed journals,

Not many years back, I used to write the highest number of letters in this locality (and so used to write in brief on postcards- once I wrote a line on a postcard to my newly wed wife..”got the news of your safe arrival at Dibrugarh (by flight from Calcutta),” and she was later furious on me as if I had made a blunder (it was against decorum and her friends made her fool on that account, anyway it was me a fool not she was difficult to comprehend for her, a 23 year old lady!). later I had witnesses one more episode in my colony’s post office where for want of change to return the postmaster wished tp give a few post card to a girl and she frowned over that ‘postcrds!.’

Well, I hope this postcard to Priyanka hopefully will reach to that village ( to be certain, I did not drop that in to see described boxes rather gave that to my peon to be dropped in the post office itself as it contains a congratulations to her as well as an invitation to take admission at Ranchi which I had promised to that girl in that class room on 30.8.2009).

When I had enquired Akhilesh PIN of his village I had not in my mind that Priyanka would have cleared her SSC. It was just her memory.
And to be sure to tell her for admission, I searched some old rough pages and in fact started putting them in Excel Sheet one by one, which had already 4385 names entered.
If you do not enter such scribbled data immediately it gives problem in relating them and in the way I phoned some of them..

Having confused from one Satish Jha with Satish Mishra I was taken aback that satis Jha of Prasad village had serious rail accident and his leg was amputated . He was a dynamic person before and I had just enquired as to probably he became busy that socially I do not find him much active to which he narrated his sorrow story. I will meet him soon to encourage that the world is not lost for a leg.

The other card I entered ,I wished to take private email and called on number ’94..’ (which would have been cheaper/ free on my ’94..’ number though it was second to a ’92..’ number), a lady replied as if did not understand my Maithili. I got confused that she may be the secretary of that officer and I asked whether I was calling his office. ‘No,’ his home and I am Mrs…. To which I could not resist myself calling..’You could not understand me who had visited only sometime back(and in fact her husband had asked me to come for a break and rest for a day or two which was hovering in my mind while I was entering data in the spreadsheet),..

And then again I was confused with a close colleague of my company’s number from ’99..’ though I always talked him on a brief VPN free call number from a ’94..’ series and I called him and was taken aback that the ’99..’number was of his wife who had gone to her brother, a professor who was suffering from cancer and on doctor’s refusal from Mumbai (ever air services did not accept him for transportation to Bagdogra ) they could bring him to Purnea on an ambulance with doctors costing Rs.90,000.

I told him that though I was supposed to go to Purnea on 22nd June for Vinay tarun’s first death day observance by his friends, I had canceled because my sister’s confinement (by Ceaserian section) maybe any day in the coming fortnight though we have planned that on June 28th(when Bhadwa will be over as well as I return from Jaynagar’s XXIII International Maithili Conference June 25-26). He told me (knowing me a bachelore) that her wife could be called any time by my sister and I had the numbers(scribbled on a Geeta Pravachan invitation by Chinmaya Mission) with many such numbers I write on some papers before I delete from my mobile to accommodate new numbers). Anyway there was no harm of keeping her number as two of her elder sisters are married to two of my class fellows(of MBBS, MD and other though senior had MD with me).

While I was talking to him while wandering in such jumbles of numbers I saw later a missed call from Akhikesh and on call he gave me number of Priyanka who was at Delhi.
I was doubly pleased that she would read at Delhi and I called her and congratulated and asked her plans to which she told me that she would be returning Madhubani by 21st and was not inclined to study at Delhi for English medium (in which she was not comfortable like most of the Indian students). Priyanka had scored 80 % in science,63% in mathematics, 81% in Maithili but poor 50 % and 48% in English and Hindi respectively. Though she could not score over the boy Murari she had challenged that day in her school, she scored better than many boys and higher than any girl in her school.

It reminds me the episode of great Dr. Subhadra Jha who had opposition to Maithili’s introduction in the Sahitya Akademi(and education) that Maithil boys would lag behind (which is still common fear for many Maithils we find arguing on web groups) and it took great pain to Dr. Suniti Kumar Chaturjya (the chairman for the committee to include Maithile) to get admitted by Dr, Subhadra Jha that he could get very low mark in Hindi(A great scholar like Subhadra Jha could get low mark in Hindi..and so Maithili be admitted, he had argued in favour giving his verdict).

When I asked detailed marks Priyanka has just told me with sorrow—‘Hindi,,vaih t’ percentage down kay delak.(Hindi.. that was responsible for downgrading my percentage.)..

Only yesterday I was arguing in a web-group that math(and science) have no language and English was preventing the scope of many natural talent of poor Indians who need taught in their native language taking a common vocabulary based on Sanskrit for scientific or social disciplines.

Is not Priyanka’s case is to support my argument. Her father died young. Her mother lives with two daughters in her parental home(her grandparent is a simple worker in postal department and her maternal uncle is an accountant at Delhi).’

Yesterday one leading published took my consent for translating in Maithili books of repute of different subjects (Romilla and Jaushabi’s history to Satoshkar’s pharmacology) to which I hesitatingly gave consent not because I was afraid of some mathematics or science books’ (for which I can appoint co-translators, terminologies but of time and particulary of my own repute from an original writer to a translator; being a Mithili ‘translator’ of Bhagbadgita is a rare honour, particularly when HH Shankaracharya, Puri, a great Maithil, has written a kind foreword to that ( print may be available soon, on web maithiligeeta is available one may read but there has been some revision so do not take a print of that) and UR Ananathmurthy’s Kannada story book ‘Mauni’s translation is complete.

We need books on different disciplines in Maithili. Only yesterday a publisher of Maithili informed that boys appearing for the UPSC and BPSC are not getting books published by the Maithili Akademy which had given the books to be printed to a blacklisted press!

Despite that students have opted and competed in good number in the UPSC-
Year Selected for interview Selected IAS Selected Allied
2011 27 2 3
2010 14 2 1
2009 11 1 1

Two years back when all three top were girls in the UPSC, fourth , a boy had written in Gurumukhi. Let many Priyankas bloom in the Mithila’s laps who are not blessed to be born in any PM’s house (or doctor’s house of the famous ‘Chopra’)!

I wish Priyanka who wished to go in administrative service may do so by all subjects in Maithili like that of boy who opted for Gurumukhi! What she has achieved on her merits despite in abject poverty and I wish she gets position in her life she deserves.
I told her, if her family would agree she was welcomed in my house at Ranchi and can join daughters of my sister going nearby college. I also informed Akhilesh to talk her family as sending girl to any ‘unknown’ person’s house is usually not accepted and if they agree she may join me on 26th at Jaynagar in Jaynagar-Ranchi express,
.
I know the hesitations –many years back one other Akhilesh (son of a lawyer) joined me and he was about to take admission in a school (where later my sister joined as a teacher) where the director seeing me had instructed the clerk to take his admission and his school dress too was ordered but his father phoned me in the morning to take admission to send back him on the advice of his brother (after some years that boy had returned with a repent after spoiling his career!).