THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Ramesh Chander
On May 4, Dr. Ambedkar Mission Playway School at Salwara (Hoshiarpur), celebrated Ambedkar Jyanti as one of their annual events in the successive years. As a humble Ambedkarite and a friend of Prof. Balbinder Kumar, Karta-Dharta (Founder and Managing Director of the School), it fell on me to be the Chief Guest at the solemn function. These days to functional reasons, I avoid accepting invitations to such functions at far away venues. But I could not say to Balbinder as I respect him for his simplicity and total involvement in the community activities particularly with regard to the Mission of Babasaheb Ambedkar. I roped in my reverential nephew Mahesh as usual to be my Sarthy and hand holder.
We reached the School well before the agreed time and schedule in the morning. But on reaching the venue, to be very frank, I was not much impressed as the School was located in a sub-urban locality in a narrow street and not hosted in any impressive building. There was no much fanfare about the function also. Anyway, I informed Balbinder of our arrival and he came out and conducted us to the function which was still in the making. I humbly told Balbinder that we were there and he should feel relaxed and prepare for the event. I have written these details purposely as the old saying of “appearances are deceptive” came alive when the function started formally. I used the time at hand to know some details of the School and get related information. It made me comfortable as I felt that we were at the right place with nice people.
Dr.Ambedkar Mission Playway School was stated some two decades ago by Dr. Balbinder Kumar and his sagacious wife Balwinder Kaur as a gesture of paying back to the society and carry forward the mission of Babasaheb. Balwinder and his forefathers, Grandfather, Chaudhary Garib Dass, a staunch supporter and associate of Babu Mangu Ram of Ad-dharam Movement and Father, Babu Darshan Ram, a senior technocrat with the Indian Railways. It was interesting to know that Babu Mangu Ram had visited the site of the School in good old days for his community activities as the locality of Salwara was inhabited mostly by the socially weaker sections of the society. Both Balbinder and Balwinder are highly qualified and professional educationists; Balbinder, JNU alumni is a teacher at the Regional Campus of Punjab University in Hoshiarpur who has also been posted at The Hague with the International Court of Justice of the UN and his spouse, Madam Balbinder is a teacher at the Jawahar Navodhya Vidyalaya at Kapurthala in Punjab. With these details, one can easily make out the potent force available to run the missionary school named after one of the greatest sons of India, Babasaheb Ambedkar.
It is said that the proof of the pudding lies in its eating. The socio-cultural programme presented by the young kids of the School was the clear mirror to see the image of the school. It comprised of missionary performances of song and dance depicting the thought and philosophy of Gautama the Buddha and Babasaheb Ambedkar and the rich culture (Virsa) of Punjab laced with Giddha and Bhangra. I will be failing in doing justice if I don’t mention here the good job done by the teachers of the school in this regard. It clearly showed that how much they were devoted and engaged with the School under the stewardship of Prof. Balwinder Kumar and Madam Balwinder Kaur. The audience was mostly the parents of the students of the School apart from the invited guests from the intelligentsia of the community comprising of social activists and professionals from the medical and legal spheres like Thekedar Bhagwan Dass, Inderjitpal Badhan among others. From the brief remarks of the speakers, I could make out as to how much Prof. Balbinder was respected not only for his community work but also for his humility and dedication. In my brief remarks as the Chief Guest, while appreciating the good work being done by the dedicated couple and endorsing the views of one of the speakers about the often repeated, rightly or wrongly, utterances of Babasaheb about ‘educated people of the community failed him’, said that people like Dr. Balbinder Kumar tend to negate this. Let us not harp on this negative perception. How come educated people of the community negate and ignore Babasaheb Ambedkar, our saviour and benefactor? Anybody would do so at one’s own peril. Dr. Balbinder Kumar who himself ably conducted the function was at his best with his relevant and concerned observations with to the mission and thought of Babasaheb and the importance of education in the rightly sought after empowerment of the marginalized segments of the society. It was a rewarding day for me which concluded with piping hot Cholle Puri as lunch.
Considering the total engagement and selfless approach of Prof Balbinder Kumar in doing the community service, I thought of and shared Allma Iqbal’s poetic assertion to recognize and appreciate the good work –
Meeta De Apni Hasti Ko Agar Kuch Martba Chahe;
Ki Dana Khak Mein Milkar Gulo-gulzar Hota Hai.
