the war of middle class - a preview

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THE WAR OF

MIDDLE CLASS



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THE WAR OF

MIDDLE CLASS

Ramesh Kumar



NotionPress5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by NotionPress

Copyright © Ramesh Kumar 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-93-82447-71-9

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by way

of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out, circulatedand no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except

for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made

without written permission of the publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work of

the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make

the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher

disclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors.



This is a work of fiction. All of the characters,

organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are

either products of the author’s imagination or are

used fictitious, Resemblance to any live character or

name may be a coincidence. The views expressed from

daily life are used to support a cause and not harm any

individual.



Acknowledgement

I am indebted to Sadguru Yogiraj Chaman Lalji who enlightened me and has shown the path of Self development and self realization through yogsadhanas. He always encouraged me to write for

the social welfare. The practice of yog sadhans haseverything to turn an individual into a good citizenand contributes towards nation’s development.

I am thankful to people, organizations whose views I have directly or indirectly used in this work of fiction. The views are used to support a cause

for welfare of the society.

Thanks to Rajendra Singh Chauhan who translatedseveral speeches and teachings of Yogiraj ChamanLal ji and allowing me to use those to in my book.

Thanks to Shambhavi Yadav a freelance editor

who edited the novel.Thanks to Navin Press forpublishing the book and EV Star Communicationsfor sponsoring this book. Last but surely not theleast I want to thank my mother who alwaysinspired me to work ealy in the morning for all my ideas and my wife Veena for moral support.



e

Rama The Revolutionary

VK Ramachandran, nicknamed Rama, was sonof an ideal and dutiful IAS Officer, Mr. MV

Ramacandran. The Ramachandrans were originally

from Tamil Nadu but spent a large part of their lifein Delhi where Mr. MV Ramachandran served forcentral government. Rama had done his schoolingfrom Delhi. He proudly owned a tall, brownishtint, muscular and strong body like his father.Though Rama’s father moved back to Thiruvarur inTamil Nadu after retirement, Rama had to stay

back to complete his Civil Engineering from DelhiCollege of engineering. He had a typical southIndian accent but could speak Hindi well and it wasn’t difficult for him to befriend his fellowstudents. He was mostly found in library and would not waste his time in general gossiping.Surprisingly, Rama was also popular as a singer of

old Hindi film songs in his college. Soon aftercompleting his degree, he joined the Haryan PublicWorks Establishment PWD at Karnal in April 1983.He joined the PWD to use his technicalcompetence for improving city’s infrastructure andcivic amenities which were taking a new shape by some developers.

Rama was a strong headed man who wasextremely particular about his ideologies andethics. This was the reason why a lot of timeshe would find himself alienated. Rama got firstposting in Harayana PWD at Karnal. He wasprimarily into planning, carrying out field surveys



and applying all knowledge he gained while

pursuing his engineering. He spent about one yearas a paying guest with some agency. Later herented a place and was living alone but not forlong. Soon, he found the love of his life, Geetika,a vivacious Punjabi girl who was the daughter of his land lord. Geetika was an arts graduate fromChandigarh College. She was extremely beautiful,

had wide black eyes twinkling on her dream-likeoval face, little overweight and was of mediumheight. It was love at first sight. Geetika’s father,like any other Indian father, had no objection totheir union as Rama had a good background anda stable career. The families met and decided for wedding. The wedding was held in Feb 1985,a blend of Punjabi and Tamil traditions. Few wedding functions were in Punjabi fashion whilethe wedding was as per South Indian rituals. After wedding, the couple decided to shift to anew nearby accommodation; a two bed room flat.Soon the couple was blessed with a son. They named him Akhilesh. Rama’s parents had comethree months prior to delivery to look after theirpregnant daughter-in-law, Geetika. There werecelebrations in the house. After third year frombirth, they started sending the boy to a nearby nursery. Rama’s parents occasionally visited thefamily and would go back to their home town.

Life was running at its galloping pace. It hasbeen fourth year of Rama’s stint in Haryana PWD.Soon Rama got a chance to work in Gurgaonas a senior engineer. He joined Gurgaon in Nov 1988. Rama shifted to Gurgaon along with Geetikaand Akhilesh. He was asked to supervise a megaproject on a road connecting Faridabad and

2 THE WAR OF MIDDLE CLASS



Gurgaon through most rocky terrains of Aravalli

range. Rama studied the on-going project onconstruction of roads and observed several lapsesin quality of roads under construction andtendering process. Rama was very keen and hadinherited rich documentation values from hisfather who would bring many manuals for variouscase studies of Planning Commission where his

father was employed. He found a lot of vagueterms in the contract awarded to road contractorfor this prestigious project. The road specificationsstated that road should be able to have stableearth and gravel surface for five years, butmentioned nothing about stabilizing process; howto stabilize or improve the In-situ soilsmechanically, either with other selected soils/aggregates or with cement, bitumen or chemicals,or construct a stronger pavement on top to supportheavier vehicles or higher traffic flows. Ramaalways wanted to contribute to nationaldevelopment but his idealism was a misfit in thegovernment. His ethics and moral values madehim contemplate, “The construction company may not adhere to any standards and may give a written consent that road has been constructed asper the tender. Once the construction of the roadis completed and payment is made, who will beresponsible?”

He discussed the issue with his father overphone. His father advised him to go by whathis mind says and said, “Use your innerconsciousness.Your inner soul is pure and willguide you right way.”

Rama got clear message and he was moreconfident now in taking an action. He immediately

Rama The Revolutionary 3



wrote an objection letter to contractor stating

technical defaults. He told his colleague engineers,“In India, roads are essentially dilapidated afterrainy season. Every year roads go bad and newtenders float to make money and rob the nation.This has been practiced in India sinceindependence. It was this weakness due to whichevery citizen in India has to suffer every day when

he uses these roads. Every citizen has to pay morefor maintenance of his vehicle and also pay formore fuel consumption due to bad roads whichget worse within six months of construction. My consciousness does not allow me to be a mute witness to this injustice and level of corruption.”

Rama was bent on taking a serious action. Hefurther discussed this with his senior colleague andtold him, “The contractor is happy, the engineer-in-charge gets happy with his pound of flesh andhis bosses and top leader gets happy with theirpray. This has been going on for decades and willcontinue if I do not object.” Rama raised his voiceagainst the existing corrupt system which no otherengineer dared doing. Deep inside, he was awareof the fact that he might have to face seriousconsequences and he could even pay the price inthe form of his life, but he couldn’t compromise with his ethics. He was more worried about hisfamily but he had to make a choice.

With a hazy mind, he drove to home. Geetika,his darling wife, threw her arms around him whenhe reached. Just in one look she got to know thatsomething is wrong. She held Rama’s hand andasked gently, “Is everything all right?” Rama brokedown in front of her and told her the whole story.She patiently listened to the whole story, kissed




Rama on forehead and said, “The man I married

would not even think once while deciding on thisone. Go ahead and put up a good fight against thesystem. Don’t worry about us. I am sure all yourgood deeds have armoured us and we will support you no matter what may come.” Rama pressedher hand tightly and hugged her. Their little son, Akhilesh, chuckled from his cradle.

Rama had a sound sleep that night after gettinga thumbs-up from his wife. He had recommendeda cancellation of contract to his bosses. The bosseshad a meeting with the commissioner. Rama’spoints were clear. Tender clause clearly spelt thatsurface must be stable for 5 years. The contractor was called and handed over the letter. Thecontractor was furious as he has already laid75% of road. The contractor refused to do any change showing under-payments. The road work was suspended. There was a stir among seniorengineers in other projects as contractors startedbuilding pressure on Rama through his bosses.Under pressure from political leaders, Rama wassummoned at CM Office, Chandigarh. Ramaexplained everything and objectionable points tothe secretary. The secretary heard the issues andasked Rama to go back.

One month passed by. Suddenly Rama wastransferred to Chandigarh. However, Faridabad-

Gurgaon Road was approved by another engineerunder political pressure. Rama understood ministry plans but could not resist further as he had no jurisdiction. Rama was put under planningcommittee. From beginning, Rama was in the goodbooks of his bosses due to his boldness and healways gave more than he was expected.Whether

Rama The Revolutionary 5



it was cost analysis of a project or it was drafting

specifications for a tender, he was always very innovative, used latest methods, projectmanagement tools and rich documentation. He was soon popular among his co-workers forproducing good project reports. Rama alsodeveloped simulation models of constructionprojects which show stages and status from day

1 of projects and how it will appear after onemonth or three months. All this information couldbe generated through simulation softwares. Ramaalso used to spend a great deal of time in library scanning journals that kept him updated.Construction technology, environment control,HVAC, green houses and structure analysis werehis pet subjects.




e

Yogiraj Preaches Yoga after

Retirement

R oru, a small hill village in deep Himalayas,about 70 kms from Shimla, is surrounded by

Reserve Forest Park. It was the hometown of Retired Professor Yashpal Ahuja, popularly knownas Yogiraj among people. He was a yogapractitioner and preacher and got very famous dueto his special yoga powers. Yogiraj was a Sanskritscholar. He pursued Ph. D. from HimachalUniversity, Shimla, in Vedic Studies. Soon after his

Ph. D., he was appointed as a lecturer in HamirpurCollege, Himachal Pradesh. He was a lean agileman, clean shaven and piercing eyes, mostly dressed in white shirts and a trouser. He was adisciple of Swami Raj Ji and learnt a lot about yoga; hath yoga, raj yoga, pranayam, shatkarmas,

meditation etc. Swami Raj Ji was, in turn, adisciple of Prabhu Ram Ji who started Yog

Sadhana Ahrams to spread yoga way back in 1920before partition of India. As per teachings of Prabhu Ram Ji, yoga science was hidden andforgotten over centuries due to invasion by Muslims who ruled India for more than 700 years

and later by the British who ruled India for morethan 300 years. Prabhu Ram ji, therefore, broughtthis yoga science back to India through hisawakening. Swami Raj Ji learnt Ashtang Yoga fromPrabhu Ram ji who left for heavenly abode at young age of 51. Swami Raj ji then spread yogathrough various Yog Sadhan Ashrams . Rishikesh



was also one location from where Swamiji

interacted with various his disciples, one of whom was Prof Yash Pal.

Prof Yashpal taught Yoga besides Sanskrit, which was his main subject. On weekends, heorganized yoga camps and teach shatkarmas useof Jal Neti and Vaman for cleaning nose andstomach. During his tenure, where ever he went

on official tours, he would find chance to teachstudents and teachers yoga asanas and shatkarmas .His fellow teachers started calling him Yogiraj.He got selected as a reader and then professorduring his career and got many opportunities to work at various colleges in Himachal. He was aprincipal in Himachal College at Shimla wherehe retired in 1980. After retirement he went tohis home town Roru and settled there. He gotmarried at young age and his wife Sumitra wasalso a true disciple and supported Yogiraj in hispreachings. During his last tenure, he started Yog Ashram at his birth place, Roru, on a vast areaof two acres. Soon, ashram got famous due toits divine powers. People from surrounding hilldistricts started visiting the ashram to cure theirailments and diseases and managing stress. Theashram was free for all and welcomed peopleirrespective of caste, religion or creed. It was only the endless power of Yoga that the ashram used

to preach to one and all. The Ashram’s entrancecarried a big board with a message, ‘Where thereis yoga, there is no disease’.

One day in Feb 1982, a young 22-year olddumb and deaf boy, Om Prakash came to Yogiraj’s Ashram along with his parents. His parentsdiscussed about the boy’s condition with Yogiraj.




Yogiraj saw the boy and wrote a small list of

exercises and processes on a piece of paper. Hereferred to one of Sewaks to teach the asanas,

mentioned in the list, to Om Prakash. Sewak

Thakur taught all asanas and also asked him to visit next day empty stomach for few Shatkarmas .Next day, Som Prakash was taught to do neti , where nose is cleaned with saline warm water.

After neti he was taught to do dhauti and vaman - a process of cleaning stomach by drinking 4 to5 glasses of Luke warm water. Later few moreprocesses of cleaning intestines and nasal systemusing rubber pipe were also taught besides variousasanas and pranayam . Om Parkash stayed atashram for one week and learnt all shatkarmas,asanas and pranayama. He was asked to followthese regularly and spare one hour in morningand half an hour in evening for these exercises.Om Prakash did it with full dedication and toeveryone’s surprise; within 3 months of practicehis deafness was cured. Om Prakash soon becamea devotee of Yogiraj. Within one year he learnthard core asanas , practised pranayam andshatkarmas regularly. Several friends of OmParkash also joined Ashram and started workingactively in Ashram’s activities.

Om Parkash and his team later moved to various places, along with Yogiraj, to spread yoga

in big towns and places as far as Delhi andChandigarh. They started teaching Yoga asanas

and shatkarmas to people and enlightened peopleabout the benefits of Yoga sciences.

Thakur Alok Sinha, chairman- Block Development Committee, Shimla, originally belonged to a small town called Kangra in

Yogiraj Preaches Yoga after Retirement 9



Himachal Pradesh. He was tall, lean and fair

with a strong voice. He also owned large appleorchards. He was endowed with wealth and powerbut unfortunately he faced a lot of health issues.He suffered from chronic acidity and migraine.He had been going through a prolonged medicaltreatment but there was no improvement.

In Shimla, one fine day, Thakur bumped into

a childhood friend, Balbir Singh Mehta. The twofriends talked about the good old times and Balbirinvited Thakur to stay at his house to whichThakur happily agreed. While having dinner,Balbir noticed that Thakur was not eating much.When asked, Thakur told Balbir about his severeacidity and migraine problem.

Balbir exclaimed, “Oh, do not worry, I have anatural method to kill this problem once for all.”

“What! Really? I don’t believe you.” Thakurreplied.

Balbir said, “Yes! The problem could bepermanently resolved by practising yoga andshatkarmas .”

“What is shatkarma ?” asked Thakur.Balbir smiled positively at Thakur and said,

“These are practices to clean our body. I will teach you tomorrow morning. You have reached rightplace. Have faith in our ancient yoga practices.”

The next day, early morning, Balbir came to

Thakur’s room and asked him to come to the open veranda. He brought with him a glass of warm water mixed with salt and demonstrated Thakurhow to sip it through both nostrils. Balbir drank water through his nose and sent it out throughmouth in small spells. Thakur watched the wholething in absolute surprise. It looked difficult to




him though Balbir did it easily. Later, Balbir asked

Thakur to try it. At first Thakur was reluctant.Thakur managed to sip water through nose andtake water out from mouth in short spells. Hestruggled a bit and coughed in between as this washis first time. After doing neti, Thakur felt very much relieved and felt his nose was really cleanedafter this.

After jal neti , Balbir did vaman by drinking 4glasses of plain warm water. After drinking water,he bent on wash basin, inserted his two middlefingers into his mouth and tried to vomit. At once water came gushing out from his mouth cleaninghis stomach. Now Balbir asked Thakur to do thesame.Thakur drank 4 glass of water with difficulty and then tried to vomit. After struggling he couldtake out only one or two glass of water, restremained in his stomach. Thakur felt normal andlight after few minutes.

Both were excellent processes to clean nose andstomach. Thakur was delighted and thanked Balbirfor his guidance. Balbir asked Thakur to stay fortwo more days and learn varisar and get goodhand on practice at jal neti and vaman so thathe would do on his own from his house. Nexttwo days, Thakur learnt pranayam techniques and Yoga asanas from Balbir and left for his home.

At home, Thakur practised these all what Balbir

taught him, every morning. He got much relief from his acidity and migraine problems as well.He observed a change in himself and startedfeeling more spiritual. He abstained from non- vegetarian food. His attractions for materialisticdesires got diminished and got secondary. But allthese changes were making him restless. In one

Yogiraj Preaches Yoga after Retirement 11



moment of such restlessness, he again contacted

Balbir and explained what he was going through.Balbir understood and promised to take him to Yogiraj Yashpal Ji Maharaj Ashram in Roru, wherehe would get peace and devotion.

Balbir and Thakur made a program and cameto Roru and met Yogiraj ji who blessed Thakurand Balbir. Balbir told Yogiraj everything what

Thakur was going through. Yogiraj listened to itpatiently and told Thakur, “You have come toright place. Now your real life will start. Getaway from political power and spend your life forhumanity, serve needy people and teach yoga andhelp getting people out of their problems. Peoplein Himachal need you. They are simple, innocentpeople but most of them ruin their lives becauseof alcohol and drugs. Help them to get rid of badhabits.”

Thakur instantly touched the feet of Yogirajand left ashram for his home town. He had anew purpose to live his life for. He never feltas relieved and happy as he was feeling then. At home, he converted one big hall into Ashramand started doing weekly hawan. People fromadjoining areas also started joining him. Once, Yogiraj came with his disciples to Kangra at one of his devotee’s house. A satsang was being arranged.Thakur also came there. Yogiraj asked Thakur

to sing some bhajan (devotional song). Thakursang a melodious bhajan which was in praiseof Prabhu Ram Ji. His voice was magical andthe Bhajan was so much emotional that lot of devotees started crying in pleasure and devotionand some went into trance (Samadhi: a state where body of devotee gets immense pleasure in




THE WAR OF

MIDDLE CLASS

the war of middle class - a preview

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