12th January - National Youth Day

United Nations declared Year 1985 as “International Youth Year” and during that time our Government declared Swami Vivekananda as The National Youth Leader and his birthday 12th January will be observed as “National Youth Day”. Since then we are observing 12th January as National Youth Day. ........

• We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran; yet this has to be done by harmonizing the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran.
• My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is to preach the mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.
• I belong as much as to INDIA as to WORLD.
• Bold is my message to the WEST but bolder is my message to the EAST my beloved countrymen.
• My idea that can be put into single words-the high ideal Upanishads to translate in to simple English and scattered them through Out the World so that even a child can understand it.
• If there is one word that you find coming like bomb from in the Upanishads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon the masses of ignorance, it is the word, fearlessness.
• Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth- sinners! It is sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, sprits free, blest and eternals.
• “Men these are wanted, everything else will be ready. But Strong, vigorous, believing young man sincere to the backbone is wanted. A hundred such and the world become revolutionized”.
• Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man.
• Religion is the idea which is raising the brute into man, and man into God.
• The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and do good - that is the whole of religion.
• Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man.
• Look at the wall.

Thursday 22nd November 2009 bandh in Kolkata

Office-goers are set to get a five-days break towards the month-end. The Maoists and SUCI have called a Bangla bandh on January 22. The
next day being Netaji's birthday is a state holiday. And then, the weekend is followed by Republic Day, which falls on Monday.

Several truths – you may call them lessons – came upon us during this Thursday’s bandh called by the left trade union, CITU (Center of Indian Trade Unions).

• If CITU wishes, life in Kolkata (and indeed in entire Bengal) can be brought to a total standstill. Nothing, but nothing can move. Not on road, none on rail, certainly nothing in air, not even on water. Whatever moved were those who used their feet to walk (like human beings, cattle, dogs, etc.), wings to fly (birds) or fins and tails to swim (fish, duck, etc.).
• Even though common people were advised to walk to their destinations, there were notable exceptions. For example, CITU vice-president and state’s transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty had no qualms to use his official car to race on empty roads, thus enjoying to his fullest such rare rides.
• Very few people knew what the bandh was all about, which was okay with CITU because all it wanted was to enforce stoppage of any movement, no matter what.

Lest you think that bandh was all bad, here are a few reasons why it brought some cheer too:

• Since Kolkata consumes something around 450 kilolitre of petrol and 4000 kilolitre of diesel on a weekday, one may safely assume that Thursday has literally been a huge blessing for the city’s environment. It will not be wrong to say that the city’s air breathed a big sigh of relief on the bandh day.
• For city’s workaholic people, Thursday was a grand occasion to de-stress mind and soul. There was simply no reason to move out because nothing was open or moving, which meant one was perforce confined at home.

Here at last was a chance to spend an entire day idly, catch up on family matters, give quality time to near and dears, and discover the magic that is 'home'.
To that extent, day before yesterday’s bandh was indeed a great gift to savor and recoup. Not bad that, don’t you think!