TRICOLOUR A STORY


                      Indian National Flag went through many changes before it took its present form. One of the earliest of these was a Tricolour in red, yellow and green. The red-band had eight white lotuses. While the bottom green had a sun and crescent moon and the words "Wande Mataram" was inscribed on the middle yellow. Mahatma Gandhi commissioned Pingali Venkayya to design one with the charkha(Spinning wheel). In the middle with bands, red and green. A white band was latter added. This become one of the earliest flag to be hoisted in India.

                         Just before August 15, 1947 a committee was set up by the constituent Assembly and they decided to modify this flag. The spinning wheel was replaced by the Asoka Wheel that represented dharma. The new flag now had three colours deep saffron, white and green, with a blue Ashoka Chakra in the centre.
Saffron colour denotes renunciation. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth. The green shows, our relation to(the) soil, our relation to plant life here, on which all life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma".

                         The National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" is the first stanza of five lof a hymn composed by Rabindranath Tagore. Although it was written as early as 1911 not many knew of its existence until it was set to score. Tagore and his friend the poet James Cousins were in Madanapalle when Tagore sang the poem to Cousins in Bengali. Tagore land Cousins'  wife Margret an expert in Western classical music, set the notations.

                          The national flag, with its colours and wheel of dharma, and the national anthem, with its evocation  of the lands and the people of India stand for the quality of tolerance that the people of who fought for freedom held  held as one of the  highest ideals in the making of the nation.

                                                                                                        (Taken from my collections of news) 

                            Valentine's Day

                     For this was on seynt Valantynys day when eury bryd comyth then to choose

                     his make.

                                Chaucer - Parliament of Fowls  C.1382

            As Chaucer says it was the day birds paired up, but Valentine's Day (14th Feb) is hardly about birds. Often reviled and loathed as "decadent western culture" it is actually a official holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, France and Australia. No one knows who Valentine really was.  Many believe the custom originated in the roman feast of Lupercal.

              Remember Shakespeare's Julius Cesar? much The play opens with scenes of the feast. Lupercal was a holiday celebrated on February 14 with a feast and much merry making honouring Jano, the Queen of the Roman gods, women and marriage. On the night before the festival, men chose by lots young maidens who became their companions for the rest of the feast.

              An interesting story says the cruel Roman emperor, Claudisu II, wanted more soldiers for his armies and decided, that young men were loath to join because they did not want to leave their wives and girl friends behind. So, he banned all marriages and cancelled engagements. A priest named Valentine disobeyed the order and conducted many secret marriages. He was soon discovered and sentenced to death. Awaiting  death in his cell was not boring because his many fans threw gifts of flowers, notes and other nice stuff over the wall to him. Among them was the prison guard's daughter who was allowed to visit him. They become friends and before he died he wrote a note to her signed "from your Valentine" . Some believe she was blind and Valentine restored her sight and they exchanged secret love letters signed "your Valentine". But they were found out. Valentine was beheaded on February 14. Pope Gelasius banned the Feast of Lupercal in 496 AD as being immoral. Valentine was designated the patron Saint of lovers to be honoured every February 14.    

                                                                                                     Source: News Collection 2004.