The Unheard Secrets

T he constitution of India —the  longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world—has always been associated with Dr BR Ambedkar. While Dr Ambedkar, the chairman of the drafting committee , was undoubtedly its architect, little is known about the man who penned the constitution. The first draft of the Indian Constitution, which was completed on 26th November 1949 is no less than a masterpiece. While Nandalal Bose and his students designed the borders of every page and adorned it with beautiful art pieces, it was the singlehanded effort of Prem Behari Narain Raizada (Saxena) that brought the primary contents and the preamble to the Constitution, to life. Shri Prem Behari was born on 17 December 1901 , in a family of traditional calligraphists. He lost his parents when he was very young and was brought up by his grandfather Master Ram Parshadji Saxena and uncle Mahashya Chatur Behari Narayan Saxena. Prem Behari’s grandfather was a scholar in Pers...

In Bengal , every Bengali who lives in the big city can point out his or her ‘ desh-er baari’, the ancestral village from where the family migrated. In Kolkata , one cannot escape the shadow of Bengal’s bravest son, Subhas Chandra Bose – ‘ Netaji ’ to his fellow Bengalis. Subhash Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897 in Cuttack in Odisha to Janakinath Bose and Prabhavati Dutt Bose . In 1909, Janakinath Bose would built a house at Elgin Road in Calcutta , where Netaji lived in his formative years. It was this house that was the center of his political activities and it is from here that Netaji escaped from house arrest in 1940 . As a result, it is this house that is most associated with Subhash Chandra Bose and is now a museum called ‘ Netaji Bhawan ’. While the Elgin road house is thronged by Netaji’s admirers, not many from Kolkata have taken the hour-long drive to Netaji’s ‘ desh-er baari’ , in the village earlier known as Kodalia . Located aro...

Guru Gobind Singh , the tenth guru of Sikhism and founder of Khalsa , was famous for his blue coloured horse. In fact Guru Sahib is sometimes known as  "Neelay ghoray whalla"  or  "one with the blue horse". Just as his grandfather  Guru Hargobind Sahib , Guru Gobind Singh instructed his Sikhs to make offerings of arms and horses in readiness for the turbulent times ahead. In anticipation of this Gobind Singh ji Maharaj learnt the art of horsemanship from an early age under the guidance of his maternal uncle, Bhai Kirpal Chand. As Guru Sahib grew older, he became an accomplished horseman and would spend time travelling the country-side on horseback blessing his people who would inevitably gather wherever he went. Even today the lineage of the stallions continues at Hazoor Saheb, Nanded. The horses are kept in stables and are bred from the original stallion belonging to Guru Sahib. No one is allowed to ride the horses as a mark of respect a...