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October 07, 2005

A mail from Vijay Kranti. Dean - IIT Madras

Dear Friends,

Here is a personal experience, as well as a moment of national pride, which I want to share with you. Hope you find it worth the time you put in reading it :

"In the middle of 1965 India-Pakistan war, US govt - then a close friend of Pakistan - threatened India with stopping food-aid (remember "PL-480"?). For a food deficient India this threat was serious and humiliating. So much so that in the middle of war, Prime Minister (Late) Lal Bahadur Shastri went to Ram Leela Grounds in Delhi and appealed to each Indian to observe one-meal-fast every week to answer the American threat. As a school boy, I joined those millions who responded to Shastri ji's call. I continued the fast even when the war was over and India became self sufficient in food. Hurt deep by the national humiliation suffered at the hands of the US govt, I had vowed to stop my weekly fast only when India starts giving aid to USA.

"It took just 40 years. Last week THE day arrived. When Indian ambassador in Washington DC handed over a cheque of US$ 50 million to the US govt, two plane loads of food, medical aid and other relief materials were waiting to fly to the USA. Time to break the fast? With no bad feeling about the USA, and good wishes for the Katrina victims, this humble Indian feels proud of the distance India has covered in 40 years. Let's celebrate a New India!"

- Vijay Kranti. Dean - IIT Madras

October 7, 2005 in Reality | Permalink

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Comments

First of all it's good to take pride in one's national achievments but quite shameful when that pride is based on fictitious achievments. I got this email from various people and as usual I checked the veractiy of those claims, and lo and behold the email was bogus. Thanks to all those folks who actually went out and researched the emails claims, and put out the right facts. Something else that was failed to be mentioned - at least for the past decade or so, India has been receiving around $140 Million from the US government in free aid. So thanks for the TOKEN $5 Million but do take into account what was given to the Indian government just a few months ago in the wake of the Tsunami disaster. I could go on and on about the finacial aid given to the Indians so far by the US government (which amounts to billions), but then there is no virtue in bragging about one's charity.....is there?
Whoever wrote this email: shame on you.
And those who take pride in this fictitious email: well don't be too easily fooled in the future; there's a lot of nonsense in cyberspace.

Posted by: J Daniels | Oct 29, 2005 3:17:27 PM

Sir,
I am inspired very much by the letter.But could not find ur name in the dean list in IIT madras.Could you please reveal ur real identity I would like to have photo,ur real name etc.I cant beleive or trust without valid proof.....I would be happy if u can post the info.

Posted by: srilalitha | Oct 21, 2005 6:13:30 AM

I admire this kind of people who inspire without giving their real name to take advantage of beeing famous. The fasting call was real, Bharat offered help to Russia,Pakistan, USA, Sri Lanka,Bangladesh. USA(Gov) has never helped Bharat even in independence struggle, they had send feet to attack Bharat during war, China attacked US did not help. Privet sector helped because Bhartiyas who lived here helped to Bharat. USA sends $250 Mil to 800Mil. to Pakistan and sells weapons of $1.5 bil to Bharat then US forgives debt of Pakistan. Wake up you highly educated coconut brains. Do you know your your own language? Can your children read and write Sanskrit or do you have to use OXFORD dictionary to see the meaning of Sanskrit word?
Shame on us that we are abuseing basic freedom of speech and thoughts of Hinduism. We deserved to slaughtered like Mayan and old Egyptian culture.

I am proud to be Bhartiya and American and this kind of people make me more proud.

Posted by: Kaushik | Oct 20, 2005 9:14:16 AM

After reading the mail about the Dean from IITM who broke his fast after that long period of time, my first thoughts were that this guy is a great patriot but a big braggart. And I did not expect such things from a Dean whose footseps are meant to be followed.

Then after going through the comments debating this person's credibility and the minor yet significant errors in the original mail, I now think that this is the work of a person who must recently have read about such other true fasters and decided to send a mail with a fictitious name and fulfill his own private need for serving the country.

I don't blame the guy entirely, but atleast he can make known his feelings and not necessarily his identity. Although every Indian must be very patriotic and love his country but not by hoodwinking his fellowmen and definitely not at the cost of the genuine ones.

In today's world its best to be at peace with everyone and not invite undue wrath from neighbouring countries and especially superpowers. While the entire world is trying to get united, its not expected from people to think ill or ask for calamities to befall on others, when we ourselves have faced the brunt of many catastrophic ones and that too in such a short span of time.

My Salutations to all my fellow Indians anywhere in the world !! MERA BHARAT MAHAAN !!

Posted by: Nishit Sabnis | Oct 20, 2005 2:33:56 AM

Thanks, for ur reply Raina. When I got this mail I too belived it to be true. check this link also about india and pakistan war in 1965 where it says US was against the war and denied any support to pakistan contradicting the mail

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-pak_1965.htm

Some spammers wants to make fool of people. Who is this Vijay Kranti claims himself to be as a dean at IIT madras and every information that he has given in the mail are false and made even a Sr. Scientist belive what he said was true.
This guy has achived what he wanted. He wanted this mail to go places and impress people and i dont know whats the real name of this guy is, but whoever it might be here is my message "you are a stupid"

Posted by: ram | Oct 18, 2005 12:00:46 AM

Hi All

I've been wanting to do this for a while but I never got the time. This email below seemed too suspicious so I looked up some details here they are

1. USD 50M is about 200 crores and this seemed way too much to contribute even if we were driven by pure goodwill. see this instead...

http://www.indianembassy.org/press_release/2005/Sept/5.htm

naah! zero means nothing anyway.

2. As for sending food, it seems even more suspect. I know the redcross does not accept most things because we wanted to send somethings for the tsunami victims. Take a look at this..

http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_4498,00.html

3. Whether it was threatened that the PL-480 would be stopped in '65 I do not know but it was started some time in the 50's. "...national humiliation.." ? hey, we had been recieving free food since the 50's, so after 15 years of availing the charity does it not seem ungrateful on the part of the nation to feel humilated when the charity is stopped. (I wonder if the 'dean' decided to stop another meal in '71, when the PL480 was finally stopped)

http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/india/ch04.htm

4. Then ofcourse this issue of the name Vijay Kranti. But I am willing to assume that, "Vijay Kranti" was just a patriotic salutation at the end of the mail and not his name. Take a look at this

http://www.iitm.ac.in/Administr ation/Academic%20Administration.html

Feel free to pass this on to anyone who sends you the hoax mail

Cheers
Kiron

Posted by: Raina | Oct 17, 2005 3:40:48 AM

Dear Dr. Vijay Kranti,

It was a great pleasure to read about your message about National Pride. I am one of the millions of the people like you to having the fast since 1965 till today. Of course it was matter of joy that we are now independent regarding the food grains etc. However, there is another matter of serious concern is about the corruption at every stage spreading like deemak and till the day we rid of this we have no hope of national progress in all spheres of life. I think we should join to gather and have some short of joint effort to rid of this evil from the public life of the country. This is the one enemy which will be a great hurdle in becoming India as super power in near future.

I hope intellectuals like us will do some thing in this direction.

With kind regards,

DR. S.L. Jain
Sr. Scientist (Deputy Director)
Head
Radio & Atmospheric Sciences Division
National Physical Laboratory
Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road
New Delhi - 110 012, INDIA
Phone: 091-11-25746469(O), 091-11-28742026(R)
FAX: 091-11-25726938, 25726952

Posted by: Dr.S.L. Jain | Oct 15, 2005 3:18:45 AM

This Vijay Kranti guy is an IMPOSTER!

No such dean really exists. He could have come out with his personal saga without resorting to impersonation.

Posted by: Truth Seeker | Oct 14, 2005 9:45:47 PM

I am glad that there atleast some people who have the courage of Vijay Kranti. Having lived in N America for nearly 35 years I know the place from the inside unlike some of the people who wrote derisive comments on Dr Kranti. Some of the young people coming from India are so brainwashed and have become Uncle Tom of the Anglo_saxons, write derisive remarks about Dr Kranti. They should be required to read Harriet Beecher's " Uncle Tom's Cabin". Katrina proved how efficient and willing American agencies were in responding to pepole's need. The great flods in Mumbai was fixed in 2-3 days and trains started running. It is 5 weeks since Katrina and the waste water plant at New Orleans is not working. Young people do not be foole by H1 B Visas. Getting one is not Nirvana and you could be thrown out any day.

Posted by: Santanu Ghose | Oct 14, 2005 5:05:46 PM

What a Moron the Dean is... What is his personal contribution in this aid to US ? Don't try and exploit a tragedy for your personal interests.

Posted by: Girish | Oct 14, 2005 8:58:31 AM

always proud to be one of the most diverse nation in the world...but not proud of a hoax mail..and most of the indians being tricked ;)

Posted by: raja | Oct 13, 2005 7:55:38 PM

Who is Vijay Kranti? The IIT Madaras, site does not list a "Vijay Kranti" among its Deans. Is it a pseudonym? Is this letter is genuine? Can you share the source of the letter?

Chandra

Posted by: Chandra | Oct 13, 2005 9:49:40 AM

Don't know if u really exist. But, being an Indian I'm very proud of attitudes like that. But I must also say that let's not take this as a revenge 'cause we're one people, one love, one world. Let's forget & forgive.

Posted by: Thomas | Oct 13, 2005 8:07:02 AM

hello Mr.Vijay kranti,
i came to know about the fast that you did for the fast 40 years.I feel really disgusted with ur fast,which is more or less a prayer for some disaster to happen in US.An Indian will not fast for a disaster.Now u have proved that u r more cruel than the US.Inhuman ,unmanly,brutal.i ask everyone,who admire this action, cant u feel the pain of people affected by Katrina?????
DISGUSTING ATTITUDE

Posted by: Manoj | Oct 13, 2005 12:37:42 AM

Proud to be an Indian ....

Thanks to Mr. Vijay Kranti

Vaira ,Sinagpore

Posted by: Vaira | Oct 12, 2005 11:04:28 PM

Hi Vijay,
I am not sure if you are real, anyway it is a fact that India did give aid to the US for relief for Katrina. And it defnitley is a mile stone that we have achieved, there will defnitley be a time when india will be as powerful and ecnomically sound as any of the developed countries in the world and we defnitley have a bright future ahead of us. PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN!!!

Posted by: sangeeth | Oct 12, 2005 2:56:18 PM

Regarding the mail i m really felt very bad about the dean.
Disagrement for me on his mail. Happened to ur country was bad. but at the same time we are not suppose to show our collar on this worst condition at US(especially at this stage). It is not a humanity to claim a such a thinks on a bad dissaster.
I would say we have to be proud if we claim such a issue on our real growth.
Let's talk on the past claim to all our country thro our positive development. I humbly requesting you not to pass the dean's message to other's. Be proud our country will always take the right direction to be followed by others.....Don't be a follower. Direct...in..right way....

Note: Friends, this was a reply from my dear friend Mr.Vijay, once i have forwarded Dean's message.

A bit nurturing, and a piece to chew on...thoughts!

Posted by: Saran | Oct 11, 2005 6:22:01 AM

hmmmm .. interesting comments ... yes i did search around for a dean with the name but i guess its more of a pseudonym. Anyways its a nice one .. which translates to Rebel Victory..? Mahesh has given us a good insight... but yes .. it was nice to hear that we are giving some aid ... does show how much we have improved inspite of our "nice" politicians putting themselves ahead of the country ... maybe its just upto us individuals to take our country to greater heights ..

Posted by: Soni | Oct 11, 2005 3:07:42 AM

Dear Vijay Kranti Ji
I very vividly remember our then PM's call in the wake of national food shortage. I practiced it for a couple of months and then the enthusiasm waned away.
I salute patriots like you who are a credit to our country. As an Indian, your letter makes me feel proud and I share your feelings with millions of my fellow country folks who too feel likewise.

Posted by: Vijay Belapurkar | Oct 11, 2005 12:03:18 AM

Dear Sir,
My husband has forwarded your article. I am feeling proud to Indian. I will be more proud when my dream will come true, When we will get all the Noble prizes in all the categories year after year. I am not very high tech person. I think in simple terms. I have seen the INDIAN and AMERICAN society from eyes of lower middleclass family. Three years back When we bought a house in FAMUOS MISSION SAN JOSE AREA ( BEST SCHOOL in SILICON VALLEY OF USA). It was very closed society, it took me three years to get the people on the road. Now the people in my neigbhourhood are opening up. Kids are cycling/playing on the sidewalks. Doors of houses are not closed. People can walk to their neigbhours house without calling. Now I feel my neigbhourhood has become little INDIA. I need from strong persons like you to convey my messages to MASSES about the informalities, about SOCIETY, about our culture of helping people.
-Thanks
Kat Rishi

Posted by: Kat Rishi | Oct 10, 2005 3:36:52 PM

A little bit of wishful thinking mixed with grandiosity. No doubt, due to misguided patriotism.

India did send aid to Katrina's victims:

$5 million (not 50) was handed to the Red Cross (not US Govt) for aid to the impoverished minorities who were affected by Katrina. Also, one plane (not two) load of material was flown by an Air force Cargo plane, again to NGOs involved in care. Materials consisted of tarpaulins, sheets, blankets, etc. There were no medical supplies or food (as they were not needed).

Private sector aid flows to all countries in all directions, almost all the time. There is large network between various religious and other NGOs operating almost everywhere in the world. This is because poor people and people who suffer various problems exist in all countries and societies. For example Red Cross and Cancer society have been collecting money in India for more than 40 years. Some of that money goes to selected recipients in US just as in other parts of the world. Therefore, the author could have broken the fast a long time ago!

Similarly, private aid from Uncle Sam is usually the biggest 'donor' to most countries, India Included. Private aid from US was the biggest 'donor' to Iraq in the week before the war! (Official, ie, govt aid from US was suspended many years ago).

US (money from US private sector) still heads the list of all aid coming to India and it estimated to be more than $300 million a year.

If our pal wanted to break the fast AFTER Govt of India stopped receiving all foreign aid, well he would have died of hunger.

If he wanted to break fast after Govt of India gave official aid to Govt of US, well he would have to live another 300 years!

Sorry to disappoint
Mahesh

Posted by: Mahesh | Oct 10, 2005 12:22:39 PM

Mr. Vijay Kranti Sir,
On the 6th.instant I received a copy of your message from a relative in Bombay.
My salute to you for this inspiring narration of your life’s experience, ‘child is father of the man’! I am sure it will inspire the youth of India especially those directly under your influence, because as was said: “We Indians don’t think who we are, we know who we are”!
Yours truly,
Larry Neeff.
PS. I am sure you have seen the comments posted on the website by “Proud to be an Indian. Proud to be an American" correcting the figure given in aid. Thank you.

Posted by: Larry Neeff | Oct 10, 2005 9:39:14 AM

there is no dean of IIT Madras called Vijay Kranti .... hoax!!!!

Posted by: Lala | Oct 10, 2005 9:31:21 AM

I find your patriotism and determination very motivating.

And I envy all the students who get to study under your influence. I wish I had had the opportunity of being one of them.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Posted by: Katrina | Oct 10, 2005 8:14:32 AM

I admire your patriotic spirit. But........

I think it was more like 5 million and not 50. And the money was given to the Red Cross, not to the government of USA. So you should probably get your facts right Dean Kranti.

Proud to be an Indian. Proud to be an American.

Posted by: Narayanan | Oct 10, 2005 7:45:07 AM

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