Hathras.

Hathras town in western UP is in the news for all the wrong seasons. 

It's unfortunate that a young, 19-year old lady was brutally gang raped by four beasts and she'd succumbed to her injuries, subsequently. Police had hastily carried out her cremation in the middle of the night and there was outrage among the people, regarding the incident and a cry to bring the culprits to book was on. The UP government had ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case but the opposition, mainly the Congress, tried to make political capital out of the issue with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi descending on the victim's house and making a tamasha out there. The details of their shenanigans are coming out in bits and pieces. Meanwhile, at long last, Yogi Adityanath seems to have corrected the situation by handing over the investigations from his SIT to the CBI. 

It is also a town that has four railway stations, with the word Hathras in it - City, Jn, Kila, Road!

But Hathras is remembered for another reason. And it is linked to the Railways of which we are still ardent fans. More than 130 years back, a wandering penniless monk was sitting on a bench of Hathras Jn station. He was travelling partly on foot, partly by train, partly by bullock cart, as Providence would provide. Suddenly, the ASM of the station spotted the sanyasi with striking features, a sharp nose and wide eyes sitting on the bench. He went up to him and struck up a conversation.

Impressed by his knowledge and disposition, the ASM requested the monk to be his guest that night and took him to his quarters behind the station. After spending a day or two the monk wished to bid goodbye but the ASM told him to wait; he would rush to the station, submit his resignation and leave with the monk as his disciple which he did and became the monk's first disciple. The monk was none other than Narendranath Dutta who later became Swami Vivekananda and the ASM of Hathras Jn was Sharat Chandra Gupta, a Bengali gentleman, who, after getting his sanyas vows, was called Swami Sadananda of the Ramakrishna Mission.

Yes, it's a fascinating story of a monk and his disciple. You can read more about them in the book, "The Life of Swami Vivekananda, by his Eastern and Western disciples, Advaita Ashrama (1989 edition), pages 220-224. Before accepting him as his disciple, Vivekananda gave his begging bowl to Sharat and asked him to beg for food from the porters and khalasis of the station. This was his way of testing his disciple's earnestness. Without waiting for a moment, Sharat went to the station and begged for food from those very people who were his subordinates till just the previous day. He came back to Swamiji with the alms collected and partook of them, along with his Guru. That proved the culmination of his ego after his renunciation.

Incidentally, he was a good friend of Dr Boshi Sen who later became a world renowned plant/agricultural scientist and lived in Almora. Sharat Chandra Gupta or Swami Sadananda, the erstwhile Assistant Station Master of Hathras Jn, though a Bengali, belonged to Jaunpur. He passed away in 1911. 

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9. Took part in the 485th edition of the 'Aazhchakkoottam' organised by the Foundation and the topic was, "Covid and the heart", by Dr Jeyapal. It was an interesting interaction!