राबड़ी देवी ने उन दिनों को याद करते हुए बताया कि लालू से उनके विवाह को उनके परिवार के लोग बेमेल बता रहे थे। यह शादी यूं ही आसानी से नहीं हुई बल्कि इसमें कई पारिवारिक ड्रामे सस्पेंस और तनाव के दौर आए। राबड़ी ने बताया शादी में खूब झगड़ा हुआ। कारण यह था कि मेरी अन्य सभी बहनों की शादी खाते-पीते परिवारों में हुई थी जिनके पास खूब जमीन थी जबकि मेरे ससुराल वालों के पास खाली छप्पर की झोपड़ी थी।
उन्होंने बताया कि उनके घर खानदान के सभी लोग उनके पिता से यह सवाल करते रहे कि अपनी लड़की को ऐसे घर में क्यों दे रहे हो लेकिन पिता का एक ही जवाब होता था, हमें लड़का पसंद है। राबड़ी ने बताया कि उनके परिवार ने उनके पति को पांच बीघा जमीन भी उपहार में दी ताकि वह आरामदायक जीवन बसर कर सकें। यह सारा खुलासा लालू प्रसाद के जीवन पर आधारित अंग्रेजी में लिखी किताब लालू प्रसाद इंडियाज मिरैकिल में किया गया है जिसे नीना झा और शिवनाथ झा ने लिखा है।
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SEVEN years ago, when Bharat Ratna Shehnai Maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan did not have money and resources to meet the cost of his needs, the then Government arranged for his performance at Parliament Annexe, where Khan had to virtually give a charity show for his own benefit. It was then Shivnath and Neena, who had launched a nationwide movement “Andolan Ek Pustak Se” under the aegis of Bismillah:The Beginning Foundation to protect musicians, academicians, artists and policemen who brought pride and laurels to the nation, thought of bringing out a monograph on the life and art of the Ustad to extend financial support to him and others in need.
The maestro released the monograph on his 91st birthday, i.e. on March 25, 2006. The Ustad cut a 91 kg cake. The founder of Sulabh sanitation Movement Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak and the couple presented the Ustad a three-kilogram silver shehnai and Rs 1.5 lakh to take care in the winter of his life. Hailing their efforts, the Union Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Kapil Sibal sanctioned Rs. 10,000 per month from his personal account to the maestro till the Ustad alive.
Shivnath and Neena’s movement gained a victory of sorts after the Government of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed them to invite the Ustad to play shehnai at the India Gate to pay tribute to the ‘unsung heroes of World War-I, for the global peace, communal harmony and fulfill his lifetime desire. But fate did not allow the Ustad. He died on August 21, 2006.
To promote the Ustad’s secular philosophy, Neena and Shivnath decided to continue their movement “Andolan Ek Pustak Se” by publishing books – Monograph on Ustad Bismillah Khan, India Calling (In commemoration of India entering 60 year of Independence) and Lalu Prasad:India’s Miracle - one after another for the noble cause.
In June 2007, they rescued Mr. Vinayak Rao Tope, the third generation descendants of Tantya Tope, a frontline leader and martyrs of the 1857 Uprising. Mr. Tope along with his wife Saraswati Devi and three children – Pragati, Tripri and Ashutosh – were living in anonymity in Bithoor village, about 20 kms from India’s industrial city Kanpur. He was running a small grocery shop in Bithoor and was maintaining his family from his 'jajmans' (masters) by conducting religious ceremonies for them.
Moved by the plight Mr. Lalu Prasad offered jobs to Pragati and Tripti in the Container Corporation of India under Indian Railways. Mr. Vijay Darda, a Rajya Sabha member from Maharastra and owner of Lokmat Group of Newspapers has provided financial assistance of Rs. Five lakh to Mr.
Yet, in the midst of pompous celebrations over the 150th year of India’s first war of independence, a fact that rankles is that the heirs of the Mughal’s last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, Sultana Begum, continue to languish in squalour and anonymity in a 8′x8′ room at Cowies Ghat’s slum located near Foreshao Road in Howrah district of West Bengal. She runs a tea-stall to earn a living for her family.
From Howrah line, Sultana Begum is wife of late Muhammad Bedar Bakht, son of Jamshid Bakht and grandson of Jawan Bakht. Bedar Bakht died in 1980. After his death West Bengal government provided her an accommodation at Trolly Gunj area but due to harassment by some local criminals, she was forced to vacate the flat.
Now, the duo has decided to rehabilitate Sultana Begum from the sale proceeds of the book – Prime Ministers of India: Bharat Bhagya Vidhata. Her rehabilitation is on card. The duo has appeal all sensitive people to join the movement either by purchasing a book or extending financial support to the foundation for the NOBLE CAUSE. When life was a struggle our efforts paid, so there is no place of thorns in life.
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