He has been witness to the pre and post independent India’s developmental history and was a constant companion of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru during his gigantic task of building a new and resurgent India. He was there wherever the ‘Temples of Tomorrow’, as Nehru called them, were being built. His lunatic obsession with ‘duty-first’ drove him into taking life-threatening risks throughout his professional career. While covering Nehru’s USSR visit, he met with an accident and suffered injuries to his head. Pt. Nehru himself inspected his injuries and retorted ‘Shaheed Banana Chahte Ho Kya??’ When he was filming the havoc created by Brahmaputra in Assam, he was physically pulled away to safety by Pt. Nehru from a chunk of earth that sunk into the mighty river. He would climb onto the roof of speeding cars to take his favourite shots, which is why he was so successful as a newsreel cameraman.Pt. Nehru had a personal liking for this kumauni lad not merely for his professional competence but for his sheer dedication and determination in carrying out the assigned tasks.
Read MoreDay: August 3, 2008
‘The Boy from Lambata’ :Book-Review
His life evolves from the place which he describes as “place where a person born poor ,illiterate and fettered to the yoke of his pair of bullocks for life”. His childhood reminds us of the various problems a poor boy faces in the remote villages of hills. The status of education, health facilities, caste-system, social stigmas, traditional bindings, village life style, and status of woman in the society – all appears in the early pages of his book. His father reminds him of a saying “A man born in hills and bullock born in the plains of the India ,face the same fate. One is yoked to go round and oil expeller and the other is yoked to the rocky ,unyielding soil and they both die young”
Read MoreHomage to Late Professor D. D. Pant
I knew Dr. D. D. Pant when I was a child in Champawat in a village(Darah). I knew him because he stood in an election from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) with “Ugta Suraj” (Rising Sun) as his election symbol. I had convinced my mother (and a few other neighbouring Aunts) to vote for him (although my father was a Congress supporter). Later after my M.Sc. when I joined the lab for the Ph.D., I did not believe that this person fought a national election? One of my senior colleague Pushpa used to tell us “He lost all the money in the elections and every one has left him now”. Oh, what a pity, UKD is still fighting for its very identity in the fertile land with all the instruments ready, waiting for the spectra and lifetimes to be recorded, which the professor had foreseen almost 3 decades ago. I am sure a student who is professionally trained in this art will make history for the UKD in coming future.
Read Moreडॉक्टर डी. डी. पंत
घर के माली हालात आगे पढ़ने की इजाजत नहीं देते थे। तभी पिता के एक मित्र बैतड़ी (सीमापार पश्चिमी नेपाल का एक जिला) के एक संपन्न परिवार की लड़की का रिश्ता लेकर आए। पिता-पुत्र दोनों को लगा कि शायद यह रिश्ता आगे की पढ़ाई का रास्ता खोल दे। इस तरह इंटरमीडिएट के परीक्षाफल का इंतजार कर रहे देवीदत्त पढ़ाई जारी रखने की आस में दांपत्य जीवन में बंध गए। इंटरमीडिएट के बाद देवी दत्त ने बनारस हिन्दू युनिवर्सिटी में दाखिला लिया। यहां उन्होंने भौतिकविज्ञान में मास्टर्स डिग्री पाई। ख्यातिनाम विभागाध्यक्ष प्रो. आसुंदी को इस प्रतिभाशाली छात्र से बेहद स्नेह था। देवी उन्हीं के निर्देशन में पीएच डी करना चाहते थे। प्रो. आसुंदी ने वजीफे के लिए तत्कालीन वाइस चांसलर डा. राधाकृष्णन से मिलने का सुझाव दिया। पन्त अर्जी लेकर राधाकृष्णन के पास पहुंचे। राधाकृष्णन स्पांडिलाइटिस के कारण आरामकुर्सी पर लेटकर काम करते थे। पन्त की अर्जी देख उनका जायका बिगड़ गया। बोले- आसुंदी आखिर कितने छात्रों को स्कॉलरशिप दिलाना चाहते हैं। हमारे पास अब पैसा नहीं है। निराश देवी दत्त वापस लौट आए। आसुंदी ने उन्हें ढाढ़स बंधाया और बेंगलूर में रमन साहब के पास जाकर रिसर्च करने को कहा। इस तरह देवराड़ी का देवी दत्त महान वैज्ञानिक सर सी.वी. रमन का शिष्य बन गया।
Read MoreDevi Dutt Pant : A Biodata
Dr. D.D. Pant was a self-made man, with a very humble background. He got his early education in a village school of Pithoragarh district and had to negotiate a distance of 50 km to the road head from his village. This is why he had a deep insight into rural problems of the Himalayan region. The ruggedness of the terrain, its inaccessibility and lop-sided development by the U.P. Govt. in Uttaranchal, his anguish and concern for the region inspired him to institute the Uttarakhand Krantidal (UKD) and mooted the idea of a separate hill state.
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