By Shobha Rao Smilemaker
Mar 25: I had heard that MHOW stands for Military Headquarters Of War, and I saw a lot of defence related signboards when I visited this place in Madhya Pradesh. The well maintained roads and defense related establishments give an extra elegance to the city for a first time observer like me.
However thos city was referred to as Mow in the ancient texts even before it was used as an army base in the nineteenth century by the British and after independence by the Indians. In 2003 it was renamed as Ambedkarnagar by the Government. Well, a name is a name is a name!
This city grew in importance as the birthplace of the Father of the Indian Constitution Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. We visited the memorial in his honour and read the pictorial description about his life on the walls of the ground and upper floors.
As he was born in a scheduled caste family, he had to undergo severe oppression during his childhood from the high caste Hindus. He was the first person in his community in those days to complete his graduation and got a scholarship to study Law abroad at the University of Columbia and The London School of Economics. He was instrumental in drafting the Constitution of India and became the first Law and Justice minister of Independant India.
He worked had to improve the social situation of other Dalits like him. He made a comparative study of other religions and finally decided to convert to Buddhism along with lakhs of other Dalits, starting a new Dalit Buddhist movement in India. Now I understood why the structure of his memorial was like a Buddhist stupa.
Imagine, a small child born in a poor family in this small village of MHOW acheived such great heights in the global world. I bowed in reverence and a smile to his imposing statue outside, along with the large Ashoka Chakra and the two Buddhist flags.
Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.