The rags-to-riches story of a billionaire BARBER!

The rags-to-riches story of a billionaire BARBER!

Ramesh Babu has a barber shop and a booming car rental business in Bengaluru, but still prefers to cut hair so that he never forgets his humble beginnings.Fancy getting your hair styled for only Rs 65 by someone who goes to work at his barber shop in a Rs. 3-crore Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost?

Yes, this is the amazing rags-to-riches story of 41-year-old Ramesh Babu who made it big in this cut-throat world all on the dint of his honesty, hard work, humility and some foresight.

Life wasn't always hunky dory for this man. He was only 7 years old when his father, P Gopal, a barber in Bengaluru, died. All he left behind was a barber shop: little did he know that his son would become a billionaire even before he turned 40.

With her husband no more, Ramesh Babu's mother had to work as a cook to help feed her children, get them a semblance of an education and help them have a shot at life. Since she couldn't run the barber shop, she rented it out for Rs 5 a day.

"We grew up on one meal a day," says Ramesh Babu, in between giving instructions to his staff and answering his mobile phone.

As he grew older, his sense of responsibility tugged at him and he couldn't quite decide if he should study further or start working to support his mother and the family income.

However, upon his mother's insistence, he resolved study up to the pre-university level and then obtained a diploma in electronics. All this while, his father's shop was still being rented out for meagre amounts. He then decided to run it himself and in 1989, he began working at the salon that had first been established by his grandfather.

His barber shop -- Inner Space -- did well enough for him to be able to not just look after his family's needs, but also to save some money.

By 1994, Ramesh had saved enough to buy a Maruti Omni. He bought it for personal use, but it "used to lie idle most of the time" so he decided to put it out on rent.

And that was the seed that later bore fruit and turned into his new company Ramesh Tours and Travels.

Between 1994 and 2004, he bought seven more cars and rented them out too. He ensured that his drivers were well behaved and his clientele happy. Sampath was his first driver and he still works for Ramesh.

Ramesh had a small office till then. In 2004, he decided to enter the luxury car segment. He bought a Mercedes Benz for a cost of Rs 42 lakh (Rs 4.2 million).

He took a loan from the bank for this. "It ran very well because other travel agencies with the same car used old cars. We were the only ones who used a brand new car." From then on, it was a one-way street to success for Ramesh.

He now owns 90 cars in all, most Toyota Innovas. His fleet of cars also includes 27 luxury vehicles: from Mercedes to BMWs to a white Rolls-Royce Ghost. He actually needed a paper and pencil to count the number of cars he owns.

Today, all his cars had gone out on rent. The lowest rent for a car he lets out is Rs 1,000 a day and the most expensive is Rs 50,000 a day (for the Rolls-Royce, of course. You can now roughly calculate his daily income.

His first car -- the Maruti Omni -- is still with him, but it has been 'retired'. He does not rent it out any more.

He has 60 drivers working for him, but you can also rent a car from him and drive it yourself. At Inner Space, his salon, there are five more people working with him.

From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. he works at his salon, cutting hair. "Today I had three customers," he says happily. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., he works at his car rental office. At 4 p.m., he goes back to his saloon and works there till 7 p.m. Thereafter, he comes back to the rental agency and stays there till 8.30 p.m.

He is happily married and has three kids, all in school. The elder two are girls, the youngest is a son. "I will teach my kids to work in both my businesses," he says.

The man is a shining example of dignity of labour. He is not a member of any club because he "does not have the time".

On Sundays, he works the whole day at the salon as it is the 'rush hour' there. That effectively means he does not have a single weekly holiday.

He still remembers the days when his mom worked as a cook. He still cuts and styles hair so that he never forgets his humble beginnings. He says he never disappoints his customers. He cuts men's hair for Rs 65 and ladies' hair for Rs 150.

Some of the costs that he incurs in his business include fines. Every month, they visit the traffic police and pay all the fines. The fine is taken out from the concerned driver's salary. He does not like authorities stopping his car anywhere and troubling his customers.

And all this happened just because he could not bear to see his Omni lying idle.

His formula for success is simple, "Hard work and honesty," he says, grinning. His humility is endearing. Success sits easily on his young shoulders even as he good-naturedly cribs about his drivers giving him all sorts of problems.

He has travelled to Germany as a tourist. He has also been to Singapore to learn how to cut women's hair. He works hard and says being honest is essential for success.

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Rosalind Franklin - Biography

Rosalind Franklin

Synopsis

            Born in 1920 in London, Rosalind Franklin earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Cambridge University. She learned crystallography and X-ray diffraction, techniques that she applied to DNA fibers. One of her photographs provided key insights into DNA structure. Other scientists used it as the basis for their DNA model and took credit for the discovery. Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958, at age 37.

            British chemist Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born into an affluent and influential Jewish family on July 25, 1920, in Notting Hill, London, England. She displayed exceptional intelligence from early childhood, knowing from the age of 15 that she wanted to be a scientist. She received her education at several schools, including North London Collegiate School, where she excelled in science, among other things.

             Rosalind Franklin enrolled at Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1938 and studied chemistry. In 1941, she was awarded Second Class Honors in her finals, which, at that time, was accepted as a bachelor's degree in the qualifications for employment. She went on to work as an assistant research officer at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, where she studied the porosity of coal—work that was the basis of her 1945 Ph.D. thesis "The physical chemistry of solid organic colloids with special reference to coal."

             In the fall of 1946, Franklin was appointed at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat in Paris, where she worked with crystallographer Jacques Mering. He taught her X-ray diffraction, which would largely play into her discovery of "the secret of life"—the structure of DNA. In addition, Franklin pioneered the use of X-rays to create images of crystalized solids in analyzing complex, unorganized matter, not just single crystals.

Scientific Discoveries and Credit Controversy

            In January 1951, Franklin began working as a research associate at the King's College London in the biophysics unit, where director John Randall used her expertise and X-ray diffraction techniques (mostly of proteins and lipids in solution) on DNA fibers. Studying DNA structure with X-ray diffraction, Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling made an amazing discovery: They took pictures of DNA and discovered that there were two forms of it, a dry "A" form and a wet "B" form. One of their X-ray diffraction pictures of the "B" form of DNA, known as Photograph 51, became famous as critical evidence in identifying the structure of DNA. The photo was acquired through 100 hours of X-ray exposure from a machine Franklin herself had refined.
           
            John Desmond Bernal, one of the United Kingdom’s most well-known and controversial scientists and a pioneer in X-ray crystallography, spoke highly of Franklin around the time of her death in 1958. "As a scientist Miss Franklin was distinguished by extreme clarity and perfection in everything she undertook," he said. "Her photographs were among the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken. Their excellence was the fruit of extreme care in preparation and mounting of the specimens as well as in the taking of the photographs."
         
            Despite her cautious and diligent work ethic, Franklin had a personality conflict with colleague Maurice Wilkins, one that would end up costing her greatly. In January 1953, Wilkins changed the course of DNA history by disclosing without Franklin's permission or knowledge her Photo 51 to competing scientist James Watson, who was working on his own DNA model with Francis Crick at Cambridge.
 Upon seeing the photograph, Watson said,"My jaw fell open and my pulse began to race," according to author Brenda Maddox, who in 2002 wrote a book about Franklin titled Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA.

           The two scientists did in fact use what they saw in Photo 51 as the basis for their famous model of DNA, which they published on March 7, 1953, and for which they received a Nobel Prize in 1962. Crick and Watson were also able to take most of the credit for the finding: When publishing their model in Nature magazine in April 1953, they included a footnote acknowledging that they were "stimulated by a general knowledge" of Franklin's and Wilkins' unpublished contribution, when in fact, much of their work was rooted in Franklin's photo and findings. Randall and the Cambridge laboratory director came to an agreement, and both Wilkins' and Franklin's articles were published second and third in the same issue of Nature. Still, it appeared that their articles were merely supporting Crick and Watson's.
           
            According to Maddox, Franklin didn't know that these men based their Nature article on her research, and she didn't complain either, likely as a result of her upbringing. Franklin "didn't do anything that would invite criticism … [that was] bred into her," Maddox was quoted as saying in an October 2002 NPR interview.

            Franklin left King's College in March 1953 and relocated to Birkbeck College, where she studied the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus and the structure of RNA. Because Randall let Franklin leave on the condition that she would not work on DNA, she turned her attention back to studies of coal. In five years, Franklin published 17 papers on viruses, and her group laid the foundations for structural virology.

Illness and Death

              In the fall of 1956, Franklin discovered that she had ovarian cancer. She continued working throughout the following two years, despite having three operations and experimental chemotherapy. She experienced a 10-month remission and worked up until several weeks before her death on April 16, 1958, at the age of 37.

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Manivannan - Biography

 
Manivannan (MBA) is a popular Tamil actor and director. With over 400 films to his name, Manivannan is one of the most experienced actors in the field. He normally plays the role of a dad or a senior comedian.

  Character actor Manivannan hails from a small town called Sulur in Coimbatore district. While doing his P.U.C. in Kovai Govt. Arts College, he made friends with a lanky young man who happened to be his contemporary and the young man is none other than Sathyaraj. Their friendship stood the test of time and proved to be a mutually rewarding relationship. While still a collegian, Manivannan was bitten by the stage-bug and consequently he staged a few performances. Inspired by the impact the film Kizhakkae Pogum Rail" made on him he feverishly scribbled a fan mail to the filmmaker Bharathiraja and the letter ran to more than a hundred pages. Bharathiraja liked the earnest impressions made by the bearded and emaciated man from Coimbatore. He took him under his fold as an apprentice.Manivannan joined Bharathiraja's camp around 1979, when the revolutionary director was acting in and directing a real classic, "Kallukkul Eeram". He learnt the trade hard and fast and penned the story and dialogues for some of his mentor’s films like "Nizhalgal", "Tick Tick Tick" "Alaigal Oayvathillai" and "Kaathal Ovium". Manivannan assisted Bharathiraja in a handful of films like "Puthya Vaarppugal", "Koththa Jeevithaalu" (Telugu), "Kizhakkae Pogum Rail" (Telugu), "Red Rose" (Hindi), "Lovers" (Hindi) and "Kizhakkae Pogum Rail"(Tamil).He had also penned the story and dialogues for a bunch of other films like "Lottery Ticket" acted by Prabhu, "Aagaaya Gangai" acted by Karthik, "Naesam" acted by Ajithkumar. In "Kodi Parakkuthu", directed by Bharathiraja, Manivannan did the villain’s role. "Amaithip Padai", directed by Manivannan, is believed to have given him the headway as an actor. He started getting plush offers and was seen acting in as many as thirty films in a year. Manivannan joined the political party BJP a few years back and campaigned for them during the 2006 Assembly elections.

  His favourites are oldies T.S. Balaiya and S.V. Ranga Rao. He is a great fan of the comic genius Charlie Chaplin. Sathyaraj is his pet and favourite in Tamil cinema. He loves to watch MGR in action. Akira Kurosawa (Japan), Satyajit Ray and Bharathiraja are his favourites in direction. His father R. Subramaniam is a rice merchant as well as a textile trader. Manivannan's mother is Maragatham. He has one elder sister and two younger sisters. Manivannan's wife is Sengamalam. This couple has a daughter by name Jothi and a son called Raghu. Manivannan is a simple down to earth person and is known for his good deeds.

  Manivannan has directed some films in Tamil. But is most known for his acting. He is likened to a 'cuddly teddybear' by the industry for his wiseness and his character roles. He has acted along many a star including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan among others. He has starred in over 400 films.

  Manivannan has so far directed a count of forty-five films including a few ventures in Telugu and Hindi. Manivannan has cast Sathyaraj in a good 25 films. His protégés have proved themselves as successful directors. Vikraman, R.K. Selvamani, Sunder C, Seemaan, K. Selvabharathi, Radhabharathi, C.V. Sasikumar, E. Ramadoss and Jeeva Balan once took orders for Manivannan. Withering irony, and a very cool way of delivering the dialogues is Manivannan’s motif and style in films.

Death

  Manivannan died shortly after the release of his 50th directorial venture Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA due to a cardiac arrest (heart attack) on June 15, 2013 at the age of 58 in his Nesapakkam residence at Chennai. His body was wrapped in the flag of Tamil Eelam as he wished.

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Swami Vivekananda - Biography

  Swami Vivekananda is one of the most eminent personalities of our country. He was born in Kolkata on 12th of January 1863. His father was Visvanatha Datta and his mother was Bhubaneshwari. His original name was Narendranath.

  He studied Sanskrit, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas etc. he learnt things very quickly. He had an aptitude for music. He had a good voice. He joined the school of Sri Eswar Chandra Vidya Sagar and completed primary education. He completed his secondary education, a course of three years, in one year, and passed with distinction. He joined the college in his 16th year and studied logic and philosophy. He was handsome and bold. He gained mastery over English language and proved to be an eloquent orator.

  He was however not interested in worldly affairs. He was drawn towards spiritualism. He made his mind known to his parents and went to see Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa at Dakshineswar. On the request of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Narendranath sang some devotional songs. Swami Paramahansa went into trance listening to his songs.

  Later he informed Narendranath that he wad able to see god in his trance. He added that if one prayed to God in all perfection, one could see god, Narendranath became a disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Parmahamsa. Later Narendranth’s father died and Narendranath was forced to take up a teacher’s job for some time to meet his family’s needs.

  Swami Ramakrishbna endowed Narendranath with all his spiritual powers and made him his heir. With this Narendranath assumed the name of Swami Bibekananda and a Sanyasi in true sense. After the demise of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda started a mutt named after his Guru, at Belur. Swami Vivekananda implored the youth to develop the spirit of adventure. He travelled all over India and reached Kanya Kumari. There he swam the ocean, reached to rock nearby and meditated there. During his travel he found poverty all over India and was moved by the sufferings of the poor. He felt that serving mankind is serving God. He felt there was need for a tremendous effort in this direction. He loved the motherland and was a great patriot.

  In 1893, Parliament of the world was convened at Chicago. With the financial assistance from Maharaja of Khetri, Vivekananda went to Chicago and addressed the audience on the greatness of Hindu religion. His address began with the words “My dear Sisters and Brothers of America”. This thrilled the audience, as this greeting contained the spirit of universal brotherhood. On return, he addressed meetings at London. One young lady by name Margaret became his disciple and later became Sister Nivedita to carry on his mission.

  Swami Vivekananda said that the youth of the day were moving without any aim. There was no correct spiritual guidance. He felt that religion can lead a man on the moral and righteous path. He believed and propagated that all men of the world are one. Color, caste and creed had no meaning. He felt that there is a lot to be achieved. He advised the youth to move forward. His words were: “arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached”. Swami Vivekananda started many institutions under the Ramakrishna Mission to carry on his message of service. He passed away that at an early age on 4th of July, 1902.

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V. O. Chidambaram Pillai - Biography

Born On: September 5, 1872
Born In: Ottapidaram, Tamil Nadu, India
Died On: November 18, 1936
Career: Lawyer, Politician
Nationality: Indian

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, popularly known by his initials V.O.C, was one of the most prominent lawyers in 19th century British India. While V. O. Chidambaram Pillai provided a strong leadership to trade unions functioning in his native state Tamil Nadu and also fought for India's freedom from the British, he is best remembered as the man who set up the first indigenous shipping service between Tuticorin and Colombo. Owing to V. O. Chidambaram Pillai's rebellious attitude and his courage to act against the British government, the English stripped the title of barrister associated with his name. It was his br
ave nature that won V.O.C the name 'Kappalottiya Tamilian' in Tamil Nadu, which translates to 'The Tamil Helmsman' in English.

Childhood and Legal Career

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai was born on September 5, 1872 in the town of Ottapidaram in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu. His father Olaganathan Pillai was one of the most important lawyers of the country and it was in his father's footsteps that V.O.C followed after completion of his education. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai enrolled in schools in his native Ottapidaram and nearby Tirunelveli. V.O.C started working in the Ottapidaram district administrative office after the end of his school education. It was only a few years later that he enrolled in law school and completed law studies to become a lawyer like his father Olaganathan Pillai.

Though his father was his biggest inspiration in the profession of law, there was a basic difference in the working styles of V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Olaganathan Pillai. While his father catered to the problems of only the affluent in the society, V.O.C was sympathetic towards the poor people whose cases he sometimes took up against the wishes of his influential father. A case in which V O Chidambaram Pillai proved that three sub-magistrates in Tamil Nadu were guilty of corruption charges won him attention and fame as a lawyer.

Career in Politics

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai entered into active politics in the year 1905 by becoming a member of the Indian National Congress. The Swadeshi movement in India was already at its hilt during this time and leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were trying their best to put an end to British Imperial coercion of trade. The same cause which would also ensure the safety of traditional Indian industries and communities dependent on them was being championed by Aurobindo Ghosh, Subramanya Siva and Subramanya Bharathi through the Madras Presidency. V.O.C then decided to join the Indian National Congress and fight along with other members of the Madras Presidency. He later presided over the Salem District session of the INC.

Shipping Company

After joining the Indian National Congress, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai wholeheartedly immersed himself into Swadeshi work to secure independence for India. Part of his Swadeshi work was to put an end to the monopoly of British shipping in the coasts of Ceylon. Inspired by freedom fighter Ramakrishnananda, he set up the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company on November 12, 1906. With the help of other Swadeshi members Aurobindo Ghosh and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, V.O.C bought two steamships S. S. Gaelia and S. S. Lawoe to start his shipping company. Much to the annoyance of the British government and British traders, V.O.C's ships started regular services between Tuticorin and Colombo. His shipping company was not only a commercial venture, it was also the first comprehensive shipping service set up by an Indian in British India. The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company gave stiff competition to the British India Steam Navigation Company, due to which the latter had to reduce fares per trip. While V.O.C responded by reducing his rates even further than that of the British India Steam Navigation Company, he could not afford their tactics of offering free rides and umbrellas to passengers, thus taking the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company on the verge of bankruptcy.

Nationalistic Spirit

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai aimed at expanding the reach of Swadeshi in the country and making the common Indian man aware of the faulty British government. It is for this purpose that V.O.C took the support of workers of Coral Mills in Tirunelveli. The British authorities had already taken a disliking towards Pillai and this act compelled them to arrest V.O.C on March 12, 1908 on charges of sedition against the government. Violence erupted in the state after the arrest of V.O.C. Clashes between police and common men followed, leading to the death of four people. Though his actions were vehemently condemned by British authorities, V.O.C got the support of the press in the country which praised his nationalistic spirit elaborately. While the British were trying their best to prosecute V.O.C, Indians in the country as well as in South Africans were accumulating funds to free him from prison. Mahatma Gandhi, then staying in South Africa, also had collected money and sent it to India to fund the defense of V O C. After his arrest, Pillai was housed at the Central Prison in Coimbatore from July 9, 1908 to December 1, 1910. The British had slapped a sentence of life imprisonment on V.O.C, clearly indicating that they were afraid of his rebellious spirit.

During his days in prison, V O Chidambaram Pillai did not receive the treatment shown to other political prisoners; rather he was made to engage in hard labor in prison just like other convicts. The hard work took a toll on his health and the gradual deterioration of his condition forced the British authorities to release him from prison on December 12, 1912. While in prison, V O Chidambaram Pillai continued with his Swadeshi activities through legal petitions. Cruel circumstances struck him when V O Chidambaram Pillai was released from prison. Instead of a large gathering of supporters which he had expected in front of the jail gates, there was an eerie silence. The title of barrister was taken away from him, meaning that V.O.C could not practice law anymore. The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was also liquidated in the year 1911, so V.O.C was left a poor man. V O Chidambaram Pillai settled in Madras with his wife and two children and became the leader of various trade unions and labor welfare organizations in Madras. In the year 1920, V O Chidambaram Pillai presided over the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.

Literary Works

Apart from his works as an eminent lawyer and a politician, V O Chidambaram Pillai was also a scholar. He started his autobiography while in prison and completed it soon after his release in the year 1912. V O Chidambaram Pillai was the author of a couple of novels; he translated several James Allen works in Tamil and made compilations of important Tamil works like the Thirukural and the Tolkappiam.

Personal Life

V O Chidambaram Pillai married Valliammai in the year 1895, but she died prematurely in the year 1901. He married Meenakshi Ammiar a few years later. The couple had four sons and four daughters. His eldest son died when still a child, the second son was a politician, the third son was the employee of the American Embassy in Madras and the fourth son, still alive is settled in Madurai. All his daughters had been married in Madras. The descendants of V.O.C Pillai still live in various places across Tamil Nadu.

Death

V O Chidambaram Pillai spent such an impoverished lifestyle after he was released from prison that Justice Wallace who sentenced V O C to prison restored his bar license. But V O C was never successful in repaying his debts and lived in poverty till the end of his life on November 18, 1936. V O Chidambaram Pillai breathed his last at the Indian National Congress office in Tuticorin.

Commemorations 

• Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai is remembered as one of the most important figures in India's struggle for independence. He is much loved and celebrated in the Tamil Nadu society till today.
• He was given the title of 'Kappalottiya Tamilan’, or the Tamil Helmsman; or one who drives the ship and shows the direction.
• The Tuticorin port was renamed as V.O.C Port after independence in fond remembrance of V.O.C.
• V.O.C has a college in Tuticorin named after him.
• A special postage stamp was released by the Indian Posts & Telegraphs department to mark the birth centenary of Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai on September 5, 1972.
• V.O.C Park and V.O.C Grounds are the most important public park and meeting ground in Coimbatore.
• The Central Prison in Coimbatore where the revolutionary was housed has a monument constructed inside the prison premises dedicated to him.
• The connecting bridge between Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai has been named the V.O.C Bridge.
• The 1961 Tamil movie 'Kappal’ottiya Thamizlan’ is based on the life story of Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai. It stars Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role.

Timeline

1872: Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai was born on September 5.
1895: Married Valliammai.
1901: His wife died of illness.
1905: Joined politics by becoming a member of the Indian National Congress.
1906: Started his shipping company Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company on November 12.
1908: Was arrested on charges of sedition on March 12.
1908: Sent to the Central Prison in Coimbatore on July 9.
1911: His shipping company Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company is liquidated.
1912: Released from prison on December 12.
1920: Presided over the Calcutta session of INC.
1936: Died on November 18.

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Shaheed Bhagat Singh - Biography

Born: September 27, 1907
Martyrdom: March 23, 1931
Achievements:
 Gave a new direction to revolutionary movement in India, formed 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha' to spread the message of revolution in Punjab, formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha' along with Chandrasekhar Azad to establish a republic in India, assassinated
police official Saunders to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, dropped bomb in Central Legislative Assembly along with Batukeshwar Dutt.

 Bhagat Singh was one of the most prominent faces of Indian freedom struggle. He was a revolutionary ahead of his times. By Revolution he meant that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must change. Bhagat Singh studied the European revolutionary movement and was greatly attracted towards socialism. He realised that the overthrow of British rule should be accompanied by the socialist reconstruction of Indian society and for this political power must be seized by the workers.

  Though portrayed as a terrorist by the British, Sardar Bhagat Singh was critical of the individual terrorism which was prevalent among the revolutionary youth of his time and called for mass mobilization. Bhagat Singh gave a new direction to the revolutionary movement in India. He differed from his predecessors on two counts. Firstly, he accepted the logic of atheism and publicly proclaimed it. Secondly, until then revolutionaries had no conception of post-independence society. Their immediate goal was destruction of the British Empire and they had no inclination to work out a political alternative. Bhagat Singh, because of his interest in studying and his keen sense of history gave revolutionary movement a goal beyond the elimination of the British. A clarity of vision and determination of purpose distinguished Bhagat Singh from other leaders of the National Movement. He emerged as the only alternative to Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, especially for the youth.

  Bhagat Singh was born in a Sikh family in village Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahar district of Punjab. The district has now been renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in his memory. He was the third son of Sardar Kishan Singh and Vidyavati. Bhagat Singh's family was actively involved in freedom struggle. His father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh were members of Ghadr Party founded in the U.S to oust British rule from India. Family atmosphere had a great effect on the mind of young Bhagat Singh and patriotism flowed in his veins from childhood.

  While studying at the local D.A.V. School in Lahore, in 1916, young Bhagat Singh came into contact with some well-known political leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Ras Bihari Bose. Punjab was politically very charged in those days. In 1919, when Jalianwala Bagh massacre took place, Bhagat Singh was only 12 years old. The massacre deeply disturbed him. On the next day of massacre Bhagat Singh went to Jalianwala Bagh and collected soil from the spot and kept it as a memento for the rest of his life. The massacre strengthened his resolve to drive British out from India. 

 In response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for non-cooperation against British rule in 1921, Bhagat Singh left his school and actively participated in the movement. In 1922, when Mahatma Gandhi suspended Non-cooperation movement against violence at Chauri-chaura in Gorakhpur, Bhagat was greatly disappointed. His faith in non violence weakened and he came to the conclusion that armed revolution was the only practical way of winning freedom. To continue his studies, Bhagat Singh joined the National College in Lahore, founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. At this college, which was a centre of revolutionary activities, he came into contact with revolutionaries such as Bhagwati Charan, Sukhdev and others.

 To avoid early marriage, Bhagat Singh ran away from home and went to Kanpur. Here, he came into contact with a revolutionary named Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and learnt his first lessons as revolutionary. On hearing that his grandmother was ill, Bhagat Singh returned home. He continued his revolutionary activities from his village. He went to Lahore and formed a union of revolutionaries by name 'Naujavan Bharat Sabha'. He started spreading the message of revolution in Punjab. In 1928 he attended a meeting of revolutionaries in Delhi and came into contact with Chandrasekhar Azad. The two formed 'Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha'. Its aim was to establish a republic in India by means of an armed revolution.

 In February 1928, a committee from England, called Simon Commission visited India. The purpose of its visit was to decide how much freedom and responsibility could be given to the people of India. But there was no Indian on the committee. This angered Indians and they decided to boycott Simon Commission. While protesting against Simon Commission in Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally Lathicharged and later on succumbed to injuries. Bhagat Singh was determined to avenge Lajpat Rai's death by shooting the British official responsible for the killing, Deputy Inspector General Scott. He shot down Assistant Superintendent Saunders instead, mistaking him for Scott. Bhagat Singh had to flee from Lahore to escape death punishment.

 Instead of finding the root cause of discontent of Indians, the British government took to more repressive measures. Under the Defense of India Act, it gave more power to the police to arrest persons to stop processions with suspicious movements and actions. The Act brought in the Central Legislative Assembly was defeated by one vote. Even then it was to be passed in the form of an ordinance in the "interest of the public." Bhagat Singh who was in hiding all this while, volunteered to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly where the meeting to pass the ordinance was being held. It was a carefully laid out plot, not to cause death or injury but to draw the attention of the government, that the modes of its suppression could no more be tolerated. It was decided that Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt would court arrest after throwing the bomb.

 On April 8, 1929 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs in the Central Assembly Hall while the Assembly was in session. The bombs did not hurt anyone. After throwing the bombs, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt, deliberately courted arrest by refusing to run away from the scene. During his trial, Bhagat Singh refused to employ any defence counsel. In jail, he went on hunger strike to protest the inhuman treatment of fellow-political prisoners by jail authorities. On October 7, 1930 Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj Guru were awarded death sentence by a special tribunal. Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931

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