His immense legacy lives on. A group of Swami Rama’s close disciples strived tirelessly to set up the Himalayan University in 1993 which was renamed the Swami Rama Himalayan University in 2013. Its sprawling campus is close to the Jolly Grant airport in the Uttarakhand capital of Dehradun. Today with over 1200 beds including a 250-bedded cancer treatment centre and a 40-bedded ultra-modern intensive care unit, it compares favorably with the 880-bedded AIIMS established in 2019 by the Union Government in Rishikesh. It has the finest doctors and faculty. Courses are also available in many other disciplines, including engineering and management. SRHU, through its parent body, the HIHT, also excels in social outreach, especially in the remote areas of rural Uttarakhand where both education and healthcare are not easily available. In the current issue we’ve focused on the life of Swami Rama, the institutions that he created about which we’ve a write-up from Swami Ritavan, and also on the SRHU whose Vice Chancellor, Dr Vijay Dhasmana, we’ve spoken to at length. When one considers that the initial reason the hospital campus was set up was to cater to the Himalayan sages—who when they fell sick had nowhere to go in the immediate foothills for specialized treatment—the greatness of this sage, and his beloved Master Bengali Baba who instructed him to set up a campus at Jolly Grant Nagar, becomes clear. The world at large owes Swami Rama a debt of gratitude.

Elsewhere in the magazine read about how Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in the US, Kamala Harris’ use of the word ‘chithi’ in a reference to her family values raised a buzz on social media. Chithi means aunty in Tamil, and the mother’s side of her family is from Tamil Nadu. Suriname’s Ambassador to India Aashna Kanhai has penned a column after the recent Presidential elections in her country. Lord Rami Ranger has written on the dangerous agenda of Khalistan being pushed by a section in the West. And there are many more stories and columns of interest.

Hope this issue strikes a chord with the sagacity in you.

(sayantanc@gmail.com)