Lala Amarnath Bharadwaj & Vinayak Narahari "Vinoba" Bhave

Lala Amarnath Bharadwaj & Vinayak Narahari “Vinoba” Bhave

Lala Amarnath Bharadwaj

Born: 11 Sept 1911

Died: 5 Aug 2000

He was an Indian cricketer.
He was the first batsman ever to score a century for India in Test cricket.
He was independent India’s first cricket captain and captained India in the first Test series win against Pakistan in 1952.
He played only 3 Test Matches before World War 2 and thus lost all his prime years as India played no official Test matches.
During this time he amassed around 10,000 runs with 30 hundred in first-class cricket which included teams from Australia and England featuring some of the most prominent Test players.
After the war, he played another 21 Test Matches for India.
One of the prominent all-rounders of the time, he later became the chairman of the Senior Selection Committee, BCCI and also served the game as a commentator and expert.
He was responsible for grooming many youngsters like Chandu Borde, ML. Jaisimha, Jasu Patel, etc.
who played for India.
His sons Surinder & Mohinder Amarnath also became Test players for the country.
His grandson Digvijay is a current first class player.
The Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1991.

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Vinayak Narahari “Vinoba” Bhave

Born: 11 September 1895

Died: 15 November 1982

He was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights.
Often called Acharya (Sanskrit for teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement.
He is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual successor of Mohandas Gandhi.
The Gita has also been translated into the Marathi language by him with the name as Geeta means mother Geeta.
A report in the newspapers about Gandhi’s speech at the newly founded Benaras Hindu University attracted Bhave’s attention.
In 1916, on his way to Mumbai (then Bombay) to appear for the intermediate examination, he threw his school and college certificates into a fire.
He took the decision after reading the piece of writing in the newspaper written by Mahatma Gandhi.
He wrote a letter to Gandhi and after an exchange of letters, Gandhi advised Bhave to come for a personal meeting at Kochrab Ashram in Ahmedabad.
He met Gandhi on 7 June 1916 and subsequently abandoned his studies.
He participated with a keen interest in the activities at Gandhi’s ashram, like teaching, studying, spinning and improving the lives of the community.
His involvement with Gandhi’s constructive programs related to Khadi, village industries, new education (Nai Talim), sanitation and hygiene also kept on increasing.