Dr. I. P. Pandey's Speech at the 66th Republic Day of India
As a former freedom fighter Dr. Indu Prakash Pandey talked about the Gandhian concepts of "Swaraj" and "Swadeshi" on Saturday, February 1, 2015 at a function of the Bharat Verein Frankfurt on the occasion of India's 66th Republic Day. "Swaraj" (self-rule, self-administration) does not only mean outer control of social organization, Pandey explained, but inner discipline as well. In a similar way, the concept of "Swadeshi" includes at the same time inner self-reliance and outer self-sufficiency in all fields of production and distribution.
For him and other activists of the Indian freedom struggle, the ideas of "Satya" (truth) and "Ahinsa (non-violence) were also of great importance, he continued. Their efforts were to reach the highest goal of Truth through non-violence, thus becoming self-reliant individuals achieving "Swaraj". For Gandhiji non-violence was a creed, a point of faith, not policy, Pandey said.
Deeply moved, he recalled the different stages of the struggle for independence, which he himself had witnessed, starting from the country's mood, when Bhagat Singh was executed in 1931, continuing with the "Quit India" movement and his own imprisonment in 1942, culminating in the independence of India 1947 and the adoption of the Indian constitution, which came into force on January 26, 1950.
Guest of honor at the function was the patron of Bharat Verein, the Indian Consul General Shri Raveesh Kumar.
Book about Dr. I. P. Pandey Published
The Indian journalist Prabhat Ojha's PH.D. thesis about the life and work of Dr. Indu Prakash Pandey has now been published as a book, titled "Shivpuri se Schwalbach" ("From Shivpuri to Schwalbach") by the Hindi Book Center in Delhi.
Ojha had completed his thesis under the guidance of Dr. Kamalkant Budhkar (Haridwar) in 2014. For it he was awarded a Ph.D. degree by the Gurkul Kangri University in Haridwar.
Indu Prakash Pandey's 90th Birthday
The Indian Cultural Institute Frankfurt celebrated the 90th birthday of its founder and long-standing head Dr. Indu Prakash Pandey on Saturday, October 4, 2014 at a function in Frankfurt (Main), Germany. Several distinguished guests admired his contributions to Indian culture and his achievements as a teacher, author and scholar of literary studies.
Dr. Dietmar Rothermund, Professor Emeritus for the History of South Asia at the University of Heidelberg, referred to Pandey's long teaching career at several universities in different countries, and to his outstanding services to the Hindi language and literature. The indologist Prof. Dr. Stefan Zimmer (Bonn) emphasized the extraordinary capacity of his former teacher to inspire and motivate his students. The executive secretary of the Association of Binational Families, Hiltrud Stöcker-Zafari, highlighted Pandey's intercultural mindset and way of life. Speaking for the Bharat Verein, its president Isaac Pulipra looked back on his longtime honorary work for this Indian association in Frankfurt as its former president and vice-president. Sushila Sharma-Haque, Hindi-teacher and former contributor to the radio station Deutsche Welle, and the philosopher Johannes Gestering, too, appreciated Pandey's merits. Dance students of the Indian Cultural Institute presented Indian Odissi dance, and children from the association Telugu Velugu pleased the audience with their Indian songs. The program was conducted by the chairman of the Indian Cultural Institute, Frank Kühnel.
It was not without reason, that the function took place close to October 2, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. Pandey is a contemporary witness of the Indian freedom struggle, in which he took part himself as a teenager. Consequently he spent several months in prison.
Since 1967 Pandey lives in Germany. Up to his retirement in 1989 he taught at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt. He is the author of many books on the folklore of Northern India and Hindi literature.
Pandey, who was born on August 4, 1924 in the village of Shivpuri on the banks of the river Ganges, celebrated his actual 90th birthday in Alaska, as he had jokingly announced many years earlier. He was accompanied to Alaska by his three sons as well as one grandson. All live in California, USA.
At Home in Schwalbach: A Town Narrates
The book “At Home in Schwalbach: A Town Narrates” was presented to the public on September 10th 2013 at a festive function in the community hall in Schwalbach am Taunus. 70 citizens of the town, from old-established as well as recently migrated families, have contributed personal experiences to this book, among them Indu Prakash Pandey and Heidemarie Pandey. “Like a puzzle” – so the statement on the cover page – “the different stories form a whole, the face of a town…It shows how integration can succeed in a small town close to a big city.” Therefore the book can make interesting reading even beyond Schwalbach. It ends with an analysis of the different reports by Heide Kallert, retired professor of educational science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt.
The book has been edited by the German-Foreign Association (Deutsch-Ausländische Gemeinschaft) Schwalbach on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its foundation. It has been published by the publishing house Brandes and Apsel.
"Der Alte und die Affen"
The anthology "Der Alte und die Affen" (The Old Man And The Monkeys), a collection of Hindi short stories translated by Indu Prakash Pandey and Heidemarie Pandey, has been published in August 2012 by Draupadi Verlag Heidelberg. All the stories deal in one way or the other with "Ageing in Modern India".
Because of India's fast economic development during the last 20 years and the social change which it brought about, the traditional role of seniors as respected heads of their "joint family" is more and more loosing its material base. However, the old ways are still very much present in the minds of the elderly. The discrepancy between traditional ideas and new realities has found a literary expression in the short stories of the anthology.
The author of three of the stories - "Der Alte und die Affen", "Dadi und die Fernbedienung" (Dadi and the Remote) and "Die Kreuzung" (Crossing) - is Suryabala, a well-known writer living in Mumbai. Manju Madhukar's "Daheim ist daheim" ("Home is Home"), Lalan Tiwari's "Verzeihung, Vater" (Beg Your Pardon, Dad), Vibha Devsare's "Der Garten" (The Garden), Chandrakishore Jayaswal's "Manbodh Babu", Sharad Upadhyayas "Warten auf Divakar" (Waiting for Divakar) and Prempal Sharma's "Letzter Gruß" (Last Salutation) are other stories in this book, which starts with a poem by Zakir Khan, "Mein Vater hat gesagt" (My Father Said).
