B. R. Ambedkar: A life in books
He was born on April 14, 1891, His name, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He is India’s greatest son, He read books to speak the truth, loud and clear.
Born into the Mahar (untouchable) caste, In school he was forced to sit outside the classroom. But he grew in intelligence, tall and vast, He would be the greatest student, soon.
He didn’t have any best friends in school, But in books he always found a friend. They taught him to stand against every bad rule, So he stood up for people’s rights, to protect, to defend.
After school, sitting all alone in the garden, While reading his books, he would think: “One day, I will build a home for books under the sun, Where minds can grow with words and ink.”
So like this, arose the year of 1907, Ambedkar became the first untouchable to matriculate.1 The Mahar community felicitated its brightest son; In him, they found the language to articulate.
1Matriculation means to be formally enrolled in a college or university
His greatest love was to study and read and learn, So he was awarded a scholarship from Baroda state. He enrolled for a bachelor of the arts, and grew concerned Only with books, which were going to make him great.
As a BA student in Elphinstone College, Bombay, Even after classes, he used to study relentlessly. He drowned himself in books, in every possible way, Like all rivers on Earth, at last, merge with the sea.
When he was seventeen years old He adapted Shakepeare’s play, King Lear. It was amazing to see, a sight to behold, How he connected his life with literature
Passing his BA examination Boosted the morale of his downtrodden people. He thought of studying further, for full liberation, Like a runner crossing all hurdles.
Again on the basis of his studies, his merit and ability, He sought a scholarship to get a master’s and doctorate. Thus, he secured admission to Columbia University. On July 12, 1913, he landed in New York state.
In America, he felt free. It was no less than a dream, The first untouchable student on American soil. Seeing the library of Columbia University, he felt life inside him Like a machine that functions well when it gets oil.
So he sat with books every day, for eighteen hours In the library, thinking, without blinking an eye: How to remove the thorns of caste and sow flowers Of freedom in people’s lives, and help them fly.
He finished his MA and PhD, his life’s brightest turn, In less time than he had to complete the course.
He realized the purpose of learning was not just to learn, But to act for humankind’s freedom, with full force.
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was one of the most illustrious readers in the world. He had a collection of more than 50,000 books in his personal library. People normally build homes for themselves to live in, but Babasaheb, as he was fondly called, built a home for his books. He named this home “Rajgruh”, after the place in which the Buddha spent the monsoon in most years, and where he delivered famous teachings.
In his childhood, he had to fight against discrimination in public places as well as at school. But he fought all this with a book in his hand and compassion in his heart. Even today, merit-wise, he is the most educated man in India. His ideas envision for us a society in which all children, when they grow and become citizens, enjoy equality, liberty and fraternity in life. If his ideas and books are read by us, then they will make us rational, logical and sensitive citizens and human beings.