My Debt to Nalanda!

On Aug 3 2010 FT said:"...One of the world’s oldest universities – Nalanda, in the impoverished Indian state of Bihar – is to be refounded more than 800 years after it was destroyed, fulfilling the dreams of scholars from India, Singapore, China, and Japan..."

I owe a debt to Nalanda for two reasons.

First for providing a beautiful locale for a wonderful song from Vijay Anand directed Johny Mera Naam (1970)- "O Mera Raja" and then for being a great seat of learning in the past...In that order!

This is on the lines of what P L Deshpande (पु ल देशपांडे ) said about Maharashtra's debt to three Chhatre's (छत्रे)- Snack manufacturer (चिवडेवाले ), circus propeitor (सर्कसवाले ) and mathematician (गणिती). The debt should be considered in descending order!

[p.s There is a moving wordportrait of the 'last' Chhatre - mathematician one- Kerunana Chhatre in Y D Phadke's (य. दि. फडके) 'Agarkar' (आगरकर )]


Has an Indian woman ever looked more beautiful than Hema Malini in that movie? But don't ignore Nalanda in the background.