Reliance Industries marks the birth anniversary of its founder, Dhirubhai Ambani, as Reliance Family Day. In December 2025 the chairman, Mukesh Ambani, addressed employees as “My dear Reliance Family.” He thanked “each and every Reliance colleague and your families for your contribution.”
The Reluctant Secretary
In the web series Panchayat, Abhishek Tripathi, a young engineering graduate, takes a government job as secretary of the village panchayat of Phulera. His “only goal is to clear the CAT exam and get out of Phulera,” The Quint wrote. The CAT is the entrance exam for business schools. In the fifth episode of the first season he speaks of how lonely he feels in the village.
By the third season the villagers see him as “their very own Sachivji,” The Tribune wrote. A review of the fourth season describes “his growing love for Phulera.”
Partners, Not Employees
The dabbawalas of Mumbai carry lunch boxes from homes to offices. A study published by Open Book Publishers describes “the 5,000 members, who are not employees but partners, members.” To join, a dabbawala pays the association “twenty-five to thirty rupees in dues.” Work is organized in units. “Each month there is a division of the earnings of each unit,” Wikipedia notes.
Bound by Wealth
In the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, before the battle begins, Yudhishthira comes to Bhishma, who will fight on the Kaurava side. Bhishma explains why: Arthasya purusho daso dasas tv artho na kasyachit. “A man is the slave of wealth, but wealth is no one’s slave.” He adds, in the Ganguli translation: “Bound I am by the Kauravas with wealth.”
Kripa and Salya give Yudhishthira the same answer.
The Law on Parents
India’s Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act of 2007 requires children and relatives with sufficient means to maintain parents and senior citizens who cannot maintain themselves. Each state had to set up maintenance tribunals within six months.
When children or relatives “neglect or refuse to maintain a senior citizen being unable to maintain himself,” a tribunal can order a monthly allowance. Under Section 9 of the Act as passed in 2007, it “shall not exceed ten thousand rupees per month.”
Born in Debt
The Taittiriya Samhita, a Vedic text, says that a Brahmin is born owing three debts: jayamano ha vai brahmanas tribhir rinavan jayate. He repays the sages through his years as a student, the gods through sacrifice, and the ancestors through children. The passage is 6.3.10.5.
The Shravan Kumar of Today
In July 2023 the Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala reported on a pilgrim who reached Meerut on the Kanwar Yatra carrying his grandparents in a kanwar. Its headline called him Kalyug ke Shravan Kumar, the Shravan Kumar of the present age.
In the old story, Shravan Kumar takes his parents on a pilgrimage. The paper wrote, in translation: “When it comes to serving one’s parents, the name of Shravan Kumar still comes at the very top today.”
Prime Servant
On August 15, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the Independence Day speech from the Red Fort in Delhi. He told the crowd: Main aapke beech pradhan mantri ke roop mein nahin, pradhan sevak ke roop mein upasthit hoon. In the official translation: “I am present amidst you not as the Prime Minister, but as the Prime Servant.”
Medals for Service
India’s armed forces honor distinguished service with medals named for seva, service. The Param Vishisht Seva Medal is awarded for “distinguished service of the most exceptional order.” Below it come the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Vishisht Seva Medal. All three date from January 26, 1960. The highest was first called the Vishisht Seva Medal, Class I, and took its present name in 1967.
Since 1980, operational service has had its own series, headed by the Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal.
The service is selfless in name, and it is ranked in three classes.
Gandhi’s Talisman
“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test.” The test is to “recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen” and to ask whether the next step will be of use to him. “Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.”
The note is one of the last that Gandhi left, in 1948. Its wording varies slightly between editions. It appears on the opening pages of most NCERT school textbooks, Oneindia notes.