His life runs like a fairy tale. Hailing from a poor village in Bengal, he rose to be a renowned laser scientist in the US. Saibal Chatterjee meets physicist-philanthropist Dr Mani Bhaumik, whose motivational bestseller Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science was recently released in India

AS far as self-made millionaires go, there is probably nobody anywhere in the world quite like the septuagenarian Dr Mani Bhaumik. The renowned laser scientist, for decades an integral part of the Beverly Hills inner circle, nearly did not make it beyond the twelfth year of his life.

As an impecunious village boy, he came precariously close to death during the 1942 Bengal famine. Today, he lives in a Pacific-facing marble mansion in Bel Air, California, one of the many material acquisitions that he has made over the past four decades.

Dr Bhaumik’s wealth comes primarily from an invention that has helped over 15 million people around the world see better. Dr Bhaumik is the co-inventor of the laser technology that made corrective corneal sculpting through LASIK eye surgery possible.

The philanthropic physicist is now also the author of the motivational bestseller, Code Name God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Science. He hopes to enable his readers, through the inspirational story of his life and spiritual insights, to understand the mysteries of the human mind and spirit with greater clarity.

The book not only narrates an incredible rags-to-riches, Bengal-to-Bel Air life story, but also delves deep into the heart of the relationship between science and spirituality, between mind and matter.

"This book is essentially about change," says the soft-spoken Dr Bhaumik. "It’s about change for the better – within an individual, in society, and in the world at large."

Code Name God, released in May last year in the US, spent several weeks on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. Penguin has now brought the title to India in the form of a low-priced paperback edition.

Fate and a post-doctoral fellowship catapulted the Calcutta University and IIT Kharagpur alumnus to the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1958. Within a year of his arrival in the US, the new field of laser technology opened up. It was to be his ticket to fame and fortune.

"My original intent," Dr Bhaumik writes in Code Name God, "was to stay in America for only one year. The plan was for me to go back and serve my native land as a teacher and scientific researcher`85however, I found myself consumed by a fascination for laser technology and its development, and I was determined to make my mark."

He did that, and how! He chose to stay on because he saw the US as the place from where he could best serve humankind and his nation. "In India, I was far from the cutting edge of laser research`85 I wanted to be where I could best contribute, and that place was America," writes the scientist.

In the wake of professional success and monetary rewards, Dr Bhaumik frequently threw lavish parties for Hollywood’s swish set, owned a limousine, rolled in the lap of unbridled luxuries, and even featured in an episode of The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

"I jetsetted around the globe, dated movie stars, and had the freedom to do as I pleased. But it wasn’t giving me abiding happiness. It was intoxicating, but it could also be destructive. There was a hole in my soul`85" he says.

But the life-altering week that he had spent as a teenager in Mahatma Gandhi’s camp, cleaning the great man’s toilet as a daily chore, ensured that Dr Bhaumik never really went too far away from his spiritual moorings to be entirely beyond salvation.

"Gandhiji had exhorted his followers to themselves be the change that they wanted to see in the world," says Dr Bhaumik. "In my own humble way, I have tried to do just that."

"Being a scientist, I applied reason to seek the truth about God and the universe and, in the bargain, realised that there wasn’t any difference between the two pursuits." That is precisely what Code Name God articulates.

Dr Bhaumik runs an educational foundation in Kolkata that currently funds 81 students in the university in science, engineering and medicines.

"These," says the physicist, "are all rural Bengali boys who do not otherwise have the means to go in for university education. I do not know any of them personally, but helping them vicariously eases the pain of the struggle that I went through."

Apart from writing a book for children about the birth of the universe, Dr. Bhaumik is currently busy creating an animation series, Cosmic Quantum Ray, for his Cosmotoons Inc. His aim is to sensitise children to science through the means of entertainment.

"Children have the most malleable minds. They are subjected to violent TV shows and video games. Some of them think science is dull and boring. I want to get them interested in science through a series that has doses of adventure, humour, even a certain degree of goofiness," says the laser scientist.

Having led a life that is the stuff of fairy-tales, and having found the power of meditation, he never feels the need to worry about failure.

Reeta Sharma reports that more and more separated NRI couples are taking advantage of India’s inability to resolve inter-country disputes over child custody

• Rohit, a British national was married to Anita from Punjab, in 1997-98. Two daughters Anamika and Deepika were born to them in England.`A0 In October 2001, it was diagnosed that Rohit was suffering from brain tumour. By February 2002, it was detected that he wasn’t responding to treatment.

Within three months of this revelation, his wife decided to desert him and filed for a divorce. After the divorce, the desperate father of the two girls sought a Prohibited Steps Order, Residence Order and a Contact Order from an English court and Anita was restrained from removing the children from the UK.

In June 2002, Anita undertook not to remove the children from the UK and Rohit was allowed contact with them. In September 2003, Anita applied for permission from the court to remove the children permanently to India. The court refused and instead Anita was forced to give an undertaking that she would not remove the children from the UK, except for a period up to three weeks, and that too not without the consent of Rohit or the permission of the court. Finally in June 2004 the court ordered that Anita could not move the children permanently from England during the course of Rohit’s lifetime as medical reports indicated that Rohit would not survive beyond 12 months.

On June 11, 2004, Anita told the dying Rohit that due to her mother’s illness she was flying out to India without the girls. But in reality she had secured six months’ multiple tourist visas for her daughters. When her lies were discovered, the High Court of London ordered that the children be returned to England forthwith.`A0 These orders were duly served on Anita’s given address in Punjab, where she was residing with her mother along with the two girls. However Anita could afford to defy the UK court order for two reasons. One, India is not a signatory to the Hague convention; and two, it obviously was next to impossible for the dying father to go through the snail-paced Indian judicial system.

Even as Rohit’s parents made efforts to file a habeas corpus petition in the concerned High Court in India in November 2004 in an attempt to enforce the British court orders, Rohit died without his daughters beside him.

• Abnash, who was born and brought up in the UK, was married to Inderjit Singh from Punjab. A son Ajay was born to them. Owing to incompatibility, they decided to go for a divorce. The husband was granted visitation rights to meet his son Ajay on weekends. But Inderjit decided to abduct the three-year-old child and brought him to Punjab. The traumatised mother rushed to Punjab but was not allowed to meet her son. She had no option but to file a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a writ of Habeas Corpus for the custody of Ajay by enforcement of the British court order. But the child could not be restored to the mother as Inderjit had by this time escaped to the US along with Ajay. It took her nearly four years to trace him to the US. Abnash now had to renew her battle in the American courts.

Abnash had to park herself in the US to seek the custody of her son. Since the US is a signatory to the Hague Convention it readily honoured the English court’s decision. Finally the mother and son were united. Today, Ajay is a qualified lawyer practising in the UK.

INDIA is becoming a safe haven for child abductors. In the past two decades, there has been a steep rise in the child abduction cases by separated NRI couples, who bring their wards to India to escape foreign jurisdictions.

There are two major reasons for this development. First, our judicial system is so slow that it unwittingly ends up helping the accused. Second, India is not a signatory to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—a treaty dealing with the worldwide problem of international child custody jurisdiction, orders, and enforcement. Under the Convention, resolution of custody disputes is presumed to be accomplished best in the courts of the child’s "habitual residence".

Since India is not bound by the Hague Convention, the courts here, so far, have been dealing with such cases considering the welfare of the child of paramount importance. The high courts and the Supreme Court entertain petitions for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus for securing the minor’s custody at the behest of a parent who lands on Indian soil alleging violation of a foreign court custody order; or, seeks the return of children to the country of their parent jurisdiction. Invoking of this judicial remedy offers the most effective and speedy solution.

"Abduction" is not clearly defined in any of the relevant legislation or international treaties that regulate the rights and obligations of parents and children. As a matter of convention, it has come to mean the removal of a child from the care of the person. A broader definition encompasses the removal of a child from his/her home environment, where the removal interferes with parental rights and includes the right to contact. "Abduction" in this context refers to removals by either parent or members of the extended family.

In September 2005, the International Family Law Session was held in London. Besides India, 1,000 judges and lawyers from 53 other countries attended this conference.At this session, Anil Malhotra and Ranjit Malhotra, advocates of Punjab and Haryana High Court and Supreme Court of India, also participated. They made some pertinent points in their paper on India and Inter Parental Child Removal.

They said, "About 25 million NRIs live all over the world. Their multiplying numbers have elevated this problem to a very high degree in inter-parental conflicts which originate in foreign lands but descend on Indian soil. There is no legislation available in the Indian statue books, which is geared to handle inter-country conflicts in matters of child removal. The issue is writ large all over and with increasing passage of time, crops up very regularly in Indian Courts. Times have changed but Indian laws have not kept pace to cope up with these inter parental conflicts involving children of foreign parentage who are brought to India in violation of a foreign Court Custody Order.

"India not being a signatory to the Hague Convention of 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, questions regarding the custody of such children are now considered by the Indian Courts on the merits of each case bearing the welfare of the child to be of paramount importance while considering the order made by the foreign Court to be only one of the relevant factors in such decision.

"The lack of any uniform official Indian policy on the subject seeks an answer to the question of the heavy State responsibility which lies on the Indian legislature and the Executive to shoulder the onus of framing suitable legislation and adopting the Hague Convention in matters of inter-parental child abduction to India from foreign jurisdictions. Dealing with homes, children and family now requires urgent attention.

"With the increasing number of NRIs and multiple problems arising leading to family conflicts, inter parental child removal to India now needs to be resolved on an international platform. It is no longer a local problem. The phenomenon is global.

"Steps have to be taken by joining hands globally to resolve these conflicts through the medium of Courts interacting with each other. Until India becomes a signatory to the Hague Convention, this may not be possible."

Salute to a true Sikh

K.S. Bains on Gurdwara Banda Bahadur, which was built in memory of the Sikh martyr. This is the last of the nine-part series on important Sikh shrines in Delhi

MOST of the Sikh gurdwaras are connected with Gurus and their families. These are referred to as historic gurdwaras and fall in the jurisdiction of the SGPC in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in Delhi. Then, there are gurdwaras by Singh Sabhas or other such bodies. These have no historical significance but fulfil the need of the local community for congregation, holding marriages and other such functions. There are a few notable gurdwaras not related to the Gurus or their families but to other saints and important followers of the Gurus. These include Gurdwara Baba Farid in Punjab, Gurdwara Nadha Sahib near Panchkula and Gurdwara Baba Banda Bahadur.

Banda Bahadur is one of the most important personalities in Sikh history. Born as Lakhsman Das, he became an ascetic and changed his name to Madho Das. He lived on the banks of the Godavari, about 15 miles from Nanded Sahib where the tenth Guru once camped. After their meeting, Madho Das surrendered himself to the Guru and became his ‘banda’.

Even while the Guru was away from Punjab, he kept himself in touch with the goings-on there. Realising that his negotiations with the Mughal emperor might not succeed, he wanted to rouse the peasantry. He chose Banda for this purpose, and gave him five of his arrows and one sword. Five important Sikhs and 20 others were asked to go with him to Punjab and fulfil his mission. He also gave him hukumnamas to be given to the Sikhs, urging them to volunteer service under him.

Thirtyfive miles from Delhi, Banda Bahadur planted the Guru’s standard and started forwarding Guru’s hukumnamas to Sikhs. He issued a proclamation offering protection to anybody threatened by thieves, robbers or bigots. The message spread like fire and people flocked to him. For seven years, he consolidated his position and after organising people from Malwa and Majha, attacked troops of Wazir Khan, Governor of Sirhind. In a fierce battle, he defeated the Mughal army and razed Sirhind.

He was the first to establish Sikh rule, struck coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh and his seal had the words, ‘Degh’ and ‘Tegh’, the hallmarks of Sikh philosophy.

Banda Bahadur was finally captured at Gurdas Nangal in Gurdaspur district and was brought to Delhi on February 29, 1716, along with 740 followers. They were given the option of conversion to Islam or death. Not a single person agreed to the conversion. Every day for seven days, 100 Sikhs were put to sword. Finally on June 9, 1716, Banda Bahadur and his remaining 40 followers were put to death. Banda Bahadur was killed brutally. His four-year-old son Ajay Singh was also killed in front of him.

Till the early 1950s, no attempt was made to identify the spot where Banda Bahadur was martyred. The killing took place at the dargah of Qutubdin Bhaktyar Kaki in Mehrauli. Some parts of the gate are still intact. Only in the late 1950s, one Shamsher Singh from Chandni Chowk formed a committee of five Sikhs to identify the place. He was supported by the late Nirlep Kaur, an MP. The move gathered momentum and a big meeting was held, with Jathedar Santhokh Singh as the prime mover. Around 1960-61, the Guru Granth Sahib was installed on the upper storey of the gate, below which Banda Bahadur was martyred. A temporary staircase was built to go up to the Prakash Asthan. Then 500 sq yd. of land was acquired around the gate. The gurdwara in the present shape was constructed by Baba Harbans Singh in 1990-91.

The gurdwara, on the first floor, rests on stilts. In due course, the ground floor is proposed to be converted into a langar hall. Gurdwara Banda Bahadur is a small structure, partly built with marble. It has a simple dome on a cube. There is a parikrama around it, which links it to the gate where the original prakash was done. The temporary staircase has now been made pucca. A school in the name of Banda Bahadur has also been set up. The gurdwara comes under the management of the Delhi Sikh Management Committee.

THE torment of having her three-year-old child abducted from her made Abnash sit up and lay the foundation of Reunite International, an organisation helping families on child abduction. Abnash also launched the charitable International Child Abduction Centre { www.reunite.org } in the UK.

Reunite provides advice, information and support to parents, family members and guardians who face child abduction. It has also produced Child Abduction Prevention Guide. Besides Reunite has also set up a club for lawyers from all over the world. They specialise in child abduction cases by either parent and can be reached on the following numbers:

Advice line +44 (0) 116 2556 234

e-mail: reunite@dircon.co.uk