Modern Relatives of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji
The legacy of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji, was not meant to be remembered because of those who are related to him, but rather by the message that he represented. However, many of his descendants practiced his values and performed exceptional deeds in their own ways. Many members of Baba Nanak’s lineage would continue to practice his beliefs of oneness and equality. Others, such as Baba Prithvi Chand Bedi, contributed greatly to the Udhasi movement. In the following years, during the rule of Emperor Akbar, many Bedi family members were awarded landholdings exempt of taxation.
My lineage comes from this branch of the Bedi family which by decent through Baba Laxmi Chand settled in the region of Hoshyarpur, Punjab at Pousi. My Great Grandfather Baba Shib Dayal Bedi would then settle in Saharanpur, Uttar Pardesh, he was instrumental in bringing electricity and water works to U.P. he would serve as Municipal Commissioner of Saharanpur in the 1930’s. He also built large parts of the Railway network in Punjab and North India, via his company Baba Shib Dayal Bedi and Sons.
In the latter part of his life, he would build the original complex of the I.T.C. in Saharanpur. He was involved in the building of multiple schools, Gurudwaras and Hindu temples. My great grandfather firmly believed that education in India was a right, not a luxury. In the years coming, 1957, my father Baba Dr. Dina Nath Bedi would migrate out of India, in a desire to fulfill the educational aspirations that were instilled in him. During the course of his life he would become a computer pioneer, and use this technology to train blind programmers. This process would attract global attention in the late 1970’s.
Later, he would do a joint venture with India in hopes to establish computer training in the country. This became the topic of a book he wrote in the late 1970’s. In the 1990’s my father and I marketed one of the most innovative laptops in the world; it was known as the Datalink 900. In 1994, the Datalink 900 went on to win Laptop Buyers Guide and Handbook Best Buy Award. The laptops unique nature allowed users to have the ability to access multiple languages; this was one of it’s most innovative features. Additionally, a braille keyboard was also available. It was Pentium based and no large manufacturer at the time had this available. Thus, it was a humanistic product, at a time when technology was not yet visioned to be such.
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Originally posted on vickrambedi.org
