The Indian Panorama

Month: October 2013

  • Britain opens its nuclear industry to Chinese investors

    Britain opens its nuclear industry to Chinese investors

    BEIJING (TIP): Britain opened the door to Chinese investors taking majority stakes in future nuclear plants on Thursday as finance minister George Osborne signed a deal aimed at helping find the billions of pounds needed to replace the country’s ageing reactors. On a visit to China, Osborne said the two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on nuclear cooperation that included roles for British companies in China’s nuclear sector, which is the fastest growing in the world. “While any initial Chinese stake in a nuclear power project is likely to be a minority stake, over time stakes in subsequent new power stations could be majority stakes,” a statement from the UK Treasury said. The MOU also covers training in Britain for Chinese technicians, it said.

    Chinese nuclear companies have expressed an interest in building in Britain, but until Thursday’s announcement it was unclear whether the British government would welcome China’s participation. The government said this week it was “extremely close” to a deal with French energy company EDF related to building Britain’s first new nuclear power station since 1995, a project which is likely to involve China General Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG). That deal centres on a 35-year contract guaranteeing EDF and its potential partners an electricity price for the power from the new plant of £92.5 per megawatt hour, roughly double the current wholesale price, Wall Street Journal reported. A spokesman for the UK’s department of energy and climate change said the talks were ongoing. Osborne’s statement did not refer to the EDF project but his announcement was made at the Taishan nuclear power plant in southern China, which is a collaboration between EDF and CGNPG.

    Ageing plants

    Britain aims to renew ageing nuclear power plants that are going out of service but it needs foreign investment to pay the huge upfront costs involved. Britain’s shrinking power capacity could lead to blackouts during the winter of next year, a report prepared for an advisory body to the prime minister warned on Thursday. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said on Sunday he expected nuclear investments from South Korea as well as China, Japan and France. Last year, Japan’s Hitachi bought a new nuclear joint venture company from Germany’s RWE and E.ON , underlining interest from Asian firms in entering Britain’s nuclear industry. Last month, Britain also signed a cooperation agreement with Russian nuclear conglomerate Rosatom. Britain has shortlisted eight sites that can house new nuclear plants, two of which are owned by Hitachi, one by a joint venture between GDF Suez and Iberdrola and the remainder by EDF. The Westinghouse unit of Japan’s Toshiba is in talks to purchase Iberdrola’s stake. Investment from China would similarly involve Chinese companies buying stakes in projects or partnering with the existing owners. “Investment from Chinese companies in the UK electricity market is welcome, providing they can meet our stringent regulatory and safety requirements,” Energy Secretary Ed Davey said in Thursday’s statement. China has 17 nuclear reactors in operation, accounting for about 1 percent of electricity production capacity. Another 28 nuclear plants are under construction. Osborne is in China on a trade mission that this week saw Britain take a step closer to becoming the main offshore hub for trading in China’s currency and bonds by offering less stringent rules for Chinese banks setting up in London

  • New Zealand’s Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker Prize

    New Zealand’s Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker Prize

    LONDON (TIP): Eleanor Catton has become the youngest writer to ever win a Man Booker prize. The 28-year-old New Zealander’s book The Luminaries – an 832-page murder mystery based on the gold rush in the 19th-century is also the longest novel to ever win the coveted literary prize. Catton who started writing the book when she was 25- years-old was given the £50,000 by the Duchess of Cornwall at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday evening. The judges picked Catton’s audacious take on an old form, the Victorian “sensation novel”. The youngest ever winner before Catton was Ben Okri who was 32 when his work The Famished Road won the Booker prize in 1991. The Luminaries is Catton’s second novel after The Rehearsal, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Guardian first book award. Catton is just the second New Zealander to win the prize, the first being Keri Hulme with The Bone People in 1985. The Luminaries, set in 1866 during the New Zealand gold rush, contains a group of 12 men gathered for a meeting in a hotel and a traveller who stumbles into their midst; the story involves a missing rich man, a dead hermit, a huge sum in gold, and a beaten-up whore. There are sex and seances, opium and lawsuits in the mystery too. The multiple voices take turns to tell their own stories and gradually what happened in the small town of Hokitika on New Zealand’s South Island is revealed. The novel had been up against Indian-American writer Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland – a story of a young man’s tryst with the Naxalite movement at the cost of his family. Set in Kolkata, the Lowland was among six books shortlisted for the prize. One of the favourites to win was the shortest work ever to be shortlisted – Colm Toibin’s 30,000 word The Last Testament of Mary.

  • Disabled girl held captive in UK, raped for years in cellar

    Disabled girl held captive in UK, raped for years in cellar

    Apensioner who trafficked a 10-year-old deaf and mute girl into Britain, keeping her in his cellar to claim benefits, was convicted on October 15 of repeatedly raping her. Ilyas Ashar, 84, was found guilty of 13 counts of rape against the girl, who is now in her 20s, after she had been kept at the home he had shared with his wife Tallat in Eccles, Salford, and made her sleep in the “sparse, cold and damp” cellar. The jury Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard that the girl, who is from Pakistan, and is profoundly deaf and cannot speak, was beaten and slapped as well as being forced to work for Ashar and his family and friends in virtual slavery as a domestic servant. Details of the victim’s ordeal only emerged after she was taught sign language following her accidental discovery in 2009 by trading standards officers who had come to the couple’s house to investigate illegal activities. Ashar used his victim to satisfy his sexual desires as well as enlisting his wife to use the girl’s details to steal more than £30,000 in benefits and set up bank accounts in her name. Two female jurors wept as the verdicts were delivered against Ilyas Ashar. The judge said he was excusing the jurors of jury service for a decade after hearing traumatic evidence. He ha d been convicted earlier on two counts of trafficking and three counts relating to the fraudulent obtaining of benefits. Tallat Ashar, 68, and their daughter, Faaiza Ashar, 46, were also found guilty at the previous trial of benefit fraud charges.

  • Indian American introduces US government reform agenda

    Indian American introduces US government reform agenda

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Amidst widespread frustration surrounding the US shutdown and reckless brinkmanship over the debt limit, an Indian-American leader, seeking his maiden Congressional bid, has introduced a vision of bold government reform agenda. One of the top fund raiser, Rohit Ro Khanna, a former top Obama Administration official unveiled October 17 a five step plan to change the Congress. The proposal includes refusal to donations from political action committees (PACs) and federally registered lobbyists, refusal to Congressional pay raises, end of Congressional pension system, banning legislators from lobbying for five years after leaving office and Members of Congress from taking special interest-funded trips. “These proposals will help turn our Members of Congress back into the representatives of the people that they’re supposed to be,” Khanna said.

    “It will make them more like the voters who send them to office, who have to worry about supporting their families on paychecks that haven’t grown in years. “It will make them think twice about cutting Social Security benefits and blocking health coverage that millions of Americans rely on. It will make them more like you and me,” he said. He said America’s founders invented a government flexible enough that more and more Americans have become full shareholders in it. “Women, African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans have all obtained the right to vote, and a greater voice in our society. We’re making progress on LGBTQ, too, although we’ve still got a ways to go,” he said. “It’s because of this sometimes unsteady progress toward fairness and equality and freedom and citizenship that our country remains a model for the world. It inspired my grandfather, who joined Mahatma Gandhi’s movement for freedom and democracy in India and spent four years in jail for his activities,” he said. Khanna was addressing a gathering in California from where he is seeking to get elected to the House of Representatives from the Democratic Party. He is pitted against his own party colleague and incumbent Mike Honda and has raised more funds as compared to his rival. Khanna pledged to abide by all the five proposals if elected to the Congress. He said he has refused to accept donations from PACs, special interests, and Washington lobbyists.

  • Indian-American Couple Establishes Scholarship in Houston University

    Indian-American Couple Establishes Scholarship in Houston University

    HOUSTON (TIP): An Indian-American couple has established a tier one scholarship worth more than USD 100,000 in the prestigious University of Houston. Renu Khator, system chancellor and president of the University of Houston, and her husband Suresh, associate dean in the UH Cullen College of Engineering, have contributed more than USD 100,000 to establish the Renu and Suresh Khator UH tier one scholarship endowment. With matching funding, the endowment was augmented to USD 200,000, giving new energy to the University’s tier one scholarship program. “The University of Houston offers more than USD 150 million in aid and scholarship(s) each year to freshmen and transfer students. Most of it is needbased, but a few, including tier one scholarships, are based on merit,” Khator said. “Offering scholarships to freshmen, whether need-based or merit-based, encourages them to attend college, and more specifically, to choose UH,” Khator said. The tier one scholarship program admits students who have a combined math and critical reading SAT score of at least 1300, were ranked in the top 10 per cent of their class and were admitted to the University in the fall semester following their high school graduation, in accordance with the guidelines from the tier one website.

  • Bobby Jindal forms group to win ‘war of ideas’

    Bobby Jindal forms group to win ‘war of ideas’

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Louisiana’s Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, plans to create a policy-focused nonprofit group to help Republicans shed their image as “the party of no.” The group called “America Next” would produce detailed proposals for how conservatives would improve health care, education and energy policy if they were in charge again, Jindal told Politico, an influential politics focused Washington news site. Jindal, whose term as chairman of Republican Governors Association ends next month, complained that his party has focused excessively on criticising President Barack Obama without saying what it would do instead. Citing Mitt Romney’s failed effort to make the 2012 election a referendum on the president, Jindal, 42, said his group will bring together big thinkers to “play offense in the war of ideas.”

    “Saying ‘no’ is not enough,” he said. “We’ve got to get beyond the bumper-sticker slogans. We’ve got to get beyond the 30-second attack ads.” When asked about his plans for 2016, Jindal said: “I don’t know if I’m going to run for president or not.” He quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said that you need to win the war of ideas before you can win elections. Jindal, whose second term as governor ends at the start of 2016, said “America Next” will not be afraid to take controversial positions that run afoul of Republican orthodoxy. “Everything needs to be on the table,” he said. “This is not a time to be timid.” Jindal said there’s a helpful contrast between the paralysis in Washington and the reforms being pursued by 30 Republican governors in the states. “A rebellion is brewing outside the Washington Beltway,” Jindal was quoted as saying. “The American people know that the policies coming out of Washington are leading us to a dead end.

  • Sikh student in US not allowed on bus for wearing kirpan

    Sikh student in US not allowed on bus for wearing kirpan

    NEW YORK (TIP): A Sikh student in the US was not allowed to board a bus because he was wearing a knife called kirpan, a symbol of his faith, media reported. Harsimran Singh, a student of University of California in Davis, said he was not allowed to board an Amtrak bus Saturday because the driver was against Singh wearing the ceremonial knife. The student said he has travelled for the last two years with the knife in full view and had not had any issues till the incident on Saturday, CBS News reported Wednesday. “They don’t say anything. They always wish me safe travel, and they continue on with their business… they didn’t see me as a potential threat,” Singh said. According to the report, bus driver Al Smithee got concerned at the presence of a weapon on the bus. “I’m doing 70 miles an hour down the freeway, and he slits my throat, and I crash and wreck, and kill five other people or oncoming traffic. You don’t know,” he was quoted as saying. Smithee then called the police who then told Singh that he could board the bus if he stowed the kirpan. But Singh did not agree and decided against the trip he had planned to visit his family.

  • Cory Booker wins New Jersey Senate race

    Cory Booker wins New Jersey Senate race

    NEWARK, NJ (TIP): A rising national Democratic star, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, was elected to the U.S. Senate October 16 and will become New Jersey’s first ever African American senator. Booker defeated Republican Steve Lonegan, a former Mayor of Bogota. With most votes counted late Wednesday, the Associated Press had called the contest for Booker, who was carrying 55 percent of the vote. When Booker is sworn in, the Democratic Caucus will once again hold a 55-45 advantage over the GOP Conference. Booker will fill the seat once held by Frank Lautenberg, a long-serving Democratic senator who died in June. Gov. Chris Christie had appointed fellow Republican Jeff Chiesa to be Lautenberg’s interim replacement. Booker, 44, will become the chamber’s second African American member along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). The Democrat will enter the Senate having already achieved celebrity status. A regular on cable news programs and Sunday morning news shows with more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, Booker has cultivated a profile that extends well beyond New Jersey.

  • Council Member Daniel Dromm leads demand for Diwali as School Holiday

    Council Member Daniel Dromm leads demand for Diwali as School Holiday

    NEW YORK (TIP): Council Member Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights, Elmhurst), along with several elected officials and community members, are demanding that the Department of Education designate the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh holiday of Diwali as an official day off for public school students. “There are tens of thousands of public school students in New York City who celebrate Diwali,” CM Dromm said. “These students must pick between attending class or spending the day with their families, while students in the Christian and Jewish faiths do not have to make this decision when they celebrate holidays like Rosh Hashana and Christmas. There shouldn’t be this discrepancy. I urge the Department of Education to recognize this important holiday called Diwali.” “I would like to wish all New Yorkers a safe and happy Diwali,” state Senator Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing) said. “With the South Asian population growing quickly in my district and across the city, more and more parents unfortunately have to make the tough choice between celebrating an important holiday or sending their children to school.

    I urge the City Council to strongly consider Council Member Dromm’s resolution to designate Diwali as a public school holiday. As New Yorkers and Americans what makes us special is our commitment to respecting new customs and I hope that the Council can follow through on this commitment for the over 200,000 Diwali celebrants that live in our great city.” “Diwali is one of our community’s key celebrations, and is deserving of the same respect from our school system as other religious days,” Assembly Member Michael Den Dekker (D-Jackson Heights) said. CM Dromm introduced a resolution to the City Council on July 24. Since then, 15 Council Members have signed on as cosponsors and several state elected officials have voiced their support. Diwali or Deepavali, known as the festival of lights, wherein millions of celebrants worldwide light lanterns to symbolize inner light to dispel ignorance and darkness, is a five-day festival that begins on the 13th day of the Hindu month of Kartik. It is the most important festival on the Hindu calendar.

    For Sikhs, Diwali is the day the Mughal Emperor released Hargobind, the revered sixth Guru, from captivity. For Jains, Diwali marks the anniversary of the attainment of moksha, or liberation, by Mahavira, who was the last of the Tirthankaras, or the great teachers of Jain dharma. Some Buddhists celebrate Diwali to commemorate the day King Ashok converted to Buddhism. According to the Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey, there were 207,414 New York City residents who identify themselves as Asian Indian, of which many are adherents of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism or Buddhism. Despite the large number of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists in New York City, Diwali is not recognized as a school holiday in the city’s public school system. The DOE closes for Christmas, Rosh Hashanah and Easter. Those who celebrate Diwali should be given the same respect. “To me, Diwali’s message of ‘Light over Darkness’ means eliminating ignorance and discrimination of every kind. Diwali’s row of diyas is very significant. It is the row of diyas, their unity and unified light that beats the darkness – not one diya alone. Its togetherness – Diwali’s hidden message of necessary unity,” said Ranju Batra, Chair of the Diwali Stamp Project and President of Association of

    Indians in America-NY 2011-2013. “I celebrate Council Member Daniel Dromm and his Diwali School Holiday Resolution, and ask all good people to support it.” “Danny Dromm’s Diwali School Holiday Resolution 1863 is an American landmark to be achieved on the road to forming ‘ . . . a more perfect union.’ It is E Pluribus Unum in action. I call upon Mayor Bloomberg or the next Mayor to have the DOE observe Diwali as a school holiday, so that New York City’s principled action is followed across our land, in every town and city across America, and ‘equal protection of the law’ becomes a sweet reality. Danny Dromm is an American hero,” said Ravi Batra, attorney and chair of National Advisory Council on South Asian Affairs. “Chhaya CDC is very happy to support these efforts to make Diwali an official holiday in the city’s public schools,” said Seema Agnani, Executive Director at Chhaya CDC. “This is one of the more important holidays that is celebrated by millions across the globe. Chhaya also closes its doors on this day to mark the occasion so staff can celebrate with their families and friends. We are so lucky to have so much diversity in New York City and making Diwali an official holiday will serve to increase awareness about the communities here that celebrate the holiday.” The federal government has slowly given the important holiday more respect.

    In 2007, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing the religious and historical significance of Diwali, and since 2009, the White House has held an annual Diwali celebration. The United States Postal Service has recently decided it will issue a Diwali commemorative stamp. On the city level the significance of Diwali is acknowledged by suspending alternate side parking rules on Lakshmi Puja, the third and most important day of the holiday. For years the Muslim community has petitioned that the important holidays of Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr be a day off for public school students, but in 2009 a City Council approved resolution was not signed by Mayor Bloomberg. This year Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday, Nov. 3. Next year, the day falls on Oct. 23, a Thursday, and in 2015 on Wednesday, Nov. 11. In Jackson Heights, the community celebrated Diwali last Sunday on 74th Street, the heart of Little India in New York City. Council Members Inez Dickens, Charles Barron, Margaret Chin, Leroy Comrie, Vincent Gentile, Letitia James, Peter Koo, Karen Koslowitz, Rosie Mendez, Annabel Palma, Donovan Richards, Deborah Rose, Ydanis Rodriguez and Daniel Halloran support the resolution.

  • Jackson Heights Merchants’ Association holds 25th Diwali Mela

    Jackson Heights Merchants’ Association holds 25th Diwali Mela

    Ravi and Ranju Batra honored for their services to community

    NEW YORK (TIP): In an unending stream of Diwali Melas in New York, Jackson Heights Merchants’ Association held its 25th Diwali Mela on Sunday, the 13th October. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon, the Mela attracted large crowds though they may have been disappointed to find fewer stalls selling wares and food items as compared to earlier years. Also, the entertainment content left much to be desired, as our reporter gathered after having spoken with some in the crowd. The Mela, as usual, had a fair presence of officials that included the Consul General of India in New York, Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Senator Jose Peralta, Council Member Daniel Dromm and some others.


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    Representatives of business organizations, including the Bangladesh Merchants’ Association were also present. Then there were the honorees that included attorney Ravi Batra and Ranju Batra who initiated the demand for a US postage stamp in commemoration of Diwali, the festival of India. Also honored on the occasion were sponsors that included Air India Area Manager Riwo Norbhu and Habib Bank Manager, among others. Citations by Senator Peralta and Council Member Dromm were presented to organizers who honored them with plaques. We bring here to our readers a pictorial description of the Mela.

  • Coal scam: FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla for cheating

    Coal scam: FIR against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla for cheating

    NEW DELHI (TIP): CBI lodged a case against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parekh on charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks eight years ago. After registering the fresh FIR, its 14th in the multi-crore scandal, coordinated searches were carried out by CBI teams at nearly six locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar. The 46- year-old head of the Aditya Birla group will be called in for questioning, CBI sources said. Kumar Mangalam Birla, one of the richest industrialists in India, has been charged with conspiracy and cheating to land two coal blocks in Odisha in 2005 for his firm, aluminum-maker Hindalco. The agency has booked Birla as a representative of Aditya Birla Group and his group company, aluminium maker Hindalco, for alleged corruption in the allocation of Talabira two coal blocks in Odisha which was allotted to it on November 10, 2005, the sources said.

    The blocks were allocated for power production during a meeting of the screening committee, they said. “CBI registers a fresh case in alleged irregularities in coal scam against the then Coal Secretary, M/s Hindalco, representative of Adita Birla Group, unknown persons and officials,” agency spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said. The $40 billion (about Rs. 2.45 lakh crore) conglomerate has denied receiving any FIR and refuted allegations of any wrongdoing. The CBI action had an immediate fallout with Hindalco shares dropping in the morning by 1.27 per cent. Some of the other Birla companies were also affected. Parekh, who was coal secretary at the time of this allocation, faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act as also criminal conspiracy and other offences. CBI has been at the receiving end in the Supreme Court which has passed tough questions on why coal fields were allocated to private players without a transparent bidding process, the slow pace of probe as also on missing files.

  • Niira Radia tapes: SC orders CBI inquiry

    Niira Radia tapes: SC orders CBI inquiry

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Supreme Court on October 17 ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into eight issues arising from the tapped phone conversations corporate lobbyist, Niira Radia had with top politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists. The report on the criminal aspects of the talks will be given to the court within two months and the case will be heard again on December 16. Apart from the CBI, the vigilance wing will probe six cases. The judges observed during the proceedings that the CBI reports showed “deep-rooted malaise” in the polity. A section of the press has already published detailed reports of the finding of the CBI inquiry, for which it is facing contempt of court action. “Prima facie, there is a deep rooted malaise by private enterprises in connivance with the government officials and Niira Radia’s conversations suggest that influential persons indulged in corrupt practices for private gains for extraneous purpose,” a bench headed by G S Singhvi said.

    The order was passed in two petitions, one moved by industrialist Ratan Tata, and the other by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). Tata’s main complaint was infringement of his privacy, but CPIL counsel, Prashant Bhushan, widened the issues to encompass the whole gamut of political and economic sleaze. The CBI has already informed the court recently that the examination of hundreds of conversations Radia had had over the years showed criminality. Though the probe started as an income tax investigation, it has branched into several fields like the 2G spectrum scam and fixing of ministers and bureaucrats by industrialists for government largesse. The court has been monitoring the investigations and it culminated in Thursday’s order. However, the present order will lead only to a “preliminary inquiry” in legal parlance and it is still far away from a formal complaint or charge sheet. CBI is planning to register preliminary inquiries into the Radia tapes-related cases by next week, a senior official said. Presiding judge Singhvi, who passed several momentous judgments involving corruption, is retiring on December 11, before the CBI report is called for.

  • Obama meets Indian-American Miss America, Nina Davuluri

    Obama meets Indian-American Miss America, Nina Davuluri

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Despite tough ongoing negotiations to reopen the government and avoid a US debt default, President Barack Obama found time to meet Miss America, Nina Davuluri, the first Indian- American to win the coveted crown. “Had the pleasure of having a conversation with President @BarackObama in the Oval Office today! @NinaDavuluri #Celebration13,” Davuluri tweeted shortly after meeting the president at the White House Wednesday morning. “Miss America participated in a group photo with the president in honor of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital Champions,” a White House official said. “Following the photo, she briefly visited the Oval Office,” the official said. Incidentally, Obama had referred to Davuluri’s achievement as he spoke about “incredible people-to-people ties that exist” between India and the US during his Sep 27 summit meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here. “You know, Indian-Americans make extraordinary contributions to the United States every single day — businessmen, scientists, academics. Now Miss America is of Indian-American descent. And I think it’s a signal of how close our countries are,” he then said. (Source: Arun Kumar. He can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

  • The Government Shutdown is Over President Wants a New Approach

    The Government Shutdown is Over President Wants a New Approach

    WASHINGTON (TIP): President Obama signed the legislation to reopen the government October 16 night, soon after the House passed the bill earlier adopted by the Senate. An agreement struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (DNed.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ended a stalemate created last month, when hard-line conservatives pushed GOP leaders to use the threat of shutdown to block a landmark expansion of federally funded health coverage. The Senate overwhelmingly ratified the deal the 16th evening, 81 to 18, with more than half of Senate Republicans voting yes. A few hours later, the House followed suit, approving the measure 285 to 144. Eighty-seven Republicans joined a united Democratic caucus in approving the measure, allowing Congress to meet a critical Treasury Department deadline with one day to spare. Speaking on the reopening of the government, Obama said, “Because Democrats and responsible President Wants a New Approach Republicans came together, the first government shutdown in 17 years is now over.

    The first default in more than 200 years will not happen. These twin threats to our economy have been lifted.” There was no economic rationale for all this, President Obama said. “Over the past four years, our economy has been growing, our businesses have been creating jobs, and our deficits have been cut in half,” he said, “but nothing has done more to undermine our economy these past three years than the kind of tactics that create these manufactured crises.” The way business is done in Washington has to change, President Obama said. The standoff “inflicted completely unnecessary damage (to) our economy” by slowing growth and increasing borrowing costs, Obama said, declaring that “there are no winners here.” At the same time, he blamed the brinksmanship that flirted with the first default in U.S. history on no-compromise tactics of the Republican tea party wing in Congress, saying that “the American people are completely fed up with Washington.” “Let’s work together to make government work better instead of treating it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse,” Obama said in a direct jab at tea party conservatives. “You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election,” he added. “Push to change it, but don’t break it” because “that’s not being faithful to what this country’s about.” Saying “we can’t degenerate into hatred,” he ended by quoting part of the Pledge of Allegiance that states America is “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

  • APOCALYPTIC COMET STRUCK EARTH 28 MILLION YEARS AGO

    APOCALYPTIC COMET STRUCK EARTH 28 MILLION YEARS AGO

    JOHANNESBURG (TIP): Scientists have found the first-ever comet material on Earth – a black pebble filled with diamonds – left behind when an ‘apocalyptic’ comet exploded over modern-day Egypt, 28 million years ago. The discovery by a team of South African scientists and international collaborators is the first definitive proof of a comet striking Earth and could also help unlock the secrets of the formation of our solar system. The comet exploded, raining down a shock wave of fire which obliterated every life form in its path, and heating up the sand beneath it to a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Celsius, researchers said. It resulted in the formation of a huge amount of yellow silica glass which lies scattered over a 6,000 square kilometre area in the Sahara. A magnificent specimen of the glass, polished by ancient jewellers, is found in 18th dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s brooch with its striking yellow-brown scarab. “Comets always visit our skies – they’re these dirty snowballs of ice mixed with dust – but never before in history has material from a comet ever been found on Earth,” said Professor David Block of Wits University.

    Comet fragments have not been found on Earth before except as microscopic sized dust particles in the upper atmosphere and some carbon-rich dust in the Antarctic ice. The research began with a mysterious black pebble found years earlier by an Egyptian geologist in the area of the silica glass. After conducting highly sophisticated chemical analyses on this pebble, the authors came to the conclusion that it represented the very first known hand specimen of a comet nucleus, rather than simply an unusual type of meteorite. Lead author Professor Jan Kramers of the University of Johannesburg describes this as a moment of career defining elation. “It’s a typical scientific euphoria when you eliminate all other options and come to the realisation of what it must be,” he said. The impact of the explosion also produced microscopic diamonds. “Diamonds are produced from carbon bearing material. Normally they form deep in the Earth, where the pressure is high, but you can also generate very high pressure with shock. Part of the comet impacted and the shock of the impact produced the diamonds,” said Kramers. The team have named the diamondbearing pebble “Hypatia” in honour of the first well known female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, Hypatia of Alexandria. “NASA and ESA ( European Space Agency) spend billions of dollars collecting a few microgrammes of comet material and bringing it back to Earth, and now we’ve got a radical new approach of studying this material, without spending billions of dollars collecting it,” said Kramers.

  • US’s new robot soldiers can gallop at 25kmph

    US’s new robot soldiers can gallop at 25kmph

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US scientists have developed a new fourlegged robot called WildCat that gallops at 25 km/h on flat ground and will aid military and rescue operations. The robot was built by Boston Dynamics, a technology company founded by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A new video shows off the robot’s ability to run on flat surfaces but the machine is expected to eventually be able to run quickly over all types of terrain. WildCat is a free-running version of one of Boston Dynamics’ earlier quadruped creation called Cheetah, a super fast robot that could sprint, on a treadmill at least, up to 45.5 km/h — faster than Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man. Though WildCat is slower than its predecessor for now, it is untethered. Wildcat is being developed as part of the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation, or M3, programme, which seeks to overcome the current limitations that ground robots face in terms of agility, ‘LiveScience’ reported.

  • EARTH TO BOOST SPEED OF PROBE ON WAY TO JUPITER

    EARTH TO BOOST SPEED OF PROBE ON WAY TO JUPITER

    LOS ANGELES ( TIP) A Nasa spacecraft bound for Jupiter will swing by Earth to get the boost it needs to arrive at the giant gas planet in 2016. Using Earth as a gravitational slingshot is a common trick since there isn’t a rocket that’s powerful enough to catapult a spacecraft directly to the outer solar system. Launched in 2011, the Juno spacecraft zipped past the orbit of Mars and fired its engines to put it on course for a momentum-gathering flyby of Earth. During the manoeuvre, Juno will briefly pass into Earth’s shadow and emerge over India’s east coast. At closest approach, Juno will fly within 350 563 kilometres of the Earth’s surface, passing over the ocean off the coast of South Africa shortly before 12.30pm local time. The rendezvous was designed to bump Juno’s speed from 125,500 kmph relative to the sun to 140,000kmph enough power to cruise beyond the asteroid belt toward its destination.

  • A wi-fi music player controlled by teeth

    A wi-fi music player controlled by teeth

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Researchers are developing a wireless music player that fits the ear like earbuds and can be controlled by biting. The music player ‘Split’ eliminates headphone cords and the need for a pocket to keep the music player. Two years under development by a start-up named Greenwing Audio in Miami Beach, Florida, Split consists of a pair of earbuds with little oblongs sticking out of them. Inside a one-inch stainless steel casing is a small circuit board, a button cell battery, a memory chip, a processor and a few other components necessary to play quality digital audio. The Split earbuds are synchronized to act like one music player, according to ‘Endgadget’. Split uses high-precision crystal clocks and a short, nearfield radio signal to sync the earbuds when activating, or when the track or volume are changed. With no buttons or microphone for voice command, Split uses its accelerometers for control. These are designed to respond when the user bites. One bite changes tracks, and two bites changes the volume.

  • Giant radio telescope in Chile reaches full power

    Giant radio telescope in Chile reaches full power

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A giant radio telescope in Chile has received the last piece of its 66-antenna array, marking the beginning of a new era of discoveries in deep space. The final antenna for the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) project has just been handed over to the ALMA Observatory by the European AEM Consortium, which also marks the successful delivery of a total of 25 European antennas, 25 North American antennas and 16 Japanese antennas. By the end of 2013, all 66 ultra-precise millimetre/submillimetre wave radio antennas are expected to be working together as one telescope, in an array that will stretch for up to 16 kilometres across the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, ALMA said. This delivery of the last antenna completes the ALMA antenna construction phase and provides all 66 antennas for science use, marking the beginning of a new era of discoveries in astronomy. “This is an important milestone for the ALMA observatory since it enables astronomers in Europe and elsewhere to use the complete ALMA telescope, with its full sensitivity and collecting area,” said Wolfgang Wild, the European ALMA project manager in a statement. ALMA helps astronomers answer important questions about our cosmic origins. The telescope observes the Universe using light with millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths, between infrared light and radio waves in the electromagnetic spectrum.

  • THE TEMPLE CITY OF KANCHIPURAM

    THE TEMPLE CITY OF KANCHIPURAM

    Located on the Bangalore-Chennai highway is a small town Kanchipuram, which you may zip by if you are not the religious kinds and not aware of its spiritual significance. But here is some news for the nonreligious, history connoisseurs.Kanchipuram while being home to thousand plus temples, of all sizes, it boasts of temples more than thousand years old. Ladies, you too are in for good times as Kanchipuram is also synonymous with Kanjeevaram saris, recently made popular by Vidya Balan. So next time you are travelling on this route you can mark it as your go-to destination.


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    Places of interest
    Kanchipuram is one of the seven holy cities in the country that one must visit in order to attain salvation.While the town is said to be home to 1,000 + temples, the prominent temples are primarily four – Ekambareswarar, Kamakshi Amman, Kailasanathar and Varadharaja Perumal temples. Ekambareswarar temple- This is the most famous Lord Shiva temple and dates back 1400 years. Here Lord Shiva is worshipped as Earth, one of the five elements. The temples’ gopuram or entrance gateway is 59 m tall, making it the one of the tallest temple towers in the country. Here in the temple you will find a Shivlingam that is a composite of 108 small lingams.Lord Rama is said to have prayed here when he was at war with Ravana, as told by a priest here.Spanning across the temple compound you will find 1,008 Shivalingas and also located in the temple is a 3,500 year old mango tree under which Goddess Kamakshi is said have done penance and later married Lord Shiva. Hence, the name Ekambareswarar as Eka means one and Amara means Mango tree. It is believed that if a childless woman takes a fruit of this tree she will be blessed with children. Architecturally the temple is beautiful and reminiscent of our rich cultural heritage. The temple is said to be originally built by Pallavas and later reconstructed by Cholas and Vijaynagara rulers.

    Kamakshi Amman temple-Abode of Goddess Kamakshi, this temple is one of the three Shakti peethas. Built in the 14th century it is one of the main temples dedicated to Goddess Shakti. Adi Shankara is closely associated with this temple and an image of him is worshipped in the temple. Kailasanathar temple- One of the oldest and architecturally beautiful temples is Kailasanathar temple. Dedicated to Lord Shiva the temple dates back to Pallava dynasty and was built in the 7th century AD. The temple is made of limestone and is filled with exquisitely carved sculptures. Today it holds the status of an archeological monument conferred by ASI. Little away from the humdrum of the city the temple can be a perfect place to enjoy some history and a moment of peace. Varadharaja Perumal temple- This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is said to be one of his 108 holy abodes. The temple was built by the Cholas. A sprawling complex with beautiful carvings is the other highlight of this temple. While here you can also get a view of the lives of olden times by visiting KanchiKudil, an old house that has been conserved for tourism purposes. Kanchi Kudil- A 90-year-old ancestral house belonging to an agrarian household has been converted into a tourist spot to give people a glimpse into the houses and lifestyle of yester years. The house has a master’s room, a kids’ room and a lady’s room. The dining area with a floor seating, a temple and an old style kitchen and bathroom, complete with a well, are other parts of the house. You can also buy some artefacts and handicrafts here. The house serves some snacks during the day. Entry ticket is Rs. 10/- per head.

    How to get there
    By road
    Kanchipuram is easily accessible by road. It is 280 km from Bangalore enroute to Chennai via NH4, NH7 and NH46.Bangalore -Hosur- Krishnagiri- Vellore -Kanchipuram.It takes approx. 5 hours by road. If going from Chennai it is 72 km. Food Saravana Bhavan and the likes are around to give you a taste of Tamil Nadu cuisine. While we stayed away from it since we were staying at my Chithi’s house we could not resist the street food – Bondas and Dal vadas. So if you do not have weak stomachs do try them out. You can also enjoy Malabar Parottas and Chicken curry. Kanchi or Kudalaiidlis are another famous dish. Shopping If you love silk you can go crazy choosing from a wide variety of colours and designs. Prakash Silks is the shop suggested by my aunt for silk saris and the one from where I got my loot. Nalli Silks and Pachaiyappa’s Silks are two other big names. You can also look out for Silk Pavadais(the South India equivalent of North Indian Lehengas) if you have a little girl to dress up. I ended up picking three for my daughter. Kanchipuram may come across as a nondescript town but it is a must visit place if you love to visit temples,

  • DURGA PUJA

    DURGA PUJA

    Durga Puja – the ceremonial worship of the mother goddess, is one of the most important festivals of India.Apart from being a religious festival for the Hindus, it is also an occasion for reunion and rejuvenation, and a celebration of traditional culture and customs.While the rituals entails ten days of fast, feast and worship, the last four days – Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami – are celebrated with much gaiety and grandeur in India and abroad, especially in Bengal, where the ten-armed goddess riding the lion is worshipped with great passion and devotion. Durga Puja is celebrated every year in the Hindu month of Ashwin (September-October) and commemorates Prince Rama’s invocation of the goddess before going to war with the demon king Ravana. This autumnal ritual was different from the conventional Durga Puja, which is usually celebrated in the springtime. So, this Puja is also known as ‘akal-bodhan’ or out-of-season (‘akal’) worship (‘bodhan’). Thus goes the story of Lord Rama,who first worshipped the ‘Mahishasura Mardini’ or the slayer of the buffalo-demon, by offering 108 blue lotuses and lighting 108 lamps, at this time of the year.


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    The First Durga Puja in Bengal
    The first grand worship of Goddess Durga in recorded history is said to have been celebrated in the late 1500s. Folklores say the landlords or zamindar of Dinajpur and Malda initiated the first Durga Puja in Bengal. According to another source, Raja Kangshanarayan of Taherpur or Bhabananda Mazumdar of Nadiya organized the first Sharadiya or Autumn Durga Puja in Bengal in c 1606.

    The ‘Baro-Yaari’ Puja and Beginning of Mass Celebration
    The origin of the community puja can be credited to the twelve friends of Guptipara in Hoogly,West Bengal, who collaborated and collected contributions from local residents to conduct the first community puja called the ‘baro-yaari’ puja or the ‘twelve-pal’ puja in 1790. The baro-yaari puja was brought to Kolkata in 1832 by Raja Harinath of Cossimbazar,who performed the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Murshidabad from 1824 to 1831, notes Somendra Chandra Nandy in ‘Durga Puja: A Rational Approach’ published in The Statesman Festival, 1991.

    Origin of ‘Sarbajanin Durga Puja’ or Community Celebration
    “The baro-yaari puja gave way to the sarbajanin or community puja in 1910,when the Sanatan Dharmotsahini Sabha organized the first truly community puja in Baghbazar in Kolkata with full public contribution, public control and public participation. Now the dominant mode of Bengali Durga Puja is the ‘public’ version,” write M.D. Muthukumaraswamy and Molly Kaushal in Folklore, Public Sphere, and Civil Society. The institution of the community Durga Puja in the 18th and the 19th century Bengal contributed vigorously to the development of Hindu Bengali culture.

    British Involvement in Durga Puja
    The research paper further indicates that “high level British officials regularly attend Durga Pujas organized by influential Bengalis and British soldiers actually participate in the pujas, have prasad, and even salute the deity, but ‘the most amazing act of worship was performed by the East India Company itself: in 1765 it offered a thanksgiving Puja, no doubt as a politic act to appease its Hindu subjects, on obtaining the Diwani of Bengal’. (Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed. Calcutta: the Living City,Vol. 1: The Past) And it is reported that even the Company auditor-general John Chips organized Durga Puja at his Birbhum office. In fact, the full official participation of the British in the Durga Puja continued till 1840,when a law was promulgated by the government banning such participation.”

    Durga Puja Comes to Delhi
    In 1911, with the shifting of the capital of British India to Delhi, many Bengalis migrated to the city to work in government offices. The first Durga Puja in Delhi was held in c. 1910, when it was performed by ritually consecrating the ‘mangal kalash,’ symbolizing the deity. This Durga Puja,which celebrates its centennial in 2009, is also known as the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja currently organized by the Delhi Durga Puja Samiti in the lawns of Bengali Senior Secondary School, Alipur Road, Delhi.

    Evolution of the ‘Pratima’ and the ‘Pandal’
    The traditional icon of the goddess worshiped during the Durga Puja is in line with the iconography delineated in the scriptures. In Durga, the Gods bestowed their powers to co-create a beautiful goddess with ten arms, each carrying their most lethal weapon. The tableau of Durga also features her four children – Kartikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi. Traditional clay image of Durga or pratima made of clay with all five gods and goddesses under one structure is known as ‘ek-chala’ (‘ek’ = one, ‘chala’ = cover). There are two kinds of embellishments that are used on clay – sholar saaj and daker saaj. In the former, the pratima is traditionally decorated with the white core of the shola reed which grows within marshlands. As the devotees grew wealthier, beaten silver (rangta) was used. The silver used to be imported from Germany and was delivered by post (dak). Hence the name daker saaj. The huge temporary canopies – held by a framework of bamboo poles and draped with colorful fabric – that house the icons are called ‘pandals’. Modern pandals are innovative, artistic and decorative at the same time, offering a visual spectacle for the numerous visitors who go ‘pandal-hopping’ during the four days of Durga Puja.

  • SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB

    SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB

    CONTD FROM Vol 7 ISSUE 39 AASAA, FIFTH MEHL, CHHANT, EIGHTH HOUSE: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: Maya is the wall of doubt – Maya is the wall of doubt. It is such a powerful and destructive intoxicant; it corrupts and wastes away one’s life. In the terrible, impenetrable world-forest – in the terrible, impenetrable world-forest, the thieves are plundering man’s house in broad daylight; night and day, this life is being consumed. The days of your life are being consumed; they are passing away without God. So meet God, the Merciful Lord. I passed through so many births and deaths; without Union with the Beloved, I did not obtain salvation. I am without the status of high birth, beauty, glory or spiritual wisdom; without You, who is mine, O Mother? With my palms pressed together, O Nanak, I enter the Lord’s Sanctuary; O beloved almighty Lord and Master, please, save me!

    || 1 || Like a fish out of water – like a fish out of water, separated from the Lord, the mind and body perish; how can I live, without my Beloved? Facing the arrow head-on – facing the arrow head-on, the deer surrenders his mind, body and breath of life; he is struck by the hunter’s soothing music. I have enshrined love for my Beloved. In order to meet Him, I have become a renunciate. Cursed is that body which remains without Him, even for an instant. My eyelids do not close, for I am absorbed in the love of my Beloved. Day and night, my mind thinks only of God. Attuned to the Lord, intoxicated with the Naam, fear, doubt and duality have all left me. Bestow Your mercy and compassion, O merciful and perfect Lord, that Nanak may be intoxicated with Your Love. || 2 || The bumble-bee is buzzing – the bumble-bee is buzzing, intoxicated with the honey, the flavor and the fragrance; because of its love for the lotus, it entangles itself. The mind of the sparrowhawk thirsts – the mind of the sparrowhawk thirsts; its mind longs for the beautiful rain-drops from the clouds. Drinking them in, its fever departs. O Destroyer of fever, Remover of pain, please unite me with You. My mind and body have such great love for You. O my beautiful, wise and all-knowing Lord and Master, with what tongue should I chant Your Praises? Take me by the arm, and grant me Your Name. One who is blessed with Your Glance of Grace, has his sins erased. Nanak meditates on the Lord, the Purifier of sinners; beholding His Vision, he suffers no more.

    || 3 || I focus my consciousness on the Lord – I focus my consciousness upon the Lord; I am helpless – please, keep me under Your Protection. I yearn to meet You, my soul hungers for You. I meditate on Your beautiful body – I meditate on Your beautiful body; my mind is fascinated by Your spiritual wisdom, O Lord of the world. Please, preserve the honor of Your humble servants and beggars. God bestows perfect honor and destroys pain; He has fulfilled all my desires. How very blessed was that day when the Lord embraced me; meeting my Husband Lord, my bed was beautified. When God granted His Grace and met me, all my sins were erased. Prays Nanak, my hopes are fulfilled; I have met the Lord, the Lord of Lakshmi, the treasure of excellence. || 4 || 1 || 14 || ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. TRUTH IS THE NAME. CREATIVE BEING PERSONIFIED. NO FEAR. NO HATRED. IMAGE OF THE UNDYING. BEYOND BIRTH. SELF-EXISTENT. BY GURU’S GRACE: AASAA, FIRST MEHL: VAAR WITH SHALOKS, AND SHALOKS WRITTEN BY THE FIRST MEHL. TO BE SUNG TO THE TUNE OF ‘TUNDA-ASRAAJAA’: SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: A hundred times a day, I am a sacrifice to my Guru; He made angels out of men, without delay. || 1 || SECOND MEHL: If a hundred moons were to rise, and a thousand suns appeared, even with such light, there would still be pitch darkness without the Guru.

    || 2 || FIRST MEHL: O Nanak, those who do not think of the Guru, and who think of themselves as clever, shall be left abandoned in the field, like the scattered sesame. They are abandoned in the field, says Nanak, and they have a hundred masters to please. The wretches bear fruit and flower, but within their bodies, they are filled with ashes. || 3 || PAUREE: He Himself created Himself; He Himself assumed His Name. Secondly, He fashioned the creation; seated within the creation, He beholds it with delight. You Yourself are the Giver and the Creator; by Your Pleasure, You bestow Your Mercy. You are the Knower of all; You give life, and take it away again with a word. Seated within the creation, You behold it with delight. || 1 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: True are Your worlds, True are Your solar Systems. True are Your realms, True is Your creation. True are Your actions, and all Your deliberations. True is Your Command, and True is Your Court. True is the Command of Your Will, True is Your Order. True is Your Mercy, True is Your Insignia. Hundreds of thousands and millions call You True. In the True Lord is all power, in the True Lord is all might. True is Your Praise, True is Your Adoration. True is Your almighty creative power, True King. O Nanak, true are those who meditate on the True One.

    || 1 || FIRST MEHL: Great is His greatness, as great as His Name. Great is His greatness, as True is His justice. Great is His greatness, as permanent as His Throne. Great is His greatness, as He knows our utterances. Great is His greatness, as He understands all our affections. Great is His greatness, as He gives without being asked. Great is His greatness, as He Himself is all-in-all. O Nanak, His actions cannot be described. Whatever He has done, or will do, is all by His Own Will. || 2 || SECOND MEHL: This world is the room of the True Lord; within it is the dwelling of the True Lord. By His Command, some are merged into Him, and some, by His Command, are destroyed. Some, by the Pleasure of His Will, are lifted up out of Maya, while others are made to dwell within it. No one can say who will be rescued. O Nanak, he alone is known as Gurmukh, unto whom the Lord reveals Himself. || 3 || PAUREE: O Nanak, having created the souls, the Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record their accounts. There, only the Truth is judged true; the sinners are picked out and separated. The false find no place there, and they go to hell with their faces blackened. Those who are imbued with Your Name win, while the cheaters lose. The Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record the accounts.

    || 2 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: Wonderful is the sound current of the Naad, wonderful is the knowledge of the Vedas.Wonderful are the beings, wonderful are the species.Wonderful are the forms, wonderful are the colors. Wonderful are the beings who wander around naked. Wonderful is the wind, wonderful is the water.Wonderful is fire, which works wonders.Wonderful is the earth, wonderful the sources of creation. Wonderful are the tastes to which mortals are attached.Wonderful is union, and wonderful is separation.Wonderful is hunger, wonderful is satisfaction. Wonderful is His Praise, wonderful is His adoration.Wonderful is the wilderness, wonderful is the path.Wonderful is closeness, wonderful is distance. How wonderful to behold the Lord, ever-present here. Beholding His wonders, I am wonder-struck. O Nanak, those who understand this are blessed with perfect destiny. || 1 || FIRST MEHL: By His Power we see, by His Power we hear; by His Power we have fear, and the essence of happiness. By His Power the nether worlds exist, and the Akaashic ethers; by His Power the entire creation exists. By His Power the Vedas and the Puraanas exist, and the Holy Scriptures of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. By His Power all deliberations exist. By His Power we eat, drink and dress; by His Power all love exists. By His Power come the species of all kinds and colors; by His Power the living beings of the world exist. By His Power virtues exist, and by His Power vices exist. By His Power come honor and dishonor. By His Power wind, water and fire exist; by His Power earth and dust exist.

    Everything is in Your Power, Lord; You are the all-powerful Creator. Your Name is the Holiest of the Holy. O Nanak, through the Command of His Will, He beholds and pervades the creation; He is absolutely unrivalled. || 2 || PAUREE: Enjoying his pleasures, one is reduced to a pile of ashes, and the soul passes away. He may be great, but when he dies, the chain is thrown around his neck, and he is led away. There, his good and bad deeds are added up; sitting there, his account is read. He is whipped, but finds no place of rest, and no one hears his cries of pain. The blind man has wasted his life away. || 3 || SHALOK, FIRST MEHL: In the Fear of God, the wind and breezes ever blow. In the Fear of God, thousands of rivers flow. In the Fear of God, fire is forced to labor. In the Fear of God, the earth is crushed under its burden. In the Fear of God, the clouds move across the sky. In the Fear of God, the Righteous Judge of Dharma stands at His Door. In the Fear of God, the sun shines, and in the Fear of God, the moon reflects. They travel millions of miles, endlessly. In the Fear of God, the Siddhas exist, as do the Buddhas, the demi-gods and Yogis. In the Fear of God, the Akaashic ethers are stretched across the sky. In the Fear of God, the warriors and the most powerful heroes exist. In the Fear of God, multitudes come and go. God has inscribed the Inscription of His Fear upon the heads of all. O Nanak, the Fearless Lord, the Formless Lord, the True Lord, is One.

    || 1 || FIRST MEHL: O Nanak, the Lord is fearless and formless; myriads of others, like Rama, are mere dust before Him. There are so many stories of Krishna, so many who reflect over the Vedas. So many beggars dance, spinning around to the beat. The magicians perform their magic in the market place, creating a false illusion.They sing as kings and queens, and speak of this and that. They wear earrings, and necklaces worth thousands of dollars. Those bodies on which they are worn, O Nanak, those bodies turn to ashes. Wisdom cannot be found through mere words. To explain it is as hard as iron. When the Lord bestows His Grace, then alone it is received; other tricks and orders are useless. || 2 || PAUREE: If the Merciful Lord shows His Mercy, then the True Guru is found. This soul wandered through countless incarnations, until the True Guru instructed it in the Word of the Shabad. There is no giver as great as the True Guru; hear this, all you people. Meeting the True Guru, the True Lord is found;

  • ADD ROMANCE TO YOUR BEDROOM

    ADD ROMANCE TO YOUR BEDROOM

    This is perhaps the most romantic space in the house, where you spend the maximum time at night and lounge during the day. A little creativity and some ingenuity, and viola — a mundane space can translate into a coffee-table book example of dazzling romantic style.

    Private sanctuary
    Making your bedroom into a cave-like cosseted private sanctuary is treating yourself to intimate moments of recharging your tired batteries in an atmosphere of romance, comfort, passion and that inimitable feeling of being loved and protected. Your bedroom can then become that escape retreat where you would unwind from a rushed, traffic-angst day.

    Large, thick mattress
    The most important accoutrement in a bedroom is of course a large king-size bed or a show stopper four-poster antique bed that is grand and luxurious, with an eighteen inch mattress that allows you to sink into the soothing relief of unwinding away from cares. There is a certain romance in a cosseting deep mattress.

    Soft cosetting bed-head
    Dramatic shapes for bed-heads — artistic, novel, creative, extraordinary, transform this highutility area into a statement of soft romantic mood. The padding and fabric make for a romantic feel.

    A cosy boudoir
    Create a private nook by adding furniture usually considered living room pieces. A light armchair, an under-the-bed upholstered seater on castors that can be pulled out, a lazy boy, an interesting ottoman, sofas, rocking chairs, matching overstuffed loveseats can prop this room up to have a passionate lounge feel.

    Window seat
    A bay window or a cantilevered slab of stone out of the window using brackets beneath, creates an additional window seat or a box window where you could spend time ruminating or even reading a book.

    Intimate bistro
    A round breakfast table of 30″ diameter, set with two chairs, invites private conversations, is great for secret breakfast away from the rest of the home. That post passion morning cup of tea with your lover opposite you, is an inimitable moment that you hold within you through the day.

    Moving on
    Dressing tables, accessorised with crystal and porcelain add romance and bed trays suggest the chance of sexy luxurious breakfast in bed, while soft lighting, candles, essential oils in a diffuser effectively complete the decor.

    Chiaroscuro lighting
    Soft lighting, candles, essential oils in a diffuser contrasted with dark passionate colours effectively complete the drama of the romance in the decor. Room-darkening window coverings also encourage relaxing the nerves and aid in the restoration of your soul so that you are more attuned to love and romance.

    Art gallery
    Surround yourself with photos of love and places that conjure passionate memories, things that bring memories of romance to you, take you into a space of inimitable passion, states of euphoria.

    Colours for your sanctuary
    Romantic colours include fuchsia, crimsons, dark foliage greens, deep blues, pinks, sky blues, sea greens and aubergine. Darker colours juxtaposed with light ones create a sanctuary like relaxation and assist in unwinding and passion.

    The study
    Within the bedroom installing a vintage roll top writing desk accompanied by a comfortable chair, induces old world charm and a nook to write a love note.

    Mini bar
    A small refrigerator to chill the champagne or wine will make you feel as if you can enjoy your time in the bedroom without interruption.

    Entertainment and verve
    A television offers the opportunity to watch your favourite movies and shows.

    Light it right
    Chic chandeliers twinkling in crystal help create the feeling of an oasis. Tropical plants and trees, uplit with special lights, cast exciting romantic shadows.

    Mirrors
    Use mirrors in unusual places, such as the tops of dressers or side tables, to reflect dancing candle light.

    Shelving
    Fashionable shelving with good organisers and smart chunky drawers are important to hide the necessities like stationery, mobile phones, and their bulky chargers. Utilitarian racks, rustic baskets, and medicine chests with multifarious compartments that can be pulled out for easy access.

  • JENNIFER EHLE JOINS ‘FIFTY SHADES..’ CAST

    JENNIFER EHLE JOINS ‘FIFTY SHADES..’ CAST

    Actress Jennifer Ehle has joined the cast of the screen adaptation of ” Fifty Shades of Grey”. She will be seen playing protagonist Anastasia Steele’s mother. Anastasia’s character is played by Dakota Johnson, while Charlie Hunnam will play Christian Grey in the movie adaptation of E.L. James’ erotic novel, reports contactmusic.com. The film will be directed by Sam Taylor- Johnson.

  • FAMILY IS ALWAYS THE PRIORITY: PENELOPE CRUZ

    FAMILY IS ALWAYS THE PRIORITY: PENELOPE CRUZ

    Penelope Cruz, who will be seen next in Ridley Scott’s star studded drama ‘The Counselor’, is happy juggling work and motherhood. The Spanish beauty gave birth to her daughter, Luna, three months ago with husband Javier Bardem and Cruz says family will always be a priority to her. “I’ve always been a very family person, since I was a little girl, that?s the way I was raised. So that will always be a priority. But I have to work, like everyone else, so I will find a way to balance,” the actress said. The mother of two wore a red Nina Ricci suit for the London premiere of the film, which also stars Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz and Michael Fassbender. Unfortunately for Bardem, the couple don’t have any scenes together in the movie. ‘The Counselor’ is all set to release on October 25.