Katie Holmes has ended her five-year partnership with stylist Jeanne Yang in their fashion line ‘Holmes and Yang’. Sources revealed that the former wife of Tom Cruise ended the deal on the eve of the Oscars due to an “interpersonal conflict” which has soured things between them, the New York Post reported. Sources added that line, which was launched in 2009, was also having difficulty because its creators live on different coasts and reports suggested that Yang was leaking information about Holmes and Cruise following their divorce.
Month: March 2014
-
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
STORY: The film is the real-life story of Rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof, a homophobic electrician, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and given just 30 days to live. Unable to come to terms with his condition, he decided to fight not just the disease, but also the complacent American health-care system.
REVIEW: A film on an AIDS-stricken protagonist (who, in order to prolong his life, becomes an accidental entrepreneur-crusader-activist) could easily emerge as a melancholic piece of socio-medical drama. Instead, Jean-Marc Vallee uplifts and inspires by just showcasing Ron’s (an emaciated Matthew McConaughey) relentless resilience without glorifying his bigoted views or outrageous (drugs-prostitutes-beer) lifestyle. He is the unlikely hero who knows he is fighting a lost battle. He lives in a trailer park and hates ‘faggots’, who according to him are the only ones to contract AIDS.
After his friends shun him owing to the ‘disease’ and the doctors give him 30 days to put his affairs in order, instead of succumbing to depression, he becomes his own physician. He discovers and smuggles unapproved but effective drugs into the US from Mexico and other countries for himself and to make money. But somewhere down the line, he also ends up reaching out to those abandoned by society like Rayon (Jared Leto), a transgender woman addicted to cocaine and infected by HIV. Their deep bromance forms an integral part of the story and is far more interesting than the insipid love track between Ron and Dr Eve (Jennifer Garner). What seems like a standard plot is elevated to excellence by the lead actors’ remarkable performances.
There’s more to McConaughey than the drastic weight loss and an author-backed, Oscar-friendly role. From getting the Texan mannerisms, swagger and his character’s juvenility right, to producing a range of emotions, he reinvents himself and gives the performance of his career. It would be a shame if he doesn’t bag the much-coveted Oscar for it. Leto is a revelation too and deserves the accolades coming his way. Ron died in 1992, seven years after he was diagnosed with HIV. This is his incredible life story, told with a dash of humour and an empathyevoking narrative. Brilliant would be an understatement.
-
Indian Americans Preet Bharara & Mindy Kaling to speak at Harvard Class Day
WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian Americans Preet Bharara and Mindy Kaling have been selected as speakers for this year’s Class Day ceremonies at Harvard Law School.
Bharara is the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and has been in the news frequently for his crackdown on securities fraud on Wall Street and his initiation of legal proceedings against Devyani Khobragade, the former Indian Deputy Consul General in New York.
Of late, his activities led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of Indian American hedge fund manager Mathew Martoma, and started a diplomatic feud between the US and India that still has not been fully resolved. Mindy Kaling, on the other hand, is involved in much lighter affairs. The comedienne is perhaps best known for her hit FOX TV sitcom, “The Mindy Project.”
Additionally, she has had roles on TV shows such as NBC’s “The Office,” and has featured in hit movies like The 40 Year-Old Virgin and No Strings Attached, in which she played the best friend of Oscar-winner Natalie Portman’s character. Bharara is alum of Harvard, having graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1990 before going on to Columbia University, where he earned his J.D. degree in 1993 and was a member of the Columbia Law Review.
Before his current job, Bharara was chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, and also served as the Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. Kaling is a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from where Harvard is located.
She went to rival Ivy League school, Dartmouth College, graduating in 2001. She became an avid cartoonist and stand-up comedian during her time in school, eventually going on to break barriers for south Asian women in Hollywood. Class Day is part of the larger Commencement ceremonies at Harvard Law School; Bharara and Kaling will speak on Wednesday, May 28.
-
BAGGAGE RULES TIGHTENED TO CHECK GOLD IMPORT
NEW DELHI (TIP):
Seeking to check gold smuggling, the government, on March 6, tightened baggage rules, requiring inbound Indian passengers to provide details such as source of funds for importing the metal as well as their air tickets. According to a Revenue Department circular, the baggage receipt issued by the Customs will now include the engraved serial number on gold bars and the item-wise list of ornaments. “Wherever possible, the field officer, may ascertain the antecedents of such passengers, source for funding for gold as well as duty being paid in the foreign currency, person responsible for booking of tickets, and the like,” it said, adding that the decision is aimed at preventing misuse of the gold import facility.The Customs apprehend that some unscrupulous elements were smuggling gold by hiring eligible passengers to import gold on their behalf. The norms have been tightened following ‘a spurt in import’ of gold by eligible passengers through various airports in the recent past across the country. Eligible passengers are allowed to import gold up to 1 kg by paying 10 per cent customs duty in foreign currency. Eligible passenger means Persons of Indian Origin or an Indian returning to India after a period of six months of stay abroad.
The government and the Reserve Bank of India had been expressing concern over spurt in gold import following the curbs, which were imposed to reduce the widening current account deficit (CAD). The curbs included higher import duty (10 per cent) and linking the imports to exports under the 20:80 scheme of the RBI.
-
FLIPKART HITS $1 BILLION IN SALES
NEW DELHI (TIP): Indian e-tailer Flipkart has hit the $1 billion in sales– a feat that it has managed to achieve before its own target and in roughly the same time it took online giant Amazon to do the same in the U.S. “In March 2011, we announced that we wanted to hit $1 billion in gross merchandise value by 2015. At that point, our run rate was $10 million,” said Sachin Bansal, co-founder, Flipkart, in a message. “Today we are proud to announce we have hit a run rate of $1 billion GMV, which means we have grown 100 X in the last three years,” he added.
-
DAIMLER TO SET UP BUS FACTORY AT ORAGADAM
CHENNAI (TIP):
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on March 6 laid the foundation stone for a bus-making facility at its existing plant in Oragadam, near Chennai. The new facility will become operational in the second quarter of 2015. It will receive an investment of 50 million (around 425 crore) and will manufacture 1,500 fully built buses a year. “We can scale it up to 4,000 buses a year,” Markus Villinger, head – Daimler Buses India, said. The chassis of the fully built buses – mounted with a front engine and badged as BharatBenz – will be provided by DICV while the body will be built by Wrightbus.The Daimler group has consolidated all its bus-making facilities at the Oragadam plant. Its existing range of Mercedes Benz with rear engine will also be made near Chennai. “We believe in India. We believe the growth story of India is intact with all those (sluggish market) hiccups we are having now. In the long term, India can grow at 6%,” Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG, board member, responsible for Daimler Trucks and Buses, said.
“We will develop a new front engine school and staff bus in partnership with Wrightbus,” Hartmut Schnick, head – Daimler Buses, said. Initially, buses will be made for private purchases and not state transport corporations which are the biggest bus buyers in the country, officials said. The Indian bus market’s size is nearly 40,000 buses a year, which is expected to double in a decade.
-
Indian-American Physicians to bring Issues before Lawmakers
WASHINGTON (TIP): An influential body of Indian- American physicians is holding its annual legislative day on Capitol Hill March 26-27 to bring issues facing the community before U.S. lawmakers.
Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic organization of physicians, representing over 100,000 physicians of Indian origin, wants to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill and around the nation, it said.
AAPI’s Annual Legislative Day conference will discuss medicare sustainable growth rate, immigration reform, combating obesity, implementation of affordable care and growing U.S.-India relations, according to a media release.
Indian-Americans constitute less than one percent of the country’s population, but they account for nine percent of the American doctors and physicians. One out of every seven doctors serving in the U.S. is of Indian heritage, providing medical care to over 40 million of U.S. population.
Several key lawmakers including Ed Royce Republican chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee and Joe Crowley and Peter Roskam, Democratic and Republican co-chairman of Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans respectively have confirmed their attendance.
“AAPI has been seeking to collectively shape the best health care for the people of U.S. with the physician at the helm, caring for the medically underserved as we have done for several decades when physicians of Indian origin came to the U.S. in larger numbers,” said Jayesh Shah, president of AAPI. “AAPI is once again in the forefront in bringing many burning health care issues facing the community at large and bringing this to the Capitol and to the U.S. Congress,” said Sampat Shivangi, Co-chair of AAPI Legislative Affairs Committee.
As part of comprehensive immigration reform, AAPI has urged the Congress to include international medical graduates also along with international students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for being fasttracked for Green Cards. This proposal would enable highly-skilled workers to remain in the U.S. after receiving their higher education in Am.
-
SAFARICOM, AIRTEL BID FOR ESSAR’S YU
NAIROBI (TIP): Kenya’s two biggest telecoms operators, Safaricom and the local unit of Bharti Airtel, have made a joint bid for the smallest operator, Indian group Essar Communications’ Yu, the industry regulator said. The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said it had received applications from the firms to allow the transaction that will see Safaricom and Airtel spend a combined $100 million.
Local newspaper reports said Safaricom, which is 40% owned by Vodafone, will get Yu’s infrastructure such as base stations in a bid to improve the quality of its network. Meanwhile Airtel is expected to acquire the subscriber base that Yu has built up since entering the Kenyan market in 2008, said The Sunday Nation newspaper. Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, said they would make a formal announcement when the deal is finalised.
-
JLR TO INVEST 100 MILLION POUNDS IN SAUDI ARABIA FOR NEW PLANT
LONDON (TIP):
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning to invest 100 million pounds into a new factory in Saudi Arabia to make 100,000 cars a year to meet the booming demand in the Middle East region. The UK-based luxury car maker is close to signing a deal with the Saudi government to build an assembly factory in the east of the country, according to ‘The Sunday Times’. The plant will initially make a new version of its popular Land Rover Discovery and is eventually expected to employ 4,000-5,000 people. It will be JLR’s third big foreign expansion after deals to open factories in China and Brazil were finalised. The Saudi government is also expected to invest in the plant as it seeks to develop its automotive industry.The company is likely to begin by assembling cars from components made in Britain, and progress to taking more parts from Saudi companies. The Middle East expansion will be another step in the car maker’s success story since being taken over by the Tata Group in 2008. A new 500 million pounds engine plant in the West Midlands is set to begin production next year. Jaguar confirmed a 240 million pounds agreement late last year to build a factory in Rio de Janeiro, and is also opening a plant in China in a 1 billion pounds joint-venture with the Chinese car maker Chery. The firm sold a record 425,006 vehicles in 2013, up 19 per cent on a year earlier, setting new sales records in 38 markets and recording strong growth across all the big regions.
-
Indian-origin hedge fund manager seeks to overturn conviction
NEW YORK (TIP): Indian-origin hedge fund portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, convicted for his role in the most lucrative insider trading scheme in US history, has asked a court to overturn the verdict or give him a new trial as jury bias “tainted” the ruling.
Martoma, 39, said his conviction should be thrown out because “unrelated” information about his dismissal from Harvard Law school biased the jury against him and the government failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he traded on material, non-public information. Alternatively, he said in a 45-page motion filed in a federal court here that he should face a new trial.
The motion by the former portfolio manager of CR Intrinsic Investors, a division of SAC Capital, seeks “a judgement of acquittal on all counts”. Martoma, convicted on February 6, will be sentenced on June 10. He was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in the USD 275 million insider trading scheme after a monthlong trial on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud related to a clinical trial involving Elan Corp and Wyeth, now part of Pfizer Inc, for an experimental drug to treat Alzheimer’s.
While the maximum prison sentence on all the three counts is 45 years, Martoma could face up to 15 to 20 years in prison based on federal sentencing guidelines, which will take into account the gains reaped by SAC from the trading. Martoma also faces a fine of over USD 5 million on the charges. In his motion, Martoma said the government failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he committed any of the crimes he was charged with and that he obtained non-public information from two doctors who knew about the clinical trial.
The government also could not prove that the two doctors obtained a personal benefit from sharing confidential material with Martoma, the motion said. The prosecutors could not prove that Martoma agreed with the doctors who knew of the information about the clinical trial to commit insider trading or had the “requisite criminal intent to do so”, it said.
-
Gold, oil prices rise as tensions build in Ukraine
London (TIP):
The price of gold is the highest it’s been in four months as tensions escalate over Russia sending troops into Ukraine. Traders often consider gold a safer investment in times of political or financial turmoil. Crude oil prices also rose sharply over worries that Russia’s oil exports could be disrupted if the situation gets worse and Western governments impose economic sanctions on Moscow.The actively traded April contract for gold rose $28.70, or 2.2 percent, to $1,350.30 an ounce Monday, the highest price since October. Silver also rose. Crude oil rose $2.33, or 2.3 percent, to $104.92 a barrel. Wheat futures also rose sharply. The May contract rose 29.25 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $6.315 a bushel. Corn futures rose as well, while soybean futures edged lower.
-
Success story or struggle? Portraying Indians in US
WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian-Americans have won plaudits for achievements in science and swept 11 of the last 15 national spelling bees, while others in the community have faced discrimination and even violence.
As the Smithsonian, the US national complex of museums, portrays the Indian- American experience for the first time, organizers have faced hard questions about how to portray a diverse — and occasionally argumentative — community of nearly three million people.
The exhibition, “Beyond Bollywood: Indian-Americans Shape the Nation,” opened February 27 at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington for a one-year run, with plans afterward for the project to tour the United States through 2020.
The exhibition — which takes up everything from yoga to cuisine to hip-hop — features artifacts including the trophy of the first Indian-American spelling bee champion in 1985 and a gown worn by First Lady Michelle Obama that was designed by Indian- American Naeem Khan.
Masum Momaya, the curator, said that planning for the exhibition involved intense debate among Indian-Americans on whether to showcase success stories or to delve into their struggles. “I think that, throughout, there was this seesaw in the community with some people saying, ‘No, take out anything that’s related to achievement,’ and others saying, ‘There’s so much stuff about discrimination; that seems so heavy and sad,’” Momaya said.
“It was definitely an ongoing tension and I think this will be reflected in people’s reaction to it — and live beyond the exhibition,” she said. Momaya said that the debate often went along generational lines, with older Indian- Americans more eager to highlight achievements. Younger Indian Americans often had a different take, with some faulting the exhibition for reinforcing a stereotype of an overachieving model minority.
Momaya said she tried to balance the two sides and also make an exhibition accessible to non-South Asian audiences visiting the museum, which receives more than eight million visitors a year. “I didn’t want this to be a ghettoized space in the museum where people say that this isn’t about me or my community,” she said.
Through Indian-American eyes Setting the atmosphere, the exhibition’s entrance features a shoe rack, showing how South Asians traditionally walk barefoot at home. To Momaya’s surprise, a number of visitors — both of Indian descent and not — have slipped off their own footwear upon spotting the tray. The visitor immediately hears the music of Bollywood movies from the 1960s and 1970s, representing how many Indians — moving as the United States liberalized its immigration laws — brought with them records which they presumed they would not find.
The exhibition invites guests to experience, in small ways, the life of an Indian immigrant. At one point, a visitor stands in the footsteps of an Indian motel owner, looking out on a lobby with all- American images such as a crucifix and a sign, “No Pets, No Checks, No Refunds.” Meanwhile, a table out of customers’ views is cluttered with images of Hindu deities and VHS videotapes of Indian movies.
The exhibition does not shy away from discrimination against South Asians. It features a video interview of a Sikh taxi driver who shared his occasional fears of customers and also highlights South Asian activism on behalf of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans. In one of the most striking displays, the exhibition features the turban of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas station owner in Arizona killed days after the September 11, 2001 attacks. South Asians faced growing violence after the al-Qaida attacks, especially Sikh men — who wear turbans but have no connection to radical Islam.
Momaya said she had just started to work on the exhibition in August 2012 when a white supremacist attacked a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, killing six worshippers. Momaya said she was struck how Sikhs, long part of the United States, felt obliged to defend themselves as patriotic. The attack led her to steep the exhibition in the “contemporary conversations on race and immigration.” “Who belongs? Who is an American? I think those are particularly poignant questions for an exhibition in Washington,” she said.
-
NASA EYES EUROPA: COULD THE OCEANS OF JUPITER’S MOON BE HIDING EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE?
LONDON (TIP):
We’ve yet to find definitive evidence of life on Mars but for Nasa the search is continuing further afield. In its latest budget request the US space agency set aside funds to explore a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, often described as one of the solar system’s best bets for hosting alien life. Nasa’s annual federal budget request of $17.5 billion (down by $1.2 billion from its 2010 peak) has set aside $15 million for “preformulation work” on a mission to the moon, with plans to make detailed observations and possibly sample its interior oceans.Scientists believe that underneath Europa’s icy exterior is a single, massive ocean that contains almost twice as much water as is found on Earth, kept liquid by the gravitational pull of Jupiter – a force that creates tidal swells 1,000 times stronger than those caused by our own Moon. Although for many years it was believed that the existence of life was dependent on absorbing energy from the Sun, in the last 40 years scientists have discovered that microbial life can thrive even in the most extreme, sun-less environments. These include the discovery diverse organisms including tube worms and shrimp found around the deep-sea hydrothermal vents known as ‘black smokers’.
In addition to the possibility of life under the ice, observations made late last year by the Hubble telescope suggest that enormous jets of water some 200 kilometres tall (that’s twice as high as Earth’s atmosphere) are spurting from Europa’s southern pole. This would mean that the Europa Clipper — a concept space probe that Nasa has been developing for just such a mission — could conceivably fly through these plumes of water vapour, collecting samples from Europa’s interior without having to face the cost and difficulty of landing on the surface. Although the 2015 proposed budget is the first time funding to study Europa has been explicitly requested, Nasa has has stressed that all of this work is extremely preliminary.
Europa is a very challenging mission operating in a really high radiation environment, and there’s lots to do to prepare for it,” Nasa’s chief financial officer Beth Robinson said to reporters on Tuesday. “We’re looking for a launch some time in the mid-2020s.” And while the $15 million set aside for research on a Europa mission is tiny compared to the total budget, space enthusiasts should not be downhearted – more than of the proposed budget was allocated for “human exploration operations”, aka getting humans off the planet.
Nasa is currently working on a new crew vehicle (the Orion spacecraft) as well a heavy-lifting rocket designed “to take astronauts farther into the solar system than we have ever gone before.” Both of these craft will be instrumental in the space agency’s plans to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars some time in the 2030s. So even if we don’t find extraterrestrial life elsewhere in the Solar System, it seems we’ll at least have escaped the boundaries of our own planet.
-
Asteroid passing Earth will be closer than Moon
CAPE CANAVERAL (TIP): An asteroid is headed this way. But even though it will come closer than the moon, astronomers say it will pose no danger. The newly discovered asteroid, called 2014 DX110, will hurtle between the moon and Earth on Wednesday. DX110 will pass an estimated 217,000 miles from Earth. That’s approximately nine-tenths of the distance between the moon and Earth. The asteroid is an estimated 45 to 130 feet across. Relatively close approaches like this occur all the time, although DX110 is extra close.
-
Indian arrested in US for sexually assaulting fellow passenger
WASHINGTON (TIP): A 61-year-old Indian national has been arrested in the US on charges of sexually assaulting a fellow woman passenger aboard a domestic flight.
Devender Singh, who lives in Baton Rouge, was arrested on Sunday by the FBI after the plane arrived in Newark. He appeared in New Jersey Court yesterday to face a complaint charging him with one count of abusive sexual contact.
If convicted, Singh faces a maximum potential penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense. According to the filed complaint, Singh was seated next to a woman who occupied a window seat on a United Airlines flight from Houston to Newark. The woman did not know Singh.
While the plane was in the air, the woman fell asleep. Prosecutors said Singh allegedly kissed her face and sexually assaulted her while she was sleeping. “After pushing Singh off of her and telling him to get away, the woman went to the back of the plane and told a flight crew member what had happened, asking that the police be present when the plane landed,” federal prosecutors said. Federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over all sexual abuse cases that occur on aircraft in flight in the United States. Britain explores India-British film heritage.
-
LOW-COST CLEAN METHANOL HOPE FOR CHEAPER FUEL
NEW YORK (TIP): Here comes a potentially clean and low-cost way to convert carbon dioxide into methanol – a key ingredient in the production of plastics, adhesives and solvents and a promising fuel for the future. Scientists have identified a new nickel-gallium catalyst that converts hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methanol with fewer side-products than the conventional catalyst. “Methanol is processed in huge factories at very high pressures using hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from natural gas,” said Felix Studt, a staff scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, US. We are looking for materials than can make methanol from clean sources under low-pressure conditions, while generating low amounts of carbon monoxide, he said.
“Eventually we would also like to make higher alcohols, such as ethanol and propanol, which, unlike methanol, can be directly added to gasoline today,” added co-author Jens Norskov, a professor of chemical engineering at the Stanford University. Once the team understood methanol synthesis at the molecular level, they began the hunt for a new catalyst capable of synthesising methanol at low pressures using only hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The most promising candidate turned out to be a little-known compound called nickel-gallium. The team turned to a research group at the Technical University of Denmark. The Danish team carried out the task of synthesising nickel and gallium into a solid catalyst. In lab tests, nickel-gallium produced more methanol than the conventional copper-zinc-aluminium catalyst and considerably less of the carbon monoxide byproduct.
“You want to make methanol, not carbon monoxide. You also want a catalyst that is stable and does not decompose. The lab tests showed that nickel-gallium is, in fact, a very stable solid,” said Ib Chorkendorff from the Technical University of Denmark. The ultimate goal is to develop a large-scale manufacturing process that is non-polluting and carbon neutral using clean hydrogen, the authors said in the study that appeared in the journal Nature Chemistry.
-
NEOWISE SPACECRAFT SPOTS A NEW ‘WEIRDO’ COMET
NEW DELHI (TIP): Nasa’s NEOWISE spacecraft, which came out of a two year long sleep last year, has spotted a never-beforeseen comet —its first such discovery since coming out of hibernation late last year. The comet was spotted when it was 230 million kilometers from Earth. “We are so pleased to have discovered this frozen visitor from the outermost reaches of our solar system,” said Amy Mainzer, the mission’s principal investigator from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “This comet is a weirdo — it is in a retrograde orbit, meaning that it orbits the sun in the opposite sense from Earth and the other planets.” The new comet, officially named “C/2014 C3 (NEOWISE)”, has a tail about 40,000 kilometers long.
Although the comet’s orbit is still a bit uncertain, it appears to have arrived from its most distant point in the region of the outer planets. According to Universe Today, the comet has a highly-eccentric 20- year orbit that takes it high above the plane of the solar system and out past the orbit of Jupiter. “Technically, with a perihelion distance greater than 1.3 astronomical units, comet C/2014 C3 does not classify as a near-earth object (and its orbit does not intersect earth’s.) But it’s still good to know that NEOWISE is looking out for us,” UT said.
The mission’s sophisticated software picked out the moving object against a background of stationary stars. As NEOWISE circled earth, scanning the sky, it observed the comet six times over half a day before the object moved out of its view. The discovery was confirmed by the Minor Planet Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, when follow-up observations were received three days later from the Near Earth Object Observation project Spacewatch, Tucson, Arizona other follow-up observations were then quickly received. While this is the first comet NEOWISE has discovered since coming out of hibernation, the spacecraft is credited with the discovery of 21 other comets during its primary mission.
Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer or NEOWISE spacecraft was originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It was shut down in 2011 after its primary mission was completed. In September 2013, it was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE and assigned a new mission to assist NASA’s efforts to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-earth objects. NEOWISE will also characterize previously known asteroids and comets to better understand their sizes and compositions.
-
SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB
The seat of the inaccessible and infinite Lord is the highest of the high. Night and day, with your palms pressed together, with each and every breath, meditate on Him. When the Lord Himself becomes merciful, then we attain the Society of His devotees. || 9 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: In this wondrous forest of the world, there is chaos and confusion; shrieks emanate from the highways. I am in love with You, O my Husband Lord; O Nanak, I cross the jungle joyfully. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: The true society is the company of those who meditate on the Name of the Lord. Do not associate with those, O Nanak, who look out only for their own interests.
|| 2 || PAUREE: Approved is that time, when one meets the True Guru. Joining the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, he does not suffer pain again. When he attains the eternal place, he does not have to enter the womb again. He comes to see the One God everywhere. He focuses his meditation on the essence of spiritual wisdom, and withdraws his attention from other sights. All chants are chanted by one who chants them with his mouth. Realizing the Hukam of the Lord’s Command, he becomes happy, and he is filled with peace and tranquility. Those who are assayed, and placed in the Lord’s treasury, are not declared counterfeit again. || 10 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: The pincers of separation are so painful to endure. If only the Master would come to meet me! O Nanak, I would then obtain all the true comforts.
|| 1 || FIFTH MEHL: The earth is in the water, and the fire is contained in the wood. O Nanak, yearn for that Lord, who is the Support of all. || 2 || PAUREE: The works which You have done, O Lord, could only have been performed by You. That alone happens in the world, which You, O Master, have done. I am wonderstruck beholding the wonder of Your Almighty Creative Power. I seek Your Sanctuary – I am Your slave; if it is Your Will, I shall be emancipated. The treasure is in Your Hands; according to Your Will, You bestow it. One, upon whom You have bestowed Your Mercy, is blessed with the Lord’s Name. You are unapproachable, unfathomable and infinite; Your limits cannot be found. One, unto whom You have been compassionate, meditates on the Naam, the Name of the Lord. || 11 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: The ladles cruise through the food, but they do not know the taste of it. I long to see the faces of those, O Nanak, who are imbued with the essence of the Lord’s Love.
|| 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Through the Tracker, I discovered the tracks of those who ruined my crops. You, O Lord, have put up the fence; O Nanak, my fields shall not be plundered again. || 2 || PAUREE: Worship in adoration that True Lord; everything is under His Power. He Himself is the Master of both ends; in an instant, He adjusts our affairs. Renounce all your efforts, and hold fast to His Support. Run to His Sanctuary, and you shall obtain the comfort of all comforts. The karma of good deeds, the righteousness of Dharma and the essence of spiritual wisdom are obtained in the Society of the Saints. Chanting the Ambrosial Nectar of the Naam, no obstacle shall block your way. The Lord abides in the mind of one who is blessed by His Kindness. All treasures are obtained, when the Lord and Master is pleased.
|| 12 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: I have found the object of my search – my Beloved took pity on me. There is One Creator; O Nanak, I do not see any other. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Take aim with the arrow of Truth, and shoot down sin. Cherish the Words of the Guru’s Mantra, O Nanak, and you shall not suffer in pain. || 2 || PAUREE: Waaho! Waaho! The Creator Lord Himself has brought about peace and tranquility. He is Kind to all beings and creatures; meditate forever on Him. The all-powerful Lord has shown Mercy, and my cries of suffering are ended. My fevers, pains and diseases are gone, by the Grace of the Perfect Guru. The Lord has established me, and protected me; He is the Cherisher of the poor. He Himself has delivered me, breaking all my bonds. My thirst is quenched, my hopes are fulfilled, and my mind is contented and satisfied. The greatest of the great, the Infinite Lord and Master – He is not affected by virtue and vice.
|| 13 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: They alone meditate on the Lord God, Har, Har, unto whom the Lord is Merciful. O Nanak, they enshrine love for the Lord, meeting the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Contemplate the Lord, O very fortunate ones; He is pervading in the water, the land and the sky. O Nanak, worshipping the Naam, the Name of the Lord, the mortal encounters no misfortune. || 2 || PAUREE: The speech of the devotees is approved; it is accepted in the Court of the Lord. Your devotees take to Your Support; they are imbued with the True Name. One unto whom You are Merciful, has his sufferings depart. O Merciful Lord, You bless Your devotees with Your Grace. Suffering, pain, terrible disease and Maya do not afflict them. This is the Support of the devotees, that they sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord of the Universe.
Forever and ever, day and night, they meditate on the One and Only Lord. Drinking in the Ambrosial Amrit of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, His humble servants remain satisfied with the Naam. || 14 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: Millions of obstacles stand in the way of one who forgets the Name. O Nanak, night and day, he croaks like a raven in a deserted house. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Beauteous is that season, when I am united with my Beloved. I do not forget Him for a moment or an instant; O Nanak, I contemplate Him constantly. || 2 || PAUREE: Even brave and mighty men cannot withstand the powerful and overwhelming army which the five passions have gathered. The ten organs of sensation attach even detached renunciates to sensory pleasures. They seek to conquer and overpower them, and so increase their following.
The world of the three dispositions is under their influence; no one can stand against them. So tell me – how can the fort of doubt and the moat of Maya be overcome? Worshipping the Perfect Guru, this awesome force is subdued. I stand before Him, day and night, with my palms pressed together. || 15 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: All sins are washed away, by continually singing the Lord’s Glories. Millions of afflictions are produced, O Nanak, when the Name is forgotten. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: O Nanak, meeting the True Guru, one comes to know the Perfect Way. While laughing, playing, dressing and eating, he is liberated.
|| 2 || PAUREE: Blessed, blessed is the True Guru, who has demolished the fortress of doubt.Waaho! Waaho! – Hail! Hail! to the True Guru, who has united me with the Lord. The Guru has given me the medicine of the inexhaustible treasure of the Naam. He has banished the great and terrible disease. I have obtained the great treasure of the wealth of the Naam. I have obtained eternal life, recognizing my own self. The Glory of the all-powerful Divine Guru cannot be described. The Guru is the Supreme Lord God, the Transcendent Lord, infinite, unseen and unknowable.
|| 16 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: Make the effort, and you shall live; practicing it, you shall enjoy peace. Meditating, you shall meet God, O Nanak, and your anxiety shall vanish. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Bless me with sublime thoughts, O Lord of the Universe, and contemplation in the immaculate Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy. O Nanak, may I never forget the Naam, the Name of the Lord, for even an instant; be merciful to me, Lord God.
|| 2 || PAUREE: Whatever happens is according to Your Will, so why should I be afraid? Meeting Him, I meditate on the Name – I offer my soul to Him.When the Infinite Lord comes to mind, one is enraptured. Who can touch one who has the Formless Lord on his side? Everything is under His control; no one is beyond Him. He, the True Lord, dwells in the minds of His devotees. Your slaves meditate on You; You are the Savior, the Protector Lord. You are the Almighty Overlord of all; You bless us with Your Glance of Grace. || 17 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: Take away my sexual desire, anger, pride, greed, emotional attachment and evil desires. Protect me, O my God; Nanak is forever a sacrifice to You.
|| 1 || FIFTH MEHL: By eating and eating, the mouth is worn out; by wearing clothes, the limbs grow weary. O Nanak, cursed are the lives of those who are not attuned to the Love of the True Lord. || 2 || PAUREE: As is the Hukam of Your Command, so do things happen. Wherever You keep me, there I go and stand.With the Love of Your Name, I wash away my evil-mindedness. By continually meditating on You, O Formless Lord, my doubts and fears are dispelled. Those who are attuned to Your Love, shall not be trapped in reincarnation. Inwardly and outwardly, they behold the One Lord with their eyes. Those who recognize the Lord’s Command never weep. O Nanak, they are blessed with the gift of the Name, woven into the fabric of their minds.
|| 18 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: Those who do not remember the Lord while they are alive, shall mix with the dust when they die. O Nanak, the foolish and filthy faithless cynic passes his life engrossed in the world. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: One who remembers the Lord while he is alive, shall be imbued with the Lord’s Love when he dies. The precious gift of his life is redeemed, O Nanak, in the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy. || 2 || PAUREE: From the beginning, and through the ages, You have been our Protector and Preserver. True is Your Name, O Creator Lord, and True is Your Creation. You do not lack anything; You are filling each and every heart. You are merciful and all-powerful; You Yourself cause us to serve You. Those whose minds in which You dwell are forever at peace. Having created the creation, You Yourself cherish it.
You Yourself are everything, O infinite, endless Lord. Nanak seeks the Protection and Support of the Perfect Guru. || 19 || SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL: In the beginning, in the middle and in the end, the Transcendent Lord has saved me. The True Guru has blessed me with the Lord’s Name, and I have tasted the Ambrosial Nectar. In the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy, I chant the Glorious Praises of the Lord, night and day. I have obtained all my objectives, and I shall not wander in reincarnation again. Everything is in the Hands of the Creator; He does what is done.
Nanak begs for the gift of the dust of the feet of the Holy, which shall deliver him. || 1 || FIFTH MEHL: Enshrine Him in your mind, the One who created you. Whoever meditates on the Lord and Master obtains peace. Fruitful is the birth, and approved is the coming of the Gurmukh. One who realizes the Hukam of the Lord’s Command shall be blessed – so has the Lord and Master ordained. One who is blessed with the Lord’s Mercy does not wander.Whatever the Lord and Master gives him, with that he is content. O Nanak, one who is blessed with the kindness of the Lord, our Friend, realizes the Hukam of His Command. But those whom the Lord Himself causes to wander, continue to die, and take reincarnation again.
-
THE BHAGAVAD GITA
A description of the supreme spirit, spirit, material nature,and the individual souls
Know that both the material Nature (Prakriti) and the Spiritual Being (Purush) are beginningless. All manifestations and three dispositions of mind and matter, called modes or Gunas, are born of Prakriti. Prakriti is said to be the cause of production of the physical body and the eleven organs (of perception and action). Purush (Consciousness, Spirit) is said to be the cause of experiencing pleasure and pain.(13.19-20) Spiritual Being (Purush) enjoys three modes (Gunas) of material Nature (Prakriti) by associating with Prakriti. Attachment to the Gunas (due to ignorance caused by previous Karm) is the cause of birth of the living entity (Jeev) in good and evil wombs. (13.21) Eternal Being (Brahm, Atma, Spirit) in the body is also called the witness, the guide, the supporter, the enjoyer, the great Lord, and also the Supreme Self. (13.22) They who truly understand Spiritual Being (Purush) and the material Nature (Prakriti) with its three modes (Gunas) are not born again, regardless of their way of life. (13.23) Some perceive the supersoul (Paramaatma) in their inner psyche through mind and intellect that have been purified either by meditation, or by metaphysical knowledge, or by KarmaYog. (13.24)
The faith alone can lead to Nirvan
Others, however, do not know the yogas of meditation, knowledge, and work; but they perform deity worship with faith, as mentioned in the scriptures by the saints and sages. They also transcend death by virtue of their firm faith in what they have heard. (13.25) Whatever is born — animate or inanimate — know them to be born from the union of the field (Prakriti or matter) and the field knower (Purush or Spirit), O Arjun. (See also 7.06) (13.26) The one who sees the same eternal Supreme Lord dwelling as Spirit (Atma) equally within all mortal beings, truly sees. (13.27) Because of beholding one and the same Lord existing equally in every being, one does not injure anybody and thereupon attains the supreme abode.(13.28) One who perceives that all works are done by the powers (Gunas) of material Nature (Prakriti) alone, and thus does not consider oneself (or the Atma) as the doer, that person truly understands. (See also 3.27, 5.09, and 14.19) (13.29) The moment one discovers the diverse variety of beings and their ideas abiding in One and coming out from That alone, one attains the Supreme Being (ParBrahm). (13.30)
Attributes of the spirit (Brahm)
Because of being beginningless and unaffectable by the three modes of material Nature, the eternal supersoul (Paramaatma) — even though dwelling in the body as a living entity (Jeev) — neither does anything nor becomes tainted, O Arjun. (13.31) Just as the all-pervading space is not tainted because of its subtlety; similarly, Spirit (Atma), abiding in all bodies, is not tainted. (13.32) Just as one sun illuminates the entire world; similarly, Eternal Being (Brahm) illumines (or gives life to) the entire creation, O Arjun.(13.33) They attain the Supreme, who perceive the difference between creation (or the body) and the creator (or the Atma) with the eye of Self-knowledge, and know the technique (by using any one of the five paths—Selfless service, Knowledge, Devotion, Meditation, and Surrender) of liberation of the living entity (Jeev) from the trap of divine illusory energy (Maya). (13.34)
THREE MODES (GUNAS) OF NATURE
The Supreme Lord said: I shall further explain to you that supreme knowledge, the best of all knowledge, knowing which all the sages have attained supreme perfection after this life. (14.01) They who have taken refuge in this transcendental knowledge attain unity with Me and are neither born at the time of creation, nor afflicted at the time of dissolution. (14.02)All beings are born from the union of spirit and matter
My material Nature (Prakriti, mother nature) is the womb of creation wherein I place the seed (of Consciousness or Purush) from which all beings are born, O Arjun. (See also 9.10) (14.03) Whatever forms are produced in all different wombs, O Arjun, the material Nature (Prakriti) is their (bodygiving) mother; and I, the Spiritual Being or Purush, am the (seed or life-giving) father. (14.04)How three modes of material nature bind the spirit soul to the body
Sattv or goodness, Rajas or passion, activity; and Tamas or ignorance, inertia — these three modes (Ropes, Gunas) of material Nature (Prakriti) fetter the eternal individual soul (Jeev) to the body, O Arjun. (14.05) Of these, the mode of goodness (Sattv) is illuminating and good, because it is pure. Sattv fetters the living entity (Jeev) by attachment to happiness and knowledge, O sinless Arjun. (14.06) Arjun, know that the mode of passion (Rajas) is characterized by intense craving and is the source of desire and attachment. Rajas binds the living entity (Jeev) by attachment to (the fruits of) work.(14.07) Know, O Arjun, that the mode of ignorance (Tamas) — deluder of the living entity (Jeev)— is born of inertia. Tamas binds Jeev by carelessness, laziness, and excessive sleep. (14.08) O Arjun, the mode of goodness attaches one to happiness (of learning and knowing the Eternal Being); the mode of passion attaches to action; and the mode of ignorance attaches to negligence by covering Selfknowledge. (14.09)
Characteristics of three modes of nature
Goodness prevails by suppressing passion and ignorance; passion prevails by suppressing goodness and ignorance; and ignorance prevails by suppressing goodness and passion, O Arjun. (14.10) When the light of Self-knowledge illuminates all the senses (or gates) in the body, then it should be known that goodness is predominant. (14.11) O Arjun, when passion is predominant; greed, activity, undertaking of selfish works, restlessness, excitement, etc. arise. (14.12) O Arjun, when inertia is predominant; ignorance, inactivity, carelessness, delusion, etc. arise. (14.13)Three modes are also the vehicles of transmigration for the individual soul
One who dies when goodness dominates goes to heaven — the pure world of knowers of the Supreme. (14.14) One who dies when passion dominates is reborn attached to action (or the utilitarian type). One who dies in ignorance is reborn as a lower creature. (14.15) The fruit of good action is said to be beneficial and pure; the fruit of passionate action is pain; and the fruit of ignorant action is laziness.(14.16) Self-knowledge arises from the mode of goodness; greed arises from the mode of passion; and negligence, delusion, and slowness of mind arise from the mode of ignorance. (14.17) They who are established in goodness go to heaven; passionate persons are reborn in the mortal world; and the ignorant, abiding in the lowest mode of ignorance (Tamo Guna), go to lower planets or hell (or take birth as lower creatures). (14.18)
Attain Nirvan after transcending three modes of material nature
When visionaries perceive no doer other than the powers of Eternal Being — the modes (Gunas) of material Nature; and know That which is above and beyond these Gunas, then they attain salvation (Mukti). (See also 3.27, 5.09, and 13.29) (14.19) When one transcends (or rises above) the three modes of material Nature that create (and/or originate in) the body, one attains immortality or salvation (Mukti) and is freed from the pains of birth, old age, and death. (14.20)The process of rising above the three modes
Arjun said: What are the marks of those who have transcended the three modes of material Nature, and what is their conduct? How does one transcend these three modes of material Nature, O Lord Krishn? (14.21) The Supreme Lord said: One transcends the mode of material Nature who neither hates the presence of enlightenment, activity, and delusion; nor desires for them when they are absent; who remains like a witness without being affected by the modes (Gunas) of material Nature (Prakriti); who stays firmly attached to the Lord without wavering — thinking that only the modes of material Nature (Gunas of Prakriti) are operating.(14.22-23) And one who depends on the Lord and is indifferent to pain and pleasure; to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are alike; to whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike; who is of firm mind; who is calm in censure and in praise, and indifferent to honor and disgrace; who is impartial to friend and foe; and who has renounced the sense of doership. (14.24-25)
Bonds of three modes can be cut by devotional love
One who offers service to Me with love and unswerving devotion transcends the three modes of material Nature and becomes fit for BrahmNirvan (See also 7.14 and 15.19) (14.26), because I am the basis of the immortal Eternal Being (Brahm), of everlasting order (Dharm), and of the absolute bliss (Aanand). (14.27) -
New York Indian American physician Mahesh Kuthuru faces 30 years in jail for healthcare fraud
NEW YORK (TIP): An Indian American physician and his colleague have been indicted on charges of healthcare fraud, which could land them as much as 30 years behind bars.
Forty-three year-old Mahesh Kuthuru, along with his 42 year-old employee Bonnie Meislin are at the center of a Medicare scheme in which they allegedly billed the federal program to reimburse them for medical procedures they never actually conducted. Additionally, the two allegedly distributed several Schedule II controlled substances illegally, such as Oxycodone and Oxycotin.
The fraudulent activities occurred at Upstate Pain Management, a clinic Kuthuru ran in New York. Kuthuru bought a new clinic in Las Vegas in 2008, and ended up selling his New York home in 2009 to spend more time setting up his new business.
As a result, he began spending less and less time at Upstate Pain Management, and between 2010 and 2011, it got to the point where long periods of time transpired during which no qualified healthcare professional were actually administering the clinic’s care. Meislin was indicted on January 8, while Kuthuru was later arrested in Las Vegas and indicted on February 28.
Now, both Kuthuru and Meislin are facing 30 counts of health care fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years, as well as 15 counts of drug distribution which each carry a 20 year maximum sentence. The charges also come with fines of $250,000 each and $1 million each, respectively. Kuthuru, who specializes in “Pain Medicine,” will have his arraignment date on March 12, before US Magistrate Judge Therese Wiley Dancks in Syracuse, New York. Incidentally, Dr. Kuthuru is 2007 Healthcare Hero. He was nominated by Terry Salmonsen for the “Healthcare Hero” award.
-
Four Dead in New Jersey Fire
JERSEY CITY (TIP): A fast-moving fire claimed four lives on Thursday, March 6 in New Jersey’s second-largest city, where the mayor said a mix-up over the street name delayed the emergency response.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said the fire also likely destroyed five houses and displaced at least 30 people. He said it took firefighters 7 to 8 minutes to get to the scene instead of the usual 3 to 4 minutes because a dispatcher misunderstood a caller.
But the mayor told The Associated Press that officials do not believe the delay cost lives because the home was already engulfed when the first calls came in. “The calls indicated the house was already engulfed in flames,” Fulop said. “It was already a multi-alarm fire out of the gate.”
The fire happened on Jersey City’s Grant Avenue, but the mayor said an initial caller did not specify the street or avenue, and a dispatcher thought the person said “Grand” instead of “Grant.” Firefighters were routed to Grand Street instead of Grant Avenue. “The 911 dispatchers are obviously trained to deal with high-pressure situations,” Fulop said.
“But in the mix-up, the caller didn’t distinguish … You’re dealing with people in the heat of the moment, and it’s hard to get them to answer questions. That issue was part of it.” The fire swept through part of a block of row houses. Authorities recovered two bodies by late morning, and brought out two other bodies later in the day. Authorities hadn’t released the identities of the dead by Thursday afternoon, but neighbors and people who said they knew the family said the victims were a pastor and his wife and children.
Before the bodies were found, the mayor said a couple in their 80s and their two sons, who are in their 50s, were unaccounted for. Carolyn Oliver-Fair, of Jersey City, and Bernadine Byrd, of Newark, said pastor William Pickett often held services at his house and also preached in Newark and other areas. “He was just a likable, lovable guy,” Oliver-Fair said. “This is absolutely devastating. It’s a tragic loss for the community.”
Authorities haven’t said what they believe caused the fire. As stunned neighbors looked on, firefighters used a ladder truck to peer into the second floor of the charred structure. A funeral is scheduled for Friday for Fire Captain Gregory Barnas, a 29-year veteran of the department who also volunteered with the Wallington Fire Department. Barnas was killed last week after falling from the roof of a burning restaurant in Wallington.
-
Equality for Women is Progress for All
Today we join the people of the world in celebration of the progress made for women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality. We also acknowledge that progress has been slow, uneven and in some cases women and girls face new and more complex challenges. International Women’s Day is therefore also a day to recommit ourselves to working harder for gender equality, together as women, men, youth and leaders of nations, communities, religion and commerce.
If we act decisively, with the knowledge that empowering women and girls and supporting their full participation can help solve the greatest challenges of the 21st century, we will find lasting solutions to many of the problems we face in our world. Major challenges such as poverty, inequality, violence against women and girls, and insecurity will be addressed substantially. Women spend the majority of their income on the well-being of their children and family.
Raising women’s labor force participation increases economic growth. By ending women’s poverty, we will sustainably and significantly reduce extreme poverty worldwide. By keeping girls in school longer, with quality education we will empower young women to play their full role in society and build stronger families, communities and democracies. By advancing equal opportunity and removing structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment, we will reduce inequality and spur inclusive economic growth. By supporting women’s equal representation in leadership positions in peacemaking, in communities, in politics, in business and in religious institutions, we will build a more just, peaceful and secure world.
By working with men and boys, and doing it together, we will engage humanity in a task that is a responsibility for all. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we remember and celebrate the women who, led by women in trade unions on this day more than a century ago, called for better working conditions, peace and bread. Their call is still valid today. Given slow and uneven progress, we continue to call for change. And we pay tribute to the countless women around the world who are making change every day as they go about their daily lives.
Nearly 20 years after the Beijing Women’s Conference, and 15 years after the Millennium Summit, we look back with pride at the achievements that have been made. More women are working. More girls are in school. Fewer women die in pregnancy and childbirth. And more women are in leadership positions. But no country in the world has achieved equality between women and men and girls and boys, and violations of the rights of women and girls are an outrage. So let us build on the lessons learned and the knowledge that equality for women is progress for all, and make greater and bolder progress as we work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and chart a new post-2015 development agenda.
We can no longer afford to hold back half the world’s population. The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantage. Together we must make sure that: SHE is Safe and Secure from genderbased violence. SHE has Human rights that are respected, including reproductive rights. SHE is Empowered economically and in every way through Education, Equal opportunity, participation and leadership.
This is the SHE Imperative to which I call on you to commit. Let us all cross the line and stand on the right side of history. Today and every day, UN Women will stand strong for women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality. Equality for women is progress for all.
-
Two Indian-American students go missing
NEW YORK (TIP): Even as search continues for an Indian-American nursing student who went missing in New York 10 days ago another India native has mysteriously vanished on a spring break trip to Florida.
Reny Jose, who arrived in Panama City Beach, Florida Saturday, March 1, disappeared Monday evening, the Houston Chronicle reported citing Florida’s Bay County Sheriff’s Office. A police spokesperson said Jose’s clothing were found in a garbage can behind the house.
Rice University informed students of Jose’s disappearance Tuesday, said Rice spokesman B.J. Almond. Almond said the 21-year-old senior is a native of Latham, a suburb of Albany, New York. According to Jose’s Facebook page, he graduated from Latham’s Shaker High School before enrolling at Rice to study mechanical engineering.
Jose’s sister, Reashma Jose, has created a Facebook page to help find her brother. Meanwhile, the Nassau county police department’s missing persons squad is seeking the public’s help in locating Jasmine V. Jospeh, a 22-year-old female college student from Syosset, according to Newsday.
Her parents said Saturday that they had paid for their daughter to enrol at New York Institute of Technology for the fall 2013 semester. But university officials said Jasmine Joseph, who would have been a junior, hadn’t been a student at school in Old Westbury since last May. The parents don’t know for sure whether she had been attending class, and they haven’t seen any of her grades, Newsday said.
They never, however, suspected anything suspicious about their daughter’s behavior. The family has set up a Facebook page and put up fliers in the neighborhood with the hopes of gaining any clues into their daughter’s disappearance. Last month, yet another Indian-origin student Pravin Varughese, who had gone missing in Illinois, was found dead in a wooded area in Carbondale. The Southern Illinois University student from Morton Grove had disappeared after getting into a dispute with an acquaintance who was giving him a ride.
-
Woman Empowerment…..
To me, woman is the embodiment of love and spiritual values. All that is beautiful in body, mind and soul is “woman.” On International Women’s Day, we celebrate both women and woman empowerment. We also celebrate all that women have achieved over the years. At the same time we take stock of the changes in the status of women. We find out if women are getting equal opportunities for education and health care. We ask ourselves: Is society giving women honor and dignity? Long ago, I had written, “A woman was created to blossom and bloom, in the colors and fragrance of her choice.
The way an unwatered plant becomes parched and dies, so does the personality of a woman who is struggling to break through the shackles of social conditioning, to achieve recognition as a separate individual, with a distinct identity. The change will be complete when society recognizes that it cannot benefit from preventing the emergence of the pearl from the oyster.” When I started my career, more than four decades ago, women were stepping out of their homes into the career world. They were looking for jobs that were better suited to women. But, times have changed. Women have made their mark in every field. They are acquiring professional qualifications and are no less than men in ability or intelligence.
Financial independence is so important for women. It gives confidence and strength. The woman does not have to endure and suffer in silence. But, attitudes need to change too. She has to realize her own potential and strength as an equal member of society. A woman has the strength to bring about change in the society and in her own status. When I represented India at President Obama’s Summit for Entrepreneurs in Washington DC, we had a seminar on women empowerment. Mrs. Hillary Clinton was there and she spoke on the upliftment of women in rural areas and education of the girl child.
She said the quality of life needs to improve in terms of basic health care too. We discussed that education and health care would help child mortality rates go down. In fact, I feel that special attention should be given to extra-curricular activities for girls and women in rural areas. An exercise and diet regime would help both mental and physical health. Great emphasis should be given to every mother to empower her financially and mentally, so that she can educate her girl child of her rights and also inculcate the values of good health, nutritious diet and education.
When I lectured at MIT, I also spoke on the relevance of education for woman empowerment and quoted Mahatma Gandhi, who had said, “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate an entire family.” Today, I feel proud that women have achieved so much. But we still have a long way to go. Woman empowerment is not just about one day in the year. It should be an on-going process, so that each of us can focus on the areas that need change and do our bit. The woman has to realize her own potential and strength as an equal member of society.
In fact, the educated and self-reliant mothers can also bring about change in the mindset of society and teach their sons to honor and respect women. Empowerment is also about women realizing that they should embrace change. Creating awareness is so important. The work of rural women and women activists, who are working in rural and tribal areas, can be highlighted through awards and functions within the rural community itself. I feel that we need to emphasize the work of rural women who are struggling to better society and their own lives. They should draw public attention to instances of injustices towards women. They should also highlight instances where women have excelled, in order to inspire other women.
Educated women and professionals can work together to focus on issues – like literacy, learning of skills and opportunities for entrepreneurship, through kitchen and cottage industries. They can also participate in programs on social issues and health care. The “Pulse Polio” program for instance, is a successful example. Father and mother must value the girl child and give her equal opportunities. Changes cannot come from outside and by force. It has to come from within the society.
The change can be complete when society recognizes that the woman has a separate identity, her own dreams and ambitions and every right to fulfill them. To women, I also want to say – Believe in yourself and your own abilities. Keep learning. Do you dream of being successful? Don’t stop! It is important to dream. Then have the faith and courage to take the first step towards realizing the magic of your dreams. Let each woman also redefine her place in the world, giving it her own color and fragrance and make this world a better place.
-
Health Workshops in New Jersey
SOUTH BRUNSWICK (TIP): Indian Health Camp of New Jersey in collaboration with South Brunswick Health Department and Middlesex County Office of Health Services will hold Chronic Disease Self Management Program from April 23 thru May 28, 2014 The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program was created by Stanford University and is being sponsored by the NJ Department of Health and Human Services.
It consists of workshops given 2 ½ hours weekly for six weeks in community settings. The program focuses on challenges that are common to individuals living with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, chronic pain, anxiety, etc. The target audience includes those with chronic diseases and their caregivers.
The goal of this program is to empower attendees with the skills they need to effectively and optimally manage their conditions. The workshops are facilitated by two trained leaders. Topics covered include: managing your symptoms, getting started with healthy eating and exercise, communicating effectively with your physician, managing fear, anger and frustration, and making daily tasks easier.
Studies indicate that those who have taken the program demonstrated significant improvement in overall health and quality of life. South Brunswick Health Department in partnership with the Middlesex County Office of Health Services and Indian Health Camp of NJ – IHCNJ will be offering this FREE program at the South Brunswick Municipal Building beginning April 23, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Participants are expected to make a commitment to all six sessions. They will receive a copy of “Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions”. To learn more about this workshop and to register please contact Nancy MacKay at 732-329-4000 ext. 7258 (South Brunswick Health Department) or Dr. Tushar Patel at 848-391- 0499 or e-mail tpatel434@yahoo.com. Class size is limited and enrollment will be on first come first serve basis and is open to all residents.