Model-actress Adriana Lima has been offering lingerie tips to men to gift the women in their lives. The 32-year-old said that it is important to be able to keep the gift a surprise. “If you’re not sure of her bra size, try to go through her things when your lady’s not in the house.
That’s the secret, because you want to surprise her – we love surprises,” contactmusic.com quoted Lima as saying. Lima’s association with lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret dates back to 2000.
STORY: Part bonkers, part brilliant Flint Lockwood (Hader) now works for The Live Corp Company, after accepting an invite from his idol, Chester (Forte). While Chester wants to save Swallow Falls from being swamped by mutant creatures and critters, Flint, who is enlisted to help save the town, soon finds himself having to take some important decisions. REVIEW: While its predecessor had more emotional impact, this second helping of Cloudy… is more adventurous and fun, while losing precious little of the overall charm of the characters and location.
Flint’s earlier invention of a machine that turned water to food was of great benefit to the people of Swallow Falls as it created a smorgasbord of free grub for the townsfolk to chow down on. While Flint, his father Tim (Caan) and his buddies Sam (Faris), Brent (Samberg) and Steve (Harris) had been living elsewhere, they have to now return to their old town. This is because Flint’s old machine has become self-aware and started creating a glut of hilariously-titled ‘foodimals’ – living creatures made out of various food items with portmanteau names like ‘shrimpanzees’, ‘watermelephants’, ‘double bacon cheespider’ and ‘tacodiles’.
Flint now gets recruited by Chester, who apparently wants to save Swallow Falls. And as frantic Flint finds himself both inspired and driven by Chester, his newfound success makes him more socially acceptable and he drifts further away from the grounding effect of his old buddies. There are a few smaller subplots too, but apart from creatively-titled names and a hallucinogenic landscape, Cameron and Pearn keep the narrative tight and in focus without rambling all over the place.
While kids will enjoy the jokes, there are sight gags galore to give adults a good guffaw or three. Generously laden with a buffet of food puns and savoury set locations, this is a film filled with gorgeous, vivid animation and no-holds-barred creativity. With plenty of ‘tasty’ surprises, the umpteen food references make it as much a gustatory delight as it is uplifting.
LONDON (TIP): Scientists have developed a device that can take a “biopsy” of a living cell, sampling minute volumes of its contents without killing it. The new tool, called a nanobiopsy, uses a robotic glass nanopipette to pierce the cell membrane and extract a volume of around 50 femtolitres, around one per cent of the cell’s contents. It will allow scientists to take samples repeatedly, to study the progression of disease at a molecular level in an individual cell. It can also be used to deliver material into cells, opening up ways to reprogramme diseased cells.
“This is like doing surgery on individual cells,” said Dr Paolo Actis, from the department of medicine at Imperial College, London, who developed the technology with colleagues at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “This technology will be extremely useful for research in many areas. You could use it to dynamically study how cancer cells are different from healthy cells, or look at how brain cells are affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The possibilities are immense,” Actis said.
To get inside the cell, the nanopipette is plunged downwards about one micrometre to pierce the cell membrane. Applying a voltage across the tip makes fluid flow into the pipette. When the pipette is removed from the cell, the membrane remains intact and the cell retains its shape. The device is based on a scanning ion conductance microscope, which uses a robotic nanopipette, about 100 nanometres in diameter, to scan the surface of cells. The nanopipette is filled with an electrolyte solution and the ion current is measured inside the tip.
When the pipette gets close to a cell membrane, the ion current decreases. This measurement is used to guide the tip across the surface of a sample at a constant distance, producing a picture of the surface. In an initial study published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers used the nanobiopsy technique to extract and sequence messenger RNA, molecules carrying genetic code transcribed from DNA in the cell’s nucleus. This allowed them to see which genes were being expressed in the cell.
They were also able to extract whole mitochondria – the power units of the cell. Mitochondria contain their own DNA, and the researchers discovered that the genomes of different mitochondria in the same cell are different.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Nasa and the Japanese space agency JAXA are teaming up to launch a new weather satellite in February 2014, to improve environmental research and weather forecasts worldwide. On February 28, Nasa and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will launch a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center. GPM is an international satellite mission that will provide advanced observations of rain and snowfall worldwide, several times a day to enhance understanding of the water and energy cycles that drive Earth’s climate, Nasa said.
The data provided by the Core Observatory will be used to calibrate precipitation measurements made by an international network of partner satellites to quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows around the world. “Launching this core observatory and establishing the Global Precipitation Measurement mission is vitally important for environmental research and weather forecasting,” said Michael Freilich, director of Nasa’s Earth Science Division in Washington. “Knowing rain and snow amounts accurately over the whole globe is critical to understanding how weather and climate impact agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters,” said Freilich.
“We will use data from the GPM mission not only for Earth science research but to improve weather forecasting and respond to meteorological disasters,” said Shizuo Yamamoto, executive director of JAXA. “We would also like to aid other countries in the Asian region suffering from flood disasters by providing data for flood alert systems. Our dual-frequency precipitation radar, developed with unique Japanese technologies, plays a central role in the GPM mission,” said Yamamoto.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Scientists have identified an existing antiinflammatory drug that in laboratory tests blocked the death of immune system’s cells which occurs as an HIV infection leads to AIDS. Researchers are planning a Phase 2 clinical trial to determine if this drug or a similar drug can prevent HIV-infected people from developing AIDS and related conditions.
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes identified the precise chain of molecular events in the human body that drives the death of most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells as an HIV infection leads to AIDS. Two separate journal articles, published simultaneously in Nature and Science, detailed the research from the laboratory of Warner C Greene, who directs virology and immunology research at Gladstone, an independent biomedical-research nonprofit based in San Francisco.
His lab’s Science paper revealed how, during an HIV infection, a protein known as IFI16 senses fragments of HIV DNA in abortively infected immune cells. This triggers the activation of the human enzyme caspase-1 and leads to pyroptosis, a fiery and highly inflammatory form of cell death. As revealed in Nature paper, this repetitive cycle of abortive infection, cell death, inflammation and recruitment of additional CD4 T cells to the infection “hot zone” ultimately destroys the immune system and causes AIDS.
Nature paper further described laboratory tests in which an existing anti-inflammatory inhibits caspase-1, thereby preventing pyroptosis and breaking the cycle of cell death and inflammation. “Gladstone has made two important discoveries, first by showing how the body’s own immune response to HIV causes CD4 T cell death via a pathway triggering inflammation, and secondly by identifying the host DNA sensor that detects the viral DNA and triggers this death response,” said Robert F Siliciano, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Once the scientists discovered how CD4 T cells die they began to investigate how the body senses the fragments of HIV’s DNA in the first place, before alerting the enzyme caspase-1 to launch an immune response in the CD4 T cells. They also identified that reducing the activity of a protein known as IFI16 inhibited pyroptosis. “This identified IFI16 as the DNA sensor, which then sends signals to caspase-1 and triggers pyroptosis,” said Kathryn M Monroe, the Science paper’s other lead author, who completed the research while a postdoctoral fellow at Gladstone.
LONDON (TIP): For the first time, an artificial heart that may give patients up to five years of extra life has been successfully implanted in a 75-year-old French man. The artificial heart, designed by French biomedical firm Carmat, is powered by Lithium-ion batteries that can be worn externally. The heart that was put into the patient at Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris uses a range of “biomaterials”, including bovine tissue, to reduce the likelihood of the body rejecting it, ‘The Telegraph’ reported.
This device is intended to replace a real heart for as many as five years, unlike previous artificial hearts that were created mainly for temporary use. Doctors said the patient who received the device developed by Dutch-based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) was awake and responding well after the operation. “We are delighted with this first implant, although it is premature to draw conclusions given that a single implant has been performed and that we are in the early post-operative phase,” Marcello Conviti, the chief executive of Carmat, said.
The heart weighs as little as less than a kilogramme, almost three times as much as an average healthy human heart. The device mimics heart muscle contractions and contains sensors that adapt the blood flow to the patient’s moves, the report said. The heart surfaces that come into contact with human blood are made partly from bovine tissue instead of synthetic materials such as plastic, which can cause blood clots.
25 million Sikhs all over the world celebrated January 5 to 7, the birth anniversary of their Tenth Master, Guru Gobind Singh who created Khalsa in 1699.
On this January 7, day of his birthday, we are reminded of Guru Gobind Singh, a great messiah and a fearless Asian leader. He changed the course of history in many ways and his life is a telling story of an invaluable legacy. The prophet lived at a time (1666-1708) when religious fanaticism in South Asia was at its height. It was endlessly posing a grave threat to the human spirit of freedom and liberty. Acceptance of pluralism and multicultural life was in peril.
Those with faith practices different from those of misguided rulers were persecuted and the religious places of one religion were replaced with those of others. Guru’s great-grand-father, father, four sons and countless followers were put to death by the powers. It was a dark, grim and ominous period in human history. The innate human desire for individual expression and diversity of belief was severely curtailed. From his childhood Gobind took the ways of interfaith promotion and broke the social barriers to its practices. Contrary to established practices of initiating a child by the faith of his forefathers, a renowned Muslim saint, Syed Bhikhan Shah, was given this honor.
The saint was inspired by Divine Light to make his way to the Guru’s birth place, Patna in East India. He was sent there to bless the day-old Gobind, and to pronounce him divine messiah of the time. Throughout his life, Guru Gobind Singh worked tirelessly to restore society’s confidence in the time-tested human values of unity in diversity, freedom of faith practices, justice and compassion. He challenged the ruling and dominant powers with perseverance and determination. With equal might he challenged the wide-spread religious bigotry of self-appointed contractors of heavens.
The Guru’s defiance of political and antagonistic cultural onslaughts extracted a heavy price. His both parents and four sons faced martyrdom right in front of his eyes. However, his commitment and resolve didn’t weaken despite enormous hardships. He founded and led an army of those committed to serve the divine mission, and be partisans of truth and freedom in the unholy strife. To spread his message of a perfect egalitarian society based on one-ness of God that celebrates diversity in all of its myriad forms, he said:
As out of a single fire arise millions of spark; but all of them merge back into the same fire. As out of same dust arise millions of dust particles; but all of them merge back into the same dust. As out of a single ocean arise millions of waves; but all of them merge into the same water. So from God’s form, emerge all creation, animate and inanimate; and all of them are in equilibrium with the same Creator.
Guru Gobind Singh believed that the differences among humans in terms of color, appearance and ethnicity were due to God’s creative process; all human beings had a moral responsibility to cherish and preserve this sacred creativity. He emphasized the unity of human spirit despite many apparent distinctions. He said:
All human being are one and the same, although there is a deception of differences.
Guru Gobind Singh was a champion of human rights. He advocated freedom of culture, religion and thought for every individual. He explained that the differences in our outward appearance, clothes, customs and practices are attributed to the choices that only we make:
Many are gods or demon, or celestial musicians. There are heavenly tribes and the learned people or the artists. They may be seen as people of different religions as Muslims (citizens of Islamic nations) or Hindus (natives of Indian subcontinent). They all look and act differently, but their apparent differences are due only to the influences from their countries and cultures, or in the clothes they wear.
We can thus appreciate that selfrighteousness which comes from dividing the world into us and them had no place in Guru Gobind Singh’s vision. His sacrifices made a great difference and diversity was preserved throughout Indian sub-continent. Santokh Singh, a great historian of India rightly observed.
Were Guru Gobind Singh not there at the critical junction of South Asian history, there would have been all uniformity; the diversity would have taken wings. In favor of one religion, the others would have been destroyed and their holy places smashed. Sin would have replaced the virtues.
The worldview of Guru Gobind Singh is all inclusive. Indeed, Guru Gobind Singh’s ideal of appreciation for diversity as a pivotal feature of all human activity is also an American ideal. We must never forget to defend it. On this day of Guru’s coming, we take pride in its celebration.
(The author is an authority on Sikhism. He is Emeritus Professor and Chairman, Dept of Pharmacology & Neuroscience U. North Texas Health Science Center He can be reached at 817- 446-8757 and Japji8@yahoo.com)
The Sikh Gurus never believed in the exclusivity of their teachings. The Gurus undertook travels to spread their message to peoples of different cultures in their own native languages. The Gurus did not believe in the ideas of any language being ‘sacred’ or ‘special’. It is in this spirit that various Sikh scholars have undertaken efforts to translate Sri Guru Granth Sahib into a number of languages in order to spread the teachings of the Gurus and to bring the Sikh religion to the people of the world as Guru Nanak wished.
“Enshrine the Lord’s Name within your heart. The Word of the Guru’s Bani prevails throughout the world; through this Bani, the Lord’s Name is obtained.” (Guru Amar Das, Maru, pg. 1066)
The blind man has forgotten the Name; he is in limbo, neither here nor there. || 1 || Pause || Life and death come to all who are born. Everything here gets devoured by Death. He sits and examines the accounts, there where no one goes along with anyone. Those who weep and wail might just as well all tie bundles of straw. || 2 || Everyone says that God is the Greatest of the Great. No one calls Him any less. No one can estimate His Worth. By speaking of Him, His Greatness is not increased. You are the One True Lord and Master of all the other beings, of so many worlds.
|| 3 || Nanak seeks the company of the lowest of the low class, the very lowest of the low. Why should he try to compete with the great? In that place where the lowly are cared for – there, the Blessings of Your Glance of Grace rain down. || 4 || 3 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Greed is a dog; falsehood is a filthy street-sweeper. Cheating is eating a rotting carcass. Slandering others is putting the filth of others into your own mouth. The fire of anger is the outcaste who burns dead bodies at the crematorium. I am caught in these tastes and flavors, and in selfconceited praise. These are my actions, O my Creator! || 1 || O Baba, speak only that which will bring you honor.
They alone are good, who are judged good at the Lord’s Door. Those with bad karma can only sit and weep. || 1 || Pause || The pleasures of gold and silver, the pleasures of women, the pleasure of the fragrance of sandalwood, the pleasure of horses, the pleasure of a soft bed in a palace, the pleasure of sweet treats and the pleasure of hearty meals – these pleasures of the human body are so numerous; how can the Naam, the Name of the Lord, find its dwelling in the heart? || 2 || Those words are acceptable, which, when spoken, bring honor. Harsh words bring only grief.
Listen, O foolish and ignorant mind! Those who are pleasing to Him are good. What else is there to be said? || 3 || Wisdom, honor and wealth are in the laps of those whose hearts remain permeated with the Lord. What praise can be offered to them? What other adornments can be bestowed upon them? O Nanak, those who lack the Lord’s Glance of Grace cherish neither charity nor the Lord’s Name. || 4 || 4 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: The Great Giver has given the intoxicating drug of falsehood. The people are intoxicated; they have forgotten death, and they have fun for a few days.
Those who do not use intoxicants are true; they dwell in the Court of the Lord. || 1 || O Nanak, know the True Lord as True. Serving Him, peace is obtained; you shall go to His Court with honor. || 1 || Pause || The Wine of Truth is not fermented from molasses. The True Name is contained within it. I am a sacrifice to those who hear and chant the True Name. Only one who obtains a room in the Mansion of the Lord’s Presence is deemed to be truly intoxicated. || 2 || Bathe in the waters of Goodness and apply the scented oil of Truth to your body, and your face shall become radiant.
This is the gift of 100,000 gifts. Tell your troubles to the One who is the Source of all comfort. || 3 || How can you forget the One who created your soul, and the praanaa, the breath of life? Without Him, all that we wear and eat is impure. Everything else is false. Whatever pleases Your Will is acceptable. || 4 || 5 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Burn emotional attachment, and grind it into ink. Transform your intelligence into the purest of paper. Make the love of the Lord your pen, and let your consciousness be the scribe. Then, seek the Guru’s Instructions, and record these deliberations.
Write the Praises of the Naam, the Name of the Lord; write over and over again that He has no end or limitation. || 1 || O Baba, write such an account, that when it is asked for, it will bring the Mark of Truth. || 1 || Pause || There, where greatness, eternal peace and everlasting joy are bestowed, the faces of those whose minds are attuned to the True Name are anointed with the Mark of Grace. If one receives God’s Grace, then such honors are received, and not by mere words. || 2 || Some come, and some arise and depart. They give themselves lofty names. Some are born beggars, and some hold vast courts.
Going to the world hereafter, everyone shall realize that without the Name, it is all useless. || 3 || I am terrified by the Fear of You, God. Bothered and bewildered, my body is wasting away. Those who are known as sultans and emperors shall be reduced to dust in the end. O Nanak, arising and departing, all false attachments are cut away. || 4 || 6 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Believing, all tastes are sweet. Hearing, the salty flavors are tasted; chanting with one’s mouth, the spicy flavors are savored. All these spices have been made from the Sound-current of the Naad.
The thirty-six flavors of ambrosial nectar are in the Love of the One Lord; they are tasted only by one who is blessed by His Glance of Grace. || 1 || O Baba, the pleasures of other foods are false. Eating them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. || 1 || Pause || My mind is imbued with the Lord’s Love; it is dyed a deep crimson. Truth and charity are my white clothes. The blackness of sin is erased by my wearing of blue clothes, and meditation on the Lord’s Lotus Feet is my robe of honor. Contentment is my cummerbund, Your Name is my wealth and youth. || 2 || O Baba, the pleasures of other clothes are false.
Wearing them, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. || 1 || Pause || The understanding of Your Way, Lord, is horses, saddles and bags of gold for me. The pursuit of virtue is my bow and arrow, my quiver, sword and scabbard. To be distinguished with honor is my drum and banner. Your Mercy is my social status. || 3 || O Baba, the pleasures of other rides are false. By such rides, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. || 1 || Pause || The Naam, the Name of the Lord, is the pleasure of houses and mansions.
Your Glance of Grace is my family, Lord. The Hukam of Your Command is the pleasure of Your Will, Lord. To say anything else is far beyond anyone’s reach. O Nanak, the True King does not seek advice from anyone else in His decisions. || 4 || O Baba, the pleasure of other sleep is false. By such sleep, the body is ruined, and wickedness and corruption enter into the mind. || 1 || Pause || 4 || 7 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: With the body of saffron, and the tongue a jewel, and the breath of the body pure fragrant incense; with the face anointed at the sixtyeight holy places of pilgrimage, and the heart illuminated with wisdom – with that wisdom, chant the Praises of the True Name, the Treasure of Excellence. || 1 || O Baba, other wisdom is useless and irrelevant.
If falsehood is practiced a hundred times, it is still false in its effects. || 1 || Pause || You may be worshipped and adored as a Pir (a spiritual teacher); you may be welcomed by all the world; you may adopt a lofty name, and be known to have supernatural spiritual powers – even so, if you are not accepted in the Court of the Lord, then all this adoration is false. || 2 || No one can overthrow those who have been established by the True Guru. The Treasure of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is within them, and through the Naam, they are radiant and famous. They worship the Naam, and they believe in the Naam.
The True One is forever Intact and Unbroken. || 3 || When the body mingles with dust, what happens to the soul? All clever tricks are burnt away, and you shall depart crying. O Nanak, those who forget the Naam – what will happen when they go to the Court of the Lord? || 4 || 8 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: The virtuous wife exudes virtue; the unvirtuous suffer in misery. If you long for your Husband Lord, O soul-bride, you must know that He is not met by falsehood. No boat or raft can take you to Him. Your Husband Lord is far away. || 1 || My Lord and Master is Perfect; His Throne is Eternal and Immovable.
One who attains perfection as Gurmukh, obtains the Immeasurable True Lord. || 1 || Pause || The Palace of the Lord God is so beautiful. Within it, there are gems, rubies, pearls and flawless diamonds. A fortress of gold surrounds this Source of Nectar. How can I climb up to the Fortress without a ladder? By meditating on the Lord, through the Guru, I am blessed and exalted. || 2 || The Guru is the Ladder, the Guru is the Boat, and the Guru is the Raft to take me to the Lord’s Name.
The Guru is the Boat to carry me across the world-ocean; the Guru is the Sacred Shrine of Pilgrimage, the Guru is the Holy River. If it pleases Him, I bathe in the Pool of Truth, and become radiant and pure. || 3 || He is called the Most Perfect of the Perfect. He sits upon His Perfect Throne. He looks so Beautiful in His Perfect Place. He fulfills the hopes of the hopeless. O Nanak, if one obtains the Perfect Lord, how can his virtues decrease? || 4 || 9 || SIREE RAAG, FIRST MEHL: Come, my dear sisters and spiritual companions; hug me close in your embrace. Let’s join together, and tell stories of our All-powerful Husband Lord.
Amidst the freezing cold weather, with the temperature wobbling between 0- 5 degrees Celsius and the dense fog outside, everything seems stagnant in the northern part of India. However, below the apparently frozen surface, you would be amazed to find a palpable wave of activity going on. People, especially in the northern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and parts of Himachal Pradesh, are busy making preparations for Lohri — the long-awaited bonfire festival — when they can come out of their homes and celebrate the harvesting of the Rabi (winter) crops and give in to relaxing and enjoying the traditional folk songs and dances.
Significance
In Punjab, the breadbasket of India, wheat is the main winter crop, which is sown in October and harvested in March or April. In January, the fields come up with the promise of a golden harvest, and farmers celebrate Lohri during this rest period before the cutting and gathering of crops. According to the Hindu calendar, Lohri falls in mid-January.
The earth, farthest from the sun at this point of time, starts its journey towards the sun, thus ending the coldest month of the year, Paush, and announcing the start of the month of Magh and the auspicious period of Uttarayan. According to the Bhagawad Gita, Lord Krishna manifests himself in his full magnificence during this time. The Hindus ‘nullify’ their sins by bathing in the Ganges.
Customs & Legends
In the morning on Lohri day, children go from door to door singing and demanding the Lohri ‘loot’ in the form of money and eatables like til (sesame) seeds, peanuts, jaggery, or sweets like gajak, rewri, etc. They sing in praise of Dulha Bhatti, a Punjabi avatar of Robin Hood who robbed the rich to help the poor, and once helped a miserable village girl out of her misery by getting her married off like his own sister.
The Bonfire Ritual
In the evening, with the setting of the sun, huge bonfires are lit in the harvested fields and in the front yards of houses and people gather around the rising flames, circle around (parikrama) the bonfire and throw puffed rice, popcorn and other munchies into the fire, shouting “Aadar aye dilather jaye” (May honor come and poverty vanish!), and sing popular folk songs.
This is a sort of prayer to Agni, the fire god, to bless the land with abundance and prosperity. After the parikrama, people meet friends and relatives, exchange greetings and gifts, and distribute prasad (offerings made to god). The prasad comprises five main items: til, gajak, jaggery, peanuts, and popcorn. Winter savories are served around the bonfire with the traditional dinner of makki-di-roti (multimillet hand-rolled bread) and sarson-da-saag (cooked mustard herbs).
Song & Dance
Bhangra dance by men begins after the offering to the bonfire. Dancing continues till late night with new groups joining in amid the beat of drums. Traditionally, women do not join Bhangra. They hold a separate bonfire in their courtyard orbiting it with the graceful gidda dance.
The ‘Maghi’ Day
The day following Lohri is called ‘Maghi’, signifying the beginning of the month of Magh. According to Hindu beliefs, this is an auspicious day to take a holy dip in the river and give away charity. Sweet dishes (usually kheer) are prepared with sugar cane juice to mark the day.
Exhibition of Exhuberance
Lohri is more than just a festival, especially for the people of Punjab. Punjabis are a fun-loving, sturdy, robust, energetic, enthusiastic and jovial race, and Lohri is symbolic of their love for celebrations and light-hearted flirtations and exhibition of exuberance.
A Celebration of Fertility
Lohri celebrates fertility and the joy of life, and in the event of the birth of a male child or a marriage in the family, it assumes a larger significance wherein the host family arranges for a feast and merry-making with the traditional bhangra dance along with rhythm instruments, like the dhol and the gidda. The first Lohri of a new bride or a newborn baby is considered extremely important.
Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious day for the Hindus, and is celebrated in almost all parts of the country in myriad cultural forms, with great devotion, fervor & gaiety. Lakhs of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar & Prayag and pray to Lord Sun. It is celebrated with pomp in southern parts of the country as Pongal, and in Punjab is celebrated as Lohri & Maghi. Gujarati’s not only look reverentially up to the sun, but also offer thousands of their colorful oblations in the form of beautiful kites all over the skyline. They may be trying to reach upto their glorious God or bring about greater proximity with the one who represents the best.
It is a day for which Bhishma Pitamah kept waiting to leave his mortal coil. Makar Sankranti is the day when the glorious Sun-God of Hindus begins its ascendancy and entry into the Northern Hemisphere. Sun for the Hindus stands for Pratyaksha-Brahman – the manifest God, who symbolizes, the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one & all tirelessly. Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial Wheel of Time. The famous Gayatri Mantra, which is chanted everyday by every faithful Hindu, is directed to Sun God to bless them with intelligence & wisdom. Sun not only represents God but also stands for an embodiment of knowledge & wisdom.
Lord Krishna reveals in Gita that this manifested divinity was his first disciple, and we all know it to be indeed a worthy one too. No Sundays for the Sun, may be because one who revels in its very ‘being’, the very essence of his own Self, is always in the Sunday mood. The co-relation of cosmic events with individual life and values is one of the most astounding traits of Hindu Masters. Once this co-relation is brought about thereafter these cosmic events become instrumental to remind us the best which we cherish & value. Of all the cosmic bodies Sun is the most glorious & important, thus every sun-centric cosmic event became very important spiritual, religious & cultural events.
On Makar Sankranti day the Sun begins its ascendancy and journey into the Northern Hemisphere, and thus it signifies an event wherein the Gods seem to remind their children that ‘Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya’. May you go higher & higher – to more & more Light and never to darkness.
Astrological Significance:
Makar means Capricorn and Sankranti is transition. There is a sankranti every month when the sun passes from one sign of the zodiac to the next. There are twelve signs of the zodiac, and thus there are twelve sankranti’s as well. Each of these sankranti’s has its own relative importance but two of these are more important – the Mesh (Aries) Sankranti and the most important, the Makar (Capricorn) Sankranti. Transition of the Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn, during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere is known as Makar Sankranti.
From this day begins the six-month long Uttarayana, considered very auspicious for attaining higher worlds hereafter.While the traditional Indian Calendar is basically based on lunar positions, but sankranti is a solar event, so while dates of all festivals keep changing, the english calendar date of Makar Sankranti is always same, 14th January. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the Hindu Calendar month of Magha. There is another significance of this day, after this day the days start becoming longer & warmer, and thus the chill of winter in on decline.
Religious Significance:
1. The Puranas say that on this day Sun visits the house of his son Shani, who is the swami of Makar Rashi. These father & son do not ordinarily get along nicely, but inspite of any difference between each other Lord Sun makes it a point to meet each other on this day. Father in fact himself comes to his son’s house, for a month. This day symbolized the importance of special relationship of father & son. It is the son who has the responsibility to carry forward his fathers dream and the continuity of the family.
2. From Uttarayana starts the ‘day’ of Devatas, while dakshinayana is said to be the ‘night’ of devatas, so most of the auspicious things are done during this time. Uttarayana is also called as Devayana, and the next half is called Pitrayana.
3. It was on this day when Lord Vishnu ended the ever increasing terrorism of the Asuras by finishing them off and burying their heads under the Mandar Parvat. So this occasion also represents the end of negativities and beginning of an era of righteous living.
4. The great savior of his ancestors, Maharaj Bhagirath, did great Tapasya to bring Gangaji down on the earth for the redemption of 60,000 sons of Maharaj Sagar, who were burnt to ashes at the Kapil Muni Ashram, near the present day Ganga Sagar.
It was on this day that Bhagirath finally did tarpan with the Ganges water for his unfortunate ancestors and thereby liberated them from the curse. After visiting the Patala for the redemption of the curse of Bhagirath’s ancestors Gangaji finally merged in the Sagar. Even today a very big Ganga Sagar Mela is organized every year on this day at the confluence of River Ganges and the Bay of Bengal. Lakhs take dip in the water and do tarpan for their ancestors. We salute such a great devotee & benefactor of his ancestors.
One who can express such gratitude to his ancestors, work with tireless resolve to redeem the pride, pledges & resolves of his forefathers, alone possess a personality, which the history reveals to be a true benefactor of the world too. A person who has severed his own roots gets soon rooted out in the flow of time. Moral of the story is to see to it that the roots of the tree of ‘our’ life are not only intact but nourished well, thereafter alone the tree blooms & flourishes.
by His Divine Grace B. S. Tirtha Maharaj
All major religions teach love of God. Love means reposing one’s affection completely upon a person. Therefore, for real love both the lover and the beloved must have form, must be personalities.What is the difficulty in understanding this real love? After the Gita class one day, in the monsoon month of July some years ago, I announced my plan of going on a world tour. I required the services of a reliable travel agency and a student suggested an agency in Mumbai. “Who should I contact?” I enquired.
“Kottapurathu Eappan Verghese,” came the reply. “I shall speak to him over the phone. You will get a good price Swamiji,” the student said.Next morning as I entered the travel agency, an immaculately dressed, handsome young man with an infectious smile, extending his hand, assuredly but courteously enquired, “You are Tirtha Maharaj, right?”This instant recognition immediately relieved me of anxiety that we all generally experience when we call on strangers. Due to years of cultivated practice, I had no other option than disappointing the pleasant young man, though unintentionally, by folding my hands in response.
This compelled him to withdraw his extended hand but did not seem to affect his happy countenance with which he received me.After I was seated comfortably and before I could even place on table my itinerary, a boy from the next-door restaurant walked towards us with a tray of cups of hot tea. Mr. Verghese offered me a cup first before accepting one himself. Politely but firmly, I refused. “You prefer coffee is it?” he asked. “We reject both,” I said.”It’s strange, but why?” he questioned.
“In our institution, both tea and coffee are prohibited,” I replied.”But all over India, Hindus do drink tea and coffee,” he said visibly surprised. “We are not Hindus.We practice eternal religion, Sanatana Dharma, according to which consumption of any intoxicant is a sin,” I explained.Mr. Verghese looked at the steaming hot innocuous beige-coloured liquid and unable to conceal his amazement argued, “Swamiji, this has no alcoholic content. This is plain tea.””You may not accept tea or coffee as intoxicant but it is definitely a stimulant by which you become artificially activated,” I responded.
I continued, “Dyutam, panam, striyah, soona yatra adharmah caturvidhah which means ‘gambling, intoxication, illicit sexual relationships and meat-eating’ are considered as major sins in Vedic literature. If an alcoholic does not get his drink at a particular time he is daily habituated to, then he cannot concentrate his mind on anything at that time. Similarly, if you do not get your cup of tea or coffee when you wake up in the morning for any reason, you feel disgusted. Isn’t it?””Yes no doubt. It really frustrates and irritates. You are right. All addictions agitate the mind,” he accepted. His admission confirmed that he could discern the logic behind what I explained.
I observed through the office window, the rain was gradually intensifying. I further clarified, “I am not a Hindu, I am a Vaishnava, Sanatana Dharmist. The word HINDU is a misnomer. You will not find this word in any of the scriptures or Vedic literature that belong to the so-called Hindus. The practitioners of Sanatana Dharma whose life pattern was based on Vedic regulations originally had their settlements near the banks of SINDHU or INDUS River. They had commercial transactions with Iranians through sea that simply referred to them, for the sake of convenience as H(S)INDUS. That is all.
And this got stuck to this date.” The young man got more interested as I was the only customer in their premises due to torrential downpour outside.”Swamiji, what exactly you preach when you travel outside India,” he asked in a relaxed manner.”The science of self realization,” I said, “We teach who you are.” “What exactly does that mean and how does one really realize that?” he asked sincerely. “Do you honestly think that I do not know who I am?” I responded enthusiastically, “Self realization means realizing one’s true identity. Right now, we claim ourselves to be Indian, British, American or Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, and so on. These are merely designations based on bodily conception of life.
We are not the body. Our true identity is that we are spirit soul dwelling inside the body. This has to be understood. It is not very difficult. Just like, you are not the three-piece suit that you are wearing. The real you is the one inside this dress. Similarly, the gross body consisting of hands, legs, nose, eyes, etc., is not the real you. It is the spirit soul residing in this body, which is the actual self. The body is only a dress. Just as we give up worn-out garments and wear new ones, so the soul, at the time of death, gives up the body, which has become useless and accepts a new one.
Every embodied living being is a spirit soul. Understanding this is called self realization.””But, Swamiji, for an average person, it is difficult to conceive that he is not the body and is something beyond it.” The tone was not argumentative but reflective of serious concern.”No. It is not difficult. By common sense we can understand this. Generally, we all say, ‘My leg,my hand,my eyes,’ Nobody says, ‘I hand’ or ‘I leg’. During sickness, when diagnosed by a physician, we tell him, ‘My whole body is paining’, isn’t it? That means, ‘I’ must be other than this body to whom it belongs,” I said.”I see your point,” he musingly said. I continued, “We say ‘My pair of shoes’ and ‘My foot’.
This means we make no distinction between shoes and feet.We place them both in genitive case grammatically. Both foot and shoe are mine and not ‘I’. Is it difficult to understand?””Wonderful,” he admitted, “This I am sure, everyone can understand,” he exclaimed.”But to realize this is very important,” I emphasized. “You may know something but yet you may not realize it. I wanted to further elucidate the subtle nuances of self-realization.”How come that?” he tried to probe.”For example, if I buy my return-ticket to London from you and on reaching London, I die; naturally,my folks will send the body back to Bombay.
In that case, can they use the return ticket for sending my body back? I questioned him.”No.We shall issue a fresh cargo ticket for transportation,” he was categorical.”Why? The price was already paid in full for my return journey. Then why can the same ticket be not used?” I contended.”No. The policy is that we should treat the dead body of a person as cargo and not as a passenger. This policy is universally accepted by airlines all over the world,” he stressed.”Why is this distinction made? After all, living or dead, the aircraft carries the same body,” I demanded to know.
“I don’t know. All that I know is that this is the system we all follow,” he said in an apologetic voice, mixed with a sense of discomfiture due to his inability to provide a convincing answer.”It is easy to understand,” I declared triumphantly, “The spirit soul or atma is the passenger in actuality and the body is merely cargo. That is why when the atma is present in the body while travelling, the person is treated as passenger and when absent from it while returning, body is placed with other luggage. You may say that airlines may not have this understanding but this is sufficient for you to realize that you are not the body.
To clarify further, a pilot of an aircraft or a driver of an automobile, are both different from the vehicles they drive. Similarly, atma is different from the body. Drivers are sentient but the vehicles are dull matter. Similarly, atma is conscious and body is made of matter. Therefore a living traveller is considered as passenger whereas a dead body is treated as cargo. This policy adopted by the airlines reveals their superficial understanding, but they do not realize its factual import,” I explained.The young man appeared totally flabbergasted.
There was complete silence for a few seconds. This silence was actually more deafening than the high decibel jingle outside due to incessant rainfall and the blowing of horns by utterly impatient motorists caught up in a traffic jam. I was still the lone customer inside the agent’s office.Encouraged by lack of customers and regaining his momentarily lost composure, the young man became further inquisitive. “Understanding our spiritual identity is what you call self-realization?” he asked.”Yes.
But this is only preliminary stage of realization. However, the perfect stage is to know that I am an atomic, individual spirit soul and God is the Supreme individual spirit soul. The relationship between the Lord and the living entities is one of master and servant. Our original constitutional position is that we are eternal servants of God,” I enthused.”I always had this idea that the God is formless, he confessed.”No. God has a form. He is a person,” I almost roared, “All things created by God have forms.
Then why shouldn’t the creator himself have a form, what kind of logic is that? There is even a corroborative statement found in the Bible ‘Man is made in the image of God’. Isn’t it? Image means form, personality. Hence God is a person, the Supreme Person,” I stressed.”Swamiji, in that case, are you not limiting God to a form like that of ours?” he debated.”Then, what is your concept of God?” I queried.”The whole world agrees that God is omnipotent,” he replied with confidence.
“I began a fresh explanation saying, “The dictionary meaning of ‘omnipotence’ is ‘absolute power’. That means that God is so powerful that He can be as big as the Himalaya Mountains or become smaller than an atom or appear in a 5 feet 8 inches tall human form. In fact, by definition, He can appear in any form He likes because He is omnipotent.””Somehow it is difficult to conceive that God is a person like you and me, he declared,” he was intransigent.
“Look, any institution, be it a corporate organization or a University, a college or for that matter, a travel agency like yours or even Therefore, behind all these, there must be a great designer,” I tried to explain hoping he would understand.I further stressed, “For you kind information, even universally acknowledged scientists like Newton accepted that God is a person.
Due to misplaced confidence and strong faith that by empirical means perfect knowledge can be achieved, the modern-day generation of both pseudointellectuals and speculative philosophers, apart from the conceited scientists, consider it a fashion to reject the idea that God is a person because of contemptuous disregard for authentic Vedic information and a penchant for empirical scientific pronouncements couched in highfalutin technical jargon.””All major religions teach love of God. Love means reposing one’s affection completely upon a person.
Therefore, for real love both the lover and the beloved must have form, must be personalities.What is the difficulty in understanding this real love?” I earnestly asked.Just then there was a telephone call. The young man politely requested the caller to call back after ten minutes. The rain was slowing down. I took this opportunity to drift away from the subject matter realizing the actual purpose of my visit and discussed my itinerary to speed the ticketing process.When I took leave of the young man, he said, “You have made my day. I feel thoroughly enlightened.
I am indeed enchanted to have your acquaintance Swamiji,” he said in a positive tone. To conform to general etiquette and the accepted social norm, I got up from my seat and made a deliberate deviation from age old practice by extending my hand for a shake but the young man, this time, responded to greet me back with Namaste by folding his hands with joint palms. Is there any need to mention here that I got rock bottom price for my air tickets??
One of the most common problems faced by nutritionists is related to losing belly fat. While it is quite a task to lose weight on your midriff, a balances diet combined with exercise can help you get a flat belly. Here are the 30 best ways to lose the fat and get a toned tummy. A combination of two major muscles transversus abdominis and rectus abdomen are the muscles that make up our abdomen. So, if you ate a healthy diet comprising lean proteins, carbohydrates and fats combined with intense cardio, your muscles would start showing, resulting in a flat belly or even six pack abs.
Eat Lean Proteins
The Harvard School of Public Health notes that lean sources of protein aid in keeping the saturated fat intake at a healthy level. When you are on sources of proteins such as chicken or beans you find yourself losing body fat and shaping your body. You get most of your vitamins from these sources and this improves your overall health as well.
Water Water Baby
Water constitutes 70% of our body. Most of our metabolic process takes place in the presence of water. So, when we are well hydrated the basal metabolic rate of our body goes up. This would mean that our body is able to digest the food we eat in a proper manner and the food is used to burn sufficient calories required by the body, so you end up with a nice flat belly.
Salt Matters
Avoid salted products like packaged food, chips, pickles and junk food. Check labels for preserved foods, because preserved foods generally contain extra salt. Salt is very bad for the body, because it causes water retention, and due to this it makes you look bloated.
Replace junk food
Firstly, throw away all the unhealthy food from your refrigerator. Replace this unhealthy food with lean meats, fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Avoid over-cooking the food as the nutrient contents of the food will be lost. Plan what you will be eating in this 10 day period and avoid extra unhealthy calories.
Fruit Punches- Not a good idea
In general juices, alcohol and fruit punches are calorie dense and often disturb the blood sugar levels in our body. Where moderate and controlled alcohol consumption has certain beneficial effects, fruits are best eaten in their natural form rather in the form of juices. Juices are full of concentrated sugar, which is not a good thing, if you are aiming for a flat belly. Eating fresh fruit should be the mantra of healthy living.
Say No to High carb meals
Pick a diet filled with fruits and vegetables to lose stomach fat. Integrate this in your lose stomach fat diet plan, because fruits and vegetables have good carbs. Avoid donuts, desserts and cookies as far as possible. Again, keep in mind that though good carbs help reduce fat naturally, you shouldn’t over indulge in these foods for quick results.
In fact, if you go beyond the limit, it can increase your insulin level, and reduce your metabolic rate, because your body cannot process too many carbs at once. Nutrient dense and good fat foods are those that have essential fatty acids and other vital nutrients. Try eating grilled fish as it has essential fatty acids, proteins and is a perfect example of a nutrient dense good fat food.
Cardio and Strength Training
All types of cardio exercise routines elevate your heart rate and keep it that way for extended periods of time. This results in increased consumption of oxygen, which leads to fat loss. Fat loss and stamina building are equally important. If you eat healthy and workout, your chances of achieving a flatter belly increases.
Basic Plank or the Elbow Plank
Lie down on your stomach. Place your elbows by the side of your chest. Palms facing downwards come up on your toes. Your back hips and legs should be in a straight line. Do not raise your hips, keep them in line with the back. Hold this for 10-20 secs. Keep your abs tight.
Leg raise in a plank
Come to the basic plank position and lift one leg at a time. Hold this for 10-20 secs. Keep hips and lower back stable, avoiding sagging and rotation in hips/lower back.
Arm raise in a plank
Come to the basic plank position and lift one hand at a time. The hand should be stretched out straight. Hold this for 10-20 secs. Keep abs contracted and hips clenched. Let the force to balance in plank come from the contracted core muscles.
Leg Raise in a Side Plank
Come to a side plank position. And raise your upper leg up. Press the side of the feet of the lower leg into the floor. Balance yourself with contracted abs. Do it for 10-20 secs.
Yoga Postures for Flat Belly
Take almost any yoga posture like the sarvangasana (shoulder stand), virbhadrasana (warrior pose), or the dhanurasana (bow pose). How well are you able to emulate these poses almost always depends on how strong your core is. Being flexible, but having a weak core, will allow you to do some basic postures like Uttanasana (bending forward and touching your toes), but will not allow you to make much headway, when it comes to the more advanced postures.
Yes, life is stressful these days. And a growing trend is reflecting how the working executives are handling the stress of everyday life. Several corporates are choosing to deal with the tension of workplace by heading to pubs on a more than regular basis. Friday nights have turned to drinking nights for office goers and grabbing a beer on weekdays is not a big deal. Sound familiar? It is important to recognize the signs of alcohol addition and pull the plug before it turns into a full blown addiction.
Top signs of alcohol addiction
1. You need a drink every time and the time of day does not matter. You have no power over how much alcohol you consume.
2. You wake up looking for a drink. It may seem unrealistic but alcoholics will have and prefer to have a drink in the morning.
3. You drink to get back to the feeling of high. This feeling makes you forget reality but eventually you need to realise you can’t run from your problems.
4. You experience withdrawal symptoms associated with addiction like sweating, shivering, loss of taste and you experience frustration.
5. Your dependence on alcohol cuts you out from daily activities and socializing.
6. It’s an addiction when people who love you can see your fall from glory. When your friends see the road to destruction or your friends isolate you, then you need to step back and ascertain the course your life has taken.
7. You will also experience weight loss and digestive problems. Alcohol addiction has destroyed families and even lead to bankruptcy. But there is no harm in having alcohol occasionally if you know your limit and remember to drink responsibly.
Health experts have warned that healthy people who take a daily aspirin in a bid to reduce their risk of disease should stop doing so because of potential health dangers. Many people take a dose once a day to ward off the threat of cancer or heart attacks. But a major new NHS review concluded that it is a “fine balance” due to the dangers of bleeding in the brain and stomach, the Mirror reported.
Overall, it warned against taking the drug until there was more evidence. Aspirin makes the blood less sticky so it reduces the odds of clots which could cause a heart attack or stroke. Some studies suggest it can cut the risk of cancer. But the most comprehensive review ever undertaken – by Warwick Medical School for the NHS National Institute for Health Research – concluded that healthy people should avoid aspirin.
Prof Aileen Clarke, who led the research, said that the risks are finely balanced and for now there is not the evidence to advise people to take it.
Healthy pink lips add extra charm to a person’s face. These naturally appealing lips don’t need regular application of lips balms or lipsticks to look luscious and healthy. But several factors like the suns UV rays, smoking, caffeine and age can affect our lips and darken them. Luckily, there are several natural solutions to lighten darker lips. Here is a list of natural home remedies that can lighten dark lips.’
Honey
Honey is an amazing natural ingredient, which can be used to treat dark lips. It not only lightens your lips but also makes them soft. Apply honey on your lips and leave it on overnight, everyday. Continue this practice for a couple of weeks and you will notice a change in your lip colour.
Lemon juice
Lemon is known to be a bleaching agent and it acts as an effective remedy to treat dark lips. Apply freshly squeezed lemon juice to your lips and massage them gently. Follow this ritual every night before bed. Sugar scrub: Sugar works as an excellent scrub to exfoliate lips and also helps get rid of unwanted dead skin. Take three spoons of sugar and mix it with two spoons of butter to make a thick paste. Use this mixture on your lips to exfoliate them. The added butter moisturises your lips. Like your skin, your lips also need to be exfoliated regularly. Try this scrub two or three times a week for lighter lips.
Beetroot
This deep purple ingredient helps cleanse and lighten lips. Beetroot juice has natural agents, which lighten lips. Use its juice on your lips for effective results.
Ice cubes
This simple method of rubbing ice cubes over your lips will help them remain moisturised and fresh as ice cubes not only hydrate your lips but also make them plump.
Milk cream
Try milk cream (malai) with a bit of saffron and apply this mixture to your lips. This is an age old remedy for treating dark lips. Continue this ritual several times a day and at night for effective results.
Do your accessories make you happy or are they there because you have had them forever? Go through every single thing you consider an accessory and decide why you have it. If it accents the colours in the room, if it has fond memories connected with it, if it works with your room, then keep it.
If it does nothing for the room and is not an emotional attachment, get rid of it! There are so many new things out there which will add punch to your rooms, that changing accessories may be all you need to update your look. New, updated picture frames for your favourite photos, fresh flowers for those tired arrangements, new lampshades, new candles; chenille throws to replace old worn ones, even new slipcovers! For those who are really tired of the look as they scan their homes, try replacing small furniture pieces like coffee tables, end tables, and some lamps.
It is amazing how much these touches can update and refresh a look. You don’t have to spend a fortune either. Buy used pieces and repaint them “your way”. Buy unfinished pieces and stain them or dye them! And the colour choices are endless. Now look at your linens. Do they look tired and boring? I can fall in love with a great comforter and a few years later, I am totally bored with it.
Tastes change. You change. So change things around you to reflect the changes. Find a new comforter that makes your heart sing. And your bedroom! A single comforter goes a long way. And while you are at it, treat yourself to some luxury linens. Nothing feels better than high thread count sheets. Yummy! Without breaking the bank, you can add and subtract some accessories to give your home a new fresh look.
NEW DELHI (TIP): The 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas concluded on January 9 with President Pranab Mukherjee hailing the contribution of Non-Resident Indians in the growth and development of the country. “The government will continue to actively engage with the overseas Indian community and explore all possible avenues to make them valued partners in building a strong and prosperous India,” Mukherjee said at the concluding ceremony of the three-day meet. The President also gave away “PBD Samman Awards” to 13 eminent NRIs and organisations for their outstanding contribution to the country of their residence as well as to India. The meet was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
NEW DELHI (TIP): The 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas concluded on January 9 with President Pranab Mukherjee hailing the contribution of Non-Resident Indians in the growth and development of the country. “The government will continue to actively engage with the overseas Indian community and explore all possible avenues to make them valued partners in building a strong and prosperous India,” Mukherjee said at the concluding ceremony of the three-day meet.
The President also gave away “PBD Samman Awards” to 13 eminent NRIs and organisations for their outstanding contribution to the country of their residence as well as to India. Those awarded included Ela Gandhi, grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi. She was conferred with the honour of enhancing India’s image and promoting ties with South Africa. Mukherjee announced that a Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra would be set up in Delhi to serve as a centre to commemorate contributions of the Indian diaspora. Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh formally launched the 12th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 8, asking the Indian diaspora not to be unduly concerned about the future of Indian economy and social challenges.
There was no reason to despair about the country’s present or worry about the future as the country was heading into better times, he said, addressing nearly 1,000 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from across the world. Observing that the country’s economy had done well over the past decade, the Prime Minister noted that in the last nine years since 2004, India had averaged a healthy growth rate of 7.9 per cent per annum.
“There has been no doubt about a slow-down in the recent past, and we will probably end this year at the same level as last year with five per cent,” he said adding a number of international as well as domestic factors have contributed to this situation. However, it was once again clear that rich and the affluent NRIs from the West are seen at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas only at the inaugural and closing ceremonies and do not actively participate in regular sessions.
As soon as the hour-long inaugural function was over, most delegates left the venue apparently to do networking or sight-seeing. The half-empty halls during the sessions on “India’s Growth and Development Agenda” and “India’s Soft Power” in which key senior government functionaries like Law Minister Kapil Sibal and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid participated, bore testimony to the fact that the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is becoming more of a ‘tamasha’ than a businesslike meet.
Few delegates took the trouble of even visiting the stalls set up by some state governments and public undertakings at the venue. The theme of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas this year is “Engaging Diaspora-Connecting across Generations” with focus on the young generation. President Pranab Mukherjee will address the concluding function tomorrow and give away “Pravasi Bharatiya Samman” to 15 eminent personalities. Addressing the session on “India’s Soft Power”, British entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria spoke about the remarkable performance of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recent Assembly elections in Delhi.
“This (India) is where the real democracy is…where a party can start from nothing and in one year win a state election,” he said. Bilimoria said the evidence of India’s soft power could be gauged from the fact that there were some 10,000 Indian restaurants in Britain. Some of the delegates from the US were unhappy over the treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
I.S. Saluja
NEW YORK (TIP): Soon after she got full diplomatic immunity Wednesday, January 8, Devyani Khobragade left for New Delhi, January 9. External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi issued her transfer orders earlier in the day. Sources, on condition of anonymity, have confirmed the departure of Devyani on the evening of January 9. A US state department official said Ms Khobragade was asked to leave the United States after India had refused a request to lift her diplomatic immunity. The charges against her remain in place, the official said.
Devyani’s departure from New York brings down curtain on just one scene. The play is likely to continue. It will be interesting to watch how the curtain finally comes down on the sordid drama that has caused anguish to a senior Indian diplomat and strained relations between two friendly countries. Devyani Khobragade was charged by a federal grand jury in Manhattan with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India.
She’s accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York City housekeeper. The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to US authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. She planned to bring the worker the United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General of India in New York, according to the indictment. Khobragade, 39, India’s deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her innocence to accusations that she claimed to pay her Indian maid $4,500 per month but actually gave her far less than the US minimum wage.
Her arrest last month sparked outrage in India after revelations that she was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants before being released on $250,000 bail. In a letter to the judge, prosecutors said there was no need for an arraignment because Khobragade had “very recently” been given diplomatic immunity status and left the United States on Thursday, January 9. The letter said the charges will remain pending until she can be brought to court to face them, either through a waiver of immunity or on her return to the US without immunity status.
“We will alert the court promptly if we learn that the defendant returns to the United States in a non-immune capacity, at which time the government will proceed to prosecute this case and prove the charges in the indictment,” the letter from the office of US attorney Preet Bharara said. The timeline of the case:- ● 23 June: Maid Sangeeta Richard goes missing. Ms Khobragade informs Office of the Foreign Missions and New York police
● 8 July: India revokes Richard’s passport, says she’s staying in the US illegally; Khobragade accuses her of theft and attempt to blackmail
● 4 September: US state department asks Indian embassy to inquire into Richard’s allegations disputing her terms of employment
● 8 October: Indian embassy writes to state department explaining facts of the case and accusing Richard of “seeking to subvert both Indian and US laws”
● 19 November: A Delhi court issues warrant for arrest of Sangeeta Richard
● 6 December: India forwards the warrant to the US embassy in Delhi and the state department
● 10 December: Richard’s husband and children fly to the US
● 12 December: Khobragade arrested in New York, produced in court and released on a $250,000 bond
● 8 January: US State Department grants immunity to Khobragade. It then asked Khobragade to leave the United States on Thursday, January 9, after India had refused a request to lift her diplomatic immunity so that she could be tried.
● 9 January: Khobragade leaves New York for India by an evening flight of Air India.
NEW DELHI (TIP): While the stunning debut of the Aam Aadmi Party cannot be disputed, the question that arises is whether AAP is riding high on an antiincumbency wave in Delhi or is it as popular across rest of India. In 1977, there was no 24×7 live television, no private radio, the circulation of newspapers was about onetenth of what it is now and those too were heavily censored by Indira Gandhi. Most of the opposition was in jail and not a single person seemed to be in the booth for the Janata Party.
Surprisingly though, the civic governance was still functional during the emergency, the railways remained unaffected and all babus seemed to do their work. And then, on polling day, the so-called illiterate, poor janta came out of their homes silently and booted out Indira Gandhi from her own seat. In 2014, TV channels are teeming, the circulation of newspapers has gone up 10 times, there is no censorship and literacy levels are also high, and to top it all, there is rampant misgovernance all around. So imagine the kind of anger that has accumulated with this kind of information available.
Thus, all factors that can pump up the antiincumbent feeling among the voters are ten times more now. One had Jai Prakash Narayan in 1977, Ram Manohar Lohia in 1967 and Anna Hazare in the last couple of years. There is no denying that in a way Arvind Kejriwal is a by-product of the Anna movement and has gained much goodwill for the same. Between 1977 and now, Congress’ opposition in Delhi has changed to BJP and AAP. However, in the rest of the country, nothing has changed. When the Janta Party disintegrated, regional forces evolved into independent parties.
In 1999, they got together as NDA and repeated what happened in 1977. So the question that now arises is what is this vacuum that AAP is filling? For years, the Congress saturated the spot of the ‘grand old party’ and the default opposition parties became BJP and its allies. If one grants the average slot of 30 percent seats to UPA and NDA each, then which is this remaining 40 percent non-UPA, non-NDA third/fourth/new front? This phenomenon of the rise of AAP that we are now looking at is actually the institutionalisation of this third front. And for the first time, this third front is not based on caste or regional factors. However, it would be oversimplifying AAP’s rise by saying that it is simply eating into the Congress’ or the BJP’s votes.
For as far as voters are concerned, there is genuine support for AAP. For the first time, we are looking at the middle class vote bank that is not necessarily urban. There is a similar consciousness among middle class voters in rural and semiurban settings. This middle class as a vote bank is evolving as a caste-less, dynasty-less and micro-issue-less phenomenon. The polls were conducted in four states and the sentiment as far as the issues and AAP are concerned remained the same more or less.
All cities today are becoming cosmopolitan in nature and this new vote bank of middle class is a game changer. Wherever the UPA or NDA failed earlier, the voters opted for regional, dynastic political forces. However, now, they wish to opt for AAP especially at the Lok Sabha level. So while inflation proves expensive for Sheila and Gehlot, it did not affect Raman Singh or Chauhan. Hence, this vacuum at the parliamentary level might be filled by AAP. Now the question that arises is who is getting hurt by this. In Delhi, the Congress’ rout was imminent and would have happened even if AAP was not present.
Thus, on the face of it, it looks like BJP would get hurt more. However, if one takes a look at the fine print, one will realise that Congress will take the biggest hit. Say AAP pulls down the BJP by about 50 seats, even then, the latter will remain the single largest party. But if it does the same to Congress, its meltdown will be complete and disastrous.
The loss of Congress is very evident in the fact that AAP breached into Muslim and Dalit votes in Delhi. If this continues in the rest of India, it will be disastrous for Congress. So while the BJP needs to get worries, what the Congress needs to do is panic.
HANGU, PAKISTAN (TIP) :
A 14- year-old boy is being hailed as a hero in Pakistan for tackling a suicide bomber — dying at the main gate of his school and saving schoolmates gathered for their morning assembly. Ninth-grader Aitazaz Hassan Bangash was on his way to the Ibrahimzai School on Monday, January 6 in the Hangu district of northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the bomber, dressed in a school uniform, asked him where the school was, according to the teen’s cousin, reports CNN.
Aitazaz and his cousin, Musadiq Ali Bangash, became suspicious, Musadiq said. “The other students backed off, but Aitazaz challenged the bomber and tried to catch him. During the scuffle, the bomber panicked and detonated his bomb,” he said. Rajab Ali, who also witnessed the bombing, told CNN that he saw Aitazaz throw a large stone at a boy trying to enter the school. The blast happened when Aitazaz grabbed him, he said. Aitazaz and the bomber died at the scene.
Witnesses say the blast injured two other people. Aitazaz is survived by his father, Mujaad Ali Bangash, a laborer; his elder brother, Mustajab Hassan Bangash, a student in Pakistan; and three sisters. Local residents such as Nawaz Khan are calling for Aitazaz to receive a posthumous award for his bravery. “He saved the lives of hundreds of students. He deserves more recognition than Malala Yousafzai,” he said.
Pakistanis are comparing him to Malala, the schoolgirl shot by the Taliban in October 2012 for promoting education for all boys and girls. Pakistanis on social media are praising Aitazaz’s bravery, with people on Twitter asking everyone to use hastags #onemillionaitzazs or simply #aitzaz and calling for his heroism to be recognized with an award.
LONDON (TIP):
Overseas millionaires may soon be able to buy or bid for UK visas in exchange of donations to hospitals and universities. The British government’s proposal in this regard says donors willing to help schools, universities or hospitals in the UK with much needed funds should be ‘let in’.
Reported Migration Advisory Committee chairman Sir David Metcalf has told MPs to explore new innovative ways to attract wealthy investors to the country. “It may very well be that we should be auctioning some of these slots. There should be proper discussion about it. Equally it may very well be that we should be letting people in if they endow a Cambridge college, a major teaching hospital or the London School of Economics with £10 million.” British home secretary Theresa May has asked the committee to look at whether auctioning visas or making it available in exchange of donations can be a plausible option.
Officials said though a screening process will ensure criminals aren’t let in through the process; it will also help reduce strain on public financing and funds. The Committee is expected to submit a report in February. Metcalf has spelled ways by which the new plan could be introduced. He said one option would see wealthy foreigners making investments in government bonds or UK businesses.
In return, wealthy foreigners would be allowed to live and settle in the UK with their families indefinitely. Metcalf said the first preference would be to those, who donate for a noble cause like backing universities with funds or helping set up a hospital.
