Sunday, April 30, 2006

If you thought you were working too hard, or your life was hard, read on.....

from Zelda:

I barely have time to read MountainWings.

I am 65 years old, work full time and do my own housework,
which becomes more of a challenge all the time.

My husband is disabled and unable to help me.
Right now I am picking up walnuts outside, to sell.
I am slower than I used to be at this, because this makes my one
whole leg and hip hurt.

My youngest son and his family were here for about 6 1/2 hours
tonight. Their children are 5, 3-1/2, and 1. The two oldest
are boys. They helped me pick up walnuts, water flowers, etc.
while they were here.

I fixed supper for 8 people tonight, fixed my grandsons' plates
and ate with them while other people did their own thing.

I have cooked three meals today, cleaned up the dishes and done
laundry. I also read to my grandsons and helped to keep my
year-old granddaughter occupied.

I've also had help to takes clothes out of the clothes dryer,
etc.

In my spare time, I make the greeting cards that I send, I am
working on my husband's genealogy, and am now working on a
calendar to give people for Christmas.

I have just completed a book "A Lifetime Together," covering the
46 years my husband and I have known each other. I also handle
the family budget and correspondence.

Now I must finish on the computer, so I can get to bed and get a
little rest before I must get up in the morning and start
another busy day.

Zelda

DIL KA RAAZ

Dil main har raaz daba kar rakhte hain
honton per muskurahat saja kar rakhte hain
yeh duniya sirf khushi mein saath deti hai
iss liye hum apne aansuon ko chhupa kar rakhte hain..

Tu yehin hai

Dhalti raat ka khula ehsaas hain,

mere dil mein teri jagah kuchh khas hain.

Tu nahi hain yahan malum hain,

Par dil kehata hain tu yahin mere aas paas hai.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

BE hAPPY NOW

Daily Inspiration

The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so. Renunciate sannyasini Ma Yoga Shakti Saraswati, has taught yoga and dharma worldwide for over thirty years

Determination

Today's Quote

Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do.

Kidnapping of an Indian in Afghanistan

Item posted on the web site of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi:

Posted By : SHER SINGH AGRAWAL on Apr 29, 2006 *
Comments :
Dear Madam Soniaji,

I refer to the following news item concerning the kidnapping of an Indian man by Taliban in Afghanistan and I trust this time the Government of India and the President will use every effort to save his life and to have him released and not be killed like an earlier case:
Taliban kidnap Indian contractor
Associated Press | Saturday, 29 April , 2006, 00:17

Kandahar: Taliban militants kidnapped an Indian mobile phone contractor in southern Afghanistan on Friday, according to a provincial official and the Taliban's purported spokesman.

An Indian engineer working for the Roshan company was held up at gun point at 5 pm (1900 IST) as he was driving on the Kandahar-Kabul highway in the Hassan Kariez district of southern Zabul province, said Ali Khail, a provincial government spokesman.

Khail did not say how he knew the kidnapping took place, saying only that officials had notified him of the abduction.

Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the Indian had been taken hostage and that "higher authorities" within the Taliban would soon decide on the captive's fate.

India's ambassador to Kabul, Rakesh Sood, said he had heard reports of a kidnapping but was trying to confirm it.
Thank you and with best wishes,

Yours truly,

SHER SINGH AGRAWAL
SEATTLE, USA

HAMEIN....

Zindagi...
Zindagi Ko Ek Rangin Kalpana Samjho.

Subah Ko Sach Raat Ko Sapna Samjho.

Bhulna Chahte Ho Sabhi Ghamo Ko Toh,

Zindagi Me Humko Apna Samjho… ...

WAYS TO FLATTEN THE TuMMY

A Trick to Prevent Middle-Age Spread

When women hit their 50s, they typically gain weight. And while they may not lose much on this diet, they won't gain it either if they stick to a low-fat, high-carbohydrate blend of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while shunning fatty foods.

The long-term clinical trial of more than 48,000 post-menopausal women ages 50 to 79 led by Barbara V. Howard of MedStar Research Institute in Washington, D.C., found that women on this diet maintained a modest weight loss over a 7-1/2 year period.

But the most important finding is they were able to stave off the natural weight gain most women experience during this time of life.

The team used data from the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial, which was designed to examine the long-term benefits and risks of a diet that was generally low in fat and high in vegetables, fruits and grains on breast and colorectal cancers and cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. The MedStar team found that women who maintained this low-fat, high-carb diet lost 4.8 pounds in the first year and then maintained a modest weight loss for the next 6-1/2 years of the study period.

While the weight loss was not dramatic, the women didn't gain weight either--at any point during the study. This suggests "that a low-fat dietary pattern may help attenuate the tendency for weight gain commonly observed in postmenopausal women," the authors wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association in which the study findings were published. The tendency to not gain weight occurred in all types of women, no matter their age, ethnicity or body mass index.

The big takeaway: Eating a low-fat, high-carb diet won't make you gain weight, despite the claims of some fad diets, and it will likely help you to maintain your weight even when the forces of nature are conspiring to pack on those pounds.

Friday, April 28, 2006

YAAD RAKHNA MUJHE

Dil me tumhare apni kami chorr jayenge,

Aankho me intzaar ki nami chorr jayenge,

yaad rakhna mujhe doondhte firoge ek din,

Zindgi me ek dost ki kami chorr jayenge.......!!! ...

KISI KI DHADKAN KE PICHHE

Kisi ki Dhadkan ke Piche...
Kisi ki Dhadkan ke Piche koi Baat hoti hai.

Har Dard ke Piche kisi ki Yaad hoti hai.

Aapko Pata ho ya Na ho,

Aapki Har Khushi ke Peeche

Hamari Dil ki Dua Hoti Hai. ...

Waqt nahin milta

Waqt Nahi Milta�
Kalam Uthai toh Lafz Nahi Milta,

Jisko Dhund Rahe ho Woh Shakhs Nahi Milta,

Firte ho Aap Zamane ki Talash me,

bas Ek Hamare Liye hi Aapko Waqt Nahi Milta� ...

One-liners

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited - until you try to sit in their pews.

Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.

It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Company for Eve

All About Adam

Wandering dejectedly in The Garden of Eden, Eve told God, "I'm lonely I'm tired of eating apples by myself."

"Okay," God said, "I'll create a man for you."

Eve said, "A man! What's that?"

"He's a creature with aggressive tendencies and an enormous ego. He won't listen very well, he'll get lost easily, but never stop to ask for directions. However, he is big and strong, he can open jars and hunt animals. And he'll be fun in bed."

"Sounds great!" said Eve.

"Oh, and one more thing," God said. "He will want to believe that I made HIM first."

Demolition of Hindu temple in Malaysia

Demolition: Swamy faults Centre's silence

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Sunday found fault with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not objecting to the demolition of a temple in Malaysia.

"When a newspaper in Denmark published an offensive cartoon caricaturing the Prophet... the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh called up the Denmark Prime Minister to object to the publication of the cartoon," he said and added that after the "100-year-old Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman temple in Kuala Lumpur" was demolished, "the Prime Minister did not even issue a statement, much less call up the Malaysian PM."

Addressing presspersons here, he claimed that this was the second Hindu temple overseas to be bulldozed in recent months. Earlier, a Krishna temple in Moscow was demolished, he added.

Dr. Swamy described the United Progressive Alliance Government's idea of "secularism" as a "one way obligation" and said that Hindus were ``under siege'' from international forces.

He said that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's nomination should be rejected because it was not in order. In the Register of Citizens containing the names of those granted Indian citizenship, there was no one by that name.

HANSTE RAHO, MUSKARATE RAHO

Zindagi me har dam haste raho,

Hasna Zindagi ki jarurat hai,

Zindagi ko iss andaz se jiyo

k Apko dekhkar log kahe,

wah Zindagi Kitni Khubsurat Hai,

So, Keep Smiling… ...

GREG MORTENSEN, THREE CUPS OF TEA

Greg Mortenson

Founder and Executive Director

Central Asia Institute



Greg Mortenson grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania from 1958 to 1973. His father, Irvin, established a hospital, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, and his mother Jerene, founded the Moshi International School.

Mortenson served as a medic in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Cold War, where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and later graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983.

His lifelong interest in mountaineering culminated in a 1993 climb of Pakistan�s treacherous K2, the world�s second highest mountain, which changed his life.

Since then, Mortenson has dedicated his life as a humanitarian devoted to promote education, especially for girls, in remote, often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and set up over 55 schools through his nonprofit, Central Asia Institute. His efforts provide over 20,000 children with schools literacy, in previous areas with few education opportunities.

In 1996, he survived an eight day armed kidnapping in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and escaped a 2003 firefight by feuding Afghan warlords, by hiding in a truck under putrid animal hides going to a leather-tanning factory.

Mortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military commanders and tribal chiefs from his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls. He is one of few Americans who has worked extensively in the region now considered the front lines of the war on terror. Mortenson has traveled to more than 70 countries in lifetime.

His cross-cultural expertise has brought him to speak on Capital Hill, think tanks, the Pentagon, Dept. of Defense, outdoor groups, universities, schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, business and civic groups, women's organizations all across America.

NBC newscaster, Tom Brokaw, calls Mortenson, �one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world�.

TRY THESE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE....

These antioxidant-rich foods have the power to change your life Full story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2002953277_superfoods26.html

By Jill Wendholt Silva
Knight Ridder Newspapers



Blueberries are brain food.

If there's one good-for-you food that has cut through the din of conflicting
and controversial diet headlines, it's the tiny indigo berry native to North
America, which scientists have discovered contains powerful disease-fighters
that may improve memory, intelligence and coordination.

But blueberries aren't the only food with bragging rights.

Pomegranates, kiwi fruit and, yes, even dark chocolate are the latest buzz,
joining such everyday foods as broccoli, spinach, wild salmon, sweet
potatoes, soy, oats, walnuts and tomatoes. Together these nutrient-dense
foods containing health-promoting phytonutrients are dubbed "super foods."

"Super foods are foods that have longevity and contribute to good health,"
says Steven Pratt, an ophthalmologist at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La
Jolla, Calif., and co-author of the best-selling "SuperFoodsRx" and
"SuperFoods HealthStyle" (William Morrow, 2005, $24.95).

"It's foods that are available in markets around the world and make up part
of a dietary cuisine," Pratt says. "It's also food that has been studied,
and the scientific studies have been peer-reviewed."

Cruise the aisles of any supermarket in America and broccoli is ubiquitous
for three reasons: It's easy to buy, it's inexpensive and it's easy to cook.
It's also one of the most studied, which is how we know it's one of the most
nutritious foods on the planet.

Beyond the traditional vitamins and minerals Mother told us about,
scientists have discovered broccoli is also a good source of lutein, an
antioxidant available in colorful fruits and vegetables that helps prevents
macular degeneration, a condition that can cause blindness in older adults.

Nutrition experts agree we've only begun to scratch the surface in our
efforts to discover how foods prevent disease in the body. Pratt's first
book featured 14 super foods, a term he believes he coined but could not
trademark. His second book adds 10 more to an ever-growing list, and there
are "sidekicks" galore -- related foods that provide similar health
benefits.

One of the most surprising super foods to hit the headlines is dark
chocolate. It is loaded with health-promoting polyphenols -- antioxidants
that may help lower blood pressure and promote vascular health. Cocoa has
more polyphenols than red wine or green tea. But to qualify, the chocolate
must contain at least 70 percent cocoa solids.

With the $640 million premium juice market projected to grow to $1.4 billion
by 2008, it's no surprise that Naked Juice is already marketing grab-and-go
bottles of juice made from the obscure Brazilian berry known as acai
(pronounced ah-sigh-ee), which is touted to have 10 times the antioxidants
of red grapes.

But typically Brazilians pour an avalanche of sugar on acai to tame its
tartness. Naked Juice chose to combine the tart berry juice with sweeter
apple, banana and white grape juices. "Sometimes with the higher-antioxidant
fruits, you need to find the right mix of fruits," says Rachel Kenney,
education manager for the California-based company.

In "12 Best Foods Cookbook" (Rodale, 2004, $21.95), Dana Jacobi highlights
foods that are not only loaded with phytonutrients but also have what she
calls a certain "voluptuousness." After all, if a food doesn't taste good,
most of us won't eat it, no matter how good for us.

"I tried to look at foods beyond what its headline fame might be," says
Jacobi, a New York-based food writer and chef who developed the recipes for
her book. "What these 12 foods do -- besides providing phytonutrients -- is
they cover the whole range of what a balanced diet is and include variety."

To that end, she made a choice to leave apples out of the cookbook, even
though they taste great, are easy to buy and rate high on the USDA's list of
20 top antioxidant foods. And she chose chocolate over red wine and walnuts
instead of almonds, even though red wine and almonds are delicious and
possess plenty of proven health benefits.

"What I hope [readers] take from the book is the things that are good for
them and have a good time with them. Not to have them feel like this is a
duty or a sacrifice," Jacobi says.

Food, after all, should taste better than a spoonful of medicine.

12 super foods

When it comes to super foods, there's a lot of compulsive list-making going
on. Some lists focus on a half-dozen foods; USDA scientists have focused on
100 foods and spotlighted 20. But you can forget the numbers game and feel
good about adding any of these to your grocery cart:

1. Beans

Why? High in folate, fiber and antioxidants, beans can help lower
cholesterol and LDL levels, scavenge free radicals, moderate insulin levels
and reduce cancer risk.

How much? Eat two ½-cup servings a day of cooked or canned beans.

2. Blueberries

Why? A true nutritional powerhouse, blueberries provide more antioxidants
than any other fruit or vegetable. Phytonutrients include anthocyanins,
chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid, catechins and resveratrol, substances that
fight cancer, heart disease and age-related memory loss.

How much? If possible, eat 1/2 cup fresh or frozen or 1/4 cup dried
blueberries every day. Eat any type of berry at least three times a week.

3. Broccoli

Why? Cruciferous vegetables are loaded with antioxidants. Broccoli contains
cancer-fighting sulforaphane, indoles and carotenoids plus beta-carotene,
lutein and zeathanin that promote eye health and ward off macular
degeneration.

How much? Eat 1/2 cup raw or 1 cup cooked broccoli every day.

4. Oats

Why? Oatmeal's mighty nutrition profile.

How much? Eat at least three servings of whole grains a day. A serving
equals one cup cooked oatmeal, 1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats or 1/4 cup
steel-cut oats.

5. Soy

Why? An important source of vegetable protein, soy also contains
isoflavones, estrogenlike substances that protect and maintain bone
strength. Soy also contains important omega-3 fatty acids, which promote
heart health.

How much? Eat one serving of soy foods a day. The size depends on the form
of the food. Try edamame for snacking out of hand.

6. Spinach

Why? Spinach contains more than a Popeye-sized dose of iron. When it comes
to antioxidants, it's packed with carotenoids such as beta-carotene and
lutein for eye health.

How much? Eat at least 1 cup cooked spinach or other dark leafy green
vegetable a day.

7. Sweet potatoes

Why? Loaded with beta-carotene, sweet potatoes boost the immune system. They
also reduce cholesterol buildup in the arteries and help fight age-related
macular degeneration and a variety of cancers.

How much? Eat at least one 1/2-cup serving of sweet potatoes or other
beta-carotene-rich produce (carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin and orange
bell peppers) a day.

8. Tomatoes

Why? Tomatoes contain lycopene, plus a range of beneficial phytochemicals
that protect against heart attack, cancers and age-related macular
degeneration. Cooked tomatoes contain more lycopene than raw tomatoes.

How much? Eat one serving a day with a little bit of healthy fat, such as
olive oil, to help absorb the lycopene. Serving sizes are one medium raw
tomato, about 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup sauce, 1/4 cup puree, 2
tablespoons paste or 6 ounces juice.

9. Walnuts

Why? If you're looking for an excellent source of "good" polyunsaturated
fats, walnuts are one of the few plant sources high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Walnuts are the only nuts that contain ellagic acid, a cancer-fighting
antioxidant. The amino acid arginine can reduce the risk of heart attack.

How much? Eat 1 ½ ounces of nuts per day. One ounce equals 14 walnut halves.

10. Wild salmon

Why? Wild salmon contains large amounts of omega-3, a fatty acid that
reduces the risk of heart disease and heart attack by lowering blood
pressure and bad cholesterol. Omega-3s also reduce inflammation that
triggers arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

How much? A serving is just 3 ounces, roughly the size of a deck of cards,
or 1/4 cup canned. Eat 12 ounces a week.

11. Extra-virgin olive oil

Why? The monounsaturated fats of olive oil are considered "good" fat that
reduces cardiovascular disease, lowers blood pressure and prevents some
types of cancer.

How much? Eat 1 tablespoon most days.

12. Dark chocolate

Why? Dark chocolate has the highest antioxidant content of any food. The
darker the chocolate, the higher the count.

How much? Eat a 1-ounce serving daily. Also, try grapes, red wine and green
tea, which are high in polyphenols, which boost good cholesterol. In
addition to dark chocolate candy, try raw cocoa nibs. Although somewhat
bitter, they have an intense, tannic flavor, like wine.

Some new superstars

When it comes to phytonutrients, experts say we've only scratched the
surface. With each new study, watch for more antioxidant-rich foods to
arrive at a store near you. Here are a few creating new buzz:

Pomegranate: The newest research points to pomegranates as the next great
super-food powerhouse, with three times more antioxidant power than green
tea and red wine. Pom, the marketing machine behind pomegranates, has
trademarked the term "The Antioxidant Superpower."

Acai (ah-sigh-ee): Touted to contain 10 times more antioxidants than red
grapes and 10 to 30 times more anthocyanins than red wine, the little berry
from the Brazilian rainforest is poised to samba its way into American
hearts and diets. The acai contains vitamin A, vitamin C and omega fatty
acids 6 and 9.

Gogi or goji (go-gee): A berry from Tibet that is high in antioxidants, goji
is described at www.livesuperfoods.com as a cross between a cherry and a
cranberry. "There's not a lot of science on it, but you know there's no bad
berry on the planet," says Steven Pratt, author of "SuperFoods HealthStyle"
(Morrow).

Gold kiwi fruit: An odd-looking, fuzzy fruit originally from New Zealand, it
has become a mainstream supermarket item. Rich in vitamin C, it has more
vitamins and potassium than a banana and more fiber than a bowl of bran
flakes, according to Zespri Kiwifruit.

Quinoa (keen-wah): With the whole-grain emphasis in the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines, watch for less-familiar grains to make it into the mainstream. A
staple of the ancient Incas, quinoa is considered a complete protein because
it contains all eight essential amino acids.

Sources: "12 Best Foods Cookbook" and "SuperFoods HealthStyle"

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

BUMPER STICKERS FOR LADIES

BUMPER STICKERS FOR LADIES -- BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL WOMAN IS HERSELF OH MY GOD, I THINK I'M BECOMING THE MAN I WANTED TO MARRY!

GINGER ROGERS DID EVERYTHING FRED ASTAIRE DID, BUT SHE DID IT
BACKWARDS
AND IN HIGH HEELS A WOMAN IS LIKE A TEA BAG...YOU DON'T KNOW HOW STRONG SHE IS
UNTIL YOU
PUT HER IN HOT WATER

I HAVE YET TO HEAR A MAN ASK FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO COMBINE
MARRIAGE AND A CARRER

SO MANY MEN, SO FEW WHO CAN AFFORD ME COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN ... SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH

MAT MUSKARAO ITNA

Mat Muskurao itna
ke phoolon ko khabar lag jaye,
Ke kare woh tumhari tareef,
Aur tumhe nazar lag jaye.

YAAD AYE TO.....

ZAMANE BHAR KI BAATO ME HAME NA BHULA DENA.
JAB KABI YAD AYE TO ZARA SA MUSKURA DENA.
JINDA RAHE TO MILENGE BAR BAR DOST
NAHI TO HAR DIWALI MERE NAAM KA DIYA JALA DENA

CHOICE

Today's Quote

We have a choice: to plow new ground or let the weeds grow.

-Jonathan Westover

Uttaranchal

The Rediff Interview/Kanchan Chaudhary, Uttaranchal DGP

'Getting into the Indian police service had a motive'

April 25, 2006

Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya decided to become a police officer when she saw her father being humiliated and the police refusing to register an FIR (First Information Report).

Her inspiring story as an officer of the Indian Police Service formed the basis of the hit television drama Udaan in the 1980s, where the lead role was played by her sister, Kavita Chaudhary.

Two years ago, she became the first woman director general of police in Uttranchal.

She spoke to Senior Associate Editor Onkar Singh at her office in Dehradun about women police officers and complimented Latika Saran, Chennai's new police commissioner.

Latika Saran has been appointed the new commissioner of police of Chennai. It looks like more and more women police officers are now in key positions. How do you feel about this development?

I congratulated her on her appointment and sent her an SMS wishing her well. I know her personally. She is a fine officer and is very competent who can handle any assignment.

Women officers are more fair and more accessible than their male counterparts. Yes, women have started coming up. It is a good sign for women aspiring for higher offices to prove their own calibre.

If you were to tell Latika Saran one thing what would it be?

I would tell her to be herself. I sent her SMS that 'I am delighted to hear about your posting. Wish you luck and a lovely time.' She is an upright and no-nonsense officer I can tell you that.

You became DGP before Kiran Bedi (the first woman IPS officer) did.

She is a very fine officer and I have my own job to do.

When the appointment came, was it like a dream come true?

I wanted to enjoy helping people. Getting into the Indian Police Service had a motive behind it. Help the helpless. Help as many as you can. This certainly helped me catapult to this post.

I was in the gym when I got the news of my appointment as the first woman director general of the state of Uttaranchal. After that I have never been able to go to the gym regularly.

This post has a lot of demands. Honestly when the orders came I could not believe it. But I am ambitious to deliver. But it is not linked to the post that I hold. This is not my line.

Udaan made your sister famous.

It was a beautiful serial, wasn't it? I admire my sister for doing that serial.

Male officers generally believe that women police officers are not good investigators.

At my level there is no investigation involved at all. I do not think this is held against women police officers. They are fine investigators and they get to the bottom of the case and fish out the facts.

Good investigation is all about getting the information of the case concerned. And women do a good job of it.

Is crime against women on the rise in Uttaranchal?

This is an area of concern to me because crime against women is on the rise. Since more and more women are coming out for jobs and hence their falling prey to crime has increased as well. Their accessibility to crime has also gone up.

Two areas where crime against women is on the rise are dowry deaths and rape.

We increase the police presence in universities and schools when they open for a new session. We try and prevent it but fortunately there is not so much of eve teasing in our state. We have women officers acting as decoys to trap eve teasers.

We are now going to give training to young school and college going girls in unarmed combat to fight this menace. That should help a lot.

Does your personal experience help in dealing with poor people?

Of course, it does. I understand much better what they must be going through. I know what hardships the poor man undergoes while dealing with the police. I keep at least three hours a day to meet such people. On an average I see 50 of them, mostly women. Sometimes I have to skip lunch to listen to their problems, trying to sort them out.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

MAN CAN STILL THINK FAST

A man lives in the countryside and has a large farm with a nice lake running thru it.

One evening while taking a walk along with a bucket of fruits he hears voices shouting and laughing from the lake.

As he comes closer, he sees a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in the lake. They had stopped their car nearby, taken off their clothes and were enjoying a naked bath in the fresh water - assuming no-one was around.

One of the women sees him and shouts, "We're not coming out until you leave!"

The poor fellow frowns and replies, "I didn't come down here to watch you swim naked or make you get out of the lake naked."

Then he holds up the bucket and says, "I'm just here to feed the alligator."

Moral: Men can still think fast, if opportunity will offer itself.

yajurveda (Shukla) Ch.XIX.9.

TEJO ASI TEJO MAYI DHEHI;
VIRYA MASI VIRYA MAYI DHEHI;
BAL MASI BALAM MAYI DHEHI;
OJO ASI OJO MAYI DHEHI;
MANYU RASI MANYUM MAYI DHEHI;
SAHO ASI SAHO MAYI DHEHI.

THOU WHO ART POWER FILL ME WITH POWER;
THOU WHO ART VALOUR INFUSE VALOUR INTO ME.
THOU WHO ART STRENGTH GIVE ME STRENGTH;
THOU WHO ART THE VITAL ESSENCE,
ENDOW ME WITH VITALITY.
WRATH (AGAINST WRONG) THOU ART,
INSTIL THAT WRATH INTO ME.
THOU ART FORTITUDE,
FILL ME WITH FORTITUDE.

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI

A SMALL TRI-WHEEL CAR

BBC NEWS
Green mini-car to beat congestion
By Jonathan Fildes
BBC News science and technology reporter

See the car drive
A tiny, three-wheeled car that could help solve city congestion has been demonstrated at the University of Bath.

The prototype Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) car is one metre wide and less polluting than normal vehicles.

It has a top speed of 100 km/h (60mph) and uses a novel tilting chassis to make it safe and manoeuvrable.

The traffic-busting two-seater is the result of a 40-month project by researchers in nine European countries.

The three-year, £1.5m EU-funded research project aimed to produce a totally different class of private motor vehicle specifically designed for the urban environment.

"The only solutions at the moment are motorbikes or cars" said Ben Drew, a research officer at the University of Bath, one of the institutions involved in the project.

"The idea is to try to marry the small size and efficiency of a motorcycle with the comfort and safety of a standard car," he said.

Micro-mini

The finished vehicle looks like the big brother of the ill-conceived Sinclair C5.

However, the Clever car may drive the field of alternative vehicles further forward than Sir Clive Sinclair's invention.


MICRO-MINI VEHICLES
1940-1945: French-made Velocar
Early 50s: German-designed Kabinenroller
1957: Miniature BMW Isetta
1972: British Bond Bug
70s and 80s: French KVS car
Late 70s: Swedish Shopper Mopedbil
1982: Taiwan's US Cub Commuter
1985: Sir Clive Sinclair's C5
1998: Swatch Mercedes Smart car
2004: G Wiz electric car

The prototype on show in Bath was just a metal skeleton, but the complete car has a roof that protects both the driver and the passenger sitting behind in the event of a crash.

The plastic panels, that sit on the aluminium frame, also protect the occupants from the elements.

At just over one metre wide it is even narrower than Daimler Chrysler's original Smart car.

The micro-mini is able to park efficiently and opens up the possibility of an increased number of lanes on jam-packed city streets.

However, more cars should not mean more fumes, because the Clever car uses compressed natural gas.

"It costs less to run, is quieter and is less polluting," said Dr Jos Darling, a senior lecturer in charge of the Clever project at Bath University.

It would also allow the car to get around London's congestion charge.

Crash test

The team from Bath also had to design a novel chassis that keeps the narrow vehicle from rolling over when it turns corners.

The hydraulic system is electronically controlled and automatically tilts the vehicle as it goes round a corner, in a similar way to a motorcyclist tilting a bike.

"The control system takes measurements from the driver, such as the steering angle and speed, and tilts the vehicle to the required angle to go round the corner," explained Mr Drew.

"It takes a little while to get used to, but once you do it feels bizarre to get back into a normal car."

The car on display in Bath is one of five built by the EU consortium.

Three were destroyed in crash testing and the other is in Germany with car manufacturer BMW, one of the organisations involved in Clever's development.

Although the vehicle is packed with innovations, it is unlikely to replace SUVs in the affections of urban dwellers just yet.

The prototype is purely a research project and is unlikely to come to market in its present form.

But the researchers hope that car companies may build on its ideas, and that the design may even pave the way for a new class of city vehicles somewhere between motorbikes and cars.

"You can imagine that they could re-jig the [London] congestion charge to just allow motorcycles and Clever vehicles, but not cars," said Mr Drew.

"The idea is to showcase the vehicle and start the process of laying down the groundwork for this third way."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4930794.stm

Published: 2006/04/24 19:37:52 GMT

© BBC MMVI

A FATHER'S PAIN

A hero for our times: Eachara Warrier

April 24, 2006

Vishu has just come and gone. As always, Baisakhi is the day before Vishu; and I remember the massacre at Jallianwallah Bagh: almost a hundred years ago, on April 13, 1919. A walled garden with a single entrance and an unarmed crowd celebrating the arrival of Spring. 1,650 bullets expended, 1,579 casualties. The day on which imperialism bared its fangs for all to see.
Remember Jallianwallah Bagh

And then there were the nationalists whose resolve was strengthened by Jallianwallah Bagh: the trio of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, hanged by the British for sedition exactly 75 years ago, on March 23, 1921. The Gadar Party of San Francisco, and young UC, Berkeley students Kartar Singh Sarabha and Vishnu Ganesh Pingale, hanged by the British for sedition. The naïve innocents of the Komagata Maru, who returned from Canada and the US to help liberate India, and who were massacred at the ports.
Every nation needs its heroes; and the heroes are a reflection of what the nation is all about. I am disappointed, as I am with so much in modern India, with the quality of the heroes everyone looks up to. Ask any young Indian: chances are their heroes are mere movie stars and overpaid, underperforming cricketers. And perhaps some politicians. All of whom are creatures of propaganda and an easily-bought, pliant media. India has an abhorrent culture of hero-worship and a futile messiah syndrome.
But true heroes are ignored. For instance, this year, on the 75th anniversary of the hanging of Bhagat Singh and friends, practically no attention was paid to their memory. And where are the memorials? I was shocked to go to Colachel in Kanyakumari district, to the site of an emphatic victory by Marthanda Varma of Travancore over an invading Dutch fleet in 1741. There is nothing to mark the spot but a stinking, broken stone, overgrown with weeds and covered with cow patties.
The Battle of Colachel: In remembrance of things past There are real heroes amongst us, but their tales are never told and they are not glamorous. They do not necessarily look good on television, and they may not be 'people like us', either. I refer to people like Major Shaitan Singh of the C Company, 13th Kumaon: they who died to the last man in the snows of Ladakh repulsing Chinese hordes. RAJEEV

Comment: A very well written article. I wonder where are our true heroes today: in the films, in politics or amongst the religious mafia. Hope one day India will wake up once again and not only recognize our thousands of heroes, who made great sacrifices for the country and for valid causes and of which our history is full, and will honour them. But it would appear that those heroes have conveniently been forgotten by our present crop of intellectuals, crorepatis and the powers that be.

MAJBURI

Yeh kaise majburi hai
hum wafa karna sake
Bewaffa hum banna sake
Tum se pyar karna sake
Ekraar hum karna sake

AGAR MANZIL KO PANA HAI TO...

Agar Manzil ko pana hai toh Housala Saath rakhna.

Agar Pyaar ko paana hai toh Aithbar rakhna.

Agar hamesha Muskurana hai toh Hame yaad rakhna…

PHOOLEIN MEIN GULAB ACHCHA LAGTA HAI

Phulon Mein Gulab Achaa Lagta hai,

Sapno Mein Khawab Achaa Lagta hai,

Aap Hamein Yaad Karte Rahe…

Hame Aapka yeh Andaz Achaa Lagta Hai…

Monday, April 24, 2006

Sand and stone

Sand and Stone

A story tells that two friends were walking
through the desert.

During some point of the journey, they had
an argument, and one friend slapped the
other one in the face. The one who got
slapped was hurt, but without saying anything,
he wrote in the sand:

Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

They kept on walking, until they found an
oasis, where they decided to take a bath.
The one who had been slapped got stuck in
the mire and started drowning, but his
friend saved him. After he recovered from
the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

Today my best friend saved my life.

The friend, who had slapped and saved his
best friend, asked him, "After I hurt you,
you wrote in the sand, and now, you write
on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone
hurts us, we should write it down in sand,
where the winds of forgiveness can erase
it away, but when someone does something
good for us, we must engrave it in stone
where no wind can ever erase it.

Learn to write your hurts in the sand
and to carve your blessings in stone.

Sanskrit Literature

According to me, the influence of Sanskrit literature on our time will not be lesser than what was, in the 16th century, Greece's influence on Renaissance. One day, India's wisdom will flow again on Europe and will totally transform our knowledge and thought. Arthur Schopenhauer The World as a Will and Representation (1788-1860).

Sunday, April 23, 2006

You can't make up stuff better than this!
Ain't politics grand?

Jesse Jackson's New Staff Member:




Mel Reynolds

Jesse Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat Congressman Mel Reynolds
to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals
excused in President Clinton's last-minute forgiveness spree.
Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15
convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud, and lies to the Federal Election
Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five
years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer.
This is a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex with a
subordinate...won clemency from a president who had sex with a
subordinate...then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a subordinate.
His new job?
Ready for this??








*****YOUTH COUNSELOR*****

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?

KUMBH MELA 1895 in ALLAHABAD

Pilgrims plodded for months in heat to get here, worn, poor and hungry, but sustained by unwavering faith. American author Mark Twain, after witnessing the 1895 Kumbha Mela in Allahabad

COMMENTS OF MARK TWAIN ON 1895 KUMBH MELA

Pilgrims plodded for months in heat to get here, worn, poor and hungry, but sustained by unwavering faith. American author Mark Twain, after witnessing the 1895 Kumbha Mela in Allahabad

Dost

Faith makes life possible,

Hope makes life workable,

Love makes life beautiful.

A Friend makes life meaningful.

Nice to have a friend like you…

Suraj aur aag

Kabhi to ki hogi suraj ne chand se mohabbat
Tabhi to chand mein daag hai,
Mumkin hai ki chand ne ki hogi bewafai
Tabhi to suraj mein aag hai.

Meri Jindagi

Kya kahun tumhen--
Dil kahun to toot jaoge, khawb kahun to bikhar jaoge,
ji chahta hai ab main tumhara naam zindagi rakh doon,
maut se pahle to mera saath choode na paaoge.

Aapki dosti ki keemat

Saw bewafaai kubool hain ek vaffaa ke liye ..
Saw ansu kubool hain ek hansi ke liye.....
hum tho mohtaj hain appke pyar ke....
100 dushmani kubool hain appki dosti ke liye

Mohabbat

Mohabbat kaho to ek lafz,-
Mano to bandagi,
Socho to gahra sagar,
Doobo to zindagi,
Karo to aasan ,
Nibhao to mushkil,
Bikhre to saara zamana,
Simte to sirf tum.

Keeping your interest

Today's Quote

No one grows old by living, only by losing interest in living.

-Marie Beynon Ray

Saturday, April 22, 2006

ONE STEP...

Today's Quote

Take a deep breath, count to ten, and tackle each task one step at a time.

-Linda Shalaway

From A to Z....eal...

Alphebetic advice for U..
A B C - Avoid Bad Company…
D E F - Don’t Ego with Friends…
G H I - Give up Hurting incidences…
J K L - Just Keep Liking me…
N O P - Never Opt Possesiveness…
Q R S T - Quit Remember Seldom Trust…
U V W - Use Valid Words…
X Y Z - Xpress Your Zeal…
Sweet Day Dear…

A TO Zeal

Alphebetic advice for U..
A B C - Avoid Bad Company…
D E F - Don’t Ego with Friends…
G H I - Give up Hurting incidences…
J K L - Just Keep Liking me…
N O P - Never Opt Possesiveness…
Q R S T - Quit Remember Seldom Trust…
U V W - Use Valid Words…
X Y Z - Xpress Your Zeal…
Sweet Day Dear…

Malaysia - another fanatic country!

From: "Imagin8r"
To: "Media Monitor5" < Media_Monitor5@yahoogroups.com>, "Hindu Civilization"
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 18:43:19 -0600
Subject: [hc] Where's the outrage?
First they declare a Hindu Tsomolungma hero to be a hero and bury him, over the objections of his family. Then they demolish a century old Hindu temple. Our secularists remain silent. So do Hindus. Murli

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=263&id=379485

Malaysia demolishes century-old Hindu temple
KUALA LUMPUR, APRIL 21 (AFP)

Malaysian authorities have demolished a century-old Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, bulldozing the building as devotees cried and begged them to stop, Hindu groups said today.

The Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple was reduced to rubble after Kuala Lumpur's city hall sent in bulldozers, they said.

In a complaint to police the temple's vice president, Subramaniam Ragappan, said about 300 devotees were praying Tuesday when the machines arrived, accompanied by police and city hall officials.

"We were forced to stop our prayers and (rituals) halfway as they proceeded to tear down the temple," he said in a copy of the complaint obtained by AFP.

A copy of a letter from city hall to a local lawmaker, who had asked for the temple to be left intact, said the demolition was going ahead to make way for a building project.

City hall officials were not immediately available for comment.

Subramaniam said city hall tried in 2001 and again in 2004 to tear down the building, which was on government land, but had been dissuaded by politicians.

"Everybody was crying and saying how could the government do this, but they still broke the temple," he told AFP.

"For 100 years we prayed there. How could they come to remove the temple?" he said, adding that they were given just one day's notice of the demolition.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Dharmo rakshati rakshitah
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivilization/

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MALAYSIA

From: "Imagin8r"
To: "Media Monitor5" < Media_Monitor5@yahoogroups.com>, "Hindu Civilization"
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 18:43:19 -0600
Subject: [hc] Where's the outrage?
First they declare a Hindu Tsomolungma hero to be a hero and bury him, over the objections of his family. Then they demolish a century old Hindu temple. Our secularists remain silent. So do Hindus. Murli

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=263&id=379485

Malaysia demolishes century-old Hindu temple
KUALA LUMPUR, APRIL 21 (AFP)

Malaysian authorities have demolished a century-old Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, bulldozing the building as devotees cried and begged them to stop, Hindu groups said today.

The Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple was reduced to rubble after Kuala Lumpur's city hall sent in bulldozers, they said.

In a complaint to police the temple's vice president, Subramaniam Ragappan, said about 300 devotees were praying Tuesday when the machines arrived, accompanied by police and city hall officials.

"We were forced to stop our prayers and (rituals) halfway as they proceeded to tear down the temple," he said in a copy of the complaint obtained by AFP.

A copy of a letter from city hall to a local lawmaker, who had asked for the temple to be left intact, said the demolition was going ahead to make way for a building project.

City hall officials were not immediately available for comment.

Subramaniam said city hall tried in 2001 and again in 2004 to tear down the building, which was on government land, but had been dissuaded by politicians.

"Everybody was crying and saying how could the government do this, but they still broke the temple," he told AFP.

"For 100 years we prayed there. How could they come to remove the temple?" he said, adding that they were given just one day's notice of the demolition.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Dharmo rakshati rakshitah
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivilization/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
hinducivilization-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Friday, April 21, 2006

SUHAG RAAT

HUSBAND N WIFE
Suhaag raat ke baad husband ne apni Wife se pucha ki kal raat ko kya mahsus kiya.Tho Wife ne kaha "5% sharm , 5% dard aur 90% purani yaadein" ...

A COUNTRY RUN BY KATHMULLAHS

U.S. can become a hero to millions of Iranians

By Faye F. Farhang


Twenty-seven years after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the majority sentiment among Iranians today can be summed up in a single question: When are they leaving?

"They" refers to Tehran's extremist mullahs, who have turned back Iran's clock on cultural and scientific development for more than a quarter of a century.

In a country where 70 percent of the population is literate and secular and close to 50 percent is female and educated, women are still permanent second-class citizens.

Without the basic right of choosing their public attire, women going out without the mandatory Islamic veil will be arrested, beaten and jailed. Astonishingly, these human-rights violations are a daily regimen of life in Iran.

In March, in commemoration of International Women's Day, scores of Iranian women participating in a peaceful sit-in demonstration were initially filmed, and then severely beaten off-camera by the Islamic police and their militant assistants. Yet, in the midst of such brutality, how does nuclear energy win out as the sujet du jour?

The irony of the situation may be baffling to the outsider, but diverting attention from its human-rights abuses is exactly what the Islamic regime seeks in order to establish greater internal and regional dominance.

When the clerics took power in 1979, they promised to deliver the wealth of the nation to the poor. Yet, the fact that the poor suffer from greater poverty today only illustrates what has been proven repeatedly about the fundamentalists in power. They cannot be trusted.

Returning to Iran some two decades after leaving it as a child, I was determined to find out whether the Islamic revolution that had upturned so many lives, including my family's, had benefited the less-fortunate. In the summer of 2001, the Iranian workers, be it the cleaning lady or the gardener, were more honest than I had ever expected. These women and men, while not literate enough to write, were articulate about their experiences, explaining that after all these years they were still waiting for their oil money — as if waiting for the messiah.

For them, the oil money is as unreachable as the democracy the majority of Iranians desperately seek.

The oppressive fear perpetuated by the Islamic regime has seeped into every aspect of Iranians' lives. They lead a quasi-existence under watchful eyes. In a totalitarian state, the pro-American majority is not empowered to stand up to the clerics. Fear dominates.

Many Iranians have already lost their lives in the human-rights struggle and those who continue to dedicate themselves to the cause of justice know too well that the small strides they have made over two decades can be reversed by an unpredictable regime.

During his presidential campaign, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to portray himself as some sort of Islamic Robin Hood. He did practically everything but dress the part. Yet, his short track record already proves his betrayal of the poor who supported him.

Now, consider his desire for nuclear energy, masked by peaceful intentions today. Despite certain pundits' assertions, it is unlikely that this disciple of the ayatollahs' regime would honor an agreement on the purpose of the uranium enrichment.

He seeks to bolster an oppressive position of power for tomorrow. If allowed, Iran likely would be a reign of terror over the Middle East. According to terrorism experts, the fundamentalist-controlled groups — Iran's ministry of intelligence, its security operatives, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — are better trained and equipped than the al-Qaida network that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran's rogue regime are a grave threat to the security of the Iranian people, the international community and especially the United States, the well-identified foe of the Islamic Republic.

If Churchill's assertions were right and "the United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative," then the U.S. administration must maintain full speed with the agenda of establishing democracy in Iran. By continuing to drive a wedge between the Iranian people and the Iranian regime, the U.S. will bolster its chances of success, without alienating the average Iranian.

Using the Iranian masses effectively to undermine the fundamentalist regime will also create leverage for the international community to step up and confront militants.

A free, democratic Iran remains in the best interest of the United States. The "risk"? Becoming the certified hero of millions of Iranians by bringing the freedom they have long desired.

Faye F. Farhang writes for various Persian-American online journals and works as a paralegal in Seattle. Contact her at www.ffarhang.com

THE GAYATRI MANTRA

The Gayatri Mantra

Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life, Remover of pain and sorrow, The Bestower of happiness, Oh! Creator of the Universe, May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light, May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

AUM BHOOR BHUWAH SWAHA,
TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT

VEDAS

CONSIDER THESE ...

Consider These 3 Thoughts
(1) Zero Gravity
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly
discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.
To
combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12
>>>billion
>>> developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside-down, on
>>>almost
>>> any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from
>>>below
>>> freezing to over 300 C.
>>> The Russians used a pencil. You have just paid your taxes and will be due again sooner than you believe - - enjoy paying them.
>>>
>>> (2) Our Constitution
>>> They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why
>>>don't
>>> we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart
>>>guys,
>>> and it's worked for over 200 years. And, we're not using it
>>>anymore."
>>>
>>> (3) Ten Commandments
>>> The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a
>>> Courthouse is that you cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou
>>>Shalt
>>> Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full
>>>of
>>> lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work
>>> environment
>>>

Thursday, April 20, 2006

MY LORD, YOUR LORDSHIPS GO AWAY

'My Lord' junked for 'Your Honour'Add to Clippings
[ Thursday, April 20, 2006 01:14:24 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

NEW DELHI: Their Lordships will henceforth just be their Honours. 'My Lord' and 'Your Lordship', the two phrases used since the British Raj by lawyers to address judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, have just been confined to history by the Bar Council of India.

In a recent resolution amending the rules, BCI replaced the two most important phrases with 'Your Honour' and 'Honourable Court' saying that words 'My Lord' and 'Your Lordship' are "relics of the colonial past" which need to be weeded out.

In the lower courts, lawyers can address the presiding officers as 'Sir' or the equivalent word in the respective regional languages.

"I welcome it," said Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal, who, while heading a bench had recently dismissed a petition filed by a lawyers’ body seeking identical change in the address system.

The CJI had asked the lawyers to approach BCI and build a consensus among advocates for the new system of address, assuring them the court had no problem with it as long as it is dignified.

Will the lawyers, so used to uttering 'Milord' and 'Your Lordship' during their arguments, adopt the new system?

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati said the prevailing system was just fine, reflecting the dignity due to the court and judges.

Supreme Court Bar Association president P H Parekh said amendment of the rules by BCI does not make it mandatory for lawyers to follow the new system of address.

SHRI RAMCHANDRAJI

:: CULTURE, LIFESTYLE & SPIRITUALITY ::

Remembering Shri Rama
Earlier this month, on the 6th April, was the festival of 'Ram Navmi', which celebrates one of the most important events in our history, the birth of Lord Rama. Rama Navmi is not as hugely celebrated as the other great festival of which Rama is the central figure; Diwali. Nevertheless Ram Navmi is still an important date in the Hindu spiritual calendar and always guarantees to have temples packed.

Only a few figures in the course of history have had an epic fame enduring for many thousands of years. Of these perhaps the best known is Rama, whose fame has endured to the present day, sustained by millions of devotees across the world. Rama lived at a very ancient period; long before Christ, Buddha, Moses or Krishna.

Rama's life is set forth in a great epic poem called the Ramayana, filled with magic and spirituality as well as high and mighty ethics, morals and ideals. It remains one of the most endearing and inspiring epics in world literature. It includes such extraordinary characters such as great yogis with occult powers, powerful demons and magical animals like Rama's great monkey companion, Hanuman. Yet Rama also appears as an historical figure in one of the great dynasties of ancient India, the solar dynasty of Kosala, and is included among the detailed genealogies of ancient Hindu kings. There are at least 60 kings recorded between Rama and the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BCE).

In Hindu thought, Rama is the seventh avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu, the aspect of the Divine or Pure Consciousness that protects and preserves the universe. Rama was known for his fearlessness, compassion, courage and wisdom. He is called upon as the form of God who saves us from difficulties and danger. Rama as a name means "he who gives light, joy and peace". Rama is called Bhagavan Rama or Lord Rama to show respect for his divinity. The name of Rama is one of the most important Sanskrit names for God, perhaps second only to Om in frequency of use. Like Om it is called Taraka, the mantra of deliverance, taking us beyond the ocean of birth and death.

Rama's fame in ancient times was even greater than it is today. He is mentioned in Buddhist literature as an enlightened individual, and the name of Rama is one of the main Sikh names for God. Rama and his worship go far beyond India. The kings of Thailand to the present day are named Rama, and their capital city, Ayuttha is named after Rama's own capital Ayodhya. The story of Rama is commonly told in Indochina and is performed regularly in Indonesia, where a large statue of Rama can be found in the capital city Jakarta, representing the older Hindu tradition of the country that many people still follow. Smaller indigenous communities in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Borneo are devotees of Rama. The walls of temples from Pakistan to Ankor Wat in Indochina portray scenes from the life of Rama. Indeed the story of Rama is the most popular and enduring story of South Asia. Rama is the greatest cultural hero of the region, combining the strength of Hercules with the compassion of Buddha. To the West, the name Rama occurs as a name of God in ancient Persian literature, the Zend Avesta of the Zoroastrians, as well as in artefacts as far as in Syria and Egypt. This suggests that the story of Rama may have been known over a far greater region in ancient times.

Ancient Rama mandir in Indonesia

The story of Ram reflects the spiritual view of life found in Yoga and Vedanta, the practice and philosophy of Self-realisation. According to the Hindu view, God is the Infinite Bliss and Wisdom that dwells within our hearts to which we must eventually return, whatever we may do and however far we may stray. Rama is an incarnation of joy, compassion and strength. Devotion to him counsels us to return to our true Self-Nature. It's message is not doom and gloom or threats of punishment, but that we contain within ourselves an ocean of delight and awareness that transcends all time, space and causation which we can access to fulfil our inner destiny (God-realisation) and overcome the bonds of karma. Rama himself abides within us as the Divine Will that is master of everything, which we can manifest through surrender of our thoughts and actions to God.

Many great teachers of modern India have been devotees of Rama, including Mahatma Gandhi, who died with the name of Rama on his lips. Perhaps most notable among recent teachers is Neem Karoli Baba, who was considered to be a manifestation of Rama's companion, Hanuman. Another great Rama devotee of modern India was Papa Ramdas of South India. A number of westerners are now devotees of Rama, through the influence of such teachers. Quite recently the national television network of India produced a television series based on the Ramayana, that mesmerised the country. All business and government activity and even the trains stopped during the telecast because no one wanted to miss it. No ancient epic, not even Homer's Iliad or Odyssey has remained as popular through the course of time. The story of Rama appears as old as civilisation itself and has a fresh appeal for every generation.

CHALE GAYE

Sapno ki tarha akar chale gaye;

apno ko bhoola kar chale gaye;

kisi galti ki saza di usne;

pehle hansaya phir rula kar chale gaye ...

PRESENT

The past is history. The future, a mystery. The here and now is a gift. That is why it's called the present. ...

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

HASEENAIEN

aye khuda tere darbaar main hum faryaad karte hain,

mat bana un haseeno ko jo hamein barbaad karte hain!

EK TARA, CHHOTA SA

Dete ho kyo yeh dard bas hami ko?,

Kya samjhoge tum in aankhon ki nami ko?....

Yu to honge lakhon deewane is chand ke,

Chand kya mehsus karega ek taare ki kami ko.... ...

taj mahal

Hum na hote to aapko gazal kaun kehta,

apke chehre ko gulab kaun kehta,

Ye to karishma hai hum pyar karne walon ka

warna pattharon ko Taj Mahal kaun kehta.

wAH wAH

DOSTI

Dosti ka pehla pegham aapke naam,

Zindagi ki akhari sham aapke naam.

Iss safar main humsafar hain hum dono,

Is dosti ko nibhana hai aapka kaam. ...

JINDGI KI RAHON MEIN ....

Zindagi ki Rahao me Jab aage Jaoge,

Piche Ek Saaya Tum Har daam paoge.,

Mudhkar Dekha toh Tanhaai Hogi,

Agar Mehsoos Karoge toh Hame Paoge ...

YEH MAT SAMAJHNA

YEH MATH SAMAJHNA KI MAI DIL LAGA KAR BHOOL JAONGA;

MAIN TOH WOH DEWAANA HOON JO QAYAMATH MAIN BHGI MILNE AAONGA

KHUSHI

Aankho Main Khushi Labun Par Hansi:,

Gam Ka Kahin Naam Na Ho.

Aap Ko Jahan Ki Sari Khushiyan Milain,

In Khusyhun Ki Kabhi Shaam Na Ho. ...

Dosti

AHSAN DOSTI MEIN JATENE NAHI HOTE;

KARZ DOSTO KE CHUKANE NAHI HOTE;

SALAMAT RAHE BAS DOSTI HAMARI;

YEH WO RISHTE HAIN JO KABHI PURANE NAHI HOTE ....

Wah Wah, kya khoob

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Eat meat-free diet and avoid soda drinks and juices from cartons etc.

Don't Eat This Food. You'll Weigh Less
It's a fact of life that we gain weight as we age, and to a certain extent there isn't much we can do about it; however, while researchers in Great Britain were trying to discern how diet and cancer may be linked, they may have stumbled on a way to help people gain less weight than they otherwise would as they get older. It's pretty simple. Just skip the meat.

Women who skip the meat or just eat less of it are far less likely to be overweight or obese. Click to find out why.

Led by Tim Key, the team from the Cancer Research UK charity and the University of Oxford found that switching to a meat-free diet helped people gain less weight over a five-year period, reports Reuters. They examined the eating habits of 22,000 people and found that while all of them put on a few pounds, the meat-eaters who changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least. "Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein," Key told Reuters.

If you're fat in your 40s, you can blame almost all of it on someone else.

The study: The researchers compared the eating habits and subsequent weight gain among people who ate meat and fish, as well as vegetarians and vegans over five years. None of the participants was overweight at the start of the study.

Here's a great trick to prevent middle-age spread. Women who follow this easy diet are far less likely to gain weight once they hit their 50s.

The results: On average, people gained about 4.4 pounds over five years, but those who ate a vegetarian or vegan diet gained less than those who ate meat and fish. "The weight gain was less in the vegans than in the meat-eaters and somewhere in between in the other groups," Key explained to Reuters. "The lowest weight gain was in people who changed their diet to eat fewer animal products."

Love a juicy steak or hamburger? Uh oh. Bad news. Click to find out why you might want to eat something else instead.

He did note that exercise is an important factor in controlling weight, and those who became physically active also gained less weight than those who were sedentary. The study findings were published in the International Journal of Obesity.

More than anything else, this one thing makes us the fattest.

Monday, April 17, 2006

WHERE INDIA'S BRAVE NEW WORLD IS HEADED

Weekend Edition
April 1 / 2, 2006

A Bull Market for Sensex, Fashion Models and Farmer Suicides
Where India's Brave New World is Headed

By P. SAINATH

FARM SUICIDES in Vidharbha crossed 400 this week. The Sensex share index crossed the 11,000 mark. And Lakme Fashion Week issued over 500 media passes to journalists. All three are firsts. All happened the same week. And each captures in a brilliant if bizarre way a sense of where India's Brave New World is headed. A powerful measure of a massive disconnect. Of the gap between the haves and the have-mores on the one hand, and the dispossessed and desperate, on the other.

Of the three events, the suicide toll in Vidharbha found no mention in many newspapers and television channels. Even though these have occurred since just June 2 last year. Even though the most conservative figure (of Sakaal newspaper) places the deaths at above 372. (The count since 2000-01 would run to thousands.) Sure, there were rare exceptions in the media. But they were just that - rare. It is hard to describe what those fighting this incredible human tragedy on the ground feel about it. More so when faced with the silence of a national media given to moralising on almost everything else.

In the 13 days during which the suicide index hit 400, 40 farmers took their own lives. The Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti points out that the suicides are now more than three a day - and mounting. These deaths are not the result of natural disaster, but of policies rammed through with heartless cynicism. They are driven by several factors that include debt linked to a credit crunch, soaring input costs, crashing prices, and a complete loss of hope. That loss of faith and the rise in the numbers of deaths has been sharpest since last October. That's when a government that came to power promising a cotton price of Rs.2,700 a quintal ensured it fell to Rs.1,700. A thousand rupees less.

When 322 of 413 suicides have occurred since just November 1, you'd think that is newsworthy. When the highest number, 77, take place in March alone, you'd believe the same. You'd be wrong, though. The Great Depression of the Indian countryside does not make news.

But the Sensex and Fashion Week do. "There is nothing wrong," an irate reader wrote to me, "in covering the Sensex or the Fashion Week." True. But there is something horribly wrong with our sense of proportion while doing so. Every pulse beat and flutter on the Sensex merits front-page treatment. Even if less than two per cent of Indian households have any kind of investments in the stock exchange here. This week's rise does not just mark the highest ever. It makes the lead story on the front page. That's because the "Sensex beats Dow in numbers game." The strap below that headline in a leading daily reads: "Dalal Street's 11,183 eclipses Wall Street." It's moved to 11,300 since then.

On television, even non-business channels carry that ticker at the right hand corner. Keeping viewers alert to the main chance even as they draw in the number of deaths in the latest bomb blasts. At one point, the mourning for President K.R. Narayanan was juxtaposed to the joys of the Nifty and the Sensex. The irony does get noticed but it persists.

The great news for Fashion Week lovers is that this year will see two of them. There's a split in the ranks of the Beautiful People. Which means we will now have 500 or more journalists covering two such events separately. This in a nation where the industry's own study put the Indian designer market at 0.2 per cent of the total apparel market. Where journalists at such shows each year outnumber buyers - often by three to one.

Contrast that with the negligible number of reporters sent out to cover Vidharbha in the depths of its great misery. At the LFW, journalists jostle for `exclusives' while TV crews shove one another around for the best `camera space.' In Vidharbha itself, the best reporters there push only the limits of their own sanity. Faced with dailies that kill most of their stories, or with channels that scorn such reports, they still persist. Trying desperately to draw the nation's attention to what is happening. To touch its collective conscience. So intense has been their tryst with misery, they drag themselves to cover the next household against the instinct to switch off. Every one of them knows the farm suicides are just the tip of the iceberg. A symptom of a much wider distress.

The papers that dislike such stories do find space for the poor, though. As in this advertisement, which strikes a new low in contempt for them. Two very poor women, probably landless workers, are chatting: "That's one helluva designer tan," says the first to the other. "Yeah," replies the other. "My skin just takes to the Monte Carlo sun." The copy that follows then mocks them. "You'll agree," it says, "chances that the ladies above rub shoulders with the glitterati of the French Riviera are, well, a little remote." It throws in a disclaimer, of course. "We don't mean to be disrespectful ... " But "this is a mere reminder to marketers that a focus on customers with stronger potential does help." That is an ad for the `Brand Equity,' supplement of a leading newspaper group.

Nearly 5,000 shanties were torn down in Mumbai in the same eventful week. But it drew little attention. Their dwellers won't make it to the French Riviera either. Those in media focus, though, might. Mumbai's planned Peddar Road flyover, seen by some of the metro's mega rich as hurting their interests, grabbed yards of newsprint and endless broadcast time. There was barely a word seen or heard from those whose homes were razed to the ground. Meanwhile, more and more people flee the countryside for urban India. Candidates for future demolitions. In the village, we demolish their lives, in the city their homes.

The smug indifference of the elite is matched by the governments they do not vote in, but control. When the National Commission for Farmers went to Vidharbha last October, it brought out a serious report and vital recommendations. Many of these have become demands of the farmers and their organisations. At its Nashik meeting in January, the All-India Kisan Sabha (a body with 20 million members) called for immediate implementation of the NCF report.

Instead, both the Centre and the State Government have sent more and more `commissions' to the region. To `study' what was well known and already documented. It's a kind of distress tourism now. It just adds the sins of `commissions' to those of omission.

Favouring corporates

The damage is not only in Vidharbha but across the land. Why is the Indian state doing this to its farmers? Isn't farming, after all, the biggest private sector in India? Because being private isn't enough. Ruthlessly, each policy, every budget moves us further towards a corporate takeover of agriculture. Large companies were amongst the top gainers from distress sales of cotton in Vidharbha this season. The small private owners called farmers must be sacrificed at the altar of big corporate profit. The clearest admission of this came in the McKinsey-authored Vision 2020 of Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh. It set out the removal of millions of people from the land as one of its objectives. Successive governments at the Centre and in many States seem to have latched on to that vision with much zeal. In some ways, the present United Progressive Alliance takes up where Mr. Naidu left off.

Where are those being thrown off the land to go? To the cities and towns with their shutdown mills. With closed factories and very little employment. The great Indian miracle is based on near jobless growth. We are witnessing the biggest human displacement in our history and not even acknowledging it. The desperation for any work at all is clear in the rush for it at just the start of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme. Within a week of its launch, it saw 2.7 million applicants in just 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh. And close to a million in 12 districts of Maharashtra. Note that the Rs.60 wage is below the minimum of several States. Know, too, that many in the lines of applicants are landed farmers. Some of them with six acres or more. In the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh, a farmer who owned eight acres of paddy fields was a person of some status 10 years ago. Today, he or she, with a family of five, would be below the poverty line. (If that's the case with landowners, imagine the state of landless labourers.)

If the State Government's role in Vidharbha is sick, that of the Centre is appalling. Making sad noises is about as far as it will go. As the NCF report shows, much can be done to save hundreds of more lives that will surely otherwise be lost. But it avoids that path.

Its vision of farming serves corporates, not communities. And the media elite? Why not a Vidharbha week? To report the lives and deaths of those whose cotton creates the textiles and fabrics that they do cover. If just a fourth of the journalists sent to the Fashion Week were assigned to cover Vidharbha, they'd all have many more stories to tell.

P. Sainath is the rural affairs editor of The Hindu (where these two pieces initially ran) and the author of Everybody Loves a Good Drought. He can be reached at: psainath@vsnl.com.

Cat saves abandoned baby’s life

Berlin: A cat saved the life of a newborn baby abandoned on the doorstep of a Cologne house in the middle of the night by meowing loudly until someone woke up, a police spokesman said.

"The cat is a hero," Cologne police spokesman Uwe Beier said. "Its loud meowing got the attention of the homeowner and saved the baby from suffering life-threatening hypothermia. The homeowner opened door to see why the cat was making so much noise and discovered the newborn."

Beier said the boy was taken to hospital at 5 a.m. on Thursday, when overnight temperatures fell toward zero, and had suffered only mild hypothermia. He said there was no indication of what happened to the boy's mother.

MAN MOHAN SINGH

A man asked sardarji, why Manmohan Singh goes for a walk in the
evening not in the morning.

Sardarji replied ''Arey bhai Manmohan is PM not AM''.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Khuda

Samney hai jo use log bura kehte hain,
Jisko dekha hi nahi usko khuda kehtey hain !
--------------------------------------

FAMILY OF THE GROOM

« previous · Today's Joke · next »

Family of the Groom

At an Easter mass, at which some young ladies were to take their final vows to become nuns, the presiding bishop noticed two rabbis enter the church just before the mass began.

They were seated at the back of the sanctuary and insisted on sitting on the right side of the center aisle. The bishop wondered why they had come but didn't have time to inquire before the mass began.When it came time for some announcements, his curiosity got the best of him. He announced that he was delighted to see two rabbis in their midst at the mass but was curious as to why they were present at this occasion where the young ladies were to become the "Brides of Christ."

The eldest of the rabbis slowly rose to his feet and explained, "Family of the Groom."

SHE COME OR YOU GO!

Today's Quote

If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Malaysia

2. Malaysian Court to Decide Conversion Case

www.columbian.com

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, April 14, 2006: Malaysia's highest court has agreed to take up the question whether Muslims who renounce their faith must still answer to the country's Islamic courts. The Federal Court ruling, expected in months, will be a rare step into the highly sensitive area of conversions - and will likely have profound implications on religious freedom in this Muslim-majority country. The court's announcement on Thursday stems from the case of Lina Joy, who converted from Islam to Christianity in 1998. That same year she applied to revise her government identity card, which stated that she was Muslim. The National Registration Department refused to identify her as Christian, saying it needed permission from a court specializing in Islamic law, or Shariah. "This case should be viewed in the larger context of Islamization and the erosion of constitutional rights," Joy's lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said Friday. Muslims, who make up 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people, are governed by Shariah courts on all civil and family matters. Chinese and Indian minorities are under civil court jurisdiction. But there are no clear guidelines in overlapping cases like Joy's. A similar dilemma arose last year, when a Hindu soldier converted to Islam without telling his family. When he died, Islamic authorities claimed his body for burial, mandated under Islam. A court rejected his widow's plea that she get the body for cremation, required under Hinduism. Dawson said Malaysia's constitution does not say a person needs Shariah court approval to convert out of Islam. If the Shariah court had that right, it would never allow a Muslim to convert because it does not "believe that anyone can change from Islam," he said. The case has had serious repercussions for Joy, 42. She wants to marry a non-Muslim, but cannot because the civil registry only marries non-Muslims. "What happens if she steps into a church, for example? Or (gets) caught eating during the (Islamic) fasting month?" he said. Shariah bars Muslims from both.

IGUANAS IN FLORIDA - IF THEY DON'T BEHAVE, DESTROY THEM!

Fla. Island Residents Besieged by Iguanas
By BRIAN SKOLOFF

BOCA GRANDE, Fla. (AP) - Death and taxes may be life's only certainties, but for folks in this upscale island town, add iguanas. And another tax.

During the last three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the black, spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows.

Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for every year-round resident.

The frustration here has led to frenzy. Bonnie McGee keeps a pellet gun by her door ready to take on the slithering enemy.

``They eat your flowers and their feces is everywhere,'' she said, adding that she's killed dozens. ``Some people toss them in the canal and the hermit crabs feed on them.''

Aaron Diaz, owner of Boca Grande's Barnichol hardware store, said he has sold 75 traps in the past three weeks alone.

``For some people, they've really taken over, climbing into attics, into vents and even into their toilets,'' he said.

County Commissioner Bob Janes doesn't know how much eradication will cost, so he's not sure how much the tax will be. He said the issue has finally come to a head.

``In 1988, there was talk of a program but people at that time thought they were kind of cute,'' Janes said. ``They're no longer cute little guys. They're very pesky.''

Kevin Enge, an exotic species expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said he believes the iguana was introduced to Boca Grande in the 1970s by a boat captain who brought a few from Mexico for his kids but released them when they grew too large. Their population exploded because each female iguana can lay up to 75 eggs a year.

The reptiles are found in a few other places in Florida, but nowhere in the numbers seen on Gasparilla Island, home to television renovator Bob Vila and a vacation spot for the Bush clan.

``There's no way you'll get rid of them all. Once they're established to that extent, it's a lost cause,'' Enge said.

The county hired Florida Gulf Coast University biologist Jerry Jackson to study the problem. He is worried the lizards aren't just a nuisance, but are destroying native habitat, spreading other invasive species through their droppings and endangering the town in the event of a hurricane.

``The majority of their burrows are in the dunes along the beaches,'' Jackson said. ``We're threatening the human population on Gasparilla Island to the extent that the dunes are in danger of just disappearing with a storm surge.''

The iguanas feed on the eggs of gopher tortoises, a species of ``special concern'' that the state says will likely to be bumped up to threatened in a few months as their population declines.

The lizards also carry salmonella.

``The disease organism alone could be a problem for native species, even for humans,'' Jackson said. ``It's a zoo out there. It's an ecosystem gone crazy.''

Even the local weekly paper, the Boca Beacon, gets flooded with letters about iguanas.

``Iguanas are not human. They do not deserve humane treatment,'' resident Richard Zellner wrote. ``As far as I am concerned, they can be burned, shot and mutilated.''

Some have made catching iguanas into a family outing. Boston resident Michael Mavilia, 49, who owns a house on the island, spent a recent day with his family casting a fishing rod with a tiny green rubber worm toward the foundations of beach homes.

``This is a nice one,'' Mavilia said, pulling a writhing, two-foot iguana from a cage in his car trunk. ``You should have seen us wrestling him in. It was like catching the big one.''

On The Net:

Boca Beacon: http://www.bocabeacon.com

WORLD NOW EATING THE TREE AND NOT THE FRUIT ALONE

Britain now 'eating the planet'
By Mark Kinver
BBC News science and nature reporter

The UK is about to run out of its own natural resources and become dependent on supplies from abroad, a report says.

A study by the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and the Open University says 16 April is the day when the nation goes into "ecological debt" this year.

It warns if annual global consumption levels matched the UK's, it would take 3.1 Earths to meet the demand.

In 1961, the symbolic "ecological debt day" was 9 July; in 1981, it had shifted forward two months to 14 May.

The authors of the UK Interdependence Report hope to highlight the need to curb rising consumption levels.

'Eyes bigger than planet'

Nef policy director Andrew Simms says this year's debt day shows that the UK's growing demand for goods and services is having an impact on the rest of the world.


UK'S GROWING ECO-FOOTPRINT
In 1961, the Earth could have supported everyone having a UK lifestyle
It would take 3.1 planets to support the current UK lifestyle
"On one level, there is absolutely nothing wrong with importing goods and services, but our eyes are bigger than the planet.

"The problem is that we want to have our planet and eat it and not think about the consequences," Mr Simms said.

The findings are based on the concept of "ecological footprints", a system of measuring how much land and water a human population needs to produce the resources it consumes and absorb the resulting waste.

The report, produced by Nef and the Open University's geography department, uses a number of examples that it says illustrate how resources are being wasted, including:

* In 2004, the UK exported 1,500 tonnes of fresh potatoes to Germany, and imported 1,500 tonnes of the same product from the same country
* Imported 465 tonnes of gingerbread, but exported 460 tonnes of the same produce
* Sent 10,200 tonnes of milk and cream to France, yet imported 9,900 tonnes of the dairy goods from France

The authors say this shows how current trade systems are inefficient at a time when there is concern over energy supplies and greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you do not have the right signals within the economy to tell you when you are doing something very environmentally wasteful, then you cannot expect it to stop," says Mr Simms, the report's lead author.

"Lifestyles in Britain are becoming increasingly unsustainable and are placing an ever larger burden on the global environmental system."

The UK's food self-sufficiency has been falling steadily for more than a decade, and indigenous food production is now said to be at its lowest level for half a century.

In 2004, the UK lost its energy independent status when it became a net importer of gas following lower returns from the North Sea fields.

At a global level, the world is also living beyond ecosystems' ability to supply the resources and absorb the demands being placed upon them.

This year's ecological debt day for the world is 23 October.

In the future, it is expected to be even earlier as emerging economies, such as China and India, demand more resources to meet changing lifestyles.

"The earlier it creeps in the year, the more you are permanently running down the Earth's environmental capital.

"The problem is that we are not clever enough to know at what point we will see a crash within eco-systems," Mr Simms told the BBC News website.

"While you are not living within the planet's limits and are eroding ecosystems, and the earlier the ecological day falls in the year, the greater the risk of a system crash."

Mr Simms said developed nations had a responsibility to share their experience and knowledge with developing nations in order to limit the impact on the environment.

However, he added, despite the sharp rise in economic growth in the emerging economies, their consumption levels were still far behind developed nations.

Give and take

Steve Bettison, from the free-market think tank, Adam Smith Institute, described the report as "an interesting concept" but questioned its findings on market inefficiencies.

"The only inefficiencies in the market place are those that relate to government intervention and that do not allow for free trade to occur, such as tariffs on agricultural products, or protectionist measures."

Mr Bettison said market forces were the best way to control consumption of the world's finite resources: "The usual 'supply and demand' economics will govern where these resources are used.

"This would also drive human ingenuity as people strive to develop new ideas to take up where previous resource supplies have waned," he told the BBC News website.


"It would be interesting to see how the rest of the world is dependent on the services and resources that we have developed over time.

"Whilst we take, we also give - something that seems to have been forgotten."

Andrew Simms said the report was not calling for the UK's borders to be closed because there were many benefits, both economic and cultural, to be gained from closer ties with other nations.

The report builds on previous studies that have used "ecological footprint" measurements, such as the WWF's "one planet living" campaign.

It also echoes last year's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet. It concluded that human activities threatened the Earth's ability to sustain future generations.

Nef and the Open University hope the "ecological debt day" will be used as an annual yardstick to measure the health of the planet.

EATING THE TREE AND NOT THE FRUIT ALONE

Britain now 'eating the planet'
By Mark Kinver
BBC News science and nature reporter

The UK is about to run out of its own natural resources and become dependent on supplies from abroad, a report says.

A study by the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and the Open University says 16 April is the day when the nation goes into "ecological debt" this year.

It warns if annual global consumption levels matched the UK's, it would take 3.1 Earths to meet the demand.

In 1961, the symbolic "ecological debt day" was 9 July; in 1981, it had shifted forward two months to 14 May.

The authors of the UK Interdependence Report hope to highlight the need to curb rising consumption levels.

'Eyes bigger than planet'

Nef policy director Andrew Simms says this year's debt day shows that the UK's growing demand for goods and services is having an impact on the rest of the world.


UK'S GROWING ECO-FOOTPRINT
In 1961, the Earth could have supported everyone having a UK lifestyle
It would take 3.1 planets to support the current UK lifestyle
"On one level, there is absolutely nothing wrong with importing goods and services, but our eyes are bigger than the planet.

"The problem is that we want to have our planet and eat it and not think about the consequences," Mr Simms said.

The findings are based on the concept of "ecological footprints", a system of measuring how much land and water a human population needs to produce the resources it consumes and absorb the resulting waste.

The report, produced by Nef and the Open University's geography department, uses a number of examples that it says illustrate how resources are being wasted, including:

* In 2004, the UK exported 1,500 tonnes of fresh potatoes to Germany, and imported 1,500 tonnes of the same product from the same country
* Imported 465 tonnes of gingerbread, but exported 460 tonnes of the same produce
* Sent 10,200 tonnes of milk and cream to France, yet imported 9,900 tonnes of the dairy goods from France

The authors say this shows how current trade systems are inefficient at a time when there is concern over energy supplies and greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you do not have the right signals within the economy to tell you when you are doing something very environmentally wasteful, then you cannot expect it to stop," says Mr Simms, the report's lead author.

"Lifestyles in Britain are becoming increasingly unsustainable and are placing an ever larger burden on the global environmental system."

The UK's food self-sufficiency has been falling steadily for more than a decade, and indigenous food production is now said to be at its lowest level for half a century.

In 2004, the UK lost its energy independent status when it became a net importer of gas following lower returns from the North Sea fields.

At a global level, the world is also living beyond ecosystems' ability to supply the resources and absorb the demands being placed upon them.

This year's ecological debt day for the world is 23 October.

In the future, it is expected to be even earlier as emerging economies, such as China and India, demand more resources to meet changing lifestyles.

"The earlier it creeps in the year, the more you are permanently running down the Earth's environmental capital.

"The problem is that we are not clever enough to know at what point we will see a crash within eco-systems," Mr Simms told the BBC News website.

"While you are not living within the planet's limits and are eroding ecosystems, and the earlier the ecological day falls in the year, the greater the risk of a system crash."

Mr Simms said developed nations had a responsibility to share their experience and knowledge with developing nations in order to limit the impact on the environment.

However, he added, despite the sharp rise in economic growth in the emerging economies, their consumption levels were still far behind developed nations.

Give and take

Steve Bettison, from the free-market think tank, Adam Smith Institute, described the report as "an interesting concept" but questioned its findings on market inefficiencies.

"The only inefficiencies in the market place are those that relate to government intervention and that do not allow for free trade to occur, such as tariffs on agricultural products, or protectionist measures."

Mr Bettison said market forces were the best way to control consumption of the world's finite resources: "The usual 'supply and demand' economics will govern where these resources are used.

"This would also drive human ingenuity as people strive to develop new ideas to take up where previous resource supplies have waned," he told the BBC News website.


"It would be interesting to see how the rest of the world is dependent on the services and resources that we have developed over time.

"Whilst we take, we also give - something that seems to have been forgotten."

Andrew Simms said the report was not calling for the UK's borders to be closed because there were many benefits, both economic and cultural, to be gained from closer ties with other nations.

The report builds on previous studies that have used "ecological footprint" measurements, such as the WWF's "one planet living" campaign.

It also echoes last year's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet. It concluded that human activities threatened the Earth's ability to sustain future generations.

Nef and the Open University hope the "ecological debt day" will be used as an annual yardstick to measure the health of the planet.

Easter Bunny

A Bunny Story

Once upon a time there was a man who was peacefully driving down a windy road. Suddenly, a bunny skipped across the road and the man couldn't stop. He hit the bunny head on. The man quickly jumped out of his car to check the scene. There, lying lifeless in the middle of the road, was the Easter Bunny.

The man cried out, "Oh no! I have committed a terrible crime! I have run over the Easter Bunny!"

The man started sobbing quite hard and then he heard another car approaching. It was a woman in a red convertible. The woman stopped and asked what the problem was.The man explained, "I have done something horribly sad. I have run over the Easter Bunny. Now there will be no one to deliver eggs on Easter, and it's all my fault."

The woman ran back to her car. A moment later, she came back carrying a spray bottle. She ran over to the motionless bunny and sprayed it. The bunny immediately sprang up, ran into the woods, stopped, and waved back at the man and woman. Then it ran another 10 feet, stopped, and waved. It then ran another 10 feet, stopped, and waved again. It did this over and over and over again until the man and the woman could no longer see the bunny.

Once out of sight, the man exclaimed, "What is that stuff in that bottle?"

The woman replied, "It's harespray. It revitalizes hare and adds permanent wave."

Easter Bunny

A Bunny Story

Once upon a time there was a man who was peacefully driving down a windy road. Suddenly, a bunny skipped across the road and the man couldn't stop. He hit the bunny head on. The man quickly jumped out of his car to check the scene. There, lying lifeless in the middle of the road, was the Easter Bunny.

The man cried out, "Oh no! I have committed a terrible crime! I have run over the Easter Bunny!"

The man started sobbing quite hard and then he heard another car approaching. It was a woman in a red convertible. The woman stopped and asked what the problem was.The man explained, "I have done something horribly sad. I have run over the Easter Bunny. Now there will be no one to deliver eggs on Easter, and it's all my fault."

The woman ran back to her car. A moment later, she came back carrying a spray bottle. She ran over to the motionless bunny and sprayed it. The bunny immediately sprang up, ran into the woods, stopped, and waved back at the man and woman. Then it ran another 10 feet, stopped, and waved. It then ran another 10 feet, stopped, and waved again. It did this over and over and over again until the man and the woman could no longer see the bunny.

Once out of sight, the man exclaimed, "What is that stuff in that bottle?"

The woman replied, "It's harespray. It revitalizes hare and adds permanent wave."

Friday, April 14, 2006

AMERICAN DESI - WHAT MAY BE COMING

An Americanized Look At India
Here are a few things that could happen:

1) Mohini Devi, a housewife from Bihar sues PM for 1 Crore Rupees for sexually molesting her. She alleges that during his election campaign in Punjab he made overtures and advances of indecent nature - he kept saying "Hame karna hai!" Reports say she is open to an out of the court settlement.

3). Sports: Bombay 'Bombers' beat Madras 'Sambars' 3 - 0 in a 5 game cricket tournament. Sachin Tendulkar says he wont be playing for Bombers from next season, as the Bihar 'Lalloos' have offered him 50 lakh more to play for them.

4) Tonight on Zee TV: Kabaddi world series live! over 4 countries from around the world participating in his fast-becoming popular sport. Last time - runner ups Germany looking to beat current champions Bangladesh. (as usual, India is nowhere in the picture!)

5) Fringe: Woman sues fast food restaurant chain TFC (Tandoori Fried Chicken) because the 'Chai' served to her was so hot that she burnt her lips.

6) Techno: Shiv Nadar says his company's 'Khidkiyan 98' operating system could become the de facto standard, beating Microsoft's Windows operating system, since it is a copy of a more advanced Macintosh OS.

7) India deports 250 'American - Indian' illegal aliens after they are found working in a saree manufacturing sweat shop in Dharavi.

8) Hurricane "Bawandar" expected to lash the Andhra coast around 1300 hrs IDT. Watch minute by minute progress live on Doordarshan.

9) Amidst much controversy the Desi Gay Activists open a gay bar in calcutta called "Bar-Bar"

10) San Francisco: Protesters demanded the shut down of fast food chain 'Udupi' which was becoming immensely popular with the younger generation. "Its not just the food" says Martha Smith, a housewife, "its the lifestyle that our children adopt with it - wearing lungis, listening to Karnatic music, lighting lamps and firecrackers on Halloween!".