Got the outline from sanatan society...and used plain sketches...for sure not a piece of ART, something for this idle brain ¶ 10/26/2005 10:40:00 AM 0 comments
When they were asked the marital status, Alan said: “Both of us are married.” But Bryan said: “I am not married”. Are they really married? ¶ 10/24/2005 03:21:00 PM 0 comments
¶ 10/24/2005 02:07:00 PM 0 commentsIf there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. ~ Romain Rolland (french scholar)
India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. ~ Hu Shih (Chinese ambassador to the US)
India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. ~ Mark Twain
So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked. ~ Mark Twain
India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire. ~ Mark Twain, Following the Equator
India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all. ~ Will Durant
India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings. ~ Will Durant
There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor. ~ Keith Bellows (photographer and vice president of National Geographic Society)
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. ~ Albert Einstein
San Francisco. What is it to be an Indian today? What is meant by Indian-ness ? What is it to be an Indian abroad - in the United States, for instance ? How much of yourself do you give to your American identity – and how much space do you preserve for your Indian-ness ? These are the questions that Indian expatriates should ask themselves today. For we see many of the children of Indians who settled in the US twenty or thirty years ago, merge themselves totally in the American way of life, speak with an American accent, eat Mac Donald, think American… and in the process forget all about their wonderful Indian culture…
What is it in the American way of life, which fascinates so much Indians ? The fast life ? Right: fast is exciting; but Americans live so fast, eating their breakfast in their cars on the way to work, gulping down these huge amounts of meat and French fries at lunch or dinner, always on the move, that not only they often grow immensely fat, but also catch ulcers and get heart attacks by the time they reach sixty five. What else dazzles Indians in the American way of life ? The lights? True, New York is a fascinating city, with its illuminated skyscrapers, its million of pulsating lights, its giant electronic billboards, its fancy bars, that one feels a kind of throbbing vitality entering oneself as one walks the streets by night. But what a waste of energy, when the world is fast losing its sources of energies; and is isn’t this a kind of artificial vitality, that fades away when one wakes-up in the morning, with a hangover and one has to face the reality of life ? What else ? America’s Nature ? No doubt, the United States boasts some wonderful pieces of nature and Americans have shown us what it means to plant trees and live in a green environment: even Washington is densely wooded. But Nature can also be an illusion here: a highway is never very far from the forest, with its thousands of cars pouring out millions of cubic feet of carbon dioxide, which annihilates natures’ bounty, as the Los Angeles smog amply demonstrates. Besides, America is an unending suburban concrete jungle, with its boring repetition of mega stores, parking lots, and KFC’s. And when you have seen a city, you have seen them all. What else ? The “quality” of American life: barbecue parties, beaches, tattoos, fun and frolic? Yes, except that one out of three American couples divorce within three years, one out of four Americans consults a psychiatrist for depression, bulimia, schizophrenia or plain boredom, and American children regularly indulge in shooting other children, just because they are exposed to so much violence…
Is this the legacy you want to bequeath to your children, O Indian brothers and sisters, who are longing so much for the American way of life ? For this great brain drain, this bleeding of India’s heart and lungs, which has been going for so long, does not affect only the ordinary middle and upper class “secular” Indian, but also many good Hindus, who put their children in the best US universities and accept the fact that these children will settle in the American way of life and will probably never go back to India. True, their kids get heftier pay checks in the US , better facilities, they escape the Indian bureaucracy, red tape, corruption, slowness… But what are they going to bequeath to their own children in the long run: insecurity, violence, divorce, depression and above all their offspring, unknowingly, will be afflicted by a loss of identity : they will not know, nor feel anymore in themselves, as their grandparents did, this natural space of Indian-ness, which automatically confers certain qualities. What is that Indian-ness ?
Firstly and foremost: “I accept you; I accept that you may be White or Black, Red or Yellow, Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim”. Not only that, “but I am even ready to go and worship in a church or a mosque, besides my temple.” “I accept that my Gods are avatars, incarnations of the Divine, but so is Jesus Christ, and also Buddha and even Mohamed”. This an extraordinary statement and a marvellous instrument towards world peace, at a time when the two great monotheist religions of the world, Islam and Christianity still say: “there is only one true God in the world – mine- and if you worship any other god, you are an Infidel and a Pagan and it is my right to convert you by any means, or even to kill you”. The 11th September 2001 attacks are nothing but a result of that dangerous theorem. As a result, Indians adapt easily wherever they go, particularly in the West, as they are very open to western culture. Of course, Indians also go to the other extreme: “not only I accept you, but I am going to become exactly like you – no even Whiter than the White: I am going to denigrate my own culture, spit on my religion, belittle my countrymen”. This is why you come across so often in the US in negative articles on India written by Indians – nay by Hindus. The Gujurat massacres were actually a great opportunity for these Hindu haters, such as Pankaj Mishra, to come out full blast and prove to the world that India is a land of Hindu fundamentalists where nobody is safe, particularly the Muslims “who are regularly victims of pogroms”. P.Mishra conveniently forgot to mention that India is an extraordinary country of freedom, where all persecuted religious minorities in the world have found refuge over the centuries, whether the Jews, the Parsis, the Syrian Christians, or today the Tibetans.
What else ? “I have inherited from my ancestors the tools to become a better man, whatever my religion, ethnicity and profession: a better Christian, a better Hindu, a better Muslim, carpenter, or CEO, IT engineer, or sailor”. What are these tools ? Hata-yoga, India’s gift to the world, which has been copied and imitated everywhere (although Time magazine did a story on yoga without mentioning the name “India” once). What else ? Meditation, this extraordinary technique of coming back to one’s Self, of settling the mind and the body, which is today practiced by millions around the world – another bequest of India to humanity. Pranayama, the science of respiration, perfected by Indians for three millenniums. “Does the breath have any religion”, asks Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living movement, which has spread today in 140 countries ?
What first generations Indians in the States should ask themselves today is “How can I repay my debt to India” ? After all not only they got a nearly free education in India which was good enough for them to obtain well paid jobs in the US, but did they not also inherit that certain Indian-ness, which has been a great help to adapt to the American way of life? As for second, or third, or even fourth generations Indian Americans, what they should tell themselves is “”what can I do for my country” ? “In what way can I contribute to this great nation which is India, which is so maligned and sidelined in the United States” ? And the first thing they can do is to counteract the highly unfair and biased press coverage which India gets in America by writing to editors, or challenging the shameful coverage of CNN (which depicts Mr Vajpayee as an old feeble man, but gives hours of live retransmission of the recent Pope’s visit to Canada, when the man, whatever his extraordinary will power, is a walking mummy compared to Mr Vajpayee), or canvassing their elected representatives.
Finally, Because of the probable continuing confrontation between Islam and the United States (Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan etc), even though Mr Bush thinks that the problem is over once he kills the elusive Bin Laden, Hindus in the US are going to come more and more under threat. It will not matter that they speak with a perfect Yankee accent and think of themselves as one hundred percent Americans – they will be seen in the streets as “coloured” Asians and could be mistaken as Afghanis or Saudis and targeted like the unfortunate Sikh after 11th September. The only solution for them would be that they start regrouping themselves under an “Hindu American” banner. Not only it will rekindle in them an ancient beautiful and powerful identity, but also grant them a protection, as it will quickly become known that Hindus in the US are upwardly mobile, western friendly and themselves a target of Muslim fundamentalism. How will it be done? By the force of circumstances, probably, because left to themselves Hindus are too passive and selfish to do anything. Committed Hindus groups should also apply pressure on them, as the LTTE does on expatriate Tamils for funds and lobby.
Here is the letter....
20th October 2005
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
According to the media reports of October 21st 2005 on Google Earth, one would find that there is a well -defined boundary between India and Pakistan, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is on Pakistan’s side. I really wonder, when has Google got the power and authority to draw boundaries between countries.
Even before this google was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Google Earth made available all those "sensitive", "high-resolution satellite imagery" of "strategically important places" of India (and maybe other countries EXCEPT AMERICA). I am shocked how could such a company like google be so irresponsible. I was further frustrated to know that it 'blanks' out white house, leave about not a single clue of America's military bases.
I understand that Google Earth might be in its Beta Version, and there are chances of Errors. When you can understand the ‘importance’ of blanking out White House, why not apply the same to other countries. This looks like somebody want to play mischief. When Microsoft makes blunders in their software, it bothers only Techies but when Google makes such blunders it affects each and every individual on ‘Earth’.
What is Google upto? Since it is an "American" Company, doesn't it have any kind of responsibility towards other nations? Or is it something else? Such errors on Google’s part may pose serious concerns and issues between nations. We all belong to this earth even before we belong to any nation. Irresponsibility to other nations is simply unarguable blunder. Doesn't google understand the basic rules of life?
Hoping to have a better Google!
Regards,
kdiehdk
Gone are the days
When the school reopened in June,
And we settled in our new desks and benches.
When we queued up in book depot,
And got our new books and notes.
When we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays, yet
managed to line up daily for the morning prayers.
We learnt writing with slates and pencils, and
Progressed To fountain pens and ball pens and then
Micro tips.
We began drawing with crayons and evolved to
Colour pencils and finally sketch pens.
We started calculating first with tables and then with
Clarke's tables and advanced to calculators and
computers.
When we chased one another in the corridors in
Intervals, and returned to the classrooms
Drenched in sweat.
When we had lunch in classrooms, corridors,
Playgrounds, under the trees and even in cycle sheds.
When all the colors in the world,
Decorated the campus on the Second Saturdays.
When a single P.T. period in the week's Time Table,
Was awaited more eagerly than the monsoons.
When cricket was played with writing pads as bats,
And Neckties and socks rolled into balls.
When few played "kabadi" and "Kho-Kho" in scorching sun,
While others simply played "book cricket" in the
Confines of classroom.
Of fights but no conspiracies,
Of Competitions but seldom jealousy.
When we used to watch Live Cricket telecast,
In the opposite house in Intervals and Lunch breaks.
When few rushed at 3:45 to
"Conquer" window seats in our School bus.
While few others had "Big Fun", "peppermint",
" kulfi", " milk ice !" and "sharbat !" at 4o Clock.
Gone are the days Of Sports Day,
and the annual School Day ,
And the one-month long preparations for them.
Gone are the days Of the stressful Quarterly,
Half Yearly and Annual Exams, And the most enjoyed
holidays after them.
Of tenth and twelfth standards, when we
Spent almost the whole year writing revision tests.
We learnt, we enjoyed, we played, we won, we lost,
We laughed, we cried, we fought, we thought.
With so much fun in them, so many friends,
So much experience , all this and more.
Gone are the days when we used to talk for hours with our friends.
Now we don't have time to say a HI.
Gone are the days when we played games on the road.
Now we code on the road with laptop.
Gone are the days when we saw stars shining at night.
Now we see stars when our code doesn't work.
Gone are the days when we sat to chat with friends on grounds.
Now we chat in chat rooms.....
Gone are the days where we studied just to pass.
Now we study to save our job
Gone are the days where we had no money in our pockets and fun filled
on our hearts
Now we have the atm as well as credit card but with an empty heart
Gone are the days where we shouted on the road.
Now we dont shout even at home
Gone are the days where we got lectures from all.
Now we give lectures to all
Gone are the days
But not the memories, which will be
Lingering in our hearts for ever and ever and
Ever and ever and Ever .....
DONT FORGET TO LIVE THE LIFE THAT STILL EXISTS.
IT WONT BE THERE FOR EVER. ¶ 10/20/2005 12:27:00 PM 0 comments
What is google upto? Since it is an "American" Company, doesn't it have any kind of responsibility towards other nations. We all belong to this earth even before we belong to any nation. We divided Earth not because we can have wars against each other and rule others but to compete and develop individually but prosper as a whole. Doesn't google understand the basic rules of life?
I no longer like Google. Do I hate it? My soul doesn't allow me to hate a company which I liked so much for its innovation and creativity and also planned(not anymore) to join the team one day. But such incidents definetely worry me a lot...so much that one day I will burst...burst to gain hatred towards the country as a whole....
Grow up google!
Please I want to know what others think. Thanks. ¶ 10/19/2005 11:07:00 PM 0 comments
*describe* things" - Arno Penzias when asked why there was so much
resistance to the Big Bang theory ¶ 10/19/2005 11:06:00 PM 0 comments
We ( Pavan Ashwini) got married this year. Can't say the best but one of those good clicks.. ¶ 10/19/2005 01:36:00 PM 0 comments
"Special Mirrors,Movies for Donated Memebers:" ¶ 10/18/2005 12:13:00 PM 0 comments
Type "Failure" in Google and then click on 'I am feeling lucky'....What does it give you?
Directs you to the biography of George Bush...Well suited...ha!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html ¶ 10/18/2005 12:08:00 PM 0 comments
Posted September 23, 2005
Rama Rao
Vijayawada
The recent cyclone in Andhra Pradesh, India has played havoc causing immense loss of life and property. It has already resulted in the death of more than 60 people, several thousands injured and significant damage to property.
Apart from the immediate deaths and destruction, local people are also worried about the long-term effects of the cyclone. It is estimated that millions of people along the coastal regions could end up in dire poverty because of the damage from the cyclone.
Even as they are trying to figure out the extent of the losses suffered, even people living in the plains, who until recently considered themselves immune to such calamities, are starting to wonder how they became victims of this tragedy. They are looking for reasons beyond those offered by the government and the scientific community.
Many victims say that all these events are due to their losing the blessings of their Gods and inviting their wrath because of the sins they have committed. Some have started to wonder if their conversion to Christianity could have led to their losing the grace of local deities, many of whom are considered to be guardians of the villages from precisely these kinds of calamities. They note that Christian missionaries required them to abuse Hindu Gods and village deities as a pre-condition to receiving money for converting to Christianity. An old lady lamented in Telugu, *"Dabbuki kakkurthi padi devullani tittamu; ippudu emayyindo chudayya, tinadaniki ginjalu kooda levu, cheesina papalu oorikene povu"* (Out of greed we converted and abused our Gods; now look what has happened, we are left without even food. We are taught a lesson for our sins and crimes).
The sentiment appears to be prevalent across all the affected districts of Andhra Pradesh and is particularly strong in temple towns such as Rajamundry and Bhadrachalam. In Eluru, which saw major destruction from the cyclone, converts to Christianity are blaming each other for breaking the gigantic Hanuman statue and inviting the wrath of the "monkey God." The situation is not that much different in Rama's temple town, Bhadrachalam. Many converts have thrown away chains with crosses and have started wearing chains with pendants of 'Veeranjaneya,' the form of Hanuman as a protector of good and destroyer of evil.
Local pastors and church leaders are worried about the effect of the cyclone and the resulting soul-searching engaged in by the villagers. They are worried that people may return to their native faith, Hinduism and nullify the millions of dollars and years of effort they have poured into evangelization activities in these villages. One pastor claimed that the community is so angry that not even one person may return to his church. He is keeping indoors as he is afraid to venturing into the village. Other sources indicate that the local pastors are turning to their church authorities for guidance in handling the situation.
A senior church member said that high level meetings are going on between senior church members and their superiors in the USA regarding the cyclone relief. One strategy emerging from these meetings seems to be to target only so-called "un-reached" regions and going for mass conversion using relief material as the bait. A church consultant based in US suggested that missionaries should totally avoid regions with some church presence. He fears that in these regions the converts would demand extra money as a fallout of cyclone and convert back to Hinduism or Islam if their demands are not met. He also suggested that pastors should leave those regions immediately and flock to the "un-reached" regions so as not to raise any suspicion among their communities. It seems that he is a strong proponent of 'No-extra-payments after conversion' rule.
Similar incidents were visible in the aftermath of the tsunami in Tamil Nadu. People stopped going to churches after it was found that areas dominated by Christian converts were the ones worst affected by the tsunami whereas water just surrounded Hindu temples leaving the premises dry. During the tsunami, the Our Lady of Good Health church, the famous Catholic pilgrim centre in Velankanni turned into a burial ground. Subsequently people have abandoned this church and consider it as a cursed place as it was built over an existing temple.
The church's spin doctors are however working overtime to try and use the human tragedy to further the missionary agenda. Employing the same strategy that was used during the recent December tsunami, missionaries have been preaching to locals that the cyclone struck because people did not convert to Christianity. Rev. Kim Hong-do of Seoul's Kumnan Methodist Church, the largest Methodist church in Korea, gave a sermon on January 2 in which he said that the victims of December 26 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that devastated much of South Asia were killed because they didn't believe in Jesus. ¶ 10/04/2005 10:17:00 AM 0 comments
Kota, September 29, 2005
The times are changing. People from backward communities, are today being trained to become temple priests and are even performing private pujas. This is happening in Rajasthan's Kota district at the instance of the Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy and a Kotabased institute - Sanskritam.
Young Dalit boys are being exposed to various disciplines in Hindu priesthood as well as to the related subject of astrology. Though the training is not very extensive, Sanjay Sharma, a spokesperson for Sanskritam said, "We hope that some of the boys would go on to become priests and get absorbed in temples across the country".
At a 20-day camp held recently, nearly a dozen boys from different backward communities and some forward communities like Rajputs participated enthusiastically. Astrology and courses in religious rituals till now were the sole preserve of the forward Brahmin community. If there were objections to "untouchables" gaining access to divine knowledge, the Academy muted it as a tribute to the changing times.
Convenor of Sanskritam, Pandit Shyamanand Mishra told Hindustan Times, "Right to imbibe the knowledge of Vedas is not the sole authority of any sect or caste. It is ultimately in the interest of the backward community youth to learn priesthood for social change."
Asked if he was being "courageous" in trying to break into an upper caste bastion, a backward caste student, Rakesh Kumar, said: "Everyone is a Shudra by birth. Religious texts say that the caste system came into existence depending on ones deeds and action (karma)."
Asked if he thought he would be accepted as a priest, Rakesh said that
he too would use the Pandit suffix for advertisements. Rakesh has also taken lessons in astrology and aims to become a perfect priest. Another backward community student, Suresh Kumar Patel was confident enough of becoming a complete professional.
Sharma said the institute has been holding training camps since past
four years and the number of dalit students joining the course have gone up drastically. He accepts that not a single case of appointment has come to the notice of the institute so far.
¶ 10/04/2005 10:14:00 AM 0 comments
Pavan Ashwini
