Friday, January 29, 2010

Hotel Keralafonia :: The Yeagles

via YouTube:

A funny and hilarious take on the conditions of hotels in Kerala (India) using a parody on an all time hit song – Hotel California by The Eagles.
This song is not directed towards any group/person/religion/race, etc. So please try to enjoy the song and refrain from flaming posts or name calling.
Once again, enjoy!

Lyrics:

On the road to Trivandrum
Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite
There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don’t like the look of his sinister smile
Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering “No power today”
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It’s infested here
His finger’s stuck up his nostril
He’s got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that’s just his laugh
Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips
I said to the manager
My room’s full of mice
He said,
Don’t worry, saar,I sending you | meen karri, brandy and ice
And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray
Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace
Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies
The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said
We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise
And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our steely knives
But we just can’t cut that beef
Last thing I remember
I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit, | I am sure
Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me Down
God’s Own Country? Oh, Hell!

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[Via http://aanondo.wordpress.com]

Peter was not a rock to build a church upon

http://forum09.faithfreedom.org/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4657&p=92983#p92983

A Christian says:

Upon this rock (Peter’s faith) I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

paarsurrey says:

Hi friends

I don’t think Jesus ever could have said such words for a person who denied him three times. Was this rock made of a mud which got cracked in the first available opportunity? Similarly no Church was erected by Jesus. Please tell us if the first Church was built before the event of Crucifixion or after when Jesus made good his escape to India.

This also seems to be Paul’s clever doing:

1. How many of the twelve did Paul meet? He did not meet them.
2. Peter was only eulogized by Paul for a purpose; to gain a little credence, which was not there.
Peter was not a rock to build a church upon. He was among the first who defected from Jesus and melted like anything; he was not loyal to Jesus. Paul chose him as a natural collaborator, in my opinion.
3. Paul did trade the concepts of Jesus, with mythical creeds of the pagans, all in Jesus’ name.
4. Paul did not meet Mary- the Mother, not even once. If Jesus had disappeared from Galilee, Paul did not meet Mary at least she would be there.

In my opinion, Paul must have smelled that Jesus, Mary and all of the loyal disciples of Jesus were missing from Judea; they were heading towards India.

Paul an enemy of Jesus and his friends changed his strategy. He used Jesus’ name and invented a creed which had nothing to do with Jesus. Paul invented a theological philosophy using Jesus as a scapegoat – which was based on “Jesus dying a cursed death on the Cross”, a mythological faith.

I love Jesus and Mary as mentioned in Quran.

Thanks

[Via http://paarsurrey.wordpress.com]

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Waging 10 year war on Taliban then making peace with same Taliban!

Stanley McChrystal, the senior US general in Afghanistan, has told the Financial Times he believes a negotiated settlement would be the right way to end the Afghan conflict. His comments have fuelled a debate on the merits of talking to the Taliban.

Can negotiations end the war?

The appeal of dialogue to end the Afghan conflict has a whiff of alchemy about it: great in theory but extremely difficult in practice. The biggest problem may be that the Taliban feel they are winning. US troop deaths more than doubled in 2009. Gen McChrystal hopes his surge of 30,000 troops will convince his opponents they are better off negotiating but admits that Taliban attacks are likely to spike. “They have got to create the perception that Afghanistan’s on fire,” he told the Financial Times. With Nato allies already eyeing the exit, the Taliban may believe their long-term goal of regaining power in Kabul is within their grasp.

Who could help facilitate dialogue?

Pakistan played midwife at the birth of the Taliban and, along with Saudi Arabia, was one of only three countries to recognise the movement when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Reports of efforts by Islamabad and Riyadh to broker talks have surfaced repeatedly. Both are US allies that would use their leverage over any peace process to expand their influence in Washington. Pakistan, in particular, would want to be rewarded with greater backing in its competition with India.

How would talks happen?

Even contacting the Taliban is a complex process involving intermediaries bearing scraps of paper: the leaders shun telephones that could be used to trace their location. Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former Taliban ambassador who lives in Kabul, helps facilitate contacts with the Taliban’s leaders, but organising face-to-face talks would be complex. Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, which also recognised the Taliban government when it was in power, might be the most plausible venues for initial meetings between low-level representatives.

Although many insurgents loosely pledge allegiance to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the movement’s founder and spiritual head, he was a renowned recluse even before fleeing the 2001 US invasion. Distinguishing key Taliban decision-makers from mid-level commanders who control only small groups of fighters would be tricky.

So what’s the problem?

Too many to list. It is hard to see Mr Omar, who once ruled Afghanistan as emir of an austere theocracy, accepting a role under the current western-style constitution. Although the Taliban has recently stressed it does not pose an international threat, its leaders are conscious of the ire they earned in the west for allowing Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda, to organise the September 11 2001 attacks from Afghan soil. Mistrust on all sides runs deep.

What about other insurgent leaders?

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who leads the insurgency in several eastern provinces, is most likely to cut a deal. A former prime minister, he founded a party called Hezb-e-Islami, a faction of which already shares power in Kabul. A father-and-son team from the Haqqani family who run a fiefdom straddling the Pakistan border are less biddable.

Can Taliban fighters simply be bribed?

Maybe. Western countries gathering in London for a conference on Thursday will pledge funds for a scheme outlined by Hamid Karzai, the president, to try to lure Taliban foot soldiers with job offers. Details remain sketchy. Insurgents may simply accept the incentives then return to the fight. The central problem remains: the Taliban may simply believe it can outlast the west. (Q&A: How do you get the Taliban to negotiate By Matthew Green in Kandahar )

[Via http://thepeopleofpakistan.wordpress.com]

A long trek in the Himalayas, curl up with a great read.

Garry Weare

I’ve just finished a wonderful book about the Himalayas. Snow leopard country. It’s called “A long walk in the Himalayas – a trek from the Ganges to Kashmir” by Garry Weare.

Weare’s story of his five-month trek from the sacred source of the Ganges through the Kullu Valley, remote mountains of Zanskar and Ladakh (known as Little Tibet) to his beloved houseboat on a lake in Kashmir is an entertaining read. Throughout many years of travel in the Himalayas he has come to know the region, its peoples and cultures well and he writes about them with compassion, empathy and understanding.

"A long walk in the Himalayas"

Weare has serious Himalaya credentials. He’s a life member of the Himalayan Club, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a noted mountain photographer and a founding director of the Australian Himalayan Foundation.

The book is a travel log, a meditation on walking, a memoir of places visted and loved and a tale of adventure. His journey, which is taken with a secret stash of rum and whisky, involved walking 2500 kilometres, most of it above 5000 metres and crossing at least 20 passes, a tough experience and he lost over 15 kilos.

During a trek in September 1995 Garry was lucky to actually see a snow leopard. “I had left camp early to cross the Konze La, a pass in western Ladakh. There had been an unseasonable snowfall and ….I stopped to watch a herd of yaks. At that point I sensed I was not the only one watching the yaks. Glancing around I caught a glimpse of a large cat. I had seen enough snow leopards in zoo enclosures to know what I was looking at. I just had a glimpse and no more but it was sufficient and for a while I did not move, hoping against hope that the elusive cat would reappear. It was not to be.”

Garry recently tod me, “The cat sighting was after a particular early but heavy snowfall in September. However as you appreciate the best opportunity to get a cat sighting is during the winter soon after the first winter snowfall when the bharal (Himalayan blue sheep, a favourite snow leopard prey) head to the valleys and the cats follow.” Lucky him!! Is all I can say.

Currently Garry is working on a Primary Health Care project in Zanskar and Ladakh, Northern India supported by the Australian Himalayan Foundation. The program trains the local Amchis, traditional faith healers in basic western medical advice.  Often these Amchi are the only medical help available to villagers in remote parts of the mountains. You can support this and other Australian Himalayan Foundation projects here.

[Via http://snowleopardblog.com]

Monday, January 25, 2010

US-Hikmatyar peace deal brokered by Pakistan

RupeeNews

KABUL—One of the three main leaders of the Afghan insurgency, mercurial warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has a long history of switching sides, and once fought against his current Taliban allies.

Now, he has held out the possibility of negotiating with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and outlined a roadmap for political reconciliation, opening what could be the most promising avenue for Mr. Karzai’s effort to peacefully resolve the conflict.

It is far from certain that any talks with Mr. Hekmatyar will begin, let alone succeed. But in contrast to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and allied insurgent chief Sirajuddin Haqqani, who refuse any talks with Kabul as long as foreign troops remain in the country, Mr. Hekmatyar took a much more conciliatory line in a recent video.

“We have no agreement with the Taliban—not for fighting the war, and not for the peace,” said Mr. Hekmatyar, who commands the loyalty of thousands of insurgents. “The only thing that unites the Taliban and [us] is the war against the foreigners.”

Unlike in previous videos, where Mr. Hekmatyar used a Kalashnikov rifle as a prop and expressed support for al Qaeda, in the latest tape, recorded in late December and provided to The Wall Street Journal by his aides in Pakistan, he assumed a professorial tone, wearing glasses and a black turban as he spoke in a quiet, soft voice.

Mr. Hekmatyar, who is 59 years old and lived in exile in Iran when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, built his movement over the last three years into a formidable force. His men dominate the insurgency in several eastern and central Afghan provinces, such as Kunar, Laghman and Kapisa, according to American intelligence estimates.

At the same time, a legal wing of Hizb-e-Islami, an Islamist party that Mr. Hekmatyar founded in the 1970s, participates in the Afghan parliament, with 19 of 246 seats. One of its leaders is minister of the economy in Mr. Karzai’s new cabinet. Though the legal Hizb-e-Islami denies formal links with Mr. Hekmatyar, many of its senior members are believed to maintain communications with the grizzled warlord, and openly support the idea of bringing him into the government.

Mr. Hekmatyar’s “reported willingness to reconcile with the Afghan government” has already become a key factor working against the militancy because it “causes concern that others may follow,” the U.S.-led international forces’ intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, noted in a recent presentation. In addition to subtracting fighters from the battlefield, such a reconciliation would boost the legitimacy of the Kabul government.

Currently, fighters of the three main groups—Mullah Omar’s Taliban in the south, where the bulk of combat takes place, the Haqqani network in the southeast, and Mr. Hekmatyar’s men in its strongholds—cooperate with each other, at least on the tactical level, American intelligence officials say.

But, while Mr. Haqqani made a formal oath of allegiance to Mullah Omar, recognizing him as his overall leader, Mr. Hekmatyar repeatedly refused to make such a pledge. In the tape, he said he spent “a couple of months” with Mullah Omar and al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri in 2002, but insisted that he “had no direct or indirect contact with them since then.”

He also said that the main reason he’s fighting American forces is because the U.S. allied itself with his bitter Afghan enemies after the Taliban’s downfall in 2001.

“It’s just a convenience for Hekmatyar to be with the Taliban,” says Marc Sageman, a terrorism expert who, as a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Pakistan, worked with Afghan insurgent leaders in the late 1980s. “Hekmatyar’s main goal is Hekmatyar. He’ll do anything that will help him out—it all depends on the deal he’s going to get.”

In the tape, Mr. Hekmatyar outlined his political program, calling for elections under a neutral caretaker government once U.S.-led forces withdraw, predicting that Hezb-i-Islami will win 70% of the votes, and saying that he would accept an impartial international peacekeeping force. While the Taliban brand Mr. Karzai a traitor, Mr. Hekmatyar promised to support the Afghan president should he stop being subservient to his American backers.

“Negotiations with the Afghan government will not be fruitful unless the foreigners give the Afghan government the authority to start negotiations independently—but unfortunately it has not been given this authority yet,” Mr. Hekmatyar said in the tape.

Similar overtures by Mr. Hekmatyar in recent months failed to produce any breakthrough. And, while some Afghan and American officials have already explored indirect contacts with Mr. Hekmatyar, the U.S. government so far refuses to make a meaningful distinction between him and the two other man insurgent chiefs.

“Each one has a different origin and orientation,” says Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. “But all work together and are linked to al Qaeda.”

A Pashtun former engineering student from the northern Kunduz province, Mr. Hekmatyar started out in politics as a pro-Soviet Communist. He embraced pan-Islamist ideology in the 1970s, and famously refused to meet President Ronald Reagan even as the U.S. was pumping millions of dollars into his guerrilla movement through the Pakistani intelligence in the 1980s.

After the pro-Soviet regime collapsed in 1992, Mr. Hekmatyar reduced large parts of Kabul to rubble as he fought rival mujahedeen commanders for control of the capital, and briefly served as the nation’s prime minister. Once Pakistan switched its support to the nascent Taliban movement in the mid-1990s, Mr. Hekmatyar was chased out by the Taliban, and had to seek refuge in Iran.

After the U.S. overthrew the Taliban in 2001, it excluded the warlord—who was seen as a spent force—from the new Kabul government. In the following months, as an embittered Mr. Hekmatyar started voicing support for the Taliban and al Qaeda, he was expelled by Iran, and was nearly killed by a U.S. airstrike. In 2003, Mr. Hekmatyar was designated a terrorist by the U.S. and put on the United Nations blacklist alongside Mullah Omar and Mr. bin Laden.

These days, some American officials say, Mr. Hekmatyar has managed to rebuild his fortunes in part because of help from elements of the powerful Pakistani spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Mr. Hekmatyar’s movement uses the area around the Pakistani city of Peshawar, with its teeming Afghan refugee camps, as its logistics hub. His daughter and son-in-law reside in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Pakistan denies it is giving any aid to the Taliban or its insurgent allies.

“Hekmatyar could be turned if the ISI wanted him to be turned,” says Bruce Riedel, a Brooking Institution scholar and former senior CIA officer who oversaw President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan and Pakistan policy review last year. “He is too closely tied to them to operate for us without their okay.” ASIA NEWS JANUARY 21, 2010 Afghan Insurgent Outlines Peace Plan. By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

[Via http://siyasipakistan.wordpress.com]

Kirtan Shmirtan

Went to Govindas in Darlinghurst, Sydney last night for some Kirtan chanting followed by a vegetarian dinner. The place was packed and raring for some great chanting. Kirtan is call-and-response chanting performed in India’s devotional traditions, it involves chanting mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium and the two-headed drum. Somehow it did not live up to the expectations I had and left me a bit flat.

Kirtan relies on the power and influence of the caller who takes you to a meditative place where the sounds of the mantra, rather than the meaning, take over. He leads you in a way that means you don’t need to think, you just flow along with where he is going. For this to work he needs to be clear and strong so you don’t let your mind get in the way. Once he has established the rhythm and melody he can improvise and vary both to raise the level of excitement and involvement.

Somehow last night this didn’t happen. The callers were from ‘Le Carnaval Spirituel’ (see below) and, I felt, were too interested in performing and showing their virtuosity than truly leading. One of the men was so weak in his leading that it was extremely difficult to work out the rhythm of what he was singing. Part way through the evening drifted away with a rendering of ‘Hare Krishna’ that just went on and on. There really is a lot more to Mantra Chanting than ‘Hare Krishna’.

I found it interesting that the evening was about peace and love and yet when we arrived we were greeted with anything but. We were greeted by a lovely, friendly lady in a tiny lobby. While trying to sort out paying and removing our shoes we were shoved and jostled first by a man who was keen to push past and then by a lady dressed in ‘indian cotton’ who insisted on pushing aggressively past even though there was little room. “But I am already ‘in’” she kept saying. This was a clue to the rest of the evening. It was for those who were ‘in’.

Three of the world’s most popular Kirtan performers will be taking part in the show. Indradyumna Swami, an enigmatic traveling monk who founded Le Carnaval Spirituel in Paris, France in 1979, has been circling the globe performing kirtan for over three decades, often to Woodstock-like crowds and has performed for many world leaders like Nelson Mandela. New Zealand-born Sri Prahlad catapulted to fame as a child prodigy in the late 1980s when his debut album “Through the Eyes of a Child” topped the Australian and world music charts. Since then his evolving distinctive style of Kirtan has brought him the love of audiences worldwide. Tribhuvaneshvar, affectionately known as Tribi, has enchanted music connoisseurs with his soft, melodious European style Kirtan.

[Via http://gphoenix.wordpress.com]

Friday, January 22, 2010

India's misplaced glacier row

India’s central government is making triumphant noises about what it sees as a vindication of its stand concerning Himalayan glaciers. The central Ministry of Environment and Forests had refuted the widely held scientific view that the glaciers of the Himalaya were shrinking, posing a grave – if not catastrophic – threat to the water security of millions downstream.

The mainstream English press in India (a majority of whose readers are urban salaried, self-employed or professional) has been toeing the central government line on the matter and has placed on front pages the story: “IPCC admits ‘Himalayan’ blunder” said Business Standard; “IPCC expresses regret over glacier melting conclusion” said The Hindu; and “West uses ‘glacier theory’ to flog India on climate change” said The Times of India.

What has the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) actually said?

Here is the full statement (dated 20 January 2010) made by the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the IPCC, and the Co-Chairs of the IPCC Working Groups.

“The Synthesis Report, the concluding document of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (page 49) stated: ‘Climate change is expected to exacerbate current stresses on water resources from population growth and economic and land-use change, including urbanisation. On a regional scale, mountain snow pack, glaciers and small ice caps play a crucial role in freshwater availability. Widespread mass losses from glaciers and reductions in snow cover over recent decades are projected to accelerate throughout the 21st century, reducing water availability, hydropower potential, and changing seasonality of flows in regions supplied by meltwater from major mountain ranges (e.g. Hindu-Kush, Himalaya, Andes), where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives.’ “

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)“This conclusion is robust, appropriate, and entirely consistent with the underlying science and the broader IPCC assessment.”

“It has, however, recently come to our attention that a paragraph in the 938-page Working Group II contribution to the underlying assessment refers to poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers. In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly.”

“The Chair, Vice-Chairs, and Co-chairs of the IPCC regret the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance. This episode demonstrates that the quality of the assessment depends on absolute adherence to the IPCC standards, including thorough review of ‘the quality and validity of each source before incorporating results from the source into an IPCC Report’. We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring this level of performance.”

The text in question is the second paragraph in section 10.6.2 of the Working Group II contribution and a repeat of part of the paragraph in Box TS.6. of the Working Group II Technical Summary of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. The quoted text in the fourth para is verbatim from Annex 2 of Appendix A to the Principles Governing IPCC Work.

What makes the episode ugly is that this is a central government, and a ministry, which has right through 2008 and 2009 worked extra hard to push all aspects of economic growth measured by GDP. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has steadily diluted legislation protecting environment and natural resources, given opportunities to industry to sidetrack checks and balances relating to clearances (especially in forest areas) and which has gone to great lengths to cobble together a scientific-cum-economic consensus to show that GDP growth at 9% a year for the next generation will not harm the global environment nor add very much to global emissions. The hypocrisies in pressurising the IPCC into this corner are staggering. The pity is that India’s scientific community – in which true independence is rare – will do little to help the citizen understand more.

[Via http://makanaka.wordpress.com]

Evetta Petty's Hat's From Heaven

Designer and owner Evetta Petty’s hats from Harlem’s Heaven Hat Boutique has been featured in the New York Times, Crain’s NY, and the New York Daily News. Harlem World tried to caught up with her while she was still in India, searching for fabric for her hats before she gets back in my store next month.

Harlem World: Who is your main consumer in Harlem who buys hats?

Evetta Petty: The Ministers Wives and the well dressed Church Divas.HW: What fabric are most of your hats made of?

EP: Our favorite fabric for hats is Grosgrain and Satin ribbon because the hat can be worn all year round. We like to call it “The hat for all seasons!”

HW: Where are most of your clients from (Harlem, etc.,)?

EP: We are shipping hats to clients from all over the World because of our busy website.

HW: When is the best time to where a hat (year around, Sunday’s, etc.,)?

EP: Hat Lovers won’t leave the house without a hat but, hats do have a high season starting with Easter time followed by Mothers Day then the Kentucky Derby and ending with the Ascot races in England. The time period between March and June is high hat season. After that, the fun in the sun Hat Lovers will be struting their chapeau on the beaches and at fabulous resorts.

HW: Why did you go into designing hats?

EP: After graduatiing from FIT, I worked in many areas of fashion but always designed hats as a hobby on the side. After placing a couple of hats in a boutique, they started selling like crazy and I ended up being in the hat business full time.

HW: What’s hot for Spring (colors, styles, etc.,)?

EP: This spring look for citrus colors. You will see a lot of lemon yellow, kiwi green and vibrant orange. You will also see a lot of baby pink and powder blue. In my new spring line, will have an aray of colors accented with jewels, beads and embrodiery inspired by my recent trip to New Dehli, India.

www.harlemsheaven.com

[Via http://glamaddicts.wordpress.com]

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Big Veggie Curry

Big Veggie Curry is what I call a foundation dish.  It can be eaten “as is” over rice, which makes a delicious low fat meal.  Or you can add various things to it, such as shrimp or chicken. I freeze it in serving size containers to have on hand when I have a bit of leftovers that might mix in well. This curry is also a whatever-you-have-in-the-house recipe.  I often make it when I am cleaning out the refrigerator and discover odd and ends of vegetable, or perhaps a bag of vegetables in the freezer that is getting old. One of the times I make this curry is when I’m about to travel  long enough for vegetables to go bad when I am gone. I make up a pot of it, divide it in serving size containers, and freeze it, thus not wasting the produce and having something inviting to eat when I get back.

In many ways, this curry is more like the curries my neighbors in Mumbai made on a daily basis – less a formal recipe and more a way of cooking, each cook adding her own touch to the process. Women would come back from the bazaar across the railroad tracks from our apartment building carrying a tote bag full of whatever was fresh in the market and combine it with onions and garlic and the spices that were the staples of the Mumbai kitchen.  The beauty of this curry is that it doesn’t require specific vegetables or fruit. I sometimes add 1/2 a cup of raisins or some sliced peeled apples.  This time I had half a bag of frozen cranberries left from an earlier dish, so I threw them in too.  It was delicious. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.

This is not a “hot” curry, although you could add a couple of peeled, seeded chopped jalapenos to it, or some red pepper.  I tend to want to add heat when I am serving it if I’m in the mood, with a few drops of hot pepper sauce.

Big Veggie Curry

I Tablespoon Canola oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seed (optional, but it tastes more authentic with it)
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 Tablespoons good quality garam masala or curry powder
1 big onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
2 cups of low fat vegetable broth (you could also use chicken broth, but then it wouldn’t really be “veggie” curry)
1 15 ounce can chopped tomatoes, undrained
8-10 cups vegetables, cut into about 2 inch pieces (you can substitute up to 2 cups of fresh fruit or 1/2 cup of dried fruit)
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the mustard seed and cook until you hear the seeds start popping. Add the cumin seed and garam masala and cook for about another minute, or until the spices smell fragrant. Lower the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally.  Don’t let it burn. Add a little of the broth if you need to to keep it from burning.  Add the broth and tomatoes. Add the vegetables (and fruit if you are using it.)  Bring to a boil, cover, and lower the heat. Cook for 1 –2 hours until the vegetables are tender. The timing will depend on what vegetables you use. Stir in the cilantro and cook for 2 more minutes. This makes about 8 servings at 2 grams of fat/serving.

This is served over brown rice mix, with Greek yogurt on the side. My vegetables this time were potatoes, cauliflower, a box of frozen green beans, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and half a bag of frozen cranberries.

[Via http://perpetualfeast.com]

Lemon, Lesbians and Closets

I recently saw a 30 Rock episode (S4 E09) titled “Klaus and Greta” where James Franco guest starred as James Franco-in-love-with-a-b0dy-pillow. But I suppose many of us may also watch it for Tina Fey like I do.  Women who can carry off Nerd glasses are, queerly enough, SO attractive. In this episode, “Lemon” (Fey’s character) has her gay cousin, Randy Lemon ( no really, they named the character “Randy Lemon”, this is 30 Rock ! C’mon!) from small town Pennsylvania come to NYC after a fight with his parents. He insists upon going out and having a good time and giving her a makeover in this time there. The clincher is a scene where they argue and Randy locks her in a closet [ A good wry joke can keep me going for a week ] My apologies to those outside the US who cannot access the video, The scene falls in the latter half of the episode: Look for Randy with Slut written on his forehead -

I also recently watched Dostana – Yes, it has taken me a while but for some strange reason it always said “Long Wait” on my Netflix queue. I was curious about the movie mainly after seeing Tarun Mansukhani ( The Director) on a few of the Post Article 377 debates on Indian News Shows and having encountered positive reviews of the movie about its depiction of gay men. I dunnoooo….There were men. They pretended to be “gay”. Pretended is key to note here. And yes, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant – a nice shiny movie with Yash Raj production values and not too much angst. But it was based on stereotypes. In the sense that whenever the men had to “be gay” they resorted to effeminate behaviour ( not affectionate alone – there is a distinction ), when they were straight while lusting after the girl they were normal ( by the societal yardstick). So yeah, maybe Dostana is a fun movie – maybe it doesn’t represent gay men in negative light but it still offers what the audience wants -  A recognizable impression of the effeminate gay men. The one part of the movie I did thoroughly enjoy though was the song “Maa Da Laadla”, Funny lyrics (try and read the english lyrics if you can), Catchy and Kiron Kher is a delight to watch. Here you go -

[Via http://queercoolie.wordpress.com]

Monday, January 18, 2010

tropical beer notes #24

King’s Black Label Premium Pilsner 4.8% Goa India

It’s rubbish, but comes in this cool little medicine bottle. There’s a big “land that time forgot” thing going on in India – safari suits, compulsory ‘tashes, Ambassador cabs, Enfield motorbikes. This little stubby fits right it. Cheers to the 1960s

[Via http://beyondbagot.wordpress.com]

Finished!

Yes, we’ve come to the end of another amazing Indian adventure!  Next post will be from home—I hope!  Thank you for all of your prayers and gifts that made our ministry possible and changed the lives of many.

Friday, 1/15—children’s program

IMG_8213 Our final children’s program was held at a church in Boyce Company. All of their Sunday School children were there as well as kids from several other villages nearby. When we arrived a little after 10am, there were about 30 kids there, but as the morning went on, we ended up with over a hundred! We went through the same program with them that we had done at the previous children’s program– singing, nativity skit, Simon Says, flannelboard of the nativity and nativity stickers. Since we were here in Coonoor, we had our huge parachute that we left here 3 years ago. The kids loved that! We didn’t have any balls, but there happened to be balloons hanging left over from the Christmas/New Year’s decorations, so we used those. I explained the gospel using the colors on the parachute—black is sin which keeps us from heaven (yellow), red is for Jesus’ blood and white for when we’re forgiven and washed clean, green is for growing in Christ and blue for baptism. Pastor Suresh (the pastor of this church) led the children in a prayer of salvation. We pray the seeds we’ve planted will continue to grow! Even though it was almost 2pm by then, their lunch had still not arrived. So the kids started entertaining us! Each Sunday School group did a choreographed dance to a song from a CD. They were so cute. :) When lunch still had not arrived, they just turned on the music and everybody danced! Rose and I had a great time, but Debbie was not into it. I think it was after 3 when lunch finally came, and we passed out Beanie Babies to all of them (thanks, Mom & Aunt Judy!).

Saturday, 1/16—Tailoring school graduation and jungle safari

Rose woke up with a throat infection and couldn’t talk at all—just whisper!

IMG_8363 It was our great privilege to speak at the graduation and also present some of the women with sewing machines. As an example for our advice to these women, we brought two shirts that we had made—one loosely hand-stitched and falling apart and the other nicely sewn and finished. On the inside of the messy one, we had written the words: anger, hate, fear, depression and quitting. On the inside of the nice one, we had written the words: patience, love, peace, joy and faithfulness. Rose and I took turns sharing experiences in our lives when God had taught us to have patience, love, peace, joy and faithfulness instead of anger, hate, fear, depression and wanting to quit. Pastor Jamie offered them the opportunity to trade in their old “shirt” for a new one—in Christ. Several—including some Muslims—prayed to accept Christ as their Savior! It was awesome to hear their testimonies of how the Tailoring Institute had changed their lives, too!

DSC01585 As soon as the graduation was complete, we jumped in the car and headed down the mountain to the nature preserve. It was so busy at the place in Tamil Nadu that we continued on into another state, Karnataka, to see what kind of animals we could see. Just as we crossed the state border, a family of 4 elephants—2 babies!–came right up and crossed the road behind us. It was amazing! Also, as we were driving, we came upon peacocks, spotted deer, langu monkeys, bison, wild boar—so many wonderful animals to see right next to our car! They were all a gift from God! Then as we returned to Tamil Nadu, we saw that they were giving elephant rides. This has been a dream of mine since our very first trip to India! I was so excited! However, it turned out that you had to have special reservations to ride the elephants…how sad. By the grace of God, one of the elephant caretakers overheard Jamie asking about the rides and privately offered to get the tickets for us—amazing! This wasn’t just an elephant ride—it was an elephant safari! We were riding that elephant for a half hour through the deep jungle! It was so beautiful…what a special way to end our trip.

Sunday, 1/17 church

We went to church at Boyce Company where the children’s program was held. Pastor Suresh is awesome, and it was so nice being with his church family of about 100 (though some were missing because it was a holiday weekend for them). After the singing, Pastor Wilson spoke on Psalm 23, then we had testimonies, offering and did a baby dedication. By then, it was after 1pm (church started at 10am), and Jamie turned and asked us to speak. Rose spoke on Ephesians 4—unity in the Spirit. Because it was so late, I just said a quick word about how blessed they were to have Pastor Suresh and each other, and most of all to be chosen by God to be His children (Eph. 1:3-4). After church, several people came to me and asked why I didn’t speak longer—they were so looking forward to my message! :)

We spent the afternoon visiting and packing, then had our last supper :) together at a nice hotel here in Coonoor. We’re certainly going to miss Jamie and Wilson and their families!

Monday, 1/18 travel

Today we leave Coonoor for the 8-hour drive to Kochin where our flight leaves at 8pm.

Praise report: many children and women committed their lives to Christ; elephant safari—what a blessing!

Prayer requests: Rose will get better and be able to talk again; no one else will catch her cold; safe driving and flights home

[Via http://bjill.wordpress.com]

Friday, January 15, 2010

Sankranthi - II

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[Via http://sonalimangal.wordpress.com]

Shadow Education :: Impact on Mainstream

As the shadow cast by a sun dial can tell the observer about the change in time

Shadow of the education system can tell the change in society

Shadow education is a metaphor used for private tutorials that supplements the main stream education system. As the size and shape of the shadow depends on the source object, on the same lines change in mainstream education system impacts size and shape of supplementary education system.

Unlike dictionary definition of shadow which is a passive entity to the object it immitates, Shadow in shadow education is an active entity in every sense. It affects the mainstream system and somewhat controls the flow of it.

Private tutorial is not a new name in the world. It has its foot prints long back in the history that now nobody questions on its existence. The size of private tutorial industry varies from country to country depending on some key factors. Research shows that shadow education is popular in countries having poorly structured education system as compared to countries having advanced education system. Believe it or not, South Korea supplement education market is 150% of the mainstream education system.

Stupendous isn’t it? Believe me, it’s true.

MES v/s SES

Private tutorial works as a load sharing mechanism and hence reduces the burden on mainstream education system. It helps students to navigate a successful passage from school to adulthood. Not only students but tutors also gain a lot for private tutorials.

In a country like India where a secondary school teachers hardly earn 200$ per month, private tutorials provides them a good option to supplement their earnings. It helps in retaining quality teaching staff as the money they earn from private tutorials sometimes goes as high as 500$- 1000$ per month which is even more than a university lecturer.

Guardians are happy in shedding some extra dollars for private tutorials if it helps their ward to perform well. Research confirms that it helps in better understanding of concepts (In this article I am not considering the trauma that a student has to go through when he has to attend 2-3 daily of private tutorials after 8 hrs of school).

Is it a win-win situation or a Paradox?

Wait! Before coming to any conclusion it is wiser to analyze micro & macro dimensions of the state of affairs.

Studies adumbrate that SES plays a coercive role in destabilizing mainstream equilibrium. It exacerbates the nation’s education problems because it fabricates variance in the classroom. All guardians can’t afford a private tutorials for their wards which widens the understanding level of the concept between two kids .Secondly, it is analyzed that if the private tutor is a teacher from the same school then he gives more emphasis on the coaching classes than in the classroom, which further exacerbates the disparity.

SES has its own cons and pros, with more pros than cons if one considers the student aspect under this umbrella. We should improve our mainstream education system so that it doesn’t need a shadow to walk along with it. The money and resources that the world is poring in a well of shadow can be used in strengthening the pillars of the mainstream.

[Via http://kunalsingla.wordpress.com]

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Energy Efficient Windows For Your New Home Construction.

Of particular importance in your effort to build an environmentally-friendly home is the windows that you will choose. Energy efficient windows for your new home construction can make your heating bills lower in the winter and your cooling bills easier to handle in the summer. An energy efficient window needs to be at two panes thick, have a low-E (emitting) glass coating, an airtight frame, and be rated as energy-efficient by the Energy Star program. Let’s look at each of these elements of the energy efficient window in greater detail.

Frames

When considering your window frames, the material of the frame is very crucial the energy efficiency of the window itself. Opting for a vinyl or fiberglass frame ensures maximum efficiency and both of these materials do a great job of reducing the heat transfer and improving the insulation factor of the home and the home’s envelope. The decision to go with vinyl or fiberglass is usually an aesthetic one for most homeowners, although cost of the window frame itself certainly plays a role in that decision. Look for window frames in vinyl and fiberglass that have been specifically engineered and designed to perform optimally, such as those that have chambers within the frame that enhance their strength, provide additional insulation and reduce noise

Multiple Panes

Having dual pane or multiple pane windows is important when installing windows that are energy efficient. Dual pane windows have a space between the two panes of glass that is filled with either gas (look for those gases like argon or krypton for their non-toxicity) or air. This provides more insulation than a single pan window. If you can afford it, go for Energy Star rated windows that have three or even more panes for the highest level of energy savings. Look for windows that feature spacers between the panes that allow for the correct distance of panes in order to allow for airflow within the pane. These warm edge spacers can be made of fiberglass, vinyl, foam or steel and will have the added benefit of reducing or preventing condensation between panes. Your windows should also feature low-E coating that will block out the infrared light from the sun that makes your home hotter in the summer and that can fade your flooring, carpeting, or furniture over time.

Financial Incentives for High Efficiency Windows

Local, state and federal governments have recently announced incentives for homeowners who install energy-efficient upgrades in their homes. These incentives include tax breaks and tax rebates. Talk to your installer or your contractor to find out if the windows that you choose qualify for these tax incentives and be sure to file for them in a timely manner. You can get up to $200 under some programs for each window that you install, either as a tax deduction or a credit on your taxes. That makes paying for your high efficiency windows easier, and provides you with a bit of money to spend on other eco-friendly upgrades.

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Source By:-
http://ezinearticles.com/?Energy-Efficient-Windows-For-Your-New-Home-Construction&id=3496868

[Via http://3darchitecturaldesign.wordpress.com]

India: A Year of Struggle in Lalgarh

The following article is from Sanhati:

A Year of Lalgarh
Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati

Lalgarh – the name resonates in the hearts and minds of struggling people all over India: adivasis and dalits, farmers and fisherfolk, workers and students. In West Bengal it has taken its place along with Singur and Nandigram in songs and slogans of resolve and resistance. Wherever people are fighting for their livelihoods and their dignity, resisting the onslaught of state and capital, Lalgarh now provides inspiration and courage. Most importantly, for the long-oppressed adivasis, Lalgarh has already entered the annals of legendary struggles of the likes of the santhal “hul” led by Sidhu and Kanhu, and the historic rebellions led by the likes of Birsha Munda, Tilka Majhi and Chand Bhairab.

It has been just over a year since the unprecedented uprising of the adivasi people took place in Lalgarh, triggered by the brutal police raids in the wake of the land mine attack on chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s convoy. It is a good time to look back on this year, and to learn our lessons from Lalgarh.

In the last one year the movement has gone through many ups and downs, has faced brutal oppression by the state and the terror apparatus of the ruling party, culminating in the entry of the joint police and paramilitary forces of the state and the central governments (referred to as the “joint forces”) in the middle of June, 2009, and the arrest of its main spokesperson, Chatradhar Mahato. It has been the subject of both the wonder and vilification of the corporate media, and has elicited varied responses from civil society. However, all this has not dampened the resolve and the courage of the struggling people of Lalgarh, who have stood up in the face of oppression, and will not be subdued. Even today, when the joint paramilitary forces have closed in on Lalgarh and each day brings stories of atrocities, of firing on farmers tilling their fields, of arrests of children playing cricket, of looting and pillaging of villages and poisoning of wells, the people of Lalgarh are marching out in larger and larger numbers to assert their rights and to resist this onslaught.

On just a single day, 7th January 2010, a rally of 15,000 people proceeded from Jaipur in Salboni towards Pirakata, which is the site of a major camp of the joint forces, in protest against the raid on the previous night in Sundarpur village in Salboni where the joint forces personnel indiscriminately beat up people, looted houses and arrested twenty persons. At the same time as these 15,000 people proceeded towards Pirakata, another rally of 10,000 people proceeded from Kalsibhanga to Pirakata. Such rallies and demonstrations have been a daily occurrence, with women in the front ranks in every case. As police have raided villages, the news have been spread from village to village using both the dhamsa madal (the traditional Santhal drum) and the mobile phone, and within minutes village women have assembled and resisted the raiders, facing beatings and arrest. School students have gheraoed schools from which they have been displaced by joint forces personnel. They have even blockaded the Rajdhani Express, the ultimate sign of the power and privilege of the elite, to make their voices heard in the corridors of power in Kolkata and Delhi.

The forces of the state can lathicharge and teargas and arrest these people as much as they will, but it is evident that they will not be able to subdue them, to get them back to the docile condition where they will suffer the daily indignities of harassment and hunger silently and where their resources and labour will fatten the likes of Anuj Pandey, the notorious CPI(M) leader whose palatial house was destroyed in Dharampur in June 2009 in a mass upsurge.

The Lalgarh movement has been unprecedented in its intensity, its breadth, and the challenges it has thrown up in front of the state, which has kept the adivasis in a miserable condition while flaunting its democratic nature, and towards society, that has always been apathetic to their conditions, except as subjects of anthropological research and as examples of exotica. Within a few days of the upsurge in early November, 2008, the entire Lalgarh area was out of bounds for the state, especially its police apparatus, which was the face of the state that had always confronted the adivasis. The police stations, always the places from where the “rule of law” emanated as a daily nightmare for the people, were locked with the policemen cowering inside, under a social boycott.

Like the proverbial prairie fire, the movement spread to the other districts of the adivasi-populated region, collectively called as jangalmahal, and soon thousands of people were marching on the red soil of West Midnapur, Bankura and Purulia. As the traditional institutions of adivasi society, including the apex body of the village headmen, the Majhi Madwa, failed to keep up with this revolutionary upheaval and became discredited, and as the adivasis were vehement in their opposition against the leadership of their movement being taken over by the parliamentary political parties, as happened in Singur and Nandigram, the Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) was born to spearhead the struggle.

The Peoples’ Committee did not derive its authority from the established social and economic hierarchies in adivasi society, or from the established political parties, but from the general assembly of the masses, as exemplified by the mammoth rallies that were held on a nearly daily basis. New, and unprecedented, forms of democratic practice sprung up, giving rise to the village committees having fifty percent male and fifty percent female membership. Members of all political parties, as long as they joined independently of their party identities, were welcome to join the people’s committee.

The enthusiasm of the people, who were now united together in not only throwing off the yoke of oppression by the state, but were also trying to build something new, was palpable, and infectious. Young men and women, armed with their traditional weapons, exuded an air of empowerment. Housewives, in the front ranks of ten thousand strong marches raised cogent questions in the face of policemen (and women) who were confronting them: Aren’t the police supposed to serve the people? How would it feel when someone kicks a pregnant woman on her abdomen? New leaders of the movement emerged, Chatradhar Mahato, who became the spokesman of the movement, Sidhu Soren, a young energetic organizer, Lalmohan Tudu, Sukhshanti Baske and many others.

As the people, and this new leadership, recovered from the trauma of domination by the Indian state and the ruling party, and gained confidence in their own abilities, they took up the developmental activities which the same state and party have always denied them. “Development” is the buzzword which the state has always used to justify its actions on behalf of the ruling class, just as today “development” is being used as a pretext by the union home minister P. Chidambaram to unleash the might of the armed forces in a war on people resisting the loot of their land and resources. However, the lives of the adivasis of Lalgarh show the development disaster of the Indian state, and of the CPI(M) government which claims to have been a “government for the poor” for the past thirty two years. All the basic necessities of life: food, water, education, health, roads, and the control over the resources that enable them: land and other sources of employment, have been all but absent. What have been present instead are the rapacious timber and kendu leaf mafia, corrupt government contractors, and increasingly, big corporations that are out to grab the land and the mineral resources of the area.

In contrast, the peoples’ committee took up a modest initiative to provide the same development measures, with a new developmental model ensuring popular participation in planning and execution. Land distribution programmes were taken up, check dams to harvest and store rainwater during the monsoons were constructed, mini tubewells and shallow pumps were installed, kilometers of roads of red gravel (moram) laid and health centres staffed with volunteer doctors and health workers from Kolkata were started (the health centres confirmed a depressing apprehension, 90 percent of the thousands of patients who visited the health centres, especially women, showed symptoms of malnutrition like low blood pressure and edema). Together with this, the people ensured that much-touted government schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana for providing cheap housing to poor households, funds for which were systematically siphoned off by CPI(M) and Jharkhand party functionaries, were implemented properly. These efforts might have been modest in their scope, but they were successful where the state had failed abysmally and provided a new paradigm of participatory development.

Much of this has come to a standstill as the joint forces have moved in, promising to bring “development” in their wake, development as defined by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Chidambaram. Many of the tubewells and shallow pumps have been destroyed or looted by the paramilitary forces and the health centres have become their outposts. Schools have been reoccupied and students forced to give exams sitting on the roads. When some of the schools were vacated by the joint forces personnel, because of a court order in response to a public interest litigation filed by an organization from Midnapore, they were found in a pathetic condition, classrooms filled with human excreta and walls smeared with pornographic grafitti. This is the “development” that Buddhadeb and Chidambaram plan to bring to the adivasis. However, the people of jangalmahal are still determined to continue their efforts towards a popular and participatory development process, and after the initial shock of occupation by the joint forces, some of the developmental activities are limping back on track.

Just as Lalgarh threw up an unprecedented challenge to the state, it also presented a new, and somewhat incomprehensible paradigm, to the various political and civil society forces which have elicited a wide variety of responses. Much of it is centered around the involvement of the Communist Party of India (Maoists) in the movement. Among the political parties, the CPI(M), have been virulently hostile to the movement as the movement has destroyed its hegemony in the jangalmahal area and its members and supporters have been targeted by the Maoists. The CPI(M) have long been identified as a primary oppressor by the people of Lalgarh, with its local leaders like Anuj Pandey running a reign of terror in the area through his armed henchmen. Beyond these local leaders have been district leaders of the CPI(M) like Dipak Sarkar, the district secretary and Sushanta Ghosh, the state minister in charge of the area, who have maintained a stranglehold on the adivasis (the infamous “ghoskar bahini”, the armed cadre force of the CPI(M) is named after the duo).

Since the beginning of the movement in November 2008, CPI(M) goons, referred to as harmads, have launched attacks on peoples’ committee members to regain lost ground, resulting in the deaths of people like Rajaram and Lakhindar Mandi and Nirmal Sardar. These attacks had been resisted both by the peoples’ committee and the Maoist squads active in the area. These attacks finally culminated in the Dharampur incident in June 2009, when the adivasis, incensed by a CPI(M) attack on a rally, were led by the Maoists to destroy the house of Anuj Pandey and the CPI(M) party office in Lalgarh, and kill the hated musclemen of Anuj Pandey. This finally led the CPI(M) government in West Bengal to request the Congress government at the centre to send paramilitary forces which were waiting in the wings, and the home minister Chidambaram couldn’t be happy enough to oblige, declaring Lalgarh to be the “laboratory” for his forthcoming attack on the adivasis of the Maoist-dominated belt stretching from West Bengal to eastern Maharashtra.

The response of the main opposition party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), was more interesting. The leader of TMC, Mamata Banerjee, at first expressed support for the movement, visiting the area without her party banner, and even sharing the stage with Chatradhar Mahato, a fact which the CPI(M) uses today to allege a Trinamool-Maoist nexus. However, after the parliamentary elections in May 2009, which the TMC won handsomely in alliance with the Congress, and went on to join the UPA government, which eventually sent in the paramilitary forces into Lalgarh, she did a volte face, and dissociated herself from the movement condemning it as a handiwork of the Maoists. She now claims that the CPI(M) and the CPI(Maoist) are two sides of the same coin, and has even censured her party MP, Kabir Suman, for writing a song on Chatradhar Mahato. The TMC’s opportunistic politics regarding Lalgarh stand exposed, although Mamata continues her posturings in sympathy of the adivasis.

The responses of various other political parties and civil society organizations have been multifarious. Smaller left parties like Majdoor Kranti Parishad (MKP) have played supportive and constructive roles, participating in demonstrations in Kolkata in solidarity of the Lalgarh movement, and even trying to enter Lalgarh with a couple of hundred party activists when access was blocked by the joint forces. Parties like the CPI(ML)-Liberation have been openly critical of the actions of the Maoists, but have participated in demonstrations held in opposition to the arrest of Chatradhar Mahato. On the other hand, some like Santosh Rana’s faction of the CPI(ML), which also has connections with the Jharkhandi groups in the area, have accused the Maoists of taking over the movement and for preventing the functioning of institutions like panchayats.

The involvement of the Maoists has also been the central problematic in the response of various members of civil society and some intellectuals to the Lalgarh movement. When the Lalgarh movement started, for some time the civil society did not know how to respond to it. Here were the long-oppressed adivasis, challenging successfully the might of the state and marching in the triumph of being able to throw off the yoke of oppression. Here, unlike Nandigram and Singur, there were no apparent victims of massacres or CPI(M) brutalities who could be sympathized with. This was a hitherto unexperienced paradigm confronting civil society. However, civil society soon woke up from its inertia and expressed its solidarity with the Lalgarh movement as it found the epitomization of many of its own aspirations in the latter’s democratic expressions and popular participation.

However, this was accompanied by a sort of romanticization of the movement as an expression of the quest of dignity by the adivasi , the “noble savage” of European humanist tradition, and a sort of naïve admiration of its “purity” and “spontaneity”. Therefore, when the Maoists came to the forefront, inevitable fissures showed up among civil society, with a section considering that a “spontaneous” movement of adivasis has been hijacked by the Maoists. Some forwarded the “sandwich theory”, the adivasis caught in a crossfire between two equally condemnable forces, the state and the Maoists. In contrast, another section thought that the entire movement is a brainchild of the Maoists.

The reality is probably somewhere in between. The Maoists have been active in the area for a long time, even from before the CPI(Maoist) emerged as a party. They have been involved in long term organizational work in the area and organized peoples’ struggles for raising the price of kendu leaves, against the timber mafia and against corruption in panchayats. As a result, they enjoy immense prestige among the adivasis; anyone who has interacted closely with the adivasis will know about their respect for the “boner party” – the party of the jungles, as they refer to the Maoists. Just as most of the reporters having Lalgarh on their beat have the phone number of Kishenji, the Maoist leader who was in charge of the jangalmahal area, so do have many common villagers, and many a times a call to Kishenji becomes the last resort against the attacks of CPI(M) harmads.

This is a reality in jangalmahal which can only be dismissed by people who want to fit reality into the straitjacket of their own prejudices. The uprising in Lalgarh took place spontaneously as an assertion of adivasi dignity in the face of police oppression, but the groundwork by the Maoist activists have been an important contributory factor.

The violence by the Maoists, mostly targeted against the members and supporters of the CPI(M), but also sometimes against members of the Jharkhandi factions and Trinamool Congress, is also a major reason why a section of civil society and the intelligentsia is ambivalent, if not antagonistic, in their attitude towards Lalgarh. Mindless violence by the Maoists should definitely be condemned; however the violence by the Maoists has a certain strategic implication.

The experience in Chattisgarh has taught that the state has organized and armed a section of the adivasis to create the infamous Salwa Judum, an anti-Maoist vigilante force which has gained nationwide notorierty for its sprees of murder, rape and looting. The first inklings of such a phenomenon has also been seen in the jangalmahal region, with the formation of the Gana Pratirodh Committee, consisting mainly of members of the CPI(M) and also various Jharkhandi groups. The presence of the joint forces in the area has encouraged the activity of these people. The Maoists, with their violence directed against CPI(M) members and supporters, want to nip this attempt in the bud, such that a Salwa Judum-like phenomenon does not spread its roots in the jangalmahal area. Moreover, the violence by the Maoists is also meant to challenge the hegemony of the joint forces, which have become increasingly besieged and in many cases scared to even step outside their camps without overwhelming force. However, indiscriminate violence is reprehensible, and detrimental even to the long term interests of the Maoists themselves in the area, as it is sure to create a large body of hostile individuals. The Maoist movement today has the greatest potentiality in bringing about fundamental change in the condition of the most exploited and marginalized section of the Indian people and in resisting the onslaught of capital. To fulfill that potential, it is necessary to go beyond the logic of mindless militarism and evolve new methodologies of mass mobilization.

The movement in Lalgarh still continues, and is expected to gain greater heights as the Indian state goes into an all out war against the people in the entire adivasi-populated region of India. The state might consider Lalgarh to be the laboratory for such an operation, but it might finally prove to be the mortuary of the same. Terrible oppression, daily firings and indiscriminate arrests of people have not been able to subdue Lalgarh. The people of jangalmahal have stood up, and they will not bow down again.

[Via http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com]

Monday, January 11, 2010

The new C's of January

The two new C’s beating the P and the G in Gillette or now called the ex-Folgers sanitary brand coy has failed to deploy the safety parachute as campaigns from Coke are likely soon flooding the market for this year’s numero uno position in Asia. Esp. with the Asian challenge fading for Coke as it is firmly established in China as well, In India it has further cemented the gold rush for the heat with a new mega celebrity , budgeted in Indian rupees campaign with cinekhiladi Akshay. Last seen in the Colors resurgence on the Indian terra firma, Akshay may still be out first export from Bollywood for non Indian audiences or diaspora with 2010 establishing a second decade for innoarket aware vative Coke marketing and most of it corresponding to the Indian desi heady rush without the Ramesh Chauhan fights early on.

Also, the second C that got the gall of the razor was Canon which beat doomsday prediction for the recession friendly retail industry with a 35% uptick in budgeted targets for cross RS 1000 crores or $400 million this year riding a new market aware Xerox and Photograhy products campaign. Here’s to the new Cs..there are enough jobless students out there to absorb a lot of additional Cs in the marketing software.

If you want more Financials and related stuff, double back to http://advantages.us. Adage has the revolution for now and we are on Ad age.

[Via http://twitterone.com]

I typed this with one hand

You know what’s a great idea? In the midst of planning frantically for your as-yet totally unplanned, semi-solo trip to India, slam your hand in a car door.

Preferably right after you discover that the flights you had been tracking for three months inexplicably tripled overnight; and right before you were about to start sorting through your summer clothes in search of the long skirts and non-cleavage-revealing shirts you already know you don’t own. Just as you realize that, oh my god, you totally never bought any tour books, and why doesn’t the Borders on Broad Street have any, anyway – those Europe-centric travel section pricks – and is Bank of America joking when they tell you that it will take a week to get rupees, because that’s just ridiculous. And was someone seriously expecting you to spend more than seven minutes on the elliptical when you have all this packing and planning ahead of you, especially when your headphones spontaneously combusted – like actually – the second you plugged them in? Because that’s not happening. And there’s no way you’re spending a 15 hour flight without headphones, so that just got bumped to the top of you 24-item to-do list. All those prescription medications and associated malaria-fighting measures still to be picked up will just have to wait.

So, to answer your questions: yes, I am a huge klutz, yes, I currently have a bag of frozen edamame on my left middle and index fingers, and yes, I’m freaking the fuck out. But at least this time I don’t have junior prom to worry about! Just a transcontinental journey to a third-world country. Fab.

[Via http://theblabbermouth.wordpress.com]

Friday, January 8, 2010

Aman ki Asha: Now Why DIdn't We Think of That!

The Dil se Dil and Aman ki Asha Logos

Sometimes an idea just takes a while to germinate. Sometimes the big guys simply need to feel that the idea was all theirs before they’ll really run with it. Whatever the reason, it seems that the time has finally come for a serious effort at an Indo-Pak peace initiative based on simple people-to-people interactions and cultural exchange, principally through music.

The proponents of this undertaking are two of South Asia’s largest media outlets, the Times of India and the Jang Group in Pakistan. In the garbled, half-literate language of the writers at the TOI: “Starting with a series of cross-border cultural interactions, business seminars, music & literary festivals and citizens meet that will give the bonds of humanity a chance to survive outside the battlefields of politics, terrorism and fundamentalism.”

The project is being called “Aman ki Asha”, Hope for Peace. Amitabh Bachchin, no less, is promoting the as-yet-vaguely-defined, bridge-building concerts.

If this sounds familiar, it is because it appears to be based on our lovely Friends Without Borders project and its not-quite successful sequel, Dil se Dil, both the brainchild of service wizard John Silliphant.

Friends Without Borders was a four-month blitz through India in 2006 to collect friendship letters from tens of thousands of Indian school children and deliver them to kids in Pakistan. Major events were held in around the country, television commercials played on major networks for two solid months, and the project was lauded by the Prime Minister of India and featured in newspapers, magazines (here and here), online media, and television.

The Dil se Dil project was even more ambitious. On the night of 14-15 August 2007, we had planned a special celebration to celebrate the shared 60th anniversary of India and Pakistan and an unprecedented event designed to bring the people of these countries closer together: a concert of Indian and Pakistani superstars, right at the famous Attari/Wagah border. A coming-together of midnight’s grandchildren, as it were.

At the heart of both projects was a belief that peaceful, productive coexistence is profoundly wished by ordinary people on both sides of the border, whereas intransigence, antagonism, and recrimination are the domain of politicians and a minority of hardliners. We found tremendous resonance with these ideas during both projects.

Our print-media partners for that undertaking were, of course, the Times of India and the Jang Group. If there is any doubt about the origin of the genesis of the projects, take a look at the TOI article that announced the program. The photo was taken by a TOI photographer at our Friends Without Borders event at Wankhede Stadium in Bombay on 6 February 2006. Even the Aman ki Asha logo looks a bit derivative of the Dil se Dil logo.

The Dil se Dil and Aman ki Asha Logos

Of course, the FWB team is given no credit or kudos for the idea – but that’s just fine. Our objective has always been to create positive change. We are open source. If you can take our ideas and do more with them than we can, more power to you! In fact, we’ll be glad to assist you.

True, the appropriation of the concept, without attribution and for purposes that appear principally publicity-seeking and commercial, and only secondarily public-spirited, is a bit shady. But then, what do you expect from TOI, the most disreputable, sleazy, ethically challenged media outlet in a country not exactly famous for journalistic integrity?

Still, we are delighted to see these important ideas taken forward.

***

This revival of Dil se Dil prompts me to tell a more detailed story of the crushing disappointment surrounding the eleventh-hour cancellation of our border concert. There were a number of factors censoring my commentary during the course of the project. Chief among these were close monitoring by the Indian Home Ministry at a time when I was in the country on a tourist visa and the fact that our brilliant partners at the NGO Routes 2 Roots were heroically negotiating the permissions with two distrustful governments that did not want to see anything in the media before the deal was done. Even my online announcement of the cancellation was truncated by the judgment that details of the fiasco would only serve to antagonize, when our objective was to sooth.

The concert project had its grand opportunities and major challenges. A.R. Rahman had personally agreed to be our headliner; but his manager, Deepak Gattani, turned-out to be one of the most venal, corrupt, slimy human beings on the face of the earth. The border was a fabulous location; but we had to obtain permission from both governments (never before given) and work out security and logistics with both armies. The United Nations Millennium Campaign agreed to be a partner; but dealing with the UN-anything is an almost guaranteed fuck-up. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to show-up; but we could only accommodate a few thousand within the secure area of the concert venue and there was no way to turn-back impromptu celebrants from the general area. Nokia signed-on as our major sponsor; but they had done so in such a soulless and shamelessly exploitative way as to completely miss the spirit of what we were attempting to achieve. We had a team of extremely creative, articulate American volunteers; but, fearing al Qaeda targeting of the event, the Home Ministry forbid any overt signs of American involvement, effectively handicapping our PR machinery.

Two weeks from show-time, our partner, the brilliant NGO Routes 2 Roots, was called before the Home Ministry to be advised that security threats from al Qaeda and other, non-disclosed antagonists were running extremely high. Border Security Forces and police from around Punjab, which would have been detailed to our event, would be reassigned to the protection of Delhi. The Government of India would not tell us not to have the concert – it would lose tremendous face in light of Pakistan’s go-ahead, were it to do so – but the warning was clear.

Six days from the concert, the show had been scripted, the musical line-up of A.R. Rahman, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Asmat, Shafqat Amanat Ali was ready to go, as were the MCs Shah Ruhk Khan, Julia Chawla, Wasim Akhram and Shaiyanne Malik. The show had been scripted and we were working with the fabulous CNN-IBN team on the taping of special content. The concert was to be broadcast through India and Pakistan by major networks, and beamed around the world to satellite affiliates. Television advertisements were already in the air and newspapers were beginning to print stories. The stages, lighting, and television installations were under construction at the border. And all hell broke loose.

It began with anonymous telephone threats to one of the directors of Routes 2 Roots, which the Indian Intelligence Bureau was able to trace to “an off-shore satellite source somewhere in the Indian Ocean.” These call were followed with calls to the Routes 2 Roots office, traced to a pay-phone in Delhi. Routes 2 Roots were once again summoned to the Home Ministry and this time the message was clear: the Government of India would not be able to guaranty the safety of those attending the event and was considering withdrawing its No Objection Certificate – government-speak for the permission we had arduously obtained to be able to hold the concert. The Intelligence Bureau believed the threats were al Qaeda related.

We had no choice but to cancel the concert.

The extent of this fiasco apparently had repercussions well beyond our shattered volunteer team, collaborators, sponsors, and supporters. Although President Pervez Musharraf was up-to-his-ass in a constitutional crisis, thanks to ongoing conscientious protest in the judiciary, his office took the time to telephone Routes 2 Roots to insist that the show must go on. But we could not allow that to happen in the circumstances; and by then it was too late anyway.

The Aman ki Asha agenda is substantially less ambitious and backed by two media powerhouses. This bodes well for success. We wish it well.

[Via http://memestreamblog.wordpress.com]

Anti-Trafficking Activist Sunitha Krishnan breaks the silence on sex slavery in India

By: Lakshine Sathiyanathan

It begins as a promise for a better life.

Girls (and boys) as young as five years old are forced into prostitution and sold into a life worse than they had lived before. Estimates of the number of young children sold for sex globally go up to 1.2 million annually.

“No one should tolerate trafficking, no child, no woman deserves it,” said Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of Prajwala to ABC News.

Krishnan has spent years rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked women and children.

At 15, Krishnan, then a teenage social activist was gang-raped by eight men.

“I don’t remember the rape part of it so much as much as the anger part of it,”she says in her talk on TED.com, “Yes, there were eight men who defiled me, raped me, but that didn’t go into my consciousness. I never felt like a victim, then or now. But what lingered from then till now – I am 40 today – is this huge outrageous anger.”

Sunitha Krishnan speaks against silence on the sex trade. Image courtesy of TED Blog.

She is angry at the culture of silence.

“Two years, I was ostracized, I was stigmatized, I was isolated, because I was a victim. And that’s what we do to all traffic survivors,” she says in the talk.

Krishnan speaks on the isolation and stigma that victims of rape and the sex trade face. These are experiences that transcend global borders, where victims are victimized over and over again and pushed to the fringes of society.

As she speaks, behind her a screen projects haunting images of young women who bear the marks of the horrors of sex slavery and human trafficking.

“It’s like their faces are branded. They go through labelling; it is stamped on them forever. You are that. You are eternally morally loose, and therefore you have no right to come back to this so-called moral society,” says to TED Blog following her talk.

Her organization Prajwala, which means “eternal flame,” is an anti-trafficking organization based in Hyderabad, India that works to rehabilitate and reintegrate girls and young women rescued from the sex trade into normal livelihood.

Prajwala provides girls and young women education and job training that offer opportunities for development and growth. The organization continues to raise awareness and advocates for policy changes to protect communities from trafficking and ensure that their rights are safeguarded. Similar programs have been adopted in other parts of India.

Krishnan feels that teaching trades, especially male-dominated trades are not only practical but empowering and therapeutic.

Prajwala girl working as welder. Image courtesy of TED Talk.

“It had a really miraculous impact on their hearts and minds. Some of the girls said they felt on top of the world. They were no longer rejected by the outside world; they were on par with men and sometimes even doing better than men,” she says to TED Blog.

The organization teaches screen printing, welding, carpentry, masonry and motor mechanics and other male-dominated trades.

“It’s not just the economic empowerment; it’s also psychologically restorative,” she says.

Working collectively with the Indian government, corporations, law enforcement and NGOs, Prajwala has rescued more than 3200 girls and young women.

Her talk can be found online.

Warning: Some images in this video are disturbing.

[Via http://mcclungs.ca]

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Mahindra Navistar Launches 25 & 31 Tonne Trucks

Mahindra Navistar

Mahindra Navistar

Mahindra Navistar has unveiled its 25 tonne and 31 tonne trucks for the Indian market. The trucks have been developed utilising 175 years of technological and truck R&D expertise and know-how of Navistar and over 60 years of experience of Mahindra in developing successful products based on deep insights of Indian customers and driving conditions. The Mahindra Navistar range of medium and heavy commercial vehicles is being manufactured at a new greenfield plant at Chakan, near Pune. The plant, which spans over 700 acres, has been set up with investments of over Rs. 4000 crore and will produce other M&M products as well. This will help MNAL leverage the benefits of synergies of an integrated manufacturing facility.

In 2005, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and International Truck and Engine Corporation – the operating company of Navistar – entered into a JV to manufacture light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for India as well as global markets. The joint venture is in the process of addressing every segment of the commercial vehicle market from 3.5 tonne GVW to 49 tonne GVW with variants of passenger transport, cargo and specialized load applications. Mahindra Navistar aims to expand its product line over the next two years to emerge as a full range commercial vehicle player.

[Via http://gratiscarconnect.wordpress.com]

India Inc Set to Raise Rs.50k Crores Through IPOs in 2010

India Inc Set to Raise Rs.50k Crores Through IPOs in 2010.

. Domestic companies seems set to get on with the huge fund raising exercise this year with plans to raise over Rs 50,000 crore via public offers, driven by the sharp recovery in the stock market.

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Almost 50 companies have already filed the draft prospectus with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). This depicts at the healthy prospect of the strong IPO market after the encouraging revival of IPO market in 2009.

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Indian companies had raised about Rs 20,000 crore through IPOs in 2009.

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Market Experts feel that fund raising can go up to Rs 50,000 crore this year since Government has already planned to sell shares in a host of public sector companies by way of IPOs and follow-on public offers (FPOs).

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Five companies aiming to raise over Rs 300 crore have already received the regulator’s clearance for the IPO, if draft prospectus filed with the SEBI is anything to go by.

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“The IPO pipeline looks strong in 2010. Also the way the government is pushing ahead with the disinvestment plan, fund raising can go up to Rs 50,000 crore by the end of the year,” SMC Capitals Equity Head Jagannadham Thunuguntla said.

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As part of its disinvestment plans the government intends to raise over Rs 20,000 crore by way of FPOs of NMDC, SAIL, NTPC, and REC.

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Some of the prominent private companies which have their IPOs lined up, beside this, include Jindal Power, BPTP, Reliance Infratel, Emaar MGF etc;

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“Of the total IPOs that are in the pipeline, as many as 16 are from real estate sector. However, their success is a bit doubtful as the appetite for realty IPOs are currently less,” Thunuguntla added.

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Primary market fund raising in 2008 saw 30 IPOs mopping up Rs 17,000 crore, but shares of many these companies gave the investors modest-to-good returns.

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[Via http://smcinvestment.wordpress.com]

Monday, January 4, 2010

Aman Ki Asha - WTF?

What does the Times of India really want to achieve through the “Aman ki Asha” initiative? Beats me. It is rather silly that the newspaper which claims to be India’s best and biggest, does not understand that getting a bunch of artists, cricketers and page 3 people will not solve any issue. Yes, we want peace, but one has to get realistic.

The issues do not lie with the people. The “aam” aadmi does not care about the peace with Pakistan, he worries about his next meal. He does not care about the ghazal singer from Karachi, he wonders about why is Ajmal Kasab still alive. The real issues are on the political front. No amount of people’s movement, if that ever happens, will serve any purpose towards peace. Yes, The “Times of India” can vie for another award (in journalism or social advertising), like they did with Lead India and the Teach India campaigns. But even the campaign looks unconvincing, defensive, and non committal in its targets.

Many issues remain unanswered. Should we forget and move on? What does TOI have to say about the firing across the border which occurs almost everyday? And what about the likes of Sarabjeet? And will it get the Jang Group to pressurise the Pakistani government to finally come clean and accept the attack on Mumbai?

Wet dreams, TOI. “Aman ki Asha” just feels good, doesn’t achieve anything. And yes, it soils you.

[Via http://pastpresent.wordpress.com]

Learning Nasta'liq

For the longest time, I did not want to learn the Perso-Arabic script used to write Urdu. I had little interaction with those who could read Urdu and with places that had signage in that language. It is a little uncharacteristic because I understood the Persianized Urdu register reasonably well — and faced with similar scenarios in the past (signs in Gurumukhi or in Gujarati script), I had put in the effort to learn the language.

A few months ago, that changed. I have forced myself to learn Urdu orthography and my plan for the next six months is to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Urdu where it is titled Harry Potter aur Razon ka Kamra. Unfortunately the first book in the series is not available easily in Urdu, at least not in the US. Here it is.

رازوں کا کمرہ

And here is the name of the author (due to left-to-right direction of Urdu, I cannot just embed the phrases, or so it seems).

ے کے رولیںگ

I can go into a lot of depth here about the stereotypes that prevent people in India from learning another script because it is politically and religiously charged. All four of my grand-parents were refugees from now what is Pakistan and they lost most of their belongings behind. They hated the partition and by association the Muslims that in their mind made the partition inevitable. Yet, in their speech they used a vocabulary more Persian than Sanskritized when dealing with daily life. For example scholarship was wazifa and not shiksha-vritti; writing was ibarat and not lekhni. I am not talking about different shades of meaning here or a conscious effort to be this or that. That’s just how life was and still is in many places.

[Via http://rekhta.wordpress.com]

Friday, January 1, 2010

Anniversary Post..

Hi guys…

It’s Whiteopal’s first birthday today.  Been an eventful year, this one. And very happy one too. I hope it continues. And wishing a happy year ahead for all you guys…

I got back from Dubai yesterday. You might recall, that I had co-authored a paper, which got published by IEEE Computer Society. Had been invited for an oral presentation for the same. Well, had gone to Dubai for the conference, but must confess- it was more of a vacation. The fact that we’d presented the same topic at a number of places back home made us complacent- didn’t really hit us that we were supposed to present the same till the day of the conference. But it went of just fine. Had to present the paper towards the fag end, so had only a dozen or so bored Chinese listening to us, which was a bit of an anti-climax, but what the hell- the claps were loud enough!

The conference venue- Hyatt Regency

The flight from Mumbai to Dubai was Air India, and spent most of the time before the flight at Mumbai airport comparing the air-hostesses walking by. Verdict- Dr. Vijay Mallya really knows how to pick his gals. I mean seriously! Heard that he himself sits at their air-hostess job interviews. That true? I knew the hostesses in Air India would be in saris. In my opinion, there is no dress in the world as elegant as a sari. But what I didn’t expect was 45 year old hostesses. I mean, cummon! The funny thing was, we’d asked for a window seat both times (to and fro) But Both times, we found ourselves at the Emergency Exit. With a rather serious looking air hostess asking us-”Will you like to assist the crew in case of an emergency? ” :P . And then proceeding to give us instructions…

Dubai itself was great. The Arabs have poured a lot of money there, I tell ya. What with intricate wooden dustbins. Everything is in superlatives over there. Tallest building, largest mall. All glitz and show. Name the brand, and you got it. Its clean, disciplined and $$$$$. If you ever want a reason for wanting to be a billionaire, go to Dubai. Suddenly you feeling poor ;) . And yes- the Arabs don’t like Indians. Literally, they put up with us just because they have to. They don’t like Pakistanis either. They seem to have  some preformed notions, as most Indians and Pakis they see are laborers. And yeah- the Arabs don’t work. They don’t need to. They own all the places, and have Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos working for them. The Arabs are like the most chilled out people in the world, roaming around in pure white Jellaba shirts.

Luckily for us, we had a classmate who is from Dubai, and he showed us around the city. The first day we had to go to the conference venue to get ourselves registered. The next stop was Burjuman Mall, and then Mall of the Emirates, and finally Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world. Right in front of the Dubai mall is Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world, scheduled to be opened on 4th Jan. The fountain-dance in the adjoining lake is fantastic, and a must watch. We must’ve walked at least 10 km that day, covering most of the malls. I’d put that figure around 15, but my friends disagree. At any rate, it was enough to send me packing for the night.

Burj Dubai seen from Jumeirah beach- haven't quite been able to capture the size of it.

The next day, was the day of the conference. The whole thing got over by 6 p.m., after which we visited yet another mall- the Deira city Center, and then spent a leisurely evening at the Dubai creek. Lots of hotels had their private boats in the creek, and the city lights across it were fantastic. The breeze was quite chilly, but not uncomfortably so.

Dubai creek

The last day we first checked out of the hotel, and then went to the Jumeirah area. Our first stop was Madinat Jumeirah, a shopping mall selling Arab antiques and stuff. I absolutely loved this place. IF I have a ton of money one day, and want some decor for my house, I’ll buy it ALL from here *fat dreams* ;) . Then we check out Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world- from outside. The entry fee is AED 200.

Madinat Jumeirah, with Burj Al Arab in the backdrop- the old and the new

Lastly we chilled on Jumeirah beach, and soon it was time to catch the flight back home.

All in all, it was a great experience, and a perfect way to end the year. Happy New Year to you once again :)

[Via http://whiteopal.wordpress.com]

Happy New Year with "Gendha Phool"

In India marigolds are traditionaly used in garlands, offerings and any social functions. This is the reason why I am using this picture in order to wish you all a very happy new year. In Hindi “Genda Phool” means “marigold”. This picture was shot at the flower market which is located in Maldhahia in Varanasi (Benaras). Enjoy “Genda Phool” a song from movie “Delhi 6”:

[Via http://designldg.wordpress.com]