Wonder how this will work out...

Two-way channel for The Hindu's readers from The Hindu

THE READERS' Editor of The Hindu will be functional from March 1, 2006. The key
objectives of this appointment are to institutionalise the practice of
self-regulation, accountability, and transparency; to create a new visible
framework to improve accuracy, verification, and standards in the newspaper; and
to strengthen bonds between the newspaper and its millions of print platform and
online readers.
The Readers' Editor will be a two-way channel for readers'
suggestions and grievances relating to accuracy, fairness, standards, good
taste, and the highest values of journalism in whatever is published in The
Hindu . Complaints will be enquired into and follow-up action taken by
publishing corrections or clarifications; by replying to the complainant; and by
enabling corrective action to be taken, as needed.

This experiment will depend on how responsible readers are.

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Time to leave

Few hrs from now I will set on to something new. I don't know what awaits me but I do know that I am leaving some precious friends... and as sad as that makes me I am sure that we will manage to keep in touch.

To meet and to part is the story of life,
To part and to meet is the glory of life.

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thank god!

India bird flu tests 'negative' from BBC

Indian health officials say 94 out of 95 samples collected from people with flu-like symptoms have tested negative for bird flu.

Results from one final sample are expected on Saturday.

Hundreds of thousands of birds have been slaughtered after the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found in Navapur town in Maharashtra state last week.

The authorities have now completely sealed the town, which has a population of 30,000, and 19 nearby villages.

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Holly-Bolly

Smith builds links with Bollywood from BBC

Actor Will Smith has called for closer links between Hollywood and Bollywood during a visit to India.

I, Robot star Smith said Hollywood could find a winning combination by joining up with the "beauty, colour and depth of Indian cinema".

He said he hoped to work with India's top producers and actors, adding: "I really feel there is a marriage to be made between Hollywood and Bollywood."

Indian cinema has one of the world's largest audiences and output of films.

Mr Smith met with Bollywood producers, directors and actors and visited film studios.

'Blown away'

He said: "I am meeting with these people to make artistic connections and come up with a new thing."

The actor said he had been "blown away" by the performance of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan - also known as Big B - in the film Sarkar.

He said: "I was very impressed with his acting and have decided that from today onwards, I will be known as Big W."

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I bow to thy

India's feisty untouchable woman from BBC

After leading a spirited drive to root out alcoholism and get the government to work for her community in the troubled state of Bihar, she has become the first woman from her community of rat-eaters to address a United Nations convention.

Musahars are so poor that their staple diet often comprises mice.

On 27 February, the unlettered Girija Devi will lead five women from India at the international meeting to talk about the status of women. She will speak in her local Bhojpuri dialect.

This is simply marvelous. She has helped make 125 villages alcohol free WOW!

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Finally

I am moving back to India :) So this blog is going to be not as regular for the next few days. Once I get settled I am sure I will have tons to say.

But for right now I am really looking forward to going back. All this while when I had not made the decision I was wondering if going back to India is the right thing. But now that I have decided I think I was stupid not take this step before espically since that is what I wanted to do all this while. What will I leave behind. For the last few days days my mind has been bubbling with thoughts I will put it down once I am done with packing. PACKING I better finish it before I leave :)

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Bird Flu in India

Bird flu hits India from The Hindu

NEW DELHI: The dreaded pathogenic H5N1 bird flu has hit the country — about 50,000 birds are suspected to have been infected in the tribal Nandurbar district of Maharashtra. As a precaution, two lakh birds being reared in 16 commercial farms within 3 km radius of the affected area would be culled (killed), the Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, P.M.A. Hakeem, told The Hindu .

A red alert has been sounded in the adjoining Surat district in Gujarat, which has many commercial farms. India has about 490 million poultry of which 60 per cent is in the commercial sector. The rest is backyard poultry.

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One more country adding on the madness

Parties demand action against UP minister from NDTV

Political parties have criticised Uttar Pradesh Haj and Minority Welfare Minster Haji Yaqoob Quereshi after he announced a reward for the beheading of the Danish cartoonist who made caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.

While they are demanding action against Quereshi, government sources told NDTV that they are asking for legal advice on the issue.

Sharp criticism

Several prominent leaders from the Muslim community have already distanced themselves from the minister's remark.

These included members of the Muslim Personal Law Board and the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, the largest political organisation of Muslims in the country.

"The minister has no right to take the law in his hands as it will lead to chaos," said Abdul Hamid Nomani, Spokesperson, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind.

I am amazed how can a minister make a statment like that. We are not a barbaric state??? VOTE BANK POLITICS.........

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Lifes lesson

Waiting is something that I have never been good at, and the other thing that I have never been good at dealing with is uncertainity. I like decisions and I can live with them. But when life decides to teach you lessons it does it the hard way.
These days it always feels like the moment I am ready to take the next step there is something coming up to delay it or prevent it.

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light hearted ...

Someday the Sun Will Go Out and the World Will End (but Don't Tell Anyone) from NYTimes

I've always been proud of my irrelevance.

When I raised my hand to speak at our weekly meetings here in the science department, my colleagues could be sure they would hear something weird about time travel or adventures in the fifth dimension. Something to take them far from the daily grind. Enough to taunt the mind, but not enough to attract the attention of bloggers, editors, politicians and others who keep track of important world affairs.

So imagine my surprise to find the origin of the universe suddenly at the white hot center of national politics. Last week my colleague Andrew Revkin reported that a 24-year-old NASA political appointee with no scientific background, George C. Deutsch, had told a designer working on a NASA Web project that the Big Bang was "not proven fact; it is opinion," and thus the word "theory" should be used with every mention of Big Bang.

...

The recent peek behind the curtains of this bureaucracy has been both depressing and exciting. So they are paying attention after all.

They should be paying attention, but I'm not looking forward to having to include more politicians and bureaucrats in my rounds of the ever-expanding, multi-dimensional universe (or universes).

I'll do it, but, lacking the gene for street smarts, I fear being played like a two-bit banjo. I'm even happy to go star-gazing with Dick Cheney, if duty so calls, but only if he agrees to disarm and I can wear a helmet.

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Not a bad idea

India 'to register all marriages' from BBC

India's Supreme Court has given the federal and state governments three months to enact legislation making it compulsory to register all marriages.

The court said the public's views would be invited on the new legislation.

Under the proposed changes, proof of a traditional religious marriage ceremony would not be sufficient.

Supporters of the move say it will curb crimes such as bigamy and marriage without consent. Critics say the state is interfering and the law unnecessary.

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Comic effect

I have been refraining from putting anything related to major havoc caused buy a cartoon published somewhere in Europe. Was this the reaction the republisher's(the cartoons were initially published many moths ago and had gone unnoticed) were hoping for? I have been reading that in the Muslim countries it has just been used to launch all sorts of protests. And in Pakistan it is used to attach Indian embassy. Jokes apart... I am wondering how can a small sheet with scribbles can cause such reaction with people who have not even seen it?

An additional thought why is there no such protest against the treatment of prisoners? Isn't it worth more than a piece of paper?

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What the hell???????

Govt. asks for number of Muslims in armed forces from Silicon India [via anitha]

A major political storm is brewing in the country after the central government asked the defense ministry for details on Muslims, their ranks and their roles in the armed forces.

Why would the goverment want data on how many people from x religion are in the army. That is one place where only and only qualification should matter. Now I wonder if they will make the army also a battle ground for religion.

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Never Let Go of Hope

One day you will see that it all has finally come together.
What you have always wished for has finally come to be.
You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself,
"How did I get through all of that?".
Just never let go of hope.
Lust never quit dreaming.
And never let love depart from your life.

-- Jancarl Campi

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Why???????????

95 Pounds Heavier, Angry Son Faces Mother Who Starved Him from NYTimes

CAMDEN, N.J., Feb. 10 — Bruce Jackson rose in a packed courtroom here on Friday, 95 pounds heavier and 15 inches taller than he was 27 months ago when he was found rummaging through a neighbor's garbage can looking for food.

He looked directly at his adoptive mother, who was about to be sentenced to seven years in prison for systematically starving him and his three younger brothers in a case that drew national attention to the failures of New Jersey's child welfare system.

"You would make us eat pancake batter, dried-up grits and oatmeal, uncooked Cream of Wheat, and raw potatoes instead of cooked food," Mr. Jackson, now 21, told her and the crowded courtroom. "You didn't take us to any doctor's appointments. You wouldn't let us watch TV or play with our toys. You wouldn't let us take a shower when we were dirty."

He read from a piece of paper in a calm and determined voice betrayed by a slight slur.

"You yelled at us, cursed at us, hit us with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes and belt buckles; I still have the marks to prove it," he told Vanessa Jackson, 50, who took him in as a foster child when he was 7 and later adopted him.

...

"If we knew why these kinds of things happen, we would be able to put ourselves in the shoes of defendants, in the shoes of mass murderers, in the shoes of people who do horrible things to young children," said Vincent P. Sarubbi, the Camden County prosecutor. "We'd have to become them, and that's why it's impossible in some circumstances to truly understand what may motivate people."

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funny quote

"Half the lies they tell about me aren't true."
--Yogi Berra

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Australian spectators

Show Murali the respect he deserves from The Hindu

Certainly Australians need to confront and correct their growing reputation for bad sportsmanship off the field. Australian cricketers are raised always to accept the umpire's decision. It's about time locals realised that this applies constantly and sometimes inconveniently, and that the game is greater than any man or any nation.

I always thought that the Australians were the most sporting spectators who would call a spade a spade and not flow with their emotions. But looks like the sub-continent passion of cricket is rubbing on them too....

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Javagal Srinath (my fav cricketer)

Srinath on ICC panel from The Hindu

Colombo: India's former pace spearhead Javagal Srinath will be part of the three-member Bowling Action Advisory Panel (BAAP) which will identify bowlers with potentially flawed actions at the ongoing ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup here.

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Indo-US joint aggriculture research

Wal-Mart and Monsanto on Indo-U.S. Agriculture Initiative board from The Hindu

NEW DELHI: The United States-based multinationals, Wal-Mart and Monsanto, are on the board of the Indo-U.S. Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture Research and Education. It will set the agenda for collaborative farm research with Indian laboratories and agricultural universities. In India, the universities on their own and through Krishi Vigyan Kendras serve as extension agencies for farmers on the field and have a wide reach.

The influence of the American private sector became obvious to Indian scientists during the first meeting of the board in Washington DC in December 2005. Representatives of the Wal-Mart food chain and the Monsanto Seed Corporation were keen on using the Initiative for retailing in agriculture and on trade aspects. Transgenic research in crops, animals and fisheries would be a substantial part of the collaboration in biotechnology, requiring India to pledge huge funds.

Issues of Intellectual Property Rights and Benefit-Sharing were also discussed. India is endowed with rich biodiversity and has a huge bank of germ plasm and genetic resource material in the public research system.

India is looking for joint ownership or joint patents, whereas in the U.S. much of the transgenic and hybrid agricultural technology is with the corporates.

Indian Council of Agriculture Research Director-General Mangala Rai is the co-chair of the Board along with Ellen Terpstra, Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Services. There will be seven members on each side.

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The Alchemist

Day before I was reading the alchemist while on the plane... A few people had recommended me the book and I have been wondering what the whole deal was about. Finally got chance to read it since it was gifted to me :)

It is a very simple story but it has so many implications to life. So many place I had to stop and think what did I do when I was in such a situation? Where is this applicable? All in all that tiny book has a lot of meaning. And more so for me... since probably I have to figure what is my "Personal Legend". Kind of reminds me of "The Little Prince" Which on the surface seemed to be just a cartoon but was a lot more.

Now I have moved to Memoirs of a Geisha. Another gripping book.

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I agree and disagree

Democracy in a Cartoon via ALDaily

A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend. It is a freedom sorely lacking in the Islamic world, and without it Islam will remain unassailed in its dogmatic, fanatical, medieval fortress; ossified, totalitarian and intolerant. Without this fundamental freedom, Islam will continue to stifle thought, human rights, individuality; originality and truth.

Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. Do not apologize.

This raises another more general problem: the inability of the West to defend itself intellectually and culturally. Be proud, do not apologize. Do we have to go on apologizing for the sins our fathers? Do we still have to apologize, for example, for the British Empire, when, in fact, the British presence in India led to the Indian Renaissance, resulted in famine relief, railways, roads and irrigation schemes, eradication of cholera, the civil service, the establishment of a universal educational system where none existed before, the institution of elected parliamentary democracy and the rule of law? What of the British architecture of Bombay and Calcutta? The British even gave back to the Indians their own past: it was European scholarship, archaeology and research that uncovered the greatness that was India; it was British government that did its best to save and conserve the monuments that were a witness to that past glory. British Imperialism preserved where earlier Islamic Imperialism destroyed thousands of Hindu temples.

On the world stage, should we really apologize for Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe? Mozart, Beethoven and Bach? Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Breughel, Ter Borch? Galileo, Huygens, Copernicus, Newton and Darwin? Penicillin and computers? The Olympic Games and Football? Human rights and parliamentary democracy? The west is the source of the liberating ideas of individual liberty, political democracy, the rule of law, human rights and cultural freedom. It is the west that has raised the status of women, fought against slavery, defended freedom of enquiry, expression and conscience. No, the west needs no lectures on the superior virtue of societies who keep their women in subjection, cut off their clitorises, stone them to death for alleged adultery, throw acid on their faces, or deny the human rights of those considered to belong to lower castes.

Each of us should have the right to speak against things that we don't agree with... be it religion, morals, laws, anything at all. But I wonder if that will work for the better and will the two sides of the story be heard?

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anonymuncule

kabhi to rukhna,
kuch to khana,
dhire se palat ke phir tum guzar lena.
kabhi to muskarana,
kuch to sarahana,
dhire se akhen mila ke phir tum chura lena.
--शोभना

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quote

Comedy is a simply funny way of being serious.
--Peter Ustinov

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Going to be another year older in few hrs...

As each year passes it seems that it was more eventful that the previous one... And by that rule last year was the most eventful that I have had and I think next will be more so.

Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.
--Jennifer Yane

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