Social activist Anna Hazare's fast enters third day

Published on Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 10:42   |  Updated at Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 14:14   |  Source : PTI

Social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death entered the third day here today even as a large number of people from various walks of life continued to extend support to the crusader for a stronger anti-corruption law.

72-year-old Hazare's protest has led to the resignation of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar from the Group of Ministers on corruption after the Gandhian took potshots at him.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday discussed with some Cabinet colleagues the issue after which indications emerged that one or two ministers could be nominated to talk to the activist.

The general sense at the informal confabulations was that there was a need to defuse the situation that had arisen due to the fast-unto-death campaign launched on Tuesday which is getting support from the increasing number of people.

Fear led to KPs’ migration: Jagmohan

NEW DELHI, Apr 3: Distancing himself from the issue of migration of Kashmiri Pandits and massacres of protesters in 1990, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan today said that 'minority fear' was the reason for exodus of the community and he didn't order killing of any innocent. Jagmohan said, "Vested interests blame me for the exodus of the Pandits. But matter of the fact is that when I assumed charge as Governor in third week of January 1990, 25,000 Pandits had already migrated and were living in camps in Jammu." "When I took over as Governor, a Pandit delegation called on me and I urged them to stay back. I told them if they feel insecure I'll make special camps for them in the Valley itself in Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag and Budgam," he said.

Lashing out at those who blame him for the exodus, he said, "They want the nation to believe that it was not the ruthless Kalashnikov, bomb explosions in the second half of 1989, the sinister design of killing one and frightening one thousand, but some unspelt inducements that had impelled the Pandits to abandon their homes and hearths in the Valley and move to the inhospitable camps of Jammu."

"How is it possible that a community will leave on the instructions of a single person? If the Kashmiri Pandits had come away from the Valley at my instance, why did they not return after I demitted office in May 1990? Why could they not be sent back either by G.C. Saxena's or by General Rao's administration?" he asked.

"Determined efforts were being made by me to instill confidence in the public by re-erecting the collapsed structure of administration. But killings of eminent Kashmiri Pandits, including poet Sarvanand Koul and his young son Virender, engineer B K Ganjoo, Doordarshan Station Director Lassa Kaul and Prof Ganjoo had sent shock waves among the community," he added.

Asked to comment about the propaganda launched by some Pandit organizations that massacre of the community was carried out by the Kashmiri Muslims and in the backdrop of recent reports that 209 Pandits were killed in the Valley from 1989 to 2008 while as thousands of Muslims got killed, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say every Pandit should have been killed first and then they should have migrated?"

Asked about his role in the massacres carried in Kashmir when he was the Governor, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say I should have allowed rioters to take over Secretariat and other institutions. Aren't rioters being killed now"?

The former Governor grew angry when this reporter asked him to comment on Hawal massacre in which more than 60 people were killed on May 21, 1990 during funeral procession of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq. "Do you want to say I ordered the CRPF men to kill people? I had no information and it was only after DIG called me that I came to know about the incident," he said.

"Why don't you ask who killed Molvi Farooq," Jagmohan asked.

"As my track record as an administrator during my first term was excellent, pro-Pak elements were afraid of me and they launched propaganda against me. I didn't order killing of any innocent as killing one innocent person is killing whole humanity," he added.

The former Governor has recently completed second part of his book on Kashmir "My Frozen Turbulences".

"I've also written seven other books and these days writing is my main job," he added.

The latest edition of "My Frozen Turbulences" touched issues from stone pelting to Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue and killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Jagmohan has word of advice for Kashmiri youth. "Go by records and don't believe in rumors." (KNS)

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Truth, Shiva and beauty

In Hindu thought artha, dharma, kama and moksha are considered the four goals of life. These concepts are the undercurrents of the stream of all life and are not contradictory.

Artha and kama as the urges of human instinct represent the truths of life. These become beautiful when enjoyed in accordance with the principles of righteousness.

Dharma is shivam or kalyankari. It takes negativity out of wealth and sex and purifies them. Wealth is involved in goddess Lakshmi and we are exhorted to earn as much as we can so that it can be used in public service.

Kama too has a god in Kamdeva. Shiva destroys him the moment he emerges with the feeling of physical gratification but when it is enjoyed with love without lust and to offer progeny, it becomes pure beauty and magic of life. The truth of life is thus at once virtuous and base, savage and gentle, ugly and immensely beautiful, with joy and sorrow, light and shadow. Death-in-life completely envelops in itself life-in-death. Destruction is as sacred as creation because destruction quickens new birth. One who knows this Truth also knows that since it is the law of Nature it has to be kalyankari for all life. Nothing bad ever happens in Nature, because it is the concrete manifestation of the love of Lord.

In his poem Ode to a Grecian Urn Keats says "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" and "that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." To Keats beauty is the touchstone of truth. "To see things in their beauty, is to see things in their truth" wrote Arnold. In a letter Keats wrote: "What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth." Plato similarly thinks that beauty is the splendour of truth. The whole of creation is beautiful and this is the truth of life. But it is the partial truth. Hindu thought adds the word Shivam to it and the concepts of beauty and truth are at once raised to a lofty realm. Shivam comes after truth. That means the ultimate, truth is to know that life in its numerous variety of forms is sacred and this alone is its beauty.

Truth is epitomised in Goddess Kali .She is the primordial energy of the cosmos and is worshipped as Shakti—the sustaining principle of life. She incarnates consummate beauty of death; she incarnates perfect beauty of life, simultaneously violent and tender, grotesque and beatific. Shiva, her consort, personifies Shivam –all that is good on earth. He is the destroyer of creation, but for its preservation, He has drunk poison and kept it in his 'kanth' or throat and has come to be known as 'Neelkantha'. This makes him ultimate in kindness and magnanimity.

Shiva is revered by devotees because He is considered to have never refused a boon to any one. He is the benefactor of all. Together, Shiva and Kali become the quintessence of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Truth, well being of all, and beauty are the basis of creation and the guiding force of all life. Any concept that leads to bahujan hitaya or common welfare is inevitably going to be for bahujan sukhaya or happiness for all -- and this truth alone is the underlying beauty of life.

List of men you shouldn't marry

1. Mummy's boys

2. Men who are bad with money

3. Men with no friends

4. Men who put you down in public

5. Men who are rude to waitering staff

6. Men unable to laugh at themselves

7. Men unwilling to share authority

8. Men who never make demands countering yours

Tea therapy: To lose weight, don't add milk to your cuppa

LONDON: It's a known fact that tea contains antioxidants that help you lose weight, but a new research led by an Indian scientist found that this fat-fighting ability is neutralised if milk is added to it.

It has long been found that tea contains high levels of antioxidant such as theaflavins and thearubigins which help reduce the amount of fat absorbed by the gut and can also cut cholesterol. Now, researchers at the Tea Research Association in Assam, India, found the compounds also help prevent obesity when given to rats that were on a highfat diet.

The benefits are cancelled out by proteins found in cows' milk, they said. "When tea is taken with milk, theaflavins and thearubigins form complexes with the milk protein, which causes them to precipitate ," Devajit Borthakur, a scientist at the Tea Research Association , said. "Therefore, it is always advised to take tea without milk," he said.

The scientists at the centre are now looking for ways of making the antioxidants less susceptible to being neutralised by milk.

Google owns world's second-largest search engine too!

oon www could stand for world wide watching. Unknown to most, YouTube—the six-year-old video-sharing website—has become the second-largest search engine in the world after Google. It gets two billion views a day, up 50% since 2009.

A startup set up by three PayPal employees in 2005, YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Now it is gearing up to compete with TV.

"We believe that the distinction between internet and TV viewing will fast disappear as on-demand video takes centre stage," says Gautam Anand, director, Google (Asia-Pacific Japan). YouTube is adding new streams of content and figuring new ways to make money. In the US it has signed up with MGM and CBS to let them upload films and TV serials with advertisements. Last year, it launched an online film rental service in the US. But online video services like Netflix, Hulu—and even Facebook—present formidable competition.

The India journey

It has nearly 20 million unique users in India. Top hits here mirror what works globallymovies and sports. So Bollywood content dominates and cricket isn't far behind. Dabangg premiered on YouTube in India. Google says Indian content producers lead in adopting and experimenting with YouTube.

Monetisation

Google isn't ready to disclose if YouTube is profitable yet, but the company says it will continue to offer free content and monetise the traffic to generate ad revenues. It is monetising over 2 billion video views in the US every week and has more than 1,000 partners. Advertisers like Samsung say YouTube's 24/7 availability , specially to office goers is a big draw.

HSBC, SBI, HUL, Coca-Cola , Hero Honda, GM, Airtel and Nokia are among the advertisers on YouTube India. For now, YouTube and its rivals could hope that www will also stand for world wide wealth.

Lady delivers hubby's kid 5 years after his death

AHMEDABAD: In 2009, Anurita, 40, flew down from UK to Ahmedabad with lot of hope and two samples of semen of her deceased husband, safely frozen in a container of liquid nitrogen. She desperately wanted to conceive the child of her dear husband. And now, she is expecting!

"Anurita came for a second embryo transplant through IVF in February 2011 as her first cycle had failed. She was shattered at that time. This time, she was reluctant to get a pregnancy test done as she feared the disappointment that would come with a negative result. In fact, we had to coax her to get a test done from Ahmedabad and it has come positive. She is finally expecting her deceased husband's child", said Dr Falguni Bavishi of Bavishi Fertility Centre.

Anurita, an NRI who works as a civil servant in UK, had married Michael, an engineer of Italian origin, in 2001. In 2006, Michael succumbed to blood cancer. "Michael was an amazing person. He loved me so much that I cannot describe it. After his death, I realized that I just could not love another man. I will love him till death. Hence, I want his child so that I can get my Michael back," Anurita had told TOI on her first visit to Ahmedabad.

Anurita's eggs were fertilized with her husband's frozen sperms. The embryo was then transferred to her womb. However, unlike other women undergoing IVF, Anurita had limited semen samples; so, she was desperate to conceive fast. Her husband had left only five samples, of which three were used unsuccessfully on her in hospitals in UK, Turkey and Mumbai.

In UK, before initiating chemotherapy, hospitals offer to freeze semen samples as cancer treatment is known to affect fertility of patients.

"She had come with two samples which we were split into 10. This is the first time that a young woman who has lost her husband has come to us. In fact, after the embryo was transplanted this time, she wanted to go to a church to pray. Her prayers have been answered," said Dr Himanshu Bavishi.

Source -- Times of India