Bhutan

Nestled in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan is a small kingdom roughly the size of Switzerland and fondly referred to as Druk Yul meaning “Land of the Thunder Dragon.”  The society is closely knit and draws its values from Buddhist teachings of love and compassion. It is for this reason that Bhutan is able to enjoy serenity over the decades. Bhutanese are a unique race of people, their identity enhanced by the years of self-imposed isolation.

 The kingdom of Bhutan is an exotic land of high mountains and lush valleys, snow-clad peaks and running springs, a pristine ecology and incredible wealth of flora & fauna. Making a trip to Bhutan with humble respect is an opportunity to experience a Himalayan Buddhist culture.

Legend of Bhutan

The early inhabitants of Bhutan were dates back as early as 2000 BC according to Archaeological evidence. Buddhism was probably introduced in the 2nd century although traditionally its introduction is credited to the first visit of Guru Rimpoche in the 8th century. He flourished the Tantric strain of the Mahayana Buddhism practiced in Bhutan. His eight manifestations are worshipped throughout the kingdom as second Buddha and wherever he visited in the country is today a pilgrimages sight highly revered by Bhutanese.

Bhutan was not unified under a central authority until the sixteenth century. However the numerous religious presences in the country and noble families ruled in different valleys throughout Bhutan, quarrelling among them. This changed in 1616 with the arrival of Ngawang Namgyal from Tibet. He implemented the Drukpa Kagyu religion throughout the region and soon established himself as the religious ruler of Bhutan with the title Zhabdrung Rimpoche. He repelled attacks from rival lamas and Tibetan forces and transformed the southern valleys into a unified country called Druk-Yul (Land of the Thunder Dragon). His political system lasted until beginning of 20th century and the Zhabdrung’s era ended in 1705 was followed by 200 years of internal conflict and political infighting. 

Instability lasted until 1907 when Ugyen Wangchuck was elected, by a unanimous vote of Bhutan’s chiefs and principal lamas, as hereditary ruler of Bhutan. Thus, the first king was crowned and the Wangchuck dynasty began. Over the following four decades, he and his heir, King Jigme Wangchuck, brought the entire country under the monarchy’s direct control.

During the reign of the third king Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Bhutan opened its door to the outside world after an age long isolation .Bhutan became the member of United Nations. It was our neighbor India who strongly backed our country for the admission. During his period Bhutan developed many diplomatic ties with many countries. He abolished the age long slaverism prevailing in the country and started modern education. The third king Jigme Dorji Wangchuck is known as the “father of modern Bhutan”.

The fourth monarch, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, has continued the policy of controlled development with particular focus on the preservation of the environment and Bhutan’s unique culture. Among his ideas, the economic self-reliance has now become widely known as “Gross National Happiness”. His coronation on 2nd June 1974 was the first time the international media were allowed to enter the Kingdom, and marked Bhutan’s debut appearance on the world stage. The first group of paying tourists arrived later that year. In 1999, television and Internet were first introduced to Bhutan. 

• People

Bhutan has an ancient culture with a strong Tibetan influence and traditions have remained unchanged for centuries. The Bhutanese are very friendly and hospitable people. The large majority of Bhutanese people are homogeneous group divided linguistically into three broad sub-groups. These are Sharchops (people from east), Ngalops (people from west) and Lhotshampas (people from south) and often speak some English. Because of the isolation of many communities, there are many different dialects, dress codes and customs, which make a visit even more fascinating. A benevolent and forward thinking monarchy is determined to maintain these long held traditions and also offer its people free education and health services. National dress and a national code of building are enshrined in the constitution and traditional practices are encouraged wherever possible.

• Language

The official language of Bhutan is ‘Dzongkha’. It is widely spoken in the kingdom. Lhotshamkha is also a major language widely spoken by the people of southern Bhutan who are of Nepalese origin. Tsangla or Sharchopkha is another major dialect spoken by the people from eastern Bhutan. There are also many local dialects used in many regions of Bhutan. Drukpas are composed of three main ethnic groups that are Ngalops, Sharchops and Lhotshampas. Ngalops the first group originally from Tibet who are the followers of Buddhism and settled mostly in the western & central Bhutan. Sharchops are the second group who immigrated from northern Burma & northeast India and settled in eastern Bhutan. Lhotshampas are the third group migrated to Bhutan from Nepal in the early 20th century for agricultural land and work. They live predominantly in the southern plains.

•       Religion

Bhutan is a deeply spiritual country where the values of the people are strongly influenced by religious customs. Common among these, three marks of faith that shape the Bhutanese personality are “the Power of Prayer, Building Spiritual Infrastructure and Not Taking Life”. Moreover, the Buddhist faith has played and continues to play a fundamental role in the culture, ethical and sociological development of Bhutan and its people. It permeates all stands of secular life, bringing with it a reverence for the land and its well-being. Throughout Bhutan, Stupas line the roadside commemorating a place were Guru Rimpoche, Zhabdrung, Drukpa Kuenley “Divine Mad-man” and many other renowned Tibetan saints may have stopped for meditated and turn up into a pilgrimages. It also said to symbolically represents the mind of Buddha and serve to remind people of the possibility of and path to enlightenment. Besides, they ward off evil spirits and protect travelers and residents from imminent danger. Prayer flags are even more common fluttering on long poles which maintain constant communication with the heavens. Bhutan is the only country in the world to retain the Tantric form of Mahayana Buddhism as its official religion. 

 Topography of Bhutan

The kingdom of Bhutan lies east of Nepal and west of Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is south of the Tibetan hinterland and north of the Indian territories Assam and West Bengal. Located in the heart of the high Himalayan mountain range, Bhutan is a land locked country surrounded by mountains in the north and west. The rugged east-west by few western travelers, borders the spare and largely unknown Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh. The high Himalayas in the northern steppes separate the kingdom from Tibet. The population of 734,340 is made up primarily of indigenous Bhutanese. The lower southern regions are inhabited by migrate Nepalese who have been granted Bhutanese nationality. Most of them are agricultural workers who take advantage of the fertile southern land. Altitude in the south range from 1000 to 4500 feet and the altitude in the more populated central regions range from 4,000 feet in the east around Trashigang to a high of 17,000 feet over the highest pass. The altitude at Thimphu, the capital, is 7700 feet. A high Mountain range separates the lowlands of the south from the central valleys.

• Natural Heritage

Nowhere in the Himalayas, is the natural heritage more rich and varied than in Peaceful Dragon. According to legend, the Kingdom known as Lhojong Menjong meaning “the southern valley of Medicinal Herbs”, a name that still applies today. The country’s rich flora and fauna is the result of its unique geographic location in the eastern Himalayas, within an area that extends through both Indo-Himalayan (oriental) and the Pale-arctic biographic regions. Its annual rainfall, which is significantly higher than in the central and western Himalayas, and its considerable altitudinal variation from 200 meters in the south to over 7500 meters in the north, which is accompanied by dramatic climatic changes.

Because of deep traditional reverence, which the Bhutanese have for nature, the kingdom is one of the leading countries in environmental preservation. More than 73% of the area is still under forest cover. Many parts of the country, which have been declared as wildlife reserves, are the natural habitats of rare species of both flora and fauna. Opened for tourism in 1974, after the Royal coronation of the fourth king, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Bhutan is perhaps the world’s most exclusive tourist destination.

The country manages to retain all the charm of the old world. Like timeless images of the past, the travelers encounter the full glory of the ancient land through its strategic monastic fortresses known as Dzongs. A numerous ancient temple, monasteries and stupas which dot the countryside, prayer flags which flutter along the high ridges, wild animals which abound in dense forests, foamy white waterfalls which are ethereal showers, and the warm smile of the people. Each moment is special as one discovers a country, which people have chosen to preserve in its magical purity.

•    Flora and Fauna

Dense jungle growth is characteristic at altitudes below 1500 m (5000 ft). Above that height the mountain slopes are covered with forest, including beech, ash, birch, maple, cypress, and yew. At 2400 – 2700 m (8000 – 9000 ft) are forests of oak and rhododendron. Above this level, firs and pines grow to the timberline. Primulas, poppies (including the rare blue variety), magnolias, and orchids abound.

The relative abundance of wild animals attributed to the Buddhist reluctance to take life. In the lower parts of southern Bhutan, mammals include the cheetah, goral, sambar, bear, and rhinoceros; in the higher regions are snow deer, musk deer, and barking deer. Game birds include pheasants, partridges, pigeons, and quail.

• Seasons

Bhutan enjoys four seasons each having its advantages and disadvantages to the visitors. The southern plains close to the Indian border are warmer and more tropical than higher central valleys.
Spring is a botanist’s delight as rhododendrons, wild azaleas and masses of wild flowers including the edelweiss cover the meadows like carpet. The various blossoms add a dainty touch to the valleys as their pink and white blooms add a sense of new wonder to the land that is about to burst with abundant growth again. The merry pink and white of cosmos flower dot the countryside. Summer is an abundant time of the year as flowers are in bloom and the valleys are covered in green, weeping willows sweep the banks of many of the rivers and the pinecones glisten in the sun, so full with resin they are ready to plummet to the ground. The months in the southern region are generally hot whereas in other parts of the country it is warm and pleasant with average maximum temperatures not exceeding 30 degrees Celsius and the minimum at around 10-15 degrees Celsius. Autumn casts a bright golden landscape and is one of the more crowded times of the year for tourism to Bhutan. Beginning of December the weather takes on its winter coat where days remain crisp and the nights turn cold. The southern regions however being much lower have a more temperate climate and considerably warmer winters. Soft tufts of cloud drape lazily over mountaintops as if waiting for new life to blow it across the landscape.

•         Climate

Because of the irregular terrain, the climate varies greatly from place to place. In the outer foothills adjoining the Indian plains, rainfall ranges from about 150 cm to 300 cm (60-120 in) a year; the forests are hot and steaming in the rainy season, while the higher hills are cold, wet, and misty. Violent Himalayan thunderstorms gave rise to Bhutan’s name, Druk-Yul, means “Land of the Thunder Dragon.” Rainfall is moderate in the central belt of flat valleys (which have an elevation of 1100-3000 mtrs). The uplands and high valleys (above 3,700 mtrs) are relatively dry. There is less rainfall in eastern Bhutan. In general, the mountainous areas are cold most of the year. Temperatures there average 4°C (39°F) in January and 17°C (63°F) in July.

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ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN –“Another artist, recognising a higher  power above, gladly works as a humble apprentice beneath God’s heaven; then, however, his responsibility for everything that is written or drawn, for the souls which perceive his work, is more exacting than ever. But, in return, it is not he who has created this world, not he who directs it, there is no doubt as to its foundations; the artist has merely to be more keenly aware than others of the harmony of the world, of the beauty and ugliness of the human contribution to it, and to communicate this acutely to his fellow-men. And in misfortune, and even at the depths of existence in destitution, in prison, in sickness — his sense of stable harmony never deserts him.”          

ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN –“One artist sees himself as the creator of an independent spiritual world;… but he crumples beneath it, for a mortal genius is not capable of bearing such a burden. Just as man in general, having declared himself the centre of existence, has not succeeded in creating a balanced spiritual system. And if misfortune overtakes him, he casts the blame upon the age-long disharmony of the world, upon the complexity of today’s ruptured soul, or upon the stupidity of the public.”         

ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN –“You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.” 

ALEXANDER SOLZHENTISYN – “The thought of a prisoner- they’re not free either. They keep returning to the same things.”

ALEXANDER THE GREAT –“I am indebted to my father for living but to my teacher for living well.”  

ALEXANDER THE GREAT –“Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”    

ALEXENDER WOOLLCOTT- “All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral or fattening.”

ALEXIS CARREL –“Prayer is the most powerful energy one can generate. It is a force as real as terrestrial gravity.” 

ALEXIS CARREL –“Prayer is the most powerful energy one can generate. It is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. In prayer, human beings seek to augment their finite energy by addressing themselves to the Infinite source of all energy. When we pray, we link ourselves with the inexhaustible motive power that spins the universe…Whenever we address God in fervent prayer; we change both soul and body for the better. It could not happen that any man or woman could pray for a single moment without some good result.”       

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE –“In politics… shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.”

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE –“The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth.”     

ALFRED ADLER –“It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.”    

ALFRED ADLER –“The only normal people are the once you don’t know very well.”

ALFRED ADLER- “Truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It’s possible to lie, even murder, for truth.”

ALFRED AUSTIN –“Public opinion is no more than this: What people think that other people think.”

ALFRED E WIGGAM –“A conservative is a person who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.”   

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“The only way to get rid of my fear is to make films about them.” 

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“ Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” 

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“I have prepared one of my own, (Time Capsule), I have placed some rather large samples of dynamite, gunpowder, and nitroglycerin. My time capsule is set to go off in the year 3000. It will show them what we are really like.” 

ALFRED HITCHCOCK –“I’m full of fears and I do my best to avoid difficulties and all kinds of complications. I like every thing around me to be clear as crystal and completely calm.” 

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today They don’t want their villain thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings.”  

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“Television has done much for psychiatry, by spreading information about it as well as contributing to the need for it.” 

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.”      

ALFRED HICHCOCK –“There’s nothing to winning, really That is, if you happen to be blessed with a keen eye, an agile mind, and no scruples whatsoever.” 

alfred north –“the silly question is the first intimation of some totally new development.”

ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD –“We think in generalities, but we live in detail.”

ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD –“Your learning is useless to you till you have lost your text- books, burnt your lecture notes, and forgotten the minutiae which you learnt by heart for the examination.”         

ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD-” There is no whole truths; all truths are half-truths it is trying to treat them a whole truths that plays the devil.”

ALFRED R WALLACE –“Civilisation has ever accompanied emigration and conquest — the conflict of opinion, of religion, or of race.”   

ALFRED SMANUEL SMITH-” All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.”

ALFRED TENNYSON –“Little flower, but if I could understand, what you are, root and all in all, i should know what God and man is.”   

ALFRED TENNYSON –“My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.” 

ALFRED TENNYSON –“Ring out the old, ring in the new…/ The year is going, let him go;/Ring out the false, ring in the true.”    

ALFRED TENNYSON- “Ring out the want, the care, the sin. The faithless coldness of the times.”

ALFRED TENNYSON –“The woman’s cause is man’s: they rise or sink together.”   

ALFRED TENNYSON –“Tho’/ We are not now that strength that in old days/ Moved earth and heaven: that which we are, we are:/ One equal temper of heroic hearts. Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will/To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”   

ALFRED VICTOR VIGNEY –“Greatness is the dream of youth realized in old age.”   

ALFRED WHITEHEAD –“Religion will not gain its old power until it can face change in the same spirit as doe’s science.”

ALGERNON SIDNEY- “Lairs ought to have good memories.”

AL-GHAZALI –“The purpose of music,  considered in relation to God, is to arouse longing for Him and  passionate love towards Him and to produce states in which He reveals Himself and shows His favour, which are beyond description and are known only by experience, and, by the Sufis, these states are called ‘ecstasy’. The human spirit is so affected by that rhythm, that music is the cause to it of longing and joy and sorrow and ‘expansion’ (inbisat) and ‘contraction’ (inqibad), but he who is dull of hearing and unresponsive and hard of heart, is debarred from this joy.” 

AL-HALLAJ –“I have meditated on the different religions, endeavouring to understand them, and I have found that they stem from a single principle with numerous ramifications. Do not therefore ask a man to adopt a particular religion (rather than another), for this would separate him from the fundamental principle; it is this principle itself which must come to seek him; in it are all the heights and all the meanings elucidated; then he will understand them.”

ALI IBN – ABI TALIB- “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare. And he who has one enemy will meat him every where.”

ALICE DUER MILLER –“Good manner are the technique of expressing consideration for the feeling of others.”

ALICE ELLIS –“Men were made for war. Without it they wandered greyly about, getting under the feet of the women, who were trying to organise the really important things of life.”

ALICE H MORTENSON –“Dear Jesus Christ our Father, I thank you, for the beauty of the spring, for flowering trees and gardens, for song of bird on wing! But most of all I thank you for Springtime in my heart; for hope of Life Eternal, that’s why my heart can sing —though Winter comes to earth — up there will be Eternal Spring!”

ALICE IN CHAINS –“Every day it’s something/Hits me all so cold. Find me sitting by myself/No excuses, then I know.”      

ALICE KOLLER –“Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own.”   

ALICE MILLER –“If it’s painful for you to criticize your friend, you’re safe in doing it. If you take the slightest pleasure in it, that’s the time to hold your tongue.” 

ALICE THOMAS –“I’m quite hopeful about life after death. Its life before death I’m not terribly cheerful about.”    

ALICE WALKER- “Expect nothing. Live frugally, on surprise.”

ALICE WALKER –“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.”  

ALICE WALKER –“The feeling of being loved and supported by the universe in general and by certain recognizable spirits in particular is bliss.”   

ALLAEN GINSBERG- “What if some one gave a war and nobody came?”

ALLAN ARMITAGE –“There are many tired gardeners but I’ve seldom met old gardeners. I know many elderly gardeners but the majority are young at heart. Gardening simply does not allow one to be mentally old, because too many hopes and dreams are yet to be realised. The one absolute of gardeners is faith. Regardless of how bad past gardens have been, every gardener believes that next year’s will be better. It is easy to age when there is  nothing to believe in, nothing to hope for; gardeners, however, simply refuse to grow up.”   

ALLARD LOWENSTEIN –“The question should be, is it -worth trying to do, not can it be done.”         

ALLEY’S AXIOM- “Justice always prevails …three times out of seven.”

ALOK SANDER PUSHKIN- “The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than the thousand truths.”

ALPHONSE KARR- “Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.’

ALPHONSE KARR- “The more it changes, the more its’ the same thing.”

ALTERNATIVE SERVICE BOOK –“And now we give you thanks because through him you have given us the spirit of discipline, that we may triumph over evil and grow in grace.”        

ALVIN TOFFLER –“Anyone nit-picking enough to write a letter of correction to an editor doubtless deserves the error that provoked it.”

ALVIN TOFFLER –“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”   

ALYSSA MILANO –“ It’s hard to have your career depend upon other people’s opinions of what you do.”      

ALYSSA MILANO –“I’ve dated the sweet mama’s boy the musician rocker, the struggling artist-basically a lot of people without jobs.”    

AMANDA BRADLEY –“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!”        

AMANDA J, MONTANA –“Key makers: Some people see a closed door and turn away others see a closed door, try the knob… if it doesn’t work they turn away Still others see a closed door, try the knob… if it doesn’t open, they find a key If the key doesn’t fit, they turn away A rare few see a closed door; try the knob… if it doesn’t open, they find a key If it doesn’t fit, they make one.”  

AMARDEEP SINGH –“I believe it is a response to the great Mississippi River flood of 1927, which killed and displaced thousands of people — including many African Americans.”   

AMARTYA SEN –“A person belongs to many different groups, of which a religious affiliation is only one.”  

AMARTYA SEN –“India’s achievements in diverse fields are a result of its heritage of interactive openness with the outside world… India has given things to the outside world and received things from the outside world through- out its long history what am I proud of as an Indian? It is the openness of our culture and our heritage — inclusive openness to settle disputes to a dialogue and interactive open-ness to give to and take from the outside world.”       

AMARTYA SEN –“India’s achievements in diverse fields are a result of its heritage of interactive openness with the outside world… India has given things to the outside world and received things from the outside world throughout its long history What am I proud of as an Indian? It is the openness of our culture and our heritage — inclusive openness to settle disputes to a dialogue and interactive openness to give to and take from the outside world.”  

AMARTYA SEN –“India’s achievements in diverse fields are a result of its heritage of interactive openness with the outside world… India has given things to the outside world and received things from the outside world throughout its long history What am I proud of as an Indian? It is the openness of our culture and our heritage — inclusive openness to settle disputes to a dialogue and interactive openness to give to and take from the outside world.”   

AMARTYA SEN –“We could have made a bigger dent on poverty than we actually have done.”   

AMBROSE BIERCE –“A specialist is one who knows every thing about something and nothing about anything else.” 

AMBROSE BIERCE –“All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher.”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“An ultimatum in diplomacy is a last demand before resorting to concessions.”        

AMBROSE BIERCE –“BOUNDARY, n. In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes of ourselves and good fortune to others.”  

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me.”  

AMBROSE BIERCE –“International arbitration may be defined as the substitution of many burning questions for a smouldering one.” 

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Liberty: One of Imagination’s most precious possessions.”   

AMBROSE BIERCE –“MONARCH, n. A person engaged in reigning. Formerly the monarch ruled, as the derivation of the word attests, and as many subjects have had occasion to learn… in western Europe political administration is mostly entrusted to his ministers, he being somewhat preoccupied with reflections relating to the status of his own head.”        

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Mythology: The body of a primitive people’s beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Painting: the art of protecting flat surface from the weather and exposing them to the critic.”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Responsibility: A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one’s neighbour. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.”  

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.”      

AMBROSE BIERCE –“The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavour upon the business known as gambling.”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“There is nothing new under the ^un but there are lots of old things we don’t know.”    

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Vote: The instrument and symbol of a free citizen’s power to make a fool of himself.”

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Beggar: one who has relied on the assistance of his friends.”   

AMBROSE BIERCE –“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”      

AMBROSE PIERCE –“The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog.”

AMBROSE PIERCE –“While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are safe, because you can watch both his.”  

AMBROSE REDMOON –“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

AMELIA EARHART –“Courage is the price that Life extracts for granting peace.”   

AMELIA EARHART –“Trouble in the air is very rare. It is hitting the ground that causes it.”   

AMELIA EARHART PUTNAM- “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The neither soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things, knows not the livid loneliness of neither fear nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear the sound of wings.”

AMELIA EARHART PUTNAM –“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release From little things, Knows not the livid loneliness of fear Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings.”

AMERICAN PROVERB –“A harvest of peace is produced from a seed of contentment.”     

AMERICAN PROVERB –“If your time ain’t come, not even a doctor can kill you.”

AMIEL –“It is work which gives flavour to life.”   

AMIEL –“To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”   

AMIR KHUSRAU –“Every sect. has a faith, a direction. (Qibia) to which they turn, I have turned my face towards the crooked cap (of Nizamuddin Aulia) The whole world worships something or the other, Some look for God in Mecca, while some go to Kashi (Banaras), So why can’t I, Oh wise people, fall at my beloved’s feet?   

AMIR KHUSRAU –“I am a pagan and a worshipper of love: the creed (of Muslims) I do not need; Every vein of mine has become taunt like a wire, the (Brahman’s) girdle I do not need. Leave from my bedside, you ignorant physician! The only cure for the patient of love is the sight of his beloved — other than this no medicine does he need. If there be no pilot in our boat, let there be none: We have god in our midst: the sea we do not need. The people of the world say that Khusrau worships idols. So he does, so he does; the people he does not need, the world he does not need.” 

AMIR KHUSRAU –“I have become you, and you me, I am the body, you soul; So that no one can say hereafter, That you are someone, and I, someone else.” 

AMIR KHUSRAU –“I have become you, and you me, I am the body, you soul; So that no one can say hereafter, That you are someone, and I, someone else. I am a pagan and a worshipper of love: the creed (of Muslims) I do not need; Every vein of mine has become taut like a wire, the (Brahman’s) girdle I do not need.    

AMIR KHUSRAU –“If I cannot see her, at least I can think of her, and so be happy; to light the beggar’s hut no candle is better than moonlight.”        

AMIR KHUSRAU –“The cloud weeps, and I become separated from my friend — How can i separate my heart from my heart’s friend on such a day The cloud weeping — and land the friend standing, bidding farewell — I weeping separately, the clouds separately, the friend separately.”

AMIR KHUSRO –“I become you, you become me I become the soul, you the heart, How can they now claim I am apart, you are apart?”

AMITABH BACHCHAN –“I’ve always thought of myself as an actor doing his job to the best of his ability.”   

AMITABH BACHCHAN –“When you want to break the rules in a positive way, look for the rules in the way ordinary people want them broken.”

AMIYA ROY CHOWDHRI –“ God is available here and now. The God you are searching for resides in your heart. Asceticism, austerity, penance, physical restrictions, mechanical chanting — all these are egotistic activity When you drop your ego you attain the wantless state.        

AMIYA ROY CHOWDHRI –“ Mahanam, God’s Name comes from deep within a person’s consciousness. Its two rhythmic sounds manifest the bipolarity of human existence. The sounds harmonise the duality between humans and God. When we walk daily with the conscious companionship of the Supreme Soul, our inner Divine Consciousness is awakened.”            

AMIYA ROY CHOWDHRI –“If your consciousness has Him at its centre, all manifestation and non-manifestation appear as your own Self. Only one existence is perceived. If your centre is in energy, variously known as Maya or Prakriti, you conceive yourself as a separate entity divided by the walls of body matter and ego.       

AMIYA ROY CHOWDHRI –“Puja is the identification of the worshipper with the worshipped. Without this identification with the Supreme Being, worship could get reduced to mechanical performance of rituals or observation of convention.            

AMOLD GLASGOW –“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize the problem before it becomes an emergency.”

AMOS BBONSONALCOTT –“One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well.”    

AMOZD TOYNBEE –“Mythology is an intuitive form of apprehending and expressing universal truths.”

AMRITA PRITAM “A religious discussion was to take place between Adi Shankara and Mandan Mishra. Sharda or Saraswati was judge. Both were offered similar as an ass to sit on. Sharda put fresh flower garlands round the necks of the two scholars and said, “The wearer of the garland whose flowers

AMRITA PRITAM –“There is but one creation in this world which emanated from the ripples of a long silence. Osho tells us that Mahavira was silent for years. He did not express any Sutra by speech or by writing. But his 11 disciples continued to be by his side all through. They observed and felt Mahavira’s silence vibrating. Whatever each one of them heard within himself, separately, was all alike. What the 11 disciples heard was identical., They wrote dovm the same. And that is called Jain Sutra.”       

AMY BLOOM –“Love at first sight is easy to understand; it is when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.”   

AMY BLOOM –“Love at first sight is easy to understand; it’s when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.”

AMY GRANT –“The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes.”

AMY TAN –“Chance is the first step you take, luck comes afterward.”    

AMY TAN –“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”   

AMY TAN –“Words to me were magic. You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever. It was amazing to me that words had this power.”

AMY VAN DYKEN –“The most important lesson I’ve learned from sports is how to be not only a gracious winner, but a good loser as well. Not everyone wins all the time, as a matter of fact; no one wins all the time. Winning is the easy part, losing is really tough. But, you learn more from one loss than you do from a million wins. You learn a lot about sportsmanship. I mean, it’s really tough to shake the hand of someone who just beat you, and it’s even harder to do it with a smile. If you can learn to do this and push through that pain, you will remember what that moment is like the next time you win and have a better sense of how those competitors around you feel. This experience will teach you a lot on and off the field.”

AMY VAN DYKEN –“The most important lesson I’ve learned from sports is how to be not only a gracious winner, but a good loser as well. Not everyone wins all the time, as a matter of fact, no one wins all the time. Winning is the easy part, losing is really tough. But, you learn more from one loss than you do from a million wins. You learn a lot about sportsmanship. I mean, it’s really tough to shake the hand of someone who just beat you, and it’s even harder to do it with a smile.”   

AN AFRICAN PROVERB –“It’s not what people call me; it’s what I answer to that count.”   

ANA ALAS –“A real man does not need to romance a different girl every night; a true man romances the same girl for the rest of her life.”

ANACHARSIS –“The market is a place set apart where men may deceive each other.”

ANAIS NIN –“How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather then to create it herself.”

ANAIS NIN –“If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way.”

ANAIS NIN –“It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”    

ANAIS NIN –“Life is truly known only to those who suffer, lose endure adversity and stumble from defeat to defeat.”

ANAIS NIN –“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”   

ANAIS NIN –“The dream was always mnning ahead of one, to catch up, to live for a moment in union with it, that was the miracle.”  

ANAIS NIN –“The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.”

ANAIS NIN –“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”         

ANAIS NIN –“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

ANAIS NIN –“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

ANAIS NIN –“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”  

ANAIS NIN –“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.”      

ANAIS NIR –“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

ANAISNIN –“I made no resolutions for the New Year, the habit of making plans, of criticising, sanctioning and moulding my life is too much of a daily event for me.” 

ANALECTS –“A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias. The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side.”       

ANALECTS –“Confucius said, “By nature men are pretty much alike; it is learning and practice that sets them apart”.”  

ANALECTS –“Confucius said, “There are three sorts of friends that are profitable, and three sorts that are harmful Friendship with the upright, with the true-to-death, and with those who have heard much is profitable. Friendship with the obsequious, friendship with those who are good at accommodating their principles, friendship with those who are clever at talk is harmful.” 

ANALECTS –“Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state.”    

ANALECTS –“The Master said, ‘A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias. The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side”.”

ANALECTS –“Those rulers whose measures are dictated by mere expediency will arouse continual discontent.”          

ANALECTS –“Tzu-kung asked about the true gentleman. The Master said, “He does not preach what he practices until he has practiced what he preaches.”       

ANALS NIN –“People living deeply have no fear of death.”         

ANANDA K  COOMARASWAMY –“ Shiva is a destroyer and loves the burning ground. But what does He destroy? Not merely the heavens and earth at the close of a world-cycle, but the fetters that bind : each separate soul…”    

ANANDA MOYI –“This world, you see, is like a drum; there is a Being who plays all kinds of tunes on it.”

ANANDAMAYI MA –“Master your vagabond thoughts, try to raise yourself above the fluctuations of life, and you will see all your anxiety disappear concerning the place propitious for sadhana.”          

ANANDAMOYI –“The soul that is without suffering does not feel the need of knowing the ultimate cause of the universe. Sickness, grief, hardships… are all indispensable elements in the spiritual ascent.” 

ANANDMURTI GURUMAA –“I am slowly recognizing my very beings my spirit, my own self, Slowly I am able to understand my master’s teachings, Now that I have started my journey towards the truth, I will reach the destination too, The shackles are gently being released, I am now able to experience heaven on earth, I am able to surrender to the divine.”      

ANANYMOUS: - “Love is giving someone the ability to destroy you, but trusting   them not to.”

ANATOLE FRANCE- “It is better to understand little than to misunderstand a lot.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“Let us beware of writing too well; it is the worst possible manner of writing.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“Nature, in her difference, makes no distinction between good and evil.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to.”   

ANATOLE FRANCE –“The average man who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream; not plan, but also believe.”   

ANATOLE FRANCE –“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

ANATOLE FRANCE –“When a thing has been said and well said, has no scruple; take it and copy it. Give references? Why should you? Either your readers know where you have taken the passage and the precaution is needless, or they do not know and you humiliate them.”

ANCIENT CHINESE POEM –“Man in the world lodging for a single lifetime Passes suddenly like dust borne on the wind. Then let us hurry out with high steps And be the first to reach the highways and fords: Rather than stay at home wretched and poor For long years plunged in sordid grief.”     

ANCIENT INDIAN PROVERB –“Mother and Motherland; are far superior to heaven itself.”   

ANCIENT INDIAN PROVERB –“Without literature, music and the arts, man is but an animal without a tail and horns.”

ANCIENT SAMURAI SAYING –“Warriors take chances. Like everyone else, they fear failing, but they refuse to let fear control them.” 

ANDALLWORLEY –“Forgiveness is not an emotion, it’s a decision.

ANDERSON –“Boot leather flashing and spurnecks the size of my thumb. This highborn hunter had tasted as strange as they come.”       

ANDERSON COOPER –“The whole celebrity culture thing – I’m fascinated by, and replied by, and yet I end up knowing about it.”         

ANDRALL PEARSON –“Corporate equivalents of the Seven Deadly Sins: Inconsistent product quality, slow response to the marketplace, lack of innovative, competitive products, uncompetitive cost structure, inadequate employee involvement, unresponsive customer service and inefficient resource allocation.”   

ANDRE BRETON –“I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams… Man… is  above all the plaything of his memory.”     

ANDRE GIDE –“An experience teaches ably the good observer; but far from seeking a lesson in it, everyone looks for an argument in experience, and everyone interprets the conclusion in his own way.”   

ANDRE GIDE –“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”

ANDRE GIDE –“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”   

ANDRE GIDE –“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

ANDRE GIDE –“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”  

ANDRE GIDE –“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”   

ANDRE GIDE –“Through loyalty to the past, our mind refuses to realise that tomorrow’s joy is possible only if today’s makes way for it that each wave owes the beauty of its line only to the withdrawal of the preceding one.”  

ANDRE GIDE –“Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.”        

ANDRE GIDE –“Why know your self? Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly.” 

ANDRE MARCEL –“It’s not for the young to understand us, it’s for us to understand them. After all they cannot put themselves in our places, while we have already been in theirs.”   

ANDRE MAUROIS –“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.”     

ANDREA BOYDSTON –“If you woke up breathing, congratulations’ You have another chance.”       

ANDREI D SAKHAROV –“Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a scientific, democratic approach to politics, economic development, and culture.”  

Andrei tarkovsky- “We have forgotten to observe. Instead, we do things according to patterns.”

ANDREW CARNEGIE –“No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honour.”

ANDREW COHEN –“All disagreements are result of misunderstanding someone else’s level of consciousness.”

ANDREW COHEN –“Although most people don’t know it yet, the age of personal or merely individual enlightenment is over. In the 21st century the context for deep, authentic, serious spirituality — which means transformational spirituality—is evolution, evolution not only of the individual but beyond the individual, The pursuit of holiness, the pursuit of enlightened consciousness, has traditionally been the path of the heroic and extraordinary individual — the holy one, the enlightened one. But now the evolutionary imperative of our time seems to be compelling us to develop beyond what we could call personal realization to something else altogether. At the frontiers of human development, consciousness itself seems to be leaping beyond the confines of individuation, dramatically revealing new, thrilling, and unimagined possibilities of higher integration.”   

Andrew Cohen –“But genuine spiritual awakening is also the explosive emergence of the evolutionary impulse in human consciousness. With the submission of the ego and the surrender of the personal will, the individual becomes aware of the presence of a powerful and unyielding energy. That energy is the movement of the life-force in a self-propelled state of conscious evolution or becoming.”   

ANDREW COHEN –“Doubt is Maya’s face revealing itself. It will always try and tempt the weak-minded to turn tail and run… Serious seekers know they must face whatever is to be faced, because they must, succeed. These lucky few discover something very unexpected: Liberation in this birth.”   

ANDREW COHEN –“Doubt is Maya’s face revealing itself. It will always try and tempt the weak-minded to turn tail and run… Serious seekers for Freedom cannot run.  They know they must face whatever is to be faced, because they must succeed. These lucky few discover something very unexpected: Liberation in this birth.”   

ANDREW COHEN –“Soul Consciousness The soul… in most of us, desperately needs to be developed. Too many of us live in a fractured state, deeply divided against ourselves. We exist in a self-generated vacuum of moral ambiguity, where everything is relative and our attention is focused mainly on our emotional state… We need to embrace a kind of fearless vulnerability where our transparency is our strength and the living experience of connection is permanent, unbroken and inescapable.”   

ANDREW COHEN –“Spiritual progress itself is part of the illusion, even though it seems real. Something has happened, I’m changing, I’m going somewhere, something is happening to me. Finally one realises that nothing happened, ever. You realise that all the drama of life was only a dream. Even the waking up.”  

ANDREW COHEN –“The age of personal or individual enlightenment is over. In the 21st century, the context for deep, authentic, serious spirituality — transformational spirituality — is evolution, not only of the individual but beyond. I   for those at the leading edge, the passionate pursuit and defenses of individualization have reached a dead end. The very movement toward higher development now calls for a leap beyond the personal sphere. The pursuit of enlightened consciousness has traditionally been the path of the heroic and extraordinary individual. But now the evolutionary imperative of our time seems to be compelling us to develop beyond what we could call personal realization to something else altogether. At the frontiers of human development, consciousness itself seems to be leaping beyond the confines of individuation, dramatically revealing new, thrilling, and unimagined possibilities of higher integration.”    

Andrew Cohen –“The source and ground of everything that has become, and that is even now in a constant state of becoming, is that place where there is no time and where nothing ever happened. Nothing and Something cannot be separated because they are simply two sides of the same coin. That’s the meaning of non-duality and that is what enlightenment is.”  

Andrew Cohen –“There are two fundamental components of the experience of enlightenment. One is the profound and overwhelming discovery of the primordial ground of reality itself. That ground is where there is no time, where the unmanifest, unborn Self abides in the consciousness of absolute zero, or no thing whatsoever. In the awakened state, that primordial ground emerges in consciousness as the direct experience of everything being perfect just as it is.” 

ANDREW COHEN –“When you awaken to the creative principle, you discover that the whole point of being here is to participate fully, radically, consciously in the evolutionary process. So in what I call evolutionary enlightenment, the goal is not merely to transcend the world so that you can be free of it, but to embrace the world completely, to embrace the entire process as your own self, knowing that you are the creative principle incarnate, and you have a lot of work to do. That is why, when you relinquish the ego and say yes to the powerful impulse to evolve, you find that you are in touch with a source of strength and conviction that is boundless. As an individual, you are instantaneously liberated, simply through taking that step, but that liberation is merely a byproduct of finally embracing the awe-inspiring burden of the evolutionary process itself.”  

ANDREW JACKSON –“Every good citizen makes his country’s honour his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but; as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defence and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it.”   

ANDREW JACKSON –“Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.”   

ANDREW JACKSON –“It’s a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!”      

ANDREW JACKSON –“One man with courage makes a majority.”

ANDREW JACKSON- “There are no necessary evils in Government, It’s evil exist in only in its abuse.”

ANDREW KUNTZ –“I find working with glass meditative, almost therapeutic. I can leave the world behind, and focus… The simplicity of form, the drama of rich, intense colour, the joy of challenge, and the challenge of endurance… The piece, when it is over, is not what is made, but how it is made.” 

ANDREW MARVELL –“The mind, that ocean where each kind/ does straight its own resemblance find;/ Yet it creates, transcending these, / Far other worlds, and other seas.” 

ANDREW MATTHEWS –“Act as if every event has a purpose, and your life will have purpose.”  

ANDY ROONEY –“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.”     

ANDY WARHOL –“Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery.”

ANDY WARHOL- “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.”

ANDY WARHOL –“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”           

ANDY WARHOL –“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”      

Aneurin bevan –“fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusinh to be born.”

ANGELAS SILESIUS –“Perfect purity is imageless, formless, loveless, stripped of every quality, like the essence of God…I cannot present myself naked before God: and yet I must enter without clothing into the kingdom of heaven, since it suffers nothing foreign.”

ANGELINA JOLIE –“I am the kind of person who doesn’t recognize borders. I don’t understand why we think it is okay to keep some people within one border when they are unable to feed their family when they could be getting help somewhere else. I don’t see people as different so i don’t understand the idea of borders in this world.”   

ANGELINA JOLIE –“I’ve been reckless, but I’m not a rebel without a cause.”   

ANGELINA JOLIE –“Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never met.”

ANGELINA JOLIE –“Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never met.”

ANGELS SING –“A ray of hope flickers in the sky A tiny star lights up way up high All across the land dawns a brand new morn This comes to pass when a child is born.”

ANGELS SING –“How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of his heaven.”

ANGELS SING –“Light and life to all He brings Ris’n with healing in His wings Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark! The herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King! Hark! “     

ANGUTTARA NIKAYA –“At the thought “Wealth is mine acquired by energetic striving, amassed by strength of arm, won by sweat, lawful and lawfully gotten”, bliss comes to him, satisfaction comes to him.”   

ANGUTTARA NIKAYA –“When cattle are crossing, if the old bull swerves, they all go swerving, following his lead. So among men, if he who’s reckoned best lies not aright, much more do other folk. If the ruler be unrighteous, the whole land dwells in woe.”        

ANIL KUMBLE –“It was a very tough decision after playing 18 years of Test cricket.. My body gave me this decision, and this injury did too.”        

ANITA BROOKNER –“Real love is a pilgrimage. It happens when there is no strategy, but it is very rare because most people are strategists.”  

ANITA DESAI –“No matter how modern India becomes it is still very much an old country.”    

ANITA KODDICK –“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

ANITA THAKUR AND NALINI RAO –“Vasant is the season when nature is at its beautiful, bountiful best. I Flowers are in full bloom and trees sprout shoots. It is a season when nature regenerates and everything is fresh and new. The cool morning air is laden with the faint smell of Mango blossoms… Mustard fields turn into a heady mix of yellow and green as the blossoms add colour, poetry and romance to life. The goddess Saraswati is dressed in yellow garments and people wear yellow-coloured clothes.”  

ANJLEENA KHUNGER –“It’s of no use holding others responsible for your ruin, destruction… because whatever happens to you is the result of something bad you’ve done someone, somewhere in the past. The person who has harmed you is only the medium through which God has managed to teach you the lesson.”   

ANN LANDERS –“In the final analysis it is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.” 

ANN LANDERS –“The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie.”  

ANN LANDERS –“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”  

ANNA AKHMATOVA –“But Fear and the Muse in turn guard the place Where the banished poet has gone And the night that comes with quickened pace Is ignorant of dawn.”         

ANNE BRADSTREET –“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  

ANNE FRANK –“…when I look up to the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.”    

ANNE FRANK –“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

ANNE FRANK –“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”            

ANNE FRANK –“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.”    

ANNE FRANK –“No one has ever become poor by giving.”        

ANNE FRANK –“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”     

ANNE FRANK –“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”

ANNE LAMOTT –“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”         

ANNE LOUISE GERMAINE DE STAEL –“Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty.”         

ANNE MLSON SCHAEF –“It is never too late to re-examine our choices. Re-examination is wise. We always have choices.”  

ANNE MORROW LINBERGH –“When one is stranger to oneself, then one is estranged from others, too.”   

ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH –“If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.”     

ANNE SEXTON –“The you that isn’t shared dies young.”

ANNE SOPHIE SWETCHINE –“To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.”  

ANNE TYLER –“People always call it luck when you have acted more sensibly than they have.”     

ANNE W SHAEF –“So often/ we believe that we have come to a place/ that is void of hope and possibilities,/ only to find that it is the very hopelessness/ that allows us to hit bottom,/ give up our illusion of control,/ turn it over, and ask for help./ Out of the ashes of our hopelessness/ comes the fire of our hope.”   

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“I wished for a miracle, and I can be one.”    

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“If we look outside ourselves for intimacy, we will neither have it nor be able to share it. To be intimate with another person, we have to know who we are, what we feel and think, what is important to us, and what we want.”  

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“It is the soul’s duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.”  

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“Loving isn’t caretaking and caretaking isn’t love. We can’t buy love … it’s a gift.”   

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“My wisdom emerges as I accept and integrate all that I have been and all that has happened to me.”  

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“The only way to grow is to let so.”     

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“When I stay in my present, I have the opportunity to experience the flow of my life.”   

ANNE WILSON SCHAEF –“When we know who we are and believe it, our greatest dreams are possible. When we doubt ourselves, question our worth, and undermine our self-value, our greatest victory will be worthless.”   

ANNE ZADRA –“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”    

ANNIE BESANT –“Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to building up of another.”         

ANNIE J FLINT –“He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength as our labours increase, To added afflictions He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.” 

ANON- “ If your eyes are shining, makes sure that there isn’t hole in the back of your head.”

ANON - “ The judicial process is like a cow. The public is impaled on its horns; the government has it by the tail, and all the while the lawyers are milking it.”

ANON –“A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn’t like the tune.”  

ANON –“A rose given during life is better than orchids on the grave.”   

ANON –“Adversity introduces a man to himself.”   

ANON –“And the day came when the risk to remain a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”  

ANON –“As soon as you see a mistake and don’t fix it, it becomes your mistake.”    

ANON –“Be willing to do what your soul directs you to do if you want to create what you are asking for.”  

ANON –“Everything that we experience, everything we think, feel and do is in divine order. It is part of the universal flow that helps us discover who we are. If our thoughts and emotions did actions, how else would we see who we are? The world is not happening to us. We are happening to it.”  

ANON –“Heaven helps those who enable others to help themselves.”

ANON –“Here’s to the bright New Year, and a fond farewell to the old; here’s to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold”   

ANON –“Humble spirits are free to love and to be who they are. They have no artificial standards to live up to.”     

ANON –“I want you to love life more because of me.”   

ANON –“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.”   

ANON - “If you don’t think big, the big won’t think of you.”

ANON - “If your eyes are shining, make sure that there isn’t hole in the back of your head.”

ANON Our minds are naturally affirmative.”  

ANON –“It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.”  

ANON –“It is not only what we do but who we choose to become that will determine the future of the Earth.”   

ANON –“Listening is a wonderful gift we can choose to open each day.”  

ANON “Love is the energizing elixir of the universe, the cause and effect of all harmonies.”     

ANON –“No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.”  

ANON –“Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.”  

ANON -“Only some of us learn by other people’s mistakes. The rest of us have to be the other people.”   

ANON –“Party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of money, for the gain of a few.”

ANON –“Put your troubles in a pocket with a hole in it!”  

ANON –“Reach for the sky because if you should happen to miss, you’ll still be among the stars.”   

ANON

ANON –“The hands of man touch the hands of the Creator in all that he has made.”

ANON “The judicial process is like a cow. The public is impaled on its horns; the government has it by the tail, and all the while the lawyers are milking it.”

ANON –“The one thing grander than the sea is the sky. The one thing greater than the sky is the spirit of the human being.”   

ANON “The person who truly loves does so because of a decision to love. This person has made a commitment to love whether or not the loving feeling is present.”  

ANON –“The quality of your relationship between you and yourself is paramount, for all your other relationships are based on it.”   

ANON –“The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions.”   

ANON –“There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”   

ANON –“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”

ANON –“To swear to tell the truth in a courtroom and then have some lawyer constantly object.”        

ANON –“Trials are lessons you failed to learn, presented once again. Where you made a faulty choice, you can now make a better one, so escape the pain that your first choice brought to you.”  

ANON –“We cannot direct the wind … but we can adjust the sails.”   

ANON –“We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved.”    

ANON –“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”  

ANON –“Work is the true elixir of life. The busiest man is the happiest man.”  

ANON –“Wouldn’t you rather walk with a cane than not walk at all?”   

ANON –“You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her.”

ANON –“You have never seen this day. You have never seen the beauty this day holds. Just because it rained yesterday and the ground is flooded, does not mean that you’re going to get wet today.”  

ANON –“Your dreams must come from your heart’s deepest desires. Only then will the barriers come down before you.”  

ANON –“Youth is instinctual and flamboyant and full of rewards. Old age is logical and prudent and full of consolations.”   

Videocon- “The Indian Multinational”, also known as the ‘desi’ brand favorite among Indians in terms of electrical appliance shopping. It knows its people from their nerves as they share the same roots. Since years, Videocon has been nurturing Indian homes and ruling their hearts. The company has always served its country with the latest technology, environment friendly features and prices according to the citizens. Its popularity among Indians makes it the major shareholders of the electronic industry.

VIDEOCON, born in the year 1987, found by Shri Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot. Through a technical tie-up with Toshiba Corporation of Japan, he launched India’s first world- class color television. The path-breaking attitude of him and his sons has made Videocon a household name across the nation, and it is the no.1 brand of consumer electronics and home appliances. As a whole, the company deals in Consumer Durables, Thomson CPT, CRT Glass, and Oil & Glass. But is famous with high quality consumer durables. The company basically deals in wide range of appliances like Plasma TV, LCD TV, Slim TV, Flat TV, Conventional DVD, Multimedia Speakers, Frost free Refrigerators, Direct Cool Refrigerators, Fully Automatic Washing Machine, Semi- Automatic Washing Machine, Microwave Ovens, Split Air conditioners, Grace Cassette Air Conditioners and Window Air Conditioners, having matchless quality. The Videocon group egresses as a USD 2.5 Billion global conglomerate which acts as trendsetter in every sphere it is dealing in and e enjoys a leading position in terms of sales and customer satisfaction in all consumer products.

The Videocon logo itself, reiterates the attributes of the company, which are very much dedicated towards the growth and maintenance of the set standards of excellence through quality, technology and innovation. From about a decade now, Videocon has been serving with the latest and the best technology and quality and still working hard to adapt the international technology to gratify the Indian needs. The new symbol of Videocon affirms its passion for global impact and the Group’s wide spectrum ranging from Electronics to Energy.

Videocon’s mission tells us about both existing and emerging realities: “To delight and deliver beyond expectation through ingenious strategy, intrepid entrepreneurship, improved technology, innovative products, insightful marketing and inspired thinking about the future.” The statement means: “Videocon dotes upon customer satisfaction, make reliable customers, despite this cutthroat competition, advance planning, and strategies will fail all odds and obstacles and will deliver the best of product and energy.” So bring home the desi brand, who very well understands the desi needs and rules your heart.

Dish Network, and other satellite TV providers didn’t just appear over night. The development of satellite television took years and its origins can be traced back to the 1950s and the space race.

The original concept of satellite television is often attributed to writer Arthur C. Clarke, who was the first to suggest a worldwide satellite communications system. Funding for satellite technology in the U.S. began in the 1950s, amidst the space race, and the Russian launching of the satellite Sputnik in 1957.

The first communication satellite was developed by a group of businesses and government entities in 1963. Syncom II orbited at 22,300 miles over the Atlantic; the first satellite communication was on July 26, 1963, between a U.S. Navy ship in Lagos, Nigeria and the U.S. Army naval station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Overloaded land based distribution methods had the telephone companies utilizing satellite communication way before the television industry even came into the picture. In fact, it was not until 1978 that satellite communication was officially used by the television industry.

In 1975, RWT’s co-founder and BBC transmitter engineer Stephen Birkill built an experimental system for receiving Satellite Instructional Television Experiment TV (SITE) transmissions, beamed to Indian villages, from a NASA geostationary satellite.

Birkill extended his system, receiving TV pictures from Intelsat, Raduga, Molniya and others. In 1978, Birkill met up with Bob Cooper, a cable TV technical journalist and amateur radio enthusiast in the U.S., who invited him to a cable TV operators’ conference and trade show, the CCOS-78. It was there that Birkill met with other satellite TV enthusiasts, who were interested, and ready to help develop, Birkill’s experiments.

Interest in Television Receive Only (TVRO) satellite technology burst forward. The American TVRO boom caught the attention of premium cable programmers, who began to realize the potential of satellite TV. Back in the mid-1970s, TV reception was the under the control of international operators, Intelsat and Intersputnik.

On March 1, 1978, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) introduced Public Television Satellite Service. Satellite communication technology caught on, and was used as a distribution method with the broadcasters from 1978 through 1984, with early signals broadcast from HBO, TBS, and CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network, later The Family Channel). TVRO system prices dropped, and the trade organization, Society for Private Commercial Earth Stations (SPACE), and the first dealerships were established.

Broadcasters realized that everyone had the potential to receive satellite signals for free, and they were not happy. But the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was governed by its open skies’ policy, believing that users had as much right to receive satellite signals as broadcasters had the right to transmit them.

In 1980, the FCC established the Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), a new service that consisted of a broadcast satellite in geostationary orbit, facilities for transmitting signals to the satellite, and the equipment needed for people to access the signals. In turn, broadcasters developed methods of scrambling their signals, forcing consumers to purchase a decoder, or a direct to home (DTH) satellite receiver, from a satellite program provider.

From 1981 to 1985, the big dish satellite market soared. Rural areas gained the capacity to receive television programming that was not capable of being received by standard methods.

The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association of America (SBCA) was founded in 1986 as a merger between SPACE and the Direct Broadcast Satellite Association. But by this point, American communication companies had soured on the prospect of satellite TV. Broadcast cable was very successful at this time, and the satellite industry received a lot of negative press coverage. Fifty percent of all satellite retailers closed their businesses.

Business eventually recovered, but the illegal theft of pay television signals was still a problem. Ultimately, encryption has proven to be the ultimate salvation of the satellite industry as it has made the transition from a hardware to software entertainment-driven business.

Early successful attempts to launch satellites for the mass consumer market were led by Japan and Hong Kong in 1986 and 1990, respectively. In 1994, the first successful attempts in America were led by a group of major cable companies, known collectively as Primestar.

Later that year, Direct TV was established, and in 1996, the DISH Network, a subsidiary of Echostar, also entered the satellite TV industry. DISH Network’s low prices forced competing DBS providers to also lower their prices. And an explosion in the popularity of digital satellite TV ensued.

Casteism and Sati Pratha

Hype and Realities

INTRODUCTION

For centuries, ‘Casteism’ and ‘Sati Pratha’ have been criticized as wrong practices in Hindu society. There are incidences even today that come into lime light, which are unquestionably condemnable, though the authenticity of such highlighted news remain unquestioned by common people while as a matter of fact, many times the reasons are criminal offenses and not religious motivations. Media many times are politicized and release even imaginary stories as news under monetary pressure. Arun Shourie has taken tremendous effort to expose such realities through his famous book, ‘Harvesting our soul’. And no doubt, there are reasons to believe on the exposed political or personal reasons behind criminal offenses occurring in the name of Hinduism. A simple question clarifies this reason – how can such immature concept like Casteism and Sati Pratha emerge in a society which is rich in knowledge, a society which had negligible poverty, a society so peaceful and tolerant in the world. If concepts like Casteism or Sati Pratha had existed as a part of such high cultured society, there must be some depth unexposed to it. It is not reasonable to simply declare that it is wrong, without going into the Hindu scriptures, specifically if there sits logic to explain the truth.

One major difference between Hindu and Muslim life styles is that while Muslim understands only one language – the language of Quran (Quran even being a basis of law and order), Hindus have Law on and above their religious beliefs. Thus most of condemned Hindu offenses fall directly under Criminal Offenses, while this is not necessary for a Muslim. While for a Muslim, any offense is mostly a direct effect of religious motivation, but for a Hindu it has threefold reason – political, criminal or religious. Thus, it becomes necessary to realize to depth of Truth before accepting any offense as a part of Hinduism as are religion. We will look into two important aspects of Hindus – Casteism and ‘Sati Pratha’ – how they were, how is it now and what actually is told of it in the Religion. We will evaluate what is formed as scriptures of Hindus and whether there is deformation in practice around it.

Casteism

Division or Unification

CASTEISM AS KNOWN TO MODERN WORLD

Caste system has always remained strength of critics when it comes to the discussion about Hinduism. This has been in practice in India, quite prominently in past few centuries. In Hinduism, as understood today, the society is divided into four basic castes.

1. Brahmin: This section of society was highly literate, and had the power of knowledge to guide the other sections. They mostly constituted of priests, preachers and teachers.

2. Rajput: This section of society constituted of mostly soldiers and protectors of law.

3. Vaishya: This was the business class of the society.

4. Shudra: This section of society constituted of workers.

The criticism goes to say that this distinction is based purely on ‘birth’ and hereditary claim of falling into one of the above categorization. The most criticized caste is Brahmins. They are charged of declaring themselves as the highest castes and abusing lower castes, targeting them to be mistreated. The most effected of the castes, as per the critics and believers of the critics are Shudras, who are treated many times in inhuman fashion.

The criticism persists probably because the world around India seems to be changed to the law of equality towards all sections of society including the gender differences. And the world finds India holding this theory of inequality as Casteism. No doubt casteism has existed among Hindus in recent centuries. No doubt that the way we see its practice is condemnable. But there are few questions to be answered before condemning Hinduism as a whole. Is Casteism a gift of Brahmanism as the highlights are? Are Brahmins responsible for caste based differences in the country? Brahmins considered to be the most literate part of the society are made responsible for it and are now days looked upon with disregard and envy, particularly by so called lower castes. We anyhow need to find answers of few questions, before we can accept such a declaration about Brahmanism or Hinduism.

1. Was Casteism in same shape some thousand years ago?

2. Is this practice actually as dense as it is hyped?

3. Are the current workouts proving to be solutions to the problem?

THE CURRENT POLITICAL TREND ON CASTEISM

The drawbacks as Casteism were visible only in History books and newspaper when technology like television was not in common use. The owners of such news were not within the reach of questions any time, and not even in modern day times. Thus, we will question such authenticity here before accepting or reconsidering our acceptance towards this segregation theory. Current view of Casteism, particularly under political elaboration can be understood by following diagram:

In the diagram above, we can see that Brahmin is seen to be sitting at top and Sudra at the bottom. We also see a new division of Untouchable, which do not seem to be an integral part of basic four castes. We also see that top three castes, i.e., Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya are categorized as twice born groups. It is also shown that Brahmin share the lowest percentage of the population. But there are few questions which we have to raise here and answer later on: how is that the population that dominated and sits at the top with the attitude of superiority is of lowest population? What is the concept of twice born people?

People of this country were made aware of the above caste model and convinced that it is wrong, and the majority of such convinced people were either Shudras or Untouchables, categorized in Hinduism as said by Politics. Hinduism is one religion which talks about Ignorance and Knowledge, and the practice of caste system, as it is wrong would obviously come under ignorance. The actuality of Hindu scriptures would be explored in this chapter, but what is highlighted by Political leaders is that Brahmins have made the Shudras paralyzed. The so appearing problem was plated to the Shudras first. An environment of rage and envy was created in the country against the upper caste – a situation of instability was established with support of ignorant. Politics said that Shudras and Untouchables would get special considerations, barring right education, to help them come up – easy way to grow for an individual and he gets enticed. Thus, the seed was harvested to give a legal status to these differences, the lower caste being unaware that they are actually legalized as lower caste, with a wrong notion of facilities. No human can live peacefully and progressively at the cost of death of another human. If peace and growth was the target, why wasn’t this problem plated before the ones who created it? Why weren’t the Brahmins approached to stop the illegal practices? Why was the legalized categorization of castes made compulsory by the government? Reasons are simple – very simple.

In politics, a problem is used as a tool to develop another problem so as to keep politics alive. Problems are the food of politics. More the problems, healthier are the politics. Hence, if casteism was a problem for lower caste, politics had huge ground to cultivate this to grow the vegetation of separation in the society. Seed for this crop was termed as Reservation. By facilitating reservations to lower castes, this separation gets legalized and gains more permanent place in the society. What seems to the backward class as an opportunity to rise is actually a means to deteriorate their habits and attitude. They get things easy and they cannot therefore develop a genuinely matured habit of living. Their attitude to fight and win never gets created and they get used to easy come policy. They actually remain where they were before reservation. What government lacks in their vision about reservation is that they feel it is an opportunity for backwards to overcome poverty and casteism, when actually it becomes an authority and power in the hands of ignorant. The deteriorating impact of reservation theory can be very easily and simply understood by an example of game cricket. The game constitutes of 11 players supposed to be the best in the country so as to win a game. What if 50% of these players must exist from reserved categories? Will the game meet its mettle? Every answer would be ‘No’, because there is a compromise and injustice to actual contestants. If every individual and every family is responsible for contributing to the progress of the country, how can this theory of reservation work as a success? Lakhs of students deserving success would be deprived of even the opportunity to fight. And important and responsible positions of administration would be held by illiterates. Literacy simply doesn’t mean the ability to read and write. Literacy also means the ability to understand, analyze and control a situation. If the control of our household remains in the hand of ignorant, how can the forthcoming generation see a bright future? Hence, reservations were never a solution. Reservations are clear and concrete segregation of society in the name of caste. If at all, there would have been an intention to close this gap of inequality, Government would have laid a strategy to bring the upper and lower castes together through a culture of equal treatment to all. If India has to see No Casteism, every Indian has to stop talking about caste. Instead, the work around asks explicitly about the caste of an individual. For the Government it is very easy to convince the ignorant lower caste with this, but no rational person would agree to this segregation theory. As another example, it is so easy to understand that ‘No politician would accept to get medical treatment for any of their family members from a doctor who has qualified through reservation’.

The Government of India runs to a great extent on the funding through the Income Tax paid by common people. This common people set belong mostly from the so called upper caste. And the same Governing body has come up against them in an unfair and illogical manner. There is no strategy to cover this pain area of the impacted community. If poverty is the symbol of lower castes, it is a proven property for Brahmins in this country. In fact, most of the Brahmin sections are always below poverty line and they never grow to be criminals in turn. Poverty is not a property of any particular caste. Poverty is simply a result of incompatible integrity among humans which is never an issue of caste. Moreover, it is possible to think of such turn around in Government Sector as the perception continues that Government sector is the most non-working and corrupted sector. It is absolutely not possible to force this on private sectors. Most of the private sectors are pure business which is run on profit basis. There is a huge competition for their existence. In such scenario, if they are blocked from competitive recruitment, there would be a vision of doom in their business which not acceptable at all. How can a business recruit incapable employees and afford to pay them at the risk of market challenges. It is nearly impossible to believe that Government is incapable of understanding even this simple concept. There must be some devastating agenda to implement such a strategy like Reservation. Anyway, we will here explore and expose the realities of Hinduism in the world of casteism, for which it is criticized.

TRUTH OF CASTEISM – CASTEISM IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA

Even if we look at Hindus as an abstraction, we find them to be the most tolerant society in the world. If such huge tolerance is executed outside its boundaries, how can it be that it is not so internally? It clearly reflects that the differences that are shown outside the boundaries are not actually within, as is exposed.

The word Caste came from Portuguese word ‘Casto’ meaning ‘pure’. Indian word ‘Varna’ is many times interpreted as ‘color’. I have not found an established categorization, where one color is found to be superior to others. Every color is equally important and can crate an energy ray only when they are together. If this was the meaning of Caste system in Hinduism, if ‘Varna’ or ‘Color’ is the division in the society, if every caste was equally important as every color for the energy society to exist, how come the gap of superior and inferior got established?

And we get into coming to a meaningful question – was Casteism in same shape some thousand years ago. How is Brahmin made to sit at the top? What is this twice born population? To get the answer of these questions, we obviously have to look into the Hindu texts that contain this information. Ramayan and Mahabharat prove negative to this. ‘Rama’ and ‘Krishna’ were non-Brahmins, yet the Brahmins declared them God through their texts. ‘Karna’ is always quoted as an example of caste differences existing during Mahabharat. I believe that either such conclusion is immature analysis due to incomplete study of complete text or there is purpose to defeat Hindu ideologies through creating a wrong notion. Karna had to face non-kingly humiliation and was called as ‘Sut-putra’ by kingly classes. ‘Sut-putra’ doesn’t mean caste-difference; it simply means non kingly class (son of a fisherman). ‘Draupadi denies marrying Karna by saying that she would not marry a Sut Putra – son of a fisherman’. This is interpreted by Historians that the myth reflects the caste system, which is completely wrong. Draupadi simply wanted to marry a kingly class and not someone from non-kingly class. ‘Sut putra’ – son of a fisherman, doesn’t mean in any terms that it belongs to lower caste by birth. Mahabharata is a story of war between kingly brothers and Karna not being a part of that class had to face humiliation from opposing party. This happens in all corners of the world, but no Indian historian goes and declares that Caste system was prominent even in West. Similarly, ‘Eklavya’ was denied education on the ground that ‘Dronacharya’ was conducting specialized training only for the sons of the king. There were differences on the ground of positions, as it is seen all across the world even now. No one noticed that Lord Krishna himself was brought up as a shepherd (Kshatriya by birth). Yet he was considered as the greatest dignity. There are many conclusions in the book that shows differences on case-to-case basis and no-where does it prominently declares division of work on basis of birth. Anyway, Mahabharat and Ramayan are declared by our great historians as myths and have nothing to do with realities. I don’t believe so and I have provided enough evidences that reflect facts of their occurrences in further chapters. Despite of the controversy, we cannot deny that even stories of its times reflects the arrangement of society.

Let us see what Bhagwad Geeta has to say about this segregation:

Brahmankshatriyavishan shudranan cha parantap, karmani pravibhaktani swabhawprabhavairgunaih

Meaning: Of the Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras the duties are distributed according to the properties born of their own nature. Bhagwad Geeta elaborates further the above mentioned and so understood four castes of Hindu. (Chapter 18: Verse 41-44.)

41: Brahmin: Their duties are born out of nature to control the mind and the senses, austerity, purity, forbearance, and also uprightness, knowledge, realization and belief in hereafter.

42: Kshatriya: Their duties are born out of nature constituting prowess, boldness, fortitude, dexterity, generosity and sovereignty.

43: Vaishya: Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trading is their duties born out of their nature.

44: Shudra: Action consisting of service is the duties of Sudras born out of their own nature.

We can easily see that Bhagwad Geeta talks about action born out of individual’s own nature and has nothing hard and fast related to birth. It is very clearly written in Vedas and other texts of Hindus that an individual builds himself to stand in one of the above categories. I could not find anywhere this division on the basis of birth and no Hindu text restricts anyone from doing anything, though the use of birth is exposed as a misnomer at some places. Manu Smriti categorizes Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya as twice born group. The actual meaning of twice born and the interpreted exposure are two different concepts. What is exposed is that these castes are achieved due to rebirth from lower caste. While the actual meaning is two births in same life – one the actual birth where one lives as per the social behavior around, and second birth is when he through deep study attains to the lessons of Vedas and brings the learning into behavior and preaching. The word ‘birth’ is played with, leaving behind the depth added to it by the word ‘twice’. Why did Manu Smriti leave behind Sudras from being a part of twice born? Obviously, the livings of this group were not in match with other group, by the virtue of birth not because the religion said so, but because their parental and related social structure was not matured. They were found to eat meat, drink and behave inhumanly. Learning of Vedas required right behavior and understanding level in place first, which was not there among Sudras. This didn’t mean that Sudras, by birth were restricted from various opportunities entertained by other groups. It simply was segregation among people purely on basis of their actions like eating meat and drinking wines as an inhuman act.

Additionally, reading Vedas was not alone enough to reach a stage of realizing Brahma or God. It required a stage of Self Realization to be achieved first, which was not an easy task. Thus, Brahmins were made to sit on top as they were those people who by their effort had reached the stage of understanding Brahma. Obviously, such people would be less in numbers and thus Brahmins were less in numbers. Attaining such maturity Brahmins also understood the meaning of family plan and thus had control over their population, which other groups did not have. Brahmins primary responsibility used to be to preach other groups of the philosophy adopted by them, and motivate them to live a rich and peaceful life.

As a matter of fact, even in modern world we find that Brahmins are third in place in terms of richness. If a section of society that enjoyed the highest place of regard, it must have also grown to the richest section – but this was never found in the history of this country. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were the richer section – Brahmins and Shudras lived upon their services to these two categories. Gold and riches were owned by these two groups and Brahmins have always considered such richness as a part of ‘Maya’ – an illusion created by threefold nature. When we hear the term Brahmin, immediately what comes to our mind is a person in simple clothes, without any richness, simple and rich in knowledge, ready to show right path to the seeker. The living standards of Brahmins had always been simple. The difference between these non-kingly classes (Brahmin and Shudras) was that Brahmin, though simple lived in purity – purity in terms of consuming vegetarian diets, not touching wine, not harming any creatures and helping the mankind to grow towards peace. While Shudras did all that was opposite to the work of Brahmins. I could not find in any recognized books of Hindus that a Brahmin has ever disallowed any Shudra from seeking his help. A Brahmin always used to help all sections of the society to deliver prayers in rituals, get married as per rituals, and pray God to come out of difficulties of life. How come then Brahmins are looked at as a caste that has disregarded all other castes?

Hindu ideology starts describing this arrangement from an individual owning all the qualities within. This can be understood from following quote:

“The Brahman was his mouth,

His two arms became the rajanya,

His thighs are what the vaisya is,

From his feet the Sudra was produced.” Rig Veda 10.90

Vedic science lists ten sense organs – five basic work organs (‘Karmendriya’: eyes, ears, nose, mouth and arms) and five basic knowledge organs (‘Gyanendriya’: ‘roop’, ‘ras’, ‘swad’, ‘sparsh’, ‘gandh’: as also known to modern science). In the above quote we find that our body has parts (mouth, arms, thighs and feet) which configure our categorization as per our action born of our own nature.

Mouth is that part of our body, through which words flow out which becomes the basis of defining our personality through exposure of knowledge gained. And hence, one who excels in using mouth as a mean for existence are Brahmins.

Righteous actions are performed mostly by arms and people adapting to its usage for existence are Kshatriyas born of their own nature.

Business, agriculture and similar acts requires lots of travel and thus people who do not care traveling (use of thigh the most) were Vaishyas born of their nature.

People with the nature of hard physical work had to stand the most on feet and were people categorized as Shudras, again born of their own nature.

An individual thus, has this division within himself and his fall into a particular ‘Varna’ depended on what among the four he opted to emphasize more through his actions and thoughts. As quoted above, Bhagwad Geeta emphasizes exactly on this stating that a person falls into one of the Varnas depending on his actions.

Varna system can be understood by comparing it to modern day organization system. Not everyone in an organization have equal rights and roles to play. It hugely depends on background of its constituting people and their expertise, vision and understanding of work. In Varna system, similar division of work was desired to run the society, depending on the education, attitude and inclination of the individual towards type of work he opted to go ahead with as a livelihood. Thus, one opting to do business was grouped under Vaishyas. ‘Brahmin’, ‘Kshatriya’, ‘Vaishya’ and ‘Shudra’ are Sanskrit words and are far different from their English interpretation of Castes. As in an organization we have Managers and Workers, so in Varna system we have Brahmins and Shudras. Who would deny that workers have to obey the managers for effective running of the organization, but such obedience in no way means that the worker looses his dignity? Exactly, the same way, Shudra having chosen his livelihood have to follow the instructions of his master, who would have one of the other two Varnas – Kshatriya and Vaishya. Brahmins most of the time never hardened obedience for rest of the Varnas and mostly provided guidelines to them. The concept of Casteism based on birth, has no relation to the meaning of Varna.

At least, going by the scriptures I do not find it. I find the categorization as a guide to people from step one to step four – from Shudra towards Brahmanism, beyond which is the ultimate step of ‘Realization’.

If we go into history we find that such segregation became visible only after invasions in India. We all know that India was in fact invaded for its richness; it was known as the land of Gold. Before Invasion, this country had not seen beggars in the shape we see today. Muslim invasion first disturbed the tranquility of common people. British followed them and they applied the theory of divide and rule. This is exactly what we found Lord Macauly saying in British Parliament. Invasions for hundreds of years slowly impacted the lifestyle in this country. Its richness was looted, cultural values destroyed, and societies disintegrated. With time, the division of work started taking shape of casteism. And now, it is just not the Hindus, but the whole country seems to be politicized and is under criticism. The prominent Caste system is one of the tools in the hands of Indian politician to protect their philosophy of divide and rule. And non-tolerant religions of the world are anyway out to avail options of attack on Hindus and Casteism is one of their un-understood and forced concepts over Hinduism.

Looking into the facts about how this segregation became eminent, we can also find English Historians often terming Hinduism as Brahmanism with the reason that the religion is dominated by Brahmins. It is so prominent that such statements were shaped so as to divide and disturb the social stability of this country. The name Hindu was given by Muslim Invader in around 1200 A.D. to distinguish the inhabitant of India from the followers of Budhhism and Jainism. This is what historians say, but there is no concrete and complete proof in relation to this. In fact, the word Hindu was given to the inhabitants of Sindhu river region to recognize them as separate religion and impose the law of Islam with force on them.

When caste system took practical shape is not known to any historian exactly. But it was surely not in practice till the time ‘Mahabharata’ was written.

Recent controversies have found Brahmins not allowing the so hyped lower castes to enter temples. When I visit temple, I do not find a system or process that identifies the caste of every visitor. Thousands visit every day to temples, and none knows or asks the caste of anyone. Priests have the business of offering prayers and they simply focus on that. If at all any incidence took place of this sort, it had always been due to personal difference between the Priest and the individual who is not allowed and has nothing to do with Hinduism and its practices. But in modern world of Long Leaders, with the influence on Media and Newspapers, this is shown with colossus hype that Brahmins are creating such arrogant distinctions in society. Every Brahmin knows that the stones of the temples were laid down by the Shudras, Shudras developed the home of Brahmins as well – how can they be then untouchables. It is at least not in the scriptures of the Hindus, not told so by learned Brahmins – at least I have never heard any scholar saying so. This can be also understood from the fact that Brahmins accept food and offerings from other castes even today. Had they been arrogant and greedy, they would have proved to be the richest section of the society as they already enjoyed a place of high respect. But, it is not so even today.

Hindu texts like Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and other books of Hindus do not reflect anywhere that Brahmins are of upper castes and Shudras belong to the lower one. Diversity is the basis of existence on earth. And unity in diversity is the basis of human existence. Unity is not possible without respect and regard in nature towards each other. This was always understood and envisioned by Hindus since existence. No matter, to what extent a society progresses with help of scientific advancement, human existence will always need four basic class (mentioned as ‘Varna’ in Hindu texts) of people to exist as a integrated society. All societies have variance in terms of status, living styles of families, knowledge and perception of its people, individual behaviors, etc. And all societies seek its people to rise from lower status to higher one. Categorization from Shudras to Brahmins is meant to show people the path of rise in the world of humanity. This rise can take place only if one of lower status has regards towards higher one and an attitude to touch the higher state. The highest state in Hinduism was not one with abundant richness, but one with colossus knowledge about ‘Brahma’ or God. A culture of respect existed throughout from lower towards higher state. A child respected the parents irrespective of age factor. Students respect teachers to the extent of being obedience in all aspect. Shudras respected all other castes (first as cultural values and second in order to get work). All castes used to respect Brahmins and take their suggestions in difficult times, while taking important decisions, and as cultural values of preaching (called as ‘Satsang’ meaning living with Truth).

If we look at the soldiers shaping the law and security for the society, nowhere can we find that they were born Kshatriyas. The process of forming the soldiers was the same as today – recruiting them and training them. Once they came into the main stream of soldiers, they were called Kshatriyas. How is birth related to being a Kshatriya – I do not understand at least from history of India, the so hyped ancient India. I say so ‘the so hyped ancient India’ because India was never ancient in its values and cultures – it was far more rich and matured than what we see now days.

How can a society so rich in education practice casteism based on birth? What is called as ancient India was a time when children used to talk in Sanskrit and comparatively now it becomes too tough for children to even read Sanskrit. We have seen scholars like Aryabhatt, Chanakya, Kalidas, Tulsidas, Jagadguru Shakaracharya, Swami Vivekanand, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Guru Nanak, etc who are of highest literary level even today. If we want to understand what was practiced in those days in the name of casteism, we surely cannot neglect the writings of these great scholars.

Respect, regard and value of knowledge were best realized as a social behavior in ancient and medieval India. We have innumerous examples of successful kings taking shelter of knowledge of some Guru – recognized as true Brahmins. In fact, even today we in India understand the importance of ‘Guru’ in our life, and any ‘Guru’ rich in knowledge is a Brahmin – we do not ask the birth of Shri Asaram Bapuji, Shri Murari Bapu, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Shri Ramdev Baba, Shri Ramesh Bhai Ojha and hundreds of such saints. India today is seeing thousands of upcoming saints and fortunately these learned section are again not practicing casteism on belief of births. No one, among these saints, claim to be a Brahmin by birth and all of them are looked upon by the society as Brahmins – this is the true shape of Brahmanism in Hinduism, this is the respect of highest value recognized by every section of the society in Hinduism and this is the secret of peace and tolerance in Hinduism. And it is this secret weapon, which attempted to be thrown down by mean politicians and envious religions of the world. And they chose the ignorant non-Brahmin sections in the absence of these saints to attack with the weapon of defaming the saints first through whatever means they can. Unfortunately, these humble people sometimes overlook the fact that the true shape of richness in Hinduism is amount of faith in God and acquisition of true knowledge. They overlook that when they attend the preaching of these Saints (‘Satsang’) in a crowd of thousands, no one questions their Caste anywhere. On the contrary, the very Government of India asks them their caste before they could appear any exam or acquire any role with them. Who is doing Casteism – these Saints of the Politicians and the Western thinking?

Though, Brahmins were the most educated section of the society, but we never find Brahmins as the richest class in India. From thousands of years Brahmins actually have always remained as the poor section and this is what the text of Hindus reflects at many places. Brahmins held highest regard on basis of their universal knowledge and not richness. How has this happened then that Brahmins are now looked at with hatred? What did not exist from thousands of years; suddenly seem to be happening in past few centuries.

India has the culture to respect a man who have sacrificed the most and the world respects a man who have earned the most, India emphasizes on truth (the soul), while the world has emphasized on the body. Culturally India and the world has existed at two opposite and opposing themes. India has seen respect towards knowledge since its existence. History of world proves that barring India rest of the world have always seen Kings and Good fighters as the superior class. We now come across the say that Knowledge is Power, but is more used in terms of business and earning. Hindus have realized this say in relation to social existence as well. And this is the reason, why we find Brahmins occupying the most respectful behavior in the society and not the positions. We have never found in Hindu texts that Brahmins have tried to rule any kingdom nor have they ever tried to occupy property by any means. Yet, Brahmins are made victims – How? I have only one clear conclusion about how this took severity. As Lord Macauly said in British Parliament: “I have not seen a country in this world which is so high in its knowledge and which is so rich in its existence that there are nearly no beggar, it is only through breaking their cultural heritage one can rule it”. The class that was holding this country was the Brahmins. Kings used to rule on the advice of Brahmins. And the easy solution for the invaders was to put down the regard for the knowledge holders. Slowly, this took the shape of disregard and hatred towards this learned class. And the result was what we all know. If India has to come up at the top of the world, it has to regain the regard towards this class. Brahmanism don’t mean hereditary authority as a class, it simply means bringing into practice the respect towards teachers and priests, which is what had been the backbone of this great nation.

I do agree that some sections of Brahmin tried to impose their superiority over others in their behavior, but to what extent did they try to criminalize their actions would always be in question. Since, the caste as a practice of birth was already in practice, sometimes, the superiority message was spread by non-learned section of Brahmins. Many times, it was people from lower castes who took the shape of priests and have defamed Brahmins. And at other times, it used to be induced by political invaders. It all happened during the post invasion period when country’s individual living conditions started getting deteriorated. As social stability got agitated, it was not only Brahmanism that evolved as a disdained conduct, but many other criminalized actions erupted which was never practiced earlier. Unfortunately, these two things were never looked together. And what evolved was ‘Brahmanism’, a tool for invaders to break through the strength of this nation. At many places, the whole religion of Hinduism was hyped as ‘Brahmanism’. While it is true that people from recognized caste like ‘Sudras’ got humiliated refrains from growing opportunities, it is also true that such opportunities was least availed by Brahmins as well. Exceptions might be there but then exceptions exist in every aspect of life. Most of such disdained behaviors were executed by other practiced castes. The coin was thrown in the Indian Territory so as to buy the cultural values first – one side of the coin being the arrogant shape of Brahmins and the other side the deteriorated shape of other castes – the gap was big enough to break the country. Unity that was guided by Brahmins was broken with the feel of superior – inferior complex.

And there is no country, there is no society, there is no religion in this world which can exist without any of these classes of people practicing relative actions. So, we have tutors in every nation with the responsibility of educating the society to live up to the ever-advancing world (the world called them ‘Teachers’, ‘Professors’ and ‘Preachers’ and the Hindus called them ‘Brahmins’). We have soldiers for every nation, both internal and external working towards protection of law and crime within and security threat outside (The world names them ‘Soldiers and Policemen’ and the Hindu called them ‘Kshatriyas’). We have businessmen in all nations to help meet the day to day life needs of common people (The world calls them ‘Businessmen’ and Hindus called them ‘Vaishyas’). We have worker class in all walks of life everywhere (The world called them with different names under worker class, and Hindus called them ‘Shudras’). The vision of interpreting a Hindu society was to rule it and hence, the names were termed with the meaning of casteism attached to it. While other countries simply interpret the same practices as simple literary words, they have forced such practices as a part of Hinduism, which is bigotry.

More importantly, this caste difference is actually not so deep in practice in modern Indian conditions as it is hyped by political movements and other religious experts. In fact, people serving their roles are not questioned at all for their caste. Hence, no one knows the caste of upcoming saints in India. No one tries to ask the caste of the dynamic ministers of the country. No one asks the caste of any shop keeper. No one bother about the caste of an employee in private organization. No one thinks about castes in cultural gatherings and ceremonies. This is to be realized first and then only the practices in Hindu society should be challenged. I agree that there are several areas and certain incidences which have occurred in the name of castes, but on scrutinizing those events, it is found that they were more motivated out of other differences than caste but protruded in the name of caste. This happens in all religions and all nations.

In short, Casteism in India is a classical model of Organizationism in modern world. As in an Organization, we have people right from clerical positions to directorial position, so in the Organization of God (Hinduism can be seen as an Organization of God), we have people from the position of Shudra to Brahmins and beyond. Thus, what is casteism for the world of critics is actually the ladder for the Hindu society to reach the goal of God.

Anyhow, it is up to the people of India to chose, whether they want to respect knowledge and live a life of progression as it used to be in Ancient India, or they want to suppress the knowledge and its holder and exaggerate the plight from bad to worse in recent conditions. It depends on the people of this country to talk in favor of those who continuously frame strategies to force their religions upon Hindus or stand together above caste and creed as a Hindu in protection of their country.

India like European Union does not allow patents for inventions related to software. The relevant provision under the Indian Patents Act dealing with software reads as under:

CHAPTER II

INVENTIONS NOT PATENTABLE

3. What are not inventions.- the following are not inventions within the meaning of this act,–

(k) a mathematical or business method or computer programme per se or algorithms;

Though few years back in 2004-2005 Government of India brought an ordinance to make invention related to computer software imbedded in hardware like computer, mobile, televisions etc. and having industrial application under the definition of patentable invention by amending the clause (k) of section 3 under chapter II of Indian Patent Act, 1970 but under fierce opposition such ordinance was not enacted.

A careful interpretation and analysis of the provision makes it clear that it is computer programme per se that are not allowed as they are subject matter of copyright in India. The reason for not considering the software as patentable subject matter was to avoid duality of protection available to software. But subject matter of copyright can be only their literal presentation of software which includes coding decoding or algorithm form and more precisely it is their algorithms form that the Indian Patents Act does not consider the patentable subject matter.

To avoid application of Section 3 (k) of the Indian Patents act, in the claims few hardware components must be shown to form the essential part of the invention and some form of interdependence should be shown between the software and hardware components. Further the functions that require algorithm functions e.g. sensors etc. should be avoided, they can remain a part of the claim but how these sensors perform their function should not be claimed.

Therefore anyone interested in filing a PCT application national phase or Convention application has to more careful at the time of filing basic application. The language of specification as well as claims has to be accordingly modified at the time of filing of original application or else the description must have sufficient support for modification of the claims to include hardware components. Reference numerals for hardware components in the description as well as claims will also a great help in prosecution.    

Recently the Indian Patent Office has published a New Draft Manual Of Patent Practice And Procedure – Patent Office, India (2008) relating to the Patent Practice to be followed by the Indian Patent office and as per manual shall allow method claims In software related inventions. Earlier the Patent office used to object of method claims only and used to allow only the device claims that too with hardware components.

26/11 Mumbai Carnage

A Wakeup Call For The Civilised World

By

M.M.Khajooria

It would, to say the least be naïve   to look at   the 26/11  Mumbai terrorist strike  as  another round of Indo-Pak proxy conflict  The high quality of professionalism  evident   in the planning, provisioning and execution   of this  multipronged well  crafted commando terrorist operation  across the ocean in commendable secrecy sets  it apart from the routine acts of terror to which the  people in India were accustomed . To the discerning , the 26/11 Mumbai carnage     bears  unmistakeable signatures of  the  dreaded  Al Queda  which was  waging  war against what it calls the Christian-Zionist-Hindu combine “out to demolish Islam”. In fact ,Osama bin Ladin   declared war on India for the first time through the 13 April ,2006 audio  taps released by Al-Jazeera .  It was  for the first time that  Bin Ladin referred to  “a crusaders-Zionist-Hindu war against the Muslims”. “It is the duty of the Ummah “ he said  “with all its categories ,men, women,  and youth to give away themselves, money, their experience  and all types of material support   to establish Jihad,” He also lashed out at the USA for pressurizing  Pakistan to end cross border  terrorism in Kashmir affirming “that it is a Zionist- Hindu war against Muslims”. The target selection in Mumbai assault  was the sure give away.  The 26/11 dastardly assault on India’s financial hub Mumbai    all  the three enemies listed in the tapes were  targeted in a single  clean composite  comprehensive and focussed  operation

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The Jewish  ‘Chabad’-,the transit facility  in Nariman House was  seized  and the couple-Rabbi Gavnel Holzberg  and his six months pregnant wife Ravka- murdered in cold blood. Moshe ,their only baby boy was saved  by the brave and  loving   Indian maid. He has since been taken to Israelby his grand parents .The  Indian maid  accompanied  the traumatized child. “How  can I leave the poor child alone in his hour of tragedy” she told reporters

 After  forcing  entry in the Taj Hotel, the terrorists went straight to the  Reception and demanded   the passports of the American , British  and other foreign  citizens  accommodated in the hotel. The Leopold Café  favoured by the  foreign tourists  was  hit  . On the last count 30 foreigners  belonging to sixteen countries including UK, USA, France ,Germany, Italy Australia Canada, Jor dan and  Israel were slaughtered by the terrorists.

Amongst them were six US citizen .And the US government was legally obliged o investigate th crime and bring the culprits to book .A case had already been registered by he FBI and investigation commenced.

 Indians were  naturally  the prime   target, They were attacked in the Chowpati sands (sea beach) where large number of innocent and unsuspecting  men , women and children regularly gathered for relaxation and  special delicious treats like Bhel-Puri . The round the clock  crowded Shivaji central Rail terminus was another terrorist destination . Cama  hospital  became the scene of martyrdom of five police officers ,ATS chief, Hemant Karkaray, DIG Tiwari and Encounter specialist Karloskar  who confronted the terrorists . Before the nine terrorists could be eliminated and one apprehended  the  gun battles had claimed  about 200 hundred dead and three hundred wounded. This included civilian of all nationalities ,policemen, NSG, Navy and army commandos and the hotel staff.

The US secretary of State Condoliza Rice   told a press conference  in Delhi that  “Whether there is a direct Al Qaeda hand or not, this is clearly the kind of terror in which Al Qaeda participates  . She just  stopped short of naming Al Queda   as perpetrators of  the Mumbai massacre. She  may have diplomatic or tactical reasons for not    naming  the dreaded  terror network    but why  were  the Indians  fighting shy of raising a pointed finger on the source of the   Global terror that hit us where it hurt most? But if this indeed  was an  Al Queda operation why is  Lashkar-e-Tayyiba being blamed ? There were good and valid reasons  to  blaming the Lashkar.

Lashkar-e-Taiba,  “army of the pure,” was   promoted more than 20 years ago with the help of Pakistan(country of the pure) intelligence officers as a proxy force to undo   Muslim-dominated Kashmir’s accession with Hindu dominated India .“This is a group that years ago evolved from having a local and parochial agenda and bought into Al Qaeda’s vision,” said Bruce Hoffman, a professor and terrorism  at Georgetown University who had followed the growth of the  Lashkar  for several years .According to American officials “Al Qaeda was known to have  provided financing and other support to Lashkar in the past. Senior Qaeda figures have used Lashkar safe houses as hide-outs.

 The Lashkar commanders  operated  in the open, behind the public face of a popular charity with the implicit support of official Pakistani patrons .For years, American intelligence analysts have described Lashkar as a group with deadly, yet limited, ambitions in South Asia. But terrorism experts said it clearly had been inspired by the success of Al Qaeda in rallying supporters for a global jihad ?   Lashkar fighters were sighted  in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting and killing Americans.

In an  article titled “Times Topics: Terrorism in India”of December,7,2008 ,researchers Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti Jane Perlez     quoted American intelligence and counter terrorism officials as saying  that “Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the Pakistan-based militant group suspected of conducting the Mumbai attacks, had quietly gained strength in recent years with the help of Pakistan’s main spy service, assistance that  allowed the group to train and raise money while other militants were under siege.

 Director of US National Intelligence Mike McConnell  directly blamed Lashkar-i-Tayyaba for the Mumbai attacks, increasing pressure on Pakistan to eliminate the group that the US spy chief said was also responsible for other terrorist attacks inside India. “The same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 on a train and killed a similar number of people,” said Mr McConnell, speaking at Harvard University. “Go back to 2001 and it was an attack on the parliament.”

Pakistan outlawed the LT after the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament but  the ban was not enforced. It was known to the United States  that  Pakistan had allowed LT and the people associated with it to function under various pseudonyms but opted to look the other way.

The Lashkar was already on the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organisations, which described it as one of the largest and most dangerous terrorist outfits in South Asia with close links to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.  The department also maintained  lists of  a dozen odd group used by the LT to cover up  its true identity .Many  US counterterrorism and military officials  felt it  was necessary  to reassess  the capability  and spread of the Lashkar  after the recent  assault on Mumbai .They agreed that   now posed  a  much greater threat than  previously recognized.

The Al Queda- Lashkar connections go back to nineties. when Osama bin Ladin set up  the International Islamic Front  for  Jihad against Jews and Crusaders( read Christians) sometime n 1998.  Lashkar-e- Tayyiba  was  amongst its  founder members. Two other Pak ISI  collaborators Harkat-ul Mjahideen, and Harkat ul Jihad –e-Islami likewise participated in the foundation conclave. Even at that time, American investigators had collected a mass of evidence  of deep linkage between these anti India  terror groups and Al Queda.

The  Al Queda  organizational   structure  was strategically  fashioned  as a global  network  linked to  already existing or contrived indigenous extremist groups  .It operated through such affiliates especially  in countries  where favourable  environment for the presence and operations  by its own cadres did not exist.

The Queda net work had grown enormously over the years. By now, Its tentacles were spread in South-East Asia through Jemaah Islamiyah etc , the formation of embryonic groups in North Africasuch as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and countless cells of potential terrorists exploiting the power and anonymity of internet technology. In the UK alone  the authorities were reported to  have detected around 200 separate plots of indiscriminate criminal activity . Even Europe was not free from its  infiltration. There were credible reports of recruitment of cadres and establishment of modules in Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain  and Germany .

  The MUMBAI  attacks  demonstrate the professional skills, technological access, acquisition of sophisticated weapons and enormous reach  of the Al Queda network .It should serve as the wake up call for the entire civilised world. The global peace  ,  security of citizens, vital economic and military installations  and symbols of heritage(remember the vandalisation of Banyan carving inAfghanistan) were under terrorist   threat  as never before. An axis of evil comprising of AlQueda,  its well organised, fully equipped    , intensely committed and highly motivated  affiliates  and its moles, supporters and sympathisers capable of    calling he shots in number of countries notably Pakistan were on the prowl. They  were frantically striving to upgrade their military prowes through acquiring  nuclear capability independent of the Pakistan nuclear arsenal.  In fact, the outcome of the ongoing spat between the civilised world and   a  belligerent, unstable and bankrupt but nuclear  Pakistan  being pushed by fundamentalist hawks towards military adventurism  could very severely impact  the future course of the war against  terrorism and fundamentalist hegemony.

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According to a despatch by Anwar Iqbal from Washington dated 21st December’  carried by  daily Dawn Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of State and  Stephen Hadley , National Security Advisor bluntly told  the visiting Pakistan National Security Advisor Durrani and Pakisan Ambassador to Washington Haqqani that  ‘Global terrorism is not just an India-Pakistan dispute. We see LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa at par with al Qaeda. Pakistan should stop thinking of this as just another round of India-Pakistan altercations”.   The curt message that Mr Durrani and the Pakistani team received from the Americans was: this is not 2002 and you cannot do what President Musharraf did after 9/11. “In the past, you swept everything under the carpet while the problems were allowed to fester. No more” added  Iqbal  quoting a senior diplomatic source familiar with the talks

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Through the  Mumbai carnage   ,   Al Queda  sent a loud and clear message to the USA , its western  allies   and  Israel  , “ While we prepare to hit targets in your front porches and backyards ,    we will draw blood  of your citizens in other  countries. We dare you to protect them ”. This warning can be ignored only at the peril of civilised world.

  
The situation forced both the incumbent and incoming US administrations to take a strong stance against the attacks. The outgoing president made a special appearance on the lawns of the White House .  President Bush In his nationally televised address vowed not to allow the terrorists to have the final word .“The killers who struck this week are brutal and violent. But terror will not have the final word,” he said. “We pledge the full support of the United States as India investigates these attacks, brings the guilty to justice and sustains its democratic way of life. As the people of the world’s largest democracy recover from these attacks, they can count on the people of world’s oldest democracy to stand by their side,” said Mr Bush.

“The people of India are strong. They have built a vibrant, multiethnic democracy. They can withstand this trial. The leaders of India can know that nations around the world support them in the face of this assault on human dignity,” he added.

        His successor Barack Obama spoke with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reiterate Washington’s offer of both moral and material support to India.“ These terrorists who targeted innocent civilians will not defeat India’s great democracy, nor shake the will of a global coalition to defeat them,” Mr Obama said in a statement issued after his call .“The United States must stand with India and all nations and people who are committed to destroying terrorist networks, and defeating their hate-filled ideology .” he added Those calling shots in Pakistan, were however   not impressed

The entire world community was watching with shock and disbelief the antics ofPakistan establishment on a matter of grave concern to them Three vital questions arise here. As the US appeared to be getting nowhere with  advise and admonition  what would , if any ,be  next  US move?  what  would be expected of India when Pakistan  establishment stubbornly refused to either demolish terrorist training facilities on her soil or handover  the perpetrators of terrorism  despite evidence supplied by India and the USA  ?  India was morally and legally obliged to apprehend and put on trial all those responsible for acts of terrorism on her soil ,  slaughtering of her  non combatant citizens and  innocent visitors from other countries.   Surely no one repeat no one had the right to expect a country of the size, economic strength and military power of India to meekly surrender before an enemy who was working on a strategy to bleed  her  through thousand cuts ?   lastly  , when would the civilised world wake up to the enormity and immediacy of dangers posed to its very  survival by  the Pan Islamic terror machine?

When we first saw it, we knew it was a revolution. Today, it has become a habit.

The Indian Premier League has been the biggest upheaval the game of cricket has ever seen. With time, the formats reduced from the Test matches to One-Dayers and then, the latest, 20 over games, the shortest format of the game till date, which is packed with full throttle entertainment, excitement and energy.

Taking a cue from ICL, BCCI successfully capitalised on the idea of city based rivalry and brought to the fore the rivalry that was only spoken of but never witnessed. The IPL 2008 entered the history books of the game and Indian Premier League 2009 is expected to repeat the success.

No sooner had the inaugural season ended, talks had already begun as to when the IPL 2009 will begin, which players will be traded, who will replace MS Dhoni as the most expensive player and so on and so forth. The craze for the profligate tournament can be weighed by the ripple effect of the rumours of it being cancelled had. IPL was everywhere, the news channels carried it as ‘Breaking News’, the newspapers as their ‘Headlines’ and magazines as their ‘Cover Story’. Eyes on television and adrenalin pumped in anticipation of the tournament’s fate. The shortest format of the game started to be known as IPL Cricket rather than T20 cricket.

The first edition of the lucrative and extravagant tournament saw what the gentleman’s game had never seen, or let us say, took notice of. The IPL news was everywhere. The ‘Big Daddys’ of the international arena came together to play for the same team and a Delhi resident supporting the home team, Delhi Daredevils, cheered and celebrated when Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed. Such has been the impact of IPL on international cricket that an Indian prays for Andrew Symonds’ century and a third umpire decision in favour of Shoaib Akhtar. What more can be said!

No matter what players have to say regarding their ‘priority’ to put their country before IPL, money is undoubtedly a criteria for everyone and the T20 League by the BCCI provides plenty of that. It is only in this country that cricket is a religion, its citizens the worshippers and players their demi-gods. India is the hub of cricket and its land, the route to monetary benefits from the game, the airlines the carrier of players to bring in here.

Who would not look forward to a match where Sanath Jayasuriya would open the batting with Sachin Tendulkar versus a team comprising of Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi and Andrew Symonds?

If, on one hand, IPL forced Indian supporters to cheer for the Symonds and Watsons, it weaved the cricket playing nations closer too, and it undoubtedly did. After the Sydney fiasco, who would have thought Indians would be cheering for Ricky Ponting’s success?

Would Swapnil Asnodkar have, in his wildest dreams, thought of sharing the dressing room with the King of spin, Shane Warne? The answer to this question is either a ‘No’ or a ‘No’. IPL indeed puts the stars of the future under the right guidance of the legends of the game so that they are shaped to perfection to carry the load of their respective nations besides supporting them financially and rewarding them for their non-stop struggle in domestic circuit.

The Indian Premier League can well be related to the English Premier League football where the concept is the same. Players from every country are traded for huge sums to play for various clubs and thus every club comprises of the giants of the game from different countries and states. This has provided the perfect platform to players on the domestic circuit to showcase their talent and prove a point to the selectors of the national team which, otherwise, remains in the backdrop. Not everyone follows the domestic level of the game and thus limelight evades them which is not the case with IPL.

The ICC has always strived to put cricket on a global stage. They gave Bangladesh a Test status, included 16 teams in a World Cup edition, but all of its initiatives to put the game on a global platform failed, and failed miserably. The IPL South Africa might just be a start to ICC’s goal achievement programme.

An example could probably help the ICC. Suppose Bhaichung Bhutia gets a contract with Manchester United. People in India will then gain further interest in football and start rooting for Manchester United. Similarly, if the IPL authorities or the franchisee spot a cricketer from Holland, or a country where cricket is not as famous, and give him an IPL contract, people in that particular country will start viewing the game, thus popularising it.

In this fashion, who knows, maybe someday, ICC’s so-far failed objective of globalising cricket might just come true and we get to see the gentleman’s game in the Olympics too!

Delhi the international city of India, with many visitors, foreign and otherwise visiting the city all through the year, it is natural that Delhi has many hotels to its credit. With hotel industry growing year by year, a few other new concepts have also crept into the industry. One such concept is Bed and Breakfast. Almost equivalent to hotels in its service, Bed and Breakfast is mainly run in residential places. They have all facilities similar to a home. More popular ones boast of various additional facilities like beauticians and organized tours.

The most popular Bed and Breakfast accommodation in Delhi is Bajaj Indian Home Stay and Delhi Bed and Breakfast. They offer a wide array of services discussed here.

Delhi Bed and Breakfast is run by a couple, with more than three decades of experience in hospitality industry. The home is situated in a calm residential locality of South Delhi, it is safe neighborhood which is easy for walk. It is an authentic Indian experience to stay here. The home is built in the traditional Haveli style. It is child friendly and safe for women. The other attractions are hi technology gadgets like plasma TV, Internet connectivity, Xerox to name a few. Each room has a single or double cot, according to choice of the guest. The couple is warm, caring and spiritual to add. You can even learn authentic Indian cooking, if you prefer too. The accessibility from this place to the main city is very easy, making it further attractive. The tariff here is INR3,000/- to INR3,550/- which when converted makes $70 to $80.

Bajaj Indian home stays another Bed and Breakfast accommodation located in the post North Delhi residential area. The accommodation has several rooms which suit each traveler whether Indian or foreign. The rooms are provided with all modern facilities like split air conditioner, attached bathroom, television, refrigerator, telephone to name a few. The additional facilities are Internet, Xerox and in-house library. Complimentary tea and coffee is available at any time. Reservation facilities are also available free of cost, with complimentary local call facility. Single Room costs around INR3600 and it varies for double, triple and family room. The tariff varies according to the season. You can book your room in advance through the website. Travel support is provided by Bajaj Indian Homestay.

The concept of Bed and Breakfast is here to stay. It is most authentic home experience you can get with warm and friendly hosts, to offer you advice and help at times when you need most. With easy accessibility to the main city, you are away from the hustle and bustle of Delhi. The clean and ethnic environments gives you the warmth and security needed when you are visiting a foreign country. Ideal for first time business and foreign travelers.