Peaceful 2011

Wishing you all a Peaceful and Prosperous 2011

Bishnois and their love for nature!

A Bishnoi lady feeding her kids!
Bishnois, a tribal sub-sect of Hinduism are mostly seen in the northern Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The religions guru of this sect, Guru Jambheshwar made it religiously compulsory to “Not cut green trees” and “To be compassionate to all living beings”. Bishnois follow these nature friendly rules despite their hardships in these villages.

Bishnois are great lover of animals and are very particular about protecting the wild life resources. In spite of the shortage of water one can see lots of antelope such as blue bulls, black bucks and chinkaras fearlessly graze around these villages.

Unlike other Hindu communities, Bishnois bury their dead instead of cremating. This again is to avoid cutting of trees for cremation.

Now let me introduce a relatively unknown person, yet a very true environmentalist and locally celebrated Amrita Devi.

In 1730 A.D. a Bishnoi woman by name Amrita Devi lived with her three daughters in a village called Kejarli. Kejarli is the name of a tree and it was abandant in this place and thus the village got its name. Once Amrita Devi learned that a lot of people from the nearby places gathered to this otherwise sleepy town. Later she came to know it was the party of men sent by the King to fell trees for using in the construction of his new palace.

Amrita Devi protested against the Kings men. Kings men were no way ready to give up and are all set to obey the Kings order. Amrita Devi sticked to her conviction and protested even stronger and said “I would rather give my life to save the green trees”. “If a tree is saved even at the cost of one's head, it's worth it”

Having said these she offered her head. The axes severed her Head instead of trees. Her three young daughters dint think twice and offered their heads too to save the Trees.

The news spread like wildfire. The Bishnois of Khejarli united and informed their people in 83 Bishnoi villages in the surrounding to come join hands to take a serious decision. In spite of Amrita Devi and her daughters sacrifice the kings party continued felling down the trees. The community decided to go stronger and pronounced that, for every single green tree cut, one life will be sacrificed until the felling is stopped.

The old people first came forward and hugged trees and in no time the trees as well as the heads rolled. Despite these courageous old persons sacrificing themselves, the Kings party leader ridiculed the Bishnois saying they were offering unwanted old persons. Immediately the young bunch, the recently married and even children started sacrificing their lives in similar fashion and totally 363 Bishnois were martyred.

The situation has become worse and the kings men were badly shaken. They left the place in a hurry without completing their mission to report the incident to the King.

Honouring the courage of the Bishnoi community, The King apologized for the mistake committed by his officials and issued a royal decree, engraved on a copper plate ordering the following:

• All cutting of green trees and hunting of animals within the revenue boundaries of Bishnoi villages was strictly prohibited.
• It was also ordered that if by mistake any individual violated this order, he would be prosecuted by the state and a severe penalty imposed.
• Even members of the ruling family would not shoot animals in or near Bishnoi villages.

A typical Bishnoi village


(pic and info taken from net)*

Happy Diwali

Wishing you all a very Happy and Safe Diwali :-)

pic taken from net*

Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010

Welcome to the Common Wealth Games Delhi, India
India warmly welcomes you to the 19th Common Wealth Games 2010

India back to limelight after the successful and staggering inauguration of the 19th Commonwealth Games which kick started on 3rd of October 2010. Followed by the spectacular ceremony, Indian athletes are already in a high on the third day today, listed second to Australia in the Medals Tally. Hope the coming days will see more cheer to Indian athletes and nation as well.

(pic from net)*

Gandhi Jayanthi (International Day of Non-Violence)

Today as you all know is the 141st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, popularly known as the ‘Father of the Nation”. Mahatma Gandhi was a peace loving soul and his successful non-violent agitation against the British in the first half of 1900’s is testimony to his courage and conviction. The nation Salutes and remember you today and forever for your selfless service to this nation.

Jai Hind

Note: The UN already observes every 2nd Oct as International Day of Non-Violence
Wanna know more about the Mahatma?? click here

(pic taken from net)*

Ayodhya

WE are not complete without U and I. A very creative poster.
The verdict from Allahabad court was timely, apt yet diplomatic.

Coming straight to the point, Ram resides in the hearts of the people and not in Ayodhya. A temple in that very same place is not necessary as we worship him for centuries not because he is born in Ayodhya, but for his virtues and practices. Moreover it’s quite obvious; we don’t have any solid proof, to say that he is born in this particular 2X2 space. So no point in fighting each other and after all Muslim brethren here in India is again our own race and blood. Moreover the almost all ancestors of present day Muslims of India were Hindus and hence they are again our brothers and sisters in one way or other.

On the other hand our Indian Muslim brethren, can extend their support and do a bit for a peaceful co-existence. Unlike any other places, Ayodhya being sentimentally attached to Hindus for centuries, and the present mosque like structure was constructed on the remains of an old temple; a new temple for Ram coming up in place of this present structure is nothing wrong. The support from Muslim brethren would strengthen the bond and relationship of each other for centuries to come.

My Verdict

Demolish the temple and mosque to ground level. Let the Government of India take over the land. A huge public park with lots of trees is the best thing to do. Perhaps a public Hospital or a public Library is also a good idea. Even the above said leads one to God. Here in this country we have enough Temples, Mosques and Churches. We have a lot more to do to set straight the basic amenities of many under privileged millions in this country and yes of course God exist among them. It’s high time we need to work even harder for the progress of this nation and not just religion alone. Here we have to learn a lesson or two from China.

Jai Hind!

(pic taken from net)*

World Photography Day

Today is World Photography Day and I was just thinking of which snap should i upload in this post.
Then I decided this is the perfect Photograph (She is the one I am going to marry next month ;))

Epic - The New Browser from India

We all know Microsoft - Internet Explorer
Mozilla - Firefox
Google - Chrome
and
Apple - Safari.

Now here comes one tiny tot who is going to compete big time with all these giants. Watch out for Epic - The first Indian Browser, based on Mozilla, launched last week (15th July 2010).

A variety of features like Inbuilt Antivirus (the only browser in the world with this feature) , social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, a transliterator, full featured text editor, games, Google maps, email apps several other web applications and what not.

Launched by a bunch of enthusiastic young software developers from Bangalore, The Epic is developed by this Bangalore based software company called Hidden Reflex (Founded by Alok Bharadwaj in 2008).

The Epic has right away started making waves in all forms of media in just a week after the ‘epic’ launch. And one notable factor is the fantastic logo, which has the national bird peacock in it and the logo is wrapped in with the tri-color of Indian national Flag.

You can simply download the Epic from Here and experience the features of your ‘New best friend’


The behind-the-screen young talents of 'Epic'

The Bahai faith

Bahaism the newest of all religious faiths, is a break away cult from the Islamic Shia sect.
A very interesting religion which insists on peace and harmony!

Bahaism was founded by Mirza Hussian Ali Nuri in the later part of 1800’s in Iran. Presently with 5 million followers across the globe, Bahaism is a faith which also combines the good practices and thoughts of all religions.


As per the volunteers, the faith suggests a peaceful co-existence and insists it is the only way out for a secured and fruitful future.

The Lotus Temple in India is a structure with a difference in terms of its architecture and design as you can see here in these snaps.


This is one of the most attractive Bahai worship centers of the world though the most prominent ones are situated in Israel.

The Lotus temple has a lovely interior design with amazing ventilation and natural light falling in from all sides. Pin drop silence is the hallmark even when 100s flock inside the hall for meditation and prayer.


(plz click on the images to have a closer look and read)

For more interesting reading about the faith, you can visit bahaullah.com and
bahai.org

Rupee

A lovely blend of ancient Devanagiri script and the modern Roman letter, India got its own symbol for its currency - Rupee.

The Devanagiri ‘Ra’ and the Roman ‘R’ is chosen to represent the word Rupiya or Rupee and the two parallel lines simply mean ‘equal to’ sign.

This means, RUPEE joined the elite club of currencies like US DOLLAR, EURO, POUND and YEN which have a separate identity for their currencies

The new sign is conceptualized by D Udaya Kumar, a post graduate from the prestigious and world-renowned institute - Indian Institute of Technology or simply called IIT's

Let's congratulate Udaya Kumar for presenting the Nation, a lovely and meaningful design.

Top software and hardware companies have already geared up to incorporate the symbol into their new peripherals as the union cabinet as already approved the new symbol

(pic taken from net)*

Qutab Minar

Hi everybody...Hope you all had a wonderful time enjoying the matches last month and even I was right here cherishing every moment and cheering up for 'my team' ;-) (Always my team is the winning team ;-)...though Argentina and Messi is my favorite team and player)

However, now i am back with some interesting History stuff for you all. Last week I was in Delhi and luckily visited an amazing 800 year old structure - The Qutab Minar.


Delhi the capital city of the world's largest Democracy, has some of the most interesting and monumental museums and age old structure of India.


Qutab Minar is the world’s tallest brick minaret which stands tall above 70 meters in height and is a fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture. Verses from Quran are cleanly carved on the exteriors of this structure.


The construction started in 1193 by Qutabuddin Aibak the first Muslim ruler of India. Some historians believe that this is constructed to signify the victory over the then existing Hindu rulers and the beginning of Muslim rule in India.


There are many other structures including a mosque (the first one in India) in this vast complex. Qutab Minar, mosque and various other structures constructed in this complex have some other stories to tell as well. Some Inscriptions here, still states that the whole complex was constructed after demolishing one of the oldest Hindu temples and the materials used for the construction of this mosque and associated structures came from 27 other demolished temples.


Yet this is one of the finest and oldest existing examples of Islamic architecture in India


(Click on the image to get a closer look and read facts and figures)



;-)

India and Football

When will India reach the FIFA world cup finals???

An often repeated question in most of the Indian minds for a few decades now. Once in four years, we Indians invariably end up supporting Brazil, though there are a lot of fan following here in India for nations like Argentina, Germany, England, Netherlands, Portugal, France, Italy, Spain etc...

Anyway one Indian team is actively participating in the FIFA 2010 world cup in South Africa !!! Any guess???

Indian Software Giant Mahindra Satyam is the Official IT Services Provider for FIFA 2010 world cup.


And there was a time when bare footed Indian football team ruled the Asian sub-continent and reached the semi-final in 1956 Melbourne Olympics; the first nation from Asia to reach semis in Olympics .......to read more interesting facts you can click here
....a very informative and lovely article by NOVY KAPADIA in Tehelka

(pic taken from net)*

Why Forests were Worshipped

An amazing and informative piece of write-up by Khurshed Batliwala, founder-director,The World Alliance for Youth Empowerment featured yesterday in the TOI editorial. I thought we all should read this piece of article and hence sharing the link. Kudos to TOI as usual for coming up with such exceptional stuff. I should not paste it over here as it is a copyrighted stuff....please visit TOI original page......right here for the article. You can see the article at the bottom of this page. The text magnifies and will appear on the right side when you Click on the article.


Also you can visit The World Alliance for Youth Empowerment to know more about them.....

Recycled jersey by NIKE

Kudos Nike!

Nike has come up with a novel idea of making jersey from recycled plastic bottle and close to ten Nike sponsored teams i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Serbia Netherlands, Portugal, United States, South Korea and Slovenia, will don this jersey for the world cup matches starting tonight. This is a timely and clever move by Nike, to make world cup a platform to display their environmental and social obligations.

Anyway! Information from net says that, this move by Nike will help stopping 250000 kgs of polyster waste being dumped on land.

Once again Great Job Nike for adopting Go Green policies!

(pic and info from net)*

A peacful road by the jungle

A lovely and peaceful road ahead! right ??? :)

World Environment Day

(Please click on the image to read)

More info on World Environment Day

Wayanad_4

May the clear blue sky up above and the bright sun bring prosperity and health to you all in the coming days....


A peaceful stream ‘falling-down’. But let’s assure they never ‘downfall’


Contrary to the belief, that Jackfruit was a Portuguese import 500 years back, to Indian sub-continent and south Asia, Archaeological findings states this fruit is been cultivated in many parts of Indian sub-continent as early as 3000 - 1000 BC.


The Inter-Woven

Wayanad_3

A pleasant misty morning near the paddy fields in Wayanad. we even saw a few adorable birds which are not seen these days in cities.


You can see far there, tourists enjoy boating in a serene lake (of course safety jackets are provided. The Kerala state tourism department is in charge).


Lovely never-ending roads with tea estates on both sides in and around Wayanad


A beautiful place with full of grass and trees around; we rested a while here on the way......


Big brother Bamboosss!

Mother and kid of the month

Wayanad_2

A drive through the jungle road

During the last week-end trip to Wayanad we had a lovely drive in this neat road which cut across the Tholpetty forest (wayanad district, Kerala). The forest stretches for about 20-25 km (altogether). If fortunate enough, one can see animals like elephant, deer, fox, wild boar, wild buffalo and various other birds and small animals preying and grazing on the road side. Tigers also do wander in deep interiors of this forest, though they are a very rare sight on roadside.
(please click on the pics to have a closer look)

'Yerumadam' or tree house on the way...Tribes, forest department authorities and environmentalists, and many research students use to stay here to get a better view of the forest and even to study animals and their behavior


A wild elephant protecting its kid from the photographer :).
In fact, one should not stop the vehicle on this stretch, should not horn or disturb animals or birds on this road. And at times, pointless photographers do all fundas to get a closer pic ;) which obviously irritates the animal. This at times makes scenes like elephant attacking a lensman.
None of the animals in this forest attack anyone unless they are disturbed in one way or other

A flock of deer enjoying the delicious toxin free food and fresh air!!!
In few other places like muthanga the roads which runs through the forest are blocked and no vehicles are allowed to ply during night, just to make sure animals inside the forest are not disturbed during night.

A wild boar got some stuff!
These are not seen often and mostly come in groups. Fortunately I got one here :)

Standing Tall Always!