http://vas21.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/648033 u r denied even basic facility of beign able to cook food as per ur convienence.
u cannot doanything.simply sit and face the insult handed on a platter.
no matter how hard u try u face the same thing. u try to solve it and u face a stiff wall. nobody is ready to listen.
u are ill .insted of helping you ,you r told to back off kicten .u have adaily routine .u have evn fixe dthe timeings when uwill cook. yet daily u r troubled.at that time only others have to cook or else they will die out of hunger.
u cant complain.u can only cry. but that is something cowards do.

]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:30:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/648033 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/633191 Sanjay Gandhi won congress single handedly the powerful state of Uttar Pradesh. Varun has chosen Uttar Pradesh for his political baptism.BJP is hoping that it can reap varun effect in many nearby seats of the region called Rohillakhad (it is area adjoining to philibhit-varun's Constituency).
The general obersavations about Sanjay Gandhi often reflected that Sanjay had great political brain just like Chanakaya.lets see whether Varun is able to replicate that charisma and wield such unparlled power as commanded by his late father Sanjay Gandhi.
Hope varun also has a vision for modern india which even sanjay Gandhi had.Sanjay started the township of NOIDA,approved Gurgoan ,started Maruti car company ,worked on national family planning policy (though he adopted very strict measures for that)and modernisation of industry.
very few now remember that people like R.K.Dhawan ,Jagdish Tytler ,Jagmohan(in DDA and GOVERNOR OF jAMMU AND kaSHMIR,arjun singh were brought into limelight by Sanjay Gandhi.
This nation was a mute spectator to Sanja's tirade during emergencey in 1975-77.yet his son has chosen the very same path.perhaps he is a bit sober than his afther whose court trials resulted in rampage and manhayem in delhi.
Varun is trying his best to prove himself very radical ,different form his cousin Rahul Gandhi.He is using fanatic Hindusim as a ladder to galvanise to great political heights in minimal time.Ever since he has been jaile d,he is keeping quiet instead his mother and party members are going the whole hog on his behalf. let see how far varun will able to baer the huge responsibilty of beign a hard core hindu leader or in future he also adds the tag of development and economic modernisation to his beliefs.
Varun and his motehr Maneka Gandhi have long beign denied their place in the political powerhouse .Mother -son duo seem to be in hurry to recalim their position under the sun that was very smartly taken away from them by Indira Gandhi and Congress party.
This eems to be their real motive and Hindusim is just a platform that has given them ready audience in short span of time.let see how much can they garner from all this.
i would like to sit and watch the rise of other Gandhi.
hope he learns his political ways sson and his political carrer is not cut short as was of his father]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:01:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/633191 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/633163
He probably also calculated that vile anti-Muslim rhetoric would help polarise opinion along communal lines in Pilibhit, which has a large population of Muslims and Sikhs. If this doesn't help in the election, he could claim martyrdom as a Hindu nationalist.

Above all, he knew that the best shortcut to prominence within the BJP doesn't pass through the terrain of moderation, but through extremist territory. It's far easier to fit into the far-right niche within the BJP expanded by Narendra Modi than to compete hard for space within the crowded centre-right marketplace where the bulk of the party's leaders vie with one another for political mileage.

A Westernised, English-speaking young man in a Fabindia kurta would face no challenge if he tries to enter the hardline niche -- especially if he talks like a lumpenised Hindu chauvinist fanatic, and pleases those in the Sangh Parivar who admire uncouth behaviour and relish crude macho-militarist abuse.

The hate speech script rehearsed since early March wasn't written by the BJP or RSS. It was drafted by Varun Gandhi in the knowledge that the BJP wouldn't be able to disown it; nor would it deny him the Pilibhit ticket. After all, what he said about Muslims is exactly what many in the Sangh Parivar think, but dare not say in public. They admire Gandhi's speeches, but hypocritically claim that the CD recording them was doctored. The BJP's statements dissociating itself from his pronouncements lack sincerity.

The BJP rejected the Election Commission's advice to deny a ticket to Gandhi; it participated in the sordid arrest-courting drama. Its UP chief Kalraj Mishra attended it amidst raucous chants of Jai Shri Ram and stone-throwing.

L K Advani has invited ridicule by comparing Varun to Jayaprakash Narayan. Varun frankly depicts himself as a reincarnation of his father's post-Emergency period persona. The slogan in Pilibhit is: 'Varun nahin yeh andhi hain, doosra Sanjay Gandhi hai. (This isn't Varun, but a hurricane; it's Sanjay Gandhi reborn.)'

Like Sanjay, he has brazenly defied the law, torn civility and political decency to shreds, and used goon power to challenge the government.

When Sanjay was legally charged for his excesses, he responded with a mailed fist. He defied court summons and asked his supporters to whip up hysteria and unleash violence. Sanjay made it a point to adopt a 'in-your-face' posture, offend public morality, and spread fear and loathing. After he was held guilty of destroying a film (Kissa Kursi Ka) which criticised the Emergency, his Youth Congress supporters unleashed merry hell in Delhi. The day's headlines read: 'Free-for-all at Sanjay's court appearance.'

Varun Gandhi has emulated his father's smash-and-grab methods in violating the Representation of the People Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153A, which concerns inciting enmity against particular communities/classes. He would have instigated even more violence had he not been detained under the National Security Act, 1980 by the Mayawati government.

It's simply indisputable that he had to be stopped from running his incendiary campaign, calculated to intimidate the minorities and create fear. Regrettably, he couldn't have been debarred from the election by the Election Commission despite strong evidence that he was in breach of the RPA and the Model Code of Conduct.

According to most legal interpretations, the Commission cannot disqualify a candidate until after a court holds him/her guilty. It doesn't stand to reason that we must watch helplessly while a candidate wreaks communal havoc and poisons the political climate. But our system has failed to plug this huge loophole.

Varun Gandhi now stands booked under the draconian NSA, which allows detention for up to a year without bail, subject to approval by an advisory board. The case must be referred to the board within three weeks and decided within another seven weeks. If the detention is approved, Gandhi won't be able to campaign although he can contest the election.

This makes up for the flaw in the RPA, but at the risk of committing an excess and without reforming the election law. The NSA is a much-abused law. It's meant to be used with great caution, but often isn't. It has been routinely applied in numerous states to make preventive arrests of hardened criminals and inciters of communal violence, and used even against agitations. Its objective is defined in blanket terms as preventing a person from acting 'in any manner prejudicial to the security of the state or... to the maintenance of public order...'

Incitement to communal violence falls within this category. The UP government can claim that it patiently filed two FIRs and tried to stop Gandhi's provocative campaign, but he proved recklessly intransigent. Granted, Mayawati probably had a political motive too: countering the Samajwadi Party's charge that she's soft on the BJP. But Varun Gandhi's political agenda is much more vile.

The NSA has been used by many governments, including BJP-led ones, for acts that don't remotely threaten public order. It was used by the BJP in Rajasthan in 2007 against Gujjar pro-reservation agitators. Last December, a BSP MLA was detained under it in UP for killing an engineer. In the 1990s, the BJP used it in UP to detain uncooperative traders. Few people protested then. Yet, the BJP hypocritically calls Varun Gandhi's detention 'political vendetta.'

The BJP has stooped to a new low in endorsing his toxic campaign. Many people had some sympathy for the BJP because it opposed the Emergency. But with its celebration of the Sanjay Gandhi cult, it has forfeited that sympathy and further lost credibility.

Varun Gandhi has only made explicit the virulent anti-Muslim bias that marked Sanjay Gandhi's authoritarian smash-and-grab politics. That may endear him to the BJP, but it has caused revulsion among the larger public, which could impact the election.
]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/633163 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/630269
T V R Shenoy | April 01, 2009 | 16:45 IST


In August 2008, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the Hurriyat Conference leader from Jammu Kashmir, gave an interview that has not received the attention it deserved. He said, among other things, "The question of imposing an Islamic rule is different. Why do people object to it? If America and India can have democratic rule, others can have Communism, why object to Islamic rule?"

Presumably to avoid any misunderstanding, Geelani also said, "The creed of socialism and secularism should not touch our lives and we must be totally governed by the Quran and the Sunnat."

[Varun Gandhi has been gaoled for reportedly making provocative statements. Would any ministry, either in Delhi or in Srinagar, ever dare apply the same draconian laws against the Hurriyat Conference chairman?]

Of course, elections were held in Jammu Kashmir within months of Geelani's incendiary statements. But the polls have scarcely dampened militant activity in the state, nor do they seem to have notably reduced Geelani-like sentiments. We are now told that the assembly elections were about jobs and the trinity of 'bijli-sadak-pani', not about issues of identity.

The Hurriyat Conference leader's sentiments are shared by others across the world. Shortly after engineering the Taliban's ascent to power in the Swat Valley, Mullah Sufi Muhammad gleefully howled, ''We hate democracy. We want the occupation of Islam in the entire world. Islam does not permit democracy or elections.''

It is for Islamic scholars to take up the challenge implicit in that last statement. But if we look at the history of elections in Muslim-dominated nations it is hard to see how voting has led to more 'secular', more pluralistic societies.

How many times has Pakistan gone through the ritual of elections? Yet the Pakistan of today is notably less liberal, more hostile to the world at large than Ayub Khan's Pakistan of the 1960s.

Observers applauded when Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won the last election in Bangladesh. But the most notable event of her tenure to date has been the revolt of the Bangladesh Rifles, not confined to?Dhaka but spread across a dozen cities. One of Sheikh Hasina's cabinet ministers, Faruk Khan, has admitted that the rebels were linked to the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a Muslim fundamentalist outfit. They obviously have as little respect for elections as Mullah Sufi Muhammad on the other end of the subcontinent.

We in India tend to think of Pakistan and Bangladesh only as smaller neighbours. In actuality they happen to be two of the four countries with the largest Muslim citizenry -- India and Indonesia being the other two. And "tiny" Afghanistan, as we think of it, is actually home to the eleventh largest Muslim population. (It is also larger in area than Iraq.)

Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are certainly no advertisement for elections being a shield against Muslim fundamentalism. How do other nations with a large Muslim population fare?

As it happens, some of the largest will be going to the polls this year. Indonesia, with the largest Muslim population on this planet, elects a new parliament on April 9 and a new president on July 8. (There may be runoff elections if nobody comes through with clear majorities in the first round.)

Iran, the principal Shia power and eighth overall in terms of Muslim population, elects a new president on June 12. The West expects little of Iran's polls. The ultimate arbiter is the Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hoseyni Khamenei no matter who sits in the president's chair. There is, however, more than the usual amount of interest in Indonesia -- partly because of President Obama's family links, partly because Indonesia is historically one of the most pluralistic Islamic societies.

Oddly, the influence of the more overtly Islamic, less 'liberal' Indonesian parties seems to be increasing over time as it moves from its history of dictatorship to elected governments. The Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Justice and Prosperity Party) wants a central role for Islam without specifying what that means. The Partai Amanat Nasional (National Mandate Party) speaks out against the historic Hindu and Buddhist influence. Between them they hold 98 seats in the current lower house of parliament, and are generally expected to hold the balance of power in the next one (which will have a total strength of 560).

Indonesia, to be brutally honest, is not an opinion leader in the Muslim world, certainly not on the scale of a Saudi Arabia, an Iran, or an Egypt. But it is home to the least 'fundamentalist' school of Islam. If even Indonesia, that most liberal of Islamic nations, veers to a more puritanical form of Islam with each election, will other Muslim-majority nations act differently?

I come back to where I started. Are the likes of Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mullah Sufi Muhammad correct in holding that Islam and electoral democracy stand at two ends of the spectrum? And if they are wrong -- as I hope they are -- where are the Muslim leaders that are telling them off?
]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:01:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/630269 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/629261
A student asks a teacher, "What is love?"
The teacher said, "in order to answer your question, go to the wheat
field and choose the biggest wheat and come back.
But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back
to pick."
The student went to the field, go thru first row, he saw one big wheat,
but he wonders....may be there is a bigger one later.
Then he saw another bigger one... but may be there is an even bigger
one waiting for him.
Later, when he finished more than half of the wheat field, he starts to
realise that the wheat is not as big as the previous one he saw, he
knew he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted.
So, he ended up went back to the teacher with empty hand.

The teacher
told him, "...this is love... you keep looking for better ones, but
when later you realise, you have already missed the person ]]> Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:25:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/629261 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625983 the start of both your lives, together.
May it be special in every way
sparked by the love you've treasured
and may all the love you're feeling
still find a way to grow,
sharing joys which have a meaning
that only both of you could know.

Again, today is your day,
with the bond between you strong.
God has shown both of you the way
and placed his love where it belongs
and as you hold on to each other
always keeping your love dear,
know you're blessed both by the Father
and each one of us who's here.

Today two friends start a journey
walking hand in hand, as one
they'll share everything, always
now that their journey has begun
and as they go on together,
blessed by me and you,
may these two friends always treasure
the day they said, "I do."]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:14:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625983 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625981
I wished upon a star one night
Shining brightly above me
I wished upon a four-leaf clover
Growing underneath a tree
Each year in June I wished upon a candle glowing bright
I wished upon each shooting star that passed me in the night
I blew away a fallen lash
I whispered in a prayer
That God would send my true love home
For me to love and care
With eyes the color of the sea
And a smile ear to ear
He’d hold me in his arms
And defend from all I fear
A knight in shining armor is the man he’d try to be
And every evening after work he’d come home to be with me
I wished for someone to grow old with and walk with hand in hand
And today my dreams come true, I can call him my husband.


]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:13:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625981 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625979
Tarun Vijay | March 27, 2009 | 18:24 IST

Those who opposed the Ayodhya temple movement, wore silence over the plight of Kashmiri Hindus, damaged the Ram Sethu and denied Lord Rama ever existed, denied the violence at the Godhra railway station, and embraced the butchers of 1984, are collectively gunning at Varun Gandhi's political life.
Column after column by Padma Shris in the media have created an atmosphere where supporting Varun has become a sin. Why? The simple reason is that the farmhouse of Gandhi-Nehru politics has been broken and a scion of the family chose to speak out as his conscience directed.

More than what Varun said or didn't say, it is the hurt and bewilderment over the loss of a Gandhi to the saffron brigade that has made the media and anti-Hindutva politicos react with such venom and acid. He was not heard, not given a chance to present his case, nor did forensic experts examine the so-called proof in the form of a CD containing his speech.

Varun has suddenly dwarfed the media-supported Rahul.

Nobody has ever heard a dynasty member to say with understandable assertion that he or she is a Hindu. Rather, they have always tried to look differently at things. They banned Hindu organisations, imposed the Emergency, removed basic human rights, never willingly facilitated the Sikh massacre probe, rewarded hardened criminals, made alliance with those who were convicted for murder or were facing scandalous charges, had the Muslim League join the government after Partition. Yet, they are nice, decent, peace-loving, patriotic democrats who love to tell others: 'Go read the Gita.'

When Indian soldiers were fighting Pakistani marauders in 1947, we didn't have enough jeeps. So orders were placed with the British company and supply demanded immediately. Our high commissioner in London V K Krishna Menon, Pandit Nehru's blue-eyed boy, messed it up. The jeeps reached a year late.

That was the first scandal in independent India.

We lost Gilgit, Baltistan and Skardu. We lost Aksai Chin because the government in New Delhi didn't know the exact boundaries and so no patrolling was being done there.

In all we have lost 125,000 square km to the Pakistanis and Chinese during Congress rule.

Plus we had a bad dream called 1962.

At that time our ordnance factories were making coffee machines as Pandit Nehru openly argued against having a well-equipped large army for defence. 'Who is going to attack us?' he would ask.

And people still remember the mysterious death of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who simply wanted Kashmir to be a part of India like Bihar or Bengal and the permit system to enter the valley be abolished. Kashmir had two rulers then, its ruler was called Sadr e Riyasat or 'head of state', and it had a prime minister. Mookerjee's martyrdom compelled the Nehru government to remove the permit system and the two heads of state.

Then we had the Mundhra scandal, the Nagarwala case, the L N Mishra murder. The Jana Sangh's fast-emerging leader Deendayal Upadhyaya was murdered. A Congress leader canvassed openly against the official Presidential candidate and supported her own choice as independent nominee. The original Congress symbol was a pair of oxen. After the official Congress broke up, they got the hand as a temporary symbol till the case is finally settled. It would never be.

Opposing Sonia Gandhi's sudden rise in politics only on the grounds of her foreign origin were leaders like Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma. Old Congressmen still feel sad that they lost dynamic and promising leaders of substance like Rajesh Pilot, Madhavrao Scindia and Jitendra Prasada, who could have steered the Congress on an entirely different and strong nationalist course. And a veteran like Sitaram Kesri was humiliated no end.

The only non-dynasty prime minister to run a Congress government for full five years successfully was insulted even in his death and his body-in-state was not allowed to enter the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. An airport in his home state to be named after him was opposed to by Congressmen although the proposal was put forth by an Opposition leader.

This is how they treat their party leaders not belonging to the family. They amended, abused and twisted the Constitution, put the entire Opposition behind bars for an undisclosed period and were harsh on the unyielding masses.

Yet, they are the democrats and secular lighthouse of freedom of expression and liberty.

They kept India backward in such a planned manner that even after 62 years of independence we are yet to have a spacious functional airport in the national capital, 70,000 farmers committed suicide in one year, decorated soldiers returned their medals in protest and a movie on our poverty-stricken 'slum dogs' fetches the Oscar. And they loved illegal infiltrators for the sake of their votes -- and still they say they are the inheritors of a freedom struggle that demanded the ouster of aliens.

No electoral reforms, no police reforms or strengthening their morale and weapons, the administration is still run the way it functioned during the Sahebs; and despite having won a well-fought war in 1971 we couldn't settle the Kashmir issue or control the jihadi tail-wagger in the neighbourhood.

Minorities were so well supported in Congress regimes that in the sixth decade after independence they felt a need to provide special crutches for them. Show the 'M' card and get the privilege, became the new secular psalm, further shrinking the space and opportunities for the condemned majority.

More than anything else they tried to wreck the morale of the assertive Hindus who faced the onslaught of invaders for 12 centuries with unparalleled bravery and with invincible spirit to protect their culture and the fragrance of the land. They deserved to be comforted most after a fractured independence and a massacre that was thrust upon them by a weak Congress leadership. Yet, a large section of Hindus today feel cheated and anguished.

They form governments in 12 states, prove they can run the country beautifully with a coalition of 25 parties with diametrically opposed ideologies. And one of their Swayamsewaks unfurled the tricolour six times from the ramparts of the Red Fort as the prime minister, impressed world leaders and the international media with a record of infrastructure-building, communication revolution and women's empowerment, chose a Muslim to be the President and conducted Pokhran II by fooling the CIA's 'eyes', and resisted extraordinary world pressure and sanctions.

Yet, they are called anti-development, anti-women, even anti-social. In not a single so-called mainstream media outlet are their views published, but every news item is scanned to hurl stones on them through editorialising on the front-page.

Still, they are the very objective face of our independent media.

The choicest abuses used by 'decent guarantors of the freedom of expression' columnists and editorial-writers can be collected as a bouquet of India's uncivilised lexicon, yet their films against the very spirit of Hindu nature get widely supported by a regime that survives on Hindu money and votes.

Their love for development and secularism is so deep that they can send dredgers to destroy a million years of faith and marine life because that was Ram Sethu, but won't dare to touch a six feet by six feet dargah in the middle of the road blocking the highway and causing accidents, for fear of annoying a vote-bank.

And then they say, they are the future of India.

Tarun Vijay is Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi
]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:11:00 EDT http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/625979 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/595757 If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always.
Your beauty will be that of Apsara.
Wherever you may go, many will attend, serve and protect you, surrounding you on all sides.]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:17:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/595757 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/595755 and my beloved is mine,
who browses among the lilies. ]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:16:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/595755 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/570197
How it’s done is simple. When a woman goes into labour, the village health-worker calls the district hospital for emergency transport. The woman is rushed to the hospital, where the baby gets an immediate health check-up after birth.

In a year, over 11,000 women in Guna have used the call service and an average of five sick children are admitted in the neonatal ward every day.

“In just one year, we have saved 1,500 lives in our small department that caters to a population of 10 lakh people. Saving a baby and handing her back to his mother gives me great satisfaction and I cannot imagine working anywhere else,” said Dr Verma, who did his MD in paediatrics in Bhopal but left the city to work in Guna District Hospital’s newly-established neonatal ward on December 14, 2007.

Dr Verma clearly plans to stay on. Unlike other doctors on small-town postings, he has moved his family – wife and daughter – to Guna to be with him. “I’m not alone. Others like me are choosing to work in their home state Madhya Pradesh, which is among India’s five states with the highest child deaths neonatal mortality (death within the first 28 days of life),” he said.

India, along with Indonesia and Bangladesh, are the three countries with the largest health-worker shortage in absolute numbers in the world, reports UNICEF’s The State of The World’s Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health report. Research has sown that over 80 per cent of India’s 78,000 women who die at childbirth and 72 per 1,000 children who die before age 5 can be saved if they get basic healthcare services.

“It’s a vicious cycle. Babies whose mothers die during the first six weeks of their lives are far more likely to die in the first five years,” said Dr Karin Hulshof, UNICEF India Representative at launch of its The State of The World’s Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health report. Last year, Hindustan Times broke the news of malnutrition–related child deaths in four of Madhya Pradesh tribal districts of Satna, Khandwa, Shivpuri and Sheopur (125 children die of malnutrition in tribal MP, Sept 13, 2008).

“India has cut its under-five deaths from 117 to 72 per 1,000 births between 1990 and 2007, but the same progress has not been made in addressing the health risk of mothers. The Guna success has the potential to change that,” said Dr Hulshof.

Within a year, the Guna success is being replicated in other districts in Madhya Pradesh. “We have started training staff nurses on infant care and a similar center is being set up in Shivapuri district. Hopefully, thousands more will benefit by the end of this year," said Dr Verma.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:07:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/570197 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/567103 The story of Dr Binayak Sen makes ironic reading at a time when we want to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai strike to ‘Indian justice’. It questions the phrase I have deliberately placed in inverted commas. Is Sen receiving justice or has he become the victim of a travesty?

I can’t offer a definitive answer because I don’t know enough. But after spending an hour with his wife, Ilina, I feel the details she has to relate deserve to be better known. They challenge the concepts of fairplay and honesty without which justice is impossible. If what Ilina Sen says is untrue, incomplete or selective — and therefore misleading — let the state of Chhattisgarh rebut her.

But until then, the cry of a wife whose husband has been in jail for 19 months, facing a trial that could drag on for years, despite appeals for his release from 26 Nobel laureates and most of the civil liberty associations in India, needs to be heard. We would be heartless and wicked if we are deaf to such cries.

Binayak Sen was arrested in May 2007. His wife tells me he is accused of “treason, waging war against the state and abetting activities of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist)”. More specifically, it is claimed that he passed on letters from Narayan Sanyal, a Maoist prisoner in Raipur jail, to a certain Piyush Guha, a local businessman said to be close to left-wing extremists. These letters, its alleged, were obtained during 33 visits to Sanyal made under false pretences.

Now for the facts as reported by Ilina.

Binayak Sen does not deny meeting Sanyal. As general secretary of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, visiting prisoners in jail is one of his duties. More importantly, he did so with permission from the authorities. But to prove he ‘conspired’, the prosecution has to establish Sen also meet Guha. Otherwise how could he pass on the letters? But this they’ve failed to do.

When the trial commenced in April 2008, 83 witnesses were listed for deposition. By November, 16 were dropped by the prosecutors themselves, six declared hostile and 30 others deposed without corroborating the accusations. That left just 31.

Meanwhile, Ilina tells me, the desperate prosecution tried to rig the evidence. She says a sealed envelope with 10 documents seized at the time of Sen’s arrest — each of them countersigned by Sen and the arresting officer — was opened in court and found to have 11 documents. The 11th did not bear Sen’s signature but did carry that of the arresting officer.

Sensing that the case was collapsing, the defence appealed for bail. It was

not the first time they had done so. But now, in the changed circumstances, they felt they had good grounds to try again. Ilina says bail is normally only refused if the court believes the accused will tamper with the evidence, prejudice witnesses or run away. That hardly applies to Sen. He chose to voluntarily go to the Chhattisgarh police when he learnt he was under suspicion. Yet, his bail

application was dismissed without being entertained.

However, the very next day, the police filed a supplementary chargesheet adding another 47 witnesses to the original list of 83. At the rate at which the case is being heard, Ilina concludes, it could drag on for several more years.

While in prison, Binayak Sen has won the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. He is the only Indian to be so honoured. The citation reads: “He has spent his lifetime educating people about health practices and civil liberties… his good works need to be recognized as a major contribution to India and to global health; they are certainly not a threat to state security.”

Among those who have appealed for his release are Amartya Sen, Noam Chomsky, retired Indian chief justices, Magsaysay and Booker Prize winners, and eminent Indian and international academics, scientists and filmmakers. Their pleas have been ignored.

Ilina left me with three questions. How long can a man be kept in prison by refusing to grant him bail? Is this case being dragged on by an obdurate prosecution unwilling to accept it made a mistake and, therefore, unable to face up to embarrassment? And finally, is the prestige of the State more important than the liberties of an individual citizen?

]]> Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:59:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/567103 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566137 Partition saw many families migrating to India and an equal number of families moving to Pakistan. Suraj Sadan, an eight-year-old boy, was a part of one such family that walked from Pakistan to Delhi.

The life in the refugee camp had a bright lining, remembers the young boy, now a 69 year old man. "It was October. One day Mahatma Gandhi visited our camp. Even today, I remember him; he was like a bronze statue, shining. He sat on the floor and sang Easwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de bhagwan with three girls. That was one of the most unforgettable moments in my life," Sadan says"Gandhi is dead for all the others but for me, he will always be alive. I saw him alive, and I can still feel the magnetic vibes that came from him. As I looked at him, I said to myself, when I grow older, I will make his drawings. I had been drawing even when I was in the refugee camp."
He did draw the Mahatma when he was older. In 1956, the Hindustan Times and Navbharat Times asked him to do the drawings of Gandhiji for the newspapers. For the next ten years, he mainly drew various poses of the Mahatma and also many other political leaders like Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, etc.

"But it was mainly Mahatma Gandhi."

Laurels came to him soon, one after another. In 1965, he won a scholarship from the French government and moved to Paris. Soon after that, he was able to hold an exhibition of the Gandhi paintings in Paris. In 1969, the French government decided to celebrate Gandhi centenary, and he was invited to have an exhibition of his Gandhi paintings again in Paris.UNESCO published his paintings on the cover page and the French government also selected a painting of his for a stamp.
Once a person approached him at an exhibition and invited him to Canada saying he 'could contribute a lot to the country'.

So, Sadan moved to Canada in 1971. From then on, Montreal in Canada has been his home. "But I pass my time travelling all over the world painting Gandhiji. Rather, Gandhiji takes me to all these places."

He paints Gandhiji because he wants to keep his spirit alive through his paintings and his quotations. "Every time I paint Gandhiji, I get new inspiration, new composition, new expression and new vibrations. Every time I paint him, he is different. I get peace when I paint him. I don't know why. Before spreading his message of peace, I feel peace first!"
In 2006, Sadan started the Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, and the foundation invites people who can spread Gandhi's message.
"Those who come to listen to them get the message of peace ad non-violence."

Sadan feels that Gandhiji's message of peace is more appreciated in other countries than in India. "Their faces brighten the moment you utter the name of Gandhi but in India, he is forgotten. Many outside India tell me that he would be the only guy who could bring peace to today's world. In India, his name is uttered many times but in India's heart, he is not there. I feel Gandhi is more celebrated in other countries than in India."




.
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:21:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566137 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566133 it is rather cruel when all her dreams are shattered with inthe very first hour and she doesnot even know how to react.
the reason -dowry.
she is then tortured ,insulted and made to work like a servant.
yet she keeps quiet.when her husband tries to interven than he is ridiculed by his family.his dad decides to boycott the new couple. amazingly whole clan follow suit. what is the fault of this new bride . nothing. yet gossip mongers shred her reputation.she is given the tag of son stealer.some even accuse of doing magic.some call her a witch
when her parents try to intervene they are insulted by all relatives.
reason -dowry. is money more important than human beigns?
than time passes by. young couple learn to live on their own.
suddenly the cruel inlaws run out of money. now they want money from this young couple. shameless people.yet they want this couple to say sorry and plead forgiveness. the couple is still threatened with dire consequnces. reason-money and false pride.
now the father in law brings in his friends and ask these freinds to make his son say sorry and hand ocver money.but when these people learn about the whole issue. some find about it though their investigation.they tell the father in law about his follies. wise father in law decides to discard these freinds and now is looking at alterantives to trouble this couple.he doent wnat this couple to settle down.he is ably aide dby his family.
amazingly he has spread stories about his mistreatment by his daugther in law.yet he asks this daughter in law to give him breakfast.double standrads.when daughter in law run their errands they dont acknowledge it.
the young couple works hard to make their ends meet.they are not beign able to spend quality time with each other.they are constantly beign insulted by all relatives and ridiculed. whole family wants them to leave the family home and live on streets.reason -pride and want to control business of this couple.
wise father in law once asked his daughter in law to take up a job and give the salary to him.as she didnt brought enough dowry. he wnated to be compensated this way.when thsi issue became public he backtracked but still wants dowry in cash. the whole wedding expense was met by girl's family and rest by groom. groom's family just wnated dowry and gifts.when the couple was on their honeymoon than their rest saving were also encashed by greedy family
cruelty of such people know no bounds.
young couple has never retorted back coz they belive in god and know one day truth will come out.
hope God is listening to their prayers.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:55:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566133 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566129
Rutali's mother gave her a newly opened bank saving passbook with Rs.1000 deposit amount.
Mother: 'Rutali, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your marriagelife.
When there's something happy and memorable happened in your newlife, put some money in.
Write down what it's about next to the line. Themore memorable the event is, the more money you can put in.
I've done thefirst one for you today. Do the others with Hitesh.
When you look back after years, you can know how much happiness you've had.'
Rutali shared this with Hitesh when getting home.
They both thought it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit can bemade.
This was what they did after certain time:
- 7 Feb: Rs.100, first birthday celebration for Hitesh after marriage
- 1 Mar: Rs.300, salary raise for Rutali
- 20 Mar: Rs.200, vacation trip to Bali
- 15 Apr: Rs..2000, Rutali got pregnant
- 1 Jun: Rs.1000, Hitesh got promoted
...... and so on...
However, after years, they started fighting and arguing for trivial things.They didn't talk much.
They regretted that they had married the nastiest people in the world.... no more love...Kind of typical nowadays, huh?
One day Rutali talked to her Mother:
'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!'
Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want if youreally can't stand it. But before that, do one thing first.
Remember the saving passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first.
You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'
Rutali thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting at the queueand planning to cancel the account.
While she was waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked, and looked, and looked.
Then the memory of all the previous joy and happiness just came up her mind. Her eyes were then filled with tears. She left and went home.
When she was home, she handed the passbook to Hitesh, asked him to spend the money before getting divorce..
The next day, Hitesh gave the passbook back to Rutali. She found a newdeposit of Rs.5000.
And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I notice how much I've loved you thru out all these years. How much happiness you've brought me.'
They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back to the safe.
Do you know how much money they had saved when they retired? I did notask.I believe the money did not matter any more after they had gone thru all the good years in their life.

"When you fall, in any way,
Don't see the place where you fell, instead see the place from where you slipped.
Life is about correcting mistakes."




]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:55:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/566129 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/565205
A special world for you and me
A special bond one cannot see
It wraps us up in its cocoon
And holds us fiercely in its womb.

Its fingers spread like fine spun gold
Gently nestling us to the fold
Like silken thread it holds us fast
Bonds like this are meant to last.

And though at times a thread may break
A new one forms in its wake
To bind us closer and keep us strong
In a special world, where we belong.

- Sheelagh Lennon - ]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:11:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/565205 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/565203
A friend is someone we turn to
when our spirits need a lift.
A friend is someone we treasure
for our friendship is a gift.
A friend is someone who fills our lives
with beauty, joy, and grace.
And makes the whole world we live in
a better and happier place.

- Jean Kyler McManus ]]> Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:10:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/565203 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/563161
She has made it a point to come almost daily failing which on alternate days. She does not go to others but makes a beeline towards me. She comes and sits by my side too close to my comfort. Something must be bothering her for she is always in tears. Even her smile is strained. She caresses me with her hand and strokes my head. She invariably brings some snacks or sweets in a small box for me to eat. However much I decline she would not leave me without ensuring my eating the stuff. I have told her in angry tones times without number that I would wish to be left alone and have asked her why she was troubling me always and not others. But she would not get upset. Funny she called me her appa (dad) and said she did not know others nor had she any interest in them except me. Frankly I do not know this lady at all though her face is familiar and reminds me of my long dead wife. She is no doubt kind to me but I wish to get along with thoughts undisturbed. I am actually planning to write a book on how a man can maintain his faculties at the optimum level by constant practice .But she daily breaks my chain of thoughts and my treatise is getting delayed .Am I wrong in expressing my annoyance at her and speak to her harshly? But she cries making me more miserable. I don’t know whether I have developed a fondness for her.

I have seen her always approaching one man in white pants and shirt near the office building. That man is not good. I think he is a cruel man as he has hurt me many times dragging me to his room with his henchmen. She should not go near him for her benefit and safety. I told her of my apprehension many times. But she just smiles and ignores my caution.

Today after she met me, she started moving towards the office, I followed her without being noticed. I wanted to be of help in case some harm came to her. When she went inside the office and I hid behind a partially closed window to overhear the conversation. I heard her asking him “Is appa improving? I do not see any sign of improvement. I could see no sign of recognition in his face.”

He replied “Sorry madam, it takes long time in some cases. We are doing our best and even made him undergo shock therapy. Let us hope he becomes ok soon. Pray to God.”

I could not understand about whom she was talking to him. I was determined to ask her when she came out who her appa was.

]]> Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:29:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/563161 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/562833 Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth

]]> Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:13:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/562833 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/561231
"I don't talk about these tabloids. The tabloid trash is full of lies." Former presidential candidate John Edwards reacted to his alleged affair with the producer of his campaign video series Rielle Hunter. He uttered the words on July 23 at a press conference in Houston, after the National Enquirer subsequently reported that he had visited Hunter and their "love child" at the Beverly Hilton. Edwards continued to deny the allegations until he admitted the affair to ABC News and released a written statement.

The fundamentals of our economy are strong." John McCain made remark at a rally in Florida on September 15, as Lehman Brothers was filing for bankruptcy and the stock market continued to tumble.

"Barack Obama targeted the comment and asked: What economy are you talking about?" U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a state Democratic election celebration party in Manchester.
I can see Russia from my house!" Tina Fey made the comment while taking a jibe at Sarah Palin's remark: "You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." Palin's bizarre statement on foreign policy experience had people questioning the Republican vice presidential candidate's qualifications for higher office.

"I want to cut his nuts off." Jesse Jackson's comment got him a slew of unwanted attention, especially since he was talking about the soon-to-be president-elect, Barack Obama

"Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88, and he ran a good campaign, and so did Obama." Bill Clinton spoke of the old guard of civil rights leaders, and was apparently eager to draw comparisons between his wife's primary opponent and other black candidates who proved to have limited national appeal.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:47:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/561231 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557361

Thank you for your support.

That is the simple card I got, tucked inside the leather folder, when I asked for my bill after a short lunch at Frangipani, one of Hotel Trident's famous restaurants. A questionnaire accompanied the card.

I signaled the waiter again and requested for my bill. The courteous sari-clad hostess came over and said, "Ma'am, it is on the house. Thank you for your support."

The Trident, one Mumbai's oldest hotels, reopened on Sunday after being shut for more than three weeks since 26/11, when it
was attacked by three Pakistani terrorists with guns and grenades. In the ensuing carnage, 22 guests and staffers had been killed.

Frangipani, the all-day continental cuisine banquet area that opens first, was serving its guests by 7 am. And though the
restaurant was nearly half full at lunch -- actor and rugby player Rahul Bose [Images] was entertaining a group of friends as were a number of the invited dignitaries -- Frangipani was functioning crisply as if it was an ordinary day. Service was probably
at its best as numerous staff members solicitously hovered around and managers came across to check if diners were happy with their meals.

At noon, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan [Images] and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, along with nearly 100 long-term patrons and guests, gathered at the lobby of the Trident for a special multi-faith prayer meeting organised by the hotel. The guests included dignitaries like Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSP-Merrill Lynch and Anil Madhok, former general manager of Oberoi.



They were welcomed by P K S Bikki Oberoi, chairman and chief executive, East India Hotels. Each patron/ guest received a pink rose with a card that said: "Life is a challenge, meet it! Life is a dream, realise it! Life is a game, play it! Life is love, enjoy it" - Sathya Saibaba.

The second quote was from William [Images] Ellery Channing: "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

A Parsi priest, a Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest, a Hindu pujari, a lady Jain priest, a maula, a rabbi and a Sikh priest chanted prayers for those who had died, those who were injured, those who had assisted/saved lives. They also prayed for the hotel, the city and the country.



A hymn incorporating all faiths was sung to the accompaniment of low table and harmonium. It was a solemn, emotional ceremony and the atmosphere was somber. Waiters, housekeepers and bell boys gathered on the stairs that connect Trident with the Oberoi, the passage through which the terrorists moved between both hotels.

The chief minister quietly came across to Oberoi, shaking hands and congratulating the hotel staff.

In a grim reminder to the terrible tragedy, Hotel Trident has put in a series of security barriers beyond the hotel doors.



Guests have to alight at road level, show an ID and then enter the hotel driveway. A large X-ray machine is in place for luggage and bag surveillance, supervised by security personnel and polite bell boys.



Another security arch and bag check is conducted at the doors, before a guest walks in.



Ranjit Singh and his doorman colleagues, in their high turbans and white uniforms, who once called for your car by microphone and ushered guests to their cars, are now reduced to cordially ushering guests into the security areas.

Rattan Keswani, president of Trident Hotels, had informed the media on Saturday, "About 100 of our rooms are booked from tomorrow." He clarified that 50 to 60 were Indian guests. Occupancy by business guests is usually lowest during Christmas and New Year, Keswani said, and added that the real test for the hotel would be the growth of occupancy levels in the first week of January, traditionally the beginning of the hotel's busiest season.



"I seek help from all of you (the media) to direct your efforts in portraying Mumbai and India as a safe destination. Fears of guests and the implications of travel advisories must be allayed aggressively. These only affect our citizens and our economic well being. We need you to help us get the travelers back," he had said.

"Our team performed its duty with valour and diligence at grave personal risk. It continues to work tirelessly to reopen Trident," he said.



The staff worked tirelessly for over three weeks to get the hotel back into the pristine condition it was in when it reopened today -- gleaming floors, shining marble and brass. Keswani said that the hotel staff wanted to make sure that no signs of the terror attack remained inside the hotel.

He added, "We must not forget the many unknown citizens of Mumbai who helped our colleagues with food, water and medicines through the events day and night. They were unknown angels who emerged from nowhere and faded away. I wish we could somehow thank them individually."



The Oberoi, Trident's sister hotel, has still not opened. Parts of it are boarded up. The main picture window that looks out onto the Arabian Sea has not yet been repaired. The hotel authorities could not offer a tentative date of re-opening.

]]> Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:56:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557361 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557359
That is the simple card I got, tucked inside the leather folder, when I asked for my bill after a short lunch at Frangipani, one of Hotel Trident's famous restaurants. A questionnaire accompanied the card.

I signaled the waiter again and requested for my bill. The courteous sari-clad hostess came over and said, "Ma'am, it is on the house. Thank you for your support."

The Trident, one Mumbai's oldest hotels, reopened on Sunday after being shut for more than three weeks since 26/11, when it
was attacked by three Pakistani terrorists with guns and grenades. In the ensuing carnage, 22 guests and staffers had been killed.

Frangipani, the all-day continental cuisine banquet area that opens first, was serving its guests by 7 am. And though the
restaurant was nearly half full at lunch -- actor and rugby player Rahul Bose was entertaining a group of friends as were a number of the invited dignitaries -- Frangipani was functioning crisply as if it was an ordinary day. Service was probably
at its best as numerous staff members solicitously hovered around and managers came across to check if diners were happy with their meals.

At noon, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, along with nearly 100 long-term patrons and guests, gathered at the lobby of the Trident for a special multi-faith prayer meeting organised by the hotel. The guests included dignitaries like Hemendra Kothari, chairman of DSP-Merrill Lynch and Anil Madhok, former general manager of Oberoi.

?

They were welcomed by P K S Bikki Oberoi, chairman and chief executive, East India Hotels. Each patron/ guest received a pink rose with a card that said: "Life is a challenge, meet it! Life is a dream, realise it! Life is a game, play it! Life is love, enjoy it" - Sathya Saibaba.

The second quote was from William Ellery Channing: "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

A Parsi priest, a Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest, a Hindu pujari, a lady Jain priest, a maula, a rabbi and a Sikh priest chanted prayers for those who had died, those who were injured, those who had assisted/saved lives. They also prayed for the hotel, the city and the country.

?

A hymn incorporating all faiths was sung to the accompaniment of low table and harmonium. It was a solemn, emotional ceremony and the atmosphere was somber. Waiters, housekeepers and bell boys gathered on the stairs that connect Trident with the Oberoi, the passage through which the terrorists moved between both hotels.

The chief minister quietly came across to Oberoi, shaking hands and congratulating the hotel staff.

In a grim reminder to the terrible tragedy, Hotel Trident has put in a series of security barriers beyond the hotel doors.

?

Guests have to alight at road level, show an ID and then enter the hotel driveway. A large X-ray machine is in place for luggage and bag surveillance, supervised by security personnel and polite bell boys.

?

Another security arch and bag check is conducted at the doors, before a guest walks in.

?

Ranjit Singh and his doorman colleagues, in their high turbans and white uniforms, who once called for your car by microphone and ushered guests to their cars, are now reduced to cordially ushering guests into the security areas.

Rattan Keswani, president of Trident Hotels, had informed the media on Saturday, "About 100 of our rooms are booked from tomorrow." He clarified that 50 to 60 were Indian guests. Occupancy by business guests is usually lowest during Christmas and New Year, Keswani said, and added that the real test for the hotel would be the growth of occupancy levels in the first week of January, traditionally the beginning of the hotel's busiest season.

?

"I seek help from all of you (the media) to direct your efforts in portraying Mumbai and India as a safe destination. Fears of guests and the implications of travel advisories must be allayed aggressively.? These only affect our citizens and our economic well being. We need you to help us get the travelers back," he had said.

"Our team performed its duty with valour and diligence at grave personal risk. It continues to work tirelessly to reopen Trident," he said.

?

The staff worked tirelessly for over three weeks to get the hotel back into the pristine condition it was in when it reopened today -- gleaming floors, shining marble and brass. Keswani said that the hotel staff wanted to make sure that no signs of the terror attack remained inside the hotel.

He added, "We must not forget the many unknown citizens of Mumbai who helped our colleagues with food, water and medicines through the events day and night.? They were unknown angels who emerged from nowhere and faded away.? I wish we could somehow thank them individually."

?

The Oberoi, Trident's sister hotel, has still not opened. Parts of it are boarded up. The main picture window that looks out onto the Arabian Sea has not yet been repaired. The hotel authorities could not offer a tentative date of re-opening.

]]> Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:55:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557359 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557357
We salute all those who sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could be informed.

But if you carefully touch the glass of the window you realise it isn't there. It probably cracked, or was blown away, during a grenade attack or gunfire on November 26, or in the hours after that, when 31 people, including 12 Taj staffers, including seven chefs, were killed. It is a small scar, still visible in the newly re-opened hotel.

Ever since the Taj Mahal Tower hotel -- the palace or heritage wing remains shut for an extensive restoration job that will be completed only next year � opened its doors again on Sunday evening at 7 pm, with heavy security in place, Mumbaikars have flooded the hotel.

Some sit in the lobby serenely listening to pianist Moreno, smart in black and white, play Ode to Joy, popularised in Beethoven's ninth symphony.

Others pose in the centre of the lobby, in front of the brighty-lit,spangled Christmas tree [Images] for photographs. The lobby blazes with lights and cheer, a tad forced. The portico outside is decorated with lit wreaths. About 100 staff members float around welcoming people/guests and managing the crowds of curious Mumbaikars.

Little knots of visitors float down the corridors to the pool area and the lobby of the old Taj, a portion of which is open, peeping at the just re-opened Ravissant (a luxury goods shop) festooned in marigold garlands, the brightly-lit Louis Vuitton handbag showroom and the Indian Textiles. They pause, quietly, and look at the glass-less window display.

Garlanded guests, who have just checked in, a number of them foreigners, head to the bank of elevators.

At the big window looking out to the glowing Tree of Life memorial for the 31 victims, located in the open-air atrium, opposite the popular Nalanda bookshop, amidst a sea of candles, Christmas trees and reindeer, patrons new and old gather. Some solemnly snap cell-phone pictures of the memorial as a souvenir. Others, probably tourists, take out cameras and shoot more special images.

A lady, probably from the North East, stands looking sadly at the flickering candles. She says she used to live in Bandra and decided to come today because she heard the hotel was opening. Moreno, the 'piano man', with a musical note brooch, comes across to chat with her. He recounts to her how during a restroom break, the terrorists came in and started shooting and he thought it was some construction work. But he managed to make an escape right through the main doors of the hotel.

Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC [Get Quote], and his wife Smita, sit in the lobby. They are almost certainly among the 1,000 guests invited by Taj Hotels and the Tatas, along with novelist Shobhaa De, Raymond Group chairman and managing director Gautam Hari Singhania and his wife Nawaz, Godrej [Get Quote] group chairman Adi Godrej, actor Rahul Bose [Images], Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank [Get Quote], among others, to mark the reopening of the hotel with a puja and a discreet function, after which Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group addressed the press at dusk, with Taj Hotels CEO, Raymond Bickson standing at his side.

He said, "This is a memorable day in (its) show of strength, a tribute to all those who have lost their lives or those who have saved many lives. It is an indication of our participation in the community of the city of Mumbai."

The Parekhs are probably catching their breath before they carry on to the next function of the evening. A few chairs away from them sits a woman with her eyes closed, motionless.

All of the Taj Mahal hotel's [Images] 278 rooms in the 23-storey tower wing are once again operational. Five restaurants of the hotel have also opened again � the hotel's rooftop Mediterranean eatery Souk, fine-dining eatery Zodiac Grill, its coffee shop Shamiana, bar Starboard and Indian cuisine restaurant Masala Kraft. They are booked out. At Starboard, nostalgic songs like Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight play, as city nightbirds troop in hoping for a table.

Outside the hotel, suited Deepak Datta, an NRI from the US, who says he was the first guest to re-check in after the opening, offers a series of interviews to the The Guardian, Sky News and ITN. "I booked the same room. I have to sleep in the same room tonight. By being the first guest I am doing my small bit," he says.

]]> Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:48:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557357 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557087
When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.


When someone is in your life for a Reason, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritual ly.

They may seem like a Godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on. Some people come into your life for a Season, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an exp erience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it, it is real. But only for a season. Lifetime relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to

Have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to Use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant]]> Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:16:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/557087 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667 http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/555345
Once upon a time a married couple celebrated their 25th marriage
anniversary. They had become famous in the city for not having a
single conflict in their period of 25 years. Local newspaper editors
had gathered at the occasion to find out the secret of their well
known "happy going marriage".
Editor: ¡°Sir . It's amazingly unbelievable. How did you make this possible? "
Husband recalling his old honeymoon days said: " We had been to
Shimla for honeymoon after marriage. Having selected the horse riding
finally, we both started the ride on different horses. My horse was
pretty okay but the horse on which my wife was riding seemed to be a
crazy one.

On the way ahead, that horse jumped suddenly, making my wife topple
over. Recovering her position from the ground, she patted the horse's
back and said "This is your first time". She again climbed the horse
and continued with the ride. After a while, it happened again. This
time she again kept calm and said "This is your second time" and
continued. When the horse dropped her third time, she silently took
out the revolver from the purse and shot the horse dead!!

I shouted at my wife: "What did you do you psycho. You killed the poor
animal Are you crazy?" .

She gave a silent look and said: "This is your first time!!!"
Husband: "That's it. We are happy ever after¡ ]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:40:00 EST http://vas21.tigblog.org/post/555345 28.55 77.266666728.5577.2666667