Thursday, December 31, 2009

महाजाल पर सुरेश चिपलूनकर (Suresh Chiplunkar): मिग-21 के एक जाँबाज और जीवट वाले “लेखक पायलट” के बारे में जानिये…... Paralyzed Fighter Pilot Writer

  • tags: no_tag

    • उन्होंने अपनी विकलांगता को कैसे स्वीकार किया, कैसे उससे लड़ाई की, कैसे हिम्मत बनाये रखी आदि संस्मरणों को उन्होने एक लेख “एयरबोर्न टू चेयरबोर्न” में लिखा और उसकी लोकप्रियता ने उनके “लेखकीय कैरियर” की शुरुआत कर दी। अपने घर केरल से मीलों दूर पुणे के सैनिक अस्पताल में पहले-पहल उन्होंने दाँतों में पेन पकड़कर लिखना शुरु किया, लेकिन कम्प्यूटर के आने के बाद उन्होंने सामने की-बोर्ड लटकाकर लकड़ी की पतली डंडी से टाइप करना सीख लिया। महाराष्ट्र तथा केरल के अंग्रेजी माध्यम बोर्ड में उनका लिखा हुआ लेख पाठ्यक्रम में शामिल कर लिया गया, और इस लेख ने उनके कई-कई युवा मित्र बनवा दिये।
    • जय हिन्द, जय जवान… आप सभी को अंग्रेजी नववर्ष की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं…

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Give protection to Muslim woman, Hindu husband: HC

  • tags: no_tag

    • The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Sivaganga District police to provide protection to a Muslim woman and her Hindu husband, who reportedly received threats after their recent marriage.

      When the case came up for hearing yesterday, the couple Murugan and Ariffa, told the court that both of them were above 18 years of age and had married as they were in love with each other.
    • Madurai
    • File photo of lawyers celebrating a landmark decision outside the Madras High Court in Chennai.
    • Ariffa had reportedly converted to Hinduism after her marriage.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Knighthood for UK's first Sikh judge

  • tags: no_tag

    • Britain’s first Indian-origin judge - a man known for his outspoken and uncompromising views - was Thursday named for the country’s topmost honour.

      Judge Mota Singh, who once shredded the US-led war on terror in an address at the US embassy in London, was named for a knighthood in the British Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

    • Singh hit the headlines in 1967 when he appeared in a British court as a turban-wearing barrister. In 1982, upon becoming Britain’s first Asian judge, he again insisted on wearing his turban rather than the traditional judge’s wig to court.
    • The last Indian-origin man to be knighted was the writer Salman Rushdie in 2007.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Walking with Jesus on the 'Right Path' - The Christian Messenger

  • tags: no_tag

    Cheryl Balwani
    • BORN into a Catholic family, Cheryl Balwani was always concerned from the time she was a child about where she would spend her eternity. As she grew up and met people from different faiths, she started questioning the authenticity of the Bible and wondered how God could send ‘nice people’ to hell just because they didn’t believe in Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him to be the only living God. She started exploring various religions besides occultism and astrology only to realize they were all wrong paths. She realized no matter how many good deeds one does, every person has a sinful nature inherent in him which cannot be cleansed by mere religion, rituals, prayer, meditation, yoga or doing more good deeds. When she realized only Jesus can save a person, if he chooses Him as his personal Lord and Saviour and obeys His word, she became a born-again Christian eight years ago. Cheryl has recently released a delightful collection of seven Gospel songs titled ‘The Right Path’. The album targets both non-believers and believers in their quest to find meaning in their lives. THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER met Cheryl Balwani, the upcoming Gospel singer, at her Mumbai residence recently. Excerpts from the interview:
    • You come from a Roman Catholic family. How did your family and the Catholic church react when you became a born-again Christian?

      When I became a born-again Christian, I was already married to my husband who is a Sindhi Hindu. Before my marriage my parents were concerned that I would lose touch with my religion as I was getting married to a non-Christian. I became a born-again Christian a few years after I got married.

    • Your husband is Hindu. What did he have to say about your CD? How is your son growing up with the Lord?

      My husband and I went through a rough patch after I became a Christian. I’ve made many lifestyle changes since then. We have had a lot of fights and quarrels over religion. Earlier, I would go with him to the temple and bow down to idols and do puja at home. When I stopped doing that, initially it was a major issue with him.

      He has known me for a long time and I guess it was natural for him to behave in that way. Now, he doesn’t mind in letting me be a Christian as long as I don’t talk to him about it. My husband heard a few songs from the CD and didn’t say anything. I am praying for my husband to know God just as I do, so that he too can be saved.

      My son is just four. I encourage him to pray and talk to God all the time. I am building him up with the Lord. I take him to church on Sundays sometimes. I never force him to go to church if he is unwilling, maybe asleep or busy playing.


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

MRM to take quota war to Congress bastion - Lucknow - City - The Times of India

  • tags: no_tag

    • In a shrewd move to turn up the heat on those who matter, Muslim pro-quota activists have zeroed in on Amethi as the next destination
    • for airing their demands. The Muslim Reservation Movement (MRM), a conglomerate of minority outfits like Jamait-ul-Ulema, Jamait-ul-Qureshi, Milli Council, Muslim Majlis, Indian National League, etc, on Wednesday announced its decision to storm the Gandhi bastion -- either Amethi or Jagdishpur -- where it would host meetings and jalsa in January/February 2010.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Love marriage? Keep parents in loop: West Bengal government - dnaindia.com

  • tags: no_tag

    • Kolkata
    • Here’s bad news for couples in West Bengal planning a quick marriage at the registrar’s office without telling their parents.
    • The law and justice department will amend the West Bengal Special Marriage Act and West Bengal Hindu Marriage Act and make it mandatory that couples’ parents or legal guardians be informed before the marriages are solemnised. However, lovers need not panic even if their parents object because they are not bound to obey them.

      Soon, couples will have to submit their recent photographs as well as documents verifying residential address, names and other details of parents or legal guardians. The marriage certificate will also carry scanned photographs of the couple.

    • Though law minister R Moitra said the initiative is meant to stop people from using forged documents, officials said it was aimed at stopping repeats of the Rizwanur Rahman-Priyanka Todi episode. “Rizwanur and Priyanka got married without the knowledge of the Todis. Had Priyanka’s father known about it, the matter could have taken a different turn,” the official said.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Open more Hindi-medium schools: Bhagwat

  • tags: no_tag

    • Mathura
    • RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat favours opening of more Hindi-medium schools than English-medium ones.

      "The demand for running more English-medium schools from Vidya Bharati should not be entertained.

      "We can save our mother tongue by promoting Hindi-medium schools," Bhagwat said yesterday while interacting with managers and principals of schools run by Vidya Bharati and key office bearers of the Sangh here.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - Jammu & Kashmir tests Hindu resolve – 1

  • tags: no_tag

    • Jammu & Kashmir tests Hindu resolve – 1
    • Radha Rajan
    • Muslims had made their intentions abundantly clear from as early as 1905 when Bengal was partitioned, that they were working to return Islamic rule over India; failing which they were ready to use violence to create an Islamic state from the body of the Hindu nation. As demonstrated in the writer’s book Eclipse of the Hindu Nation, Gandhi’s INC set political freedom as its goal only in 1942. Even after 1942, Gandhi’s INC wanted political freedom only from British rule; rather than mobilizing the Hindus against Muslim intention to vivisect the nation, Gandhi’s bizarre sense of nationhood and his criminal unilateralism in deciding the fate of the Hindu nation drove him to consent to the return of Muslim rule over India if that would avert partition.
    • -         The greatest coercion is British coercion. And the Congress is impatient to get out of that coercion. My hope in desiring a Constituent Assembly is that whether the Muslims are represented by the Muslim League mentality or any other, the representatives when they are face to face with the reality will not think of cutting up India according to religions but will regard India as an indivisible whole and discover a national, i.e. Indian solution of even specially Muslim questions. But if the hope is frustrated, the Congress cannot forcibly resist the express will of the Muslims of India. Needless to say the Congress can never seek the assistance of British forces to resist the vivisection. It is the Muslims who will impose their will by force singly or with British assistance on an unresisting India. If I can carry the Congress with me, I would not put the Muslims to the trouble of using force. I would be ruled by them for it would still be Indian rule. In other words, the Congress will have only a non-violent approach to every question and difficulty arising. (March 17, 1940, CWMG Vol. 78, page 66
    • Sheikh Abdullah began to utilize the critical years after 1942 to realize his own manic ambitions. Sheikh Abdullah was another Jinnah already in the making, but typically, neither Gandhi nor Nehru or even Patel read the danger signals emanating from J&K in 1946. “Even as the INC was in the midst of the make or break negotiations with the Cabinet Delegation, trouble erupted in Jammu and Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah, a commoner from the Valley saw a great opportunity in the generally troubled times, to realize his own towering Muslim ambitions in the turbulent years preceding 1947. Playing out the drama for civil liberties and ‘freedom’ that the INC had staged in Rajkot, Jaipur and other Hindu kingdoms, Sheikh Abdullah launched in May 1946, the ‘Quit Kashmir’ campaign. Abdullah was promptly arrested and incarcerated. Nehru, playing the Great Democrat to the hilt, attempted to enter Kashmir and was also speedily detained by Ramachandra Kak, the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Gandhi jumped into the fray and in a passionate letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, pleaded with Nehru to return to Delhi with the promise that the Congress would make Nehru’s cause in Kashmir its own cause, and Nehru’s honour, its honour. The draft reply, drafted by Gandhi contained the ill-concealed threat to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir that Nehru would return to retrieve his honour and fulfill his mission, a threat which however does not find mention in the official Congress Resolution.
    • Gandhi’s unilateralism gifted Nehru with J&K on a platter to do with it as he pleased.
    • The author is Editor, www.vigilonline.com

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

मलेशिया से खत्म हो सकते हैं भारतीय

  • tags: no_tag

    • परिवार नियोजन पर सख्त अमल करने की वजह से मलेशिया में रहनेवाले अल्पसंख्यक भारतीयों के पूरी तरह खत्म होने की आशंका है। मलेशिया हिंदू संगम के नेता बालातरूमलिंगम ने ये डर जाहिर किया है कि यदि यही रवैया चलता रहा तो डर है कहीं मलेशिया से भारतीय खत्म न हो जाएं। देश में ज्यादातर दंपत्तियों की अब एक ही औलाद है।
    • क्वालालांपुर
    mal

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

रंगनाथ आयोग की रिपोर्ट से देश में गृहयुद्ध:विहिप :: सहारा समय


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sindh Today – Online News » Ruchika’s school principal under scanner now

  • tags: no_tag

    • The Chandigarh administration had in 2005 honoured the same Sister Sebestina with a state award for meritorious service in the field of education.
    • Sebestina, who heads the school now, was the principal in September 1990 when Ruchika was expelled, a month after the teenager was molested by senior Haryana police officer S.P.S. Rathore Aug 12, 1990.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

add add * Bajrang Dal protests outside Ruchika's school

  • tags: no_tag

    • Around 20 activists of Bajrang Dal today held a demonstration outside the Sacred Heart School here which had expelled Ruchika Girhotra, after she was molested by former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore.

      The Bajrang Dal activists raised slogans demanding cancellation of the affiliation of the school and withdrawal of an honour given to the Principal Sister Sebastian for her outstanding work.
    • Chandigarh

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Vijayvaani.com - Jammu and Kashmir tests Hindu resolve – 2

  • tags: no_tag

    • Jammu and Kashmir tests Hindu resolve – 2
    • Radha Rajan
    • The imperial government in London allowed the INC to be led first by white British citizens, and thereafter only by non-Hindus like non-ideologues or notional Hindus like Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjea, G K Gokhale, M K Gandhi and finally Jawaharlal Nehru, who piloted the INC till 1947 when colonial rule was brought to an end on terms determined by the Muslim League and the British Empire. The festering, gangrene-infected sore that is J&K today is a Gandhi-Nehru legacy.
    • When World War II had drained London’s coffers and when Subhash Bose’s INA threatened to overrun India, and when the INA shamed Indian armed forces in the Royal Indian Navy and British Indian Army to revolt, the imperial government in London sent the Cabinet Mission to India in May 1946 to work out the modalities for transfer of power.
    • If Gandhi and Nehru had understood Mountbatten’s role in Indonesia and had they been outraged enough at Mountbatten’s desecration of the war memorial in Singapore for Bose and the fallen soldiers of the INA, they would not have welcomed him as wholesomely as they had; nor would Gandhi have asked him to play umpire (that was Gandhi’s prescription exactly) between the INC and the Muslim League; in effect, Gandhi asked Mountbatten to play umpire between him and Jinnah. It is pertinent at this juncture to recollect that Gandhi had also welcomed the Cabinet Mission proposals as “the best document in the circumstances” while refusing to even consider the Sapru Committee report which had drafted the broad contours and contents of the future constitution of independent India.
    • Gandhi was the sole interlocutor with the British government in the negotiations, while Sardar Patel and other Congress luminaries merely stood grimly on the side-lines; thus only Gandhi could have rejected the document had he wanted to. Instead he welcomed it within four days after the document was presented to the INC and the Muslim League, without reading the fine print.

       

      The INC, after Gandhi’s endorsement, never summed up the will to reject the proposals and went along with the Cabinet Mission document (henceforth referred to as Mission document), carrying the Hindu nation inexorably towards vivisection.

    • The Mission document concealed the time bomb of vivisection and Pakistan in the cleverly worded offer for maximum autonomy for the Muslim majority provinces “approximating to but not quite” Jinnah’s demand for a separate Muslim state.
    • Nehru with the full backing of Gandhi was meddling in the affairs of J&K. With no thought to the grave danger and the imminent instability that he was causing to the shape of the emerging post-independence India, Nehru convened the State People’s Conference in the first week of June 1947. Nehru convened this conference of the people of the princely states, thus pitting the people against their rulers at a time when the support of the Hindu rulers would have been critical for the shape of the emerging independent India.

       

      Unmindful of the consequences of antagonizing the rulers and encouraging a peoples’ uprising in the princely states against the rulers, particularly in J&K where the so-called peoples’ movement was only a Sunni Muslim movement led by Sheikh Abdullah and his All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (later National Conference) against the Hindu king, Nehru declared, on June 8, 1947, Sovereignty must reside in the people and not in any individual. The State people’s claim to represent for themselves is justified and will see to it that they are heard. And certainly their rulers cannot speak for them,” before the delegates of the State People's Conference.

    • Gandhi and Gandhi’s INC remained mute spectators as Nehru kept J&K out of Patel’s jurisdiction and insisted on handling the affairs of J&K single-handedly. The result of this unchallenged claim to J&K as Nehru’s personal domain to do with it as he pleased created the bloated parasite called J&K which is living off the blood it continues to suck from the body of the Indian Union.
    • This writer has noted with alarm the penetration of foreign women in the lives of very important Hindu leaders in the twentieth century – Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, Farooq Abdullah and finally Rajeev Gandhi. Sheikh Abdullah married the lady who was earlier married to Lawrence of Arabia! Hindu nationalists must begin to look at this phenomenon fearlessly. If Kashmiri Hindus fail even now to render their history from the perspective of the Hindu Nation, then Maharaja Hari Singh and Ramchandra Kak will remain history’s villains, instead of Mountbatten, Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah.
    • The author is Editor, www.vigilonline.com

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Fake Swami Agnivesh | Great Hindu

  • tags: no_tag

    • He was also condemned by 17 of the 19 Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabhas in India[18].

      The Arya Samaj movement has been demanding answers from him since he became President of the World Council of Arya Samaj (the organisation he founded). He is yet to answer 372 Outstanding questions posed by the organization[19].Outstanding questions for Mr. Agnivesh.


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

HINDU SAMHATI: Hindu Temple Burnt, Kali Icon Desecrated and Vandalized in Basirhat, West Bengal

  • tags: no_tag

    • 33 year old Kali Temple Attacked and Burnt; Kali murthi stripped and vagina blackened;
    • At the late hours of 16th December, 2009 some unknown miscreants (suspected to be Islamic activists) entered the 33 year old Kali temple of Kankra village of Kachua Panchayet, under Basirhat Police Station in North 24 Parganas district, stripped the murthi, or icon of Mother Kali naked and burnt the temple. Before leaving the temple, the miscreants even tied the throat of the stone made murthi of the Goddess with a thick rope. The vagina of the idol was blackened. Keeping in view to the nature of the crime and mixed population of the area, one can easily understand that no Hindu can do such a heinous and sacrireligious deed. The finger of suspicion is definitely pointed to the Muslim community.
    • A few days before, the ornaments of the Kali murthi(icon) and other valuables of the temple were robbed similarly. People lodged complaints to the police station. That case too unresolved.
    • Original Kali Murthi(Icon)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Beyond Vegetarianism « Stephen Knapp

  • tags: no_tag

    •  By Stephen Knapp
    •             On the spiritual path those who are the most inclined to lead a peaceful existence that respects the value of all life often adopt the vegetarian lifestyle. For some people this is a very big step. This is in accordance with the yogic principle of ahimsa, which is to observe nonviolence and abstain from injuring any being in any way. However, many people ask what about the plants that are killed in the process of cooking vegetarian foods. Don’t they suffer? And don’t we get reactions for that?
    • If we merely cook for ourselves, we become implicated in karma or the reactions if we cause the harm of any living being, even plants. The vegetarian lifestyle surely causes less karma than the unnecessary slaughtering of innocent animals. However, the system of first offering food to the Lord and then taking prasadam becomes the perfect yoga diet and frees us from such karma.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

हमारा खत्री समाज: 'फूल' या 'सखा' बनाया जाना समाज के विभिन्‍न वर्गो के मध्‍य परस्‍पर सौहार्द लाने वाली पद्धति थी ??

  • tags: no_tag

    • प्राचीन भारत में भले ही आनेवाली पीढी को अपने पेशे में अधिक पारंगत बनाए जाने के ख्‍याल से अपनी बिरादरी में ही शादी विवाह किए जाने की प्रथा थी , पर सभी बिरादरी के लोगों का आपस में बहुत ही स्‍नेहिल संबंध रहा करता था। इस संबंध को और मजबूत बनाए जाने के लिए हर आयु वर्ग के लोग या दो परिवार के लोग आपस में एक विशेष रिश्‍ते से जुडते थे। पूरे भारत वर्ष की बात तो मैं नहीं कह सकती , पर झारखंड और बिहार में एक दूसरे बिरादरी के अपने दोस्‍तो और सहेलियों को पूरे नियम के साथ 'सखा' और 'फूल' बनाए जाने की प्रथा थी।
    • 'सखा' और 'फूल' अपनी बिरादरी के बच्‍चों को नहीं बनाया जाता था। दूसरी बिरादरी के जिन दो किशोर या युवा बच्‍चों या बच्चियों के विचार मिलते थे , जिनमें प्रगाढ दोस्‍ती होती थी , उनके मध्‍य ये संबंध बनाया जाता था। एक आयोजन कर इस संबंध को सामाजिक मान्‍यता दी जाती थी और दोनो परिवारों के मध्‍य पारस्‍परिक संबंध वैसा ही होता था , जैसा अपने समधियाने में होता था।आजीवन मौसम के सभी त्‍यौहारों में  उनके मध्‍य अनाज , फल फूल और पकवानों का लेनदेन हुआ करता था।
    • इस संबंध को बनाते समय उसके स्‍तर को भी नहीं देखा जाता था। इसके अलावे लोग ऐसी व्‍यवस्‍था करते थे कि अधिक से अधिक बिरादरी और धर्म के परिवारों से अपने संबंध मजबूत बनाया जा सके। पारस्‍परिक सौहार्द बढाने में इस व्‍यवस्‍था के महत्‍व को आज भी समझा जा सकता है।

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Draupadi: The Heroic Princess of the Mahabharat, by Aparna Garg | Tattva

  • tags: no_tag

    • A personification of shakti (strength) and bhakti (devotion), Draupadi was one of the bravest and strongest characters in the Mahabharat. Despite being both born and wed into powerful royal families, Draupadi went through countless hardships. She nevertheless emerged victorious and will always be remembered as a valiant woman who stood for the protection of Dharma.
    • A Source of Inspiration for the Pandavas

    • In her resolve to protect Dharma, Draupadi kept the Pandavas motivated and inspired to fight. She vowed to keep her hair unkempt (which was considered undignified at that time) until she had washed her hair with Dushasan’s blood. This was a constantly reminder to the Pandavas to defeat those who had wronged her. She kept her vow and tied up her hair only after Bheem had killed Dushasan.

      During their years in exile, there were several times when the Pandavas lost their motivation to fight for Dharma, particularly Yuddhishtir. During these times, Draupadi recounted the horrendous acts committed by the Kauravas and reminded them of their duty. Throughout the thirteen years of exile, Draupadi did not let her husbands forget how she was dishonored and how they were deceitfully deprived of their kingdom.

    •  
    • Sought Revenge, but not for Herself
    • Draupadi is sometimes criticized for being too self-centered in terms of her desire for revenge. However, a closer look at her actions shows that this is not the case. She did not encourage the war because she was trying to carry out her own personal vendetta against the Kauravas; rather, she knew that the Kauravas had to be defeated for the protection of Dharma. Evil acts were flourishing under the Adharmic rule of the Kauravas. When even the queen could not find safety in her kingdom, how could any ordinary citizen hope for protection? Duryodhana was a menace to society, and it was for this reason that Draupadi, Krishna, and others sought war. As a counterexample to this, after the war, when Ashwatthama cowardly killed Draupadi’s five sons in their sleep, Draupadi did not allow the Pandavas to kill Ashwatthama. She argued that in this case, killing Ashwatthama would not be for any greater cause but simply for personal revenge.
    • Draupadi also demonstrated her selflessness after the dice game. Furious at all those who silently watched as she suffered, Draupadi was ready to curse everyone in the court. She exercised self-control at the request of Queen Gandhari; at this point Dhritirashtra, fearful of Draupadi’s power to curse him, finally spoke up. He offered her as many wishes as she wanted, but she asked only for her husbands’ freedom and for their weapons. She said that if she asked for anything more, she would consider it greedy. With their freedom, the Pandavas would be able to get back all they needed by their own karma.
    • Because of her virtuous nature, Draupadi is considered one of the panchakanya, a group of five women who are especially venerated in the Hindu tradition. The other four are: Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas and an accomplished scholar of the Atharva Veda; Tara, the wife of Vali who was instrumental in reconciling Rama with Sugreev; Ahalya, Sage Gautam’s wife who was given a blessing of purity from Shri Ram; and Mandodari, the virtuous wife of Ravan who had the courage to speak out against her husband when he abducted Sita. Simply remembering these virtuous women destroys great sins.
    • Aparna is an undergraduate student at Boston University, studying economics and journalism. You can contact her at aparnaggarg@gmail.com.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Was the tsunami a godsend for some? « Janamejayan’s Weblog

  • tags: no_tag

    • Was the tsunami that struck the Tamil Nadu coast and wreaked havoc five years ago a godsend for some NGOs? Going by the whispers within the NGO community and the police cases filed in recent times against some individuals charging them with embezzling funds, it looks like the moment of grief for thousands of people helped unscrupulous ‘social workers’ mint money.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.