2008-06-10T14:36:45-05:00

I think there is a difference between the attention that is given to an object and attention without object. We can concentrate on a particular idea, belief, object—which is an exclusive process; and there is also an attention, an awareness, which is not exclusive. Similarly, there is a discontent which has no motive, which is not the outcome of some frustration, which cannot be canalized, which cannot accept any fulfillment. Perhaps I may not be using the right word for it, but I think that that extraordinary discontent is the essential. Read more

2008-06-10T08:17:08-05:00

How times change! There was a time when Musharraf was the twinkle of everyone's eye in Pakistan. Now, after all these years, he is being called a traitor and cursed. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I started getting emails from this guy who runs this website. His latest email was "Killer Musharraf Murdered 4,000 Pakistanis in the Red Mosque Massacre" and started as below: Killer Musharraf Murdered About 4,000 Pakistanis in the Red Mosque Massacre -- Devil Musharraf buried 12 Pakistani students alive, but they escaped from their graves. -- Tyrant Musharraf unlawfully sold thousands of Pakistanis and Afghans to the anti-Muslim, Israeli-Zionist Bush-Cheney Junta of War Criminals to make money. Read more

2008-06-10T07:57:58-05:00

Very interesting shot I saw on Laxmi's site Chilligavva. (Originally from Weeklyshot) Read more

2008-06-10T07:46:36-05:00

Is this the age of "QUACKS" in the medicine area? Well, it certainly does seem so from the different new pills and cures coming out each touting itself to be better than the last one. But this is truly a quacky cure!! A red yeast rice is used for red coloring of the Peking duck. This coloring has been tested to amazing heart disease fighting abilities! The benefits: - can cut the risk of dying from heart disease by a third and cancer by two-thirds - nearly halves the risk of a second heart attack and reduces the odds of cardiac surgery This agent has been used in China for thousands of years as a food preservative, colourant and seasoning, and herbal medicine. But a new study shows all those benefits could be real! Read more

2008-06-10T07:35:55-05:00

Iran has an Islamic regime. The Islamic dress code is enforced and so many other things. But right under the nose of the law (and sometimes in connivance of the law) - everything goes on. I know of a person from Iran who has been to all night parties full of hashish, liquor and women all under the protection of local police. Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world. So, how is it practiced in Iran? Well, people have found ways to do that too. There are subtle ways to prospect a lady by her clients and it is not easy. The center for prostitution in Iran's capital Teheran is roughly 150 km southwest called Qom (also known as Q'um or ghom). It's a Shi'ite holy city and is known as a place of "both pilgrimage and pleasure." So, how does the prostitution process occur? There are over 85,000 prostitutes in just Teheran alone. Here is the how it works: prostitutes wearing veils and even chadors mill about temples or sit together in public courtyards where men can inspect them. Sometimes a male go-between offers "introductions," at which point the prostitutes pull aside their headgear so the potential client can get a glimpse, but the whole process is fairly subtle. It is strange that in a land where laws are so strict, prostitution should go on so rampantly! Well, the religious who want pleasure obviously use religion to their advantage. There is a strange type of marriage allowed in Islam called Nika-hu’l-Mut‘ah,(also Nikah Mut‘ah literally, marriage for pleasure), or sigheh, is a time-delimited marriage contract according to the Usuli Shia schools of Shari‘a (Islamic law). The duration of this type of marriage is fixed at its inception and is then automatically dissolved upon completion of its term. Read more

2008-06-10T07:07:19-05:00

The busy and changing world of more and more technology and less people interaction is driving people off the edge. Today a man mistakenly thought that he had been fired from him job. That pushed him to go on a killling spree in Akihabara (Electronics Town). In a rather disastorous stabbing spree that occurred in the Akihabara electronics, video games and comics shopping quarter of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan on June 8, 2008 he went on a rampage first with a vehicle! At about 12:30 p.m. JST, the assailant attacked a crowd with his vehicle, running over three people, then stabbing at least 18 using a dagger, killing seven people. Read more

2008-06-08T05:29:01-05:00

Was Big Bang the beginning of the existence? What was there before that? Was time still there? If time was there, so must have been space since both go together. A team of physicists has claimed that our view of the early Universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang. The discovery comes from studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB), light emitted when the Universe was just 400,000 years old. Their model may help explain why we experience time moving in a straight line from yesterday into tomorrow. Read more

2008-06-08T05:12:40-05:00

Of all the commentators on Terrorism, there is only one I trust and respect for his forthrightness and ability to assimilate a lot together. He is B. Raman. Here he discusses the hot topic in Pakistan - Did Musharraf tell Nawaz Sharif about Kargil? There are three main versions - Musharraf's, Nawaz Sharif's and Lt. Gen (retd.) Jamshed Gulzar Kiani. Now, Kiani is a guy whom Musharraf used and then dumped him. SO, Musharraf says that he had told Sharif. Sharif says that he was not told. And Kiani is midway. The truth however was carefully recorded by RAW (where Raman headed the Anti-terrorism cell) as Musharraf made several calls from his Beijing hotel to Lieutenant General Mohammad Aziz. That's where the truth was spilled out. Here is what really happened: The then government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided to release to the media the transcripts of two of these tapes for three reasons. Firstly, the tapes showed that it was the Pakistani Army which had occupied the Kargil heights violating the Line of Control and not Kashmiri Mujahideen as claimed by Musharraf. Secondly, it was the Pakistan Army which had shot down an Indian Air Force plane and asked the Hizbul Mujahideen to claim the responsibility for it. Third, the tapes showed that Musharraf had launched his operation without the knowledge of Sharif, many of his corps commanders, the ISI, the chiefs of the air force and navy and his foreign office. He got nervous after the IAF went into action and there were reports of Indian naval ships moving from the east to the west coast. Read more

2008-06-05T13:20:34-05:00

After a fortnight of uncertainty the UPA Government, hiked the price of petroleum products. As if the woes of escalated petroleum prices are not sufficient, the Left had organized a week long protests against petroleum price hike. Already many flights and trains have been cancelled in and out of Kolkata. It is easier to sit in the back seat and give directions to the driver, than driving an automobile. If the left is so convinced that the petroleum price hike is unjustified, in spite of spiralling international crude price, they have the clout in Parliament and can withdraw support. Without their support UPA can’t be in the seat. Alternatively they can suggest to the petroleum ministry the ways and means to check the retails price of petroleum and still can earn profit. Read more

2008-06-04T16:17:41-05:00

On Nov 1, 1984, a very shameful episode in Delhi's life was enacted by some people when close to 3000 Sikhs were massacred. The damage to their property was even more. It was shameful and sad and despite the best efforts of others within the neighborhood, the goons still went about their task with ruthless efficiency. In that midst, here is a story of a family that got frozen in time. They still live in their house and play together.... roughly 25 years after their life was exterminated by a mob. No body lives in their house but the signs of family life are still very real. They are still waiting for their onward journey to the other world. Ravi Shankar, journalist and known political cartoonist, says, "The neighbours hear the phone ringing, the TV playing, the taps running and noises of children at play, though the place has been bare and deserted ever since." Can you share any of such experiences? Read more


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