Rishikesh-Haridwar
Morgan Freeman is coming down to shoot Moses Tate's War mid-year. ''It's about saving cows. In India, cows are worshipped so I'm really looking forward to it,''he reportedly declared at a press conference. The film is touted to be set in Rishikesh and Haridwar.
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
Hollywood stars head for India
WIDE ANGLE |Saibal Chatterjee
India has every reason to be excited with Hollywood actor Will Smith's visit. For whatever it is worth, the visit does push the country just a tad closer to the centre of the global showbiz radar.
But are the positive noises that one half of the Men in Black is making about India in general and its movie industry in particular a sign of things to come? Or do they merely represent the polite posturing of a visiting celebrity? Smith's Indian sojourn is much more than the column space it devours if it were to lead to lasting cooperation between Bollywood and the industry that he represents. It is not enough for these stars to shine bright on India; they must shine long.
The indications currently available on the ground suggest that, with or without Will Smith, things are beginning to move in that direction. Indeed, if all goes well, 2006 could turn out to be the year of Hollywood in India
A string of American productions is lined up for filming on the subcontinent in the course of 2006. While several Western countries have been wooing Bollywood producers in recent years in the hope of boosting tourist inflows from India, the reverse traffic has remained comparatively low.
The stray international films that have been shot in India in recent years have primarily been those that have been helmed by Indian directors like Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha and Deepa Mehta. That apart, the world's engagement with Indian movies has been largely confined to the participation of a handful of Western actors in recent Hindi films like Lagaan, Kisna – The Warrior Poet, Mangal Pandey – The Rising and Rang De Basanti.
A still from Aamir Khan's Lagaan. The film was widely appreciated abroad.
The frame is now set to widen appreciably. Top-draw Hollywood stars like Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman are likely to descend upon India in the coming months as films featuring these A-list names begin to roll on various locations of the country.
The Michael Douglas film, Romancing the Stone, co-starring Aishwarya Rai, has been hanging fire for quite a while. It was announced amid much fanfare early last year but not a frame has been exposed since then. But now the film, believed to be a sequel to the action-adventure comedies Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, seems all set to get going.
Ageing action star Sylvester Stallone will be shooting portions of Rambo IV in India, probably in the rugged terrain of Ladakh. The plot of the film has the angry ex-soldier heading for India when a bunch of racist thugs hounds his family back in the US.
But probably the most eagerly awaited film of the entire upcoming lot is Shantaram, a screen adaptation of the autobiographical bestseller by Aussie man-on-the-run Gregory David Roberts. To be directed by Oscar-winning Australian director Peter Weir, the film will be shot in Mumbai and on handpicked locations in the Andamans. Superstar Johnny Depp plays the protagonist.
Veteran actor Morgan Freeman will be flying down to Rishikesh and Hardwar later this year for the shoot of Moses Tate's War, a film that deals with a campaign to save cows. Can cows and India ever be separated?
Religiosity does play a key part in most foreign films that are set – or are sought to be set – in India. Remember Jane Campion's Holy Smoke, starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel? It was about a White girl who gives up her cushy but empty existence as she falls under the spell of an Indian holy man.
In real life, too, India has begun to cast a spell on North American entertainers. Indeed, the renewed interest in India probably has something to do with the fact that an increasing number of Western pop and movie idols are turning to Oriental religious and spiritual practices.
All that might be a source of joy for the individuals involved, but from the point of view of moviemaking in India, the important question is whether the growing spiritual bonding that seems to be happening between sections of Hollywood and India can translate into greater give and take between the two movie industries, one the most powerful, the other the biggest. The marriage has the potential of yielding rewards all the way.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1631577,001100030008.htm
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India has every reason to be excited with Hollywood actor Will Smith's visit. For whatever it is worth, the visit does push the country just a tad closer to the centre of the global showbiz radar.
But are the positive noises that one half of the Men in Black is making about India in general and its movie industry in particular a sign of things to come? Or do they merely represent the polite posturing of a visiting celebrity? Smith's Indian sojourn is much more than the column space it devours if it were to lead to lasting cooperation between Bollywood and the industry that he represents. It is not enough for these stars to shine bright on India; they must shine long.
The indications currently available on the ground suggest that, with or without Will Smith, things are beginning to move in that direction. Indeed, if all goes well, 2006 could turn out to be the year of Hollywood in India
A string of American productions is lined up for filming on the subcontinent in the course of 2006. While several Western countries have been wooing Bollywood producers in recent years in the hope of boosting tourist inflows from India, the reverse traffic has remained comparatively low.
The stray international films that have been shot in India in recent years have primarily been those that have been helmed by Indian directors like Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha and Deepa Mehta. That apart, the world's engagement with Indian movies has been largely confined to the participation of a handful of Western actors in recent Hindi films like Lagaan, Kisna – The Warrior Poet, Mangal Pandey – The Rising and Rang De Basanti.
A still from Aamir Khan's Lagaan. The film was widely appreciated abroad.
The frame is now set to widen appreciably. Top-draw Hollywood stars like Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman are likely to descend upon India in the coming months as films featuring these A-list names begin to roll on various locations of the country.
The Michael Douglas film, Romancing the Stone, co-starring Aishwarya Rai, has been hanging fire for quite a while. It was announced amid much fanfare early last year but not a frame has been exposed since then. But now the film, believed to be a sequel to the action-adventure comedies Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, seems all set to get going.
Ageing action star Sylvester Stallone will be shooting portions of Rambo IV in India, probably in the rugged terrain of Ladakh. The plot of the film has the angry ex-soldier heading for India when a bunch of racist thugs hounds his family back in the US.
But probably the most eagerly awaited film of the entire upcoming lot is Shantaram, a screen adaptation of the autobiographical bestseller by Aussie man-on-the-run Gregory David Roberts. To be directed by Oscar-winning Australian director Peter Weir, the film will be shot in Mumbai and on handpicked locations in the Andamans. Superstar Johnny Depp plays the protagonist.
Veteran actor Morgan Freeman will be flying down to Rishikesh and Hardwar later this year for the shoot of Moses Tate's War, a film that deals with a campaign to save cows. Can cows and India ever be separated?
Religiosity does play a key part in most foreign films that are set – or are sought to be set – in India. Remember Jane Campion's Holy Smoke, starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel? It was about a White girl who gives up her cushy but empty existence as she falls under the spell of an Indian holy man.
In real life, too, India has begun to cast a spell on North American entertainers. Indeed, the renewed interest in India probably has something to do with the fact that an increasing number of Western pop and movie idols are turning to Oriental religious and spiritual practices.
All that might be a source of joy for the individuals involved, but from the point of view of moviemaking in India, the important question is whether the growing spiritual bonding that seems to be happening between sections of Hollywood and India can translate into greater give and take between the two movie industries, one the most powerful, the other the biggest. The marriage has the potential of yielding rewards all the way.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1631577,001100030008.htm
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Uttaranchal forest deptt launches 3-day tiger census
Dehradun, Feb 22: The Uttaranchal forest department today launched a three-day tiger census in the state under the supervision of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
"The census is being held in strict accordance with the norms laid down by the WII and will also enumerate other carnivores like jackal, fox, leopard," Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said here.
He said special teams of the department had already begun locating half-eaten prey and pugmarks of tigers and leopards.
"Cameras are also being used to capture the images of roaming animals," Chandola said.
The exercise will also assess the availibility of prey and fodder in both protected and non-protected forest areas in the state, he said.
The 2001 census carried out by the department put the number of tigers in the state's forests at 251. The figure got reduced to 245 in the 2003 census and 241 in 2005 census.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=277423&ssid=26&sid=ENV
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"The census is being held in strict accordance with the norms laid down by the WII and will also enumerate other carnivores like jackal, fox, leopard," Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said here.
He said special teams of the department had already begun locating half-eaten prey and pugmarks of tigers and leopards.
"Cameras are also being used to capture the images of roaming animals," Chandola said.
The exercise will also assess the availibility of prey and fodder in both protected and non-protected forest areas in the state, he said.
The 2001 census carried out by the department put the number of tigers in the state's forests at 251. The figure got reduced to 245 in the 2003 census and 241 in 2005 census.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=277423&ssid=26&sid=ENV
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Summer worries for Uttaranchal farmers
NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 (Deharadun):
Summer has made an early appearance in Uttaranchal with the rare sight of flowers in full bloom in February.
The state's wheat farmers are far from happy, as the crop in the hills is dependent on rain for irrigation.
Farmers say streams have dried up without rain and crops have failed.
Survival techniques
The weather department said it is advising farmers to shift wherever irrigation facilities are available.
"Irrigate crops at short intervals and apply light irrigation especially in the evening," said Anand Sharma, Director of the Met Department in Dehradun.
Applying water in the daytime will cause more evaporation and water loss will take place, he explained.
In the dry hills of Uttaranchal the out of season flowering and withering crops is a warning that weather patterns are increasingly abnormal.
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=Summer+worries+for+Uttaranchal+farmers&id=85089
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
New light on Beatles’ split with maharishi
DAVID ORR
New Delhi, Feb. 19: The spat between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 became an instant pop legend as perhaps the most bitter bust-up in the era of Free Love.
Now, after almost four decades of rumour and counter-rumour, a confidant of both sides has gone public with revelations that could upset many of the band's fans.
The spiritualist and author Deepak Chopra, a former maharishi disciple and a friend of the late George Harrison, has said that contrary to popular myth, the row was nothing to do with claims that the maharishi made sexual advances on Mia Farrow, the actor and friend of the band.
Instead, he said, the maharishi had objected to the group taking drugs at his home in Rishikesh, northern India. Chopra told the Sunday Telegraph: "What isn't generally known is that the maharishi had got fed up with the Beatles taking drugs while they were at his ashram."
The group had gone to the ashram in search of spiritual enlightenment, meditating during the day and writing songs in the evening.
A few weeks into their much-publicised sojourn, however, relations soured between the guru and the band's entourage. In a subsequent television interview, John Lennon and Paul McCartney said they had lost interest in the maharishi's teachings.
Chopra said of the rumour that the guru had misbehaved with Farrow, who was part of the entourage: "There was never any truth to stories about the maharishi's womanising...."
"As for the stuff about Mia Farrow, that was complete nonsense. I met her years later and she asked me to tell the maharishi that she still loved him," he said.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
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New Delhi, Feb. 19: The spat between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 became an instant pop legend as perhaps the most bitter bust-up in the era of Free Love.
Now, after almost four decades of rumour and counter-rumour, a confidant of both sides has gone public with revelations that could upset many of the band's fans.
The spiritualist and author Deepak Chopra, a former maharishi disciple and a friend of the late George Harrison, has said that contrary to popular myth, the row was nothing to do with claims that the maharishi made sexual advances on Mia Farrow, the actor and friend of the band.
Instead, he said, the maharishi had objected to the group taking drugs at his home in Rishikesh, northern India. Chopra told the Sunday Telegraph: "What isn't generally known is that the maharishi had got fed up with the Beatles taking drugs while they were at his ashram."
The group had gone to the ashram in search of spiritual enlightenment, meditating during the day and writing songs in the evening.
A few weeks into their much-publicised sojourn, however, relations soured between the guru and the band's entourage. In a subsequent television interview, John Lennon and Paul McCartney said they had lost interest in the maharishi's teachings.
Chopra said of the rumour that the guru had misbehaved with Farrow, who was part of the entourage: "There was never any truth to stories about the maharishi's womanising...."
"As for the stuff about Mia Farrow, that was complete nonsense. I met her years later and she asked me to tell the maharishi that she still loved him," he said.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Monday, February 20, 2006
Mystery solved in Beatles spat with guru
Bad karma was over Fab Four's drug use, not moves on Mia Farrow The Beatles join Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, centre, as they arrive by train at Bangor, Wales, to participate in a weekend of meditation in 1967. From left to right are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
The spat between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 became an instant pop legend as perhaps the most bitter bust-up in the era of Free Love.
Now, after almost four decades of rumour and counter-rumour, a confidant of both sides has gone public with revelations that could upset many of the band's fans.
The spiritualist and author Deepak Chopra, a former maharishi disciple and a friend of the late George Harrison, has said that contrary to popular myth, the row was nothing to do with claims that the maharishi made sexual advances on Mia Farrow, the actress and friend of the band.
Instead, he said, the maharishi, known as the founder of transcendental meditation, had objected to the group taking drugs at his home in Rishikesh, northern India.
Chopra told the Telegraph: "What isn't generally known is that the maharishi had got fed up with the Beatles taking drugs while they were at his ashram (spiritual home). They were smoking ganja (cannabis) and taking LSD. He hadn't come across anything like that before and he took a strong view."
The group had gone to the ashram in search of spiritual enlightenment, meditating during the day and writing songs in the evening.
According to reports, they consumed no alcohol or drugs when they first arrived and kept to a strict vegetarian diet.
A few weeks into their much-publicized sojourn, however, relations soured between the guru and the band's entourage.
In a subsequent television interview, John Lennon and Paul McCartney said they had lost interest in the maharishi's teachings.
Chopra said of the rumour that the guru had misbehaved with Farrow, who was part of the entourage: "There was never any truth to stories about the maharishi's womanizing. When he was sick in the UK, he wouldn't even allow any female nurses near him.
"As for the stuff about Mia Farrow, that was complete nonsense. I met her years later and she asked me to tell the maharishi that she still loved him," he said.
Chopra said Harrison later apologized to the maharishi during a visit to his meditation centre at Vlodrop in Holland, where he now lives as a recluse.
Nobody at the centre was available for comment. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=797aa7fb-91d1-421a-af1f-465414034838&k=41435 -- http://sanjaytewari.blogspot.com http://spaces.msn.com/members/sanjaytanya/ http://spaces.msn.com/members/uttaranchalnews/
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Beatles spiritual guru 'never made a pass at Mia Farrow'
By David Orr in New Delhi
The spat between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 became an instant pop legend as perhaps the most bitter bust-up in the era of Free Love.
Now, after almost four decades of rumour and counter-rumour, a confidant of both sides has gone public with revelations that could upset many of the band's fans.
The spiritualist and author Deepak Chopra, a former maharishi disciple and a friend of the late George Harrison, has said that contrary to popular myth, the row was nothing to do with claims that the maharishi made sexual advances on Mia Farrow, the actress and friend of the band.
Instead, he said, the maharishi had objected to the group taking drugs at his home in Rishikesh, northern India. Dr Chopra told the Sunday Telegraph: "What isn't generally known is that the maharishi had got fed up with the Beatles taking drugs while they were at his ashram [spiritual home].
They were smoking ganja [cannabis] and taking LSD. He hadn't come across anything like that before and he took a strong view."
The group had gone to the ashram in search of spiritual enlightenment, meditating during the day and writing songs in the evening. According to reports, they consumed no alcohol or drugs when they first arrived and kept to a strict vegetarian diet.
A few weeks into their much-publicised sojourn, however, relations soured between the guru and the band's entourage. In a subsequent television interview, John Lennon and Paul McCartney said they had lost interest in the maharishi's teachings.
Dr Chopra said of the rumour that the guru had misbehaved with Farrow, who was part of the entourage: "There was never any truth to stories about the maharishi's womanising. When he was sick in the UK, he wouldn't even allow any female nurses near him.
"As for the stuff about Mia Farrow, that was complete nonsense. I met her years later and she asked me to tell the maharishi that she still loved him," he said.
Dr Chopra said Harrison later apologised to the maharishi during a visit to his meditation centre at Vlodrop in Holland where he now lives as a recluse. Nobody at the centre was available for comment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/19/wyogi19.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/19/ixworld.html
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Ramdev prescribes yoga
"Terrorism and extremist mind-set can be cured by effective practice of yoga. I am aware of the fact that several terrorists come to the camps I organise across the country from time to time, in disguise and benefitted by my yoga lessons, they have returned to normal life."
These were the initial comments of yoga guru Baba Ramdev who landed in Ranchi this evening along with Jharkhand chief minister Mr Arjun Munda, who escorted him personally and has accepted him as a state guest. Baba Ramdev was interacting with media persons on his maiden visit to the state. He is scheduled to hold a week long camp in Ranchi from tomorrow. The Baba however, chose to remain silent on the controversy surounding him and his Patanjali Yogpith and the comments of CPI-M politburo member Mrs Brinda Karat. "A person who is a yogi and has truly learnt the art of yoga by heart, cannot just become a terrorist or an extremist. Anti-national feelings can be deleted from an individual's life by regularly practicing yoga", Baba Ramdev said. The Baba also had a note of advice for politicans. Reacting to a question on whether yoga can be effectively used in checking the rate of corruption in the political system, Baba Ramdev said: "I feel that before the daily session of Parliament in both Houses and during the session of state Assembly Houses, politicians should practice yoga for at least an hour. If that is introduced as a mandatory practice, I believe that the level of corruption would definitely scale down and the political process in country would be more transparent and less corrupt."
He also opined that all political as well as social forces in the country should unite in moving the country ahead.
Reacting sharply against multinational companies manufacturing soft drinks and fast food, Baba Ramdev termed junk food as poison and claimed that his campaign against junk food has virtually reduced the sale of soft drinks by 60 to 70 per cent. "I will never stop campaigning against these foreign agents selling poision to the people of our country," Baba Ramdev said.
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These were the initial comments of yoga guru Baba Ramdev who landed in Ranchi this evening along with Jharkhand chief minister Mr Arjun Munda, who escorted him personally and has accepted him as a state guest. Baba Ramdev was interacting with media persons on his maiden visit to the state. He is scheduled to hold a week long camp in Ranchi from tomorrow. The Baba however, chose to remain silent on the controversy surounding him and his Patanjali Yogpith and the comments of CPI-M politburo member Mrs Brinda Karat. "A person who is a yogi and has truly learnt the art of yoga by heart, cannot just become a terrorist or an extremist. Anti-national feelings can be deleted from an individual's life by regularly practicing yoga", Baba Ramdev said. The Baba also had a note of advice for politicans. Reacting to a question on whether yoga can be effectively used in checking the rate of corruption in the political system, Baba Ramdev said: "I feel that before the daily session of Parliament in both Houses and during the session of state Assembly Houses, politicians should practice yoga for at least an hour. If that is introduced as a mandatory practice, I believe that the level of corruption would definitely scale down and the political process in country would be more transparent and less corrupt."
He also opined that all political as well as social forces in the country should unite in moving the country ahead.
Reacting sharply against multinational companies manufacturing soft drinks and fast food, Baba Ramdev termed junk food as poison and claimed that his campaign against junk food has virtually reduced the sale of soft drinks by 60 to 70 per cent. "I will never stop campaigning against these foreign agents selling poision to the people of our country," Baba Ramdev said.
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Thursday, February 16, 2006
IDPL-ON REVIVAL PATH (all of its five units to be revived)
(India Business Insight Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Government of India has decided to revive all the five units of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) at Gurgaon, Chennai, Hyderabad, Rishikesh and Muzaffarpur. The plants will be made compliant with Schedule M before Apr 2006. A sum of Rs3 crore has been released for redeveloping the Rishikesh, Gurgaon and Chennai plants.
A sum of Rs1 crore has been sanctioned for Muzaffarpur plant.
National Institute for Pharmaceutical Education and Research will oversee the IDPL research centre at Hyderabad. -- http://sanjaytewari.blogspot.com http://spaces.msn.com/members/sanjaytanya/ http://spaces.msn.com/members/uttaranchalnews/
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Tales of the Open Road
Tales of the Open Road by Ruskin Bond
Paperback
Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 200.00
Pages: 202
ISBN: 0-14-400072-5
'I have come to believe that the best kind of walk, or journey, is the one in which you have no particular destination when you set out.'
Ruskin Bond's travel writing is unlike what is found in most travelogues, because he will take you to the smaller, lesser-known corners of the country, acquaint you with the least-famous locals there, and describe the flora and fauna that others would have missed. And if the place is well known, Ruskin leaves the common tourist spots to find a small alley or shop where he finds colourful characters to engage in conversation.
Tales of the Open Road is a collection of Ruskin Bond's travel writing over fifty years. Here, you will encounter a tonga ride through the Shivaliks, a hidden waterfall near Rishikesh, walks along the myriad streets of Delhi (one of which used to be the richest in Asia), trips down the Grand Trunk Road, stopovers in little tea stalls in the hills around Mussoorie, and an excursion to the icy source of the Ganga at over ten thousand feet above sea level.
Enriched by rare photographs that Ruskin took during his travels, Tales of the Open Road is a celebration of small-town and rural India by its most engaging chronicler.
Here is an excerpt:
"Of course, the best walks are to be enjoyed in the hills, preferably in the company of a quiet friend. Sometimes I would escape from Delhi and trek to the Pindari Glacier in Kumaon, or the hills beyond Landsdowne, or Deoban above Cakrata. I wasn't interested in climbing mountains - I preferred going around them: you saw more that way. At ever bend of the road in the mountains there is a fresh vista, a different landscape, interesting people, new birds, trees, flowers.
Some of these excursions could be quite comical. On one occasion, many years ago, a Bengali friend and I decided to walk from Mussoorie to Chamba (near Tehri), some thirty miles distant. This was before the road became motorable.
I knew we wouldn't find anything to eat along the way, so I slipped two tins of sardines into my haversack and we set off on our day-long walk. By noon we were both quite hungry, so we sat down in the shade of a whispering pine, and quenched our thirst from our water bottles. Then, with a flourish, I produced the sardine tins.
To my horror, I discovered I'd left the tin-opener behind. We did our best to open the tins with stones and even a horseshoe nail, but to no avail.
'Why couldn't you remind me to bring a tin-opener along?' I snapped at my companion. 'You're a Bengali, you're supposed to like fish.'
'Only fresh-water Hilsa,' he replied disdainfully. 'We don't go in for tinned stuff.'
In my frustration I flung both tins into a deep ravine, and for all I know they are still there, unless aliens from outer space have succeeded in opening them.
At Chamba we found a tea shop that sold some ancient, rock-hard buns, probably left behind by the roving Pandavas. We softened them up by soaking them in mugs of hot tea, and so satisfied our hunger to some extent.
Two days later, on our return to Dehra, the first thing I saw was the tin-opener on my desk."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1619497,00110004.htm
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Paperback
Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 200.00
Pages: 202
ISBN: 0-14-400072-5
'I have come to believe that the best kind of walk, or journey, is the one in which you have no particular destination when you set out.'
Ruskin Bond's travel writing is unlike what is found in most travelogues, because he will take you to the smaller, lesser-known corners of the country, acquaint you with the least-famous locals there, and describe the flora and fauna that others would have missed. And if the place is well known, Ruskin leaves the common tourist spots to find a small alley or shop where he finds colourful characters to engage in conversation.
Tales of the Open Road is a collection of Ruskin Bond's travel writing over fifty years. Here, you will encounter a tonga ride through the Shivaliks, a hidden waterfall near Rishikesh, walks along the myriad streets of Delhi (one of which used to be the richest in Asia), trips down the Grand Trunk Road, stopovers in little tea stalls in the hills around Mussoorie, and an excursion to the icy source of the Ganga at over ten thousand feet above sea level.
Enriched by rare photographs that Ruskin took during his travels, Tales of the Open Road is a celebration of small-town and rural India by its most engaging chronicler.
Here is an excerpt:
"Of course, the best walks are to be enjoyed in the hills, preferably in the company of a quiet friend. Sometimes I would escape from Delhi and trek to the Pindari Glacier in Kumaon, or the hills beyond Landsdowne, or Deoban above Cakrata. I wasn't interested in climbing mountains - I preferred going around them: you saw more that way. At ever bend of the road in the mountains there is a fresh vista, a different landscape, interesting people, new birds, trees, flowers.
Some of these excursions could be quite comical. On one occasion, many years ago, a Bengali friend and I decided to walk from Mussoorie to Chamba (near Tehri), some thirty miles distant. This was before the road became motorable.
I knew we wouldn't find anything to eat along the way, so I slipped two tins of sardines into my haversack and we set off on our day-long walk. By noon we were both quite hungry, so we sat down in the shade of a whispering pine, and quenched our thirst from our water bottles. Then, with a flourish, I produced the sardine tins.
To my horror, I discovered I'd left the tin-opener behind. We did our best to open the tins with stones and even a horseshoe nail, but to no avail.
'Why couldn't you remind me to bring a tin-opener along?' I snapped at my companion. 'You're a Bengali, you're supposed to like fish.'
'Only fresh-water Hilsa,' he replied disdainfully. 'We don't go in for tinned stuff.'
In my frustration I flung both tins into a deep ravine, and for all I know they are still there, unless aliens from outer space have succeeded in opening them.
At Chamba we found a tea shop that sold some ancient, rock-hard buns, probably left behind by the roving Pandavas. We softened them up by soaking them in mugs of hot tea, and so satisfied our hunger to some extent.
Two days later, on our return to Dehra, the first thing I saw was the tin-opener on my desk."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1619497,00110004.htm
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Hubs for utilising EDUSAT in WB, Uttaranchal to function soon
Hubs for utilising EDUSAT in WB, Uttaranchal to function soon New Delhi: With bandwidth for networks allotted, hubs for taking advantage of the education satellite EDUSAT are set to start functioning in Haryana, Uttaranchal and West Bengal shortly.
Department of Educational Communication Unit (DECU) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that the bandwidth for these networks would be operational by March 2006. The network for Orissa is under implementation, a statement issued by DECU Director B S Bhatia said.
Extended C-Band networks are also being established in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. While the Rajasthan hub is already installed, the Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra hubs are ready for dispatch and decisions regarding location is awaited form the state governments.
"Some of the states are slow in responding and their implementation is delayed. The target of setting up hubs in all states has been substantially met and the delays, if any, are at the state levels,", the statement said reacting to the reports that the EDUSAT programme was a non-starter.
Already more than 2000 receive terminals and about one thousand interactive terminals are in the network and many more are added.
UDUSAT has one National beam and five regional beams. The national beam is utilised on a daily basis by CEC/UGC, IGNOU, CIET/NCERT and AICTE. One channel has been allocated to Vigyan Prasar. A school broadcast network for the Hindi regional with uplink at Jabalpur has also become operational.
A blind people's network is operational in Gujarat. With these users, the capacity of the National beam is fully utilised, the statement added.
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3639
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Department of Educational Communication Unit (DECU) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that the bandwidth for these networks would be operational by March 2006. The network for Orissa is under implementation, a statement issued by DECU Director B S Bhatia said.
Extended C-Band networks are also being established in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. While the Rajasthan hub is already installed, the Madhya Pradesh and Maharasthra hubs are ready for dispatch and decisions regarding location is awaited form the state governments.
"Some of the states are slow in responding and their implementation is delayed. The target of setting up hubs in all states has been substantially met and the delays, if any, are at the state levels,", the statement said reacting to the reports that the EDUSAT programme was a non-starter.
Already more than 2000 receive terminals and about one thousand interactive terminals are in the network and many more are added.
UDUSAT has one National beam and five regional beams. The national beam is utilised on a daily basis by CEC/UGC, IGNOU, CIET/NCERT and AICTE. One channel has been allocated to Vigyan Prasar. A school broadcast network for the Hindi regional with uplink at Jabalpur has also become operational.
A blind people's network is operational in Gujarat. With these users, the capacity of the National beam is fully utilised, the statement added.
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=3639
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Monday, February 06, 2006
Yoga History 101
by Stephen Kreutze
When you practice yoga, it is, of course, not necessary to have a full understanding of yoga history in order to fully benefit from your practice. A brief understanding of the history behind yoga, however, may increase your spiritual practice and inspire you to find out more about the tradition behind the discipline.
The first writings about yoga were written in Sanskrit in early religious manuscripts in India called the Vedas. The word 'yoga' has many meanings. The root of the word is 'yug' which means 'to hitch up', referring to fastening horse bridles to a carriage. But yoga also means 'to actively put to use' or 'yoke' or 'join'. Today, it is agreed upon that yoga is a method of joining or a discipline. Men who practice yoga are called yogi or yogin and women who practice yoga are called yogini.
Yoga was first passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. It wasn't until about 2000 years ago when an Indian named Patanjali wrote 'The Yoga Sutra' that the philosophy of yoga was committed to paper. Yoga is not just about stretching and breathing and holding poses. Yoga is a philosophy on how to live life and deal with the challenges that human beings face daily. The Yoga Sutra defined this philosophy in 195 statements.
Sutra can be defined as 'thread' or 'aphorism', which means 'a short declaration of truth'. It also means 'the concentration of a large quantity of information into a simple definition'. It is a way of looking at truths that apply to everyone despite culture in the clearest way possible.
Hatha yoga, or the yoga that you do when you take a yoga class or perform yogic poses, was begun as a physical form of meditation. The physical act of yoga calms your body and allows your mind to become calm. It also gives you the physical strength to sustain long periods of meditation.
When you perform the physical practice of yoga, you are only engaging in half of the discipline as it has been practiced for thousands of years. Yoga is an incredible form of exercise and calming for the body, but it can also be used as a spiritual practice and a way to calm the mind and will as well.
Stephen Kreutzer is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides yoga tips on http://www.more-about-yoga.com .
This article represents the views and opinions of the author and not of www.dailyindia.com.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/1237.php
When you practice yoga, it is, of course, not necessary to have a full understanding of yoga history in order to fully benefit from your practice. A brief understanding of the history behind yoga, however, may increase your spiritual practice and inspire you to find out more about the tradition behind the discipline.
The first writings about yoga were written in Sanskrit in early religious manuscripts in India called the Vedas. The word 'yoga' has many meanings. The root of the word is 'yug' which means 'to hitch up', referring to fastening horse bridles to a carriage. But yoga also means 'to actively put to use' or 'yoke' or 'join'. Today, it is agreed upon that yoga is a method of joining or a discipline. Men who practice yoga are called yogi or yogin and women who practice yoga are called yogini.
Yoga was first passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. It wasn't until about 2000 years ago when an Indian named Patanjali wrote 'The Yoga Sutra' that the philosophy of yoga was committed to paper. Yoga is not just about stretching and breathing and holding poses. Yoga is a philosophy on how to live life and deal with the challenges that human beings face daily. The Yoga Sutra defined this philosophy in 195 statements.
Sutra can be defined as 'thread' or 'aphorism', which means 'a short declaration of truth'. It also means 'the concentration of a large quantity of information into a simple definition'. It is a way of looking at truths that apply to everyone despite culture in the clearest way possible.
Hatha yoga, or the yoga that you do when you take a yoga class or perform yogic poses, was begun as a physical form of meditation. The physical act of yoga calms your body and allows your mind to become calm. It also gives you the physical strength to sustain long periods of meditation.
When you perform the physical practice of yoga, you are only engaging in half of the discipline as it has been practiced for thousands of years. Yoga is an incredible form of exercise and calming for the body, but it can also be used as a spiritual practice and a way to calm the mind and will as well.
Stephen Kreutzer is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides yoga tips on http://www.more-about-yoga.com .
This article represents the views and opinions of the author and not of www.dailyindia.com.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/1237.php
Yoga and Pranayam for CRPF jawans
Yoga and Pranayam for CRPF jawans
Itanagar, Feb 05: To help CRPF jawans posted in Arunachal Pradesh get rid of their mental stress, the Paramilitary Force is holding a week-long Yoga course, a senior official said.
Some 300 CRPF jawans of the 170 battalion here are currently participating in a week-long Yoga course on stress managment, Sanjeeva Roy, Battalion Commandant said in a press release.
The training in Pranayam and Yoga has been organised with the help of an NGO 'Art of Living', Roy said.
Though Arunachal Pradesh is a peaceful state, three battalions of the CRPF have been inducted in the state recently for sensitive duties like guarding residences of VVIPs and civil secretariat, banks and other important establishments and maintenance of general law and order.
CRPF sources said that as there is no group centre for housing, the jawans are living away from their families. While performing their arduous duties, the jawans get bored and come under severe mental stress, they added.
Recently two jawans were shot dead by one of their colleagues at their mess here for serving cold food. The sources said officers had already taken up with the Arunachal Pradesh government the issue of land allotment for construction of group centres as available in other states.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=273511&ssid=204&sid=LIF
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Itanagar, Feb 05: To help CRPF jawans posted in Arunachal Pradesh get rid of their mental stress, the Paramilitary Force is holding a week-long Yoga course, a senior official said.
Some 300 CRPF jawans of the 170 battalion here are currently participating in a week-long Yoga course on stress managment, Sanjeeva Roy, Battalion Commandant said in a press release.
The training in Pranayam and Yoga has been organised with the help of an NGO 'Art of Living', Roy said.
Though Arunachal Pradesh is a peaceful state, three battalions of the CRPF have been inducted in the state recently for sensitive duties like guarding residences of VVIPs and civil secretariat, banks and other important establishments and maintenance of general law and order.
CRPF sources said that as there is no group centre for housing, the jawans are living away from their families. While performing their arduous duties, the jawans get bored and come under severe mental stress, they added.
Recently two jawans were shot dead by one of their colleagues at their mess here for serving cold food. The sources said officers had already taken up with the Arunachal Pradesh government the issue of land allotment for construction of group centres as available in other states.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=273511&ssid=204&sid=LIF
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