There are some places on earth which extract a toll from you if you want to inhabit it even briefly, fill your senses with the vistas it offers, take joy in its very sublime existence. One such place is the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, there is no easy approach to this little paradise. It’s a minimum three kilometre walk through rather tough terrain, which can shake one’s resolve, but what it rewards you with is a majestic and complete feast for the senses. You will walk away from here feeling replete and truly blessed…
Author: oiop
India’s Northeast region which is racked by insurgencies, has also faced inter-state border disputes since the last many decades. The genesis of the disputes lies in the bifurcation of the state of Assam says Tulika Sarmah, as she examines the issue and what needs to be done. To a question on the issue of border rows in the Northeast, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, an MP (Member of Parliament) from the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, replied on the floor of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Indian Parliament) that seven incidents of violence…
More often than not, fear of ridicule and societal pressures prevent us from doing things which are unconventional and controversial. Some persist despite that and survive to tell their tale, and what a tale they can tell. Here is an innovator from Tamil Nadu, A. Muruganantham, who persisted despite every odd, in inventing the low cost sanitary napkin manufacturing machine, and has given us a most inspiring case study of human doggedness and conviction. S. Saraswathi. I N the year 2011, A C Nielsen (a global marketing research firm) publicised the fact that only 12% of Indian women used sanitary…
The recent cataclysmic earthquake in Nepal and the frequent fl oods and other natural disasters plaguing the Himalayan regions, should alert us to the fact that we are now paying the price for our reckless, unsustainable development in these regions. Dr. Chandani Bhattacharjee forces us to think. CIRCA 2015 – a massive earthquake of 7.9 on the Richter Scale hits the Himalayan nation state of Nepal on April 29 . Number of deaths; counting and expected to cross 10,000. Widespread aftershocks, spatial spread in Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, NCT Delhi, avalanches in the Everest region too. This is…
When the poor subscribe in millions to government sponsored schemes, there are many twists before the benefits can finally reach them. Or sometimes, not reach them. Numbers tell a story. We already have 150 million subscribers to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan (PMJD) scheme announced in August 2014. That is a phenomenal achievement by any yardstick and doubtless Guinness Book material. It is inspiring to know just what a Prime Minister with good communication skills, campaign abilities and a state owned banking system to command, can achieve. The previous government could only make 100 million accounts over a much longer…
The practice of covering the head, especially by the bride during her wedding, is almost universal. Beyond that, the veil holds different signifi cance for different cultures. Shoma A. Chatterji uncovers the ghunghat, the burqua and the veil to understand global concepts of femininity. In a contemporary global world, this head covering of a married woman holds significance that reaches far beyond a simple marriage ritual. Is it a reinstatement of social distance maintained by the bride once she is married? Or is it a space for privacy for the young bride? It is also a marker for the husband…
Political scientist and social thinker (1916-1968) Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was a many faceted personality – philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, political scientist, social thinker, educationaist, politician, writer, speaker, organiser, etc. An ideologue and a guiding force for an alternative model of governance and politics, he was an important leader of the ‘Bharatiya Jana Sangh’, the forerunner of the present day ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’ (BJP). ‘There is diversity and plurality in life but we have always attempted to discover the unity behind them”, he averred and also stressed that “the fundamental characteristic of Bharatiya culture is that it looks upon life…
Flamboyant restaurateur par excellence (1922-2013) She was the first Indian to complete the Advance Certificate Course of the Cordon Bleu School of Cookery, London. Bhicoo Manekshaw’s fondness for good food and cooking began at the age of five in her grandmother’s kitchen. Blazing a pioneering trail came naturally to Bhicoo Manekshaw. In Queen Mary’s High School, Mumbai, Bhicoo opted for cookery for her Senior Cambridge. As the school lacked the facilities and a cookery teacher, Bhicoo learnt cooking under her mother. In the early 1960s, her husband Wg. Cdr. Jemi Manekshaw (later Air Vice Marshal) was posted in London, where…
Exemplary soldier (1921-2008) Havaldar Bhanubhagta Gurung was born in September 1921 in village Phalpu in western Nepal, and joined the Indian Army in 1939. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion 2nd Gurkha Rifles (3/2 GR, known as the Seymur Rifles). The Japanese Army captured Rangoon in March 1942 and the British decided to evacuate their forces from Burma. They managed to reach Imphal in Manipur by May 1942. An offensive operation by the British into Arakan was unsuccessful. They did not have adequate resources to carry out a major attack and opted for deep penetration by Special Forces under…
Hola! If you are game for a visual extravaganza, then head off to Mexico to witness the annual Guelaguetza dance festival. Held in Oaxaca, a UNESCO world heritage city the fiesta combines the ancient celebration of the corn goddess, Centeotl, and the Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is celebrated on two consecutive Mondays in July on a hill called Cerro del Fortín. Hence, it is also known as the Lunes del Cerro (Mondays on the Hill). Oaxaca is home to several ethnic tribes, which send delegations to the event to showcase their diverse indigenous cultures.…