Friday 27 February 2009

Feed the wolf but choose the one wisely

” One evening an old grandfather told his grandson about the battles that go on inside people. He said, ‘My son the battle is between two wolves inside us.

One is evil. It is anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, resentment, false pride and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace , love, compassion, truth, humility, generosity and faith.’

The grandson thought about it for a moment and then asked his grand father -

‘Which wolf wins ?’

Grandfather simply replied -

‘The one you feed !’

Wednesday 25 February 2009

At the Oscars four years ago, Now a sex worker

When A R Rahman walked up to receive the golden Oscar statuette, her eyes misted over. Preeti Mukherjee knows exactly how it feels. Four years ago, she was on the same stage at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre, where she, too, had hugged the statuette and cried tears of joy. She hasn’t missed a single awards ceremony since. On Monday, she woke up in the wee hours to catch the live telecast — before starting the day’s grind at Sonagachhi.
Preeti, who goes by the name Puja in Asia’s largest red light district, had got sucked into the sex trade just a year after her brush with the Oscars.
In 2005, Preeti was part of the Oscar-winning documentary Born Into Brothels, directed by Zana Briski. The child cast of nine had cheered so loud that it still rings in her ears. And she still remembers the warmth of the hug Zana gave her as the award was announced.
“It seems like a fairy tale now. I still see it in my dreams. I get goosebumps when I remember the heart-stopping moment when the award was announced. All of us kept screaming with joy. Zana aunty made sure we, too, went along to collect the statuette. My head was swimming, there were so many eyes on us, the deafening applause, so many cameras flashing...” Preeti recalls.
In 2002, when not yet into her teens, Briski and Ross Kauffman chose her in the cast of nine to teach them photography and get a close-up view of their world and that of their mothers. The film was completed in 2004 and went on to win about 20 international awards, capped by the Oscar.
When the film was nominated, the directors flew the kids to Los Angeles. Life was happy for some time and the directors tried their best to rehabilitate the kids. Preeti, who was in high school, and the rest got an offer to stay back in the US and study. Some did. She backed out.
“Aunty (Zana) gave a lot of money by cheque to my mother and asked her to release me, but she was unwilling. I am a girl and an only child and my mother wouldn’t let go. Call it family pressure if you will. It’s quite simple, really,” Preeti said, with a dismissive shrug and a short laugh. “So, you see me here.”
Abhijit, one of the kids in the film, now studies in New York University. Another girl goes to school there. Preeti is in touch with both of them. Two others are studying at Future Hope, run by a charitable trust. One has got married while another girl, who was with an internationally funded NGO, has disappeared.
Dressed in jeans and a trendy shirt, Preeti could pass for any other collegegoer, until the whiff of smoke and alcohol in her breath hits you. And you look at her eyes — beautiful, aggressive and defiant.
“At this age, I have a flat in Salt Lake, a laptop, costly phones and plenty of money. What do I lack?” she looks you square in the eye. “Zana aunty and I are in touch by email. She was upset that I, too, had joined the trade like my mother, something she wanted to save me from. But this trade has really paid off for me.” A sign of her ‘prosperity’ — she has hired rooms in Prem Kamal, one of the most expensive Sonagachhi buildings.
Mother Rakhi lives in the opposite building. Preeti pays for her living expenses. Rakhi says she wanted a “normal” life for Preeti. She still has a fading photo of Preeti with the Oscar statuette stuck on a wall. “That is all I have left of her..,” she says, tears in her eyes.
There is no clear answer as to how and why Preeti became a sex worker. Police records say she was rescued from a racket while a minor, sent to a juvenile home from where she was handed to her mother by the state child welfare committee.
Police say she’s now part of a major sex racket that involves extremely powerful people, who will never let her escape into a sunnier world. Behind the I-care-a-damn stare, you can see a fleeting longing in her eyes — a longing for freedom.

Ruchita Singh 25 February 2009

Tuesday 24 February 2009

AUM: Resul Pookutty Dedicates His Oscar

Thirty-six year old Resul Pookutty has created history by becoming the first Indian to bag the Oscar for best sound mixing for the critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire.

"I come from a country and a civilization that given the universal word. That word is preceded by silence, followed by more silence. That word is 'Om.' So I dedicate this award to my country. Thank you".

Om (AUM) is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the 3 letters . A (phonetically as in "around"), U (phonetically as in "put") and M (phonetically as in "mum").

The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as "A". With the coming together of the lips, "U" is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in "M". The AUM chant has the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).

The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama),the three worlds (Bhur, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond.

The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two AUM Chants. AUM is also called pranava that means, "that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised". The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word AUM. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting AUM. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake.

AUM ParbatAUM Parbat in Himachal Pradesh

In Puranic Hinduism, Aum is the mystic name the letter A represents creation, when all existence issued forth from Brahma's golden nucleus; the letter U refers to Vishnu the God of the middle who preserves this world by balancing Brahma on a lotus above himself, and the letter M symbolizes the final part of the cycle of existence, when Vishnu falls asleep and Shiva has to breathe in so that all existing things have to disintegrate and are reduced to their essence to him. More broadly, Aum is said to be the primordial sound that was present at the creation of the universe. It is said to be the original sound that contains all other sounds, all words, all languages and all mantras.

Saturday 21 February 2009

Indian Elections 2009: Is there Anything for Common Men

What should an ideal election campaign be like? Should it be catchy? Should it be a report card of a party in power or a vision document of the party that wants to be in power? With freebies and lofty promises making hitting headlines, political campaigns seem far removed from any ideology or real issues confronting people.

Some of the promises made political parties during the assembly elections just gone by were five kilo ghee for women bearing their first child in Rajasthan, Sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur's shadow in Madhya Pradesh, a radio on wheels in Delhi and simple political crossfire in Chhattisgarh. So what are Indian elections all about?

In the midst of heavy election season, political campaigns seem far removed from any ideology or real issues confronting people.

Has modern-day election campaigning has lost touch with the aam aadmi issues?

Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani, in his recently-released book Imagining India, talks about the difference between horizontal and vertical ideas in politics. But what exactly are these ideas and is there an Indian politician who understands the difference between the two?

Chandan Mitra (Rajya Sabha MP and Editor-in-Chief of The Pioneer) was asked this and he went on a defensive right away, arguing Indians underestimate the intelligence of politicians. “Whether they understand theoretical ideas isn’t important. It’s important for them to have a pulse of what people feel,” he said. He believed all core election issues like rice, bijli-sadak-paani have remained the same over the years and they are all common man issues.

What’s the issue?

Interestingly two states from the BIMARU group (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP - states that aren’t doing too well economically) went to polls recently and the big poll plank seemed to be terror and the saffron tag attached to it. Why is it that for most political parties, the agenda seems to be an emotive issue first and the relevant ones later?

Dilip Cherian (National Coordinator & President, Lok Satta) drew the inevitable comparison. He said Indian politicians must adopt campaign tactics which make them reach out to voters at an individual level. But he also wondered if there were any real issues being taken up in the first place. “A lot of people are getting caught in the hoopla of the show and have no message,” he said.

Actor / Activist Nafisa Ali said we have two major parties in India and when it comes to elections, there’s only a hate propaganda!”

Will we ever have India’s Obama?

Comparisons with America’s new-found poster-boy of change are inevitable in any election for the foreseeable future. But problem is Obama came into politics because he wants to be in it, as opposed to Indian politicians who are in it just and only to hold on to power, by hook or by crook. They are such lampoons who unashamedly make trivial, emotional, nonsense happenings, an issue when the world’s going through the worst economic crisis.

Mr Advani has recently had a meeting with industrialists but an election speech can’t be a budget speech. It has to be catchy,” Mitra admitted, candidly.

Both Mitra and Nafisa said it was unfair to compare India with America because India has a different response mechanism and that poll issues needed to be catchy indeed.

In conclusion we can confidently say that elections in India are and will continue to be worse than a soap opera where the campaign has to look like the beginning of a big film with a great starcast with Sidhu's, Hema Malini's, Jaya Prada's, Munna Bhai's, Shatrughan's and innumerable others of similar kinds with– no meat, only gimmickry.

“A third class political process has taken advantage of Indians and is using this countrymen to exploit and do all sorts of ridiculous things at the cost of the country.”

Results of SMS/Web poll: Has modern day election campaigning lost touch with the aam aadmi?

Yes: 89 per cent.

No: 21 per cent.

Courtesy: CNN-IBN Nov 2008

Friday 20 February 2009

Happiness of Life - By an unknown author

February 1, 2009 by Achievexcel

NEVER CRY FOR ANY RELATION IN LIFE
BECAUSE FOR THE ONE WHOM YOU CRY DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR TEARS AND THE ONE WHO DESERVES
WILL NEVER LET YOU CRY………!!!

TREAT EVERYONE WITH POLITENESS EVEN THOSE WHO ARE RUDE TO YOU, NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT NICE BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NICE……..!

NEVER SEARCH YOUR HAPPINESS IN OTHERS
WHICH WILL MAKE YOU FEEL ALONE,
RATHER SEARCH IT IN YOURSELF YOU WILL FEEL HAPPY
EVEN IF YOU ARE LEFT ALONE……. !

HAPPINESS ALWAYS LOOKS SMALL WHEN WE HOLD IT IN OUR HANDS. BUT WHEN WE LEARN TO SHARE IT, WE REALIZE HOW BIG AND PRECIOUS IT IS....!

The 10 people most responsible for the recession

The global financial crisis has evolved into a worldwide recession of epic proportions. Analysts fear the sudden slump which has followed the credit crunch could even rival the Great Depression of the early 1930s and lead to global stagnation.

But who is responsible for all this mess? You guessed it right. The 10 best financial and management brains in the world today!!

The bursting of the housing bubble and the collapse in confidence throughout financial markets was not caused by one individual or a single decision, so pointing the finger of blame is a near-impossible task. Here are those finest ten brains; nine men and one woman responsible for the mess we're in.

Fuld_414200a

1. Dick Fuld

Multi-billionaire Dick Fuld, 62, was CEO of Lehman Brothers when it went bust in September last year. Dubbed the “scariest man on Wall Street”, Dick Fuld is blamed for a litany of mistakes that include leaving Lehman Brothers heavily exposed to toxic US sub-prime mortgage debt and other assets that collapsed in value in the wake of the credit crunch.

His secretive work ethic, which rewarded loyalty over all else, has been criticised for silencing potential whistleblowers. In its final months a series of interested buyers surfaced to save Lehmans, but Mr Fuld would not sell at the prices offered. Had he acted sooner, he would have been able to avoid bankruptcy. Institutional Investor magazine named Dick “America’s top chief executive” in 2006. The collapse of Lehmans triggered the second destructive phase in the credit crunch and laid the foundations for a full blown global recession.

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2. Hank Paulson

If Dick Fuld is responsible for the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Henry Paulson, the former US Treasury Secretary, is the man who let it happen. “The global banking collapse could perhaps be described as a bullet in the head, since its proximate cause was a conscious decision by the US Treasury to jeopardise the stability of the world economy in pursuit of an essentially political objective - to show that the Bush Administration was willing to act ruthlessly against at least one big Wall Street investment bank. Until that point, savers and investors around the world had assumed that financial institutions such as Lehman were “too big to fail” and would always be supported by their governments. By shattering this belief Henry Paulson triggered a run on every important bank in the world and caused the sudden implosion of consumer and business confidence seen in the past two months.”

Hank didn’t just let Lehmans fail. He made a series of mistakes in the run up to the Lehmans collapse. He also proposed a £700 billion package to boost the US banking system. And how did Hank come up with a figure of £700 billion? “It’s not based on any particular data point,” “He just wanted to choose a really large number.”

GREENSPAN5_272612a

3. Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan was feted for his management of the US economy while he stood in charge of the US Treasury, but has since been put under the spotlight. He was responsible for cutting interest rates to near zero in the US in the aftermath of September 11, flooding the world with cheap and easily available money. Did this pave the way for a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami"? In October last year he said: “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organisations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders.”

“Alan Greenspan was much too afraid of a slowdown or other recession…he allowed the credit to expand too rapidly."

Chaps_415138a

4. John Tiner/Hector Sants

John Tiner was in charge of the Financial Services Authority, the watchdog that polices the UK ’s complex financial services industry until 2007, when it was taken over by Hector Sants. The FSA failed to keep a close eye on Northern Rock, the Newcastle-based ex-mutual which gorged on wholesale mortgage securitisation and came a cropper as a result. A key parliamentary committee has said that the FSA was guilty of a "systematic failure". Mr Sants accepted that the organisation under Mr Tiner failed to stress-test the business model of Northern Rock and spot signs that the bank was dangerously dependent on interbank funding to remain in business. "We should have been in more intense dialogue earlier", he has said.

Fred-385_470783a

5. Sir Fred “the shred” Goodwin

The "world's worst banker" has brought the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Britain's second biggest bank, to its knees. Last week it announced humiliating losses of £28 billion, the biggest in British corporate history, and economists and analysts have concluded that it could soon be fully-nationalised. In mid-January, taxpayers saw their stake in the banking giant increase from 58 per cent to 70 per cent.

Sir Fred joined RBS in 2000 and promptly embarked on a spending spree, acquiring 26 banks in seven years for more than £35 billion. These included NatWest and stakes in America and the Bank of China. In 2006, its share price stood at £13. But at the close of trading on January 28, RBS shares were trading at a near-worthless 15.9p.

In 2000, after the takeover of NatWest, RBS’s board rewarded Sir with a £2.1 million annual salary, including a bonus of £814,000 for the takeover — more than any other UK bank chief received that year. It paled in comparison with his £2.86 million bonus in 2007. Three months ago, in October, Sir Fred left the bank under a dark cloud that has now mushroomed into a thunderstorm. On the day his departure was announced, Sir Fred said he was "sad", adding: "Nobody will ever tell you that they feel good the day they have to step down.” The Prince's Trust recently dumped Fred The Shred and the campaign to strip him of his knighthood is gathering pace.

Brown_474583a

6. Gordon Brown

Apparently Gordon Brown predicted the global financial crisis ten years ago, in a speech he made to Harvard students. Sadly he did little to prevent it. James Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer during “the longest period of growth” in the UK ’s history, but economists blame Mr Brown for encouraging soaring house price inflation and the spread of credit which fuelled the years of boom and led eventually to the current bust.

In a recent speech to the London School of Economics, George Osbourne, the Shadow Chancellor, said: "Our competitors used the fat years to prepare for the lean years. Britain did not. We are the least prepared country in the developed world to cope with the current financial turbulence. Our financial reputation has been badly damaged by the only run on a retail bank in the world. Our double deficits - external and fiscal - are worse than any other European economy. Taken together, they are worse than the United States." The blame "lies squarely and fairly with Gordon Brown", he concluded.

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7. George Bush

The former President was in charge during the boom years when the seeds of the sub-prime implosion were sown, but has failed to take any responsibility for the financial disaster which occurred on his watch. In a speech last year he blamed the bankers in New York for the problems facing his country's economy. “Wall Street got drunk…The question is, how long will it [take to] sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?”

Profiles_corbet_203554a

8. Kathleen Corbet

The credit rating agencies have been blamed for failing to ask tough questions about the collateralised debt products containing so many toxic sub-prime mortgages, which investors traded for millions of dollars during the booming housing years. The three biggest agencies have been accused of taking the word of investors and not properly assessing the risks involved in securitisation. Mrs Corbet was head of the biggest credit rating agency, Standard & Poors, before she quit amidst heavy criticism in 2007. Critics argue that S&P and its main rival Moody's, as well as other agencies, face an inherent conflict of interest, in that many of their clients issue securities that are rated by its analysts.

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9. "Hank" Greenberg

Another Hank. This one was head of AIG, the insurance giant that had to be rescued in an £47 billion US government bailout just days after Lehman Brothers was allowed to go bust. Hank was in charge between 1967 until 2005, during which time the insurer got heavily involved in the murky world of credit default swaps. Mr Greenberg appealed to the US Government to save the company last September, saying: "It's a healthy company financially except for liquidity. No organisation around the world has the spread of risk that AIG does. It's a company that opens markets - letting it go down would be a dramatic mistake."

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10. Angelo Mozilo

Mr Mozilo was head of the largest sub-prime mortgage lender in the US, Countrywide, until July 2008. Sub-prime lenders in the US have been accused of using misleading marketing to push unsuitable mortgages on sub-prime homeowners who could not afford to service the debt, the root cause of the credit crunch. During the housing boom, Mr Mozilo reportedly earned $470 million in salary and other income. Mr Mozilo has also been under the spotlight for a VIP programme in which politicians and senior officials in the Government were offered favourable mortgage deals. Earlier this month Bank of America agreed to buy Countrywide for about $4 billion (£2 billion). Meanwhile, Mozilo unloaded $141m in stock options before the company's share price collapsed.

Courtesy: Money Central January 2009

Saturday 14 February 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

There is funny story doing rounds on the internet about the "Gujrati origin" of the Valentine's day. A few days ago it was forwarded to me by one of my good friend (JMK). The story claims the origin of the name "valentine's" is from the famous Indian kitchen household "Velan". During this time Gujrati Patel ladies beat their husbands with a Velan!  and thus this time is come to be celebrated as "Velan-Times".!!!! Any way this prompted me to find out the actual reason of the days celebration.

Here it is for you to read the real story of the day...as long as you don't want to prosecute me for insulting our great Indian pride.Antique_Valentine_05

Valentine’s Day is a day honoring lovers around the world. It is celebrated on February 14 as a holiday in the west (and now even in India) by sending greeting cards or gifts to express affection. The cards, known as valentines, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. Every February, across the globe, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.

But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this day?

The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. The history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and clouded by fanciful legends. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. Its roots are obscured by mystery and there are varying opinions about it. Its origins have become themes of many legends.
According to a legend, the holiday has its roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalis/Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. As Christianity came to dominance in Europe, holidays were frequently renamed for early Christian martyrs. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius recast Lupercalis festival on February 14 to be the feast day of the Roman martyr Saint Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century. Which St. Valentine pope intended to honor remains a mystery. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.

Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. The history of St. Valentine's Day has - the Protestant and the Catholic legends. According to both legends, Valentine was a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in opposition to Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men and was executed by the latter.

Valentine, realized the injustice of the decree. Seeing the trauma of young lovers, he met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. He defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. But Claudius soon learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. The Catholic legend has it that through the vehicle of his strong faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter, a phenomenon refuted by the Protestant version which agrees otherwise with the Catholic one. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. However, this legend is not given much importance by historians. Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.

Some of funny Valentine's day cards of olden times:

1887 1900 1906 1926
Valentine_1887 Vinegar_Valentine 1900 Postcard_by_Nister_1906 Buster_Brown_valentine

The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the Roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. What happened was what was to happen. All attempts to convert the emperor failed.

On February 14, 270 AD, Valentine was executed.

Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name. It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love.

Valentine's Day is all about love. But what, exactly, is that?

Helen Fisher is an anthropologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey and author of  book on love, Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love. Fisher breaks love into three distinct brain systems that enable mating and reproduction:

• Sex drive
• Romantic love (obsession, passion, infatuation)
• Attachment (calmness and security with a long-term partner)

These are brain systems, not phases and all three play a role in love. They can operate independently, but people crave all three for an ideal relationship.

"Sex drive evolved to get you out there looking for a range of partners. Romantic love evolves to enable you to focus your mating energy on just one at a time, and attachment evolved to tolerate that person at least long enough to raise children together."

Valentine's Day, can encompass only two of these three brain systems: sex drive and romantic love. However "once you start giving the dog a valentine, you are talking about a real expression of attachment as well as romantic love."

Happy Valentine to ALL.

Sunday 8 February 2009

Spiced lentils with cucumber yogurt: A vegetarian delight

This is a new experiment in which I will be posting my favorite recipies for my readers who eat out a lot (mostly), for reasons beyond their control. The posted recipie will be simple, tasty and easy to cook kind. I hope my readers will relish them. Enjoy a healthy life style. Bon Apetite

Nirmal



This is one ultimate antidote to any seasonal malady; I could eat mountains of it. Serve as a thick soup, or alongside plain rice or roti.

Serves 2-4.

200g split red lentils
1 bunch fresh coriander
1 small onion, peeled
40g ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 mild green chilli
1½ tsp black mustard seeds
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp paprika
10 curry leaves
300g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tsp caster sugar
1 pinch asafoetida (optional)
Salt
150g Greek yogurt
75g finely diced cucumber
1½ tbsp olive oil
70g unsalted butter
1½ tbsp lime juice

Wash the lentils in plenty of water, drain and soak in 350ml of fresh water for 30 minutes. Cut the coriander bunch somewhere around its centre to get a leafy top half and a stem/root bottom half. Roughly chop the leaves. Put the stem half in the bowl of a food processor, add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli - all roughly broken - and pulse a few times to chop up without turning into a paste.

Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-based pot and place over medium heat. When they begin to pop, add the onion mix and sunflower oil, stir and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the spices and curry leaves, and continue cooking and stirring for five minutes longer. Now add the lentils and their soaking water, the tomatoes, sugar, asafoetida and a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the lentils are fully cooked.

Before serving, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber, oil and some salt. Stir into the lentils the butter, lime juice and chopped coriander leaves, taste and season generously with salt. Divide into bowls, spoon yogurt on top and garnish with coriander.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Pinki to smile at Oscars!


Amidst Slumdog Millionaire's spectacle at Oscar nominations, one unnoticed Indian film went to Oscars. 'Smile Pinki' is being nominated in the short documentary section which revolves around poor eight-year-old Pinki from a small village in Mirzapur district in UP.

Pinki is an eight-year-old girl from a village near Varanasi who is getting ready to go for the Oscar awards ceremony. Pinki happens to be the protagonist of a 39-minute documentary film named- Smile Pinki, which got nominated for the Oscars. The film is produced in Bhojpuri and Hindi (with English subtitles),

Smile Pinki has added something more to cheer for the Indians amidst the strong presence made by Slumdog Millionaire and the Indians attached to it. While people are busy celebrating Slumdog Millionaire’s encouraging display at Oscars nominations, little Pinki is quietly weaving her own dreams for the big night.

Smile Pinki is the tale of a girl born with a lip deformity which made her a social outcast. Smile Pinki tells speaks about the journey of a farmer’s daughter Pinki, from cleft-lipped towards normalcy after undergoing plastic surgery in a nursing home. This change in the fortune of Pinky could only happen with the efforts of Pankaj, a social worker travelling village to village to help such needy ones through a hospital that provides free surgery to them.

This documentary was shot in Pinki’s village and G S Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital in Varanasi where Pinki underwent the surgery by Dr Subodh Kumar Singh. Dr Singh is the project director of ‘Smile Train’, which works for bringing back smile on the faces of cleft children by performing free surgery.

The documentary is directed by Megan Mylan which also tells the similar story of another boy Ghutaru, who alongwith Pinki were made social outcasts due to their cleft lips. Nomination of Smile Pinki for Oscar is bound to bring awareness about this congenital anomaly among the general public and health agencies. Before being nominated for Oscars, Smile Pinki, was also short listed in October 2008, by the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences. Amidst the celebrations of Slumdog Millionaire’s nominations, this fairy tale cure of Pinki almost went unnoticed for an Academy award in the short documentary section. The others in the race with Smile Pinky are- The Conscience of Nhem En, The Final Inch, and The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306.

Dr Subodh Singh, is trying to help in tackling the issues related arranging visa, passport, and tickets. He has been a sort of God father to Pinki who has not only cured her deformity but has also gifted 400-odd books to the girl and is even in the process of raising funds to add a room for his family.

Hats off to Dr. Singh, Pankaj and people like them who are striving to bring back happiness and smile on the faces of people who have forgotten to dream

Sunday 1 February 2009

The World We Live In

It is hard to imagine that the world we live-in is real or imagination of our minds.

Sincerely,

Nirmal