varnam

Last year this time a 1000 year old ship was discovered in Kerala. This year we have another ship discovered, but this one about 3000 years old in Israel and belongs to the era of King David and Solomon.

The remains, which have been carbon-dated to the ninth century B.C., include a huge stone anchor believed to be the largest ever unearthed. The wreckage is lying under a few inches of sand off the Mediterranean coast in shallow waters, and has yet to be examined extensively.

If the remains are indeed 3,000 years old, it would be the first archaeological artifact ever found from the era of the first kings of Israel, with the possible exception of several huge stones at the base of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Named for Dorus, son of the Greek sea god Poseidon, the hillside city was a major port for both conquerors and traders and is mentioned in the first Book of Kings. At its peak, the port had 200,000 residents.

"In King Solomon's time, this was the major port for the Israelite kingdom," said ancient boat specialist Yaacov Kahanov of Haifa University. "The island here off the coast is still called Taphath, after Solomon's daughter." [Archaeologist hopes 3,000-year-old wood is from ancient ship]

According to oral tradition Jews established trading contacts with Kerala during the time of Solomon. There are other traditions which claim that Jews came to Kerala during the time of King Nebuchadnezar of Babylon in 500 BC, the time of Buddha. But according to Romila Thapar in her book Early India, the Jews came to India in the tenth and eleventh century AD.

For those of you who wonder why Arundhati Roy does not condemn Islamic Terrorists here is the answer

Sandip Roy: People say you are not just anti-American, you are also anti-Indian. You complain about Muslims being killed in Gujarat but are mum on Hindu Pandits being killed in Kashmir.

Arundhati Roy: This is the standard Hindutva line: “You don’t condemn the burning of the train in Godhra where Hindus died.” But when I am a citizen of a democracy, I have to take responsibility for what the state I voted for does. And there is a very big difference between a state-assisted pogrom against a people in a country and something that militants have done. [An interview with Arundhati Roy]

That clears up everything. She did not vote for Musharraf or Saddam, so she does not have to condemn them. She did not vote for the terrorists, hence no condemnation. But when Iraqis died in American bombing, she condemned America. How can she do that if she did not vote in American elections ? As we all know the condemnation is always selective.

But then this is funny. Sometime back she told Democracy was a whore. Now she has become such a concerned citizen.

Remember the Lake Palace in Udaipur, the place where James Bond met Octopussy. Now if you go there, you will be able to see the palace, but the lake is slowly disappearing.

The people of Udaipur are only now beginning to understand how the lake is more than just a beauty spot. In fact, it is part of a highly sophisticated rainwater catchment system planned in the 16th century. When the then Maharana of Mewar laid out the city as his new capital, he built dams to create Lake Pichola as part of a series of artificial lakes he constructed around the city. They are strategically placed so that if the monsoon fails over one lake, another will catch rainwater from the other side of the watershed that runs near Udaipur, and the lakes are interconnected.

But the state government is now, at last, taking steps in the right direction, say the people of Udaipur. They have started a major programme of reforestation for the denuded hills. Refilling Lake Pichola has been made the top priority, and the authorities have pledged to remove any villagers' dams that are blocking the flow of water. They have also pledged to stop pumping drinking water out of the lake until it is restored to its former level.

Riding on horseback over the green lake-bed, Mr Joseph, the executive at the Lake Palace, says: "You know, some guests have told me Udaipur doesn't need its lake. It still has so much to offer." He points to the wild horses grazing. "You would never see them if the lake was full. They wouldn't come down from the hills. The palace still has so much to offer." And he is right. Even as he speaks, a traditional musical troupe is preparing to use the dry lake- bed as a performance area to entertain the guests. [Heat and dust consume India's City of the Lakes via India Archaeology]

Udaipur was named so in 1572 in the name of Udai Singh who founded the place. From there the house of Mewar defied the might of the Mughal empire and was the base of the Rajputs. Udaipur is also the home of Bagheera, the panther in Jungle Book.

Discarded Lies has a detailed analysis of the whole India, China, Kashmir, Pakistan, Osama scene and wonders why the United States treats a democratic India so badly.

Are we insane? Why are we now the only Security Council member refusing to support an Indian seat? It may be that China is manipulating us very skilfully, by having Pakistan escalate its demands so that we'll continue to appease them and anger our more natural ally, India-while simultaneously buttering India up and patching over old tensions. Why is China suddenly India's new best friend? Could it be that they realize Pakistan is a booby prize, to be used to harm our interests and then to be jettisoned?

Maybe it's time to start treating Pakistan like a nonentity. Not like an enemy, we can't afford that. But like the Palestinian Authority: a formless, largely fictional entity that is actually in the control of other forces, and not a real partner but the facade of one, deliberately designed to fool us into wasting large amounts of energy on irrelevant sideshows while malevolent forces gather. Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority are to sovereign government what shell corporations are to business. We appear to be taking Musharraf at face value, and it doesn't seem very wise to me. [Discarded Lies: Pakistani Kashmir Escalation: China Playing Us For Patsies?]

Taking Musharraf at face value is never wise as he has been lying about everything and can betray anyone anytime. Even when it comes to America's biggest enemy, he has been lying. But then people like Colin Powell are falling over for Musharraf and treating India insensitively. For America, dictators are always more charming than democracies.

In the middle of this year some urns dating to about 800 BC were found in Adichanallur near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Now some burrial urns from the period 3 BC to 3 AD have been found in Palani in Tamil Nadu.

The mouth of the urns was facing east. When contacted, A. Periasamy, curator, government museum at Palani said such urns, belonging to 3 B.C. and 3 AD, were widely used in Dindigul, Madurai, Thirunelveli and Coimbatore districts. Villagers described the vessel as `Pandu' kuzhi.

``We excavated a large-size burial urn at Othaiyur in Dindigul taluk and displayed it in the museum''. Sometimes, urn would contain small pots, precious stones, coins and small knives. He would excavate the area after obtaining clearance from the district administration. [Two burial urns unearthed near Palani]

The site also has a picture of the urn

A new paper titled Ethnic India: A genomic view with special reference to peopling and structure (via India Archaeology) reports on some interesting facts. The results are based on statistical analysis of DNA data from a large Indian population.

• There is an underlying unity of female lineages in India indicating that the initial number of female settlers may have been small.


• The studies support the hypothesis that Austro-Asiatic tribals are the earliest inhabitants of India.


• In most cases we speak of immigration to India via the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indus Valley route, the paper says that the Northeastern corridor also served as a passage to India. It suggests prot-Tibeto-Burman people leaving their homeland in the Yellow River basin and crossing the Himalayas to India.


• The paper also comes up with data supporting the thesis that Dravidian speakers were widespread throughout India and when Indo-European language speaking people entered India and created the caste system, the Dravidian speakers would have retreated southwards.


• Central Asia is supposed to have contributed in a major way to the Indian gene pool. Populations of North India are genetically closer to Central Asia. South Indians share less similarity and Northeast Indians share the least.

Another point is that if South Indias share less similarity with Central Asians then the assertion that Thiyyas came from Kyrgistan may not be true.

Wikipedia has an entry on Kumaranasan, a great Malayali poet who lived in the early 20th century. The interesting fact is that it was Sri Narayana Guru who influenced him.

Kumaran was dogged by ill-health right through his early life. When he was eighteen, Sree Narayana Guru visited his house at the request of his father. Kumaran was bedridden at that time. The great saint suggested that Kumaran should stay with him and become his disciple. The little boy found the invitation irresistible. Thus began a new phase of life for the young lad.

Kumaran’s meeting with Sree Narayana Guru can be compared to the meeting of Naren with Sri Ramakrishna. These are significant events, in the mysterious and inexorable ways of destiny. While Naren became a full fledged Swami, Kumaran continued as a lay disciple of Narayana Guru and made substantial contributions in the fields of poetry, literature and social renaissance, which Kerala witnessed during the early part of this century. [Kumaranasan]

This week's blog mela is up at Ashish's Niti. This time there are couple of entries from non-Indians as well. The next one is up at Opti-Mystic

While on the topic of Indian bloggers, Rojo is a new online service for managing your RSS/Atom Feeds, similar to bloglines. When you login to Rojo you get an initial list of blogs in various categories to subscribe to. Now they have new Indian Bloggers bundle for subscribers which includes feeds from AnarCapLib, EMERGIC, Jivha (Who does not blog anymore), The Examined Life etc.

Even though it was me who sent the mail to Chris Alden, this blog is not in the list :(

Sean-Paul Kelley of the Agonist has an entry on Jaisalmer, which lies in the middle of Thar Desert in Rajasthan. This was one of the major cities on the camel route to Persia before Mumbai became an important port city.

Built in 1156, the city sits along the old southern trade routes heading west out of India across Persia and into the Levant--finally the goods were shipped to Italy in exchange for European gold during the Italian Renaissance. Like the great merchants of Italy the Jains here in Jaisalmer built magnificent houses called havelis and temples intricately carved temples to rival those at Mt. Abu south of here. The city is a small oasis town amidst desert and adjacent the frontier with Pakistan.

The massive fort that looms above town was built by the Maharaja Jaisala in 1156 to ward off Muslim invaders from the West. It has 99 bastions, still holds 25% of the population and has a most stunning view from the top.

Inside the fort are two Jain temples dedicated to Rikhabdev and Sanbharanath respectively, and were built between 1156 and 1400. The Hindu temple is rather plain. Although the city is 20% Muslim I haven't yet located the Mosque.

The city certainly isn't as magnificent as Samarkand or Bukhara but it is a step above Dunhuang and Kashgar. [Jaisalmer]

Elections in US and time for Vir Sangvi to come up with ridiculous claims

And yet, when the results came in and Bush made his triumphant victory speech, I couldn’t find a single Indian who was happy, pleased or relieved — other than government officials, of course. Most of us knew little about Kerry and we had reason to be perturbed by his comments on outsourcing. But nearly everybody I know wanted him to win. [No longer we all Americans]

In India, the world's largest democracy, Bush's victory was seen as good for business. Raja Mohan, a professor of South Asian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, noted that India has done more business with the United States in the past four years than in the previous 40. "We believe the relationship is poised for a significant expansion," Mohan said, "and the return of Bush raises that prospect. [KRT Wire | 11/03/2004 | World reaction to Bush victory mixed]

News that Mr. Kerry had conceded the election to Mr. Bush was greeted with joy in the industry. "We are very happy that Bush is back," said Kiran S. Karnik, president of the industry group Nasscom, or National Association of Software and Service Companies. "The president's track record has been of recognizing the advantages of free trade," Mr. Karnik said. Mr. Bush's re-election will bring out the latent demand for outsourcing and lead to more offshoring announcements by companies, he said. [The New York Times > Business > World Business > An Industry in India Cheers Bush's Victory]

But the Hindus usually seemed to approve of Bush. What I found so interesting about the Hindu view of Bush was how well informed it was on the matter of what was in their interest.

Hindus, when asked, would cite several reasons why Bush was better for India than Kerry. Outsourcing was usually at the top of the list, but also many Hindus like the fact that Musharaff is Bush's puppet. (At least that was how they saw it.) They feel like he was under Bush's control and would be prevented from playing a real spoiler's role in Kashmir. They also feel that India and the US have Pakistan in a vice-grip of sorts.

And they also approved of Bush's support of Israel. Why? Well, they get a lot of high-tech weaponry from the Israelis, and they seem to approve, generally, Sharon's policy of knocking Arab heads around.

I picked up several pre-election newspapers and magazines. All of them had a list of pros and cons on the two presidential candidates. And all of them were uniform in their support of Bush. Again, I want to add that it seemed to me that the don't like or dislike Bush per se, it's just that they think he will serve their interests better. It was all very detached and 2+2=4 like.

Surprising to me. Rarely have I traveled in a place that was so supportive of Bush. I guess you can put India in the Red-State column. Who knew ?
The Hindu Bush and The Muslim Bush

So when Vir Sanghvi says he could not find a single Indian who was happy with Bush getting elected, he was just trying to project his beliefs on the 1 billion population.

Distraught over the re-election of President George W. Bush, a Georgia man traveled to New York City, went to Ground Zero and killed himself with a shotgun blast, police said yesterday. The suicide victim, Andrew Veal, 25, was discovered just before 8 a.m. yesterday when a worker for the Millennium Hotel looking at Ground Zero from an upper floor saw a man lying atop the concrete structure through which the 1 and 9 subway lines run. The worker, thinking the man was sleeping, alerted colleagues and the Port Authority police were notified. But when they got to Veal's body, they realized he had killed himself with a shot to the head from a .12-gauge shotgun. [Outside The Beltway : Man Kills Self at Ground Zero]

The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President George W. Bush's election win this week. [Hello Canada!]

Is this how Democrats are planning to win in 2008 ?

The American elections are a time when Indian Editorials come up with snarky remarks. For example, the editor at Times of India wonders on what will happen if Ohio takes time to come up with the results.

Last time it was Florida, and this time it's Ohio with its pesky provisional votes that are causing the constitutional logjam which could take 11 days to unclog. Can the world's most powerful nation $(O n(Bot to mention the rest of us insignificant others $(O a(Bfford such a political impasse? Suppose, God forbid, an international crisis were to erupt, a major terrorist attack, a nuclear confrontation or a global financial convulsion? Without a clear figure of authority in the White House, the resultant panic could well spiral out of control with disastrous international results. [TODAY'S EDITORIAL
White House Limbo]

In 2005 when the Multi-Fiber Agreement ends and quotas are removed for textile manufacture, many countries will be in trouble. One such country maybe Bangladesh whose business could be undercut by India and China. But it may not be developing countries that get affected, it could be United States too.

Meanwhile, here in the slowly beating heart of the remaining American textile industry, workers and owners of factories still operating along a stretch of Interstate 85 from Charlotte to Greensboro see the dawning of 2005 as a death sentence. More companies, they fear, will go bankrupt. More communities will wither like Kannapolis, and thousands more workers will be desperate for training, employment and health insurance.

In hopes of staving off the worst, politicians in the Southeast from both parties are taking advantage of the close outlook for the presidential election to win last-minute concessions from the White House that could slow the flood of imports from China.

Most experts expect that China, left unimpeded, will gain almost half the global apparel market. Its factories now make about 20 percent of the clothing and textiles sold in the United States; China is expected to capture as much as 70 percent of that market, potentially leading to the closing of half the surviving American mills and layoffs for tens of thousands more workers. [Textile Quotas to End, Punishing Carolina Towns]

There is a coin exhibition going on in Trivandrum, which is like a narration of the whole history of Kerala state.

The coins on show include the silver Purana, issued by the Ay-Chera chieftains between 600 and 200 BC and which is believed to be the oldest coin of southernmost India; the silver Makotai, the earliest known portrait coin of South India, which was issued by the Cheras during the Sangam age; Roman dinarii; the minute Quarter Taras of Vijayanagar, which weigh just 0.06 gm; and the Vellichakram, issued by the Travancore king, Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, in the mid-18th century.

The coins, which were in circulation in Malabar, such as the famed Gold Mohur; the Venetian Ducat; and the coins issued by the East India Company, the French in Mahe, and Hyderali and Tipu, are displayed. There is a collection of the gold coins minted by the Gangas, Hoysalas and Yadavas. [Coining a unique history]

During meditation most meditators experience a state of deep relaxation. It slows down metabolism and the breathing becomes slow. Buddha found a way to end suffering in a deep meditative state. Ultimately all this activity in the mind has to translate into some chemical reaction in the brain. So it would be interesting to study if any changes happen in the brain based on mental signals, the kind that happens during meditation.

The result was the scans that Prof. Davidson projected in Dharamsala. They compared brain activity in volunteers who were novice meditators to that of Buddhist monks who had spent more than 10,000 hours in meditation. The task was to practice "compassion" meditation, generating a feeling of loving kindness toward all beings.

In a striking difference between novices and monks, the latter showed a dramatic increase in high-frequency brain activity called gamma waves during compassion meditation. Thought to be the signature of neuronal activity that knits together far-flung brain circuits, gamma waves underlie higher mental activity such as consciousness. The novice meditators "showed a slight increase in gamma activity, but most monks showed extremely large increases of a sort that has never been reported before in the neuroscience literature," says Prof. Davidson, suggesting that mental training can bring the brain to a greater level of consciousness.

Using the brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging, the scientists pinpointed regions that were active during compassion meditation. In almost every case, the enhanced activity was greater in the monks' brains than the novices'. Activity in the left prefrontal cortex (the seat of positive emotions such as happiness) swamped activity in the right prefrontal (site of negative emotions and anxiety), something never before seen from purely mental activity. A sprawling circuit that switches on at the sight of suffering also showed greater activity in the monks. So did regions responsible for planned movement, as if the monks' brains were itching to go to the aid of those in distress. [Scans of Monks' Brains Show Meditation Alters Structure, Functioning]

• Lion of the Desert (Anthony Quinn) A very touching movie on the life of Omar al-Mokhtar who led the resistance in Libya against the fascist forces from Italy in the 1920s. Anthony Quinn gives a superb performance in this lavish production. Must see.
• Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization (Documentary) Host Michael Wood takes us to various places in Iraq which is called the cradle of civilization (Kak etc. calls India as the cradle of civilization). Wood takes us to Uruk, the first city of Sumer, the home of Abraham and where writing, wheel and art was invented. We get to see the garden of Eden at the meeting point of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers analyzed life of the people now and in ancient times. Excellent
• God and Buddha: A Dialogue (Documentary) In this documentary Professor Robert Thurman and Deepak Chopra explore the parallels between Buddhist philosophy and Vedanta and they find that there is no difference except for some semantics. If you are not very spiritually inclined, most of the discussion will fly over your head. Excellent watch.
• Enakku 20 Unakku 18 (Tamil) A guy and a girl meet on a train from Mumbai to Chennai and separate without knowing much about each other. Then they try to find each other in Chennai. I saw this movie due to some good A R Rahman songs which I had listened earlier. But the movie turned out to be 3 hrs of advertisment shots in between music video style filmed songs. The sweetness oozing out of the scenes will even creep out Suraj Bharjatya. Avoid it.

For some reason Movable Type on my host (powweb.com) has started flip-flopping in its behavior. So now I cannot post an entry directly. If I publish an entry it does not appear on the main page. I have to an explicit rebuild which looks ridiculous.

The category archiving has failed completely. Comments do not work. The worlds are colliding.

My hosting provider graciously declined to help which means I am on my own to debug.

So I have to explore other options like

(a) Fix the problem
(b) Move to another hosting service

Till one of them happens there will not be any more posts. If you have suggestions for a good MT Hosting Service please mail me at tiptronicus [at] gmail dot com.

I have changed my hosting provider and within few days blogging should be back to normal.

The other day I was watching the documentary, In the Footsteps of Alexander and the host Michael Wood walks to Kabul Museum, which is just a building under lock and key. There was one guard with an AK-47 kinda gun and all the artifacts were locked in the basement.

But now the Afghans want to restore their heritage back and they are asking the British to return their 2000 year old Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism from the British Library.

The Kharosti Scrolls would be a hugely prestigious centerpiece for the new museum. The 60 fragments of text written in the ancient script Kharosti on birch bark are considered by Buddhist scholars as comparable in historical importance to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Between the 2nd and 7th centuries AD, Hadda was one of the holiest sites in Buddhism drawing pilgrims from all over India and China. The scrolls are the earliest known Buddhist scripts and were produced by monks in the extraordinary civilisation of Gandhara, a synthesis of Indian and Greek culture spread to Asia by the followers of Alexander the Great.

The civilisation flourished at the time of the Roman Empire in what is now the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. [Afghanistan wants its 'Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism' back from UK]

Amartya Sen has an article in New York Review of Books on the 2000 year old relation between China and India. Since ancient times China has exported its goods to India and India exported Buddhism and Mathematics to China.

As it happens, relations between China and India almost certainly began with trade, not with Buddhism. Some two thousand years ago the consumption habits of Indians, particularly of rich Indians, were radically influenced by innovations from China. A treatise on economics and politics by the great Sanskrit scholar Kautilya, first written in the fourth century BCE, though revised a few centuries later, gives a special place to "silk and silk-cloth from the land of China" among "precious articles" and "objects of value." In the ancient epic Mahabharata there are references to Chinese fabric or silk (cinamsuka) being given as presents, and there are similar references in the ancient Laws of Manu.

Chinese records show that several Indian astronomers and mathematicians held high positions in the Astronomical Bureau at the Chinese capital during this period. Not only did one of them, Gautama, became president of the Board of Astronomy in China, he also produced the great Chinese compendium of astronomy, Kaiyvan Zhanjing, an eighth-century scientific classic. He adapted a number of Indian astronomical works for publication in Chinese, among them the Jiuzhi li, which draws on a particular planetary calendar in India and is clearly based on a classical Sanskrit text, produced around 550 CE by the mathematician Varahamihira. This work is mainly an algorithmic guide to computation, estimating, for example, the duration of eclipses based on the diameter of the moon and other relevant parameters. The techniques involved drew on methods established by Aryabhata in the late fifth century, and then further developed by his followers in India, including Varahamihira and Brahmagupta. [Passage to China]

One of the travelers Fax-ian who came to India in 401 AD was impressed by the medical facilities in Bihar and wrote

All the poor and destitute in the country...and all who are diseased, go to these houses, and are provided with every kind of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and medicines which their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and when they are better, they go away of themselves.

In the 21st century Bihar both the doctors and patients are in trouble.

Yanni is on tour again and this time I saw him in San Jose. It was the same as last year, but an amazing performance as usual.

If he is visiting your city, don't miss it.

In Jan, 2005 when the Multi Fibre Agreement lapses and it becomes a free for all in the global apparel market how are the Indian companies going to perform ? Are they geared to meet the challenge ? The Frontline takes a look at the knitted garment industry in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu

THE industry, on the eve of the dismantling of the multi-fibre agreement (MFA) wears a different look now. The bigger units supply their wares to some of the leading retail chains in the developed world such as Wal Mart, Marks and Spencer, C&A and many others. Many of the products wear labels of some of the top brands. [Towards new frontiers]

Although the top factories have increased their capacities substantially, by and large the country is not ready for the post-quota advantage. "There is going to be a huge capacity crunch, looking at the volume of business coming our way," warns Hinduja.

The capacity crunch is the direct fallout of policies that encouraged the proliferation of small units with their inherent inefficiencies, at the cost of large-scale production. While China has created huge capacities and capitalised on economies of scale, India has an incredibly fragmented industry which is simply not geared to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing global industry. There are hundreds of thousands of powerloom units producing 90-95 per cent of the fabrics in the country, while the organised sector turns out just over 5 per cent.

"If we believe we can overrun the world on the strength of powerloom manufacturing and hand-processing units, then we are extremely naïve," says a textile industry analyst. [Too little, too late]

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said any proposal to divide Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of religion would not be acceptable to India.

"I have made this point clear that any redrawing of the international border is not something which is going to be acceptable to our country," Manmoahn Singh said at a press conference here on the first day of a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Any proposal which would further divide our country on the basis of religion is not going to be acceptable to us," he said. [No division of Kashmir on basis of religion: Manmohan]

Robert Sarmast claims that Atlantis has been found. It is not the first time that Atlantis has been discovered. It has been discovered before in Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Santorini, Portugal etc.

Now people are already contesting Robert Sarmast's claim.

But German physicist Christian Huebscher said he had identified the phenomenon as 100,000 year-old volcanoes that spewed mud.

Huebscher, of the Hamburg Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, is quoted in Wednesday's edition of the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as saying he and two Dutch colleagues had sailed in a boat to the same area at which Sarmast claimed to have located Atlantis and made their findings.
Sarmast's team claims to have found man-made structures located about one mile (some 1.5 kilometres) below sea level and 50 miles (80 kilometres) off the southeast coast of Cyprus. [German physicist disputes Atlantis discovery claim by American]

If Musharraf thought that the previous NDA Govt was tough, he is now finding that the present UPA Govt is equally tough when it comes to matters of National Security. This was made very clear by the Prime Minister himself.

In Strobe Talbott's book Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb, he writes about talking to the NDA Govt on rolling back the nuclear plans with no effect. After that the Americans went to see Sonia Gandhi who was the leader of opposition at that time. After listening to them patiently, she just asked them to enjoy their stay here, implying that when it comes to issues of security, there is no compromise.

What did Musharraf think in the first place ? Giving the old school report card in New York to Manmohan Singh would restore all relations ? His suggestion that India be divided again on communal lines be taken seriously ? What should we expect now ? Sudden increase in jihadi activity ?

Sufism is a branch of Islamic spirituality in which people practice for inner awakening and enlightenment. This is similar in concept to Buddhism or Raja Yoga practitioners of Hinduism. They also follow a Guru-Sishya culture like Hinduism and use parables for explanations like the Zen. Now with the Taliban gone, Sufism is reappearing in Afghanistan.

Kabul has again become a center for Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, a term used to describe those who are interested in inner knowledge or finding the path toward inner awakening and enlightenment. After the flight of the Taliban, every neighborhood in Afghanistan's capital now seems to have its own Sufi brotherhood.

In the house, Hamidullah's seven sons attend to him and his guests. They run the economic life of the tariqat. They also organize the practical details of the ecstatic ceremonies, or "zikrs," around which the tariqat revolves. The zikr is held every Thursday evening, as well as during big religious feasts.

The zikr consists of the rhythmic, collective recitation of a series of mystical names given to God. This culminates with the modulated howling of the "shahada," which embodies the main teaching of Islam: "La illaha ill'Allah," or "There is no god but Allah."

This is shouted in unison by the dervishes. The combination of their breathing and physical movements sometimes results in a trancelike state.

The Qadiris and the Sohrawardis perform a vocal zikr, while the Naqshbandis are silent. The ritual of the Chishtiya includes the attainment of a trance through the use of music. The zikr of the Chishtiya brotherhood is always done through common singing. [Sufism reemerges in Afghanistan]

All these seem like group Bhajans and the article does not mention anything about personal meditation techniques like Vipassana or Raja Yoga

Footnote: One person in India who converted to Sufism and derives inspiration from it is A R Rahman.

Nov 11, 2004
Shaukat Aziz, Pakistani Prime Minister:

Pakistan Premier Shaukat Aziz today welcomed the statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir, a move Islamabad hoped would have a "salutary effect" in Kashmir and help further the peace process between the two countries.[Pak PM welcomes India's move to reduce troops in Kashmir]

Musharraf gave a lukewarm welcome to the pullout of troops from Kashmir, suggesting it was a superficial step. "These are good optics, but they are not striking at the strategic issue of moving forward on a resolution. [Musharraf unhappy with signals from India]

The solution that Indian Govt. is coming up with as a solution to the Kashmir problem is to grant more autonomy to the state based on the Kashmir Autonomy Report.

While rejecting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent formula on Kashmir, India has proposed a "self rule" and "open borders" to both parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The proposal put forward here unofficially by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has set a flurry of activity within the government. Officials here on Friday were busy dusting off the 'Kashmir Autonomy Report', passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in June 2000, but later out rightly rejected by the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. "Dr Manmohan Singh is in a fast mode of firming up his own Kashmir solution to counter the Musharraf formula with maximum autonomy to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and an eventual "borderless" Kashmir by pressurizing Pakistan to give similar autonomy in their part of Kashmir," sources in the PMO here said. Also China will be made to come around to revive silk routes between Kashmir, Tibet and Xinjiang that could generate prosperity in the region.

During his visit to Delhi on November 23, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is supposed to officially convey the proposals floated by President Pervez Musharraf through the media. Dr Manmohan Singh has, however, foreclosed any consideration of such proposals by asserting that there would be no redrawing of the international boundaries or realignment of regions that smacks of communal dimensions.
India has the benefit of the autonomy report prepared by the Kashmiri experts and adopted by the state assembly to move fast in this direction, the sources pointed out. They said it is not necessary for New Delhi to agree on everything in the report but it will be the basis for starting a process of political discussion. India is keen that the Supreme Court, the Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) continue to have jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir. [India proposes 'self-rule,' 'open borders' in both Kashmirs]

While Arafat is a terrorist, a corrupt leader and one who betrayed the Palestinian people of their homeland, in India he is seen as a friend and statesman.

In India we respect dictators and terrorists. We have maintained good relations with Arafat, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein etc. All these maybe necessary due to trade and other strategic concerns. But even when these people murdered their citizens or was involved in terrorist activities we kept quiet.

Arafat called Indira Gandhi his sister and Rajiv Gandhi as his brother. Arafat also had good personal relations with many Indian diplomats like T S Tirumuthy and Romesh Bhandari. Praful Bidwai even wrote an article about Arafat without a mention of his terrorist activities.

But for all this servility what did we get in return ? A public support for India's position on Kashmir ? No. But still India votes in support for the Palestinian position in the United Nations. This position is consistent with the general policy towards Arab nations where we appease them without getting anything in return. (Yes, we have Indian workers in Arab countries, but it is an economic necessity for them as well)

So you would think that for all this service, the Palestinians would have a special respect for Indians and would treat them accordingly. So guess what happened when the Indian delegation went for Arafat's funeral.

The Indian delegation, which reached Cairo to attend the funeral service of Palestinian Pesident Yaser Arafat, faced disappointment as it was not allowed a last glimpse of the man who symbolised Palestinian nationalism.

The delegation, led by External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, could not pay floral tributes at Arafat's coffin before a military plane at the Almaza airbase flew it to the Egyptian Sinai town of El-Arish en route to the burial in the West Bank. The reason being entry to the airbase was allowed only to heads of state and governments.

At the iron gate of the airbase, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Oman Foreign Minister Yousuf Bin Allavi, Natwar Singh, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri and Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed stood side by side. [Indian leaders not allowed to see Arafat]

Maulana Nasiruddin, an Islamic cleric who had some ambitious plans was arrested in Hyderabad, India.

"Maulana has been associated with Jamaat-e-Islami, a moderate organisation since 1970. The notorious Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is a student wing of the organisation and Maulana has been associated with it too," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) D.G. Vanzara told reporters.

"He has been associated with several other organisations and has connections spreading from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. He has confessed during interrogation that he was working on bringing a number of organisations under one banner to intensify 'jihad' for establishing a "Khilafat" or Islamic theocratic state in India," Vanzara said.

He said the Maulana was also a great orator and motivated many youths to go to Pakistan for terrorist training.

"Maulana very proudly noted in the confession that Osama bin Laden was his role model," Vanzara said. [India: 'Arrested cleric conspired to build Islamic state']

Tibet is now synonymous with Buddhism. But till 7th century AD, the religion of Tibet was Bön. This religion which was rooted in Shamanistic practices also has a founder similar to Buddha. His name was Yungdrung Bön and he too left the palace to be a monk. Now archaeological excavations have discovered artifacts from that era.

In Ngari, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, archaeologists investigated the ruins of the mysterious "Silver Castle," and discovered fantastic statues of Bon gods, which belonged to a religion prevalent on the roof of the world a millennium ago. The ancient city, known as the "Silver Castle of Qionglong (today's Zhada, Ngari)," was in Tibetan legends the capital of Zhangzhung Kingdom.

It fell into oblivion in the 10th century when the Guge Kingdom was founded and Tibetans converted from the Bon religion to Buddhism. It had been forgotten until archaeologists discovered its ruins in the 1920s. Since the investigation kicked off this June, archaeologists have been reporting amazing finds on the ruins, which lie on the northern bank of the Xiangquan (Langqen Zangbo) River and covers an area of 130,000 square metres.

"Lying before us is a magnificent castle boasting buzzing lives a millennium ago, with well-planned residential areas, ritual and public buildings, defence walls and even secret underground tunnels," said archaeologist Huo Wei from Sichuan University. Porcelain shreds and iron tools were unearthed along with statues of Bon gods. One of them, painted in green and gold, have two faces - one on the front and one on the back. "It's only an investigation. We'll never know what the ground is hiding from us until an excavation begins," said Huo. [Ancient Tibetan city]

Here is one piece which appeared in the Urdu press and not in any English newspapers from Pakistan.

Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt (September 2, 2004) ex-ISI chief Hameed Gul said that Pakistan had played all its cards to get India to resolve the Kashmir dispute and now there was no card left to play. He said Pakistan first declared ceasefire unilaterally, then allowed India to fence the LoC and then talked of a solution outside the UN resolutions but nothing had happened.

Hameed Gul is right about the first part. Pakistan has played all its cards, the last one being jihad, which put the integrity of the state at stake. It is now time to change tack or sink. The new policy is to bind the wounds inflicted on Pakistan by jihad. It has its own cards, but they are different from the ones that were played in the past but got ruffed. [Khaled Ahmed’s Urdu press Review]

Many of you might have mistakenly believed that Islam was a religion started by Muhammed in 7th century AD. But according to Renowned Orator of Islam and Comparative Religions Dr Zakir Naik it is not so.

''Islam is not the new religion as propagated by westenern protogonists. The Islamic religion is as old as Hinduism and it was very well established in Vedas, Upanishads and also in Puranas, Dr Zakir Naik claimed''. [There are many similarities between Islam and Hinduism: Cleric]

The Kunindas are a tribe who were dominant in Himachal Pradesh sometime between 1st century BC and 3 rd century AD. I looked up all the history books I have and none of them mention this tribe at all.

The Kunindas were dominant in Himachal Pradesh for a long time. They are mentioned in epics and puranas. In the Mahabharata they are known to have been defeated by Arjuna. In the Vishnu Purana the Kuninda territory has been named specifically as Kulindopatyaka foothills. Varahamehra also places them somewhere in the Himalayan region.

On the basis of literary sources Cunningham has identified the ancient Kulindas with the present day Kunets of Kulu and Shimla. Ptolemy believed the origin of Kuninda in the country irrigated by the river Ganga, Yamuna, Sutlej and Beas.

Incidentally most of the Kuninda coins have been found in places associated with these rivers e.g. Kashipur, Kumaon, Saharnpur, Garhwal, Haryana and Punjab. In Himachal, Kuninda coins have been found at Tappa-Mewa in Hamirpur district, Jawalamukhi and Kangra. A hoard of coins was discovered at Chakker in the Balh valley. With the study of these coins and the knowledge of the places from where the discoveries were made one can conclude that this Kuninda tribe ruled this region from 1st century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.

The Kuninda issued two types of coins. One type was issued about 1st century B.C. and the other about three centuries later. The present hoard was issued during the 1st century B.C. and bears the name Amogbhuti.

The obverse of the coin is in Brahmi and reverse in Khroshti. The obverse has a deer on the right and Lakshmi is facing it. On the reverse a five- arched hill surmounted by Nandipada, on the right a tree in the railing and on the left two swastik and Inderdhwaja. At the bottom is a wavy line representing a river. [Kuninda coins found via India Archaeology]

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday met All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders in New Delhi. Aziz, in New Delhi on a two-day visit, held discussions with acting Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Maulana Abbas Ansari, Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Later, Aziz hosted a dinner for all of them at Pakistan House. [Aziz meets separatist leaders]

The Hurriyat wants the easy way out. They want to be the legitimate representatives of the Indian Kashmiris, but they do want to stand for any elections. They want to break Jammu and Kashmir and be crowned its rulers. The Indian Express has a detailed account of the Hurriyat's meeting with Shaukat Aziz.

According to one leader who attended the meeting, Aziz asked all leaders, one by one, to respond to Islamabad’s ‘‘plea for unity.’’ While chairman of the moderate action Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabir Shah were keen on such a move, hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani evaded the issue.

One Hurriyat leader is said to have asked Aziz if Pakistan would pull out of the peace process if they (the separatist leadership) were not taken on board.

Aziz is said to have remained silent.Realizing that his mediation to iron out the differences was leading nowhere, Aziz then is said to have asked them to at least issue a statement saying that Pakistan and the Kashmiri leadership were in sync on the subject. ‘‘There was pin-drop silence,’’ said the source, and such an assurance wasn’t forthcoming. [For Hurriyat, Pak’s New Delhi dinner leaves a flat taste]

The Pakistani Govt and the Hurriyat always had an inherest distrust of each other. Whenever the Indian Govt. cozies to the Hurriyat, the Pakistan Govt. disowns them. And now when the Indian Govt. cozies to the Pakistani Govt. they disown the Hurriyat then too. So then what is the purpose of the existence of Hurriyat ?

Sandeep has an excellent post on The Protector of Big Terrorists

Every tyrant is in her eyes, oppressed by Empire. It is of little consequence to her if the tyrant has buried alive children, raped women, if his progeny have trampled (both literally and figuratively) over the citizenry, if he has invented and implemented the most barbaric forms of torture.... nay! None of these matter to the peace-loving, nuke-hating, verbal terrorist. She cares a whit if Pakistan regularly sends out its terrorists freedom fighters into Kashmir, but she colours these scums as "victims of oppression by the hostile, fascist forces" at work everywhere in India--as evidence, she points at the Gujarat carnage (notice that apart from Narmada, Gujarat, and the nuclear tests, she has nothing in her arsenal when it comes to speaking against about India) where pregnant women's foetuses were ripped apart and minors were raped....

And when something as ghastly as what she has described in her Tale of the Ripped Foetus actually happens in Fallujah, she wants us to weep for the liberators who perpetrated the atrocity! But of course: this is the standard technique--it is the victim's fault because he/she invited it. [The Protector of Big Terrorists]

The motivation for Sandeep's post was Shanti's post titled And Arundhati Roy weeped...

Every business leader in the US is now visiting India. Craig Barret, Intel's Chief Executive was there for a two day visit and was evaluating India for setting up a chip manufacturing center. Intel hired 800 people this year making the total employee count about 2400. Intel has invested $40 million so far and is planning to invest the same over the next two years.

The next person was Steve Ballmer, who too is bullish about India and made some commitments to serve the rural population of India. The only specific he provided was that Windows is being localized into 14 additional Indian languages. Currently it is available only in Hindi.

Unlike the Americans in the State Department, these businessmen do not find it necessary to make the obligatory visit to Pakistan. There no hyphenated equation with the neighbor nextdoor and the businessmen know where to put the money and where not to. If only the State Dept followed the instincts of the businessmen.

I have been to Tirupati only once. We went directly to the temples and came back. My friend Sujatha has an article in The Hindu in which she points out other places of interest near the temple town.

The Akash Ganga waterfall, 3 km from the temple, that the faithful believe flows from the feet of Lord Vishnu, is a huge attraction. Situated on the Tirumala Hills, Sila Thoranam, a natural rock formation, is a wonderous sight. It is a naturally formed arch of rock, the likes of which are reportedly found only at two other places in the world — the Rainbow Arch at Utah in the US and the Cut Through in the UK. The rock arch at Tirumala is believed to be 1,500 million years old and is formed by weathering and wind erosion. The length of the arch is 25 ft and its height, 10 ft.

Just 12 km from Tirupati lies Chandragiri, the last capital of the Vijayanagar kings. Amidst the ruins of the Chandragiri fort, two palaces — Raja Mahal and Rani Mahal — stand tall. In an attempt to relive the glory of the Vijayanagar empire, a light and sound show is organised at the fort by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department. [Across hills... to divinity]

An archaeological excavation in Taxila has discovered both Buddhist and Hindu artifacts dating back to the first century AD.

The Pakistan government's archaeology department has discovered eight antiquities dating back to the first century AD, including rare sculptures of 'future' Buddha, Hindu God Indra and his bodyguard from an ancient archaeological site very near to Taxila, considered as a seat of learning during the Buddhist period.

According to the Daily Times, experts from the archaeology department's preservation and restoration team unearthed the treasures while carrying on preservation work at the world renowned Dharmarajika Stupa and monastery dating back to 3rd century BC to 5th Century AD, regarded as the epitome of the Gandhara civilization.

Archaeologists have confirmed that one of the antiquities excavated depicts in exact detail the 'the reappearance of Buddha' as told in Buddhist

Apart from the other discovery of Corinthian capital, which was used in Magna, Garcia and Sicily from the early third century, the statue of Indra, regarded as the rain god in Vedic mythology and another depicting the bodyguard of Indra has also interested experts to a great extent. [Buddhist antiquities unearthed near Taxila]

There is a considerable decline in the number of foreign students entering United States and it is going to affect the country seriously.

Some Americans might say, "Good riddance, it's their loss." Actually the greater loss is ours. American universities benefit from having the best students from across the globe. But the single most deadly effect of this trend is the erosion of American capacity in science and technology. The U.S. economy has powered ahead in large part because of the amazing productivity of America's science and technology. Yet that research is now done largely by foreign students. The National Science Board (NSB) documented this reality last year, finding that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and engineering work force are foreign-born. Foreigners make up more than half the students enrolled in science and engineering programs. The dirty little secret about America's scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants.

Americans don't do science anymore. The NSB put out another report this year that showed the United States now ranks 17th (among nations surveyed) in the proportion of college students majoring in science and engineering. In 1975 the United States ranked third. The recent decline in foreign applications is having a direct effect on science programs. Three years ago there were 385 computer-science majors at MIT. Today there are 240. The trend is similar at Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of California, Berkeley. [Rejecting the Next Bill Gates]

Defence Contractors need engineering graduates (non-software), who are US Citizens and can get clearance. Already it is tough to get plain engineering graduates and with conditions like Citizenship and it will be impossible to get employees who match this criteria. On top of this you restrict foreigners who want to study and you aggravate the issue. The solution for this specific problem is not outsourcing as it pertains to national security. I hope someone pays attention.