If I look down memory lane, I come across a faded memory of the postman who used to knock our gate and simulatneously ring his bycycle bell to announce his arrival. I or anyone else in the house used to run towards the gate to find out what the postman had brought for us. ‘Telegram hai sahib’, he used to say. And the word telegram sent a chill down the spine and horrible thoughts came to the mind in a flash of a second. Who? What? Why? When?  Where? Oh  Rama – bless me!!!  It was a….. (more…)

Ravana

Dussehra is also called ‘Vijaidashmi’ and ‘Dus Hara’ meaning cutting of ten heads. Dussehra is observed all over India as well as Nepal. This festival has a significance of celeberating  victory of Shakti over mahishasura and also that of Lord Ram over Ravana. The festivities are observed by  aplying ‘Tilak’ on the forehead, payers, observance of religious rituals like burning Ravana effigyand keeping fast for eight days.

It is a unique festival celebrated all over India for different reasons & with different ways of celebration. We all celebrate this festival to mark the victory of good over evil. This festival is mainly important to the Hindus and is celebrated for 10 days.

Vijayadashami is celebrated on the tenth day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu autumn month of September end or beginning of October and is the grand culmination of the 10-day annual Navaratri  festival. (more…)

Shri Asaram Bapuji

A true incident.

Bapuji had arrived in town and was at the Ashram. We reached the Ashram at 10.30 am and parked my car opposite the main gate under the trees and adjacent to the dried out bushes. This was the first time I had ever gone to this Ashram. It was a tin-top hanger type shed with a small house visible behind it and some portion was still under construction. All over the floor there were blue plastic sheets spread out for people to sit on. When we reached inside the ‘pandal’ there were around 100 people present. I got the ‘Darshan’ of Bapuji at 12.30pm, the sermon went on for about 2 hours followed by ‘prasad’ before dispersing.

When we came out of the Ashram on to the main road, there were about a dozen cars parked here and there, but my car……. (more…)

In this time of recession, the real estate market bubble has burst. Gone are the days when people used to invest some amount in plots, houses or flats and reaped a fairly good harvest in a short span of six months or a year.

In India, today there are no buyers available. At the same time the sellers are not reducing the price of the property they are holding, hoping against hope that the prices would one day rise. But the prices have not risen in the past two years.

The concept  of ‘own-sweet-home’ is now no longer in operation. When there are no buyers in the market – then what are all the people doing?  I asked a friend who promptly replied “Compared to buying – renting is cheap”. Mathematically, a smart move, I think. (more…)

After a month or two of peace in Australia, Mukhtiar Singh and his two nephews  were brutally beaten up by a group of 80 people including women in Melbourne’s eastern suburb of Epping. The three were heckled as they played pool on Saturday and then attacked with bottles in a car park when they decided to leave. They wanted to avoid the confrontation, but the mob  started beating them.

Weeks after the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna visited Australia for an assurance that the government would do all it can to safeguard Indian students and other Indians residing there, things have not changed. (more…)

……..AND INDIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS

US President Barrack Obama addressed the joint session of the Congress on Wednesday pressing for the need to improvise the existing health care system in the country. This was perhaps his best ever speech ever made by him, before or after becoming the President of United States.

He said and I quote, “From the moment I took office as President, the central challenge we have confronted as a nation has been the need to lift ourselves out of the worst recession. But,  even as we have made progress, we know that the road to prosperity remains long and difficult. We also know that one essential step on our journey is to control the spiraling cost of health care in America since World War II”.  He further added that “Make no mistake: the cost of our health care is a threat to our economy. It is an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It is a ticking time-bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America. Reform is not a luxury, but a necessity”. (more…)

An Aero Mexico flight 576 from Cancun to Mexico was highjacked at Mexico airport. It was carrying 104 passengers and was hijacked on Wednesday, on the tarmac at Mexico City’s airport.

The hijacked airliner stood parked on a remote location of the tarmac at Mexico City’s airport as shown on CNN news network. 

 Three abductors — possibly Bolivians or Colombians — aboard the Boeing 737 Aeromexico jet had threatened to blow it up if their demand to speak to President Felipe Calderon is not met, CNN News reported. (more…)

Never criticise a Saint 

I was looking for something and I stumbled on this site,  and I  know now that some people are deliberately writing against Sri Sri Ravishankar’s work  Only they know how, why,  by whom they have been motivated to do this? I have only one question to the people who are questioning the abilities of a Saint. What is their awareness level in the spiritual path? Have they  achieved enlightenment in religion and have reached  the highest echelon?  If so, only then will I listen to  their  comments .

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual and humanitarian leader. It was very disturbing to read people talking against  his teachings and against his organisation in a blog which has also been commented by others. This is highly inappropriate and people should desist from making irrational comments against any saint. (more…)

Seventy days after his sudden death, Michael Jackson will be interred on Thursday evening at the Forest Lawn Cemetery. It is still not certain whether this will be his last resting place. Only his family and closest friends attended the private funeral inside the ornate Great Mausoleum on the grounds of Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California.

The memorial service was to commence at 7.00 PM  but started only at 8.30 and was wrapped up at 11.50 PM Eastern time. (more…)

Government sources have confirmed that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy has died in a chopper crash in the jungles of Nallamalla near Kurnool. His body was found on Thursday morning after an intensive search operation by the Army commandos who have also recovered dead bodies of four other people who were on board the twin-engine Bell 430 helicopter. The helicopter was found wrecked near the hill top after it had crash landed on the Rudrakod Hill. (more…)