It does not happen only in India

Just when I casually passing through the Le Monde, I came across this news.
Six persons have been arrested for a fraud worth 450 million euros. According to the paper, British law enforcement agencies were investigating the matter since 2005. The identities of the persons have not been disclosed. I hope there are no Indians in it.
The though that came to me was : there are other places on earth where frauds and scams are taking place and coming to light with each passing day. India is not the only place. I have yet to figure out wherther I should take pride in the fact or not.

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Wagh Nakh to Return to Land of Shivaji

Maharashtra, land of the Chhatrapati Shivaji, was missing it for the last two centuries. But Wagh Nakh, a famous weapon belonged to Shivaji Maharaj is to come to Maharashtra very soon. Maharashtra government has proposed to Victoria and Albert Museum, London in this regard. The museum has asked security to be provided and once it is cleared, the weapon will come in Mumbai first.

Wagh Nakh or Tiger Claws is one of the irregualr weapons used by Chhatrapati Shivaji. It is famous in the popular folklore of Maharashtra because of its use in killing Afzal Khan by Shivaji himself. After the fall of Maratha Empire, it was taken outside India by British officers and landed in Victoria and Albert Museum.

This weapon is being brought to Maharashtra for an exhibit and government has forwarded the proposal to the museum. Museum also has approved the idea but its decision hinges on the security aspect. Also the file for the security arrangements is doing round in Mantralaya, Mumbai.

Meera Hindocha of Press Office, V&A Museum informed Pune Mirror through a mailed reply, "I can confirm that we have received a loan request for the tiger claw weapon that may have belonged to Chhatrapati Shivaji. However, we have not yet agreed to lend the object and our decision will be dependent upon the confirmation of a suitable venue for the exhibition and the necessary security arrangements being cleared."

Asked about the developments, R. R. Patil, deputy chief minister and Home minister of Maharashtra told Mirror, "Yes, we have given the proposal. But they (the museum)want security to be arranged by us. The file has come to me some days ago and a decision in this regard will be taken soon."

Historians Speak Babasaheb Purandare, who is known for his dedication for history of Maratha Empire could not be contacted as he is is in US now. But he has described the travel of Wagh Nakh to Britain in his previous writings. According to him, Grand Duff, who was political representative of East India Company in the court of Satara might have taken this weapon to Britain. He served in the court from 1818 to 1824. He also wrote the first book on Maratha on history. He befriended the then Maharaja of Satara Chhatrapati Pratapsinh and took the weapon with him while returning. His descendants donated it to the V&A museum.

Ninad Bedekar, another historian of repute from Pune, differed on the authenticity of the weapon. "Shivbhushan, the book in Sanskrit written in the lifetime of Shivaji and by his order, says that Shivaji killed Afzalkhan with sword. This is an authentic reference. As for as the claim that weapon belonged to Shivaji, it is also shrouded in mystery. We do not find any reference suggesting that Shivaji used this weapon."

Asked as to what his reaction would be once the weapon comes here, Bedekar said, "I will still tell the facts as they are."

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Spiritual Pull of the Hinduism

Eventhough world, especially English speaking literate class taked pride in deriding Hindu ethos. But the Hindu tradition and spirituality continues to overhelm people all over the world. This fact is corborated by a story that I chanced upon recenly. I reproduce the story as it is.

Allahabad : It was 38 years ago that Baba Rampuri, as this once Beverly Hills resident is now called, set out from Los Angeles in search of truth and peace. He was just 18 then. He has been at each Kumbh and Ardh Kumbh since 1971, and the son of an American dental surgeon turned Hindu ascetic says the English dictionary 'does not have a word to describe the bliss I experience each time I am here'.
His first halt was an ashram in Rajasthan, from where his guru took him to Haridwar, one of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage centres on the bank of the Ganga, where he found his new home. By the time he was 20, he made up his mind to give up all worldly pleasures, including the company of the rich and the famous, to step into a contrasting world where abstinence was the buzzword.
The saffron clad 56-year-old - who refuses to give his original American name - is now camping on the banks of the holy river here, taking part in the 42-day-long Ardh Kumbh - the every six-year religious cornucopia during which millions take dip in the Sangam, the confluence of three rivers sacred to Hindus, in the hope of gaining salvation from what the faithful believe the unending cycle of births and deaths.
'A dip at the Sangam during the Kumbh Mela gives me more pleasure that one could get in a football match,' Baba Rampuri told IANS, taking a few puffs of the 'chillam' which he describes as 'part of the tradition'.
'I did go back to LA after my first visit here in 1968 but decided to return to India in 1971 once and for all ... and that too with just $20 in my pocket.'
Baba Rampuri was formally initiated into the world of Hindu ascetic life 36 years ago on these very banks of the Sangam. He was among the first few whites to find a privileged place in the Juna Akhara, which is considered the oldest of India's nine Hindu akharas, or religious orders.
There are many foreigners like Baba Rampuri, including women, who have left their homes in far away continents and have become Hindu sadhus. Most of them prefer not to reveal their original names.
Says Jasraj Puri, an Australian who became a sadhu: 'My original name was washed down in the waters of the Ganga and got immersed in the Bay of Bengal 15 years ago when I joined the ashram of Swami Maheshwaranand, who went from India decades ago to set up base in Vienna.' The 35-year-old former physiotherapist has picked up reasonably good Hindi as well and currently heads an ashram-cum-school run by his guru Maheshwaranand in Rajasthan. The polluted waters of the Ganga don't discourage him from a daily dip. 'The Ganga is spiritually so pure that pollution and even visible dirt becomes secondary and immaterial,' explains Puri to IANS.
Similarly, Ganga, 45, arrived here from her home in Britain nearly 10 years ago. 'I propose to spend the rest of my life in the Maha Nirvani Akhara,' she said. While camping at the Ardh Kumbh, Ganga makes it a point to take a dip in the Sangam every morning. 'But it was a different experience on Mauni Amavasya (Jan 19), the holiest of the holy bathing days,' she said after stepping out of the water in which an estimated ten million took a hallowed dip that day.
Hindu spirituality continues to attract youth from various countries. Verena, 25, is a first-time visitor to the Kumbh from Germany and is so overwhelmed by the spiritual rituals here that she wouldn't mind settling down as a disciple in the Juna Akhara. And 24-year-old Dase, another Kumbh first-timer from Latvia, is only too keen to give her company. Susan, who has come from the US, is still debating whether she should abandon her filmmaking career in California and settle down to a saffron life of Hindu renunciates.
'I will go back at the end of the Kumbh Mela but I might be back soon. The divinity I have tasted here has been an unparalleled experience, which I cannot describe in words,' said Susan. The list is endless. Besides the over 450 foreigners in the Maheshwaranand camp, the Juna and Maha Nirvani Akharas too boast of nearly 250 people belonging from 17 countries who have chosen to embrace the Hindu spiritual path.
By Sharat Pradhan/Indo-Asian News Service

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Bollywood 'Dhoom' in Germany

Bollywood cruises in Germany
That Bollywood is crossing new frontiers in geographic terms is nothing of a news now. But that it has created a much frenzy outside India is certainly a thing to be applauded. That frenzy at this point of time is evident much in Germany. The country will witness a gala show in about a month's time to celebrate the life Bollywood-way.
In Germany, many people know Bollywood through television only. And for Germans, Bollywood films are those in which songs, dance, laughter, crying and all other masalas are rolled into one. For them, now Bollywood is to be presented live in show called 'Bharati.' Which will showcase entire spectrum of the Indian movies from yesteryears to this day as they are. I read on a German website named ka-news.de the description of this show as follow (I have tried to translate it) : Bharati is a two hour long innovative work of art in fabric and tone, wherein 100 costumes made of expensive materials, brilliant fabric and vivid creations are employed. With these the Musical ensemble will tour all of Germany and Austria. The show will be held on 8 and 9 February 2007 in Baden-Baden.
In this show, 15 artists and Six singers will play the songs from popular Bollywood films, which will be traditional tunes but will be played on modern lines. This will be second show of this proportion in Europe. The first being Bombay Dreams some two years ago.

In fact, not only in Germany, but Bollywood films are gaining ground in Europe all over. Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner filmmakerYash Chopra has attributed this popularity to one reason. "People who see our films feel happy," he said in an interview at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
The beats and strain of Bollywood music extravaganzas has become a booming economic and cultural force across Europe. Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and Rithik Roshan starrer ‘Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gum’ was shown on a German TV channel last year. This was the first time a Bollywood film was aired such a way. And it was a instant hity. Germany has a very small ethnic Indian (if not Asian) population, but radio stations there frequently broadcast listeners’ favourite Hindi, Punjabi, Pakistani, Ghazals, Indian Pop, Filmi and Bhangra hits. Indeed, in Germany, a national television network is drawing high ratings with prime-time Bollywood film marathon weekends.
Dance schools around Europe are now besieged by people clamouring to sign up for courses in Bollywood-style dancing. Boutiques are all a-bling with glittery costume jewellery designed to make wearers look like Bollywood stars.
In Britain, Bollywood films have started to make more money at the box office than home-grown productions. 'Pardes' and 'Taal', produced by Subhash Ghai are two examples for this. This year, 69 Bollywood films have been released in Britain and 14 productions financed by the Indian film industry are being shot there.
Britain’s three largest multiplex chains - Odeon, Vue Cinemas and Cineworld - routinely screen Hindi films that appear in the nation’s top 15 film lists.
Hugely successful
The Bollywood fad was spearheaded in Germany by Berlin’s Radio Multi-Kulti station, which specializes in ethnic programming. But the fad took off when dance club deejays began mixing Bhangra beats on their turntables.
Arthouse cinemas featured Bollywood productions and that led to the first tentative prime-time TV viewings.
"They were hugely successful," says Joyce Mariel, a spokeswoman for RTL II television. The youth-oriented network aired "Good Times, Bad Times – Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham " and, against all odds, scored high ratings.
"We had an average 2 million households, which is very good for us," Mariel recalls. "And the best part of it all was that 73 per cent of the viewership was young women, which is an ideal target audience."
Following up that success, RTL II aired "Indian Love Story - Kal Ho Naa Ho " and then showed "Main Hoon Na" last spring. Through word-of-mouth publicity alone, each was a bigger hit than the previous one.

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Figuring out the beauty ...

It was in the month of September that the issue of skinny models first cropped up. As an Indian, who is brought on the ‘Aestheticism’ of Kamasutra, I always abhored these models. I always liked the models who have on their body right curves at the right place. That’s why when a buxom actress like Kate Winslet speaks against such models, it must assume some significance.
Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet has said that she refused to have magazines in her house because she was worried about her six-year-old daughter Mia reading them.‘’It’s only a matter of time before she becomes aware of it and it frightens the life out of me,’’ she told the BBC at the weekend.Winslet is not the only one to worry about the dietary craziness of teen girls who want to make it big in modelling.
Sometime ago, the mother of a Brazilian fashion model who died from complications of anorexia made an emotional appeal for parents to take better care of aspiring young models. The death of Ana Carolina Reston (21) followed the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo. Reston died in November from a generalised infection caused by anorexia, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsessively deprive themselves of food in pursuit of an ultra-slim look. Reston weighed only 40 kg and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall.
"Take care of your children ... no money is worth the life of your child, not even the most famous (fashion) brand is worth this," Miriam, mother of Ana Carolina Reston told to a Brazillian newspaper. She said her daughter had been trying to help her family with the money she made as a model. Miriam spoke on national television and to local media to highlight the tragedy. She said she had pleaded with her daughter to eat more and to see a doctor.
Spain barred models below a certain weight from a September fashion show in Madrid. Italian government and its fashion chiefs are working on a manifesto to crack down on the use of ultra-thin teenagers on the catwalk.Britain’s culture minister called for ‘’stick-thin’’ models to be banned from the catwalk during London Fashion Week and the Indian health minister has warned that the number of young girls ‘starving’ themselves to be thin is ‘rocketing’. But these attempte bore no apparent fruits . The issye remains hanged even today even so it was two months ago.This debate is going for a long time and the fashion world is divided over the issue, with many designers and models shrugging off concerns that ultra-thin models may encourage eating disorders in girls and young women.
Joining Winslet in this issue is Billie Piper, who starred in the hit British television series Doctor Who. ‘’What I resent is that there is an image of perfection that is getting thinner and thinner.’’ Piper has said. She also said that her 13-year-old sister was already worried about her figure.‘’I think the whole size zero debate is disgusting,’’ she said in the upcoming edition of Glamour magazine, referring to the clothes size for the very thin.
Why aspiring models take to starving themselves is an open question. It is true that a large chunk of the media, especially ad-world gives preference to ultra-thin models, but anyone with a sense would wouch that nothing proves a treat to the eye than a well bestowed human figure. A well sized woman’s body tops the list of the beatiful sights. If commercialization snatches, or tries to santch away this age old treat of the mankind, it is bound to fail. But the success hungry models fall prey to false notions and instead of a bountiful figure, ‘Round Figure’ assumes more importance for them.
This brings to anvil a major question : Do we succumb to the lure and hype created by commercial mediamen, who have access to the instruments that create an unnecessary hype around the people who deserve least. Do we need someone to tell us who or what looks beautiful? These skinny models apart, even 36-24-36 type standardizaiton of the beautiful women that has been kinda accepted by all and sundry all over the world appears to be one more way of the American way of categorization.
It is heartning to see that eminent women of all types are coming forward to protest against this categorization. Beauty, as we see it, must come out of the figures.

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