Signs in Asia of Tsunamis That Struck Centuries Ago

From The New York Times--
"A mega-tsunami rivaling the deadly one in 2004 struck southeast Asia
more than 600 years ago, two teams of geologists said after finding
sedimentary evidence in coastal marshes.

Researchers in Thailand and Indonesia wrote in two articles in the
journal Nature that the tsunami hit around 1300 or 1400, long before
records of earthquakes in the region began to be kept.

"Tsunamis are something we never experienced before, and after 2004
people thought it was something we would never experience again,"
Kruawun Jankaew of Chulalongkorn University in Thailand said in a
telephone interview.

"But from this, we are able to identify that the place has been hit by
a mega-tsunami in the past," she said. "So even though it is
infrequent for this part of the world, it still happens and there is a
need to promote tsunami education for coastal peoples."

The tsunami in 2004 left 230,000 people either dead or missing across
Asia, from Sri Lanka and India to Thailand, the Maldives and
Indonesia. More than 170,000 victims were in Aceh Province in
Indonesia.

Ms. Jankaew's team studied a grassy plain on Phra Thong, an island
north of Phuket in Thailand, where the 2004 tsunami reached wave
heights of 65 feet above sea level.

A separate team led by Katrin Monecke from the University of
Pittsburgh looked at sedimentary records on coastal marshes in Aceh,
where the waves reached 115 feet.

They explored low areas between beach ridges called swales, which are
known to trap tsunami sand between layers of peat and other organic
matter, and discovered a layer of sand beneath the most recent layer,
from 2004, that was from an event that occurred 600 to 700 years ago.

Scientists are trying to determine the scale of the tsunami that
happened long ago. "We will look at the thickness and grain size of
the sediment and we can calculate how fast the tsunami was, how far
inland it went and the floor depth," Ms. Jankaew said."

This article is at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/science/30tsunami.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Fly Me to the Deity

An interesting opinion essay by Tunku Varadarajan in the New York
Times about Chandrayaan below--

"An unmanned spacecraft from India — that most worldly and yet
otherworldly of nations — is on its way to the moon. For the first
time since man and his rockets began trespassing on outer space, a
vessel has gone up from a country whose people actually regard the
moon as a god.

The Chandrayaan (or "moon craft") is the closest India has got to the
moon since the epic Hindu sage, Narada, tried to reach it on a ladder
of considerable (but insufficient) length — as my grandmother's
bedtime version of events would have it. So think of this as a modern
Indian pilgrimage to the moon.

As it happens, a week before the launching, millions of Hindu women
embarked on a customary daylong fast, broken at night on the first
sighting of the moon's reflection in a bowl of oil. (This fast is done
to ensure a husband's welfare.) But reverence for the moon is not
confined to traditional Indian housewives: The Web site of the Indian
Space Research Organization — the body that launched the Chandrayaan —
includes a verse from the Rig Veda, a sacred Hindu text that dates
back some 4,000 years: "O Moon! We should be able to know you through
our intellect,/ You enlighten us through the right path."

One is tempted, in all this, to dwell on the seeming contradiction
between religion and science, between reason and superstition. And
yet, anyone who has been to India will have noted also its "modernity
of tradition." The phrase, borrowed from the political scientists
Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph, might explain the ability of devout Hindus
— many of them, no doubt, rocket scientists — to see no disharmony
between ancient Vedic beliefs and contemporary scientific practice.

The Hindu astrological system is predicated on lunar movements: so the
moon is a big deal in astrology-obsessed India. That said, the genius
of modern Hinduism lies in its comfort with, and imperviousness to,
science. A friend tells me of an episode from his childhood in
Varanasi, the sacred Hindu city. Days after Apollo 11 landed on the
moon, a model of the lunar module was placed in a courtyard of the
most venerable temple in the city. The Hindu faithful were hailing
man-on-the-moon; there was no suggestion that the Americans had
committed sacrilege. (Here, I might add — with a caveat against
exaggeration — that science sometimes struggles to co-exist with faith
in the United States in ways that would disconcert many Indians.)

Of course, the Chandrayaan is also a grand political gesture — space
exploration in the service of national pride. This kind of excursion
may provoke yawns at NASA, but judging from round-the-clock local
coverage it has received, the mission has clearly inflamed the
imagination and ambition of Indians. Yes, even moon-worshipping ones."

Read this essay at the NY Times Website at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/opinion/29varadarajan.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Students abroad, it turns out, are not outperforming Americans

While the documentary "Two Million Minutes" is gettitng a lot of media
attention, the following essay titled "Grade Change" which appeared in
the Boston Globe paints a different picture.

An excerpt --

"OH, LOOK. THERE'S a new film that portrays American teenagers as
distracted slackers who don't stand a chance against the zealous young
strivers in China and India. It must be an election year, when
American politicians, egged on by corporate leaders, suddenly become
indignant about the state of America's public schools. If we don't do
something, they thunder, our children will wind up working as bellhops
in resorts owned by those Asian go-getters.

The one-hour documentary "Two Million Minutes" was conceived and
financed by Robert A. Compton, a high-tech entrepreneur, and can be
ordered on DVD from his website, 2mminutes.com. It follows two
teenagers in Carmel, Ind., as they sporadically apply themselves to
their studies between after-school jobs and sports. The film cuts to
similar pairs of high schoolers in India and China who do little but
attend classes, labor over homework, and work with their tutors. "Two
Million Minutes" has become a key part of the ED in '08 campaign, an
effort by Bill Gates and other wealthy worriers to persuade the
presidential candidates to get serious about fixing our schools.

The documentary's argument is quite common, verging on a truism. You
hear it in Rotary speeches and see it on cable news: Beware, the
rising Third World powers are going to eat our lunch. This assumption
shapes the American educational debate and feeds popular views (and
fears) about our country's place in the world. Its many prominent
promoters include former IBM chief Louis V. Gerstner Jr., New York
Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, and former Colorado governor and
Los Angeles school superintendent Roy Romer.

I share what I imagine is Bill Gates's distress at seeing Carmel
High's Brittany Brechbuhl watching "Grey's Anatomy" on television with
her friends while they make halfhearted stabs at their math homework.
But the larger truth is that American education is vastly superior to
the stunted, impoverished school systems of China and India, which,
despite impressive surges of economic growth, are still relatively
poor, developing countries. Our best public schools are first-rate,
producing more intense, involved, and creative A-plus students than
our most prestigious colleges have room for. That is why less-known
institutions such as Claremont McKenna, Rhodes, and Hampshire are
drawing many freshmen just as smart as the ones at Princeton. The top
70 percent of US public high schools are pretty good, certainly better
than they have ever been.

The widespread feeling that our schools are losing out to the rest of
the world, that we are not producing enough scientists and engineers,
is a misunderstanding fueled by misleading statistics. Reports
regularly conclude that the United States is falling behind other
countries - in the number of engineers it produces, in the performance
of its students in reading or in mathematics. But closer examinations
of these reports are showing that they do not always compare
comparable students, skewing the results.

For those who look carefully at the performance of our schools, the
real problem is not that the United States is falling behind, or that
the entire system is failing. It is the sorry shape of the bottom 30
percent of US schools, those in urban and rural communities full of
low-income children. We have seen enough successful schools in such
areas to know that these children are just as capable of being great
scientists, doctors, and executives as suburban children. But most
low-income schools in the United States are simply bad.

Not only are we denying the children who attend them the equal
education that is their right, but we are squandering almost a third
of our intellectual capital. We are beating the world economically,
but with one hand tied behind our back."

Read the full article at--
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/10/26/grade_change/?s_campaign=8315

Meet Neel Kashkari: The Man With the $700 Billion Wallet

Excerpt From the Wall Street Journal --

A Goldman Sachs Group alumnus in charge of the nation’s economic rescue? How unusual.

Except, of course, it isn’t. As The Wall Street Journal’s Deborah Solomon reported today, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is promoting Neel Kashkari, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for international affairs, to be the point man overseeing the $700 billion financial bailout as the interim head of Paulson’s Office of Financial Stability. The full appointment would need Senate confirmation, which is unlikely to come given the short remaining tenure in this Administration.

The move essentially puts a new title on what Kashkari he has been doing since he joined Treasury in 2006–examining the consequences of an economic housing fallout. Kashkari was one of three Treasury staffers–including general counsel Robert Hoyt and head of legislative affairs Kevin Fromer–who stayed up until 4 a.m. last Sunday putting together the $700 billion bailout bill that was shot down by House Republicans the next day.

Kashkari is an Indian-American who has a few things in common with Paulson (above right). Both are former Goldman Sachs bankers, though Kashkari, at 35 years old, is much younger and was just a vice president-level banker in Goldman’s San Francisco technology banking effort when Paulson tapped him to join Treasury. Both also are Midwesterners. Kashkari grew up in Stow, Ohio, and earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Paulson was raised in Barrington Hills, Ill. And both sport similar hairstyles– or lack thereof.

Kashkari didn’t take a conventional route into banking. He started out as an aerospace engineer at TRW, developing technology for NASA projects like the James Webb Space Telescope, the replacement to Hubble, which is scheduled to launch in 2013.

He earned an M.B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. While there, one of his professors was Michael Useem, who liked to put students through grueling, Outward Bound-type strengths of endurance and strategy. Kashkari participated in one Army simulation in 2002 at Fort Dix, where he was quoted in this 2002 Philadelphia Inquirer article in a comment just as applicable to today’s financial crisis as the project he was working on: “We were all taught to play nice,” Kashkari said. “So who’s going to fight in the sandbox?”

After Wharton, Kashkari joined Goldman and worked in San Francisco, where he advised companies that create computer security programs like antivirus software. He and his wife, Minal, still keep a house in California.

Read the full article at --
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/06/meet-neel-kashkari-the-man-with-the-700-billion-wallet/

The Most Dangerous Job On Earth!!!

"What a job it is. If Pakistan is the most dangerous country on earth,
a phrase no less true for being a commonplace, its presidency is one
of the world's least enviable posts," writes Roger Cohen in an
editorial in todays New York Times, titled "The Most Dangerous Job On
Earth".

He writes, "Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's new president and the widower
of Benazir Bhutto, does not mince words about the growing Taliban
insurgency.

"It is my decision that we will go after them, we will free this
country," he told me in an interview. "Yes, this is my first priority
because I will have no country otherwise. I will be president of
what?"

After the massive bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad,
that's a fair question. Its finances in a freefall, its security
crumbling, nuclear-armed Pakistan stands at the brink just as a
civilian takes charge after the futile zigzagging of Gen. Pervez
Musharraf's U.S.-supported rule.

I asked Zardari, who took office this month, if the assassination of
his wife motivated him to confront Islamic militancy. "Of course," he
said, "It's my revenge. I take it every day."

He continued: "I will fight them because they are a cancer to my
society, not because of my wife only, but because they are a cancer,
yes, and they did kill the mother of my children, so their way of life
is what I want to kill; I will suck the oxygen out of their system so
there will be no Talibs."

Are you afraid? "I am concerned; I am not afraid," Zardari, 53, told
me. "Because I don't want to die so soon, I have a job to do."

Read the full editorial at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29cohen.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&oref=slogin

In India, Lessons on Yoga and on Life

"My wife and I have come to Pondicherry in southeast India mostly for
the yoga. The classes used to be held in one of the many parcels of
the Sri Aurobindo Ashram scattered across the colonial city. But for
this retreat, there's a new venue, and to get there you have to be on
Ajit Sarkar's bus by 5:45 a.m. There are 20 or so of us, nearly all
from France," writes Kyle Jarrard in today's New York Times Travel
article titled "In India, Lessons on Yoga and on Life."

"Ajit, in his 70s now, grew up in this famous ashram with his parents,
who went into the retreat founded and inspired by the yogi and guru
Sri Aurobindo and his vision of universal consciousness and peace. In
this idyllic world, Ajit learned everything from ballet to track to
gymnastics, but especially yoga, a skill he has taught with acclaim
for decades both in India and in France. His official retirement since
2003 is a fiction of contentment," he adds.

This is a beautiful essay about one persons personal journey, one worth reading.

Read the full essay at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/travel/28personal.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Indians Savor Samosas and U.S. Election

"Forget the war in Iraq or even neighboring Afghanistan. The U.S.
elections are pretty much the only international news being
consistently followed in Indian media. There are even editorials about
Sarah Palin. "Choosing Ms. Palin as his running mate is nothing short
of recklessness," opines the Kolkata-based daily, The Telegraph. The
Times of India comments that Palin "served up the domestic red meat
for a mostly white audience." writes Sandip Roy in New American Media.

He writes, "Novelist Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi is not surprised by
the attention the race is getting. Indians love politics, and this is
one helluva race. "The American election enjoys narrative muscle, and
neither Obama nor Palin are afraid of flexing their abs," quips
Shanghvi. "The interest is there because the story has meat on the
bone."

"It's now like a high at the end of the day," says Swati Ramanathan,
who runs the NGO Janaagraha along with her husband, Ramesh. "We rush
home to see what happened. What did Palin say? What did Stephanopolous
say? We don't get ABC, NBC, Fox here. But thank god for YouTube."

Read the full article at--
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=759f1441a296f32adea8ce573f767bde

Temples Where Gods Come to Life

"Few things in India express the continuous presence of the gods
better than the ancient, massive temple complexes of Tamil Nadu. Walk
through any city there and what catches your eye first are the soaring
temple entrances known as gopuras, sacred skyscrapers decorated with a
phantasmagoria of Hindu statues of multi-armed, bug-eyed gods,
mythical beasts and chiseled warriors," writes Edward Wong in a New
York Times Travel article about temples in Tamilnadu titled, "Temples
Where Gods Come to Life."

Another excerpt from this article about the Meenakshi temple in Madurai---

"THE god was ready for his night of conjugal bliss. The priests of the
temple, muscular, shirtless men with white sarongs wrapped around
their thighs, bore the god's palanquin on their shoulders. They
marched him slowly along a stone corridor shrouded in shadows to his
consort's shrine. Drumbeats echoed along the walls. Candles flickered
outside the doorway to the shrine's inner sanctum. There, Meenakshi,
the fish-eyed goddess, awaited the embrace of her husband,
Sundareshwarar, an incarnation of that most priapic of Indian gods,
Shiva.

Along with hundreds of Indians clustered around the shrine entrance, I
strained to get a glimpse of the statue of Sundareshwarar, but green
cloths draped over the palanquin kept it hidden. Worshipers surged
forward in mass delirium, snapping photos with their cellphones,
bowing to the palanquin and chanting hymns. They stretched out their
hands to touch the carriage. Priests ordered them back.

Then the priests veered into the inner sanctum, carrying the unseen
god toward the eager arms of his wife. They too had a night of divine
pleasure ahead of them, so we were all ushered out as the guards began
locking up.

This union of Meenakshi and Sundareshwarar is a nightly ritual in
Madurai, the second-largest temple city in the southern state of Tamil
Nadu, drawing feverish crowds of Hindu devotees. In much of India, the
gods are not creatures of distant myth to be worshiped as
abstractions. They exist in our world, in our time, and are fully
integrated into the daily lives of Hindu believers. They move
simultaneously through the world of the divine and the world that we
inhabit, and are subject to all the emotions and experiences that we
humans are all too familiar with — including carnal desire."

Read the full article at--
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/travel/21journeys.html?pagewanted=1
A correction to this article can be seen at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/travel/05TCXN.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&oref=slogin

DreamWorks, Reliance close deal

Articles from Variety and Wall Street Journal below.

DreamWorks, Reliance close deal. Pact completes
Paramount exit - Variety
(http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001LQ_Rbuy0zAPCFvDjHjNi6o3q0lSWP-L10B3qYcSdi8vBCJsm-0DWZ3BQhfS9oo3Q0N33_Y-bMgNfFdfDW3okX3kp2gU89jrTkUW1DW6dJF86E1c_VepYeSdwMl8a6R8D4uIQtFsSNyru44_kI07UU8V4bRaeFF4aan8mpdOrz2qz3PSYsHd44w==).

By TATIANA SIEGEL

DreamWorks has finally closed the deal with India-
based Reliance to leave Paramount Pictures and
create a stand-alone production company.

DreamWorks principals Steven Spielberg, David
Geffen and Stacey Snider are severing ties with the
Melrose studio. Though the deal has been anticipated
for some time, what had been unclear was the fate of
DreamWorks' executives, who would have been
contractually obligated to remain employed by
Paramount. In a surprise move, Paramount waived its
right to keep DreamWorks' execs in its fold.

"To facilitate a timely and smooth transition,
Paramount has waived certain provisions from the
original deal to clear the way for the DreamWorks
principals and their employees to join their new
company without delay," Paramount said in a
statement.

It remains unclear which executives DreamWorks will
take with them to their new venture. It is unlikely the
new company will keep its current roster given that it
will be working under a tighter budget. Prior to
DreamWorks' exit, Paramount was paying $50 million
a year in overhead for DreamWorks, according to
sources.

"We congratulate Steven, David and Stacey, and wish
them well as they start their newest venture,"
Paramount added. "Steven is one of the world's great
story-tellers and a legend in the motion picture
business. It has been an honor working closely with
him and the DreamWorks team over the last three
years and we expect to continue our successful
collaboration with Steven in the future."

-----------------------------------
DreamWorks Team, India's Reliance In $1.2 Billion
Film Company Deal - Wall Street
Journal (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001LQ_Rbuy0zAOecK5_DedNN44pOiTB7RmwGozw0qr2Z0kOABaXaj0Q8P6kJaF1NXK0TpkYB_Xa2Si9tlQ_K8qBIP9-_aF7f7G_IMVehs4GyKc5bynG0XOE2KPd-hqqv6BTvK2iZveaBrAjGL-RPkFRz3nhEe2Mc1aplZTOwLM_UDkhc7qKJjw92iWYSTK8bzLC)

by LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER

The principals of DreamWorks SKG have completed a
long-anticipated deal with one of India's largest
entertainment conglomerates to set up a new $1.2
billion film company, according to people familiar with
the matter.

The deal gives DreamWorks co-founder Steven
Spielberg and DreamWorks Chief Executive Stacey
Snider the financial support they need to leave Viacom
Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and start their new venture.
Under the signed agreement, Mumbai-based
Reliance ADA Group will invest $500 million equity
and provide another $700 million in debt through J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co. toward the new venture, which
will produce a slate of about six films a year.

The new film company will be led by Stacey Snider
and Steven Spielberg. News of the talks between
DreamWorks principals and Reliance first surfaced in
June, but an agreement wasn't finalized until now,
these people said. The new company will be headed
by Mr. Spielberg and Ms. Snider.

A DreamWorks spokesperson had no comment.
Rajesh Sawhney, head of Reliance Big Entertainment,
also declined to comment.

Now that the DreamWorks team has sealed the
agreement with Reliance, attention will quickly shift to
the question of where the new company will distribute
its films. General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures,
where Mr. Spielberg began his career, is thought to be
a top choice, though an agreement has yet to be
reached. The DreamWorks team also plans to strike a
new deal with HBO.

Once those deals are in place, DreamWorks principal
David Geffen is expected to resign from Paramount,
where the DreamWorks camp has been stationed
since DreamWorks was sold to Viacom in 2006. Mr.
Geffen isn't expected to be part of the new venture.

Even after Mr. Spielberg and Ms. Snider depart
Paramount, they will continue to work with the studio
on a number of movies. The two parties share rights
to many projects, including upcoming "Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen," a sequel to the blockbuster hit.
While it was once thought that the DreamWorks team
would try to take some projects with them to the new
venture, it is now more likely that those films will
remain at Paramount, with Mr. Spielberg receiving rich
compensation for his involvement.

The marriage between some of Hollywood's biggest
names and an Indian conglomerate is less surprising
than it seems. The new deal comes in the wake of a
financial drought in Hollywood, with the industry
looking to foreign investors to replace some of billions
of dollars that Wall Street poured into film financing in
recent years but has since evaporated with the
crumbling credit markets.

In Reliance, Mr. Spielberg and his DreamWorks team
have found a willing investor more immune to the
problems on Wall Street. But Reliance, which has
interests in telecommunications, financial services,
and entertainment, is hoping to use the new
partnership to create a name for itself in Hollywood,
and then build that out into a global media empire. At
the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, the
conglomerate's entertainment division, Reliance Big
Entertainment, announced it would invest $1 billion
over the next 18 months to help create that empire.

The divorce between the DreamWorks team and
Paramount will conclude one of Hollywood's most
closely watched battles. Since the DreamWorks
principals sold the company to Viacom for $1.6 billion,
Messrs. Geffen and Spielberg have clashed with
Paramount's Chief Executive Brad Grey. Tensions
boiled to the surface last fall when, hearing rumors
that Messrs. Geffen and Spielberg might depart,
Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman publicly
called any such departure "completely immaterial" to
the financial outlook of the company.

Sanjaya Malakar's New Gig

Sanjaya Malakar, who became popular with his participation on American
idol, "turns 19 on Wednesday" reports the New York Times and "is
featured in a commercial for Nationwide Insurance that is part of the
next installment of a campaign carrying the theme "Life comes at you
fast." There is also a special Web site where visitors can customize
photographs of themselves with different looks sported by Mr. Malakar
on TV; the results can be shared with friends and family. The rise of
Mr. Malakar last year from unknown Seattle-area teenager to national
sensation as a finalist on the sixth season of "American Idol" was
meteoric enough to generate new words like "Sanjayamania," for the
ardor of his supporters, and "Fanjaya," for the most truly devoted of
his acolytes." Now his tryst with modeling for Nationwide insurance.

The ad can be viewed below--
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=1d179ddcf081f9f8127ebe8bbe5f5a2a6da64996

Read the full article in the New York TImes at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08adnewsletter1.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&oref=slogin

Renowned Industrialist K.K. Birla Passes Away at 89

From the New York Times --

"K. K. Birla, the patriarch of a renowned Indian industrial empire,
died on Aug. 30 at his home in Calcutta. He was 89.

The cause was age-related ailments and pneumonia, his family said. His
close associates said he was grief-stricken by the death on July 29 of
his wife of 67 years, Manorama Devi.

Mr. Birla built on the company started by his father to establish one
of India's biggest business conglomerates, with interests in
industries like sugar, fertilizers, chemicals, heavy engineering,
textile, shipping and media, among many others.

He was the chairman of one of India's biggest national daily
newspapers, The Hindustan Times, which became a successful media
company under his stewardship.

As a leading figure in both the humanities and technology in India, he
established the K. K. Birla Foundation, which gives awards in many
fields and focuses not on the English-speaking middle class of urban
India, but on the achievements of its rural population.

The K. K. Birla Academy does scientific, historical and cultural
research and has been planning a scientific museum. He was the
chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, created by
his father in the desert of Rajasthan, expanding it from Goa and
Hyderabad to Dubai.

He was also a prominent three-term member of the upper house of the
Indian Parliament and was close to Indian political leaders like
Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Loyal
to the Congress Party, which his father helped finance, he had friends
across the political spectrum."

Read the full article at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/business/worldbusiness/03birla.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Are the 3 Olympic Medals Enough Inspiration for India?

India's three Olympic medals (it's first ever gold and 2 bronzes) are
seen as an inspiration to the youth of this country. A country of 1
billion people wit little or no governmental emphasis on sports, like
China or the others.

The 3 medalists however are seen as those who provide a glimpse of the
new India, "One is the son of a prosperous businessman with an
Olympic-size shooting range in his backyard. Another grew up in a
dusty village, sparring with his brother for use of a shared family
bicycle. A third spent most of his youth in a musty, mouse-infested
room at a wrestling camp here in the capital," says the New York
Times.

The New York Times also reports that, "India's three winners have shot
from obscurity to sudden fame. Abhinav Bindra, 25, from the
northwestern city of Chandigarh, won a gold in the 10-meter air rifle
competition. Vijender Kumar, 23, a bus driver's son from a village
about 80 miles from here, won a bronze in boxing. And Sushil Kumar,
24, who learned to wrestle in the dirt on the outskirts of Delhi, also
won a bronze. The Indian Express this week called it a reflection of
"India's grassroots aspirations."

Let us hope and pray that this gives the Indian government renewed
impetus to focus on some of these athletes who can easily become world
class players, with the right kind of training and support.

Read the full article at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/sports/olympics/25india.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

An Essay on Language Aptly Titled "Namaste"

"'At the beginning of class, we stood at the front of our mats and let
out a long, dirgelike moan," the first-time yoga student recollected.
"Then the teacher yelled, 'Chili-pepper pasta,' and everyone hit the
floor." Sanskrit, the language of yoga, is said to unite sound and
meaning; that is, saying the word gives the experience of its meaning.
But for the novice yogi (the word for male as well as female
practitioners), whose ears need to be tuned to a new frequency, that
experience can be as elusive as an overnight parking spot in
Manhattan. Thus, chaturanga dandasana (four-legged staff pose, which
looks like the bottom of a pushup, your body hovering inches above the
floor) might become "chili-pepper pasta" if you've got dinner
reservations at the latest outpost of the latest fusion craze. And the
ear-twisters don't end there. So let's do some untwisting," reads the
first paragraph of an essay titled "Namaste" in the New York Times.

This fascinating essay, which is primarily about language uses Yoga as
away to delve into Sanskrit word usage. "First off, that "moan" at the
beginning of class was the mantra Om. It's the vibration that existed
at the birth of the universe and is all-pervading still and is chanted
as a reminder of the interconnectedness of all life — human, animal,
plant, insect, mineral, etc. A mantra is a word or phrase that
protects the mind. From what? Well, from itself, because a mind has .
. . a mind of its own. A mantra keeps it from wandering ("Oy, I forgot
to call my mother back"; "Is it really verboten to date your yoga
teacher?") during meditation by giving it something to focus on. Not
that it still won't wander — that's the nature of the mind — so don't
get your chakras in knots when it happens. (Chakras are energy
vortexes, and meditate on "chocolate," not "shock," when you say the
word.) Meditation, the practice of stillness, might be a moment (or
more) of silence at the beginning or end of class or not a part of
class at all, but do try this at home or even (especially) on the
subway at rush hour.

Most of the yoga on the menu at your local studio or gym is a form of
hatha ("ha" = sun, "tha" = moon) yoga, whose goal is to harmonize and
channel opposing forces — positive/negative, yin/yang, male/female —
in the body in order to achieve yoga, union of the self with the
divine (supreme consciousness), otherwise known as enlightenment. The
word hatha (pronounced "ha," as in "that's funny," and "ta," as in
"see ya"; "see you later" would be "taaa") is often employed to denote
"gentle" when in fact it is a vigorous physical practice and means
"the path of force": its present-day roots go back to the Nathas, an
Orc-like breed of mercenaries in medieval India who resurrected the
methods of hatha yoga in the hope of developing the supernatural
powers, like invisibility, associated with it, which could come in
mighty handy on the battlefield; in the process, the Nathas became so
enlightened that they didn't wanna go to war no more. (Hmmm, I know a
head of state or two who could take a page from the Nathas.)"

Read the full piece at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/magazine/24wwlnguest-epstein-t.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Indian Players Master Chaturanga

For those of you, who like me were not aware of this, here is a piece
of Chess trivia, from the New York Times, "Nobody knows with certainty
where and when chess was invented. A widely accepted theory is that it
developed out of an Indian game called chaturanga that was created in
the sixth century."

"Yet India was not among the world's chess powers until Viswanathan
Anand, the current world champion, appeared on the scene in the late
1980s. His success started a chess revolution in India, which now
produces great players with regularity," reports the Times, "In
addition to Anand, India has two other players, Krishnan Sasikiran and
Pentala Harikrishna, ranked among the top 55 in the world, and a
third, Humpy Koneru, is No. 2 on the list of female players. She could
soon become the second woman to break into the world's top 100."

"India's growing influence was on display at the World Junior Chess
Championship, which ended last weekend in Turkey. Three Indians did
well: Abhijeet Gupta captured the title, Harika Dronavalli won the
women's title, and Parimarjan Negi, the second-youngest grandmaster in
history, was a half point behind Gupta. (Negi also tied for first last
month at the World Open in Philadelphia.)," reports the Times.

Read the full article at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/crosswords/chess/24chess.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

"Flush With Cash, Bollywood Glows"

An interesting article titled, "Flush With Cash, Bollywood Glows," in
the New York Times, by writer Anupama Chopra, who is also the author
of the much publicised book on Shah Rukh Khan, says, "Five men
dominate the business in Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman
Khan (the Khans are not related), Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan.
Each of these stars function almost as a one-man studio, with an
in-house production company. Two of the most successful films in 2007
— "Om Shanti Om" and "Tare Zameen Par" ("Stars on Earth") — were
produced by the companies of Shahrukh Khan ("Om") and Aamir Khan
("Tare"). The last holdout to the production game, Mr. Kumar,
co-produced his latest release, "Singh Is Kinng," which set a
Bollywood record by making $15 million in its opening weekend earlier
this month. Revolving around these stars are favored directors,
producers, writers and stylists. And if their films aren't playing in
cinemas, the actors are on television selling products or presenting
shows. (Mr. Kumar, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan are among India's
highest-paid television hosts.)"

""A star guarantees the first weekend box office, and it is this
business which decides all the other revenue streams," said Kishore
Lulla, chief executive of Eros International, Bollywood's largest
overseas distributor. "Without a star it's too risky." Eros plans to
produce and finance 50 films over the next year. The company raised
$100 million from the Alternative Investment Market on the London
Stock Exchange and another $100 million from Citibank and is
redirecting substantial funds into several star-led "business
adventures," to use Mr. Kumar's expression," writes Chopra.

Read the full article at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/movies/24chop.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Verizon's Bollypop Video Dance Contest!

According to a Verizon Press Release, "Bollypop Video Dance
Competition Open to all U.S. Residents; Grand Prize Winner Gets Trip
To India and an Appearance in a Bollywood Film."

"Aspiring dancers can enter Bollypop, an online dance competition
sponsored by Verizon to help showcase the growing amount of Bollywood
movies and music videos the company offers its FiOS TV and V CAST
customers. The Bollypop ( www.verizon.com/bollypop) contest is open to
all U.S. residents and is maintained by Saavn, the largest digital
distributor of South Asian movies, music videos, audio tracks and
ringtones. Contest entrants can be either individuals or dance troupes
(maximum of four performers) and must submit a video of any dance
moves to one of 11 Bollywood songs.

The video with the most votes will win the grand prize, which includes
airfare, hotel and transportation to Mumbai, India, and an appearance
in a Bollywood film. Additionally, the grand prize winner or winners
will get a three-day trip to New York City to attend a celebration in
their honor.
"We're excited to bring this fun contest to our customers," said,
Shruti Joshi, director of marketing for Verizon. "As Verizon expands
the number of international movie and music channels on FiOS TV and
offers more South Asian content, contests and programs such as this
one will allow us to connect with the growing base of customers who
enjoy Bollywood movies."

Bollywood is the name of India's film industry, which produces more
than 1,000 movies annually. Bollywood movies are typically musicals
that feature six to eight songs and major dance sequences. Reflective
of the popularity of Bollywood movies, the category has become the
highest-grossing foreign film sector in the U.S.

Acclaimed Bollywood choreographer Rujuta Vaidya, said, "Like Latin
music did a few years ago, Bollywood is on the cusp of becoming part
of the mainstream; because Bollywood fuses all forms of dance
including hip-hop and classical Indian music, it appeals to a wide
audience."

Read the full release at --
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/verizon-launches-bollywood-themed-dance-contest/story.aspx?guid=%7B34902756-6A6B-4C73-9D09-69E85E378357%7D&dist=hppr

Natalie Portman As Sita

A new video from Devendra BAnhart, features his girlfriend Natalie Portman as Sita... Very interesting!

ICICI Considers Expanding Globally

"ICICI Bank, one of the largest in India, is considering acquisitions
to expand outside its home market at a time when many foreign rivals
are struggling because of tight credit markets, two of the bank's
executives said in an interview on Wednesday," reports the New York
Times. At a time when Indian businesses are thick into M&A's and
foreign expansion, it is very interesting to see a succesful Indian
bank getting ready to take on Global expansion, at a time of economic
crisis in the US.

According to the New York Times, "Like many banks in India, ICICI,
which is based in Mumbai, has remained relatively unscathed by the
financial market turmoil and now has about $5 billion in cash on hand
to spend on an international expansion that could include the purchase
of a "large consumer franchise" in Britain, Canada or Germany, said
Sonjoy Chatterjee, an executive director who is responsible for
international business.

ICICI, which initially focused on serving people of Indian origin in
India and abroad, already offers online saving accounts to non-Indian
customers in those three countries and is keen to build a global brand
as rising interest rates slow the growth of its consumer lending at
home.

ICICI operates in 19 countries outside India, including the United
States, and those markets account for about 25 percent of the bank's
assets, or $30 billion.

"There is an opportunity out there because of the current market
situation," Mr. Chatterjee said in an interview in London. ICICI's
chief executive, K. V. Kamath, added that even though banks are cheap
now, "they come with huge challenges and we need to see whether we
want to take those or how to go about it."

Read the full article at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/business/worldbusiness/10rupee.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Fashion Models With A Difference

"Tabla drums warbled and lights beat down as the woman glided down the
runway, her sari billowing loosely and her hair pulled tight. As
fashion shows go, the sashay-spin-repeat sequence was fairly routine.

But the background of many of the models at this event on Wednesday
evening, held in a fourth-floor dining room at the United Nations, was
anything but.

Known as Dalits, or "untouchables," the women have such a low social
standing in their native India that they are below the lowest rung of
the officially banned but still-present caste system.

In fact, this particular group of women — 17 on stage, an additional
20 or so in the audience, all with dresses that were pool blue, to
honor the official shade of the United Nations — once cleaned septic
systems for a living," reports the New York Times.

Many of these women are real dark beauties who are shunned merely
because of the caste that they have been born into. It is wonderful to
see that they could be transformed, like a caterpillar to a
butterfly!!!

Read the full piece at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/nyregion/04sanitation.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Is The Cycle Rickshaw Making a Comeback?

Ever since nursery school, I had a rickshaw driver, Arjunan, who would
pick me up each morning and drop me back at home. To him this was not
just a job, I was almost another daughter to him. He would always be
on time and would get upset if I was running late for school,
nevertheless, my security and safety was of primary concern to him.
Each time I visit India, I make it a point to look him up and talk
about the good old days, he is 80 something years old now.

With cars and two wheelers crowding the Indian roads, it seemed as
though the rickshaws were a dying breed. However, with rising fuel
costs, it sounds as though they are making a comeback. This article
about cycle rickshaws was a very interesting read for me.

An article in the Washington Post says, "The bicycle rickshaws that
weave through New Delhi's narrow lanes have long been scorned by
authorities here for congesting the city's already fierce traffic. The
creaking carriages crawl alongside luxury sedans, book hawkers,
horse-drawn carts, hulking buses and cows.

In this city and the other quickly modernizing capitals of South Asia,
governments have called the rickshaws backward, embarrassing symbols
of the Third World.

Now, however, in a time of $7-a-gallon fuel in New Delhi and growing
concerns about pollution, environmental activists and transportation
experts are pushing back against rickshaw critics. And rickshaw
cyclists are seizing the moment to tout the virtues of their trade.

"My rickshaw is my life. It's very cheap for my passengers," said
Saurabh Ganguly, a 27-year-old rickshaw cyclist whose shirt was sticky
with dirt and grime. He proudly observed a knot of traffic where about
50 rickshaw cyclists were jangling their bells, pressing their horns
and zigzagging past lumbering buses belching plumes of black soot. "We
don't even pollute," Ganguly said. "We should be allowed to survive."

Read the full article at--
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703786.html?hpid=topnews