Saturday, August 21, 2010
Stress buster – take up a hobby
Is the stress at work taking a toll on your health? Skin problems, hair fall and eating disorders are some of the problems that are caused due to stress. Experts say that people can get out of it by indulging themselves in some activity or hobby of their interest and choice.
Stress can lead to unhealthy lifestyle and even depression, so people should try to keep themselves busy in something that gives them pleasure, says Psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh.
Here are few stress busting activities that can help you live a stress-free life:
Go Gardening: Express your love for the mother nature and beat that stress. Plant few trees or vegetables in your garden and treat them like your kids. Water them everyday, take care of them. You`ll love doing it.
Akshay Mittal, a Delhi based software engineer says, “I love gardening and it`s a part of my everyday life. I make sure that I take out 1-2 hours time from my busy schedule for it. It gives a kind of satisfaction and mental peace when I see the plants grow. And I don`t have time for stress.”
Join a gym: This is one of the best ideas to get rid of the stress. If you are fed up of a monotonous life, just join a gym. Your trainer will teach you various exercises and work-out methods. Meet new people there and enjoy a newness in your life.
Pushpa Rai, who works with a media house, says, “Life of mediapersons is very hectic and stressful. One of my friends told me to join a gym, where I can keep myself busy and can remain fit. Believe me, it did wonders. I have new friends now. We laugh, enjoy and exercise. After doing so many negative stories, my day ends with a positive note.”
Sassy Salsa is a moving idea: Join salsa classes to spice up your life. After spending a long stressful day at work, it`s time to get refreshed.
Says, Pooja Saxena, who works as a counselor, “I was fed up with the monotonous life, stress was taking a toll on my health. Joining Salsa classes was a wonderful idea. There`s a noticeable change in my life. Myhair fall is controlled now, I remain healthy and happy. During our salsa classes we enjoy and laugh. Stress...? what`s that?”
Lashkar-e-Taiba flourishes on Facebook
To expand their reach, the Pakistani militant groups like Jamat-ud-Dawa are joining the popular social networking site Facebook.
Blamed by India for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Jamat-ud-Dawa, has been banned by the United Nations. It is going public with an intension to influence people to advocate violence against non-Muslims.
The Pakistani authorities recently restricted access to hundreds of Internet pages for anti-Islamic contents, despite this, the groups are being allowed to operate without censorship by them.
They are allowed to access to cyber space, despite of the fact that Pakistan has recently launched military campaign against the groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba.
The Jamat-ud-Dawa in its `Facebook` page claims that Indian intelligence was behind the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore last year.
Their Facebook page also contains images of Al-Qaeda chief Osama-bin-Laden. In one image, Osama is shown riding away on a horse from a burning White House.
The US, the UK and other western nations are already worried over the influence these campaigns are having on Muslim youths.
There have been arrests recently of a number of youths in the US who claimed they were going to join Jihad against American forces in Afghanistan and Somalia.
Zardari tops list of absentees from duty
After being accused of helping to steal paintings of an internationally acclaimed Pakistani artist, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is in news once again. And this time, the President has topped a unique list of influential people who were absent when they were needed the most.
At the time when Pakistan has been hit by the worst flood in 80 years, the country`s President was on a foreign visit.
The `Foreign Policy` magazine has released a list of five such people. It says, Zardari was travelling in Europe when millions of people had been affected by the devastating floods and hundreds others hit by political violence in his country.
"For a world leader, being seen directing relief efforts (or at least showing sympathy for the victims) is usually a good idea when a natural disaster strikes.”
"But for Pakistan`s Zardari, forging ahead with a tour of Europe seemed more important -- even after US officials privately urged him to discontinue the lavish trip, which allegedly included hotel stays that cost more than USD 11,000 a night," the Foreign Policy magazine said.
Zardari`s officials fired back, saying the President chose the "cheapest five-star hotel" in London – the Churchill Hyatt Regency -- and even chose not to sleep in the royal suite, the magazine wrote.
Yamuna crosses danger mark, people evacuated
Due to heavy and continues rain in the capital, the water level of Yamuna River has crossed the danger level.
A senior official said that the river crossed the danger level of 204.83 metres last evening and now it is flowing 11 cm above the danger mark. The government has started the job of evacuating the people living in low-lying areas.
Alerts have been already issued anticipating fears of a flood. Some families living in low-lying areas in North-East, East and South-East Delhi have been evacuated. Wazirabad and Okhla barrage was opened which might help the level of water to go down.
It continued to rain on Saturday for the third consecutive day.
"One or two spells of heavy rainfall are predicted in parts of the city. The skies will continue to remain cloudy," said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Remembering the legend Ustad Bismillah Khan
As we remember the Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib on his 4th death anniversary, let`s have an insight to the legend`s life and his remarkable contribution to the nation.
Bismillah Sahib was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001, the highest civilian honour in India and gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades.
He was perhaps single handedly responsible for making the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.
Khan is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian Classical music and one of the best examples of Hindu-Muslim unity in India and had played shenai to audience across the world. He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.
Khan had the rare honor of performing at Delhi`s Red Fort on the eve of India`s Independence in 1947. He also performed Raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony, on January 26, 1950. His recital had become a cultural part of India`s Independence Day Celebrations, telecast on Doordarshan every year on August 15. After the Prime Minister`s speech from Lal Qila (the Red Fort,) in Old Delhi, Doordarshan would broadcast a live performance by the shehnai maestro. This tradition dated from the days of Pandit Nehru.
Khan had a brief association with movies. He played the shehnai for Dr Rajkumar`s role of Appanna in the Kannada movie Sanaadi Appanna. He acted in Jalsaghar, a movie by Satyajit Ray and provided sound of shehnai in Goonj Uthi Shehnai. Noted director Goutam Ghose directed Sange Meel Se Mulaqat, a documentary about the life of Khan.
Khan died on August 21, 2006 due to a cardiac arrest.
Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, instituted the `Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar` in 2007, in his honour. It is given to young artists in the field of music, theatre and dance.
Govt bows to MPs demand; to review salary hike
The government on Saturday assured the members of parliament that it would re-look at their salary hike approved by the Union Cabinet, thus bringing an end to the ruckus in the Parliament over MPs salary hike.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called a meeting early on Saturday with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, SP `s Mulayam Singh and BJP leader Gopinath Munde. The meeting was intended to find a solution to the salary issue. The Finance Minister also assured Lalu and Mulayam that thegovernment would look into the matter.
On Friday, when it looked that the issue related to hike in salary of MPs is settled, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal members forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha, voicing dissatisfaction over the quantum of salary hike for MPs.
Eralier, salaries of Members of Parliament was hiked by more than three times with the Union Cabinet on Friday approving a bill. A meeting of the Cabinet gave its nod to the bill under which the basic salary of the MPs will be hiked from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. Sources said that the Cabinet also approved an increase in the office expense of parliamentarians from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month. The constituency allowance has also been doubled from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month.
But, this is much less than the figure of Rs 80,001 recommended by the parliamentary committee which had said MPs should get more thangovernment secretaries as the former are above them in the hierarchy.
The limit for interest-free loan for MPs for buying a personal vehicle has been hiked four-fold to Rs 4 lakh from the present Rs 1 lakh. Thegovernment also approved a hike in road mileage rate for vehicles used by MPs from Rs 13 per km to Rs 16 per km. The spouse of a parliamentarian can now travel any number of times in first class or executive class, the sources said.
Earlier, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad claimed that the government had insulted Parliament by rejecting the recommendation of its committee to raise the basic salary to Rs 80,001 per month.
If it's Ramzan, then enjoy Muslim cuisines
While this is Ramzan time, hence there can not be better time to discuss the great Muslim cuisines of India. It goes without saying that Muslim rulers brought their elegance of living to India`s culinary scene too. The splendor of the Mughal/Muslim cuisine is reflected in the Muglai Cuisine. Mughlai food is especially preferred in Northern parts of the country. Some of the Mughlai dishes have names such as biryani, pulao, kebabs, kofta. This is suggestive of the strong influence of Muslim cooking style.
The rich preparation of Mughlai food consisting of flavored sauces and butter based curries is so tempting that food lovers are bound to crave for more and more food. Mughlai food offers an amazingly delicious variety of food ranging from hot spicy shorba or soup to ginger based roasted meats to kulfi with rose petals sprinkled on it. Even, the names of the Mughlai food are so attractive that a person gets tempted to try out different dishes.
Historin Feroz Bakhat Ahmed says that though Mughlai food is cooked in all parts of the country, but the best feel of this cuisine can be had only in Delhi. Mughals introduced the exotic spices, nuts and fruits to India. Also, the Indians got an opportunity to learn new techniques of cooking. In the preparation of most of the Mughlai dishes, milk and cream is used liberally. Mughlai Biriyanies, Pasandas, Kormas and Pulao are so enticing and yummy that people usually end up licking their fingers.
It is important to note that the Muslim cuisines of Uttar Pradesh is very different from the Mughlai food.. The Nawabs of Oudh were great gourmets and encouraged their master chefs to create new styles of cooking like the famous ‘Dum Pukht’ where the food is sealed in large pots called ‘handis’, placed over a slow fire and left to cook in its own juices. When opened, these dishes release the most fragrant and delicious aromas. Lucknow and its neighbouring towns were put on the culinary map of India thanks to these rich curries, melt in the mouth kebabs, fragrant rice biryanis and pulaos and an eclectic collection of leavened and unleavened breads.
And generally when food writers write on influence of Muslims influence on Indian food, they tend to write mostly on Mughlai cuisines. They hardly discuss cuisines of Bohra, Kashmiri, Konkani and Memon communities. Of course, one could argue that Muslim cuisines get covered automatically in Mughlai, Hyderabadi and Avadhi (Lucknow) cookbooks. One could also argue that some of the differences from the other food of that region are slight - the food of the Nagercoil Muslims in Tamil Nadu may not differ all that much from that of non-Brahmin communities in that region.
The Mughlai, Hyderabadi and Avadhi books are essentially about court cuisines, with recipes for rich birianis and desserts that would rarely appear on ordinary tables (and there are also Muslim court cuisines, like that of Bhopal, which are still little known).
And if talk about the Kashmiri cuisines,they are essentially meat-based. There is a variation in the different eating habits of the Hindu and Muslim Kashmiris that determines which spices are used and which meats too since beef is prohibited for Hindus. The highlight of Kashmiri cuisine is the formal banquet called "wazawan", which includes a spread of over 36 courses cooked all night long by a team of chefs called ‘wazas’ under the supervision of a ‘Vasta waza’ or master chef, descendants of the cooks of Samarkand.
The food is characterised by thick gravies which use liberal quantities of yoghurt, spices and dried fruits, and is usually cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil. Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is grown locally. It is used extensively to flavour pulaos (rice dish) and sweets. The popular dishes include the starter yakhni, tabaq naat made of fried ribs, dum aloo (steam cooked potato curry), rogan josh made with mutton, gushtaba, a meatball curry, and haleem made from meat and pounded wheat. A Kashmiri meal must end with a cup of ‘Kahva’, green tea flavoured with cardamom and almonds.
Aiyar to start anti Olympic bid campaign
Fiery Mani Shankar Aiyar now fears that once Commonwealth games are staged, `there may be some demands from some quarters to bid for the Olympic games. That should not happen come what may`.
In an exclusive interview to Anurradha Prasad for her talk show `Aamne-Samne` for News 24 channel, the ex-diplomat turns politician bares it all regarding his basis for strong opposition to Commonwealth games to his present relationship with his own party, Congress.
Announcing his action plan to oppose any move to bring Olympic games to India, Mani Shankar Aiyar said, “I would start my opposition to possible Olympic bid from October 15 itself. I would not mind hosting Olympics games if we prepare ourself as China had prepared before they hosted the Beijing Olympics. If we are sure of leading the medals tally and our flag would fly high, then we host the games.” Though he is little relieved that government has decided not to bid for the Asian games.
Reacting to a question related to Sonia Gandhi`s recent remark that commonwealth games would be staged nicely and it is a matter of honour for the country, little weary and mellowed down too after after his long anti-Commonwealth games campaign, Mani Shankar Aiyar says now somehow the games would be hosted with some patchwork. They (mainly Kalmadi and others) would pat the back of each other. ` It is such a huge lose of money. It would be better if the money spent on games would have been used in naxal affected Dantewada or in Bawana. The poor would be benefited. But they have spent whopping Rs 935 crores on Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.`
Mani completely denies the tag of a whistle-blower to expose the wrong-doing that were taking place in preparations of commonwealth games, said, “I am talking about principles and national priorities. Tell me did Gandhiji would be proud to attend the games? I have never raised the issue of scam. Now even i am surprised that so many skeletons are tumbling down. I never knew about that.”
`Did your concerns regarding the games were not taken in to account by your own party?` While avoiding to answer the question,Mani took us back to year 2003. “ That was May,2003. Suresh Kalmadi met the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and discussed Indian bid for the 2010 commonwealth games.
He asked for his (Mr.Vajpayee`s) permission to host the games. He told the PM that as time is running out for submitting the bid document, he should allow that without discussing the issue with his cabinet. Kalmadi told him that only Rs 150 crores would be required for hosting the games. Innocent Mr. Vajpayee okayed that. ”
Mani reveals that during one of the meetings of commonwealth games committee in Montego Bay couple of years ago, Suresh Kalmadi announced that on behalf of Indian Olympic Association(IOA),they would give one million dollars to all the participating nations. “Lalit Bhanot (close aide of Kalmadi) said that was only inducement. It is up to you to decide whether that was a bribe or inducement.”
Replaying to another question, Mani Shankar Aiyar said, it is not true that he was not listened by his government. They listened his contention regarding the games. Group of ministers under the leadership of Arjun Singh gave him enough time. But they were not convinced of his arguments.
When he was asked `did he liked all his portfolios other than sports?, Mani tersely said, “ Minus commonwealth games, I enjoyed even sports ministry. I have done lot of work there. I have nothing against that ministry.”
Even after couple of years of his unceremonious exit from the union cabinet as a sports minister, Mani is still hurt. “I was returning to India after addressing a conference on sports in Auckland,New Zealand. I got standing ovation when I completed my speech which outlined our future road map for sports. When i was in Hong Kong, I got a sms announcing my removal from the cabinet,” he narrated the whole incident with a pinch of salt.
Apart from being hurt for the way he was removed, he was equally hurt that the comprehensive sports policy that he authored could not be placed before the union cabinet.
According to Mani, he authored the comprehensive sports policy despite non-cooperation from IOA. Where is that? “In my laptop,” he reveals. He is hopeful that his masterpiece would be considered by the government post commonwealth games. He also said that when National games was held in Guwahati, he was not even invited by IOA. “They have done to insult me.”
Commonwealth games apart, Mani Shankar Aiyar made it clear that he has never left Congress even for a single day. “Though the level of involvement is very less,” he concludes.
ICC gives clean chit to Sangakkara
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was involved in an unsavoury incident with New Zealand all-rounder Nathan McCullum during a tri-series match, was given a clean chit by the International Cricket Council on Saturday. The ICC has declared Sangakkara as not guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.
Sangakkara had collided with McCullum and had tried to ground his bat while taking a run during the washed out match in Dambulla.
Sangakkara was given the benefit of doubt by match refree Alan Hurst after he watched a video recording of the incident.
"I looked at video footage of the incident from various angles and considered the detailed evidence of the umpires. I found that video evidence that was put forward by the player provided reasonable doubt as to whether the contact was deliberate," Hurst said.
Sangakkara was charged with a Level 2 offence, contrary to clause 2.2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players or Team Officials. It relates to "inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play," the game's world body said in a release.
Tennis stars assure to play in Commonwealth Games
The four top Indian tennis stars, who threatened to pull out of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games 2010, ended their revolt on Saturday by assuring that they will play in full strength for India. They changed their minds after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) assured them that all their dues will be cleared before the Games in October.
Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devverman and Rohan Bopanna had written a letter to AITA on Friday and had threatened to pull out of the event over non-payment of their dues.
AITA had not cleared the due amount to the players since 2006 Asian Games and asked it to at least pay some part of the outstanding amount, the players say.
However, clearing the air, the tennis stars have now jointly issued a press statement.
"It is true that we wrote a letter to the AITA to voice some concerns we had about expenses that we were promised over the last year and a half, We have all submitted bills to various people at the AITA over this period, and now that the AITA has nominated us to represent India we requested them to make sure that the promises made are kept, we would like to put all speculation to rest and confirm we will be present in full strength to represent India against Brazil in Chennai in September, As for the CWG...," they wrote in the statement.
"We unfortunately have no time to run around and speak to authorities & are therefore reaching out to you. We give you full authority to mention at your meetings that unless there is some traction to what has been promised to us within the next month, none of us will be available to play in Delhi in the CWG in October," they wrote in the letter.
1 in 5 Americans thinks Obama is a Muslim
One in five Americans wrongly believes that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, a new survey has revealed. This clearly indicates an increase in the number of Americans, who feels the same, since his inauguration in January 2009.
Meanwhile, 34 per cent of people correctly feels that Obama is a Christian, according to the new Pew Research Centre survey.
Interestingly, 60 per cent people among those who say Obama is a Muslim say they learned about his religion from the media. It means that their opinions are due to the misinformation, says the poll.
The poll was conducted before he expressed support for the Muslims' right to construct an Islamic cultural centre and mosque near the 9/11 terror attack site in New York.
White House faith adviser Joshua DuBois has expressing dismay over the poll results. He has blamed "misinformation campaigns" by the President's opponents.
"While the President has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there is certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehood about the President and his values and beliefs," said DuBois.
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