Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.A huge crowd kept following Him wherever He went, because they saw His miraculous signs as He healed the sick.Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with His disciples around Him.(It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for Him. Turning to Philip, He asked, "Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?"He was testing Philip, for He already knew what He was going to do.
Philip replied, "Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!"Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. "There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?"
"Tell everyone to sit down," Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward He did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.After everyone was full, Jesus told His disciples, "Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted." So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
When the people saw Him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, He is the Prophet we have been expecting!" When Jesus saw that they were ready to force Him to be their king, He slipped away into the hills.
Dear Friends, Are you worried about your material needs? Not only food and water but all that is materially needed for a modern living in this age and time? Trust God and He will provide you miraculously all that you need!
Mr. Jaswant Singh the former Foreign Minister in NDA government and a senior member of the BJP for the past thirty years was thrown out of the party last week without giving any reason by the party president Mr. Rajnath Singh. Mr. Jaswant Singh was told of his expulsion from the party merely on a telephone call. But what were the compulsions of the BJP for throwing out a senior colleague so unceremoniously?
Mr. Singh had released his latest book on the partition of India in 1947 and the creation of the new state of Pakistan and the role of founder of Pakistan Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah. There is a nice photo of Mr. Jinnah on the cover of the book. Very few people got the time to read the book but they were sure that Mr. Jaswant Singh is trying to glorify the role of Mr. Jinnah calling him secular and diluting his role in the entire episode of partition. There was an immediate and ruthless reaction to the book in leading to Mr. Jaswant Singh’s expulsion from the party within a week from the release of the same.
Earlier in 2005 also when the then party president Mr. Lal Krishna Advani had visited Pakistan and at Karachi made similar oral observation at the tomb of Mr. Jinnah he had to face similar reaction on coming back to India in culmination of his being stepping down from the pedestal of the party president of BJP.
These events show that after over sixty years of partition many people in India have not recovered from the wounds and scars of the partition which had resulted in a holocaust of its own kind leading to the deaths of millions of people in violent riots. The breaking and cutting of India in three parts was not done by the blade of a skillful surgeon but by the axe of a merciless butcher.
And discussions have not come to an end as who has to be blamed for this partition. The blame game is continuing unabated even after these so many decades and by the new generation as well. In India the entire blame is put on the door of Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, therefore any word of appreciation for his background or personality are violently denied and contested by the forces who now want to disassociate completely of taking over any responsibility of the mistakes they had made in those days.
But there are people within India who want to put things in proper perspective. And many books and articles keep coming explaining the misdeeds of those who made mistakes that time and continue to make the same mistakes now here in India.
The question arises that if Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a secular person then what forced him to act in such a narrow way to ask for the partition of India and ask for a separate state for Muslims? He his blamed for inventing the 'two nation theory' that Hindus and Muslims of India are two different people and can not live together and need two different nations? This theory was proved wrong when Pakistan was broken in 1971 and a new state of Bangladesh was created from a homogeneous religious group of Muslims!
But was the 'two nation theory' invented by Jinnah? Those who know history and the events of those fateful years in 1920s and 30s know very well that he had merely picked it up from another person who was a leader of a group opposed to Mahatma Gandhi and congress party, and even the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi finally came out of this very same group.
And now books are being written, statements are being made trying to say that Jinnah was secular! What is the need for these remarks now? What do these gentlemen want to say? Do they feel the pressure of the same forces around them? Do they want to warn the people of India of the same dangers that created situation in culmination of the partition? People want to know!
After the marriage of Ashwariya Rai with Abhishek Bachhan there was some unexplained decline in the popularity of Ash "the most beautiful woman on earth". It appeared that probably Deepika Padukone will fill the void. But quite unexpectedly it was Katrina Kaif that became suddenly popular. Today she is dominating the scene in films and in advertisements on TV and print media all over India.
Katrina Kaif was born in Hong Kong to a Kashmiri Muslim father, Mohammed Kaif, and a British Christian mother, Suzanne. Her mother, a Harvard graduate, was a lawyer but later became involved in charity work. Her parents separated when Kaif was very young. She was raised in Hawaii and later moved to her mother’s home country, England. At the age of fourteen she was approached by an agent and began modeling; her first job was for a jewelry campaign. She continued modeling in London.
Kaif’s London modeling work led to her discovery by filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a part in his film Boom (2003). She moved to Mumbai and was offered a number of modeling assignments. However, filmmakers were initially hesitant to sign her because she could not speak Hindi.
In 2009 two more of her films are in line for release 'Ajab Prem Ki GajabKahani' and 'De Dana Dan'. In 2010 the remake of 'Padosan' and 'Rajneeti' are expected to be released. Rajneeti is being produced by Director Praksh Jha with Katrina Kaif, Ajay Devgan, Manoj Vajpayee, Nana Patekar and others. Several portions of the film Rajneeti have been shot in Bhopal and even I appear in one or two frames of this film in crowded scenes. Please wait for a full post on this film from me when film will be nearing its release next year.
Dear friends, presently my favorite bollywood star is Priyanka Chopra but the way Katrina Kaif is becoming popular she is the one to watch for in coming months and probably in coming years as well?
Usain St. Leo Bolt, born 21 August 1986, is a Jamaican. Bolt holds the world record for the 100 metres dash at 9.58 second made on 16th August 2009 at Berlin.
He holds the record for 200 metres dash at 19.30 seconds and, along with his teammates, the 4×100 metres relay at 37.10 seconds. Bolt also holds the Olympic record in the 100 metres at 9.69 seconds. Bolt became the first man to win all three events at Beijing Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympics.
His world record dash at the Berlin this week at the same venue reminded the world of Jesse Owens who about seventy three years earlier at the very same stadium had broken the Nazi myth of Aryan superiority in the presence of Adolf Hitler.
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (1913 '1980) was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 metres, the 200 metres, the long jump, and as part of the 4×100 meter relay team.
In 1936, Owens arrived in Berlin to compete for the United States in the Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of “Aryan racial superiority” and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior. Owens surprised all by winning four gold medals: On August 3, 1936 he won the 100m sprint; on August 4, the long jump; on August 5, the 200m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, his fourth on August 9 (a performance not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 1984 Summer Olympics).
On the first day, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium. Olympic committee officials then insisted Hitler greet each and every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.
Dear friend, you too can do it in life and surprise the world! You need determination and dedication. You have got all it takes to succeed in life. Just do not give up.
Hindi is my Matrabhasha, mother tongue. But while in school I always had to wrestle with the dohas of Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas and Meera Bai. Such ancient poetry was very difficult for me to understand and learn in Hindi language classes. Such poetry gave me very difficult and frightening times while preparing for exams.
But some modern poets were my delight. And generations of Indians have grown reciting "Bundele harbolo ke mukh hamane suni kahani thi, khub ladi mardani wah to Jhansi wali rani thi". But soon enough most of the written work by me was required to be done in English; and writing and learning Hindi as a language was left behind. And I did not have any touch with Hindi poetry apart from what I had read in school Hindi text books.
The only poetry that I had access to was lyrics of Hindi film music. Some of it again was outstanding but most of it was understandably just trash. And these lyrics were again not in chaste Hindi; but Hindi Urdu mixed. Till one day I heard some songs in wonderfully pure Hindi with great poetic quality.
These were the songs from the poems of Neeraj.Neeraj is among the best-known poets and authors in Hindi literature. He was born in the small village Puravali of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, in 1924. His style is considered easy to understand, but has also been compared with high quality Hindi literature. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1991.
Besides writing, he earned his living through teaching in a college and was a well-known Professor of Hindi Literature in Aligarh (U.P.). Several of his poems and songs have been used in Hindi movies and are considered famous. He wrote songs for several Hindi Movies and attained a unique position as a songwriter who wrote in pure Hindi as opposed to Hindi-Urdu mix, which was more common. Today he is the most respected Hindi poet around in India.
Dear Friends, Here I have given you a song sung by Mohd Rafi from the movie Nai umar kinai fasal (1965). It is a good example of Neeraj's wonderful poetry.
Sapne jhare phool se, Meet chubhe shool se,
Lut gaye singaar sabhi baag ke babool se, Aur hum khade-khade bahaar dekhte rahe, Karvan guzar gaya, Gubar dekhte rahe.
Neend bhi khuli na thi ki hai dhoop dhal gayi, Paon jab talak uthe ki zindagi fisal gayi, Paat-paat jhar gaye ki shaakh-shaakh jal gayi, Chah to nikal saki na par umar nikal gayi.
Geet ashk ban gaye, Swapna ho dafan gaye, Saath ke sabhi diye dhuan pehen pehen gaye, Aur hum jhuke-jhuke, Mod par ruke-ruke, Umar ke chadhaav ka utaar dekhte rahe, Karvan guzar gaya, Gubar dekhte rahe!
Kya shabaab tha ki phool-phool pyar kar utha, Kya kamaal tha ki dekh aina sihar utha, Is taraf zameen aur asmaan udhar utha, Thaam kar jigar utha ki jo mila nazar utha, Ek din magar yahan, Aisee kuchh hawa chali, Lut gayi kali-kali ki ghut gayi gali-gali, Aur hum lute-lute, Waqt se pite-pite, saanjh ki sharaab ka khumaar dekhte rahe, Karvan guzar gaya, Gubar dekhte rahe!
Haath the mile ki zulf chaand ki sanwaar doon, Honth the khule ki har bahaar ko pukaar doon, Dard tha diya gaya ki har dukhi ko pyar doon, Aur saans yoon ki swarg bhoomi par utaar doon, Ho saka na kuchh magar, Shaam ban gayi seher, Woh uthi lehar ki dheh gaye kile bikhar-bikhar, Aur ham dare-dare, Neer nayan mein bhare, Odh kar kafan pade mazaar dekhte rahe, Karvan guzar gaya, Gubar dekhte rahe!
Maang bhar chali ki ek jab nayi nayi kiran, Dholke dhunuk uthi, thumuk uthe charan charan, Shor mach gaya ki lo chali dulhan, chali dulhan, Gaaon sab umad pada, behek uthe nayan nayan, Par tabhi zehar bhari, Gaaz ek woh giri, Punchh gaya sindoor, taar taar hui choonri, Aur ham ajaan se, Door ke makaan se, Palki liye hue kahar dekhte rahe! Karvan guzar gaya, Gubar dekhte rahe.
The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is my all time favorite spaghetti Western movie. I have seen it several times but I do not get tired of seeing it all over again. Apart from its cinematography it's the music of the film that keeps me spellbound each time I see it. I am referring to this film second time in my posts. I have already given one photo from this film in my post of 25th April 2009 in the category 'Music'.
Blondie, (Clint Eastwood), the Good, and Tuco (Eli Wallach) the Bad, are gunmen who admire each other professionally but dislike each other personally. Encountering a group of dying soldiers during the American civil war, Tuco learns the location of the graveyard where a treasure is buried, while Blondie separately learns the identity of the exact grave. Now they must cooperate if they want to get the gold. Each of the desperadoes knowing half the secret and each focusing his eyes on the treasure; followed by mercenary drifter Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) the Ugly, they cross the desert to get the treasure.
In a classic; Italian director Sergio Leone uses vivid Cinemascope imagery to depict a bleak and bloody American West. A prototype for the so-called Spaghetti Western genre, the film established Clint Eastwood’s position as a major international star with his brooding presence. Ennio Morricone's music (please see my post on 'music' dated 25th April 2009), is one of the most recognizable in the entire world cinema. Although the film was not released in the United States until 1967, it was produced and released internationally in 1966.
Today, the film is regarded by many critics as a classic. It remains one of the most popular and well known westerns and is considered to be one of the greatest of its kind. It was part of Time’s “100 greatest movies of the last century”.
In a 2002 Sight & Sound magazine poll, Quentin Tarantino voted The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as his choice for the best film ever made. Empire magazine added The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to their Masterpiece collection in the September 2007 issue and in their poll of “The 500 Greatest Movies,” “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” was voted in at number 25.
It became very popular when released in India also. Most foreign movie buffs have already seen the film; if you missed because of any reasons it is a must for you. Even after so many years of its release in India its music is being still copied in movies and advertisement of this country.
Dear friends if you like the very best things in life, 'The Good the Bad andthe Ugly' is one of the best western movies of all time. It is readily available at all good neighborhood DVD rental stores. Enjoy it.
Dear Friends, Wish You All a Very Happy Independence Day! Freedom is a great blessing. Thank God; that today we are politically a free nation. But what does this freedom means? How free we are? Do we need to be satisfied for what we have achieved and sit back and just feel good?
This freedom came to us by paying a great price. India was partitioned. Pakistan was created a day earlier. They celebrate their Independence Day on 14th August. Initially there were two parts of Pakistan: East Pakistan and West Pakistan. They all thought that they were free. But slowly but surely the truth and reality dawned on the people of East Pakistan that though they thought that they had become free but in reality they were not! They were in the bondage of the people of West Pakistan. There again started a freedom struggle and finally they achieved their freedom on 16th December 1971 and became Bangladesh!
What is my point? I am just trying to say that sometime people may wrongly think that they are free but they may not be entirely free. Same thing happened in East Europe after the Second World War. The Nazi occupation ended but people ended up being enslaved by the tyranny of a communist regime. Only after the fall of the Berlin wall, decades later, they tasted some better freedom.
Similarly the people of Pakistan may celebrate the Independence Day on 14th August each year but their history and present situation shows that they have been never free. Instead, in my opinion, the people of Sind, Baluchistan, West Punjab and North WestFrontierProvince had fallen in the clutches of a tyranny of a kind that is even worst then the British Rule.
Freedom is a process and not a one time event. We have to grow each day in freedom. And in India we are growing slowly in this freedom. After the political freedom we needed freedom from hunger and poverty. We are definitely growing in this area of freedom. The pace of growth can be increased still further. Our Dalits, our tribals, our weaker sections of society, women and many other areas of the nation still need to grow in this freedom.
Political freedom, Social freedom and even Spiritual freedom. We need to be free from superstitions and fear, from empty rituals and customs, from religious hatred and intolerance. We need to be free in our heart to love all citizen of India without any favour or fear.
Are you free in your heart My Friend? Free to love all? Are you bound by some hatred in your heart for some people who are religiously, regionally different from you or speak a different language then yours? On this Independence Day make a resolve to be free from such hatred!
Bhopal is infamous world over for its greatest industrial accident that killed around twenty thousand people. But unlike the natural perception people get of an industrial city with smoke belching factories, smog, crowds of workers, strikes, communists and the things like that; Bhopal surprisingly is a quiet beautiful little town of severalenchanting lakes, gardens, wide boulevards and elegant and crisp residential localities.
Right in the heart of the city there are two big lakes. The bigger one is called Upper Lake, photo is alongside this article, it is spread over around 35 square kilometers, and the smaller one because it has a little lower elevation is called Lower Lake. In Hindi they are referred simply as Bada Talaab and Chhota Talaab.
The city centre and the shopping area is called New Market for the past several decades. Obviously this market never gets old. The most fashionable and important road that links New Market to the commercial district of the city- M P Nagar; is just called 'Link Road No. 1'. Then similarly we have 'Link Road No. 2' and 'Link Road No. 3' also in the city. And these are the main arteries of the city. The road that comes from airport to the city is called 'VIP Road' as mostly politicians use this road.
When Bhopal became the capital of MP in 1956 new localities were built and bus services were provided for the city's residents. But localities were not named. So we have localities still named as 'Stop No. One', 'Second Stop', 'Chaar No', 'Panchh No', 'Chhe No' so on and so forth. Then we have localities called as '1100 quarter' '1250' . Where all politicians live is called '74 Bungalows', where bureaucrats live is simply called 'Chaar Imli.'Then we have '10 Number Market' and '1250 Hospital'.
Right in the heart of the city is also an Animal Sanctuary called Van Vihar it is adjacent to the UpperLake. It is incredible to see hundreds of deer just grazing openly in the centre of a big city. Then there is a dam right in the heart of the city again. It's thankfully called Kaliasot dam and its water is taken out of the city by a canal for irrigation purposes leaving the thirsty localities all around it high and dry, while water is being brought from another dam that is about 30 kilometers away from the city!
Another amusing aspect that you will notice in the city is the presence of hundreds of girls, representing all the religions, driving two wheelers and four wheelers wearing hizab ora veil over their faces. They say hizab is to protect their skin from sun and pollutions but you will see them veiled in winter, in night and in air-conditioned restaurants also. Clearly the motives to wear the hizab are more mysterious then what is claimed.
Dear friend, if you are a person given to a spirit of exploration and adventure and like travelling and visiting places do not miss Bhopal. This city will surprise you immensely. It has got all it takes to entertain the guests like you
Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with His disciples.Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.The disciples went and woke Him up, shouting, "Lord, save us! We're goingto drown!"
Jesus responded, "Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!" Then He got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
The disciples were amazed. "Who is this Man?" they asked. "Even the winds and waves obey Him!"
Dear friends, are you also going through a period in life that is much like facing a storm? Do you have this feeling that you will sink if not helped? Look to Jesus and ask Him to calm the storm in your life and He will do it. Wish you all the best!
"You see, Rajesh, Kerala is not like Tamilnadu it's quite different. By tomorrow morning it will be all green". My friend told me. I had just returned to Chennai from a trip to Tanjavur. Thiruchirappalli and Madurai. For me; for many years Chennai was the gateway to travel all around in the peninsular India. But I had never been to Kerala and I was eagerly looking forward to visit the place.
In Chennai I used to hang around in Purusawakkam and Vepery areas. This part of the town is quite close to the Chennai Central station and has all the facilities. What thrilled me most was the presence of several eating places with boards hung outside "meals ready". And among these places there were some quite decent restaurants with air conditioning and good décor. The hot weather in Chennai demands good air-conditioned comfort, if you want to eat leisurely. And Chennai boasts of hundreds of such nice places to eat at almost one fourth the rate of a North Indian restaurant. And they are very well patronized. While in North only travelers and bachelors usually go out to eat in a restaurants there in Chennai I found even families going out regularly to eat out.
But most places also have a board saying 'pure vegetarian' this is a problem I find all over India. But I did find a smaller place in Pursuawakkam High Road with a separate air-conditioned room with all sorts of non vegetarian dishes. And this became my regular eating place even when I travelled with my family.
In Tamilnadu; while visiting for several years, I tried to taste all kinds of southern preparation on the menu. But finally I settled for 'Onion Rava Dosa' with nice green, white and red chatnies. Wow! this Chennai taste I always relish.
I boarded the Trivandrum mail in the evening from Chennai Central station heading for Kottayam in Kerala. It was quite a good journey. After dinner I slept comfortably in the train running at quite a good speed. When I woke up train was still running cheerfully. Morning lights were filtering through the windows. I lifted myself on my elbow still half asleep and almost in a trance, in a rocking train, and looked outside the window .it was all emerald green! With coconut trees swaying in the morning breeze.
I was in Kerala for almost a week. Now my body had begun to crave for North Indian chapaties. It was almost fifteen days I did not have any. I got to eat South Indian Paranthas made out of maida in Chennai but there seemed to be no hope of getting any chapaties for next one more week till I returned to North.
For may return journey again I was booked in the same train. In the night the train attendant came to take the orders for dinner. I asked him to bring one for me also. At around 9:00 pm he started to serve the dinner to people. He served all but not me. I was hungry. I looked around all were eating the rice, sambhar and the usual South India stuff.
I saw the attendant moving around. I asked him what happened to my dinner. He said "Sir, your dinner is coming, just wait" I thought what is this happening all other people are almost finishing and here I am still waiting! And I am trying to talk to the fellow in English and he is always answering me back in Hindi. And I really did not like parading the fact that I am a Hindi speaking North Indian travelling all alone all over South India.
But he did turn up with my dinner soon enough. When I saw, it was a great pleasant surprise.There was no rice; instead, six pure North Indian steaming hot chapaties ..
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