Jai Bhojpuri

Bhagavad Gita labeled “extremist

2011-12-25T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Bhagavad Gita was said by God (Lord Krishna) 5000 years ago on the battlefield of Kurukshetra to his supreme disciple Arjuna. The Gita is the essence of the Vedas and was told for the benefit of us commoners who do not have the time to learn the Vedas. Hinduism is a religion that has left its contemporaries (Egyptians) behind and is still a flourishing, peaceful religion. It survived repeated onslaughts by Islamic conquerors for 800 years and 300 years by a Christian British rule, despite all this it exists. If the Gita is such a dangerous text -- then why did Gandhi and Einstein swear by it?? Hinduism is one of the only religions which has not invaded another country and wiped out the indigenous population in the name of religion; Hinduism does not proselytize; Hinduism does not have suicide bombers, does not stone people ... then WHY attack this religion? Why this Christian aggression.

Anna Hazare to fight corruption

2011-12-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

We deserve to be ruled by corrupt rulers, we deserve to be looted, we deserve to live in poverty and hunger, we deserve to live in country where criminals go scot free and those fighting against corruption are jailed and lathi-charged, we deserve to live in a country where poor people have to run from one government office to other and pay bribes to get their work done, we deserve to live in the conditions where roads are broken every few months, we deserve to live in a country where we don't get clean drinking water, electricity and where s^^t flows on roads. We deserve to live in a country where police is not approachable and where you can't file FIR or pay for it or you fear that by taking money police will do a case on yourself, we deserve to live in a country where people are afraid to go to court and where you have to wait for years in court to get justice, where jutice delayed is as good as justice denied. Because we choose to be ruled by corrupt people. Because we don't challenge wrong. We can't differentiate who is fighting for us and against us. Because we can't differentiate who is fighting for change and who is resisting it. We are not going to get a leader like Anna for decades who is selflessly fighting for poor people.

Aryabhatta

2011-12-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Aryabhatta (475 A.D. -550 A.D.) is the first well known Indian mathematician. Born in Kerala, he completed his studies at the university of Nalanda. In the section Ganita (calculations) of his astronomical treatise Aryabhatiya (499 A.D.), he made the fundamental advance in finding the lengths of chords of circles, by using the half chord rather than the full chord method used by Greeks. He gave the value of as 3.1416, claiming, for the first time, that it was an approximation. (He gave it in the form that the approximate circumference of a circle of diameter 20000 is 62832.) He also gave methods for extracting square roots, summing arithmetic series, solving indeterminate equations of the type ax -by = c, and also gave what later came to be known as the table of Sines. He also wrote a text book for astronomical calculations, Aryabhatasiddhanta. Even today, this data is used in preparing Hindu calendars (Panchangs). In recognition to his contributions to astronomy and mathematics, India’s first satellite was named Aryabhatta.

The Lokpal Myth

2011-12-13T02:08:00.000-08:00

a) When Congress says that Team Anna is indulging into politics then Congress needs to learn the very definition of politics. Politics is done for political gains. Team Anna has time and again reiterated that they will never fight an election. If opposing the ruling dispensation means gain to the opposition parties then one can’t help.

b) Corruption charges on Kiran Bedi: Corruption or Bhrashtachar or Bhrasht Acharan first needs to qualify the criterion of an act done with an ‘intent’ of personal gain. In Kiran Bedi’s case her ‘intent’ was to generate funds for NGO for good cause. Diggi Raja was equating Kiran Bedi’s act with that of Kalmani and A Raja where the ‘intent’ behind the gross irregularities are well known.

c) Lokapal will be an uncontrolled monster: Please go through the fine prints of Jan Lokpal draft, same is there on the net. It talks of creation of a body (Lokpal) which will create a fine balance among all three pillars, Lokpal, Legislature and Judiciary; all three will be independent of each other, yet keeping an eye with a legitimate control on each other.

d) There is a huge amount of money being spent by the ruling dispensation (congress and its allies), they have bought media and spending huge money on Online Reputation Management which means online agencies are hired who have deputed huge manpower to counter the growing anger against govt and create a sense of sympathy for the govt. Similarly news Channels are organizing detabes but keeping the panel highly imbalanced, invariably it will 4 v/s 2 (two from govt. two from govt. funded NGOs or Print publication chief editors and two from team Anna), channel will give an impression that it’s a balanced panel but subtly you see it will be designed to tilt towards govt. side. Not only this, the amount of time given to air their view will be a lot to govt. and govt. controlled representatives while team Anna voice will be curbed there also.

I urge the people of this country to keep up the pressure and beware of the paid PR and other tactics of govt. which can go any length to sabotage this movement.

Why this kolaveri di song download

2011-12-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

The makers of the "why this kolaveri di"

The Tamil song “why this kolaveri di” has become a major hit. The song has been sung by Tamil actor Dhanush and composed by Anirudh. The reasons for this success have been given to its simple and unique success, its catchy tune and the simplicity at which how the video was made. Even Bollywood greats have praised the song. The song has been such a big hit that people want regional versions of it; an unofficial female version has also been released.

The video released on YouTube has made 20 million hits and still counting. Now that the maker of this song has a big hit on their hands, there is a demand from people to download this amazing song. It is obvious that those who liked this song would want to download this song on their mobile as mp3 and also ring tones. The music can be viewed on major social networking sites and some have allowed people to download “why this kolaveri di”.

Kapil Sibal to control on online content

2011-12-06T02:25:00.000-08:00

Hon. Minister you also agreed on many issues with Baba Ramdev ji and Anna Hazaray ji on Black money and JanLokpal Bill but you betrayed them! You expect people should keep mum and we should claim that we are the largest democracy . Do you mean the Image of the leaders is more important than Nation even if the behavior of few leaders/ minister is dubious? If you are not fair people will show their anger in words and I am requesting you PLEASE don’t stop it ( because we should not forget Shri Sharad Pawar episode ) otherwise the situation will be out of control. Let people express their views and think how Leaders(?) can improve their behavior. I agree that few comments are Really offensive, just ignore them . Also think why people don’t talk ill about Bhagatsingh, Rajguru, Nataji Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vir Savarkar, Sardar Valbh Bhai Patel, Lal Bhadur Shastri and many more ( Many of these leaders are from your party) and why they talk ill about Nehru Gandhi Family and other leaders/persons. Instead of pointing fingers at others look at the three fingers pointing at you.

Indian celebrities on why this kolaveri di

2011-11-30T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the things Indian celebrities have been saying about the why thiskolaveri di song. No wonder the song has more than 10 million hits and still going strong. Interesting a female version of the why this kolaveri song has been released.

Indian celebrities too have commented and have liked the “why this kolaveri di” song. Here are some of the things Indian celebrities have said about the track;

Mandira Bedi: Sing song soup song, flop song, top song.

Abhishek Bachchan: And the woman behind the success of Kolaveri and a dear friend Aishwarya. Take a bow and a round of applause.

Suresh Raina : Kolaveri, please listen to this Song. South has always something different…Yehhh.

Shahid Kapoor : Kolaveri WHAT a track man triPping on it!

AR Rahman : If you do something different then people notice it. People can never ignore talent.

Sonakshi Sinha: I was wondering what Kolaveri was, so googled it. It’s my lovely Aishwarya di’s song from 3! LOVE IT! Ok mama, tune change-a.

Salman Rushdie : India obsessed by a slapped politician & the most ridiculously catchy song since Macarena, Kolaveri.

Madhavan: Dhanush has so totally rocked the nation with “Kolavari”- It has become my favorite video on YouTube. Marvelously shot and edited. Proud of U guys. Respect.

Karan Johar: Kolaveri di…definitely the sleeper song blockbuster of the year! Rock on dhanush!!!

Shruti Haasan : Kolaveri has ruined my party life.

Shreya Ghosal: Finally heard! Aiyyo! I lou! Hittu!! Soopera! This Kolaveri is super nice. Shakes head n sings along.

Trisha : I am totally addicted to ‘Why this Kolaveri di?’ and super happy that it’s the talk of the nation..Yay Tamil cinema is going places.

Divya Spandana: On the loop, why this kolaveri di song! What a number.

Amitabh Bachchan: Just heard Kolaveri after much talk on it. It is so original and catchy. Congrats Dhanush and Aishwarya.

Kushbu: Kolaveri has taken Indian music by storm. It has become the greatest single number ever.

Anand Mahindra (CEO) : And going viral in India is now KolaViral. So now it’s a synonym for cool! So it’s Kolaveri cool?

Simbhu: I am very angry with my fans who are fuming about this. So, please stop it and I am there to take care of it. Nan pathukuren. Relax.

Sameera Reddy: so proud that Tanglish is a rage! Thumbs up to Kolaveri. The South has such awesome talent. Its high time all of India wakes up to it.

Prasanna: You just nailed it Dhanush:) Kolaveri jus rocks.

Jiiva: Heard the kolaveri song damn Kwel God bless.

Mahesh Bupathi : Super Mama Ready.

Udhaynidhi Stalin: Why this Kolaveri song is awesome! Congrats Dhanush and Aishu.

AR Rahman

2011-11-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

After facing a lot of flops for his unimpressive work in 2010, which includes Jhootha Hi Sahi, Raavan, Robot and the Commonwealth Theme song, AR Rahman, the Academy Award winner, has decided to take a sabbatical from film music scoring in 2011.

Sources say that he wants to go into an introspective mode, and this period of rejuvenation will bring in a fresh wave of creativity for the talented composer. However, this news has definitely made many directors who have worked with Rahman, like Mani Rathnam, Ashutosh Gowariker and Rakyesh Om Prakash Mehra hit the panic button.

Gowariker who had been waiting for long for the musician to respond, finally asked a new music composer, Sohail Sen to compose for ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’. Mani Rathnam too has to decide for a new music composer for his next. Rakyesh meanwhile, is shooting his new film ‘Run Milkha Run’ without songs as for now. It is believed that he will shoot the film first and then add songs and music only after Rahman returns.

The staunch Rahman loyalist, Rakyesh says, “To me it is inconceivable to make films without songs and music. And to have music without Rahman is a bit of a contradiction for me. Unfortunately, Rahman is not doing any music scores this year.” However, the director says that he has never shot sync-songs, and it will be the same for him in future As Rakyesh’s film always have songs in the background rather than the characters singing them, it should not be such a big problem for him.

FDI in retail sector

2011-11-28T01:36:00.000-08:00

We should allow FDI in retail sector. Mainly because we would get more investments and our foreign exchange reserve will go up. Then, our unorganized retail sector will be very organized. It will be a good opportunity for farmers of Bihar and across India and small industrial producers. I do believe our trading history and market is well evolved and matured to take up any challenge in the sector. Textile industries will have a domestic market through retail giants like Carrefour and Wal-Mart. There would be price regulations of fish, meat etc through super stores all over the country. They have infrastructure to preserve the food materials in villages, thus more than a million will get jobs in villages. Opposing it, is just political, to protect a small interest, not the larger consumer interest of the country and its economic growth.

We not thinking of 1.25 Billion Customer rather than 40 millions retailers such customers has to pay 60 or 70 Rs for 1kg of sugar after passing 10 intermediate on the other hand farmers get 5 or 10 Rs. Bringing FDI on retails boost our economy, employment opportunities, customers can choose variety in products, avoiding intermediate personals and preserve goods in a better way rather than wasting. Asia Europe and gulf countries heartily welcomed FDI on retailor business. We could sell our products abroad then why not others in reverse. Those opposings should have other intrests. CPM oppossed computer saying they would lose jobs now millions lives on using computers. Bringing FDI retailers would increase competitiveness and further reduce prices.(Eg. Telecom, Car manufacturing.

Why This Kolaveri Di

2011-11-22T05:13:00.000-08:00

“Why This Kolaveri Di” is a Tamil song but has become extremely popular within a few days of its release. The song has been composed by Anirudh, Dhanush, Shruti Hassan, Aishwarya with Sound Engineer Siva kumar. The song has been made for the Tamil movie called “Three” or 3.

The song has funny lyrics, with lots of Tamil and English mixed and sung in very amazing style that the song has become an instant hit on YouTube. The word Kolaveri means rage. If you have not heard this song then this is the time to spare a few minutes of your time to listen to this amazing song called Why This Kolaveri Di. Why this kolaveri di has been written and sung by Dhanush.

The song is from Dhanush and Shruti Haasan's coming movie called 3 has almost become a craze, not just in Tamil Nadu but throughout India.

The lyrics of Why this Kolaveri Di is as follows;

Yo boys I am singing song, soup song, flop song.

Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.

Rhythm Correct

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di

Maintain This

Why this Kolaveri..Di

Distance la moon-u moon-u,

Moon-u color-u white-u white background,

Night-u Nigth-u Night-u color-u black-u.

Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,

Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.

White skin-u girl-u girl-u,

girl-u heart-u black-u.

Eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u, my future dark.

Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di,

Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.

Maama notes eduthuko, apdiye kaila snacks eduthuko

Pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan,

Sariya vaasi, super maama ready

ready 1 2 3 4.

Whaa wat a change over maama,

Ok maama now tune change-u,

kaila glass only English…

Hand la glass, glass la scotch,

Eyes-u full-aa tear-u, empty life-u,

Girl-u come-u, life reverse gear-u,

Lovvu Lovvu, oh my lovvu.

You showed me bouv-u,

Cow-u cow-u holi cow-u,

I want u hear now-u,

God I m dying now-u,

She is happy how-u,

this song for soup boys-u, we don’t have choice-u.

Why This Kolaveri Kolaveri Kolaveri Di.

Flop song.

Shivaji Maharaj - The Slaying of Afzal Khan

2011-11-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

Shivaji Maharaj was a great Indian hero. He was the one who fought against the evil Mughal empire. Shivaji Maharaj had nearly finished the mighty Mughal empire but the people had to face the new enemy, the East India Company who came to India as traders. Who would have known that the East India Company would take over the whole of India. Nonetheless watch this amazing video of Shivaji Maharaja and the slaying of Afzal Khan. Afzal Khan came to Maharashtra to destroy villages and enslave the people but thanks to Shivaji Maharaj, he was defeated.

Exposing police and official corruption

2011-10-25T04:54:00.000-07:00

Arun Shourie and the Indian Express, with 10 geographically dispersed editions and the country's largest circulation, held up a mirror to Indian society and reflected some ugly images. Young men and women were being killed by the police in false arrests. In Bihar state unconvicted prisoners were deliberately blinded, not because this was their due under the law but because police thought this was what they deserved. In several states pretrial detainees outnumbered convicts four to one; some had been held in filthy jails awaiting trial for more than 10 years, damaged in mind and body by mistreatment, their case documents mislaid. India's political hierarchy was shaken in 1981, when in the Indian Express, Shourie revealed how the Chief Minister of Maharashtra State within a few months collected more than US$5 million by creating artificial shortages of cement, industrial alcohol and other prime commodities, which he then allocated. His justification was that these funds were for a charitable foundation. To Congress Party parliamentary leaders who charged "frame up," Shourie responded by publishing more details, until eventually the Chief Minister resigned. Loyal readers in India insist that more than a journalist, Shourie is an ombudsman who is affirming the right and duty of every citizen to initiate and secure redress.

Jagjit Singh is no more

2011-10-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

With the passing away of the 'Ghazal King' Jagjit Singh, the music world of India has lost its very heart and soul. The gifted singer, composer and music director, much famous for singing memorable ghazals and Hindi songs, including, Awarapan Banjarapan; Hoto se choo lo tum, mera geet amar kar do; Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho; Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai; and Hoshwalo ko khabar breathed his last at the age of 70 at a Mumbai hospital. He succumbed to brain haemorrhage.

Jagjit Singh lent his silky voice to many well-known Hindi films like Prem Geet, Arth, and Sarfarosh. Maybe, he was the only ghazal singer who successfully straddled both the ghazal and Hindisongs world. Unlike most of the other ghazal singers: like Anoop Jalota and Mehdi Hassan -- the maestro enriched the Bollywood songs with his lovely and soul-stirring voice. In terms of commercial success, he had no rivals amongst other ghazal singers who were his contemporaries.

He also successfully paired with his wife Chitra and they turned out to be the first and only husband-wife duo of singers from the Indian music world. Jagjit Singh sang in many languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati and Nepali. It would be really tough, if not impossible, to fill in the void left by the passing away of this highly talented personality who made even the common Hindi songs lovers fall in love with ghazals and so-called serious and meaningful songs.

Names of account holders in LGT Bank

2011-10-04T06:05:00.001-07:00

Are we all really stupid in this country? This is not the dark era of Indira Gandhi with an inwards-looking paranoid India. Merely because an Indian resident has money invested/saved abroad does not make it illegal. Also, all kinds of money/assets that are not declared for tax purposes are not equally BLACK!

For example, the Reserve Bank of India allows every Indian resident to remit up to $200,000/- per year overseas for investment or other purposes. So millions of dollars can be remitted in a few years, particularly since each member of a family can remit the money. This money can earn interest or other returns, which are of course taxable in India. Also, if an Indian resident had foreign source income, he is not obliged to bring it to India (he does have to pay income tax on it though). Companies can remit from India to another country and earn large sums of money overseas and do not have to remit it to India (e.g. The Tata group sent a lot of money from India to buy Corus, and it doesn't have to remit Corus's profits to India nor are they taxable in India. Merely because the Tata group keeps money in Corus overseas is not illegal in India by any stretch of imagination and it would impinge on Tata's rights to manage its assets as it saw fit, if the Indian government insisted otherwise. How would you feel if the government told you that you couldnt own say two flats or you couldn't earn more than X lacs a year, etc.)

So, prima-facie, there is nothing illegal in an Indian resident having assets abroad, unless the assets have been generated by crime or corruption. Otherwise, at worst some taxes can be due. If on the other hand, the assets were procured from crime or corruption, the matter is much more serious and is not about taxation.

The so-called black money can be of different kinds..

1) Most serious: Money connected with terrorist or lethal criminal activities

2) Very serious: Money from other criminal activities such as drugs, prostitution, etc.

3) Serious: Money of corrupt government official/politicians/etc.

4) Less serious: Assets procured legally but income out of the assets not declared intentionally for tax purposes.

5) Barely serious: Same as above except income not declared due to oversight

6) Not at all serious: Same as above but the tax law is not clear about the taxability of the asset or income in India; i.e. it is in a gray zone. Such matters should be examined but the benefit of doubt must always be with the tax payer.

I hope by making the above distinctions we can behave with some degree of maturity and not run around like headless chicken and acting morally-superior about "black money". In the real world black is not black and neither is white, white. Its all shades of gray adn distinguishing between them is the difference between success and failure, between promoting economic growth vs killing it off by scaring entrepreneurs/managers/officials from taking any decision, any risk, etc.

Manmohan Singh is boring

2011-09-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is meaningless blabber by a person maybe endowed with intelligence, but has lost his balance succumbing to the intensively adversarial environment he is facing. What has he conveyed? He sees no differences between the two ministers, some forces are trying to destabilize, this government will complete its term (where ever was the though germinated excepting his own cerebrum), bla bla bla....This disease has caught on to everyone else of the Congress party leaders notwithstanding their paidayishi endowments. Does any Indian with even a minimum intelligence believe that this pack of bamboozled and lost souls can be of any use to the society let alone leading the country? Will they not do more damage and cause acceleration of decline? This lot has become so deluded that they foolishly believe they can still take people for a ride. Forget the brain, the entire nervous system seems to have gone numb. Anybody- even the BJP- looks better for at least they will have a skin with some sensation. The increase in level of overall awareness of public, which is manifest now, can hopefully have some impact in getting at least minimum response from them, instead of continue to bang your head against the Congress wall. Instead of continuing to agonize people with bloomers and incessant blabbering why can’t these people save the country by just quitting? Of course it is wishful thinking recognizing the admitted numbness of the Congress nerves. Looks like people will have no choice but to take to the streets, get rid of this lot first and then work out how we can go about with whatever alternative emerges. Even if little, there is at least some hope in that route.

Audley Travel Reviews

2011-09-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Let me get this straight, I have not travelled with Audley Travel so this review is more of an opinion. Please feel free to leave your reviews of them.

I wanted to organise a trip for my friend who never had visited India before. So I looked on the internet and came up with Audley Travel. As I looked, I realised that Audley Travel is nothing more than a middleman who organise tours from the UK to other parts of the world. I had a look at their site and was amazed at the high prices of their tours. You really need to be a mug to buy their tours. I have been to many parts of the world and have done the organising myself.

As I read their itinerary, I understand that their role is to organise your tour and nothing more. Their role is to receive you at the airport, transfer you to your hotel, arrange local travel and provide local knowledge of the site you are visiting. You can do this yourself. Is there any need to use someone to do this for you and pay exorbitant prices? For example, a trip of North India would cost you slightly more than 1700 pounds. This would include Delhi with the usual sightseeing such as Lodi Gardens and Jama Masjid Mosque. You are then taken to the holy city of Varanasi also called Benaras and visit the usual temples and take a boat ride on the river Ganges. You will then be taken to other places such as temples of Khajuraho, Orchha, Gwalior, Agra (to see the Taj Mahal) and then back to Delhi and taken to the airport to fly back. The whole trip is expensive in my opinion. If you were to book the tickets yourself, then you will save at least 700 pounds which can be used for shopping. India is a cheap country and you will be amazed if you cut out the middleman. Well most countries are cheaper than the UK.

In my opinion travel should be an experience and not driven and taken round like mummy used to. My advice is shop around. You will be amazed what you can do with a little shopping around. So I directed my friend to buy their own ticket from a respectable tickets agency such as Southall Travels and then book the hotels online. You really don’t need pre-booked persons to take you to your hotel or airport, which is why there are taxis.

Swami Agnivesh video

2011-09-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Swamiji is making a lot of noise - hurt pride and what not. He can re-establish his credentials - rather than saying things which are irrlevant, The issue is whether he did speak to Kapil or not. All he has to do is to release his telephone details. These records will pinpoint every detail. This should have been the first step for him to take if he was so concerned with his reputation. Otherwise he is what he is being called a mole and a saboteur to the cause for which he seemed to be so concerned. He would thus be the company he keeps. Indeed one reporter had asked him to release his records and he ducked the question. Watch the Swami Agnivesh Video.

Bhojpuri Songs on Facebook

2011-09-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri songs are getting popular by the day. More and more people are now able to get the jest of Bhojpuri music. More people than ever before are able to tune in Bhojpuri music from various channels such as Bhojpuri music websites, Bhojpuri music facebook pages. It is interesting to note than people from not Bhojpuri heartland of Bihar and Nepal but across the Indian subcontinent and the globe are able to connect as their own language. Hindi speakers are too getting the fact that Bhojpuri is not a separate language but a dialect of Hindi and therefore almost Hindi. A new Facebook Bhojpuri page has been set to promote the Bhojpuri specially Bhojpuri songs amongst those who enjoy listening Bhojpuri songs. I therefore request those who love Bhojpuri music to come and join and share their best findings on Bhojpuri. http://www.facebook.com/bhojpurisongs

Mr Hazare and corruption

2011-09-02T21:54:00.001-07:00

Mr Hazare has been very soft with his words for the people who arrest him and put him in TIHAR JAIL just for protesting against Corruption, for people who lathi charge 50000 innocent people in the middle of the night gathered from all over India to protest against rampant corruption, the people who blatantly misuse all government departments to victimse people like Hazare who has spent all his life sleeping in a temple and fighting for one cause after the other for national upliftment, people like Ramdev, who as sure as the sun rises from the east, is everyday there to teach yoga and healthy lifestyle to the people of the world 365 days a year and has dedicated his whole life to prevent the Indian culture of yoga and ayurveda getting irreversibly washed away by the immoral and unethical "modern consumerism", which has created 10 times more poor than rich and they call it "GROWTH"? My foot with such "GROWTH"! The list can run into pages after pages and still not end! But for people like Hazare, Ramdev, Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and the civil society, there won't be even a glimmer of hope for this country and people like Antonia, Raul, Vadra, Hassan Ali, Kalmadi, A Raja, Dikshit would be 100 times more powerful and trample the whole country without any check! A BIG SALUTE to Mr Hazare and all like minded people for their sacrifice to this nation for which the history of this country will always be indebted!

Chidambaram is a mischief maker

2011-09-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yes all of us should be ready for the next round of protests. I don’t think our political community is going to pass the Jan Lokpal bill that easily. Repeated shocks of very great magnitude is necessary and we should be ready to deliver it. Look at the way the team Anna is being targeted individually. They are wrongfully using the country’s Govt. machinery to harass them. I think they might be even threatened before the standing committee meetings. Team Anna is fighting for a corruption free nation which will benefit each and every individual of this country. They are not fighting for any personal gain. They are fighting for the common man of this country. So is it not right that we should also come together and support them when they are harassed like this. All of us know that they are being targeted, then why are we keeping quite. Kiran Bedi rightly said in a recent interview that whoever speaks out is targeted individually and is harassed, so no body wants to speak out in fear of it. But there has to be an end to all this, how long can we live a slaves life in our own country. So I hope every one of us would come together and fight for our freedom and fundamental rights.

Bihar Social Network

2011-08-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

YouBihar is a Bihar social networking site. Just like there is facebook and Orkut, you have YouBihar. A site that is specific for Bihar only. YouBihar is the biggest social networking site just for the state of Bihar, India. Here one is able to make an account by using an email account or alternatively using, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter or Google account. This feature makes it easy as one does not need to have separate accounts for YouBihar and the mentioned accounts. Once one has created an account on YouBihar, they can chat live with members, write blogs on forums, make friend, listen to music and Bhojpuri Songs, upload images and videos and connect with other members. It is a creation or shall I say revolution to connect the people of Bihar. The site has now more than 8000 members making it the biggest single site with members talking about Bihar. This Bihar social networking site is one of the fastest growing social networking sites related to India. The image on the left is used for those who have not uploaded an image of themselves.

Anna Hazare and fasting

2011-08-26T23:37:00.001-07:00

Judging by the way the parliament is now composed of and works last few decades, there is no way such strong and important bills will ever be passed. .It works for the MPs, not for the people. That is the state of parliament now. .Therefore, at the most, parliament maybe able to pass a lok pal bill that has no teeth and full of inbuilt delay mechanisms. 42 years and 8 attempts so far is proof of that. Hence, in such situation, Anna Hazare is doing a great service to make parliament work for the people rather than for the MPs. . If some neats and MPs still hold the view that parliament is the only way under any circumstances, they are actually putting a lid over a pressure cooker that will finally erupt into total violence or worse. .The country was going in that direction already, the pressure building up with each scam revealing how malignant the cancer corruption was in the country and there is no system to control its spread and appetite. .In a way we have thank this old man for saving the country from such a catastrophe, while the MPs and neats were still behaving like delusional monkeys with blinkered glasses.

Society is always undermined

2011-08-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today is 8th Day of Anna's fast at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi (India). While the UPA Government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh is waiting to see that how and when this people's movement can be weakened, because political leaders from India were never concerned with the aspiration of the people. This is not the new thing. Right from the days of 1945, we have been seeing the attitude of the Political Leaders, the way they ignore the aspirations of the Society and that is why, on 15^th August, 1947, the universally acclaimed Civil Society Leader: Mahatma Gandhi (who was neither a oridinary member of Congress Party nor elected to Legislative Council) sat silently in a Dark Room, in Kolkata, far away from Delhi where Independence was being celebrated.

Tamil songs free download

2011-08-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

This is a great Tamil Hindi song made by one and only A R Rahman. We all know that he can make great Tamil Songs. He does have that great talent in making such great music. You really have to listen to his great music to understand the music. This song has both Tamil and Hindi words and it is a rare treat as it makes one wonder how great the 2 languages are. Unfortunatly both languages seems to be loggerheads with each other for supramacy. But at the end of the day, the song wins making the 2 languages great.

Break stalemate on Lok Pal Bill

2011-08-15T15:28:00.001-07:00

By B R Lall

A fierce controversy is raging in the country regarding the creation of Lok Pal as an effective agency to check corruption and black money that have been ruling the roost ever since the drawn of independence. Gandhiji in 1947, A.D. Gorwala committee in 1951, Santhanam committee in 1963 and also D Sanjiviya, the Congress President in 1963, all presented frightening accounts of corruption and black money, the country was steeped in. However all these warning signals were ignored.

There have been scams agalore regularly, but unfortunately the problem received no attention. There is no doubt that corruption exists in all the societies, as basically it is nothing but expression of greed about which Gandhiji said’...the world is not enough for one man`s greed........” So unless checked by the strong arm of law it will always be there to menacing extent. Countries under colonial rule always suffer from corruption very badly, but take strong steps on attaining independence as happened in USA in 1789 and Singapore in 1959, the very years in which they won their respective independence. In all the well meaning countries around the globe it is only the strong arm of law accompanied with strong enforcement that has made difference to corruption and its progeny the black money, but we have scrupulously been avoiding such action. The enforcement and anti-corruption agencies have remained under the tight control of the same government that they were supposed to investigate. Obviously the slaves (investigators) never investigated the masters. Corruption and black money have been treated as perquisites by the elite and the governing classes, so that no laws/procedures that could check them were ever enacted/ enforced. Lok Pal bill is one such glaring instance. On the recommendation of Santhanam Committee report of 1964 and subsequent to the recommendation of the first administrative Reforms Commission 1966, the Lok Pal Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 1968 but care was taken not to pass it. It lapsed with the Parliament completing its term. Subsequently, it was introduced for 7 times more in every house of Lok Sabha except the last one despite the fast undertaken by the great living Gandhian Shambhu Dutt Sharma. The present effort by the civil society is continuation of that.

The focal issue has been to free the investigating agencies from the control of the executive both administrative and political. The Jan Lokpal is a step towards that direction and has attracted public attention from April when Anna Hazarre undertook fast unto death. The public response was tremendous. The shaken government came down on its knees to break the momentum that it had gathered, but by now it is absolutely clear that the government is not prepared for autonomy for the investigating agency that the Jan Lok Pal bill basically asked for, besides the other issues. By now very marked differences are obvious.

The first issue is to take out the PM from the ambit of the Lokpal. As per the government the PM has to take quick decisions of enormous import, especially in the existing security scenario, that the PM is accountable to law so there is no reason for him to be accountable to anyone else, that the PM can be prosecuted if he is found to be corrupt after he demits the office and Kapil Sibal put a counter question that in which country the ruling PM is prosecuted. It has further been argued that some undesirable elements may make false complaints in order to harass or to blackmail.

All the higher functionaries are subject to the same and work in the similar circumstances. It is not understood, what is the relation between corruption by a PM and the existing security scenario, or his taking quick and important decisions. Does it all give him a licence to be corrupt? The laws of corruption, it must be made very clear, do not permit a corrupt practice even by the PM and under our constitution the PM is not above law. Further, it is a ridiculous proposition that the PM should be prosecuted after he demits office. PM by his central position exercises unfathomed discretion, which at the hands of a corrupt person even for a single day can be catastrophic. How can action against corruption that too a PM wait till his retirement and he be given free hand to loot and bleed the country.If so ,let all others charged of corruption be tried after they retire or demit office.Why should A Raja be made to resign prematurely. Sibbal is absolutely wrong in contending that in no country the serving Prime Minister is prosecuted. The facts are just the opposite as Berlusconi the sitting Prime Minister of Italy is being prosecuted at the moment. Prosecution against Fuji Mori of Peru commenced when he was still the President. In Japan during Lockheed Scandal Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was forced to resign in 1974 immediately after the allegations of corruption appeared in public though he was chargesheeted in 1976, what to say of being proved guilty and all that. Clinton of USA and Shavernadze of Georgia were dealt with while in office. If Kapil Sibbal thinks that way then let the Prime Minister resign whenever there is some prima facie truth in the allegation against him so that he demits office immediately and the investigations and prosecution can pick up.

Argument that PM is accountable to law coming from a distinguished lawyer is unbelievable and disastrous as everybody else is also equally accountable to law. In any case the Lok Pal becomes relevant only if there is corruption angle and in that case the Lok Pal is the visible arm of law. Under the Lokpal or any other investigative agency the PM is only made accountable to law. If a corrupt Prime Minister is allowed to continue, writing on the wall is clear that the PMO will become the seat of Mafia and this country will be worse of than today as corruption is decentralised today whereas with a Prime Minister beyond any accountability it will get centralised as no action will be possible under the shade of the great umbrella.

Another argument that was also supported by Justice J.S. Verma and Justice Venktachaliya, the retired distinguished Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, is the stability factor arguing that in States there is provision for President’s rule under the Constitution but at Centre there is no such provision. As such there will a vacuum in the administration in the intervening period if PM were to be removed. Corruption is a permanent destabilising factor for the society in that it leads to social, economic and political unrest. As compared to that the destabilisation that is likely to occur because of the resignation of a serving PM is nothing. Also the Cabinet is a continuing factor and as per Constituition the responsibility lies on the Cabinet as a whole and not only the PM. The outgoing Prime Minister can be replaced by the senior most member of the Cabinet till such time the regular Prime Minister is elected once again. What happens when nature chooses to remove the serving Prime Minister. After all Nehru, Shastri, Indira Gandhi all died while in office and the No.2 person did take over. If in those crisis situations there was no problem what problem can arise if an undesirable Prime Minister is replaced. That will only save the country from the rot. By exit of such a Prime Minister the country and the society has only to lose its chain of corruption in which it would be tightly held by a corrupt Prime Minister and his team.

The next major issue pertains to judiciary. The case of judiciary is different in that the judiciary in a democracy is the final adjudicator and the interpreter of laws. As such they need not be under the watch of the Lokpal. But at the same time they have to be fully accountable to a different mechanism, the National Judicial Commission that should be constituted immediately and its decisions should be final and non-appealable in any court.

Perhaps the only valid argument advanced by the opponents of the Ja-Lokpal bill is that the Lok Pal has powers of investigation, prosecution, vigilance, administration as also the punishment. At present most of these powers are combined in the governments as they control the enquiry, the registration, the investigation, the prosecution as also the withdrawal. It is these powers that have made and perpetuated the government to be corrupt and uncontrollable. There appears to be merit in the contention of the government that Jan Lok Pal bill will turn the Lok Pal into an autocratic body which will not be in the interest of the country.

Another connected issue is dividing the Public Servants into two categories. Those above the level of Joint Secretary to government will be the subject of the Lok Pal and others will continue under the present arrangement of CBI investigations. It needs be appreciated that all the big cases of corruption involve various ranks simultaneously. Compartmentalisation as proposed will only frustrate the investigations and help the corrupt. We have enough experience of this trck in the single directive that protected the Joint Secretary and the seniors and under that shield all the investigations were evaded.

There is the proposal to split the CBI by taking away the anti-corruption wing of the CBI to Lok Pal and leaving out the economic offences wing. Economic offences wing cannot be separated from the anti-corruption wing as the two are interwoven. Corruption is by the government agencies and bungling by the private sector will be covered by economic offences wing basically. The statistics from GFI suggest that the corruption accounts for only 5% of the off-shore deposits whereas 30% comes from the Drugs and Terrorist crime etc and 65% of the money comes from economic offences only. Though the corruption may contribute just 5%, but is the enabling factor for the remaining 95%. In India also it has been studied by the Transparency International that the truck operating agency pays a bribe of Rs.22, 000 crores to various government departments of which the basic payments are for allowing over loading. The overloading, as per their data, works out to Rs 8-10 lacs crores. Corruption is just the 2.5% and the remaining is in the domain of economic offences, but it accrues as a consequence of corruption. If there was no corruption this generation of black money to the tune of Rs.8 to 10 lacs crores on which tax evasion would be over Rs.2 lacs crores, would not have arisen. The economic offences wing and the anti-corruption wing should move together either to Lok Pal or should remain in the domain of CBI which should not be split and for that some alternate structure be found out. If the economic offences wing is left in the hands of the government, the investigations will not be comprehensive as CBI will not be able to go whole length as at present. Rather there is need to bring the Enforcement Directorate as also the Fraud Squad also under the same umbrella.

The basic premise was to free the agencies from the control of the government, their re-arrangement is secondary. Incidentally I had raised the issue of functional autonomy for CBI as early as 1996 through my article titled “HOW TO MAKE CBI A FREE AGENCY” in Hindustan Times on 1.3.96. I had clearly brought out that the CBI tightly held under the control of the same executive whom it was investigating, cannot deliver goods. That was perhaps the beginning of the fight. This end can be achieved without concentrating powers in the hands of the single institution called the Lok Pal, by strengthening both the institutions the CBI and the Lok Pal as the arrangements exists in other countries. Lok Pal is essentially the Ombudsman of Scandinavian countries in early 20th century and now exists practically everywhere in the world under different names. In USA it is enshrined in the institution of Inspector General but its opinion and recommendation is heard unlike in our country where the effective Lokayukut exists only in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. It is the Karnataka Lokayukt only that enjoys sound legal infrastructure and see how beautifully it encircled the mining Mafia and brought the mighty Chief Minister on his knees. However, nowhere in the world the investigation is with the Ombudsman. It is only the preliminary investigation or the enquiry that the Ombudsman conducts. We can follow similar arrangement in India as detailed below.

CBI should continue as it is but should be brought under a statue and made accountable to an independent body that shall be constituted outside the Govt and should function free from the control of the Government functionally as also financially. I had visualised an independent board for CBI in my article of 1996 as referred to above and reiterated in my book “Who Owns CBI: The Naked Truth”. The essence was that all the members were to be thrown up by the system automatically so that they are not beholden to any onein the government or outside. Secondly, after their term, they were not allowed to take any job or profession so that they don’t have interest to follow. Third they were all people retired from positions of respectability. Even if one of them had any weakness that will be prevented, neutralised or diluted by their collective actions. Lok Pal on the other hand would combine the functions of Vigilance, the grievance redressal and such like other functions and the moment it comes to investigations, it should transfer the case to CBI with its recommendation. It should be binding on CBI to register such a case if recommended by the Lok Pal and investigate. This arrangement will also meet with all the objections that Lokpal will be an unmanageable body, or will have diabolical concentration of powers.

It has been argued from the side of Government as also some other groups in the media that small groups like the Anna team cannot hijack the fight against corruption, as they do not represent the entire society. Further that they were trying to bye-pass the parliament and thereby thwart the democratic process and hence the democracy. The Aam Aadmi now asks whom such groups and the government are befooling. For 43 long years they did not pass even the lame Lok Pal Bill that was proposed in 1968. Have not the citizens waited for over four decades. What were the great champions of democracy doing all these years? When Anna Hazare gave a call in April, was not the response widespread everywhere in the country that had unnerved the government that it was compelled to ask Anna’s team for negotiations. They may or may not be the elected representatives, but they have been thrown up and given respectability by the voice of the people. Even if a few persons say a right thing why not consider and adopt. Does whole of India not want corruption to be tackled? If any proof is required the Government can hold a referendum and let me assure that the voting in favour of tackling corruption effectively will be near 100%. It does not matter if the term Referendum does not occur in the Constitution as has been opined by some experts in the TV debates. Alternatively shall we wait for clouds to build Yemen or Egypt style or are we waiting for the Georgian experience where the people invaded the Parliament house. The President Shavernadze who was addressing the house had to run for his life. It was depicted by someone on the internet that the President nearing 80 was sprinting at his age chased by the crowds. It is the police that saved the life of the President, but he had to tender his resignation there itself to save his life and not to throw the country in violent struggle. Will that only mean the opinion of the people for our government and our shallow thinkers? Let me warn that if necessary steps are not taken, that day will not be far off. Now Anna Hazare wlll be prevented from fast in Delhi from 16th August or people accompanying Baba Ram Dev could be attacked in their sleep but imagine the consequences if 50 lacs people were to converge on Delhi from all the sides as it happened in Georgia, who can stop them lawfully or even by coercion. Let us avoid such catastrophe and establish financial order in place of financial terrorism that the present economic and administrative and political managements have led us into.

......................................................................................................................................................

An IPS officer, the author retired as DG Police and served a term as Joint Director in CBI.

Skeletons in cupboard remark by Indian PM

2011-08-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

India is perhaps the most corrupt country in the world today. Besides, a country can become corrupt only if & when the politicians at the top are corrupt to the core. Otherwise this would never have happened. To say that Mr Singh did not know about the 2G deals is totally incredible and irresponsible, as a PM in any democracy has full responsibility for the actions of the entire Cabinet, which he leads. Especially when ex-minister Raja has clearly stated in the massmedia that Mr Singh actually knew about it. If it is really true, Mr Singh has no moral, constitutional or democratic right to continue as PM. The people at the top today are Mrs Sonia Gandhi & Mr Singh, who is only the former's nominee. (This has never happened in any democracy other than India. Is India any real democracy? What a shame & tragedy!) So, naturally, both of them ought to resign, if they have even an iota of respect for democracy or its basic values. After all, the tail can never move without the knowledge & consent of the head; can it?

India loses cricket match

2011-08-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

The simple logic why India is losing because England is a better team than India in England in those conditions as of now. The only thing India could have done is batsman could have applied themselves and played better. If they bat patiently and have a look in and then play shots, India could have done better. Indian batters definitely have the potential but they didn't apply themselves better. They batted as if they are batting on flat wickets against some mediocre bowling. England also would have lost if they are playing a test series in India. Its not that England is a better team overall. Its the conditions also matter. To be like Aussie team which can win anywhere we need to find champions like Gilchrist, Warne, Ponting and McGrath who can perform in any conditions.

Hang Kasab Game

2011-07-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab or simply Kasab is the Pakistani terrorist who was involved in killing in the Mumbai 2008 attacks. He is a Pakistani citizen currently in a Mumbai high prison cell. Unfortunately he was supposed to be hanged but the Congress Party of India has decided that he will not be hanged as he represents Muslim vote bank. He has been given the death penalty but for some strange reason the Congress Party of India is still keeping him locked in Mumbai.
There is a petition to have him hanged. Here is an interesting Hang Kasab Game.

Is Bihar a failed state?

2011-07-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

Bihar was a best governed yet poorest state in India despite its mineral wealth. Back in late 1950s, Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon managed to take most handouts from centre and put Punjab on road to prosperity. Where were our Sri Krishn Babu ? Stealing and scam started in late 1950s in Bihar under the nose of Sri Babu. Ask any elder. The right hand man of Sri Babu, and Tranport Minister, Mahesh Prasad Singh, made lots of money when state government bought Bus for state transport Corporation. That was then. From that money, a flat in Marine Drive, Bombay was bought in the name of his daughter, Neelam. Stealing and scam in Bihar has been going on for ages. Then, the ammount were small, in recent times, it became astronomical sums. Then, people did not make footpath, pavements their homes, now it is visible everywhere in Bihar. Look at middle aged and elderly poors, thin and emaciated, pulling rickshaw and overloaded thela. Watch malnourished, stunted, anaemic children on the road selling something instead of being in school.

How british distroyed our ancient culture

2011-07-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

This interesting article on British invasion of India and how they destroyed Indian culture has been taken from with permission from YouBihar.com

India was looted by Muslim invaders from 1000 AD onwards. Most famous were Mohammed Gori of Ghazni and Nadir Shah. Ghazni came 17 or 18 times, looted , took male and female Hindu slaves back with him. Nadir Shah of Persia came in 1737, defeated Moghal army, massacered entire population of Delhi,loaded over thousand camels with treasures, including famous, solid gold "Peacock throne and went back to Persia. It was this Peacock Throne which Shah of Iran sat and proclaimed himself emperor in mid 1970s while the Vice-President of India looked on !!

Take a tour of Moghal monuments in Delhi, Agra, Sikandara and Fateh Pur Sikri. Guides will tell you that it were the Jats of Haryana who not only looted the treasures but vandalised all these places. They vandalised Akber's tomb in Sikandara. They opened the chamber containing Akber's body, cut it into pieces and cremated. This, only a few years after his death. Hindu end of a secular ruler ! By the time British entered these places, it was 1857. 70% of the treasures were gone by then. Bahadur Shah Jafar excaveted semi-precious stones laid in Red Fort to sell and pay the mutineers.

Where did the British fitted in the looting of India ? First get a copy of an excellent book "India Unbound" by Gurucharan Das. This economist has shown by facts and figures that it was Britain's industrial revolution that made india bleed anaemic and made poor. It was like today's call centres. Cheap labour has moved jobs from Europe to India. Factory produced goods were cheap, better in quality and finish. Indian hand made goods could not compete. Look at Chinese goods. They are cheap, has excellent finish and they are abundant. It was and it is pure market forces.

Hasi hasi panva khiole panwa

2011-07-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Hasi hasi panva khiole panwa. This is a great song by Manna Dey and Mahendra Kapoor. This is what supposed to be Bhojpuri unlike some of the double meaning songs that we get from the singers today. This Bhojpuri song takes you all the way back to the soil of Bihar. Pure nostalgia. Unfortunately we dont get these type of Bhojpuri music nowadays. This song is a pure Bhojpuri jem.

Corruption India

2011-07-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine Chandragupta (Maurya Empire) without Chanakya, or Akbar without Hajrat Salim, inspiration of saint on building Vijaya nagar empire , Shiva ji without Samarth Guru Ramdas or effort of Guru Govind Singh. Good or bad peoples are everywhere.

Now problem is common man are facing problem & any Indian citizen either he is baba or bagger or intellectual, if he is trying to tell this simple thing congress is categorizing them communal. In last 7 years all the basic things become untouchable for middle & poor class.

Roti (First basic thing): all the food prices has gone double to triple but farmer position is still same. Common man is struggling to get one time proper food & farmers are doing suicide so all the money is going only to some reach / corrupt people.. Who is responsible for this.. is it not person like Sharat Pawar?

Textile: Textile mills are facing tough competition from China, Bangladesh were is government policies & if it is where it is implemented. No focus on Production industries which gives job to illetrate to the highly educated.

Again service industry is doing well not due to this government policies, it is young generation which wants better life & their hard work is moving this industry. Just ask any software engineer after paying so many taxes if he loose job its difficult for him to survive even month. Government wants taxes but where is government accountability?

Home: In last 7 years builders has increased house price 500 to 700 %, do our per capita increased in that speed?? Where is government policies to tackle this.. Reason is lots of builder itself Politician

Rent prices is increasing, reason is government do not have any policy for floating populations in big cities. Earlier big company were use to give accommodation to their employee & it was helping control rent. But now in big city person working in, lower job can’t survive can’t get a decent house easily.

Industry Policy: Company takes farming lands on subsidized rate establish industry with assurance that they will provide jobs to the locals. But once price of lands increase either they sell it to builders or build houses themselves & switch to other places.

How a company can sell a land after time in which is snatched from farmers (Much less price) with assurance to give them job. If in case Industry is not viable on that land due to market forces, the land should go to the other Industry who can use the same land to give jobs to the locals. But what happening like Raymond (Thane), NTC, Godrej, snatch lands from poor & after some time sell these lands to real estate & earn profit.

Is it not simply cheating to the farmers with false assurance promoted by government? Industrial land should transfer to another industry but where is government?

Now people are asking question, they want clear government policies & it should be taken consider seriously without mixing it with cast, religion or anything else.

Ban Halal Meat

2011-06-29T01:59:00.001-07:00

Holland MPs have voted to ban Halal and Kosher meat. A bill will be introduced to ban Halal and Kosher meat. Animal right activists say that animals do not need to suffer pain. While Muslim and Jewish groups are complaining that their religious rights are being curbed. Which is important “religious rights” or “animal rights”.

Nadiya Ke Paar

2011-06-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

Nadiya Ke Paar is a Bhojpuri movie made in Bollywood. It is a Bhojpuri classic starring Sachin and Sadhana Singh. The story is that; Chandan (Sachin in the movie) who lives in the village with his older brother and uncle. You really have to watch this classic Bhojpuri movie to understand that greatness of the language and the movie.

The cast of Naiya ke Paar includes; Sachin, Sadhana Singh, Mitali, Inder Thakur, Shila David, Leela Mishra, Ranjan Sachdev, Beena Shyam, Abha Sharma, Ram Mohan, Vishnu Kumar Vyas. The movie was produced by Tarachand Barjatya and directed by Govind Moonis. The Bhojpuri songs in this movie are out of this world. There is no doubt that you will like them.

Rahul Gandhi for PM

2011-06-26T01:12:00.001-07:00

Instead of relying on Rahul Gandhi to be a candidate for PM's post without giving a proper justification as to why should Indians just blindly go about selecting this fellow as our PM, have you as a responsible news paper, even tried to ask this fellow from Nehru family

(i) How he is going to tackle the menace of terrorism from Pakistan,

(ii) India's nuclear policy vis a vis rogue states like Pakistan,

(iii) The menace of corruption, black money etc.

(iv) His views on lokpal bill and in what form he thinks it should be implemented etc and publish this in newspaper so that Indians judge for themselves what sort of a guy is this.

(v) Views on economic policies

This you should do for all the other candidates also like Narendra Modi of BJP- as it happens in western countries. They highlight all the strengths and weaknesses and the opinions of each and every prospective candidate and not just one guy with the sole logic that he belongs to the Nehru family. And if you we so bothered about that India's PM must be from Nehru dynasty, then what about Varun Gandhi- is he not from Nehru family- he also has Nehru's and Indira Gandhi's blood running in him. Why only this fellow Rahul Gandhi.

Bhojpuri Angiya

2011-06-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

If you love Bhojpuri songs and music typically from Bihar, then you are bound to like Bhojpuri Angiya sung by Munni Devi. Although I have not heard of her but then I decided to check her out. And I was in a surprise, the songs where very good indeed. They are very rare to obtain but I promiss that you will not be disappointed.The music is was released by 1988 Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.

The album includes;

1. Bahiyaan Pakad

2. Nadiya Pe Machal Rahi

3. Chalave Deejal Gadi

4. Man Laga Dewar Se

5. Thaare-Thaare Ansuaa

6. Thaade Rahoon Ki Chali Jaaun

7. Sangit

8. More Saiyan Gaadiwan

9. Len Pariksa Anusuiya Ke

10. Jhul Rahe Teeno Dev Van Ke

11. Mero Lalna Khilona Na Le

12. Ladaye Leev Ankhiyaan Ho Lounde Raja

13. Sangit

Are Bhojpuri Songs dirty?

2011-06-19T01:30:00.000-07:00

Some people today differ on status of Bhojpuri songs today. They say that most of them are filled with double meaning words and cheap lyrics. We cannot listen to those stuffs with our parents. We have immense talent and Bhojpuri singers like Padamshree Sharda Sinha have contributed greatly in this field. Would you say that most of the songs are unbearable? However in recent years there have been some dramatic changes. Due to the advent of new singers like Kalpana, it has changed the way we think of Bhojpuri music. She has sung tremendous Bhojpuri songs including Patriotic songs and nirguns. It is a great pleasure to listen to these songs compared to the ones we are used to coming out of trucks and tractors in the dusty roads of Bihar.

So it would be entirely wrong to generalize that most Bhojpuri songs have double meaning. It will take some time to rid the notion that Bhojpuri songs and music cannot be listened to with parents. Give the Bhojpuri music industry some time.

Bhojpuri Language

2011-06-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Some people are saying that Bhojpuri language should be given independent status as a language. Bhojpuri is not considered as a separate language but a dialect of Hindi. Although there is not much of a movement but some staunch speakers of the language are of the view that it’s better if the language was given independent status. Bhojpuri is one of the languages spoken in Bihar and its neighbour Uttar Pradesh (UP) in addition to a native language of Nepal.

In recent years Bhojpuri became very popular due to some Bhojpuri style songs specially item songs pictured on Shilpa Shetty “Mai aai hu UP Bihar lootne”. From there, there was no stopping Bhojpuri songs, it went high in the charts and every film maker would want to include some sort of Bhojpuri songs or music in the move to attract at most of Bihar, UP, Nepal and also Hindi speakers. As most Hindi speakers understand Bhojpuri and love to hear it, it does seem to attract many film goers.

Baba Ramdev Fast

2011-06-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Baba Ramdev is one of the asset country has. He is selling yoga which India should be proud of, that such pristine culture is preserved by him and reaching to every common household. India's fascination towards western culture is leading to the death of rich culture India has. Spiritual leaders like baba and Sri Sri are preserving these culture and we should be proud of that.

We can understand that baba's strategy of leading the movement had weakness but he is fighting for right cause and the movement can be strengthened. He may not be polished and organized in talking but his motives are good.

Regarding his assets, if he has something illegal he should reveal it and take steps to come out clean but even if he have some illegal stuff, I would count him better then these ministers who only thinks about selfish needs, at least he thinks about others and trying to do his best to serve the society.

It is a government who are undermining the turmoil spreading in the country. Not one questioned the cause which is raised by the Baba and who are questioning should be self loathing. What’s wrong on his demands? Why should not one support him just because he wore saffron? It is plea which only dismayed the countrymen. If any Hindu leader or leader from another community sit with them it does not means that his cause is not fare. If government is talking like this then there will be despondency in the country. Baba is still on right way and we cling on to hope to resolve the issue. Government abhors the Baba and his supporters why? It is epitomes of arrogance which government has. It is not a time to swear and time to discourse. Still government has opportunity to damage control.

Baba Ramdev in Hospital

2011-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

It’s so sad that that people who faught for us , gave us independence , gave us this chance to speak in this manner. "anti-colonialism-his heroes from the canon of the freedom movement are militant nationalists such as Ram Prasad 'Bismil' and Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as hardliners such as Sardar Patel-not a usual fare of Gandhi-Nehru dominated freedom struggle" Militant nationalists & hardliner , great words from so called well educated Indian is something we should feel proud ? Sad affair. "saffron-clad warrior" Baba Ramdev how different are you from PC or any other person who denotes a person from the color of outfit it wears ?

Why people are so worried about his wealth , a person who never ran away from invetigations , aperson who by himself gave his asset details which many of the Indians don't do it.Whatever he has earned , he worked for it , we work and get money , we get monthly , he get it daily . One more thing whats problems does media have with RSS? a real story, I was never a supporter of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ) , when in school , one of my very good friend used to go in sakhas of RSS people , we used to play near to the sakha , once I abruptly went their and stood with them.I was amazed to see what they used to do daily , first they taught us what slokas/mantras to read on different instances in a day (while you get up , when you take bath , when you eat , when you sleep), we played games , they taught us about national integrity & patriotism , the time I was about to leave , Sakha parmukh , the leader , asked me son what are you doing to do as soon as you go and wash your hands , I replied , will watch TV & some cartoon probably , he said just do one more thing in between , after you get fresh , touch your parents feet & say them - I am thankful I have parents like you . He said - You should love your parents immensely & show your gratitude towards them all the time. It’s because of them you are standing before me & thinking about watching TV. I smiled and did the same, I was happy and felt proud. Now over the coming years I saw many sakhas, everywhere this is what they taught to the kids & elders. I was among the volunteers when villages of Jabalpur were hit by earthquake in relief camps, it was a RSS relief camp. Blindly don't accept what congress says about RSS.

Baba Ramdev a noble man

2011-06-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

What Baba Ramdev is standing for is a noble cause. When there were floods in Bihar 2 years ago, Swami Ramdev came and stayed in a small village named Jankinagar of Purnea district to run the relief work and help local people. Along with him there was a team of doctors and they distributed free medicines and food.

Swami Ramdev's organization also donated Rs. 1 or 2 crore for relief work. All this happened away from media galore and limelight. No other politician came to see us or to take care of dying people and animals. It is unfortunate to see that still the politicians and people are trying to find fault with him. This is the most important moment in India after independence. Come out and support him.

I have attended his camp in Haridwar some 10 years ago and still find it the best thing I have ever done. There were people who were donating their lives to swami Ramdev in the camp and were refusing to leave. Poor ladies were giving away their last piece of jewelry. Swami Ramdev has to request them again and again to go back and spread the yog and message of national pride and integrity. Everyone was crying when the camp ended. India did not value Rajnish and now is the time when we should know what a gem Swami Ramdev is otherwise we will lose another change to be truly independent. I am originally from that area of Bihar and know what was done by whom.

Corruption in India

2011-06-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

We should strongly welcome and support any move to root-out corruption from our system, as a commoner I have suffered because of it every day. I also feel that corruption is the root cause of all of our evils, including healthcare, infrastructure, education, poverty, access to basic amenities (like food, clothes, home and dignity), law and order, and even population. The pressure should be sustained on the government and t should be made to take decisive actions against corruption. People did not give permission to Congress for the gigantic corruption it has created and not ready to acknowledge and rectify. Is not the right of the people to throw the present government out of the parliament?

If RSS is supporting anti-corruption campaign, it is doing a service to India. Actually all the common people are supporting the campaign; does it mean all of them belong to RSS? With such media exposure if this has happened to Ramdev in Delhi, I can imagine what chances the adivasis has to make them hear. Maoists are their only choice.

Baba Ramdev’s reported announcement of June 8 that he planned to raise a force of 11000 men and women to give a befitting reply to the government, should it dare mess up with his movement against corruption as it did on the night intervening June 4-5, is most shocking and highly disturbing. More so, coming as it does from a Yogi who till recently stood committed to Satyagraha, a Gandhian concept that focuses on creating a sense of guilt for wrong doing in the opponent by sticking to the path of suffering, truth and non violence. But he has clarified that it was not what it meant it to be.

The nation is at a critical juncture. Violence is in the air. There is complete lack of restraint on the side of the so-called Satyagrahis as also the government. There is more of hyperbole and less of sincerity in settling down to resolving the problem of corruption than an honest resolve to fight corruption. The issue of police crackdown is now with the Supreme Court of India. Why should the parties involved throw challenges to each other to settle differences in approach through violence and not wait for the Supreme court’s ruling in June 4-5 crackdown?

Where we are heading to?

2011-06-08T04:20:00.000-07:00

It’s really very disheartening and shameful that India is now hostage to the likes of Baba Ramdev whose recent forays into the matters, which best suit those people whose job is to run the government, has left a bad taste and left one wondering where we are heading to. Baba, who is a Yoga Guru and who has thrown his lot behind Anna Hazare on the issue of the implementation of the much publicized anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, has come up with another issue which he seems determined to take to its logical conclusion, come what may. The issue is of black money stashed abroad.

There is no doubt the issue is a genuine one and it concerns all Indians. According to the available data, close to $462 billion are stashed away in the many tax havens abroad. This accounts for 50% of the India’s GDP. But the way in which the controversial Baba has gone about taking the government and the country as his hostage is really something which not many concerned people will be comfortable about. Even more shameful is the government’s reaction to Baba’s threats and tantrums.

Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare

2011-06-08T03:43:00.001-07:00

Every citizen of a country should and has rights to speak up against corruption and fully support anti-corruption campaign. For that the campaign, however, should be non-violent and wise one in order to produce a peaceful and long-term constructive result that is expected by every single citizens. The leading campaigners must first of all have positive attitudes that are altruistic one based on love. As you claim to be patriotic which means you love your own nation. I have a highest regard for Baba Ramdev ji as an instructor of yoga and aryuvedic specialist through which he has given comforts to many and more over has saved the lives of surprising number of patients. I nevertheless don't support his ongoing campaign against corruption. The reason is that I very much hesitate he is wise and strategist in this field. On top of that, the moment I read his demands I detected a violent attitude in him right from the beginning. Read the Delhi Ram Leela police action against Baba Ramdev.

That is to say demanding every corrupt person is given death penalty. I was absolutely appalled by this demand! You don't kill the person who is diagnosed with mental illness or the person who is drug addict but rather strive to root out the disease which, within him, forces him to wrong doing. I wonder what made Swamiji came up with such a terrifying demand? He said that every corrupt politician and ministers should face death penalty like in China. I am bitterly disappointed to hear Swamiji advising the citizens of the biggest democracy country, which has a richest culture, non-violent ideology and the country which has produced a significant number of revered public figures, to follow the example of communist regime.

Anti-Corruption Movement in India

2011-06-08T03:26:00.000-07:00

One thing the Prime minister of India including the finance minister combined could have done was bringing back the black money hidden in foreign banks, especially in Swiss banks. They should really consider what Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare have to say. That is the least they could do. As a first step they could do that for regaining the confidence of the Indian people, who rightly believe that the finance minister is delaying the process only to help the unscrupulous to shift the money from one bank to another to avoid detection. Anything the ministers of India say in public (Kapil and Digvijay) are not appealing to the public and are really counterproductive. The Congress government of India is full of very eminent lawyers as ministers; however when they speak out protecting the corrupt and wrong doers, people start disbelieving them and also the P.M. So the UPA should listen to Anna and remove corruption from the system and provide better governance. Lest they should quit and vanish before it becomes too late. People are fed up with the corrupt system and generation of black money.

Pranayam by Baba Ramdev

2011-06-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Baba Ramdev is everything that you could hope and expect from a guru. Baba Ramdev might also be refered to as Swami Ramdev: an Indian Hindu swami and celebrated yog rishi. Baba Ramdev is like Patanjali muni (guru) of the present times. Baba Ramdev is the icon of yoga of Pranayama and celebrated Yoga teacher and an Ayurveda Guru. The guru has traveled across the world and making people aware of Yoga and Pranayam. Baba Ramdev has deep knowledge of Samkhya doctrine and the holy Bhagavad-Gita. He concentrates on the attaining Samadhi through the use of applying meditation (Pranayam). He has managed to spread Yoga to such an extent that sooner or later, everyone has to embrace it.

Baba Ramdev's current central office is on 500 acre site in Haridwar. Baba Ramdev has created a vast following through his “Yog-Gyan”. The Baba is the existence and the embodiment of music of Pranayama. Baba Ramdev is now accepted as the icon of Pranayama.

The heart of the pranayamas, yoga asanas, and acupressure and home remedies is to cope with problems of high blood pressure. Kalpabhati is a kriyas of purification besides being a pranayama. The Kapalbhati pranayam is the yogistic inhalation to form of yoga pranayam meditations.
Learn how to do Kapalbhati Pranayam

Atrocities of Delhi Police

2011-06-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

The primary question is whether the government was correct in taking such a drastic action at the midnight of 5^th of June 2011, on the children and women who was at the ground. No human being would ever agree to such inhumane treatment were teargas is used; lathicharge is done in the midnight on the sleeping people. Such atrocities are never accepted in any civilized society probably compare the same incident in Tiananmen square in China. It is rather shocking that the finance minister terms the incident as unfortunate whereas his colleague telecom minister views it right. He is the same telecom minister who after taking over from his tainted predecessor had said that the scam amount given by CAG was not correct but later had to chew his own words in the apex court. On one hand you continue to engage people in discussion on the other you use force. What is the difference between the British of 1917 and today's so called government of 2011? The British had also engaged Gandhi in talks for help in the World War 2 but in return Jalianwalla Bagh happened. Hardly there is any difference between the two acts. Any and every citizen of the country must condone this brutal act of atrocity by all means.

Delhi Police Baba Ramdev

2011-06-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

Baba Ramdev was kidnapped by Delhi Police and was molested. It is thought that Delhi police tried to Kill the Baba by fake encounter. Orders came from the high command of the Congress Party. It is said that Congress party cornered by the Baba Ramdev and hence this drastic step to kill the yoga Guru. Here is a man who wants to remove corruption from our society and this is how he is treated by the Congress Party. The Baba ahs done a great service to the nation by making yoga available to the ordinary people. Lets protest against this barbaric act of the Congress party against the Baba and anti-corruption supporters. Read about the Delhi police brutality on the early hours of the morning of 5th of June 2011.

Patna Airport

2011-05-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Patna airport has seen unprecedented growth in air traffic in last three years or so, in terms of growth it stands as no. 1 or no.2. Also in terms of number of passengers it fairs pretty well compared to small city airports such as Varanasi, chandigarh etc.

We need to understand the issue in a better perspective.

1. Why not many flights from Patna?

Patna is already connected to 3 metros with daily flights viz. Delhi,Mumbai and Kolkata.The reason why its not operating more flights is not because there is dearth of fliers and hence not profitable as many learned bloggers have opined, its because the airport is small and can't manage huge traffic. Even AAI is contemplating of expansion of the existing airport or shifting it to some other place. (May be Bihta).

Surprisingly, Bihar has witnessed more no. of tourists (national and international) than Goa during last year. How do we cater to this? Naturally a new, advanced and bigger airport will do a world of good to the tourism industry.

2. Is having airport is anti-poor?

On the contrary, an airport, sea port, railway stations, bus stations etc generate lots of jobs for skilled and un-skilled workers. You visit any such place and you will find hordes of commerce mushrooming around it.Hotels, Restaurants, Tea kiosks, Telephone booths, Taxi and auto wallahs and so on.One can easily understand how poor and middle class people can also benefit from this.

3. Pure Business sense:

More airports, more accessibility to the places and more travellers and hence more business.Rich are ready to pay highly priced tickets, poor are getting direct and lateral employments, government is getting good amount of money in taxes from the fliers and other related businesses. So more money in government's coffers to use for public benefit. So it's a win-win situation for everybody.

Look at Singapore or Bangkok(Thailand), they are small places but have state of the art air ports and sea ports. Thailand's economy thrives on Travel and nothing else. Singapore is a Financial hub of Asia and world, all important MNC banks have their huge offices in Singapore. The reason is simple they have understood the importance of infrastructure development.

4. A huge image builder:

Patna being a capital city definitely deserve a better airport if not state -of-the art airports like Hyderabad, Delhi or Mumbai. Apart from all other reasons mentioned above it surely deserves a better deal in terms of airport. Current airport does not look any better than a Bus terminal.Also its a known fact that this airport is not one of the safest, because of which Boeing 320 size aircrafts can't land here. Its irony that no aircraft travelling to Patna is fully utilized for its space due to safety concerns and not because of dearth of travelers.

Source: YouBihar

Public Distribution System

2011-05-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

In recent years, a new way of thinking has emerged in India. Due to waste and corruption in the distribution of resources to the Indian public it has been suggested that money handouts may be better.
As we know because of poor public distribution system (PDS) in India and Bihar, the real beneficiary of the system hardly gets 10 paisa out of 1 rupee sent from the central governemnt. This is simply because of lack of accountability and any check points. There is no public accountability. Every year around 10 thousand tons of subsidized kerosene that are sent to the poor people does not even reach the people , to whom it supposed to reach simply because there are no proper check points. There are systems in place that are able to divert these items to places beyond the Indian border. It is sold out in Bangladesh, Nepal and other neighboring country in black. Should we try other alternative like Direct cash transfer to poor account so that whatever the subsidy is given to them they can buy.
These are some of the following condition that should be met when a cash or distribution system is set up:
1. The poor people receiving these items send their children to school.
2. They take their children for vaccinations and addition education excursions provide by government free of cost.
3. They go to the nearest block and report to Block development officer (BDO), how mukhiya (the elected chief) is doing his job, teachers are coming school or not and any other problem if they have after every 6 months.
This will not only stop black marketing of kerosene, wheat, rice and other distributed items, but also help to make the poor to send their children school, vaccinations will help improve health care and other issues can be controlled similarly

Hot Sarees

2011-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hot Saree: Sarees are the garment of choice for an Indian woman. Sarees are worn by 90% of Indian women and it is the most gorgeous clothing outfit for any woman.

Sarees (sari) is a type of dressing donned by women across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Sarees of distinct areas are different according to their culture and customs. The sarees are light weight and can be worn for both formal and casual wear. Sarees are essentially long pieces of fabric worn wrapped in a number of flairs around the body. Sarees adorned with beautiful works of zari, kinari and salma can be a useful collection for women. These sarees are traditionally made of light silk, whilst neoclassical variants are occasionally being created from cotton mixes. Sarees contributes towards the richness of Indian culture and heightens the beauty and elegance of the wearer.

The sarees are usually available in both the contemporary and traditional designs. They are exclusive in terms of designing, color combinations and will vary from place to place.

A sari is an outfit that reveals as much as it hides. The simple ethnic Indian attire that symbolises the essence of purity and represents the great cultural tradition of India. The reason for the success of the sari has to be attributed to its total simplicity, practical comfort, and sense of luxury a woman experiences when she wears. A Sari when properly draped transforms a woman to a graceful, stylish, elegant and sensuous lady.

Bihar Police

2011-04-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

In an effort to restore the impression of Bihar police that commonly brings to mind the portrait of a pot bellied, slack, floppy, overweight, baton spinning, gun slinging man in uniform, the state government has created a 'dress committee' to look into the likelihood of a new uniform that would give a diverse, 'sharp' image of the law enforcement bureaucrats in Bihar according to sources in the Bihar police division. Not to mention the negative publicity that it has received recently.

According to the Bihar Police officials the commission is being led by Additional Director General of Police Abhayanand (1977 batch "Indian Police Service" officer) who will be aided by IG (Provision) S. K. Bhardwaj, IG (Administration) Anil Sinha and three other IGs, DIGs, and four Superintendents of Police (SPs).

The shift is the effect of recent derogatory comments made by the current Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar who had commented that the sub-inspectors and havaldars, in their old-fashioned uniform give the impression of being more like clowns and gave a bad light to the whole Bihar police force.

Nitish Kumar have recently approved the sanction of 2,650 Indian rupees cash for each sub-inspector to spend on their novel uniform.

The freshly formulated committee will also be judged as improvement in other parts of the entire police uniform including shoes, belts, and badges.

Rahul Gandhi girlfriend

2011-04-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Rahul with his girlfriend in a cricket match

Rahul Gandhi is the son of Srimati Sonia Gandhi and the late Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi was the son of late Srimati Indira Gandhi and Sri Feroz Gandhi. Srimati Indira Gandhi was in turn was the daughter of the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru the first prime minister of India.

Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi one of the other children other than Priyanka Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi did his schooling St. Columba's School in Delh before going to the famous The Doon School in Dehradun.

He entered politics perhaps to fulfil the demand of the Congress party workers in 2003. There has been lot of criticism and lots of praise for the young leader of the Indian Congress Party. He has worked hard for his party and that is why his party is now in the second 5 year term in office.

Currently he is probably in his early forties and there are lot of speculations about his private life. Obviously his private life is his private life and we should not interfere in it. There are lots rumours and lots of private talks about his private and his life about his relationships. He has not yet married and some people are talking about his girlfriend. Whether he has a girlfriend or not that should not be anyone’s concern. Rahul Gandhi girlfriend will for now is a mystery.

I just did and internet search to see if he actually had a girlfriend or not. There is not much information but found one picture which I will post here. Obviously this should not be taken as Rahul Gandhi’s girlfriend. But this also means Rahul is India most eligible bachelor.

I think he is very intelligent individual and a clean politician and in the long run will make a good prime minister of India.

In addition if he does not have a girlfriend, he should get one as there are lot of nice Indian girls who would be willing to be his girl friend. Rahul Gandhi is definitely good looking and should get married soon or at least get a girlfriend.

Currently he does not seem to have either a girlfriend nor is he married.

Naseebo Lal Songs

2011-04-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Naseebo Lal is a famous female singer of Pakistan. She has been described as the most popular singer in Pakistan for the last 10 years. She has been able too obtain sales of CD and tapes more than Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar together. It has been suggested that she is the most capable female singer to take over the crown of singing in Pakistan from legendary Noor Jehan. Naseebo Lal has proved herself as the most versatile singer capable of singing a range of vocals; ranging from sad songs, mujras and filmi music.

However interesting issues have been raised against her in recent times. She and her sister Nooran Lal have been charged with singing songs that are of extreme obscenity, vulgarity and coarseness and now have to defend themselves for entertaining the people of Pakistan for years in court. The lawyer has alleged that the songs sung by Naseebo Lal are obscene and “were vulgar and against the moral values of society” and therefore should be banned. Punishing Naseebo Lal for her contribution to entertainment will not go down well with the Pakistani people and her fans across South Asia and the world. This can be proved by the fact that Naseebo Lal’s mp3’s is available on ebay, iTunes, Amazon and other leading sellers of music.

Maithili songs

2011-04-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

Maithili is the only one of the Bihari dialects which has a literary history. For centuries the pandits of Mithila have been famous for their learning, and more than one Sanskrit work of authority has been written by them. One of the few learned women of India whose name has come down to us was Lakhima Thakkurani, who, according to tradition, lived at the end of the 14th century A.D. Nor was the field of vernacular literature neglected by them. The earliest vernacular writer, of whom we have any record, was the celebrated Vidyapati Thakkura or Thakur, who raced the court of Maharaja Siva Simka of Sugaona and who flourished in the middle of the loth century.

As a writer of Sanskrit works he was an author of considerable repute, and one of his works, translated into Bengali, is familiar as a text-book, under the name of the Purusa-parlksa, to every student of that language. But it is upon his dainty songs in the vernacular that his feuTe chiefly rests. He was the first of the old master- singers whose short religious poems, dealing principally with Radha and Krisna, exercised such an important influence on the religious history of Eastern India.

His songs were adopted and enthusiastically recited by the celebrated Hindu reformer Caitanya, who flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and, through him, became the house-poetry of the Lower Provinces. Numbers of imitators sprung up, many of whom wrote in Vidyapati’s name, so that it is now difficult to separate the genuine from the imitations, especially as in the great collection of these Vaisnava songs, the Pada-kaipa-taru, which is the accepted authority in Bengal, the former have been altered in the course of generations to suit the Bengali idiom and metre.

The Pada-kaipa-taru was ihe only record that we had of the poet’s vernacular works, till, in the first edition of the Maithili Chrestomathy, the present writer was enabled to publish a collection of songs attributed to Vidyapati, which he collected in Mithila itself, partly from the mouths of itinerant singers and partly from manuscript collections in the possession of local pandits. That all the songs in this collection are genuine is not a matter capable of proof, but there can be little doubt that most of them are so, although the language has been greatly modernised in the course of transition from mouth to mouth during the past five centuries. A larger collection of these songs has been made by Babu Nagendra Xath Gupta, and will, it is believed, shortly be published.

Vidyapati Thakkura or, as he is called in the vernacular, Bidyapati Thakur, had many imitators in Mithila itself, of whom we know nothing except the names of the most popular, and a few stray verses. Amongst them may be mentioned Umapati, Nandipati, Moda-narayana, Ramapati, Mahipati, Jayananda, Caturbhuja, Sarasarama, Jayadeva, Kesava, Bhanjana, Cakrapani, Bhanunatha, and Harsanatha or, in the vernacular, Harkh-nath. The last two were alive when the present writer was in Darbhanga thirty years ago.

Amongst other writers in Maithili may be mentioned Manbodh Jha, who died about the year 1788 A.D. He composed a Haribans, or poetical life of Krsna, of which ten cantos are still extant, and enjoy great popularity.

Hindi music online

2011-04-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

Downloading Hindi Songs

One of the best places to download Hindi music is “Dishant” which perhaps is one of the oldest music sites to listen to music form all over India. Music from all languages can be found there.

Smashits is another good Hindi music site that allows users to listen to music in various Indian languages. Another plus point is one can even download music and listen to radio and read Indian movie reviews.

Raaga is very popular too among Indian music listeners. Music in most Indian language is available to download and listen to them on your computer. There are music videos as well.

In.com/music is too popular. You can also buy music online.

Download Bhojpuri Songs

It’s unfortunate that despite Bhojpuri songs being very popular there are very few websites where one can download Bhojpuri songs and music. There are a few good sites where one can buy Bhojpuri songs Mp3 but cannot actually download them for free.

There are many sites allowing for download Hindi songs and watch Hindi movies online for free specially the very old ones. There will be a time when we will be able to download Bhojpuri songs for free but at not this moment in time.

women in Afghanistan

2011-04-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Women in Afghanistan have a sharp place in the world history. Especially during the reign of Taliban in Afghanistan, many restrictions were posed on women.

Restrictions Posed In Women: Outline of some of the restrictions that Taliban left to Pashto girls and women;

1. Girls and women were allowed only with burkhas outside. They are not allowed without burgas in any public place. Women face is considered the source of corruption for other men, who are in no way related to the women. Therefore it has been made a rule to wear burgas and then travel out.

2. They were not given any right as equal to men. In fact, they were given no rights at all. They were not allowed to work, this is because the rule stated that women should not be exposed to men in the workplace and the earning of men alone should be used in the uplift of a family.

3. They were not allowed to go to school or pursue education after the age of eight. There were many troops developed at this point of time to educate women secretly. They operated underground and they risked their lives in learning from the teachers.

4. Women were not allowed to be treated by male doctors. All these refrained women from leading a normal and happier life.

5. Women are not allowed in streets unless they are with a close relative. They should not contact any men or even speak to a man, who is not their close relative.

6. They are not supposed to wear high-healed shoes, as the rule says that the women footsteps might disturb a man. Women should not even speak loudly because a man would hear it.

7. Almost all residents in Afghanistan would have its first floor windows closed, painted, or shielded with screen, to refrain women from viewing the streets.

In this video; Shiulie Ghosh of AlJazeera English version shows how in 6 years after the demise of the Taliban, have things really improved for Afghan women? Shiulie Ghosh also talks to Massouda Jalal (the only woman candidate in the Afghan presidential election, 2004) and Horia Mossadeq (Afghan women's rights activist).

Achievements of Women

The RAWA (Revolutionary Association Of the Women of Afghanistan) which was found in 1977 by Meena Keshwar Kamal to mainly focus on the rights of women and to bring in democracy which will give the pope equal rights in Afghanistan, was the first start in the development of women. It was the first women organization found in Afghanistan and it owns an individual website, which speaks about the achievement and the rights it earned for women in Afghanistan. It originated in Kabul by a most courageous student, Meena Keshwar Kamal. She was very much disturbed by the laws been enforced on women in Afghanistan especially in that of pursuing education. This made her fight against the strict rules. She was assassinated for her political and social activities to improve womankind.

Te next to be mentioned achievement is the Afghan Ministry of Women Affairs. It was successfully installed in the year 2001.It was by short called MOWA. The Afghan Transitional Administration developed this MOLWA. They mainly focused in transitioning women into dynamic Personalities to rule a country. They implemented many policies that would encourage women to come forward to achieve this world. The other notable achievement is the football club in Afghanistan, which is made of women. Lot of competitions were played bit them. They earned many laurels to the nation.

Afghanistan women prove to be the best strugglers of the world who have withstood troubles and reached a point of achievement in life.

Something about Bhojpuri

2011-04-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri actress

Bhojpuri West Champaran districts of Bihar, Saran, Shahabad, is spoken like Palamau and Ranchi. Although the Ranchi district is mainly populated by tribesmen, the common people's language Sadari or Sadani, which is a form of Bhojpuri. Bhojpuri speakers and Golgong theBhagalpur Pirpanti Muzaffarpur and the northwest district police stations are found. There are more than one million Bhojpuri speaking people in Bihar ten. Varanasi and Gorakhpur divisions also is spoken. Bhojpuri regions is of great help in the development of Hindi literature. Although such is Maithili, Bhojpuri, who loved it with its own speakers as old as written literature has been great. Bhojpuri so called Bhojpur, Shahabad district after a pergana language.

Bhojpuri people a distinct tradition and virile in the past were famous for their bravery. Bhojpuri is spoken in various forms and Bihar, two other languages in the grammatical structure is different in many ways. Decay and disorder of the peculiarities not found elsewhere. Overall, its grammar is simpler than Maithili and Magahi.

Except in some isolated instances, as the action depends on the subject. Bhojpuri Cathy, an Kayastha, Indian authors, but it is ascribed to these days in favor of the Devanagari script is provided by educated people have written. A mass of oral literature, folk songs, as is present in Bhojpuri, folk tales and legends, and riddles in it abounds. Kabir, Dharamdas, Dharnidas, Daryadas virtue of poets such works, and Lakshmi Sakhi, Bhojpuri influence is vast.

In recent times, several collections of folk literature has been published by Grierson, Ram Naresh Tripathi KrishnadevaUpadhyay, Durga shankar, Prasad Singh and Wing Archer, and Sankata offerings. Famous poem 'Batohia' Raghubir Narayan and entitled 'Bidesia by Tagore "by their popularity is history written by play. Thakur in Bhojpuri people's poet in his poems happiness and sorrow, tears traps and simple rural folk are reflected in their area.

Chinese Girls

2011-04-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

I actually prefer girls who have beauty and also those that will be a good, loyal, and a happy partner. I love Chinese girls and I would say that Chinese girls are the most beautiful girls in the world. There is no doubt that Chinese girls are the most open minded and boldest in the world. This enables the Chinese girls and women to form the foundation of the Chinese society. Chinese girls are highly aware of the significance of the family.

I find that Chinese girls are much more open and it's easier to communicate with them. However, some Chinese girls usually are quite shy and not extrovert but relatively easy for dating. If you are looking to meet and date Chinese girls, than you will find that casual dating and virginity are perceived with much importance in China. Chinese girls come in all kind of variations due to the different tribes and ethnic groups within the China.

Pakistani Girls

2011-04-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

Pakistani girls have proved that they are second to no one. The girls and women in Pakistan are amazing. It is so sad that Pakistani girls are not given their due as things get heated up in Pakistan. The Pakistani girls need to take matters in their own hands like their Indian counterpart. Pakistani girls are even more spicy and sensuous than their Indian counterparts. You can clearly see from these images that Pakistani girls are not less than any girls from across the globe, as a matter of fact, we can see that the girls are good looking and extremely beautiful indeed in all aspects. Not to mention that these girls are very intelligent as well very much like Indian girls.

A typical Pakistani girl likes to dress for the occasion. The dresses they were that are the famous churidar pajama suit is one of the popular dresses among the young Pakistani girls that make them very palatable. The girls in these dresses look absolutely fabulous. The Pakistani girls also take a keen involvement in sports, a great deal like their male counterparts. Some Pakistani girls would like to take part in beauty competitions but the law of Pakistan is that they prevent these girls from taking part. However there are some modern and forward looking girls living in other countries who have taken part in such competitions. Since these girls and amongst the most beautiful in the world, it is worth considering to life the ban and start allowing beauty competitions in Pakistan.

Pakistani girls are demanding good education to compete this stimulating world. Pakistani girls excel badminton particularly in the northerly fields of the Punjab. Pakistani girls are avid cricketing lovers as can be guessed by the plentiful female presence at most cricket games at home and abroad.

There is no doubt that the girls from Pakistan like their Indian counterparts; they excel in all aspects of life. The girls should start now thinking about themselves and take matters in their own hands.

Indian girls

2011-04-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

In the past several Miss Universe and Miss World competitions have been bagged by Indian women. What is your opinion on Indian girls? Would you say that this is a new era for Indian women? Whenever you think about Indian girls, would you say that they appear attractive, smart, intelligent, educated and tall? Alternatively, when you think about Indian girls, do you think about Indian women carrying pots of water on their heads or picking scraps in a pile of rubbish? How do you compare over dressed sari wrapped Indian women to their western lipstick loaded, silicon breasted and tight jeaned counterparts?

Plight of Indian women

Do you see Indian girls and women oppressed by their husbands, abused to satisfy their antarvasna, made to look after children and cook chapattis? Is the status of women in India a paradox? At times she appears at the bottom of the social ladder but has been once the prime minister of India.

List of Miss World since 1990

1990 United States Gina Tolleson

1991 Venezuela Ninibeth Leal

1992 Russia Julia Kourotchkina

1993 Jamaica Lisa Hanna

1994 India Aishwarya Rai

1995 Venezuela Jacqueline Aguilera

1996 Greece Irene Skliva

1997 India Diana Hayden

1998 Israel Linor Abargil

1999 India Yukta Mookhey

2000 India Priyanka Chopra

2001 Nigeria Agbani Darego

2002 Turkey Azra Akın

2003 Ireland Rosanna Davison

2004 Peru María Julia Mantilla

2005 Iceland Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir

2006 Czech Taťána Kuchařová

2007 China Zhang Zilin

2008 Russia Ksenia Sukhinova

Some comments sent me by the contact me page.

I think that you are a great representation of a Indian women; smart, beautiful, and amazing.

Indian women are just simply beautiful. That just the truth and you aren't neithet than the truth.

Many Indian girls are beautiful and they were since ancient times before all these beauty pageants. But I don't know why you ask if they appear "tall"- I don't think you need to be tall to be beautiful.

Yes, our indian girls are beautiful because of traditional practices they maintain.Interested readers may have a look into my hub:

Hindustan ki auruten aur ladkiya sabse pyari hoti hai...hamare desh ka shudh desi ghee kha kar ye palti hai...aur jab koi indian women saree pehenti hai..to dil se haye nikalti hai..inke rom rom se desi garmahat mehsus hoti hai...mujhe to inka hindi bolna bhi sexy lagta hai ..firangi to mujhe bilkul bhi nhi bhati...har jagah desi bhabis ka jadu lagta.. hai

Maithili Language

2011-04-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Maithili language is one of the former languages of India. It has the dialect of Hindi and hence many consider that it has been derived from the Hindi language. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan group just like all other Indian languages. It is spoken primarily in the state of Bihar and in the Nepal Terai region. It took a long time for this language to attain the official status in Indian languages list. This was because people did not consider it significantly different from that of Hindi. There were a lot of petitions to give an official status to help education and literature work in this language. Finally the petitions were all paid due respect and the language attained its official status in the year 2003.

The name for this language was derived from the origin of this language. This language originated in the state of Mithila, which had a great history in the literature, and epics of India. Mithila was one of the ancient continents in the world and this clearly shows how ancient the language Maithili is. The entire Mithila used the language Maithili in both written and oral form. Works rich in the languages were released and attained global familiarity. Despite the large group of speaking population, the language did not dominate North India equal to that of the Hindi language.

The most famous poet of our nation Vidyapati wrote his literature works in Maithili language. His poems and thoughts added beauty to this language and raised its power over more than what it originated to be. While oral communication was easier and poets used tunes to enhance the sweet nature of the language, written communication was in Maithili script. This is most similar to the Bengali script. Since all of the state were grouped as one in the ancient India, it is common for them to have followed the same writing script.

Maithili is often mixed with Bhojpuri and Maithili songs are made which is very popular amongst the people of Bihar. Today Maithili song concerts draw large crowds.

At present, Maithili speaking population could be sparsely found in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Orissa. Since Maithili belonged to most of eastern India, it flourished better. If it had been a central Indian language then it would have been long dominated by the fast sweep of the Hindi language. Though we have not yet excavated the real branches of Maithili, many literature proofs show that Maithili had Hindi in its branches. This means that the origin of Hindi was Maithili language. Census reports show that around 22 million people speak Maithili languages in India and around 25 million people in the world.

Amarpali of Vaishali

2011-04-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

King Bimbisar of the Sisunaga dynasty has been thought to be good looking, well polished and a great statesman. It is mentioned that he had an affair with the great dancer of Vaishali (the tribal union of the Lichhavis; where Buddha delivered his last sermon). Not much is known about her. She is however mentioned in Pali and several Buddhist texts described as one that was found under a mango tree with unknown parentage. She was thought to have first appeared near a mango tree (Amra-mango; Pali-leaves) hence her name. Several tales of Amarpali exists although most seems like remixes, misinterpretations and fairy tales of events.

She grew up in the royal household in the company of other dancers and entertainers. She surpassed everyone in terms of beauty and hence earned herself the status of the main courtesan of Vaishali. Her fame travelled near, far and wide. Some say that it was Ajatsatru after getting rid of his father and becoming the ruler of Magadh, had an affair with Amarpali secretly without the knowledge of royals of Vaishali.

The Lichhavis were a ruthless lot that never recongised the supremacy of the Magadhan empire. Their soldiers periodically used to cross the river Ganga and harass the people of Magadh. It is thought that during an invasion of Vaishali he met her and brought her back to Rajgir, the capital of Magadh and married her. Some text books mention that she remained in Vaishali all her life where she meet the Buddha and converted to Buddhism.

Some mention that it was actually Ajatsatru that was fascinated by her. Ajatsatru was the ruthless son on Bimbisar. However the story goes that Ajatsatru periodically cheated on his wife Khema. Horrified by the increasing ruthless activities of the Licchavi soldiers he disguised himself as a Licchavi soldier and spied on their war techniques where he met Amarpali at the courts of Vaishali.

Traveling to the Vaishali district in Bihar today, there exists a village called "Amvara" and not surprisingly several mango groves are to be found. Vaishali can be reached by road or air via Patna approximately 56 kms.

Bhojpuri songs free download

2011-04-13T01:06:00.000-07:00

At the moment there are no Bhojpuri songs free download on the internet at least legally. It is defiantly not possible to download free Bhojpuri songs and listen to them on the computer. If own wishes to download Bhojpuri songs then you need to go and buy Bhojpuri songs either from sites that sell music however there are not many music sites allow downloadable pay as you Bhojpuri songs.

Bhojpuri songs and music witnessed record sale not only the previous year but this year across India has been a bumper year as far as Bhojpuri music is concerned. And not to mention that Hindi movies too saw increasing sales not only on the internet for downloadable Hindi songs and Hindi music. This year particularly “Dabangg” film with Salman Khan as the leading actor had a Bihari or eastern Uttar Pradesh style movie and made it to the box office making more than 220 crores of rupees.

We hope that in the near future more and more sites would develop that would be able us to download Bhojpuri songs. However there are very few or absolutely none that allow us to download Bhojpuri music for free. There are sites like Amazon where we can buy and download not only Hindi but virtually any songs in any language we wish including Bhojpuri.

Patna

2011-04-12T04:05:00.000-07:00

Patna or ancient Patliputra is now the capital of Bihar. The famous sacred river Ganges flows right across it from west to east. One of the famous land marks include the significant Mahatma Gandhi Setu (bridge) built on the Ganges which is among the longest bridges in the world at 7.5 Km. Another major land mark include the Patna's most significant monument the Gol-Ghar which is a large granary built in 1786 by John Garstin at the behalf of Lard Warren Hastings. This was to prevent the reappearance of the dreadful famine of the 1770.

Legend has it that it was named after a princess gave birth to a baby son (Putra in Hindi). But in historical terms it was built as a fort by King Ajatsatru to prevent the Licchavis soldiers from attacking and harassing the people of Patliputra. In its early days it was built as a fort for the Magadh soldiers to rest. When a Magadhan soldier planted some roses near the camp it came to be known as "Kusumpur" (rose is kusum in Hindi).

Places to visit in Patna

Agam Kuan

HanumanMandir

Kumhrar

Takht Shri Harmandir Saheb

State Secretariat Building

Martyrs Memorial

Phulwari

Imarat-E-Shariya

Patna Planetorium

Moin-Ul-Haque Stadium

Golghar

Patna Museum

Khuda Baksh Oriental Library

SINHA Library

Begu Hajjam's mosque

Pathar ki Masjid

Qila House (Jalan House)

Sadaqat Ashram Zoological

Botanical garden Bissleboron

Gandhi Maidan

Anugrah Seva Sadan

Christ Church

Kargil Chowraha

Saheed smarak

Nagholkothi

Today Patna is the gateway to visit Bihar and of great historical importance in terms of Ancient India. It is usually the first port if call for people visiting "Bodh Gaya", the place where attained enlightenment.

Bhojpuri songs: Manoj Tiwari

2011-04-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri is a regional dialect of Hindi that is spoken in the Hindi heartland of India. This includes Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. In recent years Bhojpuri songs have become increasingly popular in Bollywood movies. Although Bhojpuri is seen as the language of the Bihari people as popularised by Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav; it is nevertheless recognised as a great culture of the Hindi speaking people of Bihar.

Being a dialect of Hindi and easily understood and utilises the Devnagri script, it has not been recognised as a separate language nor is there is a demand for it. However, the people of "Bhojpur", the heart of Bhojpur culture is as distinct as Hindi itself.

The culture of Bhojpuri songs has become a source of growing demand for entertainment in India. This has given opportunity to young talented folks from Bihar to explore their talent in the Indian Music Industry.

Of the most notable singers of Bhojpuri songs include the evergreen Manoj Tiwari. He is what Amitabh Bachchan is to Bollywood and Will Smith is to Hollywood. He has featured in enormous numbers of films and videos and even sings his own albums. Female artist Sharda Sinha has been singing for more that three decades and is almost a legend. Not only she is famous in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but throughout India. Single handled she popularised Bhojpuri songs to such an extent that Bhojpuri songs are now seen as a fashion items in Indian cinema. The third most famous personality is "Guddu Rangila". The credit if making funny videos and singing amazing songs are given to this singer.

Bhojpuri is one of the many Hindi dialects spoken in Bihar; others include Mathili and Magahi. It is considered that "Ardha (half) Magahi" is the very language of Pali that was spoken centuries ago during the time of "Ashoka the Great". Most Buddhist cannons and literature found around the world specially Sri Lanka are in Pali, a derivative of Bhojpuri and Bihari group of languages.

Bihari Languages

Angika, Bhojpuri, Fiji Hindi, Kudmali, Magahi, Maithili, Panchpargania, Sadri, Sarnami Hindustani, Surajpuri, Vajjika, hindi

Bihari languages consist of various dialects of Hindi mostly spoken in Bihar and neighboring states in India.

Angika is also spoken in other parts of India specially Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Durgapur, Punjab, Vadodara, Surat, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and other parts of the country.

Other alternate labels for the language include: Anga, Aangi, Angikar, Chhika-Chhiki, Bhagalpuri, Apbhramsa and Bihari. Dialects of Angika iclude: Deshi, Dakhnaha, Mungeria, Devgharia, Gidhhoria and Dharampuria.

Taking into consideration the rise in popularity of Bhojpuri in recent times; the Government of Bihar and India should consider treating it as a separate and distinct language and holding Bhojpuri seminars in at least Hindi speaking regions of India.

Reasons to envy Bihar

2011-04-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

A large majority of students that qualified for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the last 10 years were from the state of Bihar. IAS is the backbone of the Indian government. If it were not for these officers the government machinery would grind to a halt.

The model of property taxation called the "Area Detail System" (ADS) or the The Patna model exists in Patna in Bihar. The revenue increased substantially after this model was applied in Patna by the The Patna Municipal Corporation. Even the United Nations liked it and is being implemented by several countries.

Patna rice (also called also called Parimal rice) is as well known brand of rice first grown in Bihar and now a worldwide phenomenon.

Ancient patna (Patliputra) was once the capital of India and Bihar was greatest seat of learning in the world. The ancient ruins of Nalanda are considered the ruins of the oldest university of the world. The history of India is the history of ancient Magadh.

It is here that the Buddha was born and Buddhism was founded. During this time the King of Magadh "Ashoka the Great" sent emissaries to China and Sri Lanka to establish Buddhism. Lord Mahavir comes from Bihar. Sita mata was born in Sitamarhi district of Bihar. Valmiki who wrote Ramayana was from this region. Ang raj Karna of Mahabharat was the ruler of Munger district of Bihar. References of Bihar has been found in the Mahabharat.

The cooperative movement is making great advances in Bihar, especially in the dairy sector. Co-operative movement in its modern form started in the year 1904. Now co-operatives and formal legal entities under a statute have been existence for a hundred years and this is the centenary year for Co-operatives.

Bihar is highly independent in grain production and 13 other states of the country buy rice from Bihar. The Begusarai district is the largest maize producer in India. Tea plantations are recently been carried to check suitability for a grand scale cultivation in Bihar.

If there are any more additions you would like to see kindly let me know.

Bhojpuri Video Songs

2011-04-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri Songs and euphony are really fashionable in not only Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but across Republic of India. This is owed to the many Bhojpuri vocalists that have come out of Bihar and UP. Previously it was considered that Bhojpuri was the language of the rustics but at present it has come to be known that Bhojpuri is an ancient language and civilisation.

Till the nineteenth century, the Kaithi and the Farsi script were used to pen the Bhojpuri language. However that gave way to the Devanagri script, the script that is used to write Hindi.

Numerous Indian pictures are now putting Bhojpuri songs so that it can get through a vast Bhojpuri audience. A Bhojpuri song can now enable a Hindi film to convert into a major hit. Nowadays Bhojpuri MP3 can be downloaded on mobile phones. Such is the growing popularity of the Bhojpuri song.

It is approximated that Bhojpuri has the power to take over the Hindi film industry. This is because after Hindi, Bhojpuri is the 2nd biggest spoken language outside India.

The town is the original headquarters of the Dumraon Baj, and the battle of Buxar a few miles to its west. Politically, it belongs to Bihar. It was from its neighbourhood that the famous Bundelkhand heroes, Alha and Udan, traced their origin, and all its associations and traditions point to the west and not to the east.

The area covered by Bhojpuri is, in round numbers, some 50 thousand square miles. So far, therefore, as regards the number of its speakers, it is much more important than the other two Bihari dialects put together. This division of the dialects of Bihari into two groups, an eastern consisting of Maithili and Magahi, and a western, Bhojpuri, commends itself on both linguistic and ethnic grounds. The 2 Asian dialects are much more closely connected with each other than either is connected with Bhojpuri In grammatical forms, Maithili and Magahi have much in common that is not shared by Bhojpuri, and, on the other band, Bhojpuri has peculiarities of declension and conjugation which are unknown to the other two.

Hot Girl Pics

2011-04-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

There are very beautiful girls in the world. Incidentally, the Beautiful are from all over the world. They come in all shapes and sizes. To be nice and beautiful, women do not have to be like models.

Today the net is littered with pictures of beautiful girls and pictures of beautiful women. It’s amazing how many people are spending online looking for pictures of beautiful women.

Pictures of amazing and beautiful images of women has become become big business. There are huge numbers of websites that cater for men looking for such photos. Whether its pictures of beautiful sports girls in Olympics, presenting the best women in sports wearing short skirts and pants or ice skating, women, and videos or exotic articles; all over the place. Fashion, entertainment, videos of Playmates, cyber girls, it cannot be denied that pictures of beautiful girl is everywhere. I went over to flick the images hosting site of Yahoo, I was amazed to see how many pictures of women are there. I wonder who loads these amazing pictures.

Beautiful girls also referes to various other terms such as;

The movie; Beautiful Girls, a film released in 1996 starring Matt Dillon & Uma Thurman

"Beautiful Girls", an TV episode from the 3rd season of the United States famous TV series Desperate Housewives

"Beautiful Girls", a song sung by Van Halen in the year 1979 release Van Halen II

"Beautiful Girls" a song sung by Sean Kingston in 2007

Shetoldme Scam

2011-03-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

Social networking is about letting others know that you have found a nice news item and that you would like to share it with the world. There are few of these networking sites and some are nice and some are bad. There was one particular one that I was fond of. It was called Shetoldme which I used to add Bhojpuri related sites to share with the rest of the world. Unfortunately my account was deleted without notice. I emailed the shetoldme site owner and James got back to me. This explanation was that he does want Indian related sites on his site as it was not any good. This means that our Bhojuri sites are no good for this website. Hence I conclude that Shetoldme is a scam like as far as Indian, Pakistani and Chinese sites are concerned, at least this is what I understand. I have seen others who Indian related stuff deleted by Shetoldme. Here is another shetoldme review or shetoldme scam report. If you can avoid this site, try to avoid it as much as you can because you never know when your site will be deleted without notice. The site does not like Indian related sites particularly Bhojpuri ones.

As far social networking sites are concerned are digg and to avoild smaller, individually run sites like shetoldme. Sites like shetoldme can easily ban you from their sites on a wimp just like my account simply because I happen to share Indian related links.

Another interesting point is that their ads are placed more favourably and yours on the side. There is little chances for your ads of being visited as its not favourably positioned. Hence I would suggest you stay away from these low standard sites like shetoldme and concentrate on the real thing such as twitter.

Why people leave Bihar

2011-03-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

People are leaving Bihar and why is that? Most people leave Bihar and go to other places simply because there are not enough opportunities in Bihar let alone in the Bhojpuri speaking part of the world.
According to Dr Ajay, it is because;

Untill 1970, Biharis did not go out of Bihar. Most of them stayed back, very few left for other states or Europe, USA. The reason for emigration was and remain so, better education, better employment, higher standard of living, better opportunity, safety and security, better opportunity for children. When India liberalised its economy in 1990s, Bihar had the misfortune of Laalu - Rabri "andhkaar" raj. While most of India grabbed the opportunity provided by abolition of "License - Permit Raj" and forged ahead in prosperity, new ventures job opportunity. Economic stagnation, lack of job opportunities, failing education system, absence of law and order and advent of kidnappings left no choice for Bihari youths but to emigrate. Simply put, there was nothing for them in Bihar befitting their talent, qualifications and ambition. Only those lacking these three stayed behind.
Source: YouBihar

Antarvasna

2011-03-28T02:26:00.000-07:00

Kama Sutra - The Secrets Behind The Kama Sutra - Antarvasna

Antarvasna is about the inner desires and its fulfilment. It these inner desires that every one wants to fulfil but often these very antarvasna or inner desires are often left on the back burner. Hence Vatsyana wrote the book called Kamasutra. It is solely worded in such a way that it brings your inner desires to the forefront of fulfilment. Now when we think about The Kama Sutra, we tend to think of a book entailed several different sexual positions used to enhance overall sexual pleasure, but is all there is to it?

A Guide To Relationships And Life

The Kama Sutra was designed in India many centuries ago and contains information not only about sexual enhancements, but about relationships, marriage and life. Western civilization first became enthralled by its complexity mainly in the area of sexual intercourse and as a result proceeded to extend upon the information in this area.

Nowadays we see a lot of information claiming to be relevant to the Kama Sutra, however the majority of readings out there contain very little information related to this ancient script. When we think of The Kama Sutra we have to try and understand the reasoning behind it.

Why It Was Designed

The Kama Sutra was designed as a means of bringing two people together in an arranged marriage to increase the emotional level of the relationship. This would then cause fewer complications in other areas of life and a peaceful marriage could then be ascertained.

There are a lot of texts out there that contain information not just about sexual positions and the like, but also about increasing the amount of love you and your partner are able to share in your relationship. These are the readings that you should try and stick too.

Sexual Positions of The Kama Sutra

Now people are incredibly attracted to the variety of sexual positions inside The Kama Sutra, and why not? They are a great way to increase the amount of pleasure not just in the bed, but also reflecting in everyday life. A little extra excitement in the bedroom can do wonders for a persons self esteem!

There are many types of positions that The Kama Sutra conforms to such as - Anjou Style, The Twining of a Creeper, The embrace of the thighs, The embrace of the breasts and many more. It's pointless trying to describe each one of these positions individually so if you plan to try a couple out, it's probably best to by one of the many books out there on sexual positions of The Kama Sutra.

Try to remember one thing when it comes to this small piece of The Kama Sutra - what level of emotional commitment do you and your partner share? The physical nature of sexual intercourse can only take you so far in terms of the amount of pleasure you will receive. A strong emotional attachment can create a unbelievable sense of euphoria that I promise you won't see coming!

More interesting stuff
Hot girls pics
Indian girls

Right to education act

2011-03-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

The first task has to spread awareness about the legislature amongst following stakeholders

a. Schools – Government and private

b. Parents and Students

c. Local authorities: enforcing and implementing

d. State government

e. Central government

f. Teachers

g. NGOs

h. Allied agencies

Following is the list of highlighted sections from the legislation and what are the questions that we need to answer while evaluating and assessing the implementation of RTE: Section 1(2): Has RTE been implemented all across in Bihar? (Considering that we are taking Bihar as our population and a smaller set of districts inside Bihar as the sample set for our study) Section 3(1): Percentage of coverage of children in the defined age bracket in the defined area?

Section 3(2): Is any fee (or any other expenses) being charged by the schools from students? Are disabled students treated like the other students? What are the various forms of discriminations against them?

Section 4: Is appropriate training being provided to students who are inducted for the first time in a class based on their age? What is the quality of the training and how is it conducted and evaluated? Is education being provided to those children who are more than 14 years of age and have not completed elementary education? (This might not be in place right now, so the focus will also be on evaluating the plans that the educational institutions have on implementing it. Also, the associated NGOs which have been already working in this area needs to be assessed to find out their plan of action to help implement this.) Section 5: Is speedy transfer of child from one school to another being done properly or not? What are the problems children facing due to formalities like transfer certificates?

Section 6: What is the spread of the schools? Are local authorities setting up schools in the region with a target of 3 years in mind?(Definition of a neighborhood school would change for different terrains. E.g. in hills, this need to be seen according to the difficulties the students face in reaching their destinations.

Also, assessing the social and demographic aspects of an area like how far some conservative families will send their girls for education.)

Section 7(6): What is the national curriculum that the central government has formed is it being used/implemented/duplicated in the state as well? (The need for education in local languages has been said again and again. Assessing the need and possibility for the same and also finding local/national players that can help with this). What are the standards that are formed for the training of teachers? What is the enforcing mechanism for the same? Are the teachers’ trainers following these standards or not? (Need to assess the teacher training modules at all levels. Creating an assessment module, specifically for teachers, to gauge their knowledge/skill and motivation levels. After assessment is completed creating training modules in coordination with government authorities like DIET to create robust and state specific teacher training module).

What are the technical support and resources provided by the government for promoting innovations, research, planning and capacity building? Section 8: What are the enrollment, attendance and completion rates? (This will require partnering with Pratham (ASER department) for most of this information. Also doing some primary surveying in the field for the same) Is there discrimination against the children belonging to weaker sections or disadvantages group? What is the status of infrastructure in the terms of availability of essentials like rooms, power, toilets, TLM, mid-day meals, teaching staff etc. (This will require partnering with Pratham (ASER department) for most of this information. Also doing some primary surveying in the field for the same).

How the selection and admission being done and is it confirming to prescribed standards? (Major focus for this will be private schools in cities and towns. The intent behind this is ensuring that no one is denied quality education because of lack of financial support and also ensuring no financial bullying by schools. This would require assistance with NGOs working in cities/towns on education and RTI)

Does quality of education meet the norms specified in schedule?

Section 12: Reimbursement to private school against reservations?

Section 13: Capitation fees and Screening processes. Is punishment against contraventions enforced?

Section 14: Are children denied admission due to lack of documentation?

Section 15: Is admission allowed during any time of the year?

Section 16: The law prevents school to fail or expel a student. What changes schools are making in their evaluation system to integrate this scheme in their system?

Section 21: Has the school formed school management committee? What is the composition for the same? What are its functions and how is it documented? (This would again need assistance of the local NGOs and local authorities for a regular vigil. In spite of just creating a rule, It can be made binding on the schools to submit monthly information about the activities and meetings of the school management committee.)

Section 23: Conformance to minimum qualification?

Section 25: What is the teacherpupil ratio? What was it last year? (Historical data analysis to be done for the same. This would also include assessment of single teacher teaching multiple classes and its impact). What are the other noneducational works that the teacher is involved in? Who would do them if the teacher doesn’t?

Section 29: How the curriculum is being set, is the agency taking care of all the mentioned points in the section. If yes, how? If no, why?

Section 30: Are there board exams in the state board or school? Certificate of elementaryeducation?(Schools like DAV have national level board exams in class eight, which is prohibited now.)

© Kumar Ankit – Kumar Ankit is currently studying at XLRI Jamshedpur and is founder & Executive Director at Green Leaf Energy Private Limited a startup company in the area of renewable and green power. He can be
contacted at ankit4jec@gmail.com
Copyright: The Bihar Websize

Bihar Education Project

2011-03-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE BACKGROUND

1.1.1 The Bihar Education Project was launched with a mission mode to reconstruct the
educational system by universalisation of elementary education through a composite process of
expanding access, enrolment and retention and imparting quality education through the formal
and non-formal schooling. Teachers were given central role in the project and participatory
development and planning formed a key strategy for improving primary education at the
grassroots level. The project was launched in 1992-93 in seven districts of Bihar, viz., Sitamarhi,
Muzaffarpur, West Champaran, East Singhbhum, Ranchi, Rohtas and Chatra.

1.1.2 The following were the broad objectives of BEP:
(i) Universalisation of Primary Education, viewed as a composite programme of
access to primary education for all children upto 14 years of age, universal
achievement at least of minimum levels of learning.
(ii) Orientation of the educational system so as to serve the objectives of equality
for women and their empowerment.
(iii) Making necessary interventions to provide equal educational opportunity to
adults and children belonging to the lower castes, ethnic communities and
poorest section of society.

1.1.3 The BEP has completed five years since the initiation of the project. The present study was
undertaken to evaluate the project with a view to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the
processes involved and effectiveness of interventions made under the project to achieve its
objectives. This report presents the experiences of Sitamarhi district.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.2.1 In view of the above, the study was taken up with the following objectives:
(i) To analyse the achievement levels vis-à-vis the targets in terms of access,
enrolment and retention and to identify the reasons for the shortfalls, if any;
(ii) To assess whether the existing TLM were developed on the basis of local
culture and environment as envisaged in the project;
(iii) To examine the process of capacity building of teachers and other
educational staff and its overall impact on improvement in learning achievements
of the children of various social groups and sex;
(iv) To ascertain the extent of improvement in school infrastructure and the
facilities created for improving school environment;
(v) To find out the effectiveness of the process adopted for school readiness
(pre-school education) programme and non-formal education;(vi) To examine the inter group coverage of beneficiaries, e.g., scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes, minorities and girls, vis-à-vis the dominant castes/groups under
different interventions of BEP;
(vii) To review the various processes involved in project management and
problem solving at the district and sub-district levels;
(viii) To assess the extent of community mobilisation and participation and the
processes adopted by the project officials and the contribution made by the
village education committee;
(ix) To examine how far the BEP has been effective in establishing linkages with
ongoing programmes in furtherance of project activities;
(x) To analyse the overall outcome against the anticipated outcome of the
project.

1.3 METHODOLOGY
1.3.1 The methodology of the study included the analysis of both the primary as well as
secondary data and information. The secondary information was collected from project
documents, progress reports and other published material of BEP while the primary information
was collected through various schedules designed for different target groups. Since the study
aimed at assessing the overall outcome and the strengths and weaknesses of the project
interventions, the perceptions of different stakeholders in the project have been gathered and
analysed in a systematic manner. Further, the study adopted participatory approaches to analyse
various issues in addition to eliciting information through structured schedules.

1.4 SAMPLING PLAN
1.4.1 It was proposed that all the blocks of the district would be categorised as intensive blocks,
expansion blocks and new blocks on the basis of intensity of interventions by BEP. In case of
Sitamarhi, there was no expansion block and there were only two intensive blocks. These two
blocks alongwith two new blocks were selected for the purpose of the study. These new blocks
were selected randomly. The name of the intensive blocks were Sonbarsa and Reega while the
new blocks were Pupri and Runnisaidpur. Equal number of villages, i.e., 11 villages, were
selected from both intensive and new blocks (a blockwise list of villages is given in page 8). A
map showing the location of the sample villages and blocks in Sitamarhi district covered under
this study is given at the end of this chapter. The other parameters of selecting these villages
were the size of the village as well as the composition of population, categorising as general, SC
and others. As far as the size of the village was concerned, there were also three types such as
population ranging between 50 - 500, 501 - 1500 and more than 1500. Out of the 11 villages
selected from each type of block, there was atleast one village from each category. Twenty
households were selected from each village and urban ward for interview, representing different
religions and socio-economic background.

1.4.2 Apart from the villages, two primary schools in and around each village or urban wards were
selected wherein 96 teachers, (taking two from each school) were administered the teacher
schedule. A number of 110 class V students were also selected from 12 schools taking 10 from
each school to get their opinion about the school. The MLL test was administered on 120
students each in class II and class V in 12 different schools. In this case also, 10 students were
selected in class II and V from every school. The test included both the language and
mathematics. The class II students were administered oral test while for the class V students it
was a written test.1.5 TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

1.5.1 As mentioned earlier, a number of schedules were developed and canvassed for different
target groups. The following is an account of the schedules administered under this study.
(i) Village schedule to collect demographic features, occupational patterns etc.
from each of the 22 villages and 2 urban wards.
(ii) Listing schedule to list out all the families in each village with some basic
parameters.
(iii) Household schedule to collect data on its socio-economic characteristics and
perceptions on issues relating to access, enrolment, dropout etc.
(iv) NFE schedule to collect information on the ongoing and old NFE centres in
each village.
(v) School schedule for collecting data from each school on facilities available
with the school and classwise, castewise, genderwise information on various
aspects of primary education.
(vi) Teacher schedule for various perceptive questions, teaching methods, TLM,
availability of infrastructure etc.
(vii) Student schedule for getting the responses of the class V students regarding
school environment and teaching.
(viii) MLL tests were administered on class II and class V students to assess
achievement level and to find out the differences in achievement in different
blocks.

1.5.2 A comprehensive check-list was prepared for conducting interviews and group discussions
with the functionaries of BEP. Various meetings were organised with the district and sub-district
level functionaries, such as CRC Co-ordinators and VEC, and other departments at the district
levels and teachers organisations to get a perception on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats of the project.

1.5.3 The method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was adopted to analyse the views and
perceptions of the rural people, especially the disadvantaged sections of society. This exercise
was conducted separately for different focus groups, viz., women in general, SC men and
women, in each village. It is important to mention that PRA is a very delicate approach to learn
from and with the people to investigate, analyse and evaluate the constraints and opportunities
and their perception of the development process and structures. People’s participation was the
main focus of all the BEP interventions. Hence, while conducting PRA, important dimensions kept
into consideration by the facilitators were ‘behavior and attitude’, ‘methods’ and ‘sharing’. BEP
has developed an approach to conduct the PRA through ‘Prasoon’. We have also tried to
evaluate the micro-planning through ‘Prasoon’.

1.5.4 In this evaluation study, two PRA tools were used, viz., Venn diagram and ranking and
prioritisation. The community participation and mobilisation and the process of micro planning for
promoting primary education was evaluated. The present level of enrolment and retention as
perceived by the community members have also been taken into account.
1.5..5 With the help of Venn diagram, the interface between community, teacher, VEC and other
institutions and functionaries was assessed while by ranking prioritisation, the perceptions of the
people was analysed after finding out their problems and solutions. It is important to mention that
the evaluation process was not extractive. Instead it enabled us to share the views of the people.
The concept of visual sharing and visual literacy has been taken into consideration while
conducting PRA in the villages. Mainly the results of Venn diagram and ranking prioritisation were
used to analyse the community mobilisation component in BEP. 1.5.6 In this way, the primary data and information have been gathered from various sources (conventional survey and PRA methods) and efforts have been made to get a total idea of the complex situation related to primary education. The qualitative data was collected through PRA and interaction with focus groups alongwith secondary data available with the BEP. The information gathered from interviews and group discussions has been used to supplement the primary and secondary data. On the other hand, the information collected through various schedules was computerised and analysed with the help of software developed for this purpose. The map of Sitamarhi has also been digitised.

1.6 THE FACILITATORS

1.6.1 Sixteen facilitators were engaged to collect the primary data through conventional survey
methods and PRA tools. Emphasis was given to select equal number of male and female
facilitators (a list of all these facilitators is enclosed at the end of this report). A five day (2 - 6
January, 1998) intensive training programme was organised for the facilitators at DIET, Dumra in
Sitamarhi to equip them to fill the schedules correctly and objectively and use the PRA tools with
a fair degree of precession and objectiveness. The training programme included one day field
testing of all the tools in real life situation by the facilitators. This effort helped in reducing the
biases and minimising the possibilities of errors in filling the schedules.

1.6.2 All the facilitators were divided into 8 teams and each team was assigned three villages or
urban wards to be surveyed within 17 days (7 - 23rd January, 1998). Thus, on an average five
days were kept to complete the survey and PRA in one village including collecting data from two
schools and one NFE centre. The last two days were devoted to re-checking the schedules and
collecting the left out information. The study team monitored the survey work and visited all the
sample villages and urban wards selected for the study. The team also visited villages where
micro-planning had been completed and where it was under progress. It also solved the problems
of facilitators on the spot.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.8.1 As discussed earlier, efforts were made to evaluate the BEP interventions in Sitamarhi with
professional competency in most difficult and complex set of conditions. The study had naturally
some limitations. Some of the major limitations of the study were as under:
(i) The BEP is an additionality to the present educational system. It would be
difficult to dissect and separate the impact of BEP from other ongoing
programmes and measures.
(ii) Size of sample was small and the pattern emerging out of the study may not
be applicable in general. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted cautiously.
(iii) Problems of non-response and other attitudinal biases connected with
perceptional questions.
(iv) The teachers strike during the conduct of field work posed some difficulty in
getting their responses.

Bhojpuri Movies

2011-03-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

As far as I know, unlike Bengali cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema etc. there was nothing called Bhojpuri cinema in the first place. There was no film making culture in Bihar, there only were sporadic films in Bhojpuri that were made by producers from Bollywood who came from eastern UP and Bihar. Ganga Maiya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo, Laagi Nahin Chhoote Raam, and Balam Pardesia are examples of that. Later on too, some decent films were made in Bihar like Dulha Ganga Par Ke and Ganga Kinare Mora Gaon and they did good business. Then came the era of downfall of Bihar. And I think the downfall of Bhojpuri cinema has a lot to do with the downfall in the image and content of Bihar. Politics, education and employment sector in Bihar started deteriorating and people started leaving the state.

These were the people who would otherwise patronize good cinema in Bhojpuri. The image of Bihar kept on deteriorating and Biharis living in other states would feel ashamed of declaring that they are from Bihar. Then not only those who lived in other states but also those who lived in Bihar stopped talking in Bhojpuri. Speaking in Bhojpuri in a public place was somehow considered to be below standard. People almost disowned the language to the extent that they would not speak to their children in Bhojpuri. In private, they would communicate in Hindi peppered with Bhojpuri words. And in public, the educated Biharis who lived outside the state did everything possible to hide their Bihari identity.

We can’t blame them though. All this happened because Bihar had gradually come to represent everything that an ideal society should not be. The great migration started. Those who couldn’t leave Bihar out of compulsion were the poor who had no resources to move out, the Bihar Government employees, and those who could not leave their land unattended for fear of illegal capture by local politicians or their goons. Anyone who could send their children out of the state for education/job, sent them. So, there was hardly anybody left in Bihar or outside Bihar to patronize Bhojpuri cinema. The only people who were still speaking to their children in Bhojpuri were those from the lower strata of the society – the poor, the uneducated. This was the class that would watch films just to forget their sorrow and not because they wanted to watch a film-maker’s perspective on a social issue inflicting the society.

Non-serious movies were still being made in Hindi, but they went out of reach of this class due to emergence of multiplexes and disappearance of the low-cost theaters. The entrepreneur in Manoj Tiwari identified this class and started making movies that suited their taste and pocket. The target audience started watching these movies and much more came. Manoj Tiwari never made these movies for PLU (people like us).So, it is clear that quality Bhojpuri cinema went through a declining phase for lack of patronage.

What is the way forward?

We need not worry about ‘Panditji Batain na Biyah kab hoi’ kind of movies at all. They are meant for a specific audience and such an audience does and will always exist in any society; so there will also exist film-makers who will make films for them. Ab in filmon ka dusprabhav saare samaj par na pade, iske liye humein apni lakeer ko unki lakeer se lamba karna padega.

It cannot be denied that Culture & Art play an important role in the development of any society. Cinema too is an apt medium to educate the society. A well-made and forward-looking Bhojpuri film will not only regain the audience that it had lost over time but it would also promote the Culture, Art & Music of Bihar outside the state. Bihar will gain respect through its cinema. It will help attract tourists to the state of Bihar which will generate employment for thousands. But the question is how do we sustain the culture of quality-film making in Bhojpuri.

One thing is clear, corporatisation will not help. There is a difference between our objective and their objective. Through our films, we want to reconstruct the Bihari society and promote Bihari art and culture, whereas all the investing corporate would be interested in is revenue. So that is out. The only answer lies in the theory of demand and supply. There is an unending appetite for good cinema in Bihari audiences. But there is no supply. So, if a good cinema in Bhojpuri is supplied, it WILL be watched. If it has a strong script to hold audiences from the beginning to the end, it WILL be watched. If patterns and treatments are not repeated, it WILL be watched and liked.

Even in languages such as Hindi, Bengali or Tamil, quality cinema is in short supply. Bhojpuri also has the advantage of numbers. According to a recent government estimate, some 15 crore people speak Hindi and Bhojpuri in UP and Bihar. So, I can only hope that our member Nitin Chandra’s work ‘Deswa’ will mark the rebirth of good Bhojpuri cinema, rather birth of Bhojpuri cinema that will establish itself over time as a genre. From whatever little I have heard about the subject it deals with, I hope it will taste decent success at the box office. Once that happens, more people will be attracted to making quality cinema in Bhojpuri. And when people will have a choice of quality over quantity, they will go for the former.

But good films will not come up just because there are good intentions. Something more is required to sustain this trend. One Nitin Chandra is not enough. We need more professionals from Bihar as Film makers. The current film makers in Bhojpuri Cinema are not trained professionals, that’s why they pay attention to making cheap movies.

Then, we also will need to improve the insecure conditions of the cinema halls in the interiors of the state which has also resulted in the decreasing rate of cine viewers. Bgrade theatres can afford only B grade movies. Here, the govt. needs to pitch in by giving them subsidies. It is the government’s responsibility to help in offering low-cost entertainment (as opposed to cheap entertainment) to its people; a deluge of cheap films will only corrupt and manipulate the youth who will determine the future of the state.

This will attract good filmmakers with meager resources to making films on socio-political issues in Bhojpuri that, in turn, will create jobs for locals. The most important thing is that a Film Training Institute somewhere near Patna must be set up. This should be followed by setting up of a film studio. It will launch a filmmaking culture in Bihar which will automatically result in production of good Bhojpuri cinema. Universities in Bihar too should offer subjects on film making, so that the young generation can become interested in this art. I am sure if these measures are taken, Bhojpuri cinema will evolve, sooner rather than later.

PS: Only last week, the UP tourism department has sent a proposal to the CEO of Gorakhpur Industrial

Development Authority (GIDA) to allocate 110 acres of land for setting up a film city and a film training institute for Bhojpuri movies near Sahjanwa town in the district. Is it a signal for Bihar Tourism dept. to act fast?

Author: Rakesh Srivastava (Rakesh works for a leading software consulting company in India and currently lives in New Delhi. He can be reached at rakeshtcs@gmail.com)

Source: Bihar Society webzine

Ancient Bihar

2011-02-24T01:31:00.000-08:00

Bihar in the ancient times was known by "Magadh". Magadh (Bihar) was founded by King Jarasandha, a semi mythical king some 5000 years ago. Since then, Magadh has been in the eye of each and every one. It has been the centre of every Great Revolution, be it Religious reformation or Political. Mythologically, Bihar is also mentioned in Ramayana, the Holy Epic of Hindus. During Bhagwan Ram's time North-East Bihar was known by Mithila and it was ruled by Maharaj Janak, Father of Goddess Sita, who later married Lord Ram.

Jaanki Mata, Goddess Sita, consort of Bhagwan Ram was born in Bihar's Mithilanchal (Mithila) district, she was daughter of an ancient king of Bihar from Mithilanchal, called Maharaj Janak. She was called Mithlesh-Nandini, a daughter of Mithila. She has been regarded as the Kuldevi (Goddess) of Magadh, and Sun God Surya is the Kuldevta(chief God) of Magadh. That is the reason why Chatth-Parva(a festival of Bihar) for the worship of Sun-God is so much famous in Bihar and is celebrated worldwide by all Biharis. Legend has it that Chatth-Parva was started by Karna of Mahabharata who used to rule over Anga desh of Magadh(ancient Bihar).

It is said that King Jarasandha, founder of Magadh belonged to the Brihadrath Dynasty one of the descendants of eponymical King Puru. It is stated in Vayu Puran that King Jarasandha's dynasty ruled over Magadh for 1000 years after his death but no historical facts prove this as noone recorded this event. Brihadrath dynasty was followed by Pradyota Dynasty who has been said to rule over Magadh for 138 years.

After the fall of Pradyota Dynasty, Haryanka Dynasty too over the reign of Magadh founded by King Hemajit in 684 BC. King Bimbisara of this dynasty was born in 558 BC who has been responsible for expanding the boundaries of his kingdom through matrimonial alliances and conquest. The land of Kosala fell to Magadha in this way. King Bimbisara was the contemprory of Lord Buddha and has been said to even met Gauatam Buddha. Gautam Buddha was born in 563 BC and he went to Bihar's Bodh Gaya to find enlightment. He did meditation there for a lot of days under a Bodhi tree and find enlightment at the age of 35 years and he became Buddha, The Enlightened One. Thus was Buddhism born in Bihar one of the Greatest Religion of the World. that teaches non-violence.

During the same time in 599 BC, Yuvraj Vardhman was born in Vaishali district of Magadh (ancient Bihar) from King Siddhartha and Queen Trishala. Prince Vardhman renounced the World at the age of 30 and went in search of Truth. Thus Jainism, The First Gretest Pacifist Religion was founded by Bihar's son Vardhmana who since then came to be known as Mahavir Jain. So we see, that World's 2 Greatest Religions, Buddhism and Jainism was born in Great Bihar.

Coming back to Haryanka Dynasty, King Bimbisara was succeded by his son Ajatsatru who has been accredited of killing his father to gain the throne of Magadh. He has been attributed of finding the city of Patliputra(modern Patna) and has been incidental in shifting his capital from Rajgir to Patliputra. He was a great warrior, who conquered 36 republican states surrounding his kingdom and firmly established the predominance of Magadh in Eastern India. The most important war waged by Ajatashatru to gain supremacy over his neighbours was that with the powerful Licchavi Republic, ruled democratically by a group of noblemen. Such was the Unity and warfare of Licchavi Republic that Gautam Buddha has pronounced themselves as invincible. But Ajatsatru defeated them and protected the future genreation of Magadh from invading Licchavis forever. The scythed chariot was invented by Ajatashatru, the King of Magadh in Ancient India, in circa 475 BC, who used these chariots against the Licchavis. The scythed chariot was a modified war chariot with a blade(s) mounted on both ends of the axle. Later he left violence and became a disciple of Lord Buddha and built Buddhist monasteries.

Haryanka Dynasty was followed by Shishunaga dynasty founded by Shishunaga in 430 BC. It was followed by Nanda Dynasty founded by Mahapadma Nanda in 424 BC. The Nandas, under Mahapadma Nanda, established the first great North Indian empire with its political centre in Magadha. His sons were not as capable as him. During the reign of one of his successors called Dhana Nanda, Alexander a Greek King attacked India in 326 BC, after his victory in Battle of Hydaspes River, when he marched forward his Macedonian Army after seeing Magadhan Army of Nandas, which formed 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 war chariots, and 6,000 war elephants forced him and his army to run away from India. So, the so called Greatest Conqueror of World, Alexander, the so-called son of God Zeus, lost to Great Bihar. Long live Bihar !!

Nanda Dynasty was overthrown by a young boy of 20 years old whose name was Chandragupta Maurya, born in 340 BC in Magadh(Bihar). He was the son of Senapati Maurya(Genral of Magadh) and Rajmata Mura. He was trained by Vishnugupta Chanakya in the matters of warfare and politics. He overthrew the oppressive rule of Dhana Nanda in 320 BC and established the Mauryan Rule, which later came to be known as India's First Golden Age. Alexander died in Persia in 323 BC, and Great Chandragupta Maurya vowed to bring back all those land taken away by Macedonian king Alexander. He killed 2 Greek governors, Nicanor and Philip. He fought with Seleucus Nicator I and defeated him and brought back the Indus strap to India. He signed a treaty with Seleucus and forced him to return from India. Later he turned his attention towards Southern districts of India and conquered them and brought whole of India under 1 Flag and for the first time established Peace and 1-Man-Rule in Bharatvarsha (India) and gave stability. Thus Samrat Chandragupta Maurya was officialy the First Greatest Ruler of India who defeated Alexander's invasion and hence defeated the so-called invincible army of Macedonia.
The Army of Macedonia lost to the Army of Magadh.

Maharaj Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by his son Bindusara who ruled Magadh from 298 BC to 272 BC. During his Rule, the territory of Magadh gained control over southern territories. Bindusara was followed by his son Ashoka The Great, who ruled over Magadh from 272 BC to 232 BC.

Ashoka was the grandson of Samrat Chandragupta Maurya, initially he used sword to conquer the territories. Ashoka was a True Magadhan (Bihari), he used to say "Wherever there is land on this Earth, I want to see it under Magadhan Flag." Long Live such a Great ancestor. We Biharis are Proud of you, Maharaj Ashoka. Ashoka continued to win battles after battles using his able military skills and might. He invented Ashoka-Neeti(Ashoka-Wisdom), under this strategy, The Army of Magadh used to Fight on three different war-front under the same time under 3 different Magadhan generals. Ashoka's mother Dharma was assassinated by his half-brother Sushima in a bid to get the thrown of Magadh. At this, Ashoka venged with anger killed Sushima and regained the throne of Magadh and killed all the brothers and supporters of Sushima. But one of the brother of Sushima had fled to Kalinga(The modern day Odisha). When Ashoka requested Kalinga king to hand him the traitor, the Kalingans refused telling that Kalinga will not submit to Chanda Ashoka(merciless Ashoka). At this, Ashoka invaded Kalinga in 265 BC. The war continued for 2 years and it resulted in killings of 1 lakhs men and women from Kalinga and 10,000 soldiers of Magadh. After the war was over, Ashoka travelled into Kalinga and saw corpses of children, women and old people. At this, his heart was filled with pity and threw the sword and renounced war. He converted into Buddhist Religion and took a vow to preach non-violence and Peace. Thus he came to be known as Dhamm-Ashoka (Righteous Ashoka). He built 84,000 Buddhist stupas and has been known to sent his son Mahindra and daughter Sanghamitra to Srilanka to preach Buddhism. He also sent Buddhist monks to Japan, China and Greece to propogate Buddhism. Thus he made Buddhism a World Religion. Such was his greatness that when India got Independence, his sign of Ashok-Chakra was officially incorporated on the National Flag of India. Thus you see Ashok Chakra on India's National Flag is given by a Bihari called Ashok Vardhan. Long live Ashoka The Great.

Mauryan Empire fall within 50 years of Ashoka's death and came to be ruled by Pushyamitra Sunga in 185 BC, a Brahmin who founded Sunga Dynasty. He has been called One of the Greatest Hindu Emperor as he stopped the end of Hindu Religion from this World by making reforms in it and has been giving equal Rights to the People irrespective of their Caste (Kshatiya-Brahmin-Vaishya-Shudra), he respected the so called Shudras who were ill-treated by Brahmins and they were on a rampage to accept Buddhism. Thus, he saved Hinduism or in a way, he Re-founded Hinduism. Sungas have been known to rule from 185 BC to 73 BC. After the fall of Sungas in 73 BC they have been known to be followed by Kanva Dynasty. Little is known about them.

After the Kanvas, Magadh became predominant in the Era of Guptas which started from 320 CE to 550 CE. Gupta Era is known by Second Golden Age of India. Gupta Empire was founded by Chandragupta I, son of King Ghatotkacha, in 320 CE. He was succeeded by his son called Samudragupta in 335 CE, who is known to be one of the Greatest Warrior of India. Samudragupta is called India's Napolean by some western Historians but I believe he is more greater than Napolean as Napolean lost his final battle and was captured but Samudragupta was invincible. He ruled till 35 years from 335 CE till his death in 380 CE. By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm and his rule extended from the Himalayas to the river Narmada and from the Brahmputra to the Yamuna. He was succeeded by his son Chandragupta Vikramaditya who ruled from 375 CE to 415 CE. He was a great warrior and is known for defeating a lot of kings. His greatest victory was his victory over the Shaka-Kshatrapa dynasty and annexation of their kingdom in Gujrat, by defeating their last ruler Rudrasimha III. He has been known for unburdening the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavans,Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc. by annihilating these sinful Mlecchas completely. He fought a lot of foreign inavders and saved India from them. He was followed by his son Kumargupta I. Kumargupta was followed by Skandgupta born from one of his junior wife and Skandgupta has been instrumental in fighting a lot of battles and has been able to restore the glory of Magadh. When he was just 17 years old, White-Huns invaded India. His father had not got so much army as those of Huns (Indo-Hepthalites) but he assured his father of either Victory or his Death. White-Huns were 5 lakhs in number and Prince Skandagupta had 2 lakhs army. But he stooped the invasion of White-Huns on the North-Western Province of India and forced them to run away to Kandhar(present day Afghanistan). After Skandagupta death, Gupta's Empire came to be ended in 550 CE.

Thus ended the ancient history of Great Magadhans who ruled over Bharat(India) for more than thousand years and gave Peace, stability and Greatness to India. Where will you find such Great men who sacrificed everything for their Country?? Such was the Greatness of Magadhans (Biharis) that Alexander could not conquer India. During those times after the defeat of Macedonians by Chandragupta Maurya, Macedonians mothers used to say stories to their children which said "There are two types of Indians, The Magadhans and The Rest of them." I am Proud to be a Magadhan, a Bihari. Long Live the name of Bihar.

Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris

2010-11-27T02:07:00.000-08:00

Oh woooah, oh woooooah, oh wooooah, oh.
You know you love me, I know you care,
you shout whenever and I’ll be there.
You want my love, you want my heart
and we will never ever ever be apart.
Are we an item? girl quit playing,
we’re just friends, what are you saying.
Said there’s another, look right in my eyes,
my first love broke my heart for the first time.
And I was like…

[Chorus]
Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you’d always be mine, mine (repeat)

[Justin Bieber]
Oh, for you I would have done whatever,
and I just can’t believe we aint together
and I wanna play it cool but i'm losing you
I buy you anything, I buy you any ring,
and im in pieces baby fix me and you shake me til’ you wake me from this bad dream.
I’m going down down down down
and I just can’t believe my first love won’t be around.
And I’m like…

http://lyricsmusicvideo.blogspot.com/2010/01/justin-bieber-ludacris-baby-lyrics.html

[Chorus]
Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you’d always be mine, mine (repeat)

[Ludacris]
Luda, When I was 13 I had my first love,
there was nobody that compared to my baby
and nobody came between us, no-one could ever come above
She had me going crazy, oh I was star-struck,
she woke me up daily, don’t need no Starbucks.
She made my heart pound, I skip a beat when I see her in the street and
at school on the playground but I really wanna see her on the weekend.
She knows she got me dazing coz she was so amazing
and now my heart is breaking but I just keep on saying….

[Chorus]
Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you’d always be mine, mine (repeat)

Now I’m gone,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
now I’m all gone.
Gone, gone, gone, gone, I’m gone.

YouBihar.com in the news

2010-08-17T01:41:00.000-07:00

Due to the growing popularity of Youbihar.com it was mentioned in an American News channel. Youbihar happens to the biggest social networking site in the world in relation to Bihar.

Bhojpuri Songs and Bhojpuri Mp3

2009-09-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri Songs and Music are very popular in not only Bihar and Uttar Pradesh but throughout India. This is due to the numerous Bhojpuri singers that have come out of Bihar and UP. Previously it was thought that Bhojpuri was the language of the rustics but now it has come to be known that Bhojpuri is an ancient language and culture.

Till the 19th century, the Kaithi and the Persian script was utilised to write the Bhojpuri language. But that gave way to the Devanagri script, the script that is used to write Hindi.

Many Hindi films are now placing Bhojpuri songs so that it can reach a vast Bhojpuri audience. A Bhojpuri song can now enable a Hindi film to become a major hit. Nowadays Bhojpuri MP3 can be downloaded on mobile phones. Such is the growing popularity of the Bhojpuri songs.

It is estimated that Bhojpuri has the ability to take over the Hindi film industry. This because after Hindi, Bhojpuri is the second largest spoken language outside India.

A very disturbing video

2009-08-31T03:21:00.000-07:00

This is a very disturbing video that was posted on the Bhojpuri networking site - YouBihar. The moderator has decided not to remove the video so that it can be a lesson for the people of Bihar and the rest of India not to do such things. Often people from Bihar and other states jump on top of the trains and are unware of the dangers. This video is disturbing but a lession can be learnt. We should prevent people form riding on top of trains. Our humble request is to make aware the dangers of riding on top of trains.

Find more videos like this on YouBihar.com

Kaithi script for Bhojpuri

2009-08-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

The Kaithi script was once used for writing Bhojpuri. This script is also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi" script. It is attributed to the Kayastha group or caste of Bihar and Northern India. It is thought that it is they who used this script. This is because they were vastly employed in the courts of kings as scribes and accountants and of employed at high positions. Hence the script used by them was called the Kaithi script. During the British rule this script was recognised as an official script of Bihar. The script however lost its importance and gave way to the Devanagri script, the script that is used to write Hindi.

The Nastaliq Farsi script used in Bhojpuri

2009-08-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

In the olden days Bhojpuri was written in the Nastaliq script. It is a Persian script developed in Iran. It was widely used up to the 19th century till Devanagri took over. Interestingly Bhojpuri was also written in this script which is also called the Farsi script. It is still used in countries such as Afghanistan (Dari, Baluchi, Uzbek, Turkmen), Pakistan (Punjabi, Urdu, Saraiki), India (Urdu, Rekhta, Kashmiri), theTurkic Uyghur language and in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

The Bhojpuri Language

2009-08-13T02:50:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri, or, if the word were strictly transliterated, Bhojpuri is properly speaking the language of Bhojpur, the name of a Town and Pargana in the north-west of the District of Shahabad. It is place of some importance in the modern history of India.

The town is the original headquarters of the Dumraon Baj, and the battle of Buxar
a few miles to its west. Politically, it belongs to Bihar. It was from its neighbourhood that the famous Bundelkhand heroes, Alha and Udan, traced their origin, and all its associations and traditions point to the west and not to the east.

The area covered by Bhojpuri is, in round numbers, some fifty thousand square miles. So far, therefore, as regards the number of its speakers, it is much more important than the other two Bihari dialects put together. This division of the dialects of Bihari into two groups, an eastern consisting of Maithili and Magahi, and a western, Bhojpuri, commends itself on both linguistic and ethnic grounds. The two eastern dialects are much more closely connected with each other than either is connected with Bhojpuri In grammatical forms, Maithili and Magahi have much in common that is not shared by Bhojpuri, and, on the other band, Bhojpuri has peculiarities of declension and conjugation which are unknown to the other two.

Bihar and Bhojpuri Networking

2009-08-06T06:11:00.001-07:00

It is important for Biharis and people who speak Bhojpuri to popularize the culture of Bihar and Bhojpuri. It is often suggested that Bhojpuri is a rustic language but it is far from it. Bhojpuri is a sweet and very pleasing to the ear.

Visit YouBihar.com

Bhojpuri Films

2009-08-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

In Indian movies the languages spoken in the villages of UP, Bihar, South Nepal, and North Jharkhand are often collectively referred to as Bhojpuri. Sticking to home made Indian family dramas and throwing in some glam faces and foreign locations for a cool feel; Bhojpuri movies are often outperforming the Bollywood cinemas at the box office these days. Most Bhojpuri films are made on really tight budget and usually gross severeal times their costs at the box office, which is much higher than any Bollywood movie.

Actors who have appeared in or are about to appear in Bhojpuri films are Ajay Devgan, Juhi Chawla, Raj Babbar, Rati Agnihotri and starlet Nagma. Indian actor Ravi Kishan, widely known as ‘Bhojpuri Amitabh Bachhan’, is entering into Nepali films with the movie ‘Sathi Re’.

Jai Bhojpuri

2009-08-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Bhojpuri is one of the most talked languages of Bharat, mainly spoken in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, western part of Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal, Mauritius, Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad, Fiji, Singapore, Holland, Malaysia, Uganda and other countries. Bhojpuri todat represents many accents, tones, behaviors, idioms of the languages such as Awadhi, Braj bhasha, Kortha, Nagpuria, Magahi, and Maithili languages.

The Bhojpuri People have settled in very large number in Fiji, Mauritius, Surinam, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and in many other parts of the Globe some 150 yrs ago and adopted their new homeland and many of them have become ruler of their adopted home land.

As you can see, Bhojpuri has flourished and developed along with its people who speak it. Bhojpuri and many other closely related languages such as Maithili and Magadhi, are collectively known as the Bihari languages. Bhojpuri shares its vocabulary with Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and other Indo-Aryan languages of northern India. Bhojpuri in its earlier time was written in various scripts by various people. For example, Bhojpuri until late 19th century was commonly written in Kaithi script as well as the Persian script.

The Bhojpuri language is part of the Eastern Hindi or Bengali group of languages once spoken in the region of Assam and Bengal to holy town of Varanasi. If the Indian government grants Bhojpuri the status of a national language then it will become the third most spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali. While the rest of Bihar and UP slowly took up the new Hindi standard, Bhojpuri remained in strength in the areas between Patna and Benares.

Nowadays, several Indians in the West Indies and South America still speak Bhojpuri as a native or secondary language. The Bhojpuri language has been under heavy influence by the other languages where they flourished. Total Number of People who can understand the language in neighboring Nepal exceeds more than 12 million but who speak it as first or second tongue are in the region of 4 million. In Kathmandu, Music FM broadcasts Bhojpuri songs and some daily shows in the language.

Devdas in Bhojpuri

2009-07-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

Bollywood item girl Rakhi Sawant actor and Bhojpuri actor, Ravi Kishan will be "Devdas". "Devdas" will be made in Bhojpuri and the producer will be Umesh Singh, while the film's director Kiran Kant Verma. Ravi Kishan has decided that he will continue to work in Bhojpuri films.

बॉलीवुड अभिनेता और आयटम गर्ल राखी सांवत के मुंह बोले भाई रवि किशन भोजपुरी में बन रही "देवदास" की मुख्य भूमिका मे नजर आएंगे। भोजपुरी में बनायी जाने वाली "देवदास" के निर्माता उमेश सिंह है। जबकि इस फिल्म के निर्देशक किरण कांत वर्मा है। रवि किशन अभिनीत हिन्दी फिल्म "लक" प्रदर्शित हो गई है। रवि मणिरत्नम की फिल्म "रावण" और श्याम बेनेगल की फिल्म "वेल डन अब्बा जी" में भी काम कर रहे है। रवि किशन बेनेगल की फिल्म "वेलकम टू सजनपुर" की भी अहम भूमिका में नजर आए थे। हालांकि रवि किशन ने फैसला किया है कि वह भोजपुरी फिल्मों में काम करना जारी रखेंगे। उन्हौंने हाल ही में पांच भोजपुरी सिल्में साइन की है। रवि किशन ने कहा कि वह देवदास की भूमिका निभाकर काफी खुशी महसूस करेंगे।

Source

Places to See in Bodh Gaya

2009-07-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Bodh Gaya, located in the Indian state of Bihar is one of the popular pilgrim destinations for Buddhists and tourists across the globe. It was the place where Gautama Siddhartha attained the enlightenment while meditating under the famous bodhi tree. The place is thronged by devotees of Lord Buddha coming from various corners of the world especially from countries like Srilanka, Bhutan, Myanmar, Japan, China, Thailand and other South East Asian countries. The following are some attractive places to see in Bodh Gaya.

Information on places to see in Bodh Gaya

The Bodh Gaya is spotted with numerous temples and monasteries that exhibit architectural brilliance.

Great Buddha Statue - The eighty feet long statue is regarded as one of the most attractive sites of Both Gaya. The statue is built in the posture of 'dhyan mudra' or meditation on an inverted lotus. The raw materials used for building the statue are red granite and sand stone. The statue was built with the aid of Daijokyo Sect of Japan. Historical evidence says that it took around 7 years and involvement of approximately 12000 masons for the construction of the statue. On November 18th 1989 the Dalai Lama sanctified the statue.

Mahabodhi Temple - Under the order of emperor Ashoka a shrine was built near the bodhi tree or the tree under which the Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. The pyramid shaped temple is built with architectural dexterity manifesting four towers located at its four corners.

Dungeswari caves - The Dungneswari caves are at a distance of about 12 kilometers from Both Gaya. The caves are mysterious in nature. They display paintings and stone carvings of Lord Buddha. The graphics painted in the caves account the life story of the great preacher. One of the caves has a statue of Buddha depicting the acetic life of the sage.

Bodhi Tree - Gautama Buddha learnt the true meaning of life and death while meditating under the bodhi tree. Though the original tree no more exists but the sapling of the original bodhi tree brought from Srilanka is located in the place. Ages back, Ashoka's daughter Sanghamita had taken a sapling of the real tree to Srilanka and planted it in a place named Anuradhapura. The present bodhi tree is more than 122 years old and is still alive.

Bodhi Sarovar - The bodhi sarovar is the place where Buddha used to take bath before sitting for meditation. The pond is located to the west of the bodhi temple.

Chankarmana - The place is located toward the north of the bodhi temple. It was the place where lord was walking while pondering on the dilemma whether to share the divine knowledge with the world or not.

There are several other places to see in Bodh Gaya. You are recommended to do research on the various places of Gaya and plan your holiday trip accordingly.

Ishita has traveled almost all corners of the world. She shares her travel experience by frequently blogging in the internet. Search out for a good travel guide in the internet for details on Bodh Gaya before you plan out your trip to India.

Nalanda - The Ancient Buddhist Pilgrimage Place

2009-07-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Nalanda is a place in central Bihar, India 72 km south-east of the state capital of Patna and is part of the Buddhist Circuit that includes Bodhgaya and Rajgir. Nalanda is one of the greatest centers of learning in the ancient times. It is important to the history of India, and Buddhism. Nalanda is one of the places distinguished as having been blessed by the presence of the Buddha, it later became particularly renowned as the site of the great monastic university of the same name, which was to become the crown jewel of the development of Buddhism in India. The name may derive from one of Shakyamuni's former births, when he was a king whose capital was here.

The ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda was founded in the fifth century AD. Nalanda is well known as an ancient seat of learning. The place not only has the remains of the great university but also many monasteries, temples, and viharas built by different kings.The university found patrons in Gupta, Kushan, and Pal kings in successive centuries. Ashoka and Harshavardhana were some of its most celebrated patrons who built temples and monasteries here. Recent excavations have unearthed elaborate structures here. The university remained in prominence till 12 century AD when the Afghans attacked Bengal and burnt down this great University.

A large number of ancient Buddhist establishments, stupas, chaityas, temples and monastery sites have been excavated and they show that this was one of the most important Buddhist centers of worship and culture. During the days of Mahavira and Buddha,Nalanda was apparently a very prosperous temple city, a great place of pilgrimage and the site of a celebrated university. It is said that King Asoka gave offerings to the Chaitya of Sariputra at Nalanda and erected a temple there. Taranath mentions this and also that Nagarjuna, the famous Mahayana philosopher of the second century A.D., studied at Nalanda. Nagarjuna later became the high-priest there.

There are several places to see and visit near Nalanda. Rajgir is around 12km from Nalanda and a famous pilgrimage center for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. There are many places of interest here such as the Swarna Gufa, Griddhakuta Parvat, and Vishwa Shanti Stupa etc. Lauria Areraj is a 11.5 m high Ashokan column, erected in 249 BC. The polished sandstone pillar has six edicts on it. Lauria Nandangarh is the site of the famous Lion pillar, erected by king Ashoka. The 8.5 m polished sandstone column also has an edict engraved on it. The Nandangarh stupa, nearby, is believed to house the ashes of the Buddha.

The events and festivals of Nalanda attract tourists from far and away. Unique in Nalanda is the Chhath Puja, or worship of the Sun god. The most famous one is at the Sun temple in Baragaon near Nalanda, where new paddy, sweets, and fruits are offered in worship.

The Indian village of Nalanda is easily accessible through air, road and rail from the other major Indian cities and states. The village has a good network of roads that connects it to the other cities of Bihar state.

For more informations on Buddhist monasteries please visit
http://buddhisttours.net/buddhist_monastry.htm For complete informations about Buddha, Buddhist Pilgrimage an buddhist tours in India & Nepal please visit http://buddhisttours.net/

Patna - A Great City

2009-07-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

The historical and ancient city of Patna--formerly called Pataliputra, Kusumpur, and Azimabad--is the capital of Bihar and a well-known educational and medical hub. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world, Patna finds mention in the Mauryan Historian Megasthene's 'Indika', and also the famous Chinese traveler Fa-Hien's accounts. Patna was the capital of several great dynasties such as the Nandas, Mauryas, Sungas and even the Guptas.

The city has a rich religious past also. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism thrived and prospered here. The founder of Buddhism Gautam Buddha passed through Patna during the last years of his life and predicted a great future for the city. However, he also predicted its ruin from flood and fire. The tenth Guru of the Sikhs Guru Gobind Singh was born here.

Patna was also once a renowned centre of trade and commerce. The French, Dutch, Danes and Portuguese fought fierce battles to control the trade of the city that dealt with silk, saltpeter and calico, apart from several other goods. Actually, Peter Mundy, a British historian, described Patna as "the greatest mart of the eastern region".

Attractions

Patna is dotted with several attractions that include, among others, Gol Ghar, Takht Shri Harmandir Saheb, Kumhrar, Mahatama Gandhi Setu, and Patna Museum that beckon the visitors to visit the place time and again.

Gol Ghar is a huge granary made by the British. It offers stunning views of the city and the Ganges flowing by. Takht Shri Harmandir Saheb is a famous place of pilgrimage for the spiritually inclined people, especially the Sikhs. It was here that the tenth guru of the Sikhs Guru Gobind Singh was born. Kumhrar is a historical sight and has impressive ruins (600 BC to 600 AD). It has a small museum also with certain antique objects that showcase the glory of the Mauryan Dynasty.

Mahatama Gandhi Setu is one of the longest river bridges in the world. It connects Patna with North Bihar and offers panoramic views of the Ganges and the surroundings areas. Patna Museum-locally known as Jadu Garh--is a wonderful museum with more than 57000 articles of import. Much famous for its many stone/bronze sculptures, the Patna Museum also has several terracotta figures that throw much light on the historical and cultural background of the state. However, the pride of the museum is the Didarganj Yakshi that much attracts the visitors.

http://www.indianexcursion.net/buddist-circuit/bihar-buddhist-circuit.html

Buddhist Tour of India

2009-07-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

India is one of the most spiritual countries of the world. Many religious leaders from all over the world have visited this country in search of spirituality and salvation. Two of the prominent religions that is Jainism and Buddhism originated from India. It is from the Indian state of Bihar that Buddhism first emerged. Bodhgaya, located in Bihar is the birth place of Buddhism, where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment after meditating for three days and three nights. Later on Buddhism spread to other parts of the world like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Japan, Tibet, etc. Many Buddhist scholars and preachers from these countries visited India which led to greater exchanges of culture and tradition.

India and its adjoining country Nepal are important Buddhist tour destinations. The Buddhist tour of India will not only be a simple religious tour but will also provide great opportunity to explore the rich architectural splendor of some mesmerizing monuments. The Buddhist tour of India will take you through some amazing destinations like Bodhgaya, Patna, Varanasi, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Lumbini, Dharamshala, Tawang, Sikkim, etc. Buddhism gained popularity in India around 5th and 6th century BC. All the Buddhist destinations of India have great legacies associated with them. These enchanting destinations are blessed with some unbelievable natural beauty.

Important Buddhist Tour Destinations
There are more 25 Buddhist destination all over the India. Most of these destinations have someway been part of the Buddha's life. They were either visited by Buddha or were later associated as important Buddhist teaching centers. Each site is popular for some particular reason. Some of the popular Buddhist tour destinations of India are Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Patna, Varanasi, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Lumbini, Dharamshala, Tawang, Sikkim, etc.

Bodhgaya is one of the most revered Buddhist pilgrimage destinations of India. This is the place where prince Gautam attained enlightenment and came to be known as Lord Buddha. There is a Bodhi Tree standing tall which is believed to be descendant of the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. It has become an important pilgrimage destination. Another important destination is Lumbini. It is the place where lord Buddha was born, so it is an important Buddhist tour destination. Lumbini located near the foothills of Himalaya in Nepal is a beautiful destination.

Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh where Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai lama lives has emerged as an important Buddhist tour destination. Each year large number of Buddhist followers specially from the western countries visit this town and offer prayers at his temple.

Buddhist Heritage tour in India
Being the origin of place from where Buddhism emerged , India houses some incredibly mesmerizing monuments all over the country. These monuments have become an important heritage site of the Buddhists and are well spread all over the country. Some of these monuments are as old as the Buddhist religion itself and have become impeccable part of the history. Bodhgaya, the place where Buddha attained his enlightenment houses some truly wondrous monuments. Mahabodhi Temple which has been listed as a world heritage site is an amazing monument. It is one of the earliest temple built in India around 5th century BC. King Ashoka is considered to be the founder of the this temple.

Another important Buddhist heritage site in India are caves of Ajanta and Ellora. The paintings and sculptures of these caves tell the story of earlier era of Buddhism in India. One can find the traces of Viharas or monasteries in these caves. These monasteries have the carvings of Buddha, bodhisattvas and many Buddhist saints on the wall. Ratnagiri located in the Jajpur district of the Orissa is an important Buddhist heritage site. This heritage site which is believed to have been built around 5 A.D and is an important Buddhist heritage destination. Two large monasteries were unearthed whose establishment date goes back to 6th century BC.

Apart from them, there are many other important Buddhist heritage sites in India. Places like Nalanda, Sarnath, Tawang, etc are home to many interesting heritage site.

Buddhist Festivals and Fairs
In India many Buddhist festivals are celebrated quite joyously. As it is the birth place of Lord Buddha, there are many festivals which celebrate the life and teachings of the Buddha. Some of the major Buddhist festivals are Buddha Purnima, Losar, Hemis Fair, Asalha day etc. Buddha Purnima is celebrated every year during full moon in the month of Vaisakh (April/May). It believed that Buddha was born on this day and later in his life he attained enlightenment on the same day.

Losar, the Tibetan new year is celebrated in large part of country specially among Buddhist community of north-east and Ladakh. This festival usually falls in the month between February and March. Another popular Buddhist fair is the popular Hemis Fair celebrated in Ladakh. This festival celebrates the birth of Indian saint, Guru Padmasambhava, who had spread Buddhism in India. This festival is held for two days. The highlight being sacred mask dances that are performed by the monks.

For more information on
Buddhist Pilgrimage in India
Lumbini in Nepal

Rural Marketing -Indian Experience

2009-07-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Market segmentation is one of the primary behavior that a marketing firm takes up to categorize and choose the consumer segment to target. In the process of segmentation, the market is split into groups of customers with similar needs and behavioral or motivational characteristics which constitute distinct market opportunities. India is the second largest consumer market in the world. With over 1 Million potential customers, it comes as no surprise why consumer goods companies see India as fertile ground for expansion and growth. An analysis of the demographic structure of Brazil, China, India and South Africa suggests that these countries are amongst the largest developing countries1. India for instance has 75% of the population in the rural areas, and so is it for China.

The rural market is escalating. The attraction of rural markets lies in their size as mass market. Every year about 2 million households are added. With a number of new players entering the fray the urban market gets crowded. With antagonism getting hotter the manufacturers are struggling to hold on to their market shares. As a result they have to look for new pastures. The obvious choice is to go to villages where the market has not been fully exploited. Many of the national and multinational companies have come to realize this and are gearing themselves for exploiting the potential. There are several companies engaged in increasing their products and marketing to the worldwide economy.

Indian Rural Markets - A picture

The rural market of India is large and scattered and it consists of 63 crore consumers spread throughout the country. More than 70% of the rural income is from agriculture. The consumers standard of living is poor because of low literacy, backwardness savings etc. The rural consumers believe in old customs. As of April 2003, the size of the rural market was anticipated to be Rs.50, 000 crore2.By July 2003, the number of credit cards issued under the Kisan Credit cards scheme was 24 million against 17.7 million credit and debit cards issued in urban areas3.Consumer behavior studies have revealed several insights into the values, changing lifestyles, factors influencing individual decision-making and buying patterns of the rural consumer. For ex: Iodex, a pain balm was used to massage the muscles of cattle. In Bihar, Horlicks was fed to 'fatten up' cattle. Companies like Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), Coca-Cola,LG Electronics,Britannia,Colgate -Palmolive and Standard Life have been actively involved in serving the rural markets sine the past few years. For Ex. 50% of HLL's sales come from rural markets.

1http://business.wri.org/newsrelease_text.cfm?NewsreleaseID=286
2http://www.xe.com/ucc/
3 http://www.nabard.org/roles/kcc.thm

Problems in the Booming Rural sector

Although the rural market does offer a vast untapped potential, it should also be recognized that it is not easy to operate in rural market because of several problems. Rural marketing is thus a time consuming affair and requires considerable investments. The major problems are:

v The number of people below poverty line has not decreased in any appreciable manner.
v Nearly 50% of the villages in the country do not have all weather roads.
v Rural areas are scattered and it is impossible to ensure the availability of a brand all over

the country.
v The Literacy rate is low as compared to urban areas. This again leads to problem of

communication for promotion purposes.
v The kind of choices of brands that an urban consumer enjoys is different from the choices

available to the rural customer.

The 4 A Approach

The rural market may be alluring but is not without its problems. Rural-urban linkages flows of agricultural and other commodities from rural-based producers to urban markets, both for local consumers and for forwarding to regional, national and international markets and in the opposite direction, flows of manufactured and imported goods from urban centers to rural settlements.
The more daring MNCs are meeting the consequent changes of availability, affordability, acceptability and awareness ( The 4As).

Availability

The first and foremost challenge is to ensure availability of the product or service. However given the poor state of roads, it is an even greater challenge to regularly reach products to the far-off villages. Over the years, India's largest MNC, Hindustan Lever a subsidiary of Unilever has built a strong distribution system which helps its brands to reach the interiors of the rural markets. To tap these unexplored country markets, LG has set up 45 area offices and 59 rural/remote offices.

Affordability

The second challenge is to ensure affordability. With low disposable incomes, products need to be affordable to the rural consumers, most of whom are on daily wages. Some companies have addressed the affordability problem by introducing small unit packs. Fro ex. Godrej recently introduced three brands of Cinthol , Fair Glow and Godrej in 50 gm packs, priced at Rs.$-5 meant for specifically for Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Acceptability

The third challenge is to gain acceptability for the product or service. One company, which has reached rich dividends by doing so, is LG Electronics. In 1998, it developed a customized TV for the rural market and christened it Sampoorna. It was a runaway hit selling 100,000sets in the very first year.

Awareness

Mass media is able to reach only 57% of the rural population. With large parts of rural India inaccessible to conventional advertising media - only 41 of rural households have access to TV- building awareness is another challenge. LG Electronics uses vans and roads to reach rural customers. The key dilemma for MNCs eager to tap the large and fat-growing rural market is whether they can do so without hurting the company's profit margins.

Role of rural retailing

Retailing is the final phase of the distribution channel and it is clear by now that its availability and distribution that drives growth in rural Indian markets. Hence, retailing will be significant and will undergo greater organization and maturity as is being witnessed in the urban markets, even in the rural markets. Innovative retail models which take in to account the nuances of rural market is the way forward.

Recommendations

v The business model for rural retail can be successful only when integration between the

profit and social motive is apparent.
v The model should empower the rural consumer and at the same time take advantage of

this empowerment through creation of demand for its own products and that of its partners.

R.Gayathri, Devi M.A,M.Phil (P.hd)
gaymenaka@yahoo.co.in

Aryabhatta, The Indian Mathematician

2009-07-25T06:02:00.001-07:00

Aryabhatta (476-550 A.D.) was born in Patliputra in Magadha, modern Patna in Bihar. Many are of the view that he was born in the south of India especially Kerala and lived in Magadha at the time of the Gupta rulers; time which is known as the golden age of India. There is no evidence that he was born outside Patliputra and traveled to Magadha, the centre of education and learning for his studies where he even set up a coaching centre. His first name "Arya" is hardly a south Indian name while "Bhatt" (or Bhatta) is a typical north Indian name even found today specially among the "Bania" (or trader) community.

Whatever this origin, it cannot be argued that he lived in Patliputra where he wrote his famous treatise the "Aryabhatta-siddhanta" but more famously the "Aryabhatiya", the only work to have survived. It contains mathematical and astronomical theories that have been revealed to be quite accurate in modern mathematics. For instance he wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8 then added to 62,000 then divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). But his greatest contribution has to be zero. His other works include algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, quadratic equations and the sine table.

He already knew that the earth spins on its axis, the earth moves round the sun and the moon rotates round the earth. He talks about the position of the planets in relation to its movement around the sun. He refers to the light of the planets and the moon as reflection from the sun. He goes as far as to explain the eclipse of the moon and the sun, day and night, the contours of the earth, the length of the year exactly as 365 days.
He even computed the circumference of the earth as 24835 miles which is close to modern day calculation of 24900 miles.

This remarkable man was a genius and continues to baffle many mathematicians of today. His works was then later adopted by the Greeks and then the Arabs.

Read about Aryabhatta and his mathematics.

Madhubani Paintings - Age Old Customs Depicted on Walls

2009-07-25T06:01:00.000-07:00

Madhubani paintings are known to be the pride of whole Mithila region in North Bihar, India. It is an expression of people's sensitivity towards age old custom and beliefs. Madhubani paintings depict themes which revolve around Hindu deities like Rama-sita, Radha Krishna etc.

People of Mithila take pride in sticking to their age old customs and beliefs because this region was the first to come under the influence of Aryan culture. Madhubani paintings play a major role in popularizing the customs which were associated with the mythological characters which are mentioned in holy Vedas- Puranas

Though madhubani paintings are in existence since the time or Rama and Sita, it became popular in early 1960s. Madhubani paintings were painted on mud coated walls and were a monopoly of womenfolk of MIthila region. This art has been passed down from the older generation, from mother to daughter. However now men have also joined them to meet the ever rising demand.

Madhubani paintings were made on walls to celebrate social happenings mainly wedding .Only natural colors were used to paint. Turmeric for yellow, grass for green, henna leaves etc were used to give the madhubani painting the original and traditional look.

Madhubani paintings in its present from became popular when famine struck north Bihar in 1960s. Womenfolk were encouraged to paint these madhubani paintings on paper so that it could be sent out of mithila region. Since then this wall painting was commercialized in real sense. Initially only natural color were used to paint madhubani paintings, but later synthetic color were used to meet the ever rising demand. Today madhubani paintings can be found adoring the home of any art lover whether in Mithila or Manhattan.

for madhubani paintings, please visit: http://www.madhubanipaintings.com/

Origins of Chandragupta

2009-07-25T06:00:00.002-07:00

Chandragupta or Chandra Gupta Maurya was the grandfather of “Ashoka the Great” and founder of the Mauryan dynasty in India. He was the first of the great kings originating from Bihar (ancient Magadh) in the third century BC. It is known that he had a humble beginning. Several theories have been postulated about his beginnings. Two of them seem most appropriate.

His parents having passed away, he was sold by his uncle to a trader. One day he was playing with other boys. He was given the role of a king where he gave judgements to his subjects. Nearby Vishnu Gupta (also know and Kautilya or Chanakya) watched. He bought the boy from the trader and brought him to Taxila University (now in modern Pakistan) where Chanakya taught him the art of political science.

Other story indicates that he was a son of a Nanda king. His mother was a princess called “Mura” but more likely a maid. He was brought up like a prince in the royal Nanda palace. The Nanda rulers were powerful but highly unpopular. Chankya was a Brahmin courtier humiliated by the Nandas. He met Chandragupta and brought him to Taxila.

Some speculate that he was either a Shudra or Vaishya by caste and his family was involved in taming peacocks (Mayura in Sanskrit, Mor in Hindi/Magadhi and Mora in Pali is peacocks). Some Buddhist texts have indicated that he might be of the “Sakya clan” as of the Buddha. But some historians suggest that this might be an attempt to associate the Mauryas and Buddha together as originators of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

Chandragupta plotted to invade Magadh with the help of the Macedonian army of Alexander. However the idea failed hence he gathered an army of his own and invaded the outskirts of Magadh and finally defeated the Dhanananda, the last of the Nanda kings in 321 BC. He established himself the king of Magadh with Chanakya his advisor and prime minister. It was this Maurya dynasty that covered a large part of India giving the concept of one unified India.

http://www.bihar.ws today is a great and exciting place to visit. History of Bihar is the history of ancient India.