PXylem

By Anurabh Sinha, Guest Writer

The biography is titled 'Vikram Sarabhai~a life~' authored by Amrita Shah.

This biography by Amrita Shah delves deep into the real character behind the name Vikram Sarabhai. The biography starts by taking us into Vikram Sarabhai’s childhood. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he had a princely childhood. His doting parents ensured that he was reared up in the best possible fashion.

As a toddler, Vikram turned out to be noticeably energetic and showed flashes of his brilliance during the growing up years. His love affair with Science began in his school days when he worked in his specially constructed ‘home-labs’. With the passage of time, the interest became a full fledged passion.

Coming from a highly renowned family made things pretty easy for him as he traveled world wide meeting some of the greatest scientific minds of his time. The book has some very engaging episodes of his encounters with the likes of Millikan, Raman and Bhabha.

The author very successfully unravels different facets of the great man’s personality. To his children, he was the most doting father they could have had, often taking on the mantle of a ‘single parent’ to help his wife pursue her passion for dance. On the family front though, all was not well.

There was always the shadow of the ‘other woman’ looming large. He was quintessentially a man who could charm people and get the best out of them. Man management was something that came naturally to him, whether it was working with a grass root level worker or with the top brass.

A philanthropist to the core, Sarabhai was instrumental in the setting up of some of the best institutes in the country to date, including the IIM Ahmedabad. This was his humble contribution towards the greater cause of nation building. He was someone who had his own views on serious issues like nuclear technology and space exploration.

Counted amongst the greatest scientists of his time, these were also the issues that were close to his heart. Towards the later stages of his life, he had a tough time handling men with political inclinations.

The author has done tremendous amount of research in coming up with this biography making it a very interesting read. Loads of amusing incidents and anecdotes are scattered throughout the book. This apart, there is also a rare collection of photographs tracing the life of Sarabhai from a toddler to the Vikram Sarabhai known to us. Once you have started with the book, you won’t feel like putting it down.

NEW DELHI,INDIA

The Indian Idol III would be remembered for some special reason – it has been politicized entertainingly. Political leader do take the mass appeal of actors and actress for their political gains. But it has been first time witnessed that the most powerful persons of India UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meeting with the contestants and showing their interest towards a purely entertainment programme Indian Idol.

Since the first day of it’s beginning, Indian Idol has been inviting artists as guests from Indian film industry, Bollywood. Explicitly, it is a not a new phenomenon that has been added in the show. However, in recent times it has become the best marketing tool to promote any programme.

What could be the possible arithmetics done on the part of media advisers of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh that led them to appear for the photo shoot with the contestants of the Indian Idol? Answer to this can be simple and straight as a stick; and may be very complex with multiple rings of political cobwebs. It is very tough to answer.

One thing is sure, the media advisers of both the two political bigwigs Sonia and Manmohan did honest political manthan, atma manthan (introspection) before suggesting them to appear with Amit and Prashant, the two last finalists of the show.

If one sees from the other perspective of the show, that is, from the promoter and the marketing team fence, the appearance of Sonia and Manmohan Singh came as a winning situation.

The primary reasons that prompted Sonia and Manmohan Singh to align towards the participants may be counted on the popularity of the contestants Amit and Prashant in their respective regions or say on the creed they belongs to. Amit Paul is a bengali and Prashant is a Nepali. Associating them might help the grand old party Congress to score it in the vote bank politics.

Moreover, it may give the party to sneak and penetrate into the mass fans of the two. Now, when mid-term poll is looming large over the nation, and where no party wants an isolation from the youth; a rapport build – up with the contestants might help in the long run or in the short run.

It is not that every act on the part of the politicians should be scanned and given a political twists and turns. They being the powerful persons of a country it becomes their responsibility to encourage the youths who are talented and enthusing them to excel in their respective fields.

New Delhi

In every game there is a winner and a loser. So is the case in the Indian Idol musical extravagant show where two titans Amit Paul and Prashant Tamang fought for the crown. And after stiff competition between the fans of the two, at last the Darjeeling boy clinched victory and won the Indian Idol title.

Prashant Tamang is the third Indian Idol who was coveted with the title. The first Indian Idol was Abhijeet Sawant. It is reported that in the history of Indian reality television the volume of the total votes that the Indian Idol III procured is a record in itself. According to the reports, 7 crore votes it garnered, which comes as an eye-opener about the popularity of the show and the mass appeal of the final contestants.

Now when the Indian Idol III has come to its end. The show will be remembered for its outstanding performances of the contestants. All the contestants were at par against each other. They were from different background and regions of India. If there was Amit Paul from Shillong, there was Prashant Tamang from Darjeeling; and not to mention Emon from Kolkata, Ankita Mishra from Kanpur, Meiyang Chang from Dhanbad, Parleen Singh Gill from Jammu.

Those who were closely watching the show from the beginning knows it was unexpected that Prashant would reach to this stage and will steal the show. Prashant's path to success isn't simple as it seems. It is very unnatural a policeman would try for a competition. But he tried and went through all the tests that all participants underwent.

The West Bengal Police Department must be appreciated that they allowed him to participate in this musical extravaganza. Now,when he has brought glory to the police force and West Bengal police in particular, the personnel employed in the forces might think of their unexplored and latent talent.

It is worth mentioning, the runner up of the show Amit Paul was not lesser talented than Prashant Tamang. He has got everything that a contestants wants; moreover he was bestowed more than that. He swayed the whole nation by his singing talent. But in the game of electronic SMS votes and call, all that matter is the volume.

Now when the game is over, here comes the testing times of both the singers Amit Paul and Prashant Tamang to prove their mettle that also in the real world where there is no winners and runner-ups. Let us hope they will be able to make a space in the musical world of India.

NEW DELHI,INDIA

Top 2 finalists of the Indian Idol III, Amit Paul and Prashant Tamang are now face to face in the run to win the title. Between the two of them, one is our next Indian Idol and the other is the runner-up. But no body knows who will be the Indian Idol and the other a runner – up.

Hopefully, for two of them this is their golden period, they have left behind Emon, Mayang Chang, Ankita, Parleen, Charu and many innumerable contestants.

From the beginning of the show it was unexpected; Prashant will reach to this stage of the show. Being the avid Indian Idol fan, I can realize and imagine how the Nepalis from different part of the world and West Bengal police department in particular, would be feeling; they would be feeling proud with the success Prashant was bestowed upon.

But, the success that Prashant is showed upon was not planned and achieved in a day. He has struggled a lot during the whole period of the show. Sometimes he got demoralized and criticized facing tough competitions from Emon, Amit and Chang. And it was all live. The whole nation has witnessed when judges were giving honeyed comments to almost all the contestants, and he was left out.

Though he was giving his best shot in his singing capability and judges claps in his performance; and whatever you would like to call this – God Grace or Public Grace. Fortunately, he has never being in the bottom. Now, he is going forward to make his community and police department proud.

What is to say about the shillong boy Amit Paul, I think he was the only easy-going contestant who has never been criticized and demoralized by the judges. Remember, the technical singer Emon was commented harshly by the judges. Not to forget every contestant was rebuked by the judges. But, the rule of the exception was broken by Amit Paul.

Let us see..who wins the title.

Ranita Sinha,Kolkata

In today's so called modern e-world a child's childhood is lost somewhere in oblivion.

My heart becomes heavy when I see my daughter busy with her sole companion - the television. Right from morning till bed time she is engrossed with cartoon network, Pogo, Disney, Nick Toon, Hungama, etc. She dresses in front of the television, she takes her food and even prefer reading her books in front of it. She can think nothing else than the cartoon characters and her video game and the computer games- the only games she is accustomed with.

Looking at her, sometimes, I remember my childhood days. Those days were so different from today's. With four siblings in the family we used to have lots of fun. We had lots of space to play too. And being in a joined family we had lots of cousins and we did not have any end to have fun. But in today's nuclear family a child is confined to a 2 to 3 bedroom flat, with no space to move around and with lots of video games and the Television, as the sole companion. But during my childhood days, we used to play lots of outdoor games like cricket, seven stones, hide and sick, kite flying, climbing trees, fishing etc. We as children were so unlike the children of today.

When children these days are busy watching television or playing video or computer games, we were busy playing the game of gilli danda, or stealing fruits from somebody else's garden, or flying kites or fishing. When today's child are computer savvy, we excelled in the art of sharpening the threads used for flying kites. If today you ask a child about the materials used to sharpen the threads, he will not be able to say the necessity to sharpen the thread. Many of them do not even know the name of games that we used to play.

It is really pathetic to see that today's children are deprived of all the fun and happiness they are supposed to have. I heartily wish if the pace of life would have spared at least these little angels.

Kailashahar, Tripura ,INDIA

Language, culture and literature - these three are the essence to mankind. The co-coordinated developments of these three characteristics are the determinants of progress for any community. It is a truth a community which has lost its culture and civilization exists like a dying or withering entity. Hence, culture and literature both together is like a soul to a community.

Language is the carrier of culture and civilization of the men. Language is an inborn acquisition to the men. Language is so natural which seems as autonomous faculty like the movement or respiration. The social temperament sprouted in the primitive men through the language, this temperament or trend expanded in different way in different direction and restored the primitive men rational and reflective.

There is a Bishnupriya Manipuri language in India which belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of language. Its structure and grammar follows the system of Sanskrit and Hindi. The initial form of this language, according to Dr. K.P.Sinha is found in a rain invoking song of 1515 A.D. But a comprehensive grammar of the language is yet to be composed.
About the Bishnupriya Manipuri language, it is a language talked by a community called Bishnupriya Manipuri.

The beautiful and delicate form that emerges on the refinement of physical life is called culture. Thought, idea, art and literature, religion, entertainment etc. of the human being are manifestation of the culture. The social life is one of the means to make man's spiritual nature towards betterment. It is closely related with the social system. The culture of Bishnupriya Manipuri community is based on spiritualism.

The Bishnupriya Manipuri embraced Chaitanyaite Baishnavism in the 18th century. Since, the initiation to Baishnavism the Bishnupriya Manipuri was influenced enormously by the Baishnavic philosophy and thought. This community has considered the Baishnavic scriptures as a means for liberation and accepted it as stair for attainment of devotion to Hari.

Probably for this reason Rasa Lila (sports of Lord Krishna with gopies, samkirtan, rakhal dance etc.) has got pivot role as a form of classical dance. There are certain very valuable and praiseworthy customs and traditions in the Bishnupriya Manipuri society. We may mention about the absence of any caste system. There are only one or two Brahmin families in a village who act as the priest in the village and perform all rituals and pujas, remaining all others are Kshatriyas.

Secondly, the Bishnupriya Manipuri does not practice dowry system which is a very significant aspect in India. Thirdly, there exists a bond of unity and fellow-feeling. For instance, when death occurs in any family of the village, it is expected that at least one male member from each household shall attend the funeral. Each family also shall have to contribute a fixed amount for performance of the rituals. Such community assistance is very helpful for the poor families in distress.

Fourthly, the aged and the superiors are always respected and given preferences in social receptions and gatherings irrespective of their economic, educational or administrative position.

Besides these, below are some of the notable common cultural features of the Bishnupriya Manipuri –

1. Avoidance of non-veg food i.e fish and flesh in rituals.

2. Wearing of garlands made of tulsi (basil) beads / wooden apple.

3. Use of tilaka is an auspicious occasion is applied at ajna chakra- the space between the two eye brows at the space of third eye.

4. To lie down in bed with head either towards the east or south.

5. Compulsory initiation irrespective of male and female.

6. Ban on shradha on the day of eleventh moon or ekadasi.

7. Planting and worship of tulsi (basil).

No human society exists without believing in super natural entities like God. The BPM community is also not an exception. The religious believes and practices which find place in the socio-religio-cultural life of the Bishnupriya Manipuri is undoubtedly derived from the Gaudiya Baishnavism which essentially saturated with the tenets of Srimadbhagavatam and other Goswami works.

Bishnupriya Manipuri which is a minority community having no home land is known to the multi cultural people in India alone for its culture

By- Remuna Sinha.( Rini )

For more interesting stories. CLICK

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A fully devoted Bishnupriya Manipuri Blog

NEW DELHI,INDIA

Indian Idol III: Amit Paul shares a common thread with Qazi of Fame Gurukul and Debojit of Sa Re Ga Ma. Explore what is the bottomline amongst them.

Amit Paul:

The Shillong lad has made the people of the hilly terrain to swell with proud. Watching the public response in the Indian Idol III towards him was amazing and exemplary. The hilly state known by Khasi and Jaintia communities going berserk against a Bengali lad is something which is hardly seen.

If there is something which is bringing the populace of Meghalaya to one stage is their affinity which they all share; and Amit Paul has did the same with the universal language of music. He has brought the picture of Shillong in the national television and in the world arena. It is a remarkable and to – be – noticed step, how a young boy made his name in the national musical show, but also given a name to the state he belongs to.

His effort will definitely infuse life to the young boys and girls of the state. They will come down to the plain and will be exploring the possibilities available here. And they will be successful since they do have musical culture. They love music, and they enjoy it. It is in their life. Chief Minister of the state Zoramthanga bestowing upon him the ambassador of peace of the state is noteworthy.

It is supposed Amit Paul is the first person who with his first shot in the musical arena was given this prestigious nomenclature ever given by a state to their budding singers. It is a different story that Amit Paul got eliminated earlier, but with the wild card entry he again came into the musical extravaganza.

And since then he is rocking the stage with his mellifluous voice. Those who are closely watching the television show will be knowing how his song Pehla…Nasha…Pehla ….Pyar …He… from the movie Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and Nasha …Ye ….Pyar ..Ka..Nasha ..He… from the movie Mann mesmerized the whole television viewers, and the judges.

In the past couple of years, in the frenzy SMS musical shows, many talented singers were thrown into the top position and they have won the game, thanks to the regional tone and tenor (read tag) they carry. They become the symbol of the state and people do everything to make them win the race. The whole machinery of young blood is poured upon them.

Debojit Saha:

In this regard, Debojit Saha who represented Assam from the region Silchar in the Sa Re Ga Ma musical show is a classic example. He won the title with the support of the state. The volume of the votes that he garnered overshadowed his rival. Not to mention the bad mouth of the judges helped him winning the show. Regional media captured the news giving the people of the state to get united in the musical maha sangram.

Qazi Tauqeer:

There is Qazi Tauqeer of Kashmir who participated in the Fame Gurukul and won the title. With the help of the regional affinity and of his charismatic personality he swayed the whole nation and ultimately won the game. He was catapulted within days as a young hero representing trouble torn Kashmir. He never passed the musical test but thanks to his fans following he was never shown the exit door.

Now the clock is back on Amit Paul. Looking at the mass response of this lad it seems he is going to be the next Indian Idol III; coronation of the title will be in the namesake only. But not to forget his competitor, Prashant Tamang, a Nepali of Darjeeling is in the grand finale. He also carries the trans-regional-national affinity of Nepalis. He never came to the danger zone, the exit door.

Fans of the two titans will definitely fight tooth and nail to make their idol win the game. It will be a close fight. Both have the mass of volume of fans heavy. And they will do everything in the sake of sake of region/ state and the cultural affinity.

Related stories of Amit Paul [1,2,3, 4]

NEW DELHI,INDIA

In my earlier post "what is the DNA of your Google mail"
You come to know how to find out the Header. And this post is the continuation of previous one.

This post would make to read and understand better your Google mail and Yahoo mail.

In the Header of the Google mail. You will find something like this.

Delivered-To: MrRakesh@gmail.com

The email address the message will be delivered to.

Received: by 10.36.81.3 with SMTP id e3cs239nzb;
Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)

The time the message reached Gmail's servers.

Return-Path:

The address from which the message was sent.

Received: from mail.emailprovider.com
(mail.emailprovider.com [111.111.11.111])
by mx.gmail.com with SMTP id h19si826631rnb.2005.03.29.15.11.46;
Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)

The message was received from mail.emailprovider.com, by a Gmail server on March 29, 2005 at approximately 3 pm.

Message-ID: 20050329231145.62086.mail@mail.emailprovider.com

A unique number assigned by mail.emailprovider.com to identify the message.

Received: from [11.11.111.111] by mail.emailprovider.com via HTTP;
Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:11:45 PST

Mr. Jones used an email composition program to write the message, and it was then received by the email servers of mail.emailprovider.com.

Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:11:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Mr Jones
Subject: Hello
To: Mr Rakesh

The date, sender, subject, and destination -- Mr. Jones entered this information (except for the date) when he composed the email.

And for IP, look for Received:from followed by the IP within square brackets [ ] e.g.

Received: from [11.11.111.111] by mail.emailprovider.com via HTTP; Tue, 12

Also importantly, there are times when you might find multiple Received: from entries, in that case, please select the last one as the valid choice.

Yahoo Mail...

To view a full header, click Full Headers in the lower-right corner of the page. A new window opens with the same message, but now also shows all the header information for that message at the top. See it? It’s got tons of computer gobbledygook, but it also has some information you can use.

You should be able to find a line that contains an 8 to 12 digit number, separated by periods. It might look something like this:

Received: from [123.456.78.91] by...

The "123.456.78.91" represents the unique IP address of the sender's ISP. Once you identify the IP address, you can run a "whois" search to determine which ISP provides this person with Internet access. If there’s more than one Received: line, read them from top to bottom (the topmost is the most recent.)

There are several utilities available on the web to run a whois search. Here's one web site that can help you to determine which service provider is responsible for the IP address.

NEW DELHI,INDIA

We all understand the utility factor attached to the Email. It is one of the fastest, reliable and personalized modes of communication. But it has been found very few understand the nuts and bolts of this communication.

About the importance of Email, it is in everyone's knowledge the role it plays in our daily life. Imagine a world where there is no tool like Email. It would be horrifying and painstaking job to communicate what we do, presently with a simple click.

We all understand the utility factor attached to the Email. It is one of the fastest, reliable and personalized modes of communication. But it has been found very few understand the nuts and bolts of this communication. We merely compose, or attached what we want to communicate and send it. That's what it has been found.

At this time when Email is progressively used for business and for many purposes, not to mention it is being used for phishing and other malicious intentions. It is of utmost priority to understand the other "messages" besides what has been sent or received by you.

Every email comes with a “Header” which is one part of an e-mail structure; call it DNA of the mail. It carries the basic fundamental information such as from whom the email comes, to whom it is addressed, date/time it was sent and the subject of the email. It is similar to an electronic postmark. Moreover, it also carries other detailed information which we usually don’t see.

This basic information comes in all brief/basic headers that most email programs automatically shows. This detail technical information can be viewed in a full header. All email programs can be set to show only brief header or full header and it is up to the users to set the program whether to view only “brief header” or “full header”.

Full header carries the information of the mail server’s name that the email passed through on its way to the recipient, and sender's IP address and even the name of the email program and its version used.

Knowledge of this information is essential for analysis and investigation purposes on cases involving email abuse, spamming, harassment, forgeries and mail-bombing. It is worth mentioning, understanding of this tool would definitely help people to counter these attacks, and save themselves from unwarranted consequences. Well, this information could not be found in a brief header.

Here we will take the case of Google mail and Yahoo mail to find out the full header.

Google Mail.

Using your id/password, login to Gmail.
Open the mail for which you wish to find the full header of the sender.
Click on the inverted triangle placed just next to Reply.

You will get something like this…

Delivered-To: MrRakesh@gmail.com
Received: by 10.36.81.3 with SMTP id e3cs239nzb; Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)
Return-Path:
Received: from mail.emailprovider.com (mail.emailprovider.com [111.111.11.111]) by mx.gmail.com with SMTP id h19si826631rnb.2007.03.12.15.11.46; Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <20070312231145.62086.mail@mail.emailprovider.com>
Received: from [11.11.111.111] by mail.emailprovider.com via HTTP; Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:45 PST
Date: Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Mr Jones
Subject: Hello
To: Mr Rakesh


In the example, headers are added to the message three times:

1. When Mr. Jones composes the email

Date: Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Mr Jones
Subject: Hello
To: Mr Rakesh

2. When the email is sent through the servers of Mr. Jones' email provider, mail.emailprovider.com

Message-ID: <20070312231145.62086.mail@mail.emailprovider.com>
Received: from [11.11.111.111] by mail.emailprovider.com via HTTP; Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:45 PST

3.When the message transfers from Mr. Jones' email provider to Mr. Rakesh's Gmail account

Delivered-To: MrRakesh@gmail.com
Received: by 10.36.81.3 with SMTP id e3cs239nzb;Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)

Return-Path: MrJones@emailprovider.com
Received: from mail.emailprovider.com (mail.emailprovider.com [111.111.11.111]) by mx.gmail.com with SMTP id h19si826631rnb; Tue, 12 September 2007 15:11:47 -0800 (PST)

NEW DELHI,INDIA

Cyber-bullying, phishing and spamming have been proliferating; you may want to discontinue usage of some of the services that portals like Google/Yahoo provide; in such cases, you had better deactivate the services rather than staying away from them.

CYBER-BULLYING, phishing, and spamming have become the order of the day in the
internet world. Often, you avail yourself of services from Google / Yahoo. Some of the services you avail yourself of have to do with the voyeuristic streak in you and hence may have to be periodically deleted or deactivated or cancelled.

At the forefront of all services is the e-mail or the electronic mail, an introductory service that everybody availed of before entering the everywhere-anywhere world of cyber age. You may seek deletion or deactivation or cancellation of a service because you no longer like the service or the password you use to access the said service may have slipped into public domain or you may have be-come a victim of unsolicited bulk e-mail (spamming).

Many of us are inclined to believe that the best way possible to shield ourselves from such menaces is by simply staying away from (i.e. by not accessing) the account. By doing so, you are not doing any good to yourself. Anyone with your username and password will not only have a free run with your personal information and contacts but may also be involved in sending malicious mail using your identity; he / she may undertake data mining to collect email addresses; he / she may send unauthorised mail via open, third-party servers; he / she may upload, distribute or disseminate unlawful, defamatory, abusive, fraudulent, obscene, or otherwise objectionable content.

Not to mention the terrorists organizations which are prowling feverishly in the internet may get hold of your Email id and use it for their nefarious plans. It may be possible. So, before it is too late and you repent it is better to delete/ deactivate or cancel your Email account or any other services which you think has been compromised.

You must remember that the Email id is your property and you owe to it, and in this regard you are solely responsible for any content that you have created, transmitted or displayed while using the services; consequently you are liable of your actions by doing so.

You have your name in the Google/ Yahoo products. You must know how to delete/ deactivate or cancel your name and the online identity since not knowing the procedure would be like you know how to start a motorbike and you are able to ride it but you don’t know how to stop it. If this is the case you could be able to imagine what would happen to you after you started riding.

Here is the procedure to delete Google Mail service:

Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
Open the Accounts tab.
Click Google Account settings.
Click Edit next to My services on the right side.
Click Delete Gmail Service.
Once you close your Gmail account, you can’t reactivate it, and you won’t be able to retrieve any messages.

Here is the procedure to delete Yahoo Mail service:

Click My Account at the top of your Mail page, beneath your ID.
To make it sure it’s you, you have to again provide your password.
In the first section of the page that opens, click Manage My Premium Services.
In the “Service” column, locate “Yahoo! Mail Plus”. Along the same line, in the column on the far right – “Action” –click View Service Details.
Now, above the “Service Summary” box, in the upper-right area of the page, click Cancel Service.

Here’s what happens when you cancel Yahoo Mail service:

Service is terminated immediately upon cancellation request, and a pro-rated re-fund for the unused portion of the service is issued upon cancellation.

Your Yahoo! Mail account reverts to the free Mail storage size and other free features. If you cancel your Mail Plus, your account turns into a free Yahoo! Mail account that you can continue to use…minus the Mail Plus features. If you’re trying to delete your Yahoo! ID and/or Yahoo! Mail account, check out the Account Deletion page.