Every little girl gets Babrie doll as gift on her Birth day. But most of us  don’t know when the Babrie doll was born. The Babrie doll was born 50 years back. The dream doll of every little girl is celebrating her 50^th anniversary this year. This doll was first launched in Mar 1959 by American business woman Ruth Handler.

Barbie will be seen in a new avatar to celebrate her 50^th anniversary. Barbie will don the traditional Islamic dress, Burqa, so that the girls wherever they are from should have the opportunity to play with a Barbie that they feel represents them.

It’s a new strategy for marketing the product because the original Barbie wearing English dress looks skinny and was not popular in Asian countries. Then they dressed the Barbie different dresses including Indian dress of Saari. Now if they bring a new Barbie donning the Islamic dress Burqa to get the market in the Islamic countries, is nothing to surprise.

15th Aug 1975, when India was preparing for celebration of its Independence Day in the early morning, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, was assassinated brutally by his own army, in a military coup in Bangladesh.  Thirty-four years after, the country’s Supreme Court, on 19^th Nov 2009 upheld the death sentence on five of his killers, paving the way for their walk to the gallows. Seven others, who are absconding, were also convicted to hang by the apex court. It was  a well planned coup by the Army as seen from the date they selected for their operation. The ruling of the Apex court paves the way for the execution of the former army officers, who murdered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with his wife and three sons, on August 15, 1975.

Sheikh Mujib led the country to independence in 1971 after a bloody, nine-month war against Pakistan. He was the only leader in true sense who  raised his voice against the Pakistani authorities and demanded independence for East Pakistan, after securing majority seats in the National Assembly in 1970 election by his party Awami League. Instead, the Pakistani President, sent his troops to regain control of the eastern province but  those Pakistanis were defeated with the help of India and they were made to surrender to Indian Army and Independent Bangladesh was created in 1971.

People of Bangladesh, especially new generation of today, like it or not, it is true that Bangladesh was born just because of India’s timely help and that credit goes to  the then Prime Minister of India, Smt Indira Gandhi,  most courageous lady for her bold decision. Had India not helped that time, it would have been a impossible task for East Pakistan to Achieve the Independence what they are enjoying today. As long as Bangladesh remains, Mujibua Rahman and India should be remembered. The Pakistanis (army) still unable to digest that defeat and the loss of their Eastern province  which increased the enmity with India.

Picture 1 :  Bangabandhu waves to supporters on March 23, 1971 as daughter Sheikh Hasina looks on
Picture 2 : Sheikh Mujib with Indira Gandhi in Bangladesh;

Picture 3 : Mujibur Rahman with his family members: (from left) son Sheikh Kamal, daughter Sheikh Rehana, son Sheikh Russel (on his lap), wife Fazilatunnesa, son Sheikh Jamal and daughter Sheikh Hasina (present Prime Minister Of Bangladesh)

Pix coutesy  : Bangladeshi publication “Father of the Nation” through Times of India

Kabir Suman, Member of Parliament (Trinamool Congress) said about his recent outburst on his own party and his experiences while taking up developmental works in his constituency. Following is the excerpts from the newspaper : “You have to understand that I am not a partyman in the common parlance. This is my first brush with politics and what I am seeing around me has made me very sad. I am very sorry to say that my party is full of petty and corrupt leaders at the local level who are not letting me work for the development of my constituency and there is no redressal in sight. I am so fed up with the fact that though I am an MP, I have very little freedom to work on my own. That is why I burst out at the press conference.”

“After winning the elections, I extensively toured all seven assembly segments that make up Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency and chalked out certain projects that are immediately needed. I knew that I had Rs 2 crore to spend annually on my constituency. However, when I tried to get the projects moving I faced two peculiar problems. While CPM leaders and the administration tried to throw a spanner in my plans, Trinamool leaders, too, behaved the same way. They (Trinamool leaders) want me to hand over the funds to them so that they can spend the money on items that they think are important. Needless to say, I tried to find out what their plans are and I am convinced that their intentions are dishonest.”

”I tried to attract her (Mamata Banerjee) attention to corrupt partymen in my constituency several times. Unfortunately, I was unable to convince her. Each time she tried to placate me by saying that my constituency is her constituency too, and that I should not worry. Each time she would say, ‘You rather sing a song!’ This has left me crestfallen because my problems did not get sorted out and I am feeling helpless about the fact that as an MP I am not being able to address the problems of my area.”

Source : Times of India/Kolkata/17th Nov 2009

Kabir Suman, MP (Trinamool Congress) continues :  “I have voiced my grievances against some local leaders, like Shovan Chatterjee, who have made my life hell. Now, I hope the party leaders will try to root out corruption. If this continues, then Trinamool and CPM will be two sides of the same coin. Trinamool is yet to come to power in the state. If corrupt leaders are not weeded out then imagine what will happen when they rule the state.”

“No one takes me seriously… If  I complain to Mamata Banerjee,  she asks me to sing a song instead.”

“I am amazed to hear that Mamata has called me a ‘guest’ in her party. How can she say so, when I am an elected MP? I am pained. I hope she meant the words affectionately.”

The MP has been complaining since Sunday that local Trinamool leaders are trying to “monopolise” his MPLAD funds and that they asked him to “stay and home and sign the papers”. He is upset over the way Trinamool-led Panchayats are running in South 24-Parganas — a concern shared by Mamata.

Suman’s explosive allegations indicate that not all is fine with Trinamool’s firsttime MPs and the ‘non-politicians’ hand-picked by Mamata in the Lok Sabha battle.

Source: Times of india/Kolkata/18 Nov 2009

I am back from a pilgrimage. Its a pilgrimage of different kind which is to be felt by heart, without seeing any image or idol of a God or Goddess. I am talking about Cellular jail. Cellular jail of Port Blair in the Andamans is closely associated with the freedom struggle of India. After the first mutiny of in 1857, the British rulers found new usage for these Islands and thereby started the agonizing story of the massive and awesome cellular jail. The patriots who raised their voice against the British rule, were sent to this jail. Thousands of languished for years in solitary confinement in its cells and many perished thus giving Andamans the notorious sobriquet of “Kalapani” or the black water.

To day the cellular jail s the National Memorial, a tribute to those who dared to raise their voices against the British. That’s why the visit to the Cellular jail is a pilgrimage for every Indian.The freedom what we are enjoying today is the result of the sacrifices of those who suffered for years in the solitary confinement in its small cells.

To read more about Andaman Islands, open the page ‘My India’.

1. One of the cells (above), 2. Cellular Jail complex,  3. Cellular Jail at night

VIPER ISLAND :

Viper Island, named after the shipwreck event of a British trading ship named “Viper” in 19th century, is located near Port Blair. The ruins of an olden discarded jail, built by British in 1867, with yellow colored bricks and the gallows are seen in this Island. The Island was considered as the place of penal settlement for the freedom fighters of India. This Island was part of the great Indian independence history and had witnessed the inhuman sufferings and sacrifices of Indian nationals involved in freedom struggle.

Viper Island is accessible by harbor cruise originating from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair.  This place is visited by number of tourists enroute to Portblair from  North Bay Island to find the ruins of the jail and a Gallows there. The Guide  escorted us addressed the visitors to remind the sacrifices of the freedom fighters. Listen what he said to young generation of today.

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In a rare gesture to Indians worldwide as much as to showcase his — and America’s — multicultural affections, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday lit a ceremonial Diwali lamp at the White House to “symbolize victory of light over darkness”. Although it was the Bush administration that began celebrating Diwali in the White House in 2003, Obama became the first President to personally grace the ceremony.

Deepavali is the celebration of the Light over darkness,  goodness over evil, knowledge over ignorance. Lights are lit on the auspicious day of Deepavali not just decorate the homes but also to communicate this profound truth about life. Light the lamp of wisdom and love in every heart and bring a radiant smile on every face.

On this auspicious occassion, Laxmi, the goddess of wealth is also worshiped. In this festival, sweet is distributed which symbolises the dispelling of the bitterness of the past and renewal friendship.

Wish you all a very happy Diwali. May Diwali bring all happiness, prosperity in your life in the year ahead.

In a recent climate conference, experts said that a rise of at least two meters in the world’s sea levels is now almost unstoppable. The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany’s Potsdam Institute and a widely recognised sea level expert. There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions. Most scientists expect at least 2 degrees Celsius warming as a result of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, and probably more. The world warmed 0.7-0.8 degrees last century. Rahmstorf estimated that if the world limited warming to 1.5 degrees then it would still see two meters sea level rise over centuries, which would see some island nations disappear. His best guess was a one metre rise this century, assuming three degrees warming, and up to five metres over the next 300 years. “There is nothing we can do to stop this unless we manage to cool the planet. That would require extracting the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There is no way of doing this on the sufficient scale known today,” he said.

From the above, we can understand what is the fate of this planet and our future generations, if we do not act seriously and that should start now.

This post has been written for the “Blog Action day” campaign. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s is also concerned about the climate change which has been expressed in his Blog.

US President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world “hope for a better future” and striving for nuclear disarmament. The decision to award one of the world’s top accolades to a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, came as a major surprise.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The first African-American to hold his country’s highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January 2009.

Obama himself put the award in perspective while admitting he was both surprised and humbled by it. He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of so many great transformative figures of peace . “I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishment, rather as an affirmation of American leadership of all nations,” Obama said in a brief media appearance at the White House Rose Garden, seeking to deflect some of the criticism for what many across the world feel is an award he is yet to earn and has come too early. I

t reminds us that Obama’s idol Mahatma Gandhi who was most deserved candidate for this prize ,was denied  by the then imperialist Nobel committee. Gandhi was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and finally a few days before his assassination in January 1948. The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee, though the committee never came out with the reasons for not awarding the prize to the most deserving candidate of the century. So the criticism /reactions for awarding the peace prize  of 2009 to Barack Obama, who has not done anything towards peace except dreaming ,are well justified. It is like awarding a Olympic medal before stepping into the track.

Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Nobel prize for Chemistry 2009 was declared on Wednesday in Stockholm. Indian born, US citizen,  Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the same he shared with  Thomas A Steitz of US and Ada E Yonath from Israel.  Royal Swedish Academy said that Nobel Prize was awarded to them” for studies of the structure and function of the Ribosome”. One of the core processes in life. Ribosomes generated protein, which regulate chemistry in all living organisms. Modern researches for the development of antibiotic are based on their work.

When the country was celebrating Durga Puja by worshiping Devi Durga, the symbol of women power, a young Muslim girl in a remote Jammu village turned to be “ Durga” and killed a dreaded Lashkar terrorist on Sunday. Exhibiting astonishing courage, Rukhsana Kausar confronted a group of Lashkar terrorists who had barged into their home late Sunday night. The brave girl snatched an AK-47 from one of the terrorists, and shot one to death, injured another and send the others running for their lives. Rukshana was trained by the village defence committee how to fire an assault rifle. The training helped her for the courageous act.  She said “I pushed a terrorist into the wall. I hit him with the butt of the gun and then fired several times.” It is reported that the deceased militant was identified as commander Osama, of Pakistani origin.

After bidding adieu to Maa, our waiting for her homecoming next year has started now.

Wish you all a very happy Vijaya Dashami