I arrived in India early yesterday morning. I was lucky enough to get a small burst of somewhat stable internet tonight so I thought I would make a short introduction to India. I think India is amazing. It’s like no other place I’ve ever been to. That does not mean it’s all roses in the least, just different, and for me the positives out way the negatives. The country itself is beautiful. The people almost all speak good English as well. This of course has it’s down side when the beggars bombard you though. There is a lot of poverty, and that does tug at the heart strings, but there is also a lot of beauty in the quaint lives of some of the less poor. India is a country that is growing with out a doubt but they aren’t industrializing at the rapid speed of Thailand. I like that that. I think I’ve decided I like place to be either finished with industrialization or not quite started. I’ve got tons of photographs that will eventually make their way on here. I’m also learning a lot about Buddhism since this is a temple tour. Not to mention I am loving the food here!
Online edition of India’s National Newspaper Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010
JAMMU: A Srinagar court on Monday asked the government as to how was a passport issued to Major Avtar Singh, the main accused in the murder of prominent human rights lawyer Jalil Andrabi. The Crime Branch told the court that the process of his extradition had already been taken up with concerned authorities in Delhi.
The case came up for hearing before Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, Mohammad Ibrahim Wani, who directed the prosecution to explain their stand on re-investigation by March 22. The CJM also directed the prosecution to explain as to how and who provided a passport to the accused and asked it to consult his relatives in Srinagar to seek his whereabouts.
Mr. Andrabi’s brother Arshad Andrabi, who pleaded the case, told the court about the accused Major’s in-laws living in Srinagar. The family of the slain lawyer had on November 19, 2009 submitted an application before the CJM asking for re-investigation of the case, claiming that Major Avtar was not the only accused in the case. The family claimed there were four more persons who accompanied him when Jaleel Andrabi was killed in custody in 1996.
“It was the duty of this court to get into the matter that how the passport was issued to the accused and who facilitated his travel aboard. But the court has so for done nothing in that direction. This court could have called the travel records of the accused on the passport issued as all the online travel records are available with the immigration authorities of the country,” said Mr Arshad.
“The prosecution should explain its stand about the re-investigation of the case. Major Avtar’s relatives should be grilled to reveal his whereabouts. Major Avtar Singh’s sister, who lives in London, has been calling some Valley-based human rights activists,” he claimed. The prosecution sought more time to file objections into the matter and to explain its stand about the re-investigation of the case.
The Inspector-General of Police, Crime, also submitted his report on the status of extradition and Interpol warrant process as asked by the CJM during the last few hearings.
“In compliance to the orders, the requisite documents were obtained from the concerned agencies and the same have been forwarded to Assistant Director, National Control Bureau (NCB), New Delhi, for onward submission to authorities of Interpol in India,” said the IGP adding that “the finger Prints of the accused are not available with the investigation agency in Jammu and Kashmir, as was sought by the Interpol.”
In December 2009, United States Interpol-National Central Bureau, Washington, while confirming the presence of the accused in California, had sought “formal request for his provisional arrest and ex-tradition.”
Major Avtar is accused of kidnapping and later killing human rights activist Jaleel Andrabi in 1996. A red-corner notice through Interpol stands already issued against him.
This morning, the Sunday edition of the Times of India trumpeted the ascension of English to the rank of 2nd most spoken language after Hindi in this country. “125M citizens now speak the language, twice as many as the United Kingdom,” said the old standard across the front page. It is very easy for the Times’ readers to get caught up in self congratulation.
It is true that a record number of Indians have been trained in English and the 125M that claim fluency can probably understand it, with abilities ranging from basic conversational to the complex and nuanced. This is very pertinent to how India develops as a nation and as an economy. The understanding of the language has propelled India’s rise as an exporter of services. English language skills in a low-cost labor pool was the key reason for the rise of call centers, IT offshoring, legal process outsourcing, medical transcription, remote medicine, and health tourism, among others.
However, in my experience, very few of the millions are able to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively in English. The ability to develop new products and sell their wares across the world takes strong communication skills. India has produced legions of entrepreneurs who do this every day locally, but as their businesses set their sights on global markets, they need to not only understand English but also “speak” it well. There are countless good examples of Indians who are very eloquent on the global stage but more effective articulation of ideas coming from the average speaker is what the country needs in spades.
On a tangent, one test I have always used to reassure interlocutors about my own limited English language abilities was that I think in English despite fluency in several languages. I translate in my head when speaking other tongues. There are rampant colloquialisms in India that suggest most people are translating from their first language into English on the fly. (One example is the use of “only” at the end of sentences which reflects similar usage of the word in Hindi to convey emphasis.)
To be fair, Americans have dominated the world stage although their elocution skills have generally impressed me a lot less than British speakers (on average). Further, the Germans, Japanese and Chinese have all done well despite being hamstrung by language. Clearly, it takes a lot more than effective speaking to succeed. But, all else being equal, it can only help if more of the 125M start speaking up and speaking well.
Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain. – Leonardo Da Vinci
Biomimicry -> Bios(Life) + Mimesis (To Imitate)
Biomimicry- Examination of the nature , its models, its process to emulate or take inspiration to solve the human problems sustainably.
Nature is an amazing laboratory which has the best engineers in the world. No I am not taking about the engineers for the MIT’s , IIT’s but the plants , animals and microbes . They are the consummate engineers.
Biomimicry concept is not new to the world. The concept of Biomimicry as an approach of innovation has been around for a while. It has already solved many of the problems that humans were grappling with.
The coolest example of the Biomimicry is Velcro. Invented in 1941 by Swiss engineer George de Mestral, who took the idea from the burrs that stuck tenaciously to his dog’s hair. Under the microscope he noted the tiny hooks on the end of the burr’s spines that caught anything with a loop – such as clothing, hair or animal fur.
Hook-and-loop fasteners, consists of two layers: a “hook” side, which is a piece of fabric covered with tiny hooks, and a “loop” side, which is covered with even smaller and “hairier” loops. When the two sides are pressed together, the hooks catch in the loops and hold the pieces together. When the layers are separated, the strips make a characteristic “ripping” sound.
Solar cells copied from leaves, passive cooling, self – healing plastics are some of the interesting examples of Biomimicry.
15 coolest examples of Biomimicry
The Biomimicry Guild is the only innovation company in the world to use a deep knowledge of biological adaptations to help designers, engineers, architects, and business leaders solve design and engineering challenges sustainably.
Innovation Inspired by Nature. Janine Benyus (1997)
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High Court sides with women. They’re on a par with male officers, tells Centre
R Sedhuraman & Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 12. In a path-breaking judgement, the Delhi High Court today directed the Centre to offer within two months Permanent Commission (PC) to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) women officers of the Air Force and the Army at par with male SSC officers with all consequential benefits, including promotion.
At present, the Indian Army offers permanent commission to women after 10 years of SSC. This is applicable to those who were recruited after March 2009 and that too only in two streams — the Judge Adjutant General (JAG) branch and the Education corps.
Women are also recruited in Signals, Engineers, Ordnance and Air Defence but are not eligible for PC.
In the IAF, women are offered a permanent option in the Legal, Accounts and Education corps. Women chopper and transport pilots, engineering corps, Logistics and Meteorological streams are not eligible for permanent commission. At present, there are about 1,050 and 827 women officers in the Army and the IAF, respectively. Separately, the Navy has 280 women.
Strangely, and against the principles of natural justice, those women who were recruited before March 2009 were not offered any permanent commission. They simply retire after 10 years or at best get another 4 years’ extension in service. In reality, the Ministry of Defence existing policy will help the women only in 2019 when the first batch will be eligible.
Correcting this anomaly, a Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Mool Chand Garg today ruled: “Women officers of the Air Force who had opted for PC and were not granted PC but granted extension of SSCs and of the Army are entitled to PC at par with male SSC officers.”
The benefit would be extended to women officers recruited prior to change of policy ( March 2009) and the PC shall be offered to them after completion of five years. However, these benefits would be available only to women officers in service or who approached the HC but retired when the case was pending in the court, the Bench clarified.
The court made significant remark on having women in combat roles saying “the claim of absorption in areas of operation not open for recruitment of women officers cannot be sustained being a policy decision.”
The court also refused to interfere with the policy decision which does not offer PC to SSC officers across the board for men and women being on parity and as part of manpower management exercises.
The HC clarified that those women officers, who “have not attained the age of retirement available for the PC officers shall, however, be reinstated in service and shall be granted all consequential benefits including promotion, except for the pay and allowance for the period they have not been in service.”
The HC expressed the hope that with the expanding horizon of women participation in different walks of life, the respondents would be encouraged to have larger participation of women in more areas of operation both for SSC and PC.
From time to time exotic travel can be a little more challenging than anticipated so remember the saying: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In a letter home from Malaysia I said the three things I hate most in this part of the world are cockroaches, lizards and the heat: “The first two are far too big, the latter unbelievable—the kind of heat that melts you in five minutes.” It was Malaysia during its hottest season, however.
Many years ago, a three-day boat trip from Indonesia to Singapore certainly tested my (then) husband and me. The ship was headed to Mecca. It was packed. For the many who had only ‘deck passage’ (thankfully, not us), there was no room to walk around, no toilet, and no place to wash. When it was time for the few of us who were going to Singapore to disembark, a wooden gangplank was lowered way offshore and we were told to jump to the rowboats a good distance below. To complicate things, men got behind us and started to push, which caused a panic as we hung onto one another so as not to fall in the ocean. These men were there to steal our stuff, taking whatever they could grab. There was much screaming and we were certainly relieved when we were safely on shore (and glad that we had put our valuables in waterproof bags buried deep in our packs).
My sister Nancy in Morocco souk
Recent travel through Morocco was much easier than anticipated. I had heard horror stories about the souks and the young men who would drive us crazy asking to be our guide. Well, young men did approach us and one even told me that I would be “really, really sorry” for turning down his offer to show us through the medina in Fes for we were sure to be lost. But it was all rather tame. Maybe it’s because everything is rather tame after India. Also, I visited Morocco in January when it is not packed with tourists and probably more relaxed.
Letters home
“The only thing that surprises me in Jodpur is camels pulling carts of produce. Camels are new to me today but by tomorrow they won’t be as I’m going to the desert tomorrow.”
- India
Rajasthan, India
Weighing dire warnings
If you listen to all the chatter about what could possibly happen to you when you travel to foreign destinations you’d never leave home. Travel books devote pages to health and safety issues. U.S. government travel advisories are particularly discouraging. You really need to put these warnings into perspective. There are travel snobs who see themselves as intrepid and don’t want “just anyone” to follow in their footsteps, such as a co-worker of mine who kept saying I was a ‘brave girl, brave girl’ for planning a trip to Ecuador, a country he visited frequently. Being unduly fearful will keep you inside the travel bubble.
Yes, you should weigh dire warnings and indeed bad things can happen. But incidents that you hear about can be isolated and not impact on your plans. Or if they do, you may be able to make alternate arrangements. Sometimes concerns are exaggerated or misunderstood. I recall (with some embarrassment) asking the customs officer at the New York City international airport if it was safe to travel across the city to the train station. I asked him this as I handed over my passport with visas in it from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, countries I had just been to. I suspect he thought my question was ridiculous, and even insulting, and told me rather sarcastically that I had a “50-50 chance of making it alive.” Well, in those days, we were bombarded with warnings about how dangerous New York City was. But I had obviously failed to weigh such warnings.
Occasionally it can be difficult to assess the situation from home. Before we went to Peru an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale caused considerable damage to telecommunications, power lines, transportation routes, and general infrastructure in that country. The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs recommended deterring travel to the area. We altered our itinerary so that the city most hard hit was our last stop and sure enough, most of the damage had been cleared away by the time we arrived. On another trip, an erupting volcano threatened to block the highway between Mexico City and Oaxaca but the bus just drove around it. Floods prevented our overland travel from Malaysia to Thailand so we took a plane instead. A tornado flattened the Darwin airport in Australia where we were to catch our flight to Indonesia so we made alternate arrangements. All to say that if you remain calm and flexible you will usually find a way to overcome logistical challenges.
Dire warnings, Southern India
While changes to your itinerary may be disappointing, alternate arrangements can have their rewards. In a letter home from Ecuador I wrote: “We were hoping to get the train out of Riobamba to Guayaquil through the infamous Nariz des Diable (Devil’s Nose). However, El Nino wiped out the train tracks. So we took the bus and the trip was spectacular.”
Terrorist bombs have gone off in the United States, Britain and Spain, all countries much like ‘home’. Australians seem to get a thrill out of telling tourists that a bite from one of their poisonous snakes can kill hundreds of sheep. While travelling in Europe a highly educated Brit told me he would love to visit Canada but was afraid of the bears, which to me is ridiculous. This is not to trivialize the bad stuff but to suggest you not over react.
The Anticipation Two weeks after my six week journey through India I started thinking about my next destination. On the recommendation of Europeans I’d met in Delhi, I decided on Morocco. And so the research and anticipation began. Anticipating the next trip gives life a lift. It’s like the gardener who plans her spring garden in February (and I am a gardener), for dreaming about spring gets you through the winter. (The great thing about the Internet is that you can still anticipate your spring garden from the other side of the world. When in India and feeling a little homesick I spent several hours in an Internet café researching what new perennials to add to my garden.)
You can also anticipate difficulties but don’t become a creative worrier for things tend to work out well.
Letters home
“Yesterday there were mothballs in the drain in the bathroom, which was a turn off. Today I’m in a different hotel and there are no mothballs. A toad just hopped out of the drain. I chased it under the bed where it is now huddled. What else do you think can come up from drains?”
- India
You’re more appreciative of home There’s nothing like travelling in the less developed world to make you realize how fortunate you are. As I wrote to my kids from India, “big things must be expected of us for we are so privileged.”
Letters home
“Women seem to do most of the physical work. You see them walking barefoot carrying a pan of cement on their head to pave the road.”
- Indonesia
“The women wear saris, even when cutting wood or gathering hay. The men? Too many of them pee in public, spit on the street, and blow their nose using their fingers.”
- India
