Diwali to be Celebrated Globally also President Barak Obama observed Diwali

Diwali also known as Deepavali occupies an important place as the festival of Lights, prosperity and happiness.



Diwali is a five days Hindu festival, and Diwali is celebrated not only in India but all over globally, where ever there are Indian's they make a point to celebrate Diwali. Also US President Barack Obama who is now known as a President seeking world peace after winning Nobel, uses a candle to light a 'diya' to observe Diwali at the White House.

US President Barack Obama celebrated Diwali by lighting the ceremonial lamp at the White House and becoming the first US President to personally grace the occasion.

"I think it's fitting that we begin this work in the week leading up to the holiday of Diwali, the festival of lights, when members of some of the world's greatest faiths celebrate the triumph of good over evil," Obama said in his remarks on the occasion at a White House function held at its historic East Room recently.

Mostly when Diwali come people in general make elaborate preparations for this festival by cleaning and decorating their homes, purchasing new clothes and fire crackers and preparing verities of sweets and distributing them to friends and neighbours and exchanging gift. On all the days of Diwali people decorate the area in front of their homes with colourful rangoli, light small earthenware lamps with cotton wickers and oil and hang kandeels (lanterns).



What is Diwali about In the five day long Diwali festival, the first day is called Dhanvantari Triodasi also called Dhan Theras (Danteras). The second day of Diwali is called Narak Chaturdasi. On this day Lord Krishna destroyed the demon Narakasur and made the world free from fear. The third day of Diwali is the actual Diwali. This is the day when worship of Goddess Lakshmi is performed (Lakshmi Pooja).



On the fourth day of Diwali, Govardhan Pooja is offered. This is the first day of Lunar New Year. On this day old business accounts are closed and new account-books are opened. The fifth day of the Diwali is called Bhau Beej. It is a day dedicated to sisters and brothers visit their sisters and give gifts to them.

One of the most common stories about Diwali is the return of Lord Ram and his wife Sita to Ayodhya after their fourteen year exile after defeating and killing the evil king Ravan of Lanka. After this victory, the entire city of Ayodhya was decorated with garlands and flowers in celebration for the arrival of Lord Ram. Ram returned to Ayodhya with Sita and was greeted with joy and celebrations and the people lighted rows of clay lamps to welcome him. The day Lord Ram destroyed Ravan was called Dasara and the day on which he returned to Ayodhya was called Diwali.



Let this diwali burn all your bad times and enter you in good times.Wishing all of you a very Happy & Prosperous Diwali

Dates of High Tides in Mumbai this Monsoon - Please Note it !

This monsoon we may have sleep less nights....
Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) published the 19 days of high tide as Red letter days in the rainy season between June 22 and September 21 for this year, this means when the crest of waves at high tide is over four meters and there is heavy rain at same time, the possibility of the city flooding is very high.

Sluice gates, which funnel flood waters from the city to the Arabian Sea, are also closed on these days, increasing the possibility of flooding if there are heavy rains. Please be alert if there are heavy rains during the afternoons.

The metropolis would experience one of the highest tide of 5.05 m in the last 100 years on July 24, 2009. Additional Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Kishore Gajbhiye said this.

''Mumbai will experience probably the biggest high tide. In July 2005, when the city had experienced floods, the high tide was of 4.85 m. On July 24 this year, the high tide will be of 5.05 m. This year, the city will experience high tide on 22 days during the Monsoon,'' Mr Gajbhiye said.

''On July 23, the high tide will be of 5.01 metres. If the high tide will be accompanied by heavy rains, the city will witness floods. In such a situation, people should take due care and not leave their homes,'' he said.

A meeting of the Disaster Management department of the BMC for pre-Monsoon preparations took place recently. Officers from police, government, army, CRPF, Meteorological department, Central Railway, Western Railway and other government departments attended the meeting. Monsoon preparations by all the departments are in full swing. De-silting work of the Mithi river had been completed 80 per cent by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), Mr Gajbiye added.

On 26th July 2005, combined with the high tides, an unbelievable 944 mm of rainfall, contributed to over 400 deaths in Mumbai region. It would be good to take note of the below dates and review your entities plans & preparations to meet any contingencies this monsoon season.



Days to watch out for this monsoon, with expected level of high tide in metres. The danger level, says the Disaster Management Cell, is 5.05 m high tide on July 24



Citiziens should not Panic and spread rumours, they should not move out of the house unless very urget on this days. Don't hesitate to call 108 for any information on the rains, compile all necessary documents in a file and keep it handy. Citizens risiding on ground floors should keep their belongings at heights, park your vehicles on high ground, where there is no water logging.

Prisoners can stand for an election in India but can not vote

World describes India as The world's biggest democracy, may be this is a reflection of what India wants. I doubt it ???.

India's people want to look ahead, but our politics and policies hark back to the past. Major national political parties sounded the bugle for the forthcoming elections over the weekend, it was depressing to see none of the them articulate a vision for India going forward. If one party invokes Gandhi, the other invokes Nehru and Indira. We still have time to alter the agenda for the elections. And I hope the discussion will be about next 5 years rather than previous 60. Because India deserves better.

New agenda in ongoing General Election 2009 - Prisoners can stand for an election in India but can not vote. Does This make any sense? The Constitution of India and the representation of the Peoples Act provide basic foundation of the Electoral System in India. Since India is a democratic country, the office of the Chief Election Commissioner plays a vital role in the election system of the Nation. It is very common to say but it is a fact that a person, who is not convicted and who is simply under trial, simply a prisoner cannot caste his vote from jail or otherwise from a place where he is detained but he can very well contest election from jail. Is it not a flashy or mockery of law that who cannot caste his vote but he can become an M.P. M.L.A. or Minister.

There are several instances in our country, where people have contested elections, while in jail, and some of them have also won
and become M.L.A.'s or M.P's, very strange to hear though.....

If u know Mohammad Shahabuddin, one of India's most notorious Criminal-Politicians, is the Member of Parliament from Siwan, Bihar, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal party of Lalu Prasad Yadav. He is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder, and is facing trial in more than thirty criminal cases including eight of murder, twenty of attempted murder, as well as kidnapping, extortion, etc he is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government of Manmohan Singh. So question here is why this was allowed then... are the laws in India made for common man ? or for criminals ...

Close to 2 lakh citizens in the country are eligible to vote but cannot. And it is not because they do not have voter ID cards. It is an irony in our election law, which states that You can contest elections in India behind bars, if your conviction is less than 2 years. But you cannot vote. And that is because the Representation Of People Act under Section 62(5) does not allow prisoners to exercise their franchise. Of the 3 lakh prisoners in the country, only about 30 percent have been convicted and are serving sentences. The rest are undergoing trial.

The ban on voting strangely does not apply to those under preventive detention. So for instance, a notorious person detained under the Goondas Act, can cast his ballot. But a person imprisoned for a relatively minor offence cannot vote. It defies the constitution. It defies common sense. And how can you treat those under preventive detention differently from under trials ?? it makes completly no-sense.

Its really a very hard time for India, to stand on its toes, otherwise days are not so far to see situation like in Pakistan here. An MP should have leadership quality and should be approachable. I would say there should be a law to qualify for contesting election, otherwise country would face serious leadership problem. Many people are there to represent our contry with vision. A need for the youth is the need for country. Our PM and President should act not just to manage their chair.

It is no doubt true that the criminalization of Politics is a matter of hot discussion throughout the Nation and all attempts are being made to check it and ensure that at least no criminal should be allowed either to contest election or to caste his vote. Very recently, pushing ahead with its agenda of keeping criminals out of politics, the Election Commission has suggested that any person convicted of a crime for more than six months be debarred from contesting elections for six years. Hopes so it gets in paper soon.

I guess one day India will get clean image MP's and MLA'a, When we say clean image, we mean corruption as well as no criminal
background. In the present case we don't seem to have too many leaders who qualify to be the PM of our country.

Happy Makar Sankranti - "Til gul ghya, god god bola"

"Til gul ghya, god god bola" -(henceforth, let there be only friendship and good thoughts between us).

Makar Sankranti marks the commencement of the Sun's journey to the Northern Hemisphere (Makara raasi ), signifying the onset of Uttarayana Punyakalam, and is a day of celebration all over the country.

The day begins with people taking holy dips in the waters and worshipping the Sun. Traditionally, this period is considered an
auspicious time and the veteran Bhishma of Mahabharata chose to die during this period. Bhishma fell to the arrows of Arjun. With his boon to choose the time of his death, he waited on a bed of arrows to depart from this world only during this period. It is believed that those who die in this period have no rebirth.

The Indo Gangetic plain begins this day with taking dips in the Ganga and offering water to the Sun god. The dip is said to purify the self and bestow punya. Special puja is offered as a thanksgiving for good harvest. According to folklore, girls who take the holy dip get handsome husbands and boys get beautiful brides.

Til and Rice are two important ingredients of this festival. In the rice-eating belt of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, people have a special rice-centric meal on this day. Also known as Gangasagar Mela, on this day, people come from all over India for a ceremonial cleansing in the river Hooghly, near Calcutta.

Maharashtra - when two persons greet each other on this festive day, they exchange a few grains of multi-coloured sugar and fried til mixed with molasses and say "til gul ghya, god god bola" (henceforth, let there be only friendship and good thoughts between us).

Gujarat - the pandits consider Sankranti as an auspicious day to grant scholarships and certificates of merit to students who have successfully completed their studies in philosophy. In a Hindu household, new utensils are purchased and used for the first time. Brightly coloured kites dot the skies on this day.

Karnataka - men, women and children attired in colourful tunics visit friends and relatives and exchange pieces of sugarcane, a mixture of fried til, molasses, pieces of dry coconut, peanuts and fried gram. The significance of this exchange is that sweetness should prevail in all the dealings. As part of the festival, cows and bulls are given a wash and the horns are painted with bright colours and decorated with garland, and are taken in a procession in the village to the accompaniment of pipes and drums. In the night a bonfire is lit and the animals are made to jump over the fire.

It is a big event for the Tamils and the people of Andhra Pradesh. The Telugus like to call it 'Pedda Panduga' meaning big festival. The whole event lasts for four days, the first day Bhogi, the second day Sankranti, the third day Kanuma and the fourth day, Mukkanuma. One month preceeding Sankranti is called Dhanurmasam and is also an auspicious period. People wake up early, take bath and go around the streets singing devotional songs. Houses are whitewashed and farmers clean their warehouses. Colorful rangoli (muggulu) are drawn in the front yards of every house during this month. These artistic floral designs are drawn on the floor with rice flour or fine powder from limestone. These patterns are decorated with marigold placed on cowdung balls. Colorfully dressed young girls go round them singing songs.

India never learnt from past terror attacks

The lapses in handling the Mumbai terror attacks were similar to those of Kandahar plane hijacking and previous terror attacks but India has not learnt lessons for its previous mistakes in handling a crisis situation, thats really very sad for us

For almost over sixty hours, Mumbai, the financial capital of India, witnessed a series of terrorist attacks, multiple hostage crisis, mindless killings, fierce gun battles and at the end, a disrupted life. The terrorists have struck major targets including luxury hotels and a Jewish Center frequented by Westerners and elite Indian only to be holed up later inside these buildings with innocent civilians as hostage. Their demand was the safe release of Mujahideen held in Indian prisons. Prior to this, they also have targeted at least seven more places and went on a killing spree on that fateful 26/11 Wednesday evening.

An unknown outfit, Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, for quite some time now, this name game has been a part of Pakistan based terror groups desperate attempt to give a homegrown Indian flavor to this ongoing Jihadi terrorism in the region.

Of course a collusive local hand is quite possible in this sort of terror operations, primarily for logistical support. Looking at the whole incident, it is beyond doubt that these highly trained terrorists have undergone specialised terror training at various camps located somewhere in Pakistan administered Kashmir or Karachi.

It doesn't take any great wisdom to believe that Pakistan based and Kashmir centric terror tanzeems are behind most of the terrorist acts perpetrated on Indian soil. Among them, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami have been leading from the front in the so called Islamic Jihad against India. With strong Saudi Wahabi link and proximity to the notorious ISI, LeT's activities are not always clandestine in Pakistan. It operates openly with its so called political wing Jamat- ud- Dawa, nurturing dreams for a "God's government" on the lines of Sharia laws in Pakistan and elsewhere. It preaches Armed Jihad as shortest route to reach god and heaven. LeT is the one which has introduced such type of Fidayeen missions in Jammu and Kashmir and intermittently striking India's heartlands with its tactics of indiscriminate shooting and grenade attacks.

Its nothing but a massive intelligence failure of our country as Indian security agencies were caught napping again when metropolises like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, country's political and financial centres have always been an obvious target for terrorists who want to cripple the country from all possible fronts.

Former Chief of Research and Analysis Wing B Raman said there was delay in commencing operations by NSG in Mumbai which were akin to what had happened during the Kandahar hijacking.

He said, "They (NSG) did not have the aircraft so they reached Mumbai late. The same thing happened in Kandahar where the response was also very late".

"The commando operations offer best results if taken within two hours of any seize operations NSG has the capability to move a contingent of commandos in minutes. Why that did not happen, I do not know," former Director General of NSG Ved Prakash Marwah said.

Besides delay, lack of coordination between various agencies was also glaring during the 60-hour anti-terror operation in Mumbai, according to experts.

"In Mumbai, nobody knew who is coordinating. There should be someone who should play the leadership role. Either in Mumbai or in Delhi. The person who gives orders to the Navy, Army, NSG, Police. That kind of leadership role was not there," Raman said.

Raman said such things were not happening for the first time. "Every time they are happeing, we are taken by surprise. But we did not have any inquiry. Whatever our mistakes were, we are not correcting them," said he.

At this hour of national crisis, many fear that it could escalate into an Indo-Pakistani crisis as blame game has already begun at the highest level. However, the Islamabad administration has quickly stepped up damage control exercise by promising support in the investigations.

And now the battle is over, the investigating agencies would piece things together to get a clear picture of what had happened and how to fight this menace again in future.

One thing is for sure that to outsmart terror groups, like LeT, it has to resort to proper investigations backed by human and technical intelligence.

Ongoing Slowdown Hits Yahoo! India too

1,500 Yahoo! employees about 10% of its workforce are likely to be laid off globally, to enable the company survive the deteriorating financial turmoil.

Lay-off notices have been issued to three per cent of its India workforce due to the ongoing slowdown.

Sources close to the company said, "As part of Yahoo!'s strategy to perform competitively in the current economic downturn in India, less than 3 per cent of the total Indian workforce has been impacted and they were notified today."

Yahoo! India has about 2,000 strong workforce in India and it is likely that a maximum of 40 people would be impacted by the decision, the sources said, and added that "a significant number of employees were affected due to poor performance and only a few of them due to the slowdown".

The Yahoo! notification, according to sources, read: "Yahoo! is grateful for the important contributions made by the employees affected by this reduction and that is why, consistent with our past practices, we are making every effort to support impacted employees with severance packages and outbound placement services."

Yahoo! has a R&D centre in Bangalore where a large number of its India employees are located. About 1,500 Yahoo! employees about 10 per cent of its workforce are likely to be laid off globally, to enable the company survive the deteriorating financial turmoil.

Chief Executive of Yahoo! Jerry Yang had said in November that he would leave the company, after facing strong criticism for his leadership.

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Ongoing Slowdown Hits Yahoo! India too
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I Hope and pray everyone is safe - Worst terrorist attack in Mumbai November 26

Hi Dear all,

As the inhuman activity takes place, ones again we Mumbaikars see a new face of terrorism. Innocent lives are victimized. My heart goes out to those families, who has lost their loved ones.

I hope and pray all you guys and your near and dear ones are well. Be Strong and Unite to curb Terrorism.

I salute all our soldiers and commandos

All indians salute you no matter hindus muslims sikhs or christians we are one and we all salute you to save all Indians from this nightmare. We all stand together in this hour of need and we are one single nation. We thank you with all our heart and soul for keeping us safe .

"Forgiving a terrorist is left to GOD.
But fixing their appointment with GOD is our responsibility"
"INDIAN ARMY"
--- Jai Hind

Thanks & Regards,
Samir

Mumbai November 26, 2008

Multiple sites in the Indian city of Mumbai Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Nariman House, Oberoi Hotel, CST station, Cafe Leopold, Cama Hospital were attacked with bombs and gunfire in a coordinated terror attack beginning on November 26, 2008. The attacks killed 179 people, including at least 22 foreigners, Over 300 injuries were reported.

How Taj looked before getting attacked by the Terrorists on 26/11/08
















Taj on fire after the attack

















The central dome of Taj burning.




























Mumbai CST Train Station just after the attack.

The frustration of all

Religious hatred is driving people mad. The terrorists were driven by religious hatred. Gujarat was a case of religious hatred. Babri Masjid demolition was a case of religious hatred. Kandhmal in Orissa was a case of religious hatred.

Let us handle religious hatred first. Let us identify the sources and settle them first. So long we let this menace under the carpet, it will come back repeatedly. The will have to be shown in handling this problem.

This means handling SIMI, Bajrang Dal adequately. Placing RSS under complete check. But going by our national view no one can handle these problems without fear of a back lash. Add to this corruption at highest levels - it becomes the case of survival of the fittest. We know who is the fittest. Net result - the country and its people will continue to be victims of every type of violence. Be it domestic or international terrorism

Why Do People Come Into Your Life

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person. When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.!

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Why Do People Come Into Your Life
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Keep walking to press pressure points and keep body organs activated

The Organs of your body have their sensory touches at the bottom of your foot, if you massage these points you will find relief from aches and pains as you can see the heart is on the left foot.

Typically they are shown as points and arrows to show which organ it connects to.

It is indeed correct since the nerves connected to these organs terminate here.

This is covered in great details in Acupressure studies or textbooks.

God created our body so well that he thought of ! even this. He made us walk so that we will always be pressing these pressure points and thus keeping these organs activated at all times.

So, keep walking...

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Keep walking to press pressure points and keep body organs activated
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Historic Big Bang Experiment to Recapture Birth of Universe

European Organisation for Nuclear Research founded in 1954 better known by its French acronym CERN, located on the Franco-Swiss border, will do historic Big Bang experiment, an attempt to circulate a beam of particles around the 27 km-long underground tunnel that houses the Large Hadron Collider(LHC).

A $7.75 billion (Rs 31,000 crore) project to answer some of the biggest mysteries of the universe, Scientists are trying to recreate the condition just after the Big Bang to understand the creation and workings of universe.

According to the Big Bang theory, the explosion of an objest the size of a small coin occurred about 13 billion years ago and led to formation of stars, planets and life on Earth.

The LHC team now plans to send a full particle beam all the way around the collider pipe in one direction on September 10 as a prelude to sending beams in both directions and smashing them together later in the year, which whole world will be watching.

That collision, in which both particle clusters will be traveling at the speed of light, will be monitored on computers at CERN and laboratories around the world by scientists looking for, among other things, a particle that made life possible.

The elusive particle, which has been dubbed the "Higgs boson" after Scottish physicist Peter Higgs who first postulated nearly 50 years ago that it must exist, is thought to be the mysterious factor that holds matter together.

Recreating a "Big Bang," which most scientists believe is the only explanation of an expanding universe, ought to show how stars and planets came together out of the primeval chaos that followed, the CERN team believes.

Efforts to track it down in a predecessor to the LHC at CERN, and in another experiment in the United States, failed. But scientists are confident that the vast leap in technologies represented by the LHC will make the difference.

Higgs, a 79-year-old Edinburgh University professor who as an atheist angrily rejects the idea of calling the boson the "God particle" believes it will show up very quickly once the beams are colliding in the LHC.

"If it doesn't," he said during a visit to CERN earlier this year, "I shall be very, very puzzled."

The people behind the experiment have also been flooded by telephone calls from worried people who fear the experiments could trigger earthquakes and could cause mini black holes that would destroy the world.

According to the CERN, there is no basis for any concern about the safety of the LHC.

Some 2000 scientists from 155 institutes in 36 countries are worlking together to build the CMS particle detector.

A group of physicists turn on a machine that will recreate the birth of the universe, the Raniwala couple from Jaipur will be watching the experiment very closely. After all, this will be the largest experiment in human history. And Sudhir Raniwala and Rashmi Raniwala, associate professors of physics at Rajasthan University, are among the 30 odd physicists from India, who are part of this experiment.

CERN's 'Big Bang' Experiment at the atomic lab - Science & Technology Videos

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Historic Big Bang Experiment to Recapture Birth of Universe
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Bad driving habits prompted government to hike fuel prices

Bad driving habits visible across some of India's urban roads are leading to a massive waste of fuel that could yet be averted through
better public education campaigns, energy and transport planning.

The cause which prompted government to hike fuel prices includes, delays in pushing alternative technologies to fossil fuels and low priority to public transport.

Fuel import bills that prompted the government to hike fuel prices
today government has raised the prices of petrol by about Rs 5, diesel by Rs 3 and LPG by Rs 50. India's fuel import bill for 121.672 million tonnes of crude oil, driven by rising oil prices, grew by 40 per cent to $68 billion in 2007-08.

But research indicates that enormous amount of fuel could be saved just by improving driving. One study has shown that engines left idling at traffic lights in New Delhi use up about Rs 995 crore worth of fuel.

In efforts to reduce dependence on oil, the ministry of petroleum had in April 2007 announced a plan to introduce a 5 per cent ethanol blended petrol, to be increased to 10 per cent this year.

The ministry of new and renewable energy had pencilled a hydrogen energy road map that envisages one million two-wheelers and three-wheelers running on hydrogen.

But, government officials admit, both appear to be moving slower than anticipated. "Both ethanol and sugar come from sugarcane. Any dramatic increase in ethanol is likely to affect sugar output," said a renewable energy expert.

Some experts are concerned that a massive bio-fuels effort may cause land to be diverted from food crops to fuel crops.

Energy experts also believe that policy initiatives that might help dramatically reduce fuel consumption in the transport sector have long been lacking in India.

Transport and energy experts have long been arguing for measures such as congestion taxes or fuel-efficiency linked fees that could drive consumers away from cars towards public transport.

Money from such charges from individual vehicles could be released to develop high quality public transport systems, But this is not happening in India, We're heading into a fuel crisis.

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Bad driving habits prompted government to hike fuel prices
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Microsoft new fight to topple Google with HP search deal

Microsoft's search engine, Windows Live Search, is to be offered as the default search tool on all new HP machines


Microsoft has announced a deal with Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest PC
manufacturer, that will significantly strengthen its fight to topple Google
as the leader in search.

The deal is Microsoft latest attempt to chip away at the dominance of search leader Google Inc. The agreement, which takes effect next January for new PCs in the United States and Canada, displaces a similar one HP has with Yahoo Inc.

Under the agreement, Microsoft's search engine will also be the default service on the Internet Explorer browser preloaded on new HP computers.

Microsoft did not disclose the terms of the agreement.

"This is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done," said Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platform and services division.

Such agreements are grounded in the notion that many PC users will lack the know-how or desire to change their search settings.

Of course, even after the Microsoft agreement takes effect, lots of HP users will just conduct searches from the Google home page.

But to the extent people use built-in search fields, the HP-Microsoft deal raises some important questions, with broader implications: When their queries are directed to Live Search, how many HP users will be conscious of the fact that it's not Google? How many of those people will want to switch the default to Google? And how many of those will actually do it?

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : Microsoft new fight to topple Google with HP search deal
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The Untold Story Behind India's First Test Tube Baby

The Creator of the Indian's first test-tube baby, Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay, who got his dues 27 years after his death.

Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay created history when he became the first physician in India (and second in the world after British physicians Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards) to perform the In vitro fertilization resulting in a test tube baby "Durga" (Kanupriya Agarwal) on October 3, 1978.

Facing social bureaucratic negligence and insult instead of recognition from the West Bengal government and refusal of the Government of India to allow him to attend international conferences, he committed suicide in his Calcutta residence in 1981.

His feat has been given belated recognition as the Indian physician who in 1986 was "officially" regarded as being the first doctor to perform in-vitro fertilization in India.

In Getting Official Stamp : (from 1967 to 2008)

1967-1977 : Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay worked on methods of in-vitro Fertilisation (IVF) using innovative techniques.

1978, October : India's first test tube baby Durga (Kanupriya Agarwal) was born.

1978, December : An enquiry by the West Bengal govt denounced his claim.

1980 : Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay was denied passport to go to Kyoto to present his paper on IVF. He was then transfered to eye hospital, where he suffered a heart attack.

1981 : Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay Committed suicide on June 19.

1981 : His described methods of cryopreservation used in US by Howard Jones.

1996 : T.C. Anand Kumar, leader of the group which produced the first document test tube baby in country in Mumbai 1986, gains access to the notes of Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay.

1997 : T.C. Anand Kumar, takes a year to study them and writes first paper on Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay achivements.

2002 : Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) apoints a 12 member commitee to draft a bill on Assisted Reproductive Technique.

2003 : Commitee accepts Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay's claim and History is rewritten.

2004 : IVF specialist across the country challenge the document. A review follows among debates.

2005 : ICMR upholds the claim, honours India's first test tube baby Durga (Kanupriya Agarwal) in first public meeting in Bangalore.

April 2008 : Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay's achievement finds official stamp of approval.

Getting official stamp for Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay's made "Durga" (Kanupriya Agarwal) to reborn. She was brought to life by Dr Subhas Mukhopadhyay just 67 days after the world's first test-tube baby, Marie Louise Brown, was born.

"I certainly do not want to be a poster girl of the IVF industry, which undermined Dr Mukhopadhyay's achievement for 30 years," says Kanupriya, breaking her silence for the first time. "I am not a trophy but I am proud to be the living example of work of a genius."

Kanupriya says her parents suffered humiliation as she was growing up in Kolkata, her birthplace. But they never passed it on to her. "My parents did a wonderful job of keeping all the pressure away and helping me grow as a mature, reasonable individual," she says. "It was not easy for them, they were made to feel like accomplices of Dr Mukhopadhyay in his misdeed. There were insinuations of the worst kind"

An MBA from Symbiosis, Pune and working for a private firm, Kanupriya lives in Gurgaon. She says the recognition for Dr Mukhopadhyay came as a relief to her parents. Looking at the brighter side, she says: "I feel truth has prevailed."

Even though Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay was belatedly honoured at a public meeting in Bangalore, it failed to bring any cheer to his wife. Namita Mukhopadhyay's has been paralysed and battling with ignominy and neglect ever since her husband committed suicide on June 19, 1981. Namita is confined to her bed now.

"We decided not to start a family as he (Subhas) wanted to complete his research. He was a very emotional person and dedicated himself to his work. But he never got any support either from the government or from his peers," says Namita.

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Author : Samir Bhoir
Article Source : The Untold Story Behind India's First Test Tube Baby
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