Space jump record

This story gives the term Test Pilot a whole new meaning.

Joe Kittinger is not a household aviation name like Neil Armstrong or Chuck Yeager. But what he did for the U. S. space program is comparable. On Aug. 16, 1960, as research for the then-fledgling U. S. space program, Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger rode a helium balloon to the edge of space,
102,800 feet above the earth, a feat in itself.

Then, wearing just a thin pressure suit and breathing supplemental oxygen, he leaned over the cramped confines of his gondola and jumped--into the 110-degree-below-zero, near-vacuum of space. Within seconds his body accelerated to 714mph in the thin air, breaking the sound barrier.


After free-falling for more than four and a half minutes, slowed finally by friction from the heavier air below, he felt his parachute open at 14,000 feet, and he coasted gently down to the New Mexicodesert floor.
Kittinger's feat showed scientists that astronauts could survive the harshness of space with just a pressure suit and that man could eject from aircraft at extreme altitudes and survive.

Upon Kittinger's return to base, a congratulatory telegram was waiting from the Mercury seven astronauts--including Alan Shepard and John Glenn. More than four decades later Kittinger's two world records--the highest parachute jump, and the only man to break the sound barrier without an aircraft and live--still stand. We decided to visit the retired colonel and Aviation Hall of Famer, now 75, at his home in Altamonte Springs, Florida, to recall his historic jump.

FORBES GLOBAL: Take us back to New Mexico and Aug. 16, 1960.

Joe Kittinger: We got up at 2 a. m. to start filling the helium balloon. At sea level, it was 35 to 40 feet wide and 200 feet high; at altitude, due to the low air pressure, it expanded to 25 stories in width, and still was 20 stories high!

At 4 a. m. I began breathing pure oxygen for two hours. That's how long it takes to remove all the nitrogen from your blood so you don't get the bends going so high so fast. Then it was a lengthy dress procedure layering warm clothing under my pressure suit. They kept me in air-conditioning until it was time to launch because we were in the desert and I wasn't supposed to sweat. If I did, my clothes would freeze on the way up.

How was your ascent?

It took an hour and a half to get to altitude. It was cold. At 40,000 feet, the glove on my right hand hadn't inflated. I knew that if I radioed my doctor, he would abort the flight. If that happened, I knew I might never get another chance because there were lots of people who didn¹t want this test to happen.

I took a calculated risk, that I might lose use of my right hand. It quickly swelled up, and I did lose use for the duration of the flight. But the rest of the pressure suit worked. When I reached 102,800 feet, maximum altitude, I wasn't quite over the target.

So I drifted for 11 minutes. The winds were out of the east. What's it look like from so high up? You can see about 400 miles in every direction. The formula is 1.25 x the sq. root of the altitude in thousands of feet. (The square root of 102,000 ft is 319 X 1.25 = 399 miles)
The most fascinating thing is that it's just black overhead--the transition from normal blue to black is very stark. You can't see stars because there's a lot of glare from the sun, so your pupils are too small. I was struck with the beauty of it. But I was also struck by how hostile it is: more than 100 degrees below zero, no air. If my protection suit failed, I would be dead in a few seconds. Blood actually boils above 62, 000 feet.

I went through my 46-step checklist, disconnected from the balloon¹s power supply and lost all communication with the ground. I was totally under power from the kit on my back. When everything was done, I stood up, turned around to the door, took one final look out and said a silent prayer: "Lord, take care of me now." Then I just jumped over the side.

What were you thinking as you took that step?

It's the beginning of a test. I had gone through simulations many times--more than 100. I rolled over and looked up, and there was the balloon just roaring into space. I realized that the balloon wasn't roaring into space; I was going down at a fantastic rate! At about 90,000 feet, I reached 714mph.

The altimeter on my wrist was unwinding very rapidly. But there was no sense of speed. Where you determine speed is visual--if you see something go flashing by. But nothing flashes by 20 miles up--there are no signposts there, and you are way above any clouds. When the chute opened, the rest of the jump was anticlimactic because everything had worked perfectly. I landed 12 or 13 minutes later, and there was my crew waiting. We were elated.

How about your right hand?

It hurt--there was quite a bit of swelling and the blood pressure in my arm was high. But that went away in a few days, and I regained full use of my hand. What about attempts to break your record? We did it for air crews and astronauts--for the learning, not to set a record.

They will be going up as skydivers. Somebody will beat it someday. Records are made to be broken. And I'll be elated. But I'll also be concerned that they¹re properly trained. If they're not, they're taking a heck of a risk.

OPEN CAREFULLY *****VERY HOT*********

..........Careful. It's really HOT!!!



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Ten Amazing Coincidences

What's in a Name?


A computer error gave two women in America called Patricia the same social security number. When the two women were brought together in an office to rectify the blunder they discovered that
They had both been born with the names Patricia Ann Campbell
Both of their fathers were called Robert Campbell
Their birthdays were on 13th March 1941
They had both married military men in the year 1959 (within eleven days of each other)
They each had two children aged 19 and 21
They both had an interest in oil painting
Both had studied cosmetics
Both had worked as book-keepers

Bullet With Your Name on It

In 1893, Henry Ziegland ended a relationship with his girlfriend.
Tragically, his girlfriend took the news very badly, became distraught and took her own life.
Her distressed brother blamed his sister's death upon Henry, he went round to Henry's house, saw him out in the garden and tried to shoot him.
Luckily, the bullet only grazed Henry's face and embedded itself in a nearby tree.
In 1913, twenty years after this incident, Henry decided to use dynamite to uproot a tree in his garden. The explosion propelled the embedded bullet from the tree straight into Henry Ziegland's head - killing him immediately.

Lucky Hughs?

On December 5th 1660, a ship sank in the straights of Dover - the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams.
On 5th December 1767, another ship sank in the same waters - 127 lost their lives, the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams
On 8th August 1820, a picnic boat capsized on the Thames - there was one survivor - Hugh Williams.
On 10th July 1940, a British trawler was destroyed by a German mine - only two men survived, one man and his nephew - they were both called Hugh Williams.

With a Quack Quack Here

Mr McDonald was a farmer who lived in Canada - nothing extra-ordinary in that - until you learn that his postcode contained the letter sequence EIEIO.

'Til Death Did Them Part

In 1996, Paris police set out to investigate a late night, high speed car crash, both drivers had been killed instantly.
Investigations revealed that the deceased were in fact man and wife.
Police initially suspected some kind of murder or suicide pact but it became apparent that the pair had been separated for several months - neither could have known that the other would have been out driving that night - it was just a terrible coincidence.

She's Behind You!

Michael Dick had been travelling around the UK with his family to track down his daughter, Lisa - who he had lost contact with ten years earlier.
After a long fruitless search, he approached the Suffolk Free Press, who agreed to help him by putting an appeal in their newspaper.
Fortunately, his long lost daughter saw the appeal and the pair were reunited. The odd thing was, his daughter had been right behind him when the free paper took the photograph - shown in the photograph above. What are the chances of that!

Licensed To Thrill


A fifteen year old pupil at Argoed High School in North Wales was to sit his GCSE examinations in 1990.
His name was James Bond - his examination paper reference was 007.

What Goes Around….

In 1965, at the age of four, Roger Lausier was swimming off a beach in Salem - he got into difficulties and was saved from drowning by a woman called Alice Blaise.
In 1974, on the same beach, Roger was out on a raft when he pulled a drowning man from the water - amazingly, the man he saved was Alice Blaise's husband.

Lightning Never Strikes Twice?

British cavalry officer Major Summerford was fighting in the fields of Flanders in the last year of WW1, a flash of lightning knocked him off his horse and paralysed him from his waist down.
He moved to Vancouver, Canada, six years later, whilst out fishing, Major Summerfield was struck by lightning again and the right side of his body became paralysed.
After two years of recovery, it was a summers day and he was out in a local park, a summer storm blew up and Major Summerfield was struck by lightning again - permanently paralysing him.
He died two years after this incident.
However, four years after his death, his stone tomb was destroyed - it was struck by lightning!

Practice What You Preach

Businessman Danie de Toit made a speech to an audience in South Africa - the topic of his speech was - watch out because death can strike you down at any time.
At the end of his speech, he put a peppermint in his mouth, and choked to death on it!

In Manipur, Women Take the Lead

By LYDIA POLGREEN


Manpreet Romana for The New York TimesA Manipuri woman arguing with an Indian army official in Gamgiphai village of Manipur, in this file photo from August 31, 2011.

India is the land of a million mutinies, in V. S. Naipaul’s indelible phrase, but almost all the mutinies I have witnessed have been led and populated by men. When the farmers of Uttar Pradesh demonstrate against a new highway, they leave their wives at home. When the Jats agitate for caste-based job and education preferences by sitting on railway tracks, their daughters remain in the village, their faces, in all likelihood, covered by dupattas.

Even the massive marches against corruption in New Delhi during Anna Hazare’s hunger strike had an overwhelmingly male cast. When the barricades go up in India, it seems they are almost always manned by men.

But when I rolled up to an agitation in the village of Gamgiphai in Manipur earlier this fall, the ramparts were lined almost exclusively with women. The road connecting the village, which sat nestled in the hills outside the state capital, had been torn up. The protesters had blocked the roads into Manipur, as so often happens in this remote region. They hoped that strangling commerce would force officials here to grant their request: a separate administrative district for their ethnic group, the Kukis. I used my cellphone to record a video that captured just how unafraid Manipuri women are to confront soldiers.



“Women take the lead in these protests,” explained Lamshi Haokip, one of the women at the barricades. “If the men did it the army would kill them.”

Perhaps, but the involvement of women in the struggle for human rights and self-determination in Manipur has a long history. In 1939, Manipuri women launched what was called Nupi Lan, or the women’s war, against the maharaja that ruled the kingdom over what they called his oppressive policies.

The state’s most famous activist, Irom Sharmila, is a woman who has been on a hunger strike for more than a decade, seeking the removal of draconian laws that shield the armed forces from prosecution for crimes committed here. She is force-fed through a feeding tube in her nose.

In 2004, a group of middle-aged Manipuri women protested against the same law by stripping naked in front of an army barracks in Imphal and unfurling a banner that read: “Indian Army: Rape Us.” Their protest was prompted by the killing of an activist named Thangjam Manorama, who was taken into custody by the Assam Rifles — a paramilitary force in India — and later found dead, her body riddled with bullets and showing signs of sexual assault and torture.

Statistics from the most recent census show that women in Manipur fare better than other Indian women on several counts. The ratio of boys to girls is closer to even here, a crucial marker in a country where female fetuses are aborted and female babies killed or neglected by parents who prefer sons. Its female literacy rate here is 73 percent — higher than the national rate for women of 65 percent.

One afternoon during my visit to Manipur, I went to a meeting of a group of activists working on Ms. Sharmila’s case and broader human rights issues in the state. It was the first meeting that I had ever been to in India on a topic not exclusively female-oriented (like women’s rights or gender violence) where the majority of participants were women: nine women and six men attended.

“It is a patriarchal society, but women take very strong roles,” said Basantakumar Wareppa, a lawyer who works at Human Rights Alert, one of the groups working on Ms. Sharmila’s cause. “They are not afraid to fight for their rights.”

Indian women have come a long way. The country has had a female prime minister and president, and women occupy top leadership roles at major companies and institutions. But when it comes to hitting the streets and making their voices heard, Manipuri women seem to be leading the pack.

REMEMBERING A WAR
(Prisoner of War in Tibet)
by Maj Gen (retd) K K Tewari, PVSM, AVSM
(Source: Rediff.com)
As a result of the Chinese threat on our northern borders, some time in 1959 the headquarters of the Eastern Command at Lucknow was given the operational responsibility for the defence of the borders in Sikkim and NEFA.
I was at that time on the staff at HQ Eastern Command. The 4th (Red Eagle) Infantry Division was located at Ambala. Soon after it was ordered to move to Tezpur in Assam towards the end of 1959, I was posted as its Commander, Signals.
This division, trained and equipped for fighting in the plains, had suddenly been deployed to guard the borders in this high mountainous region. While a normal division is expected to defend a 30-40km front in the plains, we were assigned a front spanning more than 1800km of mountainous terrain.
Worse was to come. Even before the division could take over its operational responsibilities to defend the border with Tibet, orders for the execution of Operation Amar 2, for construction of accommodation for ourselves, were received from Army HQ.
This was the brainchild of Lt Gen B M Kaul, then Quartermaster General at Army HQ. We were supposed to build temporary basha accommodation. Besides the fact that my regiment had to provide communications for the division in an entirely new and undeveloped area, we had now to become engineers and labourers!
My first four months in command were a real nightmare. We would certainly have preferred to rough it out in tents and spend the time developing a reasonable communications set-up, getting our equipment properly checked and maintained, and getting the men used to working with the available equipment, which was antiquated and unsuitable for mountainous terrain and the excessive ranges.
Even at that time, there were hardly any roads in any of the five frontier divisions (FD) of Arunachal Pradesh. The road into Kameng FD, the most vulnerable, finished at the foothills just beyond Misamari.
We were faced with shortages of every kind. It was during these early days in NEFA that one of the commanding officers of an infantry battalion sent an official reply written on a chapati. When asked for an explanation, he gave a classic reply:
"Regret unorthodox stationary but atta [wheat flour] is the only commodity available for fighting, for feeding, and for futile correspondence."
Sometime in 1962, orders came from Army HQ for Operation Onkar (the famous "Forward Policy"), which directed all Assam Rifles posts to move forward, right up to the border.
Of course, we in the army were to back them. The idea was to establish the right of possession on our territory and to deter the Chinese from moving forward and occupying the territories claimed by them. But this order was certainly not backed up with resources.
At that time, our division had done almost three years non-family station service, and some of the units were already on their way out on turnover. Suddenly all moves out of the area were cancelled and orders reversed.
Brig John Dalvi, commander of the 7th Infantry Brigade in Tawang, was ordered to move his HQ on a man/mule pack basis to Namka Chu River area. An ad-hoc brigade HQ was created for the Tawang sector overnight with hardly any signal resources.
At that time, I was the only field officer of lieutenant colonel or higher rank who had the longest tenure not only at the divisional HQ but among all the divisional troops. I should have been posted out after a two-year tenure in a non-family station.
But I had also a sort of premonition, and I recorded it in my diary, that a severe test was in the offing for me to assess my faith in the Divine. I certainly had no idea that I would be taken a prisoner of war.
On September 8, 1962, the Dhola post manned by the Assam Rifles on the McMahon Line was encircled by the Chinese. After this incident, a new corps HQ was created to take charge of operations in NEFA. Lt Gen B M Kaul was appointed corps commander. He arrived from Army HQ in a special aircraft at Tezpur in the late afternoon of October 4. He went straight into a conference and at about 10pm, announced in his typical flamboyant style that he had taken over command of all troops in NEFA. It was all so dramatic!
Here was a new situation. Normally, in those days, a corps HQ would be served by a corps signal regiment and another communication zone signal regiment to back it. But these had yet to be raised and my regiment had to take on the load of not only our own division, but the new corps HQ also.
To add to these difficulties, Lt Gen Kaul had his own way of sending messages. Normally, a signal message is supposed to be written in an abbreviated telegraphic language. But all messages from the new corps commander ran into a couple of typed sheets in prose and were all marked Top Secret and Flash.
They were not addressed to the next higher HQ, but directly to Army HQ. You should understand that normally Signals are required to stop all other traffic to clear FLASH messages and these messages also have to be enciphered first.
In September 1962, the higher authorities had obviously assumed that it would be easy to beat the Chinese. Otherwise, one cannot imagine how such an order to engage the enemy could have been issued by Delhi to the ill-equipped, ill-clothed, ill-prepared, fatigued, disillusioned troops.
When Dalvi's brigade arrived near the Namka Chu River after forced marches, he was ordered to throw the Chinese out of the Thagla ridge.
Arriving at the destination after an exhausting journey, my brigade signal officer discovered that the generating engine to charge the wireless batteries was missing. A porter had dropped it in a deep khud on the way, and it could not be retrieved.
I think it was dropped deliberately, because I knew some of these civilian porters were in the pay of the Chinese.
But I was in for a bigger shock when it was discovered that almost all the secondary batteries had arrived without any acid. I presume that what had happened was that the porters must have found it lighter without liquid and they probably decided to lighten their loads by emptying out the acid from all the batteries.
How to establish communications when the batteries were dead and could not be recharged without an engine? Despite our good relations with them, the air force helicopter boys refused to carry acid. There was no question, of course, of dropping sulphuric acid by air. What was I to do?
Finally, we filled up a jar of acid and marked it prominently: `Rum for Troops'. On October 18, I flew from Tezpur to Zimithang where I met the GOC, Maj Gen Niranjan Prasad. Later, I went to Tsang Dhar near the Namka Chu River in a two-seater Bell helicopter with just the pilot and with the 'Rum' jar strapped onto my lap.
I landed there in the late afternoon and marched down to Brig Dalvi's brigade HQ. As I arrived, I could quite clearly see the massing of the Chinese troops on the forward slopes of Thagla ridge.
But when I discovered that every unit on the front had numerous Signals problems, I decided to extend my stay by a day. Not knowing that the fates had other things planned for me.
On the 19th, Brig Dalvi talked on the telephone with the GOC at Zimithang. He pleaded with his boss to let him move out of the `death trap', up to a tactically sound defensive position.
Brig Dalvi was told not to flap, but to obey orders and stay put. He was extremely upset and passed the telephone to me saying, "You won't believe me, Sir, but talk to your 'bloody' commander Signals and he will tell you what all he can see with his naked eyes in front."
I spoke to the GOC equally strongly saying that one could see the Chinese moving down the Thagla ridge like ants with at least half a dozen mortars, which were not even camouflaged. I added that the Chinese could not have been there for a picnic.
But I was also told to concentrate on my work and not to worry.
I stayed on with the Gorkhas during the night of 19th October. Early on the 20th morning, I was woken up from deep sleep by the noise of intense bombardment. There was utter confusion in the pre-dawn darkness, with people shouting and yelling and running around in the midst of these exploding shells.
I came out of the bunker and somehow found my way to the Signals bunker with two of my signalmen. But when I looked out of the bunker, I was mystified to see no visible movement outside. There was no one in sight. But I could hear short bursts of gunfire.
When I peeped out of the bunker again, I saw a line of khaki-clad soldiers with a prominent red star on their uniforms advancing towards our bunker. I had never seen a Chinese soldier till then at such close range.
I used to carry a 9mm Browning automatic pistol in those days with one loaded clip. The thought immediately was that one's body should not be found with an unfired pistol; it must be used, however hopeless our situation. So, when a couple of Chinese soldiers approached our bunker, I let go the full clip at them.
This provoked a lot of yelling and firing and a number of the soldiers converged onto our bunker. My two assistants were killed, but I was still alive, though a PoW now.
The same day we were marched along a narrow track across the Namka Chu River and later we went up to the Thagla Pass (about 15,000 feet). On our way, we passed huge stocks of unfired mortar shells by the sides of all the mortar positions, while on the northern side, we saw Chinese parties bringing up 120mm m0rtars on a man pack basis.
After three days' walk, we reached a place called Marmang in Tibet. From there we were taken in covered vehicles at night. During the journey, the Chinese tried to demoralize us; they would make fun of our army: "You do not even have cutting tools for felling trees. You use shovels to cut down trees."
It was true; they had seen our troops preparing their defensive positions near the Namka Chu River. There were other remarks, such as, "You people have strange tactics. You sit right at the bottom of the valley to defend your territory instead of sitting on high ground."
We arrived at the PoW camp located at Chen Ye [Chongye in central Tibet] on October 26 and were accommodated in lama houses, which were all deserted, although we could see some activity in the monastery above these houses on the side of a hill.
We were to spend over five months in this camp, located southwest of Tsetang, off the main highway to Lhasa. The prisoners were segregated into four companies: No 1 company was all officers, JCOs and NCOs. Majors and lieutenant colonels were also separated from the JCOs and men. No 2 and 3 companies were jawans of various units. No 4 company consisted only of Gorkhas and was given special privileges, for obvious political reasons. Each company had its own cookhouse where the Indian soldiers selected by the Chinese were made to cook.
In our house, we were four lt colonels (M S Rikh of the Rajputs, Balwant Singh Ahluwalia of the Gorkhas, Rattan Singh of 5 Assam Rifles and myself), while John Dalvi was kept in confinement in Tsetang, a few kilometres away from Chongye.
When we made representations to the Chinese that under the Geneva Convention on PoWs, officers had the right to be with their men, we were told quite bluntly that all these were nothing but imperialist conventions.
I shivered through the first couple of nights, but then had a brain wave. I had noticed a pile of husk outside. We asked the Chinese if we could use it. Luckily, they accepted, and we could use the stuff as a mattress as well as a quilt to keep warm.
For almost a month after our arrival, we were not let out of the room. Each of these lama houses had its own latrine in one corner with an open but very effective system of soil disposal. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the 'disposal squad' of pigs had itself been disposed of by the Chinese.
There was an English-speaking Chinese officer, Lt Tong, who was with us almost throughout our stay in the PoW camp. He would come daily and talk to us individually or together.
The theme of his talk with the PoWs was monotonously the same: the Chinese wanted to be friends and it was only the reactionary government of Nehru, who was a lackey of American imperialism, which wanted to break this friendship. "Then why did you attack us on October 20?" was our reaction. They would try to explain that India attacked first and the Chinese attacked only in self-defence.
On December 5, we were given for the first time some books and magazines to read. This consisted of Mao's Red Book, some literature on the India-China boundary question, and a few Red Army journals. But whatever they were, they were most welcome for me at least. There was something to do at last to occupy the mind. I took notes from the Red Book.
It is a pity that our government had not taken note of some of the Mao's thoughts. I noted down a few at that time: "Fight no battle unprepared, fight no battle you are not sure of winning", or "The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy halts, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue."

Towards the end of December 1962, the Indian Red Cross sent us some parcels, each with two packets in it. One packet had warm clothes, a German battle dress, a pair of long johns, warm vest, muffler, cap, jersey, warm shirt, boots and a towel. The second packet contained foodstuff, including a bar of Sathe chocolate, tins of milk, jam, butter, fish, sugar, atta (wheat flour), dal (pulses), dried peas, salt, tea, biscuits, condiments, cigarettes, and vitamin pills. It certainly was a very well thought-out list of items.
Perhaps to demoralize us, the Chinese would often play Indian music on the public address system in the camp. One of the songs which was played repeatedly was Lata Mangeshkar's "Aa ja re main to kab se khari is paar... (come, I have been waiting for so long...)" This would make us feel homesick.
With my habit of writing a diary, I kept notes as a PoW also. The only available paper to write on in the first week or so were some sheets of toilet paper in my para jacket pocket. The question was how to keep these papers from being discovered by the Chinese. What I had done was to open the stitching on the `belt' part of the trousers and slide the folded papers inside. This was how my diary notes on toilet paper could be brought out to India.
One day, towards the end of our stay, at our request we were taken to see the palace and the monastery. It was a shock to see the palace with all the beautiful Buddha statues of all sizes and fabulous painted scrolls [thankas] lying broken, defiled, and torn and trampled on the ground.
On December 25, we, the seven field officers, were taken in one of the captured Indian Nissan trucks to spend the Christmas morning with Brig John Dalvi at Tsetang. He was kept all alone and was comfortably accommodated. We had breakfast and lunch with him and were shown a movie. But the solitary confinement had left its scars on him.
The first letters we received from home came only in the third week of February 1963. Some of us also received parcels of sweets.
On March 26, we were informed that we would soon be released and taken for a conducted tour of mainland China. Suddenly we became VIPs, though still held prisoner. We were given various comforts and new clothes and shoes.
Before leaving the PoW camp, we asked the Chinese to take us to the graves of our soldiers who had died in our camp. There were seven of them, including Subedar Joginder Singh, who had been awarded a PVC.
The Chinese told us that he had refused to have his toes, which were affected by frostbite, amputated. According to the Chinese, he had told them that his chances of promotion to Subedar Major would be adversely affected if his toes were amputated. We were told that he died of gangrene.
On March 28, we left the camp, ironically in a captured Indian vehicle, and were driven to Tsetang to pick up Brig John Dalvi and three other lieutenant colonels and five majors.
On March 29, we were all driven in a bus to Lhasa. On April 5, we were flown in two Il-14 aircrafts to Sinning. After a long tour of China, during which we were shown China's so-called progress after the Communist revolution, we were informed on April 27 that we would be handed over to India at Kunming on 4 May.
At the handing-over ceremony, we witnessed a last surprise performance by the Chinese. Throughout our tour of China, an immaculately dressed Chinese had accompanied us. He was not dressed in cotton-padded clothes like all the others. He commanded a lot of respect from the other Chinese. We used to refer to him as the 'general'.
He had a chap trailing behind him always, helping him with things, offering a chair, a cup of tea, etc. We used to refer to him as the 'orderly to the general'. At the handing-over ceremony, however, the person who sat down and signed on behalf of China was the 'orderly' and the one who stood behind to pass him the pen to sign was the 'general'! Such are the ways of the Chinese!
On May 5, we took off at 9.10am from Kunming and were scheduled to land at Calcutta at 1.20pm. Before reaching Calcutta, the pilot announced that there was some problem with the undercarriage, which was not opening, and that we might have to crash land. But we somehow landed safely at 2.30pm at Dum Dum with the fire tenders all lined up. It would have been such an irony of fate if we had been killed in a crash landing in India!
We were back on Indian soil after six and a half months in Mao's land.
In conclusion, I would like to say something that still hurts me 40 years later. Some authors have written that the Chinese attack came as a response to India's 'forward policy'. This is utter nonsense. The Chinese had prepared this attack for at least two or three years before.
We saw ample evidence of this on our road to the camp. How ammunition had been stocked, how they were prepared in every field. The PoWs from the Ladakh front confirmed that they too had observed the same state of meticulous preparation.
I can give you a few other examples: one day, much to our delight, a Chinese woman came and recited some of Bahadur Shah Zafar's poems to us. The Chinese had certainly prepared for this war most diligently because they had interpreters for every Indian language right in the front lines.
This Urdu-speaking woman must have lived in Lucknow for a long time. Same thing for one of our guards; though he had not said a single word for five months (we used to call him Poker Face), we discovered that he could speak perfect Punjabi when he left us in Kunming.
In Kameng FD itself, they had many local people on their payroll. They had detailed maps and knowledge of the area. How otherwise could you explain that they were able to build 30km of road between Bumla and Tawang in less than two weeks?
But their constant brainwashing was to make us accept that we had attacked them.
One day, Lt Tong took us out and we were allowed to sit against a wall to sun ourselves. Though we could not see over it, we heard voices in Hindi from the other side. It was a Hindi-speaking Chinese talking to some jawans. The talk was going in the usual way about how India had attacked first.
A jawan told the Chinese that his company was sleeping when the Chinese attack came, so how could India have started the war? The Chinese tried to explain that the jawan was only thinking of his own unit, but India had attacked elsewhere and China had to take action in self-defence.
The jawan was fearless and outspoken. He answered: "I do not know what you are talking about, but the whole of my 'burgerade' (Punjabi for 'brigade') was sleeping when you attacked first."
It is sad that this nonsense of India attacking China is still prevailing today in some quarters.
A last anecdote. One or two years after the war, I once saw Gen Kaul at the Grindlay's Bank in Delhi. By that time, he had retired. I went up to him and wished him. Kaul looked bewildered and had tears in his eyes. I was surprised, thinking I'd upset him somehow. "Do you recognize me, sir?" I said. "I was your Commander Signals."
Moved, he hugged me and said: "Of course, Krishen! I recognize you. But do you know that you are the first officer to greet me? Usually when my officers see me they turn their heads and pretend not to recognize me!"
Like Nehru, he was a broken man.
A highly decorated officer who joined the British Indian Army in early 1942, K K Tewari was taken prisoner during the Chinese attack on India on October 20, 1962, when he was visiting the forward troops. He spoke to Claude Arpi.

SHAME ON YOU GOVT

Kabaddi World Cup champions go home by auto rickshaw




Ludhiana: Hours after they won the World Cup with a thumping victory over England, Indian women Kabaddi players were seen on the streets waiting for auto rickshaw to reach home. The players who made the country proud on Sunday were badly treated by their team management. The players were not provided conveyance to reach their home.

Moreover, the game officials didn’t even pay the hotel bills on time leading to the embarrassment of the players. While checking out, the players were stopped by the hotel staff for non payment of their food bills.

The arrangements for the stay of players were made in Park Plaza hotel. According to the hotel officials, food bill worth Rs 22,000 was due on the players which the game officials hadn’t paid. The players were made to wait at the hotel reception for two hours and were allowed to check out only after their bills were paid.

Punjab Sports Director Pargat Singh said the arrangements for the kabaddi players were made by the organising committee. “We fulfilled all the demands made by the team management. If the players faced an inconvenient it’s the responsibility of the team management,” said Singh.

After checking out, the players, with prize in their hand, were seen standing on the streets waiting for public transport. Most of them went their home walking.

Players told that they had to spend the entire week in one pair of clothes as their luggage got burnt in the bus accident ahead of the semi0final clash. The team management didn’t arrange for fresh pair of clothes for the players.

JAI HIND

Does the PM of an Independent Nation report to the Queen of England? If yes, then what is our independence? What a letter, check this!?

Hastinapur, the city of wisdom, in Argentina

Hastinapur has a total area of twelve acres. Its population consists of a dozen Indian gods and an equal number of Argentine human beings. Some of the Indian gods reside in authentic temples filled with the scent of Indian agarbatties while others stay outdoor enjoying the fragrance of the flowers from the garden. Some are sitting or standing on the pedestals and others hang on the sides of walls and pillars. The gods who have their own temples include Ganesh, Krishna, Surya, Narayana and Siva. Since it is Hastinapur there is a temple for Pandavas too. Hastinapur is clearly a place fit for the gods ...who should be pleased with the cleanliness of the place, the serene surroundings and the green garden with Rosewood trees. The only noise comes from the hundreds of birds nesting in the trees. Then there is the soft music of the devotees who sing Bhajans. It is indeed a divine place which inspires sacred thoughts and holy spirit.




Ganesh is standing out in white against the greenery of the garden in the picture below.



The dozen Argentines who live there look after the gods and the place. During weekend, the human population increases to over one hundred. The Argentines do not go there seeking favours as many Indians do in Tirupathi. They go there for wisdom. This is why Hastinapur is called as the City of Wisdom (ciudad de la sabiduria). Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning blesses the students through the sculptures all around the compound. The Argentines learn philosophy, read in the library, practise yoga and meditation and sing Bhajans.
On the other side of the fence, there are cows grazing and occasionally staring at the Indian gods. The cows are relaxed and free from fear because they know that they will not become food at the dining table in Hastinapur, which is a vegetarian place. The inmates cook vegetarian food and share it with the children from poor families in the neighbourhood.
Hastinapur does not have any godmen seeking fame and fortune and flaunting wealthy followers. It is an instituition to pursue pure wisdom, peace and divinity. Neither in the city nor in the website names of those who run the place are given. The founders and directors of the Hastinapura Foundation do not seek publicity. They are humble but devoted people. They have their professions as company managers, engineers or professors. They volunteer their time and talents for the foundation.
Nor is Hastinapur the work of some overenthusiastic drum-beating Hare Krishna types or faith-lead Saibaba followers. Hastinapur respects all the religions and beliefs. Their ten temples include one for Buddha, one for Virgin Mary, one for the Greek god Demeter and another one called as the the Temple of All Faiths. Their library has books of all religions and schools of thought. Hastinapur seeks true wisdom, going beyond the boundaries of established religions. The City of Wisdom is not the ultimate destination. It does not prescribe wisdom doses. It simply helps people to seek, find and pursue their own path to wisdom. They give classes in yoga, meditation, philosophy, devotional singing and sacred drama. They organise workshops, seminars and retreats. They also provide community service. They celebrate festivals such as Ganesh Chathurthi and Baishaki. Their next project is to broadcast through radio.
Hastinapur temples do not have priests or other middlemen between the gods and worshippers. There is no money collection, like in Tirupathi. Worshippers pray, recite mantras and sing devotional songs individually or in groups.


Meditation Hall



Hastinapur has a post graduate course in yoga which takes three years to complete. The classes are held in the weekends only. There are 2500 students studying yoga and philosophy in the Hastinapur centres. The students are being taught by 100 teachers on philosophy and 120 teachers on yoga.

Many Argentines go to Hastinapur as a retreat from the hectic city of Buenos Aires which is just fifty kilometres away. They practise meditation in the quiet natural environment. They do yoga, read books from the library, discuss philosophy and join the singing of bhajans. Hastinapur is an authentic Ashram.

Hastinapur Foundation has published a number of books on Indian philosophy and translated Bhagwat Gita, Bhakti Sutras, Upanishads,Srimad Bhagwatam and Yoga Sutras. Their latest publication is Mahabharatha in Spanish. They have so far published three volumes and plan to do a total of twelve volumes in the coming years. Each volume is over 500 pages. The founder Alda Albrecht and other members of the Foundation have also written a number of books.





main entrance to the Hastinapur city


Hastinapura Foundation was established by Ada Albrecht in 1981. She introduced Indian philosophy and became a Guru for the Argentines seeking wisdom. She wrote a number of books such as ¨The Saints and teachings of India¨ and ¨The teachings of the monks from Himalayas¨.
Gustavo Canzobre was one of her students, who is now the Director of the Hastinapur college of professors. He was seventeen years old when he became interested in Indian wisdom. During the Third Festival of India organised by the embassy in Buenos Aires in November 2010, he gave a talk on the templearchitecture of South India. He has agreed to give a talk on Indian philosophy in the forthcoming Fourth Festival of India in December 2011. He is a manager in a local company for living and dedicates rest of his time to Hastinapura Foundation. He is knowledgeable about Indian vedas and upanishads and is going to India on his second visit in August this year.




Gustavo Canzobre in the picture


The architectural and scuplting work of the Hastinapur complex has been done entirely by Argentines. The architects and sculptors have studied Indian temples and have done their work professionally and aesthetically. Even now they are constructing some more buildings with Indian sculptures and statues.
Pillars of the entrance to Ganesh temple below:


The pond in front of the temple has fresh water and fish:

A small outdoor Ganesh temple in the garden

Hastinapura Foundation has sixteen centres in Buenos Aires and three more in the rest of Argentina. They have also established centres in Uruguay, Bolivia and Colombia. Information on the Foundation and its activities can be seen at their website
http://en.hastinapura.org.ar/

Lord Siva is sitting majestically in the large garden guarded by Ganesh on the four sides:

Latin Americans are, of course, known for fun and fiesta. At the same time, there are thousands of Latin Americans who take Mahabharatha and Meditation more seriously than many Indians....

...Unconditional Love.......

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Franciso.
"Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me"
"Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."
"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live his own."
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few a days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police.
Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.
The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.
They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know.
Their son had only one hand and one leg.

DIARY OFA BABY

15th jun :- I got attached with ovary
17th jun :- I’m a tissue now
30 Jun :- Mom said to dad, “ You’re going to be a father”
MOM AND DAD ARE VERY HAPPY
15th Sept :- I Can feel my heartbeat
14oct :- I have Little hands, legs head and a stomach.
13Nov :- Today i was in a Ultra scan
WOW ! I m a girl
14Nov : I was DEAD!
My mom and dad Killed me.
WHY?
Is it just Because I was a girl?
People love to have a Mother , AWife, and of course a girlfriend too
Then why not a daughter !!!
If You’re a Human..... Pass it to Everyone by copy this message
Pls
“SAVE GIRL CHILD"..

dnt kill me plzzzz.........i wana live :(

Check out this Inspiring Presentation!

The Value of a Drink





"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink
I feel a shame. Then I look into the glass and think
about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes
and dreams .. If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out
of work and their dreams would be shattered.
Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their
dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they
wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're
going to feel all day. "
~Frank Sinatra

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

~ Henny Youngman

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?
I think not."
~ Stephen Wright

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk,
we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all
get drunk and go to heaven!"
~ Brian O'Rourke


WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
~ Benjamin Franklin


WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Without question, the greatest invention in the
history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the

wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does
not go nearly as well with pizza."
~ Dave Barry

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!

~ Dave Howell

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin,of Cheers.

One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the BuffaloTheory to his buddy Norm.
Here's how it went:

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not

A practical example of how the human mind works

*A practical example of how the human mind works*

Analysis of the Below picture can tell us a lot about how different people think.
- For young men, it's a picture of a lady with a nice arse but only the most observant will notice that she is crossing a street.

- The really observant will notice that she is wearing a thong.

- For older men, she appears to be a respectable woman - with a nice arse - on her way to work.

- The perverts among them will imagine her naked.

- Wiser men will ponder the presence of mind of the photographer to take the shot in the face of such beauty and be grateful that they shared it with humanity.

- For half of the women, this is an ordinary woman who should not have left home dressed that way.

- The other half will think she is a slut but wonder where she bought that blouse.

- Older women will imagine the misery that the woman's arse will cause by the time she reaches 50.

- But only children, the extremely intelligent and the celibate will notice that the taxi is being driven by a dog.

i used to like Premji until i read this..

Wipro chairman Mr. Azim prem ji's comment on reservation:

* I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 10 percent reservation for Muslims. 30 percent for OBC, SC /ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/ST player. The four hit by an SC/ST/OBC player should be considered as a six and a six hit by a SC/ST/OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An SC/ST/OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century. We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar should not bowl fast balls to our SC/ST/OBC player. Bowlers should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an SC/ST/OBC player. Any delivery above this speed should be made illegal. Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an SC/ST/OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters. There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit SC/ST and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and politicians (that can really help the country.. ) Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the ministers and other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..) Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward... Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of being an INDIAN.. May the good breed of politicians long live.. *

Government wants to bail out kingfisher airlines

Government wants to bail out kingfisher airlines !!!!
why not ask mallya to sell his stake in Force India and RCB !!
why not ask him to curb his outrageous lifestyle by few steps !!
Government should focus on bailing out common man of the inflation , corruption and non-governance!!!

PLEASE SHARE THIS .... FOR HUMANITY AT-LEAST..

PLEASE SHARE THIS .... FOR HUMANITY AT-LEAST..


Q:Do U know Katrina Kaif ?
Ans:...Ohh know very cute girl.........
Q:Do U know Kareena Kapoor?
Ans:arey yaar she is my Dream Girl...
Q:Do U know who is She(In the picture)?
Ans:haaaa..........once saw her in news bt dont know.....


This is our LIFE
okay!!!
she is Irom Sharmila Chanu....has been fasting for the past 11 years...(the Manipur govt giving liquid food through her nose from 11 yrs )
She has not eaten anything since November 4, 2000 demanding the Government of India
to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) from Manipur.A law that gives Army the power to shoot anyone at their will,A draconian law with many other inhuman provisions ..
Just Think?????........
we doesn't know much about her because of "NO PUBLICITY",
Even Nautanki's like Rakhi Sawant or Punam Pandey's are known to everybody but not a Brave woman like her who sacrificed herself for humanity..
NOW am ready to give publicity to her...
What about U???????????????????.

The AFSPA 1958: A Review From Nagaland After 52years

A long fifty two years have passed since the AFSPA was first introduced into Nagaland in April 1958. This Act was first introduced into Naga soil in order to crush the Naga struggle to defend their declared independence which was declared on August 14, 1958. The political and historical situation in which the Act was introduced was therefore, a situation of war. This was clearly described by the then Director of the Indian Intelligence Bureau B.N. Mullik in his book,”My years with Nehru.” Mullik wrote:

“Troops moved into Tuensang by Oct. 1955, and the war with the Nagas started from then.”

About the number of troops deployed at this stage of the war, he wrote:
“Ultimately, nearly two divisions of the army and thirty five battalions of the Assam Rifles or armed police were in operation in the Naga Hills and Tuensang Frontier Divisions and in the adjoining areas.” (BN. Mullik, My years with Nehru, pp308, 312)

About this number of troops deployed; two Divisions means 18000 troops and thirty five Battalions means 35000 troops which totals into 53000 troops. These troops were assisted by the Indian Air Force, heavy artillery and light armored tanks.
Very soon, more then six hundred Naga villages were burned to ashes and hundreds upon thousands of Nagas died from bullets, bombs, starvation and disease.

The Indian Government however, desperately tried to project the war as a law and order break down. But it was very much a war in which tiny Nagaland was desperately trying to defend its declared independence while India tried its best to impose its declared independence on the Nagas. This was done through brutal military might.

In this war, this draconian law was preceded by the equally heinous Assam maintenance of Public order Act of 1953 and the Disturbed Area Act of 1955.These acts would later on be followed by similar Acts like the Nagaland Security Regulation Act of 1962 and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967. But however hard India had tried to stamp out Naga nationalism and Naga Independence from the face of the earth, it has failed so far. This is because the national identity of a nation is indestructible and unchangeable.

The ASPA which gives the Indian soldiers sweeping powers like searching without search warrants, arresting without arrest warrants, and even shooting to death on mere suspicion is a most illegal act enacted in the annals of human legal history. In fact it is an Act that negates and even nullifies the very concept and principles of law. This is because here is an act that says a person can be shot to death on mere suspicion when the Law says “A person is innocent until proven guilty.” This extra judicial law is sanctioned by Indian Law, protected by Indian Law and is even immune from legal prosecution- “except with previous sanction of the Central Government.” This Act in short is an act that amounts to state sponsored terrorism. And the sponsorer of this heinous law is the central Government of India through its Parliament.

The grounds on which this Act can be promulgated is of course based on the Disturbed Area Act of 1955. According to the procedure, when a State Government has declared an Area to be disturbed, then the AFSPA can come into operation. (This was amended in the 1972 AFSPA amendment and now the Central Government can bypass the concerned state and declare the Act from over the State’s head.)

Now, since all these heinous Acts and regulations were promulgated from the context of a war situation in Nagaland in the 1950’s, let us go back to 1955 and ask the question, Who disturbed who in 1955? Did the Naga National Council (NNC) or the Naga army go down to the plains of Assam and started burning Assamese villages and killing Assamese villagers in 1955 to necessitate the promulgation of AFSPA? So far as the verifiable records go, Nagas were simply defending their declared independence from within their ancestral territories. They were simply fighting against the 53,000 Indian invasion forces that had come into their land with the totally false claim that Nagas were Indians and Nagaland was Indian Territory. Prior to this spirited defense of their rights, all historical, political and cultural facts showing that Nagas were not Indians and would not join the Indian Union of 1947 had been furnished to both the departing British government and the incoming Indian government before 1947. This was done in the form of submitting six memorandums to the British Government and ten memorandums to India right from Jan. I, 1929 to 14 August 1947. (For details read the book, The Naga Saga.)

In all these peaceful endeavors, all that the Nagas had asked was that India and the rest of the world leave the Nagas alone so that they could politically and economically develop themselves according to their own genius. Who then was disturbing who in 1955 that that the Indian Government was compelled to promulgate acts like Disturbed Area Act and AFSPA to check law and order breakdown with tanks aero planes and artillery???

In the subsequent years, when the Naga nation took up arms to protect their houses from being burnt and their sisters from being raped and their people from being butchered, another act called the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act of 1967 was again slammed on the Nagas. Now, Nagas would like to ask the Indian government this second question: Is self defense activities against invasion, domination and persecution- unlawful activities in your legal understanding? If these activities are unlawful activities according to you, then your whole struggle against British imperialism and colonization from 1857 to 1947 were also unlawful activities.

Now in review and conclusion, allow me to state the following:
1. In 52 long years of implementing and exercising this heinous AFSPA, all that the Indian Government has achieved is alienating not only the Nagas but all the peoples of the whole North east region of India. This work of alienation is now being extended to the people of Jammu and Kashmir where it is also in operation now.

2. A second achievement of the AFSPA is that it has insulted as well as shamed Mahatma Gandhi and all the good people of India. Consequently, in the annals of human history, it will be recorded that the Indian government used this most unlawful law to persecute and kill people for over half a century. With its renewal on Oct. 20, 2010, it remains to be seen how much further the GOI wishes to extend this black record to smear India’s democratic face before the world for all times to come.
As for the Nagas and Meiteis as well as other North Eastern peoples who have all suffered under this inhuman law, it will also be recorded in the annals of history that they had done all that they could do to oppose this law. Their record will be written in the following manner:

1. They first took up arms to defend themselves against this life nullifying act. For more then a century, they fought against it in their villages and also in their jungles and were hunted like animals all their lives. They even marched across international boundaries into Pakistan and China to carry on the fight. Yes, their men folk did what a man and a father was supposed to do to defend their national honor as well as their family’s honor.

2. As for their womenfolk, they even stripped naked before the Indian soldiers to protest against this heinous law because under its protective umbrella thousands of women had been raped. One of their women even resorted to hunger strike and went for a fast on to death for ten years. But even these desperate actions were all ignored by the government of India.

In the end, the people who have suffered under this cruel law are only left wondering as to whether the Indian government is trying to force them to become human suicide bombers. On their part, they do not want to resort to this kind of protest because if a people are reduced to a state of hatred, then hatred destroys both “The hater” as well as “The hated.”

HERE IS A TINY BIT OF WHAT THE DRACONAIN AFSPA IS ALL ABOUT

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), was passed on September 11, 1958, by the Parliament of India. It conferred special powers upon armed forces in what the act calls "disturbed areas" in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990

When India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991, members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA. They questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law and asked how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as "dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards."

The Attorney General of India responded that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states. He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a "war footing." He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance, and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.

The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".
The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre argues that the governments' call for increased force is part of the problem.
"This reasoning exemplifies the vicious cycle which has been instituted in the North East due to the AFSPA. The use of the AFSPA pushes the demand for more autonomy, giving the people of the North East more reason to want to secede from a state which enacts such powers and the agitation which ensues continues to justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government." - The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre

A report by the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis points to multiple occurrences of violence by security forces against civilians in Manipur since the passage of the Act. The report states that residents believe that the provision for immunity of security forces urge them to act more brutally. The article, however, goes on to say that repeal or withering away of the act will encourage insurgency.
In addition to this, there have been claims of disappearances by the police or the army in Kashmir by several human rights organizations.
A soldier guards the roadside checkpoint outside Srinagar International Airport in January 2009.

Many human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) have condemned human rights abuses in Kashmir by Indians such as "extra-judicial executions", "disappearances", and torture; the "Armed Forces Special Powers Act", which "provides impunity for human rights abuses and fuels cycles of violence. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grants the military wide powers of arrest, the right to shoot to kill, and to occupy or destroy property in counterinsurgency operations. Indian officials claim that troops need such powers because the army is only deployed when national security is at serious risk from armed combatants. Such circumstances, they say, call for extraordinary measures." Human rights organizations have also asked Indian government to repeal the Public Safety Act, since "a detainee may be held in administrative detention for a maximum of two years without a court order.".

The act has been cricised by many non governmental organisations and human rights activists. In J&K only, hundreds of people have been killed by security forces. Many cases of fake killings, binded labors, rapes and other atrocities have come in light.


Activists who are working in J&K for peace and human rights include names of Madhu Kishwar, Ashima Kaul, Ram Jethmalani, Faisal Khan, Ravi Nitesh, Swami Agnivesh, Dr. sandeep Pandey and many others. They all accept that people to people communication and development of new avenues are the only way for peace, however laws like AFSPA are continuously violating human rights issues there.

hearth touching......

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his
7-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON:"Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
DAD:"Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.
SON:"Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD:"That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"
the man said angrily.
SON:"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD:"If you must know, I make Rs.100 an hour."
SON:"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON:"Daddy, may I please borrow Rs.50?"
The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior."
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that Rs.50 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
"Are you asleep, son?" He asked.
"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.
"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier" said the man.
"It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you.. Here's the Rs.50 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.
"Daddy, I have Rs.100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?
Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that Rs.100 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.
But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

WORLD’S EASIEST QUIZ!

( Passing requires only 3 correct answers out of 10! )

1) How long did the Hundred Years’ War last ?
2) Which country makes Panama hats ?
3) From which animal do we get cat gut ?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution ?
5) What is a camel’s hair brush made of ?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal ?
7) What was King George VI’s first name ?
8) What color is a purple finch ?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from ?
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane ?

Remember, you need only 3 correct answers to pass.


Check your answers below.
ANSWERS
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last ? 116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats ? Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut ? Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution ? November
5) What is a camel’s hair brush made of ? Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal ? Dogs
7) What was King George VI’s first name ? Albert
8) What color is a purple finch ? Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from ? New Zealand
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane ? Orange (of
course!)