Sublime
music
 Terrorism,
factional clashes, conservative clerics, all these
oft-repeated images associated with Pakistan for the
western tourist make him oversee the other side of the
land, a long heritage of art and culture, feels UK-based
roving journalist Jonathan Dyson as he discovers the
beauty of Sufi music during his travels in the country.
"It feels like I've been transported back to the
Biblical times," marvels Simon Cairns, a backpacker
from New Zealand. It is a Thursday evening in Lahore and
he is at the shrine of Baba Sha Jamal. Around 15 tourists
come here each week to experience Sufism and qawwali
music, and watch in awe at this most impassioned
expression of the Islamic faith.
With the intense, spectacular dancing and drumming that
characterise Sufism, along with the brilliant
co-ordination of lead and backing singers, tabla and
harmonium seen in a qawwali performance, the western
tourists experience a kind of music unheard of in most of
their respective countries. As the cultural
misunderstanding between East and West appears to deepen
day by day, the Western travellers who attend a Sufi
night in Pakistan head home feeling even more sorrowful
about the usual portrayal of Pakistan, and Islam, in
their own media. "The most dominant feeling
experienced during the performances," Cairns
explains, "is to be extremely welcomed by the host
of the shrine, pilgrims and other visitors. The tolerance
exercised towards other religions, minorities and women
in most of the . . .....more
Soporis,
Santoor and Sufiana music
Excelsior Correspondent
 In the year 1954,
the people of the State of J & K and around, heard
for the first time Indian Classical Music being played by
an artist on the Santoor, an instrument, which previously
had been restricted to Sufiana Gayaki only, and the child
artist was Bhajan Sopori on the Santoor. It is more than
50 years since he sowed the seeds for the greatness of
the instrument and what is today known as the Sopori
Baaj, the only style that formally incorporates the
essential stylistic nuances of Indian classical music
required for the rendition of ragas in their pure form as
per the shastras. He was in the Valley some time back to
play a concert along with his son, Abhay Rustum Sopori,
to mark the commencement of the Amarnath Yatra this year.
Pandit Bhajan Sopori reminisces, “Coming back to
Srinagar is like coming back home, after all I have spent
the largest part of my life here. I feel nostalgic to be
once again amongst my people.
Panditji, along with son Abhay, are the only leading
musicians who visit and perform in the Valley on a
regular basis. Last year Pandit Bhajan Sopori created
history by holding the Lalded Festival on October 1,
2005, in honour of the Saint Poetess Lalleshwari of
Kashmir, on the occasion of International Music Day.
Reiterating his untiring commitment to cultural ethos of
Kashmir and the tradition of the Sufiana Gharana that he
belongs to, he says, “Our rich cultural heritage,
especially music has influenced many schools of thought
around the region. The challenge is in effectively
showcasing this beyond borders and making aware the
generations to come of the music and culture of the
Valley . . .....more
Hot and
happening
 Riding high on yet another hit
'Phir Hera Pheri', Akshay Kumar is smiling from ear to
ear. Vickey Lalwani chats up Bollywood's most dependable
hunk of the moment
How are you feeling after the success of 'Phir Hera
Pheri?
I am feeling that I have put fuel in a plane. It's great
to see money coming into the film industry. I hear that
the film is set to break some records in certain
territories.
Did you expect such a big success to the sequel?
Honestly, no. I thought it will succeed but not to this
extent. Making a sequel is scary. You work so hard... and
then there are unfair comparisons with the first one.
Why don't you do films with Karan Johar and Yash Chopra?
That you should be asking them. I would love to work with
those banners. For me, it would be like icing on the
cake.
You were supposed to work with Ram Gopal Varma?
We were talking on 'Ek' but that film never happened. I
have no problems on the length of a role. It should leave
an impact, that's all. I would even love to do a horror
film with Ramu.
There's a feeling in the industry that you hog limelight,
hog footage and edit other's roles?
I have been hearing this for too long now. Then, why
haven't got the Best Editor Award till now? The problem
is that the same people accuse me and then do five more
films with me. I think that I have answered your
question.
You had a fight with Sunil Shetty while 'Phir Hera Pheri'
was being edited?
No such fight happened. These are preposterous rumours.
You have never heard me talking about such things. I
don't know where it comes from.
You have tasted lot of success in the recent past, but
'Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye' was an exception?. . ......more
Endoscopic
Surgery for Sciatica
Dr Satnam Singh Chhabra
 Slipped disc or
Sciatica is a common problem, which affects approximately
1 percent of the population at any given time. It usually
affects people between the ages of 30 to 50 years. It is
more common in males and frequently occurs in people
whose occupation involves frequent bending and lifting.
Disc is cushion like material between the numerous small
bones of the spine column called vertebrae. This
gelatinous material is enclosed in a fibrous capsule. Any
tear in this capsule predisposes to prolapse of the disc.
Prolapse of the disc causes compression of the nerve that
lies very close to it. This problem is more common in
lower portion of spine called lumbar spine.
The slipped disc typically causes low back pain, which
travels to buttock and further down to back of thigh and
calf muscles. This leg pain is also called as Sciatica
because it radiates along distribution of sciatic nerve.
This pain increases on sneezing or straining, walking
etc. Pain may be accompanied by numbness or weakness in
leg muscles and in severe situations bladder and bowel
disturbances.
Slipped disc, is not only cause of backache/ leg pain but
many other diseases can cause it like spinal tumour
infection, T.B. cancer spreading to spine, osteoporosis,
arthritis, spinal stenosis, viral and fungal infection of
spine, syphilis, fractures, congenital diseases like
aneurism and cysts etc.
We should not forget that even abdominal tumors and
infections can also cause backache and leg pain and
numbness. Same can also be found in wrong I/M injections
in the hips. That known factor causing backache are lack
of exercises and physical fitness, bad posture, smoking,
heaving lifting, bending, twisting, prolonged sitting,
anxiety, depression, various games like gymnastics,
tennis, football etc. and family history (genetic)........more
Be Fit to
Travel
Kavita Devgan
 As far as women are
concerned it's travel season all the time now. With more
and more professional women moving continuously on work
as well as for leisure - with their families or solo -
staying fit when on the go has become a must-learn skill.
And staying healthy away from home is no carefree
exercise; in fact, it is often physically and emotionally
demanding.
Starting right is imperative. Staying up half the night
packing is a sure way to bring on exhaustion, fatigue and
irritability. A good night's sleep before travelling is
highly recommended, as is breakfast before a trip.
Meenakshi Mishra, an HR manager in Delhi, logged in over
15 tours in 2004; she knows the frustrations of keeping
fit while travelling only too well. "Not all travel
books deal with uniquely female health needs," she
says, "so one must augment what one reads with the
experienced advice of other women travellers, and learn
from one's own experience too." There are several
tricks to use, she says. "It is possible to reduce
stress by giving yourself ample time to check in (when
flying). And if you are prone to airsickness, reserve a
window seat over the wing."
Delhi's well-known nutrition expert, Dr Shikha Sharma,
says: "Getting adequate hydration is extremely
important throughout your trip, but particularly during
travel time." In warm weather conditions, make sure
you drink enough - don't wait for the thirsty feeling.
Alcohol, coffee and caffeine-laden soft drinks lead to
dehydration so steer clear of the cocktail cart.
"When flying, make a special effort to stay hydrated
as the air is . .. ......more
Remembering
Dr. Hermann Gmeiner
Who gave family to a homeless child
Sudesh Malla
 Dr Hermann Gmeiner
was born in Alberschwende, Boralberg, Austria on June
23rd, 1919 as one of the many children of a farmer. His
mother died when he was very young and his elder
16-year-old sister, Elsa took the mothers place for him.
She practiced the profession of the SOS Mother, which
became the focus of his SOS idea.
In 1946 Dr Hermann Gmeiner began the study of medicine at
the University of Insbruck. He wanted to become a
pediatrician. He was also engaged in Youth Welfare work.
Confronted with the suffering of so many orphan and
homeless children after the 2nd world war and convinced
that help can not be effective where a child has no home,
he founded the first SOS Children’s Village in Imst,
Austria in 1949. His SOS Children’s Village idea
spread to every continent. At present 442 SOS
Children’s village are spread in 132 countries
across the globe. The various authority of the time did
not understand the new SOS idea. Dr Gmeiner’s great
support at first were a few SOS friends who quickly
increased in number. Later on with 600 Austrian Shillings
he founded the association SOS Kinderdorf in 1949, and in
the same year the foundation stone of First SOS
Children’s Village was laid. His activities and
organizational tasks kept Dr Gmeiner so busy that he had
to make the serious decision to give up his studies and
dedicate himself wholly to the work with abandoned
children. He organized the foundation of further SOS
Children’s Villages in Austria and helped to
construct SOS Children’s Villages in many European
countries.In 1963 after the Korean war, the first non
European SOS Village was built in Daegu. ........more
How youth
see the Mahatma
Dr Santosh Bakaya
 It was the month of
February 2005, and the news about the re-enactment of
Dandi March was very much in the air, and incidentally,
I, a political science lecturer in a post-graduate
college was lecturing my post graduate students about
Gandhi’s contribution to the national movement. I
had just waxed eloquent about the greatness of the
‘half-naked fakir’, when a chit of a boy shot
up to his full height of five feet nothing, and seething
with indignation, retorted:
“Madam how can you call him great? He was
responsible for the partition of India”
What the midget lacked in height, he tried to make up by
his indignant squeals of disagreement.
“Was he? Where did you read that?” I asked.
“Well.....”
“Before criticising anyone, you should atleast read
about the person and then argue”.
“Madam, where is the question of reading? It’s
a universal truth. Everyone knows that he was the villain
of the piece.” Another boy remarked with a cocky
air.
“Yes, it’s a well-known fact.” Still
another boy, who had also culled his knowledge or the
lack of it - from people with closed minds, rejoined with
a swaggering confidence.
“Do you know that Gandhi was a sad man when India
was partitioned - and he regarded partition as a
disaster? Mohammad Ali Jinnah had an iron resolve to
father Pakistan, and Gandhi was not in a position to
dilute this resolution?
“Do you know that when India was celebrating
Independence Day on 15th August 1947, he was not part of
the celebration? He was spending the day in a broken down
house in Calcutta among filth and broken glass?”......more
Mobile
Virus
Balbir Singh
 Mobile virus is
nothing but mobile programme written for destructive
purpose. It is written in such a way that it can enter
the mobile or computer without the knowledge of the
“machine or the user” to infect files or
certain areas of the system or even both of them.
A mobile virus can modify other programmes by including a
copy of itself. If generally spreads via executable
programmes (i.e. files having secondary names EXE or COM)
The most important features of mobile virus is that they
load & run without user’s request also they can
run whenever the host programme (to which they are
attached) is run. Unlike the normal programmes viruses,
they never warn the user about the consequences of their
actions, as they are designed to operate secretly.
Commonly, the virus remains trigged off but when “a
predefined event” (which could be a specific date or
time or the no. of times (4 time or 5 time) the programme
runs or the amount of space left in the memory of system,
the virus becomes active and starts copying itself to
other or parts of system or files that comes in contact
with virus. At this stage virus bomb (explodes) and
performs the last action of damaging your . . ...more
Mastitis in
milch animals
Maneka Gandhi
 Imagine your
swollen breasts being tugged at every day , just after
you have given birth by hands that are dirty ,
rough,longnailed. That is what happens to a cow or
buffalo twice a day all her life. Your breast would
develop mastitis and that’s what happens to hers.
All over the world, even in the most hygienic
surroundings, mastitis is the single most prevalent
disease in cattle. Mastitis is caused by bacteria, fungus
or viruses that enter the cow’s udder via the
openings in her teats or through infected wounds.
The contagious pathogens are spread by the cow
handlers/milkers, from contact with a milking machine
used on an infected cow, or in dirty, wet, bedding in a
poorly-ventilated stall. As the cows udders increase with
cross breeding and hormonal manipulation , these
oversized udders become even more vulnerable .They get
stepped on in overcrowded stalls, or scraped on the
ground. Since cows on factory farms are also forced to
stand in their own manure, they come into contact with
infected bacteria. Any injury to the teat/udder during
milking or skin lesion caused by rough hands can lead to
infection in their udders.
Another reason for mastitis is feeding contaminated straw
and substandard feed which has aflatoxin fungus in it.
Chronic aflatoxcosis lowers immunity leading to mastitis.
Most milch animal owners have never heard of or care
about the GIGO principle – garbage in , garbage out.
In fact buffaloes are preferred as dairy animals not only
of the high milk fat content which fetches a better milk
price but also due to their ability to survive . .., ...more
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