DURGA PUJO, SHILLONG 2012

Durga Puja 2012 Kumari Puja, Shillong

Different Durga Puja Pandals on Mahashtami performed Puja of Goddess Durga here. At the Ramakrishna Mission in Meghlaya's capital city Shillong, the “Kumari” or the virgin Goddess Shakti was worshiped as per rituals.

Amongst the different forms of Goddess Durga, the virgin form is said to be the most dynamic. According to the Markandeya Purana Mother God appears as Virgin-Kumari, to save the virtuous from the evil. Each year, therefore, this form of “MahaShakti” is worshiped during the festivities.

According to Hindu scriptures, Goddess during her annual four-day visit to her parental home on Earth with her four children is worshiped in differnt forms. One of the forms is a virgin girl or Kumari. The ritual of performing Kumari Puja finds mention in all the holy scriptures of the Hindus such as the Veda, Puranas, Tantra and Upanishad.

“Every woman is a manifestation of divine motherhood. And it is most prominent in a virgin. The tradition of worshiping virgin God is therefore age-old,” the Ramakrishna Mission said.

The age of the girl signifies the different form of Goddess Shakti. A one year old is Sandhya form of the Goddess. A two year-old girl is in Sarasvati mould. A child of three years is Tridhamurti, a four-year-old is in Kalika form. A five-year-old child is Subhaga, the sixth year is Uma, on her seventh year she is Malini.

An eight year girl is called Kubjika. Kaalasandarbha is the ninth year. In the tenth year she is Aparajita, on eleventh she is Rudrani. On the twelfth year she is Bhairavi, she is Mahalakshmi on the thirteenth year, on fourteenth she is Pithanayika. In the fifteenth year she is Kshetragya, and she is known as Ambika on her sixteenth year.

The Ramakrishna Mission takes care in choosing the girl to be the Kumaris at the different Missions across the country and abroad. The unmarried young girl has to be “dynamic, pure and serene with a bright disposition” matching the Goddess.

Before the Puja, the girl is given bath and adorned with new clothes, ornaments and floral garland. Vermilion is put on her forehead and the feet is washed and smeared with Alta – a red colouring liquid. She is then seated on a decorated chair and the Puja articles are placed on her feet and worshiped as the divine Goddess.

This year, the Ramakrishna Mission chose a five-year-old girl, Ashmita Bhatacharjee, as the Kumari and was worshiped. The young girl sat for nearly an hour as people watched in reverence with the Maharajs (priests) of the Mission performed the Puja. Later, she was placed at a room at the Mission and people sought here blessings by touching her feet.   

The practice of Kumari Puja started at the Ramakrishna Mission way back in 1902 when Swami Vivekananda performed it at Belur Math, Kolkata. Ever since, the ritual is performed on Mahashtami at the Ramakrishna Mission and also other Temples.

BY GOD'S GRACE INMATES FIND WAY TO AIR GREVIANCES

Deprived of paper to pen their grievances at the overcrowded Shillong district jail in Meghalaya, northeast India, inmates are still dropping written complaints, albeit on Church brochures, distributed by clergymen as part of their counseling.

The matter came to light, after several of the complaints addressed directly to the higher jail authorities were found etched on religious brochures.

Sources said that the jail staffs have stopped handing out papers to the inmates probably fearing that they would start revealing the “inside stories” of the overcrowded jail.

However, the inmates, in the absence of  paper found the ingenious way and started to write down their grievances on church pamphlets and brochures, which are handed to them occasionally by the preachers who visit them.

“It is true complaints were written on the church brochures and pamphlets and the same were found in the two complaint boxes. This, was done, probably, as the inmates were not provided paper by the jail staffs,” a police official said on condition of anonymity.

The controversy-ridden Shillong jail, infamous for several jail breaks, some in collusion with jail authorities, set up two complaint boxes as per the direction of the National Human Rights Commission from August this year.

The British-era jail was established in 1895 and the capacity to house 150 inmates, however, there are over 300 inmates cramped in the jail. On the other hand, there were 30 Jail breaks between 1990 and 2009, averaging one jail break every nine month.

In the initial few days, the official said, inmates were given paper and the complaint on the general condition of the jail came thick and fast. “This led to the jail officials not distributing the papers,” the police official said.

Meanwhile, there is demand by the jail staffs to remove the Director General of Prisons, Kulbir Krishan alleging highhandedness. Krishan countered the allegation and said that some of the jail staffs are providing undue favours to some of the prisoners.

Incidentally, the matter of alleged collusion of some jail staffs and UTPs came to light in August this year. An internal inquiry to probe into the allegations is on.

No Indian Universities in top 200 list

Failure of Indian educational Institutions to make it to the top 200 University list of the world has been blamed solely on poor foreign faculty-student ratio, by Union human resource development minister, Kapil Sibal here today.

In the 2012-13 university rankings conducted by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), none of the Indian educational institutions made it to the top 100 or even 200 list. President, Pranab Mukherjee expressed dismay and urged all concerned to reverse this negative trend.

Sibal, however, was of the view that because Indian educational institutions had a poor foreign faculty and student ratio, of about 2 percent, the Universities did not make it to the top 200 list. But, what Sibal cleverly did not mention is the other parameters that QS takes into consideration while formulating its list of the top Universities of the world.

Six parameters are taken into consideration, Academic Peer review (40%), Global Employer Review (10%), Citation per faculty (20%), International Student Ratio (5 %), International Faculty Ratio (5%) and Faculty Student Ratio (20%).

Poor allocation of fund, just about 6 percent of the GDP, for the education sector and subsequently less fund for the Universities to conduct research has been one of the factors for the poor show of Indian Universities overall. This has also led to brain drain as the students find the stipend in foreign Universities much more attractive to carry on their research work.

Sibal argued that in the University ranking by subject, Engineering and Technology Institutions like IIT Mumbai, Delhi and others have ranked considerably well. “IIT Bombay was ranked amongst the top 50 Universities,” he said.

On the hindsight, the Minister said that getting higher ranking in the top global University list is just like “building a home, which takes considerable time and collaborative effort” of the central and state Governments and also the faculty and students.

“Most importantly it is the students’ effort that makes Institutions world class,” he said after laying the foundation stone of a permanent campus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Meghalaya to be build on 200 acres of land at a cost of Rs 250-crore at Saitsohpen village in Sohra, East Khasi Hills in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.

In this year’s list, IIT, Delhi ranked 212, IIT Bombay ranked 227, IIT, Kanpur 278, IIT Madras 312 and Kharagpur 349 in the overall category of the top world Universities. IIT, Guwahati was ranked 551-600.

The top position was bagged by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, University of Cambridge, UK and Harvard University, US bagged the second and third spot respectively.

Meanwhile, Sibal said local issues needs to be tackled at the grassroots through research at an affordable cost.

Citing the example of Sohra, he said that the world’s wettest place needs to address the water shortage in the lean season through research. “These are the issues NIT must address through applied research,” Sibal said and hoped the institute turns into a “world class” educational institution.

ASSAMESE ON THE SWEETER SIDE LIKE FRENCH

Inside the cosy studio, mumbling to get the exact pronunciation right, Lou Majaw finally emerged exasperated, but chuckled: “Assamese language is on the sweeter side like French, but also a tongue twister.”

Majaw was recording the title track of an Assamese movie, Surjasta here today at the picturesque home studio of Sten’s. It is the first attempt by a Khasi singer to render voice in an Assamese track. Majaw, who is known for his rendition of Dylan numbers, was struggling to get the exact pronunciation.

“Kha…Khaa..,” music director and composer, Kishore Giri reminded the singer about the nuance of phonetics. Majaw dutifully obeyed and put in his effort with his baritone voice. The end result was a beautiful track that has its signature of a visibly undulating Khasi hills flowing over the meandering valleys of Assam.

“Assamese language is on the sweeter side like French and it is also a tongue twister for me, as I am not that much gifted as a linguist,” Majaw, said, attired in his trademark track pants, sleeveless T-shirt, only adding a Gamocha, tucked under his flowing locks.

The singer said that although it is difficult at times to get the correct accent of the language, but he anyway wants to sing the song with a “Khasi twang.” “If the song is sung with the correct accent than it would not be different. I want to sing in Assamese with a Khasi twang,” he reasoned.

He said that Giri first approached him to sing the title track and he jumped at the idea, taking it as an opportunity to “learn new things.” “We need to go beyond our limitations or else things gets so monotonous and boring,” the Desi-Dylan said.

Giri, on the other hand, said, he zeroed in on Majaw not just because he is a dear friend of his, but also to bring people of the two neighbouring states closer with such projects.

“When there is so much of conflict in this world, such endeavor would bring people together. Lou singing with a Khasi accent in Assamese is all about harmony in music that hopefully would resonate in the lives of the people of the two states,” the music director and also the composer said.

Meanwhile, the film’s plot revolves around busy parents in today’s world not getting enough time for their children. It is being produced by Rosy Bora; Pradyut Kumar Deka is the Director, while the title track was penned by Jitumoni Bora, a local journalist.

160 TUK-TUKs ON FIRE FOR WATER :RICKSHAW RUN

Sep 9, 2012– After the noodles were washed down with horse milk and vodka during the Mongol rally, the  3500-km Rickshaw Run, from Shillong to Jaisalmer, would experience “spicy” chapattis and “interesting” chutneys on the Indian roads.

160 adventurists would ride on auto-rickshaw,onomatopoeically called Tuk-Tuks, from around the world for the back-crunching journey from Meghalaya's (India) state capital, Shillong to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to raise funds for clean drinking water. The Race comprises of 67 teams, including 30 women Tuk-Tukians.

Former Meghalaya Home Minister Robert Garnett Lyngdoh flagged off the Race from Shillong Club here today. The Auto rickshaws or “glorified lawn-mowers” are expected to blast the finishing lines on September 22.

The race is organized by UK-based group “The Adventurists.” It’s an initiative, by the not-for-profit social enterprise, Frank Water, to provide sustainable, affordable, clean drinking water for communities around the world, including India. The Current batch of adventurists has already raised over 50,000 Pounds for official charities in India.

“It is not a Race as there are no trophies waiting at the finishing line. The award of this  Race is the adventure on the road and getting in and out of the interesting pickles and getting to lick it through a lifetime,” Tom Morgan, founder of the auto-rickshaw run, said.

Steve Owens and John Spanswick, who took part in the 15,127.8 Km Mongol Rally in 2010, from United Kingdom to Mongolia, are raring to ride the Tuk Tuk.

“We reached Mongolia surviving totally on noodles washed down with mare’s milk and Vodka. We are sure to reach the oasis of Indian desert within two weeks whatever the Indian roads may be, we are pretty much excited,” Owens said.

Laura Salmon from United Kingdom is itching to ride her “Tuktanic.”  Hoping that her mean machine is not “inauspiciously named” she went on to say that the Tuk Tuk is the ultimate feat of “non-engineerance designed  for this ultimate long distance race.” 

Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak

It is somewhat easy to change the name of a shop, like what the clothing outlet in Ahmedabad, named Hitler, did recently. But what if the name-changing is not related to a shop exactly?

Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak, the suspended Nationalist Congress Party legislator from Northeast India's Garo Hills has no issues with his name and has no plans to change it in the near foreseeable days.

However, he corrects: “I am no dictator” and continues that people in his constituency so far has never questioned him about his name, made notorious by the German dictator.

The legislator said he had no say in the naming ceremony as an infant when his father fondly called him Adolf Lu Hitler and then completed it with the surname.

“I have never asked my father why he chose this name for me. And people in my constituency or in Meghalaya never asked me why my parents have chosen this name,” Marak, known more popularly as Adolf Lu Hitler and sometimes Lulu, said.

But, recently in Ahmedabad a small garment outlet was forced to change its name (Hitler) after protest from the Jewish and the local community.

The Jewish community was particularly upset as the German dictator inflicted untold misery and violence on the Jews during World War II. Jews by the thousands were massacred in concentration camps. The name Hitler became synonymous with mass murder world over.

But, the general notion in India is that Hitler is associated with someone who is strict, like as the shop owner in Ahmedabad explained that he named his shop after his partner’s grandfather who was a strict disciplinarian.  

On a similar plane, a somewhat popular soap, which is running on air, calls itself “Hitler Didi” after the protagonist, who is depicted as a strict disciplinarian. In India, there were no issues with the name of the soap whatsoever, but, in the US the same soap is titled as “General Didi.”

“Indians are more sensible. We don’t believe a name represents a person’s true character. A person who goes by the name, Hitler can be a good person or a bad person… Similarly, a person who may have the name of a God can also be a good person or bad. The name has got nothing to do with it. Names are characterised in jest only,” political scientist, Apurba K Baruah from the North Eastern Hill University said.

Baruah quoted Shakespeare’s famous quote “what’s in a name… that which we call a rose…to home in his point of view, but you ask the Hitler from Meghalaya and he goes on to lament how he was mocked by US airport authorities years back when they all stood up in unison, after reading his name on the passport, and hailed him as Hitler - the infamous German dictator.

"GOVT POLITICAL SYSTEM IN INDIA TO BE BLAMED FOR MAOISTS PROBLEM": MINISTER OF STATE JITENDRA SINGH

“The Government and the political system is to be blamed for the Maoist problem in India.”

This statement did not come from any Maoists sympathiser nor from Team Anna, but, from Union Minister of State (home), Jitendra Singh on Sunday here.

The new Congress cabinet minister admitted that the Maoist problem branched from years of negligence and underdevelopment in different parts of the country and the government and the political system in India are to be blamed for that. He was interacting with officials at the North East Police Academy at Umiam.

Singh, reportedly a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, added that there has been a “lack of communication between the government and the people” in different areas of the country, which has led to impoverishment.

He observed that “people with vested interest” are now taking advantage of the underdevelopment and negligence and instigating the poor to take up arms leading to the Maoist movement in India.

“Chhattisgarh would not have happened if there was better communication between people and government. Now some people are taking advantage of the situation,” the Minister of state said.

Singh earlier in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha confirmed that the Maoists have international links.  He said that the CPI (Maoist) has close links with foreign Maoist organisations in the Philippines and Turkey and is drawing support from several organisations based in Germany, France, Holland, Turkey and Italy.

In fact, some of Singh’s observation on the root cause of the spread of Maoism resonates with those made earlier by Team Anna and Maoist supporters, although the latter are silent on the support base of the Maoist. The Union Home ministry, significantly, in a recent study has suggested that development and not force would be a key factor in fighting Maoism.

HISTORIC INDO-BANGLADESH BORDER HAAT REOPNED

BALAT (East Khasi Hills) March 1 – Indians and Bangladeshis today put together all their problem solving skills at task to revive a bygone era of mutual trust and friendship at one of the Mughal-era Border Haat that was reopened here at the Indo-Bangla border.

At the Balat-Dalora border haat, some 95 kms from Shillong; it was a far cry from the early 70s when villagers from both sides engaged in barter trade, before it was closed following thaw in the relationship between the two neighbouring countries. Today, villagers from both sides tried to figure out the tricky currency exchange rate during sale and purchase of items on the first day of trade.

“I need to return a change of Indian Rs 50, so how much would that be in Bangladeshi Taka,” Md. Moksud Ali, a vendor from Konapara on the Bangladeshi side, asked one of the officials of the Joint Border Haat Management Committee (JBHMC.) The official calculated the figure at Taka 78 .56 with Re 1 equalling Taka 1.56 at today’s currency exchange rate.

The minor hitches apart; there was a perceptible air of celebration in this International market of villagers. Villagers from both sides went out of their way to break a decade-old mistrust through their fair trade practises and goodwill. 

The Indians, understandably, showed superior purchasing power with the 25 Bangladeshi vendors doing brisk business in all the items they brought, mainly vegetables, clothes and stationery goods. 25 vendors from India on the other hand brought local produces like betel nuts, vegetables and some stationary items and also did good business.

Earlier, Pynshngainlang Syiem, local MLA from Mawsynram and Chief Executive Member of Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council together with Manish Chakma, Additional District Commissioner, Sunamganj district of Bangladesh formally inaugurated the Balat-Dalora haat.

Syiem said it was a “personal satisfaction” for him today as he tried to revive this historic border haat right from the early 2000 when he was the Syiem (traditional chief) of Hima Bhowal. “I hope that the people would take this opportunity and improve their livelihood. Today is a small beginning, but we want to take this decade-old trade relationship forward. ”

Echoing Syiem, Chakma said, that a “new ear has opened.” It is a small, but a good beginning and this would help the villagers in the border areas economically and moreover, cement ties between the people of the two nations.”

The Balat-Dalora border haat, in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district adjacent to Bangladesh’s Sunamganj district, is the second one to be reopened between the two countries in Meghalaya sector. The first border haat was reopened in Kaliachar-Baliamari in West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya, adjoining Bangladesh’s Kurigram district.

 “We are opening banks on our side for the villagers to exchange the currency. UCO bank would set up their branch near here,” D Wallang chairman JBHMC (India) said pointing to an area near the border haat. The Bangladesh side too would have its own bank (Janata Bank) on its side.

Apart from the vendors, the JBHMC allowed 300 Bangladeshis and a 1000 Indians to market in the haat in the first day. The Indians were allowed one and half hour to do their marketing.  The numbers would change in due course of time, officials from both countries said.