On Monday, eight-time gold medallists India failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, inviting a raging debate over Indian hockey’s sorry state of affairs. Read the rest of this entry

The extent to which desis have made an impact in the US was reeled off in the Rajya Sabha — as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in Nasa, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians. Read the rest of this entry

The story of the Taj Mahal that most of us have known about may not be the real truth. Herein Mr. P. N. Oak presents an interesting set of proofs that show a completely different story. Read the rest of this entry

It is said that one is not born a woman but becomes one. Nature does not distinguish between man and woman as much as the severe and the cruel rules made by the society in which we live. The movement for equal rights for women started as early as the eighteenth century when in France the early leaders of the Feminist Movement like Mary Antoinette and Mary Wollstonecraft were murdered only because they demanded equal political, social, educational rights for women.

Most of the rights that today’s educated and well-heeled career oriented women all over the world (barring ancient Islamist regimes and dictatorships) usually take for granted have been brought about by a very bitter struggle by their predecessors throughout the past so many centuries.

Women in India have also proved that they are not mere showpieces, but given proper education and opportunities could be as good as and even more efficient than their male counterparts. They are not, in today’s time, expected to have super human beauty and please men but are taken very seriously because of their achievements at home and at work as well.

In India where Goddesses like Kali, Durga, Saraswati and Parvati are worshipped, women are treated most shabbily and abused in various ways like harassment, child marriage, sati, dowry, female foeticide by today’s modern technologies. Their Human Rights are violated and they are kept illiterate so that they remain a pawn in the hands of a male dominated society, which treats them like second class citizens. In this respect the Indian Constitution has played a very effective role by giving equal rights and liberty to women (and today it is the best time to be a woman in India only because of that small beginning)Indian constitution enfranchised women in 1950, when even in the most modern European countries (like Switzerland, where women were given the right to vote only in the 1970’s!!) there was no provision for women to vote. The only mantra for women to succeed is education and self-dependence (financial, emotional, social, and religious).

Rajput women have also played a very prominent part throughout our history; they have been brave, courageous, fearless and excellent warriors not afraid of death, in defending their honour and that of their motherland. Great women like Rani Durgawati, Rani Lakshmibai, Rani Padmini, Rani Karmavati, Mirabai and so on, fought till their last breath and upheld the sacred honour of the Rajputs.

Presently the Rajput women have made great strides in all fields of life; they have enriched not only their culture and society but also their country. However, on women’s day, I would also like to mention that we need to make more efforts to support and encourage our women, give them education and opportunities, freedom to pursue whatever they want to in life, and eradicate ills like prevention of widow remarriage, purdah, dowry and narrow - mindedness because when they are given all the education, resources and opportunities they would be more responsible and resilient, courageous and successful in their lives. Let us today pray and pledge for making our women tougher and confident, ready to face any challenge that life throws at them.

To conclude here’s a Quote from Guru Nanak Dev Ji :
“From woman, man is born; within woman, man is conceived; to woman he is engaged and married. Woman becomes his friend; through woman the future generations come. When his woman dies, he seeks another woman; to woman he is bound. So why call her bad? From her, kings are born. From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all. O Nanak, only the True Lord is without a woman.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIHtwIzQI1I[/youtube] Read the rest of this entry

Sri Maha Shivaratri or “The Night of Shiva” is observed in honor of the Hindu God Shiva. Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the 14th night of the new moon and this year it falls on the 6th March 2008. Read the rest of this entry