People and Places
"The Height of the Depth–The M&M"
Mount Everest, also called Chomolungma or Qomolangma,Sagarmatha (Nepali) is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level, which is
8,848 metres or 29,029 feet. The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal and Tibet, China.
The Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest in 1856 at 29,002 ft (8,840 m), although at the time Everest was known as Peak XV. The mountain was given its official English name in 1865 by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Survey General of India at the time. Waugh was unable to propose an established local name due to Nepal and Tibet being closed to foreigners at the time although Chomolungma had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries.
Naming
In 1865, the mountain was officially given its English by the Royal Geographical Society after being proposed by Andrew Waugh, the British surveyor-general of India. Waugh chose to name the mountain after George Everest, first using the spelling Mont Everest, and then Mount Everest. However, the modern pronunciation of Everest IPA: is in fact different from Sir George’s own pronunciation of his surname, which was /ˈiːvrɪst/
Measurement
In 1856, Andrew Waugh announced Everest (then known as Peak XV) as 29,002 feet (8,840 m) high, after several years of calculations based on observations made by the Great Trigonometric Survey.
More recently, the mountain has been found to be 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) high, although there is some variation in the measurements. On May 22, 2005, the People’s Republic of China’s Everest Expedition Team ascended to the top of the mountain. After several months’ measurement and calculation, on October 9, 2005, the PRC’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially announced the height of Everest as 8,844.43 m ± 0.21 m (29,017.16 ± 0.69 ft). They claimed it was the most accurate measurement to date. This height is based on the actual highest point of rock and not on the snow and ice covering it. The Chinese team also measured a snow/ice depth of 3.5 m,which is in agreement with a net elevation of 8,848 m. The snow and ice thickness varies over time, making a definitive height of the snow cap impossible to determine.
The elevation of 8,848 m (29,029 ft) was first determined by an Indian survey in 1955, made closer to the mountain, also using theodolites. It was subsequently reaffirmed by a 1975 Chinese measurement. In both cases the snow cap, not the rock head, was measured. In May 1999 an American Everest Expedition, directed by Bradford Washburn, anchored a GPS unit into the highest bedrock. A rock head elevation of 8,850 m (29,035 ft), and a snow/ice elevation 1 m (3 ft) higher, were obtained via this device.Although it has not been officially recognized by Nepal, this figure is widely quoted. Geoid uncertainty casts doubt upon the accuracy claimed by both the 1999 and 2005 surveys.
Early Expeditions
In 1885, Clinton Thomas Dent, president of the Alpine Club, suggests that climbing Mount Everest is possible in his book Above the Snow Line.
On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, both of the United Kingdom, made an attempt on the summit via the north col/north ridge route from which they never returned. On May 1, 1999, the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition found Mallory’s body in the predicted search area near the old Chinese camp. Controversy has raged in the mountaineering community as to whether or not one or both of them reached the summit 29 years before the confirmed ascent (and of course, safe descent) of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The general consensus among climbers has been that they did not.
Mallory had gone on a speaking tour of the United States the year before in 1923; it was then that he exasperatedly gave the famous reply, “Because it is there,” to a New York journalist in response to hearing the question, “Why climb Everest?” for seemingly the thousandth time.
In 1933, Lady Houston, a British millionaire ex-showgirl, funded the Houston Everest Flight of 1933, which saw a formation of aircraft led by the Marquess of Clydesdale fly over the summit in an effort to deploy the British Union Flag at the top.
reasserted control over Tibet. However, in 1950, Early expeditions – such as Bruce’s in the 1920s and Hugh Ruttledge’s two unsuccessful attempts in 1933 and 1936 – tried to make an ascent of the mountain from Tibet, via the north face. Access was closed from the north to western expeditions in 1950, after the ChineseBill Tilman and a small party which included Charles Houston, Oscar Houston and Betsy Cowles undertook an exploratory expedition to Everest through Nepal along the route which has now become the standard approach to Everest from the south.
First successful ascent by Tenzing and Hillary
In 1953, a ninth British expedition, led by John Hunt, returned to Nepal. Hunt selected two climbing pairs to attempt to reach the summit. The first pair (Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans) came within 100 m (300 feet) of the summit on 26 May, but turned back after becoming 
exhausted. As planned, their work in route finding and breaking trail and their caches of extra oxygen were of great aid to the following pair. Two days later, the expedition made its second and final assault on the summit with its second climbing pair, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal. They reached the summit at 11:30 a.m. local time on May 29, 1953 via the South Col Route. At the time, both acknowledged it as a team effort by the whole expedition, but Tenzing revealed a few years later that Hillary had put his foot on the summit first. They paused at the summit to take photographs and buried a few sweets and a small cross in the snow before descending.
News of the expedition’s success reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Returning to Kathmandu a few days later, Hunt (a Briton) and Hillary (a subject of Elizabeth, through her role as head of state of New Zealand) discovered that they had been promptly knighted in the Order of the British Empire, a KBE, for the ascent. Tenzing (a subject of the King of Nepal) was granted the George Medal by the UK. Hunt was ultimately made a life peer in Britain, while Hillary became a founding member of the Order of New Zealand.[more…]
The Mariana Trench (or Mariana’s Trench) is the deepest part of the world’s oceans, and the deepest location on the surface of the Earth’s crust. It has a maximum depth of about 11 km (6.8 mi), and is located in the western North Pacific Ocean, to the east and south of the Mariana Islands, near Guam.The trench forms the boundary between two tectonic plates, where the Pacific Plate is subducted beneath the Philippine Plate. The bottom of the trench is farther below sea level than Mount Everest is above it (8,848m/29,028ft). At the bottom, the water column above exerts a pressure of 108.6 MPa, over one thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level.
Measurement
The trench was first surveyed in 1951 by the Royal Navy vessel Challenger, which gave its name to the deepest part of the trench, the Challenger Deep. Using echo sounding, the Challenger II measured a depth of 5,960 fathoms (10,900 metres, 35,760 ft)
In 1957, the Soviet vessel Vityaz reported a depth of 11,034 meters (36,200 ft), dubbed the
Mariana Hollow.(Although this claim was made by the Soviets in 1957, the finding has not been repeated by subsequent mapping expeditions using more accurate and modern equipment.)
In 1962, the surface ship M.V. Spencer F. Baird recorded a greatest depth of 10,915 meters (35,810 ft), using precision depth gauges.
Desents
The United States Navy bathyscaphe Trieste reached the bottom at 1:06 p.m. on January 23, 1960, with U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard on board.Iron shot was used for ballast, with gasoline for buoyancy. The onboard systems indicated a depth of 11,521 meters (37,799 ft), but this was later revised to 10,916 meters (35,813 ft). At the bottom, Walsh and Piccard were surprised to discover soles or flounder about 30 cm (1 ft) long, as well as shrimp According to Piccard, “The bottom appeared light and clear, a waste of firm diatomaceous ooze”.
The most accurate measurement on record was taken by a Japanese probe, Kaikō (かいこう), which descended unmanned to the bottom of the trench on March 24, 1995 and recorded a depth of 10,911 meters (35,798 ft).
source: wikipedia
Further Info:
20 Films by Alfred Hitchcock~The Master of Suspense~
Perhaps no other director in the history of film has had a greater impact on the industry or on popular culture than Alfred Hitchcock. “Hitch” made more than 65 full-length movies that have defined cinema for generations. Nicknamed “the Master of Suspense,” the round, gravelly-voiced man (who never won a Best Director Oscar) made films that put viewers on the edge of their seats time and time again.
Strong characterization, symbolism, surprise endings, and extended chase scenes were a few of Hitch’s trademarks. Here are 20 of his most memorable movies.
1. Rebecca (1940)
This early Hitchcock film tells the spooky tale of Rebecca (played by Joan Fontaine), the naive second wife of a rich widower portrayed by Sir Laurence Olivier. It becomes abundantly clear that Rebecca’s husband and the servants in his mansion aren’t totally over the death of his first wife, and Rebecca is driven mad. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, this movie was tied up in legal trouble over the rights to the script for several years before and after its release.
2. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
Leave it to Hitchcock to surprise everyone by making a movie with no murder and no mystery at all. Lighthearted and purely entertaining, Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery as a couple with a rather odd relationship. When the two find out that they might not be married at all, their strained commitment is given new life. It was Lombard who is said to have convinced Hitch to do this beloved departure movie. Another movie of the same title was made in 2005 with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but it bears little resemblance to the original.
3. Saboteur (1942)
This Hitchcock film tells the tale of Barry Kane, a factory worker who sees a Nazi agent blow up his plant. Robert Cummings plays the leading man-on-the-run (though it’s rumored that Hitch wanted Cary Grant in the role), and lots of classic Hitchcock moments ensue — cross-country chases, a lovely blonde, a slimy antagonist, and a big finish. Although it’s not one of Hitchcock’s top 10, it’s definitely a thrilling film.
4. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Who knew Thornton Wilder, the playwright who penned Our Town, had it in him to write such a murderous tale? Hitchcock, ever the innovator, teamed up with Wilder to create this tale starring Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie and Teresa Wright as his niece. Uncle Charlie seems to be a mild-mannered guy, but his loving niece finds out something sinister about him and has to make some tough, dangerous decisions about how to handle the sticky situation. Hitch often said that Shadow was his favorite of all his films.
5. Lifeboat (1944)
Long before Survivor and Lost, there was Lifeboat. Two World War II ships crash at sea and a group of survivors have to figure out how to stay afloat and reach safety with limited options. The group in the cramped boat includes a journalist, a radio operator, a businessman, and a nurse, among others. Many in the cast suffered from pneumonia during filming, but the set’s chilly conditions created tension and incredible atmosphere for this fan favorite.
6. Rope (1948)
The first picture Hitch made with his own production company, Transatlantic Pictures, was also his first film in color. Two young men murder for fun and play cat and mouse with a former teacher, played by Jimmy Stewart. This movie, which was based on a true story, is noted for its incredibly long takes — the film often goes seven or eight minutes without an edit.
7. Dial “M” for Murder (1954)
The first of Hitch’s so-called “blonde films,” this double-crossing plot is among the filmmaker’s best. Grace Kelly is a woman torn between her husband (a handsome but murderous Ray Milland) and her new love (a dashing but philandering Robert Cummings). When Milland learns of the affair, he decides to blackmail an old acquaintance into murdering his wife. Things go a bit haywire, so Milland switches plans and attempts to frame his wife for the murder of the would-be assassin. Everything seems to be going according to Plan B, until an inspector starts snooping around. This film was originally done in 3-D, but switched to 2-D soon after. The 3-D version of this thriller is now available as a reissue.
8. Rear Window (1954)
One of the most acclaimed suspense films of all time features Hitch favorites Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart. Stewart stars as Jeff, a snoop who sees a murder take place in his neighbor’s house while looking out his window. Jeff’s apartment was the set for the movie and except for one or two exterior shots, all shooting was done within the set — at the time, the largest set Paramount had ever constructed. The suspenseful ending is one of the more gripping finales ever committed to celluloid.
9. To Catch a Thief (1955)
Hitch was among the first to film the engaging story of the reformed thug. Cary Grant plays John Robie, a retired cat burglar who lives a quiet life in the plush Riviera. Naturally, when a fresh set of burglaries explodes in the area, Robie is suspected. In order to clear his name, he sets out to catch the thief himself. He is aided by Grace Kelly, an American heiress initially convinced that Robie is guilty. Look for a long Hitch cameo in this film — he’s an unassuming bus passenger for about ten minutes.
10. The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Fans either love or hate The Trouble with Harry, a suspenseful satire made in 1955. Jerry Mathers, Academy Award-winner Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, and Shirley MacLaine (in her first film role) all try to solve the problem — Harry is dead and no one knows what to do with the body — with mixed results. This comedy revealed the range that the director was capable of, even though many wondered where the dark, foreboding Hitch had gone.
11. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Jimmy Stewart is back again, this time opposite Doris Day as a naive American couple vacationing in Morocco. When a French spy dies in Stewart’s arms and the couple’s son is kidnapped, a tense international espionage story plays out. Stewart is chased by the bad guys, since he knows too much about an assassination set to be carried out in London. The scene known as “The Albert Hall Scene” is about 12 minutes long and contains no dialogue whatsoever, delighting film students and cinephiles the world over — it’s a risky filmmaking move and a Hitchcock masterstroke.
James Stewart’s character in Vertigo is said to closely resemble Hitchcock himself.
12. Vertigo (1958)
Based on a French novel, Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak star in this megahit movie — filmed in “VistaVision” color. The dark story is set in San Francisco and features Stewart as an obsessive man who falls for a girl who kills herself. Novak plays two roles in the film. This is said to be Hitch’s most “confessional” movie, dealing directly with how he feared women and tried to control them. Stewart is essentially playing Hitchcock himself.
13. North by Northwest (1959)
This movie sold itself as “A 3,000 mile chase scene!” with a star-studded cast that included Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason. The chase reaches its climax on Mount Rushmore. Naturally, Hitch wanted to go big and film on location, but the powers that be didn’t want an attempted murder taking place on a national monument. The entire set was constructed on a soundstage instead. The film was nominated for three Oscars and is often touted by critics as one of the best movies of all time.
14. Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock didn’t use his usual, expensive production unit for this cultural juggernaut, opting instead to use his TV crew because he wanted Psycho to look like “a cheap exploitation film.” Anthony Perkins stars as Norman Bates, a creepy mama’s-boy innkeeper who offers Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) a place to stay for the night. Hitchcock chose to shoot in black and white to resemble the newsreels of the time — and also because the gory nature of the film would be too much in living color. Psycho is truly Hitchcock’s masterpiece, a must-see for anyone who has ever wanted to be entertained — or scared out of their mind.
15. The Birds (1963)
Alfred Hitchcock will forever be known as “the Master of Suspense” because of his ability to take the everyday and make it terrifying. Hotels, heights, neighbors, women, and birds were benign until Hitch got ahold of them. The Birds is the ultimate example of this — any shred of avian cuteness is obliterated when swarms of birds attack a northern California town. Tippi Hedren plays the doomed blonde alongside handsome Rod Taylor. Hitch said the characters in The Birds “are the victims of Judgment Day,” making the film an acceptably horrifying follow-up to Psycho.
16. Marnie (1964)
Tippi Hedren is back, playing a compulsive thief in this rock-solid psychological thriller. Sean Connery is the dashing leading man who tries to get Marnie to confront her schizophrenia. Long scenes and heavy dialogue kept this picture from having the mass appeal of Psycho or The Birds, but the suspense is every bit as potent. Hitch originally wanted Grace Kelly to play Marnie but she had just married the Prince of Monaco and his people weren’t thrilled about their new princess portraying such an unstable character.
17. Torn Curtain (1966)
Nothing is what it appears to be in this “trust no one” thriller set during the Cold War. Paul Newman and Julie Andrews star as a young couple caught up in an international mystery in which everyone is a suspect. This would be the last picture that Hitch and composer and longtime collaborator Bernard Herrmann would work on together. Universal Pictures convinced Hitch that the score Herrmann penned wasn’t upbeat enough, so the director cut the score and a brilliant, 11-year relationship was officially over.
18. Topaz (1969)
Another tense Cold War adventure, Topaz is based on a Leon Uris novel about the Cuban Missile Crisis. John Forsythe is a CIA agent who hires a French operative to investigate rumors of missiles in Cuba and a shady NATO spy known as “Topaz.” True to Hitchcock form, much intrigue, double-crossing, and death transpire. Hitch admitted that Topaz was one of his more experimental films and had elements that didn’t totally work, but true fans still appreciate the film as a risky but important fixture in the Hitchcock arsenal.
19. Frenzy (1972)
Stop the presses! Frenzy was the first Hitch film to earn an R rating with the new ratings system that took effect in 1968. This ultra-dark comedy about an innocent man on the run was filmed in England, putting Hitch back home for the first time in nearly 20 years. Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, and Barry Foster make up the strong cast in this gallows-humor story that incorporates many trademark Hitchcock touches — bathrooms, continuous camera shots, and criminals around every corner.
20. Family Plot (1976)
Hitch’s final film uses both humor and suspense to tell a tongue-in-cheek tale of a rich lady’s eccentric foibles and the trouble they cause. Stars abound in this film, including Bruce Dern and William Devane, but Hitch had originally wanted the likes of Liza Minnelli and Al Pacino in the picture. If you look closely, there is a street sign in Family Plot that reads “Bates Ave.,” a nod to Psycho, one of the many films that made this director one of the most influential men of the 20th century.
References:
Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
Hitchcockonline-Contains a lengthy online essay and related links.
Writing With Hitchcock – includes original interviews, essays, script excerpts, and extensive material on Hitchcock’s unproduced works.
Senses of Cinema’s “Great Directors” Alfred Hitchcock profile
Hitchcock’s Style — online exhibit from screenonline, a website of the British Film Institute
Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple?
The following is an interesting topic or rather controversy raised following the research done by Prof.P. N. Oak which provided evidences that Taj was a Hindu temple.V shall here post the contents of an e-mail explaining the same…
"The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world! . Many people believe Ustad Isa of Iran designed it." This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the Taj Mahal" but what about the following....
No one has ever challenged it except Prof. P. N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz’s
tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his research Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai SIngh for Mumtaz’s
burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place ! for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun,Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak’s inquiries began with the name of Taj Mahal. He says the
term “Mahal” has never been used for a building in any Muslim countries from Afghanisthan to Algeria. “The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal was illogical in atleast two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani,” he writes. Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters ‘Mum’ from a woman’s name to derive the remainder as the name for the building.”Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo Mahalaya, or Lord Shiva’s Palace. Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan’s time corroborates the love story. Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan’s era, and was a temple dedicated to Shiva, worshipped by Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Prof. Marvin Miller of New York took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan. European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo,who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz’s death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz’s death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building well before Shah Jahan’s time.
Oak now hopes that the government should open the sealed rooms so that more research can be done under the UN supervision and let international experts investigate the hidden truth which he claims to have discovered and he adds some photographic proofs supporting the same […]
visit stephen knapp’s home page for visual proofs n much more
Nostradamus & his Prophecies!!
Michel de Nostredame (14 December 1503 or 21 December 1503 – 2 July 1566), usually Latinized to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous world-wide. He is best known for
his book Les Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, which has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus has attracted an enthusiastic following who, along with the popular press, credit him with predicting many major world events.
In contrast, most academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus’s quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Moreover, none of the sources listed offers any evidence that anyone has ever interpreted any of Nostradamus’s quatrains specifically enough to allow a clear identification of any event in advance.
Nevertheless, interest in the work of this prominent figure of the French Renaissance is still considerable, especially in the media and in popular culture, and the prophecies have in some cases been assimilated to the results of applying the alleged Bible Code, as well as to other purported prophetic works.[more…]
Works:
The Prophecies. In this book he compiled his collection of major, long-term predictions. The first installment was published in 1555. The second, with 289 further prophetic verses, was printed in 1557. The third edition, with three hundred new quatrains, was reportedly printed in 1558, but nowadays only survives as part of the omnibus edition that was published after his death in 1568. This version contains one unrhymed and 941 rhymed quatrains, grouped into nine sets of 100 and one of 42, called “Centuries”.
Given printing practices at the time (which included type-setting from dictation), no two editions turned out to be identical, and it is relatively rare to find even two copies that are exactly the same. Certainly there is no warrant for assuming – as would-be “code-breakers” are prone to do – that either the spellings or the punctuation of any edition are Nostradamus’ originals.
The Almanacs. By far the most popular of his works, these were published annually from 1550 until his death. He often published two or three in a year, entitled either Almanachs (detailed predictions), Prognostications or Presages (more generalized predictions).
Nostradamus was not only a diviner, but a professional healer, too. It is known that he wrote at least two books on medical science. One was an alleged “translation” of Galen, and in his so-called Traité des fardemens (basically a medical cookbook containing, once again, materials borrowed mainly from others), he included a description of the methods he used to treat the plague — none of which, not even the bloodletting, apparently worked. The same book also describes the preparation of cosmetics.
A manuscript normally known as the Orus Apollo also exists in the Lyon municipal library, where upwards of 2,000 original documents relating to Nostradamus are stored under the aegis of Michel Chomarat. It is a purported translation of an ancient Greek work on Egyptian hieroglyphs based on later Latin versions, all of them unfortunately ignorant of the true meanings of the ancient Egyptian script, which was not correctly deciphered until the advent of Champollion in the 19th century.
Since his death only the Prophecies have continued to be popular, but in this case they have been quite extraordinarily so. Over two hundred editions of them have appeared in that time, together with over 2000 commentaries. Their popularity seems to be partly due to the fact that their vagueness and lack of dating make it easy to quote them selectively after every major dramatic event and retrospectively claim them as “hits”.
Interpretations:
Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles — all undated and based on foreshadowings by the Mirabilis Liber. Some quatrains cover these disasters in overall terms; others concern a single person or small group of persons. Some cover a single town, others several towns in several countries. A major, underlying theme is an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces from further east and south headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the then-current Ottoman invasions and the earlier Saracen (that is, Arab) equivalents, as well as the prior expectations of the Mirabilis Liber. All of this is presented in the context of the supposedly imminent end of the world, a conviction that sparked numerous collections of end-time prophecies at the time, not least an unpublished collection by Christopher Columbus .Some scholars believe that Nostradamus wrote not to be a prophet, but to comment on events that were happening in his own time, writing in his elusive way — using highly metaphorical and cryptic language — to avoid persecution. This is similar to the Preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation.
Nostradamus – The Prophecy Sept. 11 2001 – More amazing video clips are a click away
Alternative Views
A range of quite different views are expressed in printed literature and on the Internet. At one end of the spectrum, there are extreme academic views such as those of Jacques Halbronn, suggesting at great length and with great complexity that Nostradamus’s Prophecies are antedated forgeries written by later hands with a political axe to grind. Although Halbronn possibly knows more about the texts and associated archives than almost anybody else alive (he helped dig out and research many of them), most other specialists in the field reject this view.At the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous fairly recent popular books, and thousands of private websites, suggesting not only that the Prophecies are genuine but that Nostradamus was a true prophet. Thanks to the vagaries of interpretation, no two of them agree on exactly what he predicted, whether for our past or for our future.There is a consensus among these works, however, that he predicted the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, both world wars, and the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is also a consensus that he predicted whatever major event had just happened at the time of each book’s publication, from the Apollo moon landings, through the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, to the events of 9/11: this ‘movable feast’ aspect appears to be characteristic of the genre.
Source: wikipedia
Did Nostradamus predict the 9/11 attack–Was it a hoax?? review
The sudden rise in sales of Nostradamus’ books has been apparently fuelled by an email message which promoted the idea that the French seer foretold the destruction of the twin towers.
The New York Times newspaper recently noted:
|
The collage states the following:
‘In the year of the new century and nine months / From the sky will come a great King of Terror… The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches the great new city / In the city of York, there will be a great collapse/ 2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos/ while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb / third big war will begin when the big city is burning.’’
Further Info
Postdiction
The Nostradamus
Nos’mus W.War3 predictions
Complete English translation of his prophesies
Nos’mus END OF THE WORLD
ISKCON~~Krishnology!!!
Wondering as what dis post has to do with Youngistan???. Well I had recently been to one of the 
ISKCON temples and found out that its an International Organization which strives for Krishna Consciousness. What that struck my eye was the temple’s Architecture and Incredibly pleasing environment.It was terribly awesome!!!
Know more, go through the post…….
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as ‘the Hare Krishna’ movement, was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ISKCON has since developed into a worldwide confederation of 10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees.
Better known as the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON is comprised of more than 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and 60 restaurants worldwide.The mission of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna consciousness according to Bhagavad-gita and other ancient scriptures.
While some classified it as a new religious movement, its core philosophy is based
on scriptures such as the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, both of which date back more than two millennia. The distinctive appearance of the movement and its culture come from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India ever since the late 1400s. Early converts to the movement were dated to early 1930s.
Non-sectarian in its ideals , ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of ‘Bhakti yoga’ (The Yoga of Devotion); wherein aspirant devotees (Bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing Supreme Lord, Krishna.
History
According to Hare Krishna devotees Krishna is the origin of Vishnu. They worship Krishna as the highest form of God, and often refer to him as “the Supreme Personality of Godhead” in writing, which was a phrase coined by Srila Prabhupada in his books on the subject. Devotees consider Radha to be Krishna’s divine female counterpart, the embodiment of love. An important aspect of their philosophy is the belief that the individual soul is an eternal personal identity which does not ultimately merge into any formless light or void as suggested by the monistic (Advaita) schools of Hinduism.
Hare Krishna devotees specifically follow a disciplic line of Gaudiya, or Bengali, Bhagavata 
Vaishnavas which comes under the general description of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism means ‘worship of Vishnu’, and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism is practiced and is widespread, among other places, such as Rajastan and Vrindavana. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a continuous following in India, especially West Bengal and Orissa for the past five hundred years. Srila Prabhupada disseminated Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology in the Western world through extensive writings and translations, including Bhagavad Gita, Srimad and Chaitanya Charitamrita and other scriptures. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the canon of ISKCON. Many of these books are now available online from a number of websites.
Early western conversions to monotheistic Krishna vaisnavism or Bhagavata Vaishnava line, that forms the basis of ISKCON philosophy, were recorded by the Greeks and survived as archeological monuments.
The Maha Mantra:
- Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
- Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
- Hare Rama Hare Rama
- Rama Rama Hare Hare
The Seven purposes of ISKCON
When Srila Prabhupada first incorporated ISKCON, in 1966, he gave it seven purposes.
- To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
- To propagate a consciousness of Krishna, as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
- To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus to develop the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
- To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy names of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
- To erect for the members, and for society at large, a holy place of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
- To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.
- With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.
Preaching Activities
ISKCON is actively evangelistic. Members try to spread Krishna consciousness, primarily by singing the Hare Krishna mantra in public places and by selling books written by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Both of these activities are known within the movement as ‘Sankirtan’. According to the doctrine of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one does not need to be born in a Hindu family to take up the practice of Vaishnavism. This philosophy places ISKCON in strong contrast to many other branches of Hinduism, which may stress hereditary lineage and are non-missionary by nature. There are ISKCON communities around the world with schools, restaurants and farms. In general, funds collected by ISKCON are treated as communal property and used to support the community as a whole and to promote the preaching mission.Many temples also have programs (like Food for Life Global) to provide meals for the needy. Also, ISKCON has recently brought the academic study of Krishna into western academia as Krishnology.[more…]
Slideshow:
You don’t find more pictures of ISKCON temples on the web because their beauty can be enjoyed with your naked eyes only.
Links:
Indian Temple Architecture – A concise description of the diverse temple architectural styles seen in Indian temples, styles that have been in existence for over a millennium.
Click here for world-wide centers
Click here for official worldwide website
Krishna.com-the bhaktivedanta book trust
India n its contribution towards Mathematics!
The concept of zero also originated in ancient India. It is derived from the concept of a void. The concept of void existed in Hindu Philosophy – hence the derivation of a symbol for it.
In India, mathematics has its roots in Vedic literature which is nearly 4000 years old. Between 1000 B.C. and 1000 A.D. various treatises on mathematics were authored by Indian
mathematicians in which were set forth for the first time, the concept of zero, the techniques of algebra and algorithm, square root and cube root.
A method of graduated calculation was documented in the Pancha-Siddhantika (Five Principles) in the 5th Century. But the technique is said to be dating from Vedic times circa 2000 B.C.
The rudiments of Geometry called Rekha-Ganita in ancient India – were formulated and applied in the drafting of Mandalas for architectural purposes.
They were also displayed in the geometric patterns used in many temple motifs.(adj fig)
The technique of calculation, called algorithm, which is today widely used in designing soft ware programs (instructions) for computers was also derived from Indian mathematics. In this chapter we shall examine the advances made by Indian mathematicians in ancient times.
In India around the 5th century A.D. a sys tem of mathematics that made astronomical calculations easy was developed. In those times its application was limited to astronomy as its pioneers were Astronomers. As tronomical calculations are complex and involve many variables that go into the derivation of unknown quantities. Algebra is a short-hand method of calculation and by this feature it scores over conventional arithmetic.
In ancient India conventional mathematics termed Ganitam was known before the development of algebra. This is borne out by the name – Bijaganitam, which was given to the algebraic form of computation.
Bijaganitam means the other mathematics (Bija means ‘another’ or ‘second’ and Ganitam means mathematics).
The fact that this name was chosen for this system of computation implies that it was recognized as a parallel system of computation, different from the conventional one which was used since the past and was till then the only one.
Some have interpreted the term Bija to mean seed, symbolizing origin or beginning. And the inference that Bijaganitam was the original form of computation is derived.
Credence is lent to this view by the existence of mathematics in the Vedic literature which was also shorthand method of computation.
But whatever the origin of algebra, it is certain that this technique of computation originated in India and was current around 1500 years back.
Aryabhatta an Indian mathematician who lived in the 5th century A.D. has referred to Bijaganitam in his treatise on Mathematics, Aryabhattiya.
An Indian mathematician – astronomer, Bhaskaracharya has also authored a treatise on this subject. [more…]
The Concept of Zero or Shunya
The concept of zero also originated in ancient India. It is derived from the concept of a void. The concept of void existed in Hindu Philosophy – hence the derivation of a symbol for it.
The concept of Shunyata, influenced South-east asian culture through the Buddhist concept of Nirvana ‘attaining salvation by merging into the void of eternity’
A concept and symbol that connotes nullity represents a qualitative advancement of the human capacity of abstraction. In absence of a concept of zero there could have been only positive numerals in computation, the inclusion of zero in mathematics opened up a new dimension of negative numerals and gave a cut off point and a standard in the measurability of qualities whose extremes are as yet unknown to human beings, such as temperature.
In ancient India this numeral was used in computation, it was indicated by a dot and was termed Pujyam. Even today we use this term for zero along with the more current term Shunyam meaning a blank. But queerly the term Pujyam also means holy. Param-Pujya is a prefix used in written communication with elders. In this case it means respected or esteemed. The reason why the term Pujya – meaning blank – came to be sanctified can only be guessed.
Indian philosophy has glorified concepts like the material world being an illusion Maya), the act of renouncing the material world (Tyaga) and the goal of merging into the void of eternity (Nirvana). Herein could lie the reason how the mathematical concept of zero got a philosophical connotation of reverence.
It is possible that like the technique of algebra; the concept of zero also reached the west through the Arabs. In ancient India the terms used to describe zero included Pujyam, Shunyam, Bindu the concept of a void or blank was termed as Shukla and Shubra. The Arabs refer to the zero as Siphra or Sifr from which we have the English terms Cipher or Cypher. In English the term Cipher connotes zero or any Arabic numeral. Thus it is evident that the term Cipher is derived from the Arabic Sifr which in turn is quite close to the Sanskrit term Shubra.[more…]
Extracted from :Crystalinks
Further Info:
The Great Indians , Do u know who is the father of Plastic Surgery–its ACHARYA SUSHRUT
VedicmathsIndia -blog
The Most Controversial AREA-51
Every weekday morning, at least 500 people arrive at the guarded terminal owned by EG&G on the northwest side of McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here they board one of a small fleet of unmarked Boeing 737-200s. Using three digit numbers prefixed by the word “Janet” as their callsigns, the 737s fly off North every half hour.
Their destination is Groom Lake, also known as Area 51, an installation so secret, its existence is denied by the government agencies and contractors that have connections there. By late 1955, the facility had been completed for flight testing of Lockheed’s U-2 spyplane. Since that time, Groom Lake has undergone vast expansion, catering to the needs of testing the most advanced aircraft projects in the world. Forty-four years after it was created, Groom Lake has hosted flight testing of the aforementioned Lockheed U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 stealth fighter, Northrop’s B-2 stealth bomber, the mysterious Aurora Project, and possibly even alien spacecraft.
Tony LeVier, Lockheed’s test pilot assigned to test-fly the U-2 spyplane, claims the credit for recognizing Groom Dry Lake as a suitable test site. The CIA gave U-2 designer Kelly Johnson the task of choosing and building a secure test site. In March 1955, Johnson sent LeVier and Skunk Works foreman Dorsey Kammerer to visit potential test sites in the deserts of southern California, Nevada, and Arizona. After two weeks, LeVier presented Johnson with his impressions, and Johnson chose Groom Lake.
The Groom Lake facility has been known by many names since its construction. Kelly Johnson named the place “Paradise Ranch”. When his flight test team arrived in July 1955, they simply called it “The Ranch”. In fact, the secret base was formally named Watertown Strip, after the town in upstate New York where CIA director Allen Dulles was born. In June 1958, it was officially designated Area 51 by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The adjacent AEC proving grounds became known as the Nevada Test Site and divided into such numbered areas. The base is now known worldwide as “Area 51” (thanks to numerous mentions in Hollywood shows and movies), though officially this designation was dropped in the 1970s.
By 1970, the USAF Systems Command took over the operation of Groom Lake. At this time, the U-2 and A-12/SR-71 spyplanes had both been tested and in service on reconnaissance missions. Unmanned high-speed drones were also being tested, including the Model 147 Lightning Bug, Model 154 Firefly, and D-21 Tagboard. In 1967, the United States acquired its first Soviet MiG-21 and the US efforts to acquire Soviet weapons technology expanded.
In 1975, the Red Flag series of realistic air warfare exercises started at Nellis AFB, using large portions of the ranges surrounding Groom Lake. The box of airspace surrounding Groom Lake was strictly off-limits to Red Flag aircrews. It became known as “Red Square” at this time, but later acquired the semi-official title of “Dreamland” as a series of new exotic aerospace projects evolved in the late 1970s. These included the Have Blue and Tacit Blue stealth technology demonstrators. The testing of these aircraft brought extreme security measures at Groom Lake.
The Groom Lake base was considerably expanded in the 1980s. The main runway (14/32) was extended to the south, and then a huge northernly extension built out onto Groom Dry Lake, today having a length of 27,000 feet. A smaller parallel runway was built in the early 1990s. Semi-recessed “scoot and hide” shelters were built on the main taxiway so that secret aircraft could be more easily hidden from spying satellites overhead. New radars, satellite telemetry and other communications facilities were installed, and extra warehouse and assembly areas constructed. The base housing area was completely rebuilt, accomodating up to 2,000 people, and an extensive recreational facility provided. Today, Groom Lake seems to be administered by Detachment 3 of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB
click here for more–>>area
Additional Info:
Wikipedia link–> click
Ufomind
Image collection
Crystal links
Aliens On Earth
How Area51 works??
Dream Destination~~Palm Island-Dubai
The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. The islands are the largest land reclamation projects in the world and will result in the world’s largest artificial islands. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired the Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord, one of the world’s specialists in land reclamation. The islands are The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira.
The islands were commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in order to increase Dubai’s tourism. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 km of beaches to the city of Dubai.
The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira will be composed of approximately 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in the UAE. Between the three islands there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.
The creation of The Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Shortly after, The Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation work began. The Palm Deira, which is planned to have a surface area of 46.35 million square metres and which the developer, Nakheel, claims is a surface area larger than that of Paris, began development in 2003. Construction will be completed over the next 10-15 years.
Construction
The Palm Islands are artificial peninsulas constructed of sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf by the Belgian company Jan De Nul.and the Dutch company Van Oord. The sand is sprayed by the dredging ships, which are guided by DGPS, onto the required area in a process known as rainbowing because of the arcs in the air when the sand is sprayed. The outer edge of each Palm’s encircling crescent is a large rock breakwater. The breakwater of the Palm Jumeirah has over 7 million tons of rock. Each rock was placed individually by a crane, signed off by a diver and given a GPS coordinate. The Jan De Nul Group started the work on the Palm Jebel Ali in 2002 and finished by the end of 2006. The reclamation project of the Palm Jebel Ali includes the creation of a 4 km long peninsula, protected by a 200 m wide and 17 km long breakwater built around the island. 135,000,000 m³ of rock, sand and limestone were reclaimed (partly originating from the Jebel Ali Entrance Channel dredging works). There are approximately 5,000,000 m³ of rocks in the slope protection works.
Palm Jumeirah
The Palm Jumeirah consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometer-long breakwater. The island itself is 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers. It will add 78 kilometers to the Dubai coastline. The first phase of development on the Palm Jumeirah will create 4,000 residences with a combination of villas and apartments over the next 3 to 4 years.
Residents began moving into their Palm Jumeirah properties at the end of 2006, five years after land reclamation began, according to project developer Nakheel Properties. This signaled the end of phase one of construction, which includes approximately 1,400 villas on 11 of the fronds of the island and roughly 2,500 shoreline apartments in 20 buildings on the east side of the trunk.
Nakheel Properties will mark the arrival of the first residents by bringing one of the world’s largest airships to Dubai. It has agreed to a deal with Airship Management Services Inc. for a 197 feet (60 m) long, 250,000-cubic-foot (7,100 m³) Skyship 600 dirigible.
According to Nakheel Properties officials, the process of adding 78 kilometers of beach is under way, while eight of the 32 hotels on The Palm Jumeirah have begun construction, including the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, which is planned for completion in late 2008 or early 2009. The first phase of Atlantis, The Palm, is scheduled to be completed by December 2008.
The “Golden Mile”, the strip of land located along the center of the trunk overlooking the canal, is set for completion in the first quarter of 2008. Construction has also begun on the Palm Monorail, which will take three years to complete and will serve as a transit system between the Gateway Station at the trunk of The Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis Station on the crescent.
Palm Jebel Ali
The Palm Jebel Ali began construction in October 2002 and is expected to be completed in mid 2008. The Palm Jebel Ali is expected to accommodate 1.7 million people by 2020. Once it has been completed, it will be encircled by Dubai Waterfront. The project, which is 50 percent larger than the Palm Jumeriah, will include six marinas, a water theme park, ‘Sea Village’, homes built on stilts above the water, and boardwalks that circle the “fronds” of the “palm” and spell out an Arabic poem by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
As of early October 2007, construction of the island was on schedule. The breakwater was completed in December 2006, and infrastructure work began in April 2007. Major construction will not begin until most of the infrastructure work is complete.
One of the first buildings on The Palm Jebel Ali is already known. Nakheel invited several architects to design a building on a 300,000m² area. The winning design was a building by Royal Haskoning, who also worked on several other projects in Dubai. The building can be seen here.
In 2012, the first phase of four theme parks will open on the Crescent. These parks, which together will be called “World of Discovery,” will be developed and operated by the Busch Entertainment Corporation. The parks include SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove. The World of Discovery will be located at the top of the Crescent, which will form into the shape of an orca (reminiscent of Shamu)
Palm Deira
The Palm Deira was announced for development in October 2004.Upon completion, it will 
become the world’s largest man-made island, housing more than a million people.Although no timetable for completion has been announced, it is expected to be finished by 2015. This island is 8 times larger than the Palm Jumeirah, and 5 times larger that the Palm Jebel Ali. Originally, the design called for a 14km (8.7 mile) by 8.5km (5.3 mile) island with 41 fronds. Due to a substantial change in depth in the Persian Gulf the further out the island goes, the island was redesigned in May 2007. The project then became a 12.5km (7.76 mile) by 7.5km (4.66 mile) island with 18 larger fronds.As of early October 2007, 20% of the island’s reclamation was complete, with a total of 200 million cubic metres (7 billion cubic feet) of sand already used. Since the island is so large, it is being developed in several phases. The first one is the creation of Deira Island.This portion of the Palm will sit alongside the Deira shore between the entrance to Dubai Creek and Al Hamriya Port. Deira Island will act as “the gateway to The Palm Deira” and help to revitalize the aging area of Deira.
Slideshow of palm islands:
To download or watch a high quality image click on the image and open it in a new window from the link there.
Further info:
official site: The palm Trilogy
guide 2 emirates
Real estate: Palm sales
Dubai short stay–Resorts
how was the palm constructed–the dredging n makin of artifial islands~~The interesting engineering marvel–>howstuffworks
The Nakheel
Plam Dubai
~Chetan Bhagat’s Most Candid Interview Ever~
Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974) is India’s highest selling Indian author[1]. He is the author of two bestsellers: Five Point Someone – What not to do at IIT (click here to know more) and One Night @ the Call Center (click here to know more). He is also the scriptwriter for ‘Hello’, the Bollywood movie based on One Night @ the Call Center.
The Interview:
What made you consider writing fiction? Did you feel you had something specific to say, or was it just a love of writing that prompted the move?
I have always enjoyed entertaining people. Also, I feel strongly about a few things in society. Fiction allowed me to combine both in the form of a story with a message. I have always enjoyed writing, so I felt it was worth trying.
Both your novels have met with tremendous success. Did that come as a surprise the first time? Were you expecting One Night @ the Call Centre to be as successful as Five Point Someone?
Yes, the extent of Five Point Someone‘s success surprised me. This is because the book was rejected by so many publishers that my expectations had hit rock bottom. I just wanted to see it in print. For ON@TCC too, my expectations were modest. Matching the first novel’s freakish success was not going to be easy. I was a lot more nervous before the second novel’s release than I was at the first. However, I think I underestimated the loyalty and love of my readers. ON@TCC sold as much in three months as Five Point did in a year. And readers reacted by asking, ‘What? You were worried?’
The setting is a key part of your work. How do you go about deciding what to weave a story around?
Setting is critical, as otherwise stories are just about people. But a key role of fiction is to transport the reader into a different world — and the more interesting the setting, the better the reader experience. In my case, the problem is somewhat complicated as readers expect me to do a relatable setting as well. So, based on these two criteria and my own curiosity about the setting, I choose.
You maintain you have never set out to write a literary novel, but do you believe in that category at all? How would you categorise your kind of writing?
Of course I believe in the literary novel — it is just that I have never aspired to be in that category of authors. For me, entertainment comes first. This is because what is entertaining travels far and wide, and thus, the message wrapped in the story travels wide. This means the story you created had a purpose, which is very satisfying for any author. Entertainment is a complex enough field if you try and understand it properly, so I get a lot of intellectual challenges from it as well.
What, according to you, makes a good novel?
There is no one answer, but I think that if a novel can transport its readers into a new setting, make the characters seem so real that you think you know them, and the story grips you such that you can’t keep the book down, it is working well. Also, if the story can trigger three things in you — past memories, imagination and emotions — you have really got a good book in hand.
Who were the writers you turned to during your years studying management and banking? What is the kind of fiction you enjoy?
I read a wide variety of books, but my preference for contemporary and funny stories remains. In college, I went through an Ayn Rand phase (don’t we all). I read Catch-22 several times, and it was a humbling experience each time. Among Indian authors, I read Rohinton Mistry.
In the past, you have spoken of the dark side to these call centres. Do they worry you, in terms of the sociological, physical or other damage they tend to have on their employees? Did you conduct any research on that aspect of the BPO industry, apart from the way it actually functions?
Yes, it worries me. While there are several issues related to call centres, my main concern is on one issue. Is the government creating the right kind of jobs that work our young people to the full potential? Call centres are becoming a mainstream solution now, so it is important to discuss it. I believe if the government really gets its act together on infrastructure, the young workforce will get better quality jobs that are more fulfilling and will make India move ahead.
I have a dream — I want to see India as a developed country before I die. And, for India to achieve its full potential, people have to work to their full potential. If I see people at the top not doing their job, and the young generation losing an opportunity because of it, I am not going to stand for it. I am sick of my country getting the short end of the stick each time.
I would clarify that this obviously has nothing to do with people who work in BPOs. My cousins work there, and they are making the most of options available to them. If I wasn’t lucky enough to clear a few entrance exams, I could possibly be working there too.
Is there anything about contemporary Indian fiction that excites you?
Well, the most exciting part is the potential size of the market. It really is infinite. Fiction in India has not really taken off as it could. A lot more growth is possible in the coming years.
What if you were to spawn a generation of copycat writers back home in India? How would you deal with that?
I would blush at the indirect compliment. Seriously, readers can tell when someone is original and when someone is not. And luckily, the concept of remixes has not really taken off in fiction.
Would you ever consider writing a novel about investment bankers?
Perhaps, but not while I am in the investment banking business. I write to escape from my daily life — doing a novel on banking would be too much of the same thing. But yes, there are some funny, dark stories around here�
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )~Chetan Bhagat’s Most Candid Interview Ever~
Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974) is India’s highest selling Indian author[1]. He is the author of two bestsellers: Five Point Someone – What not to do at IIT (click here to know more) and One Night @ the Call Center (click here to know more). He is also the scriptwriter for ‘Hello’, the Bollywood movie based on One Night @ the Call Center.
The Interview:
What made you consider writing fiction? Did you feel you had something specific to say, or was it just a love of writing that prompted the move?
I have always enjoyed entertaining people. Also, I feel strongly about a few things in society. Fiction allowed me to combine both in the form of a story with a message. I have always enjoyed writing, so I felt it was worth trying.
Both your novels have met with tremendous success. Did that come as a surprise the first time? Were you expecting One Night @ the Call Centre to be as successful as Five Point Someone?
Yes, the extent of Five Point Someone‘s success surprised me. This is because the book was rejected by so many publishers that my expectations had hit rock bottom. I just wanted to see it in print. For ON@TCC too, my expectations were modest. Matching the first novel’s freakish success was not going to be easy. I was a lot more nervous before the second novel’s release than I was at the first. However, I think I underestimated the loyalty and love of my readers. ON@TCC sold as much in three months as Five Point did in a year. And readers reacted by asking, ‘What? You were worried?’
The setting is a key part of your work. How do you go about deciding what to weave a story around?
Setting is critical, as otherwise stories are just about people. But a key role of fiction is to transport the reader into a different world — and the more interesting the setting, the better the reader experience. In my case, the problem is somewhat complicated as readers expect me to do a relatable setting as well. So, based on these two criteria and my own curiosity about the setting, I choose.
You maintain you have never set out to write a literary novel, but do you believe in that category at all? How would you categorise your kind of writing?
Of course I believe in the literary novel — it is just that I have never aspired to be in that category of authors. For me, entertainment comes first. This is because what is entertaining travels far and wide, and thus, the message wrapped in the story travels wide. This means the story you created had a purpose, which is very satisfying for any author. Entertainment is a complex enough field if you try and understand it properly, so I get a lot of intellectual challenges from it as well.
What, according to you, makes a good novel?
There is no one answer, but I think that if a novel can transport its readers into a new setting, make the characters seem so real that you think you know them, and the story grips you such that you can’t keep the book down, it is working well. Also, if the story can trigger three things in you — past memories, imagination and emotions — you have really got a good book in hand.
Who were the writers you turned to during your years studying management and banking? What is the kind of fiction you enjoy?
I read a wide variety of books, but my preference for contemporary and funny stories remains. In college, I went through an Ayn Rand phase (don’t we all). I read Catch-22 several times, and it was a humbling experience each time. Among Indian authors, I read Rohinton Mistry.
In the past, you have spoken of the dark side to these call centres. Do they worry you, in terms of the sociological, physical or other damage they tend to have on their employees? Did you conduct any research on that aspect of the BPO industry, apart from the way it actually functions?
Yes, it worries me. While there are several issues related to call centres, my main concern is on one issue. Is the government creating the right kind of jobs that work our young people to the full potential? Call centres are becoming a mainstream solution now, so it is important to discuss it. I believe if the government really gets its act together on infrastructure, the young workforce will get better quality jobs that are more fulfilling and will make India move ahead.
I have a dream — I want to see India as a developed country before I die. And, for India to achieve its full potential, people have to work to their full potential. If I see people at the top not doing their job, and the young generation losing an opportunity because of it, I am not going to stand for it. I am sick of my country getting the short end of the stick each time.
I would clarify that this obviously has nothing to do with people who work in BPOs. My cousins work there, and they are making the most of options available to them. If I wasn’t lucky enough to clear a few entrance exams, I could possibly be working there too.
Is there anything about contemporary Indian fiction that excites you?
Well, the most exciting part is the potential size of the market. It really is infinite. Fiction in India has not really taken off as it could. A lot more growth is possible in the coming years.
What if you were to spawn a generation of copycat writers back home in India? How would you deal with that?
I would blush at the indirect compliment. Seriously, readers can tell when someone is original and when someone is not. And luckily, the concept of remixes has not really taken off in fiction.
Would you ever consider writing a novel about investment bankers?
Perhaps, but not while I am in the investment banking business. I write to escape from my daily life — doing a novel on banking would be too much of the same thing. But yes, there are some funny, dark stories around here�
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )« Previous Entries Next Entries »
Youngistan Speaks 