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FOOTSTEPS: MISSING

FOOTSTEPS: MISSING

MISSING

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Text of my Query Sent To The PM

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Respected Rt. Honourable Prime Minister,

In a fast moving, increasingly competitive world where survival, achieving and acquiring are the key goals, it is not surprising that care, concern for the differently abled, special needs individuals is almost negligible in our Society. In fact, the special needs persons even if they are senior citizens are treated with contempt and almost like dirt.

http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mumbaimirror.com%2Fmumbai%2Fcover-story%2FChurchgate-eatery-bars-special-needs-woman-entry%2Farticleshow%2F45756434.cms&ei=RbBejie7&lc=en-IN&s=1&m=240&ts=1443281587&sig=APONPFnvXdnzgfEx2qJlDsZDzxMzEk_hug

http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mid-day.com%2Farticles%2Fmumbai-stadium-restaurant-denies-entry-to-physically-challenged-woman%2F15888197&ei=co3d_ZKQ&lc=en-IN&s=1&m=240&ts=1443281990&sig=APONPFmw2Vd41a29GGKxa9zxf1I8pvG3Ng

To expect an al encompassing societal transformation in this regard would be a tall order as it would mean changing the mindset of the people, including some in governance too. Yes Mr.Prime Minister. Even a person in governance, has said that such individuals must be kept at home and not brought out in public places. There are NGOs and individuals working for the welfare of such special needs, differently abled persons.

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/TIoEvzuPhNjv2hOC6lAYBM/The-ride-back-home.html

But that is seemingly a miniscule of the required effort as a study of the related statics show.

In view of the above, why is there no effort by the government to assist and improve the quality of life for the differently abled through welfare schemes, programs and activities? Even the Ministry of Social Welfare fails to address this issue adequately

Helper Turns Usurper

A man who came as a helper in our lives about two years ago has become a usurper . From the very first cheque of such large amount it should have been clear to me that the  dropped cheque inside my outer door on the floor was more than just a generous help. He surreptitiously gave money close to half a crore to my eldest brother purportedly for his 'share: in the flat. Neither he nor my brother took my consent, not even intormed me about it.. This man had designs on our flat even though he has a flat in the Society's other building. Today he has sent notices to my special needs sister Rukaiya and myself to sell our flat to him. Rukaiya and myself have been staying here since 1978 (inception of the Society) My special needs sister aged 63 years is hardly in a position to migrate to a new area, new house. Despite that I made efforts, counselled her at length, but to no avail. We saw 15-20 different flats/ rooms in mumbai and it's suburbs. But she would not be willing to even enter the bldg. She seemed truly terrified, sobbing inconsolably.. Such was the fear and trauma of leaving her familiar surroundings and her home.
Even after knowing this the man went on to pay the full amount of the shares of my doctor brother and my eldest brother without my consent or informing me. He even accused my married sister of receiving money from him in lieu of her share in the flat.
My main concern is protecting my special needs sister's right to stay in this house, her home. My brothers have for months nay years stopped giving the maintenance allowance for my special needs sister. With the inevitable legal fight coming up I am short of resources, but determined and committed to protecting her rights and interests. I need and seek help of every kind in a big way but am aware each one has his or her limitations. Not everyone is a Bill Gates or Mukesh Ambanis. So whatever and however much you can help will be gratefully accepted. Please write to email trancework40@gmail.com or contact +919221108353
+918097960591
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/TIoEvzuPhNjv2hOC6lAYBM/The-ride-back-home.html
Please share this with your friends and contacts

1st flr. Bldg.no.3 flat no.10 the hajiali municipal officers CHS ltd, Keshavrao Khadye Marg x lane, hajiali govt colony, near lala lajpatrai college, hajiali park, mumbai 400034

Rewriting History: Aurangzeb Reinterpreted

Rational Inferences

Reason out Reality

Aurangzeb: An Analysis

Please read if you care to know the truth…!!!!!!!

EMPEROR AURANGZEB: TRUTHS ABOUT A RULER

Hello, I am Brijendra Singh; I have done my PGDM course from I.I.S.E Business School Lucknow. I am not a student of history but I like to read history due to my interest. In this article I have tried to provide some facts related to Emperor Aurangzeb. His image as a person and as a ruler is negative among the Indian citizens, but I am sure when you will go through this article your attitude will change towards this ruler.

Aurangzeb Alamgir was the sixth & the last great mughal emperor of India. He ruled India from 1658 to 1707 AD. He was one of the greatest mughal emperors & lived a very simple life. He lived on a small quantity of food, he used to write the quran with his own hand & sell them to earn extra wage. If he wanted, he could have lived a life of extra-ordinary luxury as the, emperors, kings, nawabs, rajas, maharajas did in those days.

He was a well-read man; he kept up his love of books till the end. He wrote beautiful Persian prose. A selection of his letters (Ruq’at-i-Alamgiri) has long been a standard model of simple but elegant prose. He understood music well but he gave up this amusement in accordance with Islamic injunctions.

Emperor Aurangzeb is considered as the greatest of all the mughal kings. The mughal state reached its height under his leadership. The state has 29.2% of the world population under its flag (175 million out of 600 million in 1700 AD) & was one of the richest states the world had ever seen, with a world GDP of 24.5% ($ 90.8 billion out of $ 371 billion in 1700).

Of all the Muslim rulers who ruled vast territories of India from 712 to 1857AD, probably no one has received as much condemnation from western & Hindu writers as Aurangzeb. He has been castigated as a religious Muslim who was anti-Hindu, who taxed them, who tried to convert them, who discriminated them in awarding high administrative positions, & who interfered in their religious matters. This view has been heavily promoted in the government approved text books in schools & colleges across post partition India (i.e., after 1947). These are fabrications against one of the best rulers of India who was pious, scholarly, saintly, un-biased, liberal, magnanimous, tolerant, competent & far sighted.

Fortunately, in recent years quite a few Hindu historians have come out in the open disputing those allegations. For e.g., historian Babu Nagendranath Banerjee rejected the accusation of forced conversion of Hindus by Muslim rulers by stating that if that was their intention then in India today there would not be nearly four times as many Hindus compared to Muslims, despite the fact that Muslims had ruled for nearly a thousand years. Banerjee challenged the Hindu hypothesis that Aurangzeb was anti-Hindu by reasoning that if the latter was truly guilty of such bigotry, how could he appoint a Hindu as his military commander -in –chief? Surely, he could have afforded to appoint a competent Muslim general in that position. Banerjee further stated: “No one should accuse Aurangzeb of being communal minded. In his administration the state policy was formulated by Hindus. A number of non-Muslims including Hindus, Sikhs, Marathas & Jats, were employed by him in his court. He did not compromise on the fundamentals of Islam, which are infact the moving spirit of every faith. Historical facts must be interpreted in their true & objective spirit & not subjectively as expressed by the Hindu writers.

Dr. BISHAMBHAR NATH PANDE’S VIEW

The late scholar & historian, Dr.Bishambhar Nath Pande’s research efforts exploded myths on Aurangzeb’s rule. They also offer an excellent example of what history has to teach us if only we study it dispassionately. Mr. Pande was ranked among the very few Indians & very fewer still Hindu historians who tried to be a little careful when dealing with such history. He knew that this history was ‘originally compiled by European writers’ whose main objective was to produce a history that would serve their policy of divide & rule.

In his famous Khuda Bakhsh Annual Lecture (1985) Dr. Pande said: “Thus under a definite policy the Indian history text books were so falsified & distorted as to give an impression that the medieval (i.e., Muslim) period of Indian history was full of atrocities committed by Muslim rulers on their Hindu subjects & the Hindus had to suffer terrible indignities under Muslim rule and there were no common factors (between Hindus & Muslims) in social, political & economic life.”

Therefore, Dr.Pande was extra careful. Whenever he came across a ‘fact’ that looked odd to him, he would try to check & verify rather than adopt it uncritically. He came across a history text book taught in the Anglo-Bengali College, Allahabad, which claimed that “three thousand Brahmins had committed suicide as Tipu wanted to convert them forcibly into the fold of Islam.” The author was a very famous scholar, Dr.Har Prasad Shastri, head of the department of Sanskrit at Kolkata University. (Tipu Sultan (1750-99), who ruled over the South Indian state of Mysore (1782-99), is one of the most heroic figures in Indian history. He died on the battle field, fighting the British.)

Was it true? Dr. Pande wrote immediately to the author & asked him for the source on which he had based this episode in his text-book. After several reminders, Dr. Shastri replied that he had taken this information from the Mysore gazetteer. So Dr. Pande requested the Mysore university vice- chancellor, Sir Brijendra Nath Seal, to verify for him Dr. Shastri’s statement from the gazetteer. Sir Brijendra referred his letter to Prof. Srikantia who was then working on a new edition of the gazetteer. Srikantia wrote to say that the gazetteer mentioned no such incident and, as a historian himself, he was certain that nothing like this had taken place. Prof. Srikantia added that both the prime minister & commander-in-chief of Tipu Sultan were themselves Brahmins. He also enclosed a list of 136 Hindu temples which used to receive annual grants from the sultan’s treasury.

It inspired that Shastri had lifted this story from Colonel Miles, History of Mysore, which Miles claimed he had taken from a Persian manuscript in the personal library of Queen Victoria. When Dr. Pande checked further, he found that no such manuscript existed in Queen Victoria’s library.

FALSE HISTORY PROVIDED BY BRITISHERS

British historian Sir Henry Elliot remarked that Hindus “had not left any account which could unable us to gauge the traumatic impact the Muslim conquest and rule had on them?” Since there was none, Elliot went on to produce his own eight-volume history of India with contributions from British historians (1867). His history claimed Hindus were slain for disputing with ‘Mohammedans’, generally prohibited from worshipping and taking out religious processions , their idols were mutilated , their temples were destroyed , they were forced into conversion & marriages , & were killed & massacred by drunk Muslim tyrants. Thus Sir Henry, & scores of other empire scholars, went on to produce a synthetic Hindu verses Muslim history of India, & their lies became a history.

Lord Curzon(Governor General of India 1895-99 & Viceroy 1899-1904(d.1925) was told by the secretary of state for India, George Francis Hamilton , that they should “ so plan the educational textbooks that the differences between community & community are further strengthened.” Another Viceroy, Lord Dufferin (1884-88), was advised by the secretary of state in London that the “division of religious feelings is greatly to our advantage ’’, & that he expected “some good as a result of your committee of inquiry on Indian education & on teaching material ’’. “ We have maintained our power in India by playing – off one part against the other’’, the secretary of state for India reminded yet another viceroy, Lord Elgin (1862-63), “& we must continue to do so. Do all you can, therefore to prevent all having a common feeling?”

MYTH RELATED TO DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLES

Some of the Hindu historians have accused Aurangzeb of demolishing Hindu temples. How factual is this accusation against a man, who has been known to be a saintly man, a strict adherent of Islam? The Qur’an prohibits any Muslim to impose his will on a non-Muslim by stating that “There is no compulsion in religion.”(Surah al-Baqarah 2.256). The Surah al-Kafirun clearly states: “To you is your religion & to me is mine.” It would be totally unbecoming of a learned scholar of Islam of his caliber, as Aurangzeb was known to be, to do things that are contrary to the dictates of the Qur’an.

Interestingly, the 1946 edition of the history textbook Etihash Parichaya (introduction to history) used in Bengal for the 5th & 6th graders states: “If Aurangzeb had the intention of demolishing temples to make way for mosques, there would not have been a single temple standing erect in India. On the contrary, Aurangzeb donated huge estates for use as temple sites & support thereof in Benaras, Kashmir & elsewhere. The official documentations for these land grants are still extant.”

A stone inscription in the historic Balaji or Vishnu temple, located north of Chitrakut Balaghat, still shows that it was commissioned by the emperor himself. His administration made handsome donation to temple of Pandharpur – seat of deity Vitthal. Historian the late D.G Godse has claimed that trustees of Vitthal temple were more worried about marauding Maratha armies than the mughal one.

The proof of Aurangzeb’s land grant for famous Hindu religious sites in Varanasi can easily be verified from the deed records extant at those sites. The same textbook (Etihash Parichaya) reads: “During the fifty year reign of Aurangzeb, not a single Hindu was forced to embrace Islam. He did not interfere with any Hindu religious activities”. Alexander Hamilton, a British historian, toured India towards the end of Aurangzeb’s fifty year’s reign & observed that everyone was free to serve & worship god in his own way.

The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb is the most reviled of all the Muslim rulers in India. He was supposed to be a great destroyer of temples & oppressor of Hindus, & a ‘fundamentalist’ too. As chairman of the Allahabad municipality (1948-53), Dr. Bishambhar Nath Pande had to deal with a land dispute between two temple priests. One of them had filed in evidence some firmans (royal orders) to prove that Aurangzeb had, besides cash, gifted the land in question for the maintenance of his temple. Might they not be fake, Dr. Pande thought in view of Aurangzeb’s fanatically anti-Hindu image? He showed them to his friend, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, a distinguished lawyer as well a great scholar of Arabic & Persian. He was also a Brahmin. Sapru examined the documents & declared they were genuine firmans issued by Aurangzeb. ForDr.Pande this was a ‘new image of Aurangzeb’, so he wrote to the chief priests of the various important temples, all over the country, requesting photocopies of any firman issued by aurangzeb that they may have in their possession. The response was overwhelming; he received copies of firmans of Aurangzeb from the great temples of Mahakaleshwara, Ujjain, Balaji temple, Chitrakut, Umanand temple Gauhati, & the Jain temple of Shatrunjai & other temples & gurudwaras scattered over northern India. These firmans were issued from 1659 to 1685AD. Though these are only few instances of Aurangzeb generous attitude towards Hindus & their temples, they are enough to show that what the historians have written about him was biased & is only one side of the picture. India is a vast land with thousands of temples scattered all over. If proper research is made, I am confident; many more instances would come to light which will show Aurangzeb’s benevolent treatment of non-Muslims.

Aurangzeb did not indiscriminately destroy Hindu temples, as he is commonly believed to have done so, & that he directed the destruction of temples only when faced with insurgency. This was almost certainly the case with the Keshava Rai temple in the Mathura region, where the Jats rose in rebellion & yet even this policy of reprisal may have been modified, as Hindu temples in the Deccan were seldom destroyed. The image of Aurangzeb as an idol – breaker may not with stand scrutiny, since there is evidence to show that, like his predecessors, he continued to confer land grants or jagirs (large parcel of agricultural lands) upon Hindu temples, such as the Someshwar Nath Mahadev temple Allahabad, Jangum Badi Shiva temple in Varanasi, Umanand temple in Gauhati & numerous others. He did not harm to the famous Alura temples (a huge complex of Ancient temples) in his conquest of Deccan.

DEMOLITION OF KASHI VISHWANATH TEMPLE

Dr. Pande’s research showed that Aurangzeb was as solicitous of the rights & welfare of his non-Muslim subjects as he was of his Muslim subjects. Hindu plaintiffs received full justice against their Muslims respondents &, if guilty, Muslims were given punishment as necessary.

One of the greatest charges against Aurangzeb is of the demolition of Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. That was a fact, but Dr. Pande unraveled the reason for it. “While Aurangzeb was passing near Varanasi on his way to Bengal, the Hindu Rajas in his retinue requested that if the halt was made for a day, their Ranis may go to Varanasi, have a dip in the Ganges & pay their homage to Lord Vishwanath. Aurangzeb readily agreed. “Army pickets were posted on the five mile route to Varanasi. The Ranis made journey to the palkis. They took their dip in the Ganges & went to the Vishwanath temple to pay their homage. After offering puja (worship) all the Ranis returned except one, the Maharani of Kutch. A thorough search was made of the temple precincts but the Rani was to be found nowhere.

“When Aurangzeb came to know about this, he was very much enraged. He sent his senior officers to search for the Rani. Ultimately they found that statue of Ganesh (the elephant – headed god) which was fixed in the wall was a moveable one. When the statue was moved, they saw a flight of stairs that led to the basement. To their horror they found the missing Rani dishonored & crying deprived of all her ornaments. The basement was just beneath Lord Vishwanath’s seat.”

The Raja demanded salutary action, & “Aurangzeb ordered that as the sacred precincts have been despoiled, Lord Vishwanath may be moved to some other place, the temple be razed to the ground & the Mahant (head priest) be arrested & punished.”

EMPLOYMENT FOR NON-MUSLIMS

Aurangzeb has often been accused of closing the doors of official employment on the Hindus, but a study of the list of his officers shows this is not so. Actually there were more Hindu officers under him than under any other Mughal emperor. Though this was primarily due to a general increase in the number of officers, it shows that there was no ban on the employment of Hindus.

In his administration the state policy was formulated by Hindus. Two Hindus held the highest position in the state treasury. Some prejudiced Muslims even questioned the merit of his decision to appoint non-Muslims to such high offices. The emperor refuted them by stating that he had been following the dictates of the Shariah (Islamic law) which demands appointing right persons in right positions. During Aurangzeb’s long reign of fifty years, many Hindus, notably Jaswant Singh, Jay Singh, Raja Rajrup, Kabir Singh, Arghanath Singh, Prem Dev Singh, Dilip Roy & Rasik Lal Crory, held very high administrative positions. Two of the highest ranked generals in Aurangzeb’s administration, Jaswant Singh & Jay Singh, were Hindus. Other notable Hindu generals who commanded a garrison of two to five thousand soldiers were Raja Vim Singh of Udaypur, Indra Singh, & Achalaji & Arjuji. One wonders if Aurangzeb was hostile to Hindus, why would he position all these Hindus to high positions of authority, especially in the military, who could have mutinied against him & removed him from his throne?

Most Hindus like Akbar over Aurangzeb for his multi-ethnic court where Hindus were favored. Historian Shri Sharma states that while Emperor Akbar had 14 Hindu Mansabdars (high officials) in his court, Aurangzeb actually had 148 Hindu high officials in his court (Ref : Mughal Govn.). But this fact is somewhat less known.

If Aurangzeb was so ferocious a communalist, why is it, some historians have asked, that the number of Hindu employed in positions of eminence under Aurangzeb’s reign rose from 24.5% in the time of his father Shah Jahan to 33% in the fourth decade of his own rule?

JIZYA AND OTHER TAXES

Now let us deal with Aurangzeb’s imposition of the Jizya tax which had drawn severe criticism from many Hindu historians. It is true that Jizya was lifted during the reign of Akbar & Jahangir & that Aurangzeb later reinstated this. Before I delve into the subject of Aurangzeb’s Jizya tax, or taxing the non-Muslims, it is worthwhile to point out that Jizya is nothing more than a war tax which was collected only from able-bodied young non-Muslim male citizens living in a Muslim country who did not want to volunteer for the defence of the country. That is, no such tax was collected from non-Muslims who volunteered to defend the country. This tax was not collected from women & neither from immature males nor from disabled or old male citizens. For payment of such taxes, it became incumbent upon the Muslim Government to protect the life, property & wealth of its non-Muslim citizens. If for any reason the Government failed to protect its citizens, especially during a war, the taxable amount was returned.

It should be pointed out here that zakat (2.5% of savings) & ushr (10% of agricultural products) were collected from all Muslims, who owned some wealth (beyond a certain minimum, called nisab). They also paid sadaqah, fitrah & khums. None of these were collected from any non-Muslim. As a matter of fact, the per capita collection from Muslims was several fold that of non-Muslims. Further to Aurangzeb’s credit is his abolition of a lot of taxes, although this fact is not usually mentioned. In his book Mughal administration, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, foremost historian on the Mughal dynasty, mention’s that during Aurangzeb’s reign in power, nearly 65 types of taxes were abolished, which resulted in a yearly revenue loss of 50 million rupees from the state treasury.

Other historians stated that when Aurangzeb abolished 80 types of taxes, no one thanked him for his generosity. But when he imposed only one (jizya), & not heavy at all, people began to show their displeasure.

While some Hindu historians are retracting the lies, the textbooks & historic accounts in western countries have yet to admit their error & set the record straight.

SOME IMPORTANT POINTS RELATED TO CHARACTER OF AURANGZEB

Just think a man such, character, caliber that cares and concern for public can be unjust, cruel. Just imagine a king such cruel & unjust to the majority could rule a huge country, for about 50 years, where high majority members serving highest position & comprising 80% in the military.

He was so pious best character person noble & just. You cannot find a single one in the present leaders.

His personal piety however is undeniable. He led an exemplary simple pious life. He cares for the royal treasury as public treasury & for public. The present leaders considers public treasury to personal treasury.

Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb did consider the royal treasury as a trust of the citizens of his empire & did not use it for personal expenses.

He was Subedar in Deccan & Gujarat. He didn’t destroy any temple. His period was peaceful & prosperous, called golden period.

Despite more than two decades he campaign as subedar in Deccan & Gujarat there is no record of temple destruction in the region. He continued to confer Jagirs to Hindu temples. His period was golden period & relatively peaceful, prosperous in his tenure.

He was maligned that he was against art & music. He was the accomplished musician playing VEENA. The largest numbers of books on classical Indian music in Persian were written during Aurangzeb’s reign. He banned all nude dances.

Aurangzeb cruelty as mere rumors or at best lies invented by Hindu bigotry & British historians who wanted to weaken India by their divide & rule policy. Bankim Chatterjee, who served his whole life to British government, was a tool of this conspiracy and dividing.

He was so concern about duties; he did not miss prayer during the ongoing war.

He spread his prayer rug & prayed in the midst of battle ground, brought him much fame. He stopped all bad things, which today everybody want. Why government banned bar balayien, dances of Rakhi Sawant & Mallaika. Why sattabazi is illegal?

Today we pay more than 66% of our income as taxes. The present government is worse than Aurangzeb’s.

He forbade sati, drinking, gambling, prostitution, devadasies, dancing in brothels, ashrams & mutts. He put jizya to Dhimmis (non-believers) which around 2.5% like Muslim pay their Zakat, 2.5% eligible person should pay. The old, women, children were exempted. Only the young man who didn’t want to serve in the army should pay the jiziya. Indian parliament still hung the bill of Lok Pal, whereas Aurangzeb the only ruler who appointed Lok Pal to control corruption in Judiciary, Finance & other departments.

He appointed Muhattasib (lok pal) censors to control injustice & atrocities. The Brahmans & higher caste Hindus now found themselves facing Islamic law courts for the atrocities on lower castes Hindus.

He was best knowledgeable & brilliant administrator. He never tolerates injustice. He was a brave soldier & best commander in the field. He was the only who control Deccan & Bijapur dynasty. Under his leadership, in particular, he led Mughal forces in the conquest of the Deccan, seizing first the Golkunda & Bijapur Sultanates, & then attacking the Maratha chieftains. He annexed all the Maratha territories. He left Shivaji because he was no threat to his kingdom.

These are the few evidence of his greatness. The Brahmans & higher caste were subject to Aurangzeb justice. They maligned & created, invented, fabricated these & all other baseless stories.

This is all about emperor Aurangzeb. I am confident that when you will go through all these facts & figures your perception towards this Mughal emperor will change. Our medieval history consists of various false stories. Our nation had never seen an emperor like Aurangzeb. I need your feedback about this article. What should I do to change the perception of people? I want to know merits, demerits, area of scope & any suggestion related to this article from your side.

Reference:
http://www.yoindia.com/shayariadab/inspirational-stories-and-real-life-incidences/emperor-aurangzeb-t98568.0.html

Helper Turns buyer Turns Usurper

A man who came as a helper in our lives about two years ago has become a usurper . From the very first cheque of such large amount it should have been clear to me that the  dropped cheque inside my outer door on the floor was more than just a generous help. He surreptitiously gave money close to half a crore to my eldest brother purportedly for his 'share: in the flat. Neither he nor my brother took my consent, not even intormed me about it.. This man had designs on our flat even though he has a flat in the Society's other building. Today he has sent notices to my special needs sister Rukaiya and myself to sell our flat to him. Rukaiya and myself have been staying here since 1978 (inception of the Society) My special needs sister aged 63 years is hardly in a position to migrate to a new area, new house. Despite that I made efforts, counselled her at length, but to no avail. We saw 15-20 different flats/ rooms in mumbai and it's suburbs. But she would not be willing to even enter the bldg. She seemed truly terrified, sobbing inconsolably.. Such was the fear and trauma of leaving her familiar surroundings and her home.
Even after knowing this the man went on to pay the full amount of the shares of my doctor brother and my eldest brother without my consent or informing me. He even accused my married sister of receiving money from him in lieu of her share in the flat.
My main concern is protecting my special needs sister's right to stay in this house, her home. My brothers have for months nay years stopped giving the maintenance allowance for my special needs sister. With the inevitable legal fight coming up I am short of resources, but determined and committed to protecting her rights and interests. I need and seek help of every kind in a big way but am aware each one has his or her limitations. Not everyone is a Bill Gates or Mukesh Ambanis. So whatever and however much you can help will be gratefully accepted. Please write to email trancework40@gmail.com or contact +919221108353

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/TIoEvzuPhNjv2hOC6lAYBM/The-ride-back-home.html
Please share this with your friends and contacts

50 Collocations With the word 'FOOD'

Adjectives with FOOD

If the food is good, you can say the food is delicious, tasty, scrumptious, orwonderful. Children often say that food is yummy.

Some other adjectives used for specific types of food are…

luscious – usually used for fruits that are fresh and juicymouth-watering – often describes foods with a pleasant aroma or that are visually attractive, and which make your mouth produce saliva in anticipation of eating ittempting – describes a food that makes you want to eat it (often an indulgent food like a high-calorie dish or sweet dessert)

If the food was merely OK, you can describe it as decent (has a positive connotation) or mediocre (has a more negative connotation).

If the food didn’t seem good, you can describe it as unappetizing – something about the food’s appearance or smell made you not want to eat it.

If the food was bad, you can say it was disgusting, horrible, or even inedible (meaning it was so bad it couldn’t be eaten).

If the food is unusual and includes elements from other countries, it isexotic. High-quality food can be described as gourmet or fine.

Food that provides the elements your body needs is nutritious. Food that isn’t good for you is unhealthy. Another term for unhealthy food is junk food.

If a particular food fills your stomach and satisfies you, you can say the food is filling.

When you don’t eat your entire portion of food (regular amount of food for one person), you have leftover food (or simply leftovers) which you can eat later, or on the next day.

If food is fresh, it means it’s new and good to eat. Many supermarkets have a section for frozen food, which is stored in the freezer at very low temperatures so that it stays good for a longer time.

If a food is past its expiration date and is no longer safe to eat (it smells or tastes strange), then the food has gone bad. You can also say it’s spoiled. When food is very old and starts decomposing, it is rotten.

Food that stays good for a long time is non-perishable (such as rice, beans, sugar, etc.) and food that has the potential to go bad quickly is perishable (such as fruit, meat, etc.)

Organic food is grown in a natural way without using dangerous chemicals. There’s also processed food which has gone through a lot of changes in factories.

Perhaps the best kind of food is homemade – food that is prepared at home, in a traditional way, by a real person.

Verbs with FOOD

Of course, the most common verb we use with food is eat! You can also usehave (have lunch, have a bite of your sandwich, have some potatoes) and a more formal word is consume.

When you eat, you first take a bite of your food (cut it with your teeth), then you chew your food (crush it with your teeth), and swallow (make the food go down your throat into your stomach). Then your stomach will digest your food.

If you eat very fast, you gulp down or wolf down your food. This is usually considered bad manners.

If you’re not very hungry, or if you’re preoccupied with something, you might pick at or play with your food. This means to eat very little and to just push the food around on your plate instead of eating it normally.

People who are on a diet need to avoid or cut down on (reduce) certain types of food. They may even need to cut out (completely remove) some foods.

If you’re in a restaurant, you order food (ask for food) from the waiter or waitress. You can also order food for delivery at your house.

Animals need to hunt for, look for, or search for food – they need to find it.

Finally, you can store food (keep it) in your refrigerator or cabinets, on shelves, and in other places in your house.

Nouns with FOOD

Your food bill (or grocery bill) is the amount of money you spend regularly on food. It will be higher or lower depending on your food intake/consumption (the amount of food you eat).

If the food supply (amount of food available) in a country gets low, the country may have to ration its food (control how much is distributed). Eventually, a food shortage (lack of sufficient food) may turn into a food crisis (very serious problem with not enough food).

Restaurants must worry about food hygiene or food safety when they prepare food for clients. If someone eats a food that has gone bad, they might get food poisoning (getting sick as a result of bacteria in the food).

Finally, some countries provide food stamps to poor people – coupons that allow them to get food for free

What An Ensemble!

https://youtu.be/2VUPbrbsXmA

Indian Army Animals Butchery

Indian army dogs and horses are being senselessly killed when they get too old to serve. The head of India’s main animal welfare board just complained to the Defence Ministry, but hewon’t win a lifeline for these amazing animals unless huge numbers of us join his call. Add your name, then share widely:

SIGN NOW

Dear friends,

It’s a brutal use-and-throw policy -- Indian army dogs and horses dedicate their lives to service. But the minute they grow old or fail a fitness test, the army kills them!

The head of India’s main animal welfare board, an ex-Army man himself, is now questioning this cruel and senseless policy. But the Defence Ministry could ignore his letter unless thousands of us back his call. Thesebrave animals regularly save citizens’ lives, and should be given medals, not death sentences.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has spoken out for “voteless animals” before. Now he can ensure we don’t betray our best friends. Let’s rush to hit 20,000 signers. We’ll then march with people and pets to his office to deliver our message. Sign now and tell others: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_army_dogs_rb/?bhXdHbb&v=60562

For years these animals were killed in secrecy, but a Right To Information query just blew the lid off the army’s inhumane methods. Army dogs train from the time they are puppies, serving the world’s third largest army in critical areas like explosive detection, guarding bases, and finding disaster victims -- most recently during the tragedy in Nepal. But after a lifetime of saving lives, only the affection of individual soldiers or trainers can ensure they don’t meet the fate set out by official policy -- a death sentence when they are not deemed useful anymore.

The law only allows killing animals under very rare circumstances such as an incurable disease. But these army-owned animals are not covered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act -- which is why the army gets away with murder. 

India is slowly increasing its defence budget -- this year it is 2.47 trillion rupees! Yet animal rights groups are shocked that the army can’t spare a small amount of that budget to shelter these animals once they are old and unfit.

Now this scandal is finally in the open, let’s speak up for the silent pain of these intelligent creatures, and ensure they are treated well, not discarded like broken equipment. Join now and forward this email: 

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_army_dogs_rb/?bhXdHbb&v=60562

Our community stands for the protection of all of nature's unique species -- whether it's standing up to protect the delicate coral in the Great Barrier Reef from unchecked mining or calling for a massive marine park for the ocean's myriad species. Let’s unite our voices now for the innocent and loyal animals who serve the Indian army day in and day out till they have the strength.

With hope and determination,

Risalat, Alex, Emma and the rest of the Avaaz team

More Information:

Retirement means death for Army’s Canine Comrades (Times of India)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Retirement-means-death-for-Armys-canine-comrades/articleshow/47520753.cms 

Indian Army Dogs Euthanised after Retirement (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/06/04/indian-army-dogs-euthanised-after-retirement_n_7507820.html

Army urged to re-think policy of euthanising dogs (Times of India)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Army-urged-to-re-think-policy-of-euthanising-dogs/articlesh... 

Parrikar lends his voice to rights of ‘voteless animals’ (Times of India)
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEyLzExLzIxI0FyMDE0MDE

India increases military budget by 11% to nearly $40 billion (WSJ)
http://www.wsj.com/articles/india-increases-military-budget-by-11-to-nearly-40-billion-1425124095 

The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals Act, 1960 (GoI)
http://moef.gov.in/legis/awbi/awbi01.html

A unique series! A singular achievement!

Check out @YouTubeIndia's Tweet: https://twitter.com/YouTubeIndia/status/610001237015195648?s=09

Rafeef Ziadah – Shades of Anger

N j‡'$&
Allow me to speak my Arab tongue
before they occupy my language as well.
Allow me to speak my mother tongue
before they colonise her memory as well.
I am an Arab woman of color.
and we come in all shades of anger.
All my grandfather ever wanted to do
was wake up at dawn and watch my grandmather kneel and pray
in a village hidden between Jaffa and Haifa
my mother was born under an olive tree
on a soil they say is no longer mine
but I will cross their barriers, their check points
their damn apartheid walls and return to my homeland
I am an Arab woman of colour and we come in all shades of anger.
And did you hear my sister screaming yesterday
as she gave birth at a check point
with Israeli soldiers looking between her legs
for their next demographic threat
called her baby girl “Janeen”.
And did you hear Amni Mona screaming
behind their prison bars as they teargassed her cell
“We’re returning to Palestine!”
I am an Arab woman of colour and we come in all shades of anger.
But you tell me, this womb inside me
will only bring you your next terrorist
beard wearing, gun waving, towelhead, sand nigger
You tell me, I send my children out to die
but those are your copters, your F16′s in our sky
And let’s talk about this terrorism business for a second
Wasn’t it the CIA that killed Allende and Lumumba
and who trained Osama in the first place
My grandparents didn’t run around like clowns
with the white capes and the white hoods on their heads lynching black people
I am an Arab woman of colour and we come in all shades of anger.
“So who is that brown woman screaming in the demonstration?”
Sorry, should I not scream?
I forgot to be your every orientalist dream
Jinnee in a bottle, belly dancer, harem girl, soft spoken Arab woman
Yes master, no master.
Thank you for the peanut butter sandwiches
raining down on us from your F16′s master
Yes my liberators are here to kill my children
and call them “collateral damage”
I am an Arab woman of colour and we come in all shades of anger.
So let me just tell you this womb inside me
will only bring you your next rebel
She will have a rock in one hand and a Palestinian flag in the other
I am an Arab woman of color
Beware! Beware my anger…

An interesting read in the wake of the Salman Khan verdict and its aftermath

Bombay Pavement Dwellers and OLGA TELLIS – And a Quiet Verdict in Ahmedabad : N. Jayaram

Posted by subhash gatade

Guest Post by N. Jayaram

After the order in the case of film star Salman Khan over a 2002 hit-and-run case was delivered by Sessions Court Judge D.W. Deshpande on Wednesday, 6 May 2015, there understandably were divided opinions on whether he deserved to be handed five years in jail.

But the rather more shockingly breath-taking comments from some of his friends in the industry and his fans were to do with pavement dwellers, such as the victim Nurullah Mahboob Sharif.

“Kutta rd pe soyega kutte ki maut marega, roads garib ke baap ki nahi hai (If a dog sleeps on the road, he’ll die a dog’s death. Roads are not poor people’s property)…,” singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya tweeted. “Roads are meant for cars and dogs not for people sleeping on them…,” he said, appealing to the film industry to back the star, whose sentence has now been suspended by the High Court.

Designer Farah Khan Ali chipped in with this:  “No one should be sleeping on the road or footpath. It is dangerous to do that just like it is dangerous to cross tracks.” She quite rightly laid the blame on the state: “The govt should be responsible for housing ppl. If no1 was sleeping on d road in any other country Salman wuld not have driven over anybody.”

Perhaps she had read the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, to which India is a state party:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx. Article 11.1 of the Covenant says: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right…”

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the treaty body monitoring states’ compliance with the Covenant’s provisions issued a General Comment in 1991 setting out specific measures states need to take to ensure adequate accommodation, what “adequacy” implies and how to deal with homelessness:https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/gencomm/epcomm4.htm.

Bhattacharya, Farah Khan and others questioning the presence of pavement dwellers and advising them not to be there could have benefited from reading one of the most remarkable documents generated nearer home – the remarkable judgement of the Supreme Court of India almost 30 years ago inOlga Tellis and others Vs Bombay Municipal Corporation and others(10 July 1985). Journalist and activist Olga Tellis, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights and others had challenged the municipal authorities’ move to forcibly evict pavement dwellers.

A pithy summary of Olga Tellis – and importantly – its failure to provide for adequate resettlement is available on this website devoted to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:http://www.escr-net.org/docs/i/401006.

The historical verdict  (http://indiankanoon.org/doc/709776/) is cited not only in courts around India but in many other Common Law jurisdictions. Moreover, Olga Tellis is studied in law schools around the world and is cited in books and journal articles. During an intensive course on refugee law at the University of Hong Kong in 2006, this writer heard Australian jurist, Professor Penelope Mathew,[1] extol the poetic language that figures in parts of Olga Tellis. And it is worth savouring the words written by Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud on behalf of the distinguished five-judge bench:

“The sweep of the right to life conferred by Article 21 (of the Indian constitution guaranteeing the protection of right to life) is wide and far reaching. It does not mean merely that life cannot be extinguished or taken away as, for example, by the imposition and execution of the death sentence, except according to procedure established by law. That is but one aspect of the right to life. An equally important facet of that right is the right to livelihood because no person can live without the means of living, that is, the means of livelihood. If the right to livelihood is not treated as a part of the constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of livelihood to the point of abrogation. Such deprivation would not only denude the life of its effective content and meaningfulness but it would make life impossible to live. And yet, such deprivation would not have to be in accordance with the procedure established by law, if the right to livelihood is not regarded as a part of the right to life. That, which alone makes it possible to live, leave aside what makes life livable, must be deemed to be an integral component of the right to life. Deprive a person of his right to livelihood and you shall have deprived him of his life. Indeed, that explains the massive migration of the rural population to big cities. They migrate because they have no means of livelihood in the villages… So unimpeachable is the evidence of the nexus between life and the means of livelihood. They have to eat to live: Only a handful can afford the luxury of living to eat. That they can do, namely, eat, only if they have the means of livelihood. (Emphasis added.)

Chief Justice Chandrachud declared that

“the economic compulsions under which these persons are forced to live in slums or on pavements impart to their occupation the character of a fundamental right”.

Abhijeet Bhattacharya has mockingly tweeted: “Mumbai ke road Aur footpath pe sone ka shauk hai ?? (You have a thing for sleeping on Bombay’s road and footpath?) Y not at your village no vehicles to kill u.”

Olga Tellis had addressed that:

“It is a notorious fact of contemporary life in metropolitan cities that no person in his senses would opt to live on a pavement or in a slum, if any other choice were available to him. Anyone who cares to have even a fleeting glance at the pavement or slum dwellings will see that they are the very hell on earth.”

The judgement had taken note of some fascinating findings of contemporary social scientists about the contributions pavement dwellers were making to society and their interest in leading peaceful lives in amity with others on the street as well as with affluent folk nearby.

Pavement and slum dwellers give back to the economy far more of a share of their income than the super-rich do. The indigent spend almost all or all of their daily earnings on buying food and for transport and other services. The ‘multiplier effect’ of their incomes on the economy is immense. Not even going into the issue of how much of the incomes of the super-rich is jetted away to Swiss Banks and tax havens, the billionaires can only consume so much of the daily necessities that keep the economy oiled. In Hong Kong, for instance, some of the poorest people renting tiny “cage-homes” pay more per cubic metre than the tycoons do for their palatial flats or houses in one of the prime locations in the city, namely The Peak.

Bhattacharya, Khan et al, might want to ponder a little about the pavement dwellers’ economic worth and the contribution they make to the economy before making dismissive remarks that insults their inherent dignity.

Meanwhile, on the same day that the Indian media was giving saturation coverage of the sentence handed to Salman Khan, was it a mere coincidence that a man named Keshav Joshi had his death sentence for having raped his two-and-a-half-year-old niece and left her to die in 2007 commuted to life imprisonment by the Gujarat High Court? (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/HC-commutes-death-penalty-to-life-term/articleshow/47168578.cms)

The surname Joshi, as with Pandit or Shastri, indicates the Brahmin caste. How might India’s media and public have reacted – and on a slow news day – if a Muslim or a Dalit convicted of an identical crime had gotten a commutation? Did the Gujarat High Court choose carefully the day on which it announced commutation for Keshav Joshi?

To be sure, this is not to begrudge Joshi his commutation, which is most welcome, and not only because a person who raped and murdered such a young child must have been suffering deep psychological disturbance. As Judge Jyotsna Yagnik said while pronouncing sentences on Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and others in the Naroda Patiya case (in connection with the 2002 Gujarat pogrom), the death penalty “undermines human dignity”.

But a question arises as to why large percentages of under-trial detainees, convicted prisoners and those on death row happen to be from among Muslims, Dalits and Other Backward Castes. It took near-superhuman efforts on the part of a large team of lawyers and human rights activists to get the death sentence passed on the Dalit, Surinder Koli – perhaps unfairly convicted in connection with the “Nithari Killings” – commuted to life earlier this year.

The bail and sentence suspension afforded to a Salman Khan is denied to tens of thousands of others who cannot afford decent legal counsel. And a commutation so quietly extended to a Keshav Joshi is often denied to Muslims, Dalits and OBCs. Rather, an almost entirely innocent Kashmiri named Afzal Guru was hanged two years ago to satisfy the “collective conscience of the society”.

[1] Author of Reworking the Relationship Between Asylum and Employment, Routledge, 2012:http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415580793/

( N. Jayaram, is a senior journalist who blogs at https://walkerjay.wordpress.com)

7 Natural Remedies Using Honey

    The medicinal properties of honey were first recognized by the ancient Egyptians, and has since been used as a natural home remedy solution. Honey contains powerful anti-inflammatory components that help strengthen your immune system and protect you from diseases.  Honey can soothe an upset stomach, prevent fatigue, repair sore muscles, treat toothaches, get rid of fungus in athlete's foot, and even aid in weight loss. Suffice it to say, you should always have a jar of honey in your closet. Here are 7 natural home remedies you can prepare using a dash of honey:    1) Ginger and Honey: Treating Upset Stomach   Ginger helps alleviate symptoms of inflammation while promoting proper blood circulation. Honey contains many essential enzymes that prevent harmful bacteria, such as E. coli and Candida, from entering your body.  What You Will Need: 1 cup of honey 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger root A pinch of ground ginger (optional) Directions:  Pour 1 cup of honey into a saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped gingerroot.  You can add a small pinch of ground ginger if you’d like as well, but it does have a strong flavor.  On low heat let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.  When it’s done let it infuse for 2 hours or up to 2 weeks in a glass jar with a tightly fitting lid. Strain when it’s finished if you’d like. Alternatively, you can also add chopped ginger root to herbal tea. 2) Homemade Cinnamon Mouthwash: Bad Breath   Cinnamon is widely used to calm upset stomach and treat other gastrointestinal disorders. Cinnamon also contains the carminative herb, which is used as a flavoring agent in the production of toothpaste and mouthwash to kill off bacteria.   What You Will Need: 2 lemons 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon-1 teaspoon baking soda 1 ½ teaspoons of honey 1 cup of warm water A bottle or jar with a tight fitting lid Directions: Add ½ tablespoon of cinnamon into a bottle or jar with a tight fitting lid. Add the juice of the 2 freshly squeezed lemons along with 1 ½ teaspoons of honey.  If you’d like you can also add in 1/2-1 teaspoon of baking soda and leave out the honey, or use both.  Pour 1 cup of warm water, which is used to melt the honey, into the jar, and stir well.  When you need to freshen up your breath, give it a quick shake and swish/gargle 1-2 tablespoons for 1 minute. 3) Honey and Coconut Water Drink: Sore Muscles   Coconut oil prevents dehydration, which can lead to headache, fatigue, and dry mouth. Coconut water helps repair damaged tissues in the body and keeps your joints functioning properly at all times.   What You Will Need: 3 cups of coconut water 1 cup of strawberries 1 cup of fresh water 1 cup of ice 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt 2 tablespoons natural sugar or honey Directions: Mix everything into a blender and drink as a healthy smoothie. 4) Honey and Brown Sugar Scrub: Dry Skin   Honey and brown sugar combine to exfoliate and moisturize the skin. The mixture fights acne and wrinkles while cleansing the pores at the same time. Make sure you use a toner after the treatment process to remove any excess oil.  What You Will Need: 2 1/4 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup honey 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional) Directions: In a bowl combine all ingredients until fully mixed. Store the mixture in an airtight container.  Tie the jar with bakers twine, add a wooden spoon, and you have the perfect sugar scrub gift. You can purchase these jars at the Hobby Lobby or any retail store.  5) Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey: Acid Reflux   The natural antibiotics contained in apple cider vinegar helps prevent gastric acid from entering the stomach, which causes reflux problems. The cider and honey work together to while promote healthy digestion.  What You Will Need:  1 cup of honey 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar Directions: Add 1 cup of honey to a saucepan, and then pour in 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.  Allow the mixture to heat over low flame for 10 minutes, stirring well about halfway through.  Place the mixture into a jar and let it sit for a while or until you are ready to use.  It doesn’t need to sit as long as something like cinnamon sticks or cloves would. 6) Fenugreek Seeds, Honey and Ginger Remedy: Asthma   Fenugreek seeds help fight off respiratory problems, such as asthma and bronchitis. Honey helps prevent airway constriction, which occurs when mucus accumulates in the bronchial tubes. Ginger contains many natural anti-inflammatory properties that allow you to breathe better.  What You Will Need: 2 tbsp fenugreek seeds  2 tsp ginger paste (make it from fresh ginger root) 1 tsp honey 4 cups of Water Directions: Add the fenugreek seeds to water, and allow them to simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the water after 30 minutes. Put the ginger paste into a sifter and press to extract it’s juice. Add the ginger juice to the water you just strained. Add honey to this solution and mix well. Drink a glass every morning. 7) Clove and Honey: Toothache   Cloves contain a pain-relieving anesthetic called Eugenol that is used to treat toothaches and gingivitis. Honey acts a natural antiseptic that kills germs and bacteria, which adds to the infection.   What You Will Need: 1 cup of honey 5-10 whole cloves Directions: Pour 1 cup of honey into a saucepan, and then add 5-10 whole cloves.  On low, heat for 10 minutes before letting it infuse for 2 hours or up to 2 weeks, placing it in a jar with a tightly fitting lid.  Strain when it’s finished (optional).

How to Build a Better Learner

How to Build a Better Learner
Brain studies suggest new ways to improve reading, writing and arithmetic—and even social skills
Jan 1, 2015 |By Gary Stix
••

Eight-month-old Lucas Kronmiller has just had the surface of his largely hairless head fitted with a cap of 128 electrodes. A research assistant in front of him is frantically blowing bubbles to entertain him. But Lucas seems calm and content. He has, after all, come here, to the Infancy Studies Laboratory at Rutgers University, repeatedly since he was just four months old, so today is nothing unusual. He—like more than 1,000 other youngsters over the past 15 years—is helping April A. Benasich and her colleagues to find out whether, even at the earliest age, it is possible to ascertain if a child will go on to experience difficulties in language that will prove a burdensome handicap when first entering elementary school.
Benasich is one of a cadre of researchers who have been employing brain-recording techniques to understand the essential processes that underlie learning. The new science of neuroeducation seeks the answers to questions that have always perplexed cognitive psychologists and pedagogues.
How, for instance, does a newborn's ability to process sounds and images relate to the child's capacity to learn letters and words a few years later? What does a youngster's ability for staying mentally focused in preschool mean for later academic success? What can educators do to foster children's social skills—also vital in the classroom? Such studies can complement the wealth of knowledge established by psychological and educational research programs.
They also promise to offer new ideas, grounded in brain science, for making better learners and for preparing babies and toddlers for reading, writing, arithmetic, and survival in the complex social network of nursery school and beyond. Much of this work focuses on the first years of life and the early grades of elementary school because some studies show that the brain is most able to change at that time.
The Aha! Instant
Benasich studies anomalies in the way the brains of the youngest children perceive sound, a cognitive process fundamental to language understanding, which, in turn, forms the basis for reading and writing skills. The former nurse, who later earned two doctorates, focuses on what she calls the aha! instant—an abrupt transition in electrical activity in the brain that signals that something new has been recognized [see “The Aha! Moment,” by Nessa Bryce].
Researchers at Benasich's lab in Newark, N.J., expose Lucas and other infants to tones of a certain frequency and duration. They then record a change in the electrical signals generated in the brain when a different frequency is played. Typically the electroencephalogram (EEG) produces a strong oscillation in response to the change—indicating that the brain essentially says, “Yes, something has changed”; a delay in the response time to the different tones means that the brain has not detected the new sound quickly enough.
The research has found that this pattern of sluggish electrical activity at six months can predict language issues at three to five years of age. Differences in activity that persist during the toddler and preschool years can foretell problems in development of the brain circuitry that processes the rapid transitions occurring during perception of the basic units of speech. If children fail to hear or process components of speech—say, a “da” or a “pa”—quickly enough as toddlers, they may lag in “sounding out” written letters or syllables in their head, which could later impede fluency in reading. These findings offer more rigorous confirmation of other research by Benasich showing that children who encounter early problems in processing these sounds test poorly on psychological tests of language eight or nine years later.
If Benasich and others can diagnose future language problems in infants, they may be able to correct them by exploiting the inherent plasticity of the developing brain—its capacity to change in response to new experiences. They may even be able to improve basic functioning for an infant whose brain is developing normally. “The easiest time to make sure that the brain is getting set up in a way that's optimal for learning may be in the first part of the first year,” she says.
Games, even in the crib, could be one answer. Benasich and her team have devised a game toy that trains a baby to react to a change in tone by turning the head or shifting the eyes (detected with a tracking sensor). When the movement occurs, a video snippet plays, a reward for good effort.
In a study reported in 2014 babies who went through this training detected tiny modulations within the sounds faster and more accurately than did children who only listened passively or had no exposure to the sounds at all. Based on this research, Benasich believes that the game would assist infants impaired in processing these sounds to respond more quickly. She is now working on an interactive game that could train infants to perceive rapid sound sequences.
The Number Sense
Flexing cognitive muscles early on may also help infants tune rudimentary math skills. Stanislas Dehaene, a neuroscientist at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, is a leader in the field of numerical cognition who has tried to develop ways to help children with early math difficulties. Babies have some capability of recognizing numbers from birth. When the skill is not in place from the beginning, Dehaene says, a child may later have difficulty with arithmetic and higher math. Interventions that build this “number sense,” as Dehaene calls it, may help the slow learner avoid years of difficulty in math class.
This line of research contradicts that of famed psychologist Jean Piaget, who contended that the brains of infants are blank slates, or tabula rasa, when it comes to making calculations in the crib. Children, in Piaget's view, have to develop a basic idea of what a number is from years of interacting with blocks, Cheerios or other objects. They eventually learn that when the little oat rings get pushed around a table, the location differs, but the number stays the same.
The neuroscience community has amassed a body of research showing that humans and other animals have a basic numerical sense. Babies, of course, do not spring from the womb performing differential equations in their head. But experiments have found that toddlers will routinely reach for the row of M&Ms that has the most candies. And other research has demonstrated that even infants only a few months old comprehend relative size. If they see five objects being hidden behind a screen and then another five added to the first set, they convey surprise if they see only five when the screen is removed.
Babies also seem to be born with other innate mathematical abilities. Besides being champion estimators, they can also distinguish exact numbers—but only up to the number three or four. Dehaene was instrumental in pinpointing a brain region—a part of the parietal lobe (the intraparietal sulcus)—where numbers and approximate quantities are represented. (Put a hand on the rear portion of the top of your head to locate the parietal lobe.)
The ability to estimate group size, which also exists in dolphins, rats, pigeons, lions and monkeys, is probably an evolutionary hand-me-down that is required to gauge whether your clan should fight or flee in the face of an enemy and to ascertain which tree bears the most fruit for picking. Dehaene, along with linguist Pierre Pica of the National Center for Scientific Research in France and colleagues, discovered more evidence for this instinctive ability through work with the Mundurukú Indians in the Brazilian Amazon, a tribe that has only an elementary lexicon for numbers. Its adult members can tell whether one array of dots is bigger than another, performing the task almost as well as a French control group did, yet most are unable to answer how many objects remain when four objects are removed from a group of six.
This approximation system is a cornerstone on which more sophisticated mathematics is constructed. Any deficit in these innate capacities can spell trouble later. In the early 1990s Dehaene hypothesized that children build on their internal ballpark estimation system for more sophisticated computations as they get older. Indeed, in the years since then, a number of studies have found that impaired functioning of the primitive numerical estimation system in youngsters can predict that a child will perform poorly in arithmetic and standard math achievement tests from the elementary years onward. “We realize now that the learning of a domain such as arithmetic has to be founded on certain core knowledge that is available already in infancy,” Dehaene says.
It turns out that dyscalculia (the computational equivalent of dyslexia), which is marked by a lag in computational skills, affects 3 to 7 percent of children. Dyscalculia has received much less attention from educators than dyslexia has for reading—yet it may be just as crippling. “They earn less, spend less, are more likely to be sick, are more likely to be in trouble with the law, and need more help in school,” notes a review article that appeared in Science in May 2011.
As with language, early intervention may help. Dehaene and his team devised a simple computer game they hope will enhance mathematical ability. Called the Number Race, it exercises these basic abilities in children aged four to eight. In one version, players must choose the larger of two quantities of gold pieces before a computer-controlled opponent steals the biggest pile. The game adapts automatically to the skill of the player, and at the higher levels the child must add or subtract gold before making a comparison to determine the biggest pile. If the child wins, she advances forward a number of steps equal to the gold just won. The first player to get to the last step on the virtual playing board wins.
The open-source software, which has been translated into eight languages, makes no hyperbolic claims about the benefits of brain training. Even so, more than 20,000 teachers have downloaded the software from a government-supported research institute in Finland. Today it is being tested in several controlled studies to see whether it prevents dyscalculia and whether it helps healthy children bolster their basic number sense.
Get Ahold of Yourself
The cognitive foundations of good learning depend heavily on what psychologists call executive function, a term encompassing such cognitive attributes as the ability to be attentive, hold what you have just seen or heard in the mental scratch pad of working memory, and delay gratification. These capabilities may predict success in school and even in the working world. In 1972 a famous experiment at Stanford University—“Here's a marshmallow, and I'll give you another if you don't eat this one until I return”—showed the importance of executive function. Children who could wait, no matter how much they wanted the treat, did better in school and later in life.
In the 21st century experts have warmed to the idea of executive function as a teachable skill. An educational curriculum called Tools of the Mind has had success in some low-income school districts, where children typically do not fare as well academically compared with high-income districts. The program trains children to resist temptations and distractions and to practice tasks designed to enhance working memory and flexible thinking.
In one example of a self-regulation task, a child might tell himself aloud what to do. These techniques are potentially so powerful that in centers of higher learning, economists now contemplate public policy measures to improve self-control as a way to “enhance the physical and financial health of the population and reduce the rate of crime,” remark the authors of a study that appeared in 2011 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
Findings from neuroscience labs have bolstered that view and have revealed that the tedium of practice to resist metaphorical marshmallows may not be necessary. Music training can work as well. Echoing the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, researchers are finding that assiduous practice of musical instruments may yield a payoff in the classroom—invoking shades of “tiger mom” author Amy Chua, who insisted that her daughters spend endless hours on the violin and piano. Playing an instrument may improve attention, working memory and self-control.
Some of the research providing such findings comes from a group of neuroscientists led by Nina Kraus of Northwestern University. Kraus, head of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory there, grew up with a diverse soundscape at home. Her mother, a classical musician, spoke to the future neuroscientist in her native Italian, and Kraus still plays the piano, guitar and drums. “I love it—it's a big part of my life,” she says, although she considers herself “just a hack musician.”
Kraus has used EEG recordings to measure how the nervous system encodes pitch, timing and timbre of musical compositions—and whether neural changes that result from practicing music improve cognitive faculties. Her lab has found that music training enhances working memory and, perhaps most important, makes students better listeners, allowing them to extract speech from the all-talking-at-once atmosphere that sometimes prevails in the classroom.
Musical training as brain tonic is still in its infancy, and a number of questions remain unanswered about exactly what type of practice enhances executive function: Does it matter whether you play the piano or guitar or whether the music was written by Mozart or the Beatles? Critically, will music classes help students who have learning difficulties or who come from low-income school districts?
But Kraus points to anecdotal evidence suggesting that music training's impact extends even to academic classes. The Harmony Project provides music education to low-income youngsters in Los Angeles. Dozens of students participating in the project have graduated from high school and gone on to college, usually the first in their family to do so.
Kraus has worked with the Harmony Project and published a study in 2014 that showed that children in one of its programs who practiced a musical instrument for two years could process sounds closely linked to reading and language skills better than children who only did so for a year. Kraus is an advocate of the guitar over brain games. “If students have to choose how to spend their time between a computer game that supposedly boosts memory or a musical instrument, there's no question, in my mind, which one is more beneficial for the nervous system,” Kraus says. “If you're trying to copy a guitar lead, you have to keep it in your head and try to reproduce it over and over.”
Hype Alert
As research continues on the brain mechanisms underlying success in the “four Rs,” three traditional ones with regulation of one's impulses as the fourth, many scientists involved with neuroeducation are taking pains to avoid overhyping the interventions they are testing. They are eager to translate their findings into practical assistance for children, but they are also well aware that the research still has a long way to go. They know, too, that teachers and parents are already bombarded by a confusing raft of untested products for enhancing learning and that some highly touted tools have proved disappointing.
In one case in point, a small industry developed several years ago around the idea that just listening to a Mozart sonata could make a baby smarter, a contention that failed to withstand additional scrutiny. Kraus's research suggests that to gain any benefit, you have to actually play an instrument, exercising auditory-processing areas of the brain: the more you practice, the more your abilities to distinguish subtleties in sound develop. Listening alone is not sufficient.
Similarly, even some of the brain-training techniques that claim to have solid scientific proof of their effectiveness have been questioned. A meta-analysis that appeared in the March 2011 issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry reviewed studies of perhaps the best known of all brain-training methods—software called Fast ForWord, developed by Paula A. Tallal of Rutgers, Michael Merzenich of the University of California, San Francisco, and their colleagues. The analysis found no evidence of effectiveness in helping children with language or reading difficulties. As with the methods used by Benasich, a former postdoctoral fellow with Tallal, the software attempts to improve deficits in the processing of sound that can lead to learning problems. The meta-analysis provoked a sharp rebuttal from Scientific Learning, the maker of the software, which claimed that the selection criteria were too restrictive, that most studies in the analysis were poorly implemented and that the software has been improved since the studies were conducted.
The clichéd refrain—more research is needed—applies broadly to many endeavors in neuroeducation. Dehaene's number game still needs fine adjustments before it receives wide acceptance. One controlled study showed that the game helped children compare numbers, although that achievement did not carry over into better counting or arithmetic skills. A new version is being released that the researchers hope will address these problems. Yet another finding has questioned whether music training improves executive function and thereby enhances intelligence.
In a nascent field, one study often contradicts another, only to be followed by a third that disputes the first two. This zigzag trajectory underlies all of science and at times leads to claims that overreach. In neuroeducation, teachers and parents have sometimes become the victims of advertising for “science-based” software and educational programs. “It's confusing. It's bewildering,” says Deborah Rebhuhn, a math teacher at the Center School, a special-education institution in Highland Park, N.J., that accepts students from public schools statewide. “I don't know which thing to try. And there's not enough evidence to go to the head of the school and say that something works.”
A Preschool Tune-up
Scientists who spend their days mulling over EEG wave forms and complex digital patterns in magnetic resonance imaging realize that they cannot yet offer definitive neuroscience-based prescriptions for improving learning. The work, however, is leading to a vision of what is possible, perhaps for Generation Z or its progeny. Consider the viewpoint of John D. E. Gabrieli, a professor of neuroscience participating in a collaborative program between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In a review article in Science in 2009, Gabrieli conjectured that eventually brain-based evaluation methods, combined with traditional testing, family history and perhaps genetic tests, could detect reading problems by age six and allow for intensive early intervention that might eliminate many dyslexia cases among school-aged children.
One study has already found that EEGs in kindergartners predict reading ability in fifth graders better than standard psychological measures. By undergoing brain monitoring combined with standard methods, each child might be evaluated before entering school and, if warranted, be given remedial training based on the findings that are trickling in today from neuroscience labs. If Gabrieli's vision comes to pass, brain science may imbue the notion of individualized education

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Conversation with God

Dead Bomber: Ehm, it’s the afterlife…

God: Afterlife? What afterlife? There is no afterlife! You think this is a computer game? You die and you go to level two? And you didn’t even finish level one, you just opted out.

Dead Bomber: But all the Books talk promise an afterlife, a paradise…

(image by theferalistpapers.com) 

God: It’s a metaphor! How did you people not get that? It’s specifically written in an allegorical manner so you get that. Look at me, discussing literature with an idiot who blew himself up.

Dead Bomber: So there’s no paradise?

God: No, you schmuck. That’s it, you die and you’re gone. I’m making an exception because I wanted to understand what foolishness you people were getting up to. I keep my eye off Earth for a few years, and you people spring up!

Dead Bomber: And the rivers of milk and honey and all of that?

God: You think I’m in catering? What impertinence! It’s enough work looking after you when you’re alive; you want me to spend eternity giving you free food? Like I have nothing better to do. Do you know how many universes I’m running now? Idiots!

Dead Bomber: And the beautiful maidens that we were promised…?

God: WHAT? Just what kind of establishment do you think I’m running here? It was all a metaphor, a story about how you’re supposed to live your life. How can you take it literally? If you’re good, you have inner peace, that’s it. That’s paradise. If you’re evil, you live a tormented inner life. You people have come and blown the whole system away. No pun intended.

Dead Bomber: I’m sorry, we just didn’t realize. You see there were those other people, the infidels who didn’t believe in you correctly. The crusaders and the rejectionists…

God: So you blow them up? Who do you think put them there? You utter imbeciles. You know I might introduce eternal damnation just for people like you. I’ll have to send someone to Earth to tell humans about it. I haven’t done that in centuries, I can’t even remember the shortcut. Get out. GET OUT! Before I turn you to salt.

Dead Bomber: What will happen to me now?

God: I might send you back as a swine, that should teach you. No, I’m pulling your leg. You will die and that’s it.

* Karl Sharro is a Lebanese blogger. This post was originally published on his blog.

20 New Words Added To The English Dictionary

Hash tag (n.) 

A hashtag is a word or phrase beginning with a hash sign (#) – used on social media sites, such as Twitter, to identify messages about a particular topic. For example, the hashtag #YesAllWomen is used to share stories and raise awareness about violence and discrimination against women.

live-tweet (v.)

To live-tweet an event (such as a sports game, conference, TV show, etc.) means to publish updates to Twitter while the event is taking place. People often live-tweet in order to share thoughts instantly and exchange opinions with other people watching or participating in the same event.

listicle (n.)

An online article in the form of a list. The word is a combination of list + article. For example, “20 Things Only Introverts Will Understand.”

clickbait (n.)

Content on the internet with the main purpose of getting as many people as possible to click on it. This is usually done with headlines that are shocking or pique curiosity, such as, “She Starts Taking Her Clothes Off in Public – You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!”

Abbreviations

SMH

Short for “shaking my head” – used to express disapproval, frustration, annoyance, etc.

YOLO

Short for “you only live once” – used to express the idea that you should take full advantage of the pleasures of the present moment.

DIY

Short for “do it yourself” – used for when you make or repair something yourself instead of buying it or getting a professional to do it.

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Health & Fitness

five-second rule (n.)

A common belief that if you drop food on the floor, but you pick it up quickly (within five seconds), it will not be contaminated by bacteria.

Paleo diet (n.)

A diet based on the foods believed to be eaten by early humans, before the development of agriculture or the domestication of animals. The Paleo diet focuses on meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables, and avoids dairy, cereals, and processed foods such as oil and sugar.

food coma (n.)

Feeling extremely sleepy or lethargic (without energy) after eating a large amount of food.

bikeable (adj.)

Describes a city or area that is good, safe, or easy for getting around by bicycle.

anti-vax (adj.)

Describes people who are opposed to using vaccines against diseases (usually parents who refuse to vaccinate their children). They often believe the vaccines can potentially cause more problems than the disease itself.

vape (v.)

Smoking an electronic cigarette (e-cig). Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine, but not tobacco, and they produce vapor instead of smoke.

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Business & Culture

crowdfund (v.) / crowdfunding (n.)

Getting money for a project or cause by posting an online campaign and getting donations or pledges from many people.

humblebrag (n./v.)

To make a statement that appears modest or humble, but is really designed to draw attention to oneself or something that you are proud of. For example, “I only donated $10,000 to charity this year. Wish I could have given more.”

acquihire (n.)

When a larger company buys a smaller company, but mainly because it wants to take over the smaller company’s team of employees, not the product or service.

time suck (n.)

An activity that is inefficient or unproductive; a waste of time.

crony capitalism (n.)

A system where there are close relationships between business owners and politicians. It is seen as a bad thing because it leads to corruption and laws that may benefit the businesspeople/politicians, but not the public.

first world problem (n.)

A problem or annoyance that is small or silly when compared to the suffering experienced by other people in the world, such as some of the population in developing countries.