A Little Mouse Story

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap. Retreating to the farmyard the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mouse trap in the house, a mouse trap in the house!"

Zari and Silk in India: Weaving a spell

Submitted by aurora on

..Zari is a type of thread made of fine gold or silver wire used in traditional Indian and Pakistani garmentsThis thread is woven into fabrics, primarily made of silk to create intricate patterns. It is believed this tradition started during the Mughal period. The Padiyur Sarvodaya Sangh (PSS), a certified unit of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) near Kangayam, is the lone unit in South India where dyeing, weaving and zari production of silk saris are done. From cocoon to ornamental silks, the unit processes everything under one roof.

The cocoons collected from the farmers are separated quality-wise before being steamed and then reeled to make it into a yarn. After winding, doubling is done to the yarn and then it is twisted and dyed. Production manager Kuppusamy says, "We have a dyeing unit, the only one in the State to colour the silk yarn. We don't let the effluents spoil the environment. We treat it and use the water for our teak plantation." First, gold is made into a liquid form and then coated on the silver yarn.

Chanakya: India's first political "mastermind"

Chanakya was an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340-293 BC), and architect of his rise to power Kautilya and Vishnuguptathe names by which the political treatise Arthashastra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya. Some scholars consider Chanakya to be "the pioneer economist of the world". He is known as "The Indian Machiavelli" in the Western world. Chanakya was a professor at Taxila University and is widely believed to be responsible for the first Indian empire.

Why do we pray

Submitted by amitsedai on

I was travelling on a bus to Bannerghatta (in Bangalore). There was high traffic congestion, as rains were torrential. Where most were thinking about when they may reach home, my mind started to wander, thanks to the loss of my mp3 player.

Aim

There is a legend about a wise man who was sitting outside his village. A traveler came up and asked him, "What kind of people live in this village, because I am looking to move from my present one?"

Bhimbetka:: Going back to prehistoric times

Submitted by aurora on

Bhimbetka rock shelters compose an archaeological site and World Heritage Site located in Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.The Bhimbetka shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India; its Stone Age rock paintings are approximately 9,000 years old.The name Bhimbetika comes from the mythological association of the place with Bhima, one of the Pandavas (The five sons of king Pandu and the queens Kunti and Madri) in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.It is the biggest repository of prehistoric art in India. Continuous habitation from the Early Stone Age…." One of the earliest dwellings of human beings, Bhimbetka will take you back to the history 35000 years old. In fact, the place has witnessed a cultural sequences right from the late stone age to the early historic period.

Pros And Cons:

"One State, one language" is a universal feature of almost every State. Examine the constitution of Germany, France, Italy, England, and U.S.A. "One State, one language" is the rule.

Wherever there has been a departure from this rule there has been a danger to the State. The illustration of the mixed States are to be found in the old Austrian Empire and the old Turkish Empire. India cannot escape this fate if it continues to be a congery of mixed States.

Recent divisions:

THE recent creation of three 'small' states - Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh - within India has raised some interesting issues about the territorial scale of such constitutional units and their relationship with the Republic as a whole. These issues need to be spelt out at some length; in order to enable us to comprehend the prospect they hold out for the social and economic growth of the Republic, collectively, and the states of the Republic, individually, in the future.