Who will carry the Olympic Torch?

THE TORCH OF FREEDOM

By Manuwant Choudhary

Indian footballer Baichung Bhutia is a practicing Buddhist so he will not carry the Olympic torch.
Aamir Khan, despite his firebrand film Rang de Basanti, says he will carry the torch since human rights violations take place all over the world, but yes while he runs he will have a prayer in his heart - for Tibet.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon says he will not be attending the opening ceremony, but not to offend China he says his decision has nothing to do with the protests over Tibet.
Saif Ali says he would carry the torch since the Indian government has no objections over it (since when did Saif become a law abiding citizen....wish he was like that always and a few Chinkaras would have lived).
Presidential candidates urge President Bush not to attend the opening ceremony, but he can attend the games itself otherwise China may throw out US MNCs and that may not be in the interests of the US.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not attend the opening ceremony because the French feel more strongly about human rights violations than the British and his speach in the UK was among the best I have heard and he deserves to be the President of the United States, not France.
Hollywood Actor Richard Gere is in campaign mode and says its clear there is a problem in China.
Indian Actress Diya Mirza says she would not carry the torch since she has a lot of regard for His Holiness The Dalai Lama, whom China does not allow to return home.
Now resigned former IPS officer Kiran Bedi first says she is a sportswoman first and last and will carry the torch and then despite her policewoman's life says she will not carry the torch because she feels suffocated with all the security around the flame.
Then India's IOC chief Suresh Kalmadi makes a telephone call through news channels from Beijing saying Rahul Gandhi has been invited to carry the torch.
And the young Gandhi Member of Parliament is still trying to discover India and so he quietly turns down the offer.
And after all this there is news that the torch may just bypass India.
But what if the torch does arrive and someone will have to take the torch to the Amar Jawan Jyoti a memorial for Indian soldiers killed by China.
So who will carry the torch?
Perhaps, the right person for the job is CPI (M) leader Prakash Karat and he could run to Beijing closely followed by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, otherwise his government may fall - only for Tibet!
And finally, His Holiness The Dalai Lama wants to carry the Olympic torch but the Chinese won't let him.

A NEAR CRASH EXPERIENCE

MID-AIR JETLITE PILOT DETECTS TECHNICAL SNAG

BOMBAY-PATNA JETLITE FLIGHT 6721 DIVERTED TO AHMEDABAD

`HAWA MEIN PLANE KHARAB HO GAYA' frantic passengers call home after landing...

A first person account by Manuwant Choudhary

After a liberal meeting in Bombay taking the early morning Jetlite flight at 5.35 is never easy and the only consolation is that within 2-and-a-half hours I would be in Patna but not this time. What does it feel when mid-air you hear a crackle and your pilots voice says all is not well.
We had almost done some 40 minutes of flying when I could feel suddenly the engines making less noise than they did and a few seconds later the crackle of the speakers, "This is your pilot. We have detected a technical snag and will be diverting this plane to Ahmedabad...."
A pause...
And then to reassure passengers the pilot stammers ...."The...the....situation is under control...so nothing to worry."
One could hear the silence.
A few passengers just slept, but those awake tried to look out from their windows.
As the pilot changed direction we could feel the flight was not normal.
At one point it swayed but found its path again.
And a girl in front called the airhostess and asked, "Is this serious?"
Airhostess "There is a snag so only the pilot knows but we will keep you informed if anything changes."
But within ten minutes the pilot spoke again, "We are ready to land at Ahmedabad so please fasten your seat belts."
And we held our breadth.
The pilot successfully landed.
There was a sigh amongst passengers but no celebrations...just murmurs and people frantically reaching out for their cellphones.
As soon as the plane taxied to a halt people called up their relatives, "Hawa mein plane kharab ho gaya" (Our plane got spoilt mid-air).
But a journalist does not call relatives. He calls the news channels. I sent SMSs to my freinds and soon the news was on air.
First passengers were asked to remain seated and the plane would take off once engineers rectify the problem.
But then there was another announcement, "All passengers are to deplane and they must take another flight to Delhi and then another to Patna and Ranchi. The Ranchi passengers did not even have a connecting flight.
A few Jetlite ground-staff were there but clearly they were not sure of what they must do in such situations.
We were issued some four boarding paases for this journey from Bombay to Patna.
And in Delhi after the usual identification of baggages etc..passengers were issued new boarding passes.
When passengers got on board the scene looked like a train or worse a bus in Bihar where passengers fought over seats.
Soon it was found that Jetlite issed similar number seats to passengers.
Two foreigners on the flight were having a harrowing experience due to the confusion, until I helped them out.
Fortunately, everyone did finally get a seat and we landed at Patna at 12.35 p.m. after an all-India tour and a near-crash experience.
Jetlite's are the planes that came with the Jet-Sahara deal.

80 feared killed in Lhasa

DALAI LAMA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER TIBET

I am deeply concerned over the situation that has been developing in Tibet following peaceful protests in many parts of Tibet, including Lhasa, in recent days. These protests are a manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people under the present governance.

As I have always said, unity and stability under brute force is at best a temporary solution. It is unrealistic to expect unity and stability under such a rule and would therefore not be conducive to finding a peaceful and lasting solution.

I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence.


THE DALAI LAMA
Dated: March 14, 2008

FREE TIBET

RIOTS IN TIBET

Monks and ordinary Tibetans take to the streets in Tibet's capital Lhasa and since 1989 for the first time there are reports of rioting...BBC says a police vehicle has been burnt.
The Chinese authorities have meanwhile blocked the four main monasteries and there are fears that China may clamp down further.
Some monks have already been injured in clashes with the Chinese police.
Tibetans are also burning all Chinese products.
This is despite China's claims that the situation is under control.
A few days back Tibetans in India attempted to cross the Himalayas back home but were prevented from doing so by the Indian police, who said this is in violation of the agreement the Dalai Lama has had with India.
Recent protests show that patience is running out and this could further intensify in the Olympic year...without a solution to Tibet China's human rights record will never be set right.
CNN says China blames only the Dalai Lama for this whom they refer as `a globe-trotting thorn for China'.

The Dalai Lama

"The Chinese government severely criticises me when I raise questions about the welfare of the Tibetan people before the international community. Until we reach a mutually beneficial solution, I have a historical and moral responsibility to continue to speak out freely on their behalf."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama in a message on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan people's uprising. Visit dalailama.com for complete speach.

ANCIENT WISDOM AGAINST CORRUPTION

THIEVES OF GOD

By Prem Sabhlok

THE VEDAS are essentially a collection of a large number of hymns but few know that the Vedas also contain hymns against corruption and how the state must deal with it. Recently, recognising the value of the Vedas for humanity UNESCO accorded the Vedas a heritage statues.

Rig Veda in particular has a large number of hymns/riks on the causes of corruption and how to eliminate the same in any mosaic society. In the other three Vedas also a few mantras/hymns relate to Corruption.

Sama Veda 179 and 913 describes Corruption as hydra headed, having nine heads (nine kinds) and it enters the human body through ninety nine sources i.e. nine kind of corruption enters through five senses, five sense organs and outward looking mind (9X11==99).
Later Ramayana described this evil through nine corrupt heads of Ravana. We burn his nine corrupt heads every year on Dussehra day. Similarly later Mahabharata described 99 sources of entry of corruption through 99 corrupt sons of blind Kaurva king Dhritrashtra. 99 vritras (powers of evil) are mentioned in Rig Veda 1-84-13. It further says in 1-104-3 taking bribe for money belonging to the state is misappropriation of public funds. All bribe takers are thieves of God and they get rebirth in the foulest of the womb (confirmed even in Bhagavad-Gita).
R.V 3-34-6 and Yajur Veda 30-22, the corrupt people should not be allowed by the ruler to mix with people following chatvar varnasharam (four divine professions).
Y.V 30-19 and R.V 5-61-8 mention that those persons who praise and justify are also corrupt persons, keep away from them. R.V 1-42-4 even mentions keep away from Gurus (preceptors) who take donations/charity.

Causes of Corruption
1. The corruption creeps in society when the matter is considered as inert and the members of society do not find any sin in treating the benign mother earth as a quarry. In Rig Vedas spirit of God is in the shuniya (cosmic void) of each sub atomic particle of atom- the building block of matter. Hence the matter has unsuspected vitality and its use on need based living is virtue and its excessive use is a sin.
Corruption creeps in a society where economics (artha) is based on inert matter and the possession of wealth/any kind of matter having predominance of tamasic guna of stupor is considered as a matter of pride.
MAYA creates a Golden Disc for such individuals and hides the truth and Supreme Reality for them.
2. Rig Veda further says that purpose of human birth is to assist nirguna Brahmathe (ineffable and formless God) who is also Supreme Architect (Viswakarma) in the maintenance of His Grand and wondrous Design. For the maintenance of this Design, He has created Rta- eternal cosmic laws of necessity and wants all human beings to follow the same. Having created these eternal laws of nature “He Himself” follows them sternly lest a great harm is done to the cosmic creation. Thus He and His Laws (Rta) are the same. When the individuals in any society starts ignoring these laws available to human beings through the Book of Nature (which even blind individuals can read), corruption creeps in society.
3. R.V 10-34-13 also says that any kind of gambling particularly the game of dice is also cause of corruption. The vehement effect of this evil of the game of dice was described in Mahabharata.

Corruption destroys all the noble attributes of human beings due to pursuit of only material knowledge bereft of spiritual and divine knowledge, which in Vedas is ignorance/nescience/ajnan. (R.V 1-129-6). Only harmonized divine, spiritual and material knowledge is true knowledge (Janan) in Vedas.

Start of Corruption
Rig Veda says when even one human being dies of starvation, it is a signal that corruption has crept in society and avarnas (followers of non divine professions) who want honour, power and wealth for themselves have started multiplying. In Kaliyuga (Dark Age) their number far exceeds the followers of divine professions (varnas). Ethics and community welfare becomes the greatest casualty.
Rig Veda says the thieves of God (bribe givers/takers) who consider matter as inert become insensitive to hydra headed corruption and resort to ostentatious worship and donations/gift culture to gain social recognition. Most of them drift from darkness to utter darkness through meditation (Isa Upanishad and Yajur Veda).
The various virtuous concepts like iddm nan mmam –nothing for self all for society akin to enlightened liberalism of Aristotle, moderation of Vedas/middle path of Buddha and the noble concept of illusion of comfort in the vast turbulent sea of matter (Vedic Phantasmagoria-Cosmic delusion MAYA) are no longer considered as virtue in the materialistic corrupt society dominated by avarna, vritras, kimidin etc.

In India this evil of corruption is now becoming “Leviathan” and giant demon and is spreading like wild fire. The guide lines given by the wise metaphysicists (rsis of yore) and wandering sages (munnies of the Vedic period) can help in arresting this nefarious and extremely dangerous drift.

Kautaliya in his socio-political treatise “Arthashastra” (partly based on Vedic metaphysics) clearly says the evil of corruption spreads faster when the state gives lip sympathy to curb corruption and promote honesty.

For more details on corruption and other main subjects of Vedas, “Glimpses of Vedic Metaphysics” for on line reading and even taking print at no cost is available on the Internet. Website is http://www.sabhlokcity.com/metaphysics/. Also the book can be accessed through search engines of google.com, yahoo.com, lulu.com. Search for the book “Glimpses of Vedic Metaphysics” or just “Vedic Metaphysics”.

CROSSING THE WAGAH BORDER TO FREEDOM

PAKISTAN RETURNS KASHMIR TO INDIA

By Manuwant Choudhary

A free man... after spending 35 years in a Pakistani prison on charges of espionage Kashmir Singh returns to India across the Wagah border to his wife, family and freedom.
Kashmir Singh, a former policeman turned electronic goods trader, was arrested in Rawalpindi in 1973 and later convicted of espeionage and put on death row.
He never saw the sky or a single visitor in 35 years.
Its only when Mr. Ansar Burney, a social activist and human rights minister, heard about him and found him and argued for his release that Kashmir Singh got this Presidential pardon.
But this story is not just about one man....there are thousands of Indian prisoners of war's in Pak prisons which the Pakistan government denies.
Its routine for both India and Pakistan to arrest each others citizens who stray across the border.
This story is more important than India's nuclear deal with the United States.
This story is more important that the Indian communists threat to pull down its own government.
This story is more important than the image-makeover of Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf.
Kashmir Singhs story shows the artificial nature of our border ...that our people are really one...that this great land was cleverly partitioned by the departing British rulers only so that they could have a stake in our politics.
The message at Wagah today is that we must forget the past and build on a new future.
The message at Wagah today is about love.
The message at Wagah today is how great India and Pakistan can be if they want to.
The message at Wagah today is there is hope.
I wish I was at Wagah today to welcome Kashmir Singh.