Rebuilding the History : Thousand Pillar Temple


Archaeological Survey of India, is rebuilding the history by reconstructing the 900 year old dilapidated structure of famous thousand pillar temple in Warangal, Tamilnadu.

Built in Kakatiya dynasty period, they used wide pits filled with sand as the base to support their rock constructions, unlike the pillar-based construction technique used at present. Experts say, that is the main reason for collapse of the structure, as the sand moved entire structure gets collapsed.

The restoration project will cost Rs 3.5 crore, has been designed by the National Institute of Technology in Warangal and the Archaeological Survey of India hopes to complete it by June 2008.

Seven years in hell named Pakistan

Showing the scars all over her body acquired in torturous seven year imprisonment in Pakistan, she said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranob Mukherji should see this before extending a hand to Pakistan for friendship.

Sabiha Khan an Indian national, 47 year old graduate, born in Bhopal, visited Pakistan to see her maternal grand mother at Karachi in 1999. She travelled to Islamabad along with her grand mother to procure an Indian visa for her grand mother. Her nightmare begins as soon as she came out and picked up by police, taken her to a secluded place blind folded tortured and raped repeatedly by interrogating officers for seven years.

In may this year she was shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail from where she wrote to human rights organizations in Pakistan. Indian Embassy officials then visited her. Six months after that she was released on December 23, 2006.

She doesn't know whether her family will accept her, but wows to give birth to a son to send him to Pakistan to take revenge.

India wins first test in South Africa

India's win in South Africa has many highlights. Three comeback boys Ganguly, Zahir, and Laxman proved old is gold and experience counts, counter to the beliefs of current think tank in team management constituting Greg Chappel & Rahul Dravid. Strings of dismal performances in last six months were results of faulty policies of team management, which in the name of experimenting put the players into uncertainty and insecurity. It has also proved that Ganguly's ouster has more in cricket politics than rather cricketing reasons.

The first positive move the indian cricket board did is appointment of Dilip Vengsarkar as Chairman of Selection Committee. Which had a joker like Kiran More till recently, destroying the team spirit in current contingent.

Guru Greg's capabilities in man management are clearly in doubt, and the motives of building a team for next world cup have not delivered. So does the Dravid's captaincy not up to mark when compared to Ganguli, who build the team with putting faith in youngsters.

Three more IIT's in 2007

Come 2007 and three more IIT's will be added to the already eight elite group. The new IIT's will be in the states Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. This was disclosed by the Rajasthan Chief Minister Ms. Vasundhara Raje, her government has been communicated by center and asked to find out suitable land of 600 acres in Jaipur city.

Other eight IIT's are IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Gauhati, and IIT Roorki. All the IIT's except Gauhati and Roorki were established in first five year plan of Government of India under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Incidentally these IIT's are celebrating Golden Jubilee year from March 2007. A Pan IIT initiative by alumni of IIT's has planned grand celebrations to commemorate this occasion.

Astronaut Sunita Williams cuts her hair in space for charity

They appear as two line items in a final transfer list between the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station: items 811 and 811.1.

Uplinked to the shuttle crew as a final preparation for the undocking of Discovery from the station on Tuesday, the list identifies 811 as Suni Williams, FE-2, and 811.1 as a ponytail.

Sunita 'Suni' Williams is the latest member of the station crew, having arrived with Discovery on December 11. Her title aboard the ISS is Flight Engineer-2 (FE-2).

The ponytail is hers.

"Remove ponytail from 811 prior to transfer of 811" reads the resupply transfer list. "Report final stowage location."

"We believe 811.1 has been completed, please confirm," ground controllers wrote to the crew elsewhere in the list.

Williams, who arrived at the outpost last week with long flowing — and floating — hair, arranged to have her locks cut last Sunday and the clippings stowed on Discovery for a future hairpiece to be given to a child suffering from long-term medical hair loss, collectSPACE has learned.

Mission specialist Joan Higginbotham, who worked with Williams on the station to operate its robot arm and who led the effort to transfer supplies, including William's own items, from Discovery to the ISS, served as hair stylist for the orbital trim. William's new hairdo was noticed soon after by mission control, who commented on it but made no mention of where the separated strands were destined.


Sources close to Williams told collectSPACE.com that the astronaut intended to donate her hair to a charity that would donate it to an ill child.

On Wednesday, NASA confirmed that Williams' donation would be made to Locks of Love, a Lake Worth, Florida based, non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

According to Lauren Kukkamaa, communications director for Locks of Love, this is the first time they've received a donation of hair from an astronaut in space. While normal constraints would preclude tracking Williams' hair through it being made into a prosthetic, the unusual nature of this gift may mean special attention.

"Its definitely something that is, of course, new to our organization, to receive hair that is from space. I know it would be exciting news to let our supporters know and I know they would be very interested," said Kukkamaa in an interview with collectSPACE.

Once Williams' ponytail is received by Locks of Love in Florida, it will be measured for its length and then sent to their manufacturer in California.

"At that point, it will actually be combined with six to 10 other ponytails to make the hairpiece," said Kukkamaa.

Williams' ponytail recipient will be chosen by the options the child selects for his or her hair, such as its color and length. "It will [then] be hand-stitched or hand injected in to a silicone fit cap with about 150,000 other strands of hair," she explained. "Because it is made from a silicone cap, which is actually made from a mold of our recipient, it is technically a prosthetic. It will create a suction or a vacuum fit, so it is very different from a wig," Kukkamaa said.

"At that point it cannot be pulled off by anybody else and they can play sports with it on, go swimming, basically do anything with the hair."

Williams' ponytail will land with the STS-116 crew, who is presently scheduled to return to earth on Friday. Williams has just begun a six month stay on the space station.

It's not uncommon for astronauts to have their hair cut in space, especially during long duration missions, but the clippings are generally discarded.

Williams is very attached to her hair, but it's not the first time she's had put it on the line for a good cause. It even led to her becoming an astronaut.

According to her NASA profile, Williams originally wanted to be a veterinarian and had chosen Columbia University in New York to achieve that goal. She was also however, considering the Navy.

"I had long, long hair and I was like, 'Aw, I don't know if I could go there and cut my hair,'" Williams described of the Naval Academy. "But I think I was a little scared to go live in New York City. So I chose the Naval Academy — that's less scary than New York City."

Convictions 2006

These days are very special for Indian Judiciary. After the conviction of Shibu Soren, Manu sharma is also convicted, so does Sanjay Dutt. It's very important that these peoples were influential and they have ability to sabotage the judicial process. Although courts have shown some leniency in Sanjay Dutt's case, it is not courts fault in entirety. Investigating agencies can be manipulated in India and legal process is based on evidence collected by the investigating agencies.

One negative point is Laloo is exonerated in his assets case and he is celebrating now, But the world knows that he is guilty. He fares to be a smartest politician to manipulated the political power and network he has for his own use.

Conviction of Manu Sharma is slap in Ram Jethmalani's face. Despite a big cry from public Mr. Jethmalani didn't listen to his inner self, its a manifestation of how his soul has lost track. Hope he learns for what ever life remains for him.

Convictions of this type restores public faith in judicial system, and helps in building sense of justice.

Sourav Ganguly's comeback


Comeback in Indian cricket is not a rarity. In distance past Mohinder Amarnath and presently VVS Laxman are regular comeback boys. But Mohinder wasn't a controversial character so does Laxman.

So what is special about Ganguly's comeback in indian cricket team? look at the background, he was out of form, the coach Greg Chappel and Captain Rahul Dravid is against his comeback, the current tour of indian team is difficult one as it is always when india is touring, south africa has good pace bowlers and they are in form, they have made fast and bouncy wickets to demolish indian batsmen, even Sachin Tendulkar is struggling. And look man against all these oddities our man has clicked. The first match he played was against Rest of South Africa and he is match winner in it with score of 81 in first innings when top order collapsed. The fist test story gets repeated and Ganguly is top scorer in first innings with 51 not out.

All the credit to his will power and determination and of course luck man, nothing happens without it. He is great trier and that works for him. I feel he is necessary character in Indian team, indian team is incomplete without him. Keep it up Sourav.

Hanging of a Terrorist

The news of so called intellectuals rallying against hanging of Afzal the kingpin of terrorism is disturbing. Arundhati Roy has proved again that she is total nonsense character. But she knows how to stay in news.

As regards to Afzal's conviction, his own brother justifies the punishment given to him by supreme court. It's uncanny to understand what makes UPA government headed by Congress party of India under Sonia Gandhi to act so weak. Nations prestige is at stake and these bastards are discussing about eventuality of hanging a terrorist.

93 Blasts trial ends, 100 convicted
The TADA court in Mumbai has finally finished delivering its verdict on 123 accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. The sentencing for those convicted is still awaited.

Public Prosecutor, Ujwal Nikam summed up the mammoth 13-year-old legal battle saying, "With over a hundred convictions in a single case, the 1993 Mumbai blasts trial has become even bigger than the Nuremberg trial."

On September 12, 2006, the first day of the judgement, camerapersons and reporters jostled for space as all the key players made their way into the special TADA Court, which was to deliver the verdict over the next 86 days.

Absconding accused Tiger Memon's brothers Yakub, Yusuf and Essa were the first to be convicted. The next big fish to be netted were five policemen and three senior customs officials.

But the big moment came when Sanjay Dutt got a new lease of life, when he was acquitted of conspiracy and TADA charges. However, he was found guilty under the Arms Act.

On Monday, with six more men convicted for their involvement in the Mahim grenade attacks, the total tally stands at 100 guilty and 23 acquitted.

"All six men were found guilty of conspiracy, aiding and abetment, receiving weapons training and making bombs," says Ujwal Nikam.

But the real challenge is yet to come, with the quantum of sentence yet to be decided. The sentencing will start on December 11 and till then, the CBI is sure to be on its toes.

Madness in dalit agitation
Dalit protests after the statue of Dr. Ambedkar vandalised appears to be madness, after one arrested for the vandalism's in kanpur. Arrested man belongs to Dalit community and his name is Arun Valmiki and resident of Sarojini Nagar. From the news reports he has confessed that he and his two associates did the damage to statue in Kakadeo area under influence of alcohol.

Now as the picture gets clear, one wonders what the hell rioters in Maharashtra doing, yesterday damaging public property and putting peoples under duress. Two trains were put under fire. Total loss of around 500 Crore Rupees. Funny part of the incident is appearance of Mr. Ramdas Athawale a Republic Party of India leader claiming the riots were spontaneous and rioters were followers of Dr. Ambedkar's and Gautam Buddhas ideology. I am failed to understand Gautam Buddha a preacher of Nonviolence (Ahimsa) is used to justify the violence, by his so called followers.

Navjot Singh Siddhu convicted for Murder

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday convicted cricketer-turned-MP Navjot Singh Sidhu for causing the death of a Patiala resident following a scuffle in 1988.

A division bench, comprising Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and Baldev Singh, overturned his earlier acquittal by a lower court and found 43-year-old Sidhu guilty of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, for the death of Gurnam Singh.

Gurnam Singh died on December 27, 1988 after Sidhu and his associate had allegedly beaten him at a Patiala market following a dispute. Gurman Singh had actually died of a heart attack on the spot after the incident.

The court will decide on the quantum of punishment for Sidhu on Wednesday, December 6. Under Section 304 of IPC, the maximum sentence could be imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Sidhu has been convicted under Section 304 of IPC. The court pronounced the verdict while hearing an appeal of the Punjab government against an earlier verdict of the Patiala district court, acquitting Sidhu in the murder case. A separate appeal was also filed by the son of the victim.

The district and sessions judge of Patiala had on September 22, 1999, acquitted Sidhu in the case, which was registered under Sections 304 and 34 of IPC at police station, Kotwali, Patiala on December 27, 1988 for causing the death of Gurnam Singh.

The FIR registered by the Punjab Government on December 27, 1988 alleged that Navjot Sidhu and Rupinder Singh Sandhu had showered blows on Gurnam in Sheranwala Gate Bazaar of Patiala after dragging him out of his car and injuring him.

The sessions court had dismissed the case in 2000 on the grounds that there was a delay in lodging the case.

Sidhu and his associate had allegedly beaten up Gurnam over a dispute over the parking of vehicles outside the State Bank of Patiala branch, where Sidhu was employed. Sidhu has always maintained that the incident was merely an accident and that he had no intention of causing harm to the person.

The news will no doubt put his highly successful post-cricket career as an expert and entertainer in jeopardy. Contrary to the fame he has achieved as a member of the Indian cricket team since the 1980s, his almost four-year-old career as a commentator and of late for his opnions, more famously known as 'Sidhuisms', have propelled him to become a household name.

The appeals against Sidhu's acquittal were filed in 2002 and on November 29, 2002, the court admitted the same for further hearing.