DELHI, DILLI, Shahjanhanbad, Indraprastha - one city and several names. The city has an x-factor that makes it special and sets it apart from rest of the world and other Indian cities. Perhaps, it is the wide cultural mix that you find here or the kind of history it has.

Delhi is probably the only city in the world that has been destructed and reconstructed so many times. The huge city has seen several rulers coming, conquering and fading away, from Slaves to Lodhis from Mughals to Britishers. The city grew with its rulers.

Its explicit history makes the city worth a visit. The city, now the national capital of world's largest democracy - India, has a lot to offer its visitors. Situated in the north of the nation, it boasts of walled city - Purani Dilli, historic monuments, national museums, lush green gardens, wide streets with trees, havelis, farm houses and the list goes on.

The city does not disappoint anyone. Artists find their paradise in Mandi House, which is an area near Delhi's shopping hub Connaught Place and includes several theatres, photo galleries and auditoriums.

Delhi has a different way to do its business as well. Most of the Delhi's high profile business and cultural events find its venue at beautiful green and eco-friendly campuses of India Habitat Centre and India International Centre.

The walled city, a wonder in herself, has everything to fall for. It's famous for almost everything it has, the centuries old structures, food joints, markets and most of all 'the people'. Old Delhi still has the Mughal charm intact to it.

The nation's second largest metro (first is Mumbai) also boasts of world renowned religious places. Birla Temple, which was built in 17th century, was later renovated by Birla family and inaugurated by none other than Mahatma Gandhi.

Delhi's walled city also has the Asia's largest mosque, Jama Masjid. And not to forget the newly added asset to city's beauty - Akshardham Temple, which is the largest Hindu temple in the world.

With it's old charm, Delhi does not cease to become the hot destination for fashion freaks. With growing number of fashion shows being held in the city, Delhi has become the upcoming fashion capital of the country. Indian film industry has also shifted its focus from old and well exploited Mumbai locations to untouched Delhi resources.

In the recent past, several films have been shot with the city as the backdrop. Bollywood blockbuster Rang De Basanti, Fanna, Pyar ke Side Effects, Hum Tum were shot in Delhi.
Delhi has a huge list of malls that offer almost each and every brand from the world of fashion, technology, food, accessories, furniture, jewellery, etc.

The city has so much to offer that one gets confused what to do and what not in a limited period of time. If ever you a pay a visit to India's cultural model, please make a list of your type of places (I am sure list will be long enough), visit these and feel the experience yourself. And if you still think your visit wasn't worth it, here's your chance to be a part of eternal history; listen to the Sufi qawalis at 'Nizaumidin Ki Dargah'.

I am sure the Sufi music will take you away to a much more divine and beautiful world of love and peace.
Original article published at: (link will be provided soon :))

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Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. And it’s is quite evident considering the several young achievers our country has. Few days back, a media report suggested that India has the largest number of child prodigies in the world.

The list of India’s amazing kids comprises of a few well known and a few lesser known names like five-year-old Satya Narayanan, a maestro on the keyboard, 13-year-old Aditya Kishore Patil, a wiz at software engineering and 10-year-old Tanvi Taneja, a genius at Bharatnatyam.

And the recently spotted Aman Rehman, who is just eight years old and has already created more than 10,000 animation films. In his home town, Dehradun, people call him little Bill Gates.
And then there are bigger names like Shakuntla Devi, the math wizard, whose talent was recognised at the age of three and Tiger Woods, who won the Optimist International Junior tournament at age eight.

So, it can be said that our nation has no dearth of talent and potential. Then where are we using it? A pretty useful and tough question. Virtually, India is doing nothing to utilise these talents.

Recently, a Class XII student from Shillong designed a very simple and effective method to combat terrorists, without utilising much resources and time. He has made a simple model that had a machine gun mounted at the top of CCTV cameras, usually installed at security sensitive zones.

The genius has also made a model of an unmanned light aircraft using only plastic, which he said, can not only precisely target enemy locations, but can also be of immense use during disbursement of relief materials to flood victims.

Another young scientist from Uttar Pradesh has found a ’miraculous moss’ to take care of injured soldiers.

These and many other such mind boggling plans are floating in the minds of million young Indians. If properly executed, plans made by these children can be of great help in combating terrorism. Perhaps, it is high time for India to harness the immense knowledge these kids have been bestowed with. Who knows their ’childish’ ideas may actually save thousands of lives.

Original artcile posted at: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=156980

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According to a recent study, girls are more likely to be a victim of long time bullying at primary school. A recent research led by Dieter Wolke, University of Warwick Professor of Developmental Psychology, suggested that the girls, who are victim of bullying at the age of 6 are two and a half times more likely than boys to remain targets for a longer time.

The study also revealed that only 10 per cent children at the age of six get involved in physical bullying, whereas as much as 25 per cent of 10-year-old children indulge in such activities.
Physical threats and beating is more common in all boys groups and mixed groups, says study.
The researchers observed 663 students of 6-9 years till the age of 10-11 years. During the time period, almost 170 students changed the school. There is a great possibility that these children were also bullied, said the researchers.

As children grow older, direct victimisation like beating and physical and verbal threats gets replaced by emotional victimisation, like spreading of malicious gossip or the withdrawal of friendships leading to social exclusion.

Wolke said that parents should develop and implement interesting and innovative intervention programmes that may help children to escape further victimisation in their school. The study is published online in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.
Original artcile posted at: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=156332

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The Bombay High Court has upheld the judgement of a family court in Mumbai, which had granted divorce to a woman on the grounds that her husband was HIV-positive. Meanwhile, a similar family court in Maharashtra few days back, had rejected a divorce application filed by the husband because his wife was HIV-positive.

In the first case, the couple got married in 1988. The woman said that it was only in 1997 that she found out that her husband was HIV-positive. In 2005, a Mumbai family court granted her divorce on the basis of her husband’s medical status and also because she was mentally and physically harassed by him.

However, in the later case, a man’s plea was turned down by a family court in Pune, which finally ruled that it is his moral duty to be with his HIV-infected wife and take care of her.

The family court judge RV Deshmukh said, “HIV-infected persons need care and love, especially from near and dear ones.”

It is very pertinent to mention here that HIV or human immunodeficiency virus can be transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person and thus it is being categorised under the STDs or sexually transmitted diseases or venereal diseases. Studies show that sexual intercourse is the chief reason for the spread of this deadly virus.

Thus, an infected person is an equal threat to his/her partner’s life. But the indifferent behaviour of Maharashtra family courts has become a question to ponder upon. Perhaps, it’s time for India to formulate proper justice cells and laws for people infected with the disease
Original artcile posted at: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=154175

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A REPORT issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that waterborne diseases kill a child in every 15 seconds. Diarrhoea alone kills nearly 4,500 children everyday and is the second highest single cause of childhood deaths.

The lack of sanitation facilities and unhygienic drinking water services are the biggest causes of waterborne diseases and children become the most vulnerable victims. According to the report, over one billion people across the world do not have access to safe drinking water and almost 33 per cent of the world population does not have proper sanitation facilities.

Diarrhoea causes dehydration and children are more likely than adults to die of diarrhoea because they become dehydrated more quickly. Diarrhoea is also a major cause of child malnutrition. Thus, due to waterborne diseases many children are also missing out on education.

The main causes of diarrhoea are poor hygiene, lack of clean drinking water, overcrowding and the trend towards bottle-feeding rather than breastfeed. Protection from the disease can be ensured with clean drinking water, use of toilets and washing hands before touching food.
In a recently released book `The Big Necessity’, the author, Rose George mentioned that nearly 2.6 billion people don’t have access to safe sanitation facilities. Four in 10 people live in situations where they are surrounded by human excrement, which then gets carried with them on their fingers, clothes and into their drinking water.

UNICEF report’s regional breakdown reveals that almost half of the population in India and about 1.5 billion people in China live without toilets creating an environment polluted with human waste.

Original artcile posted at: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=154003

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According to a recent study, more than 98 per cent computers in the world are hacker-friendly. In a research conducted by a Danish security company it was revealed that most of the computers use outdated softwares, which leaves visible loopholes that hackers can exploit.
The company’s security scanning tool revealed that nearly 50 per cent of personal computers (PCs) run as much as 11 out-of-date programmes. In a study of 20,000 users of its software, the company found that almost all users had at least one programme that wasn’t the latest version.

The hackers across the world are one step ahead of technology and have almost all required tools to exploit any loopholes left in Windows. The advanced hacking tools make it increasingly easy for an infected web page to check for possible vulnerabilities in a person’s computer.
According to security experts, it’s just as important to keep programmes up-to-date, as it is to have good firewall and anti-virus programmes. More and more users should be encouraged to have better anti-virus programmes along with up-to-date softwares. Experts emphasised on the need of better software patching solutions for private users.
Keeping the security issue in the forefront, leading software developing companies like Microsoft and Mozilla are in process of building better update tools.

Original artcile posted at: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=152465

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