They too are the claimants of this land!!

‘Shikhandi’ , the Hermaphrodite have their references even in epics and puranas. Their main occupation is dancing and singing. Arjuna – the mid-Pandava, it is said in Mahabharata had lived as a Shikhandi for an year. It is interesting to enquire as to how these Hijada’s live now. It is worth to enquiring in the bewilderment of their livelihood what they are compelled to do.
Prostitution, begging, managing public toilets, etc. have been opted as their livelihood. It is a fact that people hesitate to join these Hijadas. The society naturally isolate these drunkards, quarrelsome people and always keeps a distance from them. But when we look into the deeper layers of their life the picture becomes different.

For they are neither male nor female. They are not considered eligible for Government jobs. In these circumstances, they select many fields like running of massage parlour or even begging to earn their bread. As there are men reaching these Hijadas, attracted by their charm, there are some among them who select prostitution as their livelihood.
It is easy for the parents to identify the sex of a child during the period of its birth. But as they hesitate to reveal this, they bring up their children hiding their defects. These parents never think of the difficulties that their children would face in their future. It is seen that, in some cases these disorders appear only in their adolescence. In such cases, Hiladas like to live together as separate group in the society.
In such groups of Hijadas, the head of the family, the servants, young and old live together. They don’t pat any ban in the co-living of such group or continue inter-mingling of the members of such different groups. This unity creates a single - family concept among them.

Among these Hijadas like other sectors of the society there are luxuriates, who own palace like houses, costly clothes, rich ornaments and vehicles. They wish to lead a life as others do. Some Hijadas who are experts in massaging run massage parlour and earn good income. Some even invite men to their parlour and give them all the physical needs they want and earn large amounts as prostitutes do. As many of the Hijadas involve in activities like these, they do not find any difficulty to earn their bread. But, good health and beauty is essential for running for such parlours.

In Karnataka, such Hijadas having enough back-ground to live like this find their bread carrying the ‘Goddess Yellamma’, or begging in trains. But all the money then earn like this is spent on alchohol or such type of intoxication. Some others being nuisance to the public add bad image for their entire groups. As the common community neglects the Hijadas quite often they behave roughly to the public. Such actions to hide their inferiority is the reason for fear and the antipathy the public show towards them. Normally the Hijadas leave their home at the age of marriage. The fact that they will be identified as Hijadas is the main reason for this quitting. But there are some who marry on the compulsion of parents and ruin the life of others too.

There are instances of marriage among Hijadas living as groups. Such marriage have a lot of ceremonies. There are male – female differences among them. Those who show more feminine character are females. Though the beard and moustache are seen, their behavior and other appearance will be feminine. Such are those who go for prostitution and male Hijadas go with them as an escort. The Hijadas showing masculine nature are normally of less beauty. And also on hair falling, when baldness appears, they look more masculine. But irrespective of the masculine – feminine differences, their reproductive organs will be of same type. However, they are also human beings. As others, they are also having emotions, power of thinking and intellect; but longs to be feminine unlike others, that is all.
The Government is not giving any consideration to these Hijadas who are side – lined in the society. For being neither male nor female, they are not eligible for a ration – card or a voter’s identity card. As once they were side-lined for the only reason that they are Hijadas, they don’t go to polling stations now. But in North India there are a few political workers among them.
“ Is it our mistake that we were born as Hijada? We also have the right to live in this world, as other human beings do. Like other religious minority, why are we not given reservations? Are we not human beings?” such goes their question to the society.
It is true that they too are human beings. These Hijadas are to be considered sympathetically. Is it human to neglect them and avoid them for the only reason that they are born as ‘HIJADAS’? This is a question that seeks an answer even now…

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Magazine
April 2008 issue
http://www.aagneyam.com/arrow

Who Discovered America??Chinese sailors beat Christopher Columbus!!

Who discovered America? The common answer will be “Christopher Columbus”. Because, all of us learned like that only. But, the 1421 theory of Gavin Menzies says that America is discovered not by Columbus, but by Chinese sailors.
“1421: The Year China Discovered America," British amateur historian Gavin Menzies turns the story of the Europeans' discovery of America on its ear with a startling idea: Chinese sailors beat Christopher Columbus to the Americas by more than 70 years. The book has generated controversy within the halls of scholarship. Anthropologists, archaeologists, historians and linguists alike have debunked much of the evidence that Menzies used to support his notion, which has come to be called the 1421 theory.
But where did Menzies come up with the idea that it was Asians, not Europeans, who first arrived in America from other countries? It's been long held by scholars that it was people from Asia who first set foot in North America, but not in the way that Menzies describes. Sometime 10,000 years ago or more, people of Asian origination are believed to have crossed over the Bering land bridge from Siberia to what is now Alaska. From there, they are believed to have spread out over the course of millennia, diverging genetically and populating North and South America.
But Menzies' 1421 theory supposes much more direct influence from China. Rather than civilization evolving separately in the Americas and Asia, under the 1421 theory, China was directly involved in governance and trade with the peoples of the Americas with whom they shared their ancestry.
So what evidence does he have to support this notion? It's Menzie's belief that one merely has to refer to certain maps to see the light.
A full 30 years before Gavin Menzies published his book, Baptist missionary Dr. Hendon M. Harris perused the curiosities in a shop in Taiwan. It was there he made an amazing discovery: a map that looked to be ancient, written in classical Chinese and depicting what to Harris was clearly North America. It was a map of Fu Sang, the legendary land of Chinese fable.
Fu Sang is to the Chinese what Atlantis is to the West -- a mythical land that most don't believe existed, but for which enough tantalizing (yet vague) evidence exists to maintain popularity for the idea. The map the missionary discovered -- which has come to be known as the Harris map -- showed that Fu Sang was located exactly where North America is. Even more amazingly, some of the features shown on the map of Fu Sang look a lot like geographical anomalies unique to North America, such as the Grand Canyon.
As if the Harris map weren't suggestive enough, other maps have also surfaced. It's a specific map that Menzies points to as definitive proof that the Chinese had already explored the world long before the Europeans ever set sail in the age of exploration. This map, known as the 1418 map -- so called for the date it was supposedly published -- clearly shows all of the world's oceans, as well as all seven continents, correct in shape and situation. Even more startling is the map's accurate depiction of features of North America, including the Potomac River in the Northeast of the present-day United States.
Menzies believes that not only had the Chinese already explored the world before Columbus and other European explorers, but that it was with Chinese maps that the Europeans were able to circumnavigate the globe. Armed with the map as his flagship evidence, Menzies points out plenty of other artifacts that point to Chinese pre-Columbian occupation in the Americas. Read the next page to find out what supports his theory.
During the Ming Dynasty, a great admiral named Zhang He (as well as other notable admirals) sailed out of China to explore the world. Under the behest of Emperor Zhu Di, He and the Chinese Fleet (made up of 28,000 men) made their way from Asia to the Middle East and Africa, eventually reaching as far as Indonesia. But did the fleet continue west all the way to the Americas?
Perhaps the more logical possibility is that the fleet returned to China and then again set sail, this time eastward, across the Pacific to the west coast of North America. Either way, Menzies says that evidence of their arrival is scattered throughout the tradition, custom and art of Native American tribes. And he's not alone. "1421" has created a stir among its readership, generating scores of additional submissions of evidence of a Chinese presence within the Americas before the Europeans set foot on the continents. To Menzies and his supportive readers, one need merely look at the rich cultural tapestry of the peoples of the Americas to find what they believe is the evidence of Chinese influence there.
Before the arrival of Europeans, neither North nor South America had a horse roaming upon it. This is the idea held by historians -- the horse is not indigenous to the Americas, and it wasn't until the Europeans brought the horse that the species found its way to the new world. But this is contradicted by some pre-Columbian native art found at Cofins Cave in Brazil and at Trujillo, Peru that depict horses, and in one case, what is thought to be Chinese cavalry on horseback. The Chinese were experienced horsemen for centuries, if not millennia, prior to the European age of exploration, and it's logical that were they to make an expedition to the Americas, they would have brought their valuable horses with them.
Indigenous legend and folklore is also fraught with what Menzies believes are stories about encounters between native tribes and Chinese explorers. The leaders of the Inca tribe -- a vast, powerful mountain tribe in the Andes Mountains of South America -- are thought by Menzies to have been governed by Chinese admirals. The leader Montezuma, ruler of the Aztec empire in Mexico, is believed by Menzies to have mistaken the conquistador Cortez for his grandfather, returned again from his home in the East. The Cherokee Indians of the southeastern United States possess lore that tells of their accepting and warring with visiting Chinese travelers by sea.
But what of physical evidence? If the Chinese had landed in the Americas -- let alone traded with and governed the people they found there, wouldn't direct evidence of their presence remain? Menzies and the proponents of the 1421 theory say it does exist. In the Pacific Northwest of the present-day United States, investigations at eight different sites have uncovered Chinese coins. A garment from the Nez Perce tribe of present-day Idaho that's dated at over 300 years old has woven ornaments into it that are believed to be Chinese beads. And in the Florida Keys and off the coast of Big Sur, Calif., artifacts of pre-Columbian Chinese jade have been unearthed from a riverbed and the sea floor.
But despite all of this evidence (and even more), historians aren't rushing to rewrite the history books.
Sources

· Menzies, Gavin. "1421: The Year China Discovered the World." http://www.1421.tv/index.asp
· Seaver, Kristen A. "Walrus Pitch and Other Novelties: Gavin Menzies and the Far North." The 1421 Myth Exposed. http://www.1421exposed.com/html/walrus_pitch.html
This Article published in
Aag Arrow Webzine Cover Story.
March 2008 Issue.
http://www.aagneyam.com/arrow

LOVE..? Ooooops!!!

Love – indeed is a topic which never loses its novelty even on repeated discussion. Discussing a love affair can recharge the monotonous days of our life. It is a wonderful fact that the concept – love – helps us to view everything happening in our life with pleasure. This is true irrespective of the place or time.
As Moppasang views it : The mind entrapped by love is as if one shocked by lightening. On receiving the stroke of that sharp emotion no entry will be given to anybody else.
This was true in its real sense till the last decade. There were no special agenda or restrictions for love affairs by that time. While falling in love, there were flowing fully along with the holy feelings to it. This was true as far as the case of people of bygone generation.
But, what about the present? The youth of the present can never take such things seriously for they consider it as a “cheep sentiments”. For them, everything is a time pass. They don’t give a serious meaning for the usage ‘serious love’(not forgetting the very rare exceptional cases.) the present generation opts to be in love for filling the leisure hours with a love sound in the mobile phone, for perambulating the bike together to avoid a boring evening or for a company in the parlor while smacking the chillness of the ice cream or for enjoying the moods in the pubs or in a nocturnal club. Only that much is their concepts about love.
On the other hand, if anyone wish a fruitful love, they might have earned a full knowledge about the wealth, education, family background, etc., of their mates to be virtuous in front of virtuous in front of the parents. Indeed the saying “love is blind” has grown old!! If some one from the previous generation happen to ask the question “whether you consider your love seriously?” it is quiet natural that the new love/lover will stare at them with a wonder on face, “where is this fellow coming from?”! and he/she will naturally award them with a blinking smile that appears in some corner of his/her face.
“To be frank, I hate these concept of serious love, all are just a time pass. That is all.” This is their view. In the olden days, people with some sort of eminence were been loved by girls. But now they prefer boys having motor bike, recent model mobile phone and pocket full of money. So called hi-tech girls don’t care even the intelligent category. They avoid blind lovThey avoid blind love. They want boys who are ready to take them for trips or those who could entertain them in their shopping. There the education and ability are made secondary to money. Yes, they value money alone.
The girl from the previous generation, fearing the society, were hiding their ambition to talk something to their lover solely. She use to convey the strongest of love feeling rather in a smile or in a twinkle in the eyes. But these are all old stories. Now among the girls of the new era could see those do not hesitate to flirt even for earning pocket money.
Such girls who bid boy to their hostels in the weekends to roam about seeking ‘new world’, new experiences and return cool with the handful of gifts received from the boy friends!! The only demand these young girls put forth while roaming about with boy, about whom they know nothing is that they should be properly gifted with things of the modern world.
Chastity is an outdated concept now. Following the western culture, the new generation has started teasing those girls who don’t have a boyfriend ever!
The girls in a traditional dress, walking along as if a breeze and spreading smell of traditional perfumed oil used for bath cannot be seen even in the short stories now. On the other hand we can see the modern girls wearing skintight jeans and exposing T-shirts worth to exhibit the contours roam about like a storm. But to where..?
Time has given the new generation a collation of the craze of sex and non guidance. Violence and sex reached the college campuses by travelling a lot through the satellites. While the youth of last decade selected the cool shades of the trees as a place for sharing th of the trees as a place for sharing their feeling of love, the modern youth fetch the ‘pub’ and ‘night clubs’ for sharing theirs.. there, when their conscious are bubbled together with the frothing liquid in glass in front, they gradually howl to the world of sex. There they have nothing to lose. But they think they gain every comfort of the modern world!
Now a days it is seen that the love affairs is only for the exchange of love song albums that are available in discs. These high tech lovers don’t have the least of conscious pricking in seeking a new one for their rapture. They never think of the sense of the lyric they heard all late last night. Their sincerity towards their partner and to the lines given by him/her as a token of their love is also like that .

“I can’t help but say, in your ears silently
the love which I have towards you dear…
The rhythm of my heart beat says
That you are mine, ever and ever…”

We can’t sure whether there exist at least a drop of sincerity in these lines sent by a lover to his sweet heart, yesterday; for today he may be singing the same to another with full sincerity as he would say!!
The present generation challenges the famous poet who observes that ‘true love is not sexual’. Probably they may not knowing these lines and the poet who said so.

There was a time when young men satisfied by seeing a smile, a twinkle from his love, females were a far off wonder for them. But now these girls are one among the ‘goods’ for consumption. Like any other commodity girls from reputed family are also available on payment. She herself spoil her value. These girls are not doing this as profession but, Just to make pocket money without asking from parents!
Love affair too is not an exception. The generation, which embarrassed the out dated conventions, which showed their sincerity in love affairs and renounce everything for that love has almost vanished. A few left behind lives realizing that they are unfit for the present. Knowing that they are ending and helplessly suffering the teasing of the high tech surrounding, they expect their failure.
Oh!! What a change in the relations within a short period of a decade!! What will be the next change can’t imagine at all. Let us go ahead.., viewing the changes eagerly but without giving a chance to beat us. Taking out the feet from heinous with care not to step into the bog of sin. Forget not that the just before generation represent the vanishing species..
COVER STORY.
AAGARROW WEBZINE.
FEB 2008 Issue
http://www.aagneyam.com/arrow

AagArrow [December2007]

Christmas celebrations in various countries.

No two countries celebrate Christmas exactly the same way. But while people around the world might have different traditions, Christmas is always observed with a sense of wonder and reverence, with friends and family gathered. That's a Christmas tradition we all share. All over the world, Christmas celebrations reflect local culture and traditions. The festivities can be startlingly different from country to country, focusing on different aspects of the nativity story.
Australians live on the world's largest island, which is also the world's smallest continent. Most of Australia's immigrants came from England and Ireland, bringing their Christmas customs with them.Australia is the Land Down Under, where the seasons are opposite to ours. When Australians celebrate Christmas on December 25, it is during summer vacation. Most of Australia is a hot, dry desert, known as the Outback. The grassy or marshy savannas are called the Bush. But most people in Australia live in the green coastal areas of the southwest.

In Australia, the most popular event of the Christmas season is called Carols by Candlelight. People come together at night to light candles and sing Christmas carols outside. The stars shining above add to the sights and sounds of this wonderful outdoor concert. Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in Africa. It still follows the ancient Julian calendar, so Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's birth is called Ganna. It is a day when families attend church.

The day before Ganna, people fast all day. The next morning at dawn, everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians don a traditional shamma, a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly colored stripes across the ends. The shamma is worn somewhat like a toga. Urban Ethiopians might put on white Western garb. Then everyone goes to the early mass at four o'clock in the morning. In a celebration that takes place several days later, the priests will dress in turbans and red and white robes as they carry beautifully embroidered fringed umbrellas.
Around the time of Ganna, the men and boys play a game that is also called ganna. It is somewhat like hockey, played with a curved stick and a round wooden ball.

The foods enjoyed during the Christmas season include wat, a thick, spicy stew of meat, vegetables, and sometimes eggs as well. The wat is served from a beautifully decorated watertight basket onto a "plate" of injera, which is flat sourdough bread. Pieces of injera are used as an edible spoon to scoop up the wat.

Twelve days after Ganna, on January 19, Ethiopians begin the three-day celebration called Timkat, which commemorates the baptism of Christ. The children walk to church services in a procession. They wear the crowns and robes of the church youth groups they belong to. The grown-ups wear the shamma. The priests will now wear their red and white robes and carry embroidered fringed umbrellas.

Christmas in France is a family holiday. The celebrations begin on December 5, which is St. Nicholas Eve. It is a day for gift-giving between friends and relatives. On that cold night, children leave their shoes by the hearth so Pere Noel, or Father Christmas, will fill them with gifts. Christmas Eve is the most special time in the French celebration of Christmas. Church bells ring and voices sing French carols, called noels. A few days before Christmas, the family sets up a nativity scene, called a creche, on a little platform in a corner of the living room. Some families also decorate a Christmas tree with colorful stars, lights, and tinsel, but the crèche, a lovely antique, is much more important.

The tradition in Provence, in the south of France, is to include, along with the Holy Family, the Three Kings, the shepherds, and the animals, delightful little figures from village life dressed in old-fashioned costumes. These figures might include a village mayor, a peasant, a gypsy, a drummer boy, and other colorful characters. Another tradition in Provence is for people to dress as shepherds and take part in a procession that circles the local church. Christmas Eve is the most important time of the Christmas season for families in Germany. Some even say it is a magical night when animals can speak. The wonderful tradition of the Christmas tree, which started in Germany, is the heart of the celebration. Grown-ups decorate the evergreen tree with beautiful ornaments of colored glass and carved wood, silver stars, and strings of lights. A golden angel is placed at the very top of the tree. In some parts of Germany, families still follow an old tradition. The children leave their shoes outside the front door. These shoes are filled with carrots and hay to feed St. Nicholas' horse as he rides by. If the children were good all year, St. Nicholas leaves apples, nuts, and candy for them.

In Holland, children eagerly await the arrival of Sinterklaas on December 6, St. Nicholas Day. Dutch children in Holland, or the Netherlands, anxiously look forward to St. Nicholas Day on December 6. While they eagerly await the arrival of Sinterklaas, the people around them shop for gifts, write a little poem to accompany each one, and carefully wrap each gift to keep the contents a surprise to the receiver.
Sinterklaas is a kindly bishop. He wears red robes and a tall, pointed mitre on his head. Sinterklaas travels by ship from Spain to Amsterdam's harbor every winter. With him he brings his white horse and a huge sack full of gifts for the children. The mayor and all the people of Amsterdam flock to the harbor to greet Sinterklaas as he arrives. Bells ring out, the people cheer, and a brass band leads a parade through the streets. The parade stops at the royal palace, where the Queen welcomes Sinterklaas.

Families celebrate St. Nicholas Eve at home with lots of good food, hot chocolate, and a letterbanket. This is a "letter cake" made in the shape of the first letter of the family's last name. In some families, each person gets a little letterbanket with their first initial. Finally, at the end of the evening, the children set their shoes by the fireplace. The shoes are filled with hay and carrots for the horse Sinterklaas rides through the streets on St. Nicholas Eve. The children sing a song about how much they hope the cold, wet, foggy weather will not keep Sinterklaas away that night. Then they tell their parents how well, or how badly, they have behaved throughout the past year. When well-behaved children awake in the morning, their shoes are filled with nuts, candy, and other surprises.

In Italy, families begin to celebrate Christmas on the first Sunday of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. The Christmas season begins in Italy on the first Sunday of Advent, which is four Sundays before Christmas. In the cold winter weather of the northern mountains and in the mild weather of the south, Christmas fairs feature fireworks and bonfires along with holiday music. Families go to the Christmas markets to shop for gifts and new figures for the manger scene. Some families set up a Christmas tree and decorate it.

During novena, the nine days before and including Christmas Day, children go from house to house reciting Christmas verses for coins. The family sets up its presepio, or manger scene, on the first day of the novena. They gather before the presepio each morning or evening of novena to light candles and pray.
During this time, children write letters to their parents wishing them a merry Christmas, promising good behavior, and making a list of the gifts they hope to receive. The parents read these letters aloud at dinner. Then they toss them in the fireplace. The children chant to La Befana, the mythicalAt the midday meal on Christmas Eve, families follow the tradition of "dipping in the kettle." To remember a time when food was scarce in Sweden, the family eats bread dipped into a kettle of thin broth.
In the predawn darkness of Christmas Day, candles illuminate every window. Bells ring out, calling families to churches lit by candlelight. Back home again, the parents kindle a blaze in the fireplace to light the darkness. The following day is Second Day Christmas, a day of singing carols.

On January 5, the eve of Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, young boys dress up as the Wise Men and carry a lighted candle on a pole topped with a star. These boys go from house to house singing carols.

Then on St. Knut's Day on January 13, there is one last Christmas party. The grown-ups pack away the Christmas decorations while the costumed children eat the last of the wrapped candies left on the tree. Then out goes the tree to the tune of the last song of Christmas. Christmas witch, as their wishes go up the chimney.
Christmas Day is reserved for church, family, and feasting. Some Italian children receive gifts from Baby Jesus or from Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called. Then everyone sits down to a big Christmas dinner. This often includes capon or another roasted meat. Pannettone, a yeast cake filled with fruit, and panforte, a dense honey cake spiced with cloves and cinnamon, are popular sweets, along with cassata, which includes ice cream and fruit.
New Year's Day is when friends get together and visit. It is also the day when Italians exchange gifts with each other. The children have to wait until January 6 to get their gifts from La Befana, whose name comes from the Italian word for Epiphany.

Mexicans celebrate Christmas by decorating their homes with lilies and evergreens, and families cut intricate designs in brown paper bags to make lanterns called farolitos. The weather is warm and mild in Mexico during the Christmas season. Families shop for gifts, ornaments, and good things to eat in the market stalls, called puestos. They decorate their homes with lilies and evergreens. Family members cut intricate designs in brown paper bags to make lanterns called farolitos. They place a candle inside and then set the farolitos along sidewalks, on windowsills, and on rooftops and outdoor walls to illuminate the community with the spirit of Christmas.

The Mexican celebration of Christmas is called las posadas and begins on December 16. The ninth evening of las posadas is Buena Noche, Christmas Eve. The children lead a procession to the church and place a figure of the Christ Child in the nacimiento or nativity scene there. Then everyone attends midnight mass. After mass, the church bells ring out and fireworks light up the skies. Many Mexican children receive gifts from Santa Claus on this night. For the children, the pinata party on the first eight evenings is the best part of las posadas. The pinata is a large clay or papier-mache figure shaped like a star, an animal, or some other object and covered with colorful paper streamers. The pinata is filled with candy or small gifts and hung from the ceiling. The blindfolded children are spun around and given a big stick.

They take turns trying to break open the pinata with the stick while the pinata is raised and lowered. Everybody scrambles for the gifts and treats when the pinata shatters and spills its treasure.
Spanish families begin their Christmas celebrations with a weeklong observances of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Children in Spain believe that on Epiphany Eve, January 5, the Three Kings travel through Spain on their way to Bethlehem. That night children set out their shoes filled with straw for the Three Kings' camels. The Kings, passing in the night, fill the shoes with gifts. The next day, families enjoy a feast of almond soup, turkey, and roasted chestnuts. Sweets include a special nougat candy called turron and Kings' cake. A small prize baked in the cake brings luck to the person who finds it.

In some villages on Epiphany, January 6, children march out to the city gates carrying special cakes for the Three Kings and other foods for their servants and camels. They are hoping to meet the Three Kings on their way to the Holy Land. Always disappointed in their hopes, the children eat the good things they have brought with them. Then they are directed by their parents to the nacimiento in the village church. There they find the Three Kings presenting gifts to the Christ Child in a manger.
OnDecember 13, Swedish families observe St. Lucia's Day, which celebrates the patron saint of light.
Families begin the Christmas season by attending church on the first Sunday of Advent, which is the fourth Sunday before Christmas.
But the Christmas festivities really begin on December 13 with St. Lucia's Day, which celebrates the patron saint of light. The eldest daughter gets up before dawn and dresses as the "Queen of Light" in a long white dress. She wears a crown of leaves and lighted candles. Singing "Santa Lucia," the Lucia Queen goes to every bedroom to serve coffee and treats to each member of the family. The younger children in the family help, too.

Many families go to the Christmas market in the old medieval section of Stockholm to buy handmade toys, ornaments, and candy. Gift-givers like to seal the package with sealing wax and write a special verse that will accompany the gift.
At the midday meal on Christmas Eve, families follow the tradition of "dipping in the kettle." To remember a time when food was scarce in Sweden, the family eats bread dipped into a kettle of thin broth.
In the predawn darkness of Christmas Day, candles illuminate every window. Bells ring out, calling families to churches lit by candlelight. Back home again, the parents kindle a blaze in the fireplace to light the darkness. The following day is Second Day Christmas, a day of singing carols.

On January 5, the eve of Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, young boys dress up as the Wise Men and carry a lighted candle on a pole topped with a star. These boys go from house to house singing carols.

Then on St. Knut's Day on January 13, there is one last Christmas party. The grown-ups pack away the Christmas decorations while the costumed children eat the last of the wrapped candies left on the tree. Then out goes the tree to the tune of the last song of Christmas.

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Webzine.
December 2007 Issue.
http://www.aagneyam.com/arrow

Cyber Crime.

Aag Arrow webzine November 2007
Computers, despite being such high technology devices, are extremely vulnerable. In fact it may be easier to steal national secrets from military computers than to steal "laddoos" from a "mithai" shop.
Cyber crime is an evil having its origin in the growing dependence on computers in modern life. In a day and age when everything from microwave ovens and refrigerators to nuclear power plants is being run on computers, cyber crime has assumed rather sinister implications.
The first recorded cyber crime took place in the year 1820! That is not surprising considering the fact that the abacus, which is thought to be the earliest form of a computer, has been around since 3500 B.C. in India, Japan and China. The era of modern computers, however, began with the analytical engine of Charles Babbage.
In 1820, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, a textile manufacturer in France, produced the loom. This device allowed the repetition of a series of steps in the weaving of special fabrics. This resulted in a fear amongst Jacquard's employees that their traditional employment and livelihood were being threatened. They committed acts of sabotage to discourage Jacquard from further use of the new technology. This is the first recorded cyber crime!
At the onset, let us satisfactorily define "cyber crime" and differentiate it from "conventional Crime". A simple yet sturdy definition of cyber crime would be "unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both".
There are several types of cyber crime. Financial crimes, Cyber pornography, Sale of illegal articles, Online gambling, Email spoofing, Forgery, Cyber Defamation, Cyber stalking and Intellectual Property crimes are some of them. These would include cheating, credit card frauds, money laundering, pornographic websites; pornographic magazines produced using computers (to publish and print the material), the Internet (to download and transmit pornographic pictures, photos, writings etc), sale of narcotics, weapons and wildlife etc., by posting information on websites, auction websites, and bulletin boards or simply by using email communication, software piracy, copyright infringement, trademarks violations, theft of computer source code etc.
There are millions of websites; all hosted on servers abroad, that offer online gambling. In fact, it is believed that many of these websites are actually fronts for money laundering. A spoofed email is one that appears to originate from one source but actually has been sent from another source. Email spoofing can also cause monetary damage. Counterfeit currency notes, postage and revenue stamps, mark sheets etc can be forged using sophisticated computers, printers and scanners.
This occurs when defamation takes place with the help of computers and / or the Internet. Cyber stalking involves following a person's movements across the Internet by posting messages (sometimes threatening) on the bulletin boards frequented by the victim, entering the chat-rooms frequented by the victim, constantly bombarding the victim with emails etc.
Frequently Used Cyber Crimes
Unauthorized access to computer systems or networks : This activity is commonly referred to as hacking.
Virus / worm attacks : Viruses are programs that attach themselves to a computer or a file and then circulate themselves to other files and to other computers on a network. They usually affect the data on a computer, either by altering or deleting it. Worms, unlike viruses do not need the host to attach themselves to. They merely make functional copies of themselves and do this repeatedly till they eat up all the available space on a computer's memory.
Logic bombs : These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs. E.g. even some viruses may be termed logic bombs because they lie dormant all through the year and become active only on a particular date (like the Chernobyl virus).
Theft of information contained in electronic form : This includes information stored in computer hard disks, removable storage media etc.
Email bombing : Email bombing refers to sending a large number of emails to the victim resulting in the victim's email account (in case of an individual) or mail servers (in case of a company or an email service provider) crashing.
Data diddling : This kind of an attack involves altering raw data just before it is processed by a computer and then changing it back after the processing is completed.
Salami attacks : These attacks are used for the commission of financial crimes. The key here is to make the alteration so insignificant that in a single case it would go completely unnoticed.
Denial of Service attack : This involves flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource (e.g. a web server) to crash thereby denying authorized users the service offered by the resource. Another variation to a typical denial of service attack is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack wherein the perpetrators are many and are geographically widespread. It is very difficult to control such attacks. The attack is initiated by sending excessive demands to the victim's computer(s), exceeding the limit that the victim's servers can support and making the servers crash.
Logic bombs : These are event dependent programs. This implies that these programs are created to do something only when a certain event (known as a trigger event) occurs.
Trojan attacks : A Trojan as this program is aptly called, is an unauthorized program which functions from inside what seems to be an authorized program, thereby concealing what it is actually doing.
Internet time thefts : This connotes the usage by an unauthorized person of the Internet hours paid for by another person.
Web jacking : This occurs when someone forcefully takes control of a website (by cracking the password and later changing it). The actual owner of the website does not have any more control over what appears on that website
Theft of computer system : This type of offence involves the theft of a computer, some part(s) of a computer or a peripheral attached to the computer.

Physically damaging a computer system : This crime is committed by physically damaging a computer or its peripherals

Cyber Criminals
Kids (age group 9-16 etc.)
It seems really difficult to believe but it is true. Most amateur hackers and cyber criminals are teenagers. To them, who have just begun to understand what appears to be a lot about computers, it is a matter of pride to have hacked into a computer system or a website. There is also that little issue of appearing really smart among friends. These young rebels may also commit cyber crimes without really knowing that they are doing anything wrong.
Organized hacktivists
Hacktivists are hackers with a particular (mostly political) motive. In other cases this reason can be social activism, religious activism, etc.
Disgruntled employees
One can hardly believe how spiteful displeased employees can become. Till now they had the option of going on strike against their bosses. Now, with the increase independence on computers and the automation of processes, it is easier for disgruntled employees to do more harm to their employers by committing computer related crimes, which can bring entire systems down.
Professional hackers (corporate espionage)
Extensive computerization has resulted in business organizations storing all their information in electronic form. Rival organizations employ hackers to steal industrial secrets and other information that could be beneficial to them.
What are the reasons for the vulnerability of computers? Computers store huge amounts of data in small spaces, ease of access, complexity and human error are some of them. Hackers easily exploit the numerous weaknesses in operating systems and security products. People who guard confidential papers with their lives would not think twice about using simple passwords. Most people don't realize the security implications and ramifications of a simple 'guessable' password.
Vladimir Levin, Johan Helsingius, Kevin Mitnick, Robert Morris, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson are the World's Most Famous Hackers

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Webzine.
November 2007 Issue.
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Aag Arrow [Oct.2007 isue]

WHETHER MYSTERY OR MYTH…..

Jesus, the Christ did visit India? Affirms Subhrajit Mitra, producer of feature film “The Unknown Stories of the Messiah”. Obvious, as it is, to kick interest and anxiety amongst faithful, skeptics and other academically inclined scholars and historians.
When did Jesus, if at all? He was crucified on a Friday by the Jews and being hitherto down the ages observed as ‘Good Friday’, the supreme sacrifice by the godman to the mankind. Gospels speaks of Jesus resurrected the following Sunday, and which is celebrated as Easter, but never attribute any givings about the Subhrajit’s claim.
Jesus journeyed to the East after the crucifixion, stayed and studied Hinduism and Buddhism, and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir…thus goes Mitra’s version. He even substantiates his belief from the mention found in scriptures and holy books of faiths in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tibet and India. Quoting evidence in Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist scriptures that a “Jesus-like man” did traverse India’s Himalayas.
There is a book called “The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ” by the nineteenth century Russian adventure Nicolai Notovitch. This was inspiration for the film maker. The Russian was at Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir State on an expedition in the late 19th Century A.D. German scholar Holga Kersten, evincing interest in Notovitch’s account of Jesus traveling to the East, wrote two books “Jesus Lived in India” and “The Jesus Conspiracy” which was best selling.
Both the Germanian and Russian authors afloat the interesting episode of hearsays and down to ages stories of Jesus visiting Ladakh and the Kashmir Valley, as well as Uttar Pradesh, in particular the Varanasi city. They allege that in the Kan Yar area of Kashmir’s Srinagar District was Jesus buried in a tomb.
One aspect further deepening the mystery, rather still puzzling was, these two authors further propound that prior to resurrection Jesus indeed came to India as a young lad to take to learning from Hindu Gurus. Then, later returned to Palestine to teach what he studied in the East. He survived the crucifixion and returned to India and lived up to full bloom life of 120 years.
Notovitch asserted that while he was at Ladakh, he was shown a manuscript by the monks in the secleded Himis monastery which had detailed account of the hitherto “unknown life” of Jesus, or “Issa”, as he was generally referred to in the East. This Issa text, translated by a Lama for Notovitch from Tibetan, allege that during his “lost years” Jesus was educated by Yogis in India, Nepal and “the Himalaya Mountains”.
Notovitch declares that he has every reasons to believe that the manuscript purportedly dated from the third Century of the Common Era to be “true and genuine”, as its contents were written “immediately after the Resurrection”. Further, he maintained that the “two manuscripts” he perused at Himis were “compiled from diverse copies written in the Tibetan tongue, translated from rolls belonging to the Lassa library and brought from India, Nepal and Maghada 200 years after Christ”.
One could infer the dust Notovitch kicked when returned to Europe. The authenticity of the manuscript he clamed to have studied was much debated. He was even accused an impostor never visited the places he decribed.
One Swami Abhedananda, who rubbished Notovitch, himself journeyed into the arctic region of the Himalayas. His travelogue, “Kashmir O Tibetti” vividly portrays his visit to the Himis gonpa and has translation of two hundred twenty four verses in Bengali ended seconding the Notovitch text and his conviction of Issa legend.
In 1925, another Russian Philosopher Nicolai Roerich came to Himis. He was a scientist also. He apparently saw the same documents as Notovitch and Abhedananda and recorded his opinion adhering others’ of Issa.
There is one more interesting subsidiary to Issa’s imbroglio. In Hinduism, there are countless Puranas and Maharishi Veda Vyas compiled and classified them under 18 heads. One such is Bhavishya Maha Purana. While doing research for his film “The Unknown Stories of the Messaih”, Subhrajit Mitra was chanced up on a story elaborated in the Bhavishya Maha Purana. There described in it an encounter between King Shalivahana and a holy man near Srinagar referred to as Issa- Masih. Incidentally, Jesus is called the Messiah. This is long after the crucifixion. It portrays Issa’s arrival in the Kashmir region and how King Shalivahana the then ruler of the Kusham area (39-50 C.E.), entertained and treated the visiting holy man as a guest for some time. Bhavishya Maha Purana was supposedly dated back to 115 C.E.
Author and researcher Holga Kersten of Germany, who credited himself with his extensive research works, in his publication “Jesus Lived in India” accounts more than twenty historical documents standing testimony to the existence of Jesus in India, who referred as Issa and also widely known as “Yuz Asaf”. The vividly offers a thorough. Methodical and authoritative examination of the evidence of Christ’s life beyond the Middle East before the crucifixion and in India and elsewhere after it.
According to Kersten, “each story revolves round Jesus’s voyage to the East are vital source of information in itself to know better the eternal and central truths of Christ’s message, which are at peril by the profane ambitions of more or less secular institutions arrogating to themselves a religious authority. This is an attempt to open a way to a new future, firmly founded in the true spiritual and religious sources of the past”.

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Webzine.
October 2007 Issue.
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Aag Arrow [Sep.2007 Issue]

VACCINES – the bitter truth behind.!
All of us want to protect ourselves and our children from crippling diseases, in particular, from crippling childhood diseases. For the past several decades traditional medicine has said the best way to do that is to have yourself and your children vaccinated. Many states have, in fact, passed laws.
But not everyone thinks immunizing your children (or yourself) is a good idea. In fact, a growing chorus of doctors, researchers and concerned parents are waging a ferocious battle with the medical establishment to get both the federal government and mainstream doctors to admit that the medicine they are prescribing is more dangerous than the diseases they are trying to prevent. requiring parents to immunize their children before their children can attend public schools.
A March 6, 1995 issue of NEWSWEEK reports that "new research from Romania has shown that babies who get shots of antibiotics shortly after being vaccinated for polio run a higher than average risk of contracting the crippling disease. They get it from the vaccine itself--though nobody is sure what role the antibiotics play."
In addition, a growing number of studies are indicating that adverse reactions to vaccinations in childhood may not be the only problem vaccinated people have to worry about. Many adults who were vaccinated as children are beginning to show signs of long-term adverse effects, including an increased susceptibility to cancer, immune system failures and various neurological disorders.
In the 1960s it was discovered that polio vaccines manufactured in monkey kidney tissue between 1955 and 1963 were contaminated with a monkey virus. Although this virus causes cancer in experimental animals, health authorities insist it does not cause problems in human.
But evidence of Simian Virus number 40 (SV40) genetic material has been popping up in human cancers and normal tissue. Researchers are now connecting SV40 contaminated polio vaccines to an increasing number of rare cancers of the lung and bone marrow.
Using kids as guinea pigs in potentially harmful vaccine experiments is every parents’ worst nightmare. Unbelievably, the measles vaccine caused long-term suppression of the children’s immune system for six months up to three years. As a result, the immuno depressed children died from other diseases in greater numbers than children who had never received the vaccine.
In the poor inner cities across the United States the number of asthma cases is exploding and health officials don’t know why. According to the US Centres for Disease Control, 5000 asthma deaths occur annually: and it is estimated that around 17.3 million people suffer from the disease.
With vaccine experiments frequently performed in Africa and now on black Americans, no wonder one out of every four African-Americans believes AIDS was developed as a genocide program by the US government to exterminate black population.
But vaccine experiments in the 1990s have not been limited to blacks. Millions of female Mexicans, Nicaraguans and Filipinos have been duped into taking tetanus vaccines, some of which contained a female hormone that could cause miscarriage and sterilization. In 1995, a Catholic human rights organization called human Life International accused the WHO of promoting a Canadian – made tetanus vaccine laced with a pregnancy hormone called human choriogonadotropic hormone (HCG).
Suspicions aroused when the tetanus vaccine was prescribed in the unusual dose of five multiple injections over a three month period, and recommended only to women of reproductive age! When an unusual number of women experienced vaginal bleeding and miscarriages after the shots, a hormone additive was uncovered as the cause.
Apparently the WHO has been developing and testing anti-fertility vaccines for over two decades. Women receiving the laced tetanus shot not only developed antibodies to tetanus, but they also developed dangerous antibodies to the pregnancy hormone as well. Without this HCG hormone the growth of the fetus is impaired. As a result, the laced vaccine served as a covert contraceptive device.
Commissioned to analyse the vaccine, the Philippines Medical Association found that 20 % of the WHO tetanus vaccines were contaminated with the hormone. Not surprisingly, the WHO has denied all accusations as “completely false and without basis”.
Newly approved vaccines may also pose serious risks. In October 1999 a vaccine against “rotavirus” infection was pulled off the market.
Although the public has heard about side effects of vaccines, most people are clueless about the manufacture of vaccines. Few people know that viruses used in vaccine production need to be grown on animal parts like monkey kidneys or in chicken embryos or in human and fetal “cell line”. Harvesting viruses in human cell-lines can be perilous because some human cell lines are derived from cancer cells.
Most people assume vaccines are “sterile” and germ free. But sterilizing a vaccine can destroy the necessary immunizing protein that makes it work. Thus, contaminating viruses or virul “particles” can sometime survive the vaccine process.
Vaccine contamination by fetal calf serum and its possible relationship to HIV was the subject of a letter by J.Grote, published in the Journal of the Royal (London) Society of Medicine before 20 years. Bovine visna virus – looks similar to HIV – is a known contaminant of fetal calf serum used in vaccine production and virus-like particles have been detected in vaccines certified for clinical use.
Another theory of AIDS is that HIV originated from polio vaccines contaminated with chimpanzee and monkey viruses. There is certainly evidence connecting contaminated vaccines to AIDS. And HIV is a cancer-causing virus. Robert Gallo, the co-discover of HIV in 1984, has clearly stated AIDS is an epidemic cancer.
It is clear that vaccines can be dangerous. The contamination of vaccines is a reality, and vaccine experiments can be hazardous to one’s health.

Cover Story.
Aag Arrow Webzine.
September 2007 Issue.
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