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