THE TRIBAL GIRLS FROM INDIAN STATE OF JHARKHAND
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Posted:Aug 4, 2013 7:49 am
Last Updated:Aug 8, 2013 1:49 am 2880 Views
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How the hell is this not big news to be proud of, how did it go under the radar ? Instead of this we have news of Salman n Shah Rukh, just entertainers, hugging ..grrrrrrrr
Few days back, as a billion plus India slept, a handful of tribal girls proudly held aloft a trophy they won in their maiden entry in a football tournament in far-flung Spain.
It was the night of July 13. Hundreds of fire crackers lit the skies as the girls screamed Vande Mataram – their battle cry – for being placed third in the Gasteiz Cup, the world’s best testing ground for football in Victoria Gastiez, also popular as Europe’s Green Capital.
They were the same girls who were slapped, kicked and made to sweep floors by arrogant bureaucrats in Jharkhand when the girls asked for birth certificates, a necessity to apply for passports.
But they eventually managed their passports, thanks to a strapping American, Franz Gastler, who pushed the cases of the girls with mandarins of the Ministry of External Affairs in the Indian Capital.
He was a lone ranger in his efforts.
The girls were lovingly titled the Supergoats by the organizers in Spain the moment they saw the girls playing barefoot in practice matches on arrival.
Why?
The girls had limited football gear and could not take the risk of tampering it before the tournament. They were overawed by international teams in the first tournament, the Donosti Cup, but came to their own in the second tournament.
Offering a consolation prize for the third team – winner of a match between losing semi-finalists – was a mere formality for the organizers.
But for the girls, it was a giant leap into global soccer from their impoverished Rukka village near Ranchi, considered one of the world’s epicenters of marriage and human trafficking.
As soon as the announcement was made for the prize distribution ceremony, the girls rushed into their dressing room and returned, some barefoot, wearing red-bordered white saris, their traditional festive dress. Many had their plastic flowers in their hairs.
And when they huddled together after the mandatory photo session, some wept inconsolably because they had almost given up their hopes to participate in this tournament.
“They were over the moon. It was their night,” said Gastler of the girls, who subsist on less than a dollar a day.
For a country low on soccer, this was - arguably - good news for the mandarins of the game. But no one cared. All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel was not aware of the girls’ superlative achievement, nor was the country’s new sports minister Jitendra Singh.
“We could not sleep that night (July 13),” says Rinky Kumari, 13, captain, Supergoats. Once she bunked her school helped her mother do household chores. Today, thanks to football, everyone knows her name in the village.
She says she remembered the days she was slapped and sweep floors when she went to the Panchayat Office get birth certificates for her passport.
“That is the pain of being a tribal girl in India. I do not remember the slap, I remember the Cup,” says Rinky.
For her, and her teammates, it means a lot.
I, AN INDIAN, WITH NO STATE AFFILIATION BUT SETTLED DOWN IN SIKKIM, AM PROUD OF YOU AND YOUR TEAM MATES, RINKY !!
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TRUTH, HUMANITY AND EGO
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Posted:Aug 4, 2013 3:13 am
Last Updated:Aug 13, 2013 8:25 am 2704 Views
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Truth can be likened to a pyramid - its pinnacle gives the highest expression of truth, while its broad base gives strength and stability. An amazing number of people in India say that they donot believe in God, and then go on to demonstrate that they do. They can’t get away from it - it’s part of their upbringing. They don’t necessarily define God in terms of somebody who is blue and plays the flute or removes snake venom. The thought, however, of an infinite consciousness is so ingrained in them that it is impossible for them to reject it.
The highest expression of spiritual teachings has, throughout the ages, usually been found only at the pinnacle and the result is that only a very few people seem to reach it. Spiritual teachings were often very esoteric, and those few people who received them would go into the mountains or monasteries, or go into silence and solitude to the extent of becoming reclusive.
Paramhansa Yogananda gave people a simple, practical way to magnetise the inner spiritual spine so that they can bring their consciousness into alignment with a higher reality. In ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, Yogananda gave a lovely description of God. He said, “The divine vision is centre everywhere, circumference nowhere.” You are the centre of the universe.
The universe is not some big thing imposing itself on some little thing. It is created from within each little centre radiating outward. Essence is that God is an idea within ourselves which is authenticated by the variety of phenomena that we witness every day.
Deep inside, each of us wants love, joy, and understanding. We belive we will get these by having more money, more possessions and more exciting experiences. At a deeper level of our awareness, however, we are always dissatisfied with a kind of restlessness. The more we live at the surface, the less we can comprehend.
Ego is uni-directional - to contract inward and think first of self. But this course makes us more and more a prisoner of littleness and limitation. There’s another direction we can go - that of the expansive ego. This expression of ego feels other people’s sorrows and happiness; it doesn’t think in terms of happiness for itself alone, but delights in enjoying things through others. The expanded ego finds that in helping and giving to others, it becomes free.
But as we follow this line of direction, we realise that there is a limit to how far even this little can go.
The more sensitively attuned we are to our inner Self, the more we can understand other people and perceive solutions to their difficulties. What we have to do is simply look at life in a new way—from our own centre outward.
Once we become centred within, from that centre, everything we do will be better, because it proceeds from our centre in attunement with the divine consciousness which is “centre everywhere, circumference nowhere.”
This promotes humanity.
- Swami Kriyanand At Speaking Tree
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THE ROSE GARDEN
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Posted:Jul 29, 2013 7:45 am
Last Updated:Aug 8, 2013 4:47 am 2620 Views
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So many times in my life,
I apologized for taking up space and time
I apologized for taking care of me,
and getting myself out of harm’s way.
I felt the pressure of others very acutely,
and always succombed to it, one way or another.
But now I’m done with the guilt.
I don’t need to apologize for doing what is right for me,
when others refuse to accept my true self.
So stop apologizing, dear one.
There is a time and a place for everything,
but where is the evil in carving out your own path?
I’m done with sitting on the side line,
and saying sorry for moving two steps away from it,
while others are running freely,
following their heart.
I’m done with people trampling all over me,
in an attempt to get what they want.
I’m a person too, with rights, feelings, dreams and plans,
and I have as much right to exist as anyone else.
I left all my bags behind, and now I’m on a journey.
Where I will go, where it will end,
Love only knows.
But I’m walking, running, dancing
and I will dodge anyone who tries to make me trip
on the path to my heart.
- From The Rose Garden
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POLITICKS
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Posted:Jul 27, 2013 8:43 am
Last Updated:Jul 29, 2013 8:03 am 2692 Views
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TO ALL MY FRIENDS - SORRY, HAVE BEEN TIED UP A BIT - SHALL RESPOND TO YOU AND YOURS BLOGS SOONEST.
Here is a very apt C/P for all of you which may have come across - ponder it, anyway. 
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
~Oscar Am ringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."
I offered my opponents a deal: "if they stop telling lies about me,
I will stop telling the truth about them".
~Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952..
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
~Texas Guinan. 19th century American businessman
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
~Charles de Gaulle, French general & politician
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
~Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, 1902-1981)
We hang petty thieves and appoint the bigger thieves to public office.
~Aesop, Greek slave & fable author
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
~Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become PM; I'm beginning to believe it.
~Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone.
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
~John Quinton, American actor/writer
What happens if a politician drowns in a river?
That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown?
That is a solution ....!!!
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BILL CLINTON VS DAN QUALE
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Posted:Jul 20, 2013 7:10 am
Last Updated:Jul 29, 2013 7:51 am 2709 Views
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I am not a Bill Clinton fan - nor do I claim that I know much about American politics.
I seek the readers' indulgence just for the humour of it, My Friends.
I found this verrrrry funny.
Bill Clinton vs. Dan Quayle, after Quayle revealed that he planned to be “a pit bull” in the 1992 campaign against Clinton and Gore.
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QUOTES - A VARIETY OF
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Posted:Jul 19, 2013 7:28 am
Last Updated:Jul 27, 2013 5:54 pm 2545 Views
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Here is a collection of quotes which my curiosity encountered today. Sharing the quotes with all my friends.
Vincent van Gogh
“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
Dalai Lama XIV
“Love is the absence of judgment.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”
Brian Andreas
“I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.”
Zora Neale Hurston
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
Elizabeth Gilbert
“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.”
Nicholas Sparks
“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.”
Elinor Glyn
“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze. ”
Henry David Thoreau
“One must maintain a little bittle of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
Lou Holtz
“When all is said and done, more is said than done.”
Mary Kay Ash
“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway.”
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DETROIT STORY
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Posted:Jul 18, 2013 6:03 pm
Last Updated:Jul 20, 2013 7:19 am 2310 Views
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Is this the story of Detroit ?? 
So very unfortunate !!
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HUMOUR FROM THE TRIBUNE
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Posted:Jul 10, 2013 8:14 am
Last Updated:Jul 15, 2013 8:00 am 2474 Views
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You may have come across these; please laugh anyway.
Serial Punishment
A newspaper reporter was writing a feature story about prison life and was interviewing one of the prisoners. "Do you watch much television here?"
"Only the daytime ‘saas-bahu’ (mother-in-law/-in-law) soap-opera shows," the inmate said. "At night we’re locked in our cells and don’t see any television."
"That’s too bad," the reporter said, "But I do think it is nice that the warden lets you watch it in the daytime."
"What do you mean, nice?" the inmate said. "That’s part of the punishment."
Hair Rising Photo
A woman brought an old picture of her dead husband, wearing a hat, to the photographer. She asked the photographer if he could remove the hat from the picture.
He convinced her he could easily do that, and asked her what side of his head he parted his hair on.
"I forgot," she said. "But you can see that for yourself when you take off his hat."
Ear Piercing
The students in a third grade class were curious when they found that one of their classmates had pierced her ears recently. They bombarded her with questions about her newly pierced ears.
"Does the hole go all the way through?"
"Yes."
"Did it hurt?"
"Just a little."
"Did they stick a needle through your ears?"
"No, they used a special gun."
Silence followed, and then one solemn voice called out, "How far away did they stand?"
Gunning for Directions
The pilot was sitting in his seat and pulled out a .38 revolver. He placed it on top of the instrument panel, and then asked the navigator, "Do you know what I use this for?"
The navigator replied timidly, "No, what’s it for?"
The pilot responded, "I use this on navigators who get me lost!"
The navigator proceeded to pull out a .45 and placed it on his chart table.
The pilot asked, "What’s that for?"
"To be honest sir," the navigator replied, "I’ll know we’re lost before you will."
Doggy tales
A man walked by a table in a hotel and noticed three men and a playing cards. The was exhibiting an extraordinary performance. "That is a very smart dog", the man commented. "He’s not so smart," said one of the irked players. "Every time he gets a good hand, he wags his tail".
Reserved answer
A man called to make reservations on a small charter plane that departed from an equally small airport.
Knowing that he would be flying in a very small plane, he was not surprised when the clerk said, "The plane is full with baggage and passengers."
Then the clerk again asked, "How much do you weigh, sir?"
Not thinking clearly the man answered, "With or without clothes?"
"Well," said the clerk, "how do you intend to travel?"
Wrinkled
The nine-year-old walked in while her mother was getting ready to turn in for the night.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Putting on my wrinkle cream," mom answered.
"Oh," she said, walking away. "I thought they were natural."
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STUPID QUESTION - AN EXCELLENT ANSWER
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Posted:Jul 6, 2013 9:15 am
Last Updated:Jul 10, 2013 8:16 am 2754 Views
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SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE COME ACROSS THIS ALREADY. THANKS FOR READING THIS COPY/PASTE.
Those that don't know him, Major General Peter Cosgrove is an Australian.
General Cosgrove was interviewed on the radio recently.
Read his reply
to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and .
Regardless of how you feel about gun laws you have to love this! This is one of the best comeback lines of all time.
In a portion of an ABC radio interview between a female broadcaster and General Cosgrove who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military Headquarters.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
So, General Cosgrove, what things are you going to teach these when they visit your base?
GENERAL COSGROVE:!
We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery and shooting.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching ?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
But you're equipping them to become violent killers.
GENERAL COSGROVE:
Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be a , but you're not one, are you?
The radio cast went silent for 46 seconds and when it returned, this interview was over.
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