Kabul in Winter

Afghanistan is not the preferred destination at any time of the Year in the prevailing conditions ,but to decide to go there in in winter defied logic to anyone who came to know of our trip.But when one's husband is there and the whole family get has a chance to be together once in 6 months, probably they are more sympathetic and the decision to go there seems not so weird!
So we flew to Kabul on Christmas .There had been heavy fog in Delhi and flight schedules were haywire.In fact the Kabul flight of Indian Airlines on the 22nd had to be cancelled.But on the 25th it was bang on schedule and we were at Kabul airport at 9.00 Am Afghanistan time. Just before landing they anounced the temperature at 1 deg C and I shivered involuntarily .But it was not so cold as we descended the stairs steps. Amit ,ofcourse,had no faith in our capability to be suitably clothed and had brought caps and mufflers for us,which he distributed immediately when what we needed was only a warm hug from him!
Marium had gone for some shopping for her sister's wedding and I felt a slight twinge of annoyance at not finding her at home .But she manages the house well when Amit is there and is a good housekeeper.The "Bukhaari " which burns contnuosly in the room makes the room smell of diesel though one got used to it after a day . I refused to take a bath agin since I had already had one early morning at 4 before leaving fo the airport in Delhi. So my quota of one-bath-a-day -in-winter was done .

Historic month

Two events of historic importance this month.
India's mission to moon successful.India's moon mission Chandrayaan 1 landed on the moon on 14 th November 2008 ,the birthday of our first PM Pandit Nehru.

Barack Obama elected as USA's first African American President. For a country like US ,it has taken a long time to have an African American in the top seat.This is pathbreaking and will be a turning point in American society I think. They have broken the glass ceiling so to speak and American have broken their own glass ceiling of thoughts and visions.Next step for this most dominant of superpower is to do what other countries have done much before it.Have a woman elected as President.Maybe the next time but I doubt if Americans will be willing to break the norm in two successive elections.Much will depend on Obama'a performance.

Olympic Gold

On 10/08/08 Abhinav Bindra gave India its first Individual Olympic Gold medal in the Men's 10 m Air rifle shooting event . A proud moment for India .He was so composed while the medal was being given to him and while the National Anthem was being played.But his eyes expressed his pride and joy.
I hope this is the first Gold medal of innumerable ones for India. lets wish it happens,And amid the muck that is Indian Sports ,some cleansing may be done and some good may happen.

18th February 2008

• General Elections held in Pakistan.The million dollar question is whether Pakistan will ever have long lasting democracy,stability,peace.I think not.Its leaders have converted Pakistan to a terrorism sponsoring state with te active help of USA .It is impossible to get off a tiger.But India also suffers if its neighbours have an unstable atmosphere .Musharraf's future is unclear

11th February 2008

Baba Amte dies at the age of 94 on 9th February 2008.A lawyer by education he has worked extensively for leprosy patients. Murlidhar devidas Amte has been given te Magasasay award ,UN Human Rights award among other awards. He had set up the Anand ashram near Pune for the rehabilitation of the leprosy affected.An inspiration for us.

29 th January 2008

• Big news of the day...racism charge against Harbhajan Singh dropped.The Australian cricket tour will continue.The BCCI had apparently decided too call off the rest of the tour if Harbhajan Singh is judged guilty. GOSH.Times of india.com says ' Harbhajan not a racist......................whew !!! Interestingly, conjecture is whether it was monkey or Maa ki !!!!!
• Roger Federer loses to Novak Djokovic in Australian Open .Read an article http://www.journalofastrology.com/ which predicts the beginning of the end of the Federer era. I do not track Tennis so keenly now but I still remember my school days when Bjorn Borg,John Mcnroe,Jimmy Connors,Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert were playing and How I would stay glued to The TV set to watch them play
• BBC predicts a zero degree cold for Delhi on Friday 01 of feb .Wait ,watch and shiver.
• The RBI has not changed any of the key policy rates in its Credit Policy review . All the rates including the Reverse Repo remain the same. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) has also been left untouched by the RBI.Causes much disappointment in business circles as a cut in repo rate was being looked forward to.
• Kenya continues to burn .From the BBC

"They say that while the dispute over the elections is clearly political - with the opposition and some independent observers accusing the government of having rigged the polls - the root cause of some of the violence is hunger for fertile land."

• I always wonder whether " being considered" can be taken as news ? Good times for Pakistani fans of Indian films,bad times for illegal copy makers . Pakistan is considering a proposal to lift the ban on Indian films.

January 2008

I am still in the 2007 mode .while signing and writing dates the inertia of 2007 continues.
So much for New Year Resolutions.The high point of the month has been the cricket,sledging and other rows between Australia and India .Harbhajan Singh has been put in the dock for paying the Australians back in the same coin.Bucknor and his partner teamed upto take sides and make the Australians easy to win their 16th match in a row.They could have done it without their assistance but I beleive they did not want to take any chances.So te new recruitments to their playing strength .
Australian Open has started and our Tennis ace Sania Mirza reaches the third round to face Venus Williams.
Reliance Power IPO open on the 15th and result in stock markets taking a dive.