తెలంగాణ వచ్చింది.. బిడ్డ లేడాయే

Published at: 28-02-2014 04:07 AM

అమరుడు వెంకటేశం తల్లి వేదన
బతుకుపోరులో భర్త.. ఉద్యమపోరులో బిడ్డ బలి
తెలంగాణ కోసం నడిరోడ్డుపై ఆత్మహుతి
దిక్కులేనిదైన కన్నతల్లి..
ఆదుకునే వారు లేక దుర్భర జీవనం

సిరిసిల్ల, ఫిబ్రవరి 27: తెలంగాణ వస్తే కష్టాలు తీరుతాయన్నాడు. బాధలు తొలగుతాయని కన్నతల్లికి భరోసా ఇచ్చాడు. తెలంగాణ రానే వచ్చింది. కానీ ఆ తల్లికి దుఃఖం మిగిలింది. కష్టాలు తీర్చుతానన్న ఒక్కగానొక్క కొడుకు కనుమరుగయ్యాడు. తెలంగాణ కోసం ఆత్మత్యాగం చేసుకుని అమరుడయ్యాడు. కరీంనగర్ జిల్లా సిరిసిల్లలో ఆత్మాహుతికి పాల్పడిన విద్యార్థి వెంకటేశం తల్లి విజయ దీనగాథ ఇది. భర్త నర్సయ్య అనారోగ్యంతో మృతి చెందడంతో బీడీలు చుడుతూ కొడుకును చదివించింది. అతన్ని ప్రయోజకుడిని చేయాలని తపించింది. పదో తరగతి వరకు ప్రభుత్వ పాఠశాలలోనే వెంకటేశం 500పైగా మార్కులు తెచ్చుకుని అందరి మన్ననలు పొందాడు. కొడుకుపై ఎన్నో ఆశలు పెంచుకున్న విజయ.. 2010లో అతన్ని ప్రైవేట్ కాలేజీలో చేర్పించింది. అప్పటినుంచి వెంకటేశానికి పరిచయాలు పెరిగాయి. తెలంగాణ ఉద్యమం తీవ్ర స్థాయిలో ఉన్న దశలో అన్ని కార్యక్రమాల్లో చురుగ్గా పాల్గొనడం మొదలుపెట్టాడు.

తెలంగాణ మీటింగ్‌లు ఎక్కడ జరిగినా వెళ్లేవాడు. దీక్షలు జరిగితే దండలు వేసుకొని కూర్చునే వాడు. బాగా చదువుకోవాలని తల్లి చెబితే.. అంతకంటే తెలంగాణ ముఖ్యమని బదులిచ్చేవాడు. అప్పటికే వెంకటేశం తండ్రి అనారోగ్యంతో మంచాన పడ్డాడు. తల్లి బీడీలు చుడుతూ ఇంటిని పోషిస్తోంది. చిన్న రేకుల షెడ్డులో నివాసం. తెలంగాణ ధర్నాలు జరుగుతున్న సమయంలోనే 2010 డిసెంబర్‌లో భర్త చనిపోయాడు. తల్లీకొడుకులిద్దరూ మానసిక వేదనతో కుంగిపోయారు. తండ్రి మరణంతో ఇంటిపట్టునే ఉన్న వెంకటేశం టీవీకే అతుక్కుపోయాడు. తెలంగాణ వార్తలనే చూస్తూ గడిపాడు. తెలంగాణపై జరుగుతున్న పరిణామాలు, తలెత్తుతున్న అనుమానాలతో వెంకటేశం కలత చెందాడు. రాష్ట్రం వస్తుందో లేదోనని ఆందోళనకు గురయ్యాడు. 2010 డిసెంబర్ 23న ఉదయమే తెలంగాణ ధర్నా ఉందని చెప్పి బయటకు వెళ్లాడు. సిరిసిల్ల బస్టాండ్ సమీపంలోని కొత్త పెట్రోల్ బంక్ వద్ద రోడ్డుపైనే జై తెలంగాణ నినాదాలు చేస్తూ ఒంటిపై కిరోసిన్ పోసుకున్నాడు. నిప్పుకణికగా మారి కూడా తెలంగాణ నినాదాలను ఆపలేదు. స్థానికులు అతన్ని ఆసుపత్రికి తరలించినా ప్రయోజనం లేకపోయింది.

అండగా నిలుస్తాడనుకున్న కొడుకు మృతితో విజయ గుండెలు పగిలేలా రోదించింది. ఒకే నెలలో భర్తను, బిడ్డను పోగొట్టుకొని అనాథగా మారింది. ఆమెకిక కన్నీళ్లే మిగిలాయి. మూడేళ్లుగా వారి జ్ఞాపకాల మధ్యే ఒంటరి జీవితం గడపుతోంది. 'తెలంగాణ వస్తే కష్టాలు పోతాయని చెప్పి... నన్ను కష్టాల్లోనే ఉంచి వెళ్లాడు. అమ్మా మన బాధలు తీరుతాయని చెప్పిన కొడుకు తెలంగాణ వచ్చినంక లేకుండా పాయే. తెలంగాణ రాష్ట్రంతో నా కొడుకు ఆత్మ శాంతిస్తుంది' అని తన మనసులోని బాధను 'ఆంధ్రజ్యోతి'తో పంచుకుంది. కొడుకు చనిపోయినప్పుడు అందరూ వచ్చి దండలు వేసి మేమున్నామంటూ భరోసా ఇచ్చారు. ఖర్చుల కోసం రూ. 25 వేలు ఇస్తున్నామంటూ టీఆర్ఎస్ నేతలు డబ్బులు చేతిలో పెట్టారు. కానీ లెక్క చూస్తే అవి రూ. 21 వేలే ఉన్నాయని విజయ తెలిపింది. ఆ తర్వాత ఎవరూ ఆమెను పట్టించుకోలేదు. బీడీలు చుడితేనే పూట గడిచే పరిస్థితి ఆమెది. తెలంగాణ రావడంతో తన కొడుకు ఆత్మ శాంతిస్తుంది... అది చాలంటూ సంతృప్తి పడుతోంది.

ఏ ఆసరా లేక పేదరికంలో మగ్గుతున్న వెంకటేశం తల్లికి సాయం చేయదలచిన వారు స్టేట్ బ్యాంక్ ఆఫ్ హైదరాబాద్, సిరిసిల్ల బ్రాంచ్ ఖాతా నెంబర్ 62312713609, విజయ పేరిట డబ్బు జమ చేయవచ్చు. ప్రత్యక్షంగా సాయం అందించాలనుకున్నవారు.. 9618902074 నెంబర్‌లో సంప్రదించవచ్చు.

Source: ఆంధ్ర జ్యోతి

US Exhibition to Tell Story of Indian-Americans

By PTI - WASHINGTON    Published: 26th February 2014 08:31 AM

Last Updated: 26th February 2014 03:16 PM

     Indian-American actor Kal Penn | AP

A first-of-its-kind exhibition, chronicling the vibrant history of Indian-Americans and their over 200-year-long journey from being "exotic outsiders" to being the "faces and voices" of America's future, will open at a prestigious museum here Thursday.

Christened 'Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation', the exhibition opening at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History is aimed at deepening the understanding of the community.

Spread over 5,000-square-foot, the year-long exhibition will explore the heritage, daily experience and diverse contributions of the community members to the American society.

The highlighted artifacts include a dress worn by First Lady Michelle Obama designed by Indian-American Naeem Khan; the 1985 National Spelling Bee trophy awarded to the first Indian American winner, Balu Natarajan; and Mohini Bhardwaj's 2004 Olympic Silver Medal for gymnastics.

"This wonderful exhibition deepens our understanding of the American experience as lived by the Asian Pacific American communities who have journeyed from being exotic outsiders to being the faces and voices of the future. We are excited to present an exhibition that we hope will excite and inspire generations," said Konrad Ng, director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

The exhibition recognises approximately 17 million people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in the country, whose number is expected to climb to 41 million by 2050. One in every 100 Americans has a family connection to India.

Through a rich collection of photographs, artifacts, art  and interactive learning stations, visitors will experience the Indian-American story and explore the many dynamic roles the community members have played in shaping America.

Masum Momaya, curator at the Asian Pacific American Center, said that after going on display for at least a year at the museum, the exhibition will travel for up to five years with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

"Beyond Bollywood" is the first major national exhibition to focus on Indians in America.

"Despite the fact that Indians have been here since 1790 and now number more than 3 million, we've been largely left out of this country’s history," she said.

"Beyond Bollywood marks a significant step toward not only documenting the history of Indians in America but also imprinting this history onto the collective conscience of this country," she added.

Visitors, she said, will be surprised to learn that the first person of Indian-origin to set foot on Indian soil came in 1790, just 14 years after this country was founded.

Source: The New Indian Express

Prime Minister's speech in Rajya Sabha on Telangana Bill: full statement

All India | NDTV.com | Updated: February 20, 2014 19:57 IST

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaking in the Rajya Sabha

on February 20, 2014.

New Delhi:  Amid massive sloganeering and chaos, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a special package for Seemandhra in a debate on in the Rajya Sabha on the controversial bill which creates a Telangana state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. Following is the Prime Minister's full statement:

Mr Chairman Sir,

I have listened very carefully to the views expressed by the Leader of Opposition and all the other members who have spoken, especially those from Andhra Pradesh. The Home Minister has already mentioned the specific steps our Government will take to address the concerns of all regions of the state, particularly of Seemandhra.

I would like to make a few further announcements in this regard.

First, for purposes of Central assistance, Special Category Status will be extended to the successor state of Andhra Pradesh comprising 13 districts, including the four districts of Rayalaseema and the three districts of north coastal Andhra for a period of five years. This will put the state's finances on a firmer footing.

Second, the Bill already stipulates that the Central Government shall take appropriate fiscal measures, including offer of tax incentives to the successor states in order to promote industrialization and economic growth in both the states.  These incentives will be along the lines extended to some other states.

Third, the Bill already provides for a special development package for the backward regions of the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, in particular for the districts of Rayalaseema and North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. This development package will be on the lines of the K-B-K (Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi) Special Plan in Odisha and the Bundelkhand special package in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Fourth, I would like to reassure Honourable Members that if any further amendments are needed to facilitate smooth and full Rehabilitation & Resettlement(R&R) for the Polavaram project, they will be given effect to at the earliest. Our government will execute the Polavaram project - let there be no doubt about it.

Fifth, the appointed day for the formation of the new State will be so fixed in relation to the notified date so as to enable preparatory work relating to personnel , finance and distribution of assets and liabilities to be completed satisfactorily.

Sixth, the resource gap that may arise in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh in the very first year, especially during the period between the appointed day and the acceptance of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations by the Government of India, will be compensated in the Regular Union Budget for 2014-15.

Sir, I hope these additional announcements will demonstrate our steadfast commitment to not just the creation of Telangana but also to the continued prosperity and welfare of Seemandhra.

Source: NDTV 

____________________________________________________________________

This blogger's opinion:

PM's announcement of special package to Seemandhra is to ensure passage of bill in Rajya Sabha. It has no details except referring to the Bill that was passed in Lok Sabha. The Bill is incomplete in respect of Seemandhra. And there is no guarantee that Congress will win let alone form government in next elections. Further the party that forms the new government is not bound to honour the promises announced by the previous government. PM should have included his announcement of package in detail in the bill. Then extend sitting of Parliament and voted in Lok Sabha. Then his package has validity, now it is like writing in the sand. As wind blows over it you can't read anything.

If Seemandhras really feel the hurt with the process of bifurcation (indicative of protests throughout the region) they should think twice before voting Congress or BJP in the ensuing election.

____________________________________________________________________

Read the following from Times of India: 

TNN | Feb 21, 2014, 05.57 AM IST

Seemandhra feels cheated, frets over special package

Chaotic endgame

Opinion Editorial

February 20, 2014   Updated: February 20, 2014 03:02 IST

End-stage mistakes grab disproportionately greater attention than blunders at the beginning. With the Congress and the Central government bungling at almost every stage in the handling of the agitation for a new state of Telangana, the mismanagement of the vote on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill should have been no surprise. The chaos and confusion, and the blackout of television coverage, on the day the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha all pale into insignificance when seen in the context of the larger failures to find a political consensus, and to reduce differences over crucial issues in the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Whether it was due to a technical glitch, or a “tactical glitch” as the Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, described it, the blackout of coverage by Lok Sabha TV was only a minor part in the Telangana endgame. Flip-flops and cynical political manoeuvring were part of the Congress strategy right from the beginning on the Telangana issue. Petty electoral calculations ensured that the party leadership led the government in the decision-making process. Indeed, too much was left to the very end as part of a deliberate strategy of buying time and averting a debate and discussion in Parliament. The highly charged spectacle of violence and disruption in the Lok Sabha over the Telangana Bill in the last few days is the culmination of the cumulative mistakes of the Congress and the Centre. 

If the Congress can take any credit from these sordid happenings it is in the browbeating and arm-twisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Although the BJP had a pronounced pro-Telangana stance even before the Congress committed itself to the bifurcation, the party resorted to doublespeak on the issue in an attempt to discomfit the Congress. But later the Congress managed to put the BJP in a fix, and eventually to lend support to the Bill. The two parties appeared to have read each other’s mind very well: to blame the other for any failure to pass the Bill. The BJP blinked first. The party, which did not have substantial political stakes in Andhra Pradesh, was hoping the Congress would alienate both pro-Telangana and Seemandhra sections if it failed to push the Bill through. But there was also the danger that the Congress might turn around and blame the BJP for its doublespeak and allowing the Bill to lapse. In the end, the two parties appear to have decided to share the credit for creating Telangana rather than blame each other for failing to have it passed. Irrespective of how the two parties manoeuvre the Bill through the Rajya Sabha, there is very little comfort to be had from such bipartisanship. 

Source: The Hindu

Lights, Camera off, Action: That’s the scene in LS as it passes Bill to split Andhra Pradesh

Express News Service | New Delhi | February 19, 2014 2:21 am


The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014 was adopted by voice vote along
with several official amendments. (PTI Photo)

The contentious bill that will split Andhra Pradesh and allow the creation of Telangana, India’s 29th state, made it through the Lok Sabha Tuesday despite opposition, tumultuous scenes and a controversial “blackout” of the live TV broadcast of the proceedings.

The house passed the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, 2014, by voice vote even as those opposed to it demanded a division vote and termed the process a “sham” and a “black day for democracy”.



Around 3.10 pm, Lok Sabha TV stopped showing the live feed of proceedings in the house as Speaker Meira Kumar went ahead with the process of passing the Bill and then moving amendments pushed by members from across parties.

The government also moved a series of official amendments after leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj indicated that her party backed passing the Bill. Only Swaraj and pro-Telangana Union minister Jaipal Reddy of the Congress spoke briefly on the Bill.

Armed with posters, MPs from the CPI(M) and a few others from Andhra Pradesh stormed the well and shouted slogans against the bifurcation of the state through the proceedings, rendering the Speaker’s words inaudible.

One of them tore a copy of the Bill and flung its pieces in the air.



A number of amendments moved by MPs, notably Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMM, were defeated by voice vote even as both demanded a division vote, which the speaker did not allow.

Instead, the speaker resorted to a “headcount” of MPs for and against the Bill and the amendments by asking them to stand up — a move Roy and Owaisi protested against.

“We are not a herd of sheep, we protest this move by you, madam. We want division vote,” Roy was heard shouting. “The idea that is India is being challenged today.”

Seeing that the opposition BJP did not join the protest, a number of protesting MPs too stormed the well and alleged that both the government and the opposition had reached an understanding “to pass the bill by flouting established processes”.

Independent MP from Assam, S K Bwiswmuthiary chanted anti-bifurcation slogans through the 90-minute process.

But the fact that there was no live broadcast of the proceedings visibly irked a number of MPs who shouted that it was “a black day for democracy”.

The TMC’s Roy also lodged a protest in writing saying that Rule 367 had been flouted by not going for a division vote.

The ruckus continued nonetheless as Shiv Sena MPs along with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav stood up to join the protests.



With both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the House, Congress MPs Sanjay Nirupam and Mahabal Mishra moved to the well ostensibly to assuage the protesting MPs. Former minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Finance Minister P Chidambaram were seen directing the treasury benches in their participation in the voice voting.

The Bill will now be brought to the Rajya Sabha.

Union minister from Andhra Pradesh, K Chiranjeevi, told reporters that while he had no intention of resigning at the moment, he would join in to stop the bill from being passed in the upper house.

Source: The Indian Express

A Cruel Twist of Fate

By K Naresh Kumar - HYDERABAD

Published: 17th February 2014 09:12 AM        Last Updated: 17th February 2014 09:20 AM

As a writer, playwright and screen play specialist, Vijay Tendulkar, obviously needs no introduction. In his writing career spanning more than five decades, Tendulkar has written 27 full-length plays and 25 one-act plays. Several of his plays have proven to be Marathi theatre classics. His plays have been translated and performed in many Indian languages.

One such play Hatt Teri Kismet, translated by Vasant Dev into Hindi, was staged at Lamakaan on Saturday night by Udaan Performing Arts. Originally written in the ‘70s, this play, a political satire in essence, talks about the unabashed addiction of power politics. Smartly customised to suit the current situation, the theatre group made it very contemporary and interesting.

In what seems to be turning into a popular format of Udaan - just two main characters on stage - the 70-minute play takes off right from the beginning when an out-of-power Chief Minister (Saurabh Gharipurikar) is shown plotting his return to the coveted chair. He comes in contact with an aam aadmi (Ashutosh Patwardhan) in the process, who quizzes him on various issues -- most of them trying to understand how these scums operate in society. The Chief Minister-in-waiting boasts about his survival in the quicksand of politics and how he is always self-centred and focused, often at the cost of his family and their desires. In fact, some of the comments the politician makes are dangerously close to reality -- especially when he says that ‘all that he does is strengthen the hands of the PM who is otherwise dumb and controlled by the Delhi madam’.

The unexpected twist comes when the politician decides to exchange his dress with that of the commoner when he sees an angry crowd approaching him and wants to escape their wrath. Along with the costumes, the faces also get inter-changed and voila! All hell breaks loose. This is the first swipe of bad luck that affects the politician.

Before his very eyes, the neta sees the commoner assume all those traits and characteristics which he possessed while he gets demoted to being pushed to a clerical position, where he inches up slowly in a year’s time. During this period, the commoner, now the Chief Minister goes from strength to strength and the original politician is now frustrated and desperate to come back to his original slot at any cost. He manages this by cunningly overpowering the commoner physically and assuming his original personality.

Once again the crowd returns and thrashes the original Chief Minister black and blue for being a terrible and corrupt administrator and rewards the commoner, who enjoys a second stroke of luck, the opposite effect of the politician who gets the rough end of the stick once more!

Liberally plucking anecdotes from day-to-day happenings and aptly placing it in the plot (like the LPG cylinder subsidy and allusions to the common man and his corruption-affected life), the play takes potshots at the authoritarian power structure of Delhi politics and the people who run it, blissfully oblivious to a myriad of problems.

A 100-strong audience thoroughly enjoyed the show on a windy evening.

Source: The New Indian Express

Love in the times of Telangana-Seemandhra

Sulogna Mehta,TNN | Feb 15, 2014, 04.10 AM IST

VISAKHAPATNAM: 'True love knows no reason, no boundaries, no distance. It has a sole intention of bringing people together to a time called forever.' So what if wily politicians are conspiring to play villains in the real life love stories of many couples hailing from the two regions of Seemandhra and Telangana with their bifurcation moves, the much-in-love couples in the city celebrated Valentine's Day leaving behind the division blues for the day.

Like the pyaar-kiya-toh-darna-kya attitude of final year engineering students R Geethika and D Sudhir who are going steady. While Geethika hails from Hyderabad but has been living in Vizag for the last few years due to her dad's posting, Sudhir is from the Port City. "Our parents don't know we are in a committed relationship though a few of our trusted friends and cousins are aware of it. After passing out of college, we will seek the blessings of our parents and nothing can stop us from getting married. We won't let bifurcation cast its shadow on our love as it is being carried out by politicians with vested interests. It's one language, one culture and above all, one country for us," said Sudhir, chilling out with Geethika on Beach Road.

Twenty-six-year-old Swapna Reddy from Hyderabad who got married to her 29-year-old sweetheart Kiran Kumar from Vizag, on V-Day last year. "I met Kiran when he came to Hyderabad on work. When so many inter-state, inter-culture, inter-religion, and even cross-country marriages are happening these days, who cares about Telangana and Seemandhra in the matters of the heart?" averred Swapna, currently pursuing her MBA.

Regional politics has no room in the lives of Karunakar Rao, 28, from Srikakulam and Vimala, 27, from Hyderabad who had a love marriage three years ago after years of online courtship. "We fell in love even without meeting each other. And finally jab we met, we decided to tie the knot despite objections from our families owing to our different backgrounds and castes. But we never bothered about such superficial differences. So why should we fight over Hyderabadi biryani, Telangana's garela pulusu or coastal Gongura mutton now?" quipped Karunakar, a private sector employee.

And while the families of yet-to-be-married couple V Saritha, hailing from the Port City, and Sunil from Hyderabad are a worried lot, the couple, which got engaged in December last year, are resolute. "There's no question of breaking our alliance just because of an illogical political decision. But our families are worried about fixing the wedding date, which was supposed to be sometime in the middle of this year. With elections coming up, the auspicious date now needs to be carefully selected as there's every possibility of agitations and strikes, both in Telangana and Seemandhra, over the bifurcation issue. Conducting a marriage in the midst of such chaos would be quite risky and we wonder if we would have to postpone the ceremonies till things settle down," pointed out Saritha.

However, there are some who are worried about the future of their children. Like private-sector employee T Ravi, who hails from Hyderabad. "My wife belongs to Prakasam district of coastal Andhra. We have been married for two decades and have lived in three different states but were never prepared for this kind of a disturbance in our own state. Though the bifurcation issue has not impacted our family relations in anyway because it's all a political move, we are worried about the higher education of our children as far as seats in medical and engineering colleges are concerned. The purchase of new property and its safety is also doubtful at the current juncture so we have to reconsider our investment plans carefully."

(Names of most couples have been changed on request)

Source: Times of India

New portraits of Bard of Avon found

International » World    Washington, February 14, 2014    Updated: February 14, 2014 02:42 IST

PTI

 

A then newly discovered portrait of William Shakespeare in March 2009. Photo: AP 

 

Scientists have discovered two previously unknown portraits of English playwright William Shakespeare — one which shows a youthful Bard of Avon and another which shows his whole person for the first time.

Hildegard Hammerschmidt–Hummel, a professor of English at Mainz University, Germany, said he subjected the images to fundamental tests of identity and authenticity, and found they were “true–to–life portraits of Shakespeare.”

One portrait, possibly painted around 1594, when Shakespeare was about 30 years old, depicts only the facial features of the Bard of Avon.

Hung in the bedchamber of Prince Franz (1740—1817), in the Gothic House of the Dessau—Worlitz Garden Realm, the portrait was seized by the Soviet army in 1945.

Archival research shows Prince Franz brought the picture from his trip to England from 1763 to 1764. Records show it was given to him as a gift by Thomas Hart, a distant relative of Shakespeare, ‘Discovery News’ reported.

Short stature

The second portrait shows the whole person of Shakespeare for the first time.

“We can see he wasn’t a very tall man,” Hammerschmidt—Hummel said. The painting shows Shakespeare at the age of 50, about two years before his death and it portrays the Bard as an affluent, older gentleman living in retirement.

The portrait shows Shakespeare sitting on an elaborately carved chair, holding a book in his left hand and resting his right hand on the head of a dog, which is sitting to his right. Careful examination of the image has determined the breed of the dog, which appears to be a Lurcher, a cross between a Greyhound and a working dog.

“I am calling it the Boaden Portrait because I found it in a rare, richly illustrated edition of James Boaden’s work of 1824,” Hammerschmidt—Hummel said.

Source: The Hindu

శ్రీ కౌముది ఫిబ్రవరి 2014

5 Places Where People Slow Down Aging

Posted By Kaitlyn Wells on Feb 05, 2014

FIRAT SOLA via Flickr


Around the world, people are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. One area this is most visible is in the number of centenarians, or people living to the age of 100. In 1840, there were 90 centenarians in the United States—one for every 189,000 people—according to United States Census Bureau records. Today, there are more than 53,000—or one for every 5,800 people. Though we know people are living longer, we don’t necessarily how they do it.

After discovering that there are longevity hot spots where people tend to live especially long, writer Dan Buettner spent the last 12 years locating and documenting these areas, dubbed “blue zones.” “I increasingly was interested in mysteries that dealt with the human condition,” says Buettner, a National Geographic fellow.

Through that research, he found several factors that might prolong health and life for people in blue zones. “Longevity is a consequence of constant, longterm little things,” Buettner says. “There’s no silver bullet.” Buettner shared the findings in his books The Blue Zones (2009) and Thrive (2010); here are some of the high points:

Ikaria, Greece: Enjoy a nap after tea
Residents of this Greek island are three times as likely to reach age 90 than people in the U.S. Living to nonagenarian status may be more likely when you get some bonus shut-eye.

Among Ikarian elders who regularly nap in the middle of the day (90 percent of them, according to a 2011 study in Cardiology Research and Practice), none of them exhibited symptoms of depression, while many of the non-nappers did. A broader study examining the sleeping behaviors of all Greeks found that those who cat-napped for at least 30 minutes had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who didn’t.

Being under Sandman’s spell isn’t the only thing helping them live longer: They also regularly enjoy herbal tea. Traditional Greek teas include wild mint, which fights gingivitis and gastrointestinal disorders; rosemary for gout; and artemisia for blood circulation. Many local teas also contain mild diuretics that can treat hypertension. This may explain why Ikaria has half the rate of cardiovascular disease compared to the rest of the region.

Okinawa, Japan: Maintain positive relationships
Living to an average of 83 years old, Japan is the nation with the highest life expectancy in the world, reports the World Health Organization. Okinawans are especially long-lived, and are three times as likely to reach 100 as Americans. Buettner attributes that feat to close ties with social networks. “Having a grounding sense of purpose is something we see in all five Blue Zones,” he says.

Okinawans remain faithful to traditional Japanese culture, including an emphasis on maintaining lifelong friendships called moais, which provide emotional and social support. The moais are cultivated throughout adolescence, and the members become confidants for the rest of their lives.

Just the presence of moais can be a benefit, as it increases social interaction and support. Take for example, a study in Social Science & Medicine that examined the mental health of older adults in Japan. Those who weren’t married reported a higher positive well-being and less distress in their lives when they had social support. Simply put, the closer your friendships, the happier you’ll be.

Loma Linda, California: Eat your veggies
Sixty miles east of Los Angeles lies Loma Linda, where the proportion of people aged 85 or over is more than double that of the rest of California. Roughly four in 10 Loma Lindans are Seventh-day Adventists, whose adherents live longer than any other religious group in America, according to BlueZones.com. The Adventist faith endorses healthy living by discouraging smoking and alcohol consumption and encouraging exercise.

A recent study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, examined the eating habits of 73,000 Adventist from across the U.S. and Canada. The vegetarians in the group were 12 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and renal disorders combined compared to the non-vegetarians.

Another study found that female Adventist vegetarians live four years longer, and males live seven years longer, compared to other Californias. The study concluded that regular consumption of  nuts, fruit, cereal fiber, green salad, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (such as wild salmon, safflower oil, and peanut butter) was associated with reduced mortality rates.

Nicoya, Costa Rica: Drink some juice
In Nicoya a man at age 60 has twice the chance of reaching 90 as a man living in France, Japan, or the U.S. It may have something to do with their diet. Nicoyans typically eat their biggest meal in the morning and their smallest at night, which Buettner says helps them avoid overeating. “The Blue Zones eat a lot of food, but the key is their foods are calorically less dense,” Buettner adds. “It’s not that Americans are stuffing their face all the time, it’s that we’re eating a little too much every day—about 200 calories more than we should.”

Large quantities of tropical fruit, which are low in calories, are staples at meals in Nicoya. Oranges, sweet lemons, and a variety of banana are popular choices. Nicoyans also eat a couple of more distinctive fruits: maroñon, a red-orange fruit with more vitamin C than oranges, and the anona, a pear-like fruit rich in antioxidants. Some studies have shown an association between a reduced risk of cancer and diets that are high in foods that contain vitamin C, but lab tests studying use of vitamin C by itself have produced mixed results.

Sardinia, Italy: Take a walk
In addition to a large number of centenarians, Sardinia is also home to a remarkably high population of sheep considering its size. The Mediterranean island’s shepherd and farming community is loaded with centenarian men who, in their younger years, regularly walked up to five miles a day across rugged terrain to tend to their shepherding duties, according to Buettner’s site, BlueZones.com. Daily trips to the grocery store are also carried out on foot, and climbing the stairs in each multi-story home provides more exercise. 

Source: NAUTILUS

Why Microsoft Got It Right With New CEO Satya Nadella

By Cade Metz 02.04.14  9:35 AM

Satya Nadella, the new CEO of Microsoft. Image courtesy Microsoft

Though Bill Gates is stepping down as chairman of the board at Microsoft, we’re about to see a company that looks more like Gates rather than less.

This morning, in addition to announcing that Gates, the company’s co-founder and spiritual leader, will cede his chairman role to former Symantec CEO John Thompson so that he can spend several days a week at Microsoft in a more direct advisory role, Microsoft confirmed that its CEO post will be filled by 22-year company veteran Satya Nadella, who many say is cut from similar cloth.

According to those who know him, Nadella has an unusually firm grasp of both the technical and the business side of Microsoft, yet he also has a knack for pushing the tech giant in new directions. That bodes well for the company, which is still struggling to match the commercial success of rivals like Apple, Google, and Amazon in the technological areas most likely to define the future, including cloud computing as well as the rapidly growing world of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
‘If you’re looking for your most Gates-like president — in terms of really having technology genius plus business genius — Satya seems like the best bet’

— Sam Ramji

“If you’re looking for your most Gates-like president — in terms of really having technology genius plus business genius — Satya seems like the best bet,” say Sam Ramji, the former head of open source software at Microsoft who worked under Gates and outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer for many years and, at one point, alongside Nadella.

The 46-year-old, India-born Nadella first joined the company in 1992 and spent the last three years running its Cloud and Enterprise group, the extremely lucrative — and rapidly changing — division that oversees the Windows Azure cloud service as well as the old-school data center software Microsoft sells to big businesses. But it’s Nadella’s personal demeanor that may truly set him apart from Ballmer.

Replacing the 57-year-old Ballmer — the big, boisterous, business-centric boss who has presided over the company since the turn of the millennium — Nadella will undoubtedly bring an added level of technical expertise to the CEO job, but also a more calm and considerate and collaborative way of dealing with both the Microsoft brain trust and those who work beneath him. That could be vitally important as he seeks to remodel a company whose internal culture is nearly as complicated as its vast empire of software, hardware, and internet services.

“The reason why I have mountains of respect for Satya is that he’s first and foremost a great and sincere and honest human being…It’s a weird thing to say, but that’s a rare thing at Microsoft, because you have so many hardcore technologists who have risen up through the ranks,” says Bill Hilf, a veteran of IBM who until recently worked under Nadella at Microsoft and now oversees cloud services at a third tech titan, HP. “He is able to connect with people, understand the dynamics between people or understand the impact something might have — not just to a product but to the people involved with it.”

The rub is that Nadella has never run a company on his own. Although he carries a business administration degree as well as engineering and computer science degrees, some say he can’t yet match the business and sales know-how or the executive experience of Ballmer or Gates — or, for that matter, some of the other candidates considered for the CEO job, including former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop. “What Ballmer had in spades — in spades — is this incredible business instinct,” says Hilf. “He’s not the technologist Satya is, but I think the inverse of that is also true: Satya is not the business martial arts expert [that] Steve was.”
Change. But Not Too Much

On the whole, the choice makes enormous sense for Microsoft. The company is entrusting itself to someone who has proven he can shift its direction — push it into areas outside its comfort zone. It’s not just that Nadella guided the rise of Windows Azure. It’s that Azure and other technologies developed by his Cloud and Enterprise group now underpin Microsoft internet services such as the Bing search engine, the Skype internet phone service, and the Xbox Live online gaming service. And before taking the reins of the cloud group, he worked on research and development for Bing and eventually oversaw the search engine as a whole.

“He has proven not only that he understands the Microsoft culture, but that he can change it in very big ways,” says James Staten, a vice president and principal analyst with Forrester Research who has closely followed Nadella and his Cloud and Enterprise group through interviews with many people both inside Microsoft and out, including Nadella himself.
‘He has proven not only that he understands the Microsoft culture, but that he can change it in very big ways’

— James Staten

It’s also important that Nadella drove such change on the internet, which, in the years to come, will sit at the heart of everything the company does. Nadella deeply understands the way modern online services are built, says his old colleague Hilf, and that’s no small thing.

In tapping Nadella, Microsoft passed over not only Elop but other candidates with far more experience in the mobile market, another enormously important part of the near future of computing. But this is the area where Microsoft is furthest behind — and far less likely to catch rivals Google and Apple.

Hilf, Staten, and others argue, however, that Microsoft isn’t necessarily shifting its business away from phones or the rest of the consumer tech market. After all, its Xbox game console has become enormously popular in recent years, and the company just paid $7.17 billion to acquire Nokia, the Finnish smartphone maker where Elop was CEO. But the choice of Nadella is a statement that, in the coming years, cloud computing will be a more crucial field to dominate. After all, cloud services ultimately feed the mobile as well as the gaming world, providing a way for software developers and businesses to build and host and operate the mobile applications that run on a world of smartphones and tablets.

As Steve Ballmer once famously said: “Developers! Developers! Developers!” Through software builders, a company can not only grab intelligence about what’s happing in a market — including mobile computing — but gain a foothold that provides a means of improving and expanding consumer products and services.

What Microsoft doesn’t have is a brain trust with much experience working at the giants of Silicon Valley — companies like Apple and Google and Facebook and Twitter, which have come to define the modern world in ways that Microsoft does not. That includes not only Nadella but his lieutenants. But, for better or for worse, Microsoft typically doesn’t mix well with those steeped in the new Valley culture.

This is a nearly 40-year-old company based in Redmond, Washington whose business still rests on the success of traditional software such as the Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of business software applications. It must straddle the old and the new, the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. For those who know the company well, it’s best to do this with leaders intimately familiar with the company’s unique culture. It’s best to it with a CEO who was there for its heyday as the king of computing — but realizes the world is now very different.
‘A Good, Unique Place’

When we sat down with Satya Nadella at a San Francisco restaurant in the fall of 2011, he was about nine months into his job running Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group — though it wasn’t called that at the time. It was still known as Server and Tools, and many people were still asking whether Microsoft was serious about cloud computing, a technology that lets you rent computing power over the internet instead of buying and installing your own hardware.

“We’re as serious about the cloud as we are about evolving our businesses,” said Kurt DelBene, the head of the Microsoft Office group at the time, with a nod to Nadella, who sat beside him at the table. “We always look a little askance when we get the question, because it always seems odd to us. Particularly as engineers, we say: ‘[The cloud is] the way the world is moving.’”
It’s no small thing that Server and Tools is now known as Cloud and Enterprise — or that the new Microsoft CEO oversaw its recent transformation

Microsoft would continue to drive much of its business through traditional software, Nadella explained, including the server operating systems and databases and virtualization software offered by his Server and Tools group, but the company also realized that the world was moving towards online services like Azure and Office 365, services that businesses could use in lieu of buying traditional software. Because Microsoft offered both services and software, the company was in “a good, unique place,” said Nadella, a thin, extremely fit man who typically wears dark-rimmed glasses and keeps his head close to clean shaven.

Today, Microsoft still trails Amazon in the cloud computing market — very much so — but under Nadella, the Server and Tools group has significantly changed the way it operates, and in doing so, it has expanded the influence of Azure and other modern services. According to Bill Hilf, Nadella was instrumental not only in shifting Microsoft towards the new, more rapid way of building online services, but in moving the group to a new licensing model that encouraged the sales staff to sell online services as well as traditional software.

Crucially, the group embraced many modern technologies that Microsoft once avoided at all costs. The company now runs all sorts of open source software on Azure, including the Linux operating system, long held up as the enemy of Ballmer’s Microsoft, and this shift brings the company that much closer to the new computing paradigm fashioned by the likes of Amazon and Google.

It’s no small thing that Server and Tools is now known as Cloud and Enterprise — or that the new Microsoft CEO oversaw its recent transformation. It shows that Nadella understands how Microsoft must evolve in order to compete in the modern world — but also that the company must continue to push many of its older but still lucrative businesses forward. It’s called Cloud and Enterprise. Not Cloud.

This is one of the reasons Microsoft is intent on hiring from within, though corporate culture has a lot to do with it as well. Nadella hasn’t been with the company nearly as long as Ballmer, who joined as employee 30 in 1980, before Microsoft hit it big with the MS-DOS operating system on the first IBM PC. But the new CEO does have a good two decades in Redmond, working on a broad range of products, services, and research projects.
From India to Redmond

Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India, a southern city that was traditionally known for the pearl and diamond trades, but has now evolved into a major tech hub. Some call it “Cyberabad,” and it’s home to the largest Microsoft research and development operation outside the United States.

According to Reuters in India, Nadella is the son of a government official who worked in Hyderabad with the Indian Administrative Service, and he attended the elite Hyderabad Public School, alongside his future wife.
It looked an awful lot like Ballmer was reorganizing the company so he could personally push it into the next decade

Later, he studied electrical engineering as undergraduate in Mangalore, further south on the Indian peninsula. “When all other students will quietly listen to what I would teach, he will ask a lot of questions — ‘why does it have to be like this, why can’t we do it like this?’” one of his Manipal University professors told Reuters. “Sometimes, it felt like he was just testing my patience.”

Then, in 1988, carrying a bachelor’s degree in engineering, he moved to the States. After finishing a master of computer science degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a business administration master’s at the University of Chicago, he joined Sun Microsystems, then a hugely important and influential server and software company, working not on the business side but on the technical staff.

After joining Microsoft in 1992, he served as a vice president in the company’s business division — which oversaw Microsoft Office — and eventually took the reins of the R&D operation that served the company’s online services, including Bing. He then took over the entire Bing business, and in February 2011, he was named the head of Server and Tools — one of five Microsoft executives who reported directly to Steve Ballmer.

In July of last year, Ballmer significantly reorganized the company, placing a new set of lieutenants just beneath him. Some execs, like Kurt DelBene, departed, but Nadella remained. For Sam Ramji and others, this looked an awful lot like Ballmer was overhauling the company so he could personally push it into the next decade, but a month later, Microsoft announced that Ballmer would retire as CEO, saying the board would find a replacement within the next year.

At least in the press, Nadella wasn’t discussed as the heir apparent. When Microsoft acquired Nokia a month after Ballmer’s retirement was announced, Elop looked to be the new CEO in waiting. Even before Elop left Microsoft in 2008 to take the reins at Nokia, many insiders assumed he would one day succeed Ballmer. “He has so much charisma,” says Ramji. “We all thought: ‘That’s Steve’s bench. That’s the next CEO of Microsoft.’”

But perhaps because Nokia lost money hand-over-fist under Elop, because Nadella has more technical chops, or because Nadella has a much longer history inside Microsoft, the board has skipped over the Nokia man, and some now question his future at the company. Whatever Elop’s fate, many assume that Nadella will restructure the company yet again. “If you look at the leadership structure that Steve put in place just before he was forced out,” Ramji says, “he built a Microsoft that could only be run by Steve.”
Ballmer He’s Not

One thing that will surely change is the culture at the top of the company. Ballmer was very much a screamer — he’s even been known to throw a chair on occasion — and in many ways, his hard-nosed approach pervaded the company. But according to Bill Hilf, who worked closely with Nadella as the product manager for Windows Azure, the new CEO is extremely different.

“He is very inclusive. He brings people in and gets them excited to work on stuff, and that’s what I think his magic is — his authenticity and the way he is able to inspire people and not just push them,” says Hilf. “He can inspire them to do great work and get them motivated and excited. That’s really about him as a person: Whether he was running a technology company or a non-profit, he would have the same demeanor.”

Jason Hoffman, a vice president of corporate strategy at telecom giant Ericsson who spent many years competing with Nadella and Azure as the chief technology officer at San Francisco cloud company Joyent, says that Nadella is someone with unusual “grace” and that this grace is just what Microsoft needs. “This is the best thing Microsoft could do,” Hoffman tells us. “He’s always been an exceptionally thoughtful, calculating person.”

Whereas Ballmer often wanted to maintain as much control as possible over the people and businesses beneath him, Nadella is more of a collaborator. He provides firm direction — and he certainly has hard side, according to some — but he’s willing to give his lieutenants the freedom to make many of their own decisions. “Satya isn’t so ferocious about total control. He directs, but he also tends to look for innovation and insights for the people who work for him,” says Ramji.

Considering that the company was so slow to find its footing in the cloud and mobile markets under Ballmer, this is a welcome change. Ballmer’s 14-year tenure is littered with missed opportunities, as he clung to Microsoft’s old way of doing things. As the press so often points out, Nadella knows his technology, perhaps more so than Ballmer. But the bigger point, some say, is that Nadella can feed the other technical minds at Microsoft. “It isn’t just about knowing how to code,” Hilf says. It’s about getting the most out of all the others who know how to code.

Cade Metz is the editor of Wired Enterprise. Got a NEWS TIP related to this story -- or to anything else in the world of big tech? Please e-mail him: cade_metz at wired.com.

Read more by Cade Metz

Follow @cademetz on Twitter.

Source: WIRED

Northeasterners Find the City Less Discriminatory

By K Shiva Shanker | ENS - HYDERABAD   Published: 02nd February 2014 07:55 AM

Kevin Panmei from Northeast who lives in Hyderabad | Express Photos

Natives of North-eastern states living in the city say that they face discrimination even here, however,  it is much less here when compared to other states.

Around 800 students and employees from Kuki community and approximately 300 from Nagaland stay in the city besides people from other North-eastern states.

A day after a student from Arunachal Pradesh was beaten up in Delhi which led to his death, Express spoke to the students from north-east, who are either pursuing studies or are working here.

“I stayed in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai before coming to the city. We face discrimination everywhere and we are treated as foreigners in our country. Even here, people from North-east are discriminated against, they call us names, but fortunately it is far less compared to other states. People are warm and welcoming here. I hope the situation becomes better” said Francis O Haokip, president of Kuki Students’ Organisation, Hyderabad.

He added that when such incidents of discrimination or victimisation take place, speedy justice will bring them some comfort and confidence.

“In addition if people from other communities support us during such incidents, it will be of support to us,” Francis said. He said for cultural festivals or other programmes of the community which are organised in the city, they invite localites so that they get senitised to their culture.

“During our orientation program, we ask students who are new to the city to speak to people from other communities and not to alienate themselves from others,” added Francis.

Corroborating the opinion, a native of Meghalaya who works in the city said that an increasing number of students from North-east choose to shift to southern part of India. “Some people do go to Delhi, but it is because they do not have an option. If given a chance, they will shift to southern states like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,” he said.

However, he pointed out that women from the states are discriminated and physically abused in the interior parts of the city. “Auto drivers and youngsters misbehave with women from the north-east. Sometimes, it becomes very disgusting” he said.

“People come and ask me if I am from Malaysia or Indonesia, it might be because of my looks. But I don’t think I need to get upset over this,” said Kevin Panmei who lives in the city.

Speaking about her experience of staying in the city, Gabriela Chongloi, a student at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, said, “Being a woman and having experienced Delhi for about a year, I find Hyderabad way better and safer. Here, I personally have never faced any serious ethnic discrimination apart from being looked at out of curiosity. But what irks me is when kids call me Chinese or Japanese. They should have been taught better”.

Source: The New Indian Express