Diplomacy at its Worst.

Why This Double Standard?

Whole our life we have felt this double standard in every walk of life.

Take for example the Government.
Why the public can not get answers straight from the shoulder?
Why there is run around attitude? Why there is secrecy?

For example solar energy. When satellite is launched in the space,
it gets its power from solar energy. There are solar energy batteries
provided in the satellite, that get charged and supply power in the
functioning of the satellite.

Why the information about use of solar energy was not released for public knowledge?
In the entire world over, street lights road lights are provided by solar energy,
street lamps and road lights. India can not do it. It is very expensive to replace the existing lamp posts.

Computers and Internet existed during the second world war. Its use was
restricted for war purposes and for exchange of war messages.
It was put for public benefit after many years.

Take for example the big business houses. They conduct inside trading and made
billions of INR. We have no access to it. It is a privilege of a certain class of people.

Take for example the telephones. Before 20 years, for getting a temporary telephone connection, one had to have a link with the minister and the ministry. Any common man
can not get it. Similarly take the example of car phones in the nineties. It was the privilege of a few party workers and VIPs to avail it. Common man was deprived of it.
Thank God now that telephones are available like cutlery items in the shops.

In the field of medicine, many life saving research exist. They are not released.
Everywhere the Government comes in the way of the public sharing the same benefit.

Observing Silence.

Series146


Importance of Observing Silence.

“Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime, observed Monday
as the day of his observing silence. He spoke nothing at all
for one day and observed silence. He believed that keeping
himself silent was a way to bring order to the Mind.”

If circumstances required the Mahatma to convey something, he would
write it on a paper.

No talking for 24 hours is an impossible job
unless one has an iron will and steel determination to observe silence.

No talking is extra hard for regular people who are talkative.
People are seen to talk about almost anything and everything,
Including baseball, basketball, cricket, music, movies, politics
and anything under the sky.

In reality, if one has to shut up for five minutes, it is very difficult, if
not impossible. You will feel the top of your head about to explode.
People keep talking for the sake of talking so that their presence may be felt.
He feels by talking he is in charge of the situation. It is sort of like behaving
like a police officer out in the middle of the traffic.

After passing a full day of silence, your mind will enable you to
speak the right words. Your small words uttered in a routine way will
sound to others as orders. Every word you speak counts.
Choose power words.
Singing is not talking.
We can sing together.
We can not talk together.
Silence is golden.
Silence is eloquent.

Too much of talking drives the other people crazy.
Do we call ourselves civilized?
We would project as a miserable aimless directionless mob.
When we are together in a procession, we do not shout, wave,
yell and hoot at friends who are passer-by.
At a meeting we do not whisper and giggle and point out and wave
and laugh at our silly jokes.
And when we are together at the lunch table, it is not free-for-all
festival to blab. Lunch is a time to sit and be quiet and eat.

Your Horoscope.

Horoscope

The Stars and Planets impel. They do not compel.
What does compel is the force of your will.
Astrology helps to get in control of it.

Astrology is necessary, not because it reveals what is happening,
But rather astrology illuminates what is already in store for you.

Planetary forces are like waves of an ocean. They can bring about,
movements, tension, and dynamic turn of events in your life.
It is up to you where you let them take you. It is not a story of your
fate or the pre-determined future.

Astrology is a key to a creative, disciplined and more meaningful life.

With the available latitude of your place of birth and time of birth,
the astrologer engages himself in mathematical calculations. He refers to the
astronomical charts and he prepares your horoscope.

The astrologer calculates the relationships of the planets and its effect,
An astrologer can predict special facts about your life.
Each of these planets represent a specific energy field.
All the planets are confined in a tabular chart to study their energy field.

Every person has his destiny shaped and fixed long before the body came into being.
Each individual has the energies reflected as per the placements of the planets.
The astrological chart is the sum total of potentialities of your life.

See the oceans. The moon rules the ocean tides. There are up and downs
as per the lunar vibrations. In the same manner our lives are governed by the movement of the planets.

Fast Money.

Exchange Traded Funds. (ETFs)
How Times Have Changed?
Forget All That America Does Is Good.

US stocks for the last five years are on a decline.
This is uncommon since great depression of 1929.

Some Basic Reality.

In 1970 US Stock represented 2/3 of World’s Equity Market.
In 2009 US Stock represented 1/3 of World’s Equity Market.

Giant Companies based out of USA, dominate World’s major Industries
including Cars and Electronics.

8 out of 10 Automobile Companies are located out of USA.
8 out of 10 Electronics Companies are located out of USA.

China and Japan have largest economy after USA.
China and Japan companies have low correlation with US Companies
than European Stocks.

An Investor achieves greater diversification benefits by Investing
in China Japan and India.

The fulcrum of economy has shifted from USA
to China Japan and India.

21st Century belongs to Asia.
20th Century belonged to USA.
19th Century belonged to Europe.

Lizards in Pants.

Wild Life.


Man Caught at Air Port with 44 Lizards in his Pants.
In New Zealand , a German stuffed 44 small lizards into his underwear before trying to board a flight has been sentenced to prison for plundering the country's protected species.
He will spend 14 weeks behind bars and must pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ($3,540) fine before being deported to Germany as soon as he is released.
He was caught by wildlife officials at Christchurch International Airport on South Island in December, about to board an overseas flight with 44 geckos and skinks in a hand-sewn package concealed in his underwear
He admitted trading in exploited species without a permit and hunting absolutely protected wildlife without authority, pleading guilty to two charges under the Wildlife Act and five under the Trade in Endangered Species Act.
He could have faced maximum penalty of NZ$500,000 ($355,000) and six months in prison.
The geckos may have been worth 2,000 euros ($2,800) each on the European market.
He had also been to New Zealand in 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2009. In 2008, he had been with a Swiss reptile dealer.

Flu-the Maladie.

The Swine Flu Scam.


Flu Scare was a Hoax.
The Giant Pharmaceutical Companies spread it.
World Health Organisation is involved.
World Government’s Health Care fund grabbed by these Giants.


The Giant Pharmaceutical Companies of the World
have so grown Big that they have taken the form of Monsters.
They can influence the USA Europe and Indian – in short all world
Governments.

If we examine, how these Pharmaceutical companies turned so,
we have not to go far to find it. The politics of the country is responsible for it.

They have turned so big that they have influenced the World Health Organization.
The WHO accepted the lapse that they made a great hue and cry about Swine Flu.
World Countries were scared in the name of Swine Flu so that the multi-national
Pharmaceutical companies of the world could make billions of bucks by selling flu-shots.

The WHO projected this Flu as Giant Killer of about 150 million victims of flu and all the Governments in the world were compelled to order purchase of flu shots, disrupting
their health care budgets. In reality deaths due to this Flu as reported is around 20,000 only.

The world countries have now realised that these giants were interested to sell out their
product by terrorising the world countries regarding the projected outbreak of flu epidemic. They have their lobbyists influencing the WHO with huge sums in the name of R&D.

Swami Vivekanand.

Series156

Swamy Vivekanand. (Narendranath Dutt)

“It is not important how much long you live,
It is important how much you give to the world.”

He lived for 39 years.
He was a devout disciple of Swamy Ramakrishna.
He asked his Swamy if he had seen God.
His Guru said “Yes.”
He believed in his Guru. No further arguments.
He joined the team of Guru’s followers.

He visited last point at Rameshvaram. He swam the sea.
He sat on a lonely piece of stone in the midst of the sea.
He meditated. He achieved Divine Knowledge.
He returned to Madras. He toured the entire country.
He practised sermons for the uplift of the poor and the down-trodden.
He was sent to Chicago, USA.
He sailed in May 1895. He reached Chicago in July 1895.
In Chicago, his lectures made history.
He addressed the Americans as ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ a new thing to them.
He returned to India and involved himself in the service of the poor.
Ramakrisna Mission sells his sermons in different languages.
He died at an age of 39.

Adam and Eve.

Adam Vs. Eve.

A Woman seeks a Tiger in her Man.

Forewarned is Fore-armed.
A woman wishes a Tiger in her life.
They will not admit. That is the beauty of it.
They will deny and deny. No is no negative in a girl’s mouth.
That is the beauty of it. They can offend and will make up at their pleasure.


She wavers, she hesitates; in a word, she is a woman.
They win the battle of love mostly at college level in their play-fields.
Seeing is believing. Gold and woman attract everyone.
Girls pull the boys to them as a nail is pulled by a magnet.
What we anticipate seldom occurs, what we least expect happens.
The Boy is hooked, booked and cooked.

As unto the Bow is the Cord,
So unto the Man is the Woman.
Though She bends Him; She obeys Him.
Though She draws Him; She follows Him.
Useless Each other without Each.

Mumbai belongs to All.

MUMBAI.
Mumbai, Aamchi Mumbai.
“Hell is a city much like Mumbai,
populous, smoky but none say goodbye.”

The financial hub of the country is slipping in rank.
Bangalore, Hyderabad has achieved sizable progress.
Mumbai seems in reverse gear. It is fading.
There is no shine, no lustre in this city.
It looks like ruins whose glory is a matter of past.

Mumbai was destined to be the financial hub of South Asia.
It would compete with Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila Colombo etc.
Mumbai has to compete with Dubai. Mumbai needs infrastructure.
Politics has come in the way of development of Mumbai.
The politicians are responsible for breaking Mumbai.
The politics of the country is selfish and self-centered.
National interest is sacrificed to achieve their personal gains.
The local trains run jam packed on hundred year old track.
Disaster management is on paper.
When disaster comes, the same age old history repeats.
Industries, Textiles mills and other trade giants have shifted.
Mumbai contributed 15% of the GDP of the country.
Its place is now taken by Hyderabad Bangalore, Surat etc.

Unless some drastic measures are taken, Mumbai will fade into oblivion.
Every Lion of Mumbai has to come forth from the den. There are many serpent and
Many untoward elements have taken over the affairs of Mumbai in their hands. Mumbai is slipping.

Under the Nagpada police station, there are innumerable, open-house of ill-fame. Such cheap sex has tarnished the holy image of the Indian woman. Is there any Son-of-Mumbai who dares to demolish them? And give the poor innocent village girls involved in this trade some place to live by with respect and dignity?

There are all types of Big As, Big Bs and all Bigs A to Z, who got rich in Mumbai.
Mumbai made them rich and famous. What are Salman, SRK Hritik, Lata Asha Amir Rehman, Reshamia Kapadia and Sachin doing? What miss World, and Miss Universe and other celebrities doing? There are Tata, Ambanis and many others who made billions and more. There film actors and artists of other field who got fame and money in Mumbai. There are religious Heads, Political parties. It is their job to undertake to
Remove the Bhindi Bazaar, Grant road areas of red-light. Let them come forward?
At least with their efforts, Mumbai shall get a face-lift.


In the world over, the west media shows how cheap the Indian woman is by picturising the streets of the red-light areas of Mumbai. Take a lesson from this and do something at least for their sake?

The time is passing. The lowest, vilest lewd streets of Nagpada present a dreadful record of worst ever seen crimes, sins and murders. Such incidents never come to light. They are nipped in the bud. All know. None speak.

In fact, all streets of Mumbai have been crime-affected. The streets of Colaba, Kamatipura, Shuklaji street, Tardev AC Market, Plaza may be the bye-product of prosperity but they carry a label of blood thirsty cruelty, and pornography prevailing in each and every shop, hotel, bar and dance club of Mumbai.

For Mumbaikars, East is East and West is Best. They are a race. They are not mere inhabitants of Mumbai. They are its life. But untoward elements have tarnished the image of Mumbai and earned a bad name for the entire population dwelling in it.

A Mumbaikar, all his life jumps into a local after it has started. He jumps out of the train
before it stops. He never, even once, gets left behind. He does not break his leg. It is an art. It is difficult. All can not do it.

Mumbai is a crucible- the great melting pot, where all out of state people, have melted and got reformed. It is their duty to take the lead, and do something for Mumbai!

In Mumbai, there is every nook and corner temples of different deity. They have to take
the responsibility. Temples have been a source of income. The Religious Heads have to come forward and take part in the process of city welfare.

My Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa.

SHE is as beautiful as a Hollywood star.
Her thick, wavy, long black hair gracefully falls down
to her shoulders and encircles her oval-shaped face.
A golden suntan usually brings out her smooth,
clear complexion and high cheek bones.
Her slightly arched brown eyebrows highlight her emotions
by moving up and down as she reacts to her world around her.
Her large deep eyes, remind me of a lake on a stormy day.
Her curved nose gives her a little girl look that makes
me want to smile when she talks.
And her mouth is gift of Venus, a mouth outlined by thin lips
that she need not accentuates with glossy pink lipstick.
When she smiles, which is often, her well formed and even,
white teeth brighten up her whole face.
I guess you can tell that I am mad about her.

Ship Breaking- a Lucrative Business.

SHIP BREAKING YARDS.

At the end of their sailing life, ships vessels and floating structures are sold as scrap
for their steel.
Greece is the place where auction of such ships takes place.
A ship for breaking is sold ordinarily between two to five million US dollars.
The Principal purchaser are generally shaikhs in Dubai.
They buy such ships for ship-breaking, making payment in US dollars.
Such ships are sent to ship-breaking yards-say Alang ship-breaking yard, Bombay, Sachana etc. In India they have their syndicate in New Delhi runs this business.
The Syndicate pays the Principal in kind by exporting equivalent valued foodstuffs butter cheese,grains pulses-in short everything as indented by the Principal.
After fulfilling customs formalities ship-breaking takes place
in under-developed countries Bangladesh, Pakistan India China etc.
Such ship breaking activity turns our green good sea-beach into dirty graveyards.
Such ships brought for ship-breaking also contain hazardous materials like asbestos lead paint,PCBs (polyclorinated biphenyls) in engine oils.
During the process of scrapping hazardous
poisonous gas is found released in the environment.
Every year about 700 such ship
are taken out of actual sea-faring and put into auction for scrapping.

About 300 such ships account for our share in ship-breaking
approximately. Such ships ordinarily
travel under flag of convenience available at cheap
rates from countries like Panama, Malta
Cyprus etc. Ship masters have the right to sail under any flag they choose.
Ships are registered in
such countries where rules are not strict.
Shipping companies and ship-owners remain incognitio-their origin
can not be traced. Everything is done by
petty contractors middlemen etc.
They make huge profits from selling such old ships but do not bear
the burden of undertaking a follow-up clean break-up of the ship. Here they raise their hands.

The International Maritime Organization has issued clear cut
guidelines for follow up action till
completion of the breaking process by the sellers of such old
vessels. In our country, the Hon'ble
Apex Court of India rendered yeoman's service
by issuing guidelines on lines of the IMO plus
the Lordships have also issued directives that
prevents dumping of hazardous wastes in the country,
and the ship has also to be delivered with 'gas free for hot
works' certificate as per Indian Laws.
Their Lordships have stressed that the Basel Convention
was applicable to export of such ships to
our country as it amounts to one and the same thing
like export of hazardous materials to our country;
and that 'gas-free for hot work' should be made compulsary
for the ship owner and that no ship be given
permission to beach unless such certificate is produced.
Any explosion irrespective of the certificate
should result in cancellation of the plot holder's licence
and the Explosives Inspector prosecuted.
The Pollution Control Board has issued instructions
to observe the said precautions. It has
also directed to remove asbestos and other hazardous
waste on board of the ship and store it
at a landfill in the hinterlands adjacent to the ship-breaking
yards. This directive is uncalled for
as it does not address the illegalities of import of such
hazardous wastes into the shipbreaking
yards. Many agencies have visited the shipbreaking
yards of Alang, Bombay to monitor environmental
pollution. Syndicates have very long hands and everything
has remained on paper.

There is complete ban on diamond polishing in the western
countries being hazardous to health.
They send all their diamonds for trimming polishing shining to
underdeveloped countries. There is
complete ban on manufacture of synthetic organic dyestuffs
being hazardous to the environment.
Such SODyes are manufactured in India.
They import it from India. Pollution Control Board and Courts
have issued innumerable guidelines but they are of no avail.
Time is now ripe for public awakening.

At a little distance from Alang, at Pipavav, the Japan Car
manufacturing company financed the Delhi
syndicate for establishing a modern ship breaking yard.
This ship-breaking yard is now ready but
it is delayed for want of last minute green signal from the
Government. As per arrangement, every year
Japan renders 200 vessels for scrapping.
These vessels would be scrapped at Pipavav. The cut steel
would go Japan for use in their automobile plants.
This arrangement was done during the Congress
regime between 1985 to 90. Now that this party has
come to power, it will be shortly commissioned.
In short it is time now to enforce the directives issued
by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. In Japan
their Government have refused permission to establish
a ship-breaking yard in Japan sea-waters. India
welcomes everything. This state of affairs has to stop now.

Frank Admission.

SOME HIDE. SOME SPEAK.SOME ENDURE. BUT IT IS THERE.
After passing some years of married life, man considers himself mal-adjusted.
Thereafter, he carries on life like one, who carries weight on his back for the
sake of a job to carry load. There is an under-current of dissatisfaction,
jealousy, frustration, showing on his face. He feels hankering,
a sense of waste of life etc. With many it remains a guarded secret.
It goes with him in the grave. None speak.
Take for example the life of a Prince.
He is married to the most beautiful princess.
In the life of the Prince also this type of frustration is foremost.
This is true with respect to all famous people.
This is true with respect to famous ladies. They feel much.
Take for example the life of a princess.
She is married to the most worthy eligible bachelor of the society.
In the life of the princess, too, this type of frustration is foremost.
This is true in respect of both the genders.
The woman feels the same after some years of married life.
There is a sense of dissatisfaction, frustration showing in her attitude.
She feels that she were outmatched. That she deserved better.
Every one feels him/her fooled or think it would have been better to stay single.
They hide. None speak. They endure. But it is there. That is life. So do not grumble.

Legal Profession.

TAKE A SNEAK PEEK INTO LEGAL PROFESSION.
Take any profession. For gaining mastery over a particular profession, academic qualification with high degree of University is not sufficient. This is the theoretical aspect. Educational qualification is a license, entry-pass to enter a particular profession. After achieving it, the real journey of experience starts. Practical ways, methods, code, ethics of a profession are different from the ideological lessons given in University courses. Life is a road of thorns, ups and downs. The up-hill journey begins now. Many compromises have to be made.
The profession is run on likes and dis-likes. You have to have your own circle, a group to survive in a particular profession where the life is full of uncertainties and worries. Survival of the fittest is the rule in every profession. It is a rat-race. You have to be much more than your colleague. Result oriented methods prove helpful in your elevation to the point of a recognised professional.
For the first ten years, ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration has to be shed by every professional. Within next twenty years, the ratio of inspiration and perspiration gets swapped. Now the real life begins. You are at the top. Do not remain under an illusion. You have to remain there. How to remain there is the crux of the real professional caliber.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
In the field of legal profession, you have to prove yourself on every occasion. Every day is a one-day match. You have to win. You can not afford to lose. You have to be in the good books of the Judge by your knowledge, sincerity and punctuality. You have to serve your client. You have to see that justice is done. It is a triangular conflict in which you have to steer out yourself with tact and hard-work. Your future, your life depends on your performance. You have to fight like a warrior on a battle-field. After long experience, you learn that your mind has to be set for the legal profession. Mind set for legal profession is seen in hereditary generation of lawyers than a new entrant with no legal heritage.
It is not easy for every one to walk in and claim to be lawyer, for practicing the law in the Superior Courts. You have to be up-to date on subject wise authorities. You have to assist the court. You have to listen to your client. You have to find ways and means and arrange strategy to achieve your goal. Legal profession is like a jealous mistress which does not allow you to live normal life with your family. You have to sacrifice social functions and family obligations to be a successful lawyer.
You are a student to learn something new in the legal jugglery of words every day . Since Hamurbi's time, in the name of administration of law, everything has been done which otherwise could never be done. The kings, the rulers the governments wielded enough power to control its people in the name of administration of law and justice. It is accepted that Rule of Law is the crux of social existence. Without the existence of the rule of law, our society would turn into a lawless jungle of beasts.
JUDGING THE JUDGES.
The rich and the powerful could do anything and everything as they wished. But at the same time, it is also true that the law right from the investigation stage to the verdict stage has to be flawless. It gets tainted by time it reaches the hands of the judge. This can be done by strict supervision and scrutiny, process of monitoring.
The process is exploited, facts are mis-recorded, misinterpreted twisted and turned by the mighty and the rich with reference to politics related people. They exploit the system to serve their selfish ends. In many cases it is seen that the law does not touch the wealthy and the mighty. Their lawyers twist turn misread the provisions of law to serve their ends. They escape from the clutches of law.
The law enforcement and law administration are two brothers who have to work in harmony and synthesis and are complimentary to each other instead of finding faults with each other. Some lawyers mis-interpret the law in their favour. They sell the law.
The Courts have turned into helpless spectators of being witness to such frauds of justice. This has turned out to be a day to day affair. Faulty investigations, intimacy with the criminals, facilities to the criminals in jails are a routine matter. In the Bombay jail, the criminal is attending a moojrah night at a reputed place. In his place in the jail there is a dummy, duplicate fellow. If there was a checking, everything would look in order as per the head-count. They spend money like water. They get what they want. This has to be stopped.
The above are a few isolated cases cited about the abuse of the process of the law. The present arrangement is the only available workable and on the whole satisfactory system in existence. With the coming of computers, it is hoped the method would still improve and not only justice will be done but it will appear that justice is done.
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Important Sites.

There is perhaps no other country that offers a wider
variety of places of visit than the United States. The
Historic Landmarks, Natural Wonders and Great Cities stretch
from coast to coast. It contains a wide spectrum of landscapes
from snow capped Mountains to Deserts teeming with life and
dramatic rock formations to two great Oceans.

Important Sites.

Art and Culture.
www.artresources.com
www.nga.gov
www.rockhall.com
Education.
www.carolhurst.com
www.patersons.com
www.teachers.net
Theater and Films.
www.4theatre.com
www.ew.com
www.hollywood.com
www.ifilm.com
www.pathfinder.com
Business.
www.armchairmillionaire.com
www.morningstar.com
www.sec.gov
www.smartmoney.com
World News.
www.cnn.com
www.worldnews.com
Languages
www.travelang.com
Government
www.whitehouse.gov
Miscellaneous
www.ancestry.com

This is Life.

THIS IS LIFE.
MAN SERVES HIS USEFULNESS UP TO AN AGE.
MAN FEELS HIS USELESSNESS AFTER AN AGE.
THEN THE QUESTION ARISES ABOUT QUITTING.
HOW TO QUIT IS THE PROBLEM OF THE DAY.
NOBODY WANTS AN AGED MAN AROUND.
NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR WHAT YOU SAY.
NOBODY WANTS TO DO WHAT YOU SAY.
ALL WANT TO DO WHAT THEY PLEASE.
NOBODY LIKES AN AGED MAN AROUND.
YOUR PRESENCE UNNERVES THEM.
YOUR PRESENCE IRRITATES THEM.
THERE ARE SOME WAYS YOU CAN QUIT.
YOU MAY RENOUNCE THE WORLD.
YOU MAY LIVE A SECLUDED LIFE.
YOUR HEALTH IS NOT IN YOUR SAY.
YOUR MIND IS ALSO NOT IN YOUR SAY.
YOUR BODY PARTS ARE WITHERING.
YOUR BODY MACHINERY IS FADING.
THERE IS NO STRENGTH LEFT IN YOU.
THERE IS NO WILL TO LIVE LEFT IN YOU.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

White Collar Crimes.

White-collar crimes.

In the field of white-collar crimes, they have no real names.
They are known as Bhai, Kaka, Boss, Don,ChaCha, Munna, Pundit,Munim. Before setting out on a mission, they also check the auspicious time, pray etc. They know they are destined to be caught one day. They also know the end is always tragic.

Silence is golden. Silence is eloquent. They follow this dictum well. Omerta is the Cicilian Law of silence for the underworld. In this trade, it is seen that all arrangement is done with farsightedness, premeditated planning efficiency and secrecy. Every individual involved, right from carriers drivers middle-men- they are all well-trained. They
are tutored to remain dumb, silent when caught. They do not utter a word. It is impossible to penetrate into their silence. They do not break the vow, an oath they have been
administered to reveal nothing if caught. Perhaps they know the last smallest person. They may not know who is the main boss. They only know Bhai is all-powerful. His hands are long. The silence protects the identity of the main characters involved, their lieutenants, the brains behind it, the lawyers,etc. It is an organisation.

Any number of consignments may be seized.
The Bhai remains disassociated. This disconnection saves them. The officers do not get a handle, any lead, to proceed further. The trouble is that if any high-handedness is done to get the lead, there are elements, agencies media, Human Rights, who are very much aware; they are very much
conscious, they are very much concerned about civil-rights of the smugglers, than the interest of the Government. What to do? They make a hue and cry against the Government.


It is helpful to fill the place with plainclothes officers, give them the mandate to mix with the masses and collect intelligence. There are certain groups. They are
specialised in landing, transporting, storing, disposing such goods. Bust them; Confiscate their pagers, their cell-phones,search them for evidence.
Give information to the press media with their names nature of things and other details. This will scare them. They are afraid of being exposed in public. They are among us.
The public has also to co-operate. They have to be realist. Government works for them. The public need to be told plainly.

In Bombay all rejoiced. It was the twentyfourth Independence day. He was YashwantRao Chavan. On 26th June, he had taken over as the Union Finance Minister.
The year was 1970. In Bombay one woman asked him at a gathering.
"Will you bring down prices?" "Things are very dear-costly."
He replied in Marathi, meaning like this. "'Tai, I am no magician. Do not dream. We can never bring back, buy things at old prices. Prices are bound to go high every day." FM had anger at the tip of his nose.
We need plain speaking leaders who talk to the people in their language. Mamta will be more effective in convincing the People than the Harvard lot, who sell dreams. They cannot hypnotise the masses.
The people are poor. They are masses. China faces the same problem. How to educate the masses? In China films are made, depicting green trees coming as ghosts, chasing people who cut green trees. Anyone who saw this film
would never cut the green trees. Our film makers have no other subject except hero-heroines running around the green trees, singing songs.

Public Institutions have withered. Alone Government cannot do everything. All have to come forward. All have to contribute in the direction of Nation building. Where is that spirit of pre-independence era? Where are all those
slogan-shouting people? Where are all those lady social workers who moved in the streets with Tri-Ranga in their hands and shouting at the top of their voice?
Where is that atmosphere of "Doing -or- Dying" for the Country? India is slipping. Dreams were sold to the People of India. Eleven Five Year Plans are formulated.
People were shown Moon in their palm. What is the outcome of all that money, that People paid as taxes -invested, in the name of future prosperity? - to see, experience
the present day Chaos? Whom we have to hold accountable? We. Ourselves. None-else.
We believed in them. We are responsible. AlMighty may save us. AlMighty Does Good. He may save the country.

You've Mail.

You Have Mail.

Life in the Fast Lane?
To survive in fast lane, you need skill and luck. Life is a ladder. It begins with stages.
To reach in fast lane, you have to master expertise in maneuvering and staying in lane at steady speed alert like hawk with eyes in front of road; shifting from mirror to mirror and back to road; keeping right foot ready to step back from gas to brake in fraction of a second. You have to keep an alert mind, swift leg movement in harmony like reflex action registering alarm, automatically lifting foot shifting towards brakes to save life.
You have to communicate with others your intentions before undertaking any maneuvering. You have to anticipate such an act from others to avert an accidental mishap.
Proper management of time space and alertness will minimize risk of life.
Ignorance is no excuse. Expect the unexpected. This principal applies in life.
Train Sixth sense. This sixth sense is luck as we say it. Hearing feeling and seeing have to be developed by constant lessons and practicing.
It is not a feeling to get by itself. It is a must to survive. Make feeling a must.
99% of us have a feeling but they do not master it. Desiring is one feeling and having it is one reality. You need luck.
Law of nature is Might is Right.
Man was a form of an ape long before walking on four legs crores of years ago when land on earth was one continent.
Due to earthquakes one land got divided into sub- continents with sea waters filling the gap in between. Millions of years ago continents got formed.
Strange it may seem, the Indians were the first to leave India to explore the world-view.
They traveled north up and up, upped Siberia. From Siberia they crossed over the Bering strait and migrated to Alaska.
It was in India that Civilizations began. The four legged ape man stood on his two legs upright and gazed at the large sea lying ahead making difficult to reach the other part of the divided continent. It was from India that the human race set out to conquer the world.
It is time now to pay a visit to our motherland that inspired all this. It will be a reminder that beauty has never forsaken this great land.
Do not forget it, for here is the world of your mind body and soul, a place where you will renew these three; where sky melts into sea, sea into sand, and sand of Goa beach melts in you.
Meet people on your terms.
When it is good, it is good; when it is bad, it is better. Don’t be dis-heartened.
It is fear itself that you have to fear of and nothing else.
You had enough of craze of hard currency. You have now known that it is futile.
Come back to motherland.
Forget the lanes. Take u-turn-home. Prodigal has returned! Mother waits for you.

Tax Dodging.

Large-scale evasion of taxes

The DRI, ante-evasion sleuths have to assess to duty, the country's different manufacturing giants,
importers- exporters who are reported to be involved in the form of mis-description of goods and
involved in large-scale irregularities resulting in loss of revenue to the tune of millions of rupees. The
sales, import-export records, a parallel secret records, when minutely seen would reveal astonishing
facts. According to unconfirmed reports available, it is estimated that contraband goods comprised of
forty present of the country's market during the period of last ten years. In the past the giant companies
were involved in delicate assessment issues like inclusion of value of primary secondary packages used
for packaging, in the value of the goods for the purpose of assessment to duty. It was at the relevant time
criticized that the Government was ignoring the plea of 'presence of presumption of innocence' in the issue.
Ultimately the Courts had to decide the issue fifty-fifty, in favor of the manufacturers and the Government.
The citizens are required to pay their tax to the rupee, and so we have to make sure that there is a sense of
equity. The untoward elements have not to worry about starving, freezing, or working in the heat like so many
of our citizens. They have their own group, club gatherings, discussions over sumptuous dinners and drinks,
etc. They would rather golf, than think. Because they want to forget what they have been doing. They were bent
upon the pursuit of money and pleasure at any cost. They caused the chaos- a handful of them. They are among us.
We owe it to our future generations to let them know the truth. Some groups of people managed to ruin our country
so completely that we have no other legacy to give to our children except poverty and dis-order of the day. Genuine
businessmen suffered, they could not stand in competition with the syndicates. People feel today, left, flat, dry, drained
and desperate. A country of a billion people is still without infrastructure, without proper housing facilities, without
education, without any direction, filled of poverty. Ten Five Year Plans have brought prosperity to a few selected groups-
and not to the people for whom they were meant. Imagine the huge plan outlay of one Five Year Plan; like that Ten Five
Year Plans; and the result? nothing. Who is responsible? No stock-taking was done. No post-mortem of the expenditure
was done. In fact at the end of every Five Year Plan, there should have been a breathing time of one year to think in
retrospect as to what was gained and what was left undone. There was a mad rush at the end of the first Plan to start
the other- a hay-day for them all, at the expense of the people of this country. We were spectators to this game for a
period of fifty-years. Now when the horse is stolen, they talk of locking the stable. Why do you worry about the empty
stable? Why don't you run to find the horse? Why don't you find those who stole the horse?

We need today the leaders like Sardar Patel. GB Pant, LB Shastri, Kairon,Kamraj Dr.BCRoy, YBChavan to take us out
of the present mess. This is no time to fight for leadership. Every one is a leader and people will appreciate his/her
services to the Nation. There is set, to-day, an atmosphere to save what is left. Do not disturb it. Give it a
chance for a period of full-term. The States have bankrupted themselves and have been running the administration
by way of over-drafts. Where are our natural resources? Where is the income from Forestry, Mines Coals agriculture?
State Governments collect millions in taxes by way of road tax vehicle taxes insurance charges sales tax and what not?
Emergency measures are the need of the day for discipline by the States. Municipalities and Panchayats collect entry-tax,
taxes on houses and what not? Where is an end of all this? The states have been running innumerable boards commissions
inquiry- matters of cases which have lost significance. Every MLA who could not get a seat as a minister is adjusted
as a Chairman of the Boards specially created to include them. All have jointly and collectively and severally left no
opportunity unturned to siphon public money under one pretext or the other. We have a Crisis. The crisis is dragged,
kicked, tossed farther and farther by taking short-term measures in the form of patches, and like keeping them alive on
oxygen and providing more money to keep them alive. The truth is bound to come out. Do something to stop this vicious
circle that has gripped the country today. Such delaying tactics is no solution to the calamity that has befallen. God save
this country.
The two opposition blocks have to play a constructive role. The Congress has the maximum seats and plus a support of a
large group of a party. Now the opposition should not corner the Government on agitation issues. You have to find something;
not this day to day hulla-gulla, crowd and morchas and bandhs and strikes and all sorts of tactics to harass the ruling
party. You have to behave. Indian Parliament is 55 years old. But the standard of their devotion to parliament is deteriorating.
Where are the old parliamentarians today who were our idols? Hung Parliament is the concept of the day.

China and India.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border”—Hu Shih, 20th Century scholar.
“It doesn’t matter if it is a black cat or a white cat,” said Deng. “As long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.”
Just consider the following:
• China has foreign exchange reserves totaling almost $2.2 trillion, double the next largest holder, Japan.
• The number of cars driven in China doubles every three years.
• China is the world’s largest producer of coal, steel and cement.
• Twenty of the world’s fastest growing cities are all in China.
• China manufactures two-thirds of all the world’s photocopiers, microwave ovens, DVD players and shoes.
• Starbucks predicts that sometime next year it will have more cafes in China than in the U.S.
• China is the world’s second largest defense spender (behind the USA).

The Tall Maiden.

THE TALL MAIDEN.
Forbidden love thrills the lovers. She married Willie on an impulse. She married for security and safety. She wanted a big name. The Mayor's family was famous. And She?
Indeed she was poor. She had no ancestral heritage. Mr.Hubert, her father was a high School teacher. He spent his life in educating the children. He reared his own four kids with good traits of life. He was a gentleman of the yester-years, moody and good. He was a disciple of Dickens and had the tenderness of a poet for nature. He liked wandering in the fields. He loved life in woods and was fond of all sorts of animals. Of a high family, by birth, he hated his life as a school teacher. He was a philosopher by temperament and liberal by education. His strength or his weakness, was his kind-heartedness, which had not the power to put into effect a cherished goal in life of luxuries for his family. He was a man of theory. He had planned to educate his children to the end, so that they may lead a helpful luxurious life.
She was not a millionaire. She was the school-teacher's lovely daughter, who had a foreign-look. Her voice sounded at first meeting, slightly sharp but her frank and fearless laugh was quite natural which spread joy around her. She did not belong to this place. Boys in the class, senior boys of other class, neighbors, all were owed, went half-creaked about her. Her figure, her shape her frame, her voice, her walk was her capital. She was the uncrowned queen. All others were her subject. Often she would raise her hands to her temples to arrange her hair. Such a simple gesture provoked the near by-standers to a great extent. That is her charm.
She could be easily called distinguished looking. Mother Nature endowed her with dark brown eyes, and gold-like shining hair; a strange combination, that provoked men’s' attention. The full white pallor of her neck and shoulders, clothed in a light-colored gown, gave her personality an alluring strangeness.



Among the lace, in the bosom of her gown, there used to shine a five edged star locket made of eleven diamonds. It was a gift from her grandma. This was her favorite piece of ornament. She always wore it at all public functions. Some called her, the lady with the star, a lucky star!
Willie had his eyes on her since childhood. His father was the county-mayor. The mayor represented the school board. He used to visit her house as a pupil for tuition. He had no mind for studies. He was more interested in extra-curricular activities, outing and moving in company of other boys.
He, under one pretext or the other, was found hovering near the vicinity of the teacher's house. When he was small, he used to boast around that he would marry no-one-else but her. He was crack about her. She was not willing. She took it as a joke to hear about it. She had an eye for a millionaire and a dignitary. He had no courage to open his mouth in front of her about other affairs. In her presence, he was seen as shy and reserved. He hardly could speak a few words.
As years passed by, they advanced in age. She made excuses and family reasons when he invited her out for a social gathering. This did not deter him from a prolonged hope. In all, she happened to refuse him five times out of many such an occasion. This topic came under discussion at every meeting. They were doomed from the start. Her refusals, denials meant nothing to him.
“Where the two debate and deliberate, love is slight,
Whoever, loved, loved not at first sight? “
He lost no opportunity to be with her and propose. In reality, she never considered him as a husband. Her attitude towards him was indifferent. She did not find any extra-attraction in him. On the other hand, he was an insistent guy, never to be disappointed or disheartened by her negative-response. With every meeting with her, he found her prettier than a paint and delighted to discover that she was marvelous at entertaining and, a charming beauty at social gatherings.
He took her out at least twice or thrice in a month. Their meeting was never so exciting and warm. The pair never appeared involved in each other with dazed starry eyes. It was not a case as if they could not live a moment without each other. One Sunday, he took her to his home and introduced her to his family including the mayor. They liked and approved her as a life partner for him. For a long time, she resisted his blandishment and continued to play her own way by silence, disinterested look, when she was required to react positively.
He was a dogged fellow. He regularly suggested her to marry him. There were series of excuses on her part. She did not commit anything. His joyous mood used to turn gloomy after every encounter with her. He was at his wits ends. Life went on like this for a few years. The same attitude continued on both sides. He was exasperated by her rigid behavior.
Finally, he thought of putting her out of his life. He projected himself, as less concerned and less interested. He behaved as if he was on a look out for some other suitable girl. He stopped entertaining her at regular interval.
She perhaps sensing this, did a volte-face, an about-turn.
At last the inevitable happened. She conveyed her interest in him through a leading lady of the mayor family. He ran to her quite shocked and moved. She brought up the topic. He could sense that she was ready for marriage. She tacitly conveyed to him that she was willing. It was apparent that her attitude was matter of fact and not love inspiring. He was blind to see it. She was desperate. She was fed-up. She wanted a change.
He: “You agree?”
She: "yes.”
She: “OK."
She: "when?"
He: "Next Sunday."
He: "At the City Church."
He: "OK?"
She: "OK."
She: "Agreed."
God smiled down on the Harris family. Well wishers and friends and families were thrilled at the news of a wedding occasion in their family. Preparations for the selection of the best man, and groomsmen for him was a matter of fast decision. Similarly on the part of the Hubert family the selection of bridesmaid, companion maids, was done by her mother from among her school friends. It was decided the couple would share the week-end of celebration with bride's family and guests at their place.
Invitations had to be sent by special messengers. The church-father was contacted. The mayor family was taken by surprise. All arrangement was made on an emergency basis. Her marriage gown was selected and many designers were placed on job to keep it ready within the fixed time. Caterers and music band were sent urgent requisition to be present. The Church and the city-hall were the venue of great activity and furor.
It was a beautiful sunny day for the wedding, a damp soil but a clear sky. They few cabs and three big school-bus for their transport. Everybody crowded in the parlor with excitement. She was still upstairs. Her father was the center-figure in his black coat and grey trousers. His voice was hearty and encouraging. His wife Ruby came down in dark-grey silk with lace and a touch of green in her bonnet. Her little body was sure and definite. She stood in the doorway, saying who must go with whom. There was a great parading going on. The main door was open. The guests walked down the garden path, while those still waiting for their turn eagerly looked on in anticipation. The first lot had gone. There was now more room.
The bride finally came down blushing and shy to be viewed in her white silk and veil. Her mother surveyed her, twitch the dress, arranged the folds of the veil and blessed her with blessing. Loud exclamation of joy and fun was heard all around.
“Where is your hat?” and “where are my gloves?”
All sorts of question and query were heard. There was chaos in the atmosphere. Everybody now had gone and the bride and her group was waiting for the car to take them to the church. A friend walked around whom she asked,
She: “Am I alright?”
She was ready. She looked majestic and queenly. She waved her hand to her father:
She: “Come here.” He goes. She puts her hand on his arm, sweeps past the row of guests down the path. There are loud shouts of joy and happiness at the gate. Her father notices her slim ankle and foot as he climbs her in the car. His heart is hard with tenderness. He felt he had pain and joy in taking her to the church. Her father sat besides her with all the surrounding strangeness, his heart felt gloomy and guilty.
The church was decorated as if it were Christmas.
At last after great furor, the would-be grooms were brought in the church in great pomp and grandeur. The ceremony opened with worship dancers who set the atmosphere as they lifted the name of the Lord on high scale. The guests were reminded in the songs that love can be expressed in many languages. It should come from the heart and that a few people wait a lifetime for this moment. Both, stood before the reverend Father. The anxious moment had come. The Reverend Father in his majestic robe and with great serenity and solemnity prepared himself to officiate for the marriage ceremony.
Against the backdrop of love and friendship,
She said: "I do."
The couple promised each other lifelong support and friendship. In the presence of about 500 guests and invitees, they were paired together in matrimony as husband and wife respectively in a colorful ceremony held in the city church.
The tempo of the ceremony was heightened, where the drummers of the famous folk-dance association provided the backdrop of the wedding rituals. The music was provided by the maestro pianist Jackson Might who specially flew with his band party to take part on the occasion.
In the cottage, in the basement of the church, big fires were burning, and there were dozens and dozens of glasses on the table, the wedding party crowded in for drinks.
The highlight of the function was the can-can dance. The choreographer had to work day and night for practice of the dance-partners.
The ceremony followed a lively get-together at the city hall. Throughout the evening the couple gracefully received the blessing and well-wishes of everybody present there. The Governor of the State, the Minister Mr. Collins and other celebrities attended the function. It also followed the usual wedding party made up of parents, close relatives and friends of both the family. The marriage celebration was a talk-of-the town for many weeks. Both the family liked to extend a big thank you to all the participants in the auspicious occasion. There was a touch of scandal in the air. People would remember the occasion for a long time to come.
At twenty, she wanted to get rid of her home. She accepted Willie because he was the youngest son of the mayor family. They were rich and famous. Her marriage with Willie would put her on a high platform in the social circle of the place. She must have thought so.
Within a few days, after her marriage, she was restless. She regretted the decision. It appeared as if Willie too realized the fact that their marriage was a mistaken step, and that there was no solution to it except to endure, and keep up a bold front in the family and the social circle at large. It seemed to be working in the beginning, but soon the reality dawned on them that they were an unfortunate pair of misfits. There was no romance, no suspense, no thrill, and no love left for each other.
After some time Willy also ended up asking himself as to what made him fall in love with such a cold ice-country princess. He spared himself another few months regretting and wishing to end up the relationship. It was an uncommon incident in the mayor family. To dream of being separated was considered immoral. It was taboo. Life dragged on again for some time. Again as time went by, both realized that their marriage was a mistake. He felt he should have seen the symptoms of her indifference right from the start. Of course, there is no way of knowing such an attitude in an instant, but it is possible to gauge whether their life together would survive the ups and downs of life after initial phase of physical attraction was fulfilled, and practical life began.
He felt, if he had looked for the signs! He occasionally tried to picture the signs of her dislike for him in many ways. She always talked about her unending problems and unhappiness in general about anything and everything in the house, and that her life was miserable. It was a burden for her to live in that crowded estate.
She had never tried to know about him, about his like and dislikes. She had not tried to adjust, accommodate herself in the new life. She whined about her every day life. She was full of excuse and reasons for her discomfort in their society.
No matter how hard, he tried to please her, the fact remained that she never got over her distaste for him. She felt that her dislike for him was deep seated since childhood, in the back seat of her mind. It had now come to the surface. In the early days he had often found her weeping, hiding herself in the spare-room, so that he may not see her and all that. He had not taken all these facts seriously and consoled himself that with the passing of time everything would settle down and their life would be normal like others.
On her part, she was in a fit of rage, with herself for her hasty decision. She had ruined her life. Their great married life was nothing but a matter of frustration defeat and agony. Every day this feeling grew stronger and stronger. Both tried to hide their misery and managed to hold their married life together.
Willy's family was a vast ocean in the county. The mayor had three other brothers and four sisters. His parents in the eighties were dominant factors in the family.
The four sisters were married and their husbands had much voice in the family-affairs. Mr. Harris had little time to devote any attention in the matters concerning his family. He was a public figure with public meeting, functions, parties, seminar, and all that.
As such, there was no apparent vice in Willie. She never loved him from her heart. It was a marriage- a contract of convenience. She had married him because, she wanted security, safety and an abode.
She had wanted an escape from the searching gazes of the males. Now she was married. Therefore the hunt for her hand would be minimized. The family- Harris Sinclair family was a tree by itself. For generations its branches had spread in the affairs of the River-bridge county. All family affairs were managed by the mother Elizabeth, grand mother Sylvie and sister Nivedita.
Willie was the youngest one in the Harris family. She had therefore no family importance. She had a long way to go, to make herself a recognized member of the family-tree, to assert herself as a member, with a casting vote. Rank has its privileges. She had a long wait to earn a high rank in the family.
One fine morning, Willie walked out of his home to his office. He had the authorized dealership of Ford motors for the County. He had sub-dealers under him with Ford-motors show-rooms through-out the county. They do not speak good-bye or anything. His attitude used to burn into her brain. There would be a tight band of pain around her.
He had left her sitting in the sofa with her hands folded in her lap, waiting for him to go out. She slumped back into the sofa chair. The room was beginning to spin around her. She closed her eyes. It looked as if she wanted him out of the house. He could not fathom what she found wrong in him. It was not as if he drank. He had abandoned the company of his friends after marriage.
He could feel, rather sense a subdued aversion for him. He realized that she had made a mistake in her choice for him. She did not love him. She had tried to. But she could not love him. Willie entirely blamed her.
He had never met a woman so inspiring attraction. Wherever they went, men were attracted by seeing her. He was jealous. Their looks, voices, manners changed on seeing her. She was one of those rare women-meant to love and to be loved vigorously. Her power of attraction made him sure that she could give as well as receive feeling-signals from worthy young-ones of the society. But she gave him nothing. This was Willie's standing complaint. Behind the veil of an unhappy life, she had a throbbing heart, unexplored hereto before. She had a body that needed to be watered with love and care. She had sensation like any other woman. She had feelings like any other woman. She wore a veil of disinterested outlook in life. She felt she had lost everything. She felt she was tied to him for life and there was no scope to get out of the mess she had created with her own hands.
Willie thought to himself: "Then why did she marry me?"
He had forgotten the years of his courtship days, when he was engrossed in devising schemes to attract her attention, giving her presents, proposing to her periodically.
He had kept her other admirers at a distance by his perpetual presence. He had forgotten the day when taking advantage of her surrounding in her house; he had crowned his labor with success. He felt that she had made him walk on a tight rope for, long before consenting, to marry him. He failed to see the look of helplessness on her face, when she had yielded, and, spoke that she would marry him.
She was a different being in the presence of other friend and relatives. She was gay smiling and witty. Her face sparkled and her cheeks had that peculiar reddish when she talked with friend relatives at social- function. When she was so much absorbed in talking with other female, that it was a feast for the male-eyes to watch her expression, her rhythm in explaining the things, outburst of joy and expression and action of different part of the face and the body.
If all of a sudden she happened to see Willie looking at her, she would check herself, regain her sad posture. She would withdraw herself to her former mood. Willie's eyes swelled. He also felt she was a pretty woman- a little taller in height; but her figure, her eyes, her teeth- he had to admit that she was too good for him. Nature had given her dark brown eyes, long hair, that combination provoked glances of all males at all times. The full soft pallor of her neck, shoulders gave her an added quality. Willie continued to look at her. Something swelled in his heart. It was a privilege to be the husband of such a lively creature. He was able to talk about her with his friends. He could take her to parties and functions. He felt lucky to possess her. But he did not get anything from her. He was in the role of an escort or a companion at the most, with no more significance.
At the very thought, his cheeks flushed and burned. Her warmth, her radiance, her glow were sinking into his eyes. Her beauty had sunk into him. It made him long for her. At social functions, he would often steal a glance at her. She was found engrossed in talk with the neighborly lady. This was her power. This was her strength.
This was her ace up her sleeve. She could torture him. She could be indifferent to him; yet she would live with him. There was, as such no valid reason for her indifference towards Willie. Talk had already spread in the social circle.
Both were living apart. She had asked for a separate room for her. It spoke volumes, where it could end. It was not as if Willie was at fault. But, something was there. Something had happened.
He cried out in exasperation: "Women are the devil."
This outburst spread in the social circle like wild fire. It was murmured, from one ear to the other and so on and so on. It turned out to be the new gossip and talk of the town. It created a flutter, throughout the length and breadth of the county, from one ear to another.
It was not her fault also. She was determined that no-one should know. Rosie the maid, overheard Willie’s outburst. She had told in fullness to her mother, in some light moment, giving her strict instruction, not to mention it to anyone.
The maid’s mother wanted favor from Mrs. Darlington, where she worked. She spit out the domestic matters of the mayor family. She had wanted a separate room. That was it. Thereafter news spread from, ear to ear, with instruction not to speak to anyone.
The matter was a topic of hot -discussion on every lip of the county-dweller. The mayor came to know at the club through his friend, who took him in a corner and asked if it was true that his daughter-in-law had asked for separate room.
The mayor was genuinely surprised. He was shocked. He said he never knew. This was for the first time that he heard. He also felt sorry for himself. Nobody in the house took care to tell him anything about the family news and the family gossip.
He blamed everyone in general, and Willie for his tactless handling of the situation. In fact, there was no love lost between the father and the son. Their relations were matter-of fact- hardly few exchange of words here and there, as and when, they happened to come-across each other in the house.
The mayor felt that his son had done enough of courting to get her. She had no justification now to play hard, play games with her husband. She should adjust herself to their always crowded family-life, to enhance their reputation in the social circle.
She had a quality that was singularly her own. She could not be persuaded or dragged into a fixed pattern of life. The mayor did not realize this important factor. Beauty wept; fortune enjoyed. Time went on indefinitely. Their life was dull and dry.
She had that strange rare ascetic outlook on life. She was absorbed in herself, realizing that life meant to give and not to take. She wanted to repay Willie everything he had done for her. She wished to free herself of his bondage. She was angry moody and disinterested in life. She took casual interest in the family gathering, as if she were absent-minded about anything and everything. She would answer in nod, suddenly coming to life, as if she were lost in thoughts, when asked about something. The ascetic look was misconstrued as a sensual appeal for the male admirers. Her eyes looked out at them with an innocence of a child ; which too was misread as symptom of a classic beauty. In reality, they were the eyes and face of a girl who had kept her conscience alive; her soul untouched. She was a victim of others' jealousy. All got alert at her presence.
The social circle consisted of a few classmate males, also who were still boys. Her hubby also was still a boy. He was like a bull. He always thought of himself. She did not come across a man aware of the sensitivities of a woman. With Willie it was always a clumsy affair. He could not be patient. He was jumpy and bumpy. She could not reveal her power to love him. She could not respond to him to a point of ecstasy. She controlled her emotion and stored them in the back-yard of her mind. In the long run, emotions got repressed, compressed and degenerated, and got frigid. It had a psychological effect on her mind. She was desperate for a change.
Willie was seldom far from her sight. When they were separate, he was seen following her about with his eyes. He was constantly spying on her with watchful eyes. His behavior reflected strange watchfulness and longing for her.
She could never forget her father. In her mind she constantly dreamt of him. His father had been a sort of friend philosopher and guide to her all these years. He used to take her out at regular interval. He treated her as a lady and not, a small girl. On Sundays after the prayers, when she returned, her father would be ready, smelling of good cologne, to take her out to the zoo or to the playing ground where they would spend good deal of fun time together. Sundays passed very quickly in her life, quite busy and full of gay and laughter.
She started taking interest in the activities of the local church. She befriended the Mother in the church. She was assigned many activities. Many a times she used to spend the night in doing the church duties. Church duty turned out to be time consuming and filled with responsibility. She had absorbed herself in the vast field of service to the church.
Her idea was to renounce this world from social bondage. She wanted to offer herself to the service of the church. She was in two minds-not knowing what to do. She allowed time and circumstances to carry her away as they happened. Time would decide her fate.
She had lost interest from life. She knew that the church would never accept her except with the permission from the mayor. This was not possible. Mayor wanted his son to be settled and endowed with children etc. The mayor was very much in awe. He liked her. In fact the mayor had no idea their relation were so much strained. He was not aware that there was no chance of a compromise. He took it as a domestic affair, and it would get streamlined by itself in due course of time. He was not aware what the score was. She never felt at home in the family. There was constant chaos according to her. She could not endure it. In the presence of the family-members, there was customary formal hug and peck and good night etc. between the two. Thereafter each would go separately his/her way. Each night she felt as if she would die without experiencing real love and tenderness.
Her visits to the church had turned active gradually. She did not know, she had an admirer there too. He was a painter. He was the clergyman church Pastor's son. Her friend at the church brought this fact to her notice. She was told that he was a painter.
She was shocked and annoyed in the first instance. His job at the church also included to fix the fence, to do the plowing, cattle to tend etc. It was always work in spring time. He had to look after the work of planting the crops, milking the cows, to get enough wood, to get water for the day.
All this had left little time for him to do his job of painting. After seeing her, he was inspired to resume painting. He made portrait of model looking like her. She was her source of inspiration. When she heard that she had an admirer in the church, she was annoyed. Her first reaction was anger and concern. She stopped for a few days going to the church. Gradually she came over the shock. She took it as a normal event that occurs at every place in life of every woman. She did not attach any importance to such casual admirer.
At the same time, she remained forewarned and alert. She avoided male company. In the church activity, her job was also to raise funds by writing letters to known personality, organizing cultural-show, or exhibition, at art-gallery.
His painting had life into them. He had started painting-rather making irregular drawing since he was one year old. He liked creating art because it gave him a temporary escape to the fantasy world. With some attention from the viewers, the artists, sculptor, singer, painter, have the tendency to go out of contact with reality. His latest painting, the golden-hair girl in the nude, in the arms of gladiator, dying, was a subject of criticism and comments in leading daily. The painter makes pattern. His brush consumes dreams. Painter and poets are on equal footing. Both have access to anything and everything. Painted angels look fair.
If your mind is mixed up, take a piece of charcoal and start making shapes and sizes of anything that comes into your mind. The things that are bothering you will come out on paper.
He painted because the image could preserve fond memory. The exhibitions allowed the artists to share their work with each other as well as support the church by donating work. He had the knowledge to paint something, worthwhile to look at, and which conveyed some meaning, message to the viewers.
His painting left an indelible mark on the viewers' mind. That is art. He was an artist. She too had to admit this fact despite, her abhorrence for him personally.
Familiarity, constant acquaintance, togetherness coupled with his helping hand softened her attitude towards him in due course of time. Now she used to discuss things with him, consult or ask for assistance from him to help her in organizing the things. She behaved normal with him and showed that she was pleased with him as time passed by.
Life was normal routine for all. Time passed by. Days turned into months and months into different seasons of the year. But her life did not change. The same monotonous routine life engulfed her as if it were her destiny. She was tired of it. She had accepted life as it came.
One evening, both sat on the divan near the wall in her office, talking about nothing in particular-say general topic. It was not long before his arm went round her. She moved up almost in the corner. He too moved up after her.
She too laid her arm under his, across his back, and he just about pressed her hard, as his arm was hanging on her shoulder. They had sat like this on a few occasion but never so close together like this. He held her firmly against him. Her left shoulder was against his chest; already her heart began to beat faster. They had not finished as yet. He was not content till her head was on his shoulder and his against it. After about a few moments, she sat upright to make her comfortable.
He took her head in his hands and laid it against his. She felt lovely. She could not speak. There was silence. Atmosphere was tense. The next move was the suspense involved.
The joy of being loved was great. He stroked her cheek and the arm awkwardly, played with her curls. Their heads touched all the time. He kissed her through her hair, half on her cheek, half on her ear; and finally his lips went to meet hers in a state of a blissful kiss from him in token of his love for her. They got up at about half past eight.
She escaped from the office door and dashed through the lobby to the main street towards home like a frightened mare. It was the sight of a mad savage mare who had realized anticipation, anxiety and pain in a secret rendezvous. It was about fifteen minute journey for home. It was a down-hill slope; where one could almost run by gravitational force.
By the time she knocked the door to the house, to let her in, she had to fight to breathe normal way and hide her flushed face. She kept a downcast gaze at the floor and hurriedly made way to her room. All were engrossed in their own matters of conversation and other activity. Her entry in the house was taken as a normal course of event. She, once, in her room still felt flushed and excited as never before. She felt her wilted dreams had flourished.
Willie was happy to see signs of bright and happy mood on her face. The other members had also noticed a change in her. She too knew herself that a new chapter was opening up in her life. It was certainly hard for Willie and others to understand.
She knew almost for certain that married women like her elder sister Mary, would never allow another man to kiss her under any circumstance.
Her mother had never kissed any other man in her life except Mr. Hubert, that too, not before there was a talk of engagement and marriage.
In those days boys were not allowed to touch the breasts. No farther contact below the collar-bone was the rule of dating. In fact in the higher circles, anything more than a kiss was unheard of. Her mother was a staunch catholic. She never allowed her to read sing or dance to the tune of popular folk songs.
According to her mother they were vulgar revelation of human weakness. Through her friends she had heard many cruel small verses from anonymous poet, expressing folk humor. When the girls were together and alone, they not only sang but also danced together to the tune of folk music.
When winter came and the sun went down, necessity of amusement was urgent. Chimney-corner story-telling was popular. They told in narrative, old-time memory, pithy sayings, ballads and exaggeration. It is vulgarity, sometimes, wisdom, history fused with legend.
The ordinary street beat, hip-hop songs in folk language reflected low taste of humor, vulgarity. It was full of satire, prank, and double meaning. The young boys and girls were receptive to such humor, jest and play of words. The coarse language bordered on the line of vulgarity. Such verse were passed on from the lip of one friend to another under strict secrecy. Two team of boys, versus girls were formed. Boys selected verses to hum, to humiliate the team of girls and the girl's team by singing befitting reply-songs repaid them in the same coin.
The advantage of this was that they were free from darkness. It lead to lift a veil of ignorance about man and woman relation. Such a freedom lifted them from the path of mystery suspense and ignorance about such matters and convinced them that sex between man and woman was as necessary as food and other essential. Such little rhymes unnoticeably helped her to know about the sexual aspect of human life. Lack of this knowledge strikes a terrible wound on young mind. She had experienced her first menstrual flow as a normal and natural event. At an age of fourteen she knew everything as to how babies were made. As opposed to this some staunch catholic girls of elder age of around sixteen believed that babies were born out of mother's belly button and no male participation was there in making a baby.
In her case she was well aware of all the facts about life. Nothing helped. She was mid way between hubby and the lover. Her love was over-powering. She was failing in her duty towards Willie. She was helpless. She got worried.
She:- ( to herself). "What would Willie and others think of her when their affair would be known to them?"
She was tortured by two loves. She wished to keep Willie and she had burning passion for him. She was full-bodied and intensely feminine. She tried to live up to the strange bargain she had been forced to opt by circumstances. With him she found release with a carnal love in a violent embrace which she never experienced with Willie. She was a victim of tormented passion. She could not explain it. She felt it.
She:- "What her girl-friends would speak" if they knew, she had lay in his arms, her heart against his chest, (both throbbing), her head on his shoulder and with his head against hers?
She felt, she should be guided by her heart as it dictated. It took her to him. It made them both happy. Why in the world people do not mind their own business? Why do they meddle in her personal affair? She did not know.
She remembered her mother saying:
Mother:- "Sit and remain in your place; no one can ask you to leave."
Mother:- "Keep your hands folded and legs crossed; none can dare reach you."
She had started on a journey in which she could not remain in her place.
She: "Sell not the bear's skin, before you have caught it."
It was the beginning. She had not had him. It was only a step in that direction. She could not keep her hands folded. She had kept her legs crossed. She doubted whether she could continue to keep them crossed any longer. Her mind used to shout,
She:- “Oh! How scandalous?
She did not think so. She was almost cornered in the house, almost neglected in the family. She had felt herself smothered. Willie had brought her as an object to decorate the drawing room as a piece or an article for show, for status-symbol.
She now liked to sit before the window in her room. There is nothing more beautiful in the world than to stand by an open window and enjoy the beauty of mother nature. It is a feast for the ears to hear the birds chirping and singing melodious tones.
It is an opportunity to enjoy the feel of the sun on the cheeks. The only item missing in the menu was his presence besides her. She dreamt lying in his arms. She felt it so soothing and peace-giving that no words can describe the pleasure she felt at that moment.
It is blissful to have his arms around her and to know that he was close-by, yet so silent! It can't be bad for this dream to be true. She imagined how nice it would be if it were real!
She realized her feelings about him. She had fallen in love with him. She felt his cheek against hers and recalled the lovely feeling. Sure she had messed up everything, she felt.
One afternoon she was at the Church for attending her routine work, he had dropped in for some discussion. Thereafter, they had retired to the divan, their arm around each other's waist.
She sat pressed closely to him. She felt a wave of emotion flowing from within her. It came over, tears sprang into her eyes; the left one trickled on to his trousers and the right one ran down her nose.
He was quite moved. He flung his arms around her neck and kissed her left cheek; was going to kiss the other one, when their lips met and were pressed, sealed together in a state of bliss. It looked as if thunderbolt had hit them.
They were clasped in each other's arms; again and again never to part for a moment. He longed for tenderness. He found it in her. He realized that she had also a beating heart, and could be so loving and different when she was alone with him.
For the first time in his life he gave himself entirely to her without reservation. He had never a girl in his life before, and this incident showed his real self.
They found in each other's company an unique similarity. He gasped at the sight of her flushed face. Her pull-over was so thick-knit that there could be no way to imagine that bosom like this could ever hide behind the garb of a woolen material. He fondled her with due care and love.
She began to grasp for air. Her lungs got choked. She was breathless. She began to choke trying to scream and gasp when she suddenly realized that her whole self was shuddering and shivering with something unknown happening within her, and she felt herself swimming in the grip of violent jerks, spasms, a climax unknown to her.
It was so strong that she had never dreamt that anything could create such powerful jerks of pain agony. She felt quite drained and empty and exhausted. She at once regained herself. Suddenly she was alarmed and afraid. She pushed him and ran around to pick up her belonging. He did not know what had hit him. He gathered up himself and ran for his quarters.
She wrapped herself, with all the action of a frightened kitten. She closed the office and ran for home. She returned in a frightened mood. When alone in bed, she got haunted by the usual question which gave her no peace of mind. Sleep was over-powering, she was debating with herself between sense and sleep.
She:- "Was it right?"
She:- "Was it proper that she yielded so soon?"
She:- "Was it prudent to let herself go to this extent?"
She had no answers. She left them unanswered to the mercy of fate and fell asleep. Things were not in her hands. She was pulled and pushed in and out of a powerful current in an ocean of sentiments and love for him. The situation had taken an unexpected turn.
Can love and cough be hid?
No. Love and cough can not be hid. Howsoever one tried.
In the meantime, the town was rife with rumor that something spooky was going on between his wife and the pastor's son.
Once he led her to his lodging room. They climbed hand in hand the winding stairs to the floors above. It was the roof-top cabin with glass windows overlooking the trees. The church was on the top of the hill. His cabin was up in the site of natural scenery and beauty surrounded by all sorts of ups and downs of small hills with a river bisecting them flowing majestically in the shape of a serpentine line visible up to a mile.
He had linked his arm through hers. He led her near the corner window. He stopped abruptly. It looked as if he wanted to have an idea about her features. He had formed an image in his subconscious mind about her body. He liked to compare notes. He wanted to see with his eyes if her body did correspond with the mental image he had formed about her. He made her stand there and with meticulous care, with an eye of a professional, examining his subject for painting. He put the clothes on a chair. He moved backwards a few steps and stood as if in deep thought at what he saw. He was happy and looked puzzled also, finding how verbatim cent percent his mental image tallied with what he saw in her frame. It was incredible that his estimates had been cent percent correct.


People said many things about him.
No one could say that he was not handsome.
He was tall slender and graceful.
He had a sort of an animal type of grace that attracted
the ladies despite their unwillingness to involve in any relationship. He had a seductive youthfulness. He was a flatterer. He had the inborn quality to make out tales after tales
which the ladies liked to hear him narrate again and again.
He often wondered how people swallowed his crap, and how he managed to escape himself unchallenged. He simply had no idea. It was luck or his instinct to make the right acquaintance at the right time, and make exit at the right time. His gestures were
calculated with mathematical precision and his every smile wink handshake were well rehearsed. He had the neck to find out the families who would be useful.
She felt deep pity for him
She saw him as a helpless captive in the hands of religion.
She also felt something else. She could not explain. It was an impulse but she experienced a physical need to touch him. This urge was so strong that when she spoke to him,
She pat him on his hand or put her hand on his thigh etc. Such innocent gestures very deeply kept him disturbed. Today,
something really tangible happened. He had finished his routine work and was about to retire to his place. She crossed the path and stood invitingly mocking.
She was absorbed in her game but at ease as she had seen him completing his outdoor job and returning on break for rest and lunch. She laid her hand on his shoulder dragging him near
as if she intended to reveal a secret.
He listened. Both, thereafter, with their hands entangled, departed towards his room on the top of the mansion. His hand came to rest on her shoulder. It moved down her back. She felt it went still deeper. She had a jittering of her body unknown to her. It came with an intensity which she never knew it was possible. It had lasted about a minute. It was total. It was so full and all-encompassing that it had an effect of an explosion she felt for all the time, she had lived and of all the years yet to be lived. Now she was certain God existed. Now she could die without regret.

Chapter 14. LOST OPPORTUNITY.
Never lose opportunity in life. Opportunity comes rarely. Lady Luck visits once in life time to gift you with an opportunity, Take it grab it. Do not miss it. See others. Do as others do. Make friends. Make followers. Form a team of your own. If you keep alone and aloof you will wind up jailed in home frustrated spent, disgusted. Friend’s contacts and a circle of well wishers will help you overcome your difficulties. Do not spend your time in the house. Home is your jail. Be a flying and moving bird. Home is only for sleep.
Everything else has to be done out of the house. Do not feel surrounded by circumstances. Make a way out of it. You have to fight your own wars. Do not think miracles will happen. Many people put away their problems in cold storage. You have to be a good judge of the problems. Problems on non-recurring nature may be put in cold storage. All problems can not be put away in cold storage. You have to periodically examine them evaluate them whether it is wise to sit tight or make a move and take action. Are you on the horns of a dilemma? Grab the dilemma by the horns.
Ladies never allow opportunity to slip from their hands. They can turn demons. They are born revengeful if harassed. They have suffered from inferiority complex since ages. They are always on the defensive safeguarding themselves from the men. If they love a man, it is out of caprice. Those to whom she is cruel take this as her love for him. She is towards the man, full of treachery, mockery and trickery. The man who loves her truly is a lost man.






Chapter 15 NINE DAYS’ WONDER.
Man and woman possess different characteristics.
Man is restless, lazy and an outdoor type of a fellow. He has no peace. His blood is hot. He is a sort of a jumpy type.
The woman is calm, quiet and home-loving. She is passive. There is a different angle in their approach to any single incident. Take for example.
A group of equal number of boys and girls be formed to study their behavior. This may confirm the belief that man is restless combative burning his way to the top.
The woman is cool calm and balanced and sticks to one place, restful. The Telephone companies hire girls as telephone operators. They can stick to one place for hours. The boy is a restless type who can not stick to one place for a long time. He will stand up, peep through the window; he will go to the wash room, and so on. He would leave his place for no reason. A woman is a tolerant type of a human being. She can serve well, as a nurse in any hospital. She can wait for hours together on her feet in an operation theatre. She can be a good teacher. She can treat the young children better than males. She can spend hours together with the children and impart them with good knowledge. The man on the other hand is a restless type of a fellow. He has no patience. He can not wait upon the patients in hospitals.





HOW THE MAIDEN BURNT HER PALM ! Ch.12.
There was furor and activity in the house.
A great occasion had come in the family.
All were rejoicing gay and happy. It appeared a solution to a world problem was found out. The marriage ceremony was almost a nightmare. She was a spectator, quite dazed and dumb, to everything, that was happening. It seemed to her that she was entering into another world, in an unknown land where there was no familiarity. All were strangers to her. She did not know them well. She had not studied their nature. She was not aware of their likes and dislikes. Everything appeared upside down in her life and in her mind. A strange idea came in her mind.
She:- "Do I love him?"
He suddenly appeared like a stranger, whom she hardly knew. She had known of his existence some time back. Now she was his wife. Why did it happen? Why she should fall into marriage so suddenly? She felt as if she fell into a hole just beneath her feet. There are mysteries of life that are carefully kept secret from children for a purpose. Now she was not a child. Young girls are thereby kept pure in mind body and soul. It is the husband's duty to lift the veil of secrecy about facts of life. She now entirely belongs to her husband. She was now married.
What had taken place within the few days appeared to her like a nightmare. She thought it was just a dream. There are moments in one's life when things appear changed overnight. Even the motions and movements seem changed.
The time in hours and days seem to be out of their usual time. She felt bewildered. Last evening nothing had as yet changed in her life. She had gone to bed to sleep last night as a girl. And today !
She was a married woman. What a change!
She had crossed a boundary, which promised all joy happiness and surprise of a new life. She felt as if a new door had opened for her in life. She was nineteen. She was unaware of various arts of love-making. She was betrothed and marriage date fixed within no time. Her chorus of friends on the eve of the marriage-night, appraised her of the ways of love. Ignorant of the tricks and means of making love, she was nervous.
She was ashamed within her heart, on hearing her friends describing the intricacies of love-game in detail. Suspense was mounting. She was nervous, dazed and wide-eyed at sudden change in her life. She experienced a sense of anxiety, shock and fear. She did not know what to do. She never thought love-games to be prolonged and so much detailed, like a rhythm. She was happy that she was alone in the room. She stood before the four-poster.
A huge shining yellow chandelier decorated the red brown table. There were other white articles of marble. There were sources of white light coming into the room by way of the open windows. Her face flamed in anxiety. She felt herself frozen in anxiety.
The bells of the adjacent tower were heard. That means the time was eight in the evening. Standing in anxiety, her back touching the edge of the four-poster, she almost shivered. A thrill passed within her. The scream of a train whistle was heard through the window. She felt as if some one had pushed a dagger into her. At the foot of the window, of her room, traffic and noise, taxi horns blowing near the train station, was enough to shake her composure.
She moved to the two windows of the room. She tightly shut them off for peace and silence. There was silence in the room. Her hubby came to her around that time, with bouquet of roses, smelling of perfumes. He was dressed like a prince. He checked to close the main-room light. They were already shut and there was only a candle burning near the table. The atmosphere was romantic. The room was well decorated with romantic surrounding. It smelled of roses every side of the room. Light music was heard. The atmosphere was maddening and intoxicating. Here both were alone and young. He was humming lustily in tune with the ongoing music. Both were engaged in preliminary small talk.
He narrated his life incidents in detail. He gave her some drink from the jug. Both took some grape and fruits. Time was passing by. He then took her in an erratic dance. They pushed and pulled and moved from one end to the other in an attempt to celebrate the occasion. She felt his arm pressed gently around her waist. She said nothing. Her breath came in quick gasps.
Her heart seemed beat fast. His fingers caressed her hair. He placed his lips to her ear and whispered.
He:- This evening you will be my wife!"
She felt surprised.
She:- "His wife?"
She:- “Was she not his wife already?”
He kissed her temples and neck. They were little light kisses. She felt startled each time by them to which she was not accustomed. She felt his rough face, skin with her smooth face. She found it tickling. She instinctively turned away the face to avoid the touch. She liked, but she felt embarrassed and shy. Her modesty came in her way. She had her eyes averted to the floor. She had gone numb. He withdrew his arm from her waist. They turned around and stood face to face. They were so close that they could feel each other's breath. He gazed at her with that gaze in which two souls seem to blend and dissolve into one being. After detailed preliminaries the inevitable happened. The love-game was about to begin. He took her in his arms and kissed her face, lips and neck and so on again and again. He lifted her in his arms. He placed her near the edge of the four-poster. She stood looking, all confused and bewildered at the turn of events in her life.

He went into the dressing room. She heard his movements. He reappeared to put his wallet and other belongings on the room table.
He half-disrobed himself. He threw away his coat tie and the shirts. He was now in his pants. He grinned at her. He found a towel to rub himself. She looked up. Only the support of the four-poster kept her from tottering at the view of his bare hairy chest. He had a healthy muscled body with smooth shining skin. It was covered with hair at all places that ran down between his nipples, spread down to the belle-bottom. When he raised his arms, she had a glance of a tuft of black hair at his armpits. Sight of such dense hairy armpits mingled with the smell of perspiration and perfume maddened her. Never in her life, she had happened to see a man's bare chest so closely. The raw sensuality of his smell was intoxicating luring her to a sense of dream and culmination of her sleeping desires for a company. She felt she experienced a series of attacks of sentiments and emotions from all fronts. She was not her normal self. All she felt that she was flushed and aroused to no limit. He made her sit on the edge of the bed. She obliged.
She had never before seen a sight of a male leisurely opening the buckle of the belt, take it out from the loops with deft mechanism. Then he had unzipped pulled down his waist button and the pants had glided down the floor as if by magic. It was a sight to see how earlier he had freed himself from the tie and collar button like an athlete.
He had unbuttoned his sleeve and front buttons in a flurry, how he tidied his hair with his hands. All this amazed her to a great extent. Slowly, slowly and with rhythm he disrobed her. She felt hands tugging at her dress. She reached out to brace herself to keep from falling. She was completely nude now.
A strange hush fell over the room. Seeing her nude frame in the mirror opposite the bed, she was ashamed. She was perplexed. She was much nonplussed, shy and ashamed out of embarrassment and shyness and shame. She extended her hand on the burning lamp; that she put her palm on the candle-lamp; to save her from shame and embarrassment. The candle blew out, went off, a small circle of smoke spreading nearby.
The room turned dark with no light. He could not see her.
She was saved of exposure. In the process her palm got burnt. Next morning the family and the friends made a great deal of fuss about the burnt palm. She kept quiet. She offered no explanation. She smiled it out with a grin.
She could not describe what she felt.
Contd………..

Dubai Economy.

Dubai's threat to U.S. banks
Although there's little direct exposure to Dubai World's default risk, U.S. financial institutions could take major indirect hits.


The news that the sovereign wealth fund of Dubai requested a postponement of billions of dollars of debt this week could pose a big problem for U.S. banks.
The state-run investment company, Dubai World, owes about $60 billion. It rang up much of that in a building boom that included the world's tallest skyscraper and the Palm Islands in the Persian Gulf, settlements shaped like palm trees.
According to CMA Data-Vision, which tracks credit markets, there's a 35.82% probability that Dubai will default on that debt.
What is Dubai World? - CNN
New York-based Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) has the most exposure to default risk at Dubai World, which a J.P. Morgan (JPM, Fortune 500) equity research note estimated at $1.9 billion. Citigroup declined to comment.
While other major banks in the United States are believed to have little direct exposure, the ripple effect could be more crippling.

0:00 /2:16FDIC fund on red alert
"There could be huge indirect exposure," "One has to assume that U.S. banks will be hurt."
J.P. Morgan declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) were unavailable for immediate comment. Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) said a Dubai World default "would have no material impact on its earnings."
It is said the underlying problem is that there is a lot of uncertainty floating around. For example, there's little information available about counterparty derivatives, guarantees that transfer default risk from lenders to other financial institutions. And it's unknown how much of Dubai World's debt guarantee is held by U.S. banks.
And while UK banks, such as Standard Chartered, HSBC (HBC), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BCS) are much more exposed to Dubai World, with a total of more than $30 billion in default risk according to J.P. Morgan's note, U.S. banks have extensive dealings with UK institutions. Those include trading and guaranteeing debt, which could translate into losses for U.S. banks.
There's also U.S. banks' interactions with their German counterparts. Dubai has loaned a lot of money to Eastern European nations, as has Germany. Any losses from defaults there could expose U.S. banks to some risk.
Finally, there's the impact of already reeling commercial real estate markets worldwide.
"Dubai may have to unload some very prestigious properties at distressed prices, and this will drive the price of all commercial real estate lower," "That would clearly be a problem for American banks."
The problems at Dubai World could add weight to the growing sentiment that is already strong in the U.S. Congress about beefing up regulation.
"Congress is demanding that anyone connected to the U.S. financial system has to be regulated,"
Rattling bank stocks
Bank stocks are particularly vulnerable to a market turndown triggered by the Dubai crisis.
"We had been looking for something to trigger a correction," "This could be that catalyst."
It would add to a market already made volatile, especially with the approach of the end of the tax season for mutual funds, which has put a lot of money in motion. The impact could fall heaviest on the financial sector.
The risk of default will put a damper on all commercial credit markets. Institutions may have to set aside more reserve funds to cover default risk, leaving less cash to lend out, and, in general, take a more cautious underwriting approach.
If lending does decrease, that could cut into bank profits.