Kids Poem: Fun n Frolic

Poem: "Fun n Frolic"

I was given the topic of fun n frolic,

I asked my Dad - "What is frolic?",
He Hmmed & mmmed, till my curiosity became hyperbolic,
Finally he said... Frolic is really... a cheerful "rollick",
Oh great, I thought, that sounds like a good logic!
Now… Now, he said, don’t be so vitriolic...
Finding meaning of words is always fun and frolic!
And here I thought it would be amusing & anabolic. Huh.

So I ran to my Mom and asked her about "Fun",
Thought I would have it easier, and have to struggle none,
She too Hmmed & mmmed and toyed with her hair bun,
As I looked with hope at her, she peeled the onions one by one,
And then she said - Well "fun" is about everything under the sun!
I kept looking at her to check if she was done(?),
Getting nothing more felt really like a bullet from a gun. Grrrh...

I then went to the park & sat on the swing,
I looked up the sky to see birds fly and sing,
There were bees on the tree that hummed with zing,
A dog ran around jumping like a spring,
As kids shouted away flying kite with a string...
Oh! I felt excited rollicking on my lovely swing,
I realized then what my Parents meant about fun & frolicking...
Fun is absolutely about everything under the sun
And being playfully excited is definitely frolicking!

Thankyou

Mantosh Singh..
Oct 2013
(Prepared for my daughter Ruhin Raghuvanshi's Inter-school recitation competition. Poem was selected by school for use in Inter-school recitation competion 2013)

I Know My Seasons

I know my seasons (poem)

As sun rises early and the heat irritates,

... Holidays help me sleeping till late

I dont track time and neither the dates

...I feel like that King - Alexander the great!

As I laze around all day acting like a hummer

I know that season, it is called summer


After summer, the rains do come,

...It brings happiness to the birds who hum,

I feel like dancing to the beat of drum

... getting wet in the downpour feels absolutely awsome

Hmmmm, I do catch cough & cold pretty much soon

I know that season, it is definitely Monsoon

As the Monsoon is on... we wish it stalls,

...to welcome the time some call - "The Fall"

Even as festival season starts to entrall

I delve into the freshly harvested fruit haul

And as My study time hits rock bottom,

I know that season, it is called autumn


And then comes the time which I love utmost,

...as we all wait for year-end the most

The days are shorter, the nights like ghost,

...the temperature dips lower than the lowermost!

And as I celebrate with the stars that glinter

I know that season, it is my lovely winter


So Yes Sir, Yes Maam... I do know my seasons.

Thank You.

--------------

Mantosh Singh..

7th Sep 2013

(prepared for Ruhin's Recitation competition in School)

A Letter from Yamuna

A Letter from Yamuna

Hello Children,

I am Yamuna. You also know me as Jamuna, as I am called by people in general. I am a River… a very big river.

I am writing this to introduce myself to you and to make a last ditch attempt in seeking your assistance to help me survive …

As Yami, you will find my reference in many mythological writings of Vedic periods. As revealed in Rig Veda, I am daughter of Sun God, Surya, and Sharanyu and am twin sister of a very loving brother Yama (popularly known as Yamaraj, considered God of Death). I am holder of infinite love and compassion, and can grant freedom even from death, a realm of my brother.

You know, I am revered as Goddess Yamuna by a huge majority of people. It is said, “Simply by bathing in the Yamuna, anyone can diminish the reactions of their sinful activities." (Krishna Book, Chapter 38)”. Lord Krishna during his childhood used to play with his friends around me. I just loved Krishna. In fact, it is said that the “clear blue” color of my water signifies my love for Shyam (Lord Krishna)!

Geographically speaking, I originate from 6387 Meters above sea level from Yamunotri glaciers, in Uttarakhand/Uttaranchal. I pass through Shivalik hills, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and finally into Uttar Pradesh where I happily merge with Ganga, a river that is epitome of asceticism and higher knowledge. You will perhaps be surprised to know that the location of our merger, in the holy city of Prayag (Allahabad), is the epicenter of largest gathering of humankind during Kumbh Mela every 12 years! No other festival, anywhere in the world, attracts so many people at one place during a particular period of time. Ganga and I truly bow to the love and affection shown by the people in these times.

Over the last so many years however, I have been sad, in fact, Very Sad. I have lost the zeal to flow freely, uninhibited and unabated, as I used to for thousands of years. I have been brought to this sorry state by the very people whom I have loved and served over all these years. 

I am no more the pure divine river I used to be. You see… I am polluted. All my defenses have been breached with impunity.  I am abused with dumps of organic and inorganic waste at various places throughout my journey, from Yamunotri to Allahabad. What makes me even sadder, however, is that intrusions at other places pale in comparison to the waste, bacteriological contamination that I have to undergo while I flow through the National Capital Territory, the ‘Delhi Segment’ as it is called. Millions of metric tons of Industrial waste and sewage (not to forget untreated toxic waste, undetected pesticides, agricultural waste, Dead Body dumps, immersion of Idols, etc.) is dumped and pumped into me every single day. It has not only polluted me, it has ruined the biodiversity of the eco system within and around me. Such dastardly act over last many years has rendered me sick and has deeply hurt my eternal soul. Yet, not many seem to be bothered.

Not that no remedial actions have been taken to restore my health and glory. In fact, credit should be given to Government of India (GOI) for a lot of work that is being done to conserve and clean me up. GOI’s, National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), started a flagship program called ‘Yamuna Action Plan’, an initiative that started almost 2 decades ago. This plan undertakes Water conservation steps like building higher capacity Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) across my stretch of flow, Rehabilitation and Replacement of Trunk Sewers, Intercepting and diverting flow of sewers/drainage to STPs, building low cost sanitation facilities (to prevent open defecation on my stretch of flow), Increasing electric crematory capacity (to help reduce the cremation of bodies on my Ghats), Recycling water, conducting public awareness programs on water conservation and so on.  I hear that billions of Rupees, including major contributions by Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), have been spent on water conservation activities. I am indebted to the people for such initiatives. However, I am not cleaned yet. All these steps are seemingly failing to reduce the inflow of contaminated material into my being.

Such apathy towards me makes me really angry sometimes. Nonetheless, I cannot but make a humble request to you… Please save me. Save me, because you neither had anyone before me nor will you have anyone after me to depend on. I am one of my own kinds in this world. Without doubt, I have had a long life. I may be breathing my last breaths today, but I want to live… live for many more thousands of years. I want to be a provider of fertile land, pure drinking water, and exotic aquatic species to the habitation around me. However, that can only happen if I can maintain an uninterrupted, healthy and uncontaminated flow of water.

It is here my friends, that I seek your help, care and attention. For me, you, the kids of today are my only remaining hope in the immediate future. Take a pledge; promise me that you will spread awareness in, and around, your society on water conservation, water preservation and water disposition methods and benefits.

Tell the world, that if they don’t help in resurrecting me today, they may have to lead a thirsty life in future. Or as I keep telling anyone who bothers to listen “Save me - To save you”

Still yours,

Yami (Yamuna)

******
Its Montoo..

Fourth Estate – The Indian Perspective

Electronic & Visual Media have taken the Indian viewers by storm. There has been a spurt of Indian News Channels in the last half decade. As many as 25 Hindi/ English News Channels are on air as of today! Add to that the regional Private News channels (and I am not even counting the Doordarshan’s Regional News channels) and we are looking at 30-35 (if not more) news channels splashing news to us in their own unique style and setup.

Thanks to these channels I am always up-to-date with all the current events around me. Now I know “Who” Kissed “whom” at which party. I now know how some Rahul Mahajan took drugs. Even to the detail of how many glasses of champagne he had, which champagne he had and with which drink he had the fateful drug! The case was tried in media and judgment was delivered. It was an open and shut case as far as I was concerned. No more waiting for the verdict of highly paid Judges of High Court/ Supreme Court. I knew everything even before the police could decide on what case to put up for trial! Now that’s News! Going further, I now also know how the last rites of a political leader (Pramod Mahajan) were conducted – even to the detail of from where the woods (for the last rites) were brought! Some important International news (Indian “ishtyle”) that I was made to “know”: What does every foreign President/ Head of State eat when they are in India as a guest. I also came to know what they “liked” in the whole assemble of food prepared for them and how much did they eat while they were in the hotel. I now know the color of the rooms painted especially for the Head of States on visit to India. By the way, to the credit of these channels I am now also enlightened as to the type of food the recently caught cook of famous “Don” Dawood Ibrahim & Anees would cook regularly and which dish would the dons really like!! This news was served to me as an EXCLUSIVE Item! I mean nothing could be of more importance to me. After all National News channels were showing them as PRIME NEWS item and hence all the above and many more such important issues must be important to me!

I have now understood that for me it is not important to know how many people died in Iraq in everyday bombing campaign that terrorists carry out. I should not be bothered about the floods/ earthquake situation in Malaysia/ Indonesia. It definitely is not important for me to know about the problems in Dafur (Sudan), in Somalia or what is happening in most of the Africa/ South America, Europe, Russia, China or for that matter The US of A. Problems currently faced by the international community like that of Nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran are definitely not of concern to me. The least I should be bothered about is say, the Naxalite problem in India. What is more important to me? Well – I should be bothered about the medical status shown in hourly “Medical Bulletins” (whoever coined that term) of Pramod Mahajan. I should be shown this 24 hours a day and should be “rightfully” kept informed of every heartbeat that Mr. Mahajan took. After all, his demise would affect this nation much more than anything else happening around the world or even other calamities happening in our country. That the earthquake in Indonesia killed hundreds in the same period was hardly of significance to me. No Sir it was not! I should definitely bother about how Mica (the now famous Brother of Daler Mehendi and a Pop Singer of some note) kissed Rakhi Sawant (the “Item” Girl). After all how does it matter that there were hundreds killed in blasts (in Iraq) over a period of 2-3 days while Rakhi Sawant was accusing Mica of brutally kissing her. After all it is important for me to know what transpired between the lips of Mica and Rakhi. And lo-behold – it is much more important for me to know the type of goggles Amitabh Bachchan wears and indeed its actual cost. After all it affects nation’s psyche and my personal life. Yes Sir – it does. I indeed should not be worried about the flood situation getting worsened in Assam. Who cares if some people die in floods or indeed many people get displaced in that region? For us Amitabh’s Bunglow, his specs, his company, is of much more importance. So much so that it should be made the first and THE Breaking news of every hour! O! C’mon, people keep dying everywhere – you cannot keep reporting that – now can you? Huh! Amitabh’s specs were stated to be of 2.7 lacs – now that is absolutely important to know. That the Income Tax department dared to ask for his family’s IT Returns was criminal to say the least. I was rightfully informed about it as breaking news and I was justifiably ashamed of myself as an Indian, at the conduct of IT personnel and was outraged at the whole episode. I can tolerate people suffering elsewhere in the country – but for we Indians – to trouble Amitabh is like committing murder! It deserved special Analysis (end to end) and thanks to the News channels – I got the Full story. Now that is reporting at its best! Yes Sir – it is.

Look at the “Breaking News” or “Flash News” as some of these News Channels call them:

“Rakhi Sawant accuses Mica of forcibly Kissing her”

“Mica presented in court”

“Mica gets Bail. Rakhi devastated”

“Medical Bulletin of Pramod Mahajan to be held at 5:30 PM”

“Pramod Mahajan fighting for life – Medical Bulletin”

“Pramod Mahajan is taken to his home after declared dead”

“Rahul Mahajan remains calm and poised during the funeral”

“Star News Exclusive: Rahul Mahajan took Champagne with Drugs”

“Apollo to conduct Medical Bulletin at 5:00PM – Rahul Mahajan Case”

“Rahul Mahajan presented before Tis Hazari court”

“Rahul Mahajan has trouble sleeping in Tihar Jail – Inside sources”

“Cook of Anees Ibrahim in Aajtak Studio”

“Abu Salem cries at night in jail”

“Govinda denies links with Dawood – tape recording shows otherwise”

“Karishma talks to her husband for 10 minutes”

“Kareena decries media over MMS scandal”

“Randhir Kappor upset with the tiff between Karishma and Sanjay”

“A child beaten brutally by his caretaker. Parents file complaint”

“Amar Singh cries foul - Amitabh Bachchan vs Income Tax Department”

“BJP Leaders meet Rahul Mahajan”

“We don’t only bark, we can also bite: Sitaram Yechury”

“Bush to have Indian Food as Lunch”

“Blair gets Kababs packed to take with him to UK”

In fact the likes of Star News/ Aaj Tak/ Sahara/ India TV/ Total/ Headlines Today, take the cake in such matters. They will leave no stone unturned to dramatize any matter. You just have to hear them breaking a news to realize: “Did Rakhi Sawant provoke Mica?”; “Did Mica actually kiss Rakhi?”; “Why did Mica instruct his Bodyguards to beat Rakhi’s Brother?”; To know all these and much more on the story – watch our special program “Miss ka Kiss”; (or something of the sort). Or check out the dramatization of Rahul Mahajan’s case: “Did Rahul actually take drugs”; “Did Rahul give money to Sahil to buy Drugs”; “Did Sahil take drugs along with Rahul”; Was Vivek Maitra a drug addict”; checkout our special bulletin at 12:30 PM – “Rahul Drugged”. I remember we used to hear a program on All India Radio some years back in which our very own Ameen Sayani would be heard advertising about a new movie in much the same way. Sample this; “Did Akshay kill Vijay”; “Was Manisha a part of the whole Conspiracy”; “Was Vijay actually dead?”; To know the answers – watch the most entertaining suspense movie of the year – “Kaatil ki Kahani” (The Story of Murderer). I mean – though these are all names from my wild imaginations – but I hope you get my point here.

It is my firm belief and I know most of you have already reached the conclusion by now that these channels don’t “just” deliver news. They deliver sensationalism coated with dramatics buttressed by the histrionics of the anchors of the program. What’s more (and as mentioned earlier) – they deliver judgments even before a civil or a criminal court passes it’s ruling. They solve mysteries fast enough to put even Scotland Yard to shame! And if they are taken to task for infringement on the judicial matters – they talk of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in our constitution and create a hue and cry about freedom to Press and Media.

There is no such thing as an objective journalist. The best we can be is fair (Rod Scott, editor of the Launceston Examiner)

And all my life I thought “News” means an unadulterated version of what actually happened. News was not supposed to be an “analysis” or a “prediction” of any kind. I firmly believe (even today) that all the analysis and Predictions make a reported item biased – biased in the direction a journalist or a newsreader wants it to be. An analysis should cater to all the aspects of a given story – isn’t it? If one can do that – well – go ahead – do the analysis. But then how many times have we seen an analysis being fair? Take the following example: When Pramod Mahajan was killed – his brother was the villain of the script. Period. The journalists went out of their way to crucify him before any court could do it. Pravin Mahajan was the big time villain in this script. “Cut to” Rahul Mahajan’s Drug scandal; these same journalists wanted us to take Pravin Mahajan’s statement seriously when he said – “Rahul Mahajan was innocent and part of a big conspiracy!” They kept on reporting his statement throughout that day as justification for proving Rahul innocent. Pravin Mahajan was not exactly a Villain here – was he?

Don’t forget that each of the headlines/ breaking news/ flash news/ main news I have chosen to mention here are the ones that have all been reported for days together until some other sensational news takes over. A case in point; Does anyone hear about Rahul Mahajan now? I kind of miss him after hearing every heartbeat of his (courtesy our news channels!) for weeks till not so long ago. But he got bail, was released from police custody, gave a good press statement. Over. He became a stale item to report. He was hence dumped in favor of a kiss between two of the most irrelevant people one can think off (Rakhi and Mica)!

Anyways – if we were to believe these channels – there is no life beyond Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Kashmir, Bengal, Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh. The whole of India for them is limited to Central, western and Northern India. For them nothing happens in States like Tamil Nadu (which comes into news only when Karunanidhi is arrested or J Jayalalitha is harassed or when there is election in that state), Kerela, Andhra Pradesh (which again comes in news only when a farmer commits suicide there), Orissa, Northeastern states (like Mizoram, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland), Himachal, Goa, Uttranchal or for that matter Karnataka (which again is always in news ONLY when there is Kaveri river water distribution issue – I mean ever since the “news maker” Mr. Veerappan was killed). How many times have we heard any news from these regions otherwise? Or should we just believe that there is nothing happening in those parts of our country? Will someone explain how are people of other states worried about a couple killed in Delhi or a girl raped in Delhi or for that matter dowry being taken in UP or Bihar? Excuse me for saying this – but these are local issues. Aren’t they? So why bombard the news (in most cases throughout the day) and its (by now familiar) analysis undertaken by the anchors of the news channels to all the people around the country? And if they have to report Rapes and Murders happening in Delhi/Northern regions – why don’t they report such cases from all over the country – or at least from all major cities? No wonder people feel that all the criminals, rapists & Dowry seekers reside in either Delhi, UP or Bihar. I am sure people do know that Andhra Pradesh beats all these states in Dowry Practices. Why not report that? Or does it not qualify for these reporters as News? Is it not known that Politicians of South or Northeast are equally corrupt? Why don’t they cover that as news? What about the criminal links of MLAs and MPs in Norhteast or Bengal or for that matter even Southern States. Why don’t they report that? And excuse me – sad that it is – heinous crimes like Rape happens and are reported in Police stations of every major city regularly. Then why subject Northern regions alone to such scrutiny. Isn’t it unfair and grossly unjustified reporting?

Someone very rightly said – “Selective reporting has always been harmful for the society – but true as it is – it shall remain so”. Period.

For devils sake – these are “National” News channels dammit. They are supposed to cover news from around the country (I don’t even mean international news – since most of the news channels are incompetent to handle international issues). Is there something wrong if I want them to do that? And again - why always report news of Murder, Extortion, Rape, Terrorism, Naxalism, underworld shootings and their ilk. News has to go beyond all that. To report all the ghastly things invariably leave a horrific impression in the minds of people – especially the youth. It is no surprise to see the current generation of Indians who feel their country is full of shit. An aspect handled particularly well in the Film “Rang De Basanti”. Thanks to the portrayal and, in most of the cases, exaggeration of a news item – today an ordinary citizen is forced to feel that there is no justice for honest people in this country. That everything can be bought (including justice); that all politicians are criminals; that all government employees work only when their palms are “greased”; that police officers in general can be bought; that there are more tax evaders than tax payers; that Indians by nature are looters who would skin you bare if you were not street smart. I can’t blame people for thinking what they do about the country as a whole. They are regularly being served all the horror stories of criminalization of society/ polity and the bureaucracy by these channels. There just isn’t any good “news” shown in these channels (except for occasional Indian Victory of our Cricket team). It’s as if “good” news is no news for them.

So what is it that an ideal News channel should do? I would rather have these news channels follow some guidelines & social protocols that border around respectability of a human being and which do not compromise the integrity of the news being reported. Report facts that are known. Be the first one to relay the news to keep your TRP ahead of others. Analysis of the news should be done as a separate segment with a clear disclaimer that views expressed in the program are the views of the channel and that it may not entirely be correct representation of the actual event. I would also like these news channels to divide the timings of the channel such that there are specific timings for news of a particular region. There should also be a segment for news from around the world. This will make the News channels more representative. And yes, one segment should be devoted to detective journalism too – as this seems to be doing more good than bad for the society. If need be – have a segment for quenching sensationalist thirst of viewers who want them.

And finally I would like these channels to know – an actor falls in love with an actress or a son of a politician is a drug edict or a couple is murdered in a city is not NEWS (not main news at least). News should cover stories that the whole country (or at least the majority of the viewers) is interested in and that it should not be limited only to the areas of coverage that an individual channel has. Sensationalism is a different form of reporting – keep a separate section if need be – just to spare the viewers from all the false rhetoric and drama surrounding such sensationalism. It may help increase the TRP of the channel – but it definitely ain’t no “Breaking news” to be splashed for days altogether. Remember – what sells need not always be News for the masses.

These channels should not forget that they are not in the business to MAKE news. They are here to report events that HAVE occurred – fairly, honorably and truthfully. And that for them should be the starting mantra in the editorial room. Failing which they should shut their shops and spare us.

Think about it.

Mantosh Singh..

28^th June 2006’

Success or Failure

Success or Failure! Everybody’s life can be divided into these two phases. Life today has no “in betweens”. Either you are successful in life or if you are not successful then you must be a failure. Gone are the days when people would be happy to lead a stable, normal life in/as a middle class family. Today we measure everything. And in a measurement, the parameters are set – either Black or White. Grey areas are simply overlooked or rather are non-entities. And as I say, either we are successful or else we must be failures. For most of us the choice is pretty clear – success is what matters and we will do everything possible to achieve that elusive “Success”.

Now, why are we so crazy for success? Why is it that people who are successful are always looked up to? Why is Failure such a stigma? After all every GOOD has an EVIL to support. There can be no Success without a failure – isn’t it? Those who have not faced failures will never enjoy the so-called Success. And once you taste that elusive Success – you inevitably remember the period of failure with a lot of pride. Even then - when you are not successful (read it as Failure) you end up being a mental wreck. In those periods of failure you try too hard to achieve your goal and since none of them work, you end up feeling both mentally and psychologically down. You not only ruin yourself – you also leave a wrong/sad impact on your family and friends. Your lack of confidence in your own self in these times of failure makes people around you nervous. You – by being a nervous wreck lose opportunities that come your way – simply because you are too pre-occupied by your self-indulgent trauma. These opportunities would/may have been the route towards that alluding goal of success and since you inevitably miss those or fear to grab those opportunities – you end up prolonging the so-called unsuccessful rein. The quote of William Shakespeare is quite relevant here – “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good that we oft may win, by fearing to attempt”. We tend to forget that it is we and only we who can bring ourselves back on track and hence we should be more on alert than succumb to the unreliable fate. And as Bernard Shaw says – “When I was young I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work”. That is precisely the way to deal with this period of failure.

In any case – why do we fear failure? Success is meant to bring happiness. Agreed. But why be sad when you are not? All Good things follow the Evil ones. That is what we are taught and that is precisely what happens in almost all the cases. Yes, all the cases – except the ones in which the person is not ready to identify the opportunity. So, when we know that Good times shall come, why do we get scared of the bad times? Bad times (read again as the period of Failure) will not last long – not unless you really sleep through it. Not unless you are not willing to take your chances that are on offer. Not unless you build a wall of resistance around you which will stop the current of opportunities to come near you. The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious. And you have to be at your best to trap these possibilities

Friends, Times of failure are the ones to be treated with utmost care. These are the times when you should double up and be at your best. And as my Dad keeps telling me during my bad times – Bad times are the times when you should be happier – since you have a hope. You have a hope of achieving success and a hope of better times to come. So why fear? Though it is a bit difficult to be happy at such times. But he does have a point. Hope is the companion of power and the mother of success, for those of us who hope strongest have within us the gift of miracles. Again, Success is not the key to happiness. It is happiness that is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. In fact if you have ever happened to notice – it is the Good times or the successful period of one’s life that he/she is more scared. Scared of losing everything with that one wrong move that would destroy everything you have achieved. Ask any successful movie star or a rock star and you will know what I mean. They are scared of losing their popularity and success. And I contend that it is because they have not enjoyed their times of failure. They are scared of going back into the period of Failure. I find this simply amazing. I mean, look at it this way – We are scared for our present and our future in the period of Failure, and when we are successful, we still are scared to hell about doing something wrong which may bring back the same period of failure. Do we ever come out of this fear psychosis? Well I say in most of the cases – No.

Failures are as much a part of our lives as success. Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years. You will, and dare I say you should, fail once in a while. The one who has not tasted failure cannot enjoy success. Unless you know how black color looks, how will you differentiate between Black and White? Unless you know what is darkness – how will you define Daylight? Unless you know Bad times or failure, how will you know the difference between Bad and Good times or, in this context – between a failure and a success?

I wish you could see the things in a different perspective for a change.

There is no point in getting scared or living in fear in any of these phases. As said earlier you never tend to come out of that Fear psychosis – neither in times of Failure nor in times of success. You have to decide for yourself whether you really want to live this life of subversion (?) – Subversion from your own in-built fear. Life is short dear friends. We make it look big by spending every moment of it in a kind of fear. Stop fearing. In fact I would say – Be a bit more careless about things around you. Why not? It will not hurt. It is fun to be careless at times. Life is not such a serious journey friends. We don’t have to make mountain of moles. Success or Failure – we are going to leave everything behind when we take that final bow from this life. So why live in fear?

All I say is – try to enjoy the period of Failure. Employ whatever method suits you. But just be your self. Remember – when getting whipped is inevitable – well as they say – Try and enjoy it. Sick saying (?) – Yes – but philosophically it’s the best way of looking at it. A period of Failure is just a passing phase. Keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final. So don’t bother too much? Failures are not to be scared of. Though they are not welcome, there is something in failure that has its own charm. Your true character comes through when you are in this phase. This is the phase in which you can try different things. Things that you would definitely not try in the Good times, in the fear of doing something wrong and losing the initiative. You can be adventurous and you can be enterprising or as my Dad says you (can) be happy – happy in the hope for the good times to come. Losing is not bad – provided we show some grace in losing. Remember we can win by losing provided we try to enjoy the period of such failures.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is for you.

Think about it.

Mantosh Singh..

15th June 2006'

Mahabharata – The Age factor

The Mahabharata is an ancient religious epic of India. It has existed in many forms, the fundamental one being a text in ancient Sanskrit, which may well be the world's second largest book (after the Gesar Epic of Tibet I think).

Mahabharata has existed in various forms for well over two thousand years:

Ø      First, starting in the middle of the first millennium BCE, it existed in the form of popular stories of Gods, kings, and seers retained, retold, and improved by priests living in shrines, ascetics living in retreats or wandering about, and by traveling bards, minstrels, dance-troupes, etc.

Ø      Later, after about 350 CE, it came to be a unified, sacred text of 100,000 stanzas written in Sanskrit, distributed throughout India by kings and wealthy patrons, and declaimed from temples.

Ø      Even after it became a famous Sanskrit writing it continued to exist in various performance media in many different local genres of dance and theater throughout India and then Southeast Asia.

Ø      Finally, it came to exist, in numerous literary and popular transformations in many of the non-Sanskrit vernacular languages of India and Southeast Asia, which (with the exception of Tamil, a language that had developed a classical literature in the first millennium BCE) began developing recorded literatures shortly after 1000 CE.

The Mahabharata was one of the two most important factors that created the "Hindu" culture of India (the other was the epic, Ramayana), and the Mahabharata and Ramayana still exert tremendous cultural influence throughout India and Southeast Asia.

But the historical importance of the Mahabharata is not the main reason to read about it.  Quite simply, the Mahabharata is a powerful and amazing text that inspires awe and wonder.  It presents sweeping visions of the cosmos and humanity and intriguing and frightening glimpses of divinity in an ancient narrative that is accessible, interesting, and compelling for anyone willing to learn the basic themes of India's culture.  The Mahabharata definitely is one of those creations of human language and spirit that has traveled far beyond the place of its original creation and will eventually take its rightful place on the highest shelf of world literature beside Homer's epics, the Greek tragedies, the Bible, Shakespeare, and similarly transcendent works.

Oh! I sometimes go overboard speaking about history. Anyways. Though all the above is true – Mahabharata should be read and understood for one very important reason, which would give us a measure of the reducing levels of “competence” and “energy” in the human race over the period of time. This realization dawned on me a few months back and all this while I was thinking of how to put the theory in words. After giving it a lot of thought I ended up putting it in the simplest of the forms – lest we miss the concept being put across.

Now we all have heard about the physical, mental & spiritual powers of the warriors of those times (Dvapara Yuga). We know how strong and powerful were Bharata, Bhishma, Dhruturashtra, Pandavas and Kauravas. We know that Bhishma laid on the arrow-bed for day’s altogether – till much after Mahabharata ended! We also know the visual powers of Sanjay who could see the war happening miles away and who also gave a running commentary of every aspect of war to Dhruturashtra (The Blind King). We also know how Abhimanyu learnt the art/ trick of entering into a Chakraviyuh – the ultimate trap for any warrior. The story goes that Arjuna was explaining the pregnant Subhadra – his wife –tricks of entering into Chakraviyuh and breaking out of it. Though Subhadra “famously” slept midway and could not hear the ways and tricks for coming out of the Chakraviyuh. Hence Abhimanyu (who was the unborn child then) also could not hear (Some Science that)! And therefore he never came to know how to come out of the Chakraviyuh – which ultimately became the reason of his cruel death. We all also know the greatness of Pandavas (supported actively by Lord Krishna) and their famous victory over the much-celebrated front line warriors of their enemy (The likes of Kaurvas and greats like Karna, Bhishma, Dronacharya, Acharya Kripacharya, Eklavya and many more). We all do know some or most of what happened in the epic war called Mahabharata.

Now put your thinking caps on and answer a few questions. What was Dhruturashtra’s age during Mahabharata war? What was Gandhari’s (wife of Dhruturashtra and mother of 101 children) age? And then what indeed were the ages of the famous Kaurava brothers, Pandavas and for that matter Bhishma during the time of Mahabharata war? I wish to calculate their approximate ages (since no concrete text is available in historical enclaves on the same). By the time I end you will realize why I was shaken out of my senses when I did this calculation.

Ok so let us first start with the mother of Kauravas – Gandhari (Princess of a province called Gandhar – the modern day Kandahar in Afghanistan). It is said that after marrying Dhruturashtra, Gandhari gave birth to a lump of flesh, which Acharya Vyasa (the compiler of Mahabharata, and sometimes narrator and vital participant) cut into 100 pieces and kept each one in a pot. At the appropriate time, each piece was born as a son and thus 100 sons were born to Gandhari. (Mahabharata, Aadhiparvam, chapter 114, sloka 17). Now Vyasa was no genetic engineer and there is nothing to corroborate that he was one – so we will stick to the general convention that Kaurava brothers and their sister (The above verse from Adhiparvam does not tell about the birth of the sister of the Kauravas – Dushala) were a result of more “conventional ways”. In any case we are more bothered about the “time” aspect of the whole process. So, we know that Gandhari had 101 kids. Now assuming a period of 9 months for each child to take birth – the total number of months Gandhari was pregnant would approximately be: 101 * 9 = 909 Months. That comes to 909/12 = 76 years (approx). (Woof!) Now assuming also that there must have been a Gap of at least 6 months between the birth of each child – 101 * 6 = 606 Months i.e. 606/12 = 50-51 Years (approx). That means the total period between the birth of Duryodhana (the eldest child of Gandhari & Dhruturashtra) and his Sister Dushala (the youngest kid of the couple) would have been almost 127 years (76 + 51)! Now add the age of Gandhari when she must have got married to Dhruturashtra. It is fair to assume that Gandhari would have been married at the age of around 15-16 (since they got married at an early age in those days). So add 16 to the above figure and we see that Gandhari was around 143- 145 years of age when she gave birth to the last child! That is phenomenal! The Mahabharata war had all the Kauravas participating in it and Dushala was already married before the Mahabharata war began (The war lasted for 18 days). Dushala got married to Jaidrath (Prince of Sindhu Kingdom). Add 15 more years (at least) to Gandhari’s age and hence she must have reached around 160 Years of age by the time Mahabharata started! It is also a fact that she died much after the Mahabharata war ended! Amazing!

And what about Dhruturashtra? He would have been atleast 10-15 years older to Gandhari. That means he must be around the age of 175 years when Dushala was born! Which implies that Duryodhana was around 147-150 (approx) at the time of going to war! Now keeping this as base let us work out the age of Yudishthir (Eldest son of King Pandu and cousin to Duryodhana) & other prominent Pandavas. Yudishthir was much elder to Duryodhana and hence he must have been around 170 or so! And since Bheema was also elder to Duryodhan (but younger to Yudishthir) – he must have been in the range of 160 Years! Oof! Lord Krishna must have been around 145-150 years of age since he was younger to Bheema but was elder to Arjuna! And since there was not much difference between the ages of Krishna and Arjuna – it is fair to assume that Arjuna must be around 140-145 years of age.

Hey, Hey – it does not end here. It’s heating up only now! Read on. Now we all know that Karna was born to Princess Kunti (Mother of Pandavas) before her marriage to King Pandu. It is then fair to say that Karna would have been around 180-185 years of age as he was much older to Yudishthir himself (who must have been around 170 years of age at the time of Mahabharata, as per our calculation above)! I mean can you beat that! And they all were in their prime form during the war. For devil’s sake – Arjuna had a grown up son (from his wife – Subhadra) named Abhimanyu during the time of Mahabharata war. Which means – Arjuna would have married Subhadra at the age of around 110-115 years! Now that is absolutely amazing considering the trend in the current generation! To marry after reaching 100 years of age is ridiculously unthinkable today! Forget that – even to live beyond 80 years is considered to be an achievement in these times!

And what about the age of Dronacharya (the Guru of all the Kauravas and Pandavas)? He was a renowned Guru (Teacher) of that era when he was called upon to teach the princes of Hastinapur Kingdom (The kingdom ruled by King Pandu and Dhruturashtra later). Both Kauravas & Pandavas were kids when they were sent to the school (Aashram) of Dronacharya to learn the art of fighting. Considering that Dronacharya must have been around the age of 40 when he started teaching the wards – then he must have been around 200-210 years of age when Mahabharata happened! And to think of the age of Great Bhishma (Granduncle of the Pandavas and Kauravas) makes it all the more chaotic. He would definitely be around 250 years of age. Don’t forget that he was the son of the first wife of King Shantanu (Princess Ganga) and he was approximately 20-30 years of age (as per records) when Shantanu married Satyavati (Grandmother of Pandu & Dhruturashtra). Calculate back and you will find that you will get a figure of 250 as Bhishma’s age! And Bhishma was still fighting at that age? Was he really human? And if you do read the story of those 18 days of Mahabharata war – you will find that Bhishma was the toughest “bloke” to beat! In fact they had to call upon the help of a eunuch (Shikhandi) to ultimately kill Bhishma on the 7^th day of the war. Amazing again!

Am I jabbering? Hardly so! Mind you, nowhere is it written (in any of the Mahabharata versions) that all the Kaurava kids were born together or within a year or two. There is also no mention of twins being born to Gandhari. So it is fair to assume that they all were born in the normal, conventional cycle defined by nature i.e. one after the other. This calculation cannot be wrong unless Genetic Engineering was a preferred mode of “generating” babies in hordes! Or unless the whole of Mahabharata is a farcical story meant for amusement of people.

Spare a thought. These all men were way beyond the age of 130 and still were at prime of their “youth and power”! Look at their ages when they were getting married – 100, 120 and so on! What tenacity, what potency levels really! How did they manage to stay “young” even at that age is difficult to fathom. And let us not forget that other than the Kauravas (and a few other major warriors who were killed during the war) – everybody else lived till much later in life. Pandavas, Krishna, Dhrutrashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, and others lived for long after Mahabharata! It is just inconceivable today where the whole world keeps track of all the people who manage to cross the age of 100 years! And there are not many doing so anyways.

Can this theory be correct? I don’t know. I have not got over the shock and I am sure you must also be wondering by now. Am waiting to be proved wrong – want to get over the feeling of awe really. But somehow logic says that I cannot be off the track by too huge a margin. But boy! What if I am right? Phew! Hats off to the guys of that era. They did have something EXTRA in them!

Think about it.

Mantosh Singh..

1^st June 2005’

The Nines Theory

Number ‘9’ is a mystical number. It is a Magical, Universal, Complete, and Sacred number. Number ‘9’ is seen as the number of completeness. It marks the end of the human gestation period and the end of a series of numbers (1-10), as well as a complete circle (360 degrees = 3 + 6 + 0 = 9). It is also believed that ‘9’ is the Universal Number, present within every other number. Number ‘9’ rules all life & electrical energy. Add 9 to any other number & 9 will be absorbed. Multiply 9 by any number and it can’t be destroyed. Add it to its own multiple & it always comes back. In Numerology it stands for complete cycle of growth. It is THE most important number in the chronological order of number system - I mean the single digit numbers from 0-9.

Hoof! That is too much of theory. Well you ain’t heard even half of them! There are many more magical and mystical reasoning to number ‘9’. I am not here to lecture you with all of these, which many of you would know in some or the other form anyways. I am here to share with you a realization that has hit me recently and hit me hard. And it also concerns this number – yes – our very own – number ‘9’.

Before I get into the specifics and concept of what I have found, let me share the abstract of the theory that drives this concept.

Carefully observe – since your birth – every ninth year (9^th, 18^th, 27^th, 36^th and so on) of your life would have been significant years. These years would have had profound effect on you – Incidents or events that would have defined your personality, your thought process, your career and things of that kind. Good or bad – these years would have been path-defining year for you.

Allow me to demonstrate this with the history of our country since independence. I am sure you will appreciate this theory before you reach the end of this article

India was born when the whole world “Slept”. As Jawaharlal Nehru said on that fateful night of 14^th August 1947 – and I quote – “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom”. Yes, a new India was born at that stroke of that midnight. Our dream had taken the shape of reality. And this nation has never been the same since!

I wish to prove my point with the example of the history of India from the year of her Inception (i.e. 1947). I will highlight only the most significant incidents of every ninth year of our Independent history. I won’t go into too much of detail lest we lose focus of the scope of this article.

Year 1947: We got Independence and symbolically at-least we were born. So we will take this year as the start of our Great history to prove my point.

Year 1956: First significant event of this year was the declaration of Naga resistance/ Movement by the feared Naga Militants. We are still struggling to bring peace in that region of the state of Nagaland. Second significant event of this year was the much-hyped visit of the Chinese Chairman of Communist Party and Premier, Zhou Enlai to India. The message that he brought was of peace and friendship. India was truly foxed by his visit. Now, China had always had aggressive intents in those times and the Indo-China border was anything but peaceful. It is widely believed that we went easy on the borders against China after the Premier’s visit and lost the war that ensued, much sooner than we should have. That is the only war we have lost since. It was a master political move by Zhou Enlai though and his visit of 1956 is thus considered as one of the major events of Indian history.

Year 1965: Pakistan attacked India. We fought back ferociously and won the war. This is the first victory of Indian Armed Forces in any direct war. And since it was against Pakistan – it was all the more sweeter and memorable.

Year 1974: First significant event of this year was India’s first successful test of nuclear bomb in Pokharan. More formally dubbed the "Peaceful Nuclear Explosive" or PNE, but commonly called “Smiling Buddha”, this test made India a major player in the world affairs. We were only the sixth nation in the world to have successfully developed and tested a nuclear bomb. The Second most significant decision taken in this year was the proclamation of a National “Emergency” for the first time in our democratic history. Most of the members of our ruling elite today, were put behind bars during that phase. That was the first and fortunately the last time an Emergency was proclaimed in India. Though it was a disaster for Congress (I) – it nevertheless is an important event in our independent political history.

Year 1983: First significant achievement of this year was the victory of Indian cricket team in “Prudential World Cup”. An unsuspecting team from India, popularly known as “Kapil’s Devils” now, won the world championship of cricket! We had never before, and have never since, got this honor in cricket arena. The popularity of this game rose to such heights that today cricket is considered to be THE only religion that binds India! And that speaks volumes about that achievement. The second most significant event was the imposition of President’s rule in the state of Punjab (to curb the secessionist movement spreading rapidly in the state). Article 356 of the constitution (Imposition of President’s Rule) was used for the first time against any state in India. Since then, many state governments have been dismissed using Article 356. The imposition of the State of Emergency in Punjab worsened the situation in the state. This eventually led to “Operation Blue Star” (planned by the political elite and executed by the Indian Army in the famous Golden Temple of Amritsar). And it would not be wrong to say that the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, had to eventually pay with her life for the unfortunate act.

Year 1992: Babri Masjid was demolished in this historic year. Well – The lesser said the better on this shameful event. We are a declared secular state and a permanent damage has been made to the secular fabric of this country due to this one incident. The people of this nation we all love have never been the same since. The country is yet to see the end of this demoralizing saga. Only time will tell how this incident is judged by the future generation.

Year 2001: A thunderous earthquake hit Bhuj (Gujarat) in this fateful year. Bhuj was the epicenter of the biggest earthquake India has ever witnessed in its own land. It killed more than 100,000 people - and I am only talking of official figures here.
Year 2010: Hmmm…we will see. Now - Won’t we?

Isn’t it amazing?

Critics of this logic may say that sometimes we are so intent on seeing things that we
see them even when they are not there. They may argue that all these are huge coincidences. Well – yes – that may also be true. But here the facts are there for us to see and fathom. And remember, a “Coincident” event, occurring more than once, simply cannot be a coincidence. Period. It has to have a theory or a law governing it and this theory can be defined.

I call this my “Nines Theory”. And I say:

An Object undergoes huge changes in its property on every consecutive Ninth year of its inception.

Well…I would have been able to define my theory in more powerful words, if only I had the Einsteins and the Darwins as my advisors or assistants. Since they are no more with us – this possibility is unfortunately ruled out. You all will have to live with my way of defining the “Nines” Theory! The events (as mentioned in the above example of Indian Independent History) do prove that “Nines” theory is more than what I have put in words here. It is hugely significant and worth taking note of.

As I like saying my dear friends – “The evidence as we see is – Overwhelming!”

Any Questions?

Mantosh Singh..

23^rd Nov 2003’

WHAT’S IN A NAME? (WHY SHAKESPEAR WAS WRONG!)

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet made this question famous. They fell in love before learning they bear the names of rival families. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. Willing to deny name before love, Juliet cries out, "Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." A few lines later, Juliet asks, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

If only Shakespeare had analyzed!

I bring to you this list of names of most eminent personalities in their chosen field of specialization.

Andre Aggasi, Muthiah Muralitharan, Leonix Lewis, Bill Clinton, Woodrow Wilson, D. Eisenhower, Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Benazir Bhutto, Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, J. Jayalalitha, Shekhar Suman, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shastri, Rajdeep Sardesai, etc, etc.

Ever wondered what Sylvester Stallone has that other stars of Hollywood don't have? Ever wondered why Marilyn Monroe is still remembered for her beauty even though she died long ago at a very young age? Look at Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale! Who would have imagined that an average actor like Ronald Reagan would make it to the Presidency of US? Can you imagine a short and frail person like Charlie Chaplin making it big on Silver Screen today? Why did Sachin Tendulkar become such a sensation when it is a known fact (acknowledged by his coach Achrekar) that Vinod Kambli was a much better batsman than him? Whoever reads fiction novels will tell you that there are better novelists than Sydney Sheldon - but he is the most popular of his fraternity! Why does everyone with out national boundaries like cartoon characters - Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse?

These names do suggest that there is something more than meets the eye. If you have carefully noticed - all the names above have two distinct characteristics:

1) Either the initials of their name are same. (Eg. Pablo Picasso, Zinedine Zidane)

2) Or The initials of their name have consecutive alphabets. (Eg. Venus Williams, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee)

Well here is a thought I would like to put across.

People having names with the above mentioned characteristics always and always achieve success in their life. They just cannot fail. Look around - see and observe for yourself. Your friends, relatives - anyone and everyone with such names will be successful in their lives.

This is not to say that only people with consecutive initials or same initials in their name succeed. People having names with inverse alphabet initials also make it big in their life. Prominent examples are Satyajit Ray, Nelson Mendela, Martin Luther King, and many more. These people are generally path breakers or trend setters!

So what do people like us do - now that we don’t have such a name? Well yours’ truly cannot change his name to Mantosh Malik or Mantosh Malhotra. So I will do the next best thing, which is very much in my control. I will ensure that my kids have names like Raj Singh or Shagun Singh!

Let me conclude by summarizing thus -

 Success is not ensured only by a Name - BUT...

 A right Name shall always ensure your Success.

With all due respects to Mr. William Shakespeare - I feel he got it wrong just this once. There is SOMETHING special in the name you have. The evidence as we see is - OVERWHELMING.

Think about it.

Mantosh Singh..

28^th Jan 2003’

The Seven Wonders

“The few wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them” [Charles de Lint quotes]

A lot of people think that there are Seven Wonders of the World, which includes The Taj Mahal and The Great Wall of China. The purpose of this article is to clarify some of the “pre-conceived” knowledge that we all seem to posses. Ignorance is Bliss where as Knowledge is power. I intend to tweak your knowledge in the right direction at least on this count.

Seven wonders of the world as you will find out in this article is actually an ancient list compiled in 2nd Century B.C. and has never been updated after 6th Century AD. There is no “one” list that has been agreed upon by anyone ever, which includes Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China in “Seven” Wonders of the World. And after studying this topic for quite sometime – I would like to put forth the FACTS - loud and clear.

Today, archaeological evidence reveals some of the mysteries that surrounded the history of the Wonders for centuries. For their builders, the Seven Wonders were a celebration of religion, mythology, art, power, and science. For us, they reflect the ability of humans to change the surrounding landscape by building massive yet beautiful structures, one of which stood the test of time to this very day.

The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was originally compiled around the second century BC. The final list of the Seven Wonders was compiled during the Middle Ages (around 6^th Century AD). The list comprised of the seven most impressive monuments of the Ancient World, some of which barely survived the Middle Ages. Others did not even co-exist.

It is a fact that the ancient Greeks loved to compile lists of the marvelous structures in their world. Though we think of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as a single list today, there were actually a number of lists compiled by different Greek writers. Antipater of Sidon (a poet, who is credited with compiling of the earliest known list of Seven Wonders of the World – way back in 2^nd Century BC), and Philon of Byzantium (a Greek Engineer & mathematician – who compiled his own list in one of his books also during 2^nd Century BC), drew up two of the most well known lists that have survived the ages. In fact most of the lists (made by various Greek Writers) agreed on six of the seven wonderful monuments. The final (seventh) place on some lists was awarded to the Walls of the City of Babylon. On others, the Palace of King Cyrus (King of Persia) took the seventh position. Finally, toward the 6th century A.D., the final item (Seventh Wonder) became the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Since it was Greeks who made the lists it is not unusual that most of the items on them were examples of Greek culture. The writers might have listed the Great Wall of China if they had known about it, or Stonehenge if they'd seen it, but these places were beyond the limits of their world.

It may come as a surprise to most of us to learn that not all the Seven Wonders existed at the same time. So even if you had lived in ancient times you would have still needed a time machine to see all seven. While the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built centuries before the rest and is still around today (in fact it is the only "wonder" still intact), most of the others only survived a few hundred years or less. The Colossus of Rhodes stood only a little more than half a century before an earthquake toppled it.

The Final Seven wonders of the Ancient world as compiled till 6^th Century AD and that was built upon the 2^nd Century BC lists of Antipater & Philon are listed below with a brief description of each.

1) The Colossus of Rodes  - Greece

Rhodes was a city, the capital of the Greek island Rhodes and the Colossus was a 120 foot high bronze statue of Helios, the sun god. The statue stood on a promontory overlooking the city. Erected in about 280 BC by the citizens of Rhodes, capital of the Greek island of the same name. It represented their sun god Helios and was said to be 105 feet high. Legend has it that it straddled the entrance to the harbor, but it probably stood to one side. It was built in 280 BC, knocked down by an earthquake in 224 BC but its huge pieces were looked upon with awe for centuries. Nearly a thousand years later, in AD 656, a scrap metal dealer bought the pieces and had them melted down.

2) The Pyramids of Egypt - Egypt

These magnificent structures are the only Ancient Wonders to still stand. They were built around 2700-2500 BC as tombs for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest, covering 13 acres. It is constructed of around 2.3 million stones and the stones weigh from 2 to 30 tons each. These Pyramids survive even today.

3) The Temple of Artemis - Turkey

This was the largest and most complex temple of ancient times. It was made of marble with a tile covered wooden roof. Ephesus was one of the greatest Ionian cities. The early Greek colonists at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, built a temple to Artemis (called Diana by the Romans) which was rebuilt and enlarged from time to time. It is the fourth temple at that site that is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders. It took 120 years to build and was finished in 430 BC. In 356 BC, on the night Alexander the Great was born, it was destroyed by fire. (A young Ephesian man – Herostratus committed this crime so that he would be remembered in history.)

4) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Iraq

King Nebuchadnezzar II probably built the gardens in 600 BC. They were grown on a brick terrace 400 feet square and 75 feet above the ground. The trees, shrubs and flowers were watered by turning screws to lift water from the Euphrates River. (It must be stated here that existence of this wonder of the world has never been conclusively proven)

5) The statue of Zeus of Olympia - Greece

This 40-foot statue of the King of Gods had ivory flesh and robes made of gold. He was seated on a throne. It was made by Phideus around 475 BC and was erected at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus of Greece. It stood for ten centuries before being destroyed. The only idea we have of what it looked like comes from the pictures on the coins of Elis. This statue was destroyed in a fire accident.

6) The Mausoleum of Halicarnassos - Turkey

Artemisia built, in 353 BC, this marble tomb for her husband King Mausolus of Caria in Asia Minor. This area is now S.E. Turkey. The tomb, from which we get our word mausoleum, was 135 feet high and featured the artwork of four sculptors. At the top of the pyramid shaped roof was a statue of a four-horse chariot in which were statues of the king and queen. The structure was destroyed by Earthquake. Some pieces of the original Mausoleum are preserved in the British Museum.

7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria - Egypt

During the reign of King Ptolmy II of Egypt, about 270 BC, the Greek architect Sostratos designed this lighthouse, estimated to have been between 200 and 600 feet high. For more than 1,000 years it guided Mediterranean ships. It was severely damaged by an earthquake in 955 and disappeared completely by 1500.

As stated earlier, six out of seven Ancient Wonders did not survive to this present day. Human imagination urged poets, writers, and historians to seek "replacements" for the fallen monuments. As Strabo (a famous Geographer) aptly stated – "Sights seen in the mind's eye can never be destroyed". And what you have not seen – you cannot comprehend and hence try to overrule. So some modern writers and scholars proposed a new list for the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Others argued that - Ancient civilizations, which the Greeks did not know of, erected monuments that should have been included in the original list itself. Wonders such as the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Temple of Angkor in Cambodia are a few examples of the great monuments that should have formed a part of the updated original list. The argument never reached at any conclusive decisions. Hence there never was and there still is no list of “Seven” monuments that form Wonders of the world – other than the list of Ancient structures compiled in 2^nd Century BC. But lists were made (though none with a count of seven that was officially recognized).

But like the ancient list, the new ones included fascinating monuments and structures that changed the existing landscape. However, no single list won unanimous approval among historians, artists, and architects. Hence it won’t be an exaggeration to summarize that though there is a list of Seven Wonders of the World – they however do not have Taj Mahal or Great Wall of China as their “listed” Wonders. It is fair to say that the phrase “Seven Wonders of the World” has got etched into our memories and we conveniently believe that Taj Mahal or Great Wall of China (which we can see today) do indeed form a part of it. I believe it would be fair to say that they are “One” of the Wonders of the World.

Having made my point and before I end this article – let me present to you a complete alphabetical listing of the Forgotten, Modern, and Natural Wonders as officially recognized.

Forgotten Wonders:

Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt

Angkor Wat in Cambodia

The Aztec Temple in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), Mexico

The Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines

Borobudur Temple in Indonesia

The Colosseum in Rome, Italy

The Great Wall of China

The Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

The Mayan Temples of Tikal in Northern Guatemala

The Moai Statues in Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile

Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, France

The Throne Hall of Persepolis in Iran

The Parthenon in Athens, Greece

Petra, the rock-carved city in Jordan

The Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar

Stonehenge in England

Taj Mahal in Agra, India

The Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque, Mexico

Modern Wonders:

The Channel Tunnel

The Clock Tower (Big Ben) in London, England

The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada

Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

The Empire State Building in New York City, USA

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, USA

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA

The High Dam in Aswan, Egypt

Hoover Dam in Arizona/Nevada, USA

Itaipú Dam in Brazil/Paraguay

Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, USA

The Panama Canal

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Statue of Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Statue of Liberty in New York City, USA

The Suez Canal in Egypt

The Sydney Opera House in Australia 

Natural Wonders:

Angel Falls in Venezuela

The Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada

The Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia

Iguaçú Falls in Brazil/Argentina

Krakatoa Island in Indonesia

Mount Everest in Nepal

Mount Fuji in Japan

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Niagara Falls in Ontario (Canada) and New York State (USA)

Paricutin Volcano in Mexico

Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe

Mantosh Singh..

1^st March 2003’