Sunday, April 3, 2011

A rendezvous with culture | | | Indian Express

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First Published : 03 Apr 2011 11:46:00 PM IST

BANGALORE: India is a land of diversity and each region in this mighty land has a rich cultural heritage associated with it. But off late because of the influence of western culture, the cultures of this sub-continent are facing a deadly threat.

The book Thanjavur - A Cultural History authored by Pradeep Chakravarthy and Vikram Sathyanathan is an attempt to bring out the rich culture of Thanjavur, a place situated in Southern India, to the forefront.

The book which is a compilation of both words and images is a complete narration of the cultural history of Thanjavur. It gives an insight to the rich heritage of Thanjavur by throwing light on each minute detail. Starting from the early ruling periods of the Chola dynasty to the various ruling regime of numerous known and unknown rulers, the book gives a fascinating picture of the entire ruling history of the place. They invite the reader on a long trip to the fertile river bank of Cauvery where Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam as we know today were conceived, and flourished alongside drama forms like the Bhagavatha Mela and Yakshagana. Apart from this authors have touched upon the various architectural, professional, craft and all other possible aspect associated with the cultural heritage of the place.

The launch of the book took place at the premises of Landmark, Forum Value Mall recently. Present at the event was one of the authors, Pradeep Chakravarthy. T V Mohandas Pai, director of Infosys Technologies Limited and Vikram Sampath, author and historian were the chief guests. The event was well attended by a huge crowd of book lovers. Congratulating the authors Pai said, “This book is a fascinating work to understand our cultural heritage. It is an inspiration to preserve what is left of our rich culture.” Sampath, who shares a paternal link with Thanjavur said, “I have completed reading the book in details in almost two sitting and to me this book is an ode to the river Cauvery.”

Pradeep Chakravarthy, whose articles are frequently published in the leading dailies, shared his experience on what was the driving force behind writing this book and how he accomplished the final destination of getting the book published. He said, “I have tried to portray facts in a simple way. The best part is that one can start the book from any chapter and finish at any chapter depending on one’s wish.”

When questioned on how he managed his corporate life and writing passion in such a cordial manner he said, “It is all about one’s attitude. With the right kind of attitude it is possible to accomplish both tasks without compromising on any.” Right now he is working on two books. One of them is a work on the unknown temples of South India and the other is a fictional history.

UN climate meeting kicks off in Bangkok

BANGKOK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations meeting on climate change kicked off on Sunday in Bangkok to discuss action plans following decisions made at a ministerial meeting in Mexico last year.

Participants at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting are to map out action plans in their six-day meeting in Bangkok, the first UNFCCC meeting after the meeting in Cancun, Mexico from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 last year.

Pre-sessional workshops will continue from Sunday to Tuesday morning before the official opening takes place on Tuesday afternoon.

The meetings include sixteenth session of the ad hoc working group on further commitments of developed nations under the Kyoto Protocol, and the fourteenth session of the ad hoc working group on long-term cooperative action under the UNFCCC.

The Kyoto Protocol commits parties to the convention to reduce green house gas emissions.

A total of 2,271 representatives from 175 countries are attending the Bangkok meeting, of which 1,417 are government officials, according to a UN official.

Move to put climate change back on agenda - The Irish Times - Mon, Apr 04, 2011

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Thai floods claim 40 lives as UN climate talks begin | 04/04/2011

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Global warming will be a hot topic for the delegates gathered this week in Bangkok, writes FRANK McDONALD

WITH WORLD attention grabbed by a succession of natural disasters in New Zealand and Japan as well as popular revolts in north Africa and the Middle East, the United Nations will be seeking this week to put climate change back on the international agenda.

Nearly four months after last year’s moderately successful climate summit in the Mexican resort of Cancún, delegates from 193 countries have gathered in Bangkok for a preliminary round of talks aimed at paving the way for progress at next December’s summit in Durban.

They’re conscious that global warming “hasn’t gone away, you know”, as Gerry Adams TD once said of the Provisional IRA.

Indeed, 2010 was officially one of the hottest years on record, with heatwaves, floods, landslides, forest fires and other “extreme weather events”.

Even though critics claim there is “nothing real on the table”, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres insisted that Cancún was “a solid step forward for strengthened global climate action”, and she has called on governments to “maintain momentum” in the run-up to Durban.

Speaking in Bangkok, Ms Figueres said there needed to be agreement on a clear work plan for 2011 by moving on outstanding issues by making institutions for climate funding, technology co-operation and adaptation “fully functional within the deadlines agreed in Cancún” (ie, by December).

Meanwhile, figures published last Friday showed carbon emissions from industry in the EU rose by 6 per cent in 2010, indicating that a mild recovery is under way – but also demonstrating the link between economic growth and emissions has not yet been broken.

The European Commission’s Road map for Moving to a Competitive Low-Carbon Economy in 2050 , published last month, expressed confidence the EU is on track to meet its target of reducing emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

But the level of ambition, particularly in its longer-term proposals to cut emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050, was described as “totally inadequate” by Friends of the Earth to achieve the declared goal of limiting the rise in temperatures at 2 degrees Celsius.

Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout also criticised the road map, saying it would “set the EU on the wrong road for its climate policy up to 2050” and, as a result, it would “fail to revive EU climate leadership . . . nor will it inspire other countries to adopt more ambitious climate policies”.

The US is certainly falling behind. An analysis by HSBC estimated that Republican proposals before the US Congress “would more than halve federal spending on the climate economy in 2011, with high-speed rail, carbon regulation and international climate funds particularly at risk”.

By contrast, China’s 12th five-year plan – adopted last month by the National People’s Congress – will see a further 16 per cent reduction in the “carbon intensity” of its economy (in line with the Copenhagen Accord) on top of a 19 per cent fall over the past five years.

Last week in Beijing, the Climate Group launched a new programme – China Redesign – which will help five Chinese cities to develop and implement their own low-carbon growth strategies, on the basis that cities “are where the foundations for green growth will be laid”.

China also has no intention of abandoning its nuclear programme, despite picking up traces of radioactivity from the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The 28 nuclear reactors it plans (on top of 12 already operating) account for 40 per cent of the total under construction worldwide.

Fukushima has been a huge setback for the nuclear industry, which had been making significant strides in selling itself as a climate-friendly technology.

As a result of the damage after the earthquake and tsunami, safety reviews were ordered in several countries – Britain, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the US.

“We believe that events at Fukushima could change national energy policies in nuclear countries, with potentially both shut-downs of existing nuclear plants and fewer new nuclear installations,” HSBC said.

Winners will be natural gas, energy efficiency and renewables.

Former Greenpeace climate campaigner Jeremy Leggett, now chairman of Solarcentury, believes the crisis triggered by events in north Africa, the Middle East and Japan show that “we are entering a time of consequences” regarding where the world will get its energy.

“Nobody – whether individual, household, community, city, government or business – can responsibly afford simply to hope for a comfortable outcome on the peak-oil risk issue any longer.

“We all need to be drawing up contingency plans,” he blogged.

Report: Egypt FM wants UN, EU to play role in peace process

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi said that he plans to ask for an international supervisory body from the United Nations and the European Union to oversee the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

He cautioned, however, that both sides need to agree to such a move in order for it work.

On another note, Arabi said that he has approved efforts for Egypt to improve its strained relations with Iran, according to the report.Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news updates directly to your email

12-day ritual to preserve environment, usher global peace - The Economic Times

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It is not really a baptism by fire nor is it playing with fire. In fact, it is a homage paid to the lord of fire. Athirathram, the world's 'oldest Vedic ritual', which means constructing a fireplace and performing yagna or yajna (an oblation conducted overnight) returns to a quaint village called Panjal in Thrissur district in Kerala after 35 years.

The 12-day ritual was officially discontinued in the late Vedic period at a time when Jainism and Buddhism was on the rise in India. Nevertheless, a few Namboodiri Brahmin families in Kerala kept up an unbroken 3,000-year tradition and this edition of the ritual begins today. It is not a myth if you think so. It is just that a few individuals have come together to form a trust to put the clock back 5000 years to perform rituals that many scholars regard as inseparable from the myth surrounding athirathram.

There are many including the one called Putrakameshti (blessing the childless couples). But that isn't first on the priority list of the members of the Varthathe Trust, formed by a group of individuals from India and abroad who think alike. The yagna has more universal ideas to implement in its wish list.

Says Dr Sivakaran Namboothiri, an Ayurvedic doctor and a participant of this large-scale Somayagna: "The yagam hopes to achieve two goals, propitiate world peace, and energise and protect the environment by destroying undesirable elements. Fire is believed to cleanse, and that is what this ritual is all about."

It involves the chanting of selected mantras from three Vedas, the ancient sacred texts of Hinduism, Rig, Yajur and Sama. Beginning today, the yagna will be conducted by the best in the business, where 'best' means the only ones who can recite the mantras impeccably.

At the time this correspondent visited the village the Yajaman or the main conductor, Puthillathu Ramanajan Somayaji, a frail 77 year-old who seldom betrays the fact that he is graduate and has worked in a bank, was training a group of Vedic scholars to chant the Sama Vedas with the right intonation for maximum positive impact on the environment. When the world is being ravaged by repeated disasters from earthquakes to tsunamis, from civil wars to nuclear leaks Somayaji will invoke the forces of fire to preserve the flora and fauna of the earth.

And what better time than this warm month of spring to conduct this mammoth feat that stands on the thin line that divides myth from reality. About 5000 years ag, sometime after our ancestors had controlled fire and accepted it as a deity, but long before they were telling ghost stories, mankind in these parts of the world huddled around a fireplace to meditate and partake in spiritualistic rituals.

Today, when we slow down for a yellow light on the road, relish the glow of the metal gold or do anything, really, that involves working memories about gold, we have these ancient brainstorming sessions to thank. And it is the yellow of a fire that will exude a mystical smoke that will ward off all evils. Psychologists like Matt J. Rossano have often argued that ritualistic gatherings sharpened mental focus.

Alzheimer’s Studies Find New Genetic Links - NYTimes.com

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Researchers say the studies, which analyzed the genes of more than 50,000 people in the United States and Europe, leave little doubt that the five genes make the disease more likely in the elderly and have something important to reveal about the disease’s process. They may also lead to ways to delay its onset or slow its progress.

“The level of evidence is very, very strong,” said Dr. Michael Boehnke, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Michigan and an outside adviser on the research. The two studies are being published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics.

For years, there have been unproven but persistent hints that cholesterol and inflammation are part of the disease process. People with high cholesterol are more likely to get the disease. Strokes and head injuries, which make Alzheimer’s more likely, also cause brain inflammation. Now, some of the newly discovered genes appear to bolster this line of thought, because some are involved with cholesterol and others are linked to inflammation or the transport of molecules inside cells.

The discoveries double the number of genes known to be involved in Alzheimer’s, to 10 from 5, giving scientists many new avenues to explore. One of the papers’ 155 authors, Dr. Richard Mayeux, chairman of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, said the findings would “open up the field.”

And an expert who was not part of the studies, Dr. Nelson B. Freimer, who directs theCenter for Neurobehavioral Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there were now enough unequivocal genes for Alzheimer’s disease that researchers could make real progress in figuring out its biology. “This is a big, solid step,” he said.

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, most of whom are elderly. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in eight people over age 65 have the disease.

A new wellness center features medical marijuana | abc12.com

A new wellness center features medical marijuana | abc12.com:

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"VIENNA TOWNSHIP (WJRT) -- (04/02/11) -- It's founders call it a 'health mall,' but the All Natural Health and Wellness Center near Clio also features medical marijuana.

Inside the former Clio Ford building is the 30,000 square foot 'wellness center.'

'The Cannibus Research Institute of America is actually housed in the third suite,' said co-founder Robb Lapeen.

It's founders are both Clio High School graduates and licensed medical marijuana caregivers."