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Showing posts from December 26, 2006


The Lost and Found camp of Raja Ram Tiwari during Kumbh Mela

Thousands of people get separated from their families and friends during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad . Eighty-year-old Raja Ram Tiwari will open his lost and found camp during the Ardh Kumbh Mela of 2007. He has been doing this during the Magh month for the past 60 years. The number of people getting separated from their families increases during the Kumbh Melas. Raja Ram Tiwari is popularly known as Bhule Bhatke Tiwari. He has so far helped more than 630,000 people to meet their families. Not all the lost people are lucky says Tiwari. The original source BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6197157.stm) not linking back as the site is no https. He narrates the story of a deaf woman who got separated from her husband at the fair a few years ago.  "She was picked up by a rich family who took her away to their village. Her husband came to us looking for her. After searching for her for several days, I told the man to go back to his village and retur

Significance of Kumbh Mela

Significance of Kumbha Mela is that it offers the chance to attain liberation from the endless suffering of existence and to merge with the Brahman. In ancient times, Kumbh Mela was meant for the great minds in Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) to meet and discuss and share knowledge for the welfare of the living beings. Decisions and new findings in philosophy and science taken during the Kumbh Mela were then carried by the Saints to different parts of the world. The legend of Kumbh Mela begins with the search of Amrut in Puranas. Brahma Purana and Vishnu Purana state that bathing in month of Magh at Prayag or Sangam ( Allahabad ) is equal to millions of Ashvamedha rituals. The bathing ritual is equal to circumambulating the earth one million times. The Kumbh Mela bathing ritual also washes away sins of several generations. Rig Veda also talks about the importance of the confluence of Ganges , Yamuna and the mythical river Saraswathi at Prayag. The importance of the ritual can t

Vanishing Islands of India

Lohachara Island , in the Sundarbans in West Bengal , once home to 10,000 people, has disappeared beneath the seas. Lohachara Island is the first inhabited island to be swallowed by the rising sea. Environmentalists claim it is the first casualty of Global Warming. Suparibhanga, a nearby uninhabited island, has also vanished. Two-third part of Ghoramara Island has also been permanently inundated. The area is home to the famous Royal Bengal Tigers. Subhra Priyadarshini writes in the Telegraph “There’s nothing any more where our island once was. It’s just a huge stretch of sea where vessels ply,” says Shamila’s father Seikh Abdullah, among the first batch of envirogees (environment refugees) who have now settled in Sagar. Nearly 7,000 of his former island mates are his neighbors again. A dozen islands in the area are under threat. Environmentalists and climate scientists are predicting a grim future for many of the islands and coastal cities around th